Chapter 1- Where My Socks Disappear
I slammed open the glass door and raced into my kitchen. The smells of dinner cooking tingled my senses. Mmmm, Mommy’s making her super yummy meatloaf. Smells almost done. The sniffinator never lies. “Mommy, Daddy, guess what? Madelynne caught a snake! It’s so cool, you have to come see. Hurry!”
Mommy came into the kitchen and smiled. I ran into her arms for a big hug. Mommy-hugs were the best. She smelled like cinnamon and had big blue eyes that looked like swimming pools. She kissed my forehead.
“Lexie, honey, where are your shoes? And socks? And jacket?”
Uh-oh. Mommy’s gonna be mad. Time for the big eyes and baby voice. “I’m sorry, Mommy. I left them by the trampoline outside.”
The weather, obviously trying to get me in trouble, started throwing raindrops at the roof of our house. And probably at our neighbor’s backyard too, where my clothes would be getting soaked.
Mommy looked at me with those eyes. “Lexie….”
“I’ll go get them super fast.” I ran out of the house before she could get madder.
My feet froze after being so warm in the house, and I shivered as rain attacked me. I found my sisters playing by the trampoline. “Madelynne, Bella, we have to go in the house. You better not bring the snake. Mommy won’t like that.”
I found my jacket, but couldn’t find my shoes. Or my socks. The rain came down harder, like taking a shower, only it was super cold. I shivered again. Time to go home.
I ran after my big sisters. “Wait up, guys. Don’t leave me!”
Madelynne—my way-bigger 9-year-old sister—turned to look at me. “Hurry up, Lexie. I’m cold and hungry.”
I ran faster, but my foot slipped on something slick, and the hard, cold ground smacked me in the head!
“Ahhhh! Mommy! Daddy! Mommy! Daddy!” Tears mixed with the rain on my face. My head hurt super bad.
Daddy ran out of the house and came to me. “Are you okay? What happened?”
Madelynne spoke before I could. “She was running and she slipped. Is she okay?”
I looked up at Daddy. Then looked up some more. I was pretty sure my daddy was the tallest man in the whole world.
He leaned down next to me. “She’s fine. Just a bit of a bump.”
He picked me up in his strong arms and carried me into the house. The rain stayed outside, and Mommy pulled out the turkey meatloaf just as we came in.
I hiccupped a few times, trying to calm down my crying so I could talk. “Is it time to eat?”
Mommy set the meatloaf on the counter and came over to kiss my bumped head. “Almost. I need to make the salad. Are you okay?”
She looked at Daddy; probably they were using their psychic powers to talk. They did that all the time so us kids couldn’t hear them. Whatever Daddy said in her mind seemed to make her feel better. That little line on her forehead—the one she always got when she was worried—disappeared and she smiled.
“I see you found your jacket. Did it happen to come with shoes and socks?”
I wondered if I should start crying again and say my head hurt. Maybe I’d get in less trouble. Daddy put me down and went to kiss Mommy. They did that all the time too, the kissing thing. “Why do you always do that?”
“Do what?” Mommy asked.
“Kiss at the end of sentences.”
Mommy and Daddy both laughed, but I didn’t know why.
“Would you rather us not kiss at all?” Mommy asked.
“No. Just not at the end, or beginning, or middle of sentences.”
They laughed some more. Sometimes grown-ups were so weird.
I’d hoped Mommy would forget about our little problem, but nope.
“So, about those shoes and socks?” she said.
“Um… I couldn’t find them.”
That wrinkle on Mommy’s head came back and her eyes got squinty. Never a good sign. “Lexie, this is the third time this week you have left clothes or trash outside. What shoes do you plan on wearing to school tomorrow if you don’t find this pair, or if they are soaking wet in the morning?”
“I don’t know.”
“You have to go out and find them.”
“Right now? But I’m hungry and wet and my head hurts.” I started to cry, but these were real tears. My head hurt a lot suddenly.
Mommy and Daddy looked at each other. More of their psychic stuff. So annoying.
