3rd+tri.+story

"Brianna! Where are you going?" cried her mother. "Down to the beach! All my friends are gathered there, and I promised to meet them!" her daughter responded passively. //She can never resist the Florida heat unless she is sitting in her bank suit, and stares out the window to observe the Florida skyline.// Mused Brianna's mother as the door closed and her daughter ran outside. //Anyway, she is a year older than both her friends. Though sometimes I think that the age difference hardly holds an impression on any of the three girls. Also she is at least 1 year older than every young person that I try to introduce her to. It seems that all my friends and co-workers apparently had children after I did.// With a sigh, Brianna's mother returned to her study, where she had been reading the news on the New York TImes website on her new Apple laptop.
 * Introduction**

In her room that night, Brianna's cat, Hermes, paced around her pillow. Then, promptly, he plopped down on the pillow. The sides unfurled under the weight of the fat cat, and the pillow and the cat sank three inches into the mattress. Brianna's room was relatively large, and very neat. Everything in her room was white. Nothing was any other color, save for her dog and cat. One wall was glass sliding doors and they opened onto a wooden balcony that wrapped around the corner of the house that Brianna's room occupied. At the end of the balcony, a set of wooden stairs led down to the garden on the side of the house. Even the balcony was painted white! On a chair, her Yorkshire Terrier, Fluff, reclined. Her dog and her cat never fought, remarkably. Brianna hoped that Hermes had taken Fluff in as a friend, not a bag of fur that he got to kick around. Hermes had been one year old when Brianna had brought Fluff, a puppy, home.
 * Chapter 1**

Fluff jumped on the queen bed and defiantly glared at Brianna. She sighed and opened the glass door. Fluff immeadiately bounded down the wooden steps and climbed over the nieghbooring fence to do his thing. You could practically see Hermes roll his eyes. He in his turn, scampered down the stairs to his litter box. Brianna grinned. //That's my pets. Always thinking each other are stupid, and then go out and repeat what the other just finished. Hermes is more sophisticated, but for a dog, Fluff is very independent.// When Fluff returned, he hopped up to the couch he had been sitting on before. Hermes got into his bed, as slowly as possible, just to remind Fluff that everybody had to wait for him. "Fluff, you must be civilized! Do you have any idea of what is your's to wipe your butt on, and what is your "owner's" property? Who else do you know that does such an outrageous thing?!" Cried out the cat, immitating the british drawl that had a certain tone of regalty in it. "My Aunt Reba?" the dog calmly suggested. "NO! Fluff, anyone BUT a dog. How can Brianna stand washing you every other day?" moaned Hermes, in an exasperated tone. "I'm not that bad. At least I don't fight her when she tries to wash me, unlike a certain person we all know." snapped Fluff. "Hey! Being snappy and short tempered is MY job!" scoffed Hermes. But he was too late. Fluff had promptly fallen asleep. "Oh, that's perfect. Exactly what I call an attentive audience." complained the cat.

"Carrie! Kelsi!" Brianna called out to her friends the next day at the beach.She walked over and dropped herself into a long beach chair. Kelsi had pulled her chair up to the shallow end of the water. "Hey Carrie! How's the model playground coming?" asked Brianna. Carrie and Kelsi's class were making model playgrounds to send to a fair organized just for the playgrounds. "Fine." Carrie candidly replied, adding additional touches and details to her almost real-life playground. " I still don't understand why you are making a model for entertainment while the homework is piling!" cried Kelsi. "Kelsi, I am doing my homework. THIS is our homework." Carrie, for the first time, looked up from her model to give Kelsi a disappionted look. "Seriously? Your joking, right?" asked Kelsi. "No, I'm not." "OH MY GOSH!!!! I FORGOT ALL ABOUT IT!" screamed Kelsi. "Oviously." Brianna sighed. "Stop screaming." snapped Carrie. "What were the requirements?" asked Kelsi nervously. "One monkey bar set, one swing set, one slide, one trash can, four trees, two bences, one picnic table with seats, one sandbox, something handicap assesable, layered mulch, four people, some concrete areas, a bike rack, and a pathway." answered Carrie. "All that?!?!" moaned Kelsi. "Yup. All that." "Oh. OK." Kelsi stopped whining and returned to staring out at the water, hoping to see something to take her mind off school work. Carrie looked across the water looking toward the sunset, and to the future. //She hoped that Kelsi would manage. Manage to stay in school before something in that crazy head of hers told her not to.//

Brianna stared out at the stars, twinkling like a person threw a handful of sparkles into the sky and now the light went over them, with all the sparkles reflecting that light. She was about to turn in, when her phone rang. "I'm so glad that I didn't have my Bluetooth in." she muttered, clearly disgruntled. "Sometime I hate my Blackberry just as much, like right now, and other times I love it. She picked up her phone wearily. "Hello?" "Hi Brianna, this is Carrie. You sound groggy." "You would be if the only time you spent outside your office was a few minutes on the beach with you friends." grumbled Brianna. "What did you call for?" "Well, I was worried about Kelsi. For nearly the entire year, she has been completely oblivious to all scholastic activity around her. I think that Mr. McKinley should give her private lessons." Replied Carrie. "What are the chances of thast happening?" inquired Brianna. "I don't know. That's why I called. You had Mr. McKinley for your entire years of college science, you should know what he would think of it if I told him. What do you think he will say?" "I doubt that he will. But you could always try. Kelsi would hate you for it though. But Mr. McKinley might privately teach her. Ask him tomorrow." Brianna answered. "And let me sleep." The two friends became silent for a moment and then hung up. //Finally, thought Brianna. An opportunity of some good sleep. Without interuption. Hopefully.//

