DISCLAIMER: See Chapter 1.
2.
The Delivery
To her relief, Katy's laptop didn't get any viruses from the mysterious website. Out of sheer paranoia, she checked her bank account over and over again just to make sure there hadn't been any recent purchases.
It was a joke site after all, she thought. She managed to find her lost copy of The History of Middle-Earth the next day, which enabled her to write the story she'd been planning.
Two days later
"…No, that'd be great! Friday morning would be perfect," Katy said, trying to balance her handbag on her left shoulder whilst holding her canvas bag in her left hand and the mobile phone in her right hand.
"Good!" Natalie said. "Yours or mine?"
"Well, if you fancy a banoffee hot chocolate, mine."
"Oooh, please, I'd love one of those!"
Katy laughed. The wind blew her hair away from her face, and she shifted her grip on her bags. As usual, she had spent longer in the library than she had intended – and the books she had withdrawn were quite heavy. Note to self: take out less than the maximum number next time.
"Mine it is, then. How's Josh doing?"
"Oh, he's fine. He'll be back from Wales any day now, I think. I'm really looking forwards to seeing him." Natalie's boyfriend, Josh, had been on holiday in Wales; he and Nat had kept in touch every single day.
"I was thinking I might take him out for a meal when he gets back. He loves that Italian place – Carluccio's, I think it's called. He's always telling me about how great the food is, and…" Nat continued to talk, but Katy wasn't listening to her. She had reached her front gate and was staring in bewilderment at what was in front of her door.
It was a long, rectangular cardboard box; it lay quite innocently in the middle of the little stone path that led to the door.
"You have got to be kidding me," Katy breathed. "…Oh no, not you, Nat! Sorry! There just…there's…There's a box outside my door."
"Well, you've got a delivery, then!"
"Yes, but I wasn't expecting one." Katy warily approached the box as if it contained an unexploded bomb.
"Did you order anything over the past few days or weeks?"
A trickle of ice ran down Katy's spine. That website. It was real? "In all honesty, yes." But I didn't think it had actually worked. "I just completely forgot about it."
Changing the subject abruptly, Nat said: "So I'll see you on Friday, then?"
"Um…yes. See you then."
"Been good talking to you. Bye!" Nat hung up; Katy did likewise with a shaking hand and slipped her mobile into her handbag. She got out her keys and unlocked her front door. Dumping her bags just outside the sitting-room, she went back outside and grasped the end of the box. It was surprisingly light. She manoeuvred it into the hallway with ease.
After shutting the front door, she noticed that the edges of the boxes were stuck together with silver sticky tape. Katy hurried to the kitchen, found a small sharp knife and cut the top of the box free.
Wow. I have a plush toy of the last High King of the Noldor. Make that a life-size toy.
It looked just like the picture on the website: blue robe, heraldic emblem, and no Aeglos. As she studied it, Katy saw a thick white envelope tucked neatly at the bottom end of the box.
Now what am I going to do with you, your Majesty?
She grasped the toy under its arms and half-dragged, half-carried it through to the sitting-room; mischievously, she arranged it so that it was seated in one of the chairs. Katy left the room, grabbed the bag that held her library books in one hand and the white envelope in the other and scampered up the stairs to her bedroom. She sat down on her bed and opened the envelope.
It contained several pieces of paper, each of which had a number at the very top of the page. Katy picked up 1 and began to read.
'There are some things it is important for you to know if you are to get along with your new guest. The first thing is that he will already be aware of how to speak your language. The second is that it is vital for you to tell him about certain aspects of…'
Katy frowned. Why did all this suddenly seem so familiar? The alarm bell was back in her mind, and this time it wasn't a tiny jingling bell. It was the loud clanging of Big Ben.
Mysterious box. Plush toys. The Silmarillion.
"No," Katy said aloud, fighting a rising sense of panic. "No way!" She tossed the piece of paper aside, hurtled out of her bedroom and down the stairs, and collided with a tall black-haired figure just emerging from the sitting-room.
She was face to face with Ereinion Gil-galad himself.
"This is not happening!" Katy managed to say.
To be continued.