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“Woohoo! No school for one whole week! , screamed Violet while she kicked the door open. 

“How come, as long as I can remember, there is no special dates for next week?”, said mother checking her phone.  

“Perhaps the principal is sick. Am I right?” 

 Violet replied, “No, the principal is not sick. We are having a school trip”. 

“For one week? Gasped mother “besides, you are going to a field trip with your class and you know there will be other teachers, so how is that a holiday?” 

Violet said, “Well, we are going to a hardscrabble farm. It is a place where we learn about how the kids in the past lived and we are going to experience the work they did. 

Besides, it is one week holiday for me as the teachers said if we were not to come, it will be a week off. So, I am deciding not to go and instead have one week holiday.” 

“Oh, now I understand,” smiled mother, “but, aren’t you going?” 

“Of course not.” Violet replied as her smile turned into a frown. 

“I hate to go. You know they give terrible food at the cafeteria and they rarely clean the cabins. The chaperones there, are so mean that if you don’t want the food they serve, you are simply out of luck and you have no other option than to have them. The least they could do is let us bring goods and sweets from home. Even if you sneaked some food, they could easily find out. Now they find it much more easily because they hired someone called James Badger who smells and recognizes fast. I am going to Lily’s and Jake’s house to play.” Saying this she left her house and went to Lily’s house but she was surprised to hear that Lily and Jake were going too… She didn’t want to be left alone. Then she changed her mind and decided to go with them. 

The next day her mother woke her up. “Dear, wake up!  The bus comes one hour early today. Quick!”

 “Oh, come on.” Violet groaned, “just five more minutes this is so unfa-” before she could complete her sentence mother said, “I made burger… for breakfast of course.” Violet jumped out of her bed and got ready in the blink of an eye. Mother said, “I thought, because your bus comes early than usual you will be lazy, so I woke you up two hours early.”

 Violet said, “So now we have two hours more…wait. The teacher had given a list of things to bring. I need a duffel bag for it and not a school bag… And — I haven’t packed anything.” Violet quickly looked for the list. She finally found it and she saw that she needed bug spray, raincoat, plastic bags, hiking boots, torch, wool socks, sunscreen, wet tissue or just tissues, clean clothes, sleeping bags, tents, deodorant, matches, mat or blanket and shampoo. 

Mother said, “we don’t have everything in this list like deodorants, hiking boots, bug spray… luckily we have two hours left and we have a store right next to our house it has every thing we need.” 

“Great mom, you can go. Meanwhile, I’ll pack the other stuffs and have my breakfast too.” replied Violet.

Mother asked “Violet, why don’t you pack double of the things you want just in case you lost some thing and if someone forgot to bring anything?” Violet agreed. 

Soon everything was packed but she still had an hour left. She then realized that in thirty minutes the bus will reach at Lily’s and Jake’s house. She quickly went to their house and when she reached there, she found that there was still twenty minutes left, so she decided to see if Lily and Jake were ready. She rang the bell, and their mother opened the door yawning. She was surprised to know that they were not dressed up at all and it seemed they had totally forgotten about the trip. But somehow Jake at least had remembered about it. But he didn’t want his sister to remember about the trip and he wished to go without her. Violet felt very angry with him because the only reason she was going, was because she thought that Lily would also be present. Then she remembered she still had twenty minutes. She woke Lily up and in ten minutes she was ready.

 “What about the things?”  Lily asked perturbed. We have only one bug spray, one tent, one sleeping bag etc… and for the clothes I have only dresses…I do have some jeans and tops but they are like branded ones and I don’t want to ruin it for this silly trip.”

 Violet replied “Its not a problem. I have double of the things I need, except for the tent. I have only one…. but we can share it …and see, I have two deodorants and sunscreens and-” 

Lily groaned “okay I know just give me now, we have only five minutes left- NO !!! we have zero minutes left. Look!  the bus had come. Just give it to me in the bus…I wish we get seats in the bus.  I also wish Sally to be absent, the queen of Bullies.” 

“Sally will definitely be absent because she doesn’t do any work, she hates to do it and don’t worry about the seats.” Replied Violet walking towards the bus.

The bus assistant is my mother’s friend’s sister’s daughter’s friend’s mother’s mother, so I know her; she might have definitely saved a seat for us.” And luckily, she had saved a seat for them except for Jake, so while everyone was sitting Jake was standing.

 When they reached the place the teacher said, “Now all of you can team up to three groups.” And of course, Violet teamed up with Lily, but they needed one more member. Lily didn’t want to be with Jake, so Violet thought to team up with Teresa. But Teresa was teamed up with Mantilla and Pearl and the only leftover was Nikki, Cindy, Thea and Jake. Just then the teacher called out and said, “Nikki, Cindy and Thea can team up. And now, Jake is the only one remaining, right? Is there any group which has only two members?” 

