The Unfinished Fairytale

Chapter 1

I pulled a book off the shelf and flipped through the pages, then put the book back on the shelf. It wasn't what I was looking for. My friend, George, interrupted me by elbowing me.

"Hey, Kelly! Check out what I found!"

He waved a new graphic novel at her. I took it from him and studied the cover. It entailed a team of fantasy heroes out to slay a dragon, as expected from a fantasy book.

"George, this isn't what we're here for. We're supposed to be buying school books, not fantasy comics."

He sighed and put the book back on the shelf.

"I know, it's just so boring."
"Just keep looking for a good history book."
He shrugged and turned on his heel.

"All right, all right, don't stress it too much."

I turned around to look at the rest of our study group. Daniel was browsing the textbooks, Jonathan was pointing out options to him, and Jackie was sitting on a beanbag and reading a book that I didn't recognize.

"Jackie! We're supposed to be looking for educational books, not comics!" I shouted at her.

She glanced in my direction, then rolled her eyes.

"I am reading an educational book, idiot!"

She held up what she was reading. The cover was dark green with gold lettering, spelling out Greek Myths.

"Jackie, we're looking for history books, not myths!"
"I don't care! It's got centaurs in it, so I'm reading it!"
"Fine, whatever! Just learn something from it!"

An elderly woman poked her head around the bookshelf I was browsing, very loudly shushed us, then went back to wherever she came from. George shrugged, then stepped into the next aisle to look for other books.

A few moments later, I heard a loud thump come from the aisle he went in. I glanced at another member of our group, Jonathan, who shrugged and resumed browsing. I grabbed his hood and pulled him to the aisle George was in, where he stood staring at a book on the floor

One of the largest books I'd ever seen lay on the library floor, the pages old and worn. The pages flipped on their own, going past at least a hundred pages coated in words, but then it got strange. The pages being flipped suddenly went blank, and there were at least a hundred more pages with nothing on it.

"George? What's this?"

"I dunno. I started pulling it out to look at it, but then it fell to the floor and started doing whatever it's doing now."

Jackie and Daniel poked their heads around the shelf.

"Everything okay?" she asked. "We heard a big thump, anyone hurt?"

We all shook our heads, and George pointed at the strange book.

"We're fine, but I don't know about the book. It's acting all weird."

Jackie glanced at the book on the floor, the pages still flipping, still blank.

"Why's it blank?"
"I dunno. The pages before it weren't. Here," he said as he knelt down. "I'll show you."

What I saw next was almost unbelievable. The second he lay his hand on the book, his hand became glued to the page.

"What the..." he muttered.

He used his remaining hand to try and flip back to the pages with words, but that hand became stuck too.

"Um, help? I'm stuck to the book!"

None of us wanted to touch the book, but it was the only way to help him, so Daniel got down on his knees and tried to grab George's hand, but his right hand got stuck to the book too. This time, I bent down to help, but by then, their hands had seemingly sunk into the book, like it was pulling them in.

George tried pulling against the book in vain.

"Guys, what the hell is up with this book!?"

None of us moved a muscle. Then, quick as the blink of an eye, they both got sucked into the book. Jackie shrieked. Jonathan started muttering something about how this had to be a dream. I grabbed him by the collar and shook him until he regained his senses.

"Johnny! Now isn't the time to have a panic attack!"

He groaned.

"I know, I know, I know! Stop shaking me!"

I let go of his collar, and he relaxed.

"We gotta go get them."

"Totally," agreed Jackie.

I glanced between the two of them, who had already started walking toward the book.

"Are you guys sure?" I asked.

"Absolutely," replied Jackie. "Dude, our friends just got sucked into a weird book. We have to go save them."

I was skeptical at first, but I relaxed.

"Alright, fine. If we get killed, it's your fault, Jackie."
"Fine by me."

We said no further words and leaped into the book.