Note: Sorry that it's taken so long to post this! I had a little bit of writer's block on this chapter, and if any of it seems funky or unlikely, I'm sorry. Thank you for waiting and enjoy! ;)

After everyone left, Will was making a piece of toast when the oven said, "Don't you wanna put butter on it?"

I shrieked. Will chuckled and shushed me. "Oh, yeah. I can talk to electronics. It's...uh...my power."

"And they talk back?" I cautiously twisted my ring.

"Yeah. Usually people don't hear them except my friends and me. It's not exactly the greatest power in the world, but at least the fridge tells me when my food expires."

"And that would be the strawberry yogurt from a month ago." came a voice from inside the fridge.

I opened the door and looked inside. Sure enough, a bowl of pink yogurt was sitting on the top shelf in front. I sniffed it. "Ew. This smells like my grandma's roadkill casserole." I threw it away, my nose wrinkled in disgust.

"Roadkill casserole?"

"Don't ask."

Mom and Susan got home around six-thirty, despite what their note had said. Mom held up a shopping bag. "I found the cutest little purse for you, Nina! It was so pretty, I just had to buy it." She pulled out a small highlighter-blue handbag from the plastic one. The rhinestones on it shone in the light, forming a glittering rose. I actually kind of liked it.

"Thanks, Mom. It's cute. I like it." I took the clutch from her and smiled. I tried not to make a big scene about it because I knew that Will and her Susan weren't exactly that well off. Then Will and I turned to go back to her room.

"And Nina?" I stopped and looked over my shoulder. "The exhibition wants you to come in on Wednesday to talk about your painting."

Oh. Right. The exhibition. I hadn't really thought about that since we got to Heatherfield, what with all the craziness with Will and her friends and everything else. "Okay."

Will and I finally got back to her room, and as we were settling down, her cell phone rang.

"Hello?"

While she talked, I put the purse in my suitcase.

"...Uh huh...yeah...What?!"

My head snapped up at her exclamation. "What's wrong?" I whispered.

"Okay. Be there in a minute." She flipped the phone shut.

I raised an eyebrow. "So?"

Will ran a hand through her hair. "Matt just called and some of the animals at his grandpa's pet shop got out of their cages somehow. I'm gonna go help."

"Um...okay." I said, trying my hardest to not show that I still had questions.

"Be back in a little bit." She winked at me and left the room.

I sighed. "Right." My ring had turned a yellow-green color. It often turned that color when I was fighting with my sister, Jackie. She was in her second year of college and was shooting for a future in Oceanography. As calm and laid back as both of us were, we did tend to fight over little things, like how I wore her favorite blue sweater, or when Mom and Dad split up for awhile and we were just riled up from their fighting.

I felt a sudden pang in my heart. I missed Jackie. And Dad, who couldn't come with Mom and me to Heatherfield because he had a business meeting in Tokyo.

I stood up and examined the walls of Will's room, which I had failed to do the night before. Frogs. Frogs everywhere. Same old Will.

A bird suddenly hit the window, and I flailed backwards, my hand forming a fist to keep my ring on it as it swung wildly around. I landed on my butt. I don't think the pain registered, though, when I looked up to find the same kind of rip in the air that I had seen that afternoon: glowing, blue, and creepy.

I had to cover my mouth to keep myself from screaming.

"What...?" I got back up slowly and walked around it. Millions of thoughts echoed around my head at once. Were the monsters still inside? Were they going to come out and eat me or kill me or whatever they did to their victims? Where did the rip lead?

I gasped as I saw that from the side, the rip was about as thin as looseleaf paper, but from the back and front (whichever was which), it was about the width of my shoulders.

The bright sky-blue vortex called to me. My protests and fears were replaced by a gigantic need to see what was on the other side, what would happen if I stepped through it. Without really thinking, I took one step forward; then another, until my nose was barely a centimeter from it. Then I stuck my arm in it. No pain, just a weird tingling. My shoulder followed my arm, and then my leg was through, then my head (my eyes tightly shut), and the rest of my body. The tingling stopped instantly once my whole body was through, and I opened my eyes. The first thing I noticed was the dimness of the passageway. The only light came from eerie green torches on the walls and the glowing of the portal behind me. But then the glowing was gone. I whirled aroun to find that the tear had disappeared.

