"Where do you think you're going, little girl?"
The girl stops with a gasp. She turns around, trembling, to see two individuals emerging from the shadows. The light from the street lamps casts a glow across their grinning faces. The first, a man, begins circling around her on the right. "It's getting late, you know? You don't want to be caught all alone..."
The second individual, a woman, makes a straight line towards her. As the girl evasively steps backwards, the woman quickens her pace. "That's a niiiice book you got there. Where'd you find that? Looks pretty special. Maybe you're special too, eh?"
The girl turns to run. There was no way she could win running straight away, so she zigzags through a nearby alley. After rounding a corner, she quickly throws up an illusion spell to hide herself. The two goons round the corner. When they don't find her, they exchange a quick look and split up, the man heading back the way they'd come, and the woman going on ahead.
The girl waits until she no longer hears their footsteps. Moving as quietly as possible, she exits the alley.
"Got ya."
The two had been lying in wait for her. "Heh, magic users... thinkin' you're clever with your fancy tricks, but we've seen that one already," the woman jeers.
As the goons advance toward her, the girl is overcome with fear. Her legs are shaking. She looks down at the ground, her hair covering her eyes and the tears welling up in them. "D-Don't... don't c-come any c-c-closer," she manages to sputter.
Both of them laugh. "Or what?" the man says. "You gonna cast a magic spell? Well, I've got a spell for you. It's called switchblade!"
Suddenly, the book in her hand bursts open, the pages fluttering as if blown by an invisible gust of wind. "I said..." She places a hand on one of the pages, the lines on the page glowing brightly. "DON'T. COME. ANY. CLOSER!"
Two dark wisps shoot out of the book and fly right into the mouths of the two assailants. Their eyes roll back into their heads and they clutch their throats, falling to the ground and convulsing.
The girl stands over them with an expression of twisted delight. "I told you... I told you... Hahaha. Hahaha... hahahaha... HAHAHAHAHA!" She laughs maniacally. In a moment, however, her expression changes to one of horror.
She turns and runs away. Runs away as fast as she can.
As she runs, a rumble of thunder sounds overhead. Soon she is running through soaked streets, splashing through puddles, as a downpour commences. When she stops for a moment to catch, she sees an immense building looming ahead. A stroke of lightning illuminates the letters on the building's face: DISTRICT MUNICIPAL LIBRARY.