***
They crawled in the dark for half an hour, with Alex complaining the whole way. Jenny and Jackie repeatedly told him to shut up. Andrea remained almost totally silent.
"Hey look, I see light ahead!" said Jackie, in the vanguard. And indeed, there was a light ahead. They crawled hurriedly, and found an opening about as large as the one they had entered through. Jackie crawled through it first, and blinked to adjust her eyes to the light.
She saw a stunning site. In front of her, was what seemed to be a gorgeous wall, decorated with intricate leaves and flowers, all in gold. The backdrop was that of a beautiful forest with green and silver trees as far as the eye could see. It took her a minute to realize the wall in front of her was part of a huge building.
'Where am I?' she wondered. She heard the other three crawl out and gasp sighs of amazement.
"Wow," said Andi, walking around.
"Where is this place?" asked Alex.
"Or rather, what is this place," corrected Jenny.
"I've never seen a place like this in Pataskala," said Jackie doubtfully.
"Yeah I always thought it was a crap little town, compared to Delaware at least," said Alex smugly.
"Pataskala is better than Delaware," Andrea snapped.
"Is not!"
"Is too!"
Jackie sighed. "Guys this is not the time to-"
"IS NOT!"
"IS TOO!"
"IS NO- whoa!!!" Alex cut off, startled. In front of him stood a man, with long blonde hair, wearing green and brown clothing that looked like something from previous centuries. And he was pointing an arrow at Alex.
"Hey now there's no need for-" Jenny stopped as she realized that there was a man pointing an arrow at her, too.
Jackie gasped as she looked in front of her and also found one. She gulped and looked over at Andrea, who had two blonde men in front of her.
"Uhh.we surrender?" tried Alex.
***
They were led up across a bridge, a staircase, and through many long halls. Jackie noticed that the building was extremely large, and also that it was very beautiful. The intricate carvings they had seen on the wall near the end of the tunnel continued to grow more and more fascinating. The whole place was fascinating. Even their captors, Jackie noticed, were fascinating, as well as beautiful. They all had straight, long hair, and slender but strong builds. Their graceful ears were pointed at the top. 'How strange,' Jackie thought. 'I've never seen anyone with pointed ears before.' She noticed the one on her right side was particularly lovely, with blue eyes and the prettiest hair.
They were led down the longest, widest hallway to an important man seated at the very end in a high, elaborately decorated chair. He held his head high, and his long brown hair was topped with a crown of gold leaves. He was surrounded with lots of people, all with pointy ears. They stopped in front of him. He spoke to the men holding the four friends in a beautiful, unrecognizable tongue. Jackie listened carefully, but it didn't seem like any language she had ever heard. It was musical and almost unearthly.
"What is that, French?" Alex asked. "Wee, wee, jay nay parlay-"
"Quiet, mortal!" The man spoke. "Tell us what you're business is here."
They all spoke at once.
"Well we were trying-"
"And he just melted!"
"Some kind of weird writing-"
"We weren't trespassing, honest-"
"How did we get to France?!"
"SILENCE!" The man roared at last, standing up. They all stopped at once. "One of you please explain how you got here, and why."
Jackie gulped and stepped forward. "Ahh, well you see, sir, we were, uh, at the Pataskala Street Fair when we found this, um, key that this old man dropped, so we followed him, and then he vanished into a rock, and we fit the key into a hole in the rock, and it opened, and there was a tunnel, and we followed it and got trapped in.and.and.we got here. We don't know why."
The brown-haired man looked pensive. After a few moments he spoke. "I have never heard of this, Pataskala you speak of."
"Oh well its only a little hick town, sir. Not many people have." Alex said. Andi gave him a dirty look.
The man raised his eyebrows. "Hick town?" he said. "I know not of what you speak."
