When I opened my eyes there was a woman’s face about 2 and a half inches away from mine (I jumped). She had deep blue eyes and long blond hair flowing around her. Her face was pale and spotless. I sat up but the woman hid, behind a clump of long dark green seaweed. Was that really seaweed? She peeked out of a crack and her eyes watched me. She came out of hiding and I saw her whole body. She had a tail! She looked me up and down and spoke, but it wasn’t English. She was a mermaid!!?! I looked around and I realized I was sitting on the sand! Was I dreaming? Did I smack my head? I must have, because this couldn’t be possible, seaweed, sand, and in the distance I could see fish, crabs and some Jelly fish. This couldn’t possibly be happening! I saw Thalia a couple feet away, she was just getting up.
“Thalia,” I called, “are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” She called back.
I ran over to her.
“Where in the world are we?” she asked.
“How should I know?” I answered, making a face. “I am not a map, I haven’t memorised any maps, and I don’t think wherever we are wouldn’t be on a map anyway.”
“Fine, what should we do?” Thalia asked.
“I think we should follow that river.”
Thalia then said, answering her own question whilst pointing to a long slim weird colored river that was surrounded by things that looked like trees. I nodded silently. We both ran to the river, leaving the woman to her muttering. As we got closer I realized that the river wasn’t really a river, or was it? How could it be, it was pink, blue, red and purple. What river were those colors. Even if it was a river, how could it be underwater? Rivers, underwater, explain how that is possible, explain in English and dumb it down a lot. It was quite confusing, well actually really confusing. There was a sign, sitting in front of it; about two feet tall and it had some weird symbols carved on it and some English!?! It said, “Don’t go near the river!!!” Thalia looked at the sign and then looked at me.
“Don’t go near it Thalia,” I said,
“We have no idea what could be in that, um water or where we are. The best thing to do would be not to touch anything.”
She stepped closer to the river, ignoring my warning and then without warning a long white slimy skinless hand came out of the water like substance, grabbing Thalia’s ankle and she fell over. Thalia was shrieking. The hand was pulling her toward the river thing so I grabbed her under her arms and pulled and pulled. But whatever it was would not give up that easy. Another skinless hand came out of the water like substance grabbing Thalia’s other ankle and Thalia started screeching from the top of her lungs. A slimy skinless head and neck followed the other hand as an arrow shot past us and it hit the head then sunk into the river and the arms along with the head sunk back into the water like substance. I helped Thalia up, whispered
“Told you.”
in her ear and then we both turned around to find out who shot the arrow. We saw two women on weird creatures that I recognized but couldn’t place them. Then I realized, was it possible that they were dragons!!Both women had very pale complexions. One had long, straight violet hair; the same color violet has her eyes. She wore a long flowing white dress and she wore no shoes. The other woman’s, face was covered in freckles. Her hair was long, naturally curled ringlets, and red like an enormous bon fire roaring and crackling. Her eyes were emerald green like the short dress she wore. A wooden canister of arrows was thrown over her shoulder and she held a bow in her hand. The knee-high boots she wore was made out of some sort of brown skin. They both hopped off their dragons, who both flew away
“Hello Arika, hello Thalia,” said the violet haired woman.
“I’m Ivy and this is my friend Holly, come we must speak with you.”
We followed Ivy and Holly.
“Well, we have to talk to you guys about something very important, I am the queen of Tailainia-”Started Ivy when Thalia interrupted
“So that’s where we are,”
she started until she saw the look on Holly’s face.
“Oops, sorry Ivy! Continue.”
“Well as I was saying before I was rudely interrupted,” continued Ivy.
“I am queen and Holly is queen of Tailainia, but eventually I have to pass my crown on to someone else, so does Holly. That’s where you two come in. You will take our place when the time comes, that is why we brought you here-”Ivy stopped when Thalia interrupted again
“So you brought us here!”
Again when she saw the look on Holly’s face she stopped.
“Sorry, I’ll be quiet.”
“Good, Holly you may continue.” said Ivy.
“Well,” said Holly. “So we have to teach you about Tailainia and the big threat, Queen Bee. She started the great war of Tailainia and-” Holly stopped and Ivy continued
“- Killed half of the population of Tailainia.”

“More like slaughtered them.” Holly muttered.
“That’s enough Holly; we don’t want to scare the girls.”
“To late.” whimpered Thalia.
“Let’s go.” The rest of the walk was silent. We had walked for quite some time when we came upon a coral castle like the one from my drawing. It was beautiful and it shone like it had just been waxed. Ivy broke the silence
“This is our kingdom, soon it will be yours.”
“What about school,” I asked.
“If we’re here in Tailainia running the castle how will we go to school?” “We will be here until you finish school. You will be going to Wiz Academy to learn everything you need to know.”
“Cool.” replied Thalia.
“Let’s go girl’s supper will be ready in a the turn of the sun.” Said Ivy but when she saw our puzzled looks she rephrased it.
“Supper will be ready in an hour.”
“Oh.” I said.
“Holly will show you your room and when you here bells come down the hallway and turn right and then left to the dining room and feel free to explore any questions?”
“No.” we both said.
“Good, Holly take Arika and Thalia to their room.”
Holly led us to our room up the stairs. Our room had blue and sea green walls. There were two beds in the room, one by the window and one by the door, the bed frames were made out of a soft, light brown wood. The window overlooked the back of the castle, there a coral garden grew. At the back of the room stood an armoire, it was empty. It also was made out of the soft, light brown wood. I chose the bed by the window and Thalia chose the bed by the door. Our room was huge, the colors of the walls looked nice together. The blanket on my bed was sea green with a blue trim, Thalia’s was blue with a sea green trim, cool, I thought. I sat down on the bed, it was way bigger than it looked, I practically sunk down into it. l then lay down, I went off into lala land, I think I fell asleep. I had the strangest dream; I could see figures, in a dark room. They were my parents, I recognized them from photographs. They appeared beside me. They reached out, calling me, beckoning me towards them. A tall, dark looming figure took their place and my parents vanished, gone, up in smoke. The figure stalked towards me, but not because it was tall and had elongated legs but its walk was cocky, or arrogant almost like it thought it was the smartest thing in the world. It looked like a giant wasp, and it walked towards me now but in its hand was a shiny, black dagger. It pushed me up against an invisible wall pushing the dagger against my throat its eyes glowing red. I was about to see its face when…

