On the way over to the library, Alex had tried to explain cellphones again to Henry, to at least some success. The tall Fairy understood some of it, but he still didn’t get how a machine that small could connect that many people. Alex wished he could explain it better to him, but while he wasn't dumb, he also had no knowledge of how exactly cellphones or the internet worked.

  By the time the pair arrived at the library, Miss Philaxter was waiting outside. Her arms were crossed over her black jacket, and the pair of small glasses rested on her small nose. Behind her glasses, her eyes, keen and alert, followed the pair of students with intense focus. "You're late," she said.

  "But you didn't specify a time to come, just said to come after breakfast," Alex tried to protest.

  "I know, nevertheless, I expected you to be here earlier," the stern librarian retorted before turning around and heading inside.

  Alex looked at Henry, confused about what had just happened. He just shrugged, unsure himself. They followed Miss Philaxter into the library and straight towards her private quarters. On the way in, Alex noticed the note underneath the sign of rules outside the library had changed. It still read mostly the same, but it was written on a different piece of paper. Miss Philaxter must have noticed it yesterday and pulled it down, only for a new note to be hung up by a different student.

  Inside the private quarters, Fillonia was waiting for them. A thin curl of steam rose from a cup of warm tea in her hands. "Morning, Alex and Henry," she said, surprised to see the other student was there again as well. "I had hoped for some more alone time with my cousin. Then she suddenly announced you had arrived." Miss Philaxter's glare suggested the feeling wasn't mutual.

  "Yes, now shall we get on with this?" Miss Philaxter said as she motioned for the others to sit down at the table with Fillonia.

  "Come now, Annaba, at least let the boys get settled first. Would you like some tea, boys?" Fillonia produced two more cups from a small cupboard near the table.

  The head librarian sighed as she sat down at the table. She grabbed the second cup of tea that was already on the table and took a sip from it. Fillonia asked Alex all sorts of questions while they drank their tea, like how he was feeling, whether he had any more headaches, and if he had any other complaints related to being an Otherborn. It felt like an informal medical checkup. Alex didn't mind; it was better than any doctor's appointment he had back on Earth.

  Once Miss Philaxter noticed Alex's cup of tea was empty, she spoke up again. "Now then, can I finally get started on this investigation?" Everyone in the room nodded, some more eagerly than others. "Good, after yesterday I have done some research into Otherborn. There wasn't much information about them in any literary work, at least not in our own library. From what I gathered, our theory of you absorbing mana to form some kind of internal mana network seems to be corroborated with other stories about Otherborn. They all start with the Otherborn absorbing mana from every source they can find, some more violently than others."

  "Is there anything about what happens after the network stabilizes?" Henry asked. The young Fairy had been listening intently to what Miss Philaxter had said and had even produced a small notebook to take down some notes.

  "Not in those exact terms, Mister Rixtor. Most of the stories do state that the Otherborn stop absorbing at some point. In other stories, the Otherborn doesn't make it to that point." Both Fillonia and Henry looked towards Alex to make sure he's okay.

  "What happens to them?" Alex asked, afraid of the answer.

  "Most are hunted down by villagers believing them to be some kind of mana stealing demons; others just disappear. You don't have to worry though, Mister Vansteen. Like I said, there wasn't much information that I could find in our library, and the information I did find came from old oral stories that had been written down centuries ago."

  "Right," Alex said, not entirely convinced he was going to be alright, and added villagers hunting him down to the list of reasons he didn't want his Otherborn status to be public knowledge.

  "Now, for today's tests, I have brought several minor artifacts from my private collection. From my personal examination of the Catalogue Stone and Mana Battery, you don't break them when you drain the mana, but to be sure I've brought items I no longer need."

  "So you haven't been able to recharge them yet?" Henry asked as he noted something down in his notebook.

  "I haven't had the chance. Professor Ghestalt arrived at my quarters yesterday evening demanding to take a look at them." The librarian responded, with a glare towards her cousin.

  "Don't blame him, Annaba. He did so at the request of Varyn. The headmaster wanted to know exactly what happened to the artifacts Alex had drained, and you know Marcus is better at examining them than you are," Fillonia explained.

  "I would have enjoyed a more thorough personal examination. At least the Hearthkin promised to share his findings with me. Now then, the first artifact I'd like to start with is this," Miss Philaxter said, producing a familiar-looking stone from a nearby drawer.

  "Another Catalogue Stone?" Alex asked, wondering why she would risk damaging a second stone.

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  "Yes, Mister Vansteen, but one from the previous library I worked at. Since it would be too hard to calibrate it to this library, it is essentially useless. The only reason I still have it is that it was a gift from my old boss when I left for the academy."

  "And you won't mind if it gets destroyed?" Fillonia asked, surprised. "I remember you talking fondly about the library in Sunbay."

  "I did, but that was the past and holds no value in the present." The head librarian responded. Alex was shocked by how cold that sounded. He knew she was practical, but she had to have some feelings, right?

  "If you say so, Annaba." Fillonia said, the disappointment in her voice clear to everyone but her cousin.

  "Now then, Mister Vansteen, if you wouldn't mind, could you drain the artifact of mana so we can observe?" Miss Philaxter said, unaware of how she sounded. She handed the old Catalogue Stone over to Alex.

  Partial Power Source connection detected.

  Continuing Initialization...

