Chapter 2
Lexi groaned softly, keeping her eyes closed. Her head ached; what happened? The last thing she remembered was sitting in her living room, and then...what else? Where was she now?
I don't want to know, She thought, It's just a weird dream, that's all.
The smell of grass filled her nose, and her eyes flew open as something moved by her arm. She sat up, her heart pounding so hard she thought it would burst out of her chest. Sighing, she realized it was only Allie, who was unconscious. Louis was laying on her other side.
"Guys?" Lexi croaked, shaking. What was going on? She shook Allie's shoulder, but she didn't wake up.
"Come on, Allie," She whispered desperately, on the verge of tears. She was so confused and scared, she could barely breathe.
"Wha..where am I?" She heard someone say, and jumped.
"Louis!" She cried, and hugged him tightly when he sat up, "Oh my god, I don't know what's going on, where are we, Louie? What's happening?" She felt tears slide down her face.
"Whoa, slow down," He said, "It's ok, calm down."
"How can you not be scared?" She choked, "We wake up in god-knows-where, and..."
"It's a dream," He cut her off, "It's just a dream, I mean, it would be impossible if we just woke up somewhere..."
"But everything feels so real!" She told him, "Everything!"
"We'll figure this out, ok?" He said, "Just, give me a second for my head to stop pounding..."
He laid back down, closing his eyes.
"Oh, please don't go back to sleep!" Lexi begged, "I don't want to be here alone!"
She sat back down on the grassy hill, hugging her knees tightly as she stared around. She didn't notice Allie waking up until Allie started screaming when she realized they weren't in Lexi's basement.
"Ow, that's NOT helping," Louis complained, holding his head.
"Lexi, what's going on?" Allie panicked, "Where are we?"
"I don't know, we all woke up here!" Lexi tried to explain.
"Hey, look, there's someone over there!" Louis pointed. Lexi and Allie followed the direction of his finger and saw a group of about 4 in the distance, heading towards them.
"They don't look that bad," Allie voiced out, trying to sound brave, "That guy has 3 kids with him, and a little pony..."
"Maybe they can help us," Lexi said, and started jumping up and down, waving her arms and yelling.
"Shh!" Louis grabbed her arms to make her stop, "We don't know if they're good or bad yet. For all we know they could be dangerous."
They stood still and waited for the group to get closer, their chests tightening with anticipation.
"Um, does that guy have a sword...?" Lexi asked in a small voice.
"I think they all do," Louis said, peering in the distance. The two girls drew back behind him, each clutching one of his arms.
They watched as the travelers got closer and closer, and they took in their appearances once they were close enough. The grown man was dressed in ragged black clothes, and had greasy-looking and long dark hair. The 3 littler ones had curly hair, and even though they were small, they didn't look like kids.
"Uh, hey!" Louis said to them as they approached, "Do you guys know where we are, by any chance? Like what country or state or something?"
The man drew his sword, making Lexi and Allie both scream and Louis draw back.
"We're not bad!" Allie cried, "Don't kill us!"
The man just smiled, and sheathed his sword again.
"You must be Alexa, Allesa, and Louis," He said, "I am Strider. Lord Elrond from Rivendell has been expecting you, and sent me to find you."
The three teens stared; they had lost him at 'Lord Elrond'.
"Come, I will lead you to him," He said, "One of our halfling friends is hopefully already there in Rivendell. It is only around a day-long journey."
He turned and started walking, the timid halflings following him. Louis also started to follow until Lexi grabbed his arm.
"Are we really going to go with him?" She asked, keeping her voice low, "We don't know where he's taking us!"
"He knows our names," Allie said, confused, "How does he know us?"
"Come on, we can't stay here," Louis told them, "Let's just take our chances, ok? Maybe he's being honest."
The two girls looked at each other, and then, reluctantly followed as they hurried to catch up.
