The sunshine floated in through the window, dancing on the pots with strawberry plants on the windowsill. A soft breeze sashayed in through the window and danced between the leaves, waking me up.
My eyes opened slowly, and I grumbled, “Who opened the window?”
“Morning, sleepy-head Lavender,” Emmeline sang as she danced into the room. “How are you? Did you get enough sleep?” She grinned at me.
“Not enough.” I got up, stretched, and picked an outfit for the day. I stumbled to the bathroom to open the door.
15 minutes later, I strolled out of the bathroom, changed into a shirt with the words Reading is a Pizza my Heart with a pizza on it and shorts that fit snuggly. I was trying to tie my hair into a ponytail as I headed down the stairs when Jonna tripped over something and nearly crashed into me from behind.
“Ouch!” she cried as she fell on the stairs.
“Are you okay?” I asked, running down the stairs.
“Yeah,” Jonna muttered. “Tripped.”
Deetya, with a waffle in her mouth, walked over to us. “Evering ouka?” she said through a bite.
“Yes, everything is okay,” I said sarcastically. “What do you think? Jonna tripped down a 50-step stair!”
“She what?” Emmeline ran over from the direction of the kitchen.
“She fell from the stairs,” I explained as Jonna mumbled, “Everything’s okay.
I’m fine.”
“It’s okay,” Emmeline said, but she seemed to be only convincing herself. “Jonna, you go rest for a bit. Everything will be just fine.” She and Deetya dragged a protesting Jonna up the stairs.
As they did, I went to check upon what Jonna tripped on. She probably just slipped, but you can never be too careful. I walked up the stairs and saw the top stair was sort of uneven.
Hmm… It looked like the stair had a top layer—like a lid of a box—and the inside of the stair was hollow. I patted the other stairs. They weren’t.
Since we always skipped a step each on the stairs, we never really walked on this stair. Maybe Jonna was distracted.
Frowning, I peeled off the lid and a cloud of dust hit me in the face. As I swatted it away, I opened my eyes and saw that the bottom of the stair was made of metal. And very dusty. But what caught my eye was that there was a piece of paper folded up inside. It was yellowed and crispy as I held it up carefully.
“Lavender! What did you—” Emmeline stopped talking with a gasp as she saw the piece of paper folded up in my hand.
“Second day of our week-long sleepover and we already had one adventure with another one starting,” I said dramatically.
“Wow,” Deetya said, peeking over Emmeline’s shoulder.
“Ooo,” Jonna said, her mouth open.
“Hello?” Maria, the babysitter, called. “Everything alright?”
“Y-YES!” I shouted back. I turned towards my friends. “So, now what?”
“We should do something about this first,” Emmeline said, pointing to the peeled stair.
We spent 45 minutes hot gluing the stair back and making it look normal. Deetya kept suggesting we use super glue, but we didn’t have any, so we had to stick with a hot glue gun.
“There,” Jonna said, patting it into place. “Now, for the paper.”
We headed to the Room (basically Emmeline’s room) and sat in meeting formation.
Jonna perched on the chair with the broken leg, Emmeline sat on the bed, Deetya hung leaned against the door, and I sprawled out on the carpet.
Slowly, I unfolded the piece of paper. It was part of a map.
“Cool,” I said. “It’s part of a map with one other piece. Let’s find it!” I hopped up.
“Wait!” Emmeline said. “There’s words on the bottom.” I flipped it over.
For the Warriors of Magik
Our clan is in danger. I have hidden the other pieces of this map around this temple. Find them and head to the X on the map. There, you will find the Portal of Terror. Go inside the portal and save our clan before it’s too late.
“Hey,” I said, turning towards Emmeline. “Your house was a temple?”
“I didn’t know!” Emmeline exclaimed.
“Well, temple or no temple, let’s go find the other pieces,” Deetya said. “Let’s check the bathroom first!”
Nothing.
“The dining room?” Jonna suggested.
Nothing.
“The backyard,” I said.
