The Adventurous Trio

Chapter-1

THREE ARE OFF TO SWITZERLAND!

Ronald was mesmerized, as he observed the sky turn red as the sun slowly rose above the horizon. He was elated for his cousins - Emma and Anne were going to be back to Edinburgh from Denmark. His parents had gone to pick them up from the airport.

Ronald was tall with blonde hair. His ambition was to become a wrestler; on the other hand, Anne was a short girl with long black hair which she wore in pigtails. Anne was a foodie and she aspired to become an entrepreneur. She had deep blue eyes which were like the beautiful sky. Emma was a tall girl with short, auburn hair and she just LOVED books. She had big, brown eyes which were always full of curiosity. Her ambition was to be a biochemist.

After a while, a taxi arrived near the house and two hands waved wildly at him – Emma’s and Anne’s. Emma raced towards Ronald and hugged him,

“Hey buddy, long time no see!” she said.

Anne came out too and teased Ronald saying, ”Look, our leetle brother has grown taller than us.”

“Cut that out Anne, and by the way, I’m just a month younger than you. No need to call me ‘leetle’ brother, you know.”

They went and washed and dressed. Aunt Molly made them one of her best chocolate cakes.

“You are the best chocolate-cake-baker I have ever met!” Anne said.

“Help yourself to another piece then,” Aunt Molly replied with a wink.

Just then, Uncle George came in with an expression on his face. “Guess what? I just won free tickets to Switzerland!”

“YEAH!!!!!” The living room exploded.

After two days they were packing their suitcases for Switzerland. Their driver, Saunders, drove them to the airport. They boarded their flight – M1753 on time. They landed in Zurich Switzerland. Uncle George had made reservations in a resort called ‘SWISSTER’. A taxi had come from the resort to pick them from the airport. The driver’s name was John. He gave Anne, Ronald and Emma chocolates and was telling them about the Alps, but Emma had declared that she knew everything about the Alps and she started telling them about the types of flowers found in Switzerland. They reached the resort in thirty minutes. They were welcomed in by five cups of ice-cream. Uncle George went to the receptionist and asked her the way to room no. 105 and 106. She gave him two gigantic keys labelled by patched and frayed paper in minuscule handwriting. The children were staying in room no. 106, Uncle George and Aunt Molly were staying in room no. 105. They had some hours of sleep.

Chapter-2

A MARVELOUS DAY

They woke up the next day, expecting a picnic in the field nearby. Aunt Molly and Uncle George agreed to go there. Aunt Molly packed them a picnic bag. They went up to the top, hiking then played badminton. After playing badminton they placed an emerald green cloth on the grass and took out the meal, Aunt Molly had packed for them. The food was simply- “wow”, Anne said smelling the air. Aunt Molly had packed sausages, vegetarian sandwiches, boiled potatoes, ripe plums, treacle tart and five bottles of chocolate milkshake. They had a wonderful meal, but Emma’s eyes were still glued to a book which (much to everyone’s surprise because nobody had ever dared to do before) was snatched by Ronald which lead to a little squabble among them.

 Uncle George called up John and his car was hooting beside them in seconds. He bought them ice-creams from the ice-cream parlour.

They reached the resort in just five minutes. Anne, Emma and Ronald were swimming in the resort’s pool, Aunt Molly was in the bar, drinking Swiss brandy and checking her cell phone. Uncle George was in the room, reading the newspaper and was eating his favourite pepperoni pizza. Then, while the three kids were playing cards, Aunt Molly brought a piece of news which made them jump - Grandpa James was arriving the next day! Grandpa James was Ronald’s grandfather. Though he was an old man, he was very cheerful. Uncle George loved to sing old songs and discuss politics with him, while Aunt Molly loved to learn recipes from him and the trio loved to listen to spooky stories from him.

Chapter-3

THE THREE VANISH AWAY

The next day, Uncle George and family went with John to pick up Grandpa James from the airport. When they returned, they were welcomed with cups of coffee. Uncle George asked the receptionist to lead Grandpa James to room no. 107. He took rest and then woke up after two hours. When he woke up, it was time for dinner and they had a party for Grandpa James. After the party, they enjoyed a relaxing sleep. The next day, the kids woke up early to explore things around. They asked Aunt Molly if they could go out with John. Half asleep, she agreed and asked John to pack a picnic bag for them, if required and he did that. 

They went to the countryside and they found a park on the way which looked very interesting and spooky. They asked John if they could go inside the park. He agreed. When they were going inside, John’s wristwatch fell down so he asked them to go ahead and that he would follow. They left John behind and went ahead. When they entered the park, black smoke had filled up the area inside the park which attracted the attention of passers-by. Suddenly, the trio vanished! John gasped! He ran back to the resort and narrated the incident to Uncle George, Aunt Molly and Grandpa James. They listened to his words very seriously and were horrified by what he said. They prayed to God that He brings the children back safely. They went to the police station and reported this incident. In order to test, the policemen threw some sticks in the park.