I woke up because of the supper bell. I followed the directions Ivy had given me. I went down the stairs to the hallway turned right then left into the dining room. In the middle of the enormous room was an enormous table covered with food. There was fish and shrimp, salad and many different crustaceans. Just looking at it made me realize that I was starving!!! I sat down beside Thalia who was already eating. I took a plateful of food, including sushi, shrimp, fish and some seaweed salad and ate it in a matter of minutes. It was just so good. Once everyone was done and I felt as though I would burst, Ivy snapped her fingers and the filthy empty plates were replaced by cakes, cookies, and the works. By the end of it I was tired and wanted to sleep, I would have fallen asleep at the table if Thalia, (who has a bottomless pit for a stomach) hadn’t pulled me upstairs to our room. Pyjamas were laid out on our beds. We put them on and went under the soft sheets and I fell asleep in an instant, forgetting about my terrifying dream, (for now). Though somewhere in the back of my head I could hear the frustration and the anger from the figure for letting me go.

Somewhere at the border of Tailainia and Naraha Queen Bee was once again trying to find a way to destroy the two new queens of Tailainia without being detected by Holly or Ivy, she was discussing her problems with her cousin Hornet.

“But I don’t understand I had Arika in my clutches with nowhere to go, how did she escape!” Queen Bee Whined.

“I believe,” concluded Hornet most calmly as she picked at her nails.

“It was the dinner bells my dear, dear cousin.” Hornet said with a sigh at the stupidity of her older cousin.

“Yes you must be right, the little brutes don’t know that they can do magic yet, the little imbeciles.” Queen Bee screeched.

“My dear cousin, don’t let them get to you, otherwise you’re falling into their trap. My darlings go concoct another devious plan to destroy the girls and get back what is rightfully ours.” Hornet replied ending it with an evil cackle of husky laughter. “Yes, cousin, we will destroy them and those who stand against us will perish, we will come to power once again.” Queen Bee continued, the power of her voice growing.

“Then we will slowly take over the other realms and they will worship us like gods.”

“Yes, but dear Bee, first things first, destroy the girls.” Hornet continued.

“Why do you always have to put me down?” Queen Bee whined. “It’s only the truth dearie.” Hornet replied. Hornet paused for a moment then continued.

“The first things we need do are to get a distraction, so we can sneak into Tailainia without being detected or intercepted by the guards.”

“Exactly,” Queen Bee said excitedly.

“I could send a buzz of Drones and a flock of gullies to distract them, maybe post some Mantï at most of the portals to prevent people from leaving and if necessary we could send some Mega, Mutant Drones or Mega Alien Drones or maybe even both to attack the Coral castle. The possibilities are endless!”

“Brilliant, you’re finally using your brain; this is something to celebrate my darling. Get the Amber water from the fridge in the back, I’ll get the glasses.”


They both returned to the table and Hornet filled there glasses with the Amber water.

“Here is a toast, to you dear cousin for learning how to properly using your brain, I am proud of you. Mother would have been proud as well.” Hornet continued.

“You think so?” asked Queen Bee.


“I know so.” Hornet replied.

The cousins finished their wine and babbled on about what they would do once they had taken over the realms; they talked of palaces of gold, riches beyond imagining and the largest armies in all of the realms. After they had finished talking Hornet turned to her cousin and said

“I will be back in a month to help you take over. Don’t hurt yourself with new spells till I get back” Then she snapped her fingers and was gone in a flash.

“Why,” Queen Bee said “Why does she always leave me to do the dirty work.”


She continued mumbling all the way to her work shop to come up with a new set of plans. Before doing anything Queen Bee sent the distraction Duplex, a Buzz of Drones, was sent to the Coral palace to intercept Arika and Thalia and a flock of Gullies as well, let Ivy tire herself out, then she sent the Mantï to all portal doors and an army of Mega Alien Drones and an army of Mega Mutant Drones to the castle for Holly to fight off. That, she thought, should do some damage. Now I should feed the prisoners, she thought, she opened a call door and the two pale, thin and empty faces of Jen and Alan Louis looked up at her, she shoved food at them.

“EAT!” she yelled then slammed the door in their face. This, she thought, this time it will be worse, this time they will pay, she thought, this time they will really learn the true meaning of pain and war. I will make them suffer and bleed, Ivy will regret casting this evil curse upon me and my cousin, she will pay. I will bring them pain.

When I woke up the next morning, (Thalia was still sleeping) I got changed into my clothes from the day before and woke up Thalia. I left the room while she changed and went downstairs to the dining room and sat down for breakfast.

“Good morning girls.”


Said Ivy cheerfully has she sat down across from us. Holly sat down beside her looking awful. She saw our unsteady glances and replied,

“I’m not a morning person.”

We ate our breakfast, and when we were finished we listened to Ivy about the ceremony today.

“You will sit and when your names are called you will come to the front and stand while they crown you princess-”

Ivy stopped when she saw the confused look on Thalia’s face and her hand rose in the air.

“Yes Thalia.” Ivy said with a sigh.

