Dixie glances around in complete bewilderment. She looks down at herself, baffled and stunned by what she sees. Protruding collar bones, white dress, red hair and very delicate hands.
Who's hands are these? She jolts in shock when the fingers move according to her will.
Why are my hands tied together?
Why are my ankles chained together?
She twists her neck around. What is this? Why is there a log on my back?
She can't fully turn around so she looks straight again. Her breathing grows heavy and she abruptly realizes that she is completely exhausted! How long has she been kneeling here like this? A bead of sweat runs down her temple.
In front of her is a large collection of people who look to be gathered for some kind of assembly. Or, a trial. Everyone is wearing very strange clothing, like something you would see on the set of a historical movie. On the left hand side, there is a collection of clergymen.
Is this place a church or a palace? It looks like the Sistine Chapel without the paintings. Maybe, the Florence Cathedral?
Her eyes continue to roll around wildly until the ache in her knees and shoulders flare up again. She groans and glances to her right. There is a man who's dressed up as a knight in shining armor. Is this cosplay?
"Hey! Hey, bro! Excuse me! Can you take this thing off my shoulders? It's painfully heavy."
The knight looks at her briefly with bland eyes.
"Hello? This log...can you remove it?" Dixie blinks, waiting. "Um...then can you tell me where am I? What's going on?"
Silence greets her.
Her eyes move back to the front. Most of the people seated are speaking amongst themselves. Some are staring at her with scorn and disgust, while others look grim.
The mood is quite heavy, Dixie suddenly realizes.
She's reminded of Harry Potter's trial in Order of the Phoenix. Except this court room consisted of polished white marble instead of polished black marble. And they were in a sunlit room as opposed to deep underground.
The architect was stunningly beautiful! It distracted her for a moment.
Wow! Ever since Dad cut us off, we no longer visit beautiful places like this anymore.
Wait, where's Bonnie?!
Dixie brought her gaze back down. Her neck was starting to throb now. She'd pulled a muscle when she looked up.
If we're both having the same crazy dream, then does that mean she's here too?
But is this even a dream? It doesn't feel like any dream I've ever had. The book, or rather the symbol on the book, did it kill us? I remember being electrocuted. Have I been reborn? But this seems like another time, not just another place. Did I die and go back in time? But how? How would something like that even be possible?
So that old lady at the yard sale wasn't talking nonsense. She said read it and let it take you wherever it may....
Dixie cries out harshly from the increasing pain in her knees. She tries to stand up but her body is simply too weak.
The earlier knight noticed her movement and warned her to stay still.
Dixie's breaths in unsteady gasps, her pulse hammering against her temples. "My knees are hurting, my neck is hurting, my back is hurting and my shoulders feel like they're going to break! Can you please take this thing off me? It's not as if I can run away with my feet chained." She squirms some more, trying to ease her pain.
"A dangerous criminal such as yourself must be bound. And the pain you're feeling now is nothing compared to the pain you will soon be facing, my lady."
"Criminal? What is my crime?" Even as she inquired, her mind was already piecing together her circumstances. She knew she was in the book. And she knew what the story was about. Glancing once more at her red hair and too thin frame, she realized exactly who she was and what she was here for.
The man's eyebrows shot up. "Pretending ignorance? Yes, that is a very common tactic amongst criminals facing execution."
Dixie said nothing. She understood perfectly. She was embodying Felicia Viviane Del Montague. The woman who was to be burned alive for a crime she never committed.
Her entire body went numb.