"Listen sir we're just as confused as you are," Jenny said. "We don't know why the tunnel led us here. We're from Pataskala- well I'm from Blacklick, but that's not the point. My name's Jenny, and this is Jackie, and Andrea's back there.and this idiot is Alex," she said jerking her thumb towards him. "Maybe if you tell us where we are, that would help."
"You are in the Rivendell, Jenny of Blacklick," said the man. "In the House of Elrond. And I, I am Elrond."
"Well, Elrond, SIR," said Alex. "How far away is Pataskala?"
"There is no Pataskala around here," Elrond answered. "I have never heard of such a place."
"Well it's just on the other side of that tunnel! The one we came from!" said Andi, who spoke after remaining quiet this entire time. "It's right out there, I'll show you." She turned and walked out of the hallway, leading the way. Jackie, Jenny, and Alex following at her heels. The strange men and Elrond walked quickly and gracefully after them. They rounded the bend where the tunnel was.
"It's not there!" Andi cried. "It disappeared!" It was true. Where the entrance to the tunnel had been, there was now a rock identical to the one that they has first seen in Pataskala. There was no keyhole, but it wouldn't have mattered because they had left the key in the rock on the other side.
"Well how are we going to get home?!" Alex panicked. He was pacing frantically around the space. "We're going to die!"
Jackie bit her lip and held back a tear. How were they going to get home? They didn't know where they were, let alone how to get back home. The young blue-eyed man who had led her spoke.
"It seems to me that dark magic is among us. I have never seen men like these before, and they dress strangely. Elrond, I do not trust these strangers."
"Oh shut up blondie," Jenny spat. His eyes grew big. "You're just as strange as us as we apparently are to you. We just want to know how to get back." She looked to Elrond.
"I do not know how you will get home," he said evenly. "And I do not know how you came to be here. But, you do not seem dangerous. You may stay here until I figure out how to get you back from where you came from."
"But what if you don't figure it out?" Jackie whispered. "What if we're stuck here?"
Elrond sighed heavily. "I do not know what will become of this. But I need time."
"Elrond, they may be spies. We cannot possibly allow them to stay here, loose!"
"Legolas, we have no reason to distrust them. They will remain guests here, as are you. I am asking you to show them to their rooms. I am also asking you to answer their questions, for I assume they will have many if they come from where I think they may." With that he whisked away. Jackie looked over at Andrea, who had tears steadily streaming down her face. She felt a tear slide down her face as well.
***
They followed the Legolas through many more rooms and corridors. They were all quiet, thinking about what would happen. Jackie thought this whole situation was unbelievable, and couldn't help thinking she was in a dream. A very strange dream.
"Try to remember your way, so as to not get lost." Legolas said. He led them briskly so that Jackie had to half-run to keep up with him.
"Um, excuse me, but what exactly are you?" Jackie asked tentatively. He didn't seem to be human; he was much too beautiful and graceful. There was also the ear factor. She had never seen ears like that, anywhere.
"You mean, you don't know?" He asked.
"No stupid. We're in never-never land, there are tons of weird creatures around us, and we can't get home! We don't know what you are!" Jenny said, exasperatedly. Jackie could see she was beginning to dislike Legolas, who looked very taken aback at these words. He stared ahead for a moment, walking in silence.
"I am an elf. We are all elves here. Well, most of us."
"ELVES?!" said Alex. "Like the Santa ones in the North Pole? The kind that make toys? Cool!! I thought you were shorter, though."
Legolas was looking at Alex with utmost disgust. "No! We do not make toys! We are elves! I do not know why you have that notion, but I assure you it is not true."
"What makes an elf different from a human?" Jenny asked.
"Everything," Legolas said condescendingly. "Don't you know anything? Elves are the wisest, fairest creatures in Middle Earth. They are immortal."
'Middle Earth?' Jackie thought.
"Wow," Alex said. "So if I stab you, you won't die?"
"Do not speak, for every word that comes out of your mouth is one of unintelligence," Legolas answered. "Elves will die if they are killed. But they cannot die of age. For elves do not age physically. I," he said proudly, "am 2,931 years old."
