Disclaimer: Let's just say this, if we owned the Inheritance Cycle, we'd have re-written it with xxxHolic Logic. 'Nuff Said. ~Kira-rin

A/N: Read with giddiness! This will be one heckuva wild ride! ~Sammy-chan

Keep these in mind! They're helpful!

"Speaking"

'Thinking'

Telepathy

Chapter One: There are no Toads…

"So, you sure this wasn't a deliberate plot on someone's part to get you here for some reason, Kira?" Sam, a short-haired, honey-blond young lady asked the shorter brunette walking beside her.

"Oh, ha ha. What reason would anyone have to send a gal like me here for some kind of ulterior motive? Anyhoo, I was gonna be coming here in a week anyway, so this whole sweepstakes thing was kind of a relief to my parents. Flights are expensive, y'know?" Kira replied, looking at her surroundings.

"Well doesn't this seem a little odd to you? 'Rider Air'? Honestly?! This gives me a weird pit in the stomach feeling and this turns out to be some kind of an adventure I'm not packed enough for it!" Sam whined.

"Hey, the only 'Adventure' we'll likely be going on while I'm here are the kinds only found in books!"

"Well, don't say I didn't warn you!" muttered Sam, followed by a sigh.

The two best friends were walking around Downtown Portland when they heard a loud crash, soon followed by another one. The racket was emanating from a store whose sign read 'Angela's Antiquated Book Boutique' Curious, they immediately rushed to the shop window to see what the heck was going on. In said window, they beheld a black cat with abnormally large fangs & red(?) eyes knocking books and various knicknacks off of the store shelves, and being chased by a woman with graying hair who kinda looked like a hippie with some kind of dual-ended naginata. They looked at each other with the same expression: Ack.

"Should we go in and help?" Kira asked Sam, an amused look on her face.

"What in the world happened to cause such a mess!? Those poor books are being abused!" Sam cried.

"Indeed!" Kira replied with a sharp nod. "We must avenge them!"

As the intrepid duo dashed into the store, they heard "STOP THIS AT ONCE, SOLEMBUM, OR SO HEL-" the shopkeeper wheeled around, looking at the girls in surprise. "Goodness, terribly sorry. I'll be with you in a moment!" Another crash. The woman cursed under her breath in some language they didn't recognize. "Solembum, GET BACK HERE!"

Sam thought, 'Maybe I should set my dogs on that stupid, fat, feline! That's rude to books ya know!' As she angrily picked up a fallen book.

They then heard a second voice, accompanied by a yowl: NO WAY AM I TAKING A BATH! NUH-UH! NO HOW! ESPECIALLY NOT WITH CUSTOMERS IN ATTENDANCE! WHAT KIND OF SELF RESPECTING WERECAT DO YOU THINK I AM!?

'Wait a second. Solembum? Werecat? A lady with a dual-ended naginata? Why does this seem so familiar?' Sam and Kira wondered in unison, while looking around for the owner of the second voice.

Sam leaned over to Kira and whispered, "And here we thought yesterday was weird! There goes my luck again."

After a little while, the woman caught up to the wayward cat, and grabbed him by the scruff. "You're getting a bath, whether you like it or not!" she exclaimed with a shout of triumph.

Defeated, the large feline plodded out the back of the shop, supposedly, the girls presumed, to find a place to hide.

"Why does this sort'a thing always happen to me?" Muttered the blonde under her breath, so only the brunette beside her could hear.

The brunette shrugged in response, and walked over to the woman who was now bent over, picking up fallen books and oddities off of the carpeted floor."Here, ma'am, let us help you clean up this mess." she said, bending over to retrieve a fallen copy of 'Gulliver's Travels, Second Edition' and place it on the respective shelf.

For the next half hour, the girls busied themselves by gathering up the fallen relics and ancient tomes.

"This 'Iliad' is cool looking! It looks as old as the story itself!" Noticing the blonde's interest, the shopkeeper spoke.

"Ah, yes! I recently acquired this on a recent trip to the Pompeii ruins. It was so well preserved by the ash, it was almost like the centuries hadn't even touched it." the shopkeeper replied, eyes bright.

"I am surprised you didn't give it a museum because they probably would pay tons for it!" Chirped Sam.

The historian, aghast, replied "And have it sit under a glass display case, never to be read again? No, no. It'd be a crime to the book itself! A book unread is a book unloved."

"That's right! I never would thought of it that way. Though, aren't you worried that it would go to some unappreciative soul and get ruined?"

At this, the shopkeeper stifled a laugh, and said "Oh, no. The books will go to who needs them most, and who will take care of them as if the pages were made entirely of gold"

As the shopkeeper spoke, Kira noticed a peculiar glint in the shopkeeper's eye, as if she were hiding something, she didn't press any further. The last thing she wanted was to get this kind woman -who had rewarded her with lemonade after helping clean up- mad at her. Such thoughts left a sour taste in her mouth.

"So, have you lived in Portland long?" Kira asked the woman, as the shaggy-furred cat slinked back into the storefront. Oddly, he looked cleaner than he did before.

"No, we came here to find news of an old friend, but as of yet, no luck. Our friend is quite popular at home and we, as well as many others, miss him dearly." She and the cat surprisingly sighed in unison, as if the cat, too was recalling a far-off memory.

"Well, friends turn up in the oddest places, so I'm sure you'll find him -"

"Angela." The woman introduced herself. "And this," She said, gesturing to the cat who had by now curled up in Kira's lap, "is Solembum."

At the newly mentioned name, a small theory started to form in Kira's head. However, thinking the theory to be impossible, she said nothing. 'At the very least, it would explain the other voice we heard. But no, that's too crazy!' the bespectacled brunette mused, absentmindedly pushing up her glasses.

Sam then examined the last book which, funnily enough, was the first book Sam had picked up. And tried to make a lick of sense of what she was seeing.

Kira, noticing her friend's puzzled expression, rushed over to investigate the cause. No way, no how was the book in question -a journal, judging by the locks on the front- normal at all; for on the cover, a gleaming, beaded dragon head was embroidered onto the tattered leather binding.

A/N: And there you have it, Chapter One, done! Sorry for the cliffhanger, but we thought this was a great place to leave off for now. We're working on Chapter Two even as I'm writing this, so at this pace I should be able to upload every other day at the earliest, depending on how fast we finish each chapter. Stay tuned for "Chapter Two: ...But there -Are- Dragons!" Coming soon to a webpage near you!

May your swords (and pencils) stay sharp, my fellow Writers! ~~ Kira