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Chapter 17

The Book Of Wonders

“There you go,” Mr. T grumbled as he slapped Thea’s reports down on her table. “You’re terrible at English. Third graders are Shakespeare compared to you!”

Thea gulped, averting her eyes from the sheet of paper in front of her. As soon as Mr. T moved on to the next table, she took her report card in her clammy hands and opened it. Out came a pile of papers—and she shakily held up each one, scanning the words.

Science, A+; Geography, B; History, B; Creative Arts, A; Physical Health And Education, B-; Maths, A; English…

Thea groaned, cupping her face in her hands, tempted to pull all of her hair out.

She’d gotten an F in English! An F! What would her dad think? What would her friends think when they found out?

“Seriously,” she muttered to herself. “I have to get good grades in everything but English!”

She sighed, took the pile of papers, popped them back into her report card, and headed home with a bag on her shoulders, a report card in her hands and a burden in her heart.

—

Marchy warmly greeted her as she stepped into her house, barking and panting and wagging his tail back and forth. It almost made her fall out of her foul mood. Almost. But not quite.

She still had her dad to face. And she knew that he would not be happy.

Thea rushed up to her bedroom to change and grab a pack of her favourite crisp chips. She was about to call for her father, but she didn’t have to—as soon as she opened her bedroom door, he was right there, glaring at her with arched eyebrows and a concerned expression.

“Thea,” he said immediately. “Your teacher called me. We need to talk.”

—

“But Dad!” Thea whined as soon as her Dad finished his long, boring lecture.

“But what?” He asked, annoyed, rolling his eyes. Then his features softened. “Thea, I know and understand that reading isn’t everyone’s strong suit. And I know you might not enjoy it. But could you please try? Pick up a good book and try to flip the pages—flip your perspective—and read! If there’s anything that interests you, I can go to the bookshop right now and get it for you. Please, Thea,” he pleaded once more as he noticed her glaring at him, crossing her arms.

Thea sighed, then gave her dad another death stare. “No!” She said stubbornly. “You can’t make me!”

“Actually, I can.” Her dad’s eyes seemed to start glowing with fire, and Thea knew that he was about to pull a nasty card. “Or you’re grounded.”

“What?” She cried, anger pumping through every vein in her body. But it was too late to argue. He was already gone.

—

Thea was on her bed, lying on her stomach with a book in her hands. For the first time… in a long time.

“And for the last time forever,” she muttered to herself.

She trailed her hands over the giant, cursive letters that were engraved on the book's cover. The Book Of Wonders. Well, that sounded… wonderfully boring.

Thea sighed and flipped to the front page. It was time to get this whole book-reading business started. Maybe she could fall asleep in the process.

But little did she know how very, very wrong she was…

—

Thea sat up on green, grassy ground, rubbing the back of her head. Ouch. Everything hurt. She couldn’t even remember what had just happened.

She strained her brain, trying to recall her recent memories. Where were her brain cells when she needed them most? She’d gotten a bad grade in English… Her dad had made her read a book… She had flipped to the first page when a strange, golden glow emanated from the words. And then she remembered the world spinning, tumbling, rolling around. And now she was here, sitting in the middle of nowhere with nowhere to go and no idea where to go. And no idea where she was, either.

She got up, her wobbly knees buckling slightly. She floundered around, feeling dizzy. At last, she stood up straight and took a look at her surroundings.

Grass was all she could see. Vivid, green grass covered the ground, the mountains in the distance, and even the bark of some trees. The trees themselves were gigantic—all except a few were 7 stories high. The hills, on the other hand, were tiny little bumps scattered here and there, except for a couple that shot to the sky in jagged and rocky formations.

This new place seemed like Wonderland to Thea. But it was weird. And it creeped her out. And she wanted to go home. But she didn’t know where home was. Wait—had she fallen into the book she was reading?

Thea considered it for a moment, dread prickling across her skin. It seemed like the only possible option… Unless she had fallen asleep and was dreaming?

She pinched herself on the skin, hard, and winced. She was not dreaming.

Thea sighed to herself and rubbed her face. She had to move forward. After all, it was her only way to find a path out of her dilemma.

—

The sky gradually turned darker. Thea shivered. If she didn’t find her way out of the book, where would she camp for the night? Under one of those mutant trees? No thanks.

Thea wrung her hands and bit her nails. Her legs shook, and her skin felt cold. She was starting to get extremely worried now. She felt like she had walked on and on for centuries, and still she hadn’t found an exit in the book.

She was just about to give up—she was just about to fall onto her knees and never get up—when a tree caught fire.

And then another. And then another. Soon enough, there seemed to be a ring of fire around Thea. What was going on?

And then she realised lightning had struck. A storm was forming overhead; dark grey clouds were gathering, ready to pelt drops of water—annoying water—onto Thea’s head. Goosebumps started scattering all over her arms, even more than before. Then she noticed an approaching tornado in the distance. Her heart did a backflip. It started hammering against her chest. Would she even survive?

Suddenly, her dad’s voice started echoing through her head. “Books teach you many lessons. Never judge someone before you get to know them, talk less and be more observant, and never give up. The last one is especially important—never give up. If you don’t try, then there’s no hope for you anymore. And if you never try, you’ll never know. So, Thea—you want good grades in English, don’t you? Try reading a book—maybe you’ll actually enjoy it!” Thea had nearly fallen asleep during her dad’s lecture earlier that day, but she had stayed awake for this part because… it was honestly kind of true.

“I won’t give up,” Thea whispered to herself. So, even as flames danced around her, even as the tornado in the distance started getting closer, even as her heart thumped against her chest even harder, Thea thought and thought and thought about a way out of this mess. And then she had it.

