Deep breaths. Hold it together. Breathe.
Panic squeezed Kili's chest tighter, warring with the dizzying swell of hope in his mind. Someone from this world had managed to find and enter Lonely Mountain. Fantastic! Thorin and Fili's behavior and actions earlier in the evening deviated from their preprogrammed lives, leading Kili to believe that Erica's arrival was no mere fluke. As monumental as that was, it also spelled disaster. Fili meant to cross the town line in four days, which absolutely could not happen.
"A ride?"
Erica nodded at the policeman.
"If that's possible," she said quickly. "My car's up on the Blue Ridge Parkway. I only hiked a couple of hours before I got here."
She decided to leave out the part about literally stumbling into town.
"Happy too, miss...?"
"Erica! Thank you so much," she gushed.
"Miss Erica," he greeted warmly. "I'll drive you up in the morning."
Her stomach back flipped. "Oh, I...well, I was hoping you could take me tonight. It's not that late, and my hotel's only an hour down the mountain from where I parked."
The policeman smiled tightly. "Sorry," he apologized, "but we had some pretty heavy rains the last few days, and there are trees down on the only road out. Can't get 'em cleared 'til morning."
Erica blew at loose hair falling in her face and flopped into one of the office chairs.
"Awesome."
"I'm sorry, sweetheart, but I can put you up in the B & B. No charge."
She frowned, having to remind herself that the endearment wasn't meant as a flirt. In the South, such names were as commonly bestowed on strangers as sweet tea. She eyed the cop, skeptical.
"Free? For real?"
He grinned. "For real. Complimentary breakfast included."
"Wow. Southern hospitality is no joke to you guys, huh?"
"We take it very seriously," he said, eyes glinting with amusement as he grabbed his coat. "This way."
"Oh. My. GOD."
Charming, quaint and expensive. Erica gaped at her accommodations. Antique furnishings gracefully cluttered a lavish suite of three adjoining rooms, one of which being a bathroom she could drive a school bus through. She hesitated in the sitting room, hugging her backpack. It wasn't worthy of the furniture, so she set it gently on the rug at her feet.
"No way I could afford this. Ever."
An hour later found her climbing onto a four poster bed whilst debating whether to draw the curtains down while she slept. Anxiety quickly overruled the idea and she'd just flopped back into a dozen fluffy pillows when a sharp rap startled her so violently she fell off the bed.
"Oof," she groaned.
The rap came again, and Erica frowned at the window where a scruffy, bright eyed face appeared.
"Let me in!" Kili hissed.
Erica swallowed her pounding heart and hissed back, "Do you know what time it is?!"
Kili shrugged absently. "Do you?"
She didn't. "What do you want?" she huffed.
"To come in. It's freezing out here!"
She was going to refuse. Her lips were already forming the word no when she realized, "This is the third floor! How the hell did you get up here?"
"I have a very specific skill set," Kili evaded. "Now will you open the window? We need to talk."
The puppy eyes weren't the reason she let him in. Her reasoning lay more along the lines of morbid curiosity - the kind that keeps you watching a movie or reading a book in spite of the messy plot twist you spy a mile away.
"UGH. Fine."
The latch on the window stuck briefly before giving way, and she heaved it open with a grunt. Kili slipped through the window with an ease she could only wonder at, brisk night air following him in like a loyal pup. Erica shuddered and hauled the window back down.
"It is freezing."
"Told you," Kili grumped into his frigid fingers. After a couple moments of vigorous rubbing, his semi-warm hands dropped to his hips. He glanced at Erica. Arms crossed over her chest and looking more or less lost and put out, he wondered briefly if he should leave the way he came and let her be. The thought of Fili and every day spent trapped in this world quickly put that notion to rest.
"Well?" she prompted. "What's so important?"
"Look, there's no easy way to say this," he began, "so I'm just gonna be blunt as possible..."
"I wish you would."
A surprised chuckle escaped him. "It'd be a bit easier if you didn't interrupt, I think."
She pressed her lips together and raised her brows, a bit mocking. Kili sighed in a heavy rush, wishing his ease of speaking his mind hadn't suddenly abandoned him.
"Alright, okay. Here's the thing - I'm Kíli."
"Yeah, I know. You told me that this morning."
"No, that's not what I-ugh. I'm the Kíli. The dwarf. This town - everyone here - we're from Middle Earth."
"Okay, get out."
Erica wore a pleasant mix of skepticism and irritation on her face as she pointed to the window. Kili took a deep breath. He wanted to press on. Needed her to believe. But she was obviously tired and very much not in the mood.
"Alright," he murmured and stepped back to the window. He opened it without any trouble and slung his leg outside, glancing over his shoulder. "I know you think there's something wrong with this place. It's written all over your face."
Erica's frown deepened. Kili leaned out, his fingertips the only thing keeping him in place.
"Wait," she groaned. She pinched the bridge of her nose as he climbed back in. The whole situation was fixing to give her a migraine. But he was right. Her curiosity piqued hours ago, and while she was dying to get some sleep and just get out of town, her experience today would forever linger in her mind. An unsolved mystery.
Kili shut the window behind him, striding to the sofa. He plopped unceremoniously down, making the antique legs creak and Erica cringe.
"Spill," she demanded.
"Sit," he countered. She grudgingly obliged, and he leaned forward, hands on his knees.
"Here's the deal."