I’d never noticed it before, but the flowers in the backyard looked like they were planted to make a shape, like a circle or a square. They didn’t look natural enough.
“Let’s go to your room,” I told Emmeline. “I need to check something.”
We ran up to Emmeline’s room and I saw the flowers were planted in a special way. Like a X.
“How did we not notice?” Deetya said.
“No. The important question is, who planted them there?” I said.
“Probably the same person who wrote the note.” Jonna turned towards the window. “How did they live for so long?”
“Magik,” I said. “The note said magik, not magic.”
“Maybe they misspelled it?” Deetya suggested.
“No!” we said in unison.
“Just a suggestion,” she muttered.
“A stupid one,” Jonna replied. They got into a fight about suggestions.
Emmeline and I ignored them. “I’ll go down to the backyard and you tell me when I’m in the middle of the X, okay?” I said to Emmeline.
“Deetya, go with her,” Emmeline said, dragging her towards me.
We ran to the yard.
“Okay!” Emmeline shouted from the window. “To the right!”
“No! It’s their left!” Jonna corrected.
Emmeline rolled her eyes and corrected herself. “Now back away from me a little bit. A little bit more. To the right—no, I mean leff—no, it’s your right!”
“Do you want us to go right or left?” I screamed at her.
“Go right!” Jonna called.
Five minutes later, Emmeline and Jonna were pleased that we were in the middle of the X.
“Now what?” Emmeline asked from her window.
“We dig.”
“Not Mother’s flowers!” Emmeline gasped.
“Don’t worry!” I shouted. “We’re not going to hurt her flowers.” We began digging with our bare hands next to the flowers, and Emmeline and Jonna came with shovels to help us. Pretty soon, we saw something yellowed and frail.
I took it gently and shook the dirt from it.
“Odd…”
“What’s so odd?” I asked Jonna.
“How did the paper not get destroyed by rain?” she said.
“Magik,” we replied at the same time.
A few minutes later, we had taped the two maps together. There wasn’t a note behind the other piece, I checked.
The map was of Emmeline’s neighborhood, Crystal Rain, but more old. For example, there was a building of a temple where Emmeline’s house was, and across the street was a barn.
There were lots of trees but those were the only two buildings. A dotted line led from Emmeline’s house/the temple to a complicated route around the neighborhood and to some hills.
“Come on! Let’s go!” I said. I folded the map and placed it in my pocket and we went downstairs. Maria was humming to herself while putting on makeup in the bathroom.
“Maria,” I said, pleasantly as possible. “We’re going to go out for a little bike ride around the neighborhood. We’ll be back soon,” I added.
“Sure,” Maria said, her eyes not leaving the mirror.
We ran out the door and got onto our bikes.
15 minutes later, we stopped in front of a huge hill. Trees lined a path towards it. We ditched out bikes and walked slowly down the path, jumping at every rustle, every shadow.
I was starting a bush that seemed to be staring back when Deetya shouted, “OMG! LOOK AT THAT!”
We all craned our necks towards where she was pointing. A looming, swirling purple portal started back. It was on the side of a huge oak tree a little ways off the path.
“Follow me,” I said. Slowly but surely, we stepped towards the portal until we were just a few feet away from it.
“Hey! Those dots over there look like a face,” Deetya said, meaning the bark of a tree nearby, and stepped closer to examine it when WHOOOSE!
A gust of wind from the portal blew Deetya into it.
“DEETYA!” I screamed, launching myself after her. I felt Jonna and Emmeline grab on to my feet and I caught Deetya’s shoe. Half her body was already inside the portal.
WHOOOSE!!!
That gust of wind blew us right into the portal.
Screaming shrill screams, we floated around in the tunnel as it forced us through.
“WE’RE GOING TO DIEEEEEEEE!” Emmeline screamed as the portal spat us out the other end.
We fell onto the ground as the tunnel closed behind us.
“Ouch,” I said, wiping the dirt off my shorts. As I got up, I noticed a sign pinned on a tree a few feet from where we stood.
