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"Yuck! I think I got some in my mouth!" Elva cried with clear disgust.

"Don't you worry, Elva. It's not toxic at all," Nimum said, walking into the thick mist of green fog. "Heck, I've even heard that it's supposed to be good for your skin!"

A moment later, Nimum returned. In her hand was a tiny version of the slime hydra, no bigger than a kitten and with just a single head left.

"Oh my gosh, it's so cute!" Fiff flew up to the small hydra, startling it. It jumped in under Nimum's coat to hide.

"Careful, Fiff. It just got evaporated all the way back to being a kid, so it scares reeeaaal easy." Nimum smiled as she nuzzled the hydra's head. "Y'gotta wonder how this li'l fella found its way to Unum, though... Hey Soph, what's that you've got?"

Sophie presented the small treasure chest that she'd picked up. "We found it in one of the tunnels."

"What she means is," Trom added with a grimace, "that Sophie had one of her big ideas and risked all our lives, just so she could get the chest the slime hydra was guarding."

Sophie did feel a bit guilty about that. She really had tried to make her plan as safe as possible, and she'd taken on the most dangerous role as the one who distracted the slime hydra, but it had still ended up chasing all three of them.

"This fella was guarding it?" Nimum repeated, looking down at the small hydra. "You slime hydras don't usually guard treasures, do ya, li'l guy? Soph, can I see it?"

Sophie handed over the treasure chest to Nimum who studied it closely. "The lock doesn't look magical, so all we'd need is a regular ol' key."

"But it'd take us forever to find the key in all those tunnels," Trom complained.

"Come on, Trom, where's your can-do attitude? 'Cause you're forgetting something that I can-do," Nimum beamed, raising her right hand. From the palm of her hand, two small roots started to grow, winding themselves around each other and into the shape of a key.

"Neat!" Sophie exclaimed.

Nimum inserted the key, and with a twist and a "click", the treasure chest unlocked.

"Here you go, Soph! I think you should get the honor of opening it." Nimum moved out of the way, so that the kids could all get a closer look. "I'mma head out to see how we're doing for time."

"What do you think it is? Silver? Gold? Maybe diamonds?" Fiff was zipping around like an excited rocket.

"With a chest of that size it has to be jewelry," Elva said.

The whole class was staring at the chest as Sophie slowly lifted the lid. She had to admit, she was enjoying the attention. She was still a bit blown away by the way that the rest of the class appreciated her achievements and her sometimes kind of crazy ideas. That wasn't something she'd ever been used to before she came to the School of Wonders.

Even Trom was looking attentively as she opened the chest. "But that's...!" he blurted out, as the contents were finally revealed. "It's... just a KEY!? I risked my life all for the sake of a stupid key!?"

The class let out a sigh of disappointment. It was an old, thick key, the kind you'd imagine would be used to open up a massive, ornate door. But where most keys just had one metal bit at the end, this one had four, each going in different directions. Sophie guessed that the lock it fit in would have to look like a big plus sign.

"Beto, is there anywhere in the magical world that uses keys like this?" Sophie asked.

Beto studied the key. "I don't know of anywhere that uses keys with this kind of design. So maybe it's for..."

"All right, kiddos, time to haul butt back to school or we're gonna be late!" Nimum yelled, poking her head in from the entrance to the secret grotto.

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Being late wasn't a surprise to anyone. Nimum's adventuring lessons always ran long, so they usually had to rush back to school to make it before the school buses had all left.

Sophie put the key in her backpack, which she'd left by the cave entrance when they'd gotten there, and followed the rest of the class out of the secret grotto. Just outside, Nimum had made two trees bend all the way down to the ground, so that the tree crowns were right at the students' feet.

"All righty then!" Nimum pulled out a small jar from her bag. She started handing out large orange beans from the jar to each of the students. The beans were around the size of tomatoes. "I want you all to hold onto these seeds firmly, but don't squash them yet. Wait until we're up in the air, and then squash away! And no, Varis, they're not for eating."

Varis, whose orange bean was already halfway into his mouth, quickly pulled it out and tried to look innocent.

Beto shook his head. "Is it a werewolf thing, always having to taste everything?"

