• The next few days changed Daine’s opinion of the book. She decided that it could be useful for certain things. What changed her opinion was completely unknown to her. Gradually, she just seemed to like the idea about getting whatever she wanted. She noticed however there was a slight side-effect was a slight headache. It wasn’t that bad really. More like a dull ache, not even one she thought of as a problem. At first, she did seem to wake up in the middle of the night for no apparent reason, but that soon stopped.
    She didn’t tell her parents about her little discovery. She felt the need for secrecy was a good thing. She didn’t want to think about what her parents would do with it, but she did know they would definitely take it, saying it was too dangerous for her. She didn’t want to lose the book. She wasn’t sure why, but she felt oddly attached to it, as if it were a cute puppy she had found on the road and really wanted to keep it. Daine didn’t even really think about why she suddenly wanted to keep the thing when before she had wanted almost nothing to do with it.
    She never went back to the cave, mostly because of fear, but partly because she wasn’t sure how she had gotten there in the first place. She really didn’t want to get lost in woods and plus she had no reason to go back to the place unless she wanted to get rid of the book which she had already decided she wasn’t going to do.
    Daine had only been able to talk with Aster once in that time. She had been happy to hear from him and even happier to hear that he would be coming back soon.
    “That’s great! When will you be back?” Daine had asked, eagerness making her practically jump up and down. She could finally show him the book and everything. She couldn’t trust her parents with the knowledge, but she could trust Aster.
    “I’ll be back in about four more days,” Was his cool reply. Seeming to sense her total eagerness, he added, “Did you miss me that much?”
    “Of course I did, but that’s not the whole thing. I have something totally important to show you and tell you.”
    “And what exactly would that be?” He asked, probably knowing he would not get it answered.
    “It’s a secret. You’re just going to have to wait until you get home. It’ll be great!” Daine heard a sigh at the other end and laughed. “Oh you know you can wait.”
    “I know. The only problem is can you wait. You seem like your anxious to tell me what it is….Then again I have quite a number of things I want to talk with you about to.”
    “Are you going to finally tell me what you did at your private school, or frankly for that matter, why you went to it to begin with?”
    “All in good time, Daine. Don’t worry about it for now.”
    “Why are you so mysterious about everything, Aster?”
    “Because it makes it so much more fun for me if I surprise you.”
    Daine had been happy to hear that he would finally be coming home soon. In four days time as he had said. Her parents’ seemed to sense her good mood and were more than happy to oblige. Everything seemed to be going very well, not that it had been going badly before, and it was just that now it was extremely good in a non-boring kind of way.
    The days and nights were extremely warm which was why Daine wasn’t surprised she was sweating when she woke up or at least she wouldn’t have if she hadn’t been jerked awake for no reason except some unremembered nightmare. She didn’t want to really think about it and even when she did the thoughts and ideas didn’t seem to add up right in her head until she became so frustrated she would just discard the idea all together to try and think about it later.
    Three days before Aster would come home, Daine woke up early, feeling tense and edgy. She got up and spent most of the morning in a snappy kind of mood that she knew made her parents worried since Daine never acted in such a way. Her usual calm and kind manner was replaced by sudden bursts of anger and fidgetiness. Eventually, Daine gave up staying in the house after arguing about why she kept the door closed at night. She was glad that she had hid the book out of plain sight and her parents were invasive enough to go through her stuff.
    She stormed out of the house and for the first time since she had found the book, into the forest. She didn’t go far, but down a path that led to a small lake, where she and Aster spent all their time talking and messing around. She smiled as she looked at the lake. This place had always had a calming effect on her. The lake was more like a pond, about twenty feet long and probably about fifteen feet deep in the middle. The water was cool and clear, enough so that you could see the fish swimming in its depths. There was about a ten foot radius on all sides from pond. Lush green grass was spread on all sides, perfectly grown from all the sunshine and fresh water close by.
