The magic mirror

Katie was excited to be going to Heartland. It was a ranch out in the middle of the woods, in a city called Pine Valley. They took in troubled horses and rehabilitated them. It was a place that you could vacation at and enjoy the country life and go on trail rides. Kyle wasn’t as thrilled to be going on this vacation. He hated family vacations with a passion. Mostly because mom and dad made him spend time with his little sister, Katie. He hated Katie. Because when she was born, she got all the attention from mom and dad and he got pushed aside. Katie didn’t like her brother, either. He was always a bully towards her. It was a long drive to Heartland and the children were about to kill each other when they finally arrived. “You are such a baby, Katie,” Kyle said “I wish I could have stayed home.” 

“You are such a bully, Kyle,” she yelled. “Why do you hate me so much?” Mom and dad got out of the car to greet the owners of Heartland. There was a snow storm and the owners apologized for the bad weather. “I can cancel your reservation and give you and refund, if you want,” she said. “But the storm should pass through by tomorrow if you would like to stay.” 

“No.” The mother said. “My daughter has been looking forward to this vacation for a long time. She absolutely loves horses.” 

“Okay then, welcome. My husband will show you to your cabin” the women said. When they got to the cabin, Katie and Kyle were not speaking to each other. Their mother had inspected the place and saw that it had a walk-in closet. “Oh this is nice!” She said. “Kids put your things in here.Your dad and I are going to take a nap because it was a really long drive. Try not to kill each other. The kids didn’t know what to do. They couldn’t go outside because of the storm. 

“Man, this really sucks,” Kyle said. “This has already become the worst vacation in my life.”

“What is there to do?” Ask Katie. She was trying to make peaceful conversation with her brother.

“I don’t know what you are going to do,” Kyle said. “But I am going to watch TV.” He grabbed a drink from the cooler, climbed onto the bed, grabbed the remote control, and began to flip the channels. 

Katie wanted to get some space from Kyle so she went inside the walk-in closet and got her dolls out from her bags and began to play. She thought of the idea to make a little world out of the cushions on the couch and the extra blankets that were on the shelves in the closet. “We will call this place Meridian,” she said to her dolls, “and I am the princess.” She noticed a safe box that was locked. “There must be a key somewhere,” she said and she began to search for one. She looked on all the shelves and didn’t find anything. She looked in the drawer in all the drawers and didn’t find a key. She thought she saw something poking out of under one of the cushions. Sure enough it was a key. She tried it and it opened the box. There, inside, was another key. It was shiny gold color and had a heart on the top. “I wonder what it goes to,” she said. She looked all in the cabin for a door and couldn’t find one that the key was for. “Hey watch out!” Kyle shouted. “You are blocking my view!”

“Look what I found, Kyle!” She said excitedly. “It’s a special key.” She showed him the key and he just pushed her away from him. 

“I don’t care!” He shouted “I am busy with my show!” Katie went back inside the closet and sat down thinking about what the key went to. Suddenly she saw something behind the tall dresser in the back of the closet. “Kyle!” She yelled. “Come and help me move this dresser, there is something here.”

“Move it yourself!” He yelled back. 

“Pleeeaasse!” She cried. 

“Oh okay,” he said in frustration. “Don’t be such a cry baby!”

Kyle walked in the closet and began to push the drawer over. What they found was a door with a mirror on it and no door knob. Katie tried to pry it open with her fingers, but it would not open. “I wonder how it opens?” She asked. 

“I don’t care,” he answered “I am going back to my show.” As he started to walk away the mirror started to look like a whirlpool turning around and around. Then the face of a horse appeared. But this was no ordinary horse. He had glasses and could talk. 

“Look Kyle!” She shouted. Kyle turned around and couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

“Good day, Katie and Kyle.” The horse said. “My name is Spirit and I have been expecting you for a long time.” 

“You can talk?” Katie asked confused. “How can you talk?”

“Never mind that,” he answered. “Come, follow me.” 

“Where and how?” Katie asked.

“Put the key in the keyhole and walk through the mirror.” Spirit answered. Then suddenly a keyhole appeared in the mirror and Katie put it inside and turned the key. She outstretched her arm to put it inside the mirror and sure enough it went through!

“Wow!” She said excitedly and grabbed Kyle’s hand and began to walk through the mirror and pull Kyle along with her. 

“What?” Kyle asked. “Where are we going?” Kyle was reluctantly fighting being pulled in but he eventually gave in.

They were in the cabin again. Things looked the same, but different, too. Mom and dad were still asleep on the bed, but the bed was floating in the air. Along with them and all the other furniture. They were suddenly flying. Katie flew over to the window and looked outside. The snow was gone and it was sunny outside. “Where are we?” Asked Katie.

“We call this place Meridian…” answered Spirit. 

“What are we going to do?” She continued. 

