[h3][color=7bcdc8]Aiden Carren and Luca Agnelli
12:50 PM; Northwood Library[/color][/h3]
Unlike the halls, which were open and often filled with swarms of people, the library was enclosed and quiet. Though there was an after-class buzz in the center of the complex room, Aiden found herself hiding among the tight shelves, following the few ghosts who wandered aimlessly with curiosity shining in her eyes. A new environment meant that she had to examine the new (dead) faces around, and though it may seem sad for her to be approaching invisible people rather than living ones it made complete sense in her head. The spirits around her were like the ones in the hall, silent and prodding. Some would walk away, turn to stare at her, then return to her side and repeat. Others would attempt to poke her or D, eyes glossy with fear and mouths moving yet wordless.

After sometime of endless wandering through the dusty aisles, Aiden found herself staring out a window, blankly examining the students that wandered the lawn below as she allowed her mind to wander, hoping to spur some language from the spirits surrounding her. The only word she managed to notice however was from Diana; 'danger'. That's ominous. Aiden tore her eyes away from the outside and turned to stare at the young girl clinging to her arm, eyebrow raising in confusion. The girl shook her head slowly, eyes slowly growing with terror, and Aiden simply turned away, pulling her arm loose,

"[b][color=7bcdc8]You have to stop, okay? I'm stress enough; I've talked to more ghosts than real people for God's sake! Please just calm do-[/color][/b]" Aiden froze mid-rant, her already hushed voice seemingly drowned out by an unfamiliar buzz. The Northwood spirits were no longer simply silent, and their eyes were wide and frightened as the air hummed with an unnatural feeling. Aiden backed up slightly, ignoring the feeling of coldness at Diana hid behind her shoulder, and as the clock ticked over to one o'clock, they began to vanish. Fading into nothing, their mouths a gap as if they were screaming, and then only Diana as left clinging to her. Aiden was frozen with shock and confusion, hands furiously tightening and relaxing against the cross necklace on her chest. The library was practically silent now, the dark aisle now filled with mid-day light that hit the dusty air and sent shimmering specks across the still picture in front of Aiden's eyes. She was too far from any other students to hear their gossip, and the sound of her own beating heart filled her ears with thick pulses. It was so quiet, a deafening quiet that made her feel sick.

This wasn't natural.

Aiden took a deep breath, head slowly turning to check on the small shape of Diana, and seeing the small girl gave her a brief moment of relief. It wasn't anything to do with her 'gift', no, it was the ghosts themselves. These Northwood spirits were entirely too different from the ones back home, or from the airport, or anywhere that wasn't Northwood. Aiden let her knees give out as a sudden burst of stress made her chest feel heavy with panic. She slide to the cold floor, eyes focusing on the dust-filled air while her ears tried to seek out any kind of sound that could possibly comfort her own beating heart but nothing came to mind.

In another effort to calm her panic, she pulled a hefty tome from the shelf to her left, but instead of opening the ruined cover instantly her sights settled on the space left behind. There was a hazel eye watching with no discernible emotion in its depths, nestled in the gap between two other thick, tattered books. Someone watching from the other side, bent over backwards just to watch a nervous breakdown? “Psst… Are you okay?”

"[b][color=7bcdc8]O God![/color][/b]" Was her initial reaction, shoulders hitching up with surprise at the unexpected voice. Aiden sucked in a deep breath after a moment, rolling the shoulder Diana was still clutching to tightly, and then with a shaky voice she whispered, 

"[b][color=7bcdc8]I’m fine, just, uh. There was a bug…? It scared me, that’s all.[/color][/b]" She cocked her head at the single eye, the faintest shadow of a bemused grin painting her lips, "[b][color=7bcdc8]besides that, what are you doing peeking one a stranger?[/color][/b]" With a shuffle of movement behind the bookcase as the figure pulled the other text out to reveal a thin mouth without even a twitch of humour and brows drawn together in utmost seriousness.

