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[img]https://i.imgur.com/dZsL0GS.png[/img][h1]╚══════════════╝[/h1][h2][b][u]Araminta?[/u][/b][/h2][/center][hr]

David held onto Abigail's hand and ran as fast as he could. A group of the others, Jaden included, had found a strange young girl and a portal that had lead to the outside world. It almost seemed to good to believe. And yet, as the young man fired bolts of air and sound at the monsters that nipped at their heels, David hauled Abigail through the tear in the fabric of reality back into their home. He recognised it almost instantly; no more wrongness, no strange sense of extra-dimensional vertigo. Just the cool, Araminta night air and the bright orange, early 90s street lights of some back road through the forest near the city.

He breathed a sigh of relief and let go of Abigail, catching his breath as he stood by the side of the road. Then he dove a hand into his satchel and pulled a foil packet, popped a tablet from its housing and then stuck it in his mouth to chew on it, before going back to Abigail. In his fingers was a business card and he handed it to her.

"Hey, sorry about all the force. Name's David, I work for the local papers. You ever need to uh, talk to somebody about this whole thing, call me. I promise it won't end up on Araminta Daily. No one would believe me anyway."

And as the group slowly dispersed, David added one more name to his mental store to research later.

Brianna Grier. Whatever this whole thing was, she'd pulled them through the portal that brought them back home. And he needed answers.

[center][h2][b][u]Araminta Daily
Two days later[/u][/b][/h2][/center][hr]
"Hey, Fred."

"Yeah?"

"You got a place for me?"

"Oh yeah! Here."

David rounded Fred's desk at the Daily office. His editor was hunched over his computer, typing a revision into the latest front page story that David had written, when the latter had arrived in the office. The last two days had been strange for David. He had to explain how he'd suddenly gone from his apartment to the woods outside Araminta without getting into all the otherworldly stuff, then figure out how to find this Brianna Grier with the connections he had. Only way he knew how was to search through old news articles with his editor to find the answers he sought. And today was the fruits of their labour. Fred jabbed a finger at his computer monitor as David stood next to his seat. The article open on screen was from several months ago, about Daria Wallace, written by one of their colleagues. How she'd lost her husband in a car accident, then how she had continued to be the librarian of the Araminta Serenity Library. True to form, the article mentioned the hired help: one Brianna Grier. It even contained a picture of her, not taken by David but by the other photojournalist with the Daily. The face was the exact same one he'd seen two days ago in the woods, after the portal.

"See her?"

"Yeah?"

"She's hired this Brianna girl you're looking for. Helps her keep the shelves neat 'n tidy."

"I can see that, Fred. Thanks. I owe you another dinner now."

"Hey man, you still owe me for vanishing the other day. What even happened?"

"I'll tell you that over dinner. I gotta run, the library's still open and I need to catch Brianna before she goes home."

Ignoring his editor's protests, David grabbed his jacket, satchel and camera and left. A few minutes by scooter later and he was at the library in all its gothic glory. The library had been built in Araminta's early days and was a shining symbol of the architecture of the time; stone pillars flanking the entrance to a building that he would've pegged as a mausoleum if it didn't have the words "Serenity Library" emblazoned on the sign atop the door. As he stepped in, he looked around and found Daria reading a book at the front counter. David approached her and gave her a warm smile.

"Hello Daria."

The lady looked up at him, sighed and closed her book.

"Yes? What d'you need?"

David leaned on his elbow and chuckled.

"I'm looking for your assistant, Brianna Grier? I need to interview her regarding a case I'm reporting on for the papers."

Daria disinterestedly scanned what shelves she saw and gestured vaguely in one direction with her hand.

"She's there...somewhere. Probably."

David's smile lost a little of its warmth as she dismissed him with a wave of her hand and went back to her book. She looked very much worse for wear indeed. Months after she'd lost her husband and it was only hitting her now? A little strange, but not his concern. Instead he thanked her and made his way to the shelves at the back where she'd gestured, perusing the books on display and wondering if he'd have time to start a new read in between writing and figuring out this case. It took him a few minutes but he followed the sound of conversation in the library deeper past the shelves to a small table where two women were seated. He recognised both; Brianna herself and the Chinese woman Jaden had been hanging out with in that strange otherworld. He gave them both a wave as he approached their table.

"Hey ladies. Don't mind me buttin' in, but I remember both of you from eh...two days ago? Big crack, purple light, scary nightmare version of Araminta? Miss Grier, you saved my life and I owe you big time. But I'm just as curious about what the hell happened as everyone else was. Do you ladies mind if I, uh, sit in?"