Chapter 4:Lost and Found

When Erin sat down to use the bathroom after spending an achingly long time in the queue for the ladies toilet, she did not expect a large, heavy, leather-bound book to appear inside the stall and land on top of her shoes. But that is what happened, and now she needed to figure out what in the world was going on.

Erin loved The Phantom of the Opera. It was her mother and her grandmother's favorite musical, so she grew up listening to the soundtrack being played on her grandfather's ancient but still trustworthy vinyl, and then later on a CD that somehow still managed to work even after she accidentally stepped on it. Despite her intense lifelong love for the show, she always seemed to miss it when it came into Pittsburgh. She grew up in a tiny, podunk town a few hours from the city, and that drive seemed like a trek to another world that her barely-scraping-by working-class parents could not afford to make. She figured she would have to make due with loudly singing the songs on her commute home from work (despite the fact that Christine is a soprano and Erin most certainly is not).

Erin got her chance, however, when her husband James got a new job and they were able to snag a relatively cheap apartment in the city. It was close to a local college and tended to be loud most of the time, but it was worth it. For the small town girl, having the city at her fingertips was worth the broken vodka bottles on the steps and the occasional naked frat boy skipping down the sidewalk.

The only thing Erin had wanted for her birthday was tickets to the show. Not only did her husband snag two tickets in the center of balcony row A, but her friend Cassie and her husband Adam were able to snatch the two next to them. The couples came downtown early to get a good parking spot, and had spent the Saturday afternoon roaming around and grabbing dinner at a swanky new restaurant that cost enough that James had to put it on the credit card. Erin had worn her brand new black lace dress for the occasion, and sported a matching pair of open-toed gladiator heels that wrapped multiple times across her foot and up her ankle. With her outfit in place and her eyeliner perfectly winged and her program in hand, she was ready. For another surprise, her in-laws had donated money to the theatre in her name, which meant that her name got printed under the donor's section. When she opened page 35 to see "Erin Nomassen-Reid", she squealed loud enough for everyone near her to turn around and her husband to shake his head and pretend he didn't know her.

Erin spent the show with her mouth hanging open in awe, drinking in the lights and the sounds and the general excitement. James had complained of a man loudly chewing gum behind them, but she hadn't noticed. She was thrilled. It was her 27th birthday and everything was going perfectly.

Until intermission, that is.

Erin usually didn't bother using the bathroom at intermission due to the fact that every woman in the theatre would be heading the same direction. However, the swanky restaurant they visited before the show had a equally swanky cocktail list, and she may have had a few too many to keep her bladder in line for Act 2. Cassie, who also had a few cocktails of her own, was having similar bladder trouble, and as soon as the lights came up, the two dashed down the aisle and out into the main area, dodging and weaving around slower-walking people. Despite the speed of their exit, there was still a rather long line when they arrived at the ladies room.

"This is ridiculous," huffed Cassie, brushing a fiery red curl out of her face. "They said they were building new bathrooms, but that was months ago. There are way too many women who take way too long for this to be efficient."

Erin nodded in agreement, readjusting the glasses on her nose. "If this makes me miss even a second of Act 2, I'm going to rage, I swear."

"For. Real. I can see why you love this show so much. It's amazing."

"I told you so," grinned Erin, "and to think, you almost didn't want to go."

Cassie rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah ,I know, and you're going to remind of it every day for the next year."

"I mean," said Erin, shrugging, "you aren't wrong."

By the time the girls got to the front of the line, Erin felt like she was going to explode. She tapped her foot nervously on the black and white tile until a middle-aged blonde woman in a maxi dress toting two small children emerged from the farthest stall in the back left. Wasting no time, Erin flew into the stall and slammed the door, finally feeling the relief of doing her business.

The next thing she felt was something slamming onto her exposed toes, the pain and surprise making her yelp and almost launch herself off of the commode.

"What the actual hell?" she asked out loud. "A book?"

It was indeed a book. A book had appeared in her bathroom stall and landed on her feet. She could see the impact had ripped a chunk of nail off of her big toe, and it looked like there might be blood. When she leaned down to check the status of her toe, something even stranger happened.

The book moved.

Erin jumped again, blinking rapidly. She stood still for a moment, frozen, heart racing, trying to process what she just saw.

