I’m still very confused as I stare at the sign. I know we went through the portal and stuff, but you try being thrown through a mass of swirling purple, you end up in a world with a sign claiming you’re in the Land of Magik, and you make sense of everything.
Emmeline gasped as she jumped to her feet. She frantically checked her body parts for any damage. “Phew, I’m fine.”
Deetya was still screaming. “AHHH! WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE! DIE, I SAY! DIE!”
“DEETYA!” I scream at her. “We’re not going to die; we’re fine! Stand up! We’re in the Land of Magik!”
Deetya opened her eyes, saw she was not going to die, and got up and twirled her thumbs together, embarrassed.
Jonna. Where was Jonna?
“Jonna?” I shouted. “Where are you, Jonna—OOF!” A scream pierced the air and Jonna flew out of the portal, her bracelets jingling like crazy, and squashed me flat.
“Ouch, Jonna,” I said, spitting out dirt.
Jonna tucked a loose strand of black hair behind her ear as she got up. “Soo-ree.”
I got up and blinked, looking around at our surroundings. Well, lack of surroundings. We were in barren farmland, with only one tree: the one that had the sign. There was no portal behind us. There were a few green hills in the distance that looked miles away.
“Okay. Let’s make sense of everything,” I said in my I-am-the-boss tone. Just so you know, I didn’t need it before Deetya joined our group. Her listening skills are negative infinity. “We went through a portal that leads us to the Land of Magic. The portal is not here anymore, but we actually might not be in the Land of Magic because there’s only a sign and nothing else to prove it.
“But we need to find food, shelter, and a way to get back home. Our plan? Find someone that knows stuff, get them to help us, and get outta here. Everyone got that?“ I asked.
“How do we find ‘someone that knows stuff’?” Deetya asked, scrunching up her face.
“We get over there,” I said, pointing to the hills in the distance.
“Why there?” Deetya asked.
“Because, there’s no way anyone’s living out here,” Emmeline explained, gesturing to the cracked, brown land as if she were talking to a five-year-old.
Jonna rolled her eyes. “Come on guys! We need to get a move on if we want to get to the hills by sundown.”
So we did. After about 30 minutes, Deetya started complaining that her feet hurt. Two hours? Emmeline and Deetya wanted to rest. But the sun would be setting soon, and we needed to get there. Three hours? The group was walking slower and slower as the light disappeared faster and faster. Almost there? I was dying for water.
We finally got to the hills. Green grass spread from the hills to the ground, and a river winded lazily through the trees as if going through an easy maze.
“Water!” I pointed to the river. “And trees! Perhaps there are berry bushes there.”
“Yay!” Deetya said.
We crossed over the soft, green ground to the river.
“Do you think we can drink from it?” Emmeline asked.
I walked forward boldly. “It’s worth a try.”
Jonna blocked my path. “Wait wait wait wait wait! It’s not worth a try if it’s going to give one of us a bellyache! What if the water isn’t drinkable—”
SLURRPL! We all looked over at Deetya, who was drinking river water from her cupped hands. SLURP! SLLUURRRP! SLURPP!
“Guess we’re going to get our answer soon,” I said.
Deetya sat back, patting her tummy. “De-li-cious.”
We waited, our eyes never leaving Deetya. However, she looked perfectly fine. “Well,” I said. “It looks fine. It tastes fine. It probably is fine.”
“Okay,” Emmeline said. “It’s safe!”
After we each drank our fill, I consulted our mental problem list for the first day.
Problem
#1
: Water to drink ☑︎
Problem
#2
: Food to eat
“Now we need to find a steady supply of food,” I said. A rustle in the bushes told me that animals lived here. “And we can hunt and find berries to solve that.
“After we get food, we can go find someone that will help us go home.”
Emmeline volunteered to go find berries and somewhere to live, and Jonna said she’d join her. We agreed to meet back here after 30 minutes, and we could tell because we all had watches.
I dragged Deetya along with me in search of a rabbit or something else we could cook.
I picked a direction where more natural sounds were coming from.
“Why should we find an animal if we can’t cook it?” Deetya whined.
“I know how to start a fire,” I said confidently.
She looked at me doubtfully. Then muttered, “And I can make pigs fly.”
I sighed. “Come on, Deetya. Don’t be a pouter,” I said. “If we want to survive, we gotta do what it takes.”
Suddenly, a white rabbit shot out of the bushes and ran away to the direction we came in.
“CHASE IT!” I shouted and before we knew it, me and Deetya were on its trail.
We crashed through the foliage, scaring off all the other prey. The rabbit glanced back at us and continued running.
I picked up a rock and aimed…then I threw it through the air as hard as I could. The rabbit let out a squeal as my rock landed and hit its leg. Even though I didn’t kill it, it was slower.
I gasped as I saw what the rabbit was aiming for. A hole in the ground!
“Deetya! Don’t let it get in the hole!” I nearly screamed at her.
Deetya was very good at running, so she put on one last burst of speed as she bent down to grab the rabbit.
YES! She got it. The rabbit kicked and swayed, but it couldn’t rid itself of the firm hands that held it.
