• The leaves blew off the water from last night’s rain. All was quiet except drip, drip as drops fell from a certain tree, hitting a rectangular object. Next to it was the figure of a girl, obviously out cold. After a few minutes, a raindrop fell onto the girl’s forehead and Daine woke up with a start, letting out a cry of fright.

    She stood up and looked around frantically, trying to remember where she was. She racked her brain for some kind of memory of this location, but nothing came to mind of here. The last thing she remembered was…

    “Oh God,” She barely breathed. Then she was on the ground, sobbing helplessly. They were all dead. Everyone she had known. All her friends, all the kids she had babysit, her parents, and everyone in her town was dead. She couldn’t be positive, but if she had any kind of perspective of Drake’s personality, she knew he would’ve probably killed them without hesitation.

    “I’m such an idiot…How could I let this happen?” She asked herself through her tears. She didn’t care if he found her now and killed her. Daine didn’t care at all about what happened to her. Feeling utterly alone, she curled up into ball, arms holding her knees tightly against her. What was she to do now? She didn’t even know where she was. There was no one to help her or comfort by saying everything was going to be alright. She was all alone now.

    That realization made a shiver of fear creep up her spine. Drake would come after her now. That she had no doubt about. Shaking her head, she shouldn’t even care. She’d lost everything. Everything except… Her eyes fell on the thing that had caused her life to turn upside down. Angrily, she kicked it and it opened. Words flittered onto the page in a language she couldn’t understand, seeming to reflect her mood. Feeling strangely guilty, she picked it up and shut it, wiping off the water that had stayed on its cover. The book was still completely dry as if it had never been outside.

    She knew that she could not allow that demon to get his hands on the book. If he processed that kind of power, everyone would be doomed. She felt weak as suddenly a pain hit her head, making her have a really big headache. Sitting down quickly and rubbing her temple, she waited until the pain subsided. Usually she never got headaches, so getting one like that was a really big surprise for her.

    Too much stress I guess…Daine thought absentmindedly. Getting up, she decided there was nothing else here that she could do. Besides, she needed to find food and some other clothing. The only problem was she didn’t know where a town or city was from here, nor was she positive that she had any money. Checking her pocket, she realized she didn’t have anything but the pencil she had used to write in the book to get away from Drake earlier.

    Then a thought occurred to her. If she could teleport using and make dishes magically clean, then maybe it could make things out of nothing. Picking up her pencil she began to write:

    Two hundred dollars appeared out of nowhere in front of me along with a map of this area with an arrow pointing to where I am now...

    The same light filled the letters as she realized she shouldn’t be messing with the book anymore, not after what had happened only yesterday. It was a little too late for that however and she watched as the words left the page and dissolved into the air, first shining brightly and then fading as they fell to the ground. Blinking her dazzled eyes until they cleared, she looked down and her jaw dropped at the results. There on the ground at her feet was just what she had asked for.

    Maybe I should’ve asked for a pack as well, she thought, picking up the money and the map. The money along with her pencil, she stuffed into her pocket. The map she unfolded and took a look. Her eyes widened as she saw that this area was nowhere near her home town. But at least she wasn’t as far away from civilization as she had originally thought. She would be able to slip quietly into the upcoming city and get the things she needed.

    Feeling better now that she had a plan, Daine started walking in the direction the map indicated. She hoped that at least for awhile she would be safe for the most part.