“I thought we were going to be Queens?” she said with a look of disappointment.
“You will-” Ivy stopped has Holly spoke
“I am getting sick of Talia here!!!”
“It’s Tha-li-a, not Ta-li-a.” corrected Thalia.
“I wanna hit her so bad right now!” yelled Holly.
People began to stare.
“Enough,” shouted Ivy.
“Can you two stop fighting for five minutes!!? Thank you Arika for being civilized.”
“She started it.” murmured Holly.
“Holly, who is the eldest,” said Ivy sternly. “Me.” Replied Holly quietly.
“Then may I ask why you’re acting as though you are only two years old?” continued Ivy
“Sorry Ivy, continue.” said Holly sheepishly.
“As I was saying, Thalia when you finish school you will become queens, but for now you are princesses.”
“Oh.” said Thalia in much disappointment.
“O.k. girls,” said Ivy.
“The ceremony will begin in an hour, feel free to look around and explore the castle.”
We nodded and split up. I wandered past the staircase towards the door, for Holly had said that there were beautiful coral gardens and many different species of fish. I walked around back to the gardens. They were beautiful; the coral was many different shades of pink, red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple. The seaweed that was many meters high were different shades of green. I took of my shoes and walked on the soft, beige sand, it was cool between my toes. The fish were so beautiful and so colourful as well. I could never have imagined such color and exoticness. There were small fish that sparkled and the color change every time they moved which was very often. There were giant yellow fish that looked like s giant yellow bubble that moved super slowly, a star fish like creature that sparkled gold and silver and was covered with little bumps that wiggled like mad. Even a creature that looked like a jelly fish except when you touched it little pieces of gold glitter fell and made the sand glow. I looked at the blue water and I felt calm. Until I heard a noise, it sounded like the most beautiful music that I had ever heard. I followed the sound to a small house in a little village not far from the castle. The noise was coming from inside, I walked up to the door and knocked. The sound stopped and I heard footsteps coming towards the door. The door was opened by a girl about my age she was a bit shorter than me and she had thin, wispy, light brown hair that just touched her shoulders. Her eyes were a brilliant blue and she gazed up at me and smiled.
“Hi,” she said “my name is Araena.”
“Hi, I’m Arika.” I replied.
“Would you like to come in?” she asked.
“Sure.” I replied.
I followed her into the house into a small dim, candlelit room. The fire on the candles looked like small bubbles of fire in the small glass jars that held them. I sat down on a stiff, patched old loveseat sitting in the corner of the room. Araena sat in an armchair in the same state of wear on the opposite side of the room. The Room filled with silence and tension; I could practically hear the cartoon crickets chirping in my head. Then I remembered the reason I had knocked on her door in the first place.
“What was that sound?” I asked.
She looked at me for a moment, narrowing her eyes, scrunching up her eyebrows and her mouth turned into a simple pink line. She was obviously confused. Then her eyes brightened as if remembering something.
“Oh, that was my Clarinoboe.” She said with a smile.
“Could you play it again?” I asked.
“Sure!” she said, sounding surprised.
She picked up a long, sleek pitch black instrument that looked like a combination of a Clarinet and an Oboe; this observation explained the name Clarinoboe. Its outside was covered in holes and differently shaped silver keys. It was a bit longer than an Oboe and it had a much smaller and thinner mouthpiece with no reed. She picked it up, put it in her mouth and began to blow. The sound was even lower then a base Clarinet. The song she played was beautiful and filled with depression, loathing, loneliness and most of all, sadness. I could feel the tears coming to m eyes and I couldn’t stop them. The song reminded me of a lullaby my mother sang to me when I was a baby. The song ended and I was sobbing. Araena looked at me, she was worried.
“That-(sob) was- beautiful.” I said between sobs.
“Thank you, it’s a Tailainian Lullaby called Despair soon will be gone.” she replied.
“My mother used to sing it to me before she went missing.” I said now that my speech was less broken.
“Who were your parents?” Araena inquired.
“Their names were Jen and Alan Louis.” I replied tears coming to my eyes.
“I can assure you their not dead and I know where they are.” She said.
“Really, do you really know where they are?” I asked.
“Yes,” she said. “Ivy said new queens were coming to take their place, I’m to be queen of Algöniá, you must be Arika the new soon-to-be queen of Tailainia.” she said, and then continued.
“Ivy told me that your parents had gone missing, she thinks they were captured by Queen Bee and she thinks they’re still there.” Araena said.
With each word anger boiled inside me. I jumped up and ran, I kept running and I never looked back. Found what Ivy called a portal and touched it and in a split second was gone and back at the school yard and there, on the table sat the lime green, wax crayon sat in front of me, still slightly glowing.

I have left Thalia behind in Tailainia, what kind of friend am I? I feel so bad; I have to tell the only other person I trust, Sophie. Sophie is another one of my best friends, I can trust her with anything. One problem, will she believe me? She may be trustworthy but not gullible. Well, only one way to find out. I ran across the schoolyard to Sophie who was talking to some of her friends.

“Sophie,” I said, “could you come over here, I need to talk to you, alone.”

Sophie walked over,

“What is it?” she asked.

“Uh, well,-” I stammered.

“Spit it out, I haven’t got all day!” she said.

I looked at her and told her the whole story, every little bit of it. At the end she looked at me, and laughed. She laughed ‘till she cried.

“You really want me to believe this Baloney, come on Al, I’m not stupid.”

“Fine if you don’t believe me then go see for yourself, go touch the Green crayon at the table, let’s see what happens?”

But I regretted it as soon as I said it. Sophie would do it and be whisked away to a mystical fairyland because of me. How do I sleep at night, first I abandon a friend in a mystical fairyland and then I send a friend to a mystical fairyland possibly to her death because she doesn’t know how to protect herself. I feel like a really mean person. Sophie was beside the table, she touched the crayon and said

“See nothing hap-”


and was cut off in mid-sentence and was gone in an instant. Crap, now I had to go and get Thalia and Sophie. But, how could I go back knowing that my parents have been gone for the past nine years because of Holly and Ivy’s stupid realm. I’ll go to Araena and talk to her, I need to apologize for leaving so suddenly anyway. I could ask her about the other realms too and see which one Sophie transported to. I ran towards the table took a deep breath and touched the crayon it glowed then, POOF, I was gone. But I went slower this time; I could see things inside the portal. The inside was a shiny, metallic, silver and blue. There seemed to be little people working there, and each platform had the name of a realm on it. All was going as planned, Tailainia was right there and I just had to jump off this platform onto that one. But, I slipped. I didn’t jump as far as I needed to and I fell, but I caught grip of the edge of Tailainias platform. I held on and swung back and forth and back and forth until I was swinging like crazy. But, my hands wouldn’t hold much longer. My hands were becoming sweaty and they were slipping. My fingers were at the edge of the platform, and then I swung myself over the side of the platform and landed harshly on my knees. I ran through the portal doors and never looked back. I was back in Tailainia, back in the same spot that me and Thalia arrived a day earlier. I ran to the river following it, to the castle so I could find the village then find Araena, making sure to stay as far away from the river itself. According to Holly, she said it was called the Spirit River, the spirits of all the wars of Tailainia were in that river, and they were always very welcoming for new roomies. I saw the castle in the distance, but it didn’t seem as special as it did the first time. I walked as slowly as possibly to elongate the time I had before I had to face Araena for running out on her like that. I spent fifteen minutes walking, stopping at every tree, every rock and every bush and examined it, and then continued on my way. One tree, had a monkey, but it was blue. “Hi little guy!” I said.


