A/N Yes, I do realize how long it's been. I'm really sorry. School's ending in two days which means that for the past two and a half months the teachers have been shoving projects and extra homework at up, and then today was the start of finals (today being the ninth of June. Knowing me, this'll be up once school is out. If it's up today, I'm surprised at myself). When I finally do publish my book, I'm going to be much like J.K. Rowling with book Five I presume…

Anyway! On with the show!

Disclaimer: I don't own Middle Earth, I don't own Becca, Prachi, Niyati, and Andrea. I only own Meddyn. The chapter title, 'Don't Panic,' is shamelessly promoting another story called 'Don't Panic.' Go read it, it's really good.

Chapter 9: Don't Panic

"But…but!" Niyati stuttered.

"Niyati!" Prachi shook her for the fourth time that night. Niyati was panicking; she kept saying how they would never go home and that they'd stay in Middle Earth forever.

Meddyn just leaned on the wall behind the both of them and next to Becca. One week with the girls and he already knew when to just stay away. He also knew when it was a good time to just not be noticed so that certain body functions would keep working.

Becca coughed. She'd been doing that all week and it was really starting to get on his nerves.

"Alright, it's hopeless!" Prachi cried, exasperated. Andrea sighed, went up to Niyati, and slapped her. "Snap out of it."

Everyone stared at the two of them for the longest time; then Niyati ran and hid.

Meddyn rolled his eyes. These girls overacted to everything. He couldn't understand what they were saying, but it had to be something about the horses since Niyati had broken down crying in the middle of caring for them. Becca coughed again. "You should really get that checked."

Becca blinked and fished out the Translator. Once Meddyn had repeated himself, Becca shrugged. "It's just a cough." Meddyn shook his head and turned his attention back to the other three girls.

"Niyati, come on, it's not that bad!" Andrea said reassuringly. She felt bad for slapping Niyati, but she had really started to get on her nerves.

"Yes it is!" Niyati cried.

Prachi sighed. "I told you Andrea, it's hopeless."

"Oh, but-" At that moment, Becca took this time to sneeze very loudly.

"Sorry," she muttered.

"Becca, are you alright?" asked Prachi.

Becca sniffled. "Oh, yeah, I'll be fine."

"You've been coughing all week," Andrea pointed out.

"It's just a cough."

"See!" Niyati yelled from her hiding place. "Now Becca's getting sick! It all starts…"

"Niyati! Stop being paranoid!" yelled Prachi. Becca coughed again, shortly followed by a loud sneeze.

"It just sounds like you have allergies, or maybe even a cold. No big deal." Andrea shrugged.

Becca sniffled. "I hope it goes away."

"But-"

"Niyati!" Prachi yelled, and Niyati fell silent.

The next morning, Becca woke up to find no one else in the room. She kept coughing a sneezing as she got dressed and walked out to the stables where she found the rest of the girls sleeping in an empty stall on a pile of hay.

"Guys! Guys!" Becca whispered, trying to shake them awake while, at the same time, trying not to cough and sneeze on them. Eventually, the girls were stretching, rubbing their eyes open, and yawning.

"Morning, Becca," Niyati yawned as she got up and brushed the straw off her dress.

"Why'd you guys get up and sleep in here," Becca asked.

"You were snoring," Prachi answered. "It must be because of your sneezing and coughing."

Niyati stared at Becca for a second, then said, "What if you die?"

"Niyati!" Andrea yelled. "Becca is not going to die!"

"But…we're in a different country!"

"Of course we are, we-"

"Wait," Prachi said slowly. "Niyati's right, we are in a different country…which means…"

Realization slowly dawned on both Andrea's and Becca's faces. A new country meant new sicknesses and diseases their immune systems weren't used to yet. Of course, they had learned about all of this in health while studying the human immune system, what really worried them was what they had learned in history class when Europe came to the west…

"I don't want to die!" Becca screamed. If a time for panicking hadn't already come, it certainly had now.

It was in the middle of the girls panicking that Meddyn came in to the stables to check on them. He tried to ignore it while he tended to the horses (since the girls were obviously not in a state to do so), but it was really hard when they were screaming at each other. They eventually did quiet down, after they all hid in separate places in the stable.

Meddyn decided to not even try to look for them. If they were going to be like this, that was fine. As long as they didn't bother him.

And so we witness the third and final reaction that we will address in this series. Join us next time when the girls discover that months do go by in Middle Earth.

a/n Hey look! It's finished! Still need a beta (sorry Andrea, I need someone who can point out mistakes concerning Middle Earth and my characters), but, other then that, please review! Constructive Criticism most graciously welcomed!

Fawkes