See! I didn't leave you hanging for long! I love all of you viewers who don't let me know who you are by reviewing! Maybe you are all ghosts... How awesome would that be?! hehe

Enjoy this chappie. It's the last for today. I might upload more tomorrow... or it might be a few days...

Please please PLEASE review!

Melody woke with a start in the middle of the night to the sound of the door opening slowly. She kept her eyes shut as light from a candle flickered over her face. Male voices spoke in hushed tones.

She had to fight to keep from shaking. What were two guys sneaking in her room after dark for? Actually she could guess what for, but tried to think of something else. Maybe they were just checking to make sure she was still there. Maybe if she was quiet, they'd go away.

The feeling of a hand skimming over her hair proved that theory wrong. Melody jerked upright and prepared to scream.

A hand was clamped over her mouth. She recognized the hand. It was none other than Pony-tail, and Buzz-cut was right behind him. Pony-tail made non-threatening shushing noises, like he was trying to tell her they meant no harm.

Buzz-cut was speaking sharply, most likely trying to get Pony-tail to leave.

Pony-tail ignored him. He smiled at Melody, setting the candle down on the chair beside the bed. He took a fistful of her hair gently and held it in front of her, all the while speaking kindly to her.

He removed his hand from her mouth to run his fingers through her hair. He smiled and made appreciative noises.

Melody blinked, her mouth dropping open slightly in shock. That was what this was about? Her hair? Evidently they had never seen red hair before from the way the guy was petting it like a cat.

He released her hair and took her gently by the wrists, urging her to her feet. When he began pulling her toward the door she stopped in her tracks.

Pony-tail tugged lightly on her arm, making gestures about her coming with him.

"No," Melody said, shaking her head.

Buzz-cut began to speak rapidly in a chastising tone. Evidently this hadn't been his idea and he wanted to leave.

Pony-tail frowned and tugged harder.

Melody dug in her heels. "I'm not going anywhere with you," she said firmly, shaking her head to emphasize her point.

Her now irritated captor looked to be seriously contemplating tossing her over his shoulder when another voice called out a sharp command. Pony-tail immediately released her.

Mr. Gorgeous came stomping into the room, looking seriously ticked. He stood in front of Melody and faced Pony-tail with folded arms.

The following exchange seemed to consist of Pony-tail explaining whatever he had been planning to do and defending himself over it. Buzz-cut had disappeared. Mr. Gorgeous listened patiently, then spoke in quiet but firm words and gestured toward the door. Pony-tail gave Melody one last look, then reluctantly turned and left.

Melody blew out the breath she had been holding. "Thanks for the rescue," she said, then peered at him questioningly. "You were rescuing me... right?" she shook her head. "You know what? I'm not even going to question it. After all the things I have been through in the past few weeks, I'm just happy to still be breathing. I wonder where he was trying to take me."

"To his chamber."

Melody had to fight not to fall over from shock. "You... you speak English?! You could understand me this whole time?!" a wave of embarrassment washed over her, leaving her blushing to the roots of her hair. "Why didn't you say something before?! Why did you let me make a fool out of myself?!"

He shrugged. "I had nothing to say before. And listening to you babble was very amusing."

It was safe to say that she had never felt more stupid in her entire life than at that moment. She cleared her suddenly dry throat. "Alright, so we have established that I am an idiot. Wonderful. Before I continue on this path of proving how pathetic I am I have a question : what did you mean when you said he was taking me to his chamber? What's the point of that? If he was going to try anything, why wouldn't he have just gotten it over with?"

"Because in our society, by taking a woman to your chamber you declare she is your wife," his gaze moved over her hair. "Kale was very drawn to your hair. It is an unusual shade."

"His wife!" Melody squeaked and gulped. "I repeat : thanks for the rescue."

He waved aside her thanks. "We have no time for such foolishness," he handed her a piece of folded paper. "Read this."

Melody unfolded it and realized it was some kind of note. As she read it, she gasped:

I write this quickly from my prison. Trace will return your book. After questioning him, I've concluded that it was written by Atrus for a very specific purpose. Gehn will desire to use it. If you find my prison, you will still need the combination to release me. Gehn keeps it in his office. I think I have discovered a way to signal Atrus, but don't signal him before I am released.

Catherine

"Catherine!" Melody exclaimed. "She's alright!" she looked up at Mr. Gorgeous. "Trace? Is that your name?"

In answer, he handed her the prison book.

For the first time since she had come to Riven, Melody felt a sense of accomplishment. She hugged the prison book to her. "Thank you. Now I have to find Catherine's prison and capture Gehn. If only I could find a way to his office Age."

"This will take you back to Riven," Trace told her, laying a linking book on the table. "Once you get there, you must open the domes. They contain linking books to Gehn's office Age.."

"What? Right now?" Melody asked as he looked at her expectantly.

"Now that you have the prison book there is no time to waste," Trace told her. "You must go, quickly. I shall follow behind you and attempt to rescue as many of the villagers as I can."

Melody realized he was right. There was no time to lose. She had to rescue Catherine and capture Gehn before the Age collapsed completely.

She looked up at Trace. "Just in case I don't get to see you again, my name is Melody."

He nodded curtly as she placed her hand on the page and linked back to Riven.

/

When she opened her eyes Melody saw she had returned to the secret room under the prison. Now that she had the prison book, she could use to combination she had found in Gehn's journal to unlock the book dome. The nearest one was in the jungle beyond the village.

Melody made her way carefully out of the prison, past the village and through the jungle. The fact that she saw no people or guards made her a little uneasy. Had Gehn told them to back off in order for her to come to him? Was she walking into a trap?

Even if she was, she had no choice. The only way to capture Gehn would be to get him to use the book and the only way to do that would be to meet him face to face and make him believe that she had an actual linking book to D'ni.

The dome was still open when she approached it, which surprised her. Either the people had been ordered to stay away from the domes or Gehn had left them open intentionally, lending more evidence toward her trap theory.

She'd have to risk it.

Melody consulted her notebook and slid the counters to the combination from the journal: 9, 18, 14, 11, 6.

The top of the dome rotated and closed over her while the glass that surrounded the book rotated and revealed the book. When everything stopped Melody was inside the dome with no way out but to use the book. She watched the fly-by of Gehn's office Age. It looked bleak and scorched, mostly rock with little water and a red sky. Very much how she would have imagined a nightmare world would look.

The only sign of human presence was a building that had been constructed on one of the larger rocks. It was circular and had a domed roof.

This was it...

She was finally going to meet Gehn face to face...

Taking a deep breath and closing her eyes, Melody pressed her hand against the page...

For those of you who thought we were going to meet Gehn this chapter : Ha! Fooled you!

Seriously I am sorry. I wanted to include the meeting in this chapter, but it would have made the chapter too long. I will upload more either tomorrow or Wednesday.

Happy Holidays everyone!