“No. Eat first. But after dinner you will go out there and find them and you’d better hope they dry before morning.”
I ran out of the kitchen before she could change her mind. My head was all better.
“No running in the house, Lexie!”
“Sorry!”
I found Madelynne reading a really big book on the couch and Bella sitting at the desk playing a game on the computer. “I’m bored. I want someone to play with me.”
Daddy walked in. “Lexie, you are five-years-old, not a baby. You can find something to do for yourself.”
I knew he wasn’t trying to be mean, but it was so unfair. I couldn’t read really good yet, and I didn’t know how to play on the computer except a few games. What was I supposed to do?
Daddy started playing a new song on the piano, so I sat and watched him some. He had super long fingers and they played a bunch of notes at once. I knew how to play one song he taught me, but not as good as that.
I crossed my arms across my chest. Everybody was better than me at stuff. It wasn’t fair. I wished I were older and could do all the stuff they could do.
Mommy called us into dinner, which made me feel a little better. My tummy rumbled like Winnie the Pooh’s did when he wanted honey. I liked honey too, but had to ask Mommy or Daddy before I could get some. They didn’t like it when I got a bunch of peanut butter in the honey jar. I didn’t mean to, but they still got upset.
Dinner went by too fast. I didn’t want to go out in the dark and rain to look for my stupid shoes and socks.
“I’ll go with her!” Madelynne said.
“Me too,” said Bella.
I had the best sisters. Mommy said okay, so they came with me to find my socks and shoes. TayTay, Madelynne’s Royal Frenchel dog, came too. Maybe he could sniff them out.
The sun had disappeared by the time we were outside, and the moon only peeked out a little. If I listened real hard I could here monsters in the woods around our house. I tried not to listen.
“I’m scared,” I told my sisters.
“Don’t worry,” said Bella, “we’re here with you.” Bella was always so brave. Nothing ever scared her.
I wanted to be more like Bella sometimes. “If this was Lexie World, it wouldn’t be this scary at night.”
“What would it be like?” Madelynne asked.
We had each found our own world. I found mine under my bed. It was 300 years old. “It would have magic and friendly trees that talked.”
“That sounds cool!”
Emily, our neighbor and the mom of a little baby we played with sometimes, walked towards us as we got close to her house. “Hey, girls, I found someone’s socks and shoes out back. I’m guessing they belong to one of you?”
“They’re mine!” I ran up to get them from her.
“Here you go, kiddo, but I need to talk to your parents about all the stuff that gets left by the trampoline. Can I walk home with you?”
We all nodded, but inside I felt like bees had gotten into my belly. If she was going to talk to Mommy and Daddy, then we might be in bigger trouble.
When we got home, Emily came in with us.
Mommy smiled at her. “Hi, Emily, how are you?”
“I’m good. Just busy with students at school, and the baby. You?”
“Doing really well, thank you. Is everything okay?” Mommy’s line popped back on her head.
“Yes, fine. I found Lexie’s shoes and socks out back. I wanted to talk to you all about the trampoline. I love for the girls to come over and play anytime, you know that. But I’ve noticed they’ve been leaving a lot of stuff outside, and it’s making it look really messy back there. If they don’t start picking up their stuff, I’m afraid I’m going to have to turn the trampoline over so no one can play on it.”
Mommy nodded. “I totally understand. I’m so sorry that this is an issue. We’ll talk to all three of them.”
“Thanks. I’d better get home. We still haven’t had dinner yet. See you soon.”
“Okay, bye.”
Mommy gave me the eye.
“Thank you, Emily,” I said before she walked out.
“You’re welcome, Lexie.”
After Emily left, Mommy and Daddy called a family meeting. We talked about the rules and how we all had to bring in our stuff. They kept telling us things we already knew, like how we need to pick up after ourselves and take care of the Earth and our things. Finally, they let us go so we could get ready for bed.
I put my shoes in front of the heater and hoped they would dry by morning. I hated wearing wet, squishy shoes. It just wasn’t fair!
