Disclaimer: I don't own the trees, bushes, flowers, birds, etc. They belong to the land which belongs to Middle Earth, which was created by J.R.R. Tolkein. I do however, own a book and an iPod. Just not the fabulous hybrid kind. Lucky girls. *pout*

Warning: This story is always going to be constantly edited. I won't be changing anything major, but still... there are parts of it I just don't like. For instance, this is my least favorite chapter becuase of its non-realisticness. However, I need some funny and this is my solution. I just love random singing! ^-^

Of iPods, McDonald's, and Magical Books

Let's re-group for a moment before my brain fries from information overload.

1) I'm dead. Or at least I was dead, had died, etc.

2) My friends are here with me and I don't know whether to rejoice or to angst (although I'm leaning towards rejoice. I know, selfish of me, right?).

3) My ears are slightly pointed.

4) I'm wearing a dress. Actually all of us are wearing dresses, which is odd because none of us died wearing dresses. What's up with that?

5) We've decided we're not in Heaven.

6) The idea of this all being a dream is now on the ballot and being voted on.

7) We're walking. Where to? No clue, but it is better than staying in The Place of Despair.

8) I'm hungry.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"Katie I know you're hungry, but really, it's not like there's a McDonalds around."

Apparently my complaining had finally taken its toll upon Jenny. Ohhhh, suffer the wrath of the red - head.

"Ewww, McDonalds. I was thinking more like a Subway or Taco Bell," Jenny made a face at my mention of Subway. Really, who doesn't like Subway? Oh yeah, Jenny.

"Come on you guys, stop it. It's pointless to be discussing this anyway. There's nothing around for miles and my feet hurt from walking."

Please, this is nothing compared to Disneyland. What is Shelby thinking?

"Hey, do you guys see that? There's something shiny up ahead," Lindsey had her hand above her eyes, shielding them from the sun.

We all stopped and looked.

"Where is it?" I asked.

"To the left a little, about five feet from that bush."

"Oh, I see it!" exclaimed Shelby, "What do you think it is?"

"I still don't see it."

"I don't know. Should we check it out?" Jenny glanced at Lindsey.

"Helloooo, I still have no idea what you guys are talking about," I frown.

Lindsey sighed and stood right next to me, "There," she pointed.

I squint and follow the invisible line leading from the brunette's finger. Gasp.

"You mean that bush waaaaaaaay out there? How are you even able to see that far?"

Lindsey shrugged, "You can see that far can't you?"

"Well, yeah, but that's far."

"My personal guess is that our vision improved along with getting the ears. I can't believe you didn't notice before."

And as is the story of my life, Jenny and Shelby threw in their two cents about how they had noticed right away but didn't think it was as cool as the ears.

"You should really start paying attention more often, Katie," Shelby sent me a smile that had her amber- green eyes twinkling.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," I grumble and the four of us continued our walking. I think I might be getting cranky.

"You have GOT to be kidding me," were the words that popped out of Shelby's mouth when we had found the source of the mysterious shine.

"Is this even possible?" remarked Jenny.

"I have no idea," Lindsey answered staring at the objects in front of us.

"Who cares if it's possible! I have my iPod back!" I cradled said device in my arms not caring how creepy it looked. I know I have a weird emotional attachment to my iPod, but that's ok, it's my baby.

"I had no idea you liked your iPod that much."

"Of course I like it! It's my life!" I cried out.

"I thought books were your life," Jenny stated.

"That's true too, which is also why I'm hugging this book here. If books are my life than my iPod is my soul."

Lindsey looked at the remaining iPods and books on the ground.

"I think this one is yours, Jenny," Lindsey said holding up a red one.

"Yeah, I think that is mine," she took the iPod from Lindsey and started scrolling through it, "Yup, defiantly mine."

Shelby grabbed the silver iPod, but was more interested in the book than anything else. All the books seemed exactly the same, but she sat there flipping through the pages trying to see if there was something special about it.

"Hey, Lindsey?" I ask pulling myself away from the iPod and book, "Didn't you use to have an MP3 player, not an iPod?"

"Yeah I did, but it seems like this has all of my music on it so I'm guessing it's mine," she shrugged her shoulders.

I nodded and open my mouth to reply when……

"Holy Cow! How cool!"

…..Shelby interrupted me.

We all turned towards the girl who was sitting there with a grin that clearly read, "This is so abnormally cool you will never be able to guess what's this awesome that can totally surpass my unworldly excitement after finding out hot Orlando Bloom was going to play a pirate along with the equally hot Johnny Depp who is too old for me so Orlando Bloom is totally better and wow this is so COOL," or something along those lines.

Either way it leaves you with a headache.

"What's cool?" Jenny inquired. It seemed that her mind wasn't overwhelmed by The Smile of a Thousand Stories. Then again, maybe I'm reading too much into these things.

"This book, that's what's so cool. Come here and look at this," she waved us over and we knelt down beside her.

"Now what are we looking at?" I shifted to get a better view of the book.

"Watch this," Shelby turned to the front page. The top was blank but the bottom was filled with letters from the alphabet and the numbers one through nine. We paid attention as she quickly poked a few letters.

Our jaws dropped. At the top of the page a word was being spelled out, made out of the same letters that Shelby was touching.

"See, it's kind of like a keyboard. You type in a title, press Enter, and suddenly the story you're looking for is in the book! Isn't that cool!?!"

"Inconceivable" I breathed, stealing one of my favorite lines from, "The Princess Bride."

"Wow," Jenny's eyes were wide with surprise, "How's it able to do that?"

Shelby shrugged, "I have no idea, but I like it."

"No kidding, that's got to be the coolest thing I've seen," I commented.

I continued to watch as Shelby entertained herself by trying to figure out if the book had anymore tricks up its non-existent sleeve.

"Lindsey? Lindsey, where'd you go?" Jenny whipped her head around looking for our friend. I hadn't even noticed the brunette's absence.

"Over here."

The three of us looked down to see the brunette sitting on the ground staring off into the distance. She had a major thinking face on.

"What's up?" Shelby casually asked, lowering herself down to a spot next to her.

"Nothing much, just wondering why we each got an iPod and some kind of a magical book. It's a little weird. I don't really know what to think of it."

I didn't know either. While I was super excited to have my iPod back and a new book, I could see where she was coming from. It was a little too weird, too suspicious. My rational mind had a hard time accepting it. I really just wished I could stop thinking.

"Who cares? We have music; we have books, why question it? It'll only give you a headache," Shelby commented.

"Shelby's right. I wish we knew why, but it won't do us any good to sit here and worry about it. Especially since it has to get dark sometime and we're still out in the middle of nowhere."

Jenny was right. Lindsey and I shared a look though before she stood up, collecting her things.

"Alright, let's go."

"Come on Shelby, time to start walking," I smiled at her pout and, as per her request, helped her up.

"I really wish we had a bag to put this stuff in," she huffed and we started on our way again.

I was just glad to have my iPod back.

Author's Note: Wow, I am sooooo sorry it took so long to update, but I did say on my profile that it could/would happen. I don't have a ton of inspiration for this story, it's mostly here just so I can get some ideas out of my head. The only problem is how to connect the ideas. So yeah, sorry. I would like to say that it won't happen again, but now I'm in college so I have even less free time than I did before. Darn marching band and spanish class. I'm am working hard on Chapter 5 though! I just can't seem to decide how to start it........