Thanks for taking the time to read this. This is my first and, I hope, the best one I've ever written. I hope to, one day, write as a side job. I appreciate any reviews, especially the critique-kind of reviews. Any ideas for further chapters are gladly accepted, but I may or may not use them.
It was one of the hottest days in the history of Fallon, Nevada. Resting in the shade of her forest green pick-up was Laura Lenland. Laura was a girl of 18 and was always looking for new places to explore. This year, her adventures had led her to the edge of the 40-Mile Desert where she hoped to find something. If there was on thing Laura was notorious for, it had to be never finding anything worthwhile. On her left sat Nick Newport, who was Laura's best friend. Nick was 19 and was always cracking jokes, but he too never found anything.
Laura glanced at her watch and took a drink from her canteen. "We best be getting back to work. The day is wasting away and we haven't done diddly-squat." Laura was always saying that, even when they had been digging for hours on end.
"Laura, usually I would agree with you, but not this time. We're going to give ourselves heat stroke if we're out there for one more minute." Nick was usually kidding, but something in his voice told her he was right.
"Well, at least help me load the truck," said Laura, chucking their shovels in the back. Nick looked up as if to argue, but he knew if he did, he wouldn't get home until nightfall. Grudgingly, he picked up the cooler and set it in the back of the truck.
"Laura," Nick stated with question in his voice, "why do we do this? I mean, summer after summer we are taking road trips trying to find something. Heck, I don't even know what we are trying to find."
Laura leaned up next to the truck and wiped her forehead with a bandanna. "To tell you the truth, neither do I, but I do know that ever since I was 14 I believed one day I would find something incredibly rare. The thing is, you are the only sucker weird enough to believe me." They both laughed for a while and then Laura continued, "Most kids believe in digging holes to china, but not me I think there is magic left in this world and I'm going to find it. Who knows, maybe all of those crazy fantasy books have some truth in them."
After a few moments of silence, broken only by the sound of crows, they finished loading the truck and headed for their camper, which was parked on the other side of town. Nick looked over at Laura, who was driving, and said, "You know, it is very nice of your dad to lend us the camper every year. I wonder why he does it."
Laura let out little laugh and replied, "He does it because I'm 'Daddy's little girl.' The only reason he lets us go on these adventures every summer is he believes that one day we might find something." Nick just laughed.
They finally reached their camper, which was home away from home. Once inside, Nick began to open a can of spaghetti rings. Laura sat down on the small couch, opened her satchel, and took out a book. Nick, who was awfully curious, sat down next to her holding his can and a large spoon. "Whatcha got there?" he mused, taking a huge bite of spaghetti rings.
She looked at him and couldn't help but notice that his cheeks were packed full of his dinner. Fighting back a laugh she said, "I'm re-reading the Tamora Pierce books. I can't help but think there is something important hidden in here." She tapped the cover with her finger. "I don't understand this fascination I have. It's not normal."
Nick grinned, emphasizing his "chipmunk cheeks," and said, "Laura, my dear, is anything about you normal?" He swallowed and began again, "Maybe you're thinking to hard, just let your mind relax. Maybe it will just come to you one of these days."
She eyed him questioningly, "How is it possible to think to hard about something?" Nick just shrugged his shoulders in reply. "Well, no matter. I'm going to bed. See you bright and early." Laura stood up and went to the bathroom to change.
"Ya, bright and early," Nick sighed under his breath, "to bad tomorrow's going to turn out the same results…nothing." He ran his fingers through his hair wondering why he did this year after year. Finally, he came to a conclusion, "Because she's your best friend you big dolt!"
The next morning, they were back at the "dig sight" at 6:00 am. Laura picked up a shovel and headed for her area of the sight. Nick soon followed suit. They dug and sifted through sand for two hours, but to no avail. Nick looked at his watch and called to Laura, "Let's take a break, we've been at this for two hours."
Laura didn't reply, but set her shovel down and joined him by the truck. She dug in her pocket and retrieved her hair band. As she was putting her light brown hair in a ponytail, she commented, "Nick," she paused, not sure how to say the next part, "if we don't find anything this summer," she paused again, uncertain she wanted to finish, "I won't drag you out on anymore of my little escapades. We've been doing this for, what's this, year three, and we still haven't found a single thing of interest."
"Maybe not, but we sure have had some fun times."
Laura laughed at the memories that came flooding back to her. The most vivid was when Nick had spent the afternoon chasing a chipmunk that had stolen his lunch. "Yes, we have had some fun times," she thought.
Nick grinned at her, "I guess that means you're thinking about our next big adventure," he paused, only to see Laura look at him confused, and then continued, "College!" Laura couldn't stop the giggle that leaped out of her at his last remark.