It looked at me and said “


What do you want me to lick my butt or something, and its girl by the way, little girl.” It replied.

“My names Tlk Ba Paelk, yours?”

“Arika, Arika Louis” I replied.

“Well, see you later!”


She said as she climbed deeper into the foliage. I stood there for a few seconds then continued on my “long” way to the castle. I finally got to the village; Araena was in the castles garden picking flowers.

“Araena!” I called. She got up looked around, saw me and smiled. She ran towards me and said,
“Are you OK? Are you nuts? Are you mad? You could’ve gotten killed by Queen Bee.”
She paused for a moment, looked me up and down and yelled out in surprise.
“Your bleeding what happened?!?!?”
I looked down at my knees. As it turns out my, harsh landing in the Portal did some damage.
“Uh, I almost fell to my death in the portal.”
I said as casually as possible, but how can you say you almost died casually?
“Your jump was short?” she said.
“Yes, how did you know?” I asked.
“I did the same thing, come on let’s get you some bandages.”
I followed her into her house, and sat down on the loveseat. She sat down beside me and tended to my wounds.
“I’m sorry, for running out on you like that.” I said.
“It’s okay; I would have probably done the same thing.”
She answered. Then she said,
“So Ivy didn’t tell you about your parents?”
“Not a word.”
I replied through clenched teeth, trying to control my anger.
“You are, half Midearial.” Araena said.
“You will have trouble controlling your temper.”
“I’m half what?” I said.
“Midearial,” she replied. “How do you think I breath, how everyone breaths underwater, most humans have to take a pill to transform. You do it naturally see.”
She moved away her hair and there were three slits on either side of her neck, to help her breath. I felt the sides of my neck, there was nothing?
“You don’t have them; your physiology is different, your lungs work differently, some Midearials have gills, but most don’t. Anyway you said you had questions.” she said.
“Yes, my friend Sophie, transported herself to a realm, but I don’t know which one.” I said.
“There are five realms and one outland.” She said
“The realms are Diamonté, Crystelia, Algöniá and Tailainia, Anemalis the outlands name is Naraha. I believe she is in Crystelia, she will become, their queen.”

We walked to the castle, and I knocked on the humongous Wood door. Anxious Ivy answered and said
“Arika, Araena, go inside, Opal and Dresdin are here, and they will teach you how to fight.”
I walked through the doors, and there stood a tall blond woman and a tall sandy haired Boy standing side by side. Opal and Dresdin are our fighting instructors. It had a ring to it. Thalia sat in a chair on the left of Dresdin beside Sophie, (So I didn’t have to find her after all).

“As you probably already know, I am Opal and this is Dresdin, my apprentice and my baby brother.”

Opal said. Dresdin blushed a little at her last comment, he looked about my age, maybe a bit older. Opal looked, about seventeen, eighteen.
“I will teach you how to fight, and do magic no doubt Queen Bee and her cousin Hornet have already sent an army in this direction, my job is to teach you how to defend yourself.”
Opal said. She finished her speech then began to teach us how to connect with the magic within us; we had to learn all the elements. We started with water. Opal, led us to a small round table. There sat four porcelain jugs of water in front of four chairs on a small round table. We, (Sophie, Thalia, Araena and I) all chose a place and sat down.
“Now... you must focus,” Opal said calmly and clearly.
“Clear your mind, the only thing in this world that matters is you and the water.”
I stared at the jug of water, focusing, pushing everything out of my mind. It was only me and the jug of water.
“Now, bend the water, see the molecules and make them split.”
Opal continued.
I looked closer; I could see the particles that created water. I forced them to move, split in half and collect at each side. I could hear sighing, oohing and ahhing. I opened my eyes, I didn’t remember closing them, and looked around. All of my friends stared at me.
“What?” I asked.
“Your, eyes they are glowing, silver.”
Thalia managed to say. I looked down at the jug. The water was split in half; I could see the cracked bottom of the jug. I touched the water and it went back into the center. It showed my reflection, my irises were glowing silver.
“Like the moon.” Ivy whispered.
“Arika, give me your hand,” said Opal.
I lifted up my hand and showed it to Opal.
“I don’t know about you but I don’t think that normal.” Opal said. “Arika, did you get a tattoo?” Holly asked.
“Not that I know of, why?” I asked.
“There is a tattoo of a moon in black on your left hand.” Holly replied grimly.
“It’s the goddess of the moon, of the sun, of the sky and of the stars.” Ivy said, still in a hushed tone.
“Okaaay then, that’s weird.”Thalia said.
Then Ivy explained. She thought that we, us four simple girls were the four goddesses from the Tailainians prophecy.
“What the heck is this Prophecy anyway?” Said Sophie rudely
“The Prophecy states that four, girls will come in our time of ultimate need and save us from Queen Bee, and stop the time of darkness, by giving their lives and becoming, the goddesses of the moon, the sun, the stars and the sky.” Ivy explained. Thalia, had her mouth wide open and her jaw dropped so far down that her chin could dragged on the floor, (bit of an exaggeration).
“Let’s stop talking about this and continue with your studies.”
Opal said, breaking the silence.
“Well, done Arika, you obviously have a gift with the element of water. That should be useful when you live in a world of water.”
We went through all the elements, we practiced over and over. About three hours later Opal said
“You girls should go upstairs and get some rest.”
“If we’re studying here, and sleeping here what will we tell our teachers... our parents?” asked Araena.
“Don’t worry, we’ll deal with them.”
Holly said with a grin, winking at us.
So we all went upstairs to our rooms and got into these awesome silk pajamas, (I really like them) and got under the covers of the giant four poster oak bed. I let my head drop onto the pillow, my eye lids began to droop, and then I fell asleep. The nightmare from the night before drifted into my mind; I could see my parents again, they stood beside me. They reached out, calling me, beckoning me towards them, trying to warn me. The same tall, dark looming figure took their place and my parents vanished once again, gone, up in smoke. The figure stalked towards me, creeping up on me, not realizing that I saw it this time. It kept walking towards me now in its hand was the shiny, black dagger. It pushed me up against an invisible wall pushing the dagger against my throat its eyes glowing red. But this time I fought back, but it held me with a steady grip. I was about to finally see its face when…







