Midnight Ride

L.A.: So, in order to entice more readers I'm putting up chapter 2 early. I know that sometimes people aren't sure if they'll like a story until a couple of chapters in so I thought I would ad this. Anyway, I would like to thank Angel of Randomosity for being my first reviewer on this story. It makes me feel special. Anyway, I hope you enjoy.

She was running through the streets of a marketplace at night. Sand whipped up under her feet and she was wearing strange clothing that looked Middle Eastern. A voice was calling out to her.

"Anna…Anna…" And, she found herself drawn to it. She couldn't see anyone, but she knew that the person was close by.

"Anna…Anna…"

Her heart started to beat fiercely as she rounded the corner. He was waiting for her. She knew it.

"Anna!"

Anna's eyes snapped open.

Lizzie was standing over her worriedly. "Are you okay?"

Looking around, Anna realized that she was in the den of her apartment. She frowned. "Why am I on the floor?"

"I was going to ask you that" Lizzie said as she crossed her arms.

Anna's eyes widened as visions of the package, the strange voice mail, and the floating carpet filled her head.

"Where is it?" she said as she stood up and began to look around.

"Where's what?"

"The flying carpet," Anna said as she pulled her pillows from the couch. "It came from the package."

"What are you talking about?" Lizzie said with a frown.

There was no evidence of the package anywhere. Anna turned her attention to the voicemail. "There was a voicemail," She said as she went to the message machine and pressed play. "You'll see…"

However, the voice machine was blank.

"Maybe, you should get some sleep," Lizzie said slowly.

"I'm not crazy," Anna said. "There really was a flying carpet there."

"Seriously," Lizzie said as she steered Anna towards the door. "Sleep."

Anna sent her a glare before going into her room and slammed the door behind her.

The sun seared her eyelids as she lay on her back. Sand surrounded her and she felt like a lizard basking in the mid-morning sun. Strangely, without having to open her eyes she knew where she was. Why did the desert feel so comfortable to her when she had never been there before?

Anna's eyes snapped open as a bead of sweat trickled down the side of her forehead. She was back in her bed in her room. She let out a sigh as she looked out her window. The stars peeked through her curtain. Night time already? She thought as she returned her gaze to her ceiling. She frowned. Since when had her ceiling become so colorful? And when did it start moving?

"What the…" She nearly fell out of her bed as she scrambled backwards. The flying carpet from before floated down towards her. "You're not real." She said as she continued to back away. "I'm just dreaming."

The carpet waved its front tassels at her. She frowned in confusion as she took another step backward…and that was when she realized that her window wasn't locked. With a yelp, she toppled out of her window.

Her complex building wasn't that high up but landing was going to be painful, she closed her eyes to brace herself for the hard ground. Instead, she was greeted by soft fabric as she started to sail upward. She hesitantly opened her eyes and found herself flying far away from her apartment. She glanced down and noted that she was on the flying carpet.

Realizing that it was the one who saved her, she suddenly felt bad for freaking out.

"Er, sorry about earlier," Anna said. "And thanks for saving me."

The magic carpet formed his left tassel in a thumbs up sign which she guessed meant that it was fine.

"So," Anna said after a moment. The cool breeze hitting her skin had woken her up. Now that she was fully aware and no longer afraid, she was interested in her new friend. "Do I call you Carpet?"

The magic carpet held a thumbs up which she guessed meant yes.

"Cool," Anna grinned as she leaned closer to where she guessed Carpet's head was. "So, any chance we can go faster?"

It was if she had said the magic words. She let out a slight yelp as Carpet zoomed forward. Anna clinged tightly to Carpet as the world sped by them. The wind raked at her body but the adrenaline rush was well worth it.

"Go higher!" Anna giggled, feeling as if she were five years old again. Carpet was more than happy to oblige. They were almost vertical to the ground as they sped up into the sky. Within seconds, they broke through the cloud cover.

Carpet floated for a moment, allowing Anna to take in the scenery. She felt as if she had entered a cotton-candy wonderland.

And the stars… she had never seen them so beautiful before. Without the light pollution, she saw millions more. They looked as if she could reach out and grasp them.

Her breath came out in puffs making her realize just how cold it was. It was harder to breath up there but even so, she felt as if she had glimpsed heaven.

"This is so cool," Anna giggled. She blushed as she remembered about Carpet underneath her. "Though, you're probably used to this view."

Carpet shook its tassels as if it were trying to communicate something to her.

"Hmm," Anna frowned. "Not sure what you're telling me but we need to think of a way to get over this communication barrier." She leaned forward again. "Especially since I have a few questions to ask you."

Like how did Carpet get here? Who had been the creepy guy on the phone? And, most importantly, was Carpet a guy, or a girl, or did magic carpets not have genders? She almost giggled at the thought. Of all questions, that one nagged her the most. Showed where her priorities were.

She was slightly disappointed when she felt Carpet slowly head back down. She did though want to get back before her roommate noticed she was missing.

Exhaustion hit her as she laid back down on Carpet. Close up, she noticed that Carpet was a beautiful purple color with gold thread woven delicately throughout. Someone had taken a long amount of time working on it. I wonder if the person knew Carpet would be magic.

She could just imagine the maker jumping back in surprise as Carpet pulled itself up into a standing position. That ought to have been a funny sight.

In the corners, she noticed tiger head designs. Anna frowned as a feeling of déjà vu hit her. Why did she suddenly feel like she had seen it before?

Before she could dwell on the thought, Carpet pulled up to her window. It formed steps so that she could crawl into her window with ease. As she turned back around, she noticed Carpet still floating by her window. Its left back tassel was flicking back and forth as if he were kicking his foot in the dirt.

It was then that she remembered how she had passed out and then fell out a window the other two times it came into her apartment. No wonder it was unsure on whether to come in or not.

She grinned. "You better get in before you catch a cold."

Carpet immediately perked up before floating inside. It gave her the thumbs up sign before laying down next to her bed.

The thumbs up sign is going to get old fast, she thought as she crawled in her bed. I wonder if you can teach sign language to a magic carpet? With that thought in mind, she drifted off to sleep.

L.A.: And that is chapter 2. Don't worry, we will see the rest of the gang eventually. Anyway, please READ and REVIEW! Thanks!