"Hello?! Come on Lizzie, open the door!" yelled Lyra, hammering on
Lizzie's door.
Lyra and Toni waited for a few seconds, but there was no sign of life from inside.
"OPEN THE BLOODY DOOR!" screamed Lyra.
Finally, the door opened, revealing Marieke and Lizzie with bed sheets wrapped around them. Lyra and Toni were too worked up to even be surprised about it, let alone tease them.
"What's wrong?" asked Marieke quickly, seeing Lyra with a pale green face, and Toni's streaked with tears.
"It's Merry and Pippin," Toni choked out.
Marieke and Lizzie frowned. They hadn't minded too much about Merry and Pippin playing jokes, but they'd gone too far if it had this effect.
"What have they done now?" asked Lizzie.
"They fell off the bridge," said Lyra very quietly. Marieke and Lizzie fell silent.
"Are they OK?" enquired Lizzie.
"We don't know!" wailed Lyra. "We heard a splash and we were too worried to look, in case . . . in case . . ."
Lyra couldn't bear to say it, and her sentence just trailed off.
"Well, we'll come with you and check by the bridge," said Lizzie, starting to look for some clothes. "Don't worry, I'm sure they'll be OK. Quick Marieke, get some clothes on."
Lyra and Toni waited outside for Marieke and Lizzie to get dressed. There was a lot of hassle as they searched for the right clothes.
"Marieke, have you seen my bra?"
"Yeah, it's over here on my side of the bed."
"What's it doing over there?"
"You threw it there earlier, not me."
"OK, whatever. Here's your trousers, put them on quick!"
"I can't find my top. Oh wait, here it is."
"That's my top! Take it off."
"Oh well, it'll have to wait. We're in too much of a hurry."
Several minutes later, Marieke and Lizzie appeared outside, fully dressed. However, they were wearing each other's tops, but it didn't matter. Lyra and Toni led the way to the right bridge.
"OK, who's going to look?" asked Marieke.
"I will," volunteered Lizzie quickly. She knew that Lyra and Toni didn't want to.
Lizzie lay down on the floor and peered underneath the bridge. There was nothing there apart from water and rocks. But wait there was something else. She reached out as far as she could, and managed to grab the loose end of one of the ropes.
"I found this," said Lizzie, holding up the end. "It's tied to a metal hoop that's fixed into the bridge."
"What's it for?" questioned Marieke.
"Not exactly sure. But I've got an idea that it might have something to do with another practical joke," said Lizzie. "Everyone, have a look around and see if you can find anything else."
Marieke, Lyra and Toni searched the banks. Marieke and Lyra didn't find anything, but Toni did.
"I've got a bag," she said.
"What's inside?" asked Marieke.
Toni opened the bag, and dug her hand in.
"Ewwww, it's all wet," Toni said. She pulled out a sopping wet shirt. Then she emptied the rest of the bag onto the floor.
"Clothes," said Lyra. "Wet clothes."
"If you ask me, I think Merry and Pippin have just played another lame joke on you," said Lizzie. "They've really gone too far this time."
Toni looked extremely relieved, but when she looked at Lyra she saw Lyra's eyes darken. Toni went from relieved to nervous. Sometimes in the very rarest of occasions, Lyra's eyes turned to a dark blue if something had really made her angry. And now her eyes were positively navy.
"I'd go and have words with them if I was you," suggested Marieke.
"OK, we will," said Lyra.
Lyra and Toni headed off to Merry and Pippin's house, and Marieke and Lizzie hurried home. Toni was in a right muddle. She didn't know whether to stop Lyra or not. It was bad news when she got this angry, but then again Merry and Pippin deserved to be punished. And she also wanted to see if they were all right. They reached the house and Lyra knocked hard on the door.
"Go away, we're not in the mood," came a voice from inside.
"Open up!" snarled Lyra.