Welcome
to the
land of
Magik
My eyes opened slowly, and I grumbled, “Who opened the window?”
“Morning, sleepy-head Lavender,” Emmeline sang as she danced into the room. “How are you? Did you get enough sleep?” She grinned at me.
“Not enough.” I got up, stretched, and picked an outfit for the day. I stumbled to the bathroom to open the door.
15 minutes later, I strolled out of the bathroom, changed into a shirt with the words Reading is a Pizza my Heart with a pizza on it and shorts that fit snuggly. I was trying to tie my hair into a ponytail as I headed down the stairs when Jonna tripped over something and nearly crashed into me from behind.
“Ouch!” she cried as she fell on the stairs.
“Are you okay?” I asked, running down the stairs.
“Yeah,” Jonna muttered. “Tripped.”
Deetya, with a waffle in her mouth, walked over to us. “Evering ouka?” she said through a bite.
“Yes, everything is okay,” I said sarcastically. “What do you think? Jonna tripped down a 50-step stair!”
“She what?” Emmeline ran over from the direction of the kitchen.
“She fell from the stairs,” I explained as Jonna mumbled, “Everything’s okay.
I’m fine.”
“It’s okay,” Emmeline said, but she seemed to be only convincing herself. “Jonna, you go rest for a bit. Everything will be just fine.” She and Deetya dragged a protesting Jonna up the stairs.
As they did, I went to check upon what Jonna tripped on. She probably just slipped, but you can never be too careful. I walked up the stairs and saw the top stair was sort of uneven.
Hmm… It looked like the stair had a top layer—like a lid of a box—and the inside of the stair was hollow. I patted the other stairs. They weren’t.
Since we always skipped a step each on the stairs, we never really walked on this stair. Maybe Jonna was distracted.
Frowning, I peeled off the lid and a cloud of dust hit me in the face. As I swatted it away, I opened my eyes and saw that the bottom of the stair was made of metal. And very dusty. But what caught my eye was that there was a piece of paper folded up inside. It was yellowed and crispy as I held it up carefully.
“Lavender! What did you—” Emmeline stopped talking with a gasp as she saw the piece of paper folded up in my hand.
“Second day of our week-long sleepover and we already had one adventure with another one starting,” I said dramatically.
“Wow,” Deetya said, peeking over Emmeline’s shoulder.
“Ooo,” Jonna said, her mouth open.
“Hello?” Maria, the babysitter, called. “Everything alright?”
“Y-YES!” I shouted back. I turned towards my friends. “So, now what?”
“We should do something about this first,” Emmeline said, pointing to the peeled stair.
We spent 45 minutes hot gluing the stair back and making it look normal. Deetya kept suggesting we use super glue, but we didn’t have any, so we had to stick with a hot glue gun.
“There,” Jonna said, patting it into place. “Now, for the paper.”
We headed to the Room (basically Emmeline’s room) and sat in meeting formation.
Jonna perched on the chair with the broken leg, Emmeline sat on the bed, Deetya hung leaned against the door, and I sprawled out on the carpet.
Slowly, I unfolded the piece of paper. It was part of a map.
“Cool,” I said. “It’s part of a map with one other piece. Let’s find it!” I hopped up.
“Wait!” Emmeline said. “There’s words on the bottom.” I flipped it over.
For the Warriors of Magik
Our clan is in danger. I have hidden the other pieces of this map around this temple. Find them and head to the X on the map. There, you will find the Portal of Terror. Go inside the portal and save our clan before it’s too late.
“Hey,” I said, turning towards Emmeline. “Your house was a temple?”
“I didn’t know!” Emmeline exclaimed.
“Well, temple or no temple, let’s go find the other pieces,” Deetya said. “Let’s check the bathroom first!”
Nothing.
“The dining room?” Jonna suggested.
Nothing.
“The backyard,” I said.
I’d never noticed it before, but the flowers in the backyard looked like they were planted to make a shape, like a circle or a square. They didn’t look natural enough.