  Once again, the voice at the back of his mind spoke up as soon as he touched the Catalogue Stone. He closed his eyes as he winced in pain, and Fillonia stood up from her chair to make sure he was alright. The pain settled just as quickly as it came, and he told the healer he was alright. While the headache was alright, it wasn't as bad as the one from the small Mana Battery. It seemed the longer the message was, the worse the headache would be, at least that seemed part of it.

  With the pain settled, Alex took a closer look at the Catalogue Stone. From what he remembered of the other stone, this one looked exactly the same, and he wasn't sure how Miss Philaxter had kept them apart. While he had been looking at the stone, Miss Philaxter had grabbed a notebook similar to the one Henry had been writing in.

  In the short time he had been with the three Fairies, Alex had found it funny how Henry was seemingly a combination of the two cousins. He had the intellectual curiosity of Miss Philaxter, but he was also just as caring for Alex as Fillonia had been.

  Alex continued to hold the artifact for a few more minutes, but as nothing else seemed to happen, both Henry and Miss Philaxter wrote some findings down in their notebooks.

  "Hmm, tell me, Mister Vansteen. What were you doing at the exact moment the other Catalogue Stone was drained?" the librarian asked when she looked back up from her notebook.

  "Uhm, I was restocking the shelves, like you asked. Then, I had one book left I didn't know the place of, so I grabbed the stone from my pocket to use it on the book. I activated it like you showed me, and that's when I got another headache." Alex answered as he twirled the stone in his hand to look at it from a different angle. Once again, both Henry and Miss Philaxter wrote something down.

  "Thank you, Mister Vansteen. Now, could you try to activate it for us like you did yesterday?" Miss Philaxter said as she grabbed a book from a shelf of her personal collection. As she handed it over to Alex, Henry did his best to get a good look at the book. "This book was another gift from my old boss and belonged to the old library. The Catalogue Stone should still recognize it."

  As requested, Alex held the Catalogue Stone against the book in the same way he had yesterday. And like yesterday, the stone gave off a strange pulse he could feel run from it through his hand and into his body. He pulled the stone away from the book again, and a small orb of light floated out of it. So far, everything had been the same as the day before. That trend continued as the voice scraped at the back of his skull again.

  Partial Power Source depleted.

  Initialization paused at 70%

  The voice ran through his head with more pain than it had earlier, but Alex tried to bite through it so he could see the guiding orb of light disappear this time. It was exactly as he had explained to Miss Philaxter; the orb of light did just fizzle out. Once more, both Henry and the librarian furiously wrote down in their notebooks, though the young Fairy did first look at Alex to make sure he was alright.

  Fillonia was right next to Alex only a moment after the headache started. After making sure he was alright, she ran another Diagnostic Scan over his body. Her hand glowed with a soft green light as she moved it up and down over his body, occasionally stopping at certain parts of him like his heart and stomach. The warmth coming from the green light felt extremely comforting after the pain that came from the voice in his mind.

  "And, Mrs. Fillibaxter, anything unusual in your scan?" Miss Philaxter asked once the green light from Fillonia's hand stopped glowing.

  "It was strange. For a moment there I could feel some mana flowing through his body, but it disappeared again as it started collecting around certain points in his body."

  "Interesting," Miss Philaxter said, again noting something down. "Now, Mister Vansteen, how are you feeling? Do you think your body is up for another experiment?"

  Alex didn't like how the librarian called it an experiment, but he nodded anyway. The initialization percentage of the voice inside his head was steadily progressing, and he was just as curious to know what would happen when it reached one hundred percent as he was scared of it. Having the librarian steadily supplying him with artifacts was the fastest way to get it over with.

  Over the next hour, Alex continued to drain two more minor artifacts of their mana while Miss Philaxter and Henry exchanged notes and Fillonia monitored his health. If they had come to any meaningful discoveries, they hadn't shared them with Alex, or at least not in a form he had understood. From Fillonia he had gathered mana was concentrating in parts of his body before disappearing again, with those points being different each time he drained an artifact. The other two seemed to keep most of their finding to themselves for now.

  Unbeknownst to them, Alex had been keeping a close eye on the initialization percentage of the voice in his head. By now it had reached eighty-eight percent. He figured it would take one or two more artifacts to reach full initialization. Although he wasn't sure if his body would allow him to reach that point today. The headaches had been getting worse and worse, and Fillonia had been noticing that as well. She was already hesitant about draining the last artifact, and Alex doubted she would allow another one today.

  "Alright, we're done for today," Fillonia exclaimed, proving his suspicion. "His headaches have been getting worse, and we don't seem to be getting any closer to getting his network to stabilize." That last part wasn't true. Alex knew exactly how close they were, but had kept that close to himself. "His body needs rest."

  "Fine," Miss Philaxter sighed. Both she and Henry seemed disappointed, but understanding. It wouldn't benefit them if something happened to Alex. "But you better return tomorrow morning, Mister Vansteen. And I hope you will accompany him again, Mister Rixtor. Your insights have been surprisingly valuable." The young Fairy seemed to beam at that compliment.

  "I'll see you tomorrow as well, Annaba. Don't you dare do anything without me." Fillonia said before standing up and heading out.

  "Of course, Fillonia. Your Diagnostic Scan revealed some interesting insights as well." That was the first time Alex had heard the librarian refer to her cousin using her first name, or anyone for that matter. She knew exactly how to placate the healer.