That night I dreamed of Lexie World, where everything was perfect and I never had to wear wet shoes.
Chapter 2—Lots of Different Reals
Squish, squish, squish. My shoes made those sounds as I walked. Mommy had said they were dry enough, but the water kept trying to push out through my socks. They didn’t feel wet, but they sounded wet.
My sisters walked ahead of me, talking and laughing. I shifted my backpack on my shoulders and walked faster to catch up. “Hey guys, whatcha talking about?”
“Our magic worlds,” Bella said.
Madelynne made room for me to walk between them. “Yeah, mine has Fairies in it. Bubble Fairies!”
“And mine has Dragons!” Bella roared like a Dragon and made me laugh. “What does yours have, Lexie?”
I tried to think of something cool, like Fairies and Dragons. My world had to be super cool too. “Unicorns. Lexie World has Unicorns!”
“Oooo, I love Unicorns!” they both said at the same time.
When we got to the house, Mommy and Daddy gave us hugs and kisses.
“Anything new at school?” Mommy asked.
“Oh, I almost forgot!” I reached into my backpack and pulled out my schoolwork, and handed it to Mommy.
She flipped through the pages. “Lexie, this is wonderful. You got perfect scores on all your work, and your teacher wrote a note saying your work is excellent. I’m so proud of you.”
I smiled my biggest smile. “I even know the difference between rhyming and alliteration. None of the other kids in my class knew that.”
“You’re very smart!”
Madelynne and Bella dropped their backpacks by the front door.
Then the three of us took TayTay out for a walk. He missed Madelynne and jumped up and down when he saw her. We all ran out the door with him chasing our feet and trying to trip us.
We headed to the woods in our backyard. I screamed as loud as I could, just to feel the noise rumble in my chest. They never let us be loud at school or in the house. My woods were the only place I could do this. My sisters joined in the screaming, and we sounded like crazy kids lost in the woods! TayTay even howled his Royal Frenchel howl, making us all laugh.
We got to our swing set and I threw off my jacket and scrambled up the slide.
Bella started swinging as high as she could. “Lexie, you’re not allowed to leave your jacket on the ground. Mom said.”
“I’ll get it later.”
After we played for a bit, we decided to explore the woods some more. TayTay pounced at our heels as we ran laughing through the trees.
“Oooh, look!” I pointed to a tree that I never noticed before. It split down the center and curved around until it met in the sky again. Leaves and branches created a door in the center. “Let’s go explore it.”
My sisters agreed, so we ran to the tree. We all stopped when we were in front of it. Something about the tree made my stomach flip-flop with bees again.
TayTay sniffed the tree and began to whine and wag his tail. Is he excited or scared?
A cold wind shook all the leaves around us and made goosebumples appear on my skin. I shivered and wrapped my arms around my chest. I shouldn’t have left my jacket on the playground. “What should we do?”
All of us stared at the tree. This tree we’d never seen before.
“Let’s go through,” Bella screamed.
I looked at Madelynne. She shrugged.
The three of us held hands and took a step into the tree. Then another. TayTay stayed close to our heels, whining and howling and wagging his tail so hard, I thought it might fall off. Cold, damp leaves scratched my face, but I didn’t let go of my sisters’ hands. Branches pushed at my head, tangling my hair, but still I didn’t let go. I squeezed their hands so hard, one of them squealed.
Wind rushed past us. Through us. A low grumble started to shake the ground.
Weren’t we through the tree already? How could it take so long?
“Guys, I’m scared. Let’s go back.” I tried to pull them back but couldn’t.
The howling and shaking and grumbling and swishing continued. Branches, leaves, earth… it all seemed to come alive and try to bite me, shake me, move me.
I started to cry. I wanted my mommy and daddy. I wanted to go home. Then….
It all stopped.
Darkness. Not super black, like being in the house in the dark, but like night. With stars and a moon, except the stars looked weird—the wrong shape or order or something.
I couldn’t see around me yet. I clutched Madelynne and Bella’s hands. TayTay barked. Madelynne leaned down, pulling us with her, to hug and comfort her dog. Then….