*****
I woke up, it was morning and I could hear Holly











screaming across the hall. I got up and walked down the hallway, the yelling was coming from Sophie’s room. I walked in and Holly stopped yelling and looked at me.
“See you at breakfast.”
She said briskly as she walked around me and out the door. Sophie was practically in tears. I sat beside her on the bed; she had an enormous egg in her hand.
“What happened?” I asked.
Then she told me what happened.
“I woke up in the morning, and there was an enormous egg sitting on my bed. I looked at it, poked it and prodded it. It looked like a giant chicken’s egg. So, I picked it up, and took it to the bathroom, filled a bowl with really hot water and was on my way down to the kitchen to boil it. I thought it was breakfast. Holly walked in and started yelling at me, she asked me what the heck I was doing. I told her I was cooking breakfast. Then she yelled and said that I was cooking A DRAGON egg. Then I screamed and almost dropped the pot which would have broken the egg. Holly then kept yelling and that’s when you walked in.”
Sophie said.
“It’s okay Sophie, just be careful what you cook for breakfast”
I said between giggles.
We were both laughing when we went down to the dining hall, and still laughing during Opals lessons. The next few days were the same; we studied the magic of the elements defense spells taught by Opal and how to use weapons which was taught by Dresdin for most of the day, slept at night. After three weeks of training Opal handed us all a wand.
“Arika’s is made of willow, Thalia’s is elm, Areana has birch and Sophie has oak.” She smiled
“See you girls at the ball!”
“What?” I asked,
“Girls, it’s time for your first dance, it will be in around a month and a half.” Ivy replied.
We all turned to her and stared.
“You must learn to be polite and to act like young ladies.”
Ivy continued
“You also have to be prepared to dance with most of the male guests.” She said. We all looked at each other and began to laugh.
“I see your manners need improvement.” Opal added. We kept laughing and my abs had begun to hurt. After the adults had calmed us down Ivy turned to me and spoke directly to me, her face had formed a devilish grin.
“Arika,” she said
“Did I mention you have to wear a dress.”
I looked at her, shocked. “I... have to wear a - gulp- dress?”
I said, (I hate dresses).

We continued to learn the magical elements, we had mostly mastered water and we were starting Fire and Air. Ivy had decided that we were the second quartet of girls to fulfill the prophecy; apparently I am related to Lahna the goddess of the moon. This explains the moon in black tattooed on my hand. To practice fire magic you have to create a bubble of air then fill the bubble with a flame. We started by trying to create the air bubble. Araena was the first to create her bubble, her eyes were glowing a super bright blue, and the bubble grew enormous then with the other hand she set the bubble on fire. Then she screeched the flame extinguished and she fainted. Thalia, Sophie, Opal and I ran over to her to find her hand had been tattooed and in black was a cloud.
“She’s the goddess of the sky.” Opal said with a sigh.
I poked her and she woke up and sighed.
“I’m okay.” she said as she got up. We pulled her up, as we continued practicing. I focused on my hand; I visioned a bubble floating above my hand. I could feel my eyes glowing. I pushed my mind even more and slowly a bubble of air began to protrude from my index finger. Then with my other hand I tried to snap my finger, once, twice, three times, and then I got a flame. I put my hands together and the air caught on fire. I did it, Opal whispered to me: “Try to throw it.”
So I did a baseball throw and the fire ball went flying over the sand dune in front of me. I lost my focus and started jumping up and down, screaming at the top of my lungs.
“I did it!!!”I screamed over and over again.
Thalia then tried it, she concentrated. Her eyes were glowing red or orange. She set the air on fire and threw it her hand glowed for a second then she screeched
“I got the tattoo thingy!”
and we all ran over, she was so excited about the fact that there was a big black sun on her hand.
“It looks like we found the goddess of the sun.” I muttered.
We all continued practicing. After most of us had done it about fifteen times Opal said
“I think it’s time we tried the element of earth.”
Opal then explained what we were supposed to do to practice the element of earth.
“You have to bend down to touch the ground and turn the sand around you to stone.”
Sophie wanted to try first, so we all stood and watched. She got down on one knee, by the expression on her face you could tell she was concentrating really hard. Her eyes were glowing bright green and her hand was glowing a little as well. Then the soft beige sand around her turned gray, and went rock solid. Sophie then jumped up clasped her hands together and said
“YAY!”
Then she started jumping up and down on the now rock hard sand. Then she looked at her hand and said
“I have a black star on my hand, does that mean I’m the goddess of the stars?”
“Yes Sophie, you are the goddess of the stars.” Opal said and then continued
“Ivy is going to read you the story of the Prophecy so you know what happens.”
“Okay.” We all said in accidental unison.
We walked into the castle and Ivy was sitting at the dining room table.
“Sit down girls, I will read you the Prophecy.”
So we sat at the dining table as Ivy began. She cleared her throat and said
“The Prophecy states that in Tailainia's time of ultimate need, fate would choose four girls to bind their magic together to form the four goddesses, one of the moon, one of the sun, one of the stars and one of the sky, their hands marked with their element would single them out from the rest. What was their mission? Their mission was to watch over and protect Tailainia from evil for the rest of eternity.




