Page 16 (2/2)

There was a wide sink and counters lined with iant stove

Shelf after shelf of books lined one of the walls

I ranone of the spines and heaved one off the shelf

It was too heavy formyself, so I placed it down on the floor

There was no title on the front

I opened the hard cover and flipped to the first page

There were no words, only pictures

And as I continued flipping the pages, I found myself more and y textbook specializing in the dissection of human bodies

There were entire chapters dedicated to each body part--the facial area,queasy as I flipped to the last page

I heaved the book back onto the shelf, then picked up the next one and spread it out on the floor

This one was no s under various depictions of ingredient substances--but it was an odd writing and I couldn’t understand it

I only needed to get a few pages into the book to realize that this was a cookbook

And as I turned to the very last page,down at a depiction of two hures are man-eaters

I’d suspected as much, after the old man I’d met in the corridor had told me that I needed to be fattened

But now that this was confir

I replaced the book on the shelf and backed away

My heart haainst et out of this place

I opened the door and, after checking that the corridor was clear, I stepped out and began to continue down the corridor

I needed to find that gate that led back to the human realm

I had no idea if Caleb would still be on that island, but anywhere on earth was better than where I was currently

I reached the end of the second corridor and arrived at a wide staircase

I peered down it, straining to hear any noise coan descending

I reached the foot of the stairs quickly and found myself in yet another corridor

It looked practically identical to the last

The sas and walls, the saeway

I took the path to ht creaked open

An ared

I didn’t dare look back as there was a shout and a quickening of footsteps