Fluff sat by the glass door in Brianna's room, gazing up at the stars. "Hermes, did you ever wondered what those little lights are, outside?" asked the innocent pup. "NO, because I know what they are. They are millions of fireflies trapped up there in the sky. And they are moving around wildly because they cannot come back because of some barrier." replied the cat, obliviously scornful of the dog's idiocy. "Oh. I always thought that they were huge orbs or spheres of burning gases, millions of miles away And because the world rotates and the orbs stay in one place, the orbs appear to move in the opposite direction as the Earth rotates." sighed the young dog. "Fluff, WHERE do you get these ridiculous ideas?" asked the cat, with a roll of his eyes. "Oh. Well, good night Hermes." "Good night stupid." "I utterly despise you." snarled Fluff. "That's O.K. I don't really mind." "HERMES!!!" "O.K., O.K.! I'm sorry! Good night Fluff."
 * Chapter 2**

"Brad! Stop that!" Kelsi yelled. She had her wooden bead collection out on the sand and had the gaudiest green and brown beads in her hands. They were the size of bouncy balls. Brad, one of the buys that attended the same college as Kelsi, but was a year older, was fingering the rugged rope that Kelsi was stringing the beads on. "Kelsi!" Brianna came running toward Kelsi, clad in a pink sparkly shirt, a black suede skirt black flip-flops, and a mass amount of silver bangles. "Kelsi! Thank God that it is a Saterday. Can I talk to you" Brianna glared at Brad. "ALONE?" "Sure!" Kelsi followed Brianna to a place that Kelsi and Carrie called "The Cave". The cave has more of a hole that you climbed into and you fell into a cavern that was padded with mounds of sand at leats seven feet thick. "Kelsi, I called Carrie's cell phone this morning, and she didn't answer. So I caled her home phone, and her mom answered and said that she thought that Carrie had stayed over night at our houses or something. I told her that Carrie went home along time ago, last night to be presise. When I said that, she gasped and called Carrie's dad, hanging up on me completely." "So? Waht am I supposed to do?" inquired Kelsi. "You know Carrie, Kelsi! She never goes anywhere without telling her mom, unless she is on campus, but she always keeps her phone on and with her so she calls her mom to let her know. The only time that Carrie doesn't have her phone on and is not at home is when she is in class. I went to Carrie's house today at eleven, and her dad was home. I asked him if anything was wrong, and why was he home if there wasn't. I knew it sounded rude and very nosy, and I apologized for that, but I had come over to talk with Carrie. Her father said that he and Carrie's mother were nearly dead from worry. Carrie still hadn't called or shown up at her house. It has been 8 hours since she left for home at 10:00 pm yesterday. Aren't you worried?" By the tone in Brianna's voice you could tell that she was worried. Kelsi's clear and positively oblivious expression showed otherwise. "Brianna, Carrie knows how to take care of herself. You don't need to brood over her just because she wants too have fun like every other teenager that has a change of heart. Maybe she doesn't want to have her mother following her on radar all the time. But, if you are worried, what do expect me to do? I'll join you in the search. But, where do you recommend we start?" asked Kelsi. "I suspect that the most informative person we can go to is probably Miranda, she knows practically everything. Maybe she can tell us where Carrie is for a start." Brianna suggested. "Oh great. Now you have joined Miranda's fan club. I don't know Brianna. I just don't trust that old hag. She might tell us to look in a clear oasis near Cairo, Eygpt. You know she is slightly mad. Some say she is schizophrenic. What if she was the one who took Carrie as a hostage for all the nasty things I've said about her and she found out?" "Then stop making rude coments. and we cannot prove that she did it. It would be taking a large risk to just set off in any direction that appealed to us. She is our only option unless you want to let Carrie disapear without anyone caring about it besides her parents. That's not right." argued Brianna. " OK, I'll help you." Kelsi rolled her eyes."But MIranda really freaks me out." "Kelsi! She is just old!" "I told you. She is dilusional. Not just old. Old + dilusional = Old. That is an incorrect equation." "I like to assume you have been studying for your test on algebraic expressions." "Beep Beep Beep. Incorrect. I looked at our math journal from fifth grade again."

