Disclaimer: Please see chapter 5.
A/N: Next chapter is here! I hope you like it. I'm guessing they'll be only about five more chapters left. But, we will see. Please read, enjoy, and review! Thanks.
Chapter 6: A Wraith
Oriana opened the door to her house and bounded up the stairs. She carefully cupped her right hand under her left hand to keep the ring she wore from falling off. Never before had she seen a bookmarker ring this big! She had purchased a Gandalf bookmarker a few weeks back and the ring on it had just fit on her pinky. This strange ring with no markings was too big to fit even on her thumb. She raced up the stairs into her room. Dropping all her packages on the floor, she flopped on the bed.
The ring fell off her thumb and landed with a thump on the bed. She studied it. This ring seemed to be sending the oddest sensations through her. If she hadn't known better, she could swear that this ring wasn't an ordinary ring; that it was the One Ring of Sauron. Oriana laughed at herself. The One Ring? Who would she be kidding? That was merely the fantasy of girl who had an overactive imagination. She picked up the ring and put it on her desk.
Bustling around the room, she put away the various other things she had purchased: two new books, a Legolas action figure, and some birthday presents for her dad. His birthday was in a few weeks and being the Trekkie that he was, she had bought him a few Star Trek books. Even as she did all this, her mind kept going back to the ring sitting on the desk. Finally, she could handle it no longer.
Walking over to the desk, she picked the ring up and studied it. There was nothing special about it. She must be getting paranoid or something. Stupid imagination. She thought glumly. Oriana was about to put the ring down, when it suddenly seemed to grow smaller in her hand. Giving a small scream, the ring fell from her hands onto the floor. Its landing made the floor shake.
"Oriana"! Her mom shouted from downstairs. "Are you okay up there? What did you drop?"
"Nothing, Mom. I just fell. That's all." She hated lying, but how was she to explain that the crash had come from a ring? Her mom would have thought she was lying then.
"Okay. Please be careful. The last thing I need is for you to get hurt. Whenever you're done upstairs, please come help me with dinner. Kyle went out to play with some friends."
"All right." Oriana called back. "Be down in a second." It figured Kyle would disappear on his day to help Mom with dinner. And, like normal, her mom wouldn't go after him, but just get Oriana to help. Her mom said she needed to be the one cooking because she would have a family one day. Sure, if I ever find a boy that actually likes me. Oriana shook her head. Picking the ring up, she slipped it onto her ring finger. It actually fit. Something was definitely not right with this ring. She'd have to figure it all out later, though. Right now, uncooked dinner was calling her name. Sighing, she ran downstairs.
J'Nenel Whitely was just picking up her best ceramic pot for the stew she was cooking for dinner. She could hear Oriana bounding down the steps. That was never good. Oriana always walked stealthily unless she was angry. J'Nenel figured her daughter was upset about having to cook dinner instead of Kyle. Well, it couldn't be helped. After all, Oriana was going to be the cook of her own house someday. She better learn now how to do it properly. J'Nenel turned to face the door just as Oriana walked in.
The ceramic pot fell to the floor with a loud crash of shattering pottery. J'Nenel's face went about as white as the whitest snow. An unspoken scream was in her mouth. Oriana looked at her mother with a look of confusion.
"What's wrong, Mom? Are you okay?" J'Nenel couldn't speak. Her daughter stood before her, but not as she should be. Oriana, instead of being a solid human being dressed in a blue shirt and faded jeans, was a pale white. Her body seemed to be moving for no apparent reason. Oriana looked like a wraith from that Lord of the Ring movie. Oriana took a step toward her mom.
"Don't come near me"! J'Nenel shouted. Fear. An overwhelming fear was spreading through her body. "Go to the bathroom and look at yourself." She commanded. J'Nenel feared she would be sick if her daughter stayed in the same room with her any longer.
"Why, Mom? What is wrong?" Oriana took another step forward.
"Just do as I say, Oriana. Go look at yourself." Oriana turned and fled through the door. J'Nenel slumped to the floor in a dead faint.