"No!" I yell-whispered.

I bit my lip and turned a whole 180 degrees to survey the corridor I was in. It looked like I had traveled to some creepy medieval castle somehow, and whoever owned it had a taste for elegance to a point. Strong and beautiful columns held the domed ceiling high and proud, and from what I could see of the paintings on the walls, they were framed with golden frames with delicate patterns on them. But the darkness and evil feeling were even more overpowering than the looks, and I frantically began to try to remember how the rip had appeared in Will's room so I could make it happen again and get the heck out of that place.

"Okay," I whispered, "so I was scared by the bird, and then-"

I was cut off by footsteps echoing off the walls and the sound of gruff voices. I gasped and searched the place for a hiding spot. I found one behind a giant suit of armor to my left, and I dashed behind it just as two of the monsters that we had fought in the alley strode around the corner.

"I honestly wonder if Cedric made the right choice attacking the Guardians at that time. Sure, they were vulnerable, but the grounds for the battle benifited them, not us." Came a low voice, hushed so only his partner could hear.

The other shook his head. "I'm still angry that I was taken down by a human. A human!" He shook his fist. "If I see that girl again, I will make sure I crush her personally!"

That's when I saw the absence of his helmet and the giant lump on the side of his head. He rubbed it gently.

That was the one I had knocked unconscious with the pipe! I sighed, glad I hadn't killed him even though he tried to kill me.

Helmetless stopped and sniffed the air. "Do you smell that?"

"Smell what?" The second one asked.

"I smell...vanilla."

I sniffed my hair. Crap! Stupid vanilla-scented shampoo! I cowered closer to the wall, trying to wedge myself deeper between it and the suit of armor. This was not good. Not good at all.

"My nose was broken in the fight. I can't smell anything." Said the second one. "Besides, your head might just be playing tricks on you."

Helmetless nodded. "I think you're right. Let's go, before Phobos makes our lives more miserable than they already are."

Then they were gone.

I let my breath out in a rush. Close call.

When I was sure that no one else was coming, I got out from behind the suit of armor and picked the way the monsters had come from. As I walked, my mind still searched for the reason the tear had opened and how exactly it had transported me here. Rational thoughts were pretty much useless now that I had found out about Will and her friends. Everything that I had been taught to believe was wrong. I twisted my ring around my finger, not even bothering to look at the stone.

I turned out of the passageway and into a room about twice the size of my house back in Venice, with a staircase off to one side and two huge doors on the wall across from where I stood. I realized then that two guards were standing on either side of the doors, and I quickly ducked behind another suit of armor before they saw me.

How was I ever going to get out of this place?

Trying to calm my pounding heart, I took a few deep breaths. That's when I heard it: a slithering, as if a giant snake was moving over the stone floor. I lowered myself down so I was in a ball behind the suit of armor and rested my head on my knees, not wanting to see snake man again. The slithering passed right by me.

"Let me in." Came that serpent-like voice, the one that I remembered from the alley. I could hear the doors being opened, and then the slithering turned to footsteps.

"It's about time." Said another voice; silky, smooth, and full of malice. Then the doors closed.

I pulled my head away from my knees. "Okay, Nina. You're going to be fine. Don't panic. Don't freak out." I whispered to myself as quietly as I could.

"Do you need help getting out of here?"

I looked up, startled, to the source of the voice. A guard stood in front of the suit of armor, not looking at me, but I could tell he was talking to me. He held out a hand.

I didn't answer him. I sat still, hoping beyond hope he hadn't seen me.

"I'm a friend of the Guardians." He whispered to me. "My name is Tynar."

Still not knowing if I could trust him, I bit my lip.

"You're going to be found by someone less kind if you stay there." Said Tynar.

"How should I know if I should trust you?" I asked, my voice low.

"Tynar? Why are you standing there?" One of the guards by the doors shouted.

