The book was called “The Ruin’d Tower” by C.T. Merritt. It was the only book in this section I’d never heard of. I was tempted to look it up on my phone, but was filled with longing to touch the book itself.

Carefully, reverently, I took the book off the shelf and opened it. A cloud of old book dust, my favorite smell in the world, flew up in the air. The price was written on the endpapers: forty dollars. Not bad at all with the discount, but I’d already spent two times the book budget I’d set this month. And of course my apartment barely had room for any more. I sighed in exasperation, hoping it would be a disappointment.

The frontispiece was a magnificent Art Deco illustration showing the ruins of a magnificent building amid empty and desolate woods. A large full moon loomed above. A robed figure stood beneath it, pointing in the distance at something that was not shown.

Underneath the title there was a message written in an elegant hand. It read:

“Callie. Look behind you.”