“Whatever you want.” He said reassuringly. 

With that, Kyle opened the door and flew outside. Katie and spirit followed him out the door. All of the other cabins and the house the owners lived in were floating in the sky, too. They thought about going to the house to see if the owners knew that, too, but they changed their minds. The kids flew all around the ranch, trying to figure out what was going on and if they were going crazy. “This isn’t possible!” Shouted Kyle. “People can’t fly and horses can’t talk and furniture can’t float in the air!”

 “No, we must be dreaming, Kyle!” Shouted Katie. And the kids began to fall down. 

“Spirit, help!” Yelled Katie. Spirit quickly flew to catch Katie and then caught Kyle. 

“This magical place requires your faith,” said Spirit. “ Without it, bad things can happen.” “What kinds of things?” Questioned Katie.

“You don’t want to find out.” Answered Spirit. “This all a fairytale.” Said Kyle. “You have dragged me until your stupid fairytale!”

“Where do you want to go, kids?” Asked spirit. “I want to fly over the whole world!” Shouted Katie. Kyle didn’t say anything. He just wanted to wake up. He didn’t believe in magic. “Katie, we are just dreaming! I just want to wake up. Dreams are not real. Don’t be such a baby!” Kyle yelled. 

“I don’t care if it is a dream, Kyle,” she answered. “I just want to see the world!”

Just then, up ahead from them, they saw some flying dragons headed right for them. They blew fire their way. 

“Look out!” Screamed Katie. 

Spirit flew to the left, and then to the right as the dragons flames kept coming. The dragons charged at them with such force that the children were barely able to hang on to Spirit. They circled them like vultures. Charging at them one by one. There had to be four or five dragons. “What are we going to do?” Screamed Katie.

“Just wake ourselves up, Katie. This isn’t real.” Shouted Kyle.

With that one of the dragons, blew fire at them with such force, that they fell off of Spirit and plunged to the ground. They fell into some trees in the woods and crashed onto the ground so hard, that they hurt themselves. They had been bruised and cut by the branches. Slowly, they got back on their feet. Spirit flew down to check if the kids were okay. “What happened?” Asked Kyle.

“I told you that bad things happen when you lack faith.” Answered Spirit. Kyle didn’t answer. He was in no mood to argue. They realized that they were not floating anymore. “Lets just hike back to the cabin!” Shouted Kyle. And he stormed off. “Wait!” Exclaimed Katie. “If we were just dreaming, we would already be in the cabin, Kyle.” 

“Yeah well, let’s just go!” Shouted Kyle and the kids and Spirit began the hike back to the ranch. 

“I want to give you kids something.” Said Spirit. Just then a wand appeared in the horses mouth. Katie took it from him. “It is a magic wand. I have to leave you now, but anytime you get scared, just wave the little wand and I will come.”

“Why do you have to leave us?” Asked Katie. 

“Because he isn’t real, Katie! Let’s just go back to the cabin.” Shouted Kyle as he stormed off. 

“Because you both have some growing to do.” Spirit continued. “You are on a journey that you have to do on your own. With each other. But I am just a wave of the wand away. You are really never alone.” Katie tearfully hugged Spirit and he galloped away. 

“Wait for me, Kyle!” Shouted Katie as she took off after her brother. They didn’t know what direction to go to get back to the cabin. The woods just looked the same. But Kyle was not about to give up. He wanted this dream to be over. He started pinching himself over and over to try and wake himself up. It wasn’t working. “It isn’t a dream, Kyle.” She said comfortingly. “We can’t possibly be having the same dream.” 

“Then where are we, Katie?” He asked. “And how did we get here?”

“We went through the mirror.” She answered. 

“Do you hear yourself?” Yelled Kyle. “ People can’t walk through mirrors!” 

“Well, we did.” Katie said. Just then an arrow shot their direction and just missed Katie by an inch. It went into the tree. Both of the children ran to hide behind a tree. “What was that?” Katie shouted.

“I don’t know.” Answered Kyle. Then they started to see several winged monkeys, holding bows and arrows. They didn’t look like nice monkeys at all. 

“What do we do?” Shouted Katie. Kyle started pinching himself out of fear. 

“Wake up, wake up!” He yelled. 

Suddenly, a monkey saw them and they took off running. “Run as fast as you can, Katie!” Kyle exclaimed. The children didn’t know where to run. They just kept running. They came to a creek with lots of giant rocks and they each darted behind a rock. They were trapped. They could not outrun the monkeys. Katie still had the wand that Spirit had given them. She gave it a wave and shouted “Help us, Spirit!” Spirit appeared bucking and charging at the monkeys. Then out of the blew came the dragons. Fire and all. The children continued to hide behind the rocks because they knew the dragons were not friends. The dragons flew over the monkeys shooting flames at one and then another until all of the monkeys were dead. The children kept hiding because they didn’t want the dragons to see them and kill them, too. When the last one flew away, Spirit called for them to come out of hiding. “I told you that bad things will happen if you don’t have faith.” He told them. “When will you learn that this is real?” 

