A long silence followed. Joel had been thinking about what had happened till now, on how he mysteriously found the book laying on the ground and how he didn't know what Lucifer meant. He wanted to make sure before asking the others, but he just had this weird feeling on him and couldn't focus properly. He just wanted to know.

"Hmm, that's out of nowhere. It doesn't feel like you Joel, are you alright?" asked Jon.

"I know we messed up and came late, but we had our reasons and we're sorry about that." continued Jacob.

"Look guys, its tomorrow anyways, we should just tell him." intervened Josh.

"That would be the right thing, to explain all what is going on, but i wanted that to be a surprise." protested Jon.

"We were getting you a birthday gift Joel, that's why we were late, cause someone," Jonathan stared at Jon " didn't come in time at the rendezvous so we tarded a bit. We are again sorry about that and even though it's early, we all wish you a Happy Birthday. Jacob, get the present."

Joel was frankly surprised. He didn't even remember his own birthday, and of his friends to even think about getting him a gift was flattering. But there still was something off. It just didn't feel right, he was being bugged by a thought that just didn't give him peace. He tried calming for a bit and waiting for the so waited present.

"Here you go Joel, Happy Birthday!" exclaimed everybody.

"We know how much you love books, so we got you a rather ambiguous one. The seller told us that he had gotten that oversea, and it was a rare copy. He surprisingly gave it to us without anything in return, so shoutout to him." said Jon.

Joel slowly got the package and started taking out the book. He was for some reason happy, maybe because his friends really cared about him to the point of getting him a gift. The thought of a peculiar book in his hands and the tons of stuff he would discover by the book's content was overwhelming. But his face went immediately pale when he read the title of the book. It was written "Lucifer". He started reminiscing of the previous identical book he 30 minutes ago had on his hand. It felt the same, he remembered everything texture and every page while scrolling it. For some weird reason all the pages were blank, and he somehow didn't remember either the other book had the pages blank too or not. He started sweating and his friends started noticing that.

"Hey Joel, everything's okay?" asked Josh.

"Wh-where did you get this book?" replied Joel.

"We just told you, that shopkeeper gave it to u--"

"No, i mean, why?" interrupted Joel "this is clearly a joke, all the pages are blank and the title.. the title just doesn't fit"

"Wait, what? everyone was shocked.

"Didn't i tell you Jon to check for the pages? You dumbass. Thats the only thing you had to do." yelled Jonathan.

"I couldn't possibly imagine that this was gonna be a scam. My bad.." said apogetically Jon.

"There's nothing we can do now, we're sorry yet again Joel, tomorrow morning we'll immediately get you something new. And no book now, something different, we promise" said Jacob.

"Guys.. I just wanna know who the hell is Lucifer." whispered Joel.

Josh was holding and investigating the book at that exact time and he noticed something weird, there was something creepy written in the last page. He was about to call the others when he disappeared screaming.

Everybody turned their head just to find the book laying on the ground. Horror started infecting the area, and everyone was quiet.

"Wh--where's Josh?" said Jon.

"Oh no no no no, this can't be possibly happening!" said Jacob.

"Where the hell did Josh go? For fucks sake." yelled Jonathan.

Joel sat on a chair and started thinking about all the 'clues' till now. The book found out of nowhere. It appeared right as his friends came. Pages blank except the last one. There's no doubt about that, its the same book. He remembered throwing it away, so there's no way it could be the same book, but.. it was. He was sure about that, he didn't even know why. They were deep down in this now.

"Guys, i know everyone is panicked and scared, cause i am dude. The priority is to find Josh, and we will, i assure you of that. But we need to gather clues. And we need to start by that book. Josh said something about the last page before disappearing. Jon, please read it out loud for us." calmly said Joel.

"Wh-why me?" replied Jon.

"Just do it!" yelled Joel.

"It reads 'Run till you have time. It is coming for ya'll..' said Jon.

Everyone gulped and the same time and started panicking even more. Something wasn't right, it just wasn't. One question still remained tho, why Josh? What did he have to offer, or was it just a coincidence? Joel kept his cool.

"We will find Josh no matter what. Jon give me that book." said Joel.

"I just gave it to Jonathan, he should be right in that corne--" stopped Jon. "Where the fuck did Jonathan go?"

Everyone was about to lose their shits. Joel had to do something, he had to take control of the situation.

"Guys! Get that book and don't open it for now. We have to start doing something about this. And i exactly know what." said Joel.

Jon got the book and started approaching Joel and then handed him the book. He was trembling.

"But, first we need to find out who Lucifer is."

"Anyone got any idea?"

Everyone looked emotionless..