The wind blows through my hair, whipping it around me like a whirlwind. We just flew in from the city and landed right beside the rocks, because we can't risk any humans calling the police on us for trespassing or we'll start a scene. I stare at the field that surrounds the legendary Stonehenge, taking in the immaculate grass and mammoth stone slabs. The remaining structures are set up like archways, with vertical stones as bases and horizontal ones across the top. Fallen pieces of gray rock lay on the ground in pieces, broken and weathered into soft ovals, almost like bars of soap that have been used a few times.

"These rocks have been here for over 5,000 years," Morgan says. "Did you know that? They've lived through human history as long as we can remember it. They were standing when Jesus was born, when he died, when the Empire was created, when the Empire fell, when the Humans worshiped the Gifted, when Humans forgot the Gifted. And they've just. . . Sat there. For so long." She turns and gives me a small smile. "It must be nice to be so durable, you know?"

"Yeah," I tell her, not really surprised at the philosophical direction the conversation has taken. I guess, in the clan, when you're risking your life and living in fear of discovery, you think on a deeper level. There's less petty small talk, anyway. "But it would be lonely to live that long, watching humanity make the same mistakes over and over."

"But you wouldn't," Garret says. "Because we cannot be rocks. So let's get this started, okay?"

Morgan smiles slightly at his frankness, nodding slightly. "Okay. What's the first instruction?"

"We stand in the exact center of the stones and repeat this chant. Here, everyone get in a circle," Garret says, looking at the paper we found in the chest.

We obey, walking around the pillars to the middle. The rocks tower above us as we gather, their height, age, and endless silence intimidating. I gulp, wondering what the chant will do. In the last Trial there was a hidden chamber, but now I don't see how there could be one. Will the rocks. . . Move?

I stand next to Chase and my dad, facing the center with a slow exhale of anticipation. I'm not going to deny it, I'm scared to death about this. Before we left, I heard my dad arguing with Garret once again about going into the Trial, but Garret said the same thing he did last time: at any point Gabriel might catch up to us, and we can't leave any one person out in their own. At least in the Trials, I'll have eight strong Gifted to protect me. Regardless, I'm scared stiff. Dad hasn't let me out of his sight ever since I left with Kara to go shopping. He was pretty mad about that. To be fair, it was quite a brainless decision on Kara's part. Though I was partly at fault for going along with it. I just couldn't stand another tense minute in that inn with the others. Anne was sulking and grieving after the loss of Jonathan. Garret was so serious, making plans and analyzing the instructions. Morgan was always with him, working alongside. Matthew and Kara were off doing who knows what when they said that they were going off to get lunch, and Joshua was in bed. Even Chase was grim, despite his usually optimistic outlook. I think that's why his father's death tore at him so much. He doesn't seem like that type of person to look at life and just get depressed, you know?

I remember what he said that moment in the hotel room. He never finished the sentence, and it's been eating at me ever since. "Well, it's not exactly the same, but although I've never believed at love at first-" Had he been saying love at first sight? Like, immediate attraction to a certain person? Was he talking about me? I don't know, and all I want to do is ask him about it, but we haven't had a moment alone since Matthew caught us in the bedroom. . . Wait, what am I saying? It's not like we were doing anything incriminating.

"Haven," Chase whispers. "It's just like last time. Stick close to me and I'll protect you. I don't want anything to happen to you." He must've noticed the petrified expression on my face. I shake my head seriously and turn towards Garret.

"Great," he says when we're all in a circle. "Now, repeat after me, 'rise from the dust of cultures in past.
Show us the way to the Amulet Blue,
Continue the path to the relic that lasts.
Grant us the strength to use power for good,
Give us our options, show us the paths.'"

We diligently repeat every line as he says them, careful not to mash up the words. When we are finished there is a tense silence as we wait for something to happen. Everyone stares at the center of the circle, watching and waiting anxiously. Even Garret is stock still.

At first nothing happens. Everything is still and unmoving. No one speaks. It's as if we think that making noise will prevent the incantation from taking effect. But then we start to hear a faint rumbling noise, coming from under our feet. At first I think I'm imagining things, but everyone looks down in confusion, and as it starts to get louder I realize that it's coming from the ground.