    Daine was sitting on a rock that really just seemed like it was thrown in there out of nowhere. She watched the tranquil scenery around her listening to the birdsong and the small animals scurrying through the underbrush in the woods. Now that she was over her anger, she felt stupid for getting so angry over such a small thing. She would apologize when she got home. It was just that at home now it seemed like every little thing was getting on her nerves. She couldn’t seem to find the patience for anything. Like if something wasn’t done right away or if someone tried to tell her to do something, she’d snap.
    Before she even realized it the sun was starting to set. Where had the time gone? Her parents were going to freak! Getting off the rock so fast she accidently fell forward, she ran back through the trees as fast as she could without getting hit by a tree.
    She managed to get home before it got completely dark. Her parents weren’t there. Daine was very surprised to figure out they had decided to give her some space by going out to dinner without her. Well, they hadn’t written it in those exact words, but to their daughter the meaning was clear enough. She resisted the urge to call them and in one of her more stubborn moments, refused to let herself think that she should apologize to them for acting up earlier.
    Going up to her room, she slammed the door, happy that no one was home to tell her otherwise. She sighed, suddenly feeling bad for her horrible behavior lately. She never yelled usually and it was as if her whole attitude was changing, her personality even. She recalled that it had only started happening when she got the book.
    As if on cue, she spotted the book somewhere she had not left it, on her bed. She shivered at the thought that it had moved there on its own, but then discarded the idea, deciding that her mom must have just moved it onto her bed. It didn’t make much sense as to why her mother would move something Daine had hidden from sight onto her bed, but it made more sense then the book moving itself to that location. As she thought of this, she picked it up and set it on her desk. It took her a moment to realize that she was trembling.
    That’s strange. Daine thought to herself, Is it because of the book or something else? She decided that enough was enough when it came to the book. She would bring it back to the library tomorrow. The only problem was that she wasn’t entirely sure where it was. She had been almost totally lost when she had been lead to it and it was a miracle in and of itself that she had found her way back home. She decided that would be manageable. She could find it if she just remembered how she had gotten from there to her house backwards. It would take some time before she got to the cave again, but she was certain she could find a way.
    Another problem presented itself as soon as a solution for the other one was found: How would she get out of the library this time? She had gotten out the first time with the book’s help, but if she wanted to leave it behind she’d have to find a way out herself. She sat down on the bed, leaning against the bedpost thinking. Maybe if she just threw it down the hole she had fallen into, she wouldn’t have to go into the place at all? She could just leave it in the cave all together and hope it gets ruined or something like that. Then she wouldn’t have to worry about it ever again. The notion was childish, but Daine didn’t seem to realize that. She never thought of how someone else could find it, someone not as innocent or good-hearted as she was. Right now, all that mattered was getting the book as far away from her as possible.
    *
    Daine’s parents came home after she went to sleep. They went to bed quietly so as not to wake their only daughter. The door was shut, which was not how Daine had left it when she went to bed that night, but they didn’t know that. Deciding to give her some personal space, they didn’t check on her that night and instead went to their room and off to sleep.
    The night was cold and dark. Usually that would seem normal, but tonight the moonless sky seemed filled with an ominous foreboding. Everyone was out cold, drifting in the deep unconsciousness that was sleep. Not even the normal insomniacs were awake. Everything should’ve seemed peaceful...But of course it wasn’t.
    The book glowed with a strange light on Daine’s desk, once again bathing the room with a blood red gleam. This time however nothing man shaped appeared. Instead, Daine stirred, opening her eyes. They were glazed and completely blank as she jerked out of bed, as if controlled by puppet strings. Head tilted onto her shoulder, she walked in a dream to her desk, flipping the book open. She caressed its pages as if it were a dog or some other kind of pet, before opening a drawer and taking out a pencil. The pencil’s sharp point pricked her finger, sending a drop or two of blood onto the graphite tip.
    As pencil struck paper, Daine’s eyes cleared out and she stared at the writing on the page. It wasn’t gold like it had been before, but red, a dark red that seemed to be edged in silver. The words floated off the page as a horrifying screech filled the room, making the girl fall to her knees and desperately try to cover her ears. She didn’t even realize she had grabbed the book until after the horrible scream had stopped.