They got back to work, digging and sifting, digging and sifting. This cycle filled their entire afternoon. Finally, Laura suggested stopping for the night. Nick looked at her in total shock. This was only the second time in three summers that she had suggested stopping first. Laura didn't wait for a reply, but instead, she chucked her shovel in the back and went to start the truck. Nick finished loading their gear and got in the truck. Just as they were pulling away, Laura slammed on the brakes.
"Oof," Nick grunted as the seat belt caught him, "what is it now? You're not ready to quit for the day?" Nick huffed, perplexed.
"Oh cool it you big baby! I forgot my satchel; that's all. I'll be back in a minute." Laura jumped out of the truck and jogged to where she had left her satchel. She hooked it with her hand and swiveled to head back to the truck. She stopped dead in her tracks.
Nick looked out the window just in time to see Laura stop. He threw his head back against the seat and sighed, "What now?" Unclipping his seat belt, he slid out of the truck and headed towards Laura.
Meanwhile, Laura leaned down to inspect the ground. There, right where her satchel had been sitting, was a necklace. This was no ordinary necklace either. The chain was pure gold formed in many connected links, all wound around a thin gold wire in the center. The pendant was even more spectacular. A teardrop diamond set in a gold teardrop base.
Its beauty stunned Laura. Gingerly, she picked it up and turned it over in her palm. Nick arrived just in time to see her eyes bulge and to hear her mutter, "Mithros!"
"What are you talking about? Are you okay?" Nick said, "What about Mithros?"
Laura kept looking at the back of the necklace and muttered, "Isn't Mithros' sign a sun that looks something like this?" she handed him the necklace.
"Laura, I think you found something! Let's take it back home and see if we can't make sense of all this." Nick stated excitedly, gesturing to the necklace, he added, "This is just too weird."
Back at the camper, Nick and Laura had laid the necklace out on the table and were admiring its beauty. Carved into the back was a well-known symbol for the god Mithros. Also included on the back was a bunch of writing in what looked like a foreign language.
"How are we going to translate all that writing without letting it slip that we've found something valuable?" inquired Nick, "It's not like we're experts in translation."
Laura studied the necklace and then said, "Actually, I don't think we'll be needing a translator. I followed your advice. I didn't think so hard and sure enough, it just came to me! Look, it's English. It's just a letter puzzle. Let me think about it for a while."
Nick had no problem with this. He knew better than to interrupt her when she was thinking. "Look, we're running a little low on food. I'm going to the grocery store. I'll be back before bed." Even though she didn't respond, he knew that she was listening because she always got like this when she was deep in thought.
Nick returned a little while later to find Laura asleep on their small couch. Nick began to put the groceries away and noticed an envelope sitting on the table. Looking at it closely, he realized it was meant for him and quickly opened it. Inside was a letter addressed to him.
Nick,
I figured it out! All the information is in the envelope. I'd explain it myself, but I am so dead tired from all that thinking. Look it over. We can talk in the morning! Laura
Perplexed, Nick dumped the remainder of the envelope's contents on the table and began inspecting it.
Original Message reads:
H EHZ RPMM FJLD RADK UAD TKBWDHU RPMM GDFJLD BWDHU. RADK UAD URJ RJWMEV RPMM FJMMPED.
So if: A-H; B-G; C-F; D-E; E-D; F-C; G-B; H-A; I-P;
J-O; K-N; L-M; M-L; N-K; O-J; P-I; Q-X; R-W;
S-V; T-U; U-T; V-S; W-R; X-Q; Y-Z; Z-Y
Translated Message reads:
A DAY WILL COME WHEN THE UNGREAT WILL BECOME GREAT. WHEN THE TWO WORLDS WILL COLLIDE.
Nick looked at Laura, who was still sleeping, and whispered, "I have no idea what this means, but it sure sounds important." He finished putting the groceries away and climbed into bed.
The next morning, Nick woke to find Laura slaving over another piece of paper. "What, did you realize you were wrong after you went to sleep last night?" Nick asked sarcastically.
"No, even better! I went out to the truck this morning to get a drink out of the cooler, and I thought I saw something shimmer. When I took a closer look, I found this." Laura gestured to another necklace. This one was simpler than the first, but just as gorgeous. It was 2 strands of thin gold wire twisted around each other to make a chain. The pendant was also fairly simple. It was an oval emerald set in a gold base. On the back was the same sun, but the writing was different.
"Where did this come from?" Nick looked excited and confused all at once. "I didn't put it in the truck, did you?" Nick looked at Laura for an answer just in time to see her shake her head as if to say, "Not me!"
"Look, the new message looks like this:
UAD UPCD AHV FJLD, LZ MPUUMD
JKDV, UJ LDDU ZJTW EDVUPKZ.
