Despite Hannah's assertion that she no longer believed Amondaur, the entire situation still bothered her. Her own feelings aside, it was hard to believe that Amondaur was insane. He didn't seem to fit the diagnoses at all.
Mark agreed with her. Two days later he told her that he had written an article about Amondaur and the case study and sent it off to a psychology journal to be published. The journal appeared to be quite interested, and would be running the article in its next issue, which would come out that week.
"Do you think the medical community will be interested in Amondaur?" Hannah wanted to know.
"I definitely think so. I wouldn't be surprised if a couple experts come down to talk to him—in which case we'll probably need to call on you for translation."
Hannah set her lips. "I don't know what I think about that—people coming down to stare at him like he's some sort of sideshow."
Mark looked at her in surprise. "I hadn't thought of it that way. They may be able to help him, Hannah. If they can give him the right diagnosis, maybe they can find the right medication and therapy to make him well again. You know he's miserable, even though he hides it."
Finally, Hannah nodded glumly. "I guess you're right."
"So can we count on you to translate should the occasion arise?" Mark asked her.
"Of course. I wouldn't leave you—or Amondaur—in the lurch."
Mark smiled. "I know you wouldn't."
000
The week passed slowly. Mark's article appeared in the journal, and he showed it to Hannah with evident pride. Erica's great aunt died, and she went home for a few days for the funeral. Hannah finished and turned in a twenty-page paper on Lao Tzu for her Eastern Philosophy class. With the stress of the paper no longer hanging over her head and an empty dorm room to come back to, Hannah felt she needed something to do. An idea came to her while she was with Mark one afternoon.
"Did they ever tell you where the police originally picked Amondaur up?" she asked him.
Mark raised his eyebrows. "That was out of the blue."
She smiled. "Sorry. Did they?"
"Yes, he was on the highway, right by that sign that says 'State Park Ahead Right'." Hannah nodded and wrote it down. "Why do you want to know?"
"I'd like to go up there and check it out—you know, ask the park officials what they know, see if there's been a car parked in one of their lots since Amondaur appeared—that sort of thing."
Mark raised his eyebrows.
"If you must know," Hannah finally said, "I'm curious. Besides, I need to get out of the dorm and this hospital—no offense." Mark shook his head with a smile. "Now that I've finished my paper, I need to get out and relax a little." She paused. "I need to figure out what I'm going to say to my parents when I see them next weekend," she added quietly.
Mark nodded in understanding. "You should probably ask Amondaur to tell you where he came out in woods," he suggested. "You could try and follow his trail. Not that you'll find anything anyway."
"I know. I'm no Ranger of the North!" Hannah answered with a smile. "I doubt even Aragorn could follow his tracks now, months later." She shrugged. "I'd just like to take a look for myself."
000
Amondaur was surprisingly helpful in giving directions.
"When I appeared in the forest, one of the first things I saw was a great large tree with some kind of ivy climbing up it. I traveled southwest until I reached the road, at the corner of a row of old fenceposts. Then I followed the road east until the guards came up to me. Will that help you?"
"Very much," Hannah answered, taking notes.
"You are going to look for the place where I crossed from Arnor to America?" Amondaur asked.
"Yes. I want to see it."
"There is no door," Amondaur said clearly.
"What?"
"There is no door to Arnor," Amondaur repeated sadly. "I think it will be gone," he explained, switching to Sindarin. "I only wish there were some way for me to go home."
Hannah bit her lip, then reached forward and gave him a hug. "I'm sorry," she said, and meant it.
000
Hannah drove up to the state park that Sunday, and parked her car by the main office.
Luckily, the head ranger happened to be in his office.
"I'm from Grenville Psychiatric Hospital," Hannah said, stretching the truth a little. "We're looking into the appearance of one of our patients along the highway right by the park."
"Oh yeah, that guy with the sword they picked up a few months back," Mr. Anthony recalled.
"Yeah, that's him. We wondered if he had driven to the park. Are there any cars that have been sitting here for a few months? Vehicles abandoned on nearby roads? Maybe an unidentified horse running loose?"
Mr. Anthony shook his head. "Nope. We had an abandoned car, but it was abandoned the week after your patient was picked up." Hannah nodded. "I'm sorry I couldn't be of more help."
"That's alright," Hannah said with her most winning smile. "I think I'm going to try and retrace his steps and see if I can find anything."
"Of course. Don't hesitate to come back if you need anything!"
Hannah thanked him, and left the office. It was cold outside, but the bitter winter wind had thankfully died down. Wrapping her coat warmly around herself, Hannah walked back to the highway, then started making her way west along it.
The woods were gloomy beneath the grey sky, the bare branches of trees simply a confusion of brown lines against the flat clouds. Hannah would be glad for spring to come again. Hopefully by spring she would have patched things up with her parents. Maybe she would go home more this summer. Amondaur's English was improving, and maybe by then she would be able to take more days off from work during the week.
After several minutes, she came upon a row of old fence posts along the road. Turning here, she stepped off of the road and into the woods.
Her heart began to pound a little as she stepped in among the trees. She wasn't sure why; after all, she didn't expect to actually find anything. But this was exciting nonetheless—a little detective work, a little adventure. She was going into the dark woods, like Little Red Riding Hood. Only she doubted she would meet any wolves.
Digging in her pocket, she pulled out the compass she had borrowed from a professor and figured out which direction northeast was.
"And off to Grandmother's house I go," she whispered with a grin, heading northeast.
000
She stopped every five minutes to make sure she was walking in the right direction, and kept scanning the woods around her to see if she could find a large tree with ivy climbing up it.
Hannah stuffed the compass in her pocket and heaved a sigh. This was a wild goose chase. She was surely off of Amondaur's trail by now, and she couldn't see any trees ahead of her that were any larger than average. She had tramped through brush and thorns and all she had was a few slices for her trouble. What had she expected to find, anyway? A big sign saying, "Amondaur wuz here"?
With another sigh, Hannah turned back the way she came and took two steps before stopping abruptly. There, off to the right, was a very large tree.
Curious, Hannah made her way toward it, pausing halfway there to untangle herself from the underbrush.
The tree was very large—three feet in diameter, Hannah estimated. Trailing up it were the ugly, brown, spider-leg garlands that denoted dead poison ivy.
She walked around the tree once, careful not to touch the ivy. It stretched far up above her, reaching its bare, dark branches into the gray winter sky.
Well, this was it. A big tree, some dead poison ivy, and nothing else. One last time, she turned in a slow circle—and froze.
There, not sixty feet away, stood a green tree. Not an evergreen, but a tree covered in green leaves. Green grass poked up among the twigs at its base, and there were a few yellow and white flowers peeking out—Hannah couldn't identify them. There seemed to be sunlight shining on the tree, though there was no break in the clouds above. It stood incongruously among the black, bare branches of the surrounding trees, like a beautiful young girl in a graveyard.
Hannah couldn't believe her eyes. She rubbed her eyes and looked again, but the vision stayed the same.
As she watched, the air seemed to shimmer before the tree, and the colors faded in and out.
The door is closing, Hannah realized. Who knows how long it'll stay open? And then, Amondaur must go through, and soon!
Tearing her eyes away from the tree, she turned and fled back the way she had come.
TBC
AN: A little short, I suppose. You'll live. :)
I, Sylandriana: lol Welcome aboard!
Jaffee Leeds: And you'd probably beat me, too. I'm a ballet dancer, but I'm not much of a fighter!
Please review!