The young purple Shoyru passed shop after shop after shop, until she reached the only one which she wanted to visit: the Magical Bookshop.

As she pulled the door open, a bell jingled and Seymour, the shopkeeper, looked up from his novel. "Eleanor!" he exclaimed as she entered the shop. "How lovely it is to see you. Come to pick up a book from the clearance rack?"

Eleanor grinned at him. "Not today, Mr. Seymour!" She opened her satchel and allowed the Nimmo to take a look inside. "I've saved up 3000 NP. I want to buy a really, really good book today!"

Seymour thought for a moment, then reached underneath his counter and retrieved a large tome with a faded cover. "Eleanor, I think I've got just the book you're looking for..."

Seymour batted her hand away- "Ah ah ah- not until you get home," he said with a wink.

She nodded briefly, knowing that her good friend would not try to fool her - if he said it was a good book, then surely it was worth all the money in the world. She hastily handed over her Neopoints, stuffed the book into her satchel, and sprinted home.

She smacked the book down onto the counter, pausing for a moment to take it all in. There was no title on the green-grey leather; just some ornamental engraving in an oval shape and a few lines. She took a deep breath and opened the cover.

Before she knew it, she was being sucked inside the book! As the blurry lines of the shifting world covered her view, her heart pounded - how fantastic; not just a book, but an adventure too!

When the blurriness cleared, she found herself...

Eleanor shivered. "Brrr!" she exclaimed. "It really is quite cold here." She slowly got up and tried to feel around for a light switch of some sort.

After a bit of time passed *FLICK!* "That's the ticket!" The light from a massive chandelier unlike anything she'd ever seen before flooded the room and left her in awe.

The room was filled to the brim with every book that ever existed in Neopia. There were big comfy chairs just right for curling up in for a good book and pretty plants with blooming flowers in colors that she'd only dreamed of.

"Who in the world takes care of such a place" she breathed. Suddenly, from behind her she hears...

"Oh, hello," she breathed, kneeling onto the lush carpet. It was so dense that she felt herself sink inside a little. "Oops," she giggled.

The Hermiteese stared back with big, round eyes.

"Where did you come from, little guy?" It puffed up its feathers, and let out a rather indignant squawk. "Girl! I mean," Eleanor corrected herself. "Do you have an owner, who takes care of this beautiful library?"

There was a flicker of recognition in the Hermiteese's eyes, and barely perceptibly, it nods its head.

"Can you take me to your owner? I would quite like to meet them, and ask for permission to read their books."

The petpet seemed to droop, and lowers its head sadly. It croaks a little, then runs towards a book shelf. Spreading its wings, it leaps onto the shelf, and climbs up. Eleanor watched as a book was pushed off the shelf, landing on the wooden floor with a loud thunk. She walks closer to the book, and picks it up. It was a diary, with a cracked spine.

"You want me to read this?" Another chirrup, agreeing with her.

Eleanor flipped the page, and the book said:

"Only the one with the power to enter new worlds can save me now..."

If you, the one reading this book, are brave enough to try then follow the directions listed below. My fate is in your hands."

Eleanor gasped as she read the words. She had to at least try to save this person. Eleanor looked at the directions, they seemed easy enough. Walk to the end of the aisle you are currently in, turn left, walk past 5 chairs, turn right and approach your second fireplace and touch the 3rd brick on the top row.

"Here goes nothing," Eleanor said as she picked up the Hermiteese and began walking towards the end of the aisle...

"Here goes nothing," she whispered, touching the brick that the book had indicated. The fireplace spun around, opening up a secret room. It was dark, with only a few small shafts of moonlight coming in through a barred window. It looked suspiciously like some kind of dungeon.

When Eleanor reached the end of the room, she discovered exactly why that was... An Acara sat at a desk, her foot chained to a chair, snoring lightly with her cheek resting on a pile of papers. There was a quill and ink beside her, and half of the paper was filled with writing.

