The Hidden World

Isabella Strickland 
Hiya! Isabella/Izzy here again! I've been adding a lot of my books today, but this is one that won't be updated AS often. Please don't copy, and enjoy! 
There will be some violence/blood 
= Chapter One: Escaped =
“Moooom!” yelled Orca Hayward across the hall to the bathroom. 
“What, honey?” 
“One of the baby unicorns escaped. Again!” Orca rolled her eyes. 
The pesky baby unicorns had escaped twice already and she was getting fed up with it. If someone in the outside world found Myra, Selina, or Ollie, their hidden sanctuary would be disintegrated from the world. That was unless the person who found out was trustworthy. Only a few select people knew about their hidden sanctuary and Orca wanted to keep it that way. Life keeping mythical creatures and animals that seemed to be extinct from becoming extinct was no easy task. 
“Who was it this time?” asked her Mom.
“I’m not sure…” said Orca.
“It was Myra,” her sister Oaklyn piped up. “And Dad is putting up a fence so they can’t escape.” 
This made Orca jump and whirl around so fast she smacked Oaklyn in the face with her long, currently messy, black hair. “Ouch!” Oaklyn exclaimed.
“Sorry!” Orca said, putting her arms up in the air as if to surrender. Oaklyn smiled and jokingly tried to do the same to Orca even though she had short shoulder-length hair instead. Orca grinned. Then, she remembered the situation they were in, and her smile faded.
“Well, in a short amount of time, Myra will be back and safe,” their Mom said tiredly.
“And how do you presume we do that?” Oaklyn inquired.
“You two are going to go find her,” her mother said simply.
“But—” Orca began.
“No. I don’t want to hear it. You two are going. End of discussion. Take your bikes and go,” her Mom said sternly and walked away. Orca rolled her eyes again. 
“C’mon.” She said and she pulled Oaklyn downstairs to the garage. 
They both grabbed their bikes and walked over to the spare fridge they kept. Though the fridge wasn’t a fridge. As Orca opened the fridge door, a portal to the human world opened up. The colors of purple, black, and blue swirled and glittered as the two girls stepped through and entered the other world.
✤✣✤
Alexia Daschwood woke up with a yawn. It was the weekend and 8:57 a.m. Alexia climbed out of her bed and stretched. She grabbed the teal crop top, gold sandals, black shorts, and makeup bag off of her chair which she had laid out last night. She kicked aside her dirty clothes from yesterday and went into her bathroom. There, she put on her clothes, left her blonde hair down and wavy, and brushed her teeth. She wasn’t hungry. Then, she applied a little eye shadow above her blue eyes. She shoved stuff in piles in her messy room and took down her laundry. In the room next to her, her sister Brynnley was getting dressed. She didn’t have her own bathroom and was slipping on her black shorts and silver tee shirt before coming out of her room with laundry too. 
The two girls were completely different even in appearances. Alexia Daschwood at age thirteen-and-a-half had wavy blonde hair, light skin, and blue eyes. She was very messy and loved fashion. Her room was always scattered with dirty clothes, fabric swatches, and notebooks, and every morning she would shove it all into a corner and ignore the piles everywhere. Brynnley Daschwood age eleven had long wavy chestnut brown hair, brown eyes, and light tan skin from being in the sun playing volleyball. She was very neat and didn’t like any mess and was always cleaning her room. 
The two sisters were just putting their dirty clothes in the washer when Alexia noticed something. “Bee?” She asked.
“Yeah?”
“Why is one of your little unicorn horn headbands in here?”
“Lexi! I don’t wear things as disgusting as that!” said Brynnley.
“Oh my-!” said Alexia as a baby unicorn popped its head out of the pile.
Both girls jumped back in surprise. Then, the unicorn spoke. “I Myra.” she peeped in a little voice. “I sneak out. I find fun yummy rainbow food. I live in Fernshire. Fernshire no fun.” 
Both girls' eyes bulged. “Myra,” Alexia said in a soothing voice, “how did you get here?”
“There is a UNICORN in my HOUSE!” exclaimed Brynnley. “HOW IS THIS PHYSICALLY POSSIBLE?!”
Alexia ignored Brynnley and continued talking to Myra. “Myra, how did you get here?”
“Myra go through a magic portal to humans. Selina and Ollie no want to come they scared of big growly monsters.” 
Alexia’s mind was swirling. But she had to keep calm. Just relax. She thought. “Are Ollie and Selina your siblings?” she asked and Myra nodded. “Who are the growly monsters?”