"Whoa," Jackie breathed. And she had thought he was in his twenties!
"Here are your rooms," he said, coming to a stop in front of four rooms that all had outside entrances. The view from where they were standing was absolutely spectacular. The leaves were brilliant shades of red and orange and gold, and fell from the gray branches in swirls, landing at the feet of the distant trees. Separating them from the forest was a wide river.
"I will leave you now," Legolas said. "You may be called for later. Dinner is served at 6:00 in the Great Hall. You won't want to be late." He turned and walked briskly in the direction they had come from, his blonde hair sweeping after him.
Jackie turned to her friends. "Well." she trailed off.
Andrea, who had been silent since they had found out the tunnel closed in, finally spoke. "It's all you're fault!" she said tearfully to Jackie. "And yours!" she said pointing at Jenny. She ran into the far most room, slamming the door behind her. Jackie looked at Jenny.
"Well, what are we going to do?" she whispered. "She's right, it's my fault!"
"It's not your fault, Jackie. It's mine for finding that key. She didn't have to come." Jenny sighed. "Anyways, she was the one who went after that weird guy in the first place. And I don't know what we're going to do. But we'll make it.it will be okay," she said reassuringly.
Alex yawned and stretched. "Well, I think I might be able to get used to it here! These rooms are beautiful. Besides, free food." He sauntered into the third room and shut the door.
"And we just had to get stuck with him, didn't we?" Jenny asked, looking after him. Jackie smiled. "Anyways, you should get some rest. We'll think about it more after that." Jenny walked into the first room and Jackie into the second.
When Jackie walked into her room and shut the door, she gasped. The room had stone walls, but beautifully intricate mahogany accents, carvings of what were apparently elf maidens and leaves. The bedcovering was purple velvet. She sank onto it, and lay back. She closed her eyes. 'Elves really are beautiful, even if strange, creatures,' she mused. Then she knew no more.
They crawled in the dark for half an hour, with Alex complaining the whole way. Jenny and Jackie repeatedly told him to shut up. Andrea remained almost totally silent.
"Hey look, I see light ahead!" said Jackie, in the vanguard. And indeed, there was a light ahead. They crawled hurriedly, and found an opening about as large as the one they had entered through. Jackie crawled through it first, and blinked to adjust her eyes to the light.
She saw a stunning site. In front of her, was what seemed to be a gorgeous wall, decorated with intricate leaves and flowers, all in gold. The backdrop was that of a beautiful forest with green and silver trees as far as the eye could see. It took her a minute to realize the wall in front of her was part of a huge building.
'Where am I?' she wondered. She heard the other three crawl out and gasp sighs of amazement.
"Wow," said Andi, walking around.
"Where is this place?" asked Alex.
"Or rather, what is this place," corrected Jenny.
"I've never seen a place like this in Pataskala," said Jackie doubtfully.
"Yeah I always thought it was a crap little town, compared to Delaware at least," said Alex smugly.
"Pataskala is better than Delaware," Andrea snapped.
"Is not!"
"Is too!"
Jackie sighed. "Guys this is not the time to-"
"IS NOT!"
"IS TOO!"
"IS NO- whoa!!!" Alex cut off, startled. In front of him stood a man, with long blonde hair, wearing green and brown clothing that looked like something from previous centuries. And he was pointing an arrow at Alex.
"Hey now there's no need for-" Jenny stopped as she realized that there was a man pointing an arrow at her, too.
Jackie gasped as she looked in front of her and also found one. She gulped and looked over at Andrea, who had two blonde men in front of her.
"Uhh.we surrender?" tried Alex.
