Hmm, it's been a while! Sorry. Here's another chapter. Yes yes, I almost forgot. This story would not have been possible without the excellent co-Author-ship-ness of my brother Tweak.

When he was only a few inches away from the wizard, Pippin heard the hissing. He paused, and it saved his life. The grey tendrils of the wizard's beard curled around his fingers, and he cried out. The rest of the beard exploded, and Pippin kicked against the chair. He jerked his free, and he fell against the wall. The beard curled and hissed like snakes at him. Pippin shook. It couldn't be! No!

"No," he whispered, as if that could have made it so. He waited, and the beard calmed down. How could this be? The Nose had been destroyed! He knew it had to be the Nose.

"No," he whispered again. "It can't be, you're imagining things!" He crept again to the wizard's side. With the carrot, he gently prodded the beard. With the speed of a striking snake, it curled around the carrot and drew it in. Pippin heard screaming, and then a voice said "Hey, a carrot!".

Pippin screamed and ran out of Bag End as fast as he possibly could. He ran home. He dashed inside and dove under his bed. He clamped his hands over his ears and tried to think of flowers, and orchards, and mushrooms, but all he could think of was the Nose, standing there before him, taunting evilly. He awoke, not knowing how he could have fallen asleep. He thought back on the beard. Somehow he knew that it had Frodo, Sam, and maybe Merry too. He also knew that nobody would believe him if he tried to get help. Most of the hobbits were suspicious of the wizard as it was, and the rest would never believe him. If there was any rescuing to be done, he was going to have to do it.

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The hobbits awoke almost at once, but the terror that brought them had not left them alone: they were within the beard now. A grey haze, seemingly stretching on forever enveloped them in an unseen grip of terror. It was not the grey of either dawn or dusk, more like a nothingness that swallowed both light and dark, and they clutched each other for the fear.

"Wh-where are we?" said Sam. "Me Gaffer'd have something to say, and no mistake!"

"And as usual you have nothing to say, right Sam?" snapped Merry.

"Well look who's talkin', seein' as it's your nose as brought us here in the first place!" said Sam.

"There's no use arguing," said Frodo. "What we should be doing is looking for a way out!" They wandered for how long they did not know, though oddly they did not seem to move. Their surroundings were monotonous and ominous at the same time. Then the mists started moving overhead. They watched fearfully as something long and--orange poked its way through.

"Hey, it's a carrot!" cried Merry. "Someone's there!" There was a shriek and the carrot dropped. The mists gently wavered and returned to oblivious movement.

"Um, Frodo, isn't that carrot a bit, large?" said Merry staring at it.

"Now there's an eye opener and no mistake," breathed Sam. Indeed, the carrot was at least five feet in diameter.

"At least we won't grow hungry," said Frodo.

"I wonder if the Nose has a plan with all this," said Merry looking around. Sam and Frodo turned to Merry as if for the first time. "What?" he said.

"The Nose," said Frodo. "The Nose is on your face."

"Oh, I can't believe I didn't notice that," said Merry in a mocking voice. "Sometimes you amaze me, cousin." He rolled his eyes. "Where else would it be?"

"I could wish it very far away," sighed Frodo. "But that wouldn't help. What I meant to mean, so to speak, is that it must have some sort of plan. It's here, and not outside wreaking havoc."

"Probably to keep us quiet," muttered Sam.

"But about what?" said Merry. The companions sat in the greyness and wondered.