Prelude

Hope used Uncertainty to return to the Rose Garden.

He muttered to himself:

So the shadow uses my mana... no, rather, its mana came to me, since I never had mana before... Now the mana is back to zero. Will it recover over time, or is it a one-time use, gone once spent?

Hmm, the shadow likely has no intelligence, but it might have vision, because it only reacted when the pen was taken out of the newspaper.

Too bad the shadow's spell requires both the Night Hawk's cry and the pen to activate, which makes it very impractical.

This spell could be incredibly useful in certain situations. If I could trigger it actively, it would be a great asset to me.

Hope tried to mimic the sound the shadow had made, based on his memory, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't produce anything similar.

It seems impossible to learn the spell through imitation. That sound wasn't something a human could make.

Hope reassembled the pen. He could confirm that only the pen body affected the shadow, but since it had to be this way for the pen to remain usable, he wrapped the entire pen in newspaper and hid it among the rose bushes by the cellar.

Hope didn't return to Whateley House immediately. Instead, he walked along another path—the one leading to Paul's house.

He had planned to check out the area around Paul's house yesterday, to expand the range where Uncertainty could be used, instead of being limited to shuttling between the Rose Garden and Whateley House. The incident with the Night Hawk and the shadow had delayed him.

As he passed through the woods, the Night Hawk's cry sounded again. Hope simply emptied his mind and let his body walk forward.

When Paul's ivy-covered house came into view, Hope suddenly realized—the shadow hadn't appeared.

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

Hope didn't waste much time thinking about it.

He found a spot as hidden as possible to use as his base—a space enclosed by a large boulder and two bushes.

This was a patch of wasteland a short distance from Paul's house. The boulder perfectly blocked Hope from view of Paul's house, while the two bushes covered his back. Surrounded by weeds and vines, it was a good place where almost no one would show up, ideal for Hope to use Uncertainty.

Aside from some thorns on the bushes, there were no drawbacks here.

By now, all the lights in Paul's house were out. Hope suddenly remembered that Paul had said he would leave for North Oak State to register for school in three days. Counting the days, that should be tomorrow.

It's only June... Do universities here start so early?

I wonder if universities here have military training... Probably not... What a shame.

Hope returned to his room.

Hope felt someone grab him. Bleary-eyed and still not fully awake, he saw Wilbur's hideous face.

This is... Hope thought his little secret had been discovered. He masked his panic and waited for Wilbur to speak first.

Wilbur used a key to unlock Hope's handcuffs: "Get dressed quickly. You're changing rooms."

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

"Right now." Wilbur nodded. "Don't dawdle. Hurry up!"

Hope didn't know what was happening, but Wilbur's face was twisted with rage, making his already ugly features even more terrifying. So Hope obediently did as he was told.

He followed behind Wilbur, watching as Wilbur opened the door. The hallway outside was awash with flowing light, and the Transparent Monster had been lurking there for some time.

"Get back!" Wilbur ordered.

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

Wilbur didn't give another order. He pulled Hope along through the passage toward the stairs. The Transparent Monster's body surrounded them, even covering the ceiling.

Hope looked back and saw that as soon as he left the room, the Transparent Monster surged in through the doorway, its watery body churning like a torrent.

He grabbed Wilbur.

He said to Wilbur, "My book is still in there!"

He was referring to Common Herb Collection. The pocket watch was on him. He had made multiple copies of Number Four Hope's message and hidden them. The contract paper and the pen were both at Old Whateley's house. Only this book was still in the room.

"Forget about it!"

"But..."

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

Hope nodded, knowing that insisting further would only get him carried downstairs by Wilbur. Besides, the Transparent Monster really did seem off. Rushing back in might be dangerous.

After coming down from the second floor, Wilbur was noticeably calmer.

"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 question: "Where's my new room?"

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

Outside, Hope saw Lavinia. She was driving two oxen.

Hope had heard the oxen bellowing since his first day here, so he had always known the Whateleys raised cattle. Now he finally saw them.

"Where are you taking them?" Hope asked.

"To..."

"You need to hurry, Lavinia!" Lavinia had barely opened her mouth when Wilbur cut her off—clearly, there were things he didn't want Hope to know.

But Hope still caught a glimpse. He vaguely saw that after he and Wilbur left, Lavinia drove the two cows into the house.

The cows bellowed, unwilling to go inside, but Lavinia lashed them from behind with a whip.

"They look terrified," Hope said.

Wilbur said nothing.

"Don't you think they might try to run? Lavinia's all alone—are you sure you don't need to help her?" Hope pressed on.

"She can handle it," Wilbur finally said.

He led Hope to a small, standalone building. Hope almost thought it was an outhouse, but when Wilbur opened the door, Hope saw it was a storage shed.

Unlike Old Williams's shed full of old newspapers, the Whateley House storage room seemed long abandoned, with rusty saws and hammers inside.

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

"But there's not even a bed."

"There'll be one tomorrow..." Wilbur didn't finish. His words were cut off by a low, ominous howl.

"Ah-ee-yah-yah-yah—"

Like a bucket springing a leak, the window of Hope's original room shattered. The Transparent Monster's water-like body flowed out through the window, making that strange sound, advancing in the direction the window faced. Its movement was just like flowing water.

"Damn it!" Wilbur said.

He hurried out of the room, not forgetting to lock the door behind him.

Hope pressed his face to the window and looked out. He saw the Transparent Monster didn't stop.

He froze, then suddenly realized—that was the direction of Paul's house.