Ok, here's chapter 2. Let's have the girls meet a wizard and a hobbit...

Don't own anything but Sarah and Katy...

Chapter 2

As Katy woke from her deep sleep, she stretched into a big yawn and slowly opened her eyes. That was such a weird dream, she thought. Eyes fully opened, two more thoughts popped into her head at the same time. One, that today was the start of her six-month adventure with Sarah, and two, why the hell had she fallen asleep in some field? She sat up slowly, and took in her surroundings. Yes, she was quite right the first time – she appeared to have fallen asleep in a field. Crap, we're going to miss our flight, aren't we?

She heard some groaning beside her, and looked down to see Sarah going though the exact same thought process as she had done.

'You know you have those nights out, when you can't remember half the night, and you wake up wondering how the hell you managed to make it home in one piece?' Sarah grumbled.

'Yeah...'

Her friend sat up too. 'This is so much worse than that'.

'Totally'.

Katy stood up and looked around her. 'Where the hell are we?'

Sarah suddenly started pointing and laughing at the other girl.

'What is it?!'

Struggling to catch her breath, Sarah continued to laugh. 'Haha, look at your clothes! They're hanging off you! Have you been on some new diet I don't know of yet?'

Looking down in horror, Katy saw that Sarah was right. She was wearing jeans, t-shirt and hoodie, and she was practically drowning in them. Her ballet pumps also suddenly seemed much too big. Katy then looked at her friend's clothes, and said with a touch of glee, 'Looks like I'm not the only one that's been on a diet!'

Sarah jumped out, and promptly fell out of her wedges. Her jeans, top and blazer were also far too big for her. 'What the hell?!'

The two girls stood there looking at each other for a minute or two, not quite sure what to do. It was Katy who spoke first.

'Ok, something obviously happened to us last night. What do we remember doing?'

Sarah thought for a moment before answering.

'Your mum was complaining, nothing new there, then we went for a drink…Maybe our drinks were spiked?'

'That doesn't exactly explain where we are though'

Sarah thought some more.

'There was that creepy old woman at the fun fair?'

Katy turned to her. 'What, you think she followed us? And took us somewhere?'

Sarah shrugged. 'Beats me. She was odd, though. And that guy with the caramel apples was also a bit strange. But cute.'

Realisation suddenly hit Katy. 'Wait, I felt sick after eating the apple. And then you ate the apple too.'

Sarah looked sceptical. 'Poisoned apples? Isn't that a bit Disney?'

'You're the one who was so interested in finding out about your Prince Charming!' Katy retorted.

'Well we aren't going to find him sitting in a field…'

They were silent again, until Sarah suddenly started walking, with Katy quickly following.

'Where are you going?' Katy asked.

'Like I said, we aren't going to find our Prince Charming, or a way back home, sitting around. I say we find the nearest house, ask to use their phone, and then call anyone apart from our parents.'

'How do you know what direction to go in? I can't see any houses around here.' Panic was starting to creep into Katy's voice.

'I don't know, I'm just walking. I'm sure we'll come across someone or something soon. Don't worry!' said Sarah.

Katy couldn't quite believe her friend was being so calm. 'Aren't you worried?!'

Sarah turned to her friend, and could see the panic in her eyes. She stopped and gave her a hug.

'Look, I'm scared as hell as well, but we need to keep our heads and work out how to get home so we can get on a plane and have our adventure. Neither of us wanted it to start out like this. But if we keep calm, then we'll find a solution.'

Sarah continued walking, but kept hold of Katy's hand. Sarah could be scatterbrained, impulsive and slightly obnoxious, but she was also great in an emergency, and Katy was grateful that she was with her. The two friends quickly moved across the field, which slowly started to rise upwards to a small wooded area, and kept an eye out for any signs of life.

At the top of the hill, they stopped where the trees began, and took stock of their surroundings. Both of them had assumed that they would see houses and roads beyond the trees in the valley below, or at least some dirt tracks and farm cottages. Instead, there appeared to be doors and windows built into the ground itself.

'What the hell…' Katy muttered, gripping Sarah's hand tighter.

Suddenly, they heard footsteps, and without saying anything both girls dived behind the nearest tree, not failing to notice just how big the tree was. My god, we really have seem to have shrunk…, they both thought.

The footsteps grew closer, and before Katy could stop her, Sarah jumped out from behind the tree.

'Excuse me! Could you help us? We're a little lost' she said politely.

Before the stranger had a chance to reply, Sarah turned to Katy, who was still behind the tree.

'It's fine, Katy, it's just an old man in a funny hat!' she whispered, a bit too loudly.

Katy crept out from behind the tree, and sure enough, there was an old man in a funny hat. She gave him a nervous smile and left the talking to Sarah.

'Like I said, we've somehow found ourselves in this field, and don't really know how to get home? If you could let us know where we are exactly, that would be super!'

The old man smiled at the two girls.

'Well, my dears, you are in the Shire, and that over there is Hobbiton, where I am headed.'

The Shire?

Hobbiton?

'Er, what county is that in? I've never heard of either of those places.' Sarah replied, the calmness slowly leaving her voice.

The old man looked bemused. 'County? I'm not sure what you mean. This is Middle Earth.'

Sarah looked at Katy, visibly panicked.

'Middle what now?'

'My dear, where is it you're trying to get to?' the old man asked kindly.

