Chapter 4

Standing on the platform waiting for the subway train, I keep the corner of my eye on the woman. She is looking around at all the people rushing by. She brings her hands up to her ears, and squats down next to me, overwhelmed by the sounds and sights of the morning's subway station. A man exiting a train walks much too close and stumbles last moment to catch himself before tripping over the woman crouched at my feet. She jumps up, grabs the strange man by the arms, then stares at him a moment. She whispers something under her breath, and the man frowns and nods at her. She lets go of the man and takes a step back. He shakes his head, as if to clear it of some unseen pest, and begins walking away, muttering to himself.

I don't catch any of the words he mutters under his breath, but I can imagine what someone from a big city like this would say at such a strange encounter with a woman like the one who had followed me. The woman stands up, and smiles at me looking like a kid caught stealing, before looking down at her feet.

"You need to be careful, someone could hurt you if you grab them like that, you had no way of knowing if that man was about to stab you for grabbing him or something. This is a big city, with lots of dangerous people, you should know it's dangerous and protect yourself," I tell her, even though I know she won't understand.

"Thank you for looking out for me, I promise I can protect myself and don't need a knight in shining pleather shoes to do so for me," she mumbles. My eyes widen, and my jaw drops.

"I-I mean... I didn't think you could speak to me," I mumble, dumbfounded as to why she had waited to speak up until we were out around so many people.

"I couldn't speak your language until I borrowed it from that man who almost tripped over me," she answers. I blink a few times, trying to understand what she just told me.

"...borrowed?" I blurt out after a few moments.

"Yes, it's not that difficult, I traded him; what I had for what I wanted. It was the only way I could talk to you, and you so desired to communicate," She smiles at me rocking on her feet, and I am full of conflicting emotions.

"What about him?" I ask. She tilts her head and looks at me with a quizzical look plastered on her face.

"What about him? A fair exchange is a fair exchange," she says, with a nonchalant shrug. I glance around, to see if anyone is listening to our argument. I don't see anyone peeking at us, and assume it's too noisy for anyone to catch the conversation.

"He can't just suddenly not speak a language he knew. That's going to mess with his whole life!" I shake my head and look where the man had headed, but he was nowhere in sight. I sigh and know that there's no point in trying to catch up with him.

"Well, I suppose he'll be more careful about who he trips over, won't he? Perhaps that will be something that will impact his life for the good," She answers with a smile. "Besides, don't worry so much. It's much easier to learn a language you used to know. He'll be back to speaking as he did in no time and will have gained a new one besides. That's a good thing, right? See, I did a good thing," she smiles at me as if I should be praising her for this accomplishment.

"That reminds me; who ARE you? How did you get into my locked fifth-floor apartment? Why were you sleeping on my couch?" I demand, crossing my arms and resting back on one foot. I am feeling new waves of frustration at everything about this strange and beautiful woman.

"You may call me Dianthe," She states with a smile. After a long pause, she glances at my face and realizes that I don't plan to let her forget to answer the other questions. With a sigh of acceptance she continues, "I was summoned to your apartment. I was sleeping on your couch because you were asleep in your very small bed, and it didn't seem appropriate to climb into your bed with you, not knowing at all what kind of person you are," With this last sentence she grins at me, and I feel uneasy for some reason. "I see now, that it would have been fine since you are honorable and kind. However, I'm not sure why someone with these qualities would have summoned me in the first place, so I do believe you owe me some explanations," she finishes speaking and nods, reassuring herself of her conclusion. She raises both of her eyebrows, waiting for an answer.

"I, uh, I did NOT summon you," I stammer out with a frown. I begin walking back towards my apartment building, not wanting to stand around in the subway having strange conversations with an even stranger woman.

"Oh, I do believe you did. What do you remember of last night?" Dianthe askes me, as she rushes to catch up with me on the stairs.

"I closed up at work. I came home, and went to bed," I answer. Dianthe shakes her head at me and makes little clicking noises with her tongue. The sounds of the clicks bounce off the stone tunnel of the stairs, and she smiles at the reverberation. She clicks a few more times while we finish climbing the steps and emerge back out onto the busy street.

"No, you must have summoned me. Was there anything else?" She asks. I frown, and pause to the side of the sidewalk, close my eyes, replaying the night's events.

"Oh! I remember. I read from a strange book, one that moved around like magic or tech or something," I answered. Dianthe's complexion fades to an ashen grey. She stops and her features all seem to droop like a wilted plant in need of watering.

"You didn't," She states with a whisper. Her tone is more in disbelief than disagreement. I watch her as she begins to shake her head, and pace in front of me. "Please tell me this is a bad joke, meant to scare me," Dianthe grabs my arms and looks into my face. I want to pull away in fear of her 'trading' me something for something I need, but I hold steady at the fearful look flooding her face. "I need you to take me back to where you read these words from, now!" she demands, her tone pleading and urgent.