* * * *
King Grethm was Tailainian's king for over fifty years and his kindness and generousness was known all over the realms and Tailainia was thriving. Then the dreaded day of his death arrived and the crown was passed to the king’s greedy only son, Grethar. After one year under his reign, Tailainia was poor, sick and suffering. He stole their crops, their cattle and everything else with value. A once thriving city was slowly dying. The time of Ice and snow was arriving and the cold was killing infants and children because of the absence of warm fur clothing, warm house and proper nourishment. The population of Tailainia was dropping drastically. The night before the first snow fall, fate came through and chose the four girls and on that same night, a cloaked stranger arrived in the poorest village and went door to door searching for the chosen girls. His name was Draiar, he was one of the strongest wizards in the realm and he was to aid the girls in the secret binding ceremony where their powers were binded so they could become the goddesses. He had found two girls so far, Lahna and Bella; each girl had a symbol on their hand in black. The symbol represented the goddess they would become; Lahna was goddess of the moon, her long dark brown hair and dark eyes represented the night, Bella the sun, her bright red hair representing the fire of the sun. In the last two huts he found Grace, goddess of the stars, her bleach blond hair looked like the bright white color of the stars and Rain, goddess of the sky, Her long black hair was the color of a dark rain cloud and her bright watery blue eyes like the rain. The girls had agreed and understood what they must do, to protect their people and Tailainia’s future. Draiar connected the girls aura’s together with his magic which created an enormous shockwave that destroyed Grethar. The girls ascended to the heavens to watch over and protect Tailainia for the rest of eternity.”
Ivy then ended the prophecy. No one spoke. Then Thalia broke the quiet and said
“Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s get cracking!”
And that’s exactly what we did.

It had been a month since we had heard our true destiny, and now it was the time for the dance. I walked into the giant room filled with unfamiliar faces. Ivy had said I was to wear a dress, (I, in case you didn’t know, hate dresses). The one I was wearing wasn’t big and poofy or anything, no bows, no lace, I just hate dresses in general. This was my first dance, (and soon to be my first battle), ever. I’m just not that kind of person, (At five years old I didn’t want a birthday party). There was a sand storm going on outside. You could hear the soft sand hit the outside walls of the castle. Behind me, I could hear Sophie, Thalia, Araena, Ivy, Opal and Holly making their way down the stairs. Holly was in the process of cursing then whining to Opal about how she hated long dresses and heels. Lucky for me, I was only ten. I didn’t have to wear heels, (hahaha, take that Holly, that’s what you get for being grouchy). I could see the conductor of the Tailainian orchestra, (if that’s what they call it) commence the music, start a new and slower song. When I got down the stairs, and all my friends were down as well. Thalia, Araena, Sophie and I made our way to a table at the edge of the room and talked completely ignoring the gentlemen that came to ask us to dance. The songs changed and we chatted on. Around the end, I heard the big doors screech open, then a muffled scream. Someone in a long, dark cloak walked in, (a figure like the one in my dream), its footsteps echoing in the large, now silent room. Everyone had stopped and turned toward the figure, the music had stopped. The figure let its cloak drop to the floor. Everyone gasped. Queen Bee stood in the middle of the room, everyone was paralyzed with fear. Queen Bee walked towards our table her feet clacking on the tile floor. She marched over to our table, I held my breath and from the corner of my eye I could see Ivy giving the cue to the guards to get ready to attack. Queen Bee stood in front of us, she spoke.

“Was I not invited to the party,” she said cocking her head to the side, “or was my invitation lost in the mail?”

Then the group of guards walked in, looking at Ivy, waiting for her signal to attack. Queen Bee turned, pulled out her shiny black dagger the one from my dream and the battle begun. Swords were drawn, but everyone paused. You could hear the sound of unsteady, clumsy feet thundering down the halls. In walked two, Manti their height was about ten feet tall, behind them came a wave, and enormous army of Mega Drones, Alien, Mutant, normal you name it they were all there, their crude, handmade weapons, axes and daggers, flying everywhere. The guests turned and fled, so it was only us, Araena, Sophie Thalia, Ivy Opal, Holly and the guards against, Queen Bee, two Manti that were at least ten feet high and The enormous army of Mega Drones. All the odds were against us, but that hadn’t stopped us before. Ivy, didn’t know this but I wasn’t wearing flats I was wearing my mukluks, and I had hid my elf made dagger in one and my wand in the other. My dress hid the boots so no one knew. Obviously Thalia, Araena and Sophie weren’t wearing flats either, they all wore some sort of boot all holding a wand and a dagger. I snapped out of my thought bubble after hearing the clinking sound of metal hitting metal. I gripped my wand and began shooting spells at the Manti and the Mega Drones. But Queen Bee obviously saw me and ran at me, her dagger in her hand. I shoved my wand in my boot, ripped my dress so it let me move my legs, pulled my dagger out of my boot, stood up ready to fight but Queen Bee was already on top of me. We duelled with daggers I hit her twice, she sliced across my arm I winced, I stabbed her and I had her in the right place to make the perfect killing stab. I heard someone call me. I turned,
“Arika, help!”
it was Opal. Then, the Mega Drone stabbed her. I saw her fall; I saw the life leave her eyes. My eyes brimmed with tears, everything was blurry. I turned to fight Queen Bee again, the cut on my arm burning. Then I realized the dagger was black, like a bee’s stinger. Queen Bee hit me on the head with the hilt of the dagger, I fell to the floor. Then with all her strength she stabbed the dagger, her stinger filled with venom, in my thigh. I screamed as the burning feeling of the venom spreaded through my leg. My leg burned, like it was covered in blue flame. Everyone paused and looked at me. Queen Bee grabbed my hand and snapped her fingers and the army of Drones, and the two Manti vanished along with me and Queen Bee. We were in her lair, she carried me to the prison and threw me in and I cried out as my head it the cold, cement floor.

