The Land of The Secret Door

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The Land of the Secret Door

By Kara Siert, Age 9,

Started

March 31, 2005

Chapter One

The Secret Door

I dipped my rag into the bucket that held soapy water and scrubbed harder at the tile floor I was trying to clean.

I worked with other girls at Mrs. Clark’s house.

Mrs. Clark was a very nice person, but she was strict when you first came, for she wanted you to know who was boss.

Like all the other girls, I was an orphan.

We earned our keep here at Mrs. Clark’s property. The place we lived was called, “The Garden Palace”. Even though it wasn’t a palace, it was big and the people in the town where I lived had small houses, so they thought it was surely big enough to be a palace.

Mrs. Clark had first bought it thinking that she would not be bothered by anyone in it. Her husband had died and she sold her small home and used all her savings to buy The Garden Palace.

She thought she could never, ever see anyone except her servants who went out and bought her things that she ordered them to get her. She only talked to the servants when she had to.

That is, until one day when a young girl came to her house looking for a job.

Mrs. Clark, though she might not look or sound like a very nice person, let the girl stay for the night and hired her as a maid. Mrs. Clark actually was very kind and loving.

She started to love the girl and care for her as if she was her own child.

It turned out; the girl had been sent away from a distant orphanage because she was too young to do the hard work they wanted her to do to earn her keep.

The girl had grown up in an orphanage, but she got too old and was sent to the one that had sent her away.

Mrs. Clark adopted the girl, whose name was Emily, and from then on, became a friend to everyone in the town – neighbors, servants and so on.

She was very kind to the servants and usually went out to buy things for herself instead of letting the servants do it for her.

Mrs. Clark took more girls that could not fit in other orphanages or were too young or too old.

She took girls from the streets and looked for their parents.

She had been doing this for years when I came in.

Now, as I scrubbed the floors, I thought of when I had come…

My parents could not keep me anymore – they did not have enough money to buy food for their family.

I was the oldest. The youngest was one year; the second youngest was three years old. I was five.

I don’t remember my parents at all.

They dropped me off and I’m sure they were crying.

Mrs. Clark said they were very good people and that they moved away after that to a much smaller house they could barely afford.

I cried when I first came.

THE LAND OF THE SECRET DOOR

Mrs. Clark said that I would say I wanted my mommy a lot when I was sleeping or playing.

But, I grew up and got used to orphanage life.

Mrs. Clark looked and looked for a family to adopt me, but she could not find one, so I got older and turned nine.

I went to school where Mrs. Clark’s first girl that came to The Garden Palace taught us our lessons.

Mrs. Clark had told me about when I was younger.

I was glad that I knew about it.

I was seven when I started scrubbing floors and I have done it for two years now.

I saw Mrs. Clark out of the corner of my eye and then I realized why she was coming.

I had been scrubbing the same tile while I was thinking about what Mrs. Clark told me about my childhood!

“Grace, is there something wrong with that tile?” Mrs. Clark asked.

“Why no, I just…I just…” I trailed off and looked fearfully up at Mrs. Clark.

But instead of scolding me like she usually would she smiled and said, “I didn’t ask you to scrub the floors, today, Grace.”

“You – you didn’t?” I asked, surprised.

“No, I didn’t. You assumed I wanted you to,” replied Mrs. Clark.

“I – I’m sorry –” I began.

“Don’t apologize, my dear. I wanted to see if you remembered to do it,” Mrs. Clark smiled, “But now, get up and dump out that water.”

“Why?” I asked, “I’m not finished!”

“Just do as I say, Grace,” said Mrs. Clark.

“Yes ma’am,” I said and then did as she told me to.

Soon, I was standing on a puddle of water where I had been scrubbing and not had a chance to wipe up the water.

Mrs. Clark looked down at me through her glasses.

She was wearing a dark purple blouse and a light blue skirt. Over her blouse she wore a sweater that had the color of her skirt and her blouse mixed with some pink and bright green.

She had light brown eyes and dark brown hair pulled up in a bun at the back of her head.

“Grace,” she said, “Come with me.”

She started to walk down the hallway and I followed.

She saw Hannah, who was one of the other orphans, on the way down and said, “Hannah, go to the room with the tile and finish cleaning the floors.”

Hannah obeyed and I wondered why Mrs. Clark didn’t let Hannah use the water and rag I was using.

Mrs. Clark stopped at a door and I almost bumped into her.

The door she had stopped at was the one that she had forbidden any of us to go inside.

I wondered why she had stopped there.

She turned the handle and walked in, holding the door open and revealing a medium-sized room with a dresser, a bed, two bookshelves with books in them, lots of papers on a desk and a closet.

I was not sure if I was supposed to come in, so I stayed outside the room until Mrs. Clark

THE LAND OF THE SECRET DOOR

asked if I was coming or not.

“Am I…am I…uhhh…” I wasn’t sure how to say what I wanted to, but Mrs. Clark understood.

“Come in, dear, come in,” she said, “I need to talk to you about something.”

“Is it…is it…Am I in trouble?” I managed to say.

“Why no, honey! You’re definitely not in any sort of trouble. Now, do come in.”

I stepped into the room and Mrs. Clark asked me if I liked adventures.

Now, I really liked adventures and I often played I was in a secret land when I was scrubbing the floors or doing other chores.

“Oh yes,” I replied, “Adventures are my kind of thing.”

“Good,” said Mrs. Clark, “because even though you might think I’m crazy like many others, I’m telling you the truth. Under my bed there is a tunnel and it leads through the wall into a swirling liquid. If you climb into the liquid then you’ll be whisked off to another land.”

“Have you tried it yourself?” I asked.

“Of course,” said Mrs. Clark, “I wouldn’t be sending one of my girls to another land if I hadn’t been there first! Now, would you like to try it? You can always come back. And I’ll tell you how – you can explore for a bit, or, if you would like to come straight back here, just say the magic word, and back you’ll come, wherever you are. The magic words are the Sunflower is blooming.”

“How did you find out these things?” I asked.

“I read them in a book! My grandfather went into the land and got lost and for a month or two, he never came back! Finally, he found someone who told him the magic words. He got home, all right, but he wrote a whole book about it and gave it to my mother, his only child. But she was too timid to go exploring in other lands, so she locked it up in a chest and when I grew up and was ready to move away, she told me about it and when I asked if I could have it, she gladly handed it over. And now, I pick you to go into the land.”

“Are you going to come with me?” I asked.

“I wish I could, honey, but when I first went in, I didn’t have an orphanage! I have to run the orphanage now and I can’t just disappear! I’m sorry, but you’ll have to go alone. I’m not going to let any of the other girls come because I just don’t trust them. Now, would you like to go, or not?”

“I – I – I’m not so sure,” I said.

Actually, I really wouldn’t mind going, but then, what if I met someone who was evil?

I had read all the books that were available at the orphanage from cover-to-cover at least ten times! But of course, they had bad people and I wasn’t so sure I wanted to meet a bad person in another land! But, then, I could just say the magic words and then I could come back.

Mrs. Clark smiled a smile of understanding, “I know, I know, dear. It would be hard to decide.”

“What would you do?” I asked.

“Well, I’d go. I would watch out for danger and maybe try to see if I could come back using the magic words, you know, just to make sure,” replied Mrs. Clark, “But, it’s your choice, and you can either go and then come back, or stay here. But whatever you choose, don’t tell anyone, unless I give you permission to. Understand?”

“Yes ma’am,” I replied.

“Good. Now, what do you think?”

“I’ll do it,” I said.

“All right, then,” said Mrs. Clark, “Take this book of information with you.”

THE LAND OF THE SECRET DOOR

Mrs. Clark handed me the book and I took it.

“And also,” she added, “Don’t let anyone have it, unless you’re in danger. It is a very important to me and to anyone else who wants to go into the other land. Now, climb under the bed and I will show you the secret door.”

A little while later, I scooted the book of information Mrs. Clark had given me in front of my hand and listened carefully to the directions I was being given.

“Now, follow the path until you reach the circle of whirling liquid. Stop when you get there,” Mrs. Clark said.

I did what she told me to and when I reached the circle of liquid, I almost freaked out.

“Mrs. Clark, I don’t know if I want to do this after all. Please let me out,” I said.

“Now honey, it’s not as scary as it looks. Please try it, dear. Wouldn’t you do it for me?”

I thought of all the things that Mrs. Clark had done for me – let me live in her house, hired a teacher for me and some other girls, provided food and clothes for me if I did chores and been like a mother to me. I had to do this for her. I just had to.

I regained my courage and asked for further directions.

“Now, remember everything that I’ve taught you and told you just now. And the magic words – they’re in the book. But let me tell them to you now – the sunflower is blooming. Can you remember that?”

“Yes, I replied, “I can. The sunflower is blooming. The sunflower is blooming. I got it. Now what should I do?”

“Step into the liquid,” came the reply.

A shiver ran over me, but I wanted to do this for Mrs. Clark.

