Moving Mystery by Emy

Moving Mystery
“Next, Abigail has something to tell the class. Abby?” said Mr. Black, 5th grade teacher at Pine View Elementary. Abigail stood up from her desk and walked to the front of the room. “I’m moving to Florida,” she said after sighing. A few people gasped, others whispered “lucky” and “wow”. Abigail’s best friend, Madison, raised her hand and Mr. Black nodded to her. “When are you moving?” she said. Abigail replied, “Next week. I didn’t even know until last Saturday.” Then other hands shot up and Mr. Black called on them all. “Will we have your new address?” said one girl and Abigail nodded. “Are you going to live on the beach?” said another. “Not exactly, but my mom says it will be about a ten-minute drive to the seashore,” was the reply. After a few more questions, people seemed to lose interest and Abigail walked back to her desk. After a few more minutes, the bell rang and the students ran out of the classroom.
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“Why didn’t you call me? You said you found out last Saturday!” said Madison as they walked to their usual spot behind the bushes in the playground. “I was so busy packing and getting ready, I kinda forgot about my friends,” Abigail replied as she sat down. “Oh,” Madison said. “I’m gonna miss you so much. California is so far away from Florida.” “I know,” Abigail said, and then paused for a moment to think. “Since spring break starts tomorrow, why don’t you come stay at my place for the rest of the week and help me?” Maddy thought for a moment before answering, “I would love to, but I don’t know if my mom would allow it.” “I bet she would if she knew I was moving,” Abigail said. Madison took out her phone and dialed. “Hello? Mom? It’s Maddy. How’d you know? Yay! Thanks! Bye!” she said in excitement. “She said yes, didn’t she? Well, Mom probably told a few people without me knowing it,” Abigail said, grinning. Right when Madison nodded, the bell rang.
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Madison and Abigail walked down Pine View Path, the long walking trail that was open to the public but led to Abigail’s large, cozy house. “I can’t believe you’re moving,” said Madison. Abigail tripped on a thin fallen tree and quickly stood up and brushed the dirt off her jeans. “I can’t either,” was the reply. They were silent the rest of the way. When they arrived at Abigail’s house, the door flew open and out came Abigail’s two five-year-old-identical-twin brothers, Jack and Jake, almost knocking the girls down. “Sorry,” the boys said at the same time, stopping. Madison smiled and replied, “It’s ok. I’m Maddy.” The boys waved and walked into the Jenkins’ huge backyard. “They already knew who you were,” said Abigail once the girls were walking upstairs to Abigail’s room. “I know, but it seems like I scare people when I introduce myself. Remember the time Destiny walked up to me and said ‘I’m Destiny’ and I told her my name?” said Madison, making Abigail laugh really hard. “Yeah, and she screamed and ran away!” Abigail answered. Abigail opened her bedroom door, walked towards her bed, and noticed a small folded piece of green paper. “Your room looks so huge when half of it is packed into boxes,” said Madison. Abigail nodded and grabbed the paper. “What’s that?” Maddy asked as she sat on Abigail’s soft, large bed. “I dunno,” she replied. Abigail opened it up and read aloud,
Go to the third tree on the fourth road. Open the door. Follow the next instructions.
The girls stared at the note and each other in silence. “Where’s the third tree on the fourth road?” Madison said after a minute. “I don’t know how far it is from here, but I’ve been there before. This is probably just a prank from the twins though,” Abby answered. Madison shook her head and stood up. “I think we should go. Something about the note is telling me that it’s real, not just a prank,” Madison said. Abigail thought for a moment. “I agree. What should we bring and should we go now?” she said. Madison looked out of Abigail’s large window and replied, “A first-aid kit, your phone, the note, and water bottles, and we should go in a few minutes.” “Ok,” Abigail answered as she grabbed the items and put them in her backpack. The girls took off their school clothes and put on jeans and white t-shirts. As they walked down the stairs, something happened that made the girls scream. The entire kitchen- furniture, floor, walls, everything- began to quickly shrink, and before they knew it, the kitchen was smaller than Abigail’s old dollhouse kitchen! The girls ran towards the empty space in her house, wondering what could have happened and how they could make the room grow. Then Abigail stopped. Her mother was in the kitchen! She picked up the small kitchen and lifted it close to her face. “Mom? Can you hear me?” she said quietly, knowing that her voice would sound like a giant to her doll’s-doll-sized mom. Silence. Madison grabbed Abigail’s shaking hand and told her to come on, it will be ok. Once they were on the porch, both girls had a sudden thought at exactly the same time- We have to go to the tree.