'Erm, Kent?' Sarah practically squeaked.

The old man thought for a moment. 'Hmm, I've never heard of such a place. Why don't you come with me, I'm calling on a friend and together we might be able to figure out where you need to go'.

As soon as he said that, Katy started shaking her head at Sarah, not caring if she offended the old man. 'He might be in league with the old woman!' she whispered frantically at Sarah.

Her friend rolled her eyes, and turned back to the old man.

'That would be great if you could. I'm Sarah, and this is my friend Katy. She's a little nervous, don't mind her,' she said, sticking her hand out.

The man shook it, and turned to Katy.

'Don't be alarmed, my dear. My name is Gandalf the Grey, and I mean you no harm.'

Gandalf the Grey? Something sounded familiar about that name, Katy thought as she slowly shook his hand and tried to smile politely.

The three of them continued to walk through the woods, and then down into the valley towards the strange houses built into the sides of hills.

Sarah tried to make small talk.

'So Gandalf, what do you do? Katy and I are newly trained teachers!'

Gandalf seemed pleased with what Sarah had said. 'Well, I am a wizard of Middle Earth, and I guess I do my own fair share of teaching as well!'

Both girls stopped walking as soon as he said that.

Wizard?

He's a WIZARD?

'Did you just say you're a wizard?' Katy said, at exactly the same time as Sarah muttered 'Dumbledore…' under her breadth.

Gandalf nodded.

Katy turned to Sarah, glaring at her. 'What?!' Sarah exclaimed.

'The old woman. Do you remember what she said? That we'll meet a wizard on our travels?!' Katy hissed.

Sarah smiled brightly. 'Oh yeah! God, I didn't give that old bat enough credit, did I? Well worth that fiver!'

Katy just glared at her.

'Is there a problem, my dears?' Gandalf asked.

Sarah gave Katy's hand a reassuring squeeze. 'Nope! Lead on, Gandalf!'

The wizard and the two girls continued walking, and Sarah continued her questioning.

'So, who's this friend you're going to meet?'

'He lives in Hobbiton, and he is called Bilbo Baggins. I'm actually going to inquire if he is interested in a bit of an adventure.'

At the mention of the name Bilbo, Katy squeezed Sarah's hand, but Sarah ignored it and pressed on.

'An adventure? Katy and I are off on our own adventure, we're going travelling around the world for six months! Well, as soon as we get home and try and reschedule the flights, you know what airlines can be like…' Sarah said.

'Hmm, I'm not sure if I do...' Gandalf replied.

The three of them continued on in silence for a bit, until they entered Hobbiton. Sarah and Katy looked at the place in amazement – they had never seen a place like it before. Suddenly, they saw people, lots of people.

'Are these all wizards like you, Gandalf?' Sarah asked.

The wizard chucked. 'No, my dear, these are Hobbits, an interesting race, but certainly not wizards.'

'Huh. They're quite short, aren't they? I mean, compared to you.'

Gandalf looked down at the two girls, and Sarah felt a bit silly.

'I guess we're quite short as well, aren't we!' she laughed.

Katy broke her silence. 'Gandalf, do you know why we're so short? I mean, we're not usually this size in…Kent.'

Gandalf looked puzzled. 'Yes, you are small, aren't you? You look like the race of man, but somewhere between the size of a hobbit and a dwarf! Very strange!'

'Dwarf?!' Katy shrieked.

'Yes, my dear, dwarf! And you may meet some in the future. Very proud race, but maybe don't go on about their size too much.'

Gandalf stopped suddenly, and the girls noticed that they were outside one of houses built into the earth. Up close, it looked quite cute, and on a bench in front of one of windows sat someone, who the girls correctly guessed, to be Bilbo Baggins.

'Good morning!' Bilbo said to the three figures.

Gandalf started asking Bilbo about exactly what he meant by good morning, and Sarah took the opportunity to move closer to Katy.

'How you doing there?' she asked her friend.

'How am I doing? Still a bit freaked out by all this, and even more freaked out that you seem to be coping with it all extremely well and making friends with a wizard!' Katy hissed back.

'Look, Gandalf seems nice, and he said he is going to try and help us, so we might as well be polite.'

Sarah was right. Katy took a deep breadth, and tried to keep calm.

'Ok, that makes sense. But this is all a little odd, isn't it? Look at the houses! And I think I've heard of Bilbo and Gandalf before, haven't you?'

Sarah thought for a moment, then shook her head. She was about to respond, then heard Gandalf mention herself and Katy to Bilbo.

Bilbo turned to the two girls and smiled politely. They waved back, awkwardly, trying to ignore the fact that he had big hairy feet.

'Right, well I have some business to attend to, but you may stay with Bilbo for now, and I will return later when I found out more about why you're here,' Gandalf said.

Bilbo looked a tiny bit horrified at having to share his home with two strange girls, but continued to smile politely.

'You're leaving us?' Katy said, suddenly not wanting to let Gandalf out of her sight.

'Just for a little while, but don't fret, I won't forget about you', Gandalf reassured her. 'In the meantime, I'm sure Bilbo will make you feel at home.'

With those words, Gandalf gave Bilbo a little nod.

'Oh! Yes, erm, yes! Please do come in,' the hobbit said to the girls, and he ushered them into his home. Gandalf smiled to himself as he drew a symbol with his staff on Bilbo's door, and walked off down the path.