Success is Counted Sweetest

Chapter Five - The Secret Door...Again (It's a different one)

Disclaimer: Fwah! Heh...so I was almost done writing this chapter when I decided that this wasn't going at all in the direction I wanted it to. So now I give you...a rewrite!!! (Duh duh duh duh! [A fanfare]) P.S. this chapter is from Alaina's point of view...it tells what happened from her perspective during the last chapter basically.

"Hey, Alaina? Can I borrow your toothpaste? I forgot mine," called Christine from the bathroom.

"Yeah...it should be in the top drawer."

"Thanks." After a pause, "Alaina?"

"Yeah?"

"What's this necklace doing in here?" Alaina's attention was immediately pulled from the novel she was reading. In a flash, she was on her feet and running across the hall, book thrown askew.

"Where did you find that?!" she demanded, seeing Christine holding up her elvish rune necklace.

"It was in the drawer with the toothpaste. I'm sorry, I-" Christine didn't have time to finish her sentence, as Alaina had viciously snatched the necklace back before slipping it over her head and stuffing it down her shirt, as if she didn't want anyone to see it. "Geez, you're just like Frodo," Christine said jokingly.

"Oh, what do you know? Frodo wasn't always like that! It was the One Ring's effect on him."

Christine ran her fingers through her blonde hair. "You sound as if you know him."

Alaina said nothing. How could she expect even her best friend to understand that she had actually had known him? Christine just thought it had been a dream...a very good dream. She ihad/i been there...but the more she tried to reassure herself, the more it really did seem like a dream.

"Wow, we're obsessed. I hope Emma finds Return of the King as amusing as we did the first three times we saw it. Maybe she'll share your feelings for a certain character that might be named Legolas Green--oof!" Alaina giggled as a pillow, guided by none other than Christine, collided with her head. (No, the characters don't actually know what a random pillow was doing in the bathroom either. But they knew enough not to question it.) Alaina knew that Emma and Christine both shared her incredible weakness for hot guys, but secretly she thought that Christine might be just a tiny bit shallow...Then again, gorgeous as she was, with her silky blonde hair and deep blue eyes, she could afford to be a bit shallow. Alaina sighed, knowing life wasn't fair.

"Hurry up, Alaina! We'll be late for the movie! You might miss some of your dear Samwise," Christine said tauntingly, shaking Alaina from her near-coma of jealousy. This time, it was Alaina's turn to wield the pillow. "Hey, don't mess up my hair!" Christine scolded.

"Whatever. You know it's impossible to mess up iyour/i hair. Let's go."

Upon their arrival, Emma was nowhere to be found.

"Oh, Emma's in her bedroom. Why don't you girls go on up?" her mother said kindly.

"Thanks."

"Emma?" Christine called once they were in her bedroom. "We're heeeeeere!" She received no response. Alaina gently prodded Christine's arm.

"Look...her closet door is open. Do you think she's in there?"

"I dunno...let's check it out. Hey, turn on the light. Uh, Alaina? Why is there another door in here?" Alaina had a sneaking suspicion that this might be similar to the one she had found at her old house...

"Well, I suppose we should go on through." Alaina stepped through the door and, instead of finding solid ground, to her horror found herself plunging into darkness and beginning to lose conciousness...

A/N: So...Alaina is probably going to end up a Mary-Sue...but, there are other authors who write MS fics, and I enjoy reading them, so I figure they might enjoy this. Even if you despise MS, please keep reading...Alaina might turn out alright...hopefully. Also, I haven't figured out yet how to italicize just one word at a time. sorry! but for now, whenever you see ia word/i, it means that word is supposed to be italicized. Grrrr.