I tried to smell my fingers but there wasn't anything unusual. I tried to wipe my fingers on the white paper but the colours were stuck to my fingers. But when I stroked both my hands to get off that black colour, there was a sudden rise of heat. When I separated my palms, my eyes widened. My jaws almost touched the ground. The sensation of the rising heat vanished. My palms weren't burning even if they held a bright fire orb. The crystal was bright red in the middle and gradually faded into an overblown yellow towards its circumference. I was frozen. I couldn't move, my eyes were fixed on the fireball I held.

"Ma-Maureen, yo-you ha-had su-su-superpowers!!!" Trevor stammered. "This is getting interesting..." Remora gasped. I came back to my senses when two of them shook me by my shoulders. "Maureen!!!! Are you okay?" Trevor inquired. "Y-ye-yeah, I am fine," I replied, stuttering a bit. "How did you do this, Maureen? This is so cool," Remora interrogated with amazement. "I don't know, it just happened. I mean I never-" I was interrupted by a frown on Trevor's face. "What's wrong, Trev?" I asked, still bearing the fireball. "Your eyes..." he mumbled. "What happened to my eyes? I don't feel any difference. Tell me," I questioned. "Your eyes are glowing, Maureen," Remora answered as if it was too obvious. "What, what is happening with me!!!" I gasped and suddenly the lights in the book store started flickering violently. We could hear the chaos outside. Just then there was a series of terrifying thunderbolts outside the mall and it all became dark.

"What in the freaking hell is happening today!!!" Trevor yelled. "Calm down, Trev '' Remora stated patting Trevor's back. I wasn't listening to either of them. I closed my eyes to process everything that happened. I could feel the tiredness in my hands and the pain which was gradually engulfing me. When I opened my eyes, I saw the veins of my arms were prominent now. The mysterious book lied beneath my palms and there was something strange in it. Before the lights went off, the page was completely white. Not a single dot was visible on it. When I looked closer, I was staggered.

"Guys...guys.." I spoke as my voice increased with progress in every letter. Both of them stared at me with confused looks on their golden faces. I gestured for them to look into the book. "Hang on!!! What is it? It wasn't there before," Remora remarked. "Exactly, that's what I am trying to say," I responded. "Maureen, go a little farther from the book," Trevor ordered. "Why?" I protested. "Just for a minute," he insisted. I nodded and moved away from the book. He took out his phone, switched on the flashlight, and showed it towards the book's particular page. "Just what I thought," he smirked. "Look, the page is empty now," he pointed towards the spotless page. "Now Maureen, hold your fireball over the book," he commanded, keeping his phone back in his pocket. I did what he said and got a second wave of astonishment. The page wasn't empty anymore. "This means, the page reveals the texts only when kept under the light emitted by Maureen's fireball. This, in turn, means, in some way, Maureen is the owner of the book," Remora concluded. Trevor and I exchanged convincing looks at each other.

"Well, let's see, what does this page have to say," Trevor said, trying to read the text. "Ughh, I am not able to read it," he complained. "Illiterate" Remora huffed. "Whatever!!" Trevor mumbled.

"It says,

'There's a way to the immortal realm

right, where you are.

Get to the other side of the wood,

and you will be guided by the stars.' "

Remora read the whole thing and squinted at us. "What?" Trevor asked. "It says there's a way, right here. Where could it be?" she said, biting her lips. "I don't have any idea," Trevor replied. "Maybe, beneath this ground!!" Remora exclaimed. "Or maybe, in these bookshelves," Trevor added. They carried on with their discussions while everything got blurred for me. My head was banging and I felt weird. Their voices faded away merging with the background. A strange feeling of fatigue grew over me and all I could remember is that my head rested on Trevor's shoulder and darkness crept in.

A/N

To be continued.

Hola wonderful mates!!! I hope all of you are fit and fine. So here's the ninth chapter. I hope you all liked it. So what did happen to Maureen? What will happen next? Will they be able to solve the riddles? They hadn't solved one and another riddle barged in? Why is it all happening? Is there anything big behind all these? Will Maureen be able to dig out the truth?

Can you people help Maureen and her friends to solve the riddles? Comment down what those two riddles mean.

Tell me in the comments about your ideas. If you liked the chapter, then hit that star. Maybe that star could lead Maureen and her friends their way. ;) LOVE. LOVE<3

Yours innocent-not writah :P
~Nick~