There were whispers from inside, and then the door opened. Merry and Pippin were standing in the doorway looking worried. Toni let out a squeal and ran and grabbed hold of Pippin, hugging him so hard he could barely breathe. Then she grabbed Merry's sleeve and pulled him into the hug as well.
"OK . . . I can't breathe," said Pippin.
"Sorry," apologised Toni, letting go of him and Merry.
"So now hugs from you then, Lyra?" grinned Merry. Him and Pippin were laughing.
"I can't believe you," said Lyra, shaking with rage. "You got away with it this time, but what if it had gone wrong? What if we'd jumped off the bridge after you?"
Merry and Pippin both stopped laughing.
"I was terrified!" Lyra cried. "I was worried for both of you, though God knows why. We were both worried. Tone was crying!"
Merry and Pippin both looked at Toni who grinned sheepishly and turned away, blushing.
"I don't even know why I'm standing here wasting my breath on you two now," said Lyra, storming out of the house.
The three were silent for a while.
"Aren't you gonna go after her?" asked Merry.
"Hell no!" cried Toni. "I'm not going after her when she's in a mood. I'll wait a bit for her to cool off."
"Do you wanna stay here for the night?" offered Pippin.
Toni was tempted but she knew that she ought to be there for Lyra.
"No thanks," said Toni. "I'll hang around for a bit, but then I've gotta go to see if she's OK. I can't leave her on her own."
~*~
About an hour later, Toni came home and went inside. All the lights were on, but Lyra was lying on her bed facing the wall. Toni wasn't sure whether she was asleep or not.
"Lyra are you asleep?" she whispered.
When Lyra didn't answer, Toni went and tapped her on the shoulder. Suddenly, Lyra spun round and grabbed Toni's wrist, and poor Toni nearly had a heart attack.
"Well thank you very much!" she cried sarcastically, prising Lyra's fingers off.
"It was your own fault for waking me up," said Lyra.
"You weren't asleep," said Toni.
"Well, no," admitted Lyra. "But I could've been. Anyway Tone, leave me alone. I'm not in the mood to talk."
Lyra turned back to face the wall again. Toni didn't know what to do; she wasn't the best when it came to sympathy. Actually, she was one of the worst.
"Come on, Lyra," pleaded Toni. "You can't stay that mad at Merry and Pippin. They were only trying to get revenge. They hadn't meant for it to turn out like that."
Lyra said nothing.
"Lyra you haven't fell asleep, have you?" asked Toni suspiciously.
Lyra started pretending to snore.
"OK, that's it. You're so not asleep!" grinned Toni. "Up you get!"
Toni dug her hands under one side of the mattress and pulled it upwards, tipping Lyra off the other side. Lyra shrieked and grabbed Toni's ankles, tripping her over. They started wrestling on the floor, both in hysterics of laughing.
~*~
The next day, the first to wake up were Mel and Frodo. They'd come back from the river late the previous night. They'd gone to Mel's house since they didn't really have the privacy back at Frodo's. Frodo got out of bed quite early, but Mel stayed there.
"Are you ever getting up, Mel?" smiled Frodo, buttoning up his shirt.
"No . . . sleepy . . ." Mel mumbled into the pillow.
Frodo laughed and pulled the covers off. Mel started thrashing about, pretending to have a tantrum.
"Come on Mel, I've made you some breakfast," said Frodo.
"Ooh, breakfast," said Mel, getting up and hurriedly throwing some clothes on.
They both then sat at the table to eat their breakfast. However, it wasn't the normal breakfast that most hobbits were used to. Mel and Frodo were eating, chatting between mouthfuls, trapping one another's legs under the table, and stealing bits of food off each other's plates.
~*~
Marieke and Lizzie got up pretty quickly.
"Hurry up and put some clothes on," ordered Lizzie, shaking Marieke to wake her up. "We've gotta go and find out what happened last night."
They went through the same hustle and bustle as they had last night trying to find their clothes.
"Marieke, I've got your trousers, so where's mine?"
