Grind 1.1

I walked into the Library. I only had another week left before I was supposed to go back to school. Just thinking about that made me cringe inside. I did not want to go back. I wanted to avoid it, at all costs.

Step one of avoiding thinking about it was easy, find something to read. I'd been stuck lately with nothing new to read or watch. I did not feel like rereading anything off my shelf and there was nothing really good on television. So here I was, walking through the shelves looking for something different.

"Looking for something in particular?" A woman asked.

I looked up to see one of the Librarians staring at me with a warm smile. "Yeah, kind of. I'm looking for something to take my mind of things, hopefully something fun. Any suggestions?"

The woman paused and thought for a moment. "Well there is this one Earth Alph series that a lot of the kids seem to enjoy. It's pretty popular actually. Follow me, and I'll see if we have a copy of the first one.

After checking one of the computers behind the checkout desk the Librarian led me to the young adult section. It was not my usual thing given that a lot of young adult novels were pointless romance, or violence for the sake of violence. But then that was a lot of fiction in general, and I had asked for something fun so maybe I would luck out. The Librarian scanned the shelf for a minute before grinning and pulling out a small paperback.

"Here, the first book in the series, A Spell for Chameleon." The Librarian said holding it out.

I gave the book a skeptical once over. It was certainly different than my normal choices, but I did need an escape. Finally I accepted it, and opened to the first page.

Then everything went wrong.

The book became fixed in space. I couldn't move it at all. Then I felt a tug from where I was touching the book before being hauled head first into the pages.

I came to in a dark space. In front of me was a wall of bright lights of various sizes with names and a one sentence blurb beneath each one. The brightest light read; Bink, main character.

Ok so I was somehow or other trapped in a book. One way or another something was painfully clear about this. There were cape powers involved. Probably not the Librarian. And there hadn't been anyone else around. So that really only left one option. I was a cape, with the power to insert myself into books. But that didn't really make any sense. Even the capes that didn't use their powers to fight could have. How did hiding from reality in novels lend itself to fighting?

I suppose there was probably something I was missing. However, given that I was trapped in a book at the moment I decided that the biggest problem was really getting out. Not how this could be used in a fight. I looked around. No obvious exits just the wall of lights. Realization downed on me. The only way out of the book was to get through it. "Shit." I said to no one in particular. "Well, if I'm going to be in a novel I might as well be the main character for once." I reached out and poked the big light that read Bink.

I sort of ignored the introduction scene in order to take in my surroundings, and be confused by the fact that what appeared to be the stories narrative was scrolling through my brain. It would advance only as my actions fallowed the narrative. The opening was something about a lizard getting eaten by a bird and essentially told the reader; this is foreshadowing, but it is very vague foreshadowing, so don't bother trying to interpret it.

As I read along in my head I screeched to a halt at the line; "Blink looked at the girl beside him as she stepped through a slanting sunbeam. He was no plant, but he too had needs, and even the most casual inspection of her made him aware of this."

I stopped reading along. I stopped paying attention. This was just not fair, it was just too freaking stupid to be real. "Oh fuck no, you have got to be kidding me!"

I was a GUY, in a book obviously catering to teen boys. How was something with a line like that, not even half way into the first chapter, supposed to be a young adult novel! It also explained why it was popular. It did not, unfortunately, explain why the Librarian thought I would have liked it.

I silently swore to myself that when I got out of this the first thing I was going to do was give the Librarian a piece of the mind. The second thing I was going to do was send the author a letter telling him he was writing to please a target audience and I hated him for it.

I took a minute to double check that there wasn't a way out of here before I sighed. I resumed the book and continued to read. I silently begged whatever terrible god had stuck me in here that the book would not go past innuendos and allusions.