I awoke to the sounds of movement down below. It took me a moment to remember where I was, and why I was paying attention for even the softest footstep. Thankfully, it just seemed like one of the librarians arriving for the day.

I settled back into a comfortable position, gently chewing on my lower lip as the memory of the "dream" pushed itself into the forefront of my mind.

I reigned in the urge to talk out loud. The library was still quiet and something talking to itself in the ceiling would've been obvious.

I pondered how a small talking horse could hire the services of an exorcist.

The "annoyance" sufficiently cowed for the moment, it was good to have an idea on how to get rid of it. While I had no idea if a human exorcist would actually work, it was better than nothing.

It was also good to know the parasite could read my thoughts. Well then 'Milord'... I grow tired of our partnership. Begone, and take your "sight" with you. It isn't even a sixth sense.

There had never been a label above anyone's head saying "arachnophobia" or "nyctophobia" or "xenophobia" or anything like that.

I had to figure out what people's fears were by inference, or the old fashioned way.

The demon had done nothing but take up space in my head.

Liar.

You are the Prince of Nightmares. Or maybe rather Princess of Nightmares now. It is your duty to your King to rule over the concept of fear in his stead, and thus you have absolute dominion over fear. You mean to tell me you cannot divine a mortal's deepest fears with just a glance?

Truly the forces of Hell, or Tartarus, or whatever the fuck they want to call themselves have fallen far if the likes of you have the rank of Prince.

Yeah? I'm still not entirely sure I can die as 'Luna'. So if you fuck up my head you get to live with whatever you do alongside me.

We both know that won't work. It may take time, but I'll get my memories back in order eventually.

If you could modify or remove my memories, you would've done so already to make me the perfect servant. And obviously, I am far from your ideal "servant".

So again; give me what was promised, or leave. I may even give you a five second head start.

All the Other did was snarl wordlessly, but otherwise fell silent.

I knew it hadn't left. The disgusting, oily, and distressingly familiar feeling in my heart hadn't gone away.

"I'm waiting." I musically, yet quietly hummed. The librarian below had long passed by, probably into the offices. I could risk some noise to be irritating.

"A... thousand?" I felt the blood drain from my face.

"One..."

How could that be?! It- It made sense... But still! One thousand years?!

It didn't feel like a thousand years... Just... Just really, really, really cold.

If I ever did that again, I'm bringing, and hugging an unshielded fusion reactor as I float away.

Yeah shocker. I rolled my eyes sarcastically. Of course I'm a psychologists wet dream or worst nightmare. Why would I expect any different?

The conversation died down as the library below made more and more noise as more people arrived. With nothing to do, as I wasn't about to wander during the day time, I fell back asleep.

Thankfully, I didn't fall off the beam while napping. But occasionally I was woken up by loud noises from below. A baby crying, someone's phone accidently blaring "Ex gonna give it to ya", an excited kid ranting about a computer game, things like that.

My circadian rhythm was fucked though. So I woke up early and could do nothing but stare at my watch waiting for five pm to roll around. I didn't know what time the library closed, but five seemed like a safe bet. Also it was now November and the sun had likely set already.

I cast the gas spell and floated to the foam "floor".

I ignored the pepperoni wrapper as I lifted a corner of a tile. Let some poor maintenance worker discover it in the future so they could wonder how it got there.

The lights were still on. The staff were still working after all. I didn't want to leave quite yet, but I had no idea how long I would have to look for someplace to stay. Every second could count.

Besides, how hard could sneaking by a few tired humans ignorant to your presence be?

...Fuck off Murphy!

I set the tile back in its place and moved to another near the wall, one that was above an outside facing window. Thankfully, the librarians were too busy dealing with the logistics of running the library and weren't paying close enough attention to notice a strangely active shadow open, and then slip out of a window.

I was right, the sun had set. A dull orange glow could be seen on the Western horizon in an otherwise navy blue sky. Headlights could be seen occasionally between the surrounding buildings. The air was warm, but was beginning to rapidly cool, it would not be long before it became crisp.

The plethora of moving shadows cast from moving vehicles proved to be an excellent cover as I flowed across the library's lawn, not quite willing to solidify yet. But that wasn't to say I was careless, it wouldn't do to suddenly be caught in a direct headlight as a shadow that had no object to be cast from. So I pushed myself low over lawns, or hid behind tree trunks as cars passed.

I passed only a few pedestrians on an evening walk. They were harder to hide from because the shadows didn't shift drastically like they would with a car. But at the same time, they relied on street lights for them to find their way. All it took was to hide from them was to coalesce behind something so they couldn't see me from the sidewalks.

I went from street to street. The library would be an ok place to stay for a few days, but I needed a space that no one used. Like an abandoned home or warehouse. I didn't know what my long term plans were exactly, but short term I needed a place to stay. And winter was coming. I couldn't steal and stash cans of food in a frequently visited public space now could I?

Anonymity in audacity sure, but there was a difference between hiding in plain sight and asking to be caught.

So as the Western horizon faded from dull orange to navy blue, to midnight black, I searched through the night.

Heheheheheheheheh...

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