Racing up the stairs, Oriana ran into the bathroom. She had no idea what had made her mother so agitated. Maybe the world's biggest zit was growing on her nose. No, that couldn't be it. Her mom had looked afraid. But, afraid of what? Not her own daughter? Right? The lights flooded on in the bathroom. Oriana looked into the bathroom mirror.
And screamed. Her body was a pale white and it was moving like a ghost. She stared at herself. This would explain why her mom had looked so scared. She looked like a ghost. How? How was this possible? Oriana wasn't on any medication, so drugs were not the problem. Could allergies cause this? No, nothing she had read said that. Suddenly, her eyes fell on the ring on her finger. What if it was this ring? Without hesitation, she yanked the ring off.
Before her very eyes, her body returned back to normal. She was no longer pale or moving. She looked like an ordinary girl. Carefully, she placed the ring back on her finger. Her body turned pale again. Oriana took the ring off. Her body returned to normal. It was the ring. With a gasp she realized the ring had to be the One Ring of Sauron. What other ring in all the world or books of literature could make wraiths besides Sauron's ring? There, of course, was only one way to find out.
Running downstairs, she went into the living room. As she expected, the fire was burning bright and cheerful in the fireplace. Without a second's hesitation, she cast the ring into the fire. Oriana waited a couple of minutes. Grabbing the fire thongs, she stuck them into the fire and extracted the ring. Theory stated that if this was the One Ring, it would still be cool to the touch. Oriana dropped the ring into her hand. It was still cool. She held it up in the light to see if any markings would appear. Sure enough, elvish markings appeared stating in modern English: "One Ring to Rule Them All. One Ring to Find Them. One Ring to Bring Them All And in the Darkness Bind Them."
A family gathering was called once Oriana's dad, Matt Whitely, walked in the door. Kyle was found at the neighbor's house. Oriana had found some smelling salts and woken her mother up. Now the family sat around the dinning room table discussing how the Ring had gotten there and what they were to do about it. Oriana had already demonstrated what the Ring did to her when it was put on and she had also thrown it in the fire so that the markings reappeared. Her parents and brother were all convinced that it was truly the One Ring from The Lord of the Ring books.
"So, if this is really the One Ring, how did it get here? I mean, Sauron is a mythical character from a book written nearly forty years ago. His ring couldn't possibly exist. Right?" Mr. Whitely asked, looking over at all his family. That was the only loophole in Oriana's theory. The One Ring was from a book; not reality. So, how could they know for sure that this was actually the real One Ring and not some trick by the makers of the bookmarkers?
"I think I know how it's possible." Kyle said sheepishly. He had been very quiet since the start of the conversation. "Dimensional portals. I read about them once in a science magazine. Scientists believe that there are portals out there to other worlds. Theoretically, you can jump through one into any world you want. Of course, this is all just theory. But, it could explain the appearance of this Ring. It somehow fell into a portal and the portal opened up here in our world." The rest of the family just stared at Kyle.
"When do you ever read science magazines?" Oriana asked.
"I read one while I was at a book store a while back. It was pretty interesting."
"Oh, okay. So now we have a theory as to how the Ring got here. But, what are we to do about it now? I mean, are we supposed to go find this portal?"
"Yes, I guess that's what we have to do." Mr. Whitely said. "We have to go find this supposed portal and toss this Ring back in there. It's crazy and I can't believe I'm agreeing to it, but that's what we have to do."
"Why can't we just go the authorities? Like the police? This does seem too big for just us to handle." Mrs. Whitely said.
"Do you think they would believe us?" Oriana asked. "I mean, we are talking about a fictional ring that should never exist and a portal theory that has never been proved."
"You have a point, sweety. I guess it's off to find this portal. Oriana, where was the bookmarker made?" Oriana looked at the bookmarker she had brought from downstairs.
"It was made in Yellow Springs, Ohio."
"Okay. To Yellow Spring, Ohio here we come!" Mr. Whitely shouted.
Two hours later, the family was all packed up and heading for Yellow Springs. They expected to get there sometime around 12:00 the next afternoon. Hopefully, at that the manufacturing place, they would find this mythical portal.