I still wasn't sure what we were supposed to be looking for. 'A book' was a pretty vague description, considering we were surrounded by piles upon piles of books.

"So are you going to tell me anything useful to help me find this thing? Or are we just going to continue searching until our brains melt from boredom?"

Chord sighed and threw another book aside. "I would give you more information on the book, except I don't have any. I've never actually seen it, so I have no idea what it looks like. All I know is that it's a leather bound book that's filled from cover to cover with Isis' handwriting."

"No problem then. All the books here are leather bound, which lowers our options down to...everything! So we have no idea what we're looking for. Perfect." His words caught me though. Could he be looking for the same book that the woman had mentioned earlier? Was it possible that we were in search of the same thing? If it was, that just made my life a whole lot easier. I could kill two birds with one stone. Help this guy and all the other characters out, and find August's mother. Win win.

He didn't respond. It seemed he was about to reach his limit too.

"Alright, this is insane. Whatever this book is, it's not here. We've gone over every stupid book at least twice and we have yet to find anything that was handwritten. Which means whoever ransacked this place must have gotten to it first." I pushed myself up from my position on the floor and carefully stepped over to the overturned desk where Chord was sitting crosslegged on the floor. "Give it up, Chord. It's time to start looking for some clues or anything that might tell us where this person went or even who they were. The book isn't here and if you really need it that badly, we'll have to go out there and find it."

"I was really hoping it wouldn't come to that."

I rolled my eyes. "Come on," I offered my hand to help him up, "Don't be such a baby. We're in this together, right?"

Reluctantly, Chord nodded and accepted my outstretched hand. I pulled him to his feet and together we righted the overturned desk in order to allow us a clear path out of the room.

"There. See? We're already making progress." I grinned.

He shook his head. "All we've done is make the place look worse than it was before."

"Not true," I quickly countered, "we fixed the desk. That's something isn't it?"

"More than we think." Chord suddenly said, racing around the backside of the desk. He pulled out a hidden drawer that must have come loose when the desk was thrown down. Carefully, he lifted a small leather bound journal out of the drawer. He turned and smiled triumphantly at me. "This is it, Taryn. We've found it. Isis' book of curses."

"We found the book," I prodded, "now what?"

After Chord had found the book, we took it out into the kitchen where we could sit down and go over it. He had been sitting there staring at the cover of the book for the past fifteen minutes.

"Shouldn't we at least open it and see what's inside? I mean, we already know that it's a book of spells. Aren't you the least bit curious? Besides, I thought you said we needed the information in order to break the curse."

Chord shook his head. "I can't."

"Can't what?"

"Open it. I can't open the-" He trailed off.

"The what? The book?" I was confused. "Why can't you? Here, let me."

I went to grab the book but he quickly snatched it away. "No!"

I threw my hands up in frustration. "What is wrong with you? First you make me go looking for a needle in a hay stack, wasting four hours of my life and now you won't even open it? You have a problem."

"This doesn't feel right." He spoke slowly, choosing his words carefully. "Something's wrong. This was a bad idea." Shaking his head, he stuffed the book into the bag he had found in the study and got up from his chair.

"Now where are you going?" I called after him as he shuffled toward the door.

"Home. And I suggest you do the same."

"Excuse me?" I jumped up from my chair and raced across the room to block his exit. "I don't think so. You dragged me all the way here to find that stupid thing and I'm going to open it, no matter what you say."

"Well the book is in my bag, so it looks like you're out of luck, Princess."

"Don't call me that." I growled.

He shrugged. "That's what you are, right? A princess. After-all, it was you who played all the parts in the fairytale curse."

"What has gotten into you?" I didn't like this new Chord. He was frightening and intimidating and nothing like the boy I knew.

"I've changed my mind, I don't want your help. Just go and run home to your precious prince." The glint in his eyes was so familiar, yet I couldn't place it. Something was off. Something was definitely off.

I crossed my arms and held my ground. "Not on my watch. I helped to find the book. I wasted four hours of my life that I'll never get back trying to find it. I want to find out what's in it and you're not going to stop me."

"Yeah?"

I nodded firmly. Who did this guy think he was? If he thought he could just push me around like this, he had another thing coming.

"And what's a little girl like you gonna do about it?"

"Look, you over grown weasel, if you really are a character from the curse, chances are I've already whooped your butt once, and I can do it again."

Chord scoffed but his gaze softened a bit. "You're as indignant as ever. How August stands to be with you all the time, I will never understand."

I smirked. "He calls it charming."

"I'm sure he does."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I challenged.

He actually laughed. "I'm just saying, the boy has always had a bit of a flair for being an overly cheesy romantic. I'm amazed the two of you even made it out of that curse, with your temper and his...well, his lack of intelligence. It doesn't seem at all plausible."

My eyes narrowed at the boy towering over me. "Believe it or not, we make a pretty good team. But we weren't alone either."

"Ah, yes. The fairy and the idiot British boy."

At the mention of Alfie, my temper heated to a boil. "Don't you dare say anything bad about Alfie. He was an honorable, brave and true friend. I will not have you tainting his memory with your ugly words."

Chord looked taken aback by my sudden outburst. "I didn't mean to offend you. I'm sorry."

"The next time I hear you speaking about him with anything other than honor, you will be finding yourself working alone on this." I threatened.

He shook his head with a bit of a smile appearing on his lips. "You are nothing if not loyal, Taryn Bauer. I used to think that Isis was exaggerating whenever she spoke of you and your friends. She made you sound like some sort of saint when it came to loyalty. I assumed she was being dramatic, making it all up as Isis often does. It appears I was wrong. She was right to fear you. It is not often you find someone so willing to stick up for their friends, even after death."

It was my turn to be taken aback. Was that a compliment? Was he actually being nice to me?

