style="font-size:15px;"> “As I told you before, my name is Sophie and I’m twelve, next year I will be in the seventh form, my dad’s name is Leon, and my mom’s is Holly. My parents are farmers. Also, I like reading books, my father often brings them to me from the city.”
“What do you like to read?” asked Merle.
“I like reading kid’s books about magic and adventure.”
“I think that your life will be full of adventure and magic,” said Merle. “By the way, we’ve come to the fair. Do you remember where your parents’ tent is?” asked Merle.
“Yes, there it is, right behind the ice cream store,” replied Sophie.
“Your parents are unloading boxes in a hurry, so I don’t think they’ve noticed your absence yet. I guess you shouldn’t tell them that you got lost. I also have a gift for you. Here you are, take this locket, never take it off, and do not show it to anyone.”
“Thank you!” said Sophie and went in the direction of her parents’ tent. Merle shouted after her,
“See you soon, Princess!”
When Sophie turned around, Merle was already gone, she did not understand where he had disappeared. As well, it was strange that Merle called her a princess, because that’s the way her dad calls her.
When Sophie and her parents were on their way back home, she was sitting quietly in the car thinking about the day. She was reflecting on that it was bad of her to go so far from the fair and not telling her parents anything about it when she came back. She felt very ashamed of it, she also met an old man in an unusual outfit peculiar to a book wizard, he helped her find her way to the fair and gifted her a very beautiful locket.
Sophie and Patrick went out the gate and headed toward the lake. It was sunny and warm outside; birds were singing and butterflies flying.
“Where should we go?” Sophie asked Patrick.
“Along the path by the lake,” he answered. Sophie and Patrick came closer to the lake.
“I remembered this lake, my dad and I often come here’ Sophie told Patrick. “I’ve never seen such a beautiful blue lake. Where is the tree you were found at?” asked Sophie.
“That oak is on the other side of the lake, and we’ll have to cross it in that boat,” said Patrick.
“But how do we do that?” asked Sophie. “I’m small and can’t row.”
Patrick climbed out of Sophie’s pocket, jumped to the ground, looked around and saw two small flat boards on the grass.
“Look what I found!” Patrick exclaimed. “You can use these boards to row, and I’ll help you row with my hands.”
Sophie took two flat boards, put the little mouse on her shoulder, went down to the lake and sat into a small boat on the shore of the lake. The boat did not look anything like safe, and it was quite clear that it had been put still on the bank for a long time. But, anyway, Patrick and Sophie got into this boat. Sophie and Patrick used the boards to kick off from the bank and slowly headed to the other side of the lake. To move faster they decided to row harder. They reached the middle of the lake, suddenly the sun faded, thick black clouds appeared out of the blue, and the wind started blowing with a dreadful force. The boat started rocking back and forth, Sophie got frightened, and Patrick jumped into her pocket having his ears covered. Suddenly, the wind stroke so powerfully that the boat overturned, and Sophie and Patrick found themselves in the water
Chapter 2. Liechtenstein Castle
Sophie opened her eyes, sat up and looked around trying to figure out where she was, and whether she was even alive. A few seconds after, Sophie realized that she couldn’t see Patrick anywhere near. Sophie got to her feet and looked around once again and saw Patrick lying inert near the old oak. He was no longer the little mouse as always; he was at least twice taller than Sophie. She dashed to him and kneeled trying to bring him to his senses. A few seconds after, Patrick opened his eyes, and Sophie breathed a deep sigh of relief realizing that he was alive.
“Am I dead? Am I in heaven?” Patrick asked Sophie.
“No, seemingly, we are alive. But I don’t understand what happened to us and how we ended up here,” said Sophie.
“What happened to you? Why are you so small?” Patrick stood up and dusted himself off.
“I don’t know,” she answered, “I suppose that you turned into a big mouse.”
The place where Sophie and Patrick were, looked like the other side of the lake, and the old oak Patrick had told Sophie about was also there. It was very cold and dreadfully scary outside.
“I wonder where we are now?” Patrick asked Sophie.
“I would like to know either, she said. “I don’t know what to do as well. I’m also very scared.”
“Look, there’s a path, maybe it is leading to our house,” said Patrick.
Scared and frozen Sophie and Patrick followed the path along the lake.
“I’m scared,” whispered Sophie.
“Me, too, but we have to go,” Patrick said.
They passed along the lake and took a path to the forest deep. It was still dark and cold outside, the wind was making branches of trees whir in the wind, it sounded like crunching and creaking at the same time, cuckooing and cawing birds felt frightening. Sophie just though she heard something behind her in bushes, she looked back, but saw no one there. Sophie walked a little deeper into the forest and heard a noise reminding branches crunching under her feet, and in a moment the road collapsed under Sophie and Patrick’s feet, and they found themselves in a net hanging over a deep hole. Men came out of the bushes. They were dressed in dirty ragged trenches, they held axes and swords.
“Look at our take,” said one of them. “Well, look what the cats dragged in! A girl and an overgrown rat.”
“I’m not a rat, I’m a little mouse!!!” said Patrick with outrage.
“Moreover, it can talk! I’m sure we will yield a lot of gold coins for a talking rat.”
“Who are you?” Patrick asked them.
“I am Edwin, and these are my friends. Now it’s my turn to ask questions,” said Edwin. “Where are you from and what are you doing in my forest?”
“We don’t know how we got here. We were crossing the lake on a boat, the boat got overturned by the strong wind. We woke up on the bank, we saw a path and figured it would lead us home,” said Sophie.
“Stop feeding us lies!” Edwin said. “Hey, girl, didn’t your mother and father tell you that lying to adults is bad?” Edwin asked Sophie.
“I’m not lying. Let us go, please!!!” cried Sophie begging Edwin.
“Cut them off and pack up.” Edwin ordered his friends, “Let’s take them home, we’ll decide their fate tomorrow.”
“Maybe