Kelsi desperatly clung to the web of moss that stretched over the lake that surrounded Miranda's house. It was placed horizontally, which ment you had to crawl to the front landing. If you weren't carefull enough, you plung to the icy water 12 feet below. Thankfully, the water was just as deep as the fall, so nobody was ever injured from falling. One man fell into the water, and then when getting out, stepped into a pothole and broke his ankle, but that was all anyone ever heard of injuries. "You know, I still don't like Miranda anymore than I did before." moaned Kelsi, breaking the loud silence. "Kelsi, whisper! If you continue to speak that loudly, the forest for ten miles will hear you." Brianna scolded, the whole time whispering. "I don't care!" protested Kelsi, even though she was whispering now. Suddenly, the cry of a tomcat shattered the unbroken (until then) silence that followed. Kelsi, who only had unpredictable siblings, was so startled that she fell into the water below head-first. Brianna, having Hermes, looked up as if expecting to see Hermes flying at her, the next door nieghbors young doberman, Scoot, on his tail. Remarkably, the cat merely landed on the web in front of Brianna. It rubbed up against her arm, while still gripping the moss with it''s claws. The cat wanted to be petted, Brianna could tell, but she was on all fours, and she doubted that she could make it across hobbling on three limbs with one on the cat, petting it. She carefully lifted one arm and stroked the cat on the back while calling to Kelsi. "Kelsi! I think you will have to start again!" “No! I refuse!” Kelsi’s voice quivered and her teeth chattered. “The water down here is freezing!” “Well your choices are to stay down there or start again.” replied Brianna. “Or take this.” A cracking, old voice called from the house on the high platform of jungle-like trees. Miranda, being astoundingly old and remarkably energetic, threw a long rope of moss down to Kelsi. Kelsi eyed the tightly twined rope suspiciously. “I don’t trust that thing! What if it snaps when I’m half-way up? What happened to normality?!!” Kelsi wailed. “It’s this or the two choices your friend suggested.” Miranda replied passively, and began reeling the rope up. “No! Wait! I mean, I will use your rope. Thank you.” Kelsi murmured sheepishly. “OK. Whatever you want.” Miranda sighed and dropped one end of the rope down to Kelsi again. “Oh and by the way,” Miranda gave one sharp tug on the rope and Kelsi stood on her front porch. “Welcome. I hope you girls liked my cat.” Miranda smiled cheerily at both girls once Brianna had reached the porch. “Yes, very much.” answered Brianna. Kelsi grunted and Brianna kicked her. “What is your cat’s name?” asked Brianna as the three entered Miranda’s home. It seemed small at first, but the storage rooms behind went on forever, it seemed. Brianna had peeked behind the silk curtain that was severely tattered around the edges. //I wonder where Miranda sleeps, showers, and eat, thought Brianna.// “Cat.” Miranda’s reply startled Brianna out of her reverie. “Huh? What?” “My cat’s name. Is Cat.” Miranda repeated candidly. She showed no sign of impatience, which Brianna admired. “JUST Cat??? Haven’t you named it with a real name?” asked Kelsi. “Kelsi!” Brianna kicked Kelsi underneath the table. “Sorry Miranda, Kelsi is very fond of animals and she believes in their rights to have freedom and names.” “It’s alright. Many people inquire after his name. I haven’t gotten the time to officially name him, and he seems perfectly happy to respond to this name. What did you come for anyway?” she asked. “Oh yes. We came because our friend, Carrie Whitehall has mysteriously disappeared. We were wondering if you could give us any clue on how to find her.” Kelsi stated. It was the first time she had addressed Miranda comfortably.

“I might be able to give you that information.” Miranda drew back the curtain and disappeared behind it in an instant. Out she whisked again, holding a glowing and shimmering orb, which was rather large, and appeared to be transparent. It shone, reflecting the misty blue view from the window. Miranda’s eyes went blank and she stared long and hard at the orb. Finally, she spoke, her eyes returning to their natural brown. "Your unfortunate friend is near the Mountains of Crystal Light. There is nothing there but snow. The only way for her to have passed the dangers of getting there is if she is with the Dark Wizards. She is on her way there, but she is not yet as close as the wizards need to be to their cove to disappear completely. I am too old to go with you, I can only give you these.” She pointed to two identical necklaces, only one had an emerald pendant, and the other an opal pendant. “They will protect you. The emerald has the power of the Earth. The opal has the power to give the wearer invisibility and the ability of flight.” After each lecture she received, Kelsi stared dumfounded out at the necklaces. She cried, “I get the power of Earth!” Miranda handed her the emerald and Brianna the opal. The emerald hung gracefully on a golden chain and matched Kelsi’s green eyes. The opal hung on a silver chain and sparkled clear blue just like Brianna’s eyes. “To get your friend back, you must follow what your mind tells you is right and what you heart tells you it’s what you want. My good friend Andrea will accompany you on your journey. She is a little over your age I believe, Brianna. Somehow." Miranda added. For the first time, Kelsi noticed that Miranda actually regretted her age. Normally when people like Kelsi came by and mentioned that she was old, she used to say "The older I get, the more I see that the young have so much more to learn." "Keep these gems, listen to the words they speak to you in troubled times. They will speak from your heart even if you can't read your emotion or feeling. They will guide you." "Whoa! Even though I don't know what I feel this thing can tell me? Creepy dude!" gurgled Kelsi.

