Days passed in a blur of fear. Alex tried to burn the book. But it would not catch fire. He tried tearing the pages. They would mend themselves within moments. He threw it away, only to find it waiting on his desk the next morning. It was no book at all. It was some live thing.
Returning in despair to the bookstore, but there was no Eldoria Books. Just an abandoned lot smothered with ivy and dust. Had it ever been real?
That evening he re-opened the book, hands trembling. He needed answers.
A new sentence formed: "You are not the first." And under that, a list of names suddenly seemed to flicker, erased and overwritten: Ryan only stared at the page until a few names faded in and out. Then it came suddenly clear when his name flashed before his eyes.
And under the following one more: Elena Carter. The name stopped his heart. His first love. The one who had disappeared five years ago, completely without a clue.