Page 1 of Magic Blooms
one
The sun’s beams beat down on me—bright and warm, but different somehow.
I forced my eyes open, squinting against the blinding light.
Too bright. Too warm.
I pressed my palms into the ground and pushed myself up as the grass beneath me crunched, pricking at me through the thin fabric of my dress.
A soft breeze wafted by, cutting through the moisture in the air and sending a chill right through me despite the intense heat.
My head spun as I tried to take it all in. One minute I’d been safe at home, getting ready for one of the biggest days of my life, and the next I found myself… here.
In this unfamiliar place that felt nothing like the world I’d always known.
But where was here?
And perhaps even more importantly, how had I gotten here?
As I stood on shaky legs, vibrant fuchsia and gold flowers bloomed around me, reaching out as far as I could see. Even more curious, though, was the indentation in the dirt that perfectly outlined my body. Its presence implied that I hadn’t just fallen into the ground, I’d slammed into it.
I rolled my neck and shoulders, slowly testing my muscles for soreness or pain. While I was definitely stiff, I seemed to be uninjured.
But how?
How had I survived that?
How had any of this happened?
As the shock began to wear off, ice cold fear cut through the heat of the air around me. This was all very wrong. I wasn’t supposed to be here.
Wherever here was.
I took a tentative step forward; a layer of dry, cracked mud crunched uncomfortably beneath my bare feet. I wasn’t looking forward to finding my way out of this mess. But one thing was for certain: I needed to get out of here and I needed to do it right away.
How to start? Where?
Glancing back up at the sky again, my heart sunk. The sun. The clouds. They were wrong.
I wasn’t just far from home. I wasn’t even in the right dimension anymore.
Growing up, I’d heard all the usual fairytales of daring travelers hopping through magical portals and going on to have great adventures in lands unknown. But those were just kids’ stories. I’d never once imagined they could be real, or that they could one day happen to me.
Just fiction, bedtime stories.
And yet… What else could it be?
Nobody could change the sun in the sky, even as part of an elaborate hoax. I’d always known two suns, one blue and one purple. The one that hung above me now shone a whitish-yellow.
Bizarre. Completely and totally bizarre.
Resolved to find my way back before nightfall, I recalled all those old tales, searching for any details I could use to help me now. All those storybook heroes had sought their adventures out—wanted them.
I, however, was not bred for adventure. I was meant to stay home, live the quiet and dutiful life that had already been mapped out for me before I’d even been born.
I ventured another step forward and immediately noticed that the flowers started to change. With each new step I took, fresh bulbs shot from the ground and infant petals unfurled to say hello. Wherever I was, there must not be a lot of magic here. Otherwise the plant life wouldn’t be so eager to respond to my magic.
The breeze kicked up as though to prove my theory. I tried to run my fingers through my hair, but a series of thick mats and tangles had worked their way into the long brown strands. How rough must I have landed in order to do that?
