Hola peoples! I hate 9-week exams...which is my excuse this time! Amazingly, I had time to type this up Friday night. While I was having a really bad day...hmm...whatever! Reviewers...

iceprincess141414-yeah...school's a problem. I propose that we start a petition to end school... ; )

Gina-Jacob was a friend in journalism. sigh I miss him...but oh well! (btw, gina and nickel, this chapter i'd rather not tell my bf about, if you know what i mean).

BlackRosePoison-Orchid-Oh trust me. Nickel's coming back. : O She's also working on ch. 3...it's just taking a while.

JustMe-Oo...can I go into the padded room!

Disclaimer-Sorry, we still don't own it.

Evil Entrance Number . . . !

Mandy's PoV

"Mandy! Who's that?" Kelsey whispered loudly. I followed where her finger was pointing and saw a figure bent over and wearing a hood.

"What? You think I'd actually know someone who looks homeless?" By now, Legolas and Aragorn were awake and watching the figure with interest.

"Well, father, what can we do for you?" Aragorn finally said. "Come and be warm if you are—"

"OW!" The figure shouted and stumbled into view. "Stupid branch! Almost poked my eye out!" I tilted my head.

"Do I know you?" I asked, staring at it. The figure froze, just watching us for a moment.

"What the heck!" it muttered. Kelsey frowned.

"Um…hello?" she asked. "Who are you?"

"Um…I am the Ernie-friend, dark lord of the universe!" it yelped. I rolled my eyes, frowning slightly.

"Um…Ernie…why does that name ring a—" I paused as I watched Aragorn finger Andruil and Legolas pull out an arrow. "Wait! Don't shoot!" I turned back to the figure, who was cloaked in a rain poncho. "Ernie? Like, Ernie Artiz?"

"Who wants to know?" Kelsey rolled her eyes.

"Oh yeah. That's Ernie," she remarked. The person turned to her.

"How can you tell?" I frowned.

"'Cause of the smart-aleck come-backs," she retorted.

"Kelsey?" he asked slowly. There was another pause as he looked around. "Amanda? Is that you?" I nodded.

"Yep!" There was another, long pause.

"What the heck are you guys doing at a campsite in Alabama? And…Kelsey, is that a dress?" Kelsey and I shared a glance.

"Um…this isn't Alabama, Ernie." Kelsey said slowly. Ernie pulled back his poncho hood and stared at her.

"It isn't?" She shook her head. "Man…I knew my dad took a wrong turn on I-45…"

"No, that's not it…" I stood up and walked around the fire to give Ernie a hug.

"Don't worry, Legolas," I heard Kelsey soothe Legolas behind me. "Mandy gives everybody hugs." I pulled away from Ernie, slightly embarrassed, and stepped back.

"You're in Fangorn, Ernie," I told him. He cocked his head.

"What?"

"You know, Fangorn." He shook his head. "Middle Earth?" Another shake of his head. "Lord of the Rings?" I swear, you could see the light go on in his eyes.

"WHAT!" he shouted. I winced.

"Not so loud please," I begged before Kelsey pulled me back down onto my mat. Ernie moaned and sat down right where he was. "How'd you end up here?"

"I don't know." Ernie took off his poncho and a big, bulky backpack with camping gear I hadn't noticed before. "My dad and I were camping, it was raining, and I was trying to find the car to get our burgers and…I guess I took a wrong turn." That's when Ernie noticed the boys. "Who're those bozos?"

"Bozos?"

"Burgers?"

"Car?"

"Stuff from our world," Kelsey explained. Ernie frowned.

"Our world?" Ernie asked.

"Ernie, say hi to Legolas, Aragorn, and Gimli," I said exasperatedly. "Boys, say hi to Ernie."

"Yeah hi," Ernie said shortly. "Now how am I supposed to get back…WOAH!" I think the truth was starting to sink in. "Wait, I'm in…woah! No, wait, that's not physically…woah!"

"Are you finished?" Kelsey asked wearily, yawning. Ernie nodded, leaning back and frowning. "Okay, listen. We don't know how to get you back home. But as long as you're here, do you want to travel with us?" Ernie nodded.

"Sure…sure…but…woah." Suddenly, the horses whinnied loudly and ran off. We all looked after the horses, then at each other.

"Well…this stinks," I commented.

"The horses!" Legolas cried, leaping to his feet. I grabbed his hand and pulled him back down.

"Don't worry. They wouldn't like Fangorn anyway," I told him, then jumped and glanced at my watch. "Holy crud! It's 10:30!"

"How do you know that even works anymore?" Kelsey asked.

