She didn't know how long she had been standing out there. Probably a few minutes at most. But it sure felt longer before her brother opened the door again.

"Found what looks like a library or at least a decent collection of books. Might find some useful ones." Matt blinked before frowning slightly. He approached Pidge and wrapped his arms around her. "Hey, I'm sorry for dropping such a bombshell and walking off like that. I should have been more tactful about that." He felt his sister hug back. "It's just old news I had already come to accept so…your brother had a dumb moment."

Pidge faintly snickered. "Well, guess I can forgive you for it." She smiled as she said that. She pulled back from him and looked at him. "You have any idea why it happened? Did he tell you?"

Matt sighed and glanced off to the side. "He told me he didn't want to. But his hand was forced." He looked down at his own hand. "I've been studying what I can, and I think it is related to the Crimson Sacrifice Ritual. There are mentions of twins being used as the sacrifice to quell the Abyss. Why they used twins, let alone who was picked to kill the other, I'm still looking into that." He turned his head towards the room he had come from. "But considering the pressing matters at hand, the research has had to be put on the back burner somewhat."

"Right." Pidge lightly punched Matt's arm. "But you will tell me when you know right?"

Matt rubbed his arm before chuckling. "Yeah, I will. Scout's honor." He grinned. "We better head to that room though. Figured you would be annoyed if I left you to scour all that knowledge alone."

"You bet you are right there." Pidge followed her brother through the unfamiliar room. It looked to be a room with an altar and two seating cushions in front of it. She presumed that was what this room was anyway. With how neither of them lingered, she could only guess. The next room though definitely appeared to be a library-esque place with bookcases lining all the walls. There was a staircase that lead up, but she definitely paid more attention to the condition of the books.

Some of them appeared to be rotting away just by the looks of them. Bindings tearing off and the smell of mustiness in the air. She approached one of the bookshelves and glanced over all the books there. While she didn't dare to touch some for fear of them falling apart, she dared to take one off the shelf. Unfortunately, the writing inside had smudged and faded with age. "Dangit." She muttered as she put the book back up.

She saw her brother checking out books from another bookcase. She assumed he was having as much luck as herself. Then, she pulled out a book and saw writing she could actually read. "Hey Matt! Find anything useful over there? I think I found something in this book." She adjusted her glasses while skimming the pages. "Something about the Unleashing and the Mirror of Loss."

"Oh! The book I found has mentions of a Mirror of Loss. Could be the same thing. What does yours say about it?"

Pidge looked down at the book and this time read the book carefully. "The priestess' pain shall be reflected in the Mirror of Loss." She shrugged. "That's the only mention of the Mirror in this book, but I think this Unleashing is connected to what is going on." She poked at one of the pages. "It says the Rift that will spill forth will pass through dreams into the world. Before that, it says this would happen only if the tattoos should enter her eyes and the priestess awakens."

"Well dang. Could be what is going on. Though wonder what would cause the priestess to awaken? Or for the tattoos to go into her eyes?" Matt groaned. "Never thought I would be saying that."

He focused back on his own book. "Wait, maybe this book does answer my own question? Geez shows how much I paid attention. Mentions she has to shatter the mirror that would be a reflection of her pain as a way of casting off her love. After she does this, she will take the last passage and then sleep eternally in the Chamber of Thorns."

Pidge blinked and glanced between Matt's book and hers. "Wait, my book mentions the Rift will spill out from a Chamber of Thorns."

"Then this Chamber of Thorns must normally act as a way to keep the Rift at bay along with the sleeping priestess?" Matt tilted his head. "Seems either way we will need to find a way to check it out." He put the book in his bag. "Might as well keep these for future reference. Let's see if we can find anything else useful."

"Sounds like a plan." She put the book into her own satchel and rummaged through more of the books. The two ending up finding a couple of more useful books. One mentioned the art of the tattoos and how they were to be put on the priestess. Another mentioned what would happen if a tattooed priestess could not fulfill her duty of sleeping for eternity. A peculiar book stuck out to Pidge in that it talked about purification.

"Think this blue flame will cause everything around here to feel less…dense?" She still didn't like everything being in black and white. Let alone the feeling like the air was trying to smoother her.

"If it does, we would have to find it first." After he said that, they heard crying coming from upstairs. "Well…guess we got no choice but to check it out." Matt sighed loudly. "Even though I don't want to."

Pidge scowled. "As if I want to either. But come on, let's get it over with."

The two headed up the stairs. "Let me take lead just in case." Matt mentioned and went around Pidge. He stood at the top of the stairs. Pidge watched her brother slowly walk around the divider and take a photo using his camera. She finished climbing the stairs only when it appeared her brother wasn't fighting any ghosts.

"Huh. Found a candle with a blue flame of all things." Matt came back around the divider and showed Pidge. "Is this really-" He cut himself off as they both witnessed the black and white around them quickly moving away from them. As if the lack of color itself was a substance and not something intangible. "Holy cow!"

Pidge looked at her brother and could actually see the brown of his hair and eyes that matched her own. "Thank goodness. That really was weird."

"You bet." Matt looked at the candle. "But don't think it will last forever." He handed the burning stick to Pidge. "Keep it safe. We'll need it for as long as it burns."

"Right." Pidge kept a hand nearby the flame to keep any sudden gusts of air from blowing it out. Though the flame itself appeared to be unwavering, as if not sensing any movement at all. Guess a supernatural flame didn't have to quite obey the laws of normal fire. They walked towards the only door on that floor and noticed they were now on the roof of the building.

"You know, I could go all day on how this really doesn't make any bit of sense." Matt shook his head. "But I feel I would be preaching to a choir that already agrees with me."

