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I felt like redropping the revised chapter 1 of my manuscript in the journal. If you'd like a bit more to read, PM me or comment! 3nodding
I apologize profusely for the format problem. Gaia wont let it stay in normal formating. gonk

Chapter 1
It wasn’t change she minded. It was that intolerable unknowing uncomfortable grip that said each and every time, you’re going to screw up. Everything about change was new and uncomfortable, and as much as she hated to admit it, even she got pretty scared once it did.
Tira Kline looked up from her keyboard as thunder crashed outside her window. She shuddered, returning to the glowing light at the side of her face. There would be no reason to turn off her computer until the power cut.
Ping!
Another message.
Her obsessively fast typing was nonetheless unheard over the storm.
Tira spent any waking hours where she was not busied by the turmoil of a normal day on the computer. Her friends here brought a comfort she didn’t receive from school.
They made her laugh, they consoled her when she cried and when they said they loved her she was sure they meant it.
Another ping. Orange flashing light at the bottom of her screen. Click. Type. Enter.
The same routine could flow on for hours at a time. Multiple conversations like this seemed as though being able to talk on three phones at the same time. Tira tried to ignore the fact that she had moved. She tried to burry herself in her work and her computer, because it could make her forget.
CRASH!
The sound came to her ears and she jumped, turning to glare out the window at the storm.
Days like this frustrated her. Days like this, made her remember.
With the moon high in the sky Tira finally turned off her computer and climbed into bed. She pulled the sheets close around her, looking to the ceiling as if it were looking back.
With a smile, she said, “Goodnight.”
As she closed her eyes she drifted off to sleep. In the same moment that her mind began slipping away a voice came to her ears.
“Miss? Is something wrong?”
Tira slowly drifted into consciousness. She could see the light coming through her eyes but it didn’t seem right. She didn’t want to open them.
“It’s Saturday…” she groaned.
“Your Highness it’s far too late to dally. Especially on a day like this. You’re normally up by now. ‘Up before the sun’, you say. Well, the suns up! It’s time!” She felt the sheets pulled from her.
For a moment she curled up, cold air flowing over her. After a few moments to begin to get used to the feeling Tira sat up and opened her eyes, clapping a hand over her mouth to keep from screaming.
Her eyes widened as she looked around. A room of pure white. She was on a clean silken-sheeted bed, at which a thin net canopy was draped around one of the four posts at each corner. All that was otherwise in the small square room that she could see was a dresser, a few paintings, one plant that resembled a fern in the corner and other sparse decorations.
She was dressed in a thin silk nightgown. Air blew in from the open balcony, her gown ruffling in the breeze as she climbed from the bed.
As Tira got up she dashed across the cold tile flooring to reach the balcony, throwing open the heavy curtains to stare across a railed terrace and down into the most beautiful gardens and countryside she had ever seen. Winding gardens paths full of tall flowers and plants, a few sparse heavily guarded trees positioned elegantly at different points through the gardens. Statues and fountains were strategically placed as well, no part of the gardens receiving more attention than others. Beyond the gardens were a series of short, thin walls, all swarming with guards. Aside from the fence she saw in the distance, all that was beyond the palace grounds was grasslands, as far as the eye could see.
All eyes turned to her, some hands clapping to mouths.
“Oh…my god.”
She ran inside, stopping to stare at the maid who’d woken her. She waited a moment. The girl was very young, clad simply in a tunic and robe. The maid had brought a plate of colorful fruits and a piece of bread. She looked back at the maid. She examined the girl’s simple face, her gentle smile and then her eyes came to rest upon something that made her heart race. The girl’s ears were pointed, like those of an Elf.
This is Earth, she told herself. There can’t be Elves. Those are only in books and stories, fiction…Or wait…is this a dream? It must be a dream. I must be dreaming. I certainly don’t feel rested…but…this must be. I was just lying down in my own bed and…
She flushed, her heart pounding and her body rejecting this experience…it couldn’t be possible. She ran to the door, flinging it open to see before her a bright hall, of whites and blues. Chandlers hung about every 20 feet down the hall, suspended in the air as if by magic, their candles snuffing out as she watched. Maids, knights, nobles, and invited guests bustled down the hall, many of their ears also pointed as the maid in her room’s ears had been. Everyone looked up at her, each maid tensed as she laid her eyes upon them. She whipped inside, slamming the door.
She turned to the small woman who had lain out her clothes and was scurrying off.
“Where am I?” she hissed, paling more and more by the moment.
It must be a dream. I’m sure it is…she thought, pausing to take a deep breath, letting herself calm for long enough to feel her heart beat slow. Even in a dream I’m not leaving without clothes…that would be embarrassing.. She walked to the bed to examine the clothing lain out for her. It looked like she was to go outdoors today. The open wardrobe had a forest green cloak lain out across the top of the various ribbon and bow adorned dresses.
