The Magic Mirror 1
Alison Stewart was rich, really rich. Her huge house testified to that. She herself had beautiful, bouncy blond curls, smooth skin, and bright blue eyes. Alison was also spoiled. She didn’t have any friends. (Even though everyone wanted to be her friend) “I don’t want any friends nor do I need any,” she would say every time her parents asked her why she didn’t have any friends. Her parents never seemed to care when their child had done something wrong. They would just say, “We hope you do better next time,” and they continued doing whatever they had been doing before.
One snowy Friday morning, Alison awoke to a loud gust of wind, which almost knocked over the beautiful cherry tree in their backyard (although it was not very beautiful since it was winter). Alison arose from her bed and prepared for school. As she was taking down her school uniform, her bedroom door opened and her mother walked in. She looked exactly like Alison except for her hair. Alison’s mother’s hair was light brown with bouncy curls. Alison’s beautiful blond hair came from her father; however, her bouncy curls came from her mother. She was a perfect mix of both of her parents.
“Alison, you don’t have any school today,” she said.
“Really, why?” asked Alison confused.
“It’s a snow day,” said Alison’s mother with a smile spread across her face.
“Yes!” exclaimed Alison as she danced across her bedroom.
“Well, I am heading downstairs to make breakfast,” she said as she left Alison’s bedroom.
Alison went into her bathroom and took a shower. Leaving the bathroom she smelled
freshly baked bread and pancakes. She quickly dried her hair, combed it carefully, and ran downstairs.
Alison sat down at the breakfast table. She helped herself to the great-smelling breakfast that was in front of her. Everything was delicious. The bread was fluffy, the butter was creamy, and the pancakes were scrumptious.
“Well,” said Alison’s mother interrupting the silence. “We have some news for you.” “What?” said Alison not sounding very interested.
“You know your cousin Emily?” her mother asked.
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“Yeah, what about her?” she asked.
“She’s coming to stay with us,” her mother said in an enthusiastic tone.
“WHAT!” Alison exclaimed dropping her fork on her plate. “Why does she have to
come?”
“Honey, you know that her father passed away long ago and her mother is too sick to
take care of her.
“But...” Alison started, but before she could finish her father interrupted.
“She’s coming whether you like it or not, and we expect you to be on your best behavior,” her father said as he popped a piece of bread in his mouth. Alison was surprised; her parents had never scolded her before. She decided that the best thing to do was to finish her breakfast in silence. After she ate, she returned to her bedroom to brainstorm a plan to get rid of Emily. Alison sat at her desk. “Hmm,” she thought, “How am I going to get rid of her? Yes, I’ve got it!” She had just had a great idea. She would give Emily a “tour” of the house (she knew that it sounded really weird, but she would do anything to get rid of Emily). Then she would take her up to the attic, pull out the dusty old Magic Mirror with the golden edges that her grandmother would always tell her about and push her into it. After she had had it all worked out she went downstairs to her parents. They were sitting in the living room chatting with each other when Alison walked in.
“Alison, you came just in time, we have good news for you,” said her Mother sounding as if Alison had done nothing wrong this morning.
“Emily isn’t coming!” thought Alison. She was about to say it out loud, but she realized that she didn’t need to share this comment.
“We’re sending you to a girls only school which you will attend with your cousin,” said her Father.
“Oh that’s great,” said Alison with a fake smile. “And I, too, have some news. I have decided to be nice to Emily.”
“That’s great. We’re very proud of you,” said her Mother.
The next day at exactly 11:30 AM the doorbell rang. Alison ran to the door, eager to get rid of Emily. She opened the door. Emily stood in front of her. She looked different than the last time Alison had seen her. She had wavy brown hair (a shade of brown that was the same as Alison’s mother), light skin, and bright blue eyes just like Alison.
Alison’s plan would have work out perfectly if she had not ended up tripping and falling into the mirror herself, instead of Emily. However, Emily, not knowing what to do, jumped into the mirror with her cousin. Both fell on top of each other and found themselves on a beach.
The whole place seemed magical. The lush green forests, the beautiful blue sky, and crystal clear water.
“Ah get off of me,” said Alison pushing Emily off her back.
“Sorry,” said Emily getting up.
