Prologue

“Did you hear?” They all shrieked “Only 18 shops in the centre, now 19!” The new shops windows were cracked, with wood planks nailed to the midnight black bricks to cover it up. There were cyan beads dripping from the door frame and you could just make out inside a glass bear with silver magpies swooping around inside of it. Every time they crashed; rubies would fall out of the bear’s eyes. You would see two chimneys on either side of the building and green smoke coming out of it. The sign read: Where is the Emporium? There were grand opening signs and arrows pointing at the new shop. But after three days, it disappeared. They were putting opening signs away into a storage cupboard, forgetting why they were even on the floor anyway. A strange woman came after the fourth day forgetting about the Emporium and asked the villagers, it they had no recall.

Chapter 1 – Big, bad bullies.

“Stop! Stop!” Danial shouted “ Go and chase someone else!” Daniel was an orphan and always got bullied by the oldest kids at the orphanage. His parents died on a ship when he was two years old, and his grandparents decided to look after him but sadly they died of old age when he was five.Daniel ran as fast as he could trying to get away from the bullies, but his arm and leg started the ache. Again, when he was two, he broke his arm and leg so he had to have lots of hospital trips. The gang of bullies who were chasing him were called SMP, Super mean people, that’s what we call them. They are actually called the Super magnificent people. Or so they think. The SMP started throwing rock at him. Ping! Ping! He turned left, right and turned the corner. There in front of him was an Arcade. No, not a game arcade where you spend lots of money, like a shopping Arcade. There were men holding grand opening signs and a van parked outside, right next to Daniel. He looked behind him. He looked left, and then right, then behind him again. No SMPs? he thought He signed and wiped the sweat from his head. As he explored the Arcade he noticed a midnight brick building… As he entered, he heard a bang and saw a curtain flap. He wandered around and nearly tripped on the rug. The rug was stained and ripped, the pattern was nowhere to be seen and mud and blue tax was sucked inside. The bell rang and Daniel heard a voice saying who is there. The voice was calm, it was a ladies voice for sure. He heard footsteps coming upstairs…

Chapter 2 – Lucy Ruby

Daniel ran back to the door but the mysterious lady said stay. He pushed the beads out of his face and heard 5e voice again. “ Don’t touch anything! Nothing! Especially the big book and the third lowest shelf. Oh great, why did I say that!?” Danial looked at the shelf, then the woman, then the shelf again. He examined the woman making sure it wasn’t a trap by the SMPs. The woman looked at Danial then went to the basement. “AHH! Why is it so messy down here! Honestly, you kids will be the death of me!” Daniel, remember the instructions, disobeyed them. If the SMPs don’t get in trouble, why should he? He climbed on a chair, then a table, “ Yes!” He said, a little too loudly. “ Hmmmmm..” the woman said. “ Yes.” He whispered. Daniel grabbed the book and jumped down making a great big thud. He grabbed the pencil he had stuck behind his ear and started flicking through the pages. He found an interesting one that read: “Animal shelter for mythical creatures and fantastic beats. Daniel saw a picture. He looked around and saw the exact same image down the corridor on a door. “That’s strange…”On the page it said about being a super hero for a day with a picture of Super Man and Spider Man. Daniel noticed a signature and a date of birth, Opal Pons and 2.3.2012. “ A child did this! Children have drawn their dreams and wonders!” He found an empty page and set to work. He thought of his favourite things. He thought of his parents, just a blur in his memory. Daniel thought of his grandparents, just a voice in his head. Then he thought of the surgery, his arm and his leg. He remembered the time when he wrote to Santa saying he wanted everything to go back to normal. But maybe that can happen…. He drew a time machine, a teleporter. When he finished, he wrote his name and birth. Daniel’s smile nearly reached his eyes. After fifteen minutes, his drawing appeared. Daniel ran across the corridor. Suddenly he heard voices saying we love you and how much we miss you then followed by what are you doing? “Oh! I’m sorry, best be going now!” “No. Stay. Because you have passed challenge one!” “ Pardon me?” Daniel said politely. “ I’m Mrs Ruby, Lucy Ruby” said Mrs Ruby “You must be… Daniel!” “Go and open your door” Daniel grabbed the door nob and smiled at Ruby. It was a white box room with the teleporter in the middle. He noticed the same glass bear on the wall but this time it was a key pad. It said go teleport or meet the others. Daniel pressed his finger on the keyboard and he felt magical. He replied with a yes and suddenly the floor beneath him disappeared. Instead, under his feet, a yellow slide appeared and he went down with a zoop. When Daniel reached the bottom, he was bouncing in a trampoline with flying basket balls and birds flying around. He noticed a Phoenix from lowing a little boy who looked about five years old. Suddenly, a girl in a basket ball tee went upnt9 him and helped him up “ Hi, I’m Opal, Opal Pons.” Daniel remembered her name in the book of heart’s desires. Daniel felt like there were hearts in his eyes. “Umm, I’m Daniel, you are very pretty” Opal laughed.

Chapter 3 – A scary chapter.

Daniel ran up the stairs feeling very embarrassed. He ran to his room and waited for the right time to time travel.Opal had told him that when you use your room in the way you described it in the book, you complete the second part of the test. He decided to go and ask Mrs Ruby if he could go and explore other people’s rooms but the door wouldn’t open. He grabbed the door one more time but it just wouldn’t open. Clunk! Clunk! Nothing happened. I’m locked in he thought Daniel tried to go down the slide, but it was like reveres. Instead of going down the slide, he went up. If there were three things he hated it was: the dark; locked in a creepy place; or fire. Being lost in a creepy place is exactly what is happening right now. There was dropping from the ceiling and Daniel felt tired and cold. The white box room had become a jail cell and he wished he never touched the book. Maybe Mrs Ruby did this for him to complete a task?

But he hasn’t completed the second task… Daniel felt confused and wanted the dream to end. He could hear the people he loved in his head but he couldn’t stop thinking about Opal. She had box braids and tan skin. Her eyes were like the ocean and her face was full of freckles. Opal’s legs were full of bruises and there was sweat constantly dripping from her face after all the basketball she played. Daniel head voices from his room and creaks coming from doors. The dripping kept on going and soon there were massive puddles covering the miss green tiled floor, the windows where shut but the curtains were flapping. Daniel was scared and felt useless.

Chapter 4 – The escape

Daniel had fallen asleep. The dripping had become showers of rain. He had woken to be underwater and the teleporter was broken, parts of it were floating around, Daniel started to breath heavily and started to swam to the door. What about Opal? I’ve blown my chance to see my parents! he thought. Opal had probably drowned! He kept thinking about her and his parents. Daniel kicked the door several times holding his breath and to his tiny bit of luck, the door barged open. “Oh my goodness!” Miss Ruby screamed “What is all this water? Daniel, anything to say.” The emporiums corridor was flooded “ Did I pass the test?” He said happily “What test?” She replied “ Oh, what about Opal?” Daniel said with a nervous tone. “Opal? She is fine, very weird thing to ask but I’m worried about my Emporium!” Miss Ruby said angrily “Yes I’m sorry” he said. The Emporium was like a lake, loads of stuff were floating. “You know sorry isn’t good enough. You know just get out!” Cried Mrs Ruby. Daniel signed and crossed the threshold sulking. He was soaking wet, and very cold. His body felt weird and couldn’t remember who Opal was and why he was wet. The Emporium had disappeared. His memory of The Emporium was gone. Who looked around to try and see if the SMPs were around. “Why am I wet? Did the SMPs do this? Wait a minute-“

“Oh that boy left his bag!” Cried Mrs Ruby “he was a real home-wrecker!”

The end

Written by Ellie James