30Chapter 1: Hailstorm
The song ended and the d.j. came on, announcing the news and weather reports. Cara Nelson reached over to turn the volume up, eyeing the black sky uneasily. The dark thunderheads had come from nowhere to fill the blue Nebraska sky, blown by a brisk wind that flattened the yellow grain in the fields along the highway. Lightning flickered in their inky depths, and thunder rumbled ominously.
The weather announcer came on in a burst of static. ". . . . flood warnings have been issued . . . counties. This storm's come . . . nowhere, and it looks like hail . . . on the highway, you'd better get to cover . . . ."
An especially hard gust of wind buffeted the car and the radio was lost in static as an erratic drumming began on the rooftop.
Cara cursed under her breath. Hail, and she hadn't owned the Civic a month yet! But where could she find shelter? Flat fields of grain and grass stretched as far as she could see, except for that one dark spot . . . what was that, anyway?
Cara flicked on the wipers to combat the downpour of ice. A grove of trees stood not quite a mile from the road, at the end of a dirt track. It was rough, but . . . the rain began to come down even harder, faster.
"Go for it," Cara told her little car as she steered it off the road.
She reached the dubious shelter of the trees just as the hail began to come down. She parked and turned off the headlights, watching the rain drip off the edges of the tree leaves. The foliage must be pretty thick, Cara thought. The rain was hardly getting through at all. In fact, it was nearly dry under here.
She rolled down the window and stuck her hand out, feeling for any stray raindrops. Finally, as much to stretch her legs after the six-hour drive as to satisfy her curiosity, Cara got out of the car and began to work her way over to the edge of the grove, several yards away. She would watch for the storm to let up and continue on her way, she decided.
It was quieter over here, on the side of the grove away from the highway. Had the storm let up already? Cara made her way to the edge of the trees and stopped, gaping.
The yellow fields were gone. Tall green grass stretched from her feet toward the horizon. A river cut through this new meadow, though Cara could have sworn none had been there before. "How gorgeous," she breathed. Why hadn't she seen all this from the road?
Far off in the distance, there stood the dark silhouette of a tall building. From what she could see, it looked almost like a storybook castle, with four tall towers and wide walls. Dark smudges like hedges and bright patches of red, blue, purple, orange, and yellow surrounded it.
Cara stood staring for a long moment. Was she dreaming? Where had all the neat Nebraskan fields gone? What the heck was going on? She couldn't be lost, could she? Perhaps she was too tired from the long drive. She just needed some caffeine; that was it.
A movement caught her eye. A large brown rabbit hopped over an overgrown dirt path that Cara hadn't noticed before. It stopped and nibbled at a blade of grass, then shook itself. Suddenly, two wide, leathery shapes stretched out from the rabbit's shoulders. The rabbit- which-wasn't-really-a-rabbit gave a little hop-and flew away.
A/N: Hope you're enjoying . Thanks to those who reviewed its first incarnation: Wootang, Buneater, ColorCrayons, WereCat99, and DeeEE. Hope you'll review this version too! ^_^