Chapter Nine The room was beautiful. Rich, heavy furniture filled it, including two sofas, an armchair, a bookcase lined with many old -yet not dusty- books, a desk, a footstool and two small tables. A large, detailed rug floated serenely in the middle of the wooden floorboards and the sun streamed in through the window. "Wow," said Estriel. "It's so sweet," said Jaena. "Look at the books," said Emeriel going over to the massive bookcase. "They're so old." "It's adorable," exclaimed Alcarin, reclining on one of the sofas. "So - any ideas on why we're here?" asked Jaena, addressing the rest of the group, as she collapsed in to one of the armchairs. "For a reason..." said Estriel. "What reason? How are we going to help them?" said Alcarin. "This is so weird," said Emeriel examining the books. "I mean, we always thought it didn't exist. And now we find out that all of the characters and places in Tolkien's books were real." "It's a good thing that we know about it," said Alcarin. "Maybe that's why we're here..."suggested Estriel. "Why, because we've read the book? Millions of people have, but we're the ones sitting here," said Jaena. "Yeah, but we know Elvish, and we know lots about it..." said Emeriel. "So do loads of people..." said Jaena. "This is making less and less sense," sighed Alcarin. "I wonder if they're missing us back home," said Estriel. "I hadn't thought about that," said Jaena worriedly. "They better be," pouted Alcarin. "Well, this beats school any day..." said Estriel. The others nodded in agreement. Emeriel was still browsing through the bookcase. "Maybe Gandalf made a mistake..." suggested Alcarin. "He's Gandalf. He doesn't make any mistakes," reminded Jaena. Emeriel came across a book that stood out from the rest. It looked older, and when she pulled it out, she saw that the title was engraved in gold.

Old Elvish Magicks and Prophecies (In Elvish)

"I'm telling you, we're not meant to be here," said Alcarin. "Why is this a bad thing? We're in a palace..." said Jaena. "With very gorgeous elves..." finished Estriel. "And nothing to help them with," pointed out Alcarin, cynically. Estriel and Jaena rolled their eyes. "Um...guys..." said Emeriel a bit too quietly. "Well, we're stuck here, so why don't we at least have some fun?" suggested Jaena. "Don't get me wrong, I'm all for fun..." said Alcarin. "Guys..." Still too quiet. "Well, let's get having some then!" said Estriel with a wicked glint in her eye. "GUYS!" shouted Emeriel. The three girls looked over at her. "No need to shout," said Jaena sarcastically. "Yes there is, trust me..." said Emeriel. "Guys, look at what I've found." She sat in between Alcarin and Estriel on the sofa, and Jaena got up and joined them. Emeriel showed them the book. "That word means Elvish!" said Jaena. "Ha! See, I know stuff!" "Old...Elvish..." began Estriel. "Magicks and...well I'm not too sure what the last word is, but I think it comes from prophet, so I think it's Prophecies." Said Emeriel. "Cool!" said Alcarin. "Extremely..." agreed Jaena. "Is it all in Elvish?" "Yes Jaena, it is an Elvish book!" said Emeriel scornfully. "Well, can you translate it?" asked Alcarin, impatiently. "I don't know...some of it...I think." "I can help," said Estriel. "Don't you have your Elvish dictionary with you?" asked Jaena. "Yeah, I do...but I don't know how much help it would be. This is serious, complex Elvish." "We need a translator..." "What about one of your look-a-like boyfriends?" said Alcarin. "Ha-ha," said Estriel sarcastically. "Pass it here," said Jaena, taking it from Emeriel. "Hmmmm. Abracadabra?" she joked. "Yeah, that worked!" said Alcarin. Jaena flicked through the heavy pages while the others discussed what they were going to do. She came across one page that was different from the others, written in messy handwriting. The first half of the page was in Elvish, the second half was in English. She read it silently.