Marcy lay on the leaf covered turf for about ten minutes and just stared at the tree stump her brain feeling numb. There was a dull throb all through her body but she did not hurt anywhere. Suddenly everything came back to her in a giant flash and she jumped to her feet nearly falling over backwards again. Marcy whipped her head in every direction but all she could see were a bunch of trees and a ground covered in leaves. Oh and a couple of random bystanders...Wait a minute!

"Who in the heck are you?" Marcy screeched, slowly backing towards the nearest cover, just in case things got real.

"I'm Weland," the young man said quietly.

Weland...Weland...Why does that sound familiar? Marcy asked herself. 

"Have we met?"

"Yes, yes we have. I came into your office in New York asking about a closet."

"I've got it! You were the one who came into my office in New York asking about a closet!" Marcy told him.

"That's what I just said."

"Oh...But...Where am I?"

"Well I have a small confession to make. I actually already knew where the closet was but I needed you to follow me."

"Okay...But how did I get here? All I did was go into a mobile closet."

"You're in Testican," the other person said.

It was a girl...Or more like a young lady, and she was dressed in the most amazing clothes Marcy had ever seen. Her garments were all red and her boots were pointy at the toe reminding Marcy of a little fairy. She wore a silver belt and crown while her medium length brown hair was cut into strait bangs. The lady was quite petite and...there was something on her back. Something that Marcy thought looked like...

"NO WAY!" Marcy squealed excitedly.

Forgetting everything else she ran up to the lady and looked curiously at the sparkling wings she had. They looked like diamonds in the shape of wings and were rimmed with what Marcy thought were lilies.

"How do you keep these on?" she asked, walking in circles around the lady.

"Keep them on? I'm a fairy."

"A FAIRY?" Marcy yelped.

Her eyes were as large as walnuts and her jaw practically touched the ground.

"Yes. My name in Aileen...I'm actually the Queen of Testican and we brought you here by way of the closet."

"You're kidding, right?"

Marcy's logic would not let her believe all of this right away but boy did she want to! Fairies were a farfetched phenomena where she came from but Marcy being a rather farfetched girl herself would rather believe in them than not.

"Nope," Weland answered shaking his head.

"Wait a second...Why would you want to bring me here?"

"That we can't exactly tell you at the moment."

"Ah cha cha, no you don't!" Marcy said waving her finger back and forth.

"I've read far to many mysteries to give in this quickly. I don't know either of you and I certainly have no idea where I am so if you don't mind I think I deserve a bit of an explanation."

"We gave it to you!" Weland protested.

"That...That was not an explanation. Yes you've told me where I am and your names but as far as I'm concerned I'd be better off taking a hike across the Sahara!"

Aileen and Weland stared at her blankly and Aileen slowly leaned over to Weland and asked, "Did you catch any of that?"

"Not a word."

Marcy sighed and folded her arms trying to seem as intimidating as possible...and failing miserably.

"At least tell me what I'm doing here."

"Sorry. Can't. Its against the rules," Weland answered calmly.

Suddenly an idea struck him and he simply shrugged his shoulders, starting to walk away.

"Well if you're not going to help us I see no reason why we should help you. Goodbye!"

Marcy suddenly had second thoughts and watched a bit hesitant as both Weland and Aileen kept walking through the forest at a steady pace.

"WAIT!" she called running after them.

"Fine...I'll help you. Even though I can't find I reason why you should need my help."

Weland smiled inwardly mentally giving himself a pat on the shoulder. 

"Well I guess you can come along," he said quietly continuing down the path.

"Where are we going?" Marcy asked, realizing that this could possibly be the most exciting thing that would ever happen to her.

"Oh you'll love it."

.................................................................................

"A cabin?" Marcy said, more then a bit skeptical at the rotting building in front of her.

Several tiles were missing from the roof, the rails were falling off, and was most likely infested by mice and other unwanted critters.

"Oh its not all that bad," Weland answered.

He was rather attached to the cabin himself and Marcy attitude towards it made him defensive.

"It looks like it would topple over like a dehydrated giraffe from even the slightest breeze."

"She's right Weland," Aileen whispered to Weland.

"It does look a bit...abandoned."

"Well this is where Cephalus told us to meet him. I can't change that."

Marcy just stood there. She did not want to go in and most certainly did not want to meet this Cephalus person. If he chose a meeting place like that than he was probably not very likable. At least not to Marcy's way of thinking.

"You can tell a lot about people by the buildings they like," she mumbled.

Weland shot her a sideways glance and chuckled a little.

"Its not that he particularly likes this building. He chose it because no one will find us here."

"That's believable," Marcy mumbled once more.

"You may not believe it, but as soon as the sun goes down all these trees will wake up and if they find you...they will most likely eat you."

Marcy did not show her surprise and was not quite sure if she should believe him.

"I don't believe you," she told Weland.

Weland chuckled once more and looked up the sky.

"I didn't expect you to. But no matter, you'll find out eventually."