"Oh boy! I actually get to go somewhere!" bubbled Miranda's "good friend", Andrea with fake enthusiasim. She had brought along three horses with her for their trip. "Do either of you know anything about magic?" she asked. "Not much." admitted Kelsi. "In fact, all we know is that the Dark Wizards take control of anything weak enough to fall into their grasp." responded Brianna. "Presisely. Which is why I want to ask, Do you think your friend is weak, dependant, depressed?" inquired Andrea. "Maybe. She was kind of quiet, and always agreed with me until a few years ago when her uncle died and she went all cranky." "Kelsi! Carrie wan't cranky!" "Well, I don't want to hear girl fights. Do you know how to get to the Mountains of Crystal Light?" asked Andrea."I have to find out how much you know already." "No. We assumed you knew how to get there. You do, don't you?" asked Kelsi. "Of course! I'll draw a simple map of the area we will encounter." Andrea replied. She grabbed a stick and began to draw a map. "Well well well. I'll be! Our natural Rembrant." declared Kelsi. The trenches that Andrea had drawn suddenly filled with green slime. Andrea mounted her morgan horse, reared it up, and came crashing down on the map crying "Freedom!!" She slowing trotted out of the mess. "Silly things, maps. In a world of magic, people think we still need maps! HA! I will be your guide." "Great Napeloen. What next, waking up to be led by George Washington to fight the German mercanaries?" Muttered Kelsi darkly. "We will have to pass Sunshine Canyon. Anything but sunny. Some weird magician who likes to name everything realistically called it 'The Black Hole of the Earth.' Did Miaranda tell you how to use the necklaces?" "I think she said that if the action that we wanted to perform was what our hearts desired and knew was the right thing to do, it would happen, or something like that." answered Kelsi. "How does Miranda expect you to use those if you don't even know how?! You take the nacklace, and call for the power you wish to posses. You can posses as many as eight." "Well, thank you Einstien." muttered Kelsi under her breath, who already had formed a disliking to Andrea's miss-know-it-all attitude. "Anyway," Andrea sang out."We have to get going." Andrea clapped once and immeadiatly, a dappled gray horse materialized in front of her. "The morgans are to ride. The dappled can carry the luggage. They will never fall off." Andrea promised, binding the luggage with a sparkling purple vine that seemed to go on as long as Andrea needed it to. Then the access vine disapeared. Kelsi looked doubtfully at the vine. "Are you so sure of that Andrea?" she asked. "Yes, of course I'm sure! Do you think I could have lived this long without knowing what I'm doing?"asked Andrea, obviously infuriated. "You have been alive that long?" questioned Kelsi. "No. I'm actually quite young, as I like to brag. Miranda hates me for this." Andrea grinned. AS the girls began to ride, Andrea fell as silent as Brianna had been. Brianna had not spoken since they left Miranda's house. Brianna and Andrea rode next to each other like good friends though never saying one word. //I hate it when people declare the road that is fit for three, two lane. When there is three friends, two in front, one behind. I'm always the latter.// Kelsi grimaced. She began to pull ahead until she was just able to push between Andrea and Brianna. Which of course, she did, with exceeding obnoxiousness. Her proud smirk clearly read //Can we leave Andrea OUT of this, PLEASE?// Andrea got the drift and slowly trotted forward. This action infuriated Kelsi. She had hoped Andrea would fall behind. //Oh well, at least I have Brianna all to myself now, right? This is not a time to be picky.// "Do you actually trust her?" asked Kelsi in a whisper. "Of course I trust her! She is our only hope of not only finding Carrie, but getting there!" replied her friend. Kelsi stared jealously after their new companion. //First she has to trust me. Right now she won't even let me near her. I wonder if she might fall into Sunshine Canyon. I doubt it. If not, I have to have another plan ready to take over.//
 * Chapter 3**

Kelsi calmly rode over to Andrea, wearing a clearly fake smile. But of course, Kelsi didn't know it looked fake. //It's fake, but worth the trouble.// Andrea returned her smile with a genuine one. "Yes? Do you need something?" she asked. "NO! I was just wondering about you." replied Kelsi. "Me? What about me?" inquired Andrea suspiciously, but being carefull not to show it. //Yes! she's falling for it! Thought Kelsi, oblivious of Andrea's suspicions. "//Well, sort of like, where are you from?" "Not vital information on this journey, next question." came the monotonus reply. "Who are your parents?" "Personal Info. Next question." //She's not falling for it. moaned Kelsi mentally.// "Where do you live?" "Now that, I can tell you." replied Andrea. //Maybe she will fall for it.// "None of your bussiness." The sarcassim and coldenss that dripped from Andrea's fake enthusiasim was not at all encourageing to Kelsi's "Perfect" plan.

