The Invisible Castle

Written By Kruti Patel

“Come on, Mark!” Leah exclaimed. “We’re gonna miss the bus if you don’t hurry!” “Okay, okay!” Mark said. He quickly devoured his cereal, and they grabbed their backpacks. 

Leah and Mark went outside and stepped inside the bus. Leah sat next to her friends, Maddie and Lexi. Mark plopped down on a seat next to his friends, Luis and Carlos. “So, do you want to hang out after school with me and finally watch “Space Aliens: Abduction?” “Yes,” Carlos and Luis said. 

Meanwhile, Leah was asking Lexi and Maddie to come to her house. “Alright, we’ll come,” Maddie and Lexi said. The bus screeched to a stop. Everyone rushed out of the bus to the school building. Mark, Lexi, Leah, Maddie, Luis, and Carlos went inside the fourth grade classroom. They were all in the same grade.

“Morning class,” Ms. Parkinson, the fourth grade teacher, said to her class. “Good morning,” the students shouted back. The students studied reading, math, science, and finished the questions on page 200 in social studies. The bell rang loudly, and the students rushed outside to play. Mark, Carlos, and Luis played soccer with the other boys in fourth grade and fifth grade, while Maddie, Lexi, and Leah swung on the swing set. 

Finally, it was time for lunch. The fourth graders went back inside and hurried to the cafeteria. Luis, Mark, and Carlos sat together after getting their lunches. “Look, I have an idea that involves adventure.” Carlos grinned when Mark said this. “And you will use math sometime…maybe.” Luis smiled. Maddie, Lexi, and Leah had already finished their lunches at the time, returning to class. Carlos, Mark, and Luis finished their lunches about five minutes later and returned to their classroom.

Soon, lunch was over, and the fourth grade students were taking their tests about pronouns. After that, they went to art class, and then it was time to go to French class. They learned about French prepositions, and finally, the students wrote short stories. It was then time to dismiss school.

Mark, Luis, and Carlos sat together on the seats in front of Maddie, Lexi, and Leah. The bus took everyone home, and the last stop was Mark and Leah’s house. Mark, Luis, Carlos, Lexi, Leah, and Maddie got off the bus. They stepped inside the house after knocking the door and someone opening the door. 

“Wait, what?” Mark said. He didn’t expect Lexi and Maddie to come over. “Wait, what?” Leah said. She didn’t expect Carlos and Luis to come over. “What are the girls doing here?” Carlos whispered. “What are the boys doing here?” Lexi said quietly. “Hi!!!” Luis and Maddie said in unison to each other, waving. “Uh, Mark?” Leah asked. “A word??” Leah and Mark went into Leah’s bedroom. “What are your friends doing here?!!” Leah and Mark asked in unison. “Well, my buddies and I were going to watch a movie! What about your buddies?” Mark asked.

“My buddies and I are going to climb that mysterious tower!!!” Leah blurted out. “Leah! You know that we’re not supposed to go there!” Mark said. “Yay, a rule follower,” grumbled Leah. “No, no, no! Not alone!” Mark smiled. “My buddies and I wanna come with you.” “I guess so. But just because you’re not going to tattle!” Leah said. They stepped into the room where their friends were. “Guess what, guys?” Leah asked.

“What?” the others questioned.

“We’re gonna climb the mysterious tower in town!” Mark and Leah shouted. 

“Cool!!!” everyone shouted. They immediately walked out of the house and rushed to the tower. “Alright, anyone have any tools, anything we can use to climb up-” Mark was interrupted by Maddie. “I have some vines, a rope, a water bottle, a math book, and-” Carlos snatched the vines and rope inside Maddie’s backpack. “Hey! We also need a hook!” Maddie added. “Who carries a hook around?” Carlos asked. “I do,” Luis said. He pulled out a hook from his backpack and tied the vines around the hook. Mark threw the end with the hook so that it would reach the top. The hook caught onto a plastic ring that was on the ledge of the top of the tower.

Maddie put the rope in her backpack. It wasn’t needed after all. She climbed the vine, and then the others followed. “Wow!” everyone gasped. Before their eyes, they saw a huge, blue castle with pink flags. “I’m going in!!!” exclaimed Mark, and everyone else followed. There was a spiral staircase!!! And a table with 6 bean bag chairs beside it! “Wow! This is pure luxury!” Maddie said, plopping down on a pink bean bag chair. “Agreed!” Leah sat down on a blue one. 

Mark, Luis, and Leah climbed the spiral staircase, reaching a second floor. There were four rooms on the second floor: one was the bathroom, two of the rooms were bedrooms, and the last one was a room with windows, some couches, a desk with a computer and a chair nearby, and a TV. They decided it would be their chatting room where they hang out and watch TV while sitting on the couches. 

They climbed up the spiral staircase and found themselves in a kitchen. There was a dining room as well on this floor. “Let’s go back downstairs,” Leah said. They ran downstairs to the first floor to meet with the others. “How come there is this tower, but we can’t see the castle from outside? We saw the castle when we were on the top of the tower!” Luis said dramatically. He always was panicky when he didn’t see a logic to something. “Magic!” Leah said cheerfully. 

“Great job for finding this place!” a voice said. “Who was that?” Maddie asked. “Hello! I see you have found this castle. Now you have officially become a member of the magic club!” The voice came from a woman who had golden hair and wore a black robe. Her shoes were also black, and she was carrying some books in her hand. “What?” Carlos asked. 

“See, the world was boring long ago, but soon, people magically grew powers. You all have powers because you saw this castle after you climbed up to the top of the tower. Non-magical people can’t see the castle, even after climbing the tower.” “Wait, but we didn’t see it before we climbed the tower!” Lexi replied. “Ah, so you are all half-magical. Half-magical people can see the castle after they climb to the top of the tower, but they can’t see it before they do so.” the woman explained. “By the way, my name is Carla.”

“Carla, what do you do in this ‘magic club’? Could you possi-” But Luis never got time to finish, for there was a whoosh, and suddenly, the children were on an island. “Where are we?” Carlos asked. “On an island, duh. There’s sand here!” Maddie replied. A mermaid suddenly appeared, and she formed a bubble around the six confused children. She pushed the bubble into the water. The mermaid explained that her name was Emily and that she would be showing them around the mermaid kingdom. 

The six children nodded. Emily pushed the bubble along as she went to each place. “Here’s the mermaid bakery with its delicious seaweed bread and fish!!!” Emily exclaimed, and she sniffed the delightful fragrance of fish and seaweed bread as she entered the bakery. Luis and Maddie took notes. Leah took out her camera and snapped a few photos. They did this as the mermaid showed them each place. Mark was interested in the houses and how they were in funny shapes. He decided to draw pictures of them with his sketching pad and pencil. 

Emily said, “It’s time for you to go. The bubble won’t be able to withstand the pressure! It’s running out of oxygen and will soon pop! Go!!!” In a flash, the bubble popped. Pop! “Oh no!! Hold your breath, everyone!!!” Emily screamed. But it was too late. The children weren’t breathing anymore.

“Ring, ring, ring!!!” Mark’s alarm clock rang. Mark woke up and turned it off. Carlos and Luis were aroused by the noise, waking up. “Did you have a strange dream about us all finding a castle? And that we had magical powers?” they all asked. Carlos, Luis, and Mark nodded. Maddie, Lexi, and Leah rushed into the room. “Did you have a strange dream about us all finding a castle? And that we had magical powers?” they asked anxiously.

“Yes!!!” the boys replied. “Well, it’s just a dream, nothing to worry about!” Luis said. Or was it….?