Things had moved progressively fast after they had met the old man, who claimed to be called Gandalf the Wise and a wizard. At this comment Sydney had jumped back while Winifred asked for him to prove it. She had cocked her hip, crossed her arms, and had became an imposing figure just by demanding in an authoritative voice that he tell what was going on. Sydney had just faded into the background, listening intently to the wizard. The wizard had shaken his head, stating that they would see his true power in due time. He had said things that she hadn't understood -things about herbs and other things with magic- and others that she had -her own home with her brother and mother. He spoke of Winifred's job occupation and then how Elyse had gotten her scar. The wizard, who she was petrified of, even explained their current situation.

He said that they were dwarves -short people who were built heavily (though when Sydney looked down, she was still skinny) and were currently exiled from their homelands. One of them was pure dwarf, the other two were not. When Sydney had asked who, Gandalf had simply chuckled and replied with, "my dear girl, what is the fun in telling you? Would it not be more fun to figure it out yourself?" Both Winifred and Sydney had glared at the wizard then, wondering why the old man would keep such a secret from them. Elyse was still no where in sight, worrying Sydney. Elyse was probably three times stronger than both her and Winifred put together, but she had definitely been gone longer than an hour. Gandalf also promised that their friend was fine, just exploring what she could do. The way he said it suggested some secret that he was holding back as well. What was up with this old man?

But she said nothing and simply followed whatever Winifred did. Practically being the accidentally proclaimed leader of the three, when it came to situations that all of them were lost in, sometimes it was Winifred's advice that pulled them through. Maybe it was because she was the eldest by a week or two, but it could have also just been because. Besides, more than half of the time Winifred was like a young mother; she watched out for people in different places and seemed to know somewhat when to keep her mouth shut. Which was ironic; she had told Sydney and Elyse countless of times where she had snapped at field hockey players on the opposing team when they called her names. Elyse had always had a short fuse when it came to people she didn't trust and Sydney had always shrank until she would burst from angry.
Gandalf, however, was slightly different than anything that they had ever faces before. He told them that they were in a completely different world.

The wizard spoke of mystical lands where dwarves, elves, hobbits (whatever that was), and man could walk in tranquility and peace. Sometimes. Ever since the Lonely Mountain and the dwarven kingdom had been ripped away from the dwarves, the world around it had slowly became increasingly hostile due to the dragon -here Winifred had released a startled gasp- that was called Smaug that had taken refuge in the vast amounts of treasure buried underneath the mountain. Gandalf mentioned some dwarves that he referred to as Thorin's Company and about how they were going to take back their home.

And then he had produced three sets of clothes out of thin air and asked for them to change into them.

Sydney wiggled into the light brown dress, mumbling to herself as she wished that it was a different color. Gandalf had slipped away to allow them to change in peace and Elyse was still missing, which was now beginning to effect Winifred. The other woman, who's dress was a light blue with long sleeves and, lucky for her, no laces, had already completely changed and was now sitting on a log, lacing up the black boots that Gandalf had also provided for them. Sydney had braided her black hair into a fishtail braid when they had waiting for Elyse before Gandalf had popped up out of no where and it fell down her shoulder to where it dangled near her stomach. With her dress, Winifred looked like someone from this time period -or at least, Sydney thought so anyways.

She wasn't too sure about herself. Her dress was thick, more like a coat up top that had to be laced up from behind, and reached mid-shin, which was a huge difference between her dress, Winifred's, and then the third one. A hood had been made into the third dress, which was so different than hers and Winifred's. Sydney's was more plain, having a belt that came across her waist with high black boots and a black skirt underneath that was longer than the top one. The last dress that was Elyse's was thick, a belt that wrapped around waist and fell down around the front of the dress was before a long white skirt. This dress had a set of pants and black boots to go with it as well, though it was certainly clear that this dress was definitely built more for the summer weather than anything.

"Winny?" Sydney called out unsurely to her friend that was yanking the laces to her boots into a knot, mumbling darkly under her breath. The angered look in Winifred's eyes disappeared when she saw Sydney's predicament. "Could you lace this for me? I don't know how."