As the sticks were thrown, they vanished too! The police put a sign outside the park as -

Do not set your foot in the park

If

You don’t want to vanish

into thin air

Chapter- 4

THE MAZE

Meanwhile, the trio found themselves at a place which was very dark, had a strong, foul smell and looked like the most likely location which a ghost would want to want . ‘Where are we?’ Emma groaned. There was a huge white gate which looked similar to the gate of the park which had transported them here, but it didn’t have vines and climbers on it. It had something written on it -

THE ONLY WAY TO GET OUT OF HERE IS TO PASS THIS MAZE

THOSE WHO HAVE DARED TO ENTER

Have NEVER RETURNED

SO traveller, enter AT YOUR OWN RISK

The trio was in a state of confusion and took a moment to understand the meaning of the signboard. They stared at each other in shock as the comprehension came to them. Then Anne tried to speak something but she felt as if her tongue was stuck so she gave the two an encouraging nod.

They went ahead and pushed the gate, as soon as they came in, the gate closed by itself. They went ahead cautiously, Ronald heard a sound. Anne smelt something sour. ‘Can there be bats around?’ Emma asked. Well, she was half right. There stood a creature which had the face of a bat and the body of a horse. It leapt on Anne, but she kicked it and it fell on the ground. It started to whine, then suddenly a herd of similar creatures appeared there. They all started to fight. Anne and Ronald started fighting against them. Emma was hiding behind the bushes and was taking out the torches they had kept in the picnic bag. She took them out and flashed the light on the eyes of the strange creatures. They couldn’t see a thing so they started groaning and the trio was busy hitting them with sticks. After some time they all ran away to the place they had come from. ‘Thank God! They all ran away!’ Anne said, tired. ‘I think we should have some meal. We should not finish all our food right now because no one except God knows when are we going to be out of this maze,’ Emma suggested. ‘Yes. You are right. I am terribly hungry,’ Anne said, smelling sausages. The tiffin contained sausages, boiled potatoes, lamb chops, chips, apple pie and three bottles of banana milkshake.

They ate some food and went ahead cautiously. The trio heard some noise. After sometime a herd of strange creatures appeared there. They had the face of a lion, body of a goat and the tail of a dragon. One such creature came ahead and said, “You are Gaunt’s followers, aren’t you? We have been doin’ the work. ‘Snot the time to harm us.” The trio didn’t understand what the creature was trying to say. “We are lost children and we certainly don’t wish to harm you. We were just wondering if you could help our way out?” Anne said politely. ‘Oh!! Grandpa Simmy! The Ewmans are here!” a creature shouted very excitedly. A similar but very old creature came ahead and everyone bowed down to him. He said, “I am Simmy. You can call me Sim. We are a herd of Lancasaurs, and I am the head of this tribe. We are mixed and matched creatures. You must have met animals which were half bat and half horse. They are the evil Gertoils. There is an evil man known as Gaunt who is waiting at the end of the maze, waiting for you to die. His followers are evil too. The commander-in-chief is –Mark Green. They used to torture us when we didn’t prepare traps for you to die. We want to help you and we will surely do that.” They nodded and started to go ahead. “Hop onto our backs. It’ll be faster,” Simmy said.they agreed and sat on their backs.

They passed a herd of ferocious looking birds. They bowed down to the Lancasaurs. “These are known as Shellies”, one Lancasaur told them. They went ahead and stopped at a point where three fairies were flying.

“We are the riddle fairies. Answer our questions and get through the maze,” one of the fairies said dreamily. The first fairy came ahead, flicked her hand and a riddle appeared, written in the air. It said, “What cries when you cry, smiles when you smile but isn’t your friend”.

 “Not your friend … um…. A mirror!” answered Emma.

The second fairy came ahead and flicked her hand and the riddle that appeared was- ‘what is the beginning of eternity; end of time and space; beginning of every end of every place?’

 ‘Hmm….oh! The letter ‘e’!!’ Emma answered confidently.

The third fairy came ahead and flicked her hand, the riddle appeared- “what is greater than God; evil than the devil; the poor have it; the rich need it and if you eat it, you will die”.

Emma thought for a minute, then said, “Nothing. Nothing is greater than God. Nothing is evil than the devil. The poor have nothing. The rich need nothing and if you eat nothing, you will die. So simple." Emma answered enthusiastically.

The fairies were satisfied by Emma’s answers, so they led them to Gaunt. They went ahead and reached the place for which they had to do so many tasks.

Gaunt was a tall man with long hair and a beard. He wore a sort of gown which was strangely pink. His eyes were covered by a black hood.

There were many creatures surrounding him which were stout and had a singular cloth wrapped around their waist. They had long pointy noses which resembled those of swordfishes.