"Let's just get back to the business at hand, shall we?" I quickly changed the subject, reverting the line of conversation off of me. "We have to find out what that book says, and you know it." Before he could interrupt me, I hurried on. "I don't know what you're so freaked out about all of a sudden, or what it is you're not telling me, but either way, we have to open it. If you really don't want to, then I will."

I reached for the bag and this time, he didn't try to stop me. My hands locked around the small journal and I quickly pulled it out.

"Before you do anything, Princess, I need to tell you something." He led me back into the kitchen and we returned to our positions by the kitchen table. "There's a rumor, that there are actually two books."

"You mean two of these books?" I tapped the book lying on the table between us.

He nodded.

"It's said that the two are identical with no real way to tell the difference. Only Isis knows which is which. One of the books is indeed her spell book, but the other is a trap. A trap set for anyone who might be in search of the spell book."

"And what does this trap do, exactly?" I was getting a bad feeling about this.

"Rumor has it that the fake book will send you immediately back into the curse."

"Wait, you're serious? Please tell me you are not serious." He shook his head and I closed my eyes, trying to keep what little composure I had left. "I can't believe this. There is no way I'm risking that. I refuse to go back there. Our deal was that I would help you find the book, there was nothing in the agreement about actually going back."

"Princess, listen. Even if this was the real book, we would still have to find a way back into the curse. It's the only way to break the bind that holds us all to it."

"You have got to be kidding me. This isn't happening." My hands began shaking simply at the thought of returning to the curse. I couldn't imagine what I would do if I ever had to actually enter it again. "So why did you freak out back there. What was that all about?"

He sighed. "I panicked. I figured you wouldn't want to help me if you found out we would actually have to enter the curse again. If this is the fake, then we'd be sucked in as soon as the cover was opened. I didn't want to risk it. You helped me find the book. You played your part. I'm not going to make you go back in there if you don't want to."

"Nobody in there right mind would want to." I said.

"I won't blame you if you walk out now." Chord said. "You helped me find the book and for that I am grateful. Although I would not stop you if you agreed to come along. I honestly do believe that you will play a major role in destroying the curse."

I groaned and racked a hand through my hair in frustration. "I hate you. I hope you know that."

Chord grinned.

"But I also found myself searching for this book before I met you so I suppose I don't have much of a choice. Let's just get this over with, shall we?"

Taking a deep breath, together we opened the book. At first nothing happened. The only thing on the first page was in neat script,

Isis's book of curses

November 29, 05

"She really isn't very bright is she." Chord mentioned as he looked at the way she'd written her own name.

"Isis is what you call 'simple-minded'. She's easily confused and thinks that squirrels are terrifying creatures."

Chord started to laugh until he saw that I was completely serious.

I went to turn the page but as I did, the book began to shake. It started slowly but quickly became more violent, rattling across the table. I snapped my hand back and stared at the book in shock.

"What's it doing?"

"I'm not sure," Chord whispered.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't books supposed to immobile, inanimate...not jumping around a table like someone just pumped twenty cans of pepsi down it's pages?"

"I thought I remembered someone telling me once that books were lifeless. Unable to move on their own. Apparently, they were wrong. We've been fed lies our entire lives."

"Fantastic. I've always wanted a pet. Do you think books are easier to keep than dogs? How much do they eat?"

Chord looked at me with a bewildered expression. "Do you always joke around like this whenever there's a chance of danger?"

I shrugged. "Helps calm the nerves."

"Fair enough."

We watched as the book jumped around the table for a few minutes before I broke the silence.

"So do you think it's planning on stopping soon, or..."

Chord tentatively reached out and placed a hand on the book, preventing it from moving any further. It jiggled under his hold a few times before becoming dormant once again.

"Alright, that was the weirdest thing I've ever seen." I said.

"Tell me about it. I lived for a solid ten years inside the curse. I've seen my fair share of strange things, but the dancing book? That's new." Chord said, dragging the book closer to us.

A light burst forth from the pages then, forcing Chord and I to turn our faces to keep from blinding ourselves. A strong wind picked up, swirling around and gaining speed until a small tornado had formed over the open book. Chord had taken his hand off the book and rightfully so. The pull from the sudden storm was sweeping every nearby object into the wind tunnel. Vases and dishes, even painting on the walls flew across the room, landing on the book only to sink and disappear into the pages. The book must not have liked our teasing. It had gone on a rampage and was eating everything in sight.

"What's happening?" Chord needed to shout in order to be heard over the noise of the wind and shattering kitchen ware.

"I don't know!" I shouted back. "You're the brains of this operation. You tell me."

"I have a feeling we may have found the fake book with the trap set."

"No!" I shouted back sarcastically. "You think? I never would have guessed."

"Are you ready for this?"

"Seems I don't have a choice." I ducked to avoid a flying dinner plate. "After you."

"Ladies first!"

"Age before beauty."

Chord scowled. "You're mean."

"Get over it. It's now or never so lets move." Without waiting for a reply, I struggled against the wind and clambered up until I was standing on the table. The closer I got the book, the stronger the wind became. It was beginning to drag me in. Every part of my body screamed at me to turn and run but I stubbornly kept my feet planted and allowed the book to take me. If this was how I was supposed to destroy the curse, then so be it. It was time to get rid of this thing once and for all. I could only hope that August wouldn't have my head for doing this. Wherever you are right now, August. Please don't be mad at me. I have to do this. I have to help these people. I'll be back. I promise. I didn't allow myself to think on it any further and jumped, letting the book pull me back into the one place I never thought I'd see again.

Thank you so much to everyone who's taken the time to read this story. I really do love Taryn's story. It's by far the story that I've had the most fun writing. I only hope that you enjoy it as much as I do :)

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