They were all watching each other: Maglor allowed Patricia to lead him along the beach, staying a few steps back and watching her closely; Karri was walking along behind him, staring at him with large brown eyes but pretending to be absorbed by her fingernails any time he returned the look. They were heading towards what looked like a city, but nothing like the human settlements in Beleriand. There were tall towers made of mirrors looming in the distance behind what looked like houses, each of which had a small patch of grass out in the front. Shortly after reaching the first of the houses they began walking down a beige and grey path that ran parallel to a smooth black gravel road, dotted here and there with yellow lines and lined with white paint. Trees sat neatly in the grassy area between the path and the road, throwing long shadows across the black gravel from the sinking rays of Arien. Somewhere to the right of them, the roar Maglor had noticed on the beach had grown louder; steady noise punctuated occasionally by a loud sputtering growl that grew louder and faded into the distance at great speed.

The air smelled horrible; smoke and acid mixed with something indescribable, forming a layer at the back of his throat that made him want to cough any time he inhaled. His eyes began to itch and then sting like someone was pressing an acidic cloth to the back of them, and combined with the constant noise and depressing thoughts he soon began to feel thoroughly miserable. Fortunately, Patricia and Karri seemed to know where they were going...

Suddenly, there was a noise in his ears reminiscent of the rushing famously heard in seashells and two points of light appeared at one end of the road. They were attached to a large metal something, painted brilliant white, that rushed along the road at a speed that rivaled the eagles of Manwë. Maglor stepped to the side and drew the dagger from his boot in one fluid movement, causing Karri to jump back in alarm. Patricia continued on obliviously for a second then turned around to see what was going on.

Maglor was staring at the car, knife held tightly in a defensive position and feet planted securely on the turf of the nearest house's lawn. Karri was several paces behind Maglor and hissing something about putting the knife down, and all the while the car approached with the speed of, er, a car. Trisha crossed her fingers and thanked Eru that the car would pass quickly, then began to approach Maglor.

She quickly thought better of it and motioned to him to put down the knife with the same gestures she had used before. He looked at her warily then complied.

The car whooshed past and Maglor's eyes followed the red lights until it turned onto a different street and was hidden behind a respectable looking brick house. The two níssi had seemed unafraid of the thing, and it hadn't harmed him, but it was alarming and far too loud... what was more, he had never even imagined anything like it. How long had he been asleep? Their speech was completely different, their clothing was outlandish and the world was so different... It was frightening even to him, but he had decided there was nothing to do but accept it. As far as he knew it could be hundreds of thousands of years later, and angry outbursts wouldn't bring back Beleriand.

They continued to lead him down the same path until turning into a flat area made of the same material as the path. It led up to one of the houses; a beige brick one, with neatly trimmed grass and small flowering shrubs lining a path leading up to the door. A large window looked in to a cheerful yellow room bathed in steady fluorescent light from a fixture on the ceiling, and Maglor caught a glimpse of the trio palely reflected in the glass. They made such an odd group; Patricia leading, her sandy hair and heavy tread reminiscent of the people of Haleth; then the regal elf lord with his flawless posture and catlike grace. In the back was Karri, small and skittish with dark brown eyes and long dark hair; she was watching him again with the air of a small animal ready to run at any moment. It was getting tiring... did she have nothing better to do that sit around and gawk at him?

Trisha had opened the door and ushered the other two inside, where they stood contemplating each other for a minute or two. Karri glared at her friend. "Why did you do that?! How do you know your mom isn't going to call the police or something?" she demanded.

Trisha shrugged. "Dunno," she replied intelligently. "I'll take my chances though. Take Maglor to my room, I'm going to go get mom."

Karri couldn't help but giggle at 'Take Maglor to my room', and Trisha glared at her venomously. True to her word, however, she trudged through the cheerful yellow kitchen and down the stairs as the T.V. in the basement played soap opera dialogue loudly. Trisha vaulted over the couch onto the bouncy cushions as two middle-aged women yelled at each other.

"Mom?" she asked hesitantly, turning the T.V. volume down.

Her mother turned to look at her. "Hmm? How was the beach?" she asked, then paused. "What's wrong?"

Trisha shifted from side to side nervously. "Uhh, I think you have to see something," she replied. Her mom frowned.

"Okay then. See what?"

"Speaks for himself..." she muttered, standing up quickly and heading up the stairs while her mother followed uncomfortably.

()()()

Maglor had allowed the dark haired girl to lead him down a hallway into a lavender room furnished with a bed, a desk with many drawers and an armoire of some sort. On the desk was a grey box with black glass covering most of the front, and surrounding it were strange objects the use of which he couldn't even begin to guess. An uncomfortable looking chair was sitting in front of it, which he regarded with some suspicion before sitting on it. Karri had seated herself on the bed in the farthest corner from him and was watching him again, but underneath the fright he could now see something else; it reminded him strongly of Celegorm's expression when he had told Maglor about Lúthien.

It dawned on him shortly and the Elf turned away, repulsed. Foolish humans... He turned his attention to the black box and stared at it curiously; there was a rounded object about 3/4ths the size of his hand on a cloth that sat on the table, which he picked up and turned over. It began to emit a red glow, casting pinpricks of red light against the back of the desk and casting a shadow of his hand on the cloth. He replaced it quickly only to hear a loud 'doonk' from the black glass, which suddenly turned blue.

Maglor edged back only to find that the chair rolled along with him with a loud squeak, which evoked a giggle from Karri. Noticing his gaze, however, she suppressed the laughter and smiled at him innocently. "Computer," she said, pointing to the box.

He nodded slowly. "Computer."

"Chair." She pointed to the office chair, wondering how long it would be until Trisha got back.

Maglor frowned. "Ksare?" he repeated, his brow furrowing in frustration. "Kare... chair..."

That was when Trisha walked in. Karri frowned at her. "He can't say 'chair'?" she asked.

Trisha looked confused for a minute. "Er, huh? Wait," she paused. "Oh, no, he can't. There isn't a Quenya equivalent of ch. They say it like we say Loch. Don't worry; he'll pick it up soon. Mom's coming... I... oh Eru, what am I doing? She's not going to believe me! She's going to call the cops or something and how do I even know he's actually Maglor? He's supposed to have black hair! And Tolkien Elves have 'leaf shaped' ears whatever that means! How come he doesn't?!" she grimaced angrily and plopped down on her bed, shoving headphones over her ears. "I am NOT prepared to deal with this right now," she announced, pressing 'play' on her CD player and holding the earphones to her head to block out all sound but the music. Her eyes squeezed shut and Karri could hear faint music emanating from the earphones.

That was when her mother chose to arrive. Taking one look at Trisha, Karri and Maglor, she shut the door and backed against it. "Trisha, who is this?" she asked stoically.

"Blackheart show me... what you hold in hand... I still hunger for mooooore... releeeeease me from the paaaain! Give it to MEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!" Trisha replied coherently.

Karri poked her friend. "TRISHA!" she yelled at the earphones, jabbing the aforementioned once more on the arm. "Trisha! Explain who Maglor is!"

"How I need it... How I neeeeeed it... How I neeeeeeeeeed it!!!"

Karri sighed then looked up. "Uhh, Mrs. Black... I believe you've heard of Maglor?"

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Stupid Karri!
Anyway, I'm sorry it took so long, and sorry the chapter's so long. I'll try to make the next one a more reasonble size

Please review! If you do I shall be happy!