Chapter-5

THE GREAT WAR

         Gaunt lowered his hood revealing empty eye sockets. “Simmy! I told you…I told you… not to help them!” Gaunt yelled in a cold voice. “Get us out of here! We are ready to fight for it!” Ronald yelled confidently. ‘’As you wish my boy. May the great fight begin,” Gaunt said in a cunning voice. Anne was dealing with Gaunt’s followers on the right and Ronald was having a war with the Gaunt’s followers on the left. Anne was sitting on Simmy and was hitting anyone who came in her way, with a stick. Ronald was using a stick which was as sharp as a razor, to cut the followers of Gaunt.           

There was only one problem– Emma was missing. Emma was not very good at fighting, which Ronald and Anne knew so they thought she might be injured or in the worst case, DEAD. “Where is Emma?” Ronald shouted at Anne. “I really don’t know,” she said, worried.

Chapter-6

THE END OF THE EVIL SPIRIT

Well, Emma knew she wasn’t good at fighting, so she had hidden behind Gaunt’s high chair. She had a plan in her clever mind to destroy Gaunt. She attracted the attention of a Lancasaur and passed it a message that it had to pass to Ronald and Anne. When Ronald and Anne got the message, they took their position. Emma took the first step she clambered up Gaunt’s high chair as it was very, very steep. She secretly picked up the wands that were lying beside him and got down as quickly as possible.

Then, in her next step, she threw the two wands for Ronald and Anne and the three yelled, “We have got the wands now, we can kill you at any point of time.” For the first time, Gaunt looked afraid. He pleaded them not to kill him but the three didn’t agree. They flicked their wands and three black rays came out and made a big circle. They flicked the huge circle to Gaunt and his deadly followers. All of them were petrified. They first froze at the place where they were standing, and then fell down one by one. A black spirit came out of them and burst into silver stars. It was the end of Gaunt and his followers!

Chapter-7

A DREAM COME TRUE!

After destroying the evil spirit, the Lancasaurs turned into their original form - lions. The Gertoils turned back into bats [they were very sad about it] and went away flying to some other place. The fairies turned into three very attractive girls. Their names were - Luna, Lily and Nicky. They all became friends. Ronald was busy chattering with them and Anne and Emma got irritated by that.

Emma asked Simmy, “Sim, how can we get out of here?”

“Oh!” he said. He took out a bottle which was labelled as-

TRANSPORTER

DRAGON BLOOD

Simmy took a cloth out and put some slimy, cyan coloured dragon blood on the cloth and said, “Rub this cloth on the wands you have got and then hold hands. One of you will have to think about the place you want to go to. After thinking about it, shout the name and address of the place and open your eyes after some time and you’ll find yourselves at the place you had desired.” Emma thanked Simmy for his help and went back to the two of the trio and told them what they had to do. Both followed Emma’s instructions and were transported back to the resort.

Aunt Molly ran towards them sobbing and hugged them. She said, “My God! George! Grandpa! It’s them,” but she got confused when she saw Lily, Luna and Nicky. ‘Who are these?’ Aunt molly whispered to them. She eyed them suspiciously.

The Adventurous Trio [Anne, Emma and Ronald] laughed. They narrated Uncle George, Aunt Molly and Grandpa James their adventure and they listened to them with their mouths open. After they finished with their adventure story, Grandpa James asked them, “Do you have your wands with you?” They had completely forgotten the wands. Emma, Anne and Ronald pocketed their wands and showed them to Aunt, Uncle and Grandpa. “You should destroy them. We cannot guarantee how powerful and evil they are.”

Everyone found it reasonably correct. They broke each wand into two. Black coloured dust came out from the wands which Emma kept in the locket she had got from her late mother. When the locket was filled with dust, she held it tightly and whispered something. After she was done with her whispering she said that her mother’s father was a priest and he gave this locket to her mother and told her a secret mantra which her mother had told her when she was very small. Her mother had said that anything that is kept in this locket will become good even if it was evil if you repeat the mantra again and again. They were listening to Emma very seriously. “OK, but what should we do with Lily, Luna and Nicky?” Anne asked Aunt Molly. "Obviously! I am going to fatten them up and send them to a nice school,” she said, hugging them.

After the conversation, Aunt Molly called up the police and reported them that the children were back. The police sent hordes of reporters down there and they had to answer tons of questions they asked, but Aunt Molly sent them back because they were tired and needed some rest. They had a good sleep and a bath too. They joined the dinner table which was filled with dainty dishes. The dinner contained- boiled potatoes, lamb chops, sausages, sandwiches, pizza, Yorkshire pudding, ice-cream and treacle tart. After the heavy dinner, Aunt Molly informed them that they will leave for Spain the next morning and she also announced something that made them JUMP: Emma, Anne, Ronald, Lily, Luna and Nicky were going to the USA to pursue their dreams. Emma was to do a course in biochemistry. Anne was to learn the advanced level of karate. Ronald was to train in wrestling from a very reputed coach.

The next day, they boarded their plane: MRE007 at 9:30 a.m. They reached the US in six hours! 

‘The experience was so amazin’ and thrilling.’ Wasn’t it?’ Anne asked. ‘Of course, it was! Emma shouted.