Chapter 21~

Brookiera could have collapsed with exhaustion by the time they reached the village. It was mid-morning and the sun had rose about an hour ago, much to the relief of the exhasted travelers. Brookeira glanced at Brig, and could tell that her travelling partner was just as exhausted.

Both girls had dark lines under their eyes, their skin was pale, and it seemed as if a fog had fallen over them as they were quite and stared before them.

They had found the entrance almost instantly, as there happened to be a trader and his donkey leaving the trees.

They trudged into the village and were greeted almost instantly by a large woman. She looked at them, her look showing her pity for the two.

Before Brig could comprehend what had happened, both girls were bundled up by the kind woman's fire and eating her stew, a welcome gift to fill their empty bellies. 

Brig spoke up after her first bowl, wiping her lips and sighing contentedly. "Thank you Ma'm."

The woman nodded, "Tis nothing. I happened to have some left over stew that my recent guests didn't finish off."

Brookiera shot up, turning to her. "Recent guests? Were there three of them? Three girls?" Brookiera's eyes widened with panic. "Two? One of them wa-"

"Goodness! Yes, there were three. They had extra horses too, a strange thing for ones so young, but I didn't ask any question. I believe they left the horses in the village, if you're interested."

Brookeira nodded, her panic receeding. "Did they say where they were headed?" 

"Something about the Old Wiches' lair." She shook her head, sighing. "Not sure, but that's what I heard." She stood up and brushed off her apron, her wide shoulders rising with her sudden intake of breath. "My aplogies lass, but I must be on my way. You can stay here for the time beining, but don't try anything."

Brig smiled kindly at her, though she still was exhausted. "We'll be sleeping. Thank you for your kindness."

Without another word, the woman nodded and left, leaving the two girls in silence.

Finally, Brookeira spoke. "After sleeping, we should try to find our horses. Or some horses, it's most likely they traded out the other horses for fresher ones."

Brig nodded, to tired to argue. "Yeah....Can we...?"

Brookiera nodded and lay back. "We'll have horses. And soon we'll catch up with them..."

Brig lay awake for a short time longer, but it was obvious Brookeira had fallen asleep. Soon, Brig fell alseep also, drifting off into her own world. A world without exhaustion, or physical exertion, or pain. Maybe, she hoped, they would catch up with the others before they became permantently separated.

Yay! A new chapter is in progress!!

Katy was woken by Emily, who was woken by Evie tickling her feet. Emily had squealed and woken with a start, followed almot immediatly by Katy, who looked similar to a dead zombie. Yes, she looked that awful. Katy grumbled and slowly sat up, swinging her feet off the couch so they landed with a plop. Emily, already fully awake giggled, only to have the sound muffled by a pillow. She laughed and grabbed the pillow, throwing it at Evie.

Slowly and grumpily Katy made her way to the staircase and headed up to her room, in desperate need of a shower. "I'll be right back," she sighed. "Help yourself to the cereal."

"Cereal?" Emily asked, turning to Evie, only to be wacked with another pillow.

"Yeah, I think it's the rainbow stuff in boxes," she said, pointing to the table. "They're very sweet."

"Oh, is that why you're so hyper?" Emily asked, standing up and habitually brushing off something off her pants. 

Evie giggled and turned, heading toward the kitchen. "Proba-" she began, only to be interrupted by a loud ringing noise echoing throughout the house.

"The door!" Emily exclaimed, running to open it. Somebody gave a wry smile and stepped in, followed by Keli, who gave the medieval girls a huge hug and would have given one to Somebody if she hadn't glared at her.

By the time Katy was out of the shower, almost all of the girls were there, except Katy, who was still upstairs, of course, and Dasiy. Katy came down to the living room and gasped, "The crazy people have doubled! I didn't even think we owned that many pillows!" All of the girls were having a major pillow fight, and cereal was thrown across the floor.

Joan held her hands up, sitting calmly on a couch, "I had nothing to do with this." Katy sighed and went to the kitchen, preparing some toast for everyone.

"So, Evie, you had a pretty intsersting theory," she said, sitting down on the couch.

"Yeah! I was wondering what you guys came up with," Daisy said, plopping down next to Joan.

"Well....I had this idea that maybe, possibly, the missing chapters are about people from my time period? Maybe? I have no idea. I wish I wrote more about what happened in my journal..or...will write?"

"Yeah, this whole timeline stuff is confusing," Serena pointed out. "But how do we know this isn't some joke? Some major joke."

Phil shrugged, "It could be....but...honestly who would go through with all of this?"

"It's not a joke!" Evie exclaimed, "I need to get back to my kingdom." She looked around the room, her face set and determined with her hands on her hips. "And I am NOT some crazy person. My gaurdian will find a way to get to me, I'm sure of it."

"Your guardian?" Hermoine asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes my...my guardian. My protector," she stated, holding her head high.

"I'm her handmaiden, not a warrior," Emily pointed out.

"I'm pretty sure this isn't a joke," Phil stated. "It would have to be one of us, but not many of us knew each other before this..." she waved her hands frantically, "whole thing..."

"Very true," Keli said, grinning as usual, even though she had a frui-loop stained lips. It apparently didn't bother her, or she didn't notice.

"Well...I don't know how we are going to get you home," Hermoine said. "We're just girls, and it's not like magic is a thing...right?"

"In our time it is," Emily coughed, grinning sheepishly.

"So...is this magic? Because the only way you two could have gotten was by magic. But since we don't have magic here, there is no way for you to get back." Serena commented, looking nervously around the room.

"There has to be some magic!" Evie cried out, her face had fallen and she looked heartbroken.

"Look, we'll do our very best Evie, okay? We're trying as hard as we can to get you home."

~~~~~~~

There. Got that. I don't know when the next chapter will be XD.