 “I’m an expert bug hunter, apparently. How can I help?” Aiden felt her head tilt slightly, her beating heart quickly being replaced with curiosity at the odd yet pretty girl before her. She took a moment to stand, once again rolling her shoulder before waving her hand towards the bookcase to her right,

"[b][color=7bcdc8]I should be fine now, though. Crawled under the, er, shelf.[/color][/b]"  Aiden’s accent faltered slightly, her lie stand clear among the tall, quiet shelves, and then with a quick change of pace she shifted to her other hip, hands quickly tangling in her loose hair as she nodded towards the newcomer with unfamiliar eyes,

"[b][color=7bcdc8]I’m sorry, I’m a bit skittish. Name’s Aiden. Aiden Carren. And you?[/color][/b]"

“Luca. Pleasure.” The girl smoothed out her skirt, fidgeting uncomfortably. “What are [i]you[/i] doing here then?” Aiden tilted her head at the question, then slowly rose the large book that was still in her left hand, nodding towards the tome with general disinterest and slight annoyance at the girl’s nosey question,

"[b][color=7bcdc8]reading, what else would I be doing?[/color][/b]" She rose her nose slightly, but her eyes twinkled with the satisfaction of having a conversation with someone living. Maybe this could be her first friend…? Aiden took a step forward, shoving the book back into the shelf at random, and with a small cough she held out her hand, forcing a small smile,

"[b][color=7bcdc8]Sorry, that was rude of me. Nice to meet you, Luca. This your first time at Northwood?[/color][/b]"

Luca blinked owlishly but shook the offered hand. “This is my fourth year. I must be invisible.” Aiden tilted her head at the answer, shaking hands gently before letting her fist drop to her side. Then she shrugged, smiling ever so slightly,

"[b][color=7bcdc8]not invisible, only unnoticed. It’s actually my first and last year here after all. Can’t expect me to know anyone on day one.[/color][/b]"

“I think if you’re wanting to know people, the library isn’t the best place for it. As far as I know, nobody comes here. These books haven’t been touched. Ever.” Luca took a seat on the edge of one of the study tables, legs crossed and grass-stained ballet flats marking up the clean wood. “I could take you out to meet [i]my[/i] friends. Friend. Singular.” Aiden shifted towards the smaller girl, opting to stand rather than sit down with her, and then tilted her head at the girl’s comment. She hadn’t exactly gone to the library to meet friends, she had come to… Right. Her eyes flashed across the area once more, hands fiddling with the cross around her neck, and still no spirits could be seen save for the small girl hiding behind her back. It was odd, unusual. Scary. But perhaps now she had some time to meet the living, no use worrying about people that were no longer around.

It was probably nothing to worry about, after all.

"[b][color=7bcdc8]Would you really be willing to do that?[/color][/b]"

“Yeah, of course,” Luca said nonchalantly. “It’ll be like a girl’s club. Made up of three. Me and Amy aren’t super popular, y’know?” Aiden nodded quickly, smile widening slightly as she felt some of her new-school-teenage-anxiety-stress melt away. Friends would be nice, and social standing never mattered to her anyway. She was always known around her old school as a nerdy book worm anyway.

"[b][color=7bcdc8]That sounds like fun, actually. It’d be a pleasure to meet her and get to know you two...[/color][/b]" Aiden blushed slightly at her polite response, hands now reaching up to toy with her hair.

The girl nodded. “Rad. Amy’s already seen all my card tricks, so it’ll be nice to have someone new as a test subject.” Complete, deadpan sincerity. “We’re in Floor 3, Room 1 so drop by, aight?” 


"[b][color=7bcdc8]Y-Yes, of course. Sounds like a plan.[/color][/b]" Aiden was no visibly confused by this girl’s offbeat personality. It was almost like talking to an emotionless child, completely flat yet definitely sincere. What an odd girl.

"[b][color=7bcdc8]I’ll see you around, then?[/color][/b]" She asked quietly, eyes upturning to meet Luca’s dead on.

“Probably.” A small smile, possibly the most human-like gesture yet. Aiden noticed it instantly, and let loose a beaming grin back. At least Luca wasn’t [i]totally[/i] weird, that smile proved it. She let her grin drop to just a simple smile, and then with a shift of her shoulder and a wave of her hand she vanished back into the aisles, heading towards the exit with a small farewell and a slight skip in her step. Conversation seemed to have taken her mind off of the missing ghosts for the mean time, and perhaps that was for the better.