She Gets Kidnapped, Of Course!

Elana put the rulebook in her bag, her heart pounding. She looked around the shop, but nothing seemed to have changed. After a moment, she sighed, realising that it had probably been just a joke after all. Her pretty face formed into a frown, and then a scowl as she started to feel silly for even considering it in the first place.

_That's the problem with you, _she told herself, head in the clouds. You find a magic rulebook, and for one second you believe that it may actually be real. You should have known better,. Stuff like that doesn't just happen. Not in the real world. Even so, she felt an acrid sense of disappointment, but **** it deep down inside of her, plastering a happy look on her face. She excused herself from the shop, and went about the rest of her day.

Today was not meant to be very busy. - Elana worked at an office as secretary, and made good money. Lately, they'd been understaffed, and Elana had been asked to work double shifts. She'd done so, reluctantly, it had to be said, but now that they were no longer short handed, her boss had given her a week off as thanks, as well as some extra money in her paycheck. Mr Fones wasn't a bad man, she supposed, for all that he was a little bit elitist. He'd known he was asking a lot from her, and at least he'd had the decency to try and make it up to her later. Today was the first day of her week off, and she had decided to spend it in town. Her stop at the coffee shop had been a nice start to the day, but Elana was a woman with a problem. She had a whole wallet full of spare money, and nothing to spend it on. Something she intended to fix presently. She'd had her eyes on a new game series for a while, and now she had the money to pick it up, plus she was interested in scouring the second hand shops for old movies. Elana liked old movies - particularly Sci-fi, but fantasy was good too, and you could usually get them pretty cheaply. Oh, and now she mentioned it, maybe some books as well? Her bookshelves were rather bare...

Well, no, actually, they were pretty full.

But you could always use more books!

Or so she told herself, anyway. Perhaps she should talk to someone about her crippling addiction to books? No, no, that was silly. More books would surely solve the problem. It was lucky she lived alone, because otherwise she would probably have a lot less room in her home.

Elana paused by the window of one store, peering into the glass as she examined the contents. Within, she could see various odds and ends, but her gaze was drawn for a moment by her own reflection. She saw a pretty young woman gazing back at her. Green eyes with copper hair, a slim frame, and skin that was just a little bit pale. She admitted she could probably get out in the sun more often. Her hair was long, falling down to her back, and she was wearing a mid-length skirt and dark tights, as well as a casual jacket thrown over a brown shirt. A necklace was string around her throat, a present from her mother when she had first moved out.

This was her. Elana. She looked at the image for a moment, scrutinising her reflection as though she expected it to tell her something about herself. After a moment, she nodded her head in slight satisfaction. She looked pretty good, even if she did say so herself. It was true she didn't have a boyfriend, and never really had to be honest, but she was content that she could have had one if she wanted to. It was just... well, embarrassing as it was to admit it, social interaction was hard for Elana. She missed cues sometimes, or spoke out of turn. It wasn't that she tried to be bad at it, but she simply did not have the knack that other people seemed to grasp naturally. It had been this way since she was a little girl.

Well, it couldn't be helped. She shrugged to herself in the reflection. Today was far too good a day to be sitting here feeling sorry for herself.

It was at this point, looking into an image of herself reflected in the window of a shop, that Elana felt someone come up behind her. At first, she didn't pay them much mind, but that changed when she felt their hand lock around her shoulder. She froze, cold fear spiked in her gut as she felt something metallic pressed into her back, and a voice whispered into her ear.

"Come with me if you know what's good for you."

She was being kidnapped. Terror exploded from her mind, but only for a moment. The memory of the rulebook flowed back through her, and she hesitated. Maybe it had not failed after all? She hoped so. But there was only one way to find out for sure.

"I-I'll scream." She said.

"Do it." The voice replied. "I don't know who you pissed off, girl, but we both know that no one will help you."

Elana's heart spiked. Her rule! It was the book!

With the cold metal pressed to her back, Elana felt the other person start to guide her slowly through the crowd. Her limbs trembled, and she felt a heady mixture of pure terror and excitement prickling her skin as she moved.