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“Ok, the fourth road is about two miles away, because we took the long way,” said Abigail as they walked down the narrow path in the thick woods. Madison stopped for a moment then said, “I wonder if the rest of your house will vanish while we’re gone.” Abigail gasped. “You’re right,” she whispered. “But we have to keep going,” the girls said at the same time, making their fears turn into laughter. Abigail stopped suddenly. “We’re here,” she said happily. “But what does it mean by a door?” Madison asked. The girls investigated in silence. A few moments later, Abigail broke the silence by excitedly saying, “Look!” “What?” Madison said as she ran over to where Abigail was standing. Abigail pointed at a tree they had not looked at that had a small piece of it glowing. Then, slowly, a doorknob began to appear! Madison opened the door once it had fully appeared and the girls both froze. Something was pulling them into the tree, and it was growing!
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“Abby? Wake up! You slept late!” Madison said as she shook Abigail awake. She had fallen asleep right when she had said “yeah, and then she screamed and ran away”. “Uh… I did? Oh, sorry, I’m up now though,” she said as she got off of her bed. “I had this dream that we found a note and it said,” Madison said, but before she continued Abigail interrupted her. “I know, we went to this tree and it pulled us in and the kitchen shrunk. I dreamt that too.” The girls burst out laughing. “Why don’t we work on packing so that we will have the rest of the time free?” Abby said. Madison agreed and the girls raced each other downstairs. Abigail won and the girls walked into Abby’s parents’ room. “Wow, that’s a lot of boxes,” Madison said as she looked at half of the bedroom which was so filled with cardboard boxes that you could barely move. Abigail grinned and motioned for her to follow, and she led her friend to a large closet. She opened the door, revealing more boxes. “These are the ones that my mom put aside for her and Dad. She thinks that the twins and I have no idea where they are, but she is terrible at making hiding places and putting things in them,” Abigail said. “Oh,” Madison said. They walked back over to the box-corner, as Abigail called it. “Let’s try to find the two biggest ones and fill them up with small ones,” Madison said. “Ok,” was the reply. The girls dug through the mountains until they had pulled out three large boxes. “We should fill them one at a time, so that we can do it faster,” Maddy said. Abigail nodded and they began finding perfect-sized boxes, one by one, and then they brought them upstairs. “Hey, is that the moving van?” Abby said as she looked out the upstairs window, setting boxes on the floor. Madison looked out and replied, “I think so, but why is it here so early?” “I dunno, let’s ask Mom,” Abigail said. The girls ran downstairs and searched for Abigail’s mother. “Mom, why is the moving van outside so early?” Abby asked once they had found their mother, in the kitchen. Their mother glanced out the kitchen window and sighed. “We’re moving tomorrow. We found out this morning, and we need to finish packing today,” she said sadly. Abigail gasped and Maddy grabbed her hand. Silence fell over the three as they all wondered how they would finish what had barely been started so soon. The girls ran back upstairs and plopped down on the bed, silent.
