"Dig deep into the book. Then you will find the ring. If you don't find them and return, I will not allow you to stay with us," a sharp voice ordered.

A musky smell was in the air. Amora was inside a book. She was the size of the words in the book. She didn't know which book it was. All she knew was that Travis knew what he was saying, and she had to follow his orders.

As she dug deeper and deeper, it got darker. Amora dug through the white pages where the words were not there, as it was easier to dig that area. After she dug through the pages, the previous pages would stitch themselves up and return to their original form.

Like a snake, something wrapped around her head. Fearful, Amora carefully touched her head on the sides. Something was adjusting around her, moving up and down. She could feel it as it became hardened and smooth. Amora tried to remove it, but it was stronger than her. She moved her hands to the center of her forehead slowly, feeling a bit safer as the thing didn't harm her, to remove it. Her fingers felt like she was touching a thing with sharp edges. She quickly took her hands away from it.

The thing stopped moving. It flashed a light that illuminated half of the words in the current page. It spoke to her, "Why are you here?"

Amora fidgetted. Shaking, she said, "I've come to find a ring."

"So you still haven't found it yet? Then I'll help you," the thing said.

Amora became flabbergasted. Her heart pounded strongly in her chest, and sweat trickled down her face. Dizziness came over her. She was all alone and didn't know if the strange thing was genuinely offering her help. She could no longer hear Travis's voice in the depth of the pages.

The weight of the thing suddenly doubled. Amora started swaying around the soft page as she started seeing strange phenomena. 

The pages spaced themselves from one another. An invisible force in the pages prevented Amora from falling off the page. Words on the pages stood up. The letters arranged themselves so that they looked like stick figure drawings of human beings. Words with more letters had a bigger height. The words started coming to the page she was in. Amora had to move away from the words to prevent bumping into any of them once they became figures. She didn't know what she saw anymore.

The complete book got crowded. The figures gathered around her. The thing on her head spoke again, "This girl, who is below me, wants to find a ring. Find it for her before the gates get locked."

The crowd scattered to find the ring. The figures were running around all over the book that Amora couldn't dig deeper or go where she wanted. To go through the pages, the words became liquid of their size. The book became wet all over.

Amora had to trust the crowd. She couldn't see well in the crowd, but she blindly followed them as they were better than her. They knew the book more than her. Travis knew what he wanted and where it was. She had to follow the ones that knew everything.

A red light beamed through the pages, illuminating the faces of all the figures. "Attention. Attention. The gates are closing. The gates are closing."

"Please do not close the gates until we find the ring. Everyone is searching. It is here somewhere. Travis said so. He is always right. Do not close the gates. Tell them, Travis," Amora screamed at the top of the lungs. Her voice drained, and her throat hurt. The thing stopped emitting light.

Amora wanted to climb up the pages to get out of the book. But she knew Travis wouldn't get her out of the page unless she found the ring.

With the red light, Amora saw that the letters started to be pulled away into words, and the words were forced back into the pages they belonged. The pages became stuck together. A thick silver chain emerged from the page she was on. Amora got trapped into the pages as the chain wrapped around her hands, chest, waist, and legs.

Amora struggled fiercely. But she couldn't get free. The red light vanished, and complete darkness surrounded her.

Amora wanted to see the words. But she was blind in the dark. Not a sound could be heard.

"Travis! Drew! Eve! Someone get me out of here!" Amora screamed though she knew it was useless. No one would go beyond the words of Travis even if they heard her.

She could feel the taste of something hard like a rough rope tied itself around her mouth.

************************************

Amora woke with a start from her desk. She was sweating. Many books were scattered around her desk in her room. There was no one nearby. She inhaled a deep breath and exhaled.

The dream was a bit realistic for her. In the dream, all the words went in different directions, and none of them collaborated. These days, whenever she tried to use her power, similar things happened. Long back, her powers were easier to handle as all the words collaborated to regain her memory.

"I can't believe the things once I adored the most became my worst nightmare. What will I tell Travis when he asks me more information about the ring? I hate reading books just to go through bundles, searching, and searching for new things." Amora touched her forehead and groaned, "I miss the old days when I felt that I belonged in the world of books and could remember everything easily. I hate how my memory has gone down these days."

Nowadays, she felt like each book was a cage bar with a different lock, and she was the bird stuck inside. Even if she unlocked one lock, another lock came in that place.

Amora decided to go to Drew to see if he got any new information about the ring. She got up and went outside her room that was covered with hundreds of books.

When she got near the computer, she was surprised to see Drew lying down on the ground. Amora went towards him and stooped down to tap on his shoulder. When he saw Amora, he sat up. Amora stood back straight.

"Who are you?" he asked, observing the room, fear in his eyes.

Why is he acting differently?

"What are you talking about?" Amora asked, confused.

"Why am I... ?" Drew stopped when he looked at his legs. He touched them. He put both the hands on the chair next to him and pulled himself up. He then started jumping uncontrollably.

Amora's jaw dropped.

What is he? A kangaroo? What will Travis say when he sees this?

Amora started shivering.

She looked around. To her utter shock, she saw that Drew had finished the food that she gave him, seeing the empty wrapper on the computer table. He usually never ate anything she made as he hated it.

Could the food have done this to him? But I'm sure I didn't do anything for him to react this way? All I was thinking was how Travis was discriminating me saying that I was inferior to Drew. I was thinking about how I wished Drew disappeared. But if Travis sees this, he would say that I purposely did this to Drew without hearing me. Even if I have a wild imagination, I could never do this to him as I would feel guilty.

Wait. Did I develop the power to make my wish come true when I cook? Am I multi-talented? Maybe I should try to cook again and give him food, chanting on my mind that he should come back to normal. I don't mind if he is stronger than me, as long as Travis doesn't shout at me a lot. Eve too would be upset when she sees this, so I have to make him normal, somehow.

She did not want to see the current state of Drew anymore, so without turning back, Amora decided to go to the kitchen to make the food once more. As soon as she moved her first step, a ball smashed to the wall on her left, sending her hair flying. Her heart skipped a beat.

The ball bounced off the wall. Amora turned back, and her eyes widened.

Drew was in the air with tears in his eyes, smiling, "Playing ball is awesome. Isn't it?"

What is he saying?

Amora hadn't seen Drew when he was a kid. She could not even picture him as someone who enjoyed playing ball. He never even smiled. Amora's father always told her to expect the unexpected, but she never thought Drew would change, even for a minute. But now, everything changed. Drew looked like an innocent kid who broke free from his cages. She wondered if she could ever smile like him, breaking free from the infinite locks.