Winifred stood with a sigh, pausing long enough to smooth out her wrinkled skirts before walking over. "Of course," she softly said.

"Winny? Where do you think Elyse is?" Sydney asked quietly when Winifred had finished lacing her up.

"I don't know, Sydney," her friend mumbled, brushing back some loose bangs. "I have a guess that she's fine though. I mean, Elyse would beat the crap outta anyone who looked at them funny if she thought that they were being rude or anything. I'm sure she's fine."

Before Sydney could ask if she was saying that to make herself feel better or if she truly meant it, the bushes in front of them were beginning to move. Sydney jumped up, scared. What could be behind those bushes? Gandalf had mentioned orcs -was that one of those beasts that was shuffling around in those bushes, waiting to leap out and kill them. She needed a weapon because she definitely wasn't going to go down fighting.

She rummaged about on the forest floor, looking for something, anything, that she could possibly use to defend herself. Her fingers found a stick and she brandished it up, pointing it where the rustling in front of them was becoming increasingly louder. Winifred had had the same idea; her stick was more like a log and she pulled Sydney in behind her, a scared expression on her countenance as she stood there. Sydney felt her breath catch as the bushes began parting, realizing a pair of gorgeous, light lavender eyes staring at them.

And then came the wolf.

It was gorgeous; it's white fur was thick and in the shadows made it look three times larger than what it really was. It's eyes, wolf-like and bright, were a shade of light purple and seemed to look right through Sydney. The wolf had a mane, a fluffy white mane, and either ear had snapped straight up the second that it had seen the two of them. A scar ran down across its snout to what could be considered it's cheek. The scar was older -it wasn't festered red but instead a light pink with no fur growing there that only succeeded in making it more obvious.

They all stood there for a moment; Sydney with her stick pointed toward the wolf, Winifred scowling as she held her log threateningly, and the wolf simply standing where it had appeared, purple eyes staring at them. And then, like a spell had been broken, the wolf's tail, bushy and soft looking, began wagging back and forth. It's tongue fell from its mouth in excitement as the wolf dropped down into a playful position, yipping.

I found finally found you guys!

The words flowed her mind as if she had listened to them and the stick in Sydney's hands slipped through her fingers in surprise. Winifred's log did the same and a thump sounded, followed by a yelp of pain from Sydney as it landed on her foot. The wolf bounded forward, yipping again, and instantly moved in between them. Another yelp sounded from Sydney as she fell back away from the large white wolf and scrambled back, ignoring the pain that was lacing through her foot.

The wolf turned to her as it leaned against Winifred playfully, taking its huge snout and nuzzling her face. You need to be more careful, Sydney. Once again words ran through her head and she stared at the wolf who reached Winifred's shoulders in height as it nudged at her hands.

Wait, Sydney knew that voice.

"Elyse?" Sydney spluttered in surprise, her eyes almost popping out of her head as she watched the wolf nod it's head, it's tail wagging back and forth forcefully. "Oh my God."

"Are you out of your mind?" Winifred exclaimed, wringing the fur along the wolf's spine. "There is no way that this is Elyse."

There is too, scoffed Elyse's voice as the wolf's head turned to look at Winifred. And it's true. I'm a wolf.

All of a sudden, a cracking noise sounded from the wolf. It threw back its head and Sydney scrambled into a tree that was in behind her, once again picking up the closest object to protect her with -her high heels from her time period or whatever. Winifred jumped back in surprise as the fur along the wolf just disappeared, sinking into the form that was beginning to look strangely human. The ears shrank into human ones and dark hair sprouted with the blue highlights that Sydney knew so well. When the now woman turned to look at Sydney, arms opened wide and smiling, her eyes were back to their original color and the same exact scar that the wolf had was on her face. There was Elyse, standing there proudly like nothing was wrong.

"See?" she said. "Isn't that freakin' awesome! I can turn into a wolf! Like a werewolf!"