***
They were led up across a bridge, a staircase, and through many long halls. Jackie noticed that the building was extremely large, and also that it was very beautiful. The intricate carvings they had seen on the wall near the end of the tunnel continued to grow more and more fascinating. The whole place was fascinating. Even their captors, Jackie noticed, were fascinating, as well as beautiful. They all had straight, long hair, and slender but strong builds. Their graceful ears were pointed at the top. 'How strange,' Jackie thought. 'I've never seen anyone with pointed ears before.' She noticed the one on her right side was particularly lovely, with blue eyes and the prettiest hair.
They were led down the longest, widest hallway to an important man seated at the very end in a high, elaborately decorated chair. He held his head high, and his long brown hair was topped with a crown of gold leaves. He was surrounded with lots of people, all with pointy ears. They stopped in front of him. He spoke to the men holding the four friends in a beautiful, unrecognizable tongue. Jackie listened carefully, but it didn't seem like any language she had ever heard. It was musical and almost unearthly.
"What is that, French?" Alex asked. "Wee, wee, jay nay parlay-"
"Quiet, mortal!" The man spoke. "Tell us what you're business is here."
They all spoke at once.
"Well we were trying-"
"And he just melted!"
"Some kind of weird writing-"
"We weren't trespassing, honest-"
"How did we get to France?!"
"SILENCE!" The man roared at last, standing up. They all stopped at once. "One of you please explain how you got here, and why."
Jackie gulped and stepped forward. "Ahh, well you see, sir, we were, uh, at the Pataskala Street Fair when we found this, um, key that this old man dropped, so we followed him, and then he vanished into a rock, and we fit the key into a hole in the rock, and it opened, and there was a tunnel, and we followed it and got trapped in.and.and.we got here. We don't know why."
The brown-haired man looked pensive. After a few moments he spoke. "I have never heard of this, Pataskala you speak of."
"Oh well its only a little hick town, sir. Not many people have." Alex said. Andi gave him a dirty look.
The man raised his eyebrows. "Hick town?" he said. "I know not of what you speak."
"Listen sir we're just as confused as you are," Jenny said. "We don't know why the tunnel led us here. We're from Pataskala- well I'm from Blacklick, but that's not the point. My name's Jenny, and this is Jackie, and Andrea's back there.and this idiot is Alex," she said jerking her thumb towards him. "Maybe if you tell us where we are, that would help."
"You are in the Rivendell, Jenny of Blacklick," said the man. "In the House of Elrond. And I, I am Elrond."
"Well, Elrond, SIR," said Alex. "How far away is Pataskala?"
"There is no Pataskala around here," Elrond answered. "I have never heard of such a place."
"Well it's just on the other side of that tunnel! The one we came from!" said Andi, who spoke after remaining quiet this entire time. "It's right out there, I'll show you." She turned and walked out of the hallway, leading the way. Jackie, Jenny, and Alex following at her heels. The strange men and Elrond walked quickly and gracefully after them. They rounded the bend where the tunnel was.
"It's not there!" Andi cried. "It disappeared!" It was true. Where the entrance to the tunnel had been, there was now a rock identical to the one that they has first seen in Pataskala. There was no keyhole, but it wouldn't have mattered because they had left the key in the rock on the other side.
"Well how are we going to get home?!" Alex panicked. He was pacing frantically around the space. "We're going to die!"
Jackie bit her lip and held back a tear. How were they going to get home? They didn't know where they were, let alone how to get back home. The young blue-eyed man who had led her spoke.
"It seems to me that dark magic is among us. I have never seen men like these before, and they dress strangely. Elrond, I do not trust these strangers."
"Oh shut up blondie," Jenny spat. His eyes grew big. "You're just as strange as us as we apparently are to you. We just want to know how to get back." She looked to Elrond.
"I do not know how you will get home," he said evenly. "And I do not know how you came to be here. But, you do not seem dangerous. You may stay here until I figure out how to get you back from where you came from."
"But what if you don't figure it out?" Jackie whispered. "What if we're stuck here?"
Elrond sighed heavily. "I do not know what will become of this. But I need time."
"Elrond, they may be spies. We cannot possibly allow them to stay here, loose!"
