"Did the book just run away?" Leon asked, gaping after it.

"It bit me!" Briar exclaimed, her hand swollen and red, pulsing with pain.

Leon's eyes widened as he inspected her hand. "That looks bad."

"It's fine," Briar said, shaking away the pain. "Where is the book?" She looked around for the book and found it wedged under a potion cabinet, trying to hide.

"Hey there," Briar cooed, crouching down to its level. "We're not going to hurt you. We just need to borrow you for a little while." She spoke softly, hoping to calm the book's nerves. Although she wasn't sure if the book understood her or not, she did her best to make the book feel safe. At least she was less scary than Baba Yaga.

"What is the book doing?" Leon asked.

"Hiding," Briar replied, her gaze fixed on the book. "Maybe it is scared."

"This place keeps getting creepier," Leon murmured.

"I promise we will not hurt you," Briar said gently, extending her hand towards the book.

The book hesitated, fluttering its pages nervously. Then, slowly, it inched closer to her.

"Yes," Briar clapped, encouraging the book. "Come here."

The book crept closer, its pages rustling slightly as it moved.

"Good book," Briar said as the book emerged fully from under the cabinet. "That's a good—"

Suddenly, the book jumped, smacking Briar squarely in the face.

"Ow!" she yelped, clutching her face in surprise. As she stumbled back, the book flipped open and sprinted away again, its pages fluttering wildly as if laughing at her. Briar stood there, momentarily stunned, before shaking her head and darting after it once more.

"Hey, stop!" Leon shouted, sprinting after the book as it darted into a potion cabinet. The prince lunged, throwing himself on top of the mischievous book.

However, the book slipped out from under him with a swift, serpentine motion, and Leon crashed into the cabinet. Shelves rattled, and potion bottles tumbled down, shattering around him in a cascade of glass and colorful liquids.

"Aww!" Leon yelled, groaning in pain and frustration as he lay amidst the broken glass and spilled potions, his clothes soaked and stained with various concoctions. The book, now perched on a nearby shelf, seemed to mock him with its flapping pages. Then the book jumped on the shrunken head chandelier.

"Why is the book running from us?" Leon shouted.

"Baba Yaga must have enchanted it to run away from anyone who tries to take it," Briar replied, pulling a wooden chair beneath the chandelier, her eyes following the book.

"I can't believe how much the witch loves that book," the prince said, shaking his head in disbelief as he picked himself up from the floor, brushing off potion residue.

"You will too, once you understand its value," Briar said, climbing onto the chair. "It's written by ancient fairies. It holds powers you can't even begin to imagine."

Briar climbed onto the chair and slashed at the rope holding one of the shrunken heads where the book had been resting. The rope snapped, and the head fell, but the book quickly leaped to another head.

Slash! Slash! Slash!

Briar cut blindly, sending shrunken heads tumbling to the floor, their creepy smiles seeming to grow wider as they rolled around.

Only one head remained, and the book perched atop it like a frightened cat.

"Give up now!" Briar yelled, slashing the final rope. The shrunken head fell, taking the book with it. Briar leaned to the side, reaching out to catch the book. For a fleeting moment, she had it in her grasp, but then the book bit her hand. She lost her balance and tumbled onto the pile of deadheads, the book slipping from her grip once again.

Briar cried out in frustration as the book escaped.

"Briar!" Leon yelled.

"After the book!" Briar yelled as she scrambled to her feet.

The book scurried up a cabinet containing large jars filled with preserved dead animals, knocking them to the floor in its nervousness.

"What did I say about damaging the property?" the hut roared, its voice echoing through the room as the jars shattered on the floor.

"Then tell the book to stop!" Briar shouted back at the hut.

"The book doesn't follow my orders!" the hut retorted.

The book, in a state of panic, was jumping from one potion cabinet to another, knocking over potions and causing a cacophony of crashes and splashes as the prince and princess chased it around the room.

"Stop that book!" Leon yelled, dodging a flying jar.

"I'm trying!" Briar responded, narrowly avoiding a potion bottle that fell from a top shelf.

The hut continued to scream in the background. "You're ruining everything!"

"If you can't help, just stay out of it!" Leon shouted at the hut as he lunged for the book, only to miss and knock over a stack of old spell books.

Briar dodged a falling jar and lunged at the book, managing to grab it for a brief second before it wriggled free, sending a cascade of potions raining down around her. "This is impossible!" she cried out in exasperation.

After numerous failed attempts to catch the book, Briar stopped. She knew it was pointless to keep chasing the book without a plan. They were wasting time. She scanned the room and spotted what she needed. A length of rope. Walking over to one of the shrunken heads, she carefully untied the rope binding its hair, doing her best to avoid touching the head itself.

"Leon, come here," she whispered, pulling him to the side as the book made another leap, this time into the wall.

"I've got a plan," Briar said, showing him the rope and quickly explaining her idea.

"You hide behind that cabinet," she instructed, pointing to a large, sturdy cabinet near the wall. "I'll chase the book toward you, and when I say 'jump,' you trap the book, and I'll tie it."

"Good idea," Leon agreed. He moved to the cabinet and crouched behind it, making sure he was out of sight.

Briar turned to face the book. It was clinging to the wall.

"Hey, book," Briar yelled, jabbing it lightly with her sword.

The pages fluttered nervously, and the book leaped to the floor. Briar poked it again, successfully turning it toward Leon's hiding spot.

"Yes!" Briar yelled, a grin spreading across her face. "Run!"

She sprinted after the book, which was now just a few feet away from Leon.

Three!

Two!

One!

"NOW!" Briar shouted.

Leon pounced on top of the book, pressing it to the ground with all his strength.

Briar dove in, quickly working on the rope, making knot after knot. Then she stood up with a smirk, dusting off her palms. "Got it!"

"Briar," Leon said from the floor.

"What?" she asked, her confidence waning at the tone of his voice.

"Untie me," he said.

Briar glanced down, horrified to see she had tied Leon's hands together, and the book had slipped away once again.

Briar let out a frustrated scream. "Enough!"

Leon struggled against the ropes, managing to free one hand. "Briar, the book is escaping!" he shouted.

"Stop!" Briar bellowed, sprinting with almost inhuman speed. With a swift kick, she sent the book flying, forgetting her promise not to harm it.

The magic book soared through the air before crashing into the wall with a resounding thud, sliding down to the floor.

For a moment, it lay there motionless.

Briar resisted the temptation to slam the book onto the floor again.

Leon, having freed himself, approached Briar with the rope in hand. Together, they bound the book tightly before Briar stowed it away in her satchel.

"Now, I just want to get out of this horrible house as soon as possible," Briar declared.

As they approached the door, it slammed shut in their faces with a resounding thud. Simultaneously, the windows all around the room slammed shut as well, the sound echoing in the confined space. Leon instinctively reached for the door handle and yanked it, but it refused to budge as if held fast by some unseen force. He tried again, putting all his strength into it, but the door remained stubbornly locked.

"What is happening?" Briar asked, her voice tinged with growing concern as she watched Leon's futile attempts to open the door.

Leon turned to her with a worried expression. "The door's locked," he said grimly, his voice echoing off the walls of the now eerily silent room. "We are trapped."

___