[https://img.wattpad.com/f350e03b76b203e841dcb9aa33891f6ce1093e29/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f59616b52515f5549514a4b694a673d3d2d313235363530313031382e313732636639323332376361613734663337383939323030343437342e706e67]
"Was the next one a right or a left?"
Sophie really had listened when Marro told her the way to the library. But actually finding her way there had been a lot more difficult than she had imagined. First she was supposed to go up some stairs, then follow a corridor until it split into five, then follow the one furthest to the left, then go down two sets of stairs, then turn right twice, turn left five times and pass through eight doors in a row. Everywhere she went, there was another corridor, another staircase, another door. And she also had to keep track of how far into Marro's list of instructions she'd made it.
Marro had written it all down for her, which was a big help, but it was difficult to stay focused on following the directions. Each new hallway she passed through piqued her curiosity and threatened to make her lose her focus.
Almost all of the corridors had suits of armor placed alongside the walls, but that was just about the only thing they had in common. In one corridor, tropical plants had been growing everywhere, in another a thick mist was hovering in the air. Others had giant rocks, ice, mirrors, all kinds of things. She had even walked through a corridor that seemed to pass directly through a lake. There hadn't been any glass walls or anything to keep the water from crashing down into the corridor – the water just went around the hallway, as if it had simply chosen to let people pass through and was keeping out of the way as a courtesy. Looking through the walls formed by the water, Sophie had been able to see all kinds of sea creatures swimming around.
Looking through the walls formed by the water, Sophie had been able to see all kinds of sea creatures swimming around [https://img.wattpad.com/ff4765c5bccd02e7b3ccdc76c63e2e29c02c858e/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f7872307a716337797939756572773d3d2d313235363439383735342e313730396237356631313038353337383233373532333937383536352e706e67?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]
Most of them she'd never seen before in her life, all though she was pretty sure she saw a mermaid waving at her. Following the bus driver's advice turned out to be even harder than she had expected.
"Try not to be so darn surprised about every little new thing you see." Well, that was easier said than done, because it wasn't just one new thing. It was hundreds and hundreds of new surprises.
Now she was standing in a hallway that split into two. Along the walls hung lots and lots of different musical instruments.
"Which way was it?" She took another look at the piece of paper, but it was no use. She had completely lost track of how far she'd gotten. There was nothing left for her to do but to take a guess and hope for the best. Either way, she couldn't be that far from her goal, based on Marro's instructions, so she would probably be able to find her way back if she picked wrong.
All right. I'll try going left, she thought to herself.
That seemed to be the right answer. At least the limited descriptions of the hallways that Marro had written on the paper seemed to fit. The hallway she was now in was littered with giant square rocks, the kind that they had probably used to build the pyramids. Now all she needed to do was to turn one final corner, and then she just had to go through the fourth door on the right to get to the library. She turned the corner.
"Door one, door two, door three, and..."
Sophie looked around confused. Where was the fourth door? Was it further down the hallway? No, there really were only three doors to be seen!
Sophie let out an irritated sigh. She had picked the wrong path after all. It had all seemed to fit so well, too, except for that missing door at the end. She turned around and was just about to head back when she heard a distant voice coming from somewhere behind her. Actually, it was multiple voices. They were coming from further down the hallway.
Should she go see where the voices were coming from? Or should she go retrace her steps? She considered that for a moment.
In the end, her curiosity won out, and she followed the voices down the hallway. It sounded like a boy and a girl talking to each other.
Sophie could hear the girl's voice objecting about something: "Drim! You bully! You know we don't know that!"
"It's not my fault if you're not smart enough to know things," the boy's voice replied.
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Sophie had reached the end of the hallway. She carefully peeked around the corner. A fairy and a satyr seemed to be arguing intensely, while next to them a boy troll was sitting comfortably on the floor, resting his back against the... air? It was like there was an invisible wall between the fairy and the satyr, keeping him from tipping backwards.
The girl voice was coming from the fairy. She had long, wavy hair, her outfit made her look like a warrior, and she was just about the same size as Sophie's hand. The fairy's entire body was glowing bright red, and her clothes were the same color.
The troll sitting on the floor seemed to be about the same height as Sophie. He had a big, potato-shaped nose, frizzy, purple hair, and he was wearing a button-up shirt with a tie and some black pants.
Didn't I see him get on the school bus? Sophie thought to herself.
Standing across from the fairy was the satyr. He had red, slicked-back hair, and two horns protruded from his forehead. Two furry goats' legs made up his lower body, while over his torso he wore a dark blue cape.