"Um... excuse me," hazarded Eleanor.

The Acara sat up suddenly. "I'm sorry, I wasn't sleeping, I'm still writing, I'll- oh..." she regarded Eleanor briefly before her eyes flew wide open. "Oh!" She leapt up from the chair (though she couldn't stray far from it), looked once at the Hermiteese Eleanor was carrying, and grabbed it from her. "Hermes! Thank goodness! Did you finally find someone?" The petpet nodded and trilled softly, settling into her owner's arms. It looked like they had been apart for some time.

Eleanor stood with her mouth open. What was going on?

"Oh, you probably are wanting some explanation..." the Acara began. "My name is Tressa. I used to own this library - I filled it with books, some that I'd written, some from elsewhere. Until one day an evil witch captured me, moved the library into its own pocket dimension, and forced me to continue writing books just for her. The book in the library, and the one in your world, were the only ways I could get the message out. But now you're here, you can help free me! You're going to need..."

Tressa paused and heaved out a sigh, her eyes looking pensive and distant for a moment before she continued. "After all this time trapped inside the witch's dimension, I managed to discover some of her weaknesses. She is very sensitive to light and also extremely vain, unable to accept her own appearance. My plan is quite tricky to pull off, but if we manage to do so successfully, we'll be rid of this witch once and for all."

Beckoning Eleanor forward, Tressa lowered her voice and whispered, "The witch visits me every night to check the progress of my writing. She's eagerly anticipating the next installment of my current mystery series and should be here in a few hours. This is when you can sneak into her room at the top of a spiral staircase opposite the entrance to the main hall. Once you obtain those items we need, hide inside one of the large bookshelves until she leaves the dungeon, then come back here. Hermes will help you along the way."

Eleanor listened intently and nodded. As she and Hermes made preparations, Tressa continued writing in earnest. Before long, it was time to begin the mission. As Eleanor quietly crawled out the secret fireplace passageway with Hermes perched on her shoulder, she turned around and promised Tressa, "We'll get the items and come back to rescue you soon." The Acara returned Eleanor's words with a tired but hopeful grin and waited for the witch to show up...

How will this story end..

"Ah, Tressa," the witch said in a crackly voice. "How are the adventures of our beautiful heroine, modeled after yours truly, of course? Has she met her Prince Charming yet?"

Eleanor couldn't help but eavesdrop a bit, and she had to suppress a gag at what she heard. "But Tressa said it was a mystery book," she whispered to Hermes. "Maybe that's just what she says to take her mind off it. I'd have said I was writing a horror story, if it was me."

"N-not yet, Your Most Beautiful-ness," Tressa stammered. "I want his appearance to be perfect, our heroine deserves nothing less."

"Let's just go," Eleanor hissed to Hermes, having heard enough.

The Shoyru and Hermiteese fluttered up the staircase together, their wings making less noise than their footsteps would have. The staircase was longer than Eleanor would have expected it to be, given the creature that used it regularly. Eventually, however, they reached the top.

The witch's private quarters were very dark, with the only light coming from a few scant candles along the wall. Eleanor made sure to grab one along the way. She noted the vines on the walls. "We'll save those for last," she told Hermes. "Wouldn't want them to dry out before we get back downstairs."

But now the question remained: where would you find a mirror in the home of a witch who despised her own reflection? "Do you have any ideas?" Eleanor asked Hermes. "If I hated mirrors, I'd throw them all out. I suppose we don't really NEED a mirror. I think Tressa just wanted us to have one in case the witch caught us. But I think we should have one all the same."

While Eleanor was musing, she hadn't realized that Hermes had flown off and was dragging a box from under the witch's bed that was labeled in angrily scrawled handwriting: 'lies'. "Hermes, you're a genius!" praised Eleanor. She fell to her knees and immediately began to tear open the box. Sure enough, the box was filled with mirrors. Most of them were broken, but at the bottom, Eleanor was able to find a rather large mirror that was miraculously still in one piece.