"I don't. I'm just guessing." I leaned back against Legolas, ignoring Kelsey's glares, Ernie's puzzled glances, and the fact that his head rested lightly against my own—until Kelsey pushed me down onto my pillow…pretty pillow…

Kelsey's PoV

Stupid Mandy…stupid Legolas. They didn't seem to get the fact that we were on a quest to…well, at the moment it was to find Merry and Pippin, not to start a relationship here. I grabbed Legolas by his ear and dragged him away from the fire.

"OW!" he shouted. I hit him.

"Shut up, unless you want to wake Mandy up," I hissed, pushing him away from me. He quickly composed himself, glaring at me.

"Now—"

"No, you listen." I planted my hands on my hips. "Stop being so nice to Mandy. She's just a stupid, hormone-enraged, love-sick, teenage puppy!"

"You cannot tell me what or what not to do, Lady Kelsey," he contradicted.

"True. But I can do something."

"What?"

"I'm not going to tell you what. But I'm warning you of what I can do." I retorted, then turned and left him standing there all alone. Ernie sat up when I came back to the fire.

"Hey…Kelsey?" he asked. I mumbled something even I couldn't understand. "Okay…anyway…" He looked at where Legolas still stood, pondering what I had said, then whispered, "What happened to Amanda's last boyfriend?" I shrugged.

"Who knows."

The next day was boring. Ernie pestered us with questions about everything under the sun as we journeyed through Fangorn.

"Ernie, shut up!" Mandy shouted, dragging a long sword out of my bag (barely lifting it out of my bag, I might add) and flung it at Ernie. "Play with the sword Ernie, and SHUT UP, okay!"

"Okay!" Ernie said, taking the sword and swinging it around. "Whoo! This is awesome!" For the rest of our investigation of Fangorn, anything within five or so feet of Ernie was dead meat.

"Ernie, could you stop it?" I asked. "The trees are getting scared of you." It was true. The trees were all parting to make way for Ernie so he wouldn't hit them.

"Oh, okay." He grabbed a sheath out of my bag and placed his sword in it, tying it around it belt as Gimli tasted a leaf and spit it out.

"Orc blood," he coughed.

"Well, what did you expect, pumpkin juice?" Mandy asked sarcastically, quoting Harry Potter with a smirk. Gimli glared at her.

"What is pumpkin juice?"

"Um…"

"These trees are old, very old," Legolas murmured.

"No dur," I said sarcastically. Legolas glared at me. "What?"

"Shh," he hushed me. "The trees are speaking to each other."

"Gimli, lower your ax!" Aragorn hissed.

"OW! It's not Gimli! Ow! It's Ernie!" Mandy squeaked. We looked over at her. Ernie had taken out his sword again and Mandy was dodging his wild moves.

"Ernie! Sword down! NOW!" Ernie dropped the sword.

"Oops, sorry!" he muttered.

"It's okay." Mandy rubbed her right forearm, where a long gash was embedded. "Um…anybody got anything to clean this with?" I pulled out a bottle of achohol and began to throw it at Mandy. On a second thought, I put it back and threw a clean rag at her. "Thanks."

"No problem." I glanced over at Aragorn and Legolas, who were talking in hushed voices. Then Aragorn turned around.

"Quiet!" he hissed. "He approaches. We must be quick."

"He who?" Ernie asked, puzzled.

"He!"

"Voldemort?"

"No, the White Wizard!"

"Oh…" Ernie frowned. "Can I have my sword back?"

"Sure." He picked it back up.

"Oh crap." Mandy scrambled up a tree. I rolled my eyes and tried to pick out a favorite weapon.

Suddenly, a bright light flashed behind us. Oo…scary…Aragorn drew his sword and dropped it.

"Butterfingers!" Mandy yelled. "Legolas shot an arrow that broke. Ernie tried to balance his sword one hand and succeeded.

"Hey! Check it out!" he laughed maniacally. Gimli threw his ax and missed his target by 10 feet. Finally, I pulled out some cayenne pepper and sprayed it.

"Oh! OW! My eyes! OW!" The light vanished and guess who stumbled into the opening.

"Gandalf?" Legolas murmured, awed. However, Mandy and I noticed a bit of light lingering above our wizard friend.

"Duck,Mandy advised.

"FEET!"

OOOOO! Who is it! I know, I'm so mean. Another cliffhanger! Bwahahaha! -Mandy

That's only because I demanded it! Idon't see what's wrong with it, besides the first sentence where you forgot hat, though it's supposed to be a hood. I shall go change that. That's better, Ernie doesn't wear hats.

Hola, my little minions! Hope you liked the chapter! I'm in an extremely good mood 'cause I ranked really well for Region choir! Yay! Anyway, hope you enjoyed it! Please R&R! --The Editor