“Myra and Ollie and Selina see a big monster that roar and shoot warm air like dragon friends at Fernshire. Jemmy and Oggtoom. They pick strange names. We pick our names. I no like Jemmy. He a smarty butt,” rambled Myra.
“THERE ARE DRAGONS??? OF COURSE, THERE ARE DRAGONS! WHY WOULDN’T THERE BE!!!” said Brynnley hysterically.
Alexia laughed and Brynnley seemed to calm down a bit. “Well, Myra, how about we go home. I bet Ollie and Selina and Oggtoom miss you,” said Alexia.
“I leader. I show the way home.” Myra grinned and hopped into Alexia’s arms. 
Alexia and Brynnley climbed up the stairs and put Myra in a teal-colored bag on Brynnley’s shoulders and Myra said in a muffled voice, “the portal down the street in icky store with the barfy cat. The NO rainbow food there!”
The girls trudged to the pet store and walked in. In the girls’ bathroom, Myra said, “staff-only closet where Myra come out of.” 
Alexia and Brynnley stood by the ferret’s section and they quickly slunk into the staff-only room. Alexia saw the glittery pink box Myra had described and opened it. Brynnley and Alexia grasped hands and shoved a hand into the portal. They swirled down what felt like a giant vacuum cleaner until they were tossed onto the grass of Fernshire. Brynnley and Alexia heard alarms go off the second they entered Fernshire. Brynnley was still in awe looking around to see all kinds of creatures. Alexia was right down to business though. 
“Bee. Bee! BEE!” she said.
“Huh?” said Brynnley.
“Bee we gotta go! We’re gonna get caught! Myra! Go back to Selina and Ollie!” 
Then Alexia grabbed Brynnley’s arm and they began to run as Myra galloped in the opposite direction. Brynnley stopped Alexia when she caught sight of a tall, slender woman with dark hair and eyes talking into a cell phone. Probably calling for reinforcements, thought Brynnley. As they neared the portal they saw two girls rushing out of it. The younger one saw them and pointed at them. The second girl yelled something to a dark-haired man behind them and he threw what looked to be a tranquilizer gun at her. Brynnley’s eyes widened. Was that for her and Alexia? Alexia was yelling for her as the first dart hit her in the chest. The man grabbed her sister and picked her up like she weighed nothing. 
Then Brynnley turned around and just at the younger girl screamed, “No!” the second dart hit her with impeccable aim. Brynnley wobbled and felt everything going dark and numb just as she fell.
= Chapter Two: Fernshire =
“Ugh…” Brynnley groaned. 
She felt horrible. Groggy and sleepy. She knew the little girl had tried to save her. To make them stop. But, she wasn’t able to. She tried to sit up and felt a rope holding her down. She also couldn’t see anything. Brynnley had gone to the hospital once before. She had been strapped to things but it wasn’t anything as cruel as this. And Alexia. Where was Alexia? It was all still confusing. Someone must have noticed she was awake because, after a moment, she could see. A tall man and woman (the ones from earlier) stood in front of her. And the older girl was slinking along in the shadows. She looked down and saw that her legs, arms, and waist were tied to a chair. 
“Now, don’t you try any funny business,” said the man. Brynnley screamed and the girl cupped her hand over Brynnley’s mouth with amazing speed.
“Thank you, Orca.” said the woman to the girl.
“No problem, Mom,” Orca said, still keeping her hand over Brynnley’s mouth. So, Brynnley thought. That must be her Mom and Dad. 
“Are you ready to behave now?” asked Orca’s mother. Brynnley nodded shakily and pursed her lips as Orca slowly pulled her hand away.
“How did you find us?” asked Orca’s father. “And we can take care of your sister if you don’t talk.”
“Unicorn.” Brynnley said but with her parched mouth it sounded more like, “oonicrn.” 
“Oh, give her some water.” Orca’s mother said and a few of her worry lines softened. Orca tipped a small cup of water down Brynnley’s throat and she managed to choke it down.
“A unicorn,” she said again and the three of them gasped.
“What did you do with her?” demanded Orca.
“Nothing! We found her in our laundry bin. She said she liked our rainbow food and that her name was Myra!” She defended and then gulped. 
“What are her siblings' names and how many does she have?” fired Orca.
“Their names are Ollie and Selina and those are her only two siblings though she has a dragon friend named Oggtoom,” said Brynnley, and Orca’s father gave a slight nod, listening intently. 
“How did you get here? Who are you?” asked Orca’s mother.
“We found Myra, convinced her to come home, she led us to this portal thingy and brought us in and we were gonna bring her home but then, well, you guys came along. I’m Brynnley and my sister is Alexia,” she said. 
