[quote]From somewhere she cannot see, Riley heard a deafening roar, followed by the sound of wood smashing. She kept up her breakneck pace, knowing on some animal level that the monster could not be far behind her at any time. [/quote]

[i]mmmrrrrrRRRAAAAOOOOOOO[/i]

A horrific noise thundered in the walls; the tentacled monster crashed to the floor, slipping and smashing into a bookcase in its haste to bow low -- for the sound had not come from Riley's pursuer.

It had come from behind the bolted metal door.

Riley had no time to look around -- she now had no hands to climb to the trap door with, so the only way open to her was the gaping bedroom door. Inside seemed like a dead end -- a nice place to take a nap, perhaps, if there weren't enormous monsters lurking around every corner. There were more books here, and candles and barrels of an odd but sweet yellow fruit.

There was also a dumbwaiter in the far wall, left open with a covered plate of cold meatloaf inside. The dumbwaiter shaft extended far, far up -- and far, far down -- with openings at every floor.

Exactly one minute after Riley had recited the spell, she returned to her old self.

From here she could hear the metal door open at the other side of the library. The growling and snarling rippled through the room -- and underneath it, a woman spoke.

[i]"Someone has touched a book of magic,"[/i] she said gently. [i]"You captured the culprit, didn't you?"[/i]

A lot of stuttering and sloppy muttering ensued -- followed by a terrible scream and the slurp and crack of bone and flesh.

[i]"Find it."[/i]

[hr][quote]He sat up after a short while wincing in pain and looked at the fox. "How do I get back home?" He did not care about this Dooa unless they could help him go home.[/quote]

The fox's ear twitched, and she turned her head with round brown eyes searching him, confused. "Well, right, we'd all like to go home little friend."

After a moment she crawled back to him, using her wings as feet, and laid on her stomach on the grass while she watched him. "Where's home fer you? What's home like? We can't really help you get someplace we don't know what or where it is."

Her ears twitched again thoughtfully -- and finally with a small hop she skittered to the edge of the tower and peeked over it toward the water. "You arrived down there, right? In the lab. Did you see a cat?" She grinned a little and turned again to face him.

"Sshh, sshh. I can help you go home -- but there's only one way that I know. Will you listen? Will ya take what I say seriously now?" Her voice fell to a hush, secretive and trusting. "There's a lady in a gold dress, inside the tower. She can send you home."