Using one of the shards of glass from the broken mirrors, the Shoyru a piece of vine from the walls down. It felt strange in her hands, like a piece of putty that needed molding.

"Now, let's go downstairs and save Tressa!" Hermes trilled in agreement.

The witch still hadn't left the dungeon yet; presumably she was still dictating exactly how she wanted her story to go. By the light of the candle for the witch had finally turned off the chandelier, Eleanor had plenty of time to tuck herself and Hermes into a bookshelf. They didn't have to wait long.

Humming happily - or at least Eleanor assumed that was what the witch's happy tone sounded like - the witch emerged from the dungeon with a spring in her step. She almost passed by without incident, however, something caught her eye.

"What is this?" she shrieked. Eleanor noticed that the witch was holding a gray feather. "Who's been lurking in my library?"

"A monster!" Eleanor called out in a croaky voice. "An evil, ugly creature. You'd better not come looking for me, cause you won't like what you see!"

The witch, however, was not to be dissuaded. She marched toward the sound of Eleanor's voice, her bulky frame lurching this way and that. Eleanor hastily held up the mirror so that the first thing the witch saw when she rounded the corner was her own disfigured self.

"Ahh no! Lies, lies!" she croaked. "This is a cruel trick and I shall not stand for it! You just wait until I get back with my magic wand!" And the witch promptly took off for her tower. Realizing this was their chance, Eleanor and Hermes flew to the hidden passageway where Tressa was being kept.

"Oh thank goodness it's you," the Acara breathed when Eleanor and Hermes emerged. "I was hoping I was done with the witch for the evening. Now I'm done with her forever. Give me the vine!"

Eleanor handed Tressa the vine. The Acara jammed it into the lock and with a squelchy sound, Eleanor could see it molding into the shape of the key. Giving the vine-turned-key a firm twist, Tressa quickly freed herself.

"We should hurry," Eleanor urged her. "The witch is coming back with her wand. I showed her the mirror and she got really upset."

Tressa nodded and grabbed Eleanor's hand. Hermes flapped along behind the pair as they ran out into the library. "I have a book that can move us back to the real world," Tressa said.

"But what about your library?" Eleanor asked, shocked. "All these books..."

"It'll have to stay," Tressa replied. "You said it yourself, we don't have much time." Her voice turned bitter: "And besides, I'm rather okay with leaving the witch her copies of those books she made me write."

The Acara grabbed a tome - faded and lacking a title just like the one Eleanor had read - and opened it. Eleanor, Tressa, and Hermes all gathered around the tome. The strange tugging sensation of being sucked into the book enveloped Eleanor again, and before she knew it, she, Tressa, and Hermes were standing in a bare room inside a Neohome.

"This is where my library used to be," Tressa sighed. Sure enough, Eleanor could see walls and rafters, but the entire library itself was missing. "I guess the rest of my home wasn't to the witch's tastes. Now, let's get you home."

***

"Yes! Today's the day!" Eleanor cried as she ran through Neopia Central. Again she was headed to the Magical Bookshop. When she burst through the door, Seymour hardly seemed surprised.

"Is it here? Do you have it?" Eleanor asked breathlessly, carrying a big bag of Neopoints. She had been saving up for this day for a long time.

"Why yes I do," Seymour said. "I have a feeling I know what it is you're talking about, because a little birdy told me to give you a special, signed copy for free."

"Huh?" Eleanor asked. She was greeted with a familiar chirp. "Oh! Hermes!"

The Hermiteese chirped again and fluttered onto Eleanor's shoulder, giving Eleanor and affectionate head rub.

"Yes, he -"

"SHE!" corrected Eleanor.

"- She arrived this morning with a book and a note in tow. Now here's your book. I hope you enjoy it!" Seymour said with a twinkle in his eye. Eleanor couldn't wait to get home and read all about the harrowing adventures of two brave girls against a hideous, evil witch!

The End.