Since I’m now officially “out” to the town, I don’t have to hide out at Autumn’s when Mordecai has friends over. Okay, it’s more like Autumn and Tilly now refuse to let me hide out at Autumn’s place, something about me needing to socialize outside of school. So instead, I shut myself up in the room Tilly let me turn into my personal research and magic practice area. Occasionally, I can hear laughter or some other noise from Mordecai and his friends. It bleeds into my quiet place like an unwelcome chill.

I sigh and open the book on the pedestal, scanning the pages. The tome is ancient and massive and its pages are never quite the same. All I know is that the answers I seek are in this book. The hard part is uncovering it. The book doesn’t give up answers easily.

“Spending another night buried in musty books older than your legacy instead of with kids your age. How unusual.” A voice says from behind me.

I roll my eyes and look over my shoulder. Alex sits in a chair in the corner, his orange light casting a strange hue against the shadows. Alexander Hope, the ghost that saved me from being dragged away in Death’s current. He’s been around since then. I still haven’t told my family that I see ghosts. Autumn knows though, she’s figured it out.

“Shut up. I have more in common with you and these books than I do those kids out there.” I say.

“How do you know? You don’t know them.” He replies.

I turn to him. “You’re starting to sound like Tilly and Autumn. Do you want me out there with them too? In fact, I just might. Their company is probably more preferable than yours, you grumpy old man.”

He smiles. “You must get better at your insult, Zoey. I’ve heard kids younger than you come up with better ones. However, to answer your question, I could care less if you go out there with them. In fact, it might even be entertaining. I really am interested in how your power actually works.”

I shudder. “I’m not going out there and the fact that you’re wanting me to just so I can accidentally touch and kill one of them is horrible.”

His laughter fills the room. “I just said it to prove you’re not as big of a monster as you think you are. A real monster would kill with your power. You should think more highly of yourself, Zoey.”

“Whatever.” I mutter, turning back to the book.

Alex goes quiet but I know he’s still here. I read through the book slowly, trying to catch anything different. Sometimes whole pages will have changed, other times it’s more subtle than that. After a few minutes I find something on a new page.

“Alex, what’s ‘The Deatheater’?” I ask.

“Talk it out to yourself. I’m sure you’ll figure it out.” I hear him say, a smile in his voice. Alex says he likes to ‘help’ me, but for the most part he makes me figure things out myself. I just roll my eyes.

“Fine. If I take the name literally, it means something, or one, that eats death. So is it a person, or is it something else? Could it be the Reaper?” I begin to turn to him. “What the hell eats-“ I pause as I see a boy standing in the room with Mogget at his feet and Alex laughing in the chair.

“What the hell eats what?” The boy, one of Mordecai’s friends, Jack, asks.

“Uhh…spaghetti.” I reply. “What are you doing in here?”

He gives me a look like he’s amused at my horrible cover-up. “Name’s Jack. Mordecai invited me over.”

“Yes, I know who you are. You sit at my lunch table everyday. But why are you here, in this room?” I reply.

“Oh, your cat was hanging from the door knob. I was just letting him in.” He motions to Mogget.

“Uhm, great. Thanks.” I give a strained smile and turn back to the book. I’m hoping he takes that as his cue to leave. Unfortunately, I don’t hear him open the door and step out.

“This place is cool. Is it where you write spells and stuff?” He asks, stepping more into the room, looking around.

“No, I do not write spells and stuff.” I sigh. “I research and read in here.”

“Oh, what do you research? Are you like Hermione Granger?” He looks closely at some wands on top of a stack of books. Alex’s laughter erupts from the chair he’s still sitting in.

“No, I am not like a fictional character in a fictional world. Unfortunately, I’m a real person stuck in reality with people like you interrupting my research and digging their nose in where it doesn’t belong.” I turn towards him, my arms crossed. As I do, I see a smile on his lips and laughter in his eyes. He’s joking. He holds up his hands in mock defeat.

“Okay, I’m sorry. Too much? I guess I’ll leave you to it then. Good luck with whatever you’re researching. Bye, Hermione.” He smiles at me before leaving me in peace.

I turn my glare to Alex. “You llama! You asked me to talk it out because you knew he’d walk in and see me talking in a room all alone!”

Alex just laughs again, relishing in my anger. Sometimes I wish I could kill the dead.