“Oh, and take notes, also,” Mrs. Clark added.

I put one foot into the whirling pool of yellow liquid and I felt my whole body being sucked in.

I tried to stifle my scream, but I had both hands on the book of instructions because I didn’t want the liquid to pull the book away from me.

But, by the time the loudest part of the scream came out, I was in another land.

Chapter Two

The Butterfly

I looked around me and wondered what land I was in. I had forgotten to ask Mrs. Clark the name of the land I was going into.

I didn’t see a sign, but I did see lots of nice, green grass.

The place was rather flat, but it had a few hills here and there.

I saw a couple nice-looking trees and I sat down under one and began to look at the book Mrs. Clark had loaned me.

It had lots of information about the land I was in and it was all very interesting.

Although I loved to read, I really wanted to explore at that moment and I set the book

THE LAND OF THE SECRET DOOR

down.

I examined the tree I was sitting by and then, seeing nothing of interest to me, I walked towards the hills in the distance.

Half and hour later, I stood at the top of a hill. It wasn’t an ordinary hill (at least that’s what I thought) because it was the biggest of all the hills in the distance and bigger than the one I had climbed over to get to it.

And, standing right in front of me was a palace!

It was palace with a gold fence surrounding it. Everywhere I looked, I saw beautiful stars – there were stars on the fence, stars on the door to the palace, stars on the windows and much more!

I had never seen anything so fine.

I thought that Mrs. Clark’s place was not even half as good as this!

The palace was huge!

I wished I could go inside, but I knew that that wish probably wouldn’t be granted.

But, I was curious about what or who was inside, so I put my hand on the gate and tried to push it open.

To my surprise and delight, the gate easily swung open and I eagerly walked inside.

The courtyard around the palace was lovely. There were hedges and flowers of all kinds. Bees and butterflies flew around the flowers taking a bit of nectar and pollen from one flower to another.

A swallowtail landed on my shoulder and then sat on my hand.

I thought it would fly away, but it stayed and I didn’t really want to shake it off.

So, I walked up to the door of the palace with the butterfly on my arm.

I put my hand onto the star-shaped doorknob of the gate, when the butterfly, which had been riding on my shoulder, quickly flew over to the door handle I was about to turn and tried to push my fingers away from it.

“Why, little butterfly!” I exclaimed, taking my hand off the doorknob, “What’s wrong?”

I knew that the butterfly would not be able to answer, but I asked it anyway what on earth it was trying to do.

Of course, it didn’t answer and I sat down on a gold bench.

The butterfly sat in my lap and I looked at it for a long time.

But suddenly, I heard a noise.

It sounded like someone murmuring.

It was coming from the butterfly!

Chapter Three

The Star King

The murmuring got louder and I could distinctly hear the words, “It’s dangerous! It’s

THE LAND OF THE SECRET DOOR

dangerous!”

“If it was possible that butterflies could really talk, I would believe you,” I said, “But I know I have a big imagination.”

“I am talking!”

I again looked at the butterfly and there was silence.

Then, the voice came again.

“Me! The butterfly! I’m talking to you! It’s dangerous to go into that palace! Many people go in and never come out!”

“You are talking?” I cried incredulously, “But you’re a butterfly!”

“Yes, but here in the land of the Secret Door, everyone can talk! Even the flowers can!”

“They can?” I asked.

“Or course! Everything that is alive talks – trees, bees, bears, tigers – everything and everybody!” exclaimed the butterfly.

“This is impossible,” I muttered.

“Did you say that awful word?” asked the butterfly in a terrified voice.

“What word?” I asked, “Impossible?”

“Yes, that word,” replied the butterfly, “We aren’t allowed to say that word here. So please stop saying it!”

“Who says I can’t say it?” I asked, “It’s true – lots of things are impossible!”

“Oh, why haven’t you heard of the king?”

“No,” I replied.

“You haven’t?” cried the butterfly, “You haven’t heard of the great buffalo king? You’ve got to be kidding!”

I was about to ask more about the buffalo when a young goat ran up to us.

“Why hello, Ann,” said the butterfly, “What are you doing here?”

“I heard you say kid!” replied the goat, whose name was Ann, “I’m a kid and I thought you needed me!”

“Oh Ann,” laughed the butterfly, “I said, you’ve got to be kidding!”

“Who is this?” I asked.

“This is Ann the goat,” replied the butterfly, “She heard me say, kidding, so she came running! You see, goats are called kids.”

“Oh, I see,” I said.

“Good. Now, please run along, Ann,” said the butterfly.

Ann did run off and the butterfly said that her name was Beauty. I told her I was Grace.

Then, Beauty said that Rocky was a buffalo. He was the king of the land I was in.

“What is the name of this land?” I asked.

“This is Secret Door Land,” replied Beauty, “It’s called that because the way you get into this land is from a secret door and from a secret door only. Rocky got in through a secret door. He was with a buffalo herd, but he didn’t have any friends and his mother and father had gotten captured by humans. Rocky was just a little buffalo. He sat down by a tree and suddenly, something poked his back. He turned around in surprise and there was a door! It was opening and Rocky tumbled inside. He wasn’t quite sure how he made the door open, but anyway, it did. He came into this land and named it Secret Door Land. Actually, not everyone came through a secret door, but that’s what Rocky thought. He discovered that he was suddenly full-grown when he landed in this land. Anyway, he found a big hole and inside was all sorts of creatures – all the creatures that you have seen and are seeing. All the creatures like in your land. They were trapped in the hole. The evil Lady of the Sea had put them there because they refused to follow

THE LAND OF THE SECRET DOOR

her command, which was always, always to do what she said. Rocky rescued them and then they all followed him. But, the Lady of the Sea, who we all call the Evil One, got four tigers and one lion to follow her. Now, the lion is dead, but the three tigers mated with each other and now she has lots and lots of tigers to hunt down those of us who follow Rocky. We don’t know where Rocky is today, but I think that he’ll be coming soon. Anyway, the Star King, whose palace courtyard you are sitting in, is always in a fight with the Evil One. He’s against Rocky and against the Evil One, though. He has his own creatures. I wait here in case someone would try to get into his castle – his castle is very bad. Many creatures go in and never ever come back out. I hear animal screams and crying from in there – I was just waiting for someone to come along for me to try to help. And that someone – you – came along and I’m warning you right now that if you ever step inside the Star King’s palace, you will never come out.”

“Wow,” I said, “I never realized how dangerous a palace and one man could be.”

“You mean one man and all his followers,” corrected Beauty, “The Star King has lots of animals that are on his side – against Rocky and against the Evil One – it’s awful. I don’t know if they would ever be able to get away from him if they wanted to.”

“Yikes,” I said, “Is the Evil One a witch?”

“Oh no,” said Beauty, “She’s all human.”

“Oh. Could you tell me more about the Star King?”

“Sure, Grace,” replied Beauty, “Let’s see…Well, he thinks he’s king of all the stars. Of course, he’s not – God is. But he doesn’t believe in God. The Evil One thinks she is queen of all the stars. But, she doesn’t want the Star King, as everyone calls him, to be king of all stars! So they’re always in a fight over who is in control of the stars.”

I was about to ask Beauty a question about the palace of the Star King (I’ll just call him that for now) but suddenly, a glittering string of lights appeared. The lights surrounded Beauty and I and then they started to get smaller and smaller and smaller until there was nothing left of them but a gigantic buffalo!

“It’s Rocky,” whispered Beauty.

Chapter Four

Rocky

I gasped.

I could feel Beauty’s feet gripping the skin on my hand tighter and tighter.

“Beauty!” I exclaimed as loud as I dared, “Loosen your hold a bit, would you?”

The butterfly did and then the great buffalo spoke.

“I am Rocky,” it said, “I have come to make peace between the Star King and the Evil One. But I must have helpers. Grace and Beauty, come with me.”

“How did you know my name?” I asked in surprise.

“There is no time to explain now,” said Rocky, shaking his head of buffalo hair, “Just follow me.”

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“Beauty,” I whispered, “What are we going to do?”

“Follow him, of course,” answered my friend.

“But one of my friends said that buffaloes are very dangerous,” I argued.

“You come from your land,” said Rocky in a grand-sounding voice, “But here in Secret Door Land, all animals eat plants. Look behind you and you will see what I mean.

I turned around and there, to my surprise, was a bear and a lamb, laying side by side and talking to each other like the best of friends!

“Have faith,” said Rocky, “have faith like your friend, Beauty. You are a human and you should easily trust me. But you did not. Beauty, who is only a butterfly, had faith and trusted me. Now, are you ready to help me make peace in this land?”

“Yes,” I replied.

But I didn’t really know what I had just said “yes” to. I was too busy thinking about how Beauty trusted Rocky and I didn’t. I was very ashamed.

“I know how you feel,” said Rocky, “And I know you’re ashamed. But it is all forgiven now and I need you to go summon the other creatures in this land. Now, make haste and meet me right here tonight at 5:00 sharp.”

