He felt that his identity as Ruby was growing stale, not that he disliked imposing as her but he felt as if there were a good portion of students that knew him by that identity and seeing her could alert them of his presence, not that many would believe others or that he couldn't deal with it but why bother if you didn't have too?

So there he was in the library, long blue hair in a tight braid while glasses adorned a freckled face. Cynthia. Cynthia Meyers. That was the identity. Now his visit was primarily for business purposes since he was going to check in on Pia's progress. Now she had been seen here on and off for a few days now and he came her, this had been his second day, he had seen no sign of Pia on the first day though he could be quite patient and on that day he had taken the opportunity to "attack" a student in the restroom, an attack of opportunity seeing that he had been here anyway so the day had not been a complete waste.

He sat at one of the elongated tables adorned in a school uniform with a few books in front of him, mostly on witcraft, the occult and summoning rituals. Right now Aegir had been "reading" The Necronomicon, he had already read the fictional work years ago when the book was brand new and having a photographic memory let him recall it word for word as it was.

This was a guise anyway, though his mind pinged as another sentient entered his sensory range. He felt her surface thoughts, they feeling familiar and he recognized Pia. His senses were sharp like seeing someone or hearing them their presence, their brainwaves were unique to them. Now he had to arrange a brief encounter, no problem their as he gathered up some of the books and headed to the occult section of the library to place them back on the selves assuming that Pia would meander over in that direction eventually.

Pia's mind was leaping from subject to subject. She had a lot to keep track off. School work was just a part of it, and not the one most important. When Pia had learned that she was trapped here, likely to be shipped off to slavery or worse, her academic credentials suddenly seemed unimportant. Now she mainly paid attention to her school work to keep up appearances. If she dropped out completely, it would be noticed, she knew. And she believed she needed to keep a low profile.

The study of the occult took a lot of her time. She had discovered that there was some correspondence between demonology and myths and some of what was happening here. It seemed what she found out was wrong as often as it was right, but it was a venue she could not ignore. Indeed, she had found that she had a tiny spark inside her, a talent if you wished, a small power that, if nourished properly, could blossom into a power not unlike what some of the monsters commanded. Except that some of these had had centuries to perfect their arts. Or millennia.

Right now, she was in the process of turning her attention to another project. It was a biography of sorts, but of no human. She had been given the task of writing the story of one of the monsters. Aegir. The being was ancient, pre-dating civilization in any shape Pia knew. She was to write his tale. It was her life insurance. He knew ways off this place, even back to Earth. Also, as long as she was working on the project, it was in his interest that she stayed sane and safe. Not that they were natural allies. Aegir would not hesitate to use someone like her for his amusement. He had proven that.

Pia found a couple of books she needed, then went to find an available table. This was when she spotted the girl. Pia did not believe she knew her. She had glasses, a braid and freckles. She was also reading a book. The Necronomicon. It was a work of fiction, Pia knew, inspired by Lovecraft and his writings.
Lovecraft was not that far off, really. Ancient, alien gods dwelling in the sea. Just coincidence, or did he know something?

Cindy moved up to Pia though at first it was to ignore her as she begappose n putting books away narrowing her selection down to three serious works. All the while he had been scanning Pia's mind getting a greater understanding of her motivations and progress thus far.

Lovecraft. Now that was someone he had not thought of for awhile, at least until he took on this guise since the Necronomicon was created by him as a fictional work apparently penned by the Mad Arab. The work of fiction was suppose to feel real bringing his stories to life.

But Aegir had meet him long ago, well at least as far as human standards as for him he had not seen him too long ago for a few decades are like hours are to a human when compared to the lifespan of a fly. Many did not survive the week let alone the day so a few hours to them could feel like an eternity.

No doubt he had been the inspiration for the whole Chtlulu mythos.

He slid the Necronomican back onto a self as she turned towards Pia clutching the other works to her chest. "Excuse me," she said in a soft voice to Pia. "I just transferred her ... are there any ..." she searched for a word that was floating around her head,

"Any clubs for wiccians? My last school had one and I was hoping to get into one here."

The question took Pia by surprise. "Uh..no.. I don't think so.."

Is she a practitioner? Or just curious?

It might very well be that she was just a dabbler. Or a believing neo-pagan. Pia knew of a few of those back in Norway. Some called themselves Wicca, other just witches, but it seemed the most popular was variations of Norse religion, not surprisingly.

Back in those days, Pia had been rather sceptical about all claims of anything supernatural, but here she had been subject to, witness to and even practised powers that was beyond a strictly scientific view of the world. What if this girl was studying the occult? She might have learned things Pia did not know. She might also, like Pia herself, have taken up the study in order to protect herself. That might mean Pia had a chance to help her as well. Problem was, how to find out without looking like a raving lunatic?

"That is, I mean.. I am pretty sure there aren't, at least not an official one."