Suddenly the earth in the center of the circle starts to churn and shift, the dirt falling away like sand sifting through an hourglass. I see something moving up towards us through the movement, something solid. My dad pushes me back quickly, and Chase leans forward automatically, one hand extended towards the phenomenon, the other out in my direction as if to shield me. As sweet as the gesture is, I'm a bit put out with both of them as the object comes into view. Rising up from the earth is a large black door, attached to no frame and lacking hinges. The knob is made of silver, an engraving of a large G on the flat portion. Strangely there is no decay or mud anywhere on it, despite being buried underground for centuries. More magic, I suppose.

It takes almost a full minute for the door to transcend, but slowly the earth stops moving, the rumbling ceases, and everything is still again. We stare at it for a minute, carefully moving forward like wary animals. I step right up to it, putting my hand on Chase's shoulder as a signal for him to relax. He still doesn't look away from the door.

"What does the paper say?" Chase asks.

"It lists the incantation, then it says to open the door."

"But, the door can't possibly lead anywhere!" I exclaim. "I mean, we can see the other side of it! Unless. . ." I look over at Chase in incredulity. There's no way.

"You. . . You guys can do that? Make space?"

"Yeah," Chase tells me. "Well, in theory. It would take a phenomenal amount of energy to try it, and the actual technique is still undiscovered, but yeah, it's possible."

"Evidently it was discovered," Garret says. "It must've been forgotten in the Gifted wars. And since Samuel was part of the guard, he must've used the Amulet to actually execute it."

I move closer to the door, my hand out as if to touch it. "So, what happens when you op-"

"HAVEN NO!" Chase shouts, but it's too late. Just as my fingers touch the silver knob there is a whoosh of air and the door flys open. My hair blows back and I wince away from the quick blast of wind. I feel a tug and hear a snap. The colors of the world around me bleed into each other like watercolor, and suddenly I'm being jerked foreword. I feel myself moving quickly, but I'm no longer in Wiltshire, England. In every direction all I can see is an endless, impenetrable blackness that seems to be thick almost, like ink. I hear strange noises all around me, like the sound of an orchestra warming up without direction or uniformity. I keep on going faster and faster, the air in my face getting stronger and stronger. . .

Then, as quickly as it started, it's over. It's as if someone flicked a switch. Everything comes to a complete stop out of nowhere, all noise ceases, and the lights come back on, and my side slams into a hard surface. I'm too shocked to scream. All I can do is gasp for breath and stare around myself in fear.

I'm standing on a flat plane of a cold, unknown material. It's this dark gray color, like stone, and stretches on as far as I can see. The air around me is filled with thick black smoke that twists and warps as if in a breeze. But there's no wind that I can tell. The smoke reminds me of clouds, but much thicker and lower to the ground. It's extraterrestrial and ominous.

I hug my jacket to my chest and stand up carefully. My leg still hurts from landing here and I limp a little as I walk. I think back to stonehenge and the door. How will I get back there now? I don't see the door, if there even is one in this strange extra-dimension. I can't see anything farther than twelve feet in front of me, so I can't really tell if there are any buildings it landmarks or anything other than this flat plane and this dark mist. Will the others come after me? Would they end up in the same place if they tried? What if time works differently here and I'm trapped for years and years and years? There are so many questions I have, but I'm almost scared for them to be answered.

Suddenly there is a bright flash, a loud bang, and a whoosh of air that blows my hair back from my face and makes me flinch. I hear the sound of a body hitting something solid followed by a muffled groan of pain. My heart flutters in hope for a minute.

"Haven? Haven where are you?" Chase's voice comes from behind me. It sounds like he's close, but I can't find him.

"Chase?" I ask. "Where are you? Say something, I can't see through the smoke!"

"I'm- ah! Over here. Ouch!"

I rush towards the source of the sound, stumbling around like a blind woman. My sense of direction is skewed and I feel like I'm not getting anywhere because of my limited vision. I panic every added second I can't find Chase. Finally I see a dark gray blob that seems to be more solid than the most around it. I start foreword at a run.

