Matt Folsom stood silently as Andy put the few small articles of clothing that she had been permitted to leave behind at his house into a small shopping bag. The tension and the silence in the house was so thick, you could cut it with a knife. The only sound except for the humming of the air conditioning unit was the soft sniffles the red-eyed female made as she stuffed her things into the bag. It had been the fight to end all fights, literally as the girl was collecting her things to depart the small, fragile relationship in the most reluctant fashion. In the corner of the dining area, next to the computer desk, Matt watched with dispassionate eyes as Andy shoved her ACU jacket into the bag and reached for a book. His eyes turned away from her for a moment before a necklace on the table beside him caught his attention. Oval shaped, with gold and crystal decorating the front, it looked like a locket of some kind. His hand closed over it for a moment, before he turned toward the black clad female.
    "Andy." He said in an emotionless tone. From within her musings and deep seated thoughts, Andy managed to look up when her name was called.
    "Hmm...?" She asked in a quiet, despondent voice. Matt held his hand out to her, causing the girl to frown. She didn't remember wearing a necklace with such a beautiful gold chain here, ever. She reached out and took the locket from him, moving to pry it open at the edges with a fingernail. She paused at that point, her frown deepening and her head tilting to the side.
    Inside the pretty locket was no picture or portrait. Instead there was a single white hair, curled into a thin bundle and held against the locket with tiny pieces of gold wire. Finding that rather odd, she closed the locket with a sharp click and turned it over. A small inscription was written on the back of it, but it was so little she could hardly read it. Matt seemed to be frowning at her as she took off the small, wire-rimmed glasses she wore and held them close to the backside of the necklace she was holding. After a long minute, she returned the gun metal colored lenses to their usual perch on her nose and held the locket out for him to take.
    "It's not mine. It's got an inscription, though, that makes no sense."
 Matt's hand curled around the fine golden chain as he asked, "What's it say?"
    "It just says 'Powers of the goddesses three, I call unto thee. Luster, bring me home.' That-..." Andy trailed off before her sentence could be finished as the amulet that had not yet left her hand light up brilliantly. She squinted slightly at the bright light, both her and Matt leaning forward to peer at the strange crystals that were now filled with an otherworldly glow.
    "What the-..." Andy was sure he meant to finish that sentence but her ears were suddenly filled with a roaring sound like a train or a tornado was suddenly bearing down on top of them. The shining light grew brighter and brighter until Andy had to lift her free hand to shield her vision from the searing white light, but it was to no avail. There was a strange jerk around her navel, as if an elevator was descending more rapidly than anticipated, that made her feel like her feet had come off the floor. She parted her lips to release a breathless shriek as she felt the sensations of reaching the top of a rollercoaster and being hurtled now down the track toward the ground. The light went from white to black and Andy finally lapsed into unconsciousness.
   When Andy came to herself again, she discovered that she was laying flat on her back in a spread-eagle position on something that felt soft and kind of spongy underneath her skin. Her eyes were closed and her heart was still pounding wildly in her chest, yet the warm summer breeze brushing strands of hair against her cheek and the sound of birds chirping attempted to soothe her. Taking a moment to breathe deeply, she opened her eyes only to be greeted by a canopy of green leaves, bedazzled with sunlight. Trees wider than she was tall stretched endlessly to the sky all around her, the warm breeze rustling bright green leaves and revealing glimpses of a perfect, forget-me-not blue sky. Birds sang and courted here and there around her and the sunlight fell in dappled shafts and god rays to the grassy ground beneath them.
    "Oh God..." the male voice to Andy's side startled her from her reverie and she jerked her head sharply to the side to see the equally sprawled form of Matt laying at her side, their hands connected by the gold and crystal amulet. Heart slamming into her throat all over again, Andy jerked herself upright, abruptly pulling the amulet free of his fingers as she attempted to blink away the black spots left on her vision by the bright lights. Following her, Matt sat up more slowly, turning his azure eyes around what looked to be a clearing in the middle of the woods. The bewildered expression on his face rightly matched that of his female counterpart, Matt's house was no where near an obviously ancient forest filled with enormous trees that would take an entire platoon to encircle with their fingertips barely touching. So, the real question remained. Where the hell were they and how did they get here?
    "M-Matt...?" She whispered softly.
    "Yeah, I'm seeing it too." He replied as Andy squished her fingers into the length of green grass growing beneath her palms. It was definitely real enough feeling, was it possibly a dream? But yet, Matt was seeing the same thing that she was. So, there was only one thing left to do. Scout out the area. With a groan, the small female hauled herself onto her feet and took the time to brush the grass and moss off her black hooded jacket and out of her waist length pigtails. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Matt following suit and getting to his feet, so she proceeded to wander a few feet away to take in her surroundings.
    "Either this is the most lucid dream I've ever had, or this is actually real..." She rubbed the back of her neck with her hand before she shrugged her shoulders to shuck her jacket off, revealing the black tank top that she had been wearing underneath. It was warm out, unnaturally so, which made Andy all the more nervous because it had been chilly not twenty minutes ago when she had arrived at Matt's house to claim her things. As she bent her head to tie the sleeves of the jacket around her waist over the baggy black zip off pants she wore, something gold bumped against her sternum. There was the locket, hanging from its fine chain around her throat. Andy stared at it for a moment, looking bemused, before she started across the clearing to look at the trees.