Pia offered her hand. "I am Pia. Not a real wiccan, I am afraid, but I do have some interest in magic and old de.. deities."

Nice save! Pia had been a split second away from saying 'demons'.

What Pia revealed to him had been irrelevant as he was scanning her surface thoughts and already knew her intentions from that. The questions that went through her head served to guide how he lead things or danced around them as the case may be.

He had not reached into her memories just yet as he concentrated on a response. His compound mind allowed him to constantly scan her thoughts while another portion maintained his illusion and another still analyzed matters for the future and how he was going to play this out. He of course had an idea though right now it was rather vague since he only needed to ne within line of sight to collect her memories.

"Oh ..." she said dejectedly. "Cindy ..." she offered her hand after a little fumbling with her books, shook it. "It was easy finding other Wicccans at my last school. transferred over from Germany when my family moved out this way, or rather my father was redeployed, he being a military man and all living out on a base in Germany.

"It's neat that I'm not the only one into ancient deities though I focus more on Norse Gods and giants. Loki, Thor, Odin and the like."

"Oh, cool!", Pia said, shaking the other girl's hand. "I am studying mythology myself."

The gods and giants. The Aesir, Vanir and Jotuns. There was one being here, at least, whose name was intertwined with the old gods. Maybe she should have been studying the tales from her own homelands a little more again.. It was something she mentally added to her already long to do list.

"I am not an expert on the old beliefs.", she added. "But my last name, Hov, means a place of sacrifice in Old Norwegian, so I suppose that back in my lineage there was a few priests."

Pia was still curious about the girl. How much did she know? "I don't think I have seen you here before.. are you new here? Then again, I often mix up faces, so I guess.."
Pia was starting to babble, something she often did when nervous about meeting new people. It rarely made anything better, so she let her voice trail off.

His whole reasoning for mentioning the Norse pantheon was to get Pia to make the simple connection between a familiar name which could trigger memories and possible get her thinking along the lines of that book of hers. It worked, well, partially anyway seeing that she made the connection of his name.

"Norwegian? Cool. That's neat about your last name meaning something, I don't believe mine has any real meaning. Interesting that there are priest in your history and your big into mythologies and religions.

"Oh, I'm new here, just transferred in a few days back and going through the whole adjustment phase of things. Finding clubs or wiccian activities at this point. My last school had a group that met often enough and broke down into various covens. There were 11 of us, too big for to have a single coven so we broke down into two smaller groups though we did meet as a whole often enough." Cindy explained, his mind still reaching out to her's though this had not been a passive matter as it usually was.

No, he was reaching through her memories. His encounter with her at the ruins, no after that point, he began to search threw more recent memories, trying to access her progress since his "name" had not triggering thoughts on the book itself.

Certain memories were easier to read than others, emerging into the foreground as synapses fired and Pia's brain made connections.
Wicca. Covens. Magic. Occult. Studies.
Pia had been a busy girl indeed. She had spent long nights labouring over every scrap of esoteric knowledge she could find. Aegir's mention of ley lines and their use as a means of travel had been her inspiration. She had tried to understand every aspect of it. Most of her research had been dead ends. She had even tried to locate likely spots of mystical convergence, but had missed every time. Still, it had been one of her few hopes. A series of glimpses of Pia, nose in her books, working late into the night could be gleaned from her mind.
She had been working on the book about Aegir too, apparently. Flashes of memories of that was intermingled with the other memories.
But magic meant something else as well now. Something deep within Pia..

"Welcome then! I hope you enjoy your stay", Pia said, a tiny touch of nervousness behind her voice. If Cindy was not careful, she might not..
"If there is anything I can help you with, or you are wondering about, just ask."

"Actually ..."

Aegir sensed her thoughts and the connections she made in her mind. The influences of his words on the direction of her own research had been noted but it gave him an idea now as well. He sensed Pia's nervousness and had to tread carefully here.

Pulling a tid bit of information from her head he continued, his words relaxed as he uttered them.

"You've been here longer ... do you know who's rooming in room 519 in the dorms or any of the rooms beneath it, 419, 319, 219 or 119." He was sure that her room was in one of those listed as he spoke. "See, those rooms are connected to mystical energies, ley lines, their invisible lines that run across the Earth's longitude and latitude.

"In wicca they happen to be important fueling energies to certain rituals making them easier to perform. Stone Hedge has a bunch of them intersecting the place, the idea is that it was used as a place to conduct rituals, of course there's no proof.

"Anyway, one goes straight through those rooms. Another goes through one of the science classes ... um, I think it's the chemistry lab. There's another that goes threw the teacher's lounge. I figured the last two would be out for a ritual but the first might have some promise depending on the people here."

She shrugged. "No big deal if you don't know, who'd pay attention to that sort of thing anyway?"

