Valerie stood in a forest very much like the one outside her house. It was just different enough that she knew something very strange had happened. She’d roamed that forest so many times, she was sure she’d find her way home from the middle of it, blindfolded, with no problem.
“Valerie!” Sam walked up behind her. “That was a little strange.” Samantha crossed her arms, rubbing them as if she were trying to warm herself. “No, that was a lot strange. Don’t leave me alone like that.” She rubbed her arms again. “This is the forest by your house, right?”
“No, it’s not, Samantha. Turn around. There’s no barn.”
“How did we do that? What just happened? Valerie, where’s your barn?”
“I don’t know, but our little friend is right there.” Valerie pointed to the possum as it continued on its journey, paying them no mind at all. “Maybe our best bet is to keep following it. It seems to have brought us here; maybe it needs help or something.”
“Sure, and any second now he’s gonna stand on his two legs and start talking to us, right? Stop this game. I’m not having fun anymore.”
“Come on, Samantha.” Valerie grabbed her by the shoulders. “You’re always the one looking for an adventure. Well, here it is. Even I want to pinch myself to make sure we’re not dreaming. But we’re not. We just went through a magic mirror. I don’t know where we are, but I’m not going to turn around and go right back home.”
“This is too strange to believe it’s happening. What do we do now?”
“We’ll start with following it—” Valerie pointed in the direction on the possum “—and wing it from there. Sorry, it’s the best plan I have.”
Samantha was at a loss for words. Val grinned at the thought that this was probably the first time that had ever happened. Finally Sam said, “Let’s go.”
Careful to keep their distance so they didn’t scare it, the girls started after the possum. They had to watch their footing, too. There wasn’t much of a moon to offer light, and their small flashlights only gave weak, dull beams to guide them. Despite their best efforts to follow the animal, it wasn’t long before they lost it. Together they wandered through the forest, trying to catch sight of any trail it may have left.
“Valerie? We’re really not in your forest, are we?”
“No, we’re not. We would have passed the old graveyard by now if we were.” She stopped and faced Sam. “I have never known you to be scared of anything before.”
“I am not scared!” Samantha placed her hands on her hips and gave her foot a solid stomp. “Even you have to admit this is strange. A magic mirror? Come on. That’s too crazy, even for you and your love of fairy tales.” Something was coming up from behind them, moving fast. Sam lowered her voice. “Do you think we got ahead of the possum?”
“I don’t think so. It sounds like it’s moving way too fast for that. Quick! Let’s hide,” Val whispered as she hopped over a fallen log. “Whatever it is, I don’t want to be standing here wearing only my pajamas.” She squatted and pulled Samantha down with her.
Together they crouched, waiting silently. As if out of nowhere, a dark figure showed up beside them. A scream escaped them both.
“Otter!” Their screams turned to giggles of relief.
“Are we ever glad it’s you! I’m happy you decided to follow us through the mirror.” Valerie petted her dog. “Good girl!” Val paused for a moment. “We can go back if you really want, Sam. I bet she can take us.”
“No way!” Samantha replied while she took her turn rewarding Otter with pats to her head. “We wanted an adventure and we’re going to get one. I know it was a little hard to swallow at first. I don’t know what this place is yet, and I’m still half expecting to come out at a road by your house, but I’m not going to be the one to chicken out.”
“Okay. That’s more like it.” Valerie stood and dusted herself off, then helped Sam to her feet. “Now let’s go try to find some answers. It has to be more than a coincidence that it led us here, wherever ‘here’ is.”
They walked along, not saying much for over half an hour. Neither of them could really grasp where they were or how they possibly ended up here. Oddly, Otter walked beside them, behaving herself. It wasn’t like her to not run off after the occasional bunny that hopped across the path ahead of them. Suddenly, her ears perked up and she ran ahead.
“Wait, Otter! Get back here!” They chased and called for her, but she didn’t slow down.
After a few minutes, they found her sitting next to a little girl about their age. Otter was wagging her tail and licking the little girl’s face. She had jet-black hair and a very fair complexion. At first she appeared startled to see them, but then she smiled. The young girl was wearing what had to be her nightgown. It was simple, with no designs, and her feet were bare.
“Hello.” The little girl offered a pleasant smile, then returned her attention to Otter. She held the dog’s cheeks and touched noses with her. “Who’s a pretty girl?” She glanced back to the girls. “Is this your dog? She’s very friendly.”
“Yes, her name is Otter.”
“Well, that’s a strange name for a dog.”
“I know,” replied Valerie. “That’s my mom, though. I don’t think you want me to even start with the other odd names we have for our animals.”
“What was the name of the turtle your mom had when she was young, Val? Shelly?” Sam asked.
“Fluffy.”
The young girl giggled. “That is silly. I think I like Shelly for a turtle though. I’ll have to remember that.”
Valerie continued. “Well, a Dalmatian named Domino makes sense, but when you name his brother Little Caesar, they’re pizza places and that’s downright silly.”
“I’ve played dominos. That makes sense. What’s pizza?”
“What’s pizza?” Sam said. The girls exchanged an expression that screamed “How does she not know what pizza is?” Relaxing her scrunched eyebrows, Samantha changed the subject instead of answering. “What are you doing out here in the forest in the middle of the night? Are you lost?”
“Umm, sort of,” she answered.
“What do you mean ‘sort of’? Do you know where we are? Did you run away? Sorry if I’m being nosy,” said Samantha, “but if I told you what we—”
“Samantha!” Valerie cut her off. She shook her head then made circles with her forefinger by her ear, making the “crazy” sign. There was no way a strange girl would believe they came through a magic mirror. Samantha seemed to understand what she was trying to say. Val recovered from the outburst. “Why don’t you let her answer the questions you’ve thrown at her first, before you start asking her more?”
“That’s okay, I don’t mind questions. But please, I need to keep walking. Will you walk with me? You really should. It’s not safe to go back the way I came.”
“Why?” asked Samantha. “Is there a dragon or something that way?”
“A dragon?” The little girl laughed. “You must read too many bedtime tales. The only dragons in the forest are cute little lizards.”
Samantha sighed with relief and blushed. She gave Valerie a little hit on her arm. “So much for your fairy tale land.”
Valerie sniggered as they walked off together.
Chapter 6