Chapter Three

Then it happened. One moment I was in my dad's office, the next I was…somewhere else. It was strange, and as I looked at my hands, I tried to scream. There was no skin. Only blood vessels, bone, ligaments. I felt as though I was tumbling in a vortex of something, but my brain couldn't tell me what.

My body certainly couldn't, either. I was dizzy; my head spun. Suddenly, I was awake again, right side up, and...Warm? It wasn't warm in my dad's shop by any standards. But it didn't look as if that was where I'd landed, anyways. I was not anywhere near home.

I sat up. It was dark, and I could see bright stars overhead. It was warm here. Where was I?

Then I heard voices. What happened? Who is that? Oh, no, Christopher. You know what happened? Yeah, but I don't like it, and I sure hope I'm seeing things. Go get a torch, will you?

I moaned and put a hand to my head, flopping back onto the soft grass of wherever I was. Then, footsteps. I tried to back away on my hands and knees.

"W-who are you" I stammered to the dark figure that stood before me.

"It's okay, don't worry." A guy's voice. Someone my age, or perhaps a bit older.

"What happened"

"It's a long story. Here." The figure held out his hand to me, and I took it, using the leverage to stand. "You'll probably feel a little weird. Come with us, and we'll explain a little bit, if we can."

I followed, and then dark became light. A beautiful young woman with red hair stood holding a torch in front of her. "Christopher" she addressed the guy in front of me. He was tall, but not above average; he had blonde hair and a good face. Definitely not ugly. The way he was looking at this girl, though; there was no way I'd get a shot at him.

She seemed to suddenly remember me. "Do you know where she came from, Christopher"

He turned to me. "What's your name"

"Lauren Kale" I replied a bit shakily. "What's going on"

He turned back to his girlfriend, or whatever. "She just…well, you saw it, she appeared. I have the feeling I know how she got here."

"W-what are you talking about" I asked. It was creeping me out; they knew something I didn't. "Where are we"

"Everworld." They turned to look at me. Etain, I thought that was her name, stepped forward to take my trembling arm.

"Come with me, and we will try to help you."

"B-but my dad" I exclaimed. "He's waiting for me to come back, and he won't know "

Christopher took my other arm. "This one's gonna be a nut job before we're finished."

They led me out of the forest and toward a brightly lit castle on a hill. It didn't look to be in the best of repairs, but it seemed to me that some fixing up had been done. At the moment, however, all I wanted to be at was home.