I woke up and remembered where I was, I could still feel the burning in my leg, and I looked at the cracked watch on my wrist. I had been asleep for a week. I groaned as I sat up, sleeping on the cement floor can really mess up your neck, and back, (that’s the moral here, remember that). I was in Queen Bee’s lair, in Naraha, I wasn’t underwater anymore. I looked around, something fell from the ceiling. I looked up, but there wasn’t a ceiling. That can help with things, I thought. I pulled my forgotten wand out of my boot. I searched for the fallen object, and found a piece of parchment with a kind of pen attached. In the top right hand corner it said “Give us a lay of the land” it was from Ivy. My arm stung, I deep cut was just below my right shoulder. I looked around, the prison was an enormous square room, and the gray stone walls were covered with a thick layer of grime and dust. Enough to drive Aunt Carol crazy, I thought with a grin. But as fast as it had appeared it disappeared as I thought about how I would have to stay here for a while until Ivy, Holly and whoever else got to me. Well, I thought, it sure is homey. I got up slowly, groaning from the pain, in my leg mostly. I still wore the dress from the dance. It was filthy, ripped and tattered but usable. I ripped about a foot of the emerald green dress; it was now down to my knees. Good enough, I thought. I saw the leg Queen Bee had stabbed, its veins were black, and the wound was bruised, burned and scabbed over. I turned away, disgusted. Well, I thought, this is what to be expected. I ripped the fabric I had ripped of the dress in half, and then one of the halves into two quarters. One of the quarters I tied around my injured arm, then the other quarter I tied around the wound on my leg. I hid the rest of the fabric in my other boot. I searched the prison, with the parchment and pen (I think) in hand sketching the outline of the grimy gray walls. I then discovered a small hole, just big enough for someone my size to fit through. I got down on my hands and knees, and crawled across the dust covered floor, leaving a path of cleanish floor behind me. I clenched my teeth, urging myself not to make a sound as a jagged rock, part of the wall rubbed up against my arm, and as I was forced to scrunch my neck down stretching the unstretched nerves and knots. As I got farther in, it got darker in the tunnel. After what felt like hours I saw a dim light at the end of tunnel. Finally, I thought, I was starting to feel a bit claustrophobic. As I got nearer to the end of the tunnel I heard voices, they were whispering.
“You have the girl” said a low husky voice.

“Yes, Hornet.”

Said a bit of a higher voice, it was familiar... it was the voice of the woman who had brought me here, Queen Bee. The other woman was named Hornet. I poked my head a bit out of the tunnel and saw, Queen Bee. The other woman, Hornet was beside her. Her features were similar to that of Queen Bee’s though more pronounced; her hair was black with hints of silver, instead of grey, and it was definitely better taken care of. Her eyes were darker colors of red, and her skin a paler grey. She was also totally a bit shorter, less wrinkles; by the looks of it she was younger too.

“My dear cousin, you are positive?”

asked Hornet, with a small note of sarcasm that Queen Bee obviously didn’t detect.

“Yes, the stars and forces are finally on our side!”

Queen Bee replied with a hint of very obvious cheerfulness. “Darling... are you trying to be more optimistic? Because if you sure it is definitely not helping our current situation.” Hornet replied looking quite smug about the fact that she had just been sarcastic yet again without her older cousin noticing. If she had, she didn’t show it. I felt a sneeze coming on, I tried to hold it in and wait until one of them said something, but I couldn’t and I gave a huge sneeze because of the thick layer of dust, pollen and grime on the floor where I lay. I lay still, holding my breath hoping they hadn’t heard it. Well the bad news is that they did. Hornet looked at Queen Bee and put her finger on her lips, showing her not to speak. I began to panic and try to hold my breath even longer as Hornet came out of view, then I saw her feet come closer and closer to my hiding spot. She stopped and turned out and began to walk away. I let my breath out, but it came out louder than I expected and out of nowhere Hornets grinning face was right in front of my face. I screeched from shock, but no sound came out. Hornet spoke; her exact words were

“Hello darling, are you lost? The last time I saw you, you were supposed to be in the prison, aren’t you still supposed to be there dearie? Well, that means you know that you need to be punished, right Bee?”

she grinned, and I made a face as her rancid breath was blown into my face.

“Of course Hornet, those are the rules.”

Queen Bee said, going along with Hornets plan. Hornet grabbed my arm and pulled me out from under the thick, gray brick wall. I winced as she twisted my injured arm. She brought me to my feet and said “


Now this is for your own good,” And with that she slapped me across the face. My left cheek burned.

“And so is this.”

she continued as she twisted my injured arm and pressed on the wound with her fingers, her sharp nails piercing my skin. Tears filled my eyes, the created little paths on my face as they rolled down my cheeks and blood seeped through the fabric on my arm and trickled down my arm, then dropping to the floor. “Now you will never do that again, understand? Okay, back to the prison... Bee Take her to the cell she was in before while I block this tunnel.”

Hornet said. Her voice held no sympathy. Queen Bee grabbed my arm and practically dragged me to the cell, and pushed me to the floor, and then she slammed the door and clicked the lock. I pulled myself to one of the walls; it was cold against my arm and soothed the burning. I know this is pretty sad and totally not courageous but, at the wall I simply curled into a ball and cried. I don’t know how long I stayed in that position, but I bet it was a while because when I heard the flapping of wings and went to lift up my head to look my neck was even stiffer and it cracked painfully as I looked up. But, when I looked to the sky I saw nothing. I sighed and went back into a ball. When the wall I was leaning against began to vibrate, I got up quickly and turned, the wall was shaking. Was it an earthquake? I squeezed my eyes shut and covered my head with my arms. There was a thunk, the sound of falling rock, then silence. I uncovered my head and opened my eyes and saw a figure standing there. I stood there staring and the figure came close and sighed with relief when I saw who it was. Sophie stood in front of me, smiled, stuck to fingers in her mouth and whistled. The sound was high pitch and shrill. The flapping sound I had heard earlier came closer and became louder. An enormous dragon landed beside me and growled in its throat.

“Arika, this is Ace, Ace this is Arika. Sorry to cut the introductions short but, Arika... did you need a lift?”

Sophie said, trying to keep a straight face but failed terribly. I stood there gaping, not sure what to say. Then I finally said “You know there isn’t a roof, you didn’t need to break the wall.”

Her face became very serious as she said

“I know...”

then grinned

“But kicking down the wall is so much cooler.”

She replied a- matter- o- factly. She climbed upon Ace and said “Hop on!”


I stood there, gaping at her quite stupidly. The she said “Unless of course you want to st-”


I then immediately cut her off saying

“Of course not are you nuts??” I hopped up on Ace behind Sophie and held onto her shoulders. As we began to lift off, who but Queen Bee and Hornet came running after us; at the border of the prison the both stood there hilariously shook their fists at us in unison. I let out a giggle, but cut it off as soon as I heard the buzzing. I turned and screamed
“DRONES!!!”


