Her father frowned and scratched his chin.

“Oh, oh,” Molly Doogan thought as she twisted a lock of her brown hair tighter around her finger. She leaned further out from the chair she was almost sitting on.

Watching her father turn another page of the story she and Netty had written together, Molly worried about his reaction. Don ’t be mad. Please don ’t be mad. She hoped thinking it would make it so.

He made a little hmm-like noise. What did that mean?

She couldn’t tell from his expression what he was thinking. Just a few more pages, then she ’d know. Hurry and finish.

She watched as he read the last page. He took off his glasses, put the pages together and handed them back to Molly.

“Well, Kiddo, this is some story.” He nodded as he spoke. “Yes, sir, quite a story.”

Molly tried to read the look on his face. “You ’re not mad or anything, are you? ”Then she added fast, “Mom ’s not.” She was glad she was able to add that, though it had surprised her.
Her father rubbed his eyes. “Why would I be angry?”

“Because —you know, I didn’t stop with the Rairarubia story like you and Mom said I should. And it ’s your story, too. You know, we started it together and all. I thought maybe you wouldn’t like what Netty and I did.” She paused, “We added stuff.”

Her father looked puzzled. Then smiled. “Oh, you mean because we stopped making up the stories together?”

Molly nodded, though that wasn’t the real reason.

Her father smiled. “No, I think what you two wrote is even better than what we made up. You and Netty did a great job. I mean, the story is pretty far-fetched.” He laughed. “I know I couldn’t have come up with some of this.” He pointed to the pages Molly held. “I’m happy you ’re making good use of your imagination. Not that this could happen, of course. But that ’s fantasy —fiction —made-up stories.”

Couldn’t happen? If you only knew, Molly thought!

Everything in that story did happen. But that was one secret she could never share with anyone but Netty.

Molly ’s mind flooded with thoughts of the last trip she and her best friend made. That was a close one, tricking her mother into coming to Rairarubia. But someone had to help save Romey and Sam and all the others infected by the plague. The nasty Mammoth ’s revenge on Rairarubia almost worked. Only a doctor could have saved Rairarubia.

And her mother did just that with those antibiotics. To thank her, someone there put an unusual ring in her black doctor bag. Where it came from still puzzled her.

But her mother would never know she ’d been there or where the ring came from. Somehow the strange, mysterious powers that be have kept her mother from remembering she’d
ever been in Rairarubia. A good thing. If her parents knew the truth …

Her father interrupted her thoughts. “So how did you and Netty decide who would make up what? All the stories come together like one big adventure.”

Molly wanted to say, “All we did was write down what actually happened or sometimes what we hoped happen.” Instead, she shrugged her shoulders and said, “We worked really hard on it.”

“I can see that. Well, I ’m sure your teacher will like it. It shows a lot of imagination and inventiveness.”

Molly smiled, relieved her parents weren’t upset. “We only wrote the truth,” she thought. Then said, “I hope Miss Turner will accept it from both of us. She expected us to write separate stories.”

“Oh, I don ’t see why she wouldn’t. Your story will probably be the longest one turned in.” Her father grinned.“ And your mom tells me she ’s seen you two work long hours on it.”

“That ’s for sure.” Molly held up the story pages. “This was not an easy project,” she said with emphasis. And you’ll never know the half of it, she dared not say.

Back in her room, Molly relaxed. A big burden of deceit she had been living was lifted. She ’d been wrong. Her parents didn’t object to her writing her story about Rairarubia after all. She had misunderstood what they meant. Now she and Netty were free to give their teacher the stories everyone would think they made up.

If only she could get rid of the rest of her guilty feelings. But how could she tell her parents that she could travel to Rairarubia whenever she wanted. Or whenever she was called upon. All she had to do was place the nine pebbles in a circle around her and wish herself to Rairarubia. Even though she had proven it to Netty, sometimes she felt it couldn’t be true. But it is. She can travel to another dimension.

Tomorrow, she and Netty would turn in their story and that will be a great relief and the end for both of them.

But the end of what? The end of her trips to Rairarubia? Was she ever going to see Romey, Sam, Tracy, Herman, and all the others ever again?

The thought of not seeing them brought a hollow feeling in her stomach. She opened her dresser drawer where she hid the pouch with the nine pebbles that magically transported her to Rairarubia. She reached under her clothes but didn’t feel it. Where was it? One by one she tossed out all the clothes in her drawer.

It wasn’t there!