"Chase!" I call out, and the blob moves. It's him!

"Haven?" He asks, this time much louder. He starts towards me at a jog, and then breaks into a sprint.

"Shit Haven!" He gasps. "You have to be more careful! I thought you might be completely gone! I mean, we don't fully understand dimensional magic and I-"

With a short leap I throw my arms around him, pressing my face into his shoulder with a relieved sigh.

"Shhh," I tell him. " I'm okay, and you're here now, so it's fine, you didn't lose me."

He hesitates for a minute before hugging me back. "But I could have."

I smile. "Don't worry about me."

"But I do."

Both my smile and my heart drop down to my feet. I pull away from him, mouth open, about to ask him why.

But then there is another flash, followed by one more a second later. We both whip around to look for the source.

"Ouch, what the? Kara, are you okay?"

"Yeah, where-"

The voices must belong Matt and Kara. But another flash comes from the sky, making them pause. The sky becomes full of flashes, one after the other. I count five more before they stop and the crashes are replaced with the groaning and complaining of the clan members. They're here.

"Let's go," Chase says, pulling away, but not letting go of my hand.

It takes a much shorter amount of time to find the others, mostly due to the amount of noise that they make. My heart flutters the whole time though, partially due to Chase's hand in mine, and partially from the fear of being trapped in this place. Still, I breath a sigh of relief when we reach the Clan.

"Chase!" Matthew calls. "Please try to be a little more responsible! We couldn't even blink before you were already through the portal, and then everyone was panicking and we couldn't decide whether we were jumping into a trap or-"

"Matthew, it doesn't matter now. We're all here, and as far as I know, we're not dead yet. The paper was confusing at first, but now I get it. It says to go speak our names to the mist, and this is the mist, so we should be in the right place. As long as we follow the directions, we should be okay. The Trials were supposed to be difficult and dangerous, but not impossible. So as long as it still makes sense, we're safe." Garret sounds very sure about these directions of his. I guess he trusts that Samuel Green wanted all of us to get out alive.

"Let's go," Morgan says. "The sooner we start the sooner we get out of here." Her husband puts his arm around her and nods to us.

"Right," Chase says, letting go of my hand as he moves to stand next to Matt. I follow, not wanting to lose contact. My father stands next to me, head held high, his face drawn in apprehension. Slowly, we all stand in a line, facing a think bank of fog. Anne decides to start.

"Annalise Castello."

"Morgan Anderson."

"Garret Anderson."

"Kara Anderson."

"Matthew Parks."

"Chase Parks."

"Haven Cross."

"Brandon Cross."

I remember when I nearly died in Trial one, and I thought that I didn't even know Chase's last name. There we go. Chase Parks. Hmmm. . .

"What now?" Kara asks her father.

"Now we wait."

"What are we waiting for?" I ask.

"A sign. Of some kind. The paper says to wait for a sign. And then to choose a champion. I don't know how or why. But that's where it ends. Don't worry, if there wasn't a way to get out of here, Samuel wouldn't have led us here."

So much for his all knowing instructions. But I guess we don't have a choice. It's not like we're going anywhere. So we wait for a minute. And we wait. And we wait. I feel like something should be happening, but there's nothing.

"Ha!" Anne says, speaking up for the first time in a while. "I told you! Dammit, I wanted to be wrong. But here we are!"

"What are you talking about?" Kara asks.

"There is no Amulet, don't you see? Green led us here to die! The people who seek power(us) are now disposed of. It was a ruse to take down those who wanted power. And we stepped right into it. We're doomed to be trapped here. Trapped until we die!"

"Anne, come on, it can't possibly be that bad," Morgan says. "I mean, what if someone needed the Amulet, like us? We want to help the world. And Samuel understood that people would want to use the Amulet for good."