"There is now way," she whispered to herself. "I did not just see that. I'm apparently still drunk from dinner."

But then in happened again. The book had shifted itself an inch to the left. Erin backed up against the wall of the bathroom, plastering her body against the heavy metal that separated the stalls. The book wiggled again, shifting back and forth, as if it was trying to get her attention.

"Do you…do you want me to pick you up?" Erin laughed to herself immediately after she spoke. "I'm talking to a book. The book is moving and I'm talking to it. In the bathroom. Because it magically landed on my feet out of nowhere and it's moving around and I'm freaking losing my mind."

Erin delicately tiptoed from around the toilet, gingerly stepping around the book and placing her hand on the latch of the door. Just as she was about to open it, the book flung forward, cracking against her shin. Erin hissed in pain, pulling her leg up to her hip, hands grasping around her ankle.

"Okay, okay, geez, stop."

She bent down, hands trembling, placing her fingers on the worn leather. She lifted it from underneath, slightly underestimating its weight. She balanced it in her arms, tilting it so she could get a better look at it under the light.

The feeling that came over Erin was something she couldn't describe. It was as if the book had heat, and was somehow spreading the heat down her arms and into her torso, snaking down her legs and weaving around her head. The heat wasn't intolerable or painful, but more like the warmth of the sun on a summer's days. Goosebumps rose over the bare skin on her arms and legs, and her hands stopped trembling. The warmth was then replaced by a bolt of static electricity that shot through her system, sending every hair on her body standing straight up and leaving her short of breath. The static feeling wouldn't leave; it was as if tiny sparks were scuttling across her skin. She clutched the book to her chest, terrified and confused and oddly comforted all at the same time, when a sharp knock rattled the bathroom door.

"Erin, are you taking a shit or something?" Cassie's voice broke the spell. "Act 2 starts in five minutes! Let's go!"

Erin unlocked the door and opened it, coming mere inches from Cassie's freckled nose and intense blue eyes.

"Dude, what's your problem, why-" She stopped, seeing the new possession in Erin's arms. "Where did that come from?"

Erin roughly grabbed Cassie by the arm and hastily dragged her out of the bathroom. Erin knew the other women in the bathroom stared at her odd behavior and the giant book now nestled in the crook of her arm, but she didn't care. Instead of walking towards the rest of the theatre, she pulled Cassie into a corner by the donor's circle lounge that was thankfully empty. Cassie yanked her arm out of Erin's grip and rubbed it.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" she hissed. "What's going on? Where did you get the book? Why are you looking around like someone's going to jump you? You look like you've seen a damn ghost."

Erin's green eyes met Cassie's blue ones. "Cass, what I'm going to tell you is not going to make any sort of sense. But you know me, and you know I would never make up something this ridiculous, so you're just going to have to trust me."

Cassie scrunched up her face quizzically and crossed her arms. "You're being really weird, Erin."

Erin finally let the book drop from her protective grip on her chest, exposing its cover to Cassie. Erin, distracted by the book's animation, had barely got a good look at it. It was bound in brown leather, worn and ripped in various places, particularly in the corners. The spine was broken and covered in lines from what seemed to be hundreds of opening and closing motions. The book had no words on the cover to give a hint as to what was inside, only a small amount of embossed filigree trailed along the top and bottom edges. Cassie tilted her head, staring at the book intensely.

"It just…appeared," said Erin in a whisper. "I sat down, peed, and felt something slam onto my foot. I look down, and here it."

"What sort of idiot throws a book at someone in a bathroom?"

"It didn't seem thrown. We would've noticed someone carrying it around, because it's rather obvious looking. I would have heard it slide and it would have hit the tips of my toes. It landed on my feet, like it dropped from above."

"Above?" Cassie snorted. "Books fall from the ceiling in this place now?"

"I told you it sounded crazy."

"Yep, definitely crazy."

"And it's going to get crazier," Erin inhaled and swallowed hard. "Because the damn thing moves."

Cassie let out another one of her trademark snorts. "Moved? Seriously? Erin, I don't get what you're doing. If you're trying to be funny, it's not working."

Erin felt the frustration start to brew inside her. "I'm not joking, Cass." Her whisper came out harsher. "It freaking moved. Not just once, a couple of times. I tried to walk around it because I was completely freaked the hell out, and it wouldn't let me."