Violet and Lily hid themselves, but the teacher found them anyway. lily and Jake didn’t talk to each other for a long time after the teaming. 

The teacher showed them their cabins. Everyone gasped as the place where the cabins should have been present were replaced with a building and each group had their own rooms. Inside it were three comfy beds, a closet of clean and expensive clothes, kitchen and there was a robot too who would make any food they wanted. 

Lily said forgetting the fight between her and Jake, “I bet we are going to experience the kids of the future not the past” Violet agreed, “and it should be easy-scrabble farm not hard scrabble farm.” 

Just then she heard a voice from the speaker. “Everyone please change into your futuristic farm uniform and meet me in the gym” Jake exclaimed “There is a gym here too?”

 Lily exclaimed, “It all makes sense now. I remember that the teacher wanted to know who all had really read the book she gave. So, she pasted a small piece of paper inside the book’s last page and wrote, “Lily you have successfully read the book and you are welcome to the futuristic farm.” Then the next day, she declared, “We are going on a week’s trip to hard scrabbles farm which were actually coded words for futuristic farm and she kind of highlighted that word and only the kids who read the book understood her.” 

Violet said, “Sally didn’t read the book, so she didn’t get the teacher’s message, but I did read the book and I didn’t understand what she wrote in the paper. I thought it was a prank and the only reason I came was because you were going.” 

They all changed to their uniforms and ordered the robot to make them protein shake. After having the protein shake, they left. They realized that they were late, so as a punishment, the teacher told them they could not go to the gym. Even though Jake pleaded a hundred times she wouldn’t change her mind. Just then Violet’s mother called.

“Hello Mrs. Gonvers. Is my child, Violet, doing well in the gym? I saw that they will be in the gym now as per their time schedule.” 

Gonvers replied, “I…uh…they they  ar-re doing well- yes… um…They are doing well.” Then she turned her phone off. Now she couldn’t say no. Thus, they also went inside the gym. 

The teacher said, “You can help yourselves with any equipment and I have one thing to say th- wait a minute there is a call coming” after the call she said “I am sorry, we can’t use the gym right now. They say the gym is not for middle school students but don’t be sad, you can still explore this place.”

Everyone was a little dull after that, especially Jake. Then they saw a newspaper on the ground. Violet read it: “HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS TO ANYONE WHO FINDS THE SEVEN FAIRIES OF MR. WARLOCK CREEPY. It is lost in futuristic farm’s secret doorway which leads to a forest. It is inside a magical box which no one has ever been able to find. The path is extremely dangerous. Even if anyone finds it, it will be impossible to open it. Only four people in this whole world can open it and those worthy people are the guardians of the box of fairies. The first guardian is the creator of the fairies, the other three become guardians only for a limited time. The creator has infinite lives and is forever the main guardian until (gender is not defined) he/she passes the job to someone else. He/she knows all the secret of the fairies and he/she can also change the identity. The three guardians and the creator are the only ones who can open the box. The creator chooses the guardian, and the fairies will have unbelievable powers. It is believed that MR. WARLOCK CREEPY is the guardian. Hence, if found, please return to MR. WARLOCK CREEPY.

 Primeval road
Next to Scary Stuff Store
No.11 house

Lily said, “Do you know that this name Warlock Creepy means creepy wizard and primeval means, so long ago, like when magic existed and 11 is a ghost number?”

 Jake said, “The magic box is located where we are now. What if we find it? What if we are the guardians?” 

Violet said, “it could be dangerous. It is mentioned in the newspaper.” 

Lily replied, “She is right, but it will be fun.” 

Everyone decided to go at night- time. They dressed up as Ninjas. They were fully covered with black dress, top to bottom. Their full body was covered except the eye where they cut a small portion so that they could see. They then packed everything they needed. Violet packed things like torch, cream, bug spray etc… and Lily packed blankets and clothes while Jack packed food.  When they were ready to go Lily saw a guard on the entrance of the exit and said, “Its hopeless, how are we going to go now?” and then Violet saw a difference in one of the tiles. “Look! this tile is extraordinary. Its so light like a cardboard.” 

“Let me see” urged Jack and he examined the tile carefully. “It’s like in the movies. Just yesterday, I saw this movie named Detective Fernald and the Magic Tunnel. It’s about a detective who discovers a secret tunnel when he jumps on his bed. Maybe this one is like that. If we jump three times, it will reveal a secret tunnel which may be the secret forest.” Jake jumped three times on the tile, but nothing changed. 

“Maybe you were wrong”, said Violet, feeling pity for him. 

Lily smirked “Anyway, you are always wrong. I am older than you, so I am wiser than you. It must be outside the building not inside it and I wouldn’t be too surprised if I am right.”

Jake was so furious that he threw a bed lamp, but it missed her and hit a part of the wall. Magically, it revealed a secret doorway. It was like a magical portal. 

