A/N: Time for chapter two! I know I didn't spend much time between posting chapter 1 and chapter 2. That's because I've already had these chapters, along with 3, 4, and 5, on my computer for a while. I've just been taking the time to edit them and so on. Chapter 3 will probably be up fairly quickly as well, but don't expect the others to be up so soon. The chapters start to get longer and more interesting after this one, so bare with me a little longer, okay? :)
Note: In this chapter there is a brief bit of the Ancient Language, also known as the elves language. If you are having trouble understanding what the words mean, you can say so in the review, look in one of the books, (Eragon, Eldest or Brisingr), or there are plenty of helpful sights online that give you the meaning of the words.
Please feel free to leave a review, and if you notice mistakes, please let me know. Don't worry, no matter what you say, my feelings will not get hurt. ;)

Story:

Chapter 2: A place for dreams.

The sun shinned brightly as I broke into the small clearing. The site was beautiful, and I wondered for a split second if I was dreaming. That thought disappeared as I felt the cool breeze blow threw my hair while watching it rustle threw the grass. A small creek gurgled and sparkled in the sun as it flowed through the back of the clearing.

Standing right in front of the creek was a tall gray grave stone. The top was perfectly round and smooth. Silver letters glinted of the face of it, and a small bundle of dying flowers laid at its base.

Without waiting for either Mai or Jason, I quickly closed the gap between me and the grave stone in five long strides. I stopped about a foot away from it, scanning every inch with my eyes, but refusing to read the actual words on the grave. It was something that I truly wanted to do, so for that reason I waited until I understood everything else about the grave.

It only took a few more seconds before Jason was behind me, placing his left hand on my right shoulder. Mia placer her right hand on my left shoulder, and we were silent for a few minutes.

Something sparked my interest, and I broke the silence, "Where did these flowers come from? It seems like they've only been here for a week or two. I thought you said no one ever comes to visit the grave."

"Well, no one that we know, anyway." Was all Jason said. This had me horribly confused. Who else would come to visit my mom's grave? "We think it's the same people that placed the grave marker and carved these letters into it."

I gulped. Anne had mentioned that some mysterious things had happened near my mom's grave. Her only guess was that it was the work of my father, who she thought was an elf. But, she couldn't be sure. I blinked and forced myself to read the letters written on the stone.

Here lies Aiedail.
Friend to most, enemy to none.

From your Vinr Älfakyn:
Sé ono waíse sköliro fra zar'roc,
Un du evarínya ono varda.

Sé mor'ranr ono finna.

Gasping, I read the strange words over and over again. It was as though they were a foreign language, which was probably true. But, the more I read them, the more sense they made. It was as though someone in the back of my head was giving me faint hints to the words meanings.

"These strange words have baffled Anne and I since they were put here. No matter what I do, I can't understand them at all. I've searched dozens of books, but not a single one will give us even a hint to their meaning. I'm not even sure how to pronounce them." Jason sighed.

Mia leaned closer to the stone and ran her fingers across the letters. "They have no texture, like they are part of the grave marker."

Something clicked in my head. Maybe if I tried saying the words out loud they would make more sense. "Vinr Älfakyn, Sé ono waíse sköliro fra zar'roc, Un du evarínya ono varda. Sé mor'ranr ono finna."

As the words rolled off my tongue I felt a weird sensation engulf me. It was as if the words were giving me energy. A slight tingling feeling ran through my body, as well as a sense of belonging.

"Wow! When you said that, it made me feel alive! It's like you were meant to speak those words!" Jason sounded over excited, his voice full of enthusiasm. Then, all of a sudden a low grumbling sound emitted from him. Grabbing his stomach, he grinned and laugher, "Oops. I ended up missing breakfast. Kyra, did you bring any food?"

Grinning, I turned away from the grave, forgetting about the words and pulled my bag off my back. Taking a few steps away from the grave, I sat down and pulled out some packages from my bag.

Mia, Jason and I all enjoyed a lunch of dried out food. It wasn't the best meal ever, but it was defiantly the best lunch we'd ever had together. For over half an hour we enjoyed each others company, laughing and joking about random nonsense.

Our fun together ended too soon when Jason stood up and suggested that we should head back before Anne threw a fit. "But I don't wanna go back yet!" I complained like a little kid. Refusing to stand up and leave, I rolled onto my stomach and clenched the earth with my hands.

Jason knew he wouldn't be able to undermine my grip so he stood over me, glaring impatiently. Ignoring him, I tried my best to memorize every detail of the small clearing, and the grave stone. When my eyes swept over the creek, a sudden realization hit me.

It was the same creek from my dream. Maybe this meant that it wasn't just a dream. Bolting to my feet I went straight to the creeks edge and peered into its crystal clear water. This had to be it. If we were to follow it…

"I'm not going back yet." My voice was firm and more adult like, unlike before.

"What? But we need to head back!" Jason complained.

"Yeah! This is a dangerous place, and my parents may start to worry if I don't get home soon." Mia sounded upset.

But this was my only chance to find out weather on not my dream was real. It had felt too real to be a dream, and now this creek seemed to be the same one from the dream.