Someone spoke. “We have to keep walking, to find the light.”
I screamed. Bella chirped and Madelynne sprang up so fast she nearly knocked me down.
“Madelynne, who was that?” My voice sounded high and tiny. Mommy and Daddy didn’t like when I talked like this—like a baby—but I couldn’t help it this time.
Madelynne’s voice shook when she finally spoke. “TayTay?”
I still couldn’t see anything and I really wanted to go home. How did it get so dark so fast? Have we been out playing that long? “What about TayTay? Is he okay?”
“I’m right here and I’m fine, but we have to keep moving to reach the light.” The voice that spoke sounded more like a growl, and it came from the ground.
I’m only 5 years old. I’m little. So most sounds when people talk come from high above. What could be talking to me from so far below?
Without thought, my legs started moving me forward. My sisters’ hands slipped out of mine from the sweat. We gripped each other’s fingers. Even Bella’s hand shook. Was she scared? I was!
Then the light came—softly at first, but brighter as we walked. It got warmer too.
I tried to breathe deeper but hiccupped. I hadn’t realized I was still crying. My eyes hurt from all the light.
Then… we saw it.
Lexie World.
Everything around us matched my imagination. Lots of trees, but not the same kinds of trees we had in Washington. Bright flowers everywhere, with colors that I’d never seen on our real world—blues, purples, pinks, reds, oranges, and all sorts of combinations of colors. Like a spiky flower with purple and blue stripes. And a rose that looked like a rainbow with every petal a different color.
The site of my world come to life almost caused me to trip on my shoelaces. Bella caught me before I fell.
Then… the voice again. “You really do need to learn to tie your shoes better, Lexie. It’s dangerous.”
We, all three of us, looked down at TayTay.
He actually opened his mouth and spoke to us, in a real, human-like voice. “Yes, I can speak on this world. And yes, this is Lexie World. You had it right all along!”
We stood there with our mouths dropped open. I shut mine before some weird alien fly could land in it.
“For real? You talk?” I’m dreaming. I know I am. I’m having the best dream. EVER!
“Yes, for real.”
Madelynne screamed and sat on the grass to hug him. “Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh. I’ve always wanted you to talk. This is so amazingly cool!”
“So what do we do now?” I asked. “Won’t Mommy and Daddy be worried about us?”
“I say we go explore!” Of course Bella would say that.
“Can we even get home?” Madelynne asked.
We all looked behind us, and our magic tree had disappeared. We were surrounded by woods, my Lexie World woods, but no tree to take us home. That meant….
“We’re lost. In Lexie World. With no way home.” I started to shake again.
Bella put her arm around me. “It’s okay, Lexie, we’ll find a way home. Just think, we’ll have the best adventure anyone has ever had. This is awesome!”
I had to admit she was right. It was pretty awesome. Lexie World really did exist. And now, I got to explore it!
Chapter 3—Follow That Unicorn
It didn’t register right away, because we had a talking dog and a magical world and all that, but we were different too.
Madelynne had wings… and a sword! She looked life a fairy.
Bella had pointy ears and could make fire from her hands and feet.
Wow! I looked down at myself and laughed out loud. I looked like me, but not. More like a superhero version of myself, with swirly rainbows coming out of my hands. Cool!
We didn’t know what we were supposed to do, so we just explored. There were things I already knew about but loved seeing for real—like the crazy flowers. Then there were things I didn’t think I could’ve imagined if I’d tried—like the red, flying spider-like thingies. They creeped me out! One almost landed in my hair, and I screamed louder than I’d ever screamed before.
But even magical worlds got super boring when you’d been walking for what felt like forever! The world looked the same, no matter where we went.
“I’m tired. Can we stop? I need food and something to drink.”
Madelynne plopped onto the grass. “Me too.”
Bella looked ready to travel the whole gigantic planet… by foot, without a break! She sighed. “Okay, we can rest. But we should get going again soon.”