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“Ok, all clothes go in these boxes over here, and shoes go in that one,” said Abby as she wrote “clothes”, “shoes”, “books”, and other things on the sides of boxes. “Alright,” Maddy replied as she began packing. The girls bumped into each other often as they ran around the room, taking shoes out of the closet and books off the shelf. “What’s this?” Madison asked as she took a small green book off of the shelf. Abigail looked up and blushed. “That’s my journal,” she said. “Oh,” Maddy replied as she put it into a box. “Hey, why is the moving van here so early?” Madison said as she pointed out the window at the large moving van that had appeared in Abby’s driveway. “Uh, I don’t know. Let’s go ask my mom,” Abby replied. Maddy nodded and the girls put down what they were holding and rushed downstairs. “Mom, why is the moving van here already?” Abigail asked her mother, who was putting things into boxes. Her mother looked up and answered, “That’s strange, it’s not supposed to arrive for five more days.” The girls glanced at each other and then said at the same time, “Ok, we’ll be upstairs.” “Abby,” Maddy said, once they were back in Abigail’s room. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Abigail looked out the window. “If you’re thinking that we should go into the moving van and see what’s up, then I think I am.”
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“Shh,” Abigail whispered as the girls tiptoed through the grass towards the moving van. Suddenly Madison threw her hand in front of Abby to make her stop walking. “There is no one in the driver’s seat,” Maddy whispered. Abigail opened her eyes wide and ran towards the van to get a closer look. “You’re right,” she said in her normal voice. “Someone must have been a minute ago. It couldn’t have just appeared out of nowhere.” Then Maddy seemed to have an idea and opened the door of the van on the driver’s seat side. “The van looks like it hasn’t been touched in years,” she said as she motioned for Abby to come have a look. “That’s weird, I’ve never seen a car so clean on the outside and disgusting on the inside,” Abby replied. Maddy walked around to the passenger seat side of the van and opened that door. She grabbed a key that was on the dusty seat. Abby looked at the key and then at her friend, then back again. Maddy grabbed the key and ran around to the back of the van, and Abby followed. Maddy opened the back door and the girls climbed inside. “What…..” they said. The inside of the van was glowing!
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“It’s bigger on the inside then it is on the outside,” Abby whispered, walking around the inside of the van slowly. “Look at this! I wonder why the walls are so squishy and wet.” Maddy said. Abby ran over and felt the wall. “Me too,” she replied. Abby pressed the wall harder and suddenly fell through! “Abby!” Maddy screamed, trying to follow her friend into the wall of the glowing moving van. Silence fell over the two girls, falling down what seemed to be a deep, deep hole. “Maddy,” Abigail said, “Are we alive….?” Madison reached for her friend’s hand and closed her eyes. “I hope so.”
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“Abby,” came a voice, “where are we?” Abby looked around and gasped. They were in the middle of a forest! “I don’t know, but I don’t think we’re in California anymore,” answered Abigail. Maddy nodded and helped Abby get up from the mud puddle she had fallen in. “Gross,” they said at the same time. “Well, why don’t we just-“ Maddy said, when Abby suddenly motioned for her to be quiet. “What was that?” Abby mouthed. Maddy listened more carefully for a moment, and then she heard footsteps coming from behind. “Who’s there?” Maddy said loudly but not too loudly. A face appeared from behind a tree. “Who are you?” This time Abigail asked the question. “I shall not answer until you tell me who you are,” said a voice, which seemed to come from a girl. The girls looked at each other and Maddy said, “I’m Madison and she’s Abigail. Where are we?” The girls saw the girl come out from the tree. “Madison Smith and Abigail Jenkins?” she asked. “That’s us,” Abby answered. “How did you know our names?” said Madison. “Your majesties, I am Ocean of the Village of Wishes. Everyone knows you,” the girl said, running her fingers through her long, brown hair. “They do?” Abby said. Ocean nodded. “We aren’t ‘majesties’. Where are we?” asked Maddy. “You are in the forest north of my hometown, the Village of Wishes. Abigail, you are the Princess of the Waters. Madison, you are the Princess of the Creatures,” replied Ocean. Maddy glanced at Abby then at Ocean. “Do we have special powers or something?” questioned Abby. Ocean nodded. “Madison has the power to calm the sea at storm, part the waters, even walk on water. Abigail, you can talk to creatures. Any animal will love you if you love it back,” Ocean answered. “Well, how do we get home?” Maddy said. “That is not possible until you fulfill your duties here as Princesses.”