Orca looked over at her father who nodded and Orca picked up a needle with a pink solution in it. She started walking over to Brynnley who started writhing so hard that the chair she was attached to tipped over and her arms slipped out of the rope. She screamed as Orca’s father and mother came over. As Orca’s father flipped the chair up and Orca’s mother rubbed Brynnley’s side. Brynnley relaxed. 
“We’re to help now. We trust you, so trust us,” whispered Orca. 
Then, Orca stabbed the needle into Brynnley’s arm. Instead of crying out in pain, she let out a sigh of relief as all the grogginess tickling her mind seeped away, making her feel fresh and new. 
“Don’t worry about your sister,” said Orca’s mother. 
Orca’s father helped her stand up and she climbed shakily up the stairs where she was led to a room with a large canopy bed. Brynnley sank gratefully into the pillows and let her mind drift peacefully. 
✤✣✤
Alexia occasionally heard screams as she drifted in and out of consciousness. Eventually, all was quiet and she felt a jolt of awareness. She slowly woke up to many bright lights and four figures above her. Three of them were from outside of Fernshire. The other boy looked related though.
Alexia sat up and asked, “What did you do with Brynnley?” before realizing that she was laying on a soft cot. 
The woman replied, “Your sister is fine.” Alexia sighed with relief. 
“But, before you go see her, let Orca explain everything while we go wake Brynnley.” said the man. Alexia nodded and the man, woman, and tall boy walked up the stairs and out of sight.
“Look. I just wanna say sorry before I get into things. We had NO idea you had found Myra and that you weren’t an intruder. So basically, Brynnley is asleep right now because we had to give her some medicine. After all, all the human germs you have in you aren’t good for the animals. So, we already gave you that medicine, and you’ve now slept through it so, if you wanna go see her, they’re waking her up. That was my Mom, Dad, and brother Cylas. I’m Orca and I also have a sister named Oaklyn who’s in her room. So, are you ready to go?” said Orca in a blur.
Alexia nodded. She couldn’t wait to see Brynnley. As they were walking up the stairs, Alexia caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. She stopped to look and her jaw dropped. Her skin was clean and soft, if a little pale, her blonde hair was soft and shiny, and her blue eyes were crystal clear. She was also wearing a soft white top and gold shorts. 
Orca saw her looking down at her clothes and said, “those are mine. You looked about my height and age so I let them use these. How old are you anyway?” 
“Oh, I’m thirteen-and-a-half,” said Alexia.
“Cool. I’m fourteen,” said Orca. 
Then, what looked to be a black little puppy bounded down the hall and ripped off a piece of Alexia’s shorts. Alexia gave a little yelp which made Orca laugh.“Don’t worry! This is just Nightlight, my pet gremlin,” she said. Alexia still didn’t like the sound of the word gremlin.  
“Uh, what’s gremlin?” she asked.
“A gremlin is a lot like a puppy except they LOVE collecting shiny things and food. We have four here at Fernshire. We have Nightlight, Hallow, Kindling, and Gregora.” Orca explained.
“Cool!” said Alexia. 
She stroked Nightlight’s shiny black fur. She stood up and she and Orca walked down the hall and into a large room with a ginormous bed. On it sat Brynnley. Alexia ran over and the two sisters squeezed each other with delight. 
After their reunion was done, Orca’s mom stepped forward and said, “Girls, I want you to know that Mr. Hayward and I have gotten the all-clear and you two can now come and go with Orca and Oaklyn as you please. Now, who wants a tour of Fernshire?!” 
✤✣✤
Oaklyn was overjoyed that Alexia and Brynnley would be able to come and visit. She grabbed each of their hands and pulled them to the unicorn enclosure first. 
“This is Myra’s mom Peridot and these are Ollie and Selina. We also have their aunt, Annalise who is my unicorn, and Orca’s is Peridot.” Oaklyn explained.
The unicorns trotted around and flipped their hair. They adored the attention. Next, Oaklyn brought them to meet their three mammoths. Olive, Genevive, and Lorelei. Olive jumped right up to Brynnley and they cuddled until it was time to move on. Then came the five pegasuses; Iris, Ivy, Zelda, Joelle, and Avalon who pranced around on the grass and tried to compete who was the best. Next, they met the two females and one male alicorn. An alicorn was a horse with both wings and a horn. Like a mix of a pegasus and a unicorn. Alexia loved meeting the three of them; Gillian, Delaney, and Elodie. They met the griffin family next. Evie and Remy- the parents- had a few griffin cubs named Aurora, Naya, Sadie, and Goldie. Goldie was Oaklyn’s pet just like how Nightlight was Orca’s. 
