Sorry for the wait! This might not be as good as the other chapters, cause I'm writing a chemistry research paper at the same time. Lol

Chapter 21:

We were all sitting at a Cracker Barrel with Dad, waiting on blueberry breakfast, when Dad's cell phone rang.

He excused himself from the table, and came back a few minutes later, face pale and drawn.

"Dad? What is it? Something's wrong, isn't there?"

"Matthew's up."

"Oh."

"He just called me, extremely upset, because he believes that someone hacked into your Facebook account."

"Oh." I said. "What are they saying?"

Dad smiled a weary, sardonic smile, and handed me his Smartphone.

"It's a lovely profile picture, dear." he said.

It was a picture of me and Legolas, beaming.

Under newsfeed, it read

"Bliss Aedinil Trevorson is in a relationship with Legolas Greenleaf."

Underneath that was a status that read,

"How wonderful life is, now you're in the world."

"You have got to be joking." I said, on the verge of panic. "I didn't even have access to a computer while I was moonstruck!"

"Bliss, you told me you were just gonna play Chuzzle!" Levi exclaimed.

"You let me use your iPhone while I was moonstruck! Levi!"

"Well, I was just trying to get you to stop belting out La Vie Boheme." he answered lamely.

"What's Facebook?" Aragorn asked, concerned.

I sighed.

"Okay, well, this sucks. What now? How do we fix this?"

"You don't." I heard a familiar voice behind me say.

My heart stopped in my chest as I turned around to see Matthew. He was grinning, but his arms were folded across his chest, a sign that he was irritated.

"Matthew, can I talk to you outside?" Dad asked him.

"Only if she comes, too." Matthew gestured to me.

"Please don't make a scene." I whispered. Call me paranoid, but I felt like people were watching.

"Then let's go quickly. Parking lot?"

I nodded, and grabbed Legolas by the arm.

"He's coming?" Matthew asked excitedly. "Welcome to the family, mellon nin."

He extended his hand for Legolas to shake, but I guided him out of the dining room.

"It's a little soon to gush geek, don't you think?" I hissed in his ear.

He turned to me, beaming.

"So it's you, like, for real?"

"Matthew, shhh." Dad said, and unlocked the car. We all got in, so we could talk without being overheard.

"Why did you guys think that you could keep something like this from me?" Matthew asked, his anger coming to the surface now that we were out of the public eye. I took my hat off. It was friggin' hot.

"Matthew, how did you even---?"

"Sharon called and told me she'd seen you. I didn't believe her at first, but then your Facebook went all nutty, and then Dad was acting all weird, so I followed the homing chip in his Smartphone and tracked him here."

"Sharon Aldridge, that dumb little hussy…" I muttered.

"You put a tracking chip in my Smartphone?" Dad asked with a scowl.

"Well, everybody kept disappearing!" Matthew said, then looked at me with astonished eyes, as if he were seeing me for the first time.

"Your ears. You look like a…like a----"

"Like an elf, Matthew?" I asked sarcastically, pulling my hair back so he could see. "Hello, by the way."

"How are you---"

"Um…" I replied, and looked at Dad.

He sighed.

"Um, Matthew, we have something to tell you." he said.

"That you obviously weren't gonna tell me." he retorted.

"Look, Matthew, um…"

"What, Bliss? What on earth is goin' on here?"

I grabbed Legolas' hand to steady me. I felt like I was having a panic attack.

"It's kinda a long story. As it turns out, I'm an elf. Um, you're half-elf. And uh…I'm going back to Middle Earth sometime today."

"Back? As in, you've been? As in---"

"Could you let me talk?" I asked, and told him the story from the beginning, conveniently leaving out the fact that Mom was evil.

"Wow." he said when I was finished. "I'm going back, too, right?"

"No." Dad said.

"But I want---"

"Your future is here, Matthew." I said. "What good will your tech smarts be in Middle Earth?"

"Who cares?" he retorted. "I'll be in Middle Earth."

"Um, hello, aren't you forgetting someone?" Dad asked, pointing at himself.

"Well, you can come too. It's not like there's anything keeping you here." Matthew said.

"Dad can't go back, Matthew. And neither can you."

"What are you talking about?"

"You're mortals. Human, and---"

"Look, sis, I know more about Middle Earth than you do, and I happen to know that Everyone in the Fellowship besides you and Legolas are mortals. If they can go, so can we."

"Matthew---"

"No, don't argue. We could---"

"They belong in that world, Matthew." I tried to explain.

His face fell.