Sydney broke out of the trance that she had been in and jumped up, running up to Elyse and enveloping her in a hug so hard that the ex-military woman made a coughing noise. "That's awesome! Don't ever do that again! It looks and sounds like it hurts! And don't run off like that! Or scare me!"

"Anything else mother?"

Winifred laughed, clearly relieved that Elyse was okay. "Here," she said with a small smile as she lifted the white dress that Gandalf had made. "This is for you."

"Where'd you get this?" Elyse moved over curiously, gathering the dress into her arms with an interest as she examined it. "I like this."

"Gandalf." Sydney jerked her thumb in the general direction of where the wizard had told them to meet him. "He magically made these dresses appear and then told us to meet him on that hill over there when he was done so he could explain things to us."

Elyse nodded, lifting a hand and motioning for her two friends to turn around. Sydney and Winifred did as she asked. "Yeah, he's already told me a few things," Elyse called out. "Like why I changed form."

"Oh! Awesome!"

"Was there a certain reason or did it just happen?" Winifred asked, sounding way more intelligent than Sydney at the moment.

There was a small pause; Elyse's shuffling had stopped for a moment before they continued. "He said it was because I was a skin-changer, a shape-shifter. The wolf is apparently my other half. Until I get the shifting thing under control, Gandalf said that anything could make me change shapes. I changed this time because he scared me."

"That's pretty cool though," Sydney giggled. "I wish I can do that!"

"It's weird. My wolf was practically starving. But right now, I'm not even hungry. I wonder why? You guys should have seen what's just outside of these woods."

"What?" Winifred questioned.

"People with big feet. It's so weird. I mean, these feet aren't little, they're like huge. Their houses were built into the hills and they had little gardens. Some had flowers and everything else in there. It was pretty though."

"Sounds like it." Sydney cocked her head to the side, thinking. "What kinda flowers were there?"

A hand was placed on Sydney's shoulder and she turned to see Elyse wearing the white dress. A belt was resting on her waist, draping down to be buckled loosely about her hips. The sleeves came to her elbows and she wore dark pants underneath that had been shoved into thick boots. "I have no clue, do you think I know flowers all that well? The only ones I knew for sure were the roses," Elyse commented with a smile.

Winifred smiled at them, gesturing up to where Gandalf should be. "You guys ready to see him?"

"Sure!" Sydney said with a little smile. "I wanna see these people with big feet!"

They walked out of the woods, chatting quietly amongst themselves about where they predicted that they could be. Elyse thought somewhere in Russia; she had visited the country several times and thought that the thick trees and temperature reminded her of their summers. Winifred said Alaska or Canada; she had never been to either one but claimed that the trees looked Canadian or Alaskan like. Sydney blurted the first thing that came to her mind -somewhere. She had no clue and she doubted that Winifred and Elyse knew either.

Gandalf's hat was the first thing that they saw, protruding just slightly above the top of a hill. Sydney showed her friends and began running toward it, smiling and ignoring their calling for her to wait for them. She was wanting answers to her questions; Gandalf seemed to be the only person she knew who had the answers to them. Just as she crested the top of the hill, holding up a hand to greet the old wizard that had turned to meet her, she spied the short little man standing before Gandalf.

He had a funny face, holding a long pipe in his hands and lifting a dark eyebrow when he saw her. He had a funny hat on his head; it reminded her of a snow cap that people would wear in those funny old shows where it snowed and they were in the middle of no where. His mustache and beard were funny looking, his face kind looking and the smile that came across his countenance revealing dimples. His smile was contagious and Sydney felt the sides of her mouth turning up at the same time as her hand fell unsurely. Sydney immediately froze when she heard a small shout and began slinking back just as a sharp pain pricked the side of her head. Yelping, she reached up to hold the spot as she watched a little pebble fall down to the ground. Just as she was looking up, utterly confused, she was tackled to ground.

By something with an axe in its head.

So, I wanted to thank both MadisonBeck8 and Dragon_Lord_of_Light for voting for my past two chapters!

Anyone guess who tackled poor Sydney and shot her in the head with a pebble and who was talking to Gandalf? XD