9.

Cedric woke up and was torn between a groan of annoyance and a smile. The event at the library would be both bothersome, and pleasant. All thanks to the librarian, his librarian he corrected. He wrapped his arms around her, overjoyed that she had slept next to him again. He considered purchasing a slightly larger bed, though he did like the intimacy the smaller one required.

He didn't want to wake her, but knew she would be worried about being late. She really seemed to look forward to the event, and after observing her earlier anxiousness slowly start to melt away he was happy for her. He had noticed how tense she had been in the library at first, after the incident. He hadn't worked on the translations in what seemed like a long time, and the dark book had been far out of his mind until he caught sight of it on his dresser.

Tearing his eyes away from it and hearing the echo of his promise to Sofia he gently brushed some of her wild hair out of her face. It took some coaxing but she finally opened her eyes smiling happily.

"Good morning," she said slowly.

"It is," he waited eagerly.

"Oh!" she jumped out of bed and Cedric covered his mouth to mask his amusement. He liked how the oncoming day always seemed to sneak up on her every morning. "Don't just lie there! Come on, the event is this afternoon." She was bursting with an unseemly amount of energy. Cedric nodded, and sat up.

"Hand me those, will you?" he asked, pointing at a pair of pants.

"Ok," she said, tossing them at him and hitting him in the face. He scowled at her, but she was laughing at him and rushing out the door so she could get dressed. He got dressed and met her at the stairs. She grabbed his hand and led him, a little too quickly for his liking, out of his tower.

They reached the library, which was already in a frenzy. The king was not there, but just about everyone else was. Baileywick gave orders and walked around with a list in his hand. Cedric found himself somewhat uncertain as to what he should do. The castle steward sent Sofia over to help with the additions to the reading corner she had set up for the village children, and everyone else was too busy to tell him what to do. He eventually sat down and watched Sofia flit around happily, and absently twirled his wand with one hand.

Eventually villagers began to come in droves, and the royal twins made a grand appearance. Sofia sat down to entertain the children, until it was Cedric's turn of course, and the king finally arrived and stood at the center of the lively library. He began making some speech, which Cedric happily ignored, when the sound of shattered glass caused everyone to pause.

Cedric, along with everyone else, turned to see a black ghost-like creature burst through the window and fly around the room in a menacing style. Cedric stood, wand at the ready. The king shouted for guards. Everyone was yelling, shouting, screaming.

No matter what spell he shot at the thing, it seemed to bounce off of it. It had the beak and head of a Raven, the wings of a bat, the body of a snake, and the numerous eyes of a spider. He had never seen anything like it.

The monster dipped down among the frantic crowd, the narrow doors and panic made it hard for the mass of people to exit and many simply huddled under furniture and behind shelves. The thing dipped down again, he tried another spell but there was no effect. Claws grew out of its slithering body and it reached down into the cluster of children, which was guarded by Sofia. She swung her arms at it, trying to keep it from the kids, but it wasn't after them. The bird-like talons dug into her shoulders and he shot every spell he could think of at it, but his thoughts started to jumble and the words were coming out wrong. Even if he said the spells right, however, they did nothing to the beast.

Without knowing what else to do he chased after it as it lifted her into the air and headed back towards the broken window. Then she was gone. He stood, arm stretched out, as a scroll materialized into his open hand. He staggered backwards, staring down at the paper, his mind desperately trying to make sense of everything that had just happened. Sofia had been taken, and now he was holding what had to be some kind of message.

"What does it say?" the King demanded. He had a hand on Cedric's shoulder, and his voice was stern. Normally this would make Cedric stutter with nervousness, but he was still in shock so he simply unrolled the parchment. As he did red lettering appeared.

We know you have the book

And we have an idea of how to get it back

Bring it to the tall tower in the woods on the full moon

Do not come before, or after

And do not come accompanied

Or the librarian dies

"I expect they mean me," Cedric muttered. The full moon was in three days, it would take him that long to travel to the tall tower by foot. He knew of the tower, it was an abandoned look-out station from long ago. It sat in the center of the forest.

"We can't give them the book," the king said, but Cedric crumpled the scroll and tossed it against the nearest wall.

"I don't intend to, but I have to go." Cedric replied, turning to leave. No one stopped him, or if they tried he didn't notice. He couldn't hear much over the pounding in his head. He had retrieved the book, travelling gear and rations, and was gone within the hour.

#

Sofia woke up somewhere dark and cold. She had either passed out from fear, or the pain of having the beast rip into her shoulders as it whisked her out of the castle. She had struggled, and it had made the wounds worse. She touched them gingerly, the puncture marks looked quite angry, but would probably heal. Now she only had to worry about infection, among many other things she noted darkly. She looked around the room, a small lantern hung well out of reach was the only light source. There was a thin window, but it was too dark out. She could hear the wind and went to peer out. She saw the tops of trees and guessed that she was somewhere up high. The window was too narrow to provide much of a view, though. The walls, floor and ceiling were made completely of stone. There were no rugs or tapestries to warm or soften the effect. There was a single door, and she tried it of course, but it was locked. The wood was old, and the hinges creaked so she began to beat on it.