“Let’s go to your room,” I told Emmeline. “I need to check something.”
We ran up to Emmeline’s room and I saw the flowers were planted in a special way. Like a X.
“How did we not notice?” Deetya said.
“No. The important question is, who planted them there?” I said.
“Probably the same person who wrote the note.” Jonna turned towards the window. “How did they live for so long?”
“Magik,” I said. “The note said magik, not magic.”
“Maybe they misspelled it?” Deetya suggested.
“No!” we said in unison.
“Just a suggestion,” she muttered.
“A stupid one,” Jonna replied. They got into a fight about suggestions.
Emmeline and I ignored them. “I’ll go down to the backyard and you tell me when I’m in the middle of the X, okay?” I said to Emmeline.
“Deetya, go with her,” Emmeline said, dragging her towards me.
We ran to the yard.
“Okay!” Emmeline shouted from the window. “To the right!”
“No! It’s their left!” Jonna corrected.
Emmeline rolled her eyes and corrected herself. “Now back away from me a little bit. A little bit more. To the right—no, I mean leff—no, it’s your right!”
“Do you want us to go right or left?” I screamed at her.
“Go right!” Jonna called.
Five minutes later, Emmeline and Jonna were pleased that we were in the middle of the X.
“Now what?” Emmeline asked from her window.
“We dig.”
“Not Mother’s flowers!” Emmeline gasped.
“Don’t worry!” I shouted. “We’re not going to hurt her flowers.” We began digging with our bare hands next to the flowers, and Emmeline and Jonna came with shovels to help us. Pretty soon, we saw something yellowed and frail.
I took it gently and shook the dirt from it.
“Odd…”
“What’s so odd?” I asked Jonna.
“How did the paper not get destroyed by rain?” she said.
“Magik,” we replied at the same time.
A few minutes later, we had taped the two maps together. There wasn’t a note behind the other piece, I checked.
The map was of Emmeline’s neighborhood, Crystal Rain, but more old. For example, there was a building of a temple where Emmeline’s house was, and across the street was a barn.
There were lots of trees but those were the only two buildings. A dotted line led from Emmeline’s house/the temple to a complicated route around the neighborhood and to some hills.
“Come on! Let’s go!” I said. I folded the map and placed it in my pocket and we went downstairs. Maria was humming to herself while putting on makeup in the bathroom.
“Maria,” I said, pleasantly as possible. “We’re going to go out for a little bike ride around the neighborhood. We’ll be back soon,” I added.
“Sure,” Maria said, her eyes not leaving the mirror.
We ran out the door and got onto our bikes.
15 minutes later, we stopped in front of a huge hill. Trees lined a path towards it. We ditched out bikes and walked slowly down the path, jumping at every rustle, every shadow.
I was starting a bush that seemed to be staring back when Deetya shouted, “OMG! LOOK AT THAT!”
We all craned our necks towards where she was pointing. A looming, swirling purple portal started back. It was on the side of a huge oak tree a little ways off the path.
“Follow me,” I said. Slowly but surely, we stepped towards the portal until we were just a few feet away from it.
“Hey! Those dots over there look like a face,” Deetya said, meaning the bark of a tree nearby, and stepped closer to examine it when WHOOOSE!
A gust of wind from the portal blew Deetya into it.
“DEETYA!” I screamed, launching myself after her. I felt Jonna and Emmeline grab on to my feet and I caught Deetya’s shoe. Half her body was already inside the portal.
WHOOOSE!!!
That gust of wind blew us right into the portal.
Screaming shrill screams, we floated around in the tunnel as it forced us through.
“WE’RE GOING TO DIEEEEEEEE!” Emmeline screamed as the portal spat us out the other end.
We fell onto the ground as the tunnel closed behind us.
“Ouch,” I said, wiping the dirt off my shorts. As I got up, I noticed a sign pinned on a tree a few feet from where we stood.
Welcome
to the
land of
Magik
