Zoe's attention abruptly snapped away from the book. The blueish glow surrounding it vanished and it closed and laid there looking normal on the nightstand. She was certain she had heard someone's voice.

However, there was nobody in the room with her, at least no one still capable of speaking. Since she had found herself stuck as a plastic figure on a shelf in this glass case, the room around her had always remained perfectly still while the strange man was not in the room. The only noise was the birds and the occasional gust of wind outside. When her captor was around he never said anything, apparently he was crazy enough to turn women into figurines but not crazy enough to talk to them afterward. As a result, hearing someone else's voice was a shock to Zoe. She turned her attention to the room around her, hoping to notice whoever had just spoken.

Minutes had passed with the room around her remaining just as inert as it had been throughout the days she had been trapped there. Had she simply imagined the voice? Was she losing it from the boredom of being unable to do anything? Finally Zoe's attention drifted back to the book. She definitely hadn't imagined it glowing and floating when she focused on it. In fact, it was while the book was doing whatever it was doing that Zoe had heard the voice speak. Without any other ideas, Zoe turned her attention back to the book.

It took a moment for Zoe's concentration to fully return after the shock of hearing the voice. When she was once again able to give it her full attention again, the book opened and began to give off the blue glow once more.

So now Zoe knew she could make the book do that by focusing on it. It was more than she had been able to do in the past eight days. Zoe was sure that this book was the source of whatever power had done this to her. She had to know if there was anything else she could do with it. Finally, she could do something!

"Hello, is anyone there?!"

Zoe heard the voice again. She did her best to keep focus on the book. Still, she wondered about the voice. It sounded like a young woman's voice. Zoe also noticed the fear in the voice. It then occurred to her that the voice could be coming from someone else who was trapped as a plastic figure.

Doing her best to keep most of her attention on the book, Zoe tried to speak.

"Hello? Who are you?"

Zoe heard her own voice ask that question. It surprised her so much that she lost focus on the book again. It closed and settled on the nightstand once more.

With that, the room was once again silent. The book did not move and Zoe did not hear anyone else speak. There was no mistaking it. Zoe had heard her own voice speak when she tried to respond to the unknown voice. Her mouth did not move, but the words came out. She tried to talk again, but heard nothing. She tried to move as well, just in case something had changed. No such luck, she remained as immobile as a statue. She did not hear anyone else speak either.

It didn't take long for Zoe to figure out that she only heard the other voice when the book was open and glowing. So, she turned her focus again, willing it to open and light up again. As soon as the blue glow reached Zoe's eyes, she tried to speak again, making sure to keep most of her focus on the book.

"Is anyone there? Can you hear me?" Zoe asked as she once again spoke without moving her mouth.

"Yes! Can you hear me?! Please hear me!" The voice Zoe heard earlier had responded to her!

Zoe was determined to keep enough focus on the book to keep it from closing again. Nonetheless, she could barely contain her excitement that she could somehow communicate with someone.

"Yes, I can hear you. Who's there? Where are you?" Zoe asked.

"Oh thank you!" The voice responded. "I don't know who you are, or where you are, but I really need help! This is going to sound weird, but I'm in the glass case along the wall! Somehow this guy with a camera turned me into a plastic figurine! I can't move! I'm not sure how you're able to talk to me, but please help me!"

The voice had said all of that so fast that it took a few seconds for Zoe to truly understand what she had heard. The voice was coming from someone trapped as a figure in this case, just like her!

"Wait, are you the one with the red swimsuit from the hotel?" Zoe asked, as it dawned on her who the other captive might be.

"Yes, I work as a lifeguard at the hotel's pool." The voice replied, confirming Zoe's hunch.

"Well sorry to disappoint you, but I'm in the same situation you are. I'm in the display case too." Zoe responded.

"Oh.." The voice of the lifeguard mumbled. It was clear that she was disappointed to not be making contact with a potential rescuer. Nonetheless, she continued to speak. "Wait, were you the one in the costume with the huge scythe?"

"Yeah, that's me." Zoe answered.

The lifeguard's voice went silent for a moment. Zoe almost turned her attention fully back to the book when the lifeguard spoke again.

"I'm sorry, I was an idiot yelling like that. I was just so shocked to see him change you like that. If I would have just quietly walked away, I could've gotten help or something. Instead we're both stuck like this, and I don't know how we're ever going to get out of here!"

"Look, it's not your fault." Zoe responded. "Neither of us expected to run into a guy who could do this. I never would have thought something like this would be possible! Hey, now that we can talk to each other, maybe we can figure out a way out of this. My name is Zoe, by the way. What's yours?"

"My name is Jasmine." The lifeguard responded. "So, how are we able to talk to each other now? It's been dead quiet in here wherever that guy's not around. Now all of a sudden we can hear each other's voices?"

"I think it has something to do with the book over there." Zoe said. "I remember him carrying it when he did this to us. When I focused on it, it opened up and started glowing. I only seem to be able to hear you while the book is open, so I've been trying to keep as much focus on it as I can."

"Would it help if I also focused on it?" Jasmine asked?

"It's worth a try." Zoe agreed.

A few seconds later, the book's glow became slightly brighter.