    "What are you doing now?" Matt asked, sounding not only confused but a little worried as well.
    "Just having a look." She replied calmly before she turned her attention to the trees. Well, there went the Hobbit idea. The nearest branches of the closet tree were at least twenty or more feet above her head, well beyond her reach even if Matt would let her stand on his shoulders. So much for trying to gauge where they were from the top of the canopy. Taking a deep breath, she turned around slowly in the center of the clearing before she heard it. Sharp, beautiful, crystalline. The sound of water trickling over stones, pouring through walls of dirt and stone, the tinkling sound of a small river or stream. Well, according to all those nature shows she'd ever watched, life always accumilated around water. So maybe, if they went and checked out the river, they might find people fishing or something so that they could get directions. Clasping her hand protectively around the amulet at her throat, she suddenly started off in the direction that she heard the water coming from.
    "Andy?" Matt asked behind her.
    "Come on, this way." She called over her shoulder at him.
    "Where are you going?" She didn't seem to want to stop and wait for him to catch up to her.
    "There's a river up ahead. People always fish on Saturdays. We can get directions." She explained as she stepped over a fallen log and continued winding her way through the trees. She heard Matt grumble something behind her before he started after her, stretching his legs to reach her side a few moments later.
    "And what exactly gave you the idea of heading to a river?" He asked at this point.
    "Something I saw on a nature show. Life gravitates toward water, and people are always fishing on Fort Campbell, rain or shine. So, maybe we'll find a fisherman." She replied casually, trying to force calmness into her voice as she wandered along, her hands tucked quietly into her pockets. The mere thoughts of their location, how they got to this bizarre place in the first place, chased themselves around and around in her head, causing more havok with her thoughts than the presence of the man at her side. With great difficulty, she forced down the rising panic and upset, focusing instead on what she was going to do to get out of here and far away from Matt. Taking a deep breath, Andy strolled ahead of Matt a bit more forcefully. Space, that was all she needed, and she'd be able to clear her head and figure all of this out.
    Of course, that would be very short lived. The ground crunched audibly underneath Andy's booted feet, the sound of branches snapping underneath a weight greater than it could withstand. And then, with a gasp from Andy, it gave way. THUD! She landed flat on her back amid a pile of debris and dead leaves, whacking her head against the ground hard enough for her to see stars for several moments. When her vision finally cleared, her breath coming in sharp pants and gasps, she was looking up at the rim of a large hole in the ground, Matt's pale face staring down at her with twin emotions of fear and panic crossing his features.
    "Andy! Are you all right?" He called down at her.
    "Yeah..." She wheezed. "I'm good!"
    Andy rolled onto her side, coughing and spluttering as she fought to regain her breath. Once her chest loosened from the oxygen deprived constriction, she was able to get up onto her knees and look up at him. Relief was spreading across his face as she hauled herself to her feet, brushing the dirt and twigs out of her hair and rubbing the back of her head slightly. She winced, knowing she was going to have one hell of a goose egg now, and took a look around. The hole was roughly fifteen feet in diameter, rather cleverly disguised with a layer of leaves and thin branches that would never have even held her slight weight, let alone that of a larger creature or someone Matt's size. The edge of the hole was also about ten or so feet above her head, not at all possible for her to escape out of.
    "Think you can climb out?" Matt asked her, calling her attention back up to his worried face and her heart skipped a beat as she looked up at him. He reached down into the depths of the hole, his hand extended for her. She offered him a small smile as she nodded, stepping up to reach for his hand. Their fingertips touched but it certainly wasn't enough to get a firm enough grip to get her out. She backed up to the far side of the hole, Matt steeling himself for the intending leap so he can grab ahold of her. Then she took off across the hole, leaping as she dug the toes of her boots into the sides of the hole, scrambling with her free hand for purchase before her wrist slapped against his palm and his fingers latched on around the slender appendage. She clasped onto him with all her might and dug her feet into the side of the hole to help push herself up.
    Matt's face darkened with the strain of heaving the small woman up, he getting his knees underneath himself as he gripped and pulled. She moved a few inches toward freedom and he shifted his position further until he was in a crouch, both hands gripping her own as she walked against the wall to help him as best she could. He used his legs to ease the strain in his arms, slowly straightening, pulling, pulling, and then, her foot stepped onto firm ground and his weight shifted dangerously and he toppled over backwards. Andy almost had her footing when Matt flopped over onto the ground, pulling her with him to fall on his chest as they fell to the ground with a breathless "Oof!"
    "Matt! Are you okay?" She gasped as she planted her hands on the ground to push herself up a bit to look at him. He looked up at her, his bright blue eyes holding something between shock and pleasant surprise in them before Andy realized exactly what she was doing and a brilliant red flush burned her cheeks.
    "I'm better now." He tried to laugh off the awkward situation as Andy moved to climb off him, and froze in midmovement. "What?"
    Andy, however, didn't seem to hear him. Her gaze had lifted from his own as she moved to get up and she looked beyond him with a measure of shock on her features. She scrambled off her former boyfriend and moved to stand up as she peered at the three magnificent creatures standing across the clearing from him.