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“Duties?” Abby asked. “What ‘duties’?” “You must search that mountain for the Lost Cave. Once you find the cave, stand at the entrance and take eight steps towards the center. You will find a large rock. Work together to move that rock and you will see a large key. You must protect this key with your life, as this is the only way to save our world,” Ocean explained. “And why can’t someone else do this?” Maddy asked. “Because the cave is only revealed to the Princesses,” Ocean answered impatiently. “But you must hurry. Our village is becoming very quiet, as the sickness has come over many already,” she added. “How do we get to that mountain, and how long will this take?” asked Abby. “Come, I will show you a trail, to get there you simply follow it. Do not take any turns.” After saying this, Ocean began to walk towards the mountain. They walked in silence, until the road began to get narrower. “Now I must leave you alone. Oops, I think I forgot to mention what to do with the Key of Truth! Once you have it, climb to the top of the mountain carefully. You will come to a tall gate. Insert the key into the lock and open the door. Walk silently towards the center and stop when you a well. Use a vine to pull up the box at the bottom of the well. Then, after you come find me and give it to me (I’ll be around here somewhere, not too far away), your mission is complete and I will show you the way out.”
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“Ugh, how long have we been walking?” Maddy said tiredly. “About an hour,” answered Abby. “We’re really close though. Look!” she added, pointing at the mountain (which was not very far away from them now). “Look, do you think that’s the gate we’re supposed to find up there?” Maddy asked. Abby looked closely and noticed a small black like peeking over the trees at the top of the mountain. Abby nodded. Suddenly Maddy threw her arm in front of Abby to make her stop walking. “I think it’s time for me to test out my ‘powers’. How are we going to cross this river? There’s nothing that will work as a bridge,” she said. Abby looked worried. “What if we don’t have powers? What if that girl was just trying to make us all excited?” she asked. “We need to risk it. I don’t think she was faking,” Maddy answered as she grabbed Abigail’s hand. She started to walk over the water! “Hey, how come I’m getting wet and you’re not?” Abby asked (Maddy was holding her up, so the water was only to her waist). Maddy ignored her and kept walking. “Here we are,” she said at last. “The beginning of our search for the Key of Truth in the Lost Cave.”
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“How are we supposed to find a cave in this mountain?!” said Abby. “She said it will be revealed to us. So just keep your eyes and ears open,” Maddy answered. Suddenly the girls noticed a huge rock rolling down the path (which ran around the mountain) towards them! Abby grabbed a branch of a tree, but Maddy did not notice and began running backwards. “Maddy!” she screamed. “Grab something!” She saw Maddy swing herself up and wrap herself around the branch like she was holding on for her life, which she was. The girls were so frightened they could not speak until the boulder was out of sight. Once they dropped down, Abby realized she had been holding her breath, and let it out. “I wonder where that came from,” Maddy said, brushing her hands together. “I don’t know, but we need to keep going. Just be careful, and if something like that happens again, try and keep near me,” answered Abigail. They began to walk up the path. Soon the path began to feel crumbly under their feet, so they grabbed each other’s hands and stayed as far away from the edge of the trail as possible. “Hey, did you hear that?” asked Maddy after a while. “Did it sound like something rustling the leaves of the trees?” answered Abby. Madison nodded. Suddenly Abby shoved her arm in front of Maddy. The path was falling behind them! “RUN!” Maddy screamed. They ran very quickly. Then Abby noticed the branches of a pine tree blow in the wind. “Maddy,” Abby said. “I think I found our cave.”
