Disclaimer: Apart from the fact that:

I, Estel, own a Pony in my Pocket;

Queenie owns an entire den of torturing instruments;

and Mellaithwen owns a cod because she couldn't find a kipper,

we don't own anything Tolkien. Remember, that ever helpful line… "You know it, he owns it!"

A/N: Right – firstly, this should have been posted a week ago or something. But I thought Queenie was posting it – she thought something else – Mellaitwhen thought something else… You see the problem here? Especially with us three. I mean, come on, Queenie and I are bad enough without Welshie here… ^_~

A VERY IMPORTANT THING TO SAY! I don't often create words, but for this chapter I have – Neandertholic. Please don't flame for that, it is now officially a word, savvy?

Also – this is a 'fall into Middle earth fic' but hopefully not without a few original few twists and turns of its own. For starters, I mean, hello? IMMINENT ELF/RANGER TORTURE. 8^D What more could you want?

Also; Pikeys. Now, I live in South East England, as does Queenie, and Pikeys is a term well known to our area. Anyone not from England may get slightly confused – just them up, you'll get the picture. Also, we don't mean any offence to any one who shows traits that are described hereafter; we simply picked out classic qualities that these particular people have, so don't sue!

Right, well, I think that's it! Everyone ready? Right, off we go!!!

~

Serpents in the Mists

Chapter One – First Impressions Always Last

Amanda waited outside McDonalds. She held her mobile phone in her right hand, texting away so furiously that it hurt her thumb. A piece of shoulder-length brown hair blew in her face, which she pushed behind her ear quickly.

'WHERE R U?' was written in the small box on her phone. Amanda pressed Send to Many, chose the names and waited, picking at the name label on the back that was stuck over Eeyore's face. She hated it, but it was the only thing that let her take her mobile into school.

Her phone bleeped, and she pressed Open.

'I'M GETTING OFF DA BUS' said the message. Amanda looked over to the bus stop and saw all the people getting off. She chewed her lip thoughtfully.

She was meeting up with Jo and Amy. They had met on the Internet and had become very good friends, but this was the first time they'd ever actually met. They were both teenage girls like her, though Jo was the year above, and both absolutely adored Lord of the Rings.

The phone bleeped again, and she opened the second message.

'I'M COMIN, CALM DOWN!'

Yes, that would be Jo... Amanda laughed.

~*~

Amy stepped off the crowded bus. Her brown hair was tied back, leaving many
a curl hanging out. She wore her favourite jeans and a blue sweater. Earlier, she had
managed to convince her dad to leave her alone for the time being, but now she was
regretting it; she was alone in a city she didn't know, looking for someone
she'd never met. Her phone bleeped.

She flipped open the Samsung to reveal a bright blue screen, Amanda mob
popping up to show who had sent the message, and excitement filled her. It had
happened each time she had received a message from either Amanda or Jo. They
were coming in quicker because they were closer. She opened it up
instantly.

'WAVE TOWARD MCDS' she read,

Amy looked around. She waved her hand, in the direction of MacDonalds, at
nothing in particular and noticed a few people arch their eyebrows or wave
back. But when she saw her, she smiled a huge grin when a girl around her
age waved back, phone in hand.

Any excitement from the txt was nothing compared to this. She saw Amanda, she
was looking at Amanda! Thoughts filled her mind, from the first time they'd
talked on the message boards, to the first few emails, and now meeting up! Her
phone bleeped for what seemed like the millionth time that day.

'WHERE BE YOU?' Amy read, it was from Jo. She began moving her thumb around
the numbers,

'MCDS JUST SEEN AMANDA HURRY UP!' She pressed ok and then send, and hurried off to meet Amanda for the first time.

~*~

Jo was not in a good mood. In fact, 'not in a good mood' would probably be classed as a bit of an understatement for the mood Jo was actually in, right now.

"Perhaps completely bloody ticked off with the entire bloody..." she mumbled incoherent curses under her breath, receiving sharp and disgruntled glared from an elderly gentlemen in a pinstripe suit across the aisle from her on the bus.


