Prelude

Hope used Uncertainty to return to the Rose Garden.

He muttered to himself:

So the shadow used my mana... No, it would be more accurate to say its mana came to reside in me. After all, I used to have no mana... Now that my mana has returned to zero, will it recover on its own over time, or is it disposable, gone once it's used up?

Hmm, the shadow was most likely unintelligent, but it might have had sight, since it only reacted after the Steel Pen was taken out of the newspaper.

Unfortunately, the shadow could only cast its spell when both conditions were met: the Night Hawk's call and the Steel Pen. That made it far less useful.

The spell could have a miraculous effect in certain situations. If I could trigger it at will, it would be very useful to me.

Hope tried to imitate the sound the shadow had made, as he remembered it, but no matter what he did, he couldn't produce anything similar.

It seemed impossible to learn the spell by imitation. That sound simply wasn't something a human could make.

Hope reassembled the Steel Pen. He was sure that only its body had affected the shadow, but he needed to put it back together so the pen could still be used.

He wrapped the entire pen in newspaper and hid it among the roses beside the cellar.

Hope didn't return to Whateley House immediately. Instead, he took another path, one that led to Paul's house.

He had planned to check out the area around Paul's house yesterday, expanding the range in which he could use Uncertainty instead of limiting himself to running between the Rose Garden and Whateley House. But the Night Hawk and the shadow had caused an unexpected delay.

As he crossed the woods, the Night Hawk called again. Hope simply emptied his mind and focused on walking forward.

Only when the ivy-covered house where Paul lived came into view did Hope remember that the shadow hadn't appeared.

...Was it because his mana had dropped to zero?

Hope didn't spend too long thinking about it.

He found a spot as secluded as possible to serve as his base—a space enclosed by a huge boulder and two shrubs.

It was a patch of wasteland a short distance from Paul's house. The boulder conveniently blocked Hope from view of the house, while the two shrubs shielded his back. Wild grass and vines surrounded the spot. It was an ideal place for Hope to use Uncertainty, one where almost no one would appear.

Apart from a few thorns on the shrubs, the place had no real drawbacks.

All the lights in Paul's house had gone out. Hope suddenly remembered Paul saying he was leaving for North Oak State in three days to register for school. Counting it up, that meant tomorrow.

It was only June... Did the universities here start so early?

He wondered if they had military training at university here... Probably not... What a pity.

Hope returned to his room.

Hope felt someone pick him up. Still bleary-eyed, he hadn't yet figured out what was happening when he saw Wilbur's hideously ugly face.

Had... his little tricks been discovered? Hope concealed his panic and waited for Wilbur to speak first.

Wilbur used a key to unlock Hope's handcuffs. "Get dressed quickly. You're moving to another room."

"Another room?" Hope froze. He looked at the small window. The stars were bright outside. With Wilbur here, he couldn't check his pocket watch, but it clearly wasn't dawn yet. "Now?"

"Right now." Wilbur nodded. "Stop dawdling. Hurry up!"

Hope didn't know what was going on, but Wilbur looked ferocious, and his already ugly face was even more frightening. So Hope obediently did as he was told.

He followed Wilbur as he opened the door. The corridor outside shimmered with light. The Transparent Monster had been occupying it for quite some time.

"Get back!" Wilbur ordered.

But this time, the Transparent Monster didn't obey. It merely made way for Wilbur and Hope, opening a passage wide enough for one person to pass through instead of retreating fully into the room.

Wilbur didn't order it again. He pulled Hope along the passage toward the stairs, with the Transparent Monster's body surrounding them—even across the ceiling.

Hope looked back. As soon as he left the room, the Transparent Monster surged through the doorway. Its waterlike body churned into a raging current.

He grabbed Wilbur.

"My book is still inside!" he said to Wilbur.

He meant Common Herb Collection. He had his pocket watch with him, and he had copied Number Four Hope's message many times and hidden the copies away. The contract paper and Steel Pen were both at Old Whateley's house. Only this book was still in his room.

"Forget about it!"

"But..."

Wilbur forcibly dragged Hope along. "Get outside first. Once that thing calms down, I'll help you get it back. It doesn't like eating books."

Hope nodded. He knew that insisting now would only get Wilbur to carry him downstairs, and the Transparent Monster did seem to be acting strangely. Going back in recklessly might be dangerous.

After they came down from the second floor, Wilbur seemed to calm down somewhat.

"What's wrong with that thing?" Hope asked.

Wilbur didn't answer. Hope knew he didn't want to talk about it, so he changed the subject. "Where's my new room?"

"Outside," Wilbur said, leading Hope out through the front door.

Outside, Hope saw Lavinia driving two cows.

He had heard the cows mooing on his first day here, so he had always known Whateley House raised them. Now he finally saw them.

"Where are you taking them?" Hope asked.

"To..."

"You need to hurry, Lavinia!" Wilbur cut her off as soon as she started to speak. It was obvious there were things he didn't want Hope to know.

But Hope still caught a glimpse of what was happening. After he and Wilbur left, he vaguely saw Lavinia drive the two cows into the house.

The cows bellowed as if they didn't want to go inside, but Lavinia whipped them from behind.

"They look scared," Hope said.

Wilbur said nothing.

"Do you think they'll try to run? Lavinia's all by herself. Are you sure you don't need to go help her?" Hope continued.

"She can handle it," Wilbur finally said.

He led Hope to a separate little house. Hope almost thought it was an outhouse, but when Wilbur opened the door, he saw that it was a storage room.

Unlike Old Williams's storage room, where he kept old newspapers, Whateley House's storage room seemed to have been abandoned for some time. Rusty saws and hammers lay inside.

"You'll be staying here from now on," Wilbur said.

"But there isn't even a bed."

"There'll be one tomorrow..." Wilbur didn't get to finish. A gloomy, low growl interrupted him.

"Ah-ee-yah-yah-yah—"

As if a bucket had sprung a leak, the window in Hope's old room shattered. The Transparent Monster's waterlike body poured out through it, making that strange sound as it moved in the direction the window faced. Its movement was just like flowing water.

"Damn it!" Wilbur said.

He hurried out of the room, remembering to lock the door behind him.

Hope leaned against the window and looked outside. The Transparent Monster didn't stop.

He froze, then suddenly realized that it was heading toward Paul's house.