The Five Evolution

Chapter 49: Dead Silence (I).

『"Silence is golden... unless something is trying to kill you with it."』

For half a second, nobody moved or spoke a word. Then Hiro made a noise that was somewhere between a gasp and a dying squeak.

Red lightning crackled around his calves as he turned to run—

SLAM!

The heavy library door swung shut with a loud bang that echoed through the room and Hiro skidded to a stop, staring at the now-closed door. "No. No no no no—"

He grabbed the handle and pulled, but it didn’t budge. "It’s locked!" he shouted, yanking harder. "The door’s LOCKED!"

Before anyone could respond, the smiley face on the window began to change, inverting and becoming a frown.

:(

"Oh, that’s not good," Raj said. Then the temperature plummeted even further.

Amara felt it instantly, cold sinking through her clothes and biting at her skin as frost rapidly spread across the bookshelves and windows.

Around them, hundreds of books began to tremble on their shelves. Then every single one froze in place. And the entire room fell silent.

This felt familiar. It was the kind of silence that pressed against the ears so hard it became painful. The kind that left no room for ambient sounds...

The kind of silence that they all witnessed just before Dante unleashed on the darkness Malice.

Amara’s eyes widened in shock as she opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out.

Across from her, Raj shouted something, she could tell from the way his mouth moved dramatically, but no sound emerged.

Sophia’s lips formed what was clearly a curse. But it also came out silent.

On the other side of the room, Ethan’s eyes met Amara’s, wide with alarm. He tried to say her name. But there was nothing.

Testing the predicament they found themselves in, Andre slapped his hand against a bookshelf, and even that made no sound. Not a thump or a vibration, just complete silence.

None of them could speak and Hiro looked about three seconds away from passing out.

"I hate you all," he mouthed. But still no sound.

Naomi’s expression immediately shifted from amusement to alarm, her eyes going wide as she touched her throat like she could physically find her missing voice.

On the window, the frowny face vanished, and in its place, three words appeared in the frost.

PAS. UN. BRUIT.

Then something moved. A white blur streaked past, fast enough that Amara barely registered it before it vanished behind a towering shelf on the second level.

Instinctively, Angel’s Bane manifested in her hand. At the same moment, Ethan summoned Bastion around the group.

Good. At least their powers still worked.

Sophia’s helmet materialized a second later, golden-yellow light flashing across its surface. Then all seven of them heard her voice inside their heads.

Okay. Good news. I can still link us telepathically. Bad news? This is the weirdest thing I’ve ever experienced.

Amara nearly sagged with relief from hearing Sophia’s voice in her head.

Sophia, you are officially my favorite person. Hiro’s frantic mental voice blasted through the connection.

Ugh, your thoughts are way louder than your actual voice, Naomi remarked dryly.

Focus, Ethan cut in mentally. Something’s here.

As if summoned by the thought, the blur appeared again. This time taking the shape of a pale and translucent teenage boy in an old-fashioned school uniform.

He stood balanced on the side of a bookshelf like gravity meant nothing to him and grinned at them mischievously before vanishing again.

Moments later, a second figure appeared on a reading desk. Another boy of similar age, who had the same spectral glow, casually tossing an egg into the air and catching it.

Both ghosts suddenly flickered and reappeared a few feet in front of the group, prompting a reaction from each of them as they all tensed up.

Stay back! I’m warning you! Hiro threatened as though they could hear his thoughts, waving his arm around.

But the boys made no moves against them. Instead, they pointed behind the group, and Amara spun around slowly to see what they were indicating.

Behind them stood a tall woman near the circulation desk, her spectral form draped in old academic robes and her hair pinned into a bun.

Wire-rimmed glasses sat crookedly on her face and in her hand was a ruler nearly as long as a sword which she tapped against her palm menacingly.

There was no mistaking the rigid authority in her posture. This was most definitely a teacher. Or given the setting, a librarian.

She raised one translucent finger to her lips.

Shhhhhhh.

Then she screamed.

The sound bypassed their missing voices and slammed directly into their minds.

Amara dropped to one knee, clutching her head as she felt something warm trickle from her nose.

Blood.

Around her, the others collapsed, clutching their heads with their mouths open in silent screams of agony.

Before they could recover, the librarian blurred forward at a blinding pace that seemed almost like teleportation and swung the ruler.

Ethan barely managed to throw up a shield, but it shattered instantly on impact.

What the hell?! Hiro’s thought shrieked.

The two boys flickered around the room, laughing soundlessly as they hurled spectral eggs at them.

When one splattered across Raj’s arm, his skin began to smoke and melt where the ectoplasm touched him, like acid had been thrown at him. Oh come on! Ghost eggs?! Seriously?!

The boys kept giggling and pulled more eggs from nowhere, winding up to throw. These weren’t just pranks. These were weapons. And the ghosts were playing with them.

Move! Amara shouted mentally, powering through the lingering paralysis as she forced herself upright, wiped her nose with the back of her hand and ran.

However, the ghostly woman wasn’t going to make it easy for them. She chased after them with her ruler.

Fuck this! Naomi turned around and fired bolts of lightning but it struck at nothing. The ghosts blinked out of existence, effortlessly evading her attack.

Amara realized they were deliberately avoiding her attacks. That meant...

We can hurt these ghosts! She said and charged at one of them with her sword. But just like with Naomi, each swing met only empty space.

They were simply too fast. Blinking in and out of existence, avoiding Ethan’s attempt to capture one in a sphere or Andre’s attempt to freeze one in place.

Frustrated, Naomi charged up a massive ball of electricity above her head, the energy crackling and growing until it lit the entire library in blue light.

Wait— Ethan started.

Don’t— Amara tried to warn.

But Naomi had already hurled it. And once again, the boys flickered away, effortlessly avoiding the attack.

The lightning slammed into a bookshelf instead, obliterating it in an explosion. The wood was reduced into splinters and the books there erupted into flaming scraps.

Naomi! Sophia’s mental voice was furious. You could have hit us!

I had a clear shot! Naomi shot back.

Didn’t seem like you did, Ethan responded.

But whatever argument was about to happen died when the librarian froze.

She turned very slowly toward the burning shelf. Then the entire room began to tremble as her face twisted with pure, incandescent rage.

We’re screwed, Hiro said, right before another paralyzing shriek assaulted their very minds and spirits. This one more powerful than the last.

Like swatted flies, they all began to drop. Naomi, Hiro, Raj, Andre, they all fell with a grunt. Amara’s muscles seized, and she collapsed beside Ethan, both of them gasping silently.

Brilliant move, genius, Sophia snapped at Naomi from where she’d fallen.

How was I supposed to know ghost teacher here had property damage issues?! Naomi shot back defensively.

The flames died abruptly, smothered by unnatural frost. And from the floor, Amara noticed something. Even in her fury, the librarian’s gaze lingered on the burning books with clear grief.

The Books, Amara thought.

What? Ethan asked.

The books are connected to them somehow, Amara said.

Let me try something. Sophia closed her eyes and reached outward with her telepathy, extending her consciousness beyond their small group.

Her mental touch brushed against the room itself, against the lingering psychic residue embedded in old books and forgotten shelves.

Suddenly, she gasped as decades of buried memories and images flooded into her mind through the telepathic connection, and everyone saw what Sophia was seeing.