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Sage smiled, though her heart had started a strange, frantic rhythm. "Most of the books in here technically shouldn't exist, according to the modern world."

"I’m looking for something specific," Rome said, his voice a low rumble. "A book that isn't supposed to exist."

He didn't laugh. Instead, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, charred coin. "My family has a legend about a map hidden in a story about a bear that couldn't sleep. They say your aunt kept it safe."

Outside, the wind picked up, howling through the Ravenwood trees, and for the first time in her life, Sage Reed felt like she was exactly where she was meant to be—right in the middle of a story she hadn't yet learned how to end.

"It’s not just a map, is it?" she whispered, the air around them suddenly tasting like ozone.

As Sage reached for the coin, her fingers brushed his. A spark, bright and sharp, leapt between them. In that instant, the bookstore's humming grew into a roar. The books on the shelves began to glow with a faint, pulsing light, and the shadows in the corners of the room stretched and shifted, taking on the forms of creatures that definitely weren't human.

Rome shook his head, his gaze locked on hers. "It’s a key. And it looks like you’re the only one who can turn it."

It happened on a Tuesday, just as the sun was dipping behind the jagged peaks of the nearby mountains. A man walked in, his presence immediately making the narrow aisles feel smaller. He was Rome Baker, a local with eyes that seemed to hold the same deep, restless energy as the surrounding woods.