She had stood no chance.


    When she had realized that the moose monster was headed towards the rain room she had understood. It had been gone for a long time, it most likely had to get wet again. Her theory seemed to be true when the monster started its rain magic. As she somewhat enjoyed the magic and didn’t see any reason not to, she had copied what the monster had taught her the last time. When the monster rumbled and held out its hand, she had reached out to grab it.


    What she got instead was a handful of slow water.


    It had sparked her curiosity the last time as well, but as she was trying to hide, not very well she realized now, she hadn’t spent the time to examine it. Poking and manipulating it in as many ways as she could think of, she had only one conclusion to reach.


    It was exactly what she had thought the first time, slow water.


    She still had no answer for why it was a different color, even if she could still see through it, but she had seen the moose monster mixing the powder into water as well. She had also seen it trap water, making it hard enough to hold more water. It was clear that the moose monster was deeply connected to water. If it had mixed something or used its magic to make water slow, that seemed perfectly natural. The fact it made her slippery wasn’t all that strange either. As she had been rubbing herself before she got the slow water, she knew that she became more slippery as the water fell on her.


    Everything made sense.


    As she rubbed the slow water all over herself like the last time, she noticed that the moose monster wasn’t moving. It seemed as still as the walls. She watched for a little while, trying to puzzle out this new behavior, she could find nothing that made sense. Especially since the last time it had seemed to be in a hurry.


    A desire to test her new magic and pure curiosity made her move her hands to the moose monster. She couldn’t reach all the way around the monster the way it had reached around her last time, so she put both hands on one side and said her magic word.


    “Moose.”


    It seemed to work. Either her hands rubbing its side or the magic had pulled its attention back to her and it started moving again. Something she regretted almost immediately.


    Well, her mind regretted. Her body was perfectly happy with the new turn of events.


    It seemed that by calling attention to herself she had made the moose monster actually pay attention to her. After which it seemed to decide that she didn’t have enough magic. The monster got some more slow water and started rubbing her head. The combination of the warm water and head rubbing instantly sent tingles all over her body. Again.


    The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    She really should have learned not to make herself so vulnerable during her experiments. By calling the attention of the monster she now had lost control of her body as it sought out more head rubs. She didn’t know how long that lasted, but she did know when it changed. At some point, the monster had stopped rubbing her head and was using only one hand to squeeze her shoulder. It wasn’t as good as the head rubs, but it still sent tingles down her back.


    That was a good thing, as the storm magic made her tense up. She would have run had it been the first time, but she recognized it since she had done this before. She didn’t stay tensed long though, as the head rubs returned and her body did its best to make sure things stayed that way. She only vaguely noticed that they were returning to the monster’s lair.


    Once the monster sat down on its nest, her body decided to get as close as possible, her mind supplying memories of the warmth she had experienced a few times now. The closer she got to the moose monster the more warmth she could feel and the better the head rubs and tingles got. Right up until she realized she had lost.


    Once she was at the point where her mind had started to turn foggy, the monster moved her onto the bed with her back facing up. It then did something with its hand that made the head rubs fade into nothing. She could feel the monster’s hand doing something on her back and then she lost all strength, the tingles too much to endure.


    Strangely, while her body was very happy and utterly powerless, her mind seemed to be clear. It was slow, but fully clear. It was the only reason she was able to understand she had fallen deeply into a trap.


    As she watched the monster pick up the book she had intended to keep from it until the trade, she wanted to protest. To snatch the book and demand it trade. Insultingly, the monster hadn’t even moved fast. It seemed the water had made it ponderous and relaxed. She had plenty of time to stop it, plenty of time to move or do anything.


    She couldn’t even work up the energy or desire to speak, let alone move.


    This was the answer to her question she guessed. What could be better than before? This. This was better than before. Was it worth the trade? She had no idea, it was too much work to think that much right now.


    Even more insultingly, the monster didn’t seem interested in the book. The first book she had shown had earned at least enough attention to look through it. This one got nothing more than a short peek before it was set down again.


    The monster pulled the book it normally carried with it out of the blanket creation. When the monster opened it, she could see why her book was discarded. Every page seemed to be filled with enough words to make her book seem as empty as the word walls. The monster didn’t even try to hide it from her vision, though she couldn’t muster enough anything to do something about that.


    If she could steal some of the words in that book then everything would have been worth it. She could only imagine what she could learn, it might even have as much information as the Pages. She would need to come up with a new plan, a way to see as much of the book as possible.


    Soon. She needed a plan soon. Later. After…. yea, after.