Why was Jo in such a foul and snappy mood? Well, where to begin? Firstly, her alarm clock hadn't gone off, and she'd missed a ride from her mum to the train station, meaning she'd had to fork out a tenner to get a cab. Then there was the fact that her trousers hadn't been dry when she finally did wake up, so she was wearing the cords that were-once-christmas-cream-but-now-resembled-Gandalf's-robes-on-the-bottom. Just great. Oh, and her hair? Let's not even go there...

So, she'd got to the station... And of course, the trains were running late - by half an hour!!! Already beginning to doubt whether or not she should have just stayed in bed, she was finally able to get train, which then decided it wasn't going to go where she thought it was, but stop a station short. So yet again, London's faithfully extortionately priced cabs came to the rescue. Another tenner out the window...  twenty-three pounds on travel, and it was only the start of the day!!!!

Sighing, Jo gazed out of the window towards the fast approaching golden arch ahead of them, and despite the dismal start to the day, her stomach gave a funny lurch - she was here, and she was actually going to meet them! Amy and Amanda, finally, after having e-mailed them both for about a year. Her phoned beeped noisily in her hand, demanding attention. Amanda's name flashed momentarily on the screen before she read the message; "WHERE R U?"

Jo snorted; right now, she hadn't the faintest...

Replying quickly to the text, she sat back and waited the bus to pull in at the stop. Just in front of them was another bus, its passengers already piling out onto the sidewalk. There was one girl amongst the crowd that caught her eye though... Wavy brown hair, and a face she swore she recognised...

"Amy!" whispered Jo excitedly. The gent in across from her just shook his head, and stood up.

But she was sure it was Amy, it had to be; who else would be waving randomly in the middle of a crowd, supposedly to no one? Would she do a crazy thing like that? Well, of course she would, but that was entirely beside the point.

Just before the bus came to a juddering halt, a large group of teens about Jo's age who had been sat behind her the whole journey, began jeering and swearing loudly at one another, and any other innocent passer-by that took their fancy. Jo rolled her eyes; bloody Pikey's... Okay, she could live with the fake Burberrys, the excessive amounts of gold jewellery and chewing gum, but there was no way she could stand the disgusting language that seemed to make up their everyday vocabulary. She spun around in her seat to face them, in her already miffed state not registering that taking on a gang of ten Pikey's on her own might not be such a good idea...

"Is that really necessary?" she asked coldly, putting on her posh accent and pronouncing all of her letters.

One of the boys closest to her heard and punched his friend.

Ordinarily, here would be where his reply would come - but I don't deem it appropriate for this story; you get the picture.

Jo arched an eyebrow and answered with a superior air, "I would prefer it if you didn't use such obscene language on public transport, thank you very much."

The gang were now all watching her with Neandertholic interest, and Jo suddenly became aware of how alone she was, and how empty the bus was getting...

With a haughty look, she got off the bus at as fast a pace as possible while stile struggling to retain some dignity.

"Oi, you got a problem?" one of the bleach blonde girls shouted at her.

"Actually, yes," Jo snapped back, "And that would be you, moron."

A word of advice; never call a Pikey a moron...

Jo raced down the steps of the bus as the gang, now stirred into motion sprang up after her. Oh great, oh just bloody great! This was really what she needed!

Flying towards MacDonalds, she saw the girl she had vaguely recognised earlier talking to another girl about her age, with mid-length brown hair.

Amy turned and saw a girl she almost recognised tearing down the street towards them - oh dear. Oh dear...

"Amanda," she sighed, "I'd like you to meet Jo..."

Jo clutched her bag as it swung wildly at her side, she pulled up only slightly in front of her new friends.

"Jo, what -"

"No time!" she gasped, "Come on, run!!!"

She didn't even wait for an answer, but sped off around the corner, without a clue where she was going. Amy stared helplessly after her, while Amanda watched the approaching Pikey's apprehensively. With a single, knowing look at one another, they turned tail and fled after Jo, dodging through the crowd until they'd caught up - the Pikey's were still gaining on them though, their curses and various other comments clear for all to hear.

"Jo!" shouted Amy, not sure whether to laugh or cry, "What the bloody hell -"

"Later!" was all Jo said, as they turned another sharp corner and spotted a green park across the road, surrounded by a wrought iron fence. Jo pointed it out to the others, and they sprinted across the road, heedless to the screeching car brakes and screaming horns.

As they plunged into the thick, high bushes, Amanda drew up beside Jo.