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“So how many steps did she say to take to the center?” Abby said as they made their way up to the cave. “Either seven or eight,” Madison answered. Abby pulled herself up a little, and then helped Maddy into the entrance of the cave. “One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight,” Abby counted. “Here’s the rock.” The girls began to push the stone, which was as big as Maddy, who was smaller than Abby. Slowly the rock moved, revealing the brightest light they’d ever seen. “Whoa,” Abby said in amazement as she lifted the shining, golden key from the ground. Maddy blew on it, causing a cloud of dirt and dust to float in their faces. The girls coughed. They stared at the key for a moment to get used to its brightness in the dark, dark cave. “Well, I think we should get back on the trail and head to the top,” Maddy said finally. Abby nodded, and the girls turned and walked towards the outside of the cave. They carefully hopped down to the trail (they had had to climb trees to reach the cave) and Abby pulled a long piece of ribbon out of her pocket. She tied it to the key and put it around her neck. “She did say to guard it with our lives,” she said. Maddy nodded and they began walking again. The trail had stopped feeling crumbly; they had just gone over a bad part of the path. The trail did begin to get narrower, though. The girls squeezed against the wall and held hands again. Suddenly they stopped dead. There was a large boulder in front of them, and resting on the top of it was a big, yellow snake!
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“Love it so it will love us back,” Maddy whispered to Abby. Abigail squeezed her eyes shut and said over and over again in her mind I love you, snake. The snake hissed, and then slithered down the side of the rock. He was coming towards them! They backed up in fright and squeezed each other’s hands. Then the snake slithered right around the girls and down the path behind them! They both were holding their breath, and let it go as soon as they knew the snake wasn’t planning on coming back. They started to climb up the rock, which was quite easy, for there were little holes in it like a rock climbing wall. Once they were at the top, they slid down the side of the rock, which, strangely, was quite smooth (unlike the other side). The path began to get steeper, making the girls tired. “How much longer do you think until we get there?” asked Abby, breaking the silence. “It doesn’t look very far, but who knows how long it’ll take,” answered Maddy. Then they realized the gate was much, much closer. They began to run faster than they knew they could up the path. After about twenty minutes they came upon another boulder, this time about three times as tall as Abby.
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“How are we gonna climb this, Maddy?” asked Abby, as she tied her jacket around her waist. “I dunno. Oh, I forgot to tell you. Ocean gave me this before she left. She told me not to open it until we had gotten the key,” answered Madison as she pulled a tiny box out of her pocket, and tied her jacket around herself also. “Well, open it!” Abby said, looking at the tiny black box tied with a shiny red ribbon. Maddy tried to untie the ribbon, but could not undo the not because it had been tied very, very tightly. Abigail pulled the box out of her friend’s hands and used the edge of the key to try and cut the ribbon. When that didn’t work either, Maddy grabbed the box back. But Abigail wouldn’t let go. “Stop pulling! No, you stop!” they said. Suddenly Maddy, who was on the side of the path which she could not fall off, let go of the box, but Abigail didn’t, causing her to fall backwards! “ABBY!” screamed Maddy, dropping the box and getting down on her knees. Luckily, Abigail had grabbed a small part of the mountain which was sticking out. “Help me!” she shouted, trying not to look at the ground, which was miles and miles below them. Madison stretched her arm as far as it could go, about two inches away from Abigail’s right hand, which could not get a grasp on the mountain. “Just hold on! I gotta see what’s in the box!” Maddy said. She looked at her friend for a moment, then quickly stood up and picked up the box. She suddenly had the brainstorm of using a small stone to cut the ribbon. She lifted a stone from the ground, but it was made of dirt so it crumbled in her hands. She found a real stone and started to cut the ribbon with it, and succeeded. Madison threw the long ribbon behind her (it fell off the edge where Abigail was) and quickly lifted the top off of the box. She saw a small piece of thread. She lifted it, and it began to grow and grow until it was a very long rope. Maddy immediately knew what to do. She tied one end of the rope to a branch which was hanging above them, then tossed the other end to Abby, shouting, “Abby! Grab the rope!” Abigail grabbed the rope and Maddy started to pull. Abby grabbed the side of the path and Madison helped her up. “That was close,” they said at the same time.