"Legolas, we have no reason to distrust them. They will remain guests here, as are you. I am asking you to show them to their rooms. I am also asking you to answer their questions, for I assume they will have many if they come from where I think they may." With that he whisked away. Jackie looked over at Andrea, who had tears steadily streaming down her face. She felt a tear slide down her face as well.
***
They followed the Legolas through many more rooms and corridors. They were all quiet, thinking about what would happen. Jackie thought this whole situation was unbelievable, and couldn't help thinking she was in a dream. A very strange dream.
"Try to remember your way, so as to not get lost." Legolas said. He led them briskly so that Jackie had to half-run to keep up with him.
"Um, excuse me, but what exactly are you?" Jackie asked tentatively. He didn't seem to be human; he was much too beautiful and graceful. There was also the ear factor. She had never seen ears like that, anywhere.
"You mean, you don't know?" He asked.
"No stupid. We're in never-never land, there are tons of weird creatures around us, and we can't get home! We don't know what you are!" Jenny said, exasperatedly. Jackie could see she was beginning to dislike Legolas, who looked very taken aback at these words. He stared ahead for a moment, walking in silence.
"I am an elf. We are all elves here. Well, most of us."
"ELVES?!" said Alex. "Like the Santa ones in the North Pole? The kind that make toys? Cool!! I thought you were shorter, though."
Legolas was looking at Alex with utmost disgust. "No! We do not make toys! We are elves! I do not know why you have that notion, but I assure you it is not true."
"What makes an elf different from a human?" Jenny asked.
"Everything," Legolas said condescendingly. "Don't you know anything? Elves are the wisest, fairest creatures in Middle Earth. They are immortal."
'Middle Earth?' Jackie thought.
"Wow," Alex said. "So if I stab you, you won't die?"
"Do not speak, for every word that comes out of your mouth is one of unintelligence," Legolas answered. "Elves will die if they are killed. But they cannot die of age. For elves do not age physically. I," he said proudly, "am 2,931 years old."
"Whoa," Jackie breathed. And she had thought he was in his twenties!
"Here are your rooms," he said, coming to a stop in front of four rooms that all had outside entrances. The view from where they were standing was absolutely spectacular. The leaves were brilliant shades of red and orange and gold, and fell from the gray branches in swirls, landing at the feet of the distant trees. Separating them from the forest was a wide river.
"I will leave you now," Legolas said. "You may be called for later. Dinner is served at 6:00 in the Great Hall. You won't want to be late." He turned and walked briskly in the direction they had come from, his blonde hair sweeping after him.
Jackie turned to her friends. "Well." she trailed off.
Andrea, who had been silent since they had found out the tunnel closed in, finally spoke. "It's all you're fault!" she said tearfully to Jackie. "And yours!" she said pointing at Jenny. She ran into the far most room, slamming the door behind her. Jackie looked at Jenny.
"Well, what are we going to do?" she whispered. "She's right, it's my fault!"
"It's not your fault, Jackie. It's mine for finding that key. She didn't have to come." Jenny sighed. "Anyways, she was the one who went after that weird guy in the first place. And I don't know what we're going to do. But we'll make it.it will be okay," she said reassuringly.
Alex yawned and stretched. "Well, I think I might be able to get used to it here! These rooms are beautiful. Besides, free food." He sauntered into the third room and shut the door.
"And we just had to get stuck with him, didn't we?" Jenny asked, looking after him. Jackie smiled. "Anyways, you should get some rest. We'll think about it more after that." Jenny walked into the first room and Jackie into the second.
When Jackie walked into her room and shut the door, she gasped. The room had stone walls, but beautifully intricate mahogany accents, carvings of what were apparently elf maidens and leaves. The bedcovering was purple velvet. She sank onto it, and lay back. She closed her eyes. 'Elves really are beautiful, even if strange, creatures,' she mused. Then she knew no more.