"So you're just gonna leave? Just like that? Forever? You weren't even gonna say good-bye?"

"Try to understand my reasoning, Matthew---"

"I don't want to. Look, I'll forgive you if you take me to Middle Earth. The guys in my Dungeons and Dragons club are gonna be so jealous!"

"Matthew, you cannot go. It's dangerous."

"I'll learn."

"We are in the middle of the war of the Ring. There's no time for you to learn."

"Take me to Minas Tirith." Matthew said. "I'll stay on the upper level, I'll be safe there---"

Dad put a hand over Matthew's mouth.

"Don't give away the story, Mattie! It could sway the course of events."

Matthew nodded his acceptance of this term, and Dad released him.

"So, when do we leave?"

"We, as in the Fellowship and I, are leaving sometime today. You are staying here."

"No way! I'm going. I could go to Rivendell. Mom's from Rivendell, right? I can just stay with her."

"Matthew…"

"What? What aren't you telling me now?"

"Nothing. But you must stay here. Um…"

I wracked my brain for an acceptable lie.

"The Lady Galadriel told me that you were not needed in Middle Earth until your eighteenth birthday."

"Really?" Matthew asked me suspiciously. "How does she know about me?"

"Well, duh. She's Lady Galadriel." I said, thinking that at least this would buy some time.

"Wow." he said.

"But you mustn't tell anyone, or your Elven blood will turn into human blood. Right, Legolas?"

I gently elbowed him and he nodded.

"Right. Exactly."

"In five years, I'll come for you." I said, knowing that I'd regret this promise.

"Five whole years?" he whined.

"What are five years to an elf? Or even a half-elf?" I asked, winking at Dad.

Matthew threw his arms around my neck.

"I missed you, Bliss. Very much."

"And I missed you, too, bro."

"Five years."

"Five years." I said with a brief nod of my head. "Who knows, maybe I'll come visit before then? If I can find a way back, that is."

I wondered if I'd ever make good on these promises.

~Break~

After some tearful good-byes, we left. Legolas' theory was right, as it turned out. Apparently the Dragon Mouth Cave was a portal between the two worlds, if you happened to have a magic necklace, like mine.

We switched worlds almost immediately; it happened before I could even blink, it seemed.

But instead of Moria, we ended up right back where we'd been when we'd left. Right at the base of Orthanc.

Gandalf, Théoden, and Eomer stared at us in wonder.

Probably at our strange clothes, and the fact that we'd disappeared into thin air.

"How long were we gone?" Aragorn asked Gandalf.

"Just a few seconds. Where did you go? And for how long? How--"

Gandalf was interrupted by Zaida, who was still atop Orthanc, and she was glowering at me.

"How is this possible? None of you were supposed to return!"

"I suppose you shouldn't have underestimated me." I called up to her. "But I suppose I should thank you. You sent us on a lovely week-long vacation. Really gave us some time to rest up after Helm's Deep."

Aragorn held up his hand, signaling that I should stop.

Zaida retreated inside the tower, without another word.

All was silent for a moment.

"We should return to Edoras." Théoden said. "I fear that this is not yet over."

After Treebeard assured us that there was no way Zaida could escape, we left.

~Break~

While everyone else ended up with the easy task of explaining everything to Gandalf, I ended up with the daunting task of explain to Eowyn while we had left.

She was really mad that we'd left her to go ride to Orthanc, me in particular.

Man, she would've been even more mad if our time spent on earth had been felt here.

She was interested in the story of our going to earth, but she was still a little mad at me, I could tell.

"You vowed to never abandon me again, and off you went." she said, illustrating her point with a flippant wave of her hand.

"Eowyn, I'm sorry. I had to go see if Merry and Pippin---"

"You did not even tell me you were leaving, did not even tell me good-bye!"

"Eowyn, I'm sorry. Much has been on my mind of late, and---"

"Aedinil, are we not friends? Do we not tell one another things? At least a good-bye, when one of us goes off on an unprecedented adventure?"

"Yes, Eowyn." I sighed, then smiled at her. "Forgive me?"

"How could I not?" she huffed harshly. "You are truly my only friend."

Still, I could tell that she was glad I was back.

"I missed you, Eowyn." I said with a smile.

"And I you, Aedinil." she said, trying to glare at me.

It didn't work, and we ended up doubled over with laughter.

More soon! Please review! And for Heaven's sake, if you put me on story or author alert, please review! I see it in my mailbox and am excited for a split second, and then am disappointed when it isn't a review. Lol