L3TT3RS

Since you and I have both journeyed on to chapter three and have still managed to keep our sanity, I will press on. I know that this book has possibly gotten just a teeny bit confusing, but hopefully not to the point where you feel you are so overwhelmed that you need a hot bath and some therapy. Trust me, you'll be fine.

Well, I guess it is about time to return to the three characters, Pearl, Ebony and Jack. You haven't forgotten about them, have you? Of course not. I packed your head full of information on them in the first chapter. If you can't remember anything about them now, I encourage you to go back and read it once more, because there is no way I am describing them again.

Now that we got that out of the way, let's see where these three characters have wandered off to. So far, they have each read their letters and have each decided, for different reasons, to go on the journey I have set before them. You, as an interested, intelligent reader, are probably wondering this: exactly how are they going to begin? All in good time. Your questions will be answered shortly.

I will start with Pearl. She had finished reading the letter and immediately looked up at the sky, "So, up there somewhere someone is watching me?"

Since I can't just simply nod in reply to her, I gave her a thought that answered her question.

"Oh, well...there has to be, doesn't there?" She asked herself. She seemed quite amazed at herself, "I mean, how else would this world have come into existence without some sort of Author."

Exactly. She was definitely on the right track, as you can clearly see.

"Well, the Author of this story seems to be able to tell me things. So I suppose I can ask his Messenger to send him this: What do I do next?" Pearl was looking back up at the sky.

I told her that she was to follow the road in front of her. I called this the beginning road. Pearl looked back down and was now facing forward. She saw that now there was a road in front of her, with a sign that said "The Beginning".

"Well, this should be fun." She said, "I will go along this path and see if The Author tells me anything else."

So now you can see Pearl was off to a good start. Let's move on to Ebony.

"How in the world am I going to 'go on a journey'"--she used a high-pitched, mocking tone and gestured air quotes as she spoke--"if I don't even know where to start." She shook her head and looked in front of her. There, just as in Pearl's case, was a road with the same sign that said "The Beginning". Ebony smiled, prettily, "Well, that can't be it. It is obviously some sort of trick or something."

Hmm...a trick? Not exactly the way Pearl saw it. Notice the attitude of Ebony. She sees right in front of her something that was obviously placed there by The Author and yet she starts out doubting it. She doesn't even ask me first, like Pearl did. You can tell whose side I am on right now, huh?

I was hoping that Ebony would understand, but it was just not what she wanted. "Well, I'll just walk down this road and maybe ask someone if they can point me in the right direction."

Right. Go in the right direction and then ask someone to point you there. I felt sorry for her at that moment. My Ebony, the one I had given so many things, did not even ask her own Author if this path was the right one.

Now on to Jack. He did not hesitate to ask me immediately after he finished the note, "Author? How am I to begin?"

I knew just the problem with Jack at this moment, but that is another story for another time.

Jack looked a little startled at first, but he soon calmed down, "Woah! A road. This is awesome!"

After that he immediately stepped his first step on the path. Ebony had taken her first step as well. Pearl was on her third. It was the beginning of the most important journey of each of their lives. Soon they were going to see the clues that I had set on this path, more letters addressed to them and each of them would face a test.