"No," Annalise says. "It's just a trap. We're all going to die here. Samuel did all of it to get rid of the greedy. Maybe he never even stole the Amulet in the first place! We are never going to get out of here! And-"

I feel anger boiling up behind my eyes and I grind my teeth together. "Dammit, stop! I mean, jeez! You need to have some kind of faith in something! Anything! There's no use in assuming the worst and trying to destroy all of our hope in this mission!" The anger rolls off me in waves, my words shot like bullets to the older girl's face. "What's the point? Wouldn't you rather have hope than be a depressed mess all of the time? I mean, at this point, if we don't believe in anything, we have nothing. And that is why you need to let us have our trust or we will lose all motivation and we will fail. Because even a spec of a chance is better than none at all!

"Would you rather have had your brother die for nothing! Maybe you believe that now, but what if we actually find the Amulet? What if his death actually saved millions of lives? And the truth is, you don't know! None of us know what's going to be at the end of the third trial. But we believe, like Nate, that the Amulet is at the end."

"Exactly!" Anne says. Everyone has backed up at this point, surprised by my sudden outburst. "Nate died! He died because he believed in a rumor! A legend and a lie! Would you have the rest of us die to? What if we get to the end and there's absolutely nothing there? What would he have died for?"

"What if we quit and the legend was true? Then Nate would have died for nothing as well! There's nothing we can do about it now!"

Her face twists in pain and rage. "You're only saying that because you're a human! Because it's your race that's being persecuted. If it was us, you wouldn't give a damn! Your kind abandoned us and kept us in the shadows for hundreds of years! You don't care!"

"We didn't know about you! Humans don't know that the Gifted exist! You can't blame us for being afraid of the unknown. You want Gabriel to win! You want us to fail!" At this point the argument has gone south, and I'm just screaming out the first thing that pops into my head. "You want millions of my race to die for the supposedly worthless death of your brother? It wasn't my fault he died! I didn't throw the damn knife!"

I don't know what I'm saying now. I know that she's hurt and grieving, and that I shouldn't be saying this, but if I'm honest, it's the truth.

"YOU DONT UNDERSTAND!!!!!" She shrieks. "You don't know what it's like to lose a brother to this conflict! I want this to be over! I want to go home, and I don't want to have to deal with this! Why me? Why do we have to be the ones to be the heroes? I didn't ask for this! But my God damned little brother had to go off and play hero. And I couldn't just let him leave on his own! So I went with him. And he died anyway. He died for this! And I don't want to be the hero! I don't want to live without him!"

Her hard shell just drops and she collapses to the ground, burying her head on her hands. "I don't want it," she whispers. The fight goes out of me automatically. I can't fight someone on their knees. I don't need to.

"Come on, Anne," I tell her. "You don't need to be fearless to be the heroine. Didn't a someone once say something about some people who are born great, become great, or are forced into greatness? Well, we all were forced into it, and we have to rise to that. Because we don't have a choice. Either we're heroes, or we're the people who let everyone down. And we all have to do that. You know that my mom was killed. My intro to the Gifted was waking up in a hotel room and having my mother shot within the next ten minutes. So just don't-" my throat closes and my voice cracks. "Don't tell me that I haven't felt loss before."

I feel our situation oddly paralleled by how Chase told me the clan had experienced pain as well. And now I'm oddly in the situation of comforting Anne of all people. With a hitch in my throat, I sit down next to her and put my arm around her shoulder. She doesn't shake it off, either.

"I don't want to be the hero," she gasps through tears.

My own face is damp as well as I say, "I know. I know, Anne."

But despite all my words of trust and belief and confidence, I myself am surprised when the fog starts to move and swirl and twist faster and faster. Because even though I truly believe that the Amulet survived, I have my doubts about its reality sometimes. And my heart leaps with joy at the further confirmation. And when the smoke moves to form a solid-looking wall in front of us, I can stand with Anne by my side and a new understanding of the girl.

Hey! I'm sorry it took so long to write this time! I was really stuck at a roadblock, and then I hated what I did write, so I deleted it and started over. I want to ask a plot opinion, but I don't want to give away the next few scenes. So. . . . . . . Stay Gifted!

Warning: new note! I updated the chapter where Chase tells Haven about Lauren and changed a lot so I wouldn't sacrifice authenticity in later chapters! Pleeeeeeeeaaaaaaase read it again for comprehension! I don't want it to seem like this book makes no sense! Thanx!

-iambibliophilic