“Yeah, Deetya! That was awesome!”
Problem
#1
: Water to drink √
Problem
#2
: Food to eat √
The first day in the Land of Magik was starting to look really good.
I woke up the next day. We had slept under the stars, since Emmeline and Jonna could’t find anywhere else to sleep. They did find lots of berries, though. I did start a fire (while looking at Deetya with a I-told-you-so face) and we tried to cook the rabbit.
It hardly worked. We had to drown it first. Emmeline and Jonna had to excuse themselves while we killed, skinned, and cooked the rabbit. (Deetya went to survival camp for four weeks once in the summer.)They came back for the meat, though.
Humph.
I blinked open my eyes and stretched. It wasn’t as cold as I expected it would be.
I woke the others. We ate a breakfast of leftover berries and I told them my plan for today.
“Okay. Today we will go up the hill to see what’s up there,” I said. “If there isn’t anything, well, we’re screwed. If there is, though, we’re lucky and we can find someone to help us get back.”
“Wait, what if the person demands something in return? Like money?” Deetya said.
“I have money, but maybe they have a different currency than us,” Emmeline said.
“How much?” I asked her.
“Lemme think. About 545, I think.”
I wasn’t really surprised.
“I always wear a bunch of jewelry on me,” Jonna said. She showed off two, big golden earrings and a necklace with a big jade bead. Her arms had so many bracelets on them it was hard to see her skin.
Deetya sighed. “I don’t have anything.”
I pointed to her legs. “You have speed. That might be useful. Now come on, let’s go.”
There were five hills, and we took 20 minutes deciding which hill to climb. We decided on the biggest one in the end. That’s what I chose. Deetya wanted to go the furthest on the right. Emmeline said we should probably do the one with the most growth, which is the smallest one, but Jonna wanted to do the one to the left.
But I told them, “Guys, if there’s anyone living here, it should be on the biggest hill cause more people could fit, they could build more things, and more villages could be there.”
So here we are, climbing, climbing, and climbing.
It was harder to climb the hill than it looked.
The undergrowth was thick and messy. Grass shot out of the ground while birds sang, their sweet notes carried on the wind. Trees rustled in the breeze, whispering to each other like they were sharing secrets. We could hear so many things. Rustles and chirps and squeals and squeaks filled our ears, while shadows and green plants filled our vision.
I panted. We were almost at the top! I ran the last few steps and leaned on a tree, panting. Then I looked at what was on the other side of the hills. The others joined.
“Wow,” Jonna said as we stared.
Deetya managed a tiny “Omg.”
“Holy cow,” Emmeline whispered.
I just stared.
Beyond the hills was a kingdom. A beautiful kingdom.
Emmeline gasped as she jumped to her feet. She frantically checked her body parts for any damage. “Phew, I’m fine.”
Deetya was still screaming. “AHHH! WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE! DIE, I SAY! DIE!”
“DEETYA!” I scream at her. “We’re not going to die; we’re fine! Stand up! We’re in the Land of Magik!”
Deetya opened her eyes, saw she was not going to die, and got up and twirled her thumbs together, embarrassed.
Jonna. Where was Jonna?
“Jonna?” I shouted. “Where are you, Jonna—OOF!” A scream pierced the air and Jonna flew out of the portal, her bracelets jingling like crazy, and squashed me flat.
“Ouch, Jonna,” I said, spitting out dirt.
Jonna tucked a loose strand of black hair behind her ear as she got up. “Soo-ree.”
I got up and blinked, looking around at our surroundings. Well, lack of surroundings. We were in barren farmland, with only one tree: the one that had the sign. There was no portal behind us. There were a few green hills in the distance that looked miles away.
“Okay. Let’s make sense of everything,” I said in my I-am-the-boss tone. Just so you know, I didn’t need it before Deetya joined our group. Her listening skills are negative infinity. “We went through a portal that leads us to the Land of Magic. The portal is not here anymore, but we actually might not be in the Land of Magic because there’s only a sign and nothing else to prove it.
“But we need to find food, shelter, and a way to get back home. Our plan? Find someone that knows stuff, get them to help us, and get outta here. Everyone got that?“ I asked.
“How do we find ‘someone that knows stuff’?” Deetya asked, scrunching up her face.
“We get over there,” I said, pointing to the hills in the distance.
“Why there?” Deetya asked.
“Because, there’s no way anyone’s living out here,” Emmeline explained, gesturing to the cracked, brown land as if she were talking to a five-year-old.
Jonna rolled her eyes. “Come on guys! We need to get a move on if we want to get to the hills by sundown.”
So we did. After about 30 minutes, Deetya started complaining that her feet hurt. Two hours? Emmeline and Deetya wanted to rest. But the sun would be setting soon, and we needed to get there. Three hours? The group was walking slower and slower as the light disappeared faster and faster. Almost there? I was dying for water.
We finally got to the hills. Green grass spread from the hills to the ground, and a river winded lazily through the trees as if going through an easy maze.
“Water!” I pointed to the river. “And trees! Perhaps there are berry bushes there.”
“Yay!” Deetya said.
We crossed over the soft, green ground to the river.