Two petticoats and a skirt were out on the bed with a tunic and wrap. Tira dressed quickly, strapping on the heeled boots lain out with the clothing, and grabbing the cloak incase she would need it, before she went to the door and quickly swung it open.
Everyone glanced at her again. This time she ignored them. There was something going on here and she would find out what.
She walked down the right end of the hallway, turning to glance out the highly arched glass panes. Every inch of the glass was sparkling clean, not a mark on it. There was a simple blue and white—to match the rest of the hall--- patterned rug that ran from one end of the hall to the other, stopping in no place. On the other side of the hall were mirrors and doors. Each open door that lead to another hall or room was partially and perfectly covered with a tapestry and hanging silk curtain. Each tapestry was hand-woven and told a story.
Tira stared out the windows at the countryside she saw there. She assumed there must be a town somewhere to match this castle, full of people looking just like the maid she’d met in her room. Elves. Even in her dreams…was it really possible?
She got her answer as she rounded her first corner, slamming blindly into someone and collapsing to the floor.
“I’m sorry!!!” She stammered. The words fell out of her mouth, something she said each time, so common and yet still with feeling.
“Sorry? The Princess Larina? I think this may be the first time in your life you have apologized and been sincere. “She pulled herself from the hall rug, staring straight into the face of another Elf.
#
Indeed, afternoons in small town Virginia were quiet. Most times unless you had somewhere to go, they were boring. Keith Tucker, was going home.
The tall, wiry sixteen year old took Saturday afternoons as a chance to relax. He’d gone to his soccer game and was now on the way home to the only reason he ever got online on Saturdays, friends.
Something didn’t feel right since that morning, and he couldn’t put his finger on it. Yesterday he’d gotten a gift from his girlfriend, something she told him she’d found in a pawn shop and just screamed buy me, and so, she bought it.
It, a book of middle ages history, had a heavy leather binding and a hand cut and sewn seal of intricate designs of water, land and sea. It had been sitting on his dresser since this morning—after he finally took it out of his backpack.
The girl either knew him better than he knew himself, or was totally clueless. He voted option two. He loved the middle ages with a fiery passion but the two of them had never once discussed that. These days he wasn’t even sure why he asked her out in the first place.
The wind blew his gelled, sweat-ridden blonde hair as he opened the front door to his home.
“Mom! I’m home!” He bellowed inside, figuring his mom could be anywhere inside.
“Alright Ricky.” She called back. From the living-room, he could hear the smile in her voice.
He smiled, rolling his eyes and shooting up the stairs as soon as the door was closed. Everybody’s a critic.
Down the hall and into his room, he closed the door and made sure to press the power button on his computer before he changed clothes.
He brought up his messenger and checked his e-mail. Then, a box popped on his screen.
Darklady227: have you seen tira?
KDTucker: why?
Darklady227: have you seen tira?
KDTucker: is something wrong with her?
Darklady227 has signed off
A throb came into Keith’s chest. He thought of Tira and what she had been through lately. In the course of the past year his friend Tira Kline had been uprooted from her home of sixteen and a half years of Detroit Michigan and dropped in a small community outside of Louisville Kentucky. The whole reason for the move was her father. A major medical research program was going on at one of the hospitals downtown, and he was transferred to Louisville to participate.
Tira was able to get into the magnet program at their prestigious magnet high school, and she did all she could to keep herself from losing her sanity. Tira threw herself into her work. All she did was homework, studying, or was online. He hadn’t heard of once beyond school and school related things when she’d been out of the house in the time she’d been in Kentucky.
Tira had struggled in finding herself since the move. Her boyfriend of two and a half years had broken up with her since then. They had been together since Keith had met Tira online about two years ago. They’d known each other for five years. Since middle school. They were friends for so long that eventually dating just became inevitable. Soul mates.
He broke up with her because of the distance. In her words, he’d found someone else. From that day forth Keith was always worrying about Tira. There had not been a day Keith knew her that since the move she had not been online, even with an away message. It meant to everyone who cared about her that everything was okay.
What could he do? …Nothing. They were only online friends. He didn’t even have her cell number.
He needed a distraction. It had to be over-reacting. A distraction. That’s all he could do. No news was good news, right? He turned and grabbed the nearest thing to him. The book his girlfriend had given him.
When he got it he stared at the cover for a moment, running his fingers over each design. He opened the thick latch at the side and then the cover. The first page confused him. It was all gibberish. He couldn’t read a word of it. Some kind of language that didn’t look like any he had ever seen.
He turned the page, and a flash of light came from the center of the right side. He yelped, dropping the book.
His mom came to the stairs.
“Keith! Is everything okay?”
“Yes mom!” He yelled back.
He grabbed the book from its spot on the carpet, opening it carefully. The same flash came from the center of the second page. A word appeared out of the light.
ENTER
He read the word, mesmerized by its appearance.
“Enter…”
And so he did.