It had all started moments before the final bell. Su's eyes had locked on the tome as her brain stuttered to a stop in its usual calamity of thought and imagination. She'd been in the very back of the stacks, perusing the dusty volumes there as her brain tripped along on the project she'd been assigned in her sophomore history class. Puzzling out the intricacies of feudal China, she almost missed the title singing out to her from the shelves. The World Ruled by Multiple Gods.
It couldn't be. Her mind refused to believe the book before her could possible exist. But here it was now, in her hands and smearing dust onto her sleeves as she strolled through the hallways of her high school, searching out her friend in the mess of prep-school bimbos and jocks. Mari would probably never believe what she had found, but Su sought her out all the same.
"Mari! MARI!" Su flung herself headlong down the hallway, eager energy seizing her as she spotted her friend. Mari heard Su coming long before she saw her, lifting her head just in time to watch her friend come careening down the hall. She slid to the side, making room against the row of lockers so Su could crash down beside her, the girl's face the picture of manic joy.
"What's got you so excited?" Mari drawled, flipping her textbook closed. From the look on her face, whatever Su had to tell her much was bound to be more interesting than her math homework.
"You're never going to believe this!" Su all but exploded, thrusting the book into Mari's face. "I found it in the library, of all places!"
"What is it?" Mari took the book, moving it a reasonable distance from her face so that she could actually read the cover. She decided it was probably best to hold her tongue on the probability of finding a book in the library.
"Read it! Read it!" Su bounced up and down, eyes flicking between Mari and the book. Mari sighed, rolling her eyes at her friend before scanning the title once more, wondering what she was missing.
"The World Ruled By Multiple Gods." Mari read the title aloud. "What is this for, world religions or something?" She handed the book back to Su, shrugging casually as she waited for Su to fill in the missing point.
"No!" Su protested. "The World Ruled By Multiple Gods! What does that sound like to you?" she pushed, waiting for the realization to dawn on Mari, and deflating as she only received a blank stare in return. "C'mon, Mari! The world, let's say... universe, instead? Ruled by multiple gods? Like, four of them?"
"You're kidding, right?" Mari's face broke into a grin as she took the book back, turning it over in her hands. "What is it, a fan novel?" Moving to crack the cover, she yelped as Su smacked her hand. "Hey!"
"Don't open it!" Su warned, eyes wide. Mari snorted inelegantly, handing the book back.
"Su..." Mari sighed, looking at her friend. "It's just a book." Su trailed her fingers over the cover, looking at it longingly before giving a huge sigh.
"I know, I know." Her face grew a bit sad as she looked back up at Mari. "I guess I just let my imagination run away with me, you know?" She leaned back against the lockers, closing her eyes. "The school year is almost done, and with you going away to college in the fall... I guess an adventure just seemed nice. Even if it was only imagined." Mari smiled softly, looping her arm over Su's shoulder and pulling the girl into a hug.
"Tell you what? Take it home and read it tonight. Let me know if that thing is worth reading when you're done with it." Su nodded, forcing a smile to her lips. "Besides, I can't blame you. Running away to ancient China seems like a much better alternative to deciding what I want to do with the rest of my life." Mari hopped to her feet, offering Su a hand and hoisting the girl up.
"See you tomorrow?" Su asked, tucking the book into her bag.
"You bet." Mari gave her a wave, turning to leave as the school day ended, dreading the mountain of homework waiting for her when she got home.
Her mother was late again. Su fell to sit on the sidewalk with a sigh, eyes drifting to the bag slumped at her side. She had wanted to wait until she was at home, alone in the quiet of her room with no interruptions to the story, but... Her mouth twisted with an excited grin as she pulled the antiquated tome from her bag, placing it across her knees and taking in the smell of the ancient paper as she ran her fingers over the cover, heart quickening in her chest.
"Here goes nothing." Su cracked open the cover, fingers plying the thin pages open somewhere near the center. Her eyes had just focused on the illustration that spanned the pages when a flash of bright red light enveloped her, the gasp on her lips going unheard as the book tumbled from her lap to fall shut beneath a nearby bush.