"Wouldn't let you?"

"It smacked me in the damn shin. Hurt like a bitch, too."

Erin grabbed Cassie's hand and gripped it tightly. "Cass, I swear to you and god and every god of every religion on this stupid planet, the book moved. Then, when I picked it up, I felt something. It was like it…shocked me. Like an electrical shock almost, but it didn't hurt. It…felt…good?...I don't really know how to describe this…it's all so nuts but its true…there's something up with this freaking book and it just showed up and I can't seem to put it down…."

Cassie immediately let go of Erin's hand. She looked back and forth from Erin's desperate expression and book. Finally, after her eyes settled on the book for a white, her hands shot forward and grabbed onto the book. Erin immediately latched onto it tighter.

"What the hell, Cass?"

"This needs to go. You are losing your damn mind. Get rid of it!"

The two girls had death grips on each end of the book, attempting to pull it out of the other's hands with all of their might. Back and forth and back and forth, they fought over possession of the book like two unruly toddlers.

"LET IT GO."

"THIS BOOK IS WEIRD, ERIN. GET RID OF IT."

"YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND. IT NEEDS ME!"

"NEEDS YOU?! THAT'S IT!" Cassie growled, and with one final pull, removed the book from Erin's grip. In her anger and haste, she lost her own grip on the book, sending it soaring into the air and onto its impending smash onto the floor.

Only, the book did not make it to the floor. Instead, it floated. The book stayed at midriff level of both girls, hovering in mid air plain as day, wavering back and forth slightly as if it was trying to balance itself. Cassie's eyes grew to the size of saucers.

"Holy shit, it's floating. The book is floating."

Erin's eyes were also huge, but she somehow was not as surprised as she though she'd be.

"It has a mind of it's own, I told you. Now do you believe me?"

Cassie, slack-jawed, said nothing but managed a small nod.

"Um….what exactly is happening?"

Erin and Cassie whipped around to see their husbands, James and Adam, looking equally as confused as they did, eyes locked on the floating book. As if it noticed the two men and didn't want to be seen, the book immediately flew back into Erin's arms with enough force to knock her a step backward. It knocked the breath out of her, and she fumbled before getting a good grip on it.

James stepped forward, sharing the confused expression with the others.

"Please tell me I didn't just see what I thought I saw?"

"Nope, you did," replied Cassie, finally able to close her jaw. "Erin got attacked by a weird haunted book in the bathroom and decided to take it with her."

"It's not haunted! It's…um…well…"

There was a sudden fervor of motion and noise coming from the lobby of the theatre. The two couples looked at each other and then left the corner, investigating the new sudden noise. Fancy-dressed people were running through the lobby, tugging on the hands of children ("who freaking brings children to this show?" Erin had angrily exclaimed) and clomping heavily on tall stiletto heels. James and Adam subconsciously positioned themselves in front of the girls, arms out protectively.

Something bad was happening.

The soldiers flew in a moment later. Erin wasn't sure if they were soldiers, but they were all wearing the same emerald green pants and matching jacket , adorned with gold patches down the front and a gold arm band. The band said something on it, but Erin couldn't see what it was. They were about ten of them give or take, tearing through the lobby as if they were looking for something. It took Erin a second to realize why people were running; each one of the men was brandishing a dark brown shotgun.

The four ducked back into their corner, James and Adam pressing the girls into the wall. Erin felt her heart begin to race as the sounds of footsteps and running gave way to shouts and high-pitched screams. Cassie had a death grip on Adam's arm.

"Oh my god, what the hell?" whispered Cassie frantically. "What is going on? Who are they? What's happening?"

"Cass, shhh," said Adam. "None of us know."

"Well no shit, Sherlock, it was a rhetorical question."

"Cass!"

Erin, distracted by the frenzy just around the corner, realized that the book was no longer sitting still, pressed against her chest. It was vibrating in short spurts, almost matching the trembling of her hands. She relaxed her arms, pulling the book away from her, but it shoved itself back against her chest, not wanting her to let go.

That's when it dawned on her.

"The book."

"Erin, stop talking."

"It's the book."

"Erin-"

"LISTEN TO ME!" Erin hissed in the loudest whisper possible. Three faces turned to her.