After the pain in her shoulders was joined by pain in her fists she gave up. The urge to cry tugged at her but she pushed it aside and angrily paced the room instead. She focused on the fury to keep herself from falling apart. How dare they take her, she thought.

"I still don't have the book, you idiots!" she screamed at the door. The act made her feel a little bit better so she continued to yell quite a few very un-lady like things at the door, and whoever might be listening.

So she had been taken by the cult, but why? She didn't have the book, Cedric did. Then her thoughts turned to him and how desperately he had tried to fight the thing that had taken her. None of his magic had worked. She sat down, feeling suddenly very tired. The thought of Cedric was what did her in, she buried her face in her hands and cried softly. She was as quiet as she could manage to prevent whoever might have overheard her earlier ranting from hearing her tearfully break down.

#

Sofia woke again when the door to her uncomfortable cell was opened. The sun was up again so the room was much better lit this time around, and she saw a hooded figure in the doorway. She jumped to her feet and rushed him, determined to do any damage she could, but was flung back against the wall easily. She struggled to move, but couldn't. She was stuck in place, and watched two hooded figures bring in a tray of bread with stew, an old mattress, and chamber pot. She sneered at them and insulted them in every way she knew how but they didn't even look at her.

When the door closed and she was alone whatever spell had been cast against her broke and she staggered forward. Her stomach grumbled, but she couldn't bring herself to eat the offered food. Would it be poisoned? Or enchanted? Worried she would eventually give in she tossed it all out the slender window.

They were holding her ransom for the book then, but would the king give them it in return for a humble librarian? Maybe not, but the king didn't technically have the book, Cedric did. She studied the mattress, and upon deciding it looked clean enough she sat on it. It was lumpy and uncomfortable, but it was better than spending another night on the cold dirty stone floor. Cedric would try to come for her, but hopefully he wouldn't give them the book. Despite her strong desire to be freed of this place she knew her life wasn't worth giving the cult more power. Not with what they were already capable of.

Sofia tried to come up with a plan, and eventually settled on hiding behind the door and waiting. Hopefully when one of the hooded sorcerer's came in she could take them by surprise. She had no clue what to do after liberated of the room, but she would just have to improvise.

#

Sofia stood until her legs shook, she bit down hard on her lip to block out the growing pain in her shoulders. Finally the door opened, and she heard the swishing of fabric against the stones. Another hooded figure, wand held out, the other held another tray of more bread and stew. She sucked in a breath and grabbed for his wand. Stunned he fell back a step, but her grip on his wand was tighter than his. She then kicked him (or her, for who knew what was under that hood) as hard as she could in the most sensitive part she could think of. He (judging by his tone) grabbed between his legs and fell over grunting and wheezing. She jumped over him and found herself in an empty circular hallway. Instead of an opposite wall though there was a balcony. She looked over the edge to see a large group of the hooded cultists. They were sitting around a fire, talking amongst themselves in hushed voices.

She cursed and broke the wand she held in half, she couldn't use it so there was no point in keeping it intact to be used against her. She stuck close to the wall and opened the next door she came to. Just an empty room, no way out. She eventually had run out of hall, as it ended it a staircase that travelled directly down into the center of the room. How would she get out?

She looked back at the black-clad figure, who was struggling to get onto his knees. She ran at him, and then kicked him as hard as she could in the head. She winced as the pain sparked in her foot, but then the figure went limp. She dragged him back into the room and stripped his cloak off. She didn't recognize his face, and rolled him unceremoniously into the puddle of spilled stew. She draped the black robe over herself and grimaced at how loosely it hung on her short frame. It would have to do though.

When she reemerged from the room, this time in her disguise, she noticed the noise had grown. She made her way slowly down the steps, feeling cold and terrified. Her hands were shaking, but hidden within the excess of fabric.

As she got closer she could hear them arguing about something, no someone. They were discussing whether or not someone was worthy to join them. If she had been braver she may have rolled her eyes, but instead she focused on the open doorway. She could see trees just beyond it. There was no door, likely it had rotted away or been broken when the cultists took up their residence here.

One step. Two more. She could taste the fresh air, and see the setting sun dip behind the tree tops. Another step, and a hand gripped her shoulder. She whirled around, clumsy in the ill-fitted robes, and kicked with all her strength, hitting the hooded figure in the shin. He gasped and jumped back.

"Wha-?" everyone was looking at her now. Fight or flight kicked in and she ran. The long robes tripped her up, but she gathered them as she fled. Unfortunately she didn't get far. Suddenly the air was sucked out of her lungs and she tumbled forward. She rolled, gasping for oxygen, but was unable to breathe. She grabbed her throat, but there was no physical cause for her suffocation. It was magic. She blinked a few times, her vision growing cloudy. The cultists were looking down at her now, faces hidden.

AHHH sorry for the wait! but here it is, hope you liked it! My life is just crazy at the moment and I don't get a lot of time to write. Sorry if this is a little raw editing wise, if you notice something really bad point it out and i'll fix it ^^ otherwise just forgive me lol.

Did anyone see the library chaos coming? did I give it away in my earlier A/N's? lol I hope not but I probably did. I'm rambling now, sorry. review if you like, I love hearing your thoughts and opinions :)

I will try to get ch 10 out sometime this weekend if things don't blow up again.