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“I’m really hungry,” Abby complained. Madison stared at the sun setting behind the forest north of the Village of Wishes. “Me too. I think we should find a spot to call it a night. We can get to the mountain tomorrow. And I’m sure we’ll find some berries or something somewhere,” replied Maddy. Abby nodded, and they decided to stop on the top of a rock, which was surprisingly flat. The girls both put their coats back on. It had been very hot in the day, yet it was freezing at night. Madison suggested they gather leaves and such to make the rock more comfortable for sleeping, and Abby agreed. Madison collected broken branches and twigs, Abigail collected many large leaves and some pine needles. Maddy spread her sticks on the rock, and Abby broke off parts of them to make it more flat. The girls both covered their “bed” thickly with leaves and pine needles. It doesn’t seem very comfortable, but Abigail and Maddy were very tired and were willing to sleep on anything. Once they had lain down, Maddy fell right to sleep, but Abby could not sleep as easily because she heard wolves howling in the distance, which made her uncomfortable. She thought she heard other sounds, but she was trying to make out what they were when her eyes closed…..
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“Abby, wake up,” Madison said, shaking her friend awake. Abigail yawned and sat up, looking at her surroundings. “I woke up a while ago and went on a berry search. I found this area that’s really hard to get to, but there are tons of berries. I didn’t get any though,” Maddy said. Abby slid off the rock and replied, “Let’s go get some. Where are they? I’m starving.” Maddy started walking down the path and Abby followed. “How much farther do you think it is until we get to the garden?” asked Abigail as they began to walk faster up the path, which was getting steeper. “If we keep going at this speed we should be there in about an hour. That is, if we don’t stop for a berry-break,” answered Madison. “Wait, where’s the key?!” Abby exclaimed, feeling her pockets. The key wasn’t around her neck! The girls immediately began to run backwards, searching their surroundings for the key. “Do you think the knot came undone while you were sleeping?” asked Maddy once they had gotten back to where they had spent the night before. “If it did, it’s long gone. It would have fallen off the rock and then fallen off the path, down, down to the ground,” answered Abigail, who was very angry at herself for losing the key that she was told to guard with her life. The girls quickly tossed the leaves and twigs off the edge of the path in search of the key. They still found nothing. They started running backwards again, all the while looking under large stones and piles of leaves, hoping they would see the shining gold key. Soon they came upon the spot where Abigail had fallen. They looked down to the piece of the mountain she had been holding on to, and, sitting right there just out of their reach, was the beautiful large key. “How are we gonna reach it?” wondered Maddy. “I don’t know if that’s humanly possible for two ten-year-olds on the side of a mountain in some strange universe on a quest that some alien sent us on.”
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“I think I got it!” Abigail finally said excitedly after almost half an hour of sitting and thinking. “The ribbon is still tied to the key, right? Well, I can tie one of my jacket arms to one of yours and tie your other one to this branch. Then we can lower it so that the ribbon on the key hooks onto the branch and lift it,” she explained, showing her friend a branch that was shaped like a giant fishhook. Madison grabbed their jackets (which were on the top of the large boulder they had been stuck behind before) and tied their arms together. Abigail took that from her friend and used a ribbon that had been in her hair to attach the branch to the jacket. The girls both held on to Abigail’s jacket’s arm as they slowly, carefully lowered Abigail’s plan. Abby held it tightly while Maddy tried to catch the ribbon on the branch. After a few tries Maddy finally got the ribbon attached. She told Abby to help her as she pulled the shining key up very, very slowly. “We got it,” said Abby as she unhooked the ribbon from the branch. “This time, we really can’t let this thing out of our sight,” Maddy said as she untied their coats. It was after noon, and the girls were getting very hungry. They had only walked about five feet when they heard thunder and the rain poured down.
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“Great. The rain is the last thing we need,” complained Abby, who was holding her jacket over her head as an umbrella. “Well, since I’m the Princess of the Waters, maybe I can make it stop raining or something,” Madison answered, doing the same with her coat. “Ocean didn’t say anything about rain though,” Abigail reminded her friend. “All she said was you can part the waters, walk on water, and calm the sea at storm,” she added. The path began to get wider. Then the girls stopped running. They heard a terrible growl, and it didn’t sound too far away from them! “What do you think that is?” asked Maddy. “Who knows, it could be anything. We aren’t on earth; there could be thousands of ferocious things out here,” answered her friend. “True,” said Maddy. With that the girls began walking again. After a few minutes, the path began to become very muddy, and the girls were walking very carefully to make sure they didn’t slip and fall. The path made a turn and the girls froze. Sitting right in front of them was a moose (it was small for a moose for that world; on earth it was what we call huge), lying on the ground asleep. “What are we going to do?” whispered Madison worriedly. “First we need to let it rest. When it wakes I can talk to it and see if I can get it to move or something,” answered Abigail. The moose slept on for hours, then it began to move a little and it opened its eyes.
