Ch. 1: Undertow

A/N: I'll be updating this every 1 to 2 days. There will be a total of 7 chapters. The OC does not accompany the fellowship and does not change any plot lines. Please review!

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from Lord of the Rings. Amy and her family are my own, the rest are the work of J. R. R. Tolkein.

My name is Amy LaCroix. My mother is from Munich, Germany. At 15, she moved to the US in 1975 with her family. She speaks English well, but with an accent. She was living in New York City where she met my father, a displaced Canadian. They fell in love and got married, then moved to North Dakota, of all places. Don't ask me why. I was born in 1984, eight weeks premature, weighing in at a whole 3 pounds, 8 ounces. My twin sister died within the week; it's a miracle I survived.
Coming from a, shall we say, culturally rich family, I grew up speaking French and German along with English. I'm fluent in both and I also know a few snatches of Spanish. My father home schooled me until I was 12. When I was 7, he started teaching me tae kwon do. It was just something to keep me busy. He's a second degree black belt, but his brother in Ontario is a seventh degree master. I took lessons at a local studio for a while, and then spent summers with my uncle in Ontario, and I got my first degree by the time I was ten. I had just finished getting my second degree when I started public school. I never told anyone about it, but at least I was able to fend off bullies. I was small and studious, but they learned pretty quick not to pick on me, because I fought back (and I didn't fight nice). I never got in trouble, because I was careful to never be the first to attack.
Anyway, people quit picking on me after a while, but they teased me to no end. I lost myself in a world of books and languages. I'm a senior in high school now, and that hasn't changed much. My family life is pretty normal. I'm an only child. After my sister died, my parents were reluctant to try to have more children. I don't fight with them a lot like most of teenagers. I'm a whole 4'10, and the only thing in the school shorter than me is Peter's guide dog. Pete is OK. He gets teased a lot, too. He's blind because of an accident when he was 5. I've stood up for him a couple times. Stood up—yeah right. I'm too short to stand up to anyone, but people know better than to fight me (especially guys—I've been known to kick to the groin). Pete is the only person here who knows I just got my third degree. You might think we're really good friends, but we aren't. We're only casual friends. He has other friends, and he's nice to me, but we aren't close. His girlfriend only tolerates me, but that's OK. At least he's willing to listen. I'm a loner, anyway.
Well, that's the story of my life. Impressive, isn't it? I'm proud of my third degree, but that's my only real accomplishment. It's Friday, and we have Monday and Tuesday off school. We're leaving tomorrow morning (bright and early—ugh!) for the Black Hills. It'll be a nice diversion. I need a break from school. That's really sad, because it's only the second week of September. I've even managed to get a cold already.

It's Monday afternoon, and we're going on a tour of some little cave around here. We visited Mount Rushmore yesterday. It was nice, but hot. Nature doesn't seem to realize it's supposed to be fall. The caves will be a welcome relief from the heat. Our car and hotel both have air conditioning, but you can't do much from the confines of the car or a hotel room. My cold is really annoying, and it isn't getting any better. You're not supposed to be sick when it's hot. I hope I'll be able to enjoy the trip, anyway.

While we were touring the caves, something really strange happened. We were walking through a rather narrow passage. I had fallen to the back of the tour group to avoid the bratty kids that alternately whined about the dark and fought with each other (bumping into anyone around them) until their parents broke up the fight. One of them bumped into my elbow, but he was paying so little attention he thought it was his sister. Suddenly, the wall fell away from my hand. I felt around a little, and found a passage off to the right. It was narrow, but it wasn't blocked off. I knew I shouldn't go in, but I was annoyed at the kids and feeling just a little rebellious. I was only going to go a few steps, anyway. The walls of the passage were smooth and the floor sloped down gently. I walked carefully, shining my pocket flashlight ahead of me.
I kept thinking to myself that I should turn back, but I kept walking, anyway. I don't know what had gotten into me. After a few minutes of this, the floor fell away suddenly. I saw it in plenty of time, and my balance is good, so I didn't slip. That was enough. I needed to go back. I turned around to do just that, but somehow my feet slid out from under me, and I fell face down into the steep passage. I managed to roll over so I was sliding on my backside instead of my stomach, and after what felt like an eternity, the passage leveled out a little before suddenly dumping me into water.
I managed to tread water for a moment and catch my breath, but an undertow pulled me under. There was no way I could fight the currently, so I tried to relax and let it take me where it would. Fighting would have just wasted oxygen. Just when I thought my lungs would burst, my head broke through the water. I was in a little grotto, only big enough to get my head above water. The air was stale, but breathable, and I managed to take a couple deep breaths before the current pulled me under again.
When I broke the surface again, I found myself in a small lake in a forest. I swam to the shore and collapsed on the shore, trying to catch my breath. Suddenly, a voice came from somewhere in the forest.
Who are you and why are you here? As he spoke, a tall, blond man stepped out of the forest. He was holding a bow with an arrow ready.
my name is Amy. I don't really know how I got here. One minute I was exploring a cave, then I was falling, and I fell into some kind of underground river, which dumped me here. As I spoke, I noticed something really strange—the man's ears were pointed. He was also one of the most attractive men I'd ever seen.
Are you carrying any weapons?
Weapons? Um, noI don't even have my flashlight any more. Why would he think I had a weapon? I was starting to shiver by that point.
You're cold. Forgive me. He took off his cloak and put it around my shoulders. About a foot of it trailed on the ground. It was only then that my fuzzy brain took in the fact that he was dressed like something out of Robin Hood. I think you should come with me.
I opened my mouth to reply, but I started coughing. When I was finally able to speak, I said, You had probably better not get too close to me, or you'll get this cold, too.
To my surprise, the man only laughed. I don't think I'm in any danger, little one. Elves are immune to disease.
Elves? I'm really confused. I started coughing again. My cold seemed to have instantly escalated (might have something to do with the very cold water). Everything that could hurt, did. I was even finding bruises in places I didn't know it was possible to bruise (and I'm no stranger to bruises)! I was shivering, and with the confusion, it became just a little too much, and I fainted.