The next morning, Kelsi found herself in her sleeping bag, yet moving. She jolted up, afraid that some horrendous cannibals had known how she wanted to get rid of Andrea and now was going to mince, steam, boil, roast, grill, or barbaque her, then serve her with rye bread and porter wine. If they were that sophisticated. But instead, she was caged in a box on wheels that had only windows that were too high for her to reach. Unless she could get the energy to sit on those padded ledges on both sides of her. "Help me!!!" she howled mournfully. "People have caged me and plan to murder me!!" A head poked through the window and stared down at her. Andrea's head poked through the curtains. "Shut up or I will kill you. You are __riding__ in a __carriage__, while the rest of us ride on horseback, __your magesty__. SO, do you think it would be a good idea to start showing more respect, or NOT? You slept in until 10:00! We can't waste time just to have you wake up and demand breakfast." "Sorry! I was tired!" protested Kelsi. "Oh yeah. And I'm a cow patty. Nice try. You missed breakfast. Here, have this." Andrea tossed Kelsi a roll of warm bread and a thermos of hot soup. "What is this?" shrieked Kelsi. "That,"Andrea snapped "is your breakfast. That or nothing at all. Which will it be?" "I'll eat it." sighed Kelsi. "Good. You'd better." Andrea flipped Kelsi a spoon for her soup. "Great." Kelsi groaned. This is going to be a long trip."

Brianna woke up 4 hours before Kelsi and had squirmed out of her sleeping bag to find Andrea up and about preparing a breakfast of hot soup, bread rolls, and a large bowl of fruit. "Good morning!" sang Andrea. "Good morning to you too." mumbled Brianna, who needed a full rest and 15 minutes of wake-up time to be fully attentive during the day. She and Andrea ate, saving some soup and a roll for Kelsi, set out after Andrea materialized a carriage to carry "lazy bones" in. As they toted Kelsi in the carriage with both Brianna's and Kelsi horse pulling, Brianna was thinking while perched on her gleaming horse, //If Kelsi is going to be her "Highness" and "MIss High and Mighty" every morning, I'm going to go mad.//

When Kelsi had finished her meal, she called out "HALT!!!!" "What is it now, your magesty?" Andrea groaned. "Can I get out?" asked Kelsi. "For Lord's sake, the door isn't locked Kelsi!" yelled Brianna. "I knew that!" Kelsi rolled her eyes. "Then get out." suggested Andrea. "OK, OK, don't lay an egg!" muttered Kelsi, making no move to the door. "That means, open the door and get out by YOURSELF!!!!!!!!" hollered Andrea and Brianna, both losing their temper. "You crave pampering AND attention. If that be the case, I guess we could leave you here for the bears to pamper. And marinate." scoffed Andrea/ "Well! I find encouragement in this group!" said Kelsi. "I beg your pardon?" asked Andrea, who had gotten tired of yelling, but gave Kelsi such a look that made Kelsi revise her words immeadiatly. Brianna, on the other hand, responded like this. "And I think that all of the people here are fit to go to a State dinner because of their manners." Kelsi only heard Andrea and shrunk. "I love this group." she murmured. "Great." Andrea's head disapeared from behind the doorway. "Oh and Kelsi?" "Yes?" "Get out of the carriage."

After Andrea had made the carriage disapear, everyone had to ride their horse, unless, as Andrea so politely reminded Kelsi, "You wanted to be bound by the feet and be dragged by a horse, kicking and screaming to whole way." Kelsi decided, for once, to maintain her dignity and ride her horse. As they trudged through the plain of sand(not desert, because it wasn't hot), Kelsi tried more than once to start a successful conversation with Andrea. This time, she failed more dramatically, and more straight forward. "Hey Andrea!" "Hey." "Whatcha doing?" "What does it look like to you?" "Umm,... uh..." "Boy, I knew you were kind of slow, but I never expected you to be oblivious even to the obvious!" Andrea smirked. "OK! I know you are riding a horse, but like, what's up?" "Kelsi, if you don't know already, look up." NO! Like, whatcha thinkin' about?" "That's for me to know and for you not to find out. Emphasis on the **NOT**." stated Andrea scornfully. "Aw come on Andrea! " cried Kelsi. "Don't you care about friendship?" "Uh.. Come on don't you care about **PRIVACY!!!!???**" Andrea started out immitating the dumb and clueless tone of voice she thought as Kelsi, and then returned to her snapping sarcasim. "Please Andrea?I mean, come on, it's like, ME!" announced Kelsi. "Be still my heart! If you were a frog, I really wouldn't care!" snapped Andrea. //Yeah. Be still your heart. Drop dead. Like I'd care. No wait, that would be a dream come true. mused Kelsi.// Suddenly Kelsi came to a complete stop. "What are you doing????" asked Andrea angrily. "Ooooh. That will make me go." snarled Kelsi. "Guys, I thought we were in a hurry." said Brianna. "Oh, we are. But Kelsi just politely asked to be left here for the wolves."explained Andrea. "OK. Just tell the vultures when they're done with her that there are no returns, refunds, or replacements, unless the carcass happened to be alive." Brianna offered. At this Kelsi burst into tears and charged into an archway that led to a garden, temptingly set on the side of the road. It was set far enough that you had to ignore the sharp turn in the road and ride ten yards into the garden. "Oh no. Not the Garden of Enchantments. Miranda warned me. I should have said something, but I was trying to persuade her to move." "You did a good job." Brianna grinned. "What's up with the garden?" "No time to explain!" shouted Andrea as she rode her horse staight into the garden. //Do I attract crazy people or what? Why are all the wackos my friends? First they tell me "Oh, don't go in there!" and then, "Ooooh. Looks like fun! Whoohoo!" And they romp right in. Do I follow, or act all prissy and tell Miranda that I value my life and cound not possibly go after her friend, or mine? pondered Brianna.// "Should I go in?" she wondered out loud. "Too late," she thought as she pranced in. "I did!"
 * Chapter 4**

