Autumn Horvath leapt up, her heart hammering. Her room hadn't changed from last night. Nothing was moved around. The only thing that had changed from her sleep was the sound. Her stereo, set for a 6:00 alarm, was blasting Boys Like Girls "The Great Escape."

She threw the sheets off of her and leapt over her rug, which she was almost sure she'd trip on like she did every morning. She stretched over her chair and pressed OFF on the speakers. The music stopped immediately and Autumn hesitated, waiting to hear her father's hungover yell or her mother's padding feet. The music had been extremely loud. In fact, Anna had stopped setting her alarm because of it. Autumn could wake her up easily with her "racket."

Autumn hear the shower sprays start and knew her sister was up. She closed her eyes in order to recouperate from her quick start. Usually she'd lug herself out of bed after sleeping through half the song and turn it off. But she couldn't have her father be angry this morning.

Her heart rate slowing down, she sank back into her warm bed, taking deep breathes to calm herself. Blinking hard, she glanced at her hand. Resting on her ring finger…was it.

Her heart sank.

Oh, my goodness.

"It was all real," she whispered. She shook her head, pinched her arm, cringed, and looked back down.

The ring was still there.

She groaned. She slid off the ring and placed it on her other ring finger. Her promise ring still rested on her left ring finger, so she put the mysterious ring on her other hand.

Autumn closed her eyes and put her head in her hands. She tried to remember what her dream had been like last night. She'd been in her English room with her three friends from that year.

She had been blushing when Jake had teased her about something, and when she glanced up, he was gone. Glancing around, she asked where he'd gone.

"He left, remember?" Shayanne had said. "He's going to Steeplechase High now."

Autumn felt her heart sink. But he's not supposed to leave yet…

Then, everyone around her had disappeared suddenly. She was in her bed, supposedly waking up, and a man was walking toward her. He looked not young, yet not old. His dark eyes were strong. Autumn shook as he got closer and closer to her. She closed her eyes. This is a bad dream. This isn't really happening. He won't hurt me. Will he?

She squeezed her eyes shut, but the light penetrated through her closed lids. She felt her arm being lifted up, and something being slid on her finger. Her heart beat even harder than it did before, but she suddenly felt her body relax. She felt her brain slowly being to shut down and she slid back into her warm bed, unaware of everything around her.

Her eyes flew open again. She had been squeezing her arm with the mysterious ring on it in a vice-like grip. She let go to let the circulation begin flowing again. She shut her eyes again and breathed deeply.

I trust that you will accept full duty and responsibility. You are now the acolyte of Second Earth.

The shower sprays had stopped. She heard Ann's footsteps make their way down the hall and into her room. Autumn looked down at the ring again. She slid it off her finger and set it on her nightstand. She grabbed her bathrobe and left her room.

The ring on the table began vibrating suddenly. Gentle music flowed from the ring and bright lights flashed around the room. A small piece of paper flew out from the light and gently floated down onto the nightstand. It was a simple piece of paper, like the modern-day printing paper. It was crumpled up and on one side was a newsletter: Boys Basketball Conditioning Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 3:00-5:00 in the Upper Gym.

Written on the blank seemed to be calligraphy-like handwriting. The slanted lines showed that the writer was in a hurry, though the letters were clear and readable.

I have no idea who is reading this, but I hope I can truly trust them. I wasn't allowed to choose my acolyte on my own, even though I SHOULD BE SUPPOSED TO. You're "supposed to know me" whatever that means. I'm sorry, I had no say in this.

Once again, I don't know who this is, but I gotta make this quick. Something freakishly weird has happened. It's one of those things that happens in books. But nothing magical has happened-yet. I've been kidnapped by some dude who looks like he belongs in a temple worshiping his version of an Allah or something. And his mini-me. Yeah, I know, I sound completely stupid and insane, but that's what happened. I can't explain it. Maybe they did kidnap me, but they haven't harmed me.

Look, they grabbed me and threw me inside a hole when I was supposed to get on a train for school. And I was supposed to play basketball that night. I THINK THAT COUNTS AS KIDNAPPING.

I don't know where I am, how I got here, or how long it's been since I got thrown down this lovely little hole through time and space (I don't know what it was, I'm trying to sound like an adventurer here) , and I am REALLY freaked out.

So please, please, just trust me. I will send you important information that I NEED you to keep safe and hidden. I will see you someday. I don't know what will happen now.

I think I owe all of my readers an apology for this huge gap in my work. Honestly, I thought my summer would be freed up, but I had conditioning for my sporting activites nearly every day, all day. Now that school's back up, I can get back on schedule. It wasn't just that...I had some serious personal issues going on and I couldn't handle them on my own. I mean, I'm fourteen freakin years old! It's complicated!

I'm so, so, so sorry. I can say that a million times and I won't feel better.

Well, all I can say now is sorry. I don't know what else to say except that I'm completely ashamed of myself.

--V