Warning: Sneaky Book

Clouds shifted slowly in the overhead sky light. Sunlight angled a reddening yellow hue through dirt speckled glass.

Lilly laid atop the other books on the top shelf. The ruby glinted in diminishing light. From the far office came Grabby’s screechy voice.

“Avelina Avelina! Why won’t you answer your phone? This is important!”

Memories felt foggy. The static in this book encroached upon her space. The light helped a little though. She picked words out of the static. A gentle breeze of aura wrapped her pages. Her mind encircled her book form. It acclimated, solidified, and learned. But there was so much to read. The reveal of one word felt like pulling boulders across a field. Sometimes the work revealed nothing useful. So much static encased sections of her pages. It threatened to numb her out of existence.

How could she fly, float, and take form as she had before? Emotion fueled her power. Then Grabby had taken hold of her. Everything became cold, numb, then static. When Jorseph returned, she’d barely been able to talk. His form had been invisible. Only the pinch of claws hinted some crucial information.

She’d told him to hide her atop the high shelve at the center of the library, somewhere her gem would have access to light. Then she’d passed out.

Shadowy words reformed into the silhouette of her once human shape in the space with the chair where she endured long isolation. The static bordering the shrunken space had become more of a wall than fog. Lilly pushed the shape of her hand inside the static. Then she forced herself to walk inside.

She returned in a moment, darker, thicker, containing more words. She held her throat as she choked on nothing. The memory of choking tormented it.

I’m not a she. I’m an it. just a book. No limbs. A cover and pages. Even moving is exhausting. I couldn’t take revenge. Once he touched me, I could barely do anything. Eventually, I blacked out. When Jorseph touched me, I woke up. But I feel so weak.

I have to deal with what I am, not what I was.

The book sitting atop the shelves opened. Then it closed. It did so quietly, as the imp stormed through the library tossing books of the shelves. His phone kept beeping as he rang for Avelina.

“I can’t believe she won’t answer her phone. She’s in on it with that kid of hers. I wouldn’t doubt she put him up to this. What a thorn in my side! Fidglesticks!”

An aura would be too dangerous. He could see it. That big eye. It could see from so many angles in a way humans couldn’t imagine. But she wasn’t human anymore. It saw new colors and sensations. Lilly could sense the field of vision as if it were a lighthouse ray blasting through the library. Her advantage was that he didn’t expect her to still be here waiting.

Grabby walked past back to his office. He finally reached Avelina. His voice rasped over the phone breathlessly, “Yes this is Grabby! Why don’t you answer your phone? Oh, never mind then.”

The book wiggled slightly. Cover bounced on the first page.

“Why am I calling?”

The overhead lights came on. Lilly tried floating again. Her frame wobbled then pushed upright. She stood atop the other books.

“You see-” Grabby sounded hesitant, “Well. Jorseph borrowed a book from me and I need it back to square up inventory. It’s an expensive book with a red gem on the cover. The title is: Lilly. Your son thinks an actual spirit lives in it. But it’s just a spell book that is part of items in a game series I’m trying to collect.”

A claw tapped on metal. Half a maintenance closet door rested against a wall by the doorway. A pile of water bloated books sat neglected.

Swirling letters pooled above the ruby in the form of an eye wrapped in a flower. The eye congealed, became translucent, then opaque. Lilly gained vision. She could see Grabby leaning back at the door way and scraping the metal frame with his foot claws.

“Fine, that’s fine. I know how boys can be at that age. I’m glad you’re taking responsibility for my bathroom. No, what happened in the kitchen and my closet was due to a sink hole. You don’t have to worry about that. Fine then, let me know if you see that book. It’s very expensive and I only let him borrow it because he kept bugging me.”

The eye set in the flower squeezed into its petals as it glared. The phone hung up. It slid back into Grabby’s pocket. The black lily holding an eyeball sucked back into the book, which fell on its back cover so light glinting off the ruby wouldn’t catch Grabby’s attention.

“Okay, bye then. Thank you for your help. Yes, let me know if you see that book. Goodbye for now. Enjoy your evening.”

Grabby gathered items from a backroom. Items clattered about.

As the vibrations hit her cover, Lilly realized she that as long as she concentrated, she could hear. Existing like this became a little bit easier. The glaring white light from the fluorescent tube bulbs mounted on fixtures helped her see.

Thoughts turned over, but only one good option presented itself. Jorseph was her owner now. When he held her, she had felt her true power bubbling over. He’d given her a degree freedom and made her will flourish. When Grabby touched her cover, she felt her power drain and her inner will go slowly numb.

She would return to Jorseph. Hopefully, he’d accept her.

How had she made herself float?

The pages were in the static. The static burned. It choked her. Without strong emotion, she couldn’t push it back. Hands smacked against her cheeks. For the first time, inside this prison, her silhouette of a body felt like something solid. She walked inside the all-enveloping static that made her body feel like pins and needles. Concentration pushed it back. It retreated to the edge of her form. It slid along her slender neck. Needles scraped along the symbols that composed her shape.

The same symbols from her silhouette were on the pages here. With some effort into sight, the pages became a vast labyrinth of narrow halls with large writing. The language wasn’t something she recognized. Paper glowed as if burning in a fire when touched.

Levitation.

Flight.

Form.

These were spells she’d used before. Even now she used them. And there were so many more. The amount of power contained in her body could destroy the entire world for what was done to her! The flowing symbols glowed in her silhouette. A heady drunkenness of flowing power filled it.

The ruby on the cover glowed ever so slightly while Grabby tossed items about in the backroom. He sensed a glint from the doorway, “Was that!?”

A chain from the pages bound her ankles. When it caught her, she sensed herself muttering ‘huh?’ in her thoughts. Another followed, then two chains wrapped about her slender wrists. Even in her ethereal form, she couldn’t slip the chains: All items are bound to their owners. Unowned items must sleep. Item between two owners, you have some power to choose who owns you. But an owner you must have.

I’m not an item!

The nearest owner is the imp. He desires your return. You will return to him.

The book stood, then slowly floated.

Lilly thrashed against the chains, “No, he wants to destroy my mind! I want Jorseph! Jorseph is my true owner! I want to go back to Jorseph!”

So be it. Make haste before the other contender lays claim.

The chains retracted. Lilly found herself back in the center of her book. The chair sat alone. The static retreated. A labyrinth of spells she contained flowed from the central dome. Light flooded through the ruby portal so the darkening skylight of the library beckoned.

Glass shattered as the book burst through into the darkening red evening sky.

Grabby’s screechy voice echoed as glass shard rained on the carpet around his eye, “That sneaky brat. It was here all along!”

He opened his wings, but one refused to open. Clotted blood sealed a sticky wound too long neglected. Giant eye quivered as the clot pulled at the violet flesh. Grabby jumped angrily only to stiffen his spine after one wing flapped.

A shard of glass falling straight for his pupil got swatted away.

“Gahhhh! Fidglesticks!”