Queen Bee and/or Hornet (Most likely Hornet) obviously weren’t giving up that easily. A huge swarm or buzz of Drones came flitting after. In that swarm there was at least fifty thousand Drones following us. I looked back at Sophie and yelled loud enough for her to hear me over the wind rushing past our ears.
“There are drones after us, fly faster; they won’t be able to pass the border of Naraha. We can escape, but first we have to beat them to the border, and they are already gaining on us!!!”
“Got it, HOLD ON!!!” she yelled as we flipped and swerved three times before gently skimming the ground. We then flew straight up. A few of the Drones fell for the trick hit the ground and exploded but the others continued to follow. A rock formation was coming closer; it marked the border of Naraha into Diamonté. Sophie then screeched
“Hold on even tighter!!!!”
as she looped a couple times around the rocks then burst into Diamonté. We hit the dusty ground. We got of Ace, and walked through Diamonté’s forest to a portal, flipped the control to Tailainia, walked through and then stood in front of the Coral Castle. Then I smiled, but it disappeared immediately after I realized, Opal was gone.

I sat in my room, staring outside into the gardens I had explored when I had first arrived. Thinking about all the times I had spent with Opal. The day before, I had been rescued from Queen Bee and her evil cousin Hornet. That night, and many nights afterwards, Opals calls for help, me standing there, motionless. Frozen in terror. Then the sound of the breath leaving her, and the sight of the life leaving her eyes as the drone stabbed her in the side. Her empty, lifeless eyes staring helplessly into mine, it was the scene that haunted my dreams. The funeral was today, a week later, so we all had time to catch up on everything, and gave our bodies time to heal. I still had a scar on my arm where the drone had cut me in the ballroom, and the dark purple- blue scab, on my leg where Queen Bee had stabbed me, also in the ballroom. Holly had almost lost a hand, Thalia had a few cuts, done mostly by herself (accidentally of course, she was never good with small weapons); Araena was fine, mostly bruises and the same with Sophie. Ivy had no scratches whatsoever, no bruises. Not even a splinter from the hilt of her sword. Back to the subject of the funeral. Holly had gone back to “the real world” to get us “proper” funeral clothing, as Ivy put it. Sadly, I have no dark clothing, I remember only having my Beatles t-shirt, and for bottoms, maybe a pair of dark blue jeans. When Holly came back, guess what she had for me??? My Beatles T-shirt and a pair of dark blue jeans. Araena had a black dress, Sophie had a simple black shirt and black jeans and Thalia, was wearing a fancy black blouse and black slacks, on her head, was a hat with a veil attached. Sophie looked at my outfit and sighed. She looked at Thalia, then looked back at me, then at Thalia and snatched her veil off her head and put it on mine. Thalia clutched her head pouting
“That’s mine and I want it back!”
she said whiningly, pouting still and crossing her arms in front of her chest. Which Sophie then replied with
“Thalia, have you seen what she’s wearing??? Can’t you share?”
“No, I don’t share!!!” Thalia answered.
Quite defiantly at that.
“It’s fine, I’ll live.”
I said handing the veil back to Thalia.
“Now I have to do my hair again!” she said to herself as she walked away.
“Girls!!!”
Ivy was calling us, probably to talk about how we had to be “perfect little princesses” and behave ourselves and how our behaviors reflect on the whole castle so to watch our lip, sarcasm etc. But she had and enormous black cat with her, it had a white star on its forehead.
“Oh my god, it’s a Star Cat! I thought they were almost extinct!”
Araena said.
“They are, but this no ordinary Star Cat, this is Paula, Paula Tyxcaliana.”
“Who is-?”
But before Thalia could finish a girl materialized in front of them. She had Light brown hair down till the middle of her back. Her eyes were a blue- gray. Her fingers were covered with rings and she wore a light pink tank top with a black leather jacket, a pair of dark blue jeans and brown leather sandals.
“Hey, s’up” Paula said.
“Wow, you’re a cat?” Thalia said.
“No, I come from Anemalis, most people there can shape shift, and I can change into a Star Cat.”
She replied.
“Well, Paula will be joining us at the funeral,”
Ivy started, and then continued, directing the question at Paula “Do you need to change?”
“Nope.”
She said and walked away. We all stood there in shock, no one had ever spoken to Ivy that way, in that tone.
“Well, here we go.”
Ivy said, quite aggravated.










*****











As we made our way to the Great Oak, the group of eight, Ivy, Holly, Dresdin who had stayed a while longer for the funeral, Thalia, Sophie, Araena, Paula and I, slowly grew to a group of almost a hundred by the time we got to the oak. Then the funeral went in motion, Opal sat in a wooden casket, dark brown. She looked so pale; her empty eyes looked out into the world. The priest, (if that’s what it’s called) started the ceremony. I could feel the tears pour down my face. They started with where she was born and when, then to all her achievements and abilities. It was just a messy blur, it went by so fast. Then Dresdin, he went up to the front and said a few words. About how she was such an annoying older sister but how he had loved her anyway. A few funny stories, from when they were younger, by then the tears were pouring freely down his face; he was choking up and had to stop. Ivy went up with Dresdin’s paper and finished his speech. Holly then went up and told stories from when they and been friends in Wiz Academy and how she kept keeping her out of trouble, and when she was in it to get her out of it. Holly was crying but kept going. Then when a few other people had finished their speeches the priest took over and continued on and then the casket top was closed and was lowered into the ground and two guys began to fill it in. When it was filled everyone went up to put flowers on the top and pay their respects. Ivy waited until the end and began to thank everyone for coming and etc. When everyone had left, Ivy looked at us and said
“Are you coming? Holly and I are going back to the castle.”
“I think I’ll stay here for a bit.” I said.
Everyone nodded.
“Okay, hurry back though.”
Ivy replied as she and Holly walked away. We all stood there, staring at the grave, our backs to the forest.
“I thought she would never leave.”
We all turned and looked behind us; there stood Queen Bee, her dagger in one hand, the other on her hip. She began to walk toward us, dagger ready. She was also ready for attack.
“So, we meet again?”