Violet exclaimed, “Wow! Jake, you were right!!! I thought you wouldn’t figure it out because you are-well-younger than me. It turns out Lily was –um – wrong.”

Lily frowned and they all entered the portal and then it closed. 

That’s when Violet remembered, “We found the entrance of the forest but what about the exit?” Now, the three friends were worried. 

Lily said, “Let’s just look for the box. I am sure we will find the exit. We are stuck and there is no turning back now-I mean, like as we can’t go back in time, let’s just think about the future and not the past. Perhaps the box is hidden inside a tree.”

 Violet said, “She is right. We can’t go back in time…. but I wish I could go- anyway lets just find that box. It will be the answer to all our problems, the J.L.V can do it…. I hope so” 

 Jake said, “Okay let’s do it but who is J.L.V?, Jake said.

 “It’s us! Jake, Lily, Violet”, Violet said. 

“Okay” was Lily’s and Jake’s reply. 

The forest was marvelous. There were beautiful and rare flowers, rainbow trees, pink clouds, a chocolate river, chocolate house and many other things made with chocolate. It looked like real life Willy Wonka’s factory and there were many snakes.

“Snakes”. screamed Jake. 

Yes, he was right there were snakes, almost fifty snakes, but surprisingly instead of poisoning them the snakes bowed down to them. 

“Am I dreaming?” thought Lily and then the king of the snakes came from somewhere, bowed down to them and gave them a bottle. Inside it was a paper and when they were examining the bottle, they disappeared to somewhere…they wondered where the snakes went, then they opened the bottle. There was a map inside which led to a cave, and it shouldn’t take a detective to find out that it was the map that showed the way to the magical box. It took them two days to reach the cave and when they reached a bright light came out.

“Is this from the fairies” asked Violet. 

“I guess so.”, replied Lily. 

When they entered the cave, they saw two lions standing in front of it. Unlike the snakes, they didn’t bow down. Instead, they examined them. 

Jake said, “Maybe these lions don’t know that we are the guardians.” 

Lily replied, “maybe these lions know the truth…we are not guardians… maybe the snakes were just being nice.”

At last, the lions stopped. It was because they found a guardian mark on the back of lily’s neck, at back of violets elbow and on back of Jake’s foot.

 Violet said, “I had this mark when I was born, it is my birthmark. I didn’t know it is J.L.V ‘s mark.” 

“Me too.” Replied Lily and Jake at the same time.

 At last, the lions bowed down to them and let them in. 

On the way Lily said “I didn’t always like, two swords which are crossed. The mark at the back of my neck, they were always annoying- wait this is the box, we found it!” 

Yes, indeed they found it. It was placed on a tall rock and when they were about to open it Violet saw that they needed to enter the password to open the box. They thought about many passwords like “snakes”, “lions”, “forest”, “creator”, “fairies” etc. Then something displayed in the air: “HINT- NINE LETTERS”.

Violet exclaimed “Nine letters? …. Maybe it’s OF CREATOR.”

“You are right.” cried Lily. 

“Wait, you aren’t right…” Jake guessed, “Could it be GUARDIANS…It has nine letters.” Lily didn’t disagree with him this time and luckily, it was the right password and they opened it and out came seven fairies. Their names were Daisy, Irish, Elisa, Fay, Christy, Sophia and Malinda. The three kids were amazed. The queen of the fairies, IRISH spoke, “You are the first ones to enter the forest without being killed. This forest is a lot more dangerous than you think. We the fairies, just named you guardians and gave you the mark. You don’t have any magical powers yet but you three are amazing!!!”

 The children asked “Really?”

“Could we have magical powers? Can we have it now?”

 Irish replied “YES, I am going to bless you with it now. Violet Doles, I give you the power of great knowledge. Lily Malarias, I give you the power of transforming anything. Jake Malarias, I give you the power to hear and see anything, no matter how far away it is.”  

Then she handed each one of them the rings and she snapped her finger, and they were back in their room.

Jake said, “Maybe it was a dream!” 

Lily said, “It wasn’t a dream” 

Jake replied, “How do you know my dream?” 

Violet said, “Because it wasn’t a dream. It was real. Look, we have the rings. I am so excited about my powers – a portal!” Yes, there was a portal and from it came a voice of Irish “Now starts your adventure with all your gifted powers, guardians!”

THE END

About the writer

Hailing from Thrissur often known as the ‘Cultural capital of Kerala in the picturesque Southern Indian state of Kerala, Emin Rose is a passionate young writer. She is a Grade Six student at Global Indian School Ajman.UAE. She started writing stories when she was 10 years. She is a voracious reader. Falling in love with colours, drawing is her passion. Emin Rose lives in Umm Al Qwain, with her father Raju Francis who is a businessman and Fessy Raju who is employed there. Edmy Ann and Eimy Therese are her siblings