Pidge laughed. "Yeah, true." She followed her brother and blinked. "But if we could make that jump, maybe there would be a way inside the locked building." She pointed to the gap between the buildings. "Doesn't look too big."

"Yeah, we probably could with a running start." Matt grinned at her. "Ready?"

Pidge nodded. "Ready!" She yelled and the two rushed towards the edge. They jumped at the last second. That was when they knew they had made a bit of a mistake.

The running start hadn't been quite needed.

They both landed on the other roof. While Pidge was able to stop her own momentum, barely, she cringed at Matt crashing into the part of the roof.

"You okay there, Matt?"

Matt made some noises, like he was saying ouch, as he pried himself off the roof. "Yeah…couldn't be better." He gave a thumbs up. "At least our dream selves don't seem to bleed or anything. Otherwise pretty sure my nose would be bleeding." He rubbed the bridge of his nose gently. "Let's hope that doesn't happen again."

"Yeah." Pidge snickered right before the two started moving slowly across the rooftop. Surprisingly, or maybe not surprisingly with how this place was oddly laid out, there were double doors into the building on the roof. The two entered the building through those double doors. The room was pretty sparse with a bookcase of note on the other side of the room. She did notice what appeared to be a way down to the level below.

"Guess that way" Pidge pointed, and Matt nodded.

"Only way, right?" Matt headed towards the ladder and climbed down. Pidge followed after. The two of them paled at realizing all they had beneath their feet were wooden beams. While there was a room below them with what appeared to be an alter of sorts, there was still a bit of drop between them and the wooden floor before. "Great. Just great. Better be good at balancing." Pidge snorted. "Or else we might become smears on the floor."

"Really? Didn't need that image Katie." Matt huffed. "We'll be fine though. Just got to be careful."

Pidge nodded. Slowly, she took the lead in this case and started across the wooden beams that crisscrossed each other and sometimes ended up in dead ends. She could tell they needed to get to the ladder that was on the other side from them. If they could get to that ladder, they would be okay. As they traversed the strange maze, Pidge looked towards the alter.

She noticed behind the alter was what appeared to be a room closed off by a golden slightly see through cloth. She thought she could see a door inside the area. But with how it was hard to see through the fabric, she wasn't quite sure. She did hear what sounded like some racket and was sure she was seeing figures inside. Who they were though…she could only assume more ghostly residents.

"We got company." She whispered and gestured towards the sectioned off area.

Matt scowled. "Welp, at least I got a heads up this time." He took out his camera as the two finally made it to the leader. Carefully Pidge climbed down the ladder followed by Matt. Pidge headed towards the alter and noticed what appeared to be an empty slot for a hand mirror. Was this where the Mirror of Loss was put? She didn't have much time to figure that out before two ghosts appeared nearby.

Two women who had no shirts on and long robes covering their lower halves. Pidge tensed and had her eyes widened at what looked to be clothes around their eyes and forehead. But it was the ropes that were threaded through their eyes that made her stomach churn. "What the world?" She quickly got out of the way the best she could, moving herself towards the closed off area.

Matt lifted his camera. It was annoying to deal with one ghost, let alone both. He had to quickly move around in the sense of turning himself around 360 to take a picture of one and dodged the other. Luckily, Pidge did yell when she saw one trying to sneak up behind him. He quickly had to backstep to keep himself from getting hugged by one of the women. He quickly noticed the bared spikes on and in her hands. What had happened to these women, or had their ghostly selves gotten distorted?

He hoped for the latter for their sake. Because if not…that meant their eyes were blinded in such a manner while alive.

He gasped and gritted his teeth when one of those spikes hit his arm. Once again, no blood. But the pain definitely shot through his arm. He quickly jumped back slightly and then took another photo. He never liked to hear the screams of the ghosts. What else was he supposed to do though? Let the ghosts have a piece of him? Sure, if these ladies were good looking and not trying to kill him, he would consider it. Just not with these spiky ladies!

Slowly, but surely though, the camera continued to cause damage to the female ghosts. He never could see the damage for sure. It wasn't like they gained wounds or anything as a result. He just continued their cries of agony. Though it was always easy to tell when he must have dispelled them for now. They sometimes gripped their heads as if in pain. Most of the time though, they moved back as if heavily pushed and then just quickly disappear. Sometimes with a parting word or two.

This time, he watched as the ghosts fell forward onto their knees and slowly lowering their arms to the ground. Maybe in an attempt to offer a prayer? He couldn't be sure since they said no words. Just cries of pain. He frowned at that. "That will hopefully be something I don't get used to." He put up the camera. "Should be safe now Katie!"

Pidge nodded and moved away from the closed off area. "Looks like we can't get in there. I tried the one side and it is locked."

Matt nodded. "Double check the other side while I unlock the double doors."

Pidge headed to the other side and found the same result. While the entrance into the area was no conventional door, there was still some lock mechanism. Something keeping it in place. She glared. "Stupid weird locking mechanisms." She couldn't see any conventional keyholes or even talismans. So what was keeping the doors locked?

"Got the double doors open. Leads back to the area we first saw each other."

"Good to know." She moved away and caught up with her brother. "We'll need to figure out a way to get that area opened."

Matt nodded before blinking a bit. "Think it's about time though."

"Time for what?"

Was all the chance she got to say before everything went blinding white.

Only when she woke up did she realize that Matt meant their time in the manor of sleep. She frowned and looked down at her hands. "To think we really are in this together…." She looked at her room door. "I never wanted you involved, Matt." She wrapped her arms around herself.

She could only hope her brother, like herself, had been spared from the tattoo priestess and her curse. But she couldn't be so sure.