I was about to ask him how we were going to get everyone to come and besides that, find the creatures!

But, the glittering lights appeared again and they got smaller and smaller and smaller and as they disappeared, Rocky did, too!

I gasped.

“I never thought that I would see Rocky,” whispered Beauty in amazement.

“You mean you believed in him when you never saw him?” I asked in surprise.

“Of course,” Beauty replied.

I sighed. I was still ashamed.

“Now,” said my friend, “Let’s be off and do what Rocky said.”

At five o’ clock sharp, Beauty and I, followed by a long line of animals, sat down with our backs to the Star King’s Castle Courtyard wall.

We waited for at least five whole minutes for Rocky to appear. But, he did not and we all wondered what had gone wrong.

“Perhaps he was captured,” suggested a squirrel.

“Yes, maybe so,” agreed the squirrel’s mother.

Then there was a lot of murmuring among the animals.

It had been easier than I thought to get the animals.

We told them our story and all of them believed us.

None of them were the least bit skeptical.

“How trusting these animals are,” I thought, “If only I could be that way.”

Time past and soon the sky began to darken.

We all drifted off to sleep.

In the morning, though, everything was different from the night before.

We awoke by shimmering lights and lots of shouting.

The animals began to frantically make their noises – the horses whinnied in fright, the pigs snorted, the squirrels began to chatter in an afraid tone of voice and all the other animals not mentioned made their sounds, too.

I suddenly screamed in terror.

Chapter Five

The Castle

A huge monster – like creature towered over me.

I couldn’t tell what it was.

I looked a little like a bear on its hind legs, but of course, it was too big to be a bear!

I screamed again and the huge creature bent down and made a grab for a moose. The huge creature’s face was as big as a lion in our world.

It roared a terrible, deafening roar and I covered my ears. I could still hear it through my hands, though.

Suddenly, a great noise was heard.

It was almost as deafening as the gigantic creature’s roar.

I looked over to my left and there was Rocky, the great buffalo.

The huge animal turned from all of us and as it tried to get at Rocky, I could see it clearly. It was as tall as a five-story high building and its paws were about five feet long! It had claws about a foot long.

It must have been a gigantic, humongous, terrible bear!

“Rocky!” it bellowed, “Retreat and no one will be hurt.”

“No!” cried Rocky, “Never! When the Evil One and the Star King are out of power, I still will not retreat!”

“You will never be able to defeat the Star King!” the bear exclaimed, “Retreat!”

“No!” shouted Rocky above all the noise of animals and the Star King’s army.

The bear did not argue anymore. Instead, it reached down one of its terrible paws and made a grab for Rocky.

This time, he did not miss.

The big bear carried Rocky off in its paw.

A few hours later, only about ten animals were left by the Star King’s courtyard wall.

The rest had gone off to tell others what had happened. (Not all the animals were able to come, if they wanted to, some were sick, others were hurt.)

I wondered why it had taken Rocky so long to meet us.

I thought it was strange that he had shown up right at the time the bear came.

Then, finally, I realized it.

When Rocky had first appeared to us, he had said to bring the animals “right here”. That “right here” was up in the Star King’s castle courtyard!

We had been leaning against the courtyard wall!

Rocky wanted us to learn to follow orders exactly. If there was a battle or anything like that and we didn’t follow orders exactly, we could have all been killed, seriously wounded or not help Rocky win by going to the wrong place!

Rocky did not protect us when the big bear came because we had not followed his orders right.

Now, Rocky had been carried off to some place besides the Star King’s castle (I knew Rocky had not been taken into the Star King’s palace because I saw them take him somewhere else) and I was responsible!

Beauty had forgotten, too.

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But still, I felt responsible.

I told my story to a gray horse standing near by me.

Fortunately, he understood and offered Beauty and I a ride.

“We might be able to find out were that big bear took Rocky,” the horse said, “A big bear like that must have left some kind of trace.”

So I climbed onto the back of the horse with Beauty in my dress pocket.

I wasn’t so sure how to ride, but the horse, whose name was Monarch, told me to grab hold of her mane and hold on tight.

So, we started off at a rather slow pace, for we had to look for clues of where Rocky had been taken, and pretty soon, we started to see big marks in the dirt which must have been the footprints of the bear.

We followed the footprints for a long time and Monarch said that she would have to speed up.

Beauty was already being bumped around and jostled, so I found a thick vine hanging around a tree and Monarch managed to rip off a good long string of it. I made something similar to a bridle for Monarch and put it on her.

I then put my arm through the spot on the bridle that you usually hold onto and with my other hand I made sure Beauty was okay in my pocket.

Finally, we reached a large, menacing castle.

It was made of very dark-black stone. I didn’t like the look of it and something inside me told me that it meant trouble.

The tracks of the huge bear stopped outside a moat that was surrounding the big, dark castle.

I wondered why the castle up on the hill where I had first met Beauty did not have a moat.

But I didn’t really have time to think much about it because we were all faced by a big decision.

“Well,” said Monarch, “I think we should decide what we should do. I mean – who is going in? We can’t all go in because what if one of us gets caught? Then there is no one to go get others to rescue the caught creature.”

“I guess we should use the process of elimination,” I said.

“What is that?” asked Beauty.

“Process of elimination helps us decide who goes in,” I said, “How it works is we think about what would happen if Monarch went in.”

“I think I’m a little too big,” said Monarch.

“Right,” I said, “And besides, Monarch is the only one who can run fast enough to get help. Now what we just did was using the process of elimination.”

“Neat!” exclaimed Beauty.

I nodded in agreement to Beauty’s comment and then said, “Now what about Beauty?”

“Don’t you think I’m a little too small?” asked Beauty.

I was about to say that she was too small when a sudden thought came to my mind.

“No,” I replied, “You’re not too small for the job I’m going to give you. Listen up– I’ve got a plan. What we do is this – Beauty flies into the castle and tell us what is going on – she’s the scout. Beauty, you go in and see if they are holding Rocky in there – if they are, then go see where and memorize how to get there. Then you fly back out and I will sneak in there. You will distract the men, Beauty and I’ll sneak in. Don’t let them catch you – stay out of their reach. You’ll tell me the directions and I’ll write them down in the notebook Mrs. Clark gave me–”

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I was interrupted by Monarch. “But Grace,” she said, “You told us the story of how you got here while we were following the trail of footprints. But you don’t have the book with you, Grace. Where is it?”

I then remembered I had left it by the tree when I first got into Secret Door Land. And now, somebody could have stolen it! Mrs. Clark said to make sure it got back safe and sound.

I told my two friends what I had just realized.

“You’ll have to do without it, Grace,” said Monarch, “Right now, Rocky’s life may be in danger. You’ll have to remember the directions that Beauty gives you.”

I nodded my head in agreement.

“Continue, Grace,” said Monarch.

“As I was saying,” I continued, “Beauty will distract the people in the castle and I’ll sneak in and see about Rocky. Then I’ll get out and Beauty will fly away. I probably won’t be able to get Rocky loose, but we will know where he is.”

“Why do you need to know where Rocky is if he’s in there, and I do to?” asked Beauty, “I mean, if he’s in there, why can’t I just go in there and you stay out here with Monarch?”

“Well,” I said, “What if you accidentally got something mixed up? You probably won’t, but just in case you do, I would really like to have both of us go into the castle.”

“Oh, I see,” said Beauty.

“But how are you two going to get across the moat and into the castle?” Monarch asked.

Now this was something I hadn’t thought of.

“Well, I don’t know,” I said, “I really didn’t think of that, but maybe, just maybe if we had some strong kind of animal–”

My voice was suddenly lost in a roar. I screamed.

Of course, no one could really hear me, but I screamed a second time.

I could feel something get into my pocket and I figured it was Beauty.

I couldn’t really look though, because whoever or whatever it was had stirred up so much dust that I couldn’t see a thing!

I groped about for Monarch’s back, but I couldn’t feel anything.

I opened my mouth to scream, but all I got was a mouth full of dust.

I did not know what to do!

I didn’t want to open my eyes, because all the dust and dirt would get into them, but I opened them anyway and looked around.

The dust still got into my eyes, but it was settling and I could make out the shape of an enormous lion.

Chapter Six

Andrew

The lion roared a terribly loud and terrifying roar and I covered my ears, though that really didn’t help much.

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Only one thought was in my mind right then – I had to get away from the lion.

I had no idea how I was going to do this, since the only thing that I could do was run since I couldn’t find Monarch.

But, I put one of my hands on the opening of the pocket Beauty was in so that not so much dust would get inside.

Then, I ran as fast as I could.

But actually, I couldn’t run very fast. And since the lion was so big, he could easily catch up to me.

I just hoped he wouldn’t want me.

I also hoped Monarch was safe, but I couldn’t see her or anything.

Suddenly, I heard a horse neigh behind me.

I had to look back. I saw the lion, which was about as tall as a six-story apartment standing on its feet, holding Monarch in its paws.

Again, I felt responsible.

