๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ.
Harper took a hasty step back as she looked up into the dark grey eyes, scared. How did he-?
Kael took a step closer, matching hers until he was in her space again.
"And look, it's still warm." He whispered as his fingers brushed the stone on her chest, dancing around her collar bones.
His face showed a cruely she hadn't noticed before, as she threw his hand away from herself, taking a few steps to the side and turning towards him, unwilling to get him out of her sight.
He turned too, facing her.
Harper took a deep breath. No, she was not going to be intimidated, not again.
Amusement sparked in Kael's features as she spoke again.
"You...stay away from me." It came out bolder than she had expected it to.
He scoffed.ย
"Me, you want me to stay away?" He laughed unhinged. He rapidly closed the distance between them, taking a hold of her shoulders and pushing until she was pressed hard against the same tree he had been leaning against.
She gasped, struggled fruitlessly to free herself, as he got closer.
"Do you have any idea, what you have gotten yourself into?"
His breath mingling with hers as his face neared hers, she stopped her struggles as she tried to look over his shoulder, to find someone, anyone.
Her tent was pretty well removed, sure, but not so much that no one would hear her scream.
She opened her mouth to do just that when he pressed a hand against her lips, pressing her body further into the tree with his own.
Harper stood still, shocked.
"Shhh, little rabbit. Don't think anyone would hear you. There is a spell," He vaguely moved his other hand around the air, now that he did not need them to hold her in place, "A very very subtle but useful spell. I had it placed a few hours ago. Don't believe me? Try"
Harper's eyes widened at the implication. She waited as he lowered his hand from her lips, peering into her eyes as she opened her mouth...
...and then closed it.
No one had heard the scuffle in the tent, nor her screaming at Kael a few moments ago.
He was right.
He seemed to realise when she understood. His hand raised to the tree above her as he leaned down.
"Didn't think you's want anyone to see you right now anyway. And see you get...personal...with the prince."
His smirk widened as she looked at him, indignant.
"So now, little rabbit, you areย going to tell me everything there is to know about the jewel. And how you came by it." His eyes hardened as he glared down at her.
Harper looked to the ground, unsure of what to do next.ย
'Should I tell him?'
'Well, you were going to tell someone anyway...'
'...Yeah, guess so. But..' she looked up at him, before quickly looked back at the ground, 'Is he the best option?'
Her mind flickered back to brown hair and blue eyes that she had seen earlier in the evening, before she shook her head.
'No, no. Not one of them.'
Her eyes blazed with a newfound determination as she looked up at him from under her lashes.
Not any of them. No more.
She sweetly smiled, making the prince blink in cofusion, as she raised her hands to the sides of his face, cupping his cheeks.
"What- hey! what are you-!"
And brought his head down, slamming it on hers.
"Aaaah!!"
The Prince leaned back, eyes crunched shut in pain as he brought his hand up to his bleeding nose, leaving enough space for Harper to do what she did next.
"๐๐ธ๐ธ๐ธ๐ธ๐ธ! ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ญ๐บ ๐ค๐ถ-!" He cried out loud as she stepped hard on his feet, leaving him to bend down to his feet.
And that is when she did it.
Rearing her hand back, she recoiled and laid a strong uppercut on his chin.
When the dust cleared, the mighty Prince lay sprawled on his back, mouth hanging open as his nose bled.
She dusted her hands together, and stepped over the man.
"It's a good thing that no one can hear you, your highness. Don't think you'd want anyone seeing you now, anyway."
She walked away with adrenaline surging her insides, grabbing at her shaking hand as she walked away.
Once around the bend of a distant clothesline, she stood and gasped down at her own hands.
"Woahhh. Can't believe I just did that." She whispered as she disbelievingly looked down at her hands.
She walked away, exhilarated, but satisfied.
Just behind her, in the shadows of the empty carts by the side, she missed the eyes of the lone figure watching her, the sword glinting in the moonlight at their side.
////////////////
Harper roamned the castle, hands gliding across the stone walls around her. Large bookcases lined the equally huge walls, torches scones interspresing the area.ย
The huge arched ceilings, large chandeliers, the courtroom, the servants rushing about...
Yup, it was a castle alright. And a beautiful one. On their way to the castle, when she had first taken a glimpse of the towers and the guards partolling, she had been stunned. Her mouth had fallen open in astonishment.ย
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ข๐จ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ข ๐ด๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ณ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฑ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐บ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ช๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ข๐ญ๐ถ๐ต๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ถ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐จ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ธ๐ข๐ญ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต.
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ฅ, ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ ๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ช๐ต ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ธ๐ข๐ต๐ค๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฅ, ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ช๐ฆ๐ฅ.
๐ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ถ๐ค๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ธ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ธ๐ข๐บ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ด๐ต๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ข๐ญ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ.ย
"๐๐ฉ, ๐ฐ๐ฉ, ๐'๐ฎ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ณ๐ณ๐บ." ๐๐ข๐ฆ๐ณ๐ท๐ข ๐ค๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ข๐ณ๐ณ๐ข๐ด๐ด๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ข๐ด ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ต ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ, ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฎ๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ.