"You guys can go back if you're that worried, but I'm going to follow this creek. I have an odd feeling that it's the same one from my dream." I muttered, just barely loud enough for them to hear. Without waiting for them again, I started to follow the creek down stream at a steady pace.

"Kyra! This isn't the--" Jason started to say something but Mia cut him off with a squeal of excitement.

"From one of your dreams? Really? Oh, oh! I wanna go with you." Now Mia was the one acting like a little kid, even though she was sixteen years old. I was still only fifteen, but at times it felt as though I was older then her. Jason, who was seventeen, sighed and followed behind Mia without another word.

We pressed on quietly threw the trees until the trees started to thin, then abruptly stop. I had a grin on my face so big that I wondered if my face was big enough to hold it. Jason and Mia's jaw's dropped as they stared at the beauty of the clearing, which was more like a meadow.

The clearing was exactly the same as in my dream, but it seemed to hold more beauty when seeing it in person. The flowers swayed in the wind, and the creek flowed to the middle where it emptied into the clear pond. The sunlight danced across its surface, reflecting light everywhere.

"You see? I knew this place had to be real." I gloated. Sliding over the flowers, we headed for the pond in the center of the clearing. Kneeling by the edge I dipped my fingers into the water. My fingers were out of the water just about as quickly as they had been put in.

"The waters freezing!" Even though the sun had been beating on its surface all day, the water felt as though it was frozen over. Shrugging, I figured it wouldn't take too long to get used to if my whole body was in the water.

Slipping my bag off of my back, and setting my bow and arrows on the ground, I swung my legs over the side and into the water. Jason's eyes bulged and his hand clasped down on my shoulder. "No! You'll freeze to death! And if that doesn't get you…you have no idea how deep this thing is."

"But I got to know. I need to see if that thing is down there, or I may just go crazy. Dream or not, I'm going for it!"

"This isn't a place for dreams Kyra! You could die if you can't get back in time."

"If this--this beautiful meadow that seems to be full of magic--is not the right place for dreams, then where is?"

Baffled, Jason glowered at me and held his hand firmly on my shoulder. Mia shook her head back and forth, not sure what to do. She hated fights of any kind and would never hurt a fly, which meant she was basically a pacifist.

Even though Jason's hand was still on my shoulder, I lowered myself deeper into the water. The icy sting it left on my legs disappeared after a few seconds. Taking one deep breath, I twisted from Jason's gasp and lunged into the water.

Seconds after submerging myself, I resurfaced gasping for air. The cold water had knocked the air out of me, forcing me to come up. Kicking my legs back and forth and swirling my arms in circles, I was able to keep myself afloat and slightly warm my body.

Not checking to see what Mia or Jason's expression's were, I took another deep breath and plunged deep into the water. The water was fresh with no hint of salt so I was able to open my eyes with ease. The deeper and deeper I went, the darker and colder it got. Soon enough I couldn't tell which way was up. After a few seconds I had reached the bottom, and started feeling around.

Another half a second went by, and I was running out of air. I could hold my breath minutes longer then others, but in this freezing water I was unable to keep my breath for long. Finally, my hand bumped into something other then rock and dirt. Grabbing it, I placed my feet on the bottom and pushed myself upward.

Only moments passed and I was at the surface, one arm swung over the edge of the pond and the other still holding the package under the water. I gasped for air as Jason and Mia waited for a response.

"Did you find anything?" Mia asked, while offering her hand to help me out of the icy water.

"So what if I did?" I playfully asked, and noticed that Jason was glaring at me. What was his problem? I was fine, wasn't I?

"I wanna see it! I wanna see it!" Mia seemed overly excited to see what I found. Grasping her firm hand, she pulled me out of the water and smiled at the package in my left hand.

"Its what you described from the dream!" Jason forgot that he was angry at me for the moment. Pure curiosity filled his face now as his eyes scanned the package.

I nodded and ringed out my wet hair with my right hand. Soaked in water my hair now looked as dark as the bottom of the pond. Trying to shake off the cold water, I twirled around and sat on the ground, balancing the package in the middle of my lap.

Mia sat down to my right and slightly in front of me and Jason to my left, both facing towards me. My hands eagerly ran across the thick brown cloth until they found the small opening. My heart was now pounding as I ripped the cloth from the object.

"Wow!" Mia gasped, "It's beautiful!"

Jason's jaw dropped, "It's a-amazing."

Wrapping my hands around it, I held it up to the light, making it easier to see. The object was like an oval stone. It was perfectly oval, and about a foot long. It seemed polished as it was cool and smooth to the touch.

A deep violet color stretched across the whole surface, unbroken except for thin sky blue streaks that spider webbed all around it. The thin streaks seemed to be made from the same material as the rest. The object, for now we decided to call it a stone, weighed a few pounds, but seemed lighter then it should.

Holding it close to my body, I could feel energy of sorts radiating from it, as though it were alive. Shrugging off the feeling, I carefully passed the stone to Mia so she could hold it. "What do you suppose this actually is? I've never seen anything like it!"

