Alright, I'm back! Sorry for not posting for a while, but the holiday season is really busy for my family and me, and I forgot to tell you guys how long I'd be gone. The good news is that I've had more time to think about and ponder what is going to happen in this chapter, so I hope you like it!

p.s. I'm adding a new feature to some of my chapters to make it so everyone is not completely in the dark about what's going on. If a sentence is italicized, then the paragraph(s) that follow it are in the 3rd person.

Enjoy!

Meanwhile, in Phobos' throne room…

"That girl wasss new." Cedric said as Phobos leaned his elbow on the arm of his throne, bored. "I've never ssseen her before."

Phobos rolled his eyes. "I still don't understand how she got into the castle without the Guardians with her." He scried for his newest prisoner. She was talking with Tynar.

"—how did you get into the castle without being seen?" He asked her.

The girl looked worried as she twisted a ring around her finger. "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." She was quiet for a minute, her fingers still turning the circlet frantically. Suddenly she gasped as if she had realized something. "That's it!"

"What?" Asked a confused Tynar.

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

"How?"

Without an answer, the girl swiped a clenched fist, the one with the ring on it, across the air, which in turn opened a fold before her.

Phobos stood immediately. Cedric hissed. "Ssshall I—" Phobos held a hand up, listening and watching intently.

She turned to look back at Tynar, who stood with his mouth agape. "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." Then she stepped through, the fold closing behind her.

The image disappeared from the floor.

"Ssshall I organize a sssearch party for this girl?" Cedric asked.

"No." Phobos sat back down calmly.

"Then what do you propose to do?"

Phobos smirked, cool and collected. "The girl seemed surprised by this ability, as if she hadn't used it much. She might try to do research on it. Research in books."

Cedric nodded. "My book ssstore. Of courssse. But what of the Guardians? They know what my human from looks like. If I reopened the shop, looking the same, they would find me out."

"That is why I am doing this." Phobos extended a hand, and magic surrounded the giant snake humanoid, shrinking him until he resembled a man with dark hair and even darker eyes. While Cedric examined his new form, Phobos continued. "You will reopen the shop, and hen when the girl comes, find out as much about her as possible. New enemies, especially those who can open folds, should not be taken lightly. I want nothing to interfere with my plans of taking over Earth."

"Yes, my prince."

"Now go."

Cedric nodded, bowed, and left for Earth.

Now back to Nina….

I ended up in the park. Still sort of in shock from my little trip to evilville, I leaned against a tree to get my bearings. Everything was dark, except where lampposts gave off light along the path about three yards from where I stood. It had to be at least eight o'clock.

When I was sure I was calm enough to act sane, I pushed myself off the tree and got on the path. There wasn't anyone anywhere. It took me about ten minutes to find my way out of the park. The second I reached the sidewalk outside the brick walls, my cell rang.

"Hello?"

"Nina, where have you been?!" Mom's screeches filled my ear. "You did not ask to leave! Did you climb out the window?!"

I tried to make an excuse while my ear tried to adjust to the high-pitched yells coming from her side of the line. "Mom, chill. I left right after Will did. You watched me walk out the door." I hated lying to Mom.

"To hell I did! Where are you?" Ouch. Mom barely ever cussed, and when she did, it usually meant she was seriously ticked.

"Um…the park?"

"Why?"

"I uh…uh…I wanted to go jogging." It wasn't a bad lie—I often went jogging at night in Venice.

"Nina, you know how dangerous cities are. You could be kidnapped, or…or beaten!" Again with the big-cities-are-the-apex-of-evil speech. If only she had seen Meridian.

I sighed. "Mom, I'm fine. I'm coming back anyway."

"You'd better be. You worried Will and me sick!"

"Will's home?"

"She got here about an hour ago. She—" There was a voice on the other end. I heard Mom say, "Sure," and then crackling followed, like the phone was being handed to someone.

"Nina?" The voice asked. I immediately recognized it as Will's.

I began walking down the sidewalk. "Will, there's something I need to tell you."

I heard a door shut in the background. She was probably in her room. "What? Did something happen?"

"I think I was just in Meridian."

"Where in Meridian?"

"The castle."

Will paused. "Did anyone see you?"

I crossed the street on a red light and put the hand not holding the cellphone in my jacket pocket. Hunched over against the cold, I bit my lip. "Um…if Phobos talks to you, does that mean he sees you?" My eyes darted from side to side, watching the people around me.

"What did he say? Did he hurt you? How were you seen?"

"A guy named Tynar—I don't know if he's on your side or not—he pointed me out and called me a spy. Phobos heard us and him and snake man talked. Phobos asked me what you guys want, but I didn't answer him. Snake man and Tynar threw me in a dungeon, and I figured out that my ring can open those rip thingies and I got out of there and ended up in the park and now I'm talking to you. Oh, and I'm fine, just struggling to hold on to my sanity." My steps became faster on the concrete.

Another pause followed as Will digested the information. "Tynar's with us. He was probably trying to help you get out. And your ring? How can it open folds?"

"I, um, I think—" I had to stop suddenly because I had crashed into someone—a hard, chiseled chest underneath a winter coat. Thrown off balance, I fell over, dropping my phone.

A hand reached out to me. "Sorry. Guess we were both in a hurry." Said the boy.

I took his hand, and he helped me up. I found myself staring up into two blue eyes, set in a handsome face. "Um…n-no, you're fine…" I stuttered. "I-I should have been watching where I was going. It's my fault. I'm sorry." I brushed my hair behind my ear awkwardly.

"You're not…from around here, are you? I'm sure I would have remembered that face." He grinned at me, showing two rows of perfect white teeth.

Was he…flirting with me? "Um…actually, I'm not. I'm here with my cousin while the art exhibition is in town."

"Sweet. You in it?"

It took me a minute to realize what he was asking. "In it? Oh, yeah! My painting. Right. Yeah, my painting's in it." Why was I telling all of this to a complete stranger? Was it because he was good-looking? Because that's a stupid reason.

He laughed at my confusion. Did I just swoon? "I never got your name."

"I never got yours."

"I'll give you mine if you give me yours."

"Nina." I scratched my neck, then began twisting my ring. "Nina Evers."

He held his hand out to me again, this time to shake mine. "Well, Nina Nina Evers, I'm Andrew Andrew Hornby."

I giggled in spite of myself as I shook his hand.

"So, uh, see you around, maybe?" He asked.

I nodded vigorously. "Just come to the art exhibition Wednesday and you'll find me."

The smile on his face grew wider. "Great. See ya." He waved and winked at me before continuing walking. I sighed and picked my cell phone up from the ground.

The first thing I heard when I put the phone to my ear was the low, monotonous hum that meant the other person had hung up. I hoped Will hadn't thought I'd been captured by snake man and run out to save me.

When I got back to Will's apartment building, I was greeted by Cornelia and Caleb.

"Nina, oh thank God." She said, strutting up to me. "We thought you were out freaking out somewhere because we showed you our secret."

I smiled. "No, I'm fine."

As we went up to Will's floor, I told them what had happened in Meridian.

At the abandoned bookstore downtown…

A tall, dark-haired man in a green button-down shirt tucked into jeans flipped the sign on the front door to OPEN as he had two years before.

But this time it would be different, for he knew who he was looking for…

Thanks for being so patient and don't forget to follow or review! And again thanks to Lexvan for the Andrew Hornby idea!