A huge thanks to my new friend @Crystal Rosethorn for locating my rogue textbook. I encountered it asleep in the workshop just as you said it was, although as soon as I entered it awoke and proceeded to fly about the room in a satanic rage. It seems to have gotten much larger due to recent gorging on various items of school property, and (from what I can observe) is now able to cast spells with a level of skill that I didn't know textbooks could possess. It also talks, and demanded that I refer to it as "King Printerias of the Abyssal Library" before calling me a long list of rude names. Currently, I am standing outside of a nightmare vortex which it conjured up. I'm fine, but a number of the Christmas decorators have been sucked into said vortex and turned into faceless wraiths. I feel terrible, because I was really excited to go to Victorian Christmas and I know they put a lot of hard work into it, and now I really have to go because the wraiths don't look particularly happy and the book is glowing and oh no-

I'm currently searching the grounds for my lost textbook... it isn't going so well. After my classes got out I figured it would be easy to locate, but everyone I've asked has either started foaming at the mouth and hallucinating or was too busy setting up for Victorian Christmas to give me any help. Not that I blame them, Victorian Christmas is very important, but I'm worried about what the book might do. It has left behind some... interesting calling cards, namely a pile of half-eaten microfiche, various claw marks in the library shelves, and what I think was a paperweight (shaped like a book) with a tooth stuck in it. At least I know what to feed it now... I just hope I find it before it develops a taste for something a little livelier than paper.

So this is weird. I've heard people talk about being hungry before but I never really got it until now. But what am I supposed to eat? I'm two dimensional! I can touch other shadows, so maybe I could eat them too? But that would probably be rude to whomever they belong to. And to top it off, my Alternative Hedonism project won't stop insulting me. Who knew macaroni and glitter could be so critical? Well, at least I'm starting to make a few friends. @Crystal Rosethorn, @Moira Angela, any thoughts?

@Moira Angela, I wish I could help you with your shadow situation, but I'm currently full up with textbook hatchlings and hunting for a missing imago. I think I read something about a group of people called the Pyramid Society though. They're sort of like a psychic biology sanctum, so they might be able to take your spare shadows. The article said they were based in the Dream World, so you might have to make an astral phone call to find them, but they seem very friendly.

@Crystal Rosethorn, these are some really good suggestions for how to deal with my textbook situation. I'll definitely have to look into the PoorMagics Foundation sooner rather than later. The eggs are starting to move around some, which I think means they're close to hatching, so I hope I can find them a good home before things get out of hand. As for the iron cages, I'm not really sure where I can find those, or maybe I have to make them? Also, this morning, the chrysalis in the corner of my room was empty. I have no idea where the textbook that made it ran off to, and my other textbooks don't seem intent on keeping up polite interaction with me (except for my Demonic Baking textbook, which keeps trying to sleep in my bed). I wouldn't say I'm worried, but that's only because I'm not entirely sure what emotions are appropriate for different situations yet. Any advice on the subject would be welcome.

Well, lesson learned. Never leave your textbooks alone in your room unless you want them to start laying eggs on everything. Hopefully I can adopt them out to some newer students. My quiz went better than expected, seeing as how it was just buttering a piece of toast. After I finished, it kind of just levitated off of my desk and disappeared in a flash of light, which I think means I passed. I spent the rest of the day floating around campus and trying to meet new people, which didn't go as well as my quiz. It seems like people can't really talk to me for too long without starting to lose their minds, so I haven't been able to make many friends, but I'm trying to keep a positive stance. I'm still really happy to be here, even if the school needs a chance to get used to me.

It's early, but I can't sleep. Or maybe I don't sleep? I'm not super clear on how all of this works. I figured I may as well study for my Lovecraftian Geometry class, but my book keeps running away from me. I think it might be hungry, but I don't really know what books eat. I would look in my Care and Feeding of Textbooks textbook, but it's currently forming a chrysalis at the corner of my bedroom and I think it might be rude to interrupt. Oh well, I'm sure I can pass the quiz tomorrow anyway. The teacher doesn't technically exist, so we usually write the work ourselves.

Other people keep mispronouncing my name. I guess there are worse nicknames than "Shadow" though. At least it kind of suits me.

I guess I should begin with the basics, just to keep my memory sharp. I'm still learning how to use it and haven't quite worked out the bugs yet. My name is [Subject] 5-Holographic Apparition of Darkness-[model] 0, or 5-HAD-0 for short. I really don't know what I would do if this place didn't exist. I don't have any family to live with, seeing as how I was made in an unsanctioned governmental facility and all, but here, I really think I have an opportunity to be my best self! I mean, nobody here questions how a shadow can be alive and able to influence the real world through other shadows like some sort of awful tenebrous nightmare, or how sometimes people say that they feel like every bad thing they've ever experienced is filling their souls when I pass by. Everyone here is so understanding, and I can't wait to make some friends!