And with that Weland walked on into the cabin followed by Aileen. Marcy still stood in front of the rotting building fighting with her common sense and her phobia. Rats. She knew they would be in there and she could not stand them! However, as soon as she looked toward the ring of trees surrounding the cabin common sense won. Marcy quickly ran up the steps and into the broken down dwelling and closed the door behind her. Weland seemed very much amused by her reaction and laughed inwardly. Aileen on the other hand was occupied with looking out the window at a squirrel running across the yard.

"What's so funny?" Weland asked her.

"What?"

"You laughed."

"Oh did I? Its just that squirrels make me laugh," she chuckled.

"Now what do we do?" Marcy asked sitting down on a rickety old chair.

"We wait," Weland told her.

Suddenly a noise came from outside. It sounded like approaching hooves to Marcy and her suspicions were confirmed when Weland spoke.

"Sounds like someone's here."

"Do you think its Cephalus?" Aileen asked.

"I don't think so. His horse is much smaller...By the footfalls this one sounds bigger."

Marcy widened her eyes utterly astonished at Weland's vast knowledge of sounds. Never before had she ever seen someone who could tell the size of a horse by their footfalls. 

"Maybe I'd better shrink," Aileen suggested.

Weland was about to look out the window but did not want to pry off the boards that were nailed there and turned to Aileen, nodding his head and walking over to Marcy.

"Be prepared to duck," he told her quietly.

"Duck? Is something wrong?"

"No...But just in case."

Marcy was about to answer Weland but she did not have any breath left after Aileen's magnificent performance. Floating up into the air she spun round in circles like a spinning top and little lights began to move with her. Then she suddenly shrunk to the size of a large bug and flew up into the rafters. Marcy's mouth fell open and she stuttered several times, trying to form words to explain to herself what just happened.

"She just...She just...She shrunk!"

Weland was going to laugh and point out what happened but he was cut off as the door flew open and the dark silhouette of a...thing, appeared in the door. The afternoon light was shining in and Marcy could not make out any details. All she saw was what she thought was a young adult lady...but on her head was what Marcy thought were...antlers...?

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Weland Amundsen. To be honest I didn't expect to find you here."

"Adrastea!...To be equally honest I didn't expect to see you here either."

Adrastea walked in through the door with steady and deliberate steps. Marcy could not help but feel a bit on edge as she came closer, and for good reason. Adrastea did look rather menacing, as she usually did. She had knee high boots made of dark brown leather and for some reason Marcy knew there was a knife hidden in one of them. Adrastea also wore a leather belt around her waist with a heavy bladed dirk on the right side. Her shirt was also brown but like her pants it was made of some type of fabric, Marcy guessed it was wool. Wrapped around her entire torso and over her right shoulder was a studded leather strap that probably held around eight small knifes. On her back and over the large brown cloak were two blades. They were too big to be knifes but too small to be swords. The hilts were carved out of some sort of white wood and had no cross piece, but still looked deadly effective.
Honestly Adrastea gave Marcy the impression of 'too tough'.

"Who's this?" Adrastea asked Weland, eyeing Marcy curiously.

She was a good head taller than her and Marcy felt a bit out of sorts, for many reasons. However as her eyes quickly landed on the impressive antlers that shone in the afternoon sunlight her brain did not have much room left for anything else.

"Marcy Clive. Someone who is crucial to Cephalus's plan."

Adrastea raised an eyebrow and folded her arms. Obviously she did not find Cephalus's choice up to standards...Mostly for the reason that Marcy was completely out of it and just stared at Adrastea's antlers with an expression that was half curiosity and half confusion.

"You have antlers..." Marcy said quietly.

"Yes...? Is there something wrong with that."

"N-no! Of course not! But it is a bit...Ya know...Strange."

Adrastea just looked at Marcy with a puzzled expression while Weland chuckled to himself. He was the only one who knew what Marcy was use to and found this situation quite amusing.

"Are you some sort of half deer half human...person?" Marcy asked trying to wrap her mind around this phenomena.

"Nooooo. I'm Cieven."

"Sia-wha?"

"She's one of the Cievo," Weland explained.

"And that is?"

"Her. The Cievo are fairly close to humans except for the fact that they have antlers."

"So what are you, half bat?" Marcy asked throwing her hands in the air.

"No. No I'm not."

Marcy frowned and sat down in her new favorite chair and leaned back running one hand through her red hair. I must be going insane, she thought. However her thoughts were quickly interrupted as Aileen came flying out of the rafters and growing to her full size. Adrastea frowned at her and fingered the blade of her dirk.

"Who are you?" she asked in a low tone.

Aileen did not answer but quickly turned to Weland saying, "The sun will go down soon and Cephalus still isn't here. Should we stay here?"

Weland looked out the door and shaded his eyes with one hand, staring at the horizon.

"I think we should stay. Anything could be keeping him and this is more important than are original agendas."

- Here's the next chapter! What do think of some of the characters meeting? Which character do you like best so far? I'd love to hear your thoughts and votes are always appreciated! Thanks :D - Anna