As Brianna's horse trotted at a steady pace through the doorway of ivy, and then through a arch of pink roses, Brianna looked around her in amazement. They broke into a clearing of gorgeous plants and blossoms. Brianna gaped at all the delicate flowers. All of the flowers bloom at the same time! she marveled. Even though there was a variety of flowers, all had wide, color tainted petals that had unfurled completely, while outside, in the area around the path, save for a blade of grass here and there, you and your companions, life was scarce. Sparsley populated or deserted little villages popped up once every 50-some miles. But here, it seemed that all life had been sucked into one garden. Brianna heard laughing and talking a little way in, so she rode further, hoping to find her friends. Instead, she found a river. Gurgling and splashing, a talking sound spurted from the clear empty water. //So beautiful, yet joylesss. Like all the laughter of those who drank from this river has been trapped in the water. Like the river has captured the souls of many happy people. Brianna shuddered. I have to find my friends.// Along the little grass covered path, Brianna came across a field. The path ended abruptly. Looking across the field, Brianna couldn't see another path start. Suddenly, a hand landed on her shoulder. "Let's get out of here. Come on! Don't make a sound." a voice whispered. Brianna was allowed to turn around and follow. She was relieved to see Andrea and Kelsi leading the way out of the garden. Just as Brianna's horse set down her last hoof outside the doorway, the entrance to that mistic garden glided away, and was gone. "As soon as the garden knows that someone inside knows how to get back out, it shuffles the mazes, and rearanges the tunnels." Andrea explained as the girls set out again. "We're lucky to get out." JUst when Kelsi nodded and rolled her eyes, Andrea started "Watch out...." Kelsi pummeled into a canyon that streched before them. "for the edge." Andrea and Brianna looked at each other helplessly and dismounted. After a while of searching the bags, they located four paracutes. The two girls tied one each to the three remaining horses and decided to share the last one. They pushed the horses off the edge, with some effort. Then, they jumped. Laughter filled the canyon when Andrea and Brianna saw the horses slowly drifting downward, their eyes as large as beach balls. Their shrieks and whinnies of fear made the girls laugh harder. When they all landed, rather unharmed, the two girls inspected the horses, felling their bones, and found that, besides being stricken with fright, they were fine. Then all of the party went off in search of "probably, Kelsi's corpse." as Brianna put it. After an hour or so, they came across Kelsi's body. Her horse was blood coated, and later they found it had broken both legss and died from the brutal crash. There was little to no fire left in Kelsi, and her body hung limp on the back of Andrea's horse. Neither expected her to live.

Brianna set up a camp while Andrea started a fire and warmed a can of soup for herself and Brianna. They had soem food prepared for Kelsi if she woke up. In the meantime, Kelsi lay in the tent Brianna set up, and she was either dead and gone, or she was asleep. "Great. Here we are at the bottom of a canyon burying a dead horse, and with a dead or somewhat alive companion laying in the tent. We're, meanwhile sitting in a spot greatly prone to avalanches, rockslides, mudslides, debris of rocks above, and a trech is a very bad place to be during a thunderstorm, if one happens to come along." complained Brianna. "Well, do you want to leave the horse to rot here, let Kelsi fend for herself and hike back up 450 feet to make a camp, only to return to find everyone gone and nothing left anywhere?" asked Andrea. "What's wrong? Just because Kelsi is hurt, you feel the obligation to complain for her?" "I guess it's not so bad. And I don't want to complain, but it is very dangerous for us to be here." replied Brianna. "A strong man stands up for himself. A stronger man stands up for others." growled Andrea in the deep tone used by Ben in Barnyard, the movie. Both girls began to laugh for the first time since Kelsi became indignant and charged into the garden.

After both girls ate and settled by the fire, they told stories about their past. Andrea was an orphan and she told stories of what she had gone through to bear the haunting thought that her parents were dead and nobody cared for her. She told of orphanage after orphange that she had been transfered to. Care giver after care giver that had ignored her needs.Brianna was young and had fewer expeiences, and she ahd gathered less morals from them, so she merely listened to Andrea's life. The turns that Andrea's life had taken were unimaginable and some were inhumane. Many of the people that "adopted" her treated her like a slae and she had been sold to work at a mine until the police found her and transfered her to a new orphanage where Miranda came in looking for a deressed young lady to be an apprentice. The first story Andrea told was of how she was orphaned. "When I was about five, on my mother's birthday, we were taking a walk, and we decided to go to a resteraunt to have dinner. We chose a small Chinese resteraunt tucked away in the corner of the street. It took a while, but a waiter finally came. We had no idea of what could possibly kept us waiting, because other than us and the waiter, the resteraunt seemed deserted. The waiter was so thin he looked like all bones. You'd think someone who works at a resteraunt would keep themselves well fed. The only thing that was normal about the place was that the waiter was carrying a notepad. But he appeared to already be writing in it. He tore the current page off and stuffed it itno his pocket. He looked up for the first time, and a look of surprise spread across his face. It seemed that he did not expect to see customers in the resteraunt anymore. "How may I help you?" his voice was hollow, but his surprise had faded. In fact, he almost looked pleased. He took our order and walked briskly into the kitchen.The flame from the stove waved and danced. In a moment, our food was ready. After serving us, he marched into the "employees only" room. As we began to eat, we heard a loud explosion from the room. The resteraunt burst into flames. It seemed like forever before we got to the door. Well, I got to the door. I looked behind me and saw the whole building colapse with my parents in it." When Andrea finished, there was silence, and then both girls heard a soft sob from the tent.