By the time Alison was done feeling sorry for herself, Emily had already caught a fish,
started a cook fire, and roasted the fish on a stick. Alison joined her with some apples that she picked from a tree. The girls sat down on a nearby rock and ate their lunch. The food was not appetizing—the fish was tasteless and the apples were mealy (not that Emily had anything to do with it, and in fact she was a very good cook), but the girls finished the food to the last particle.
After their meal, the girls looked around. They entered the forest. Alison found a weird looking hole in the ground. Inside, they found a mysterious wooden box. Alison and Emily opened the box. The first thing that they saw was a brown bag with a golden string tied around it, which contained a glittering assortment of diamonds, rubies, emeralds, crystals, and sapphires.
“Hey, look,” said Emily pointing to the bottom of the bag, which was in Alison’s hand. Alison looked to where her cousin was pointing. Right at the bottom, written in gold
plated ink and in fancy letters was: Alison
“Well, maybe I should keep it. I mean, it does say my name on it,” said Alison as she put
it into her pocket. They looked deeper into the box and found an amulet with a hexagon shaped
The Magic Mirror 3
The Magic Mirror 4
blue gem. And just like Alison’s name was on the bag, Emily’s name was on the back of the gem: Emily.
Emily also decided to keep the amulet and put it on. Suddenly, the rest of the treasures in the wooden box disappeared. When the girls climbed out of the hole, a squirrel greeted them.
“Hello, humans,” the squirrel started before Alison or Emily could react. The girls were taught proper manners, so they listened attentively, “It doesn’t look like you two are from around here. If you would like to return to your world then you must travel all the way to the end of our world. When you’re at the end of our world you two will find a portal to your home. Your journey will take two months, and...”
Alison interrupted, “Two months! That’s too long! Mother and Father will be worried; they’re probably worried right now!” she shrieked.
“You can ride on my back,” said a voice behind them. “I can fly so fast I could get to the end of our world in two days.”
Alison turned around, her jaw dropping. Behind them was a white horse with wings, a Pegasus.
“Hello,” it said, “you must be humans.”
“Uh, hi,” said Emily. “You were saying that you can take us to the end of this world in two days?”
“Yes, that is true, and if you would like a ride, I think it would cost you a crystal,” said the Pegasus.
Emily was about to open her mouth to complain that the price was too much, but she kept quiet the second she saw Alison pull out her bag. She opened it and took out a crystal and gave it to the Pegasus. The moment Alison had taken out the gem, another crystal appeared in its place.
“Well we better get going now,” said the Pegasus. He motioned for the girls to climb onto his back. They did and, before they knew it, they were in the sky. The ride was relaxing. The Pegasus flew steadily, but fast. They did not have any dinner that night. By the time the Pegasus had landed, the two girls were fast asleep.
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The next morning the three awoke to loud howls and running. “What is that disturbing noise?” asked Alison stretching out her arms.
“Wolves, quick, get on my back,” said the Pegasus looking worried, but it was too late. The wolves had reached them.
“Ah, looks like you have it,” said a wolf that looked like the chief. “Now this will be easy, if you just hand over the amulet,”
“I’m not going to give it to you unless I know why you want it,” said Emily stubbornly clutching her amulet.
“It is a very powerful amulet and our master wants it to take over the world. Well, our world, that is, you don’t look like you’re from here,” said a squeaky voice behind the chief.
“Why does everybody keep on saying that?” Alison whispered to herself.
“Ah, you dummy, you were not supposed to tell them,” said the chief looking furious. “Well, now you know. Hand it over,” he barked.
But it was too late for the chief to get the amulet. The Pegasus had already flown up into the air with Alison and Emily on his back. The rest of the journey was easy. Finally the Pegasus and the girls reached the other side of the world. Alison and Emily said goodbye to the Pegasus and jumped into the portal.
They expected it to be Monday morning and Alison’s parents to be extremely worried, but it wasn’t. The day was still Saturday, the same day Emily had arrived, and Alison’s parents were not worried at all. The girls decided to hide away the Magic Mirror.
“Girls, its lunch time,” yelled Alison’s Mother her voice carrying all the way from the downstairs to the attic.
“Okay, coming in a minute,” said Alison at the same volume as her Mother.
The girls started towards the attic door. Alison pulled her hand into her pocket. “Emily the bag, it’s still here,” said Alison excitedly
Emily looked to see if her amulet was around her neck. “Mine’s here too,” she said “You know, I never really got the name of that place,” said Alison as the girls headed
downstairs for lunch arm-in-arm.