“Never!” Shouted Kyle.

“Well, I believe!” Said Katie. 

“But it takes both your faith.” Answered Spirit. “Stay strong, Katie. I have to leave you again, but know that I am only a wave away.” 

“Okay, I wish you didn’t have to go, but I understand,” Katie cried. “I just hope Kyle’s unbelief doesn’t bring any more trouble.” With that, Spirit gave a little nod and galloped away. The children began their effort to get back to the cabin. There was a long silence between them. Katie was thinking of what it was going to take to get Kyle to believe. They were still lost, but they decided to follow the creek and see where that took them. “I wish mom and dad was here,” stated Katie. She was starting to get hungry and thirsty. They both were. 

“All we have to do is wake ourselves up, Katie.” Said Kyle. Katie thought she saw a small cabin within the woods. 

“Look!” She exclaimed. “I wonder if that is a cabin?” Before Kyle could speak, Katie took off running through the trees. Just then, Katie stepped on some leaves that covered a big hole. Kind of like a well. She plummeted to the bottom of the well. 

“Katie!” Kyle shouted and he ran to the place that she fell. “Are you okay? Please tell me you’re okay!” Katie didn’t respond. “Katie!” Yelled Kyle again. 

“I’m okay, Kyle,” she answered, “but there is no way I can get out of here!”

“I don’t know what to do!” Shouted Kyle. “I don’t want to leave you!”

“Look for the wand,” she said “I dropped it when I fell.”

Kyle looked all over for the wand and finally found it under some leaves. He gave it a wave and called for Spirit, but Spirit didn’t come. “It is not working, Katie!” Kyle said. “What do I do?”

“You have to believe in the magic, Kyle!” Answered Katie. “This is not a dream!”

Kyle wasn’t sure what to do. He tried waving the wand again, and still nothing. He felt so silly thinking about magic. He didn’t think he believed in magic. But it was the only way to save his sister. So he pushed all of his doubt away and chose to believe. “I believe!” He shouted as he gave the wand another wave. “I believe!” He said again even louder. “I believe!” He screamed it that time. “Come help us, Spirit!”

“I am here,” answered Spirit. Kyle turned around and saw Spirit. “So you finally believe!”

“I do,” Kyle answered. “Katie fell down a fell and I can’t get her out.”

“Go to the cabin over there and you will find some fairies that can help you get your sister out.” He told him. 

“Fairies?” He asked. 

“Now remember, you said you were going to believe.” Warned Spirit.

“Okay,” said Kyle. He started walking to the cabin in the woods. He got to the door and knocked on the door.  Three beautiful women answered the door. But they had wings and were flying. 

“Yes?” They asked in unison. “How may we help you?”

“Wow!” Kyle said to himself. “Umm, my sister fell down a well and I can’t get her out?”

“Oh dear,” they said. “Take us to her and we will get her out.”

Kyle brought the fairies to the place that Katie fell. They seemed to know Spirit. 

“Good day, Spirit,” said one of the fairies. 

“Good day, Wendy!” He answered, “and Robin and Faith” 

“Let us get this little one out of the well, shall we?” Wendy said.

They went to call to Katie. “Katie, don’t worry!” Wendy said. “We will get you out of there! Tell me, do you believe?”

“Yes, I do!” Shouted Katie. 

“We are going to drop down some fairy dust and you will be able to fly out of the well.” Said Wendy. 

The fairies reached in their sacks and pulled out some fairy dust and threw it down the well. Katie began to slowly rise to the top and slowly she landed back on the ground. Kyle ran up to her and grabbed her and hugged her so tightly. “Oh I am so glad you are safe!” He said excitingly. 

“Kyle you are squishing me!” Said Katie. 

“Sorry,” he said. “I’m just glad you are safe.”

Kyle thanked the fairies and they said good-bye and wished them well. Kyle turned to Spirit. “Now can you show us the way towards the ranch.” Kyle asked.

“Yes!” He exclaimed. “I finally can take you back to the cabin. You have learned your lesson.”

Suddenly the kids were back in the cabin, lying on the floor of the closet. They sat up slowly and wondered what had happened. “Were we asleep?” Kyle asked. 

“I don’t know,” answered Katie. 

“Look!” Kyle said pointing his finger next to Katie. “The wand!”

“I guess it was not a dream after all,” said Katie.

They both looked at the door with the mirror on it. The dresser was still pushed away. They looked for the key again, but could not find it. “What are we going to tell mom and dad?” Asked Katie. 

“Absolutely nothing,” answered Kyle as he put his arm around his sister and they turned and walked out of the closet.