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Chapter 2
On their way to the bookstore, Alex had told Seth and Emma about his dream. He had never told them about it to them afraid they might draw the same conclusion as his mother: that he was a complete nutter. But he was surprised and relived to hear that they had the same dream.
"I told my parents about it," Emma had said. "But they said I was being silly." Emma's parents were both professors at Constellation University, so they didn't usually like to hear anything out of the ordinary and always pressed her to get good grades.
Seth had tried to tell his siblings(he had two older sisters.) but they wouldn't listen, as usual. Alex foound it weird and unlikely they were having the same dream.
Ms. Rain's bookshop was at the apex of a flatiron building, with two busy streets running along either side. They pushed the door open, their cheeks rosey from being out in the cold. "Hello?" Alex called as the bell over head tinkled. "Ms. Rain?"
There was no answer. Odd he thought. She never leaves her shop unattended.
They stepped further into the shop, quietly across the wooden floor. The feeble sunlight that shone through the clouds outside came thought windows, giving the shop a eerie feel. "Well, she's not here," Seth said. "What say we go do something else?"
"C'mon, there's got to be a reason she's not here. She never leaves." replied Alex, looking around the shop.
"What's the big mystery? She probably just went out for groceries or something."
Alex tsked. He approached one of the many booksheves and his eyes fell on a book. It was totally nondescript. A hard black cover and nothing else. But he felt drawn to it--and had no idea why. "Hey guys," he beckoned them foward with a wave of his hand. "Check out this book."
All three looked at the spine. Emma shivered as if the temperture had just dropped. "Anybody else feel that?" she asked, now hugging herself and rubbing her arms.
"Isn't it great?" Alex replied Alex with a curious grin. He reached out and touched the spine. As soon as he made contact, there was a mighty whoosh sound. Seth looked around. "What was that?"
Suddenly, the bookcase swung around and they found themselves at the top of a flight of rickety wooden stairs. "I don't like this." Emma said. "I do." Alex said and started down the steps eagerly, like a kid in a candyshop. Seth and Emma followed reluctantly.
The room was huge and lit by thousands of candles, throwing shadows dancing across the walls. They all had uneasy feelings in the pits of their stomach. But their curiousity (mostly Alex's) peeked and they trudged on, through a narrow passage made candles on either side. "This weird," said with Seth with awe. "Why would Ms. Rain have this in her basement?"
Alex stopped and stroked his chin. "Well, that's what Ms. Rain is, right? Weird." he answered with his usual nonchalant tone. You could always count on Alex to be so calm, despite the situation. "Besides, this is interesting." he added and continued. Emma spun a finger around her ear and pointed at Alex. Seth snikered and followed.
They reached a large circular clearning amongst the candles. A large pentacle had been drawn on the floor with all sorts of glyphs and things. Emma crouched at the edge of the circle. "This writing looks like it's been pulled straight out of a book."
They stepped into the circle carefully, Emma examaning the glyphs.
"This weird, even for Ms. Rain." Alex commented, his fists on his waist.
A cold, dry wind blew through the room, extinugishing the candles and plundging them into darkness. "What's going on?" asked Emma nervously.
A crimson light crept along the pentacle's lines and glyphs. They made to go, but were met with an invisible barrier at the circle's outer most edge. "That's not good." Alex said and slammed his fist a couple times against the barrier as the wind blew harder.
Emma screamed and Seth and Alex spun around. Emma was sinking through the floor, as if it was quick sand. She flailed her arms about, shouting. Alex and Seth grabbed her hands, trying to pull her back. "Something got me!" she yelled over the now roaring wind, her eyes welling wth tears. It did feel like something was pulling her into the floor, since she was sinking up to her chest.
Without warning, she was pulled completely under with the sound of water being sucked down a drain, bringing Alex and Seth with her. Alex felt his feet leave the floor, Seth beside him. They passed through the floor painlessly, emeraging into a whirling vortex of colour and noise. Lucky thing they kept a firm hold on each other, or else they'd be seperated.
A searing white light was rushing towards them with demonic speed. "HOLD ON!" shouted Alex, the sound lost over the noise of the vortex. They braced themselves for the impact, but passed through the light as they had the bookshop floor.
They broke into open air, landing in a heap on wet forest floor. It was raining heavily and drops leaked through the thick canopy above. Soaking wet and cold, Alex blacked out, but not before catching a glimpse of a hooded figure with a knobbly staff, walking toward Alex and his friends.
 Pamplemousse Grenouille · Fri Jan 19, 2007 @ 01:37am · 0 Comments |
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