Thinking maybe she had put them in another drawer, Molly emptied every one. Nothing but clothes.

The pouch was gone! How could that be?

Molly slumped to the floor, leaning against her bed. One more time, she patted the clothes now on the floor around her. No pouch underneath them.

Where was it?

The only other person who knew about the pouch of pebbles was Netty. But Netty wouldn’t take them. Why would she? She freaked out every time they went to Rairarubia.

Where could it be? Did she leave the pouch in a jacket pocket? What had she worn on the last trip to Rairarubia?

Like a dog digging for a buried bone, Molly dug through all her clothes in her closet. Even the dirty ones in the clothes hamper. She got on her hands and knees and searched under her bed, then the closet floor again.

Nothing.

The pouch of pebbles was gone!

Molly threw herself on her bed, tears forming. So this was how the adventures ended. No more mysterious transportation to Rairarubia. Only one thing could have happened to her pouch.
Some force from there had taken her pebbles back, just as they had brought them to her.
“I guess I ’m no longer needed,” she told herself.

Tears slid down Molly ’s cheeks. She never got to say goodbye to Romey or Sam. Would never get to know Princess Tracy better. Never again would she meet Herman the Huge, Chance, or the little sassy Tunnelsuit, or the big, sweet, simple Bearsark.

Molly couldn’t help but smile through her tears remembering how Bearsark had thought he ’d broken her mother’s camera. If only he hadn’t opened it, she would have pictures of at least some of her characters. Like those Zingwings!

She shivered. Thank goodness Netty blinded the thing by using the camera flash. Well, there were some characters she would be glad never to see again. And some of the adventures had come close to giving her a heart attack.

But not to visit Rairarubia ever again? The thought brought more tears.

“Molly, Netty ’s here!” her father called from downstairs.

Molly sat up on the edge of her bed and wiped her tears with her sleeve.

Netty stuck her head in the door. “Hey.”

“Hey,” Molly whispered..

“What ’s the matter? You ’re crying.”

“Brilliant observation.” Molly didn’t mean to sound so snotty. She took in a deep breath and let it all out at once. “Sorry.”

“Oh, oh. Your parents are mad about our story, huh?” Netty sat legs crossed on the floor at Molly ’s feet. She tugged on her long pigtail. “Are you grounded?”

“No. Worse.”

“What ’s worse?”

“My pouch. The pebbles. They ’re gone.”

“Gone?” Netty ’s freckled face looked bland. “What d ’ya mean? Gone how?”

“Gone, like in gone. I’ve looked everywhere.” Molly waved an arm around at the clothes lying all over her room.

“I can’t find them.”

“You sure? You've looked everywhere?” Netty got up and noticed the clothes all over the room.

“Yeah, guess you did.”

“I think they took them back.”

“Who they?”

“You know. The same they who gave them to me. They must have taken them back.”

“But why?”

Molly shrugged. “I guess I —we —aren’t needed in Rairarubia any more.” Molly ’s throat tightened up again at the thought.

“Freakers. Think so?”

Molly threw herself on the bed and buried her head in a pillow.

“Gee, Molly …” Netty sat cross legged on the floor. “In a way, that’s good, don’tcha think?”
Molly raised her head. “Good?”

“Sure. I mean, we had some narrow escapes in Rairarubia. Now things must be okay in the big R. We did our part to help out. Your mom even got a great ring out of it. True, she doesn’t know where it came from, but we do.”

Molly sat up. “But won ’t you miss going there? Won ’t you miss all the people and creatures we’ve met?”

“Not some of ‘em, thank you. Anyway, you know that place wigged me out. I was always scared every time I went there and always happy to be back. Hey, you should be glad we ’re not needed any more. We did a good job of helping out.”

Molly thought about that. “Guess so. Still, it ’s like losing good friends, friends you’ll never see again.” She wiped her tears from her cheeks.

Netty shrugged her shoulders. “Yeah, well, they’re all made up characters, remember?”
“Are they? They seemed pretty real to me.”

“Freakers, Molly. Don’t go weird headed on me. You and your dad made them up. They aren’t —real. Like, not in the real sense, I mean. They’re sorta real.”

Molly’s face showed surprise and anger. “How can you say that? You met them. They are to real.”

Netty rolled her eyes. “Yeah, believe me I know they’re real there. I meant, they weren’t real until you made them up. They ’re not real here. Only there, in Rairarubia.”