"I don't know, I never took them."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, I'm sure."
"Oh here they are, I've found them."
"Do you want your top back?"
"Yeah thanks. And here's yours."
Eventually they both had the right clothes on, so they headed round to Lyra and Toni's house, but there was no one there.
"Where do you think they could be?" asked Marieke.
"Dunno," said Lizzie. "Let's go have a look round for them."
Marieke and Lizzie searched practically the whole Shire, looking for them. However, they did bump into Rosie, Sam, Mel, Frodo and Pippin.
"Hey, have any of you seen Lyra and Toni?" asked Lizzie.
"No sorry," replied Sam. "Have you seen Merry?"
"Merry? Why?" asked Marieke.
"He went off somewhere this morning. I can't find him," explained Pippin.
"Oh great, everyone's going missing," said Lizzie. "Stupid spannerheads!"
The seven stood around to chat. They were going nowhere with the search so they thought they'd let Lyra, Toni and Merry come to them. Not long after they'd started chatting, they could see Lyra and Toni heading towards them.
"We've been looking everywhere for you," said Marieke. "What happened last night?"
"Well, Merry, Pippin and me patched things up, but Lyra went off in a mood. Then I went home and I managed to cheer her up," explained Toni.
"Have you seen Merry today?" asked Mel. "None of us can find him anywhere."
"No, sorry," replied Toni. "Hey wait, isn't that him?"
Everybody looked and saw Merry coming over to them, with his hands hidden behind his back.
"Where have you been?" enquired Rosie. "Everyone's been looking for you."
"I had to sort something out," answered Merry.
"Sort what out?" asked Pippin.
Merry ignored Pippin and turned to Lyra, who looked slightly surprised.
"Lyra, I'm really sorry about yesterday. So, err . . . I got these for you." Merry handed Lyra a big bunch of flowers.
"Aww, thank you!" cried Lyra.
Lyra flung her arms around Merry and kissed him. Merry turned a deep shade of red. Everyone else was completely shocked.
Lyra and Toni waited for a few seconds, but there was no sign of life from inside.
"OPEN THE BLOODY DOOR!" screamed Lyra.
Finally, the door opened, revealing Marieke and Lizzie with bed sheets wrapped around them. Lyra and Toni were too worked up to even be surprised about it, let alone tease them.
"What's wrong?" asked Marieke quickly, seeing Lyra with a pale green face, and Toni's streaked with tears.
"It's Merry and Pippin," Toni choked out.
Marieke and Lizzie frowned. They hadn't minded too much about Merry and Pippin playing jokes, but they'd gone too far if it had this effect.
"What have they done now?" asked Lizzie.
"They fell off the bridge," said Lyra very quietly. Marieke and Lizzie fell silent.
"Are they OK?" enquired Lizzie.
"We don't know!" wailed Lyra. "We heard a splash and we were too worried to look, in case . . . in case . . ."
Lyra couldn't bear to say it, and her sentence just trailed off.
"Well, we'll come with you and check by the bridge," said Lizzie, starting to look for some clothes. "Don't worry, I'm sure they'll be OK. Quick Marieke, get some clothes on."
Lyra and Toni waited outside for Marieke and Lizzie to get dressed. There was a lot of hassle as they searched for the right clothes.
"Marieke, have you seen my bra?"
"Yeah, it's over here on my side of the bed."
"What's it doing over there?"
"You threw it there earlier, not me."
"OK, whatever. Here's your trousers, put them on quick!"
"I can't find my top. Oh wait, here it is."
"That's my top! Take it off."
"Oh well, it'll have to wait. We're in too much of a hurry."
Several minutes later, Marieke and Lizzie appeared outside, fully dressed. However, they were wearing each other's tops, but it didn't matter. Lyra and Toni led the way to the right bridge.
"OK, who's going to look?" asked Marieke.
"I will," volunteered Lizzie quickly. She knew that Lyra and Toni didn't want to.
