Chapter 3 of Unnamed Book, Elandai

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Chapter 3

Kaela hopped down from the passenger seat of the U-haul moving truck and moved out of the way, onto the lawn of the new house. Turning around, she stared at it.

It wasn't huge...but it wasn't small, either. It was certainly bigger than their last house. Looking around the subdivision, she could see that the other houses were like that, too. Some had fancy lawn decorations, others had perfect landscaping.

She could see a few kids her age, peeking around the back of a house, to gawk at the large moving truck sitting in the middle of the street. All of them had bathing suits on, so Kaela figured that particular house must have a pool in the backyard.

Kaela looked up the street in time to see the family van, with Ben and Mom in it, (Ben was driving, and Mom was holding onto her seat--the typical reaction whenever Ben drove) carrying the last of the boxes.

They parked in the driveway, and then Ben hopped out. He stood for a moment, looking at the house, and then said, "This is it?"

Mom climbed out of the car. "Yep. Now let's go and help your father unload."
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Several hours later, Kaela and Ben both explored the backyard of the house. It was perfectly trimmed, with flower gardens, and even a pool, but they weren't interested.

"How could these people survive without a woods?" Ben asked, slightly horrified. He stared glumly at an orange flower as he and Kaela sat on the steps of the deck.

Kaela picked up a smooth, white stone from off the ground and rubbed it as she sat there silently. Then: "Want to meet the other kids with me?"

Ben considered. "I'm guessing you won't meet them without me, right?"

"Well...yeah."

He considered some more. "Um...fine, I guess I will. The only ones I saw were--"

"Hello?" Ben and Kaela both jumped of the steps and turned toward where the noise had come from. Kaela's hand had involuntarily drifted to where her sword hilt would have been in Elandai, and then realized the motion and clamped her hand at her side.

A girl, about Kaela's age, maybe a little older, stood on the lawn, surveying them. She had red hair--very red hair--that was gathered up in two pigtails that reached down nearly to the small of her back. Her eyes were a bright blue, and she clutched a black notebook so securely that Kaela wondered if she carried it around with her all the time.

"Um...I'm sorry I startled you," the girl said. "Your mom said that you would be back here. I saw that some kids were moving in, so I wanted to meet you guys before they got to you. I'm Lisa."

"My name's Kaela," Kaela said, remembering her manners, "And this is my big brother, Ben."

Ben smiled, and then said, "Whose they?"

"They," Lisa said the word as if it was poison, "Are the popular kids. They don't like nerds like me. At all. They sort of have a way of sucking you into their traps, tricking you that you're their friend, when they're really not. You know what I mean?"

Both Ben and Kaela nodded.

Lisa continued. "And that brings me to the notebook. My brother is part of them, so he basically ignores me. I think he considers it cool to do that. So I took to writing."

"Writing?" squealed Kaela. "You write?"

Lisa wriggled her eyebrows. "All the time. Mainly about other worlds. Don't you think it would be nice to go to other worlds? I don't think anyone ever has, though. Wouldn't it be awesome?"

"Yeah," Ben agreed, glancing at Kaela. "Awesome."

Kaela smiled.

Right before Kaela was about to ask Lisa a question about how to start books, a brilliant flash lit up the whole backyard.

They all covered their eyes, and Lisa screamed. For an instant, Kaela felt a topsy-turvy feeling, like the time she had been on a roller-coaster and it had suddenly plunged, as roller-coasters usually do. Then everything righted again.

Lisa uncovered her eyes, screamed again, and shut them.

Ben and Kaela uncovered their eyes, and gasped in delight.

"Yes!" Kaela crowed. "He did it!"

They were standing on steeply sloped ground, in a forest. Ben guessed that the forest was located on a mountain. In Elandai.