"It seems too perfect to be just a stone." Jason commented as Mia passed it to him.

"Yeah. Considering that it was in the freezing cold water, it's not all that cold." Mia shrugged her shoulders, "Maybe one of the jewelers in Kuasta could tell us what it is!"

"It's probably worth a lot of money. It would help us considerably if we sold it." Jason passed it back to me, contemplating how much it would be worth.

"No!" I rejected the idea of selling it. "This seems too important to just sell! If this was here, that means the elf in my dream is real, too. He'd probably be angry to come back and find out that it was just sold for a few crowns. Besides, I won't sell it either way."

"Kyra…" Jason shook his head, "If it was so important to him, why did he leave it in the bottom of this pond, then run away? Look at the facts. He probably left it behind because it cause's problems."

"It may have been worthless and that's why he left it." Mia thought out loud.

"Maybe, maybe not. No jeweler could have easily made something like this. When I was holding it I got a bad feeling. That stone was more then likely made by magic. Those who dwell with magic often live to regret it. It's got to be dangerous, so we should just get rid of it."

Instinctively I held it closer to my body and closed my eyes. "No way. I just know that this is going to help me find out more about myself. I'm keeping it."

"We need to at least tell Anne about it."

"What? So she can yell at us and take it away?" I thought about it for a minute. "Fine, but if we get in trouble, it's your fault."

"Okay. We'll talk about the specifics on the way home. We need to get going."

I securely stuffed the stone into my bag and picked up my bow and arrows. We resumed our conversation while we headed back along the river. Once we reached my moms grave I stopped to make sure I had all the words memorized before we continued on. My clothing and hair started to air dry, forcing the cold feeling to leave.

The walk back had turned out to be strikingly similar to the walk there. Most of the time Mia conversed with Jason, and I kept mainly to my self. Though, my thoughts this time were mainly wrapped around my dream and the stone. Several times I had to stop myself from shrugging my bag off and checking to make sure the stone was still there.

By the time we reached the edge of the spine and broke into the open the sun was already sinking low in the sky. The light was begging to fade, and the light shapes of stars were starting to appear in the sky.

Mia winced and shook her head. She had to get home quickly or she'd be grounded. Promising not to tell any one about the day, she ran off with a wave of her hand; a smile wide on her face.

"Let's get this over with." I grumbled, placing the bow and arrows back in my bag. Quietly we snuck through the front door, and foolishly tried to reach our rooms before Anne noticed.

Of course, like most of the time, our plan failed. Anne stepped out from the main room and into the hallway, blocking our way. "And where have you been?!"

We both looked down, shaking our heads, not wanting to explain.

"One of you start talking now, or you will both be grounded for a long, long time. NOW!"

"I'm sorry. Please, this is all my fault. I forced Jason into this, so please don't punish him." I pleaded. My heart beat accelerated as I tried to explain everything in a reasonable way. I stuttered a few times, and winced when Anne gave be a hard glare. But, I ended up relaying everything to her despite how badly I wanted to keep some of it hidden.

A half hour passed after finishing the explanation before Anne said anything. With a heavy sigh, she pushed her self upright. "Okay. A few things. First off, I want you to forget about all the writing on your real mom's grave. Mention it to no one. Now, I want you to show me that stone."

Reluctantly I pulled the stone from my bag and handed it to Anne. I refused to forget the words on my mother's stone but I didn't voice my disproval, knowing it would get me in more trouble.

Anne studied the stone for several moments, twisting and turning it, running her fingers across the smooth surface and even bouncing it back and forth between her hands. Once she was done she shoved it back into my arms, there was a sour tone to her voice, "Get rid of that thing as soon as you can. Now, head to bed, the both of you! We will discuss your punishments in the morning."

Solemnly we trudged down the hallway to our rooms. Before I entered my room Jason tapped me on my left shoulder and held up all his fingers on his right hand, excluding his thumb. I knew what this meant, and just nodded in response.

The sign Jason used was commonly known between us. In this instant, Jason used the sign to tell me that he would come by my room later when Anne was sleeping. We often did this when one of us was in trouble, or we had secret plans that had to be kept from Anne.

Once inside my room I shrugged my bag off my shoulder and emptied its contents onto my bed after setting the stone down. My bag dropped to the floor with a soft thump as I sorted through my items and put them away. After that was done, I sat on my bed against the wall, and cradled the stone in my arms.

A short while later Jason slipped into my room and sat next to me. "I thought we agreed that it would be my fault if we got in trouble. So why did you try to take all the blame?"

"I didn't want you getting in trouble for what I did. I was the one who wanted to go. Plus, if it weren't for my little detour, we may have been able to get home without getting in trouble." I turned my face away from him, not wanting to see his reaction.

"Kyra, you can't blame yourself for this." We continued to talk for a few hours, the conversation turning from who to blame, to exactly how we were going to be punished. Eventually Jason became too drowsy to continue talking so he slipped back into his room. Sleep eventually overcame me as I became too tired to keep my eyelids open.

That's the end of Chapter 2! (( Coming up next: Chapter 3: A cry for help! ))