"Well, looks like that made it easier to keep open." Zoe said.

"So what do you think it is? Some kind of spellbook? Do you think it's where he learned how to do this to us?" Jasmine asked.

Before Zoe could answer, another voice spoke.

"What are those voices? Am I imagining things? God...how long have I been stuck like this?"

The other voice sounded like it was struggling to speak. Without saying anything, Zoe and Jasmine both decided to reach out to the other voice.

"Hello?" Jasmine called.

"Who are you?" Zoe asked. "No you're not imagining our voices. We can hear you too. Are you also stuck as a plastic figure?"

The other voice seemed to perk up after being talked to.

"Yes! My sister is too! Please, if you've figured out something, get her out of here first!"

Before Zoe or Jasmine could reply, another similar sounding voice spoke. "Amy...is that you?"

"Alex! Are you okay?! I'm sorry, I shouldn't have pressured you to pose for that picture!" The first mystery voice cried.

"Stop, Amy, it's not your fault. There's no way you could have known that this was what he was planning." Like the first voice, the second one seemed to become more energetic upon being spoken to.

"I know, but having to look at you this whole time and not be able to even talk to you..." Amy sounded on the verge of crying.

"I'm just glad we can talk to each other again." Alex tried to reassure her sister. "Besides, it sounds like those other two have figured out something."

Amy's attention turned back to Zoe and Jasmine. "Yeah, we started to hear each other when they opened that book."

"Yeah, it's hard to see from the angle we're at, but that blue light the book is giving off looks like it's the same color as that flash of light that did this to us." Alex observed.

Zoe, Jasmine, and Amy all agreed that the blue glow brought back the memory of that horrible flash that reduced them to their current state.

"So when the book opened, you could hear all of us, and you were able to make it do that by focusing on it?" Alex asked.

"That about sums it up." Zoe answered.

"Are you able to make it do anything else?" Alex pressed further.

"Great idea, Alex!" Amy interjected. "If this is some kind of spellbook, maybe we can find out how he did this to us and how to undo it if we can get it close enough for us to read it!"

"I suppose it's worth a try." Zoe agreed. "It's not like we can do anything else."

Zoe turned her full focus back to the book. Not exactly sure what she should be doing, she tried to imagine the book floating toward her. The book did seem to rise a bit higher and tilt toward her. However she quickly found herself unable to move it any further than that. Eventually, she was forced to let it settle back on to the nightstand. Paying enough attention to it to keep it open and glowing, Zoe spoke to the others again.

"It's no use, I can't make it move any further than that.

"Well I could see it move a little." Jasmine said. "Maybe we can get it over here if we both try at once."

With that, they both turned their full attention to the book. Slowly, the book rose into the air again. Then, the book began to move toward the glass case holding them.

"Alright, it's working!" Jasmine exclaimed. The sudden shouting broke Zoe's concentration. As a result, The blue light disappeared and the book fell to the floor. Cold fear went through Zoe's mind. She tried to talk to the others, but no words came. She could not hear the voices of the others either. Zoe was horrified to think that they might have lost their chance to escape.

Zoe quickly realized she could still see the book on the floor, though. Doing her best to calm down, she directed her focus at it once more. She was greatly relieved to see it rise back up and glow again.

"Oh thank God!" Jasmine's voice was audible again. "Sorry....I got too excited when I saw it move toward us."

"Don't worry about it." Zoe replied. "Just try to keep the sudden yelling to a minimum."

"Yeah, I will..." Jasmine said sheepishly.

"Alright, forget it. Let's just keep trying to get it over here." Zoe said. "What about the other two? Can you hear us?"

"Yeah we can. Don't do anything else that might make us lose that book! It might be our only hope!" Amy said, clearly aggravated.

"Calm down, Amy. They got it back." Alex said, trying to calm down her sister. "We've got enough problems without getting angry at each other."

"Yeah, I  guess you're right." Amy agreed.

"Well, can you two help us as well?" Zoe asked.

"It may be difficult, since we're stuck facing each other instead of the outside. We'll try, though. I can see the book from the side of my vision." Alex replied.

"Yeah, I'll try anything if it helps us get out of here." Amy agreed.

With that, the four of them turned their full attention to the book. With that, the book moved toward them more quickly. Soon it was close enough for them to read the words on its pages. Doing her best to keep enough focus on the book to keep it in place, Zoe addressed the others.

"Well, I can read it. It sure looks like it's a spellbook with all of these weird incantations. Thankfully, the descriptions of the magic are in English." She observed.

"I don't see anything about turning people into plastic figures on this page though." Jasmine said.

"At least you can read it." Amy complained.

"Yeah, I can't make out too many words with the angle we're facing it from." Alex said.

That's fine, the rest of you focus on keeping the book where it is." Zoe said. "I'm going to see if I can turn the page."

Zoe stared intensely at the book, trying to will its page to turn. She was overjoyed to see the page respond to her will and turn over, revealing more magical information. All of them were elated. For the first time since their transformations, there was hope. The secret of what had been done to them had to be somewhere in this book. The way to reversing it was most likely in there as well.

"Looks like we have some reading to do." Zoe said.