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Once it the moose noticed the girls, Abby squeezed her eyes shut and tried to send a thought to the moose. “Excuse me, but we are trying to cross the path and cannot pass because of your sleeping spot. Would you please let us by?” she told the moose silently. He stood up, opened his mouth, and asked, “Aren’t you Abigail, Princess of the Creatures? And you, you’re Madison, Princess of the Waters, correct?” “Wait, you can talk?” Maddy said, surprised. “Sure I can. There aren’t many creatures left who talk; mainly moose and deer,” he answered. Abigail told him that he was right- they were princesses. “Your majesties, my name is Thomas. You both look terribly tired. Why don’t you climb on my back? I will gladly carry you to the end of the path,” he said. The girls looked at each other and Madison answered, “We would love to. Thank you so much.” Thomas lay down low enough for the girls to climb on his back. Abby tucked the key under her shirt and tightened the knot, and then Maddy reached her arm out to Abby and helped her up. Once they were on comfortably, the moose stood up and began walking. Then, without asking if the girls wanted to hear it (which they certainly did not), he began to tell a long story about one of his adventures in the forest, in which his father fell from this very mountain and died. “I wish he hadn’t said that,” whispered Maddy. After a short while they came upon the gate of the garden, which was much, much taller than they had expected. The worst part was that the lock was out of their reach, closer to the top of the gate. The girls slipped off his back, and with a kind “farewell”, Thomas began to walk down the path, leaving the two girls alone.
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After trying to climb a tree to reach the lock of the gate, Maddy suggested Abigail climb on her shoulders and unlocking the gate from there. Abby agreed and Madison grabbed on to the black, metal gate and Abby carefully climbed onto her friend’s shoulders. She stretched her arm (with key in hand) out as far as it could go, and barely managed to get the key into the lock. She turned it and the lock opened. Then Abigail noticed that the lock unlocked a small box, not the gate. She told Madison this and carefully opened the box. Inside was another key; this one was as long as a quarter. “Abby, you’re starting to hurt my shoulders,” Madison complained. “I found another key, but this one’s tiny,” answered her friend. Abigail tore a string off her shirt and tied it around the key, then hung it around her neck like she had done with the large, golden key. Then she jumped onto the ground and showed Maddy her new key. “I wonder what it unlocks,” Madison said. So the girls began searching for another lock. “Hey, look at this,” Abby said after about twenty minutes of searching. Maddy rushed over and looked at the tiny glass bottle Abigail was holding in her hands. It was full of a clear liquid that looked like water. “What is it?” Maddy asked. “It doesn’t say poison,” answered her friend as she opened it and smelled the liquid. “Gross,” she said as she handed the bottle to Madison. Madison looked at the top of the bottle and noticed tiny letters: Drink Me. She showed them to Abby. “What is this? Are we in Abby and Maddy in Wonderland or something?” she said. “That’s what I thought. But it says to drink it, so I think we should,” Maddy answered. Before Abigail could say anything Madison had put the bottle to her lips and took a sip.
