Abbie quickly got over the shock of seeing her own handwriting; strange things often happened to Abbie, and to those around her (but that is a completely different story). She tore open the letter and read:

"Dear Abbie, I know you're going to think this is very strange but it's really me, well you, writing this letter. Now, this is very important. I need you to trust me and do as I say. You need to get dressed, pack a bag and be at 103 Elm St. by 10:30 this morning. Once you have finished reading this, you should have about an hour to get there. Please hurry! You'll find out more when you get there. Happy Birthday, love Abbie"

As Abbie put the letter down, she glanced at the clock. The letter was right, it was just coming up to 9:20! She put her cup down and hurried upstairs to sort herself out.

Not much later, Abbie was locking the house and getting on her scooter. 103 Elm St. was on the other side of town, but she should get there in no time seeing as it was so early on a Sunday. As she drove, she wondered what was going to happen when she got there. She couldn't believe she had been up for less than two hours; this day was definitely not turning out how she had expected it!

103 Elm turned out to be an old, gothic style house (actually, more like a mansion). As Abbie drove up the driveway, the front door opened and a gentleman came out. As soon as she stopped, he reached over, grabbed her bag and started indoors. Abbie couldn't do much else but follow along. Once inside, Abbie found herself in a large hall with a girl of about her age waiting for her.

"Hi, Abbie, my name is Laney Marine and I'm here to explain what is happening. It's a long story, so before we get started, I want to give you this."

"Oh, you shouldn't have!" Abbie protested as Laney handed her a package, but her protestations quickly died out when she saw that her name was written by her grandmother.

After everything that had happened so far that day, she was still shocked to see this. She looked quickly up at Laney and then opened the package to find a black velvet box containing the most beautiful sphere she had ever seen. It seemed to be made of glass but when you looked closer, the edges seemed to blur and there seemed to be gray swirling smoke inside the sphere. Abbie gasped, "What's this?"

"Read the letter, it will explain everything you need to know. Make yourself comfortable and I'll be back soon so we can chat," Laney replied.