“Do you think we can drink from it?” Emmeline asked.
I walked forward boldly. “It’s worth a try.”
Jonna blocked my path. “Wait wait wait wait wait! It’s not worth a try if it’s going to give one of us a bellyache! What if the water isn’t drinkable—”
SLURRPL! We all looked over at Deetya, who was drinking river water from her cupped hands. SLURP! SLLUURRRP! SLURPP!
“Guess we’re going to get our answer soon,” I said.
Deetya sat back, patting her tummy. “De-li-cious.”
We waited, our eyes never leaving Deetya. However, she looked perfectly fine. “Well,” I said. “It looks fine. It tastes fine. It probably is fine.”
“Okay,” Emmeline said. “It’s safe!”
After we each drank our fill, I consulted our mental problem list for the first day.
Problem
#1
: Water to drink ☑︎
Problem
#2
: Food to eat
“Now we need to find a steady supply of food,” I said. A rustle in the bushes told me that animals lived here. “And we can hunt and find berries to solve that.
“After we get food, we can go find someone that will help us go home.”
Emmeline volunteered to go find berries and somewhere to live, and Jonna said she’d join her. We agreed to meet back here after 30 minutes, and we could tell because we all had watches.
I dragged Deetya along with me in search of a rabbit or something else we could cook.
I picked a direction where more natural sounds were coming from.
“Why should we find an animal if we can’t cook it?” Deetya whined.
“I know how to start a fire,” I said confidently.
She looked at me doubtfully. Then muttered, “And I can make pigs fly.”
I sighed. “Come on, Deetya. Don’t be a pouter,” I said. “If we want to survive, we gotta do what it takes.”
Suddenly, a white rabbit shot out of the bushes and ran away to the direction we came in.
“CHASE IT!” I shouted and before we knew it, me and Deetya were on its trail.
We crashed through the foliage, scaring off all the other prey. The rabbit glanced back at us and continued running.
I picked up a rock and aimed…then I threw it through the air as hard as I could. The rabbit let out a squeal as my rock landed and hit its leg. Even though I didn’t kill it, it was slower.
I gasped as I saw what the rabbit was aiming for. A hole in the ground!
“Deetya! Don’t let it get in the hole!” I nearly screamed at her.
Deetya was very good at running, so she put on one last burst of speed as she bent down to grab the rabbit.
YES! She got it. The rabbit kicked and swayed, but it couldn’t rid itself of the firm hands that held it.
“Yeah, Deetya! That was awesome!”
Problem
#1
: Water to drink √
Problem
#2
: Food to eat √
The first day in the Land of Magik was starting to look really good.
I woke up the next day. We had slept under the stars, since Emmeline and Jonna could’t find anywhere else to sleep. They did find lots of berries, though. I did start a fire (while looking at Deetya with a I-told-you-so face) and we tried to cook the rabbit.
It hardly worked. We had to drown it first. Emmeline and Jonna had to excuse themselves while we killed, skinned, and cooked the rabbit. (Deetya went to survival camp for four weeks once in the summer.)They came back for the meat, though.
Humph.
I blinked open my eyes and stretched. It wasn’t as cold as I expected it would be.
I woke the others. We ate a breakfast of leftover berries and I told them my plan for today.
“Okay. Today we will go up the hill to see what’s up there,” I said. “If there isn’t anything, well, we’re screwed. If there is, though, we’re lucky and we can find someone to help us get back.”
“Wait, what if the person demands something in return? Like money?” Deetya said.
“I have money, but maybe they have a different currency than us,” Emmeline said.
“How much?” I asked her.
“Lemme think. About 545, I think.”
I wasn’t really surprised.
“I always wear a bunch of jewelry on me,” Jonna said. She showed off two, big golden earrings and a necklace with a big jade bead. Her arms had so many bracelets on them it was hard to see her skin.
Deetya sighed. “I don’t have anything.”
I pointed to her legs. “You have speed. That might be useful. Now come on, let’s go.”
There were five hills, and we took 20 minutes deciding which hill to climb. We decided on the biggest one in the end. That’s what I chose. Deetya wanted to go the furthest on the right. Emmeline said we should probably do the one with the most growth, which is the smallest one, but Jonna wanted to do the one to the left.
But I told them, “Guys, if there’s anyone living here, it should be on the biggest hill cause more people could fit, they could build more things, and more villages could be there.”
So here we are, climbing, climbing, and climbing.
It was harder to climb the hill than it looked.
The undergrowth was thick and messy. Grass shot out of the ground while birds sang, their sweet notes carried on the wind. Trees rustled in the breeze, whispering to each other like they were sharing secrets. We could hear so many things. Rustles and chirps and squeals and squeaks filled our ears, while shadows and green plants filled our vision.
I panted. We were almost at the top! I ran the last few steps and leaned on a tree, panting. Then I looked at what was on the other side of the hills. The others joined.
“Wow,” Jonna said as we stared.
Deetya managed a tiny “Omg.”
“Holy cow,” Emmeline whispered.
I just stared.
Beyond the hills was a kingdom. A beautiful kingdom.
