Chapter 5

Back in my small apartment, I sit on my couch avoiding the flow of movement striding between the walls of my living room. One of my legs curled underneath me, I track Dianthe's path across my floor. Her dress flows along her body, cascading down her long legs just above her feet. Her movement is light, almost springy. She seems to surge back and forth with the power and grace of a cat stalking its prey. She crosses in front of me a few more times, before spinning on her heel and coming to an abrupt halt in front of me. I meet her dark eyes.

"If I was released, then so was she. This must be fixed. We need to figure out where she went, before," Dianthe shakes her head, refusing to say the second half of her sentence. I watch as Dianthe wrings her hands in front of her.

"Released. What do you mean released? What must be fixed? Who are you talking about, and what is she going to do?" I ask. Dianthe melts down into my couch, sitting with her legs pulled up so that her chin rests on her knees. Her stillness so near me makes my breath catch. My muscles all pull tight, my heart speeds up. I feel trapped in place, and like I never want to move. I could spend my entire life in her gaze and be content. She blinks and my inability to move or breath dissipates as suddenly as it had begun.

"Long ago," Dianthe begins with a deep breath. "The world was much more wild and young than it is now. The people of the isle lived in fear of a dark, violent creature who was the mother of all evil and horrible creatures who lurk in the night. Her children grew hungry, and they would rampage across the isle, killing, devouring all who had the unfortunate luck to run across their path." She takes a breath and her shoulders fall with the air exiting her body.

"Many of the people gathered together, trying to talk sense into her, but there was no reasoning with her. Pure hunger and darkness, she rose into the air, shrieking at the people for even attempting to curb her and her children's appetites for death and destruction."

I look down at my hands folded down in my lap and flex my thumb to watch the angle shift. I sneak a glance up at Dianthe's face and find myself falling into her swirling eyes. I feel myself falling into their depths. Dianthe looks away from me, and I feel my consciousness widen once more.

"What did they do? What did she do?" I ask, enthralled in the tale. Dianthe's eyes unfocus, and she frowns, remembering the conclusion of the story. Dianthe takes a deep breath and holds it for a moment before looking at me and letting it out.

"We did a magical binding on her. It took many of us, but we trapped her into a book. That book," Dianthe points at the leather-bound tome sitting on my coffee table. I follow to where Dianthe points, and stare at the tome for a few minutes processing what she had said. As the silence dragged on, Dianthe shook her head and spoke once more.

"It took many of us. There were droves of druids, witches, many practitioners of the old ways. Fair folk and human alike. Circles upon circles upon circles. When the time came to bind her, there was mention of a sacrifice. Many disagreed upon how necessary this truly was, and some groups offered sacrifices, and some did not.

"Many offered material sacrifices; food, fancy clothing, expensive perfumes, and incense. Alcohol, artisan crafts, and many livestock, and even human lives were sacrificed in the hope that the binding would be permanent. When she was trapped within the circle, she began to laugh-a cruel and bitter sound from a cruel and bitter being.

"When the final moments came to be, I realized there was no way to trap her within the tome, without a more lasting sacrifice. I bound myself to the spell. It was the only way I could make sure the people were safe from her wrath. I was pulled down into the tome and became the sacrifice to keep her bound. My life, my future, my entire being was trapped within the pages of that book, and as long as she was trapped within, so was I. Now that I am free, I can only assume that she is as well.