PK UJWUHMM PV RADWD VAD
URJ VAHMM BJ. UAPV PV LZ EDFWDD.
If we use the decoder from the other message, this one says:
THE TIME HAS COME, MY LITTLE
ONES, TO MEET YOUR DESTINY.
IN TORTALL IS WHERE THE
TWO SHALL GO. THIS IS MY DECREE."
"HOLY COW! This is amazing, but what does it all mean?" Nick was so enthusiastic it almost scared Laura.
"Nick, calm down. I'm not sure I know, but if what I'm thinking is correct," Laura paused and rifled through her papers, "we are the 'ungreat' mentioned in the first message." She looked at Nick to see if he understood. Nick rubbed his forehead and sat down, a confused look covering his face. She continued, "We are the 'ungreat' because we're not well known in our world for anything. What I don't understand is how we could possibly become 'great.' If you know what I mean." Laura looked at Nick for some sign of understanding.
"Okay, let me get this straight. We find these two necklaces and we have no idea where they came from or how they got here, right? You spend about three hours translating the garbly-gook on the back of those things and then tell me they are about us? So, if you are right, maybe we'll become 'great' because of our discovery of the necklaces. Oh, this is so confusing!" Nick complained.
"Nick, settle down. I'm not even sure the translations are correct. I'm understanding about as much as you are right now. Let's just take this situation as it comes," Laura said in an attempt to comfort Nick. "Tell ya what. Let's go out to eat for lunch and maybe this entire thing will make more sense later."
Nick quickly agreed and even offered to pay. They jumped into the truck and took off to Rice Bowl, the local Chinese restaurant.
Once they had been seated and had placed their order, they sat quietly for a few minutes. Laura pulled out a notebook and began sketching and writing, trying to make sense of everything that had happened in the last day. Nick tilted his head back and sighed. Suddenly, his eyes became the size of half-dollars and he gasped, "No way! How is this possible? No, I'm just delusional, that has to be it." He looked up at Laura and signaled for her to look up at the ceiling.
She understood the signal and followed the direction Nick was pointing. She gasped, but quickly shut her mouth. The waiter, Wong, came over to see what all the commotion was.
"Whot ees the beeg fuss?" Wong asked in his funny English.
Laura, who had recovered from her shock, looked up at Wong and simply stated, "We noticed the carving on the ceiling and we were wondering what it was."
"Oh, eef that ees all, I can esplain eet. Eet ees a carving of the sign of Meethros. My father carved eet there long ago so that Meethros would watch over and protect thee resteront from harm. Meethros is the sun god, that ees why his sign ees a very beeg sun. Meethros first appeared to our people long long ago. He told us he would protect us eef thee time ever came. My people beegan worshipping him. Eet has been a tradition of ours for a vereeee long time."
"Okay, I understand it better now. Thank you Wong." Laura and Nick looked at each other, each a little confused. Their lunch arrived shortly after the Mithros conversation and both Nick and Laura devoured it as fast as they could. They were determined to get home and figure those prophecies out.
Back at home, Laura was leaning over a piece a paper, scribbling like mad, while Nick was surfing the net, looking for any clue as to what the prophecies meant.
"I give up!" shouted Laura, throwing her pencil at the trash. "This is completely insane! I'm starting to think that this is just another one of those pranks I hear about on the news. Really, what are we looking for anyway?" Laura was nearing tears in her frustration.
"Come on Laura, don't feel bad, we'll just go sell the darn things. We'll get rid of the frustration and make a buck or two while we're at it. Okay?" Nick hugged his best friend in an effort to keep her from crying. She nodded her head in agreement. "Now, go get your PJ's on and we'll stay up as late as we can watching movies and eating junk food, okay?" She nodded again and got up to get into her pajamas. While she was changing into her T-shirt and shorts, Nick did the same.
When Laura came back from changing, Nick put in a movie. He sat down and waited for Laura to make herself comfortable, considering it was a small couch. The movie began and neither Nick nor Laura remembered the junk food. Before the movie was over, Laura had fallen asleep. Nick, not wanting to wake her, used the remote to turn the movie off. Soon after, he was asleep too.
Once both Nick and Laura were asleep, the necklaces, both lying forgotten about on the table, began to glow. Without warning, a voice as majestic as a kings, but no louder than a whisper began to chant:
The time has come, my little ones,
For the ungreat to become great,
For the simple to become complex,
The time has come, my little ones,
To meet your destiny,
To a far off land you'll go.
This is my decree.
In a brilliant white flash, Laura had disappeared. A split second later, A second flash occurred, but this time it was green, and Nick had disappeared as well.
The sun had just come over the horizon, and Laura's eyes fluttered open. She sat up, eyes bulging. She leaned over and hit Nick on the side and plainly stated, "This is DEFINITELY NOT were I went to sleep last night!"