If I had led all the animals to the courtyard of the Star King’s place, then Rocky would have come and everything would have been okay. We wouldn’t have had to go to the big, dark gloomy palace to see if Rocky was there. And the terrible lion would not have had Monarch.

I wished I could do something to at least let Monarch know that I cared.

But all I could do was stand there and watch.

The lion sat down on all four legs and I figured it was getting ready to eat its lunch – Monarch.

But suddenly, the lion began to put Monarch down!

Gently, Monarch slid off the lion’s paw, which was about three feet across and three feet wide.

I crept a bit closer and Monarch spoke a few words to the humongous lion and then galloped over to me.

“That big lion is Andrew,” said Monarch, “He’s a very good lion. Come over and meet him.”

“But he’s dangerous, isn’t he?”

Monarch laughed. “He’s a very good friend of Rocky! We’ll find ourselves a bite to eat and then he’ll just take a bit out of the wall so Beauty can get in, and then when it’s time for you to go in, he’ll just swim across the moat, scare away all the crocodiles in the moat, and then pull down the big bridge for you!”

Beauty poked her head out of my dress pocket and coughed up some dust. “What a great idea!” she cried, “Yikes – that’s a big lion.”

“But isn’t someone going to hear the lion getting the bridge down?” I asked.

“Have faith and trust,” replied Monarch, “Come on. I’ll introduce you to the lion.”

One hour later, the lion, whose name was Andrew, took one of his big one-foot long half-a-foot-across claws and carved a small hole in the wall just big enough for Beauty to climb though.

Beauty squished herself in and then we all went back into the bushes where Monarch, Beauty and I had first come up with our plan to get into the castle.

“I sure hope she’ll be okay in there,” I said, “Maybe I gave her too dangerous of a job.”

We had all told Andrew our plans while we were eating some raspberries Monarch had found. I told him of how I had gotten into Secret Door Land and then Beauty and I told him of how the bear had come and taken Rocky away.

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“I think she’ll be fine right now,” said Andrew, “But I don’t know about her second job – distracting the men while you sneak inside – I don’t know if they’ll be too interested in a butterfly.”

“You mean that they might find me and then find you and Monarch?” I asked.

“Well, Monarch would be able to get away fast enough and, unless they bring the big bears out, I’ll be okay, but you won’t,” said Andrew, “If they have the bears in that castle, you know, the big, big bears like the one that took Rocky, I won’t be able to break in and get you out. You could be trapped.”

“Oh dear!” I exclaimed fearfully, “Is there a big chance that could happen?”

Andrew nodded his head gravely.

“Maybe my plan is not so good as I thought,” I said, “Is there any way we can look in and see what’s happening with Beauty?”

Andrew shook his head.

“All right,” I said, “I guess we’ll just have to wait to find out.”

Fifteen minutes later, a roar was heard. And it wasn’t just any roar; it was the roar the big bear had made when it tried to capture Rocky!

One of the gigantic bears like the kind that had captured Rocky stormed out of the castle, breaking the bridge that went across the moat.

The bear quickly waded through the water and stomped on one of the crocodile’s head so that all the other crocodiles would run away.

I quickly mounted Monarch and put the reins on her.

“Go!” I exclaimed, “Run, Monarch!”

Monarch ran as fast as she could, but we knew we would be no match for the big bear and its companion, a much bigger bear that was just climbing out of the castle.

A big crack was heard and I looked back and saw the big, black castle tumble to the ground.

“Beauty!” I whispered, “Please be safe, please do. If Rocky was in there, he could have been killed and I really don’t want to be held responsible for the death of two creatures – Rocky and you, Beauty!”

Chapter Seven

The Bears

Monarch and I raced along through the woods as fast as we could, but Andrew lay down so that we could climb on his back.

Monarch grabbed Andrew’s mane with her teeth and held on as tight as she could.

I did the same as Monarch, except I used my hands to grip Andrew’s golden mane, not my teeth.

I could barely see a black heap of stone through the trees once in a while and hoped that

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Beauty and Rocky were not buried underneath the pile.

A chorus of bear roars was heard.

It did not sound very far away from us and I could hear the bear’s feet pushing down the underbrush about half-a-mile away from us.

Half-a-mile might seem a lot to us humans, but for humongous bears and lions half-a-mile is not very far away.

Andrew suddenly roared and I looked back behind me. One of the bears had grabbed Andrew’s tail and was holding it tight in its teeth. Another was making deep wounds on Andrew’s leg, but it quickly ran off to tell other bears that were lagging behind.

I could not look at the terrible sight, but I knew the longer the bear sank his teeth into Andrew’s tail, the more severe Andrew’s wound would become.

I wanted to so something, but I had to think what.

If I was responsible for Beauty’s death, Rocky’s death and Andrew’s death, I would feel miserable all my entire life! (And I should feel miserable, but I didn’t want Rocky, Beauty and Andrew to die!)

I had to do something.

Suddenly, I had an idea!

One of the other bears (there were five in all) got into a fight with the bear that had gotten hold of Andrew’s tail, so the first bear let go of Andrew’s tail to give the second bear a big scratch on the nose, which gave me some time.

“Monarch,” I whispered, “I’ve got a plan.”

The reason Andrew just couldn’t run off was because he was so stunned that the bear had almost ripped off his tail that he couldn’t move. And also, the very first bear had made very bad wounds on Andrew’s leg.

“Chew off that big fat vine,” I instructed, “And do it quick.”

Andrew’s back was near a very thick tree and it had a big, fat ten-inch wide vine wrapped around it.

“Get me a bunch of that,” I added in.

Now a horse in our world would not have probably liked the kind of vine I was telling Monarch to eat off and even if it did, it would take a very long time to chew it off.

But, horses in Secret Door Land loved the kind of vine I was telling Monarch to chew off and also, they can eat through things that are thick very, very quickly.

Soon, the vine was off and I also had Monarch get me some jagged-edged stones.

Now, Andrew’s stomach was touching the ground for he had sunken down on all four legs from the pain in his tail and left leg.

The bear fight was over and both of the bears had forgotten about Andrew’s tail and we were busily scraping Andrew’s leg.

Andrew roared a roar of intense pain and as I heard it, I knew it was time to strike.

All five of the bears, for some unknown reason, had all been fighting over one of Andrew’s legs.

When the bears all made a grab for Andrew’s right leg, he had kicked a few of them away so now there were only two.

I found a nice, fat, and very jagged rock and aimed it at one of the bear’s head.

I threw the rock and fortunately for me, it didn’t miss (And .why shouldn’t it when the bear’s head was as big as Rocky the buffalo himself?).

Now, the rock I threw was a big one and I had trouble lifting it.

He roared in surprise and pain and looked up at its thrower.

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Andrew had seen what I was doing and it gave him a little more strength.

I told Monarch to tell him that he had better run when I told him.

Monarch whispered to him the message as I tightly gripped the long vine.

One of the bears ran off when it saw the wound I had made with the stone on the other bear’s head.

Blood spotted the bear’s brown fur and I took the long vine and raised it above the bear’s head.

The big bear was least expecting several hard whacks on the head with a stout vine and it looked up in surprise as I aimed a stone.

Now, you might think that a few wounds with stones weren’t too much for a gigantic bear like the one that had been gnawing on Andrew’s leg just a little bit ago – I mean not very much compared to the big meal that Andrew was, but for some reason, all the big bears were very afraid of a person (or animal) throwing stones, so the bear was really thinking about retreating.

“Run!” I cried to Andrew, and the lion, with surprising strength, roared a magnificent roar, much different from any roar that I had heard yet and also very different from the lion you see at the zoo roar.

Oh no, It was a much different and much grander roar than any of these.

Suddenly, the big five-foot bear that had gotten a hold of Andrew’s leg just a minute ago, began to wave back and forth. It was very strange.

The bear opened its mouth to roar, but nothing came out!

Instead, the bear plopped down on all four of his legs and glowing lights came out (it was rather dark, so the glow of the lights could be seen) and the lights surrounded him. The bear began to shrink!

Pretty soon, it was only an inch across and an inch wide!

I think Andrew was building up his strength as we watched the bear shrink.

The big lion slowly got onto all fours, asked us if the bear had shrunk, listened to our reply of yes, it had shrunk to an inch big, and then started running wildly towards the rubble of the stone castle.

We got to the castle in about two minutes or less and then, Andrew stopped in his tracks.

I gasped and Monarch whinnied in surprise.

There, lying on the top of a jagged piece of stone, lay Rocky, with his eyes closed and severe, bleeding wounds on his sides and missing half of one of his horns.

Chapter Eight

The Magic Leaves

As I looked at the body of Rocky, I thought I saw him breathing.

“No,” I thought, “I imagined it. Rocky’s dead all because of me.”

But, a faint mumbling was heard and it sounded like it was coming from Rocky!

Andrew let us off his back and we carefully examined the buffalo.

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“Oh, Rocky!” I whispered, “Are you alive? Please do say that you are!”