“But how do we know that?” Molly sat up on the edge of her bed. “I mean, how is it possible to make up a place and all the characters and then, you know, meet them for real —alive —in the flesh? Touch them? Talk to them?”

Netty ’s head went up and down. “Yeah. Exactly my point. Sometimes I can ’t believe that we’ve been doing what we’ve been doing. That ’s what I mean. Logic says it can ’t be real.”

“But it is. Besides, some of those characters we didn’t make up. Remember? And things happened in Rairarubia that we didn’t know about until we got there. Time passed there, but not here. No, I think maybe my dad and I tapped into something real. I don ’t know how. But you’ve been there, met them, talked to them, touched them.”

Netty took a deep breath and sighed. “Yeah. I guess I just don ’t want to believe it half the time, but I sure did. And it’s something only you and me will ever know about.”

“You and I,” Molly corrected.

“Whatever.” Netty wrinkled her nose and tugged at her pigtail.

Molly sighed. “So I guess our adventures are over. Mission accomplished, huh?”

Netty stroked her pigtail. “Yeah. Well, the sane part of me feels relief. Things were getting pretty woo-woo-woo.”

Netty let out a nervous giggle. “You know. Flying horses.

Holographs. Gremerkles. Eekalas. I mean, come on!”

Molly tried to smile. “Come on, yourself. You know you loved it all. Admit it.”

“Yeah? In your ear.” Netty gave a little smile. “Well, flying on the Eekala does beat a roller coaster any day. Anyway, he best part for me is that we got a cool story for school out of it. Where is it, by the way?”

Molly gestured with her head. “On my desk.”

Netty went to the desk and picked up the stack of papers. She started counting the pages, then stopped. “Hey, what ’s this?”

“What?”

“The last four pages. They all say the same thing.”

“I don’t know what you mean.” Molly got off the bed and stood next to Netty.

“See? The last four pages.” Netty showed her each one.

Puzzled, Molly said, “All four say the same thing —’The Ring ’.’

“Yeah. Why ’d you do that?”

Molly got excited. “Netty, I didn’t do anything. My dad just read the story, and he would have said something if he ’d seen these pages.”

“So? What are you saying?”

Molly shook her head. Then her face brightened. “You know, I think it ’s a message from Rairarubia. Those pages are telling us something —a message of some sort.”

“Oh, no. Not again. Hun-uh. You just want things to go on.”

“No, don ’t you see, Netty? The Ring. Four pages that neither of us wrote —all saying the same thing. The ring.”

“Yeah, but what ring?”

Molly smiled. “Think about it. You know. What other ring could it be?”

Netty frowned. Then her eyes grew wide as she said, “Freaker dinker! The ring from Rairarubia. The one they gave your mother.”

“That’s it. Gotta be, ”Molly said, jumping up and stepping over the clothes on the floor.

“Wait a sec.” Netty cocked her head. “Ring could mean a lot of things.”

“Like what?” Molly stopped moving around.

Netty shrugged. “Maybe like the circle of nine pebbles —you, know, what we sit in to travel to Rairarubia. That ’s a ring.”

“Yeah. Maybe,” Molly agreed. She sat on the edge of her bed. “What else?”

“Just about anything. What about the ring of a bell — like a doorbell or the phone —ding-a-ling, Rairarubia calling.”

“Netty!”

“Or the ring around a bathtub.” Netty laughed.“ A circus ring …”

“Netty! Stop it. Get serious.” Molly scowled.

“Well, excuse stupid little ol’ me. Come on, Molly. You just want to make those pages look like some kind of message from Rairarubia ‘cause you want to go there again.”

“No, I don ’t!” Molly shot back.

“Yes, you do. And don’t say you don’t. You were crying when I got here because you thought you ’d never see Rairarubia again. Now you’re hoping for some way to get back, and I don ’t see why. It ’s all over, and you should be glad. I sure am.”

“But what about those four pages? I didn’t write them and neither did you. If that ’s not a message, then what does it mean?”

Netty shrugged her shoulders, showing she was tired of the whole discussion. “Maybe you wrote them and forgot. Who knows and who cares besides you. Give it up, Molly.”

Molly didn’t say anything. She picked up the four pages and read them again.

She gasped. Then she looked at her friend and smiled.

“What now?” Netty asked.

Saying nothing, Molly handed the four pages to Netty who reluctantly read them again.

“Freakers!” Like she ’d been burned, Netty let the pages drop to the floor.