"Heya!" she spluttered, taking in a mouth full of leaves.

"Hey Amanda!" Jo greeted her in a friendly enough way, but was careful not to turn slightly for fear of, well, running straight into a tree actually.

"So, you do this often?" asked Amanda casually, as though there was nothing strange about struggling through prickly bushes while trying to escape from a blood thirsty gang.

"Ah, you know..." replied Jo in an off hand manner, pushing low hanging oak saplings aside.

"Pikeys..." groaned Amanda, pushing her designer glasses back up her nose from where they'd slid during all that running, "I hate bloody Pikeys..."

The three girls came to an abrupt halt, crouched in the bushes, breathing harshly.

Amy suddenly found herself giggling. The other two looked at her like she was mad. "I'm sorry, but this is pretty funny, isn't it?!" she laughed. "I mean, talk about first impressions!!!"

Amanda and Jo found themselves laughing as well.

"Well I'll admit, for the first time I've ever met anyone of the net, I'm glad it was you two! Sounds like one of our fics, eh Jo?!" said Amanda. She brushed some dirt off of her grey Reebok sweater and pulled some leaves off her jeans.

"Well it could have been worse!" said Jo, carefully de-twining her loose buckled and black trousers from a thorn bramble. The others looked at her blankly.

"How?!" asked Amy. "We were chased by Pikeys!"

"Ah, but we could have been caught!" replied Jo. All of a sudden, footsteps crunched on the ground outside of their hiding place.

"Oh no!" breathed Amy. "They've found us!!!"

"I wasn't expecting on being beaten up," said Amanda, worried. "I've done a bit of karate in my time, but that's about it!"

"Are you sure it's even them?" whispered Jo. "It could be some wrinkly old lady looking for her handbag..."

Again with the blank looks. "It's possible..."

Amanda laughed quietly. "I always imagined you to be like this!" She shook her head. "When you said on the message boards that you were mental, I didn't realise you really were!" She listened carefully to the footsteps through the leaves. Muffled voices could be heard. "Do you want me to look, you know, to see if it is them?"

Amy grinned. "Aren't you brave; risking your own neck for us!"

Amanda smiled back. "Yeah, just call me Aragorn..." Pulling some leaves apart, she peered out, expecting to see either the lush green grass of the park or a fist, complete with chunky gold ring, heading straight for her nose.

From what she could tell, there wasn't really that much to see... Except... Something wasn't right...

"Guys?" she called to the others, motioning for them to join her in the little clearing. Jo and Amy followed apprehensively. "Does something seem out of place to you?"

Jo frowned thoughtfully and nodded, but didn't reply.

"There's something... not quite..." murmured Amy," If only I could - traffic!" she burst out suddenly, making the other two jump.

"What?!" exclaimed Jo in disbelief, clutching her heart. "Are you trying to kill me girl?"

"No, no - I meant, there's no noise. Can you hear cars?" questioned Amy matter-of-factly.

Grumbling, Jo had to admit that she didn't, and Amanda agreed.

Suddenly, Amy heard a soft 'thuphth', and gasped slightly as a weight hit the bag
hanging off the back of her shoulder. She froze.

"Erm... Guys?" she gulped. Jo paused, and glanced around.

"What is it? Hey -ow!" she exclaimed loudly as Amanda took her arm in a
vice like grip.

"Jo," strained Amanda through gritted teeth, "There is an arrow in Amy's
bag."

Silence.

"Pikey's use arrows now?"

"No..." Amanda turned around, prepared for - well, anything; most likely those stupid Pikey's again. What she met though, was the last thing she had expected; someone's face - a young man's face. He had bright blue eyes and long blonde hair, and his ears were... pointed?!?!

Amanda did she first thing that came to her mind.

She screamed VERY loudly...

~

TADA!!!! There ye go, brave wayfarer; the first chapter be over with, but there be more to come, ye'll see!!! ^_~

So, what did you think??? Feel free to throw constructive criticism at us, just so long as you don't flame needlessly.

Oh, and about meeting people you've chatted to on the net – I would like to stress than Queenie, Mellaithwen and I have never actually met, so don't think that we're advertising it. Remember, do try and stay safe!

See Queenie? I can be motherly ^_^

Please review!!!

Loadsa love, Estel, An Honorary Mistress of Evil