Into the Enchanted Forest

Amelia Exume

Age 10

Into the Enchanted Forest

On a dark and stormy day, Clara, Skyler, and Sunny were braiding each other’s hair. As their mother braided Sunny’s golden yellow blonde hair, she noticed how different the girls looked as they got older. Sunny looked at her. “How did your hair look when you were my age, Mom?” she asked as her Mom continued to braid Skyler’s platinum blonde hair.

She answered, “It looked exactly like Clara’s hair,” as Skyler started to braid Clara’s dirty blonde hair.

Meanwhile, all nine of their enchanted work mice were running away into the enchanted forest. Grandma Willow, on her way back from her walk, checked the stables, and when she saw the missing mice, she exclaimed, “They can’t be gone. They’re the only enchanted mice in the whole forest!”

As soon as she got to the great willow tree, she informed the girls and their mother that the mice were gone. She and the girls’ mother thought about who could retrieve the nine mice. They had to be at least one hundred years old and possibly as old as 113 years from the stories that were told to their grandmother. Just then, the girls realized that they were between one hundred and 113 years old themselves!

No one in that village kept track of time because of the enchanted mice; everyone seemed to live forever. With this new realization, they knew they had a special connection to the mice. So with excited voices, the girls said in unison, “We’ll do it!”

But their mother and grandmother questioned them, “Are you sure?”

“We can find the best fairy explorers in the entire enchanted forest!” exclaimed the sisters. And so they went, right after they slept in their soft beds made out of cotton. In the middle of the night, Clara was so excited that she could not sleep, so she woke up Sunny and Skyler, and . . . they started jumping on their beds. This woke up their grandma, who made them go back to bed. She told them that if they were not well rested, they wouldn’t be able to track the mice.

The next morning, they woke up, and their grandma and mother were standing at the doorway. When they got up, they ate a huge breakfast, but

they had to pack right after. They packed tents, sleeping bags, pillows, food for weeks, clothes, and lightning bugs to use for night lights. After they finished packing, they stretched their wings. Sunny’s wings shined a sparkling gold color. Skyler’s looked like a clear blue sky, and Clara’s, a light pink like the strawberries they grew in their garden. They prepped their powers for the journey. Clara practiced using her powers to grow food. Skyler practiced controlling the weather, and Sunny practiced making supernatural light. After Clara’s last hug with her grandma and mother, the girls started their journey.

When they got to the gate that led them into the enchanted forest, they could see the pink leaves of the magical trees. The flowers were so big that they could use them for beds! But they saw no signs of the mice. Soon, they worked up the courage to go into the forest. When they stepped inside the gate, they got sucked into a wormhole that took them deep into the forest. It was the most magical place they’d ever seen. It was even better than what Grandma said it would be.

The sun was starting to set, and they knew they had to work fast as the forest was a very different place at night, so they searched for clues left by the mice. Within a few minutes, the sun went down, so the girls got out the lightning bugs and lit them up. They found a soft and flat place to set up camp because those flowers were nowhere in sight. First, they made a fire and put up tents, and then ate blueberries that Clara grew with her magic.

They were lucky; it was as if the mice had left that wormhole to take them to a safe part of the forest.

They settled down and fell asleep.

In the morning, they ate the leftover blueberries and packed up. As soon as they finished, they went in search of the nine mice. The girls wandered deeper into the enchanted forest, and Sunny’s light soon reflected on what appeared to be the tail of a mouse! They ran after it as fast as they could. When they finally caught up with the mouse, they saw the red collar around its neck. It was Sparky, the first mouse! Sunny was the oldest sister. Technically, she was only five seconds older than Skyler since they were twins. She named Sparky and two of the other mice. They were excited and so happy that they started chanting, “We found a mouse. We found a mouse. Yay diddle dee!” Then, they continued farther into the enchanted forest until Skyler saw some more mouse tracks. They followed them up the hill until they saw a very hairy mouse head with an orange collar around its neck. They ran to it and checked the coller, and sure enough, it was Sunset, the second mouse. Ironically, the sun was starting to set as well, so the girls decided to continue searching for the rest of the mice in the morning. They were not sure how to

keep the mice safe, so they tied them up and set up camp fast so that they could make dinner before dark.

The next morning, they ate breakfast and packed up and went even deeper into the enchanted forest. They were sure at this point that they had ventured deeper than anyone had before. They wandered around a bit but didn’t find any mice. That was until Sparky started sniffing around the ground, so the girls followed Sparky’s lead until they found a mouse with a yellow collar.

When Clara saw the yellow collar, she knew it was Happy. The girls ran right over to give Happy hugs as did Sparky and Sunset. The girls and mice continued into the enchanted forest until the mice got hungry, so they stopped for a snack. They decided on tree nuts. They continued looking for the remaining six mice. Then, they saw a tuft of mouse fur, so they went in that direction, and within a few minutes, they found a mouse with a green collar! Sunny squealed, “Lucky!” Lucky came running to her. All the mice were tired now as if they were losing their energy not being close to each other. The girls were told by their grandmother that they had only a short time before to find the mice, but she didn’t tell them why. The girls realized that they were getting tired also, so they fed the mice and tied them up and settled in on the huge flowers that they had seen before. The mice told them they would be safe there.

By morning, everything was damp, so Skyler cleared the sky, and Sunny made the sun shine even brighter. After that, they set off once again. They walked for what felt like forever. Suddenly, Skyler saw a mouse with a blue collar, and they knew it was Stormy! Skyler named Stormy after she learned of her ability to change the weather. The girls called Stormy, and he came trotting to them.

Afterward, the girls celebrated because they had more than half of the mice. They continued into the enchanted forest where they were filled up with courage and were ready for what was yet to come.