"Not smart enough! Drim, you know we haven't learned the first thing about the human world yet!" the fairy yelled in protest [https://img.wattpad.com/e9047ded0220b9df4be252f252581969064bcbd1/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f5a546b77646478617542673770673d3d2d313235363439383735342e313730396237383230373164393339353632323637333633363231362e706e67?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]
"Not smart enough! Drim, you know we haven't learned the first thing about the human world yet!" the fairy yelled in protest.
"That's not my problem," the satyr said with a condescending laugh. "I'm not letting you through unless you can name all seven continents in the human world."
The fairy's red glow flared up even more.
"Drim! You disgusting, sneaky..."
"Sneaky!?" Drim the satyr boy cut her off with a mocking tone, and a sinister smile spread across his face. "Disgusting? How original. What else are you gonna call me? A slime hydra? A magic miscreant? A swamp troll? Come on, Fiff, what other insults can you throw at me? Because believe me, I've heard them all! But maybe you'll manage to surprise me."
Fiff the fairy said nothing. She just stared at Drim, filled with rage. Then she turned to the troll boy.
"Come on, Trom, let's just beat him up!"
"What?!" Trom the troll was clearly surprised at the escalation. "No way, Fiff! I don't wanna fight nobody, and I for sure don't wanna fight Drim. Let's just go the long way around instead." With a sigh he got up from the floor.
"No! We're not going anywhere!" Fiff responded angrily. "Drim, you've got no right to block our way! Now let us pass, or I swear I'm gonna kick your butt!"
Drim just laughed. Fiff's threats didn't seem to scare him in the least.
"Nope. First, you've gotta answer my question."
"Why's it always gotta be such a hassle?" Trom moaned. "Fiff, it's no use. Long as he's got that magical barrier up, there's no way we can pass." Trom tapped on the invisible wall that he'd been leaning against a bit earlier.
"Aww, that's too bad. Guess you'll be going then," Drim said with a snicker.
"Africa, Europe, Asia, North America, South America, Antarctica and Australia," Sophie said loudly.
Everything went quiet. The three kids in the hallway all turned to look at her as she walked up to them.
"Um, yeah, that's... That's the seven continents all right," Drim said in a confused voice. "Wait, since when are there humans at this school?"
"It's my first day. My name's Sophie."
Fiff the fairy's glow instantly turned from red to yellow and she flew over towards Sophie. "Oh, that's great! Nice to meet you, Sophie!" She then turned triumphantly towards the satyr: "Now get out of the way, Drim!"
Drim wasn't listening to Fiff. Instead, he was staring directly at Sophie, and for a brief second his eyes glowed red.
Sophie shuddered – the red, glowing eyes were eerily similar to the dark creature that had followed the school bus through the forest.
"So YOU'RE the new student. I suppose your last name is Somera, then?"
Sophie gave Drim a startled look. "How did you know that?"
"Um, helloooo, Drim!" Fiff interjected. "Sophie just answered your question, so that means we can pass. You said so yourself!" Fiff crossed her arms confrontationally, even as she kept flying around in circles, bursting with energy.
"No, I said that you could pass if YOU TWO could answer my question. Not some human girl who just popped out of nowhere."
"That wasn't part of the rules!" Fiff insisted.
"All right, I'm done with this. Can't we just go around already?" Trom asked, but instantly regretted it as Fiff gave him a stern look.
Drim was still looking at Sophie.
"Oh, all right then. I'll meet you halfway. If the human girl can answer a question about the magical world, I'll let you pass. But if she can't, I get to put a curse on her."
"Absolutely not!" Fiff bellowed. "She just said that it's her first day! How is she supposed to know anything about the magical world? And you're definitely not ruining her first day by putting a curse on her!"
Drim held up his hand dismissively.
"Oh relax. I'll even give her a hint." He smiled confidently at Sophie. "If she's willing to accept my conditions, that is."
Drim reminded Sophie of the older bullies she'd met at her previous schools. She didn't like people like that. They'd tease and humiliate the other kids just because they could, and Sophie had ended up getting into conflicts with them more than once. She looked Drim straight in the eyes.
"What's the question?"
Drim flashed a wicked grin. "Tell me the name of the largest country in the magical world. And here's your hint: Just as this country is the largest in the magical world, it's also the largest one in the human world. But the humans don't think of it as a country at all. And the country is named after its ruler, who was worshipped as a god in the human world."
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]
- Next chapter Friday the 9th of December