"๐ ๐จ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต...๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ?" ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฆ, ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ข๐ค๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ธ๐ข๐ญ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ. ๐๐ช๐ญ๐ค๐ช๐ฏ๐ข.
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ข๐ค๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ด๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ ๐ข๐ต ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ช๐ค๐ฌ๐ญ๐บ ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐จ๐ข๐ป๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐๐ข๐ฆ๐ณ๐ท๐ข.
๐๐ข๐ฆ๐ณ๐ท๐ข ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ค๐ถ๐ณ๐ช๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด๐ญ๐บ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, "๐ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ช๐ต. ๐๐ต'๐ด ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ง๐ช๐ณ๐ด๐ต ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข ๐ค๐ข๐ด๐ต๐ญ๐ฆ, ๐ช๐ด๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ช๐ต? ๐๐ต'๐ด ๐ธ๐ณ๐ช๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ง๐ข๐ค๐ฆ."
๐๐ข๐ณ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฅ, ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ช๐ด๐ฉ ๐ข ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ญ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ณ๐ต. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฐ ๐จ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ง๐ถ๐ญ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ง๐ต ๐ข๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ง๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ง ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฏ๐ฐ ๐ท๐ช๐ด๐ช๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ช๐ท๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ด๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ซ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ด๐ต๐ญ๐ฆ.
๐๐ง๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต, ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ฏ๐ฐ ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ข.
๐๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ต ๐ข ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ.
"๐๐ฐ, ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ด๐ต๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ญ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ?" ๐๐ข๐ฆ๐ณ๐ท๐ข ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐จ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ. ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ ๐ข๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ, ๐ค๐ข๐ถ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด.
"๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ, ๐ถ๐ฉ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ฅ๐ฐ. ๐ ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐บ๐ฆ๐ต." ๐๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ณ๐ถ๐ฆ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ด๐ต๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ญ๐ฅ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ข๐ญ๐ธ๐ข๐บ๐ด ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ท๐ช๐ด๐ช๐ต ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ, ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ซ๐ฐ๐ฃ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ข๐ฎ๐ช๐ญ๐บ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ, ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ค๐ค๐ข๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฑ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ท๐ช๐ด๐ช๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ, ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฃ๐ณ๐ข๐ณ๐บ. ๐๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ญ๐บ ๐ง๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ.
๐๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ง...
"๐๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ญ๐ช๐ฃ๐ณ๐ข๐ณ๐บ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ด๐ต๐ญ๐ฆ?" ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ด๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฅ. ๐ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฃ๐ณ๐ข๐ณ๐บ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ด, ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ค๐ฉ ๐ถ๐ด๐ถ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ, ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ-๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐ด๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด.
"๐ ๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ข ๐ญ๐ช๐ฃ๐ณ๐ข๐ณ๐บ."
"๐๐ข๐ฏ ๐, ๐ฎ๐ข๐บ๐ฃ๐ฆ, ๐ท๐ช๐ด๐ช๐ต?"
๐๐ข๐ฆ๐ณ๐ท๐ข ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ข ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ธ ๐ญ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต, "๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ?"
"๐๐ฉ๐ฎ๐ฎ." ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฅ.
๐ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ธ ๐ญ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ด๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐๐ข๐ฆ๐ณ๐ท๐ข'๐ด ๐ฆ๐บ๐ฆ๐ด.
"๐๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ, ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ด๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ท๐ช๐ด๐ช๐ต."
And so here she was. She waved at the unexpected acquantaince as had made as she studiously read the titles on the books.
Cooking, sewing, taking care of a castle, cleaning a room, a look into the lives of King Elion...
No. Nothing. The next section was the same. The tales of Huria Mable, the princess and the three stairs, The rise of the Princess of Shora, The land of Goriha...
She made a mental note to come back for the book in case it had maps, but for now, nothing of substance.
She sighed, looking around. She had no idea where to even begin.
Her eyes fell on the restricted section of the library. She had been warned by Maerva not to go there, but...
Harper looked around her. The coast was clear.
She quickly slipped inside.
This section was darker and more menacing than the outside had been. She swallowed, before stepping forward.
"You can do this."
Her eyes scanned the titles on the shelves here.
The Game, Remaining in power, poison and its affects, the lineages...
Eyebrows raising, she looked behind her at the entrance. No one yet.
She walked in further. The titles got more and more grotesque, something about sacrifices and rituals, cutting off tongues and history of royal punishments.
...and there.
She stopped walking as her eyes were drawn to a small unassuming book that sat alone on a shelf. It had no title. Harper tried to move away, but there was something about it that called to her...
She steps moved towards it, slowly. Slowly. Her ears tried to catch something just out of reach, words that she could barely hear. Her vision darkened at the edges as her hand moved on its own towards the book.
Harper didn't blink when she took the book down, expressionless, in a trance. Opening it, she stared at the blank pages...touched her fingers to the pages in a pattern that was previously unknown to her.
A voice shrieked from the book...before she was pulled inside.
The book clattered to the floor. Silence.