By: Nina He

“I’m bored,” Deetya said for the hundredth time today. After getting control of the drawbridge that would lead us to the Kingdom of Magik, we had realized that we couldn’t use the drawbridge because of how loud it was. The guards we tricked had drawn the bridge, and it was so old and rusty I was sure the whole kingdom could hear.

But we obviously couldn’t do that again. It’s weird enough that the drawbridge was even drawn, since the guards weren’t actually supposed to move, but twice in a row? That’s even weirder since the second party could’ve gone with the first. That definitely would’ve raised suspicion.

So now we were sitting on the grass, thinking of ways to get across the half-filled moat of hippos.

“I think we all know now, Deetya. Thank you for the update,” I said sarcastically.

“We all are bored,” added Jenna. “But if we want to go back home, we need to think of a way to get across!”

Emmeline, the smartest out of all us, just narrowed her eyes thoughtfully.

That’s when I noticed a thin string reaching from this side of the moat to the other. I could barely see it since it was made of glass. “Guys!”

Deetya looked at me, saw the string, and blinked. “Okay. Okay. Nooo way I am climbing across that.”

Which is how, 15 minutes later, we were all climbing across after a promise to Deetya about watching the movie Barbie when we got home. I preferred to not think of it as if we got home. If this was a completely normal string, then it would have snapped long ago, but, like all the other things in this Kingdom of Magik, it was magikcal.

“Omg omg omg!” Deetya screamed as a slight breeze passed, hanging on to the rope so tightly I was afraid she was going to snap it.

Emmeline glanced back at us. She was the first one, with Deetya second, me after her, and Jonna was last.

“We’re fine!” I called. Emmeline nodded and went back to climbing/crawling/desperately moving forward. I think it’s the latter.

Suddenly, I heard a snap and looked behind me. One second, Jonna’s blinking back at me, and another, we were all screaming bloody murder as we fell, the string the only thing saving us from falling to the mercy of the hippos. One snapped at Jonna’s shoes, and she let out a whimper of fear.

“Is everyone okay?” Emmeline called back down at us.

“I think I peed my pants,” Deetya said without much emotion in her voice.

“Wet underwear is the last thing we need to worry about right now,” I told her. “We need to get to safety, or we’re all going to become hippo food!”

As if hearing me, one of the hippos let out a growl. I didn’t know hippos

growled, but to be honest, I didn’t know that I was going to get tossed into a purple portal to end up in a whole, different place and be hanging by a centimeter thick string with three other people above hippos.

I looked out at the rocky wall of the moat, where my hands and feet found places to rest. “We could always climb the wall,” I suggested.

“Sure we could, but I don’t think we’re going to climb that much,” Emmeline said, pointing upwards at the sky.

I looked too, and oh how far away it looked. “But it’s our only choice!” I argued.

Emmeline nodded reluctantly. “I guess so…”

And so began a tiring journey of climbing. Okay, to be honest, it wasn’t that hard. Because of how rocky the wall was, it was easy to find finger holds and feet holds here and there. When we lost our grip, all we had to do was hang on to the rope and hope for the best.

I was just fighting a beetle to use its home as a finger hold when I heard a shout of surprise coming from Emmeline. I looked up just as she disappeared into the wall.

“What—where did you go, Emmeline?” I shouted.

“There’s a whole cave up here, guys! Come on!” she called back.

My eyes lit up with hope. A resting area! The rest of us picked up our speed, and soon we were in a spacious cave made of rock. A tunnel sat in the depths of the cave.

“Oooh! A tunnel!” Jonna exclaimed, her voice echoing.

“So dark! Maybe it leads to the castle or something,” Deetya said.

I found an old, rusty flashlight sitting by some rocks and hit the power button. It worked!

I looked behind me. “Who do you guys think should go first?” All fingers point at me.

The tunnel was cold and dark and scary. Somewhere in the cave, water ran, drops of water hitting the icy stone making a plop, plop, plop noise. We walked forward, me in front, our footsteps echoing.

“Why did I have to go first?” I whine.

“Because,” Emmeline began.

“You,” Jonna added.

“Have,” Deetya said

“The,” Emmeline said.

“Light!” they all say in unison and erupt into giggles.

Ah! So that was what all the whispering was about. They were planning

a clever way to answer a question.

I rolled my eyes, but of course they couldn’t see me. “You guys are useless,” I told them.

A flash of light interrupted their reply. I looked forward and saw another cave. There were very sparkly things in it, but I couldn’t make out what they were.

“There’s something ahead!” We all ran, and were absolutely awestruck by the sight before us. It was a beautiful cave, a pool of perfectly clear water right in the middle. And carpeting the walls and floor were glittering crystals.