Okay, I'm updating now because I'm done with my Eragon story. When I finish this, I'll go back to writing my Forest of Evermore trilogy. So, enjoy.

------

Clive lay panting on his bed for a full two minutes. He glanced at his watch, then did a double take and gaped at it. Only a few seconds had passed since he went to that forest, but it felt like hours. He was sure that it had been hours. Bewildered, he slowly left his room and went down to the dining room as his mother called him to lunch. He ate in silence, not tasting the sandwich he had been given at all. When he was done, he mumbled something to his mother about going to his room, then bolted back up to his attic. Tripping on the decomposed trunk and scattering bits of glass in his hast to get back to the office, he threw the door open and rushed in. Frantically, he searched through the desk's contents and the shelves, anything that would tell him about the rings. He gave up after a while, not finding anything of interest. Dejectedly, he walked back to his room and collapsed on the bed. Frustrated, he threw his pillow, and it crashed into the wall. He sat up, surprised. He didn't know a pillow to make that sound when it hit solid wood, so he went over to inspect it. He picked his pillow up and examined it, finding nothing unusual about it. He turned to the wall and tapped it with his knuckles. He was rewarded with a hollow sound. Curious, he walked a few feet down the wall and tapped it again. This part was solid. Curiosity to the point of excitement now, he returned to the hollow section and looked it over. He poked and prodded it in sections, and gasped as part of his wall fell away a few moments later.

"Hello, what have we here?" he said to himself as he looked into the room. Glancing over his shoulder to make sure that no one was watching, he stepped into the room.

It was a very small compartment, no bigger than a closet, but Clive was still amazed by it. In this room were more things than he thought could possibly fit, crammed all the way up in the corners on shelves. In the middle of the room sat a trunk, squeezed between the two walls so that it looked impossible to remove. Clive approached it, tried to open it and found that the lid wouldn't budge. On closer inspection, he found that there was a large, very old padlock holding it shut. He clenched it in his hand, and was surprised to find that it broke off easily, rusted all the way through. He tried to open it again, and groaned at the effort. Finally, the rusty hinges gave, screeching horrible as the lid lifted. Inside were a few odds and ends, toys and books and things. But on top of the pile of stuff was a small notebook, newer looking than the others. Interested, Clive picked it up and sat on the trunk as it shrieked to a close. He opened the notebook and read the handwritten entries.

The Journal of Digory Kirke

Entry 1:

I met a new girl today. She just moved in next door. Her name is Polly. We talked for a while, and she came over to dinner that night. We'll probably play together a lot over the next few months.

Entry 2:

Polly and I have been doing a lot together, since neither one of us knows anyone else in London. We visited the train station today.

Entry 3:

I went to Polly's house for dinner today. Her mother is really nice. We played for a while afterward in her back yard, then I had to come home. We need to find something else to do, things have been getting boring lately.

Entry 4:

Polly and I went into the attic today. We played in the Smugglers cave for a while, then decided to sneak into other peoples houses. We went all the way down the row of houses, but no one came up to check on us. We went the other way after that, and found an interesting room that turned out to be my uncle's office. He tricked Polly into taking a Ring, and she disappeared! He forced me to go after her with two other Green Rings to bring her back. We ended up in a forest and we found a world called Charn. We accidentally brought the mean queen back with us, Jadis, and she ran a muck for a while in the streets. Then we managed to take her back to the forest, and then to another world, not Charn, but at least she was out of ours. It was called... Narnia, I think. Anyway, the leader of Narnia's name was Aslan, and he was mad at us for bringing Jadis to his world. We promised him that we would get a seed that would protect his world for a while if he helped my sick mother. That's the last time I'll ever visit another world.

Entry 5:

I haven't been exploring worlds, but I wonder about Narnia. My mother is better, so I hope that the contribution I made helped. I thank Aslan every day for helping my mother.

"Oh, so those other pools were other worlds," Clive thought to himself. "I wonder if Maureen would want to come see it." He resolved to take her when her foot felt better. Until then, he wouldn't say anything. He closed the journal and put it back in the trunk, and then left the room. The wall swung shut behind him as he entered his room again. All he could do now is wait for his friend's foot to heal.

--------

Really short chapter, I know, but it was the first one I've written for this story in a while. I need something to get started.