I leaned close to the buffalo’s head and waited for a reply.

I thought I heard Rocky make out the words, “Grace, get someone to get the magic leaves. Please.”

“Magic leaves?” I asked, not sure if I had heard correctly.

“Yes,” Rocky managed to say, “The flower petals look like six hearts all bunched together. The flower is bright red.”

I looked up at Andrew and Monarch and they both nodded.

“We know what they are,” said Monarch, “You stay here with Rocky and I’ll go see about those heart-shaped flower things. I know exactly what they look like and where they are.”

I put my head on Rocky’s curly “mane”, if you call it that, and ran my fingers over his broken horn.

“What happened, Rocky?” I asked, “What happened to your horn?”

“Broke it while I was getting out of the cage,” said Rocky in a faint whisper.

“Cage?” I asked in surprise.

“Yes,” replied Rocky faintly, “They put me in a dark, damp place and locked the cage I was in.”

“How terrible!” I exclaimed.

I put my fingers on Rocky’s neck and saw a mark. It looked like a chain had been tightly put around Rocky’s neck.

“Rocky!” I exclaimed, “Did they chain you up?”

The buffalo nodded its head and tried to get up.

But, the great buffalo king was wounded so badly he could not even get one leg up.

“Why is your side so beat up?” I asked.

“A falling wall hit it while I was running,” replied Rocky in a whisper even fainter than before.

“Don’t ask him so many questions, Grace,” said Andrew.

Just then, Monarch came galloping up with several of the flowers that Rocky had been asking for in her mouth.

Rocky’s eyed brightened as Monarch dropped them into my hands.

“Feed Rocky the leaves,” said Andrew.

I carefully peeled the leaves off of the stem of the beautiful flower and put them into Rocky’s mouth.

I could tell he barely had the strength to chew, but the moment the remains of one of the “magic leaves” went down his throat, glittering stars appeared around Rocky’s body and I quickly gave him all five of the leaves.

Once two leaves were down his throat, he raised his head and put one front leg up.

When the third leaf went down, the fur that the chain had pushed down raise up and the other three of his legs stood up.

When the fourth leaf was down, he began to walk around us in a walk sort of like a prancing pony.

But when the fifth leaf went down, he became just like his old self again and his voice was no longer a whisper, but the grand-sounding voice that he had used when he had first spoken to Beauty and I in the Star King’s castle courtyard.

“Oh, Rocky!” I cried, throwing my arms around him, “I’m so very sorry! I’ll try to follow directions exactly from now on.”

“You’re forgiven,” said Rocky in his grand-sounding voice, “But never do it again.”

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“I won’t,” I promised.

Then, Rocky said that we had better go see if Beauty was okay.

“I saw her trying to stop a big part of the stone wall that was about to hit me,” he said, “Of course, she didn’t stop it. But I know she had or has a good heart. Now, let’s look around for her. The wall she tried to stop is the wall that scraped my side. The wall was right over here.”

Rocky had been leading us through the ruins of the castle while he was speaking and now he was pointing to a piece of jagged broken stone about three feet wide and four feet across. On one of the jagged edges, there was blood, which was where it had hit Rocky.

Rocky turned his head to ask Andrew if he would lift the big piece of stone up when he noticed the awful wounds the big brown bears had made on Andrew’s tail and leg.

“Monarch,” Rocky quickly instructed, “Go get more of the magic leaves.”

“Really, I’m fine–” began Andrew.

But it was too late. Monarch had already galloped off.

About five minutes later, she came running back with two of the stems in her mouth. The special flowers were just the same as the other ones that she had found for Rocky and I carefully peeled off the leaves.

“Are five leaves enough for Andrew?” I asked, “He’s a lot bigger than you and Monarch only got five leaves.”

“It will be fine,” said Rocky, “Let him have the leaves.”

I gave Andrew the leaves and one by one he gulped them down.

The first leaf went down and glittering stars appeared around Andrew and then as the second leaf went down, all of the scratches on his leg went away. When the third leaf went down, his tail got better and when the fourth leaf went down, he roared his grand-sounding roar and when the fifth leaf went down, he looked exactly like his old self. (The bears had also scratched up his nose a bit, so that got better when the fifth leaf went down.)

“Good,” said Rocky, “Now Andrew, help me move this big piece of rubble off of the ground so I can look underneath. I think that Beauty might be under there.”

Andrew did as he was told and we all were very surprised when we saw what was underneath.

Chapter Nine

The Cage

I saw a cage with wire sides that did not let in any light and air. The bottom of the cage was made of a splintery wooden bottom and so was the top, except it had some rusty hinges and a lock on it.

I tried to pry open the lock, but I couldn’t and I asked Rocky for some help.

“Maybe Beauty is in there,” I said, “Anyway, it wouldn’t hurt to look, would it?”

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Rocky nodded his head in the solemn way he always either nodded his head or shook it.

“What could be wrong with looking in the cage?” I asked, “We’re supposed to rescue Beauty, aren’t we? You thought you saw her flying free when she was trying to stop the wall, but maybe the Star King made a trap for her. Oh, Rocky, I really don’t see what’s wrong with opening the cage!”

“Grace, my dear,” said Rocky in a grave voice, “you have forgotten that this is Secret Door Land and it is much different from your world called Earth. Here, there is the Lady of the Sea, whom you call the Evil One, and the Star King. They are different from the bad people in your world. The Lady of the Sea or Evil One made this little cage and sold it to the Star King for lots of money, most likely gold. She has put some deadly potion in this cage and the Star King was planning to have one of his enemies, obviously not the Evil One, open the cage and the deadly potion, or whatever it is, would come out and most likely kill them. The Star King probably would not use this expensive cage on a butterfly. Come, Grace, let us be going. We must look for Beauty.”

I did not agree with what Rocky had said, but I knew it was no use to argue with Rocky.

“Shouldn’t we take the cage along?” I asked, “Then, the Star King wouldn’t be able to use it.” (I pretended that I thought Rocky was right because I did not want a lecture from him.)

“No,” replied Rocky, “If there are deadly gases inside, they might escape. The evil Lady of the Sea has a way of making things look safe when they really aren’t. Grace, let go of the cage right now. This big piece of stone has fallen on it and perhaps is leaking gases, if that is what it inside, right now! Come, let us be going. This is the second time I have had to tell you it is time to go, so get up from that deadly cage and help us look for Beauty.”

A few hours later, it was evening and all of us were eating red raspberries.

Although they were probably the best raspberries I had ever eaten, I wasn’t feeling very good and I barely could taste the sweetness of the berries.

Rocky knew how I was feeling.

“Grace, my dear, I know you are disappointed about not finding Beauty, but we can look again tomorrow.”

“You don’t sound like you even care about Beauty,” I cried.

“Grace,” Rocky said in a soothing voice, “Calm down. I–”

I angrily tossed the bunch of raspberries I had been eating across part of the stone wall which was our table, and ran to the spot where the cage was.

“Oh, Beauty,” I cried, “I know you must be in there. If only I could get this open, I’d be able to save you.”

Monarch, Rocky, Andrew and I had been eating in the remains of the Star King’s castle. One of the pieces that had not crumbled to pieces when the castle broke was what we were using for a table.

But now, I struggled to open the cage which Rocky said might contain deadly poison.

“Deadly poison!” I exclaimed out loud, “Hah! I thought Rocky was a great king, but he sure made a mistake about this cage!”

Apparently, all the others were not planning to follow me and I was glad.

I tugged and pulled at the lock on the cage.

I thought of another reason why Rocky’s idea couldn’t work – if the Star King wanted people to be able to open the cage and have the deadly poison stuff come out, why would he put a lock on it? If Beauty was inside, of course he would lock it!

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I tried and tried to get it open, but I couldn’t.

I had to find the key!

The Star King’s castle was big, but maybe, just maybe, I would be able to find the key.

I gave the cage one last tug and something moved a little bit.

Also, a stinky smell came into the air, but I ignored it and tugged again.

Suddenly, a familiar voice cried, “Grace, no! There’s awful stuff in there!”

Chapter Ten

The Palace of Rewards

I dropped the cage in surprise and then whirled around to see the owner of the voice.

I gasped.

“Beauty!” I exclaimed, for there was Beauty, safe and sound.

“Grace!” my friend shouted frantically, “Don’t touch that cage! Quick, let’s be out of here! We must let Rocky, Monarch and Andrew know of the danger in that cage!”

I didn’t really know what I was doing, but I followed Beauty back to where the rest of the animals were and Beauty quickly told them that inside the cage that I had been trying to open there were gasses that could make you sick for months!

“You’ve got to get out of here,” said Beauty, “Some of the gasses might have been released!”

But before anyone had a chance to run, gallop or fly away, Rocky quickly stamped his feet on the ground in a quick pattern. I think it was this: first came his left front foot, then his right back foot, after that came his right front foot and then his left back foot. He did this about five times and then, suddenly, we were all surrounded in twinkling stars that grew bigger and bigger until there was a wall of stars around us. Rocky, Beauty and Andrew all looked very calm, but I was frantic. I tried to ask them what was wrong, but Rocky said something first.