"It's the book. They're after the book."

"How do you know?" asked Cassie. "Does it talk now?"

Erin repeated her last motion, letting her arms go loose so her husband and friends could watch it fling itself back against her. This time, it hit with enough force for her to let out a small "oof".

"See, it doesn't want me to let it go. I had been carrying it around fine until they showed up. It's like…it's scared or something." The book made another shivering motion.

"Whoever these guys are," continued Erin, "they want this book and this book does not want them to have it."

"What's in this book anyway?" asked Adam. "What could be so important that they're raiding the theatre to get it?"

"Um…I haven't actually opened it yet."

Cassie gave her friend a death stare.

"Are you serious right now? The haunted book fell on you and is basically attached to you but you never thought to OPEN IT"

"Look," Erin replied indignantly, "this has all been happening very fast and I've never got the chance to do so."

"Well do it," Cassie gestured to the book. "Open it. Let's see what's so important about it."

The book had stopped shaking at this point, so Erin felt safe enough to open the front cover. James, Adam, and Cassie all crowded around it, foreheads almost touching, wondering what exactly could be in this strange book.

Erin quickly flipped through a few pages. The pages were a beige color, yellowed at the edges, bearing various forms of writing. Each page was in different, as if several people had written in it. All of the writing was in ink, some black, some blue, some an eerie shade of garnet. Some of the writing was block lettered and chunky, others in painstakingly beautiful looped cursive, and others almost illegible, as if scribbled down in a hurry. Erin had trouble deciphering some of the text, even when the handwriting was neat. Many of the pages were in English, but some of them were in a very old style of English, much like Shakespearian dialogue, and others were in Latin. There were even Pages that were impossible to make out, in a language very strange and foreign. Small doodles accompanied some pages, tiny inked pictures of herbs and bottles and diagrams scrolling up and down the empty margins.

Erin felt the static feeling in her fingertips again, and it grew with each page that she turned. The others cocked their heads quizzically, mumbling here and there.

"This is the weirdest thing I've ever seen," remarked Adam after some time, running his hands through his short afro. "It's like it's someone's journal."

"More like a bunch of people's journals," added James. "All the writing is different. And The drawings remind me of the ones I used to add to my science notes."

"Wait, wait," Cassie stopped Erin's methodical flipping. "Let me read this."

The page she stopped on was written in black ink, splattered in places here and there. The handwriting was almost impossible to read, but it was laid out like a recipe with instructions. The only legible part of the page was the title, which Cassie decided to read out loud:

"Spell for Invisibility"

The four froze for a brief moment, until Erin felt it click.

"The book isn't haunted," she said. "It's magic. It's a spell book. Those soldiers are after this spell book and it somehow came to me."

"Spell book? Do you realize how insane this sounds?" remarked Adam.

"How else would you explain it floating then?" retorted his wife.

"I have no idea, but spells and magic aren't real!"

"Well it's either magic or it's haunted, and I'd rather not be possessed by some demon tonight!"

"Why do you think it came to you, Erin?" asked James, ignoring the other couple's argument. "Why do you have it?"

Erin shrugged. "I honestly have no idea. I get more confused by the second."

Just then, a piercing scream echoed through the lobby. The sound of rough male voices, shouting, began to get louder and louder, closer and closer. The four made eye contact.

"There's an emergency exit around the corner and behind us," said James quickly. "When I say go, we run. Don't wait, don't look back, just run, got it?"

A few panicked nods greeted him in reply, and with a short wave of his hand, and the four took off, shooting around the corner and bolting at breakneck speed down the dimly-lit hall to the metal door with bright red EXIT above it. The burst through the door, the boys slightly ahead due to their longer legs. Erin was glad she wore the gladiator shoes, for they gripped her ankles and kept her balance, while she knew Cassie was thanking the gods that she wore flats that day.

The four descended rapidly down multiple flights of steps, twisting and turning down a gray and dim stairwell until they finally shot out of the back of the theatre and into the alley. They were met with the darkness of the night, the sound of traffic and the intense smell of garbage. Gasping, they leaned against the brick, trying to catch their breath before they made their next move.

Before they could get a chance to think, they came face to face with a frightened looking blonde girl in a torn blue dress.