The Magic Book series, book 1 (12 page)

Queen Tara of
Serenia had given the girls a special book as a gift for saving her
Kingdom. It looked just like an ordinary note book, but they now
knew differently.

The Queen
herself was a Keeper of the original Book. Her Book was essential
to the wellbeing of Serenia and all who lived there. In turn,
Serenia was directly linked to the human world, so when the girls
had saved Serenia, they had also saved their own home, Earth. One
thing both the Queen’s Book and theirs had in common was that they
had the ability to give life to anything they drew on its pages.
They were to use it very wisely, and only for the purposes of
good.

The heat was
beginning to build up inside the tiny tent, and they closed their
eyes while they chatted about what they thought the fairies would
be doing now, and asking each other questions like – did fairies go
to the seaside too? Did they have a seaside in fairyland even?
Would they ever have cause to use their Book? Absorbed by their own
musings, they began to doze.

Felicity
thought she heard a sound and her eyes flickered open. She sat up
and looked outside the tent towards the sea where the sound was
being carried inland on a warm salty breeze. There was something a
little way out in the water. It looked like a girl, but then in an
instant the image was lost behind a bigger wave. She stood up
outside to see more clearly, shielding her eyes from the sun with
her hand.

There – a
movement, like a fish jumping! Then just a couple of the smallest
ripples were left which dissipated back into waves again.

“Sophie!”
Felicity called. “I’ve just seen something in the water – I’m sure
it was a mermaid!”

Without a
backward glance, Felicity raced down the beach and into the sea.
She hardly noticed the frigid water rise up her legs as she ran in
deeper in her eagerness to get closer to where she had seen the
last ripples disperse. Suddenly, there wasn’t any beach beneath her
feet – the bottom must have shelved away. A memory flashed through
Felicity’s head of her parents warning her that this was sometimes
the case on beaches so you had to be very careful, but it was too
late! She bobbed under the water and as the tide was going out, it
pulled her further in. She couldn’t swim hard enough to get back to
the beach and she was beginning to tire – where are my parents - my
sister? That was her last conscious thought.

Through the
groggy haze of semi consciousness, Felicity became increasingly
aware of a rhythmic ‘shhhing’ sound that faded in and out. It was a
gentle, comforting sound that she vaguely recognised but couldn’t
quite place. Trying to make sense of it, she frowned with her eyes
still closed; they seemed reluctant to respond to her need to open
them.

She was aware
that she was lying down on a bed and under a cover of some kind.
She must be in the tent on the beach and , having dozed off,
someone had put a blanket over her.

With immense
effort she finally managed to open her eyes, expecting to see the
red and blue of the beach tent overhead, but instead she saw she
was in a different room. The plain white walls gave the space a
clinical feel. She squinted against a soft light coming through the
strangely translucent ceiling. Felicity felt like she was in a box
and with no windows or light fittings to soften the room she was
beginning to feel claustrophobic, completely confused and
disorientated. Was she in a hospital of some sort, she tried to
rationalise. Everything seemed to shimmer and wobble - she then
concluded she must still be dreaming, a thought that calmed her a
little. It even felt quite nice as more of her senses came in to
play; she felt strangely light.

She sat up and
the green bed cover fell away from the top of her body as she did
so, with the top edge seemingly to float in her lap like some
giant, flat, enchanted dancing snake. This was a very strange
dream! Her hair was actually floating about her, gently swaying as
if in water, like it did when she was in the bath at home.

A door opened
over at the far side of the room, and there, much to her
astonishment was a mermaid – or to be more precise, a very smartly
turned out mer-man!

This is where
we leave Felicity, with her new friend, but life under the surf
isn't always tranquil. There's a sudden turn of events just ahead
which could have life-changing consequences for them all! So,
quick! Don't get left behind - dive right in to their next
thrilling adventure where all will be revealed!

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