“Grace, Monarch, Beauty and Andrew,” he said, “All of you listen closely. We are going to my castle. I will tell you the story of what the Star King did to me and how I got loose inside there. But, my castle does not look good to anyone who does not have very much faith and trust.” Rocky paused and looked at me.

I squirmed a bit, but Rocky continued on, still with his loving brown eyes fixed on me.

“Now,” he continued, “If anyone here does not have enough faith and trust, they will see a gloomy, very dark place that looks a lot like an abandoned mansion instead of a palace. You need to trust me that everything will be okay. We will fight the Star King and the Lady of the Sea, or Evil One, as you call her, a few days from now. You will need to have faith that everything will be all right and that if any of us get into any trouble, you will be helped out of your trouble by me or one of my assistants.” As he said or one of my assistants, he looked at Andrew and Monarch for a few moments, then returned his gaze to me.

“We are at my castle now,” said Rocky, “It is called The Palace of Rewards, for it is here

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I give rewards to certain creatures.”

Rocky repeated the pattern of feet-stomping like he had done to make the twinkling stars appear, and slowly, the wall of stars began to shrink until it was gone.

Ahead of us was a castle.

I gulped.

It was not a pretty castle at all.

It had a tall tower on the top in the middle that had an open window on it. The shutters of the window were hanging by just a little piece of wood and I was sure that they would wall down any minute!

Then, there were the two smaller towers on both sides of the big tower. Each of the smaller towers was a dull gray, unlike the rest of the castle, which was colored black. The littler towers had no windows, but there were dirty-looking vines that grew all around it. The vines were green and the leaves were diamond-shaped. The leaves looked as if they were caked with dirt and the fruits that grew off of the vine were supposed to be bright cheery-looking orange pear-shaped fruits, but they were shriveled and they looked rather mushy, for they were the kind of plant that only looked good if you took very good care of it. (They were one of those Secret Door Land plants that are a little different from earth’s plants, I think)

There was a big roof-like canopy that was nailed over a “front porch”, if you call it that, and the shingles on the “roof” were coming off and there were two nails sticking two inches high in the air, probably because someone had forgotten to hammer it in all the way.

On the “front porch” there was a doorway. The big doorway was about five feet wide and six feet tall. It looked like it used to have stain-glass windows that had a diamond and triangle pattern, but someone had smashed the windows and there was only sharp, jagged pieces left of the once-beautiful design.

The bottom of the “front porch” was made of splintery wood and there was a large hole by the big doors that looked like someone had fallen through the wood! (Maybe the wood was rotten).

The “roof” hung over the ground a little bit and two pillars, one on each corner held it up. The pillars looked as if they were going to fall down any moment. They were made of black stone and one of them had already started to crack!

The nails that were sticking up were above the pillars. There was one on each of the overhanging corners.

“How beautiful,” whispered Monarch.

“Oh, yes,” said Beauty, “It is so lovely! Oh, how pretty! Stone lions with sapphire eyes! Wait, they’re not stone. They’re gold! Look at the top tower with the bell!”

“How magnificent!” exclaimed Andrew, “I love those lions above the pillars.”

“Do you like it?” Rocky asked me.

I could feel some tears coming and I tried to hold them back.

My voice quivered. “I – I…I can’t see them!” I finally managed to say.

Big fat tears ran down my cheeks and I threw my arms around Rocky and buried my face, that is, as well as I could, in his “mane” if you call it that, and cried some more.

“I knew that you couldn’t see the real castle,” said Rocky, “But I wanted to hear what you would say. Don’t cry, my dear Grace. You will see them soon enough. The reason that you cannot see the Palace of Rewards is because you didn’t trust me when I told you that Beauty was not in that cage you were trying to open. For a few weeks, you will never see this palace’s beauty. But until then, you can help out around the palace, for we really need someone to arrange some flowers for a table piece. Will you do that for me?”

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“I suppose,” I said, wiping my eyes with the sleeve of my shirt and looking up from Rocky’s “mane”.

“Good,” said Rocky, “Now, come on inside the palace and don’t cry anymore.”

But the tears still came as we walked towards the door and Monarch tried to wipe them away with her hoof, which ended up in a disaster because she didn’t have fingers, just the tip of her hoof, which poked me in the eye and knocked me over, making me hit my head on the pillar holding up the roof.

“I’m sorry,” said Monarch.

I got up and followed the others inside the palace.

The first room I was in looked to me like it was made of black stone. It had no windows and it looked rather dreary and dull.

There was a table made of dirty-looking glass that had a broken vase on it.

The vase was faded blue and red with a white background. Inside of the vase there were roses that looked wilted.

There was a picture on the wall. The picture was a painting and it was of Rocky handing a heart-shaped bottle to a blond-haired, blue-eyed girl who was smiling.

The picture looked faded to me, but it must have had bright, brilliant colors in real life because Monarch trotted up to it to look at it more carefully and she said that it was very pretty.

“Who made it?” asked Beauty after she had sat on the frame of it and looked carefully at the whole thing. “I don’t see a name on it.”

“Monica Clark painted it,” replied Rocky, “And Monica Clark owns the orphanage that Grace had been staying in until she came here. Monica crawled into the liquid that Grace went through and she met a butterfly named Lady. She and Lady had faith and trusted in me and I took them here to the Palace of Rewards and she painted this picture to me after I gave a reward to a young girl named Sarah.”

I was sad that I couldn’t see the beauty of the picture. Since Mrs. Clark had painted it, I was anxious to see the real thing.

There were no other pictures in the room, but I did see five wooden doors that must have led to other rooms.

“It’s a shame you can’t see the picture,” said Beauty, “It really is beautiful. And of course, Monica Clark painted it and I’m sure you’re anxious to see it.”

It would have been better if Beauty had not said anything at all about the picture, for I started to cry again and Rocky tried and tried to comfort me with the thought that I would be able to see everything that everyone else was seeing in three weeks. But, that made me cry harder until Rocky said that it would be worse if I would never be able to see the real thing and then I quit crying and wiped my eyes.

“One person came here and was never able to see the real thing,” said Rocky as I took the sash off my dress to wipe my eyes.

“You will be able to see the real thing in three weeks because you have learned your lesson about trusting and having faith. Now come, everyone and you shall receive your rewards in my special room.”

We all followed him into another room when I suddenly stopped.

“Where’s Andrew?” I asked, “Is he too big to come in?”

“Oh, I almost forgot!” cried Rocky, “Thank you for reminding me, Grace.” And with that, he stomped first his front right foot and then his left front foot and Andrew walked in. But, he was two feet long and one foot wide. He was laughing very hard.

“I was waiting for you to do that,” he said, “I was waiting to see if you remembered!”

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“How did you know that you were supposed to be able to get shrunken?” I asked.

“Oh, I just knew,” replied Andrew.

“I suppose that you believed and never even saw it happen,” I muttered.

I was rather angry at myself for not trusting and having faith.

Monarch trotted, Beauty flew and Rocky, Andrew and I all walked into the room.

It didn’t look the least bit beautiful to me.

I saw light brown wooden walls and brown wooden shelves which had brown cardboard boxes on them.

There was a glass table held up by wooden legs and on the table was a bouquet of faded roses that looked like they had been stepped on a couple times.

The rest of the room was filled with cardboard boxes of all sizes. They were all square, but some were long, others were short, some were fat and some were skinny. Anyway, there were lots of boxes.

It looked rather messy to me and I figured that it was really neat and tidy, but, I hadn’t trusted and hadn’t had any faith, so it looked bad to me.

Rocky opened up one of the boxes and pulled out a heart-shaped bottle with a “spray-lid”.

“This, dear Monarch, is a special magic potion,” said Rocky to Monarch, “If you say, Disappear, Sunflower, you will disappear. You will be able to see yourself and whoever you are hiding from. But trust me, it works. Here, take it – it is your reward for trusting and having faith in me all along.”

Rocky had handed the bottle to Monarch but now he took it away and attached a piece of leather to it. He put the bottle around Monarch’s neck.

“When you say, disappear, sunflower, a second time, you will appear again,” Rocky added.

He then pulled out a spray bottle for Andrew and explained that if he said, Freeze, Sunflower, Freeze, and then said the full name of the person or creature he wanted to freeze, that creature would do as he wanted. But, he was not allowed to use the spray on anyone who he knew, like Monarch, Beauty or anyone else on Rocky’s side.

Monarch was not allowed to disappear unless she had to. She tested out the spray and it worked. She disappeared instantly, but when she said the magic words again, she came back. So now, the testing was over.

“The spray bottles I gave you two will never run out,” Rocky added in, “They will always be full to the top.”

He then gave Beauty a miniature version of Monarch’s bottle. It did the same thing and the magic words were the same. Also, the rule about not disappearing except one practice time was the same.

