The shady alley led Kaja deeper and deeper into the heart of the abandoned estate, where even the cats sneaked stealthily, sensing something strange in the air. Beside her walked Leo, her cousin, perpetually with his nose in his books, even now read in some bound volume. They were both fourteen, though Leo seemed much older to anyone who heard his serious voice. When they reached their destination, Kaja trembled. In front of them loomed the old library - a large, dilapidated edifice on whose walls the wind had painted fantastic patterns with dust and leaves. Everyone in the area avoided the place by a wide margin. Rumour had it that no one had looked in there for years, and that the doors themselves slammed at night. Leo pressed the handle. To their surprise, the door gave way with a slight groan, letting in a streak of sunlight. The interior was shrouded in semi-darkness, dust swirled between the shelves and the smell of old books filled the air. Strolling through the narrow aisles between the bookcases, the children discovered that some volumes looked as if they were breathing - their covers rippled gently and the pages moved without a breeze. "It must be some kind of optical illusion," Kaja muttered, but her voice didn't sound very convincing. Leo fell silent, as if he was reading something in the air that could not be written down in words. At the very end of the library, soft light fell on a shabby table on which lay a huge book bound in scarlet leather. It had no title. Its spine was decorated with strange markings and shone with a faint red glow that shone from under the closed clasp. Drawn as if by a magnet, Leo touched the closure. Suddenly the book itself opened to a random page, and the air around him thickened - the letters began to float above the page, whirling in an apodictic dance. A quiet whispering sounded from the dark corners of the library - as if dozens of voices were trying to speak at once. The door behind them slammed shut, and scarlet light spilled across the room like a kindling fog. Kaja looked at Leo and he looked at her - they both knew that something had irreversibly begun. A figure emerged from the library shadows, its silhouette seemingly made up of hundreds of swirling letters. Her eyes flashed with a warning ruby light. On the table, the book opened wider and something very old and very powerful appeared in the air. Kaja swallowed her saliva, Leo grabbed her hand. At the same instant, the letters swirling around them formed a spiral that tightened faster and faster....