Chapter 1
Everything began on a dull autumn afternoon. It was one of those days where you can only wait for something to go wrong. Lina was on her way from school. She was having a horrible day, and she wasn’t in a good mood at all. Deep in her thought, she missed a rock that was lying on the road. She stumbled over it and nearly ended in a puddle. That only worsened her mood.
As soon as she came home, she stormed into her room, grumbling to herself, and instantly after that, she strode out once again, because she intended to go to a meadow near her house, where she usually strayed when she was feeling down. She sat under her favourite tree and closed her eyes. A tear rolled down her cheek. She was furious, and she was trying to clear her mind.
Suddenly, grey clouds covered the sky. The wind was blowing fiercely. Lina had a feeling that it was encircling her. It seemed a tornado was forming. But that wouldn’t be possible. All of a sudden, Lina felt her anger fade. She opened her eyes and looked around. Everything was just the same as before. As if there had been no storm at all.
She returned home feeling slightly confused. She spent the rest of the afternoon in her room, pondering. She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn’t even notice a snow white pigeon that had landed on her windowsill and was now observing her.
Soon, she stood up and realized where she was and what was happening around her. She glanced at the pigeon for a brief moment, but decided to ignored it. The sun had set a long time ago, so she went to bed. She fell asleep almost instantly.
That night, Lina had a strange dream. She found herself high in the sky, in the clouds. She was able to fly. At first, she just admired the infinite whiteness, but then she saw some kind of castle, a giant white palace, ahead of her. There were gems of all colours embedded into its walls and they sparkled beautifully in the daylight. The palace was shrouded in a mist that made it even more secretive and inviting.
Lina flew closer to it, but when she was about to touch it, she was suddenly blinded by a strong white light. When it disappeared, she noticed she was inside the castle. She found herself in the castle dungeons.
Just when she was starting to panic, she felt someone looking at her. In slow motion, she turned her head to the right. There was a girl peeking from one of the cells nearby, not much older than herself. Lina froze. She barely dared to breathe. The girl smiled at her. She gestured for her to come closer. Lina walked slowly to the bars of the cell. The girl had long fair hair that shone in silver light, and emerald green eyes. She looked at her sadly and pleadingly. Suddenly, Lina felt something in her tightly clenched palm. When she opened her hand, she realized it was a piece of paper. She was just going to look what was written on it when she heard footsteps approaching. She turned around and saw the shadow of a guard who was coming from around the corner. She looked at the girl for the last time. The girl smiled at her warmly, and to her luck, the white light appeared again. Completely out of breath, she woke up in her room.
“It was all just a dream,” she tried to convince herself. In the next moment, she felt something in her hand. Her heart nearly stopped when she found a piece of paper lying on her open hand. The very same piece from her dreams.
She got out of her bed and hesitantly made her way to the desk. Then someone knocked on the door.
“Lina, are you asleep?” a gentle voice asked her. Her mother must have heard her panting after the strenuous dream. Lina waited without replying, her heart pounding in her chest. Seconds passed... And then minutes. The room was completely silent. Her mother had left. Lina let out a sigh of relief and switched the lamp on. She looked at the piece of paper in her hands and held her breath in anticipation...
There was nothing on the paper. It was completely blank.
“You must be kidding me,” Lina murmured angrily to herself. She was quite disappointed. “Nothing ever happens here. And even when you think there’s finally something interesting going on, it turns out to be nothing special.”
She tried to fall asleep again, but she couldn’t. She kept thinking about the dreams, the castle with the diamonds, about the strange girl in the dungeon, and the piece of paper. She didn’t understand how the paper from her dreams got into her reality. It was also strange that it was blank. Lina thought it was just a coincidence and that the dreams meant nothing. But even though she tried hard to convince herself that it was nothing serious, she didn’t really succeed. Eventually she sank into a dreamless sleep. The next day she felt exhausted, since she had missed several hours of sleep.
All Saturday the only thing she could think about was the unusual piece of paper. When she went for a walk, everything seemed strangely quiet, as if the whole world was holding its breath and waiting for something to happen. She tried to read a few pages of a book in the evening, but she was disturbed by the sound of wings flapping outside and in the next moment, the white dove she had seen the previous day landed again on her windowsill. She glared at it and was just about to scare it away, when she noticed it had a letter bound to its leg. For a moment, she just stared at the letter, then she realized it was probably for her. She cautiously approached the dove, expecting it to get frightened by sudden movements, after all, it was a dove. But this one simply sat on her windowsill and waited for Lina to take the letter. She took it at last and carefully measured the white bird.
“Is this for me?” she asked. The pigeon didn’t even flinch, it just stared at Lina. Of course, as if it could answer her. Lina looked at the letter. It didn’t say whom it was from. But it did say it was for Lina. “Great,” she mumbled in annoyance. Then she opened it and read it.
Invisible ink.
That was all it said. Lina remembered her dreams and the girl in the dungeon. Suddenly, the bird flew into her room, onto her table. It knocked over a cup of markers and one of them fell on the floor. Lina picked it up. It was one of those invisible ink pens, where you have to shine with an ultriaviolet light over the text to read what’s written. Of course, the invisible ink pen! Lina hadn’t even thought that the note could have been written in invisible ink. She immediately dug up the ultraviolet light from her drawer and shone it over the paper. Something truly did appear!
On the small piece of paper, there was a drawing of some kind of a map. A path was marked through the forest that led to a small lake, in the middle of which lay an island. Lina, who was great at geography, recognized the lake in a blink. She realized that it would take her a good five kilometers of walking to get there. She decided to go first thing in the morning.
But first I have to rest, she thought. She can’t set out on the journey tired.
When she fell asleep, she could fly in her dreams yet again. Suddenly she noticed something glimmer in front of her. When she looked more closely, she realized a pegasus was flying towards her. Its coat was a light turquoise colour and its mane was red like blood. Lina watched it dumb-founded. She approached it slowly and stretched out her hand. The pegasus eyed her calmly and let her touch it. Lina was astonished and completely enchanted by the magical creature.
The pegasus suddenly turned around and beckoned with its head for Lina to ride him. Lina climbed onto its back and clung to its neck. The pegasus shot across the sky like lightning. They flew over forests, meadows and rivers, and after a few minutes, he slowed down and softly landed in a glade in the middle of the woods. There stood four stones that represented the four elements. The symbol on one of them lit up in vibrant purple. Lina walked over to it and examined the violet spiral. She realized that was the stone of the element of air. The pegasus reared up on his hind legs and neighed.
“What is he trying to tell me? Should I be able to understand him? Why is this stone glowing?” Lina wondered.
All of a sudden, a white mist appeared that engulfed Lina and started to take shapes that became clearer with each passing moment. First, the girl from the castle appeared, but she was gone in a few moments. In her place the stones formed, each glowing in a different colour. These too vanished. Then, the island from the map appeared, and later some kind of narrow valley, nearly a gorge, at the end of which was a blinding white light. The mist disappeared. The stone ceased to shine. The pegasus elegantly bowed to Lina, whereupon the familiar light appeared, obscuring the dreamlike images and pulling her into reality.
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Chapter length: 1603 words
Book length: 1603 words