Beauty’s bottle was as light as a feather for the small butterfly and it also never ran out.

We tested Beauty’s potion and it worked like Monarch’s had.

Then, we started to walk out of the room.

I glanced at Rocky and was about to ask him if I got a reward when an evil-sounding laugh was heard.

Chapter Eleven

The Evil One and the Guilt Candy

The laugh was one of the long kinds, the kind that you get when there is something really funny going on, or you’re trying to laugh a fake laugh.

We all had turned and looked where the laugh was coming from. It was coming from behind a pile of what I thought looked like musty old boxes.

Rocky seemed surprised, but not afraid. He lowered his horns and made a run for the boxes.

He didn’t crush the boxes, though. He jumped over them and made a big hole in the wall.

The laugh had suddenly stopped when Rocky’s horns hit the wall and the sound of fighting was heard.

But soon, Rocky and whoever the other creature was were heard on the opposite side of the room!

“There must be a tunnel through the walls,” said Monarch, who was sounding a bit faint.

I nodded in agreement.

“Why don’t you two help instead of just staring?” I asked.

Andrew and Monarch had blank looks in their eyes and I could tell that Beauty was afraid.

I was a little scared too, but I was determined to do something right this time. So, I suggested that the others should use their potions. Actually, I didn’t really “suggest” in the right tone of voice and with the right words, but anyway, the others got the idea and they all thought about how they should use their gifts.

“I don’t think my potion will work on Rocky,” said Monarch, “Beauty had the same thing as me, and so we can’t use our things except on ourselves. But, Andrew can use his.”

“Yes,” said Andrew, “Here goes. Freeze, Sunflower, Freeze.” But then, he stopped.

“I don’t know the name of the creature Rocky is fighting,” said Andrew, “I need to have the full name in order for the potion to work. I–”

Andrew was suddenly cut off by the sound of loud creaking boards.

We all looked over to our left and there were some boards that were almost cracked.

The light-brown boards were stretched out in a triangle shape and there was a little bit of air poking through them. They creaked louder and louder until they burst open and through the wall (the triangle of boards was actually quite big) burst Rocky and a woman.

The woman was on the bottom and she was clawing at Rocky’s neck. She had wavy, waist-length, dark brown hair and black penetrating eyes. They were filled with hate and she had fixed them on Rocky. Her fingernails were very long and were painted bright red. She was digging them into Rocky’s fur, trying to hurt him. Her yellowing teeth were tightly clenched together and I could tell that she was really trying her hardest to hurt Rocky. She had on a blue satin dress that had a white lace collar and a bright pink ribbon around the bottom and cuffs of her dress. She had on several clanking gold bracelets and anklets. Rubies and sapphires were molded into her rings, bracelets, necklaces and anklets. She had a silver ribbon in her hair that was now tied to just one medium-sized strand of hair. Her face was rather red and I figured that she was very angry about something.

She was choking Rocky and he couldn’t breathe very well. I wished I knew what to do.

THE LAND OF THE SECRET DOOR

I glanced hopefully around the room, hoping to see something I could use to defend Rocky with. You might think a king does not need defending, but when he is being choked, he may as well accept some help.

Something caught my eye. It was a box of firecrackers!

“Perfect,” I thought, “Maybe they’re even special firecrackers that destroy an enemy or something.”

So, I ran over to the box with firecrackers. There were matches there and I hurriedly tried to light one. But it wasn’t working. I felt too pushed. I didn’t have enough time.

“Calm down, calm down,” I told myself, “Whoa, just calm down.”

It seemed to help a little bit but I was still nervous. Finally, the match lit.

“Yes!” I whispered.

I tossed the match into the box of firecrackers.

On the box, it said, “These Firecrackers Take Ten Seconds to Blast”. I snatched up the box, which was now sizzling, fizzing and popping, and set it over by Rocky’s enemy.

Then, I shouted, “Back away!”

Rocky’s opponent was too busy pinning Rocky down to notice my warning.

“Good,” I thought. But then I remembered Rocky! What if they hurt his enemy, but wounded him also? I would be responsible. “But Rocky has magic,” I assured myself, “He’ll heal them soon enough.”

So, five seconds later, I was huddling with the rest of the animals in the corner.

Wham! Pop! Bang!

The firecrackers were exploding! But these were special firecrackers. As they exploded, confetti came out. Streaks of red, blue, yellow, green and white flew through the air.

“Whoa,” Monarch gasped, “What a clever idea!”

I grinned happily. For once, I had done something useful.

CRASH!

That was the loudest firecracker I had ever heard.

It was ear-splitting, blood curdling and goose bump making all at the same time. It seemed as if it lasted for minutes, though it was only seconds.

The reason it was blood curdling and goose bump making was because of the way the streaks of color flew around the room. They would curl up around your legs, and then slither up to your waist, as if they were alive.

There was a turquoise one that would fly near Rocky and then dance around my head. I didn’t know if I had imagined it, or if it was really there, but I thought one of them had a face and sneered at me.

But gradually, they all settled down onto the ground and were plain confetti again.

And Rocky’s enemy was gone.

Rocky stood up and smiled at me.

“Thank you, Grace,” he said with a smile, “Your confetti and fireworks saved the day.”

He winked.

“Come now, children,” he said, “We shall have something to eat.”

So we ate some blueberries and raspberries and I ate plants that tasted like ham. Rocky explained that in Cunburra Della Ledarro (Secret Door Land) it is against the law to eat an animal, so he had created plants to taste like the things we have in our world.

“Ready for dessert?” Rocky asked with a cheerful smile.

“Sure,” we all said.

THE LAND OF THE SECRET DOOR

Rocky walked over to a small desk and inside there laid an assortment of things that looked very nice to eat.

There were chocolate truffles, lollipops, candy wrapped in bright paper and more; almost every type of candy one could imagine.

“This candy,” he said, pointing with his hoof at some little circle-shaped candy wrapped in blue metallic paper, “is what we are going to have.”

He pulled it out with surprising ease with his hooves and set it on a little glass dish onto the oak table.

I pulled up my chair and Monarch pulled up her stool as Beauty shifted her dainty little feet and sighed contentedly.

Rocky gave Beauty a midget-sized little candy and Monarch, Andrew and himself larger ones than he gave me because I was smaller than they.

“What is it called?” I asked.

“Some call it Guilt Candy,” he replied nonchalantly, “But still others call it Cappalayday Swetindarious, meaning, Swirled Sweets because two colors and flavors, blueberry and vanilla, are swirled together. Now, children, eat up.”

“But, excuse me, Rocky, why do they call it, Guilt Candy?” I asked, very curious.

“Because,” he replied, “If one eats too many when not instructed to do so they feel bad and guilty. I say, now, you can only have one. So, if you ate two, something bad would happen to you and you would feel guilty you ate more than you were supposed to.”

“But what will happen if I ate two?” I asked, still curious for more information about it.

“Why must you know all these things?” he asked with a smile, “It is not for you to know right now.”

Rocky then said he would show us around the castle or, if we liked, we could explore it on our own. Beauty was afraid she would get lost if she explored on her own, so she rode on Rocky’s right horn while Andrew and Monarch and I went off to look around.

Once everyone else was out of the dining room, I looked at the dark-wooded drawer, third from the bottom, fourth from the top that contained the candy.

Slowly, slowly, I tip-toed over to the drawer.

Surely the candy wouldn’t hurt that much if I ate more. How could candy do anything serious? And besides, there was probably some kind of secret about it that Rocky wouldn’t tell. As I crept over to the dresser, I remembered how right Rocky had been about the little cage and how it contained poisonous gasses and I had not trusted him and struggled to open it anyway. And then there was Beauty, right behind me, safe and sound.

But what was the secret of this “Cappalayday Swetindarious” candy?

So, I took hold of the two knobs on each side of the drawer and pulled.

And then I heard a noise. It was on the stairs. It was Monarch, galloping down.

I ran and hid in the reward room and my heart beat wildly for a bit.

But, eventually, Monarch, after what seemed like hours and was really only a matter of five minutes, went upstairs.

So, I, trembling, went over to the drawer and took hold of the knobs. I pulled it open. And there were those lovely candies. I snatched up one like the candy I had already eaten and closed the drawer. Then I began to wonder what the others tasted like.

“I’ll eat them afterwards,” I thought. And then I slowly began to unwrap the candy.

I shoved the wrapper down into my pocket and popped the candy into my mouth.

But it did not taste sweet and soothing as it had before. At first, it tasted fine but not exactly the same when suddenly, as if bitterness had been twisted in with the blueberry and

THE LAND OF THE SECRET DOOR

vanilla. it tasted horrible!

I couldn’t stand the taste, so I struggled to spit it out. But the candy was stuck to my tongue.

I was about to shout for help, but first I put my tongue back into my mouth. And then the candy stuck to the roof of my mouth!

I tried to pry it out with my fingers, but the candy stuck to my fingers!

I ran wildly about, grimacing at the bitter taste, panicking that it was sticking to everything that touched it.

