Hexe: Thank's for the warning about apostrophe's, we fixed the'm. (Joking. ^_^ Although we do think we fixed them.)

Tanydwr: Yup, they're going to remember what's going to happen next; most of the plot revolves around it! But as for their magic, you'll have to wait and see.

writergirl122711: Thanks, we're glad someone besides just us finds it amusing!

Note: This chapter and likely the next one will be confusing, we have no doubt. (You'll see why in the last few lines of this chapter.) Just stick with it, please, we swear it'll all make sense soon!

Chapter Two – On the Roof

When Jen opened her eyes next, she was staring at deep blue skies with a few fluffy white clouds drifting past. Well, this is nice, was her first dazed thought. Her second was, why can I see the sky? Her third was, oh my word! We blew off the roof of my house! Her fourth was, why do I feel like I'm lying on straw? A quick look around revealed that it was because, in fact, she was. A straw roof, to be specific.

"Ellen?" she asked, slowly sitting up.

A metre or so away, Ellen rose with a slow moan. "Nrgh," was her helpful contribution. A second later, she added, "Elevator music? Elevator music? What, no dramatic puff of smoke or flash of lightning or even a swirling vortex of terror? Just a sickly green colour, and elevator music?" After a long moment of silence, she added, "You know, I ought to be frightened out of my wits, but I think I've passed right through the fear threshold into the sort of calmness on the other side. Like the eye of a hurricane, right? Where the hell are we?"

Jen glanced around. "By the looks of it, we're on a straw roof. And it's the middle of the day, too, when it was night back home. And it's a place where it's summer, not winter like it ought to be."

"Okay. Okay. Um. Okay. Lesse." Ellen covered her eyes. "This is all a dream. This is all a dream. This is all a dream." She opened one eye to peer through her fingers. "Damn."

"Um… If this isn't a dream, where are we? Did we actually manage to travel through the book, d'you think?"

"Damned if I know." With increasing stress, Ellen was starting to curse more and more. In conversational tones, she added, "I think I may scream."

"Well," Jen said reasonably, "perhaps the best way of finding out where we are would be to get off this roof? We could go to the edge and see how far down it is…"

With a shrug, Ellen wormed her way over the edge on her belly, and cautiously looked over the edge. A red-haired girl, head poked out her window, was looking straight back up at her.

As she said she would, Ellen screamed.

Jen jumped up. "What! What is it? Is it some kind of monster?"

"Worse," Ellen moaned. "It's Tris."

Trisana Chandler glared back up at the strangers on the roof. "That's fair rude," she commented voice indignant. "Didn't your Ma teach you any manners?" She paused. "And how do you know my name?"

Ellen paused for a moment, trying to make sense of Tris's odd accent (an Imperial accent, she supposed), then sighed. "You're Trisana Chandler. You're one of the most powerful weather mages of this time. You-"

"What!?" Tris burst out. "Mage? You're as crazy as the thief-boy!"

"Oops. Erm, yes, you're right, of course. I didn't say that, really I didn't," Ellen said hurriedly, the words slightly jumbled in her hurry. They don't know yet! she thought at her self. Aieieieieie!

Jen went over to the edge as well, interrupting Ellen's panicked thoughts. Peering down at Tris, she said in a small voice, "Hi?"

Tris turned her glare at Jen. "Another one of you! Lark, Niko, Ro-" Tris hesitated, then decided against calling on the fierce-tempered Rosethorn. "Lark, Niko! There's people on the roof!" She pulled her head back in, and the two heard her footsteps retreating into the house.

Ellen glanced at her friend, suddenly feeling… deflated, as it were. "So…"

"This," Jen said, voice slow and vaguely mournful, "doesn't seem to be working as planned."

* * *

As Tris burst in, looking hot and bothered, Lark glanced up from her seat at the table where she was cutting bread for the mid-day meal. She opened her mouth to ask what was going on, but Tris beat her to it.

"Lark! There's people on the roof, two girl in the weirdest clothing, and they speak with a horrible accent. I think they're cracked, really. They said I had magic." Tris drew in a deep gasp of air, then let it out slowly, calming herself. A moment later, she added in a quieter tone, "If I had magic, my family'd have kept me."

Lark managed to contain herself to expressing her surprise no further than raising her eyebrows. Absentmindedly, she brushed crumbs off the table. Standing at last, she spoke. "Tris, be a dear and fetch Niko? He'll want to be here, I'm sure. He's probably outside." Not waiting for a response from Tris, Lark strode briskly towards the stairs.

Tris stared after Lark's swiftly disappearing form. She shrugged, slightly annoyed, then headed out the door. Glancing around the yard, she found Niko quickly. "Niko!" she called. "Lark wants you! There's crazy people on the roof."

Niko stifled a laugh. "Crazy people on the roof? This I must see."

* * *

Five or so minutes later, Ellen and Jen were seated within Discipline. Daja, Tris, Briar and Sandry had all been more than a little curious about the pair, but the older mages had banished the four to their rooms.

"How did you get onto the roof?" Lark asked at last.

Ellen and Jen glanced at each other. For a moment both were silent, then finally Ellen answered, "In all truth? We have no idea."

"And know about magic? I suppose you've no idea how you knew about that either, yes?" Rosethorn asked, rather more briskly than Lark.

"Er, no, I know how we know that," Ellen said slowly, wondering how much to tell them. "Um. Well, you see, where we come from… you guys are a book. Y'know, a story for kids?"

"Kids?" Niko frowned. Lark, who had been present for an earlier impromptu street-slang lesson from Briar, translated.

"Childrn, Niko. Brair says that too."

"Right," Ellen confirmed. "And so, well, we read about Tris. And about Daja and Briar and Sandry, and about you guys, and about the things you're going to do."

Niko looked at Ellen, a strange expression on his face. Ellen thought it was because he had trouble believing what she was saying. In truth, it was because as Ellen got more tired and more anxious, her words began to slur together, and come faster.

Correctly interrupting Niko's look, Jen put in wearily, "She says we read about you, and we know what's coming next. In your lives, she means."

"Oh," said Niko. After a moment, he enquired, "And where exactly is it the two of you come from?"

Jen glanced at Ellen, but her friend had fallen strangely silent. With a shrug, she turned away from Ellen and replied, "Uh, um…. Let's see. How to explain? I think perhaps the best way of putting this would be to say we come from an alternate universe…"

An odd look had taken up residence on Ellen's face, and she was staring blankly into thin air. "Er," she said at last, absently. "Er. Is a common side effect of traveling through dimensions to be able to hear the birds outside talking? Like… talking-talking? Like people?"

"No, that's just our magic," came a calm voice from the door. It had a similar accent to that of Jen and Ellen's, but with a touch of Imperial to it, as if the speaker had been born Canadian but spent some time around Summersea. The voice also sounded a whole lot like Ellen's.

Slowly, everyone turned to face the door.

Ellen was standing there, looking at Ellen. Jen was behind her, waving cheerily at Jen.

"I'm confused," said the original Jen at last.

"Join the guild," remarked Niko, bemusedly.