Chapter 1

There and Back . . . Again

Nickel's PoV

"I'm so BORED!" Mandy hissed behind me. I nodded wearily. Mrs. Lee, our eighth period teacher, was talking, but everything went in one ear and out the other as I watched the clock. It was worse than in High School Musical 2 . . . though, thankfully, I was positive no one in our class was going to jump up singing, "What Time Is It".

In just five—or less—minutes, summer was going to begin. One could never tell by the clocks in our school what time it was, as they were always wrong. Plus, it wasn't just any summer we had coming. Five—or less—minutes and we would be on our way to becoming college freshmen. That's right. Five—or less—minutes and senior year would be over.

"While I'm sure you are all ready to 'broaden your minds' with college, there are a few things I would like to—SARAH CLUTHURS, IS THAT A CELLPHONE?!" Mrs. Lee barked. A tall, blonde in the back looked up, guilty look etched on her face.

"N-n-no, M-m-mrs. L-l-lee," she stammered, shaking her perfectly straightened hair out of her face. I smirked. How she ever got to be head cheerleader when she can hardly form a sentence, I'll never know.

Behind me, Mandy leaned forward. "15," She whispered. "14…"

"Now while school for all of you may almost be over," Mrs. Lee continued, strutting to the back and snatching Sarah's cellphone from her hands.

"10…9…"

"There are to be no cellphones in my class."

"5…4…"

"Now before you go—"

"ONE!" Mandy shouted, leaping to her feet. Mrs. Lee and the rest of the class stared at her, Mrs. Lee looking livid.

"Now, see here, Miss Ralon," Mrs. Lee snapped. "What in—"And the bell rang. Some idiot (and if I ever find out who it was, I'll kill them) jumped up and screamed, "What time is it?" Thankfully, no one answered.

Mandy and I scrambled towards her locker, giggling and stopping several times to hug fellow seniors.

"HEY!" Katie and Gina shouted at us as we were separated by the crowd. "Senior party! Now! At my house! Remember?"

"We're coming!" Mandy and I shouted, grinning.

"You know, I really need to get this watch fixed," Mandy frowned as we (finally) reached her locker. She twirled the dial and popped the locker open to retrieve her tennis racquet.

"Yeah…you'll have plenty of time to do it this summer," I said lazily, leaning against some junior's locker. We headed to Mandy's car, which happened to be a Porsche (from the 80s), and sped off towards our friend's party.

"WE"RE FREE!" Mandy screamed at some friends, who were walking home, who yelled something back that we couldn't hear.

"Free until graduation," I sighed, leaning against my seat dreamily. Mandy laughed in agreement and accelerated on the gas pedal, racing off.

Even though we had left school quickly, we arrived in time to meet up with a couple friends, including—

"Kelsey!!" Mandy leapt at her, hugging her fiercely. Kelsey laughed and stepped back from Mandy. She had never been one to like guys, but when we got back from Middle Earth, she found Jacob. He was very cute, with dark brown, well combed hair, and Kelsey fell in love with him as soon as she laid eyes on him.

Inside, we ran into Isaac, Mandy's long-time boyfriend. She squealed and leapt at him, enveloping him in a hug. The two of them always thought it odd that I never dated anyone, but I had my reasons. Mandy and Kelsey, however, were now in love with a person per universe, if you get my drift.

Either way, I was determined to have fun at our senior party…even if there wasn't a whole lot to do. There was some dancing, a Lord of the Rings marathon, and even a point where some party crashers handed Mandy some achohal. She had a swig, thinking it was Sprite, and promptly crashed out on her boyfriend.

At 2:00 am, with Mandy sleeping on her backseat and Kelsey dozing off in shotgun, I drove Mandy's car over to my house, pulling into the driveway of my house about 30 minutes later. We woke Mandy, and then quietly made our way to the room above my garage.

As Mandy and Kelsey set up some blankets from the futon, I looked over the room. Something felt different. The floor was still slippery polished wood, and the windows were open slightly, allowing a slight breeze in. But it felt stuffy inside.

"Wow…" Mandy sighed sleepily, rolling on her back. "We're in college now."

"Not until graduation," Kelsey corrected, just as sleepy, rolling to face me. "Am I right?" I didn't answer, but frowned, something was wrong.

The room began spinning uncontrollably. Kelsey grabbed the wall, trying to steady herself.

"Nickel, what are you doing?" Kelsey yelped, pitching forward.

"I'm not doing anything!" I felt sick, like we were on a boat in the middle of a storm. Mandy rolled from side to side of the room, groaning and mumbling. I reached for her hand, looking up at Kelsey. "But someone's pulling us back into Middle Earth!"

"What!" Kelsey and Mandy yelled.

"Who?" Mandy asked just as Kelsey asked, "Why?"

I looked around at them, trying to appear serious, but fell over as soon as I stood up, "I don't know, but they're doing a horrible job of it!"

We stumbled to the stairs, tripping down them, escaping a bit of the shaking.

I sat on my hammock as a lull came over the earth, "I have a rather educated guess, though."

"Who?" Mandy asked just as Kelsey said, "Why?"

A loud noise shook the earth and the stars grew bright as the sun in daylight. A thousand suns glimmered and burned, forcing me to close my eyes tightly. And then the light let up.

"Mandy?" I called, looking around, "Kelsey? Where are you guys?"

"They aren't here, Nicole."

I spun around to see a sight I never thought I'd see again.

Tada! Sorry for the High School Musical 2 reference - Mandy wrote that (she has younger siblings who have been enthralled by the evil)

Well, yeah. This is part four of the Ainor out of Arda. We had this nice long author's note at the begining of Monarchs, but I don't really see anypoint in doing the same again. I just want to mention that alot has changed since we strated writing this fic, and alot of things we thought would happen are now impossible.