I was.. living on top of them the whole time?

Pia could have slapped herself. Why hadn't she checked? Pia had been taught the basics of mana vision, the art of perceiving mystic energies, but she had failed to find anything in her own room. Either her abilities were just too poor, she was new to this after all.. Or I just assumed it was part of the natural background energy.

Either way it was a mistake, and a big one too. But not as big as the revelation she just had. If a mana line goes straight through my room, then maybe, when the time comes.. Maybe Aegir can pull me through right from my room. That would make preparations so much easier. With a locked door, they might not even know I am gone before I fail to appear in my classes!

"I-I live in one of them.", Pia said. "On the second floor.. you are welcome to take a look, obviously, but.. How did you know?"

"Really? That's great!" Cindy beamed then answered her question without any hesitation. "Oh, that, that's easy. See ley lines are similar to imaginary lines comprising of latitude and longitude. They're consistant and surround the entire globe without any sort of interuption.

"There happen to be two, one I guess corresponding to the latitude lines, one running along the Earth's longitude. I'm sure there would be others though in the wilderness and a few miles from her so it makes sense to check on those close by first, saves me the trip."

"Are you sure, about checking out your room I wouldn't want to impose though your room being submerged with a lay line is wicked cool. Convient," she giggled a little, "but I'll take whatever fortune comes my way without arguement."

"Off course you can, it is no problem really, but does not.."

Cindy's enthusiasm had rubbed off on Pia, and she was dangerously close to letting her guard down. More to the point, she was about to object that they were not on Earth any more. Something that would have marked her as a madwoman for sure. Pia caught herself just in time.

"But.. but does not things like large bodies of water affect ley lines? I..uh.. I mean, this being and island and all?"

Nonetheless, that train of thought had sparked more thoughts and memories, thought and memories it would not be too hard for Aegir to glean. How Pia missed her home, how infuriatingly frustrated she was that she was so far from all she knew. How she feared ending her days as a piece of cattle on an unknown planet. Of other students that might not see Earth as well. Komiko.. Cala.. Susan.. And her hope. A small notebook in her bag, containing a brief synopsis of the tale of Aegir. Of more notes, hidden in her room, first drafts of actual chapters, most only started. Her ticket out of here. Maybe for her friends too..

It was not her only hope. There was something else.. A plan B. But Pia did not dwell on that right now, she was too immersed in the current subject.
"Anyway, I would only be too happy if my room could be of help to you. I am kind off.. eh.. an amateur occultist, I guess, so I find this quite interesting."

"Really? Into the occult, oh yeah, your name and all." Aegir could sense the thoughts flowing though Pia's head, her desire to see home again, her hopes in including her friends somehow. That had been all fuel for him given him ideas in which to scheme.

Now normally he was rather unimaginative but was getting better in that regard all the time. He pondered to himself as he laid out events. Yes, there was always that.

"Second floor? 2 o'clock ok? I got a few professors to meet with, courses to get signed into and a few books I have to pick up for them. I was hoping to find them here so I wouldn't have to shovel out a fortune in text books but I was only to find one, though hopefully others have been put on reserve by the professors and U won't have to read them but just take them out and read them that way. I got to check on that too but all of that can be taken care of quickly enough.

"Say," Cindy lowered her voice and leaned closer to Pia so that the pair wouldn't be over heard, I was think of an easy good fortunes ritual but are you up for something bigger? Like astral projectipn?

"I read about it in a few texts and if you think that you're up for it ..." her words trailed off as if they were expecting Pia to chime in and finish her statement, one way or the other.

"2 O' clock? That sound fine!"
Pia ran her schedule through her head. There was a lot she had planned, but no mandatory school activities. This was just too good to pass up. Then Pia paused..

"Astral projection.. Sure, but.."
There was some hesitation. Once, Pia had had an encounter. It had been a rather strange meeting, since it did not take place anywhere physical, but rather in her subconscious. It was not with a monster, but rather with a student. Vanessa. She claimed to astrally project on a regular basis, and had just strolled into Pia's dreams. She had indicated that out of body travel was possible to many, but that it held certain risks for the untalented.
But Pia had learned things. She had began to push the borders of her perception. And they would be two. And if she could learn anything from this..

"Well, I have heard that it can be a bit dangerous, at least if one pushes too far.. But we would be two.. That would lessen the danger, would it not?"

"No need to do it, if your not comfortable with it. It's a little dangerous if you don't know what your doing and all but with the added connection and amplification abilities of the presence of the ley lines then we should be alright. Whatever dangers that could come up should be mitigated though if there's something else you would prefer to do instead I'm fine with that.

"I've never project too far myself," Cindy concluded, "never to another city or state or territory or the like. But I've never used a ley line to do it either ..."

She clutched her books to her chest and rocked them slightly back and forth as if to contain her nervous excitement.