“My imagination!” She suddenly cried in realisation. Thea was alright, maybe even a little good at art. She could easily paint a picture of something that could help her… right? And it definitely would appear… right?

“Don’t give up,” her dad’s voice whispered in her head again.

Thea quickly analysed her situation once more. There was a storm going on, lightning striking trees, she was in the centre of a ring of fire, and there was a tornado approaching in the distance.

Wait, Thea’s mind suddenly whispered. When tornadoes occur, people always have to find shelter. And the best shelter is…

Underground, she realised.

Thea’s mind immediately came up with an image of a maroon door in the ground. She hastily imagined a rusty golden key as well. As soon as the thought was complete, she looked below her, and there it was, her key to safety! She took the key and opened the door that had appeared behind her on the now scorched grassy ground.

She stepped on the first step, squinting to see where she was going. She turned back around to lock the door. Of course, there was no point—the fire would get to her anyway if she stopped moving. “Old habits,” she muttered to herself as she carefully rushed down the staircase.

Once Thea reached the bottom, she felt the darkness in front of her by blindly waving her hands around. Empty and open. It was a tunnel. She could keep on going!

As she ran through the tunnel, she heard sounds of crackling behind her. As she looked behind herself, she realised that there was a trail of flames on her tail, slowly catching up to her. Thea sprinted even faster, willing herself to get to the beam of moonlight in the distance.

Almost there, almost there…

Soon enough, Thea got to step outside the dark tunnel.

And immediately wished she hadn’t.

Because right where the ground should be, instead stood a massive cliff.

Thea looked below her, feeling slightly dizzy. The ground was way below her legs. She quickly stepped back into the tunnel to avoid toppling off the… mountain? Was she standing on a mountain? She had no idea anymore. This book had way too many twists and turns.

She could almost feel the flames burning her back now. She had to go forward to get out of the path of the flames, but what would that cost her? Her life? She looked down one more time. There was no way she could survive that fall. So yes, it would cost her life, but staying where she was would cost her her life as well.

Unless… She used her imagination once more. But what would help her get off a cliff safely? A parachute? She didn’t know how to operate one. A long staircase? The flames would still be able to follow her with that one, she realised. She needed something fireproof—oh!

Thea hesitated. She didn’t know anything about paddling. What if this went horribly wrong? But the flames were too close to her now, too close for comfort. There was nothing she could do.

So, with a flash of lightning and an eerie rumbling of thunder, a roaring waterfall appeared just below her feet. Thea snapped her fingers once more, and a boat appeared in midair. One second later, she was inside that very boat, riding the waves like a cowboy, yet screaming at the top of her voice as she dropped down straight from the cliff.

But as soon as it had started, it was almost over—the waterfall was starting to merge into a stream on the ground. Phew! Thea thought to herself, thankfully.

But, not every ending comes perfectly. For the next second, Thea, with no experience in paddling a boat properly, CRASHED into a gigantic boulder in front of her and was thrown into the air.

It’s over. I was stupid enough to do stupid things by using my stupid imagination to get out of here, and of course, it didn’t work, like everything that I try to do, and now I’ll be flung back into the stream, and the current will drown me.

But her Dad didn’t stop whispering in her head. “Don’t give up, don’t give up…” He murmured. She just wanted to go home. Back to her Dad, back to her neighbourhood, back to her school, back to her friends.

In her head, she pictured a portal. Swirling in circles, violet, magenta, azure. Her way home. The image was dying. But her hope? It was not.

So with every last piece of her strength, she flung herself at the portal that had appeared in front of her.

Please. I just want my home back.

Then all faded to black.

—

“Don’t give up, don’t give up,” there was that voice again. Thea’s dad’s voice. It called to her, luring out of her slumber.

“Dad?” Thea’s voice croaked out. She opened her eyes, then quickly closed them again, surprised by the blinding light all around her. She rubbed her sockets before opening them.

“Oh… I’m in a… hospital?”

“Oh, Thea!” Her dad gushed as soon as he saw her awake. He reached forward to hug her tightly, his heart thundering against his chest.

“Hey, Dad,” Thea said casually. Perplexed, she hugged him back. “What’s happened?”

He just shook his head. “I… I don’t know. I had just walked into your bedroom when I found you on the floor. I tapped you on the shoulder to wake up, but you didn’t reply in any way. So I called the ambulance. You were in a coma. You’ve been here for a week.”

“A WEEK?!” Thea yelled in shock. Damn. Damn, damn, DAMN. “Actually?”

“Yes. The doctors are planning to run checks on you now. You need to change into this,” her dad threw her one of those hospital gowns that patients always wore in the movies.

“Thanks, Dad,” Thea mumbled. “I love you.” Her dad blinked at her.

“I love you, too.” Four small, short, sincere words.

Thea walked into the changing room, and as soon as she closed and locked the door, she started jumping around in joy. Yes! She was back home! She’d somehow gotten through all that challenges in her—oh, it was probably just a dream! She’d started reading and had immediately fallen asleep. Nothing actually real… right?

Thea suddenly realised that there was some sort of lump in the pocket of her jeans. She reached into her hand and took the lump out, surprised to find a pocket-sized version of The Book Of Wonders. She opened the first page, only to find her own name right there, smack bang in front of her.

Thea sat up on green, grassy ground, rubbing the back of her head. Ouch. Everything hurt. She couldn’t even remember what had just happened…

Written by Hazel Antler.
Edited by Hazel Antler.
Proofread by Daphne Clarke.