It is a dark, chilly Tuesday morning when we finally find the book.

Kris and I were sifting through the children’s books again (by this time they had been properly reshelved), when he finally exclaimed, “Hana! I think I got it!”

I rushed over to his side and stared at the book sitting on the floor in front of him. To the unwary eye the book seemed completely normal; small, black, with an almost scaly- looking cover. However, the fact that its pages were literally pulsing with chi made the book very out of the ordinary. Even worse was the fact that the chi in the book was identical to the same kind of power that Kado monsters radiated.

“This book... is pure evil,” Kris breathes, running a finger down its spine. A shudder passes through his body and he quickly withdraws his hand.

“What is it doing in the Spring Valley Library? And in the children’s section of all places?” I wonder.

Kris shakes his head. “This book was probably placed here to try to corrupt the minds of little children. Impressions placed on minds at a small age usually leave the biggest imprints. But the fact that it was in our library is sheer coincidence.”

“We have to take this to HQ now.” I tell him. 

“The problem is, though,” he says after a few minutes, “is that we’ve missed too many days of school. If Webster starts catching on and realizes that we’re not sick, they might count us truant and we-,”

“Crap, you're right.” Images of faceless jury members shaking their head and a bald, mean-faced judge slamming down his gavel, screaming, “6 MONTHS IN JUVIE!” run through my mind. 

“How about after school on Friday?” I suggest.

“Sounds good to me. We’d better get to school now,” Kris adds, checking his watch. Gingerly picking up the book with two fingers, he teleports out of the library and tosses it into the backseat of his car.

“Be careful handling that thing,” I tell him nervously, biting my lip. He gives me a half smile and tilts his head.

“What’s this? Is the great Hana Kim telling me to be careful?” he gasps in a mock-surprised tone. “Why, this is a first-,”

“Oh, shut up,” I sigh, playfully pushing him. A wave of warmth spreads through my body. This is the first time in weeks that Kris has joked around with me.

Maybe we’re finally back to our old selves.

(A/N: This chapter is written in 3rd person, not Hana's 1st person point of view)

Kris slams the door to his house shut. The sound echoes through the vast foyer of his mansion, making the heavy, unfriendly quiet disappear for just a few brief seconds.

“Home sweet home,” he mutters to himself, and after grabbing a banana from the kitchen, he heads upstairs to his room.

Hours pass. Kris attempts to finish his homework, but there is one nagging thought at the back of his mind: the book.

It is a dangerous, malicious thing, an obvious item of the Kado... but when he touched it he felt a slight sense of something mystical. Something compelling.

Don’t you dare look at it again, he commands himself. It’s meant to trap you and you in.

But eventually, Kris slowly stands up and walks over to his backpack, where he withdraws the small black book. And for the second time, he is overwhelmed by the sense of evil and bloodlust contained in the small thing, but also by the beckoning whisper that calls for him to read the pages.

Come, open me, child, a husky whisper rasps inside of Kris’s head.

The book is speaking to me, Kris realizes.

Anything you want, I can grant, the book continues. Power, fame, money, anything. Just open me.

“My mind is being influenced,” Kris weakly mumbles to himself. “I’m being influenced by the negative chi.”

I am not influencing you. It is your own desires that are pushing you to hold me and read me.

The book said that it would give him power. Kris needed power. He had been humiliated by Hana a few weeks ago, when she had nearly wiped him out. And Hana had taken out that monster in a matter of a few minutes. Kris was supposed to be the stronger one, but Hana was overtaking him. But his feelings for her-

Love won’t get you anywhere, the voice sneers. Will love make you famous? Will it let you control the world?

“No,” Kris murmurs, “but Hana’s helped me get through so many things. She means so much to me.”

The voice pauses, and then slyly whispers, I see. So Hana wouldn’t happen to know about your feelings? Both of you are in a happy relationship, accepting and reflecting each other’s love, right?

Kris is silent.

That’s what I thought. Don’t you think she would admire you more if you were stronger, faster, better?

Maybe, Kris admits. But she wouldn’t want me to do it this way.

What a shame. Well, I am sure one day you will someday muster the power to impress her... and overcome your father.

Kris shoots up from his desk, knocking over his pencil holder in the process. Pencils and pens clatter to the ground, rolling everywhere.

“My father?” he hisses. “How did you-,”

Oh, it’s no secret that Shao Wu and his son despise each other. You wouldn’t believe all the things he's done.

“Oh, I know already,” Kris snarls. “He nearly killed my mom because he was trying to gain power, he abandoned his only son for work, and Hana and I discovered his little secret of making monsters fight for the Hado-,”

That’s not all. There’s something else that he did that’ll hit pretty hard.

The book tells Kris.

By the next few minutes Kris is reading the book.

A/N: Thanks for reading everyone! :) Comments and upvotes are appreciated!