Lizzie lay down on the floor and peered underneath the bridge. There was nothing there apart from water and rocks. But wait there was something else. She reached out as far as she could, and managed to grab the loose end of one of the ropes.
"I found this," said Lizzie, holding up the end. "It's tied to a metal hoop that's fixed into the bridge."
"What's it for?" questioned Marieke.
"Not exactly sure. But I've got an idea that it might have something to do with another practical joke," said Lizzie. "Everyone, have a look around and see if you can find anything else."
Marieke, Lyra and Toni searched the banks. Marieke and Lyra didn't find anything, but Toni did.
"I've got a bag," she said.
"What's inside?" asked Marieke.
Toni opened the bag, and dug her hand in.
"Ewwww, it's all wet," Toni said. She pulled out a sopping wet shirt. Then she emptied the rest of the bag onto the floor.
"Clothes," said Lyra. "Wet clothes."
"If you ask me, I think Merry and Pippin have just played another lame joke on you," said Lizzie. "They've really gone too far this time."
Toni looked extremely relieved, but when she looked at Lyra she saw Lyra's eyes darken. Toni went from relieved to nervous. Sometimes in the very rarest of occasions, Lyra's eyes turned to a dark blue if something had really made her angry. And now her eyes were positively navy.
"I'd go and have words with them if I was you," suggested Marieke.
"OK, we will," said Lyra.
Lyra and Toni headed off to Merry and Pippin's house, and Marieke and Lizzie hurried home. Toni was in a right muddle. She didn't know whether to stop Lyra or not. It was bad news when she got this angry, but then again Merry and Pippin deserved to be punished. And she also wanted to see if they were all right. They reached the house and Lyra knocked hard on the door.
"Go away, we're not in the mood," came a voice from inside.
"Open up!" snarled Lyra.
There were whispers from inside, and then the door opened. Merry and Pippin were standing in the doorway looking worried. Toni let out a squeal and ran and grabbed hold of Pippin, hugging him so hard he could barely breathe. Then she grabbed Merry's sleeve and pulled him into the hug as well.
"OK . . . I can't breathe," said Pippin.
"Sorry," apologised Toni, letting go of him and Merry.
"So now hugs from you then, Lyra?" grinned Merry. Him and Pippin were laughing.
"I can't believe you," said Lyra, shaking with rage. "You got away with it this time, but what if it had gone wrong? What if we'd jumped off the bridge after you?"
Merry and Pippin both stopped laughing.
"I was terrified!" Lyra cried. "I was worried for both of you, though God knows why. We were both worried. Tone was crying!"
Merry and Pippin both looked at Toni who grinned sheepishly and turned away, blushing.
"I don't even know why I'm standing here wasting my breath on you two now," said Lyra, storming out of the house.
The three were silent for a while.
"Aren't you gonna go after her?" asked Merry.
"Hell no!" cried Toni. "I'm not going after her when she's in a mood. I'll wait a bit for her to cool off."
"Do you wanna stay here for the night?" offered Pippin.
Toni was tempted but she knew that she ought to be there for Lyra.
"No thanks," said Toni. "I'll hang around for a bit, but then I've gotta go to see if she's OK. I can't leave her on her own."
~*~
About an hour later, Toni came home and went inside. All the lights were on, but Lyra was lying on her bed facing the wall. Toni wasn't sure whether she was asleep or not.
"Lyra are you asleep?" she whispered.
When Lyra didn't answer, Toni went and tapped her on the shoulder. Suddenly, Lyra spun round and grabbed Toni's wrist, and poor Toni nearly had a heart attack.
"Well thank you very much!" she cried sarcastically, prising Lyra's fingers off.
"It was your own fault for waking me up," said Lyra.
"You weren't asleep," said Toni.
"Well, no," admitted Lyra. "But I could've been. Anyway Tone, leave me alone. I'm not in the mood to talk."