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“Abby,” Madison said. “I don’t think I should have done that.” Maddy was beginning to grow! “This is just like Wonderland,” Madison added. All Abigail could do was stand there in amazement as Maddy began to get taller and taller until she towered over the trees and the gate. She began to get wider too, and once she was the size of a giant she glowed for a moment and stopped growing. “Abby,” she said. “I can lift you over the gate and you get the box!” “I don’t know…” Abby started, but before she could finish Maddy had lifted her (Madison’s hands were big enough to fit about six people Abigail’s size) into the air so Abby was level with Maddy’s face. “I can go over too,” Maddy said. After thinking for a moment, Abigail said, “Fine. But don’t step on me or anything.” So Madison gently set her friend in the branches of a tree where she could climb down. Maddy waited patiently for her friend to get out of the way and then she grabbed a tree, pulled it out of the ground, and knocked the gate down with it. “Whoa,” both girls said. Madison walked over the remains of the gate and suddenly remembered that Ocean had told them to find the well silently. Then Abby noticed something and pointed at the gate. The broken parts of it began to fix themselves! Once the gate was exactly as it had been at the start of their journey, it began to get higher and higher until even Maddy could not see the top of it. The next thing Abigail knew, her friend was shrinking again and it was getting dark. “Abby, what’s happening?” Maddy said as she grabbed her friend’s hand. “I wish I could answer that.”
◘•◘•◘
The girls stared into the darkness. It was so dark they could not see their hands if they held them an inch from their face. They kept holding hands and hugged each other. Then they heard a female voice saying, “It was a mistake to come here, my pretties.” She laughed the way a witch does. “Wh-who’s there?” Abigail said, shivering-both with cold and fear. “I am The Queen of the Mountains, or as many people like to call me, The Wild Witch of the Mountains. My birth name is Shish-Ki-Belloppa,” the witch said. Then the girl felt themselves being lifted up. They squeezed each other and tried to grab on to tree branches as they rose, but they failed. They quickly floated to the center of the garden. They saw a glowing, golden well- which shined just like the first key they had found. Before they could think or say anything, they were thrown down the well. The girl’s backs hit the bricks really hard, and they both screamed and wondered how much longer they would be falling. They fell for a long, long time: and they were starting to get comfortable in the air. Then they hit what seemed to be ground but was not. Maddy realized she had a flashlight attached to a belt hole on her jeans. She turned it on and gasped. They were surrounded by other girls who seemed to be their age- and they all had a key just like the one Abigail and Madison had found in the cave under the rock.



It's still not done It has like 6,000 something words xD Hope you enjoy, I'll update ASAP! If it's too long I can split it into spoilers, just ask :)

My goodness that's long! I can't believe you typed all of that! Great story, can't wait for chapter 2! It's amazing!!! :O Lol, Shish-Ki-Belloppa.

Wow!
I only got a chance to read the first 3 paragraphs bc I gtg to bed, but I plan to read the rest tomorrow! It's so entertaining and draws me in x]
I agree with Blue, this needs an award! >:O
**Stamps Emy's paper with a stamp of awesomeness** x] Yay Emy

by the comments i decided to read this also ur mah buddyy...xD
it looks and sounds like a real story omgg.<33
since im lazy i only read the firt 5 paragraphs
i love mysteriez<33 haha
amazing job :O

Aww, thank u guys :) glad to hear you like it! i still havent gotten around to finish it though, sorry :/ Look for more soon!

Wow... Unlike other people who read only six sections of it or something, you should of read it ALL! Emy, that was amazing. I love the charcters, Abby and maddy, and how great friends they are. Looking out for each other every time, going on an adventure with these powers. I loved it all. I kind of got confused in sections five, six, and twenty but then when I read on, it made more meaning. I liked how they dreamed and thought of many ways and so on. I read all of it,(not in a day), cause it was 23 sections long. But I loved it all, I read all, and I want MORE!!! Wow... That was amazing. It took me about like 50 minutes to read the whole thing. It is amazing. It was a little strange of what happened and kinda freaky when other girls were in the well with other people so yeah. I don't know how it will end and I can't wait for more.
 Emy, you know this, but I love your stories. Super creative and enjoyable to read and everything. Just an Amazing talent to have. YAY EMY!!!!!
MAY WANTS MORE!!!!!

May, I'm really glad u enjoyed it. Everyone else to. To be honest with u though, I haven't worked on this story in months, I've been working on new ones! This is as far as I've gotten. I will try and edit it soon!!! PROMISE!