Kelsi awoke again at midnight and the first thing she wondered was //Is there anything to eat? I am soo starved. I wonder if I should walk over to the night stand over there and drink the bowl of soup left there. I'd better not. I would wake up Andrea and Brianna. They must be tired.// Kelsi gently laid her head down on the pillow and closed her eyes. A shocking pain in her left leg kept her far from sleep. She carefully withdrew the light covers that layered her body and to her horror saw her leg, torn and bloody. At first, she was disgusted. Then she bagan to recollect the frantic moments of falling of the edge of the canyon. She had grabbed on to a ledge when she nearly came in contact with the ground, but then she collapsed on the floor of the canyon. //I wonder if I'm dead. But then how would Brianna and Andrea be here? I have only made this group worse and I have stalled the journey.// Kelsi got up and groaned quietly. She hobbled over to the fire and passed out. //At least I will be warm now.// But then she realized that she was also out in the open for animals. With effort, she limped over to her bed and fell into the covers.

"Kelsi? Are you all right?" When Kelsi opened her eyes the next morning, Andrea and Brianna hovered over her. Andrea stood with some breakfast on a tray. //Why do I always miss breakfast? I haven't eaten one on time so far on this journey.// "Yeah. I guess." Kelsi's voice was weak, and she had to gasp between words to get enough air, but for someone who fell off a 450 foot ravine, it was remarkable that she actually lived. Andrea set down the breakfast on a table and Kelsi ate eagerly. Afterwards, she was loaded into the carriage. "Wow! What service! For once I get the attention I need!" exclaimed Kelsi. "OK, tommorow you ride the dappled. Think you can handle that?" announced Brianna. "Phooey. No, I can't" Kelsi pouted. "I think you can." Andrea chuckled.

"You know, I was thinking," Kelsi began. The three girls were camping on a green hill after a long day of riding. It was the only completely green landscape they had seen the whole trip besides the garden. "You know," Kelsi repeated firmly from her bed by the fire. He words were directed to Andrea. "Yes?" Andrea responded slowly. "I've been thinking, " At the first pause, Andrea exclaimed "Brianna, come here! Kelsi's been **//__thinking!!!!!!__//** It's got to be big!!" "Har har, I forgot how to laugh." snapped Kelsi. "Should I continue?" "Of course, your highness." Andrea bowed low as Brianna came over. Kelsi rapped her knuckles on Andrea's head in a signal to stand. "I have been **__contempulating__**." Kelsi put force on the "Contempulating". "Your magic, Andrea, has helped me more than ever. I really owe you." "I'm deeply touched" Kelsi looked up angrily at Andrea, who had a very sincere look on her face. "Well. Our touching moment is over now, time for bed." Brianna announced. All three girls got into their sleeping bags. Kelsi needed help, but she managed to get to her bag without scraping her knee. She crawled. "Good night." called Kelsi. "Good night." answered Andrea and Brianna in unison.
 * Chapter 5**

At noon the next day, the girls came across a small town that was inhabitted by at the most, 30-50 people. Andrea checked and saw that there was store in the village. She could have used magic, but she claimed thatshe was "dead tired." and she "needed to rest." Kelsi was rather upset because she could walk only a few steps at a time now, and was very frustrated at herself because she needed help so often. Because of this, she stayed with Brianna outside the town, with the horses while Andrea quickly went into the shop and bought what they needed. She quickly came out holding 3 barrels of clean water, and 16 bags full of groceries loaded her arms. Before Kelsi could dig into the food, Brianna and Andrea put it all away in the carriage. Brianna helped Kelsi onto her horse. Then Andrea and Brianna both mounted their horses. They had to ride next to Kelsi so as to prevent her from sliding off her horse. Kelsi was slow in recovery and had a hard time keeping her balance on her horse. Just as Kelsi regained balance from her last fall, Andrea stopped. Luckily, this time Kelsi and Brianna did too. When they looked up, they saw that just a few feet across the barren ground was Sunshine Canyon. It was shaped like a 900000 mile diameter, 1000000 miles deep giant bowl. Kelsi began to cut up the rolls from toilet paper and paper towels. The cuts were all at angles. Everytime she glued a piece to another, she fitted a mirror into it, at the right angle at which when light entered the tube, the light would be reflected by a mirror and then continue it's way out of the tube. Kelsi stood 2 feet away from the canyon but still let the tube's other end peer into the canyon. "I can't see!!" Kelsi screamed. "HELP! I'm blind!!" "No, Kelsi. Sunshine Canyon is filled with a magical pitch black puss that is very acidic. It will desinigrate any object or material." explained Andrea. "Then how on Earth are we going to get across this thing?" asked Kelsi. "Even more unsettling, how are you going to get __**//me//**__ across?" "Don't worry..."Brianna started. "Why not?" asked Kelsi, who was obviously very agitated and afraid. "Don't worry, we'll think of something." Brianna stated firmly. "How? When?" Kelsi's voice quaked. "In the beginning, all you wanted was encouragement nd we gave you answers. Now you want answers and we give you encouragement." Andrea remarked, reminising about their earlier journey. "And you guys still act like I can't think. What if I come up with the solution? Anyway, I'm 19, I'm supposed to know things. Since I don't, I'm taking advantage of the fact that you do. Brianna, you skipped seven grades, you are smart." Kelsi pleaded her friend to know things. "In this occassion I'm afraid that neither of us know much more than you do." Brianna stared across the basin of puss and sighed. "I can't even see the other side."

