What the fuck! It’s all just gibberish! How am I meant to find a book about planes like this! Fuck! Fuck fuck fuck!

  Vicki was majorly freaking out as she ran around the library’s halls like a headless chicken. Was this some sort of cruel joke? This wasn’t even like finding a needle in a haystack, it was like finding an entire solar system! She wasn't the only one freaking out, there were cries of despair wherever she went. Some were even screaming about divine punishment and false hope.

  Vicki wasn't someone who gave up that easily, though. False hope was still hope, and she was going to use every damn minute to look through these books. The titles were nothing but nonsense, but she picked one up anyways. Every page of the book was completely blank, as was every other book she looked through. Vicki came to the conclusion that every book except the correct ones were empty on the inside, making the search a million times easier. Though that only brought the difficulty level down from a gazillion to a billion.

  She was skimming through her fifth shelf when one of the books caught her eye. Unlike the surrounding books, this one had a flower on the spine beneath the nonsense title. It was far up and really difficult to spot, but that only made it seem more important. No other book she had seen so far had any decorations on it, and this one was even decorated with the symbol of her goddess. Vicki decided to try and climb up to get it, even if it would waste a lot of time.

  After making sure nobody was nearby, Vicki kicked off her glittery heels and put up her hair in a messy, but perfectly stylish, ponytail. She guesstimated that the book was 20 meters above her, a height that wasn't too far to climb up to, but would probably break her neck if she fell. Her neck would 100% be broken if she didn't find the sequel to her book, though, so she chose to take the 30% chance of falling to her death.

  You can do this, Vicki! You're so smart and sexy and cool. You're gonna find this stupid plane manual and then you're gonna eat a family platter of sweet and sour chicken as a reward. Let's go! I believe in you, me!

  After tucking her book safely in her purse, Vicki took a deep breath and began climbing. Her strategy was to step on the bottom shelf and pull herself up to the next one like a ladder. She was pleasantly surprised when she was able to effortlessly pull her body weight up with her arms alone, making for a much easier climb. When she was about halfway up, Vicki saw her life flash before her eyes when she lost her foothold and slipped, but her sharp claws burrowed into the wood and kept her dangling until she found her balance again. These freaky arms were really growing on her.

  After half an hour of clumsy climbing, Vicki finally had the book with the flower in her hand. She quickly shoved the book in her purse, the fear of falling winning out over her curiosity. She had climbed up here easily enough, so getting down would be a breeze, right? Absolutely not. Vicki made the mistake of looking down, and now she felt like throwing up. Her legs felt like they were turning into jelly as her entire brain focused on how high up she was. Why the fuck did she climb up here? What was she thinking!?

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  Oh my god. Oh my GOD! Why did I do this!? Holy fuck. That’s like a thousand meter drop! If I lose my grip, I’m gonna fall like a million miles! Argh! But if I don’t climb down, I’m gonna get sacrificed! I can’t lose! Aztecs have really fucked up sacrifice rituals! Let’s do this! If you stay up here, you’ll die for sure, but if you climb down, you’ll probably live!

  Vicki took a deep breath and began slowly climbing down. Having learned her lesson, she absolutely refused to look down. She did everything she could to distract herself from the danger she was in, from thinking about kittens to solving math problems. In the end, the only thing that kind of helped was singing.

  “Ohh Vicki, you’re so fine… you.. You’re so fine you blow my mind… oh Vicki.. Vicki Vicki…” She sang to herself. Her voice quivered so badly that she sounded like someone was using a jackhammer on her vocal cords. After the 9th loop of that same little jingle, Vicki’s feet finally touched solid ground.

  As soon as she knew she wouldn’t fall, Vicki’s legs gave out. Her body crumpled down on the cold wooden floor, and she was shaking like a leaf while swearing to herself that she’d never do that again. Vicki spent quite some time getting herself together after that, but the giant timer in the sky reminded her that she was still in danger.

  [20:31:59]

  Vicki couldn’t believe that 3 and a half hours had already gone by. She scrambled to get the book with the flower out of her bag and inspected it with extreme care. The title on the spine and the title on the front of the book were different. The spine was the same gibberish as every other book, but the front had the words “Lamb Skin” etched onto the leather cover. The gamble had paid off; this was totally a clue!

  To Vicki’s surprise, the book had been hollowed out on the inside. A rolled-up piece of skin, a dried flower, and a bright green feather rested inside the compartment. This was a clue from her goddess; there was no doubt about it. Vicki carefully placed the flower and the feather inside her pocket for safekeeping. Then, she double-checked and triple-checked that nobody was spying on her before she unrolled the scroll made out of skin.

  [Daughter mine, daughter dear. You will find what you seek behind the gilded spiral.]

  Vicki wasn’t the kind of person who wasted time. She quickly sprinted to the center of the library as quickly as she could, ready to look for the spiral that would save her ass. The middle of the library was a mess. Books were thrown haphazardly on the floor, thrown by people frantically searching for the sequel to their books. The youngest and oldest of the players were gathered here. They weren’t strong enough to keep up with the horde, so they stayed put here, looking through the books that the others had discarded.

  Vicki wanted to help them, but she needed to save her own ass before she could save anyone elses. Nothing jumped out to her as spiral-like; nothing was even particularly round. The thought of having to look for another book with a spiral design on it made her feel sick to her stomach. She was about to join the ‘screaming out in frustration’ club when it suddenly dawned on her… the stairs!

  Dark wooden staircases separated the floors of the library; each of them was about a hundred meters apart. There were easily thousands of them, but looking through a thousand staircases was a hell of a lot easier than looking through billions of books. Vicki was filled with renewed energy as he began her search for the golden spiral.