Chapter 12: An unexpected plot twist

I own Erin and Cat. That's all. I especially don't own the Ringbearer's Creed. It's the slogan on a t-shirt I saw on redbubble.

One Mary-Sue, Mary-Sue for sale! She's going cheap; only seven guineas…

So, life went on. For the rest of the holidays, this is what the various people in our house were normally doing: My mum was trying to find affordable accommodation for the middle-earthians.

Erin and me were freaking out over the fact that it was almost the end of the summer break and neither of us had even started the homework we'd been given over the holidays.

Merry, Pippin, Frodo and Sam had discovered the joys of daytime TV.

Gandalf, Elrond and Galadriel spent most of the time trying to figure out a way to get back to middle-earth, but coming up with nothing. Apparently the Rings of Power are useless in this world.

The other elves kept randomly appearing in places and scaring the life out of whoever else was in the room.

Aragorn, Boromir, Faramir and Gimli had become addicted to Mario-kart, and kept trying to 'convert' others to the 'wondrous adventure game' (Their words, not mine.)

So, at the start of the last week before school started again, Gandalf, Galadriel and Elrond were in the kitchen talking about palantirs for some reason; Gollum was stroking a cookie and muttering the Ringbearer's Creed ('This is my Precious. There is no other like it, and it is mine. My precious is my best friend. It is my life. Without me, my precious is nothing. Without my precious, I am nothing.') The hobbits, Aragorn, Boromir and Legolas were paying Mario-kart, Erin and I were feverishly doing homework and the other middle-earthians were somewhere. Probably. My mum, however, was on the phone, talking excitedly to someone.

"Really? For free? Uh-huh… uh-huh… we'll take it!" She hung up the phone and then turned to Erin and me, looking very pleased with herself. "I've found homes for the Fellowship and the others!" she announced.

"Really?" I asked. "Where?"

"Well, apparently it's a new place, Cathorn Apartments. I called up, and the owner said that as a special promotion they're giving away the first sixteen apartments for free!"

"That sounds too good to be true…" Erin said skeptically. I nodded. Mum frowned. "Well, we can't keep them here forever. We're going to at least have a look, mmkay? But I don't think it's a scam. The owner seemed very nice."

"Who is the owner?" I asked.

"He had a funny name… what was it… oh yes, Mr Noruas."

oOo

"I can't believe this," I grumbled for the twentieth time as we drove to Cathorn Apartments. Mum had borrowed next door's minivan, and I was squashed in the back between Legolas and Faramir (not that I was complaining…). "Can't believe what?" Mum asked.

"We're just delivering the Fellowship to the forces of evil!" I yelled. Mum rolled her eyes. "No, we're not."

"We are! Look!" I threw a bit of paper at her. "See? 'Cathorn' is an anagram of 'Orthanc'!"

Mum ignored me and kept driving.

"Noruas, Noruas…" mused Erin. "Why does that sound so familiar…"

"For gods' sake, it's Sauron backwards!" I snapped at her. "Everyone else figured that out half an hour ago! Even Pippin!"

"Hey!"

"Sorry, Pip."

"I think Cat is right," Gandalf put in. "Sauron's power is great; it is inevitable that he would break into this world eventually."

"I agree." Said Legolas. Several other people nodded. Gollum said, "We agrees, preciousss, we does…"

"See?" I cried. "The smart guy with a stick thinks it's a bad idea! The pretty elf thinks it's a bad idea! The hobbits think it's a bad idea! The heir to the throne of Gondor thinks it's a bad idea! Gollum and Sméagol think it's a bad idea! EVERYONE THINKS IT'S A BAD IDEA!" I shrieked.

"Chill, dude!" Erin said.

"I AM NO DUDE!"

"Come at me, bro!" We both started laughing hysterically, which caused the other occupants of the minivan to look slightly freaked out.

"We're here!" Mum said chirpily, about fifteen minutes. We had pulled up outside what looked like a perfectly ordinary block of flats.

Everyone got out of the minivan cautiously, but no army of orcs appeared or anything like that. I was starting to think maybe I was wrong, until we got inside the building.

"Welcome to Cathorn Apartments!" There was no mistaking that voice. There was no mistaking its owner, either. He'd cut his hair and beard, but Saruman's dark eyebrows and insane, fiery eyes were as dark and insane as ever. Me, Erin and the middle-earthians all blanched and took a step backwards, but Mum didn't seem to notice a thing. "Hello! You must be Mr Noruas; we talked on the phone..."

Saruman smiled freakily. "No. Mr Noruas is away. I am his… secretary."

Mum's smile didn't falter. "I'll go fetch the luggage. Cat, Erin, why don't you help the middle-earthians move in."

As soon as Mum left the building, Saruman took out a palantir and grinned insanely at everyone. He pointed his staff at the door, and it flew shut. "Now I have you. My master will be pleased." He said, then continued in a mutter, "Yes, the ringbearer, Isildur's heir, Gandalf... and the two witches from this world. He will be pleased indeed."

"Hey, what did he just call us?" Erin asked angrily.

"Witches." I replied. A sudden thought occurred to me. "Maybe Sauron and Saruman think we summoned the middle-earthians."

Erin looked worried. "But we didn't."

"I don't think we should tell him that." I whispered. "If he finds out we're not useful, he might just kill us." Erin nodded.

While we had been conversing, Saruman had been waving his hands over the palantir and saying something in a different language. The palantir started to glow, brighter and brighter. Me, Erin and the middle-earthians drew together in a group, me cursing the day I took away their weapons. Saruman would have been one dead Maia by now.

He was chanting in English now. "Let what was done be undone; let time fall back and events be unchanged!" The light from the palantir grew brighter until it seemed to fill the whole room. There was a weird, high-pitched shrieking sound. I couldn't see anyone else; all I could see was the white light. "Erin!" I tried to scream, but no sound came out. All I could hear was Saruman's chanting. "Let was what was done be undone; let time fall back and events be unchanged! Let what was done be undone…"

oOo

*Third person POV*

Mrs Menzies hummed a cheerful tune as she unloaded the car. She wondered why everyone was being so negative. Cathorn Apartments seemed like a nice place. Mr Noruas had sounded like a nice person on the phone. His secretary was a little strange, but seemed nice as well.

She carried the suitcases to the door of the apartment building and pushed it open. There was no-one in the lobby. "Hello?" she called out. There was no reply. Maybe they're still looking at the apartments, she thought.

But after checking on all the floors of the building, Mrs Menzies walked outside again, frowning.

It was as if they had vanished into thin air.

oOo

"My head…" Cat groaned. She sat up and looked around. Erin was slowly standing up, wincing. "Oh no," she said. "This is bad, this is very bad."

"What's …" Cat trailed off as she took in their surroundings. "Yep, this is very bad," she said, looking at the delicately carved white buildings of Rivendell.

Aaand cue cliffhanger! Oh, just a note that I've gone over the rest of the fic and made a few little edits; nothing major to the plot, but I've made Cat and Erin non-identical twins instead of being a few years apart.