"Hey Andrea!" called Kelsi. "Yeah?" "Can you make things fly and travel in the air?" inquired Kelsi. "Yes, why?" Andrea asked. "Then why don't you pack us all into the carriage with our stuff and then make the carriage fly over the Canyon?" Andrea looked over at the carriage which was loaded with goods. "Uh, shall we see if we fit?" she sounded uncertain. "Sure." answered Kelsi confidently. The three girls stuffed the carriage with their things, including all their camp gear. Then they hooked the horses up. Kelsi and Brianna could squeeze into the carriage, but Andrea sat behind the horses on the drivers seat. One flick of the wrist and they flew in a striaght line across the canyon. Andrea announceed that the flight would be a long one. "Help yourselves to anyfood." Kelsi giggled. "She sounds like a flight attendant. 'All passenger, please keep your belts fastens at all times. Please relax and enjoy your trip." Kelsi mimicked the monotonous voice of the flight attendant. Both her friends laughed. After another two hours, Andrea cried, "Land HO!!!!!" All three girls cheered. "Another thirty minutes and we will be able to stretch our legs. "**My** leg has lost circulation because of this bag of water bottles." complained Kelsi, lifting the bulging bag from her lap as if it was proof. "You can drink some if you want to make the load lighter." suggested Andrea. "NO!" cried both girls in unison. "Why?" asked Andrea, puzzled. "Because I already have to go!!" replied Kelsi. "And if she goes, it'll be on me!" screamed Brianna. "Forgive me, ladies."Andrea solomnly responded.

"YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" a cry of triumph awoke Kelsi from a peaceful slumber. She peered out the window. She was stunned, the overjoyed to see the carriage was on the ground. She jumped out of the carriage and almost crashed into Brianna who was coming to get her. "Brianna! We made it!! It's a miracle! LAND!!!" hollered Kelsi. "Yup, we made it." Brianna smiled and tried to look like she was not worried. The truth was that she was afraid that they would be too late to save Carrie. She knew that if she told this to Kelsi, Kelsi would think that she was weird. Kelsi would say, "Brianna, why are you worrying??? We made it here, right???!!!" Kelsi was walking around the camp in search of Brianna. "Good morning Kelsi!" Andrea stood behind her with two plates piled with food. "Yum. Thanks." Kelsi took her plate and began to dig in. "So, have you seen Brianna?" Kelsi's mouth was filled with food. Andrea turned away. "Yeah. She is by the creek we discovered while you were asleep." "Oh, then, I don't think I need to worry about that right now." Kelsi seemed satisfied.

Soon, thew weather began to get chilly. Very chilly. The girls bundled up up until they looked like little mammoths, but they still froze. Suddenly, the land disapeared.They stood at the tip of a cliff, sloping downwards at the sides till it got to the bottom. They saw a group of people in black robes traveling away from the cliff. They were holding long poles that had flags on them. "Carrie!" gasped Kelsi. "More Dark Wizards must have joined their party. The Dark Wizard emblem is on every flag." murmurred Andrea. She drew the emblem in the snow for them. "The cross of sword and wand." "Let's get 'em!!" Kelsi yelled. "No! You'll alert them!" Andrea chided. "Sorry." Kelsi whispered. The two girls followed Andrea off the cliff. Just as they were but two feet away from the carriage that probably contained Carrie, Andrea froze it. The Wizards yelled. And the battle began. Kelsi grabbed her necklace and created a gap in the ground so wide, that none of the wizards could get over it. Dark Wizards had a source of power, and obviously, that source was weak now. Andrea backed the wizards against the glacier behind them, that the wizards had probably intended to split together. Then Brianna took Kelsi and flew up to the top of the glacier. Andrea gave the signal. "Avalanch!!!!!" cried one wizard. But it was too late. Brianna and Kelsi came down and untied Carrie. They looked around for Andrea. "You stay here, I'll look." said Brianna. "OK." Brianna found Andrea pinned under a boulder. She was pale and gasping. "Here, take these. They contain powers." Andrea handed Brianna her braclet and her necklace. Brianna looked away for one second, her eyes welling up with tears. When she looked back, Andrea was dead.