Lyra turned back to face the wall again. Toni didn't know what to do; she wasn't the best when it came to sympathy. Actually, she was one of the worst.
"Come on, Lyra," pleaded Toni. "You can't stay that mad at Merry and Pippin. They were only trying to get revenge. They hadn't meant for it to turn out like that."
Lyra said nothing.
"Lyra you haven't fell asleep, have you?" asked Toni suspiciously.
Lyra started pretending to snore.
"OK, that's it. You're so not asleep!" grinned Toni. "Up you get!"
Toni dug her hands under one side of the mattress and pulled it upwards, tipping Lyra off the other side. Lyra shrieked and grabbed Toni's ankles, tripping her over. They started wrestling on the floor, both in hysterics of laughing.
~*~
The next day, the first to wake up were Mel and Frodo. They'd come back from the river late the previous night. They'd gone to Mel's house since they didn't really have the privacy back at Frodo's. Frodo got out of bed quite early, but Mel stayed there.
"Are you ever getting up, Mel?" smiled Frodo, buttoning up his shirt.
"No . . . sleepy . . ." Mel mumbled into the pillow.
Frodo laughed and pulled the covers off. Mel started thrashing about, pretending to have a tantrum.
"Come on Mel, I've made you some breakfast," said Frodo.
"Ooh, breakfast," said Mel, getting up and hurriedly throwing some clothes on.
They both then sat at the table to eat their breakfast. However, it wasn't the normal breakfast that most hobbits were used to. Mel and Frodo were eating, chatting between mouthfuls, trapping one another's legs under the table, and stealing bits of food off each other's plates.
~*~
Marieke and Lizzie got up pretty quickly.
"Hurry up and put some clothes on," ordered Lizzie, shaking Marieke to wake her up. "We've gotta go and find out what happened last night."
They went through the same hustle and bustle as they had last night trying to find their clothes.
"Marieke, I've got your trousers, so where's mine?"
"I don't know, I never took them."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, I'm sure."
"Oh here they are, I've found them."
"Do you want your top back?"
"Yeah thanks. And here's yours."
Eventually they both had the right clothes on, so they headed round to Lyra and Toni's house, but there was no one there.
"Where do you think they could be?" asked Marieke.
"Dunno," said Lizzie. "Let's go have a look round for them."
Marieke and Lizzie searched practically the whole Shire, looking for them. However, they did bump into Rosie, Sam, Mel, Frodo and Pippin.
"Hey, have any of you seen Lyra and Toni?" asked Lizzie.
"No sorry," replied Sam. "Have you seen Merry?"
"Merry? Why?" asked Marieke.
"He went off somewhere this morning. I can't find him," explained Pippin.
"Oh great, everyone's going missing," said Lizzie. "Stupid spannerheads!"
The seven stood around to chat. They were going nowhere with the search so they thought they'd let Lyra, Toni and Merry come to them. Not long after they'd started chatting, they could see Lyra and Toni heading towards them.
"We've been looking everywhere for you," said Marieke. "What happened last night?"
"Well, Merry, Pippin and me patched things up, but Lyra went off in a mood. Then I went home and I managed to cheer her up," explained Toni.
"Have you seen Merry today?" asked Mel. "None of us can find him anywhere."
"No, sorry," replied Toni. "Hey wait, isn't that him?"
Everybody looked and saw Merry coming over to them, with his hands hidden behind his back.
"Where have you been?" enquired Rosie. "Everyone's been looking for you."
"I had to sort something out," answered Merry.
"Sort what out?" asked Pippin.
Merry ignored Pippin and turned to Lyra, who looked slightly surprised.
"Lyra, I'm really sorry about yesterday. So, err . . . I got these for you." Merry handed Lyra a big bunch of flowers.
"Aww, thank you!" cried Lyra.
Lyra flung her arms around Merry and kissed him. Merry turned a deep shade of red. Everyone else was completely shocked.