"No, I think it's just a me thing," Varis said, giving the orange bean a quick lick.

"All right, you can step up on the tree crowns now," Nimum said.

The students all looked nervously at each other. The two trees were stretched down like a couple of ready-to-fire catapults, both aimed at the school, which they could just make out in the distance.

The students spread out on the two tree crowns. Nimum made sure to make the tree that Rok the stone giant sat down on grow even bigger and stronger. Rok weighed at least as much as a car, so the tree would need all the help it could get.

"Everyone ready?" Nimum asked.

"Yes!" yelled the entire class – some with more enthusiasm than others.

"Do you have your seatbelts on?"

"No!"

"Do you have your helmets?"

"No!"

"Do you have your parachutes?"

"No!"

"Fantabulous! Then let's get back to school!"

Like shots from a cannon, the students were hurled through the air by the two trees. They went flying high over the forests and rivers of Unum and overtook a couple of birds that were almost scared out of their wits, as a human, a werewolf, a fairy, a vampire, a Gorgon, an elf, a troll, a skeleton, a stone giant and a troll-elf whipped past them.

The school was getting close now. Sophie could clearly see the enormous tree that grew out of the thousand-foot tall rock fortress and the three red gates that separated the school into different levels.

"Now! Squash your orange seeds!" Nimum shouted.

Sophie squeezed the seed as hard as she could, and she felt the shell crack just a little. Instantly, a flower burst out from the seed. Its roots wrapped around her wrists, and its petals grew wildly above her head and spread out like a parachute. Sophie felt a jolt through her body as the flower stopped her fall and then slowly started to glide down to the school.

Sophie felt a jolt through her body as the flower stopped her fall and then slowly started to glide down to the school [https://img.wattpad.com/c61cd8654a1c5a11dfc635d5d871f5f225894f35/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f5a757a46696c72427761764d4d413d3d2d313331353230343538322e31373433346562623262383565323061313237373734363130362e6a7067?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]

By the time all the students had landed, the school buses were there waiting for them as always.

"Another day of adventure!" Fiff yelled excitedly, shining with a golden glow.

"Just like all the rest. See ya tomorrow," Trom said before walking over to his bus.

The rest of the students said their goodbyes and then headed out for their own forms of transport. The magical beings would all be taken back to the magical world, while Sophie would be taken to the human world instead. The place where the school was, Unum, was a special place that existed between and connected the two worlds.

Sophie was still getting used to how every day really was a new, wild adventure. So much happened in a single day that she felt like she could write a whole book about it. And today had been no exception. She couldn't wait to tell her parents all about what they'd gotten up to in PE, what they'd learned in the day's story lesson, and of course about the adventure with Nimum and the slime hydra. Her mom would probably have to force her to take a break from all the stuff she had to tell, just so she'd remember to eat dinner.

"Hey, Soph!" Nimum called out to her. "What was in that there treasure chest anyway?"

Oh right. Sophie had almost forgotten. She walked over to Nimum and pulled the key from her bag. Maybe Nimum would know if keys like that were used anywhere in the magical world.

"Ah, so it's a key. That's a pretty unush..." Nimum stopped midsentence as her eyes went wide and her jaw dropped. "No way! It couldn't be... Soph, can I see that?"

Sophie handed over the key. She'd never seen anything take Nimum by surprise before. Nimum studied the key carefully while muttering to herself. "There's just no way – how would it have ended up with a slime hydra – but it looks exactly the same, even after 500 years... Um, Soph, is it cool if I keep this? It's, um, kind of important."

Sophie gave Nimum a puzzled look. Her teacher looked completely out of it. "Um, wouldn't you need to take the key anyway? I'm not supposed to bring anything from the magical world back to the human world, remember?"

"Oh... Right. Well, I'll just... keep this then. Thanks..."

Nimum turned around and started heading towards the school, still deeply captivated by the key. She didn't even remember to say goodbye.

- Next chapter will be out on Monday the 20th of february [https://img.wattpad.com/75d03e3a3317d09b00bc41481fb18f33fb151f57/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f576d626877567267535436676d673d3d2d313331353230343538322e313734333465633561373134656331333437303430333734303837332e6a7067?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]