[https://img.wattpad.com/4483da7afa38ff060894717d448c2601b0efdcb4/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f455556706159644c616f513158513d3d2d313235363530303339382e313732346134646666303362323131623737313136343432303136392e706e67]
Sophie's eyes grew wide as she saw the kids who were making their way into the bus. The first was a girl with green skin and snakes growing from her head like hair. Behind her was a troll boy with frizzy purple hair and a nose the shape of a potato and the size of a tennis ball.
Each creature that entered was stranger than the last. Sophie recognized a lot of them from fairy tales that her parents had read to her.
They all seemed to be in high spirits, talking noisily amongst themselves, laughing and shouting. They didn't even seem to notice Sophie, who was busy averting her gaze. What was she supposed to do if one of them sat down next to her? She hadn't even known how to talk to the "normal" kids at all the schools she used to go to. To Sophie's great relief, all the other kids just passed by her and settled into the seats further back in the bus.
"Come on, now, we don't have all day." The bus driver was chiding the last kid who hadn't yet made it onto the bus.
The boy who now entered the bus was gigantic. His entire body was made of stone, and small branches and leaves were growing from him. He looked like a small living mountain that had dressed up in a pair of brown shorts and a dark green shirt. As he entered, Sophie could feel the whole bus being weighed down. The boy scanned the bus looking for an empty seat and found one. Right next to Sophie.
The entire bus swayed as the boy sat down next to her. The bus driver pushed one of the many buttons next to the steering wheel, and the bus immediately righted itself, lifting itself to its regular height. The door closed, and the bus took off again.
Sitting next to the stone boy, Sophie barely dared to move a muscle. Extremely slowly, she turned her head to look up at him. He was huge, and with his giant stone body she thought he looked awfully scary. He turned his head and looked down at her. Sophie's blood froze. What was he going to do?
But all the stone boy did was lift his arm and politely wave hello. Surprised and confused, Sophie just stared at him for a second before finally lifting her hand and waving back.
"H-hi there," she muttered.
The stone boy just smiled at her and then turned to look out of the front window [https://img.wattpad.com/2da4c3b6a3e9cd1a0a773bb81b5b748068b3fc74/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f4b6e343754684b546334316653513d3d2d313235363439383037332e313730396235303133373662383262343231353332323033313733332e706e67?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]
The stone boy just smiled at her and then turned to look out of the front window. He didn't seem to have anything more to say to her. And so they sat in silence while the bus drove at full speed through the forest.
Sophie was looking out through the side window. She could barely even make out the trees, with the bus driving so fast past them. But she WAS able to make out something else, something that was moving just behind the nearest trees. It looked like a dark shape. A very large dark shape, actually, running alongside them. It had to be at least five times the size of the bus. Sophie felt a shiver run down her spine. The creature had red glowing eyes that made it look like a predator regarding its prey. And it was looking directly at Sophie. Luckily, as fast as it was, the creature couldn't keep up with the speed of the bus, and after a while it fell behind.
Sophie let out a sigh of relief and turned away from the window. Was she the only one who had spotted the creature? She turned around in her seat and looked at the other kids. None of them seemed to have noticed. But maybe big shadowy creatures were just a normal part of the trip after all?
The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
She tried to push the terrifying dark shape from her mind and went back to looking out the front window to see if she could make out anything else in the darkness.
Off in the distance a small shimmer of light was becoming visible at the end of the forest path.
Sophie leaned forwards in her seat to get a better look at what was coming. As the bus drove on, the shimmer grew larger, and Sophie realized that it was the light from a clear blue sky. In fact, all she could see up ahead was the sky. No more trees, no more bushes, not even grass.
That can't be right, Sophie thought to herself. What happens to the road?
The road seemed to disappear exactly at the edge of the forest. Well, not disappear. It just ended. They were at the edge of a cliff! The bus driver just kept increasing the speed. It was like he didn't care about his surroundings.
"WATCH O..." was what Sophie tried to yell out, but the bus gave a sudden jolt forward, which pushed her back in her seat.
Once again, the bus driver pressed one of the many buttons that were next to his steering wheel, and at once Sophie and the other kids in the bus were strapped in by seatbelts that moved all on their own. He then pulled at the gear stick, moving it to a new position that was marked with the image of two wings. The bus started to shake. Sophie turned to look out the side window. The gigantic wings were once again starting to extend from the sides of the bus.
Oh right! The wings! Sophie thought, having briefly forgotten about them in all the excitement. The wing tips were still slowly spreading, and they were getting uncomfortably close to hitting the trees that surrounded the path. If they got any closer, would they just break off when they collided with the trees?
Sophie turned towards the bus driver to warn him again, but all thoughts of that were struck from her mind when she glanced out the front window. They had reached the end of the road.
Sophie felt a panicked thrill all throughout her body as the bus drove out of the thick forest and off the ledge into nothingness. It was at least three hundred feet straight down to the ground, which the bus was now hurtling towards. The wings still hadn't folded out all the way.
If we don't start flying soon, we'll all be killed! Sophie thought.
With a massive jolt, the wings of the bus unfolded all the way, and with a few powerful flaps of its wings, the bus started ascending into the sky before finding a comfortable height to stay at.
Sophie was sitting completely still. She'd flown in airplanes before, but this was something completely different. The bus was now flying leisurely through the air like a bird. There was no sound of an engine at all. She could hear the sound of the wind rushing by. She carefully leaned closer to the window to have a look. She felt a rush as she looked down.
Oof, that's a long way down, she thought, steadying herself.
Way down on the ground she could see a huge, beautiful green forest surrounded by a cliff wall that formed a massive stone circle around it.
Four rivers, each of them flowing from a different waterfall along the cliff's sides, ran through the forest and joined together in the middle of the valley. There, they formed a circular river that flowed around a gigantic rock fortress.
The fortress was at least a thousand feet tall, and it was unlike anything Sophie had ever seen. From within it grew roots and branches the size of car tunnels, which wound around its exterior. The fortress was divided into three major sections, each stacked on top of each other like a three-level pyramid. On each level, a massive red gate formed an entrance to within. And at the top of the formation, the tree branches gathered into a massive tree crown that was large enough that you could probably hide an entire passenger airplane under it. Sophie stared in wide-eyed disbelief at the spectacle of it all.
Off in the distance, a different bus came flying off the edge of the cliff wall.
Off in the distance, a different bus came flying off the edge of the cliff wall [https://img.wattpad.com/72d8147bbe352fa573572a5eec82a88d90fe214d/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f574e636b674f51757348705f48413d3d2d313235363439383037332e313730396235306539666261646263663733363639383335303432342e706e67?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]
"Well, I'll be darned. I thought we were going to be late," said the bus driver, checking his watch. Another bus came flying over the cliff wall, and another one. As Sophie watched, more and more buses appeared. And they were all heading in the same direction as Sophie's bus. Towards the center of the valley. Towards the strange rock fortress.
Sophie was lying in her bed with the duvet pulled up over her head [https://img.wattpad.com/8c8906bfb2eff326a3f9cd52b86ce8ec6d8acc52/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f767862706948304a73664a7570673d3d2d313235333934313835302e313733663230616534623765333861363936343636313337343032322e706e67?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]