“Why? Where are we even going?” I asked.
They all looked at me.
TayTay laid his head on Madelynne’s lap. “This is your world, kiddo. Only you know that.”
What? How was I supposed to know where we were going? I was only 5 years old. This was so unfair!
I lay down on the grass, closed my eyes, and wished hard for water and food. Something yummy, like Mommy’s gluten free pancakes or Daddy’s chicken stir-fry.
I must have fallen asleep, because big fat raindrops landing on my face woke me up. “Great, it’s raining now. And I don’t even have a coat!”
My sisters and TayTay woke from their naps and looked around.
I stood up and stretched like Daddy showed me. “We should find somewhere to hide, like a cave or something.”
Bella smiled. “That’s a good idea! Let’s go.”
They all started following me, which freaked me out. I remember Mommy teaching us meditation and stuff, so I tried to meditate. I made my mind relax and tried not to think about my hungry belly, or how scared I was, or how much I missed my house. I made my mind empty, and I made my muscles stop being so tense and shaky.
Okay, weird world, which way do we go?
Something pulled at me, but it didn’t hurt. It was like when my best friend at school pulled on my hand to lead me to the playground to play at recess. So I followed that tug.
As we walked, things started to change. Dead flowers and trash covered patches of the grass. It made me sad to see, but I kept following the tug until we heard the trickling of water.
Then we saw it—a beautiful apple tree with bright purple—purple?—apples standing next to a stream with fresh clear water. But that wasn’t even the most amazing thing.
Drinking out of the stream was a real, live Unicorn!
TayTay walked up to the Unicorn and bowed his head. The Unicorn leaned down to TayTay and touched him with its glowing white horn. TayTay glowed white for a second, then looked normal again. We all stood there stunned.
“Don’t be afraid,” the Unicorn said. “Come closer.” Her voice sounded like bells splashing in waves.
We shuffled closer.
“My name is Rosabel. You must be Lexie, Bella and Madelynne.”
I looked into her large, violet eyes. She was the most beautiful creature I had ever seen. “How did you know our names?” I couldn’t believe I was even able to talk!
“Your friend has shown me the truth of you,” she said, indicating TayTay. “You are here from another world, seeking lessons only this world can provide.”
“We are?” Bella asked.
Rosabel nodded. “Especially you, young one.” She looked straight into me. “You, who discovered our magical world. You have been brought here for a reason. But only you can discover what that reason is.”
My legs trembled. “But… I’m only five. I’m too little to do all that.”
“You are not about your age. You are so much more than that, Lexie. And you won’t be alone. I shall be your guide. But first, rest, eat and drink.”
That sounded like a great plan. We each took turns slurping up as much water as we could. It was the cleanest, coldest, yummiest water I’d ever had.
Then we picked apples from the tree. “I’ve never seen purple apples before. Are they safe?”
Rosabel smiled. “Yes, quite safe. And quite delicious. Try them.”
I took a tiny bite of my strange apple, to test it. It was the sweetest, crunchiest, yummiest apple ever! Each bite exploded in my mouth and made my tongue do wiggly happy dances.
After filling my tummy, I looked at our new friend, who was also resting on the grass. “Rosabel?”
“Yes, young one?”
“What happened to the flowers and the rest of the earth on the way here? There was trash everywhere and things were dying.”
Her eyes got really sad. “The Garbage Goblins have started taking over this world. They leave their messes everywhere, and with no one to clean it up, it chokes the life right out of the earth—all the plants and flowers.”
Tears streamed down my face, but this time I wasn’t crying for me. I was crying for the flowers and trees and plants that the Garbage Goblins were killing.
I had to do something to save Lexie World!
Then I knew. Real suddenly. “This is what I’m supposed to do while I’m here. This is what we’re supposed to do. We have to stop the Garbage Goblins and clean up this world.”
~~~~
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Written by Kimberly Kinrade, Illustrated by Josh Evans, published by Evolved Publishing. This material (including images) is copyrighted and may not be used or reproduced without permission from the author or artist.
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