A sharp pain jutted into my stomach and I groaned as much as I could with my mouth all stuck together.

The candy I had already swallowed made the pain in my stomach worse and gave me a sore throat, a headache and a terrible urge to use the restroom.

Chapter Twelve

The Candy in the Green Wrapper

I crouched underneath the large sofa, waiting for Monarch to go away. She clip-clopped down the stairs and peered at the little candy wrapper all crunched up and sitting there on the table.

“Hmmm,” she said, “Grace? Grace? Do you know who ate the Guilt Candy?”

I shuddered and scrunched up as far as I could towards the wall. The sofa cover hung in shreds above my head, but I didn’t really care. The candy was gone, but it had left a strange and terrible, horrible taste and a strange feeling of guilt slowly crept over me.

“No, no, no, Grace!” my conscience hissed in my ear, “You should have listened to Rocky, you. Now you’re in trouble. That was wrong.”

And then something else said, “Oh, you did nothing wrong. Rocky must be bad; he cast a spell on that candy, that only one, and if you have another, the bad taste will go away.”

The first voice was small and I couldn’t hear it very well. But the second voice was strong, more confident, better.

Monarch shook her white mane and galloped back up the stairs, calling, “Grace? Grace? Has anyone seen Grace?”

I crept out. Then I ran all the way to the drawer and chose the candy in the green wrapper. Then I scuttled back to my hiding place, and unwrapped it. It certainly looked good. It looked like caramel, chocolate and vanilla all mixed together.

But then that small voice broke in. “No, no, Grace. How could the candy in the green wrapper be different from the candy in the blue wrapper that you ate?”

And then I stopped. I touched the candy’s caramel-chocolate-vanilla surface and sighed. A wonderful aroma filled my nose. I took a small lick. It tasted wonderful.

Surely it would be all right to eat it, wouldn’t it? Had Rocky said directly not to eat the candy in the green wrapper?

THE LAND OF THE SECRET DOOR

No, he had not.

But that small voice persisted, and seemed to pierce through me.

“I’ll save it for later,” I thought and tucked it into my pocket.

But that small voice was still there.

“Go away,” I hissed at it. Then I crawled out from underneath the sofa and walked up the creaky old stairs.

I saw a painting, but it was ripped and the frame cracked. It looked like it was of a butterfly. The words, “Monica Clark,” were printed messily in the corner.

“Not another one!” I thought. “Why can’t I see them? Just because I messed up thinking that that cage had Beauty in it shouldn’t mean I can’t see the castle!”

And then something welled up in me and I decided that Rocky was bad. I had to get away.

I ran down the stairs and through the open door.

I was actually quite breathless when I reached the back of the palace, where I thought no one would be.

But then I saw something. I looked closer. It was a beautiful shell, sparkling in the sunshine, and its beauty and brightness seemed to be beckoning me to it.

And then, out from up above me, some squeaky old windows opened and out popped Rocky’s head.

“No, Grace,” he said, “Do not touch that. Come inside right now.”

I was about to obey him when the shell sparkled out of the corner of my eye.

“Rocky is no good,” a loud voice said in my head. “He’s bad, terrible, horrible! Don’t have anything to do with him. It’s silly not to touch the shell. Something good will happen if you touch it. Touch it, and hold it up to you. Feel its smooth surface and listen to the waves of the ocean in it. Touch it.”

And then I reached out a shaky hand to touch it; I happened to look up. I saw Rocky’s expression. He looked worried, sad and disappointed. Disappointed in me. Something seemed to tell me that he knew what would happen. He knew if I would touch the shell or if I would obey him. And then I saw something else. It was love. Extreme love and great compassion. What should I do?

I looked at the shell again. It seemed to be nice. But, hadn’t the guilt candy in the blue wrapper looked nice? It had tasted bad. Horrible.

“No,” came that loud voice, “It wasn’t really horrible. Rocky, mean old thing, cast an evil spell on it. But the Evil One has more power. And she’s not really evil. She’s good. Rocky is evil, silly. Think what lies you have been believing all along.”

“No, no,” came the small voice, “Rocky said not to touch the shell. Rocky said not to eat the candy. Rocky said not to open the box that you thought contained Beauty. Listen, Grace, listen to Rocky. One day he will part the clouds and his father will come down to us. Listen to Rocky, Grace. Listen to me.”

I seemed to be torn. Something inside of me still loved Rocky, and knew that his words were truthful, his power strong, his love great. But that feeling was so deep down inside of me, I wasn’t sure if it was really there.

The voice in the middle of my life was the biggest voice, the voice that seemed the strongest, the best.

“Grace,” Rocky said quietly, “This is your decision. Me or the shell. You have to choose. Lies or Truth. What is it you want? Lies or Truth? Tell me. Tell me. The shell is not good, it is full of lies. You may never see the orphanage again if you touch it. You may never see Beauty or Monarch or Andrew ever again.

“I may never see them again,” I thought. “He’s just trying to fool me.”

I carefully reached out.

“Stop!” the little voice screamed.

“Go!” the big voice bellowed.

I looked up and there was Rocky. He looked at me sadly.

Then I turned, and began to start back to the Palace of Rewards. Rocky was good. The little voice was right.

But suddenly, whether it was coincidence or because there was some magic in the air, some kind of bad magic, I tripped on a sharp stone and found myself tumbling backwards straight onto the shell.

I screamed as darkness enveloped me.

I began to see things then and whether they were there or not I never knew.

There were eyes. Evil red eyes, darting back and forth to the sound of a ticking clock. Then there were loving eyes, brown eyes, staring fixedly but lovingly at me.

“Rocky!” I cried. “Rocky! Help me!”

But the eyes never moved. He never took a step forward to help me.

“It must be an illusion,” I told myself.

But the red eyes grew bigger, and bigger.

I screamed and struggled to get away. But, then, finding myself tangled in a mass of bushes, I had to hurriedly loose myself before the eyes came any closer.

But finally, I managed to free myself of the bushes and found myself sprawling on the ground.

I shut my eyes, waiting for evil fingers to pick me up and carry me away.

But they never came. Slowly I opened my eyes and I found myself in a beautiful courtyard.

I sighed with relief.

Perhaps the shell’s powers had not worked since I had not touched it intentionally.

I stood up and saw in front of me a lovely mansion.

I was about to pull the string to ring the bell when I remembered how nice the Star King’s Palace had looked.

And then I remembered how dreadful Beauty assured me it was.

Was it going to be the same with this place? Was the Evil One or the Star King lurking inside?

But I had no choice. All around the place there were just green rolling hills. It would take me forever to get anywhere on them, I thought.

So I courageously rang the bell.

“Diiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnggg!” its shrill call rang through the house.

“Brriiiiiiiiingggg-iiiiiiiiinnnnggg,” a bell connected to the doorbell cried.

I guessed that the door-bell rang another bell that summoned the butler.

And then the door was opened by a butler, who bowed slightly and said, “Grace Robins, I preeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesume?”

He had a thin mustache that curled up in a very large curl to his nose and then greased-down black hair. His smile was very pleasant and he looked very friendly and nice.

“Uhhhh, yes, I’m Grace, Grace Robins,” I said, startled that he knew my name.

“De Mistreees Gellsavatt weeeshes to see you, madaaaaaaaammm,” he announced.

I nodded. “All right,” I said. “But may I ask how she knew I was coming?”

“De Mistress knows alllll,” the man announced.

“All-all right,” I said.

“Den come in,” said the man.

I decided he must have some kind of accent from a nearby country.

I half liked the way he held his letters so long he started drawling them in a way and he said, “de” instead of, “the” and “den” instead of, “then”.

“It’s probably quite common here to speak like that,” I thought.

The butler offered me a seat on a beautiful couch and said the “mistrees” would be there shortly.

I relaxed on the soft, comfortable sofa and pulled a silk blanket hanging over the back of it over my lap and tucked it around my neck to keep me warm.

Then in came the most fashionable and beautiful woman I had ever seen.

She might not have been fashionable in our world, but I thought she was very much in style.

She was wearing a lovely blue gown that stretched all the way to the ground with a long trail at the end.

She wore several gold and silver clanking bracelets on each of her wrists and two rings on her slender ring finger.

She wore a beautiful diamond-studded necklace and a sparkling tiara on her silky black hair bundled up into a bun on the top of her head.

She had rosy cheeks and small black eyes that I was, and still am sure, are pure black.

A few skinny curls of her black hair hung down beside her cheeks, which, like I said, were bright and rosy and her dark hair contrasted wonderfully with it.

“Come, come, dear child,” she said in a voice much different from the butler’s. “You may stay with me. Rocky informed me of your coming, and have prepared a room for you upstairs, one of the finest it is indeed. You may go to the buffet downstairs if you are hungry, and then I myself will escort you to your room.”

“Thank you, Mrs. er, ummm,” I said, faltering on the word I knew I should call her.

“You may call me Lady Gelsavatt.”

To Be Continued…

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