They next met the famous Oggtoom who was wrestling with Myra. Oggtoom had grey, black, and brown scales, and big black eyes that looked curiously at the four of them. Oggtoom’s brother Jemmy shoved over to the girls, flapping his red wings against his red-black scales. Their parents, Pelliot and Lamerothe, came over with their big purple and blue bodies and pushed Oggtoom and Jemmy away as the girls walked off. Orca joined them soon and led them down to a long beachy landscape with a large lake. Alexia gasped when she saw a long blue-green tail bobbing towards them and realized it was a mermaid. 
The young girl popped her head out and Alexia and Brynnley gaped. “You must be the new people. I guess you’ve never seen a mermaid before.” said the girl and she gave a little giggle. “I’m Elena,” she said as she hauled her body onto the sand. 
Elena looked about Oaklyn’s age with pale skin, long wavy light brown hair, scattered freckles, and a shimmery green and blue tail. “Are the others in the welcome committee coming?” asked Orca, and Elena nodded. 
“Here comes Lida and Harlette now!” exclaimed Oaklyn.
“Lida and Harlette are sisters but Lida is the one with the darker hair,” Elena explained to Alexia and Brynnley. 
A girl with curly dark brown hair waved her tan skin sparkling in the sun. Lida had a bright teal, dark blue, and slightly purple tail that swished about. “Hi!” said Lida.
“Hi, Lida!” said Orca, and Alexia waved excitedly.
Lida looked about her and Orca's age and her sister seemed to be just behind her. “Harlette!” exclaimed Oaklyn and she and Brynnley waved at the girl ahead.
Harlette also had tanned skin and curly hair though it was longer and lighter than Lida’s. She had a long teal tail with flecks of blue in it and she looked about 15 years old. She waved back and smiled. 
“Hello!” said Harlette. “Yale and Luca are right behind,” she told Orca. 
A girl with pale, freckly skin, curly dirty blonde hair, and a shimmery green tail swam over and smiled. “Hi! I’m Yale!” She used her tail to flick a little water at the girls. 
A boy then popped up. He looked about 18. Alexia assumed this was Luca. He had long dirty blonde hair too though it was in a bun and looked similar to Yale besides the small beard and tail a mix of yellow, blue, and green. Luca nodded at the girls and Alexia nodded back slightly. The mermaids and humans continued to talk for a while and Alexia learned that there was a whole colony of mermaids at Fernshire and after a while, Orca suggested they continue with the tour.  
They next visited four of the fairies from the colony at Fernshire. There was Jada who was Alexia’s age who had long pointed ears, a crown of green vines surrounding her long waving blonde hair, a dress of blue and green petals, and large blue, teal, and purple wings. The three younger fairies who were only 8 or 9 consisted of Elle who had long blonde hair, a bright green dress, pale skin, and big gold wings. Reiha had a leaf crown around her long brown hair, a pale lavender dress, and multicolored yellow and orange wings. The fourth fairy was Lino who also had a leaf crown and dark hair as well as a pale blue dress and small silver wings. 
That night, Alexia texted her mom to let her know that she and Brynnley would be sleeping over at her friends’ house. After Alexia’s mom approved of the sleepover, Alexia and Brynnley sat down with the Hayward’s to eat dinner. Since the Hayward’s were vegetarians, they had meatless burgers which tasted surprisingly good and Alexia watched laughing as Orca gave little bits of burger to try and stop Nightlight from eating her bracelet instead. Alexia and Brynnley already felt at home here at Fernshire. That night, Orca came into her bathroom and gently tossed some pale blue shorts and a white top Alexia while Oaklyn gave Brynnley a pair of lavender shorts and top. 
The girls all pulled out fleece blankets and huge fluffy pillows before piling them all onto the giant guest bedroom and flopping onto the bed together, laughing like sisters. Alexia snuggled up with Myra while Orca grabbed Nightlight and Oaklyn cuddled with Wendell the Imp. Brynnley reached over and pulled Ollie and Selina into her little sleeping spot. The four girls drifted off to sleep unaware of the drama downstairs. Downstairs, Ella (Mrs. Hayward) and Omar (Mr. Hayward) were clearing the dishes when the phone rang. Ella looked worriedly over at Omar. The phone in Fernshire only rang during CCC (Creature Catcher Crisis). 
Ella quickly picked up the phone and asked, “Olivia, what is it?” which was code for, “What’s the CCC?” 
A clear voice pricked through. “The Shadystone operators have spotted a UWV.” Ella gasped. A UWV meant an Unwanted Visitor which meant the operators of Shadystone had a spy trying to watch them.