Tynar dropped his hand, which had still been held out to me. Then he turned and pointed to my suit of armor. "Spy!"

"Crap!" I cursed as he pulled me out of my hiding place, but the his hand was over my mouth.

"Go along with it." He whispered in my ear.

"How did she even get in here?" The guard to the left of the doors asked ashe walked forward.

"Beats me." Tynar shrugged.

The doors suddenly crashed open. There was snake man, just as big, bad, and creepy as last time I saw him. But hovering in the air beside him was a man. His long, impossibly light blond hair had braid-like dreads hanging down the front, almost even with his dark robes, and I could see two more on his back, along with the rest of his hair, which was down and about to his waist. The man floated towards us, snake man following.

"And who is this?" He looked at my clothes. "Not from here, obviously."

Snake man hissed as he slithered closer. "Sshhe wasss fighting with the Guardiansss when I ambussshhed them."

I was screwed. No, beyond screwed. I was dead. I was going to die. I tried to avoid looking at the man's face.

"Frost!" The man addressed the guard to the right of the doors. "Gather a team and search the castle for the Guardians."

The guards did as he said. He landed in front of me, and I could barely keep myself from staring into those deep blue eyes. "What do they want this time? Food for the rebels? Elyon's freedom? Have they not realized that I will not allow it? Are they not weakened from last night?" He began to stare at me intently, almost like he was trying to hypnotize me. "Who are you?"

Tynar kept his hand firmly clasped on my mouth. "I'll take this one to the dungeons, my prince. The Guardians might try to save her. She'll be the perfect bait."

Prince? So this was Prince Phobos? Dang.

Phobos broke the stare and waved his hand. "Yes, do that. And when the Guardianscome to save her, make sure you dispose of them immediately. Do not disappoint me, Tynar." Then he went back to hovering in the air, and he flew back into the room without looking back. Snake man glared at me.

"Perhapsss an essscort will ensssure you don't get out asss easssily asss you got in." He said.

I had to keep myself from biting Tynar's hand and saying, "Um, I think not."

Snake man slithered past us and lead the way. We went back through the corridor we came from, then took several right turns and descended down about five sets of stairs, each with about a hundred steps each. If I hadn't known that the palace was the root of all evil (and I wasn't being escorted by two monsters), I actually might have admired the architecture. We stopped in front of a long row of barred cells. Snake man opened the door to one and Tynar threw me in.

Yeah, some friend of the Guardians he was.

Snake man grinned at me as he closed the and locked the cell door. "Not ssso bold now, are we, human?"

I cowered back into the wall behind me. Snake man laughed and then slithered out, handing the keys to Tynar.

Once he was gone, Tynar said, "I'm not going to hurt you."

"Well, I'm in a dungeon, so I think the damage is already done." I retorted.

He scratched his head beneath his helmet. "How are the Guardians? Are they here with you?"

I crossed my arms over my chest. "They're fine and no."

"Then how did you get into the castle without being seen?"

I still didn't trust him, but I told him anyway. "I...I don't know. One second I was on Earth and then a big blue rip in the air opened up and I stepped through and now I'm here." I twisted my ring around my finger.

Wait! My ring!

My mind went back to when I had fallen backwards. The hand with my ring on it had closed to a fist to keep it on, then slashed across the air. Because i was in shock, I hadn't realized that the tear had appeared right there in that spot, at that exact time!

"That's it!" I whispered.

"What?" Tynar asked.

I shushed him. "I'm getting out of here."

"How?"

Mimicking my previous actions, I slashed my clenched fist across the air. Sure enough, a rip opened. I almost cried in relief. Then I turned to Tynar. "Look, I'm not sure if you're really good or not, but if you say a word of this to anyone, I will come back for you. With the Guardians. Thank you for not killing me."

I stepped through the tear, and once I was back on Earth, it closed behind me.

I didn't know that someone had been watching us.

Thanks for reading and thank you to Lexvan for the idea of Nina's ring opening folds! Again, thank you to everyone who reviewed my story. It means a lot to me! :)