Finally, she stood up and walked to the edge of the leaf. As she walked across it, the leaf shook as if it was floating in the air. She looked over the edge of the leaf and screamed. The leaf was actually floating in the air! Lanaya stumbled backwards and fell on a lump.
"Ow," the lump mumbled.
Lanaya jumped back up and saw that the lump was actually a person. He had tan skin, dark brown hair, and brown eyes.
"Uh, sorry," Lanaya apologized. "Do you know where we are? And who are you?" I'm Lanaya."
"I'm Taleo, and no, I don't know where we are," he replied. "But I did find this note."
Lanaya looked at the note. In messy handwriting, it said,
Stay on the leaf. I will be there soon. Whatever you do, DON'T TOUCH THE STEM OF THE LEAF!
"I wonder what happens if you DO touch the stem," Lanaya said.
"Me too," Taleo agreed, "But I'm not going to try to find out."
Lanaya nodded her head. Suddenly, she heard a voice from behind her.
"I'm curious about this stem you're talking about! I'm gonna touch it!" the voice shouted.
Lanaya jumped in surprise and turned around. There was a boy with hair that was dyed blue, and he was wearing pajamas like he had just been sleeping. Wait, Lanaya thought. I was just sleeping. Did Taleo and this boy get teleported here while they were sleeping, too?
"You shouldn't touch the stem," Taleo warned.
"Meh, what's the worst that could happen?" the boy said carelessly. He reached for the stem.
"WAIT! Don't touch it, uh... what's your name?" Lanaya asked.
"My name is-'' started the boy, but he touched the stem before he could finish talking. He disappeared and all that was left was his sock.
"Do you think he's okay?" Lanaya asked nervously.
"He should be fine," Taleo said.
Lanaya and Taleo sat silently for a while until finally someone flew onto the leaf. She had wings that looked like leaves, and she wore a green dress. There were specks of grass, moss, and flowers in her brown hair. Her tan skin was dotted with freckles, and her green eyes were soft.
"Hi, I'm Seela!" she said.
"Are you a fairy?" Taleo asked.
Seela snorted. "How could I be one of those horrid beasts?" she snapped. "I am a Messenger of Kismet."
"What is 'Kismet?'" Lanaya asked.
"Kismet means destiny. I deliver people messages telling them," Seela started.
"Oh, so you boss people around and tell them what to do," Taleo said.
Seela glared at him. "Not like THAT. I,"
Suddenly, more people appeared on the leaf. None of them were Lanaya's family or friends. No one was recognizable. Lanaya sighed. She hoped her family wasn't too worried about her.
Suddenly, Seela shushed everyone and spoke. "Okay, everyone! I'm guessing you are all wondering why you are here. Well, what did you dream about last night?"
"A TORNADO!" someone shouted.
"A FLOOD!" another person yelled.
"WINNING A CONTEST!" a kid exclaimed.
Lanaya stopped listening to everyone shouting. What did I dream about? she wondered, trying to recall her dream. Finally she remembered.
"MY DREAM WAS ABOUT A CLOAKED PERSON!" Lanaya called out.
Seela started to speak, but then a kid roared, "I DREAMT ABOUT A DANCING CARROT!"
Seela sighed. "Whoever said that, touch the stem. It teleports you home. Sometimes the wrong kids are teleported here.
The kid who dreamt about the dancing carrot touched the stem of the leaf and was gone.
"OKAY EVERYONE!" Seela shouted. "Jump off the leaf. It will bring you to another place. Lanaya, stay here. I want to talk to you."
Everyone except Lanaya reluctantly jumped off the leaf.Lanaya watched all of them plummet to the ground.
"Lanaya," Seela said, turning towards Lanaya. "Everyone except you saw something happen. An event. You saw someone, and that is... unusual. We'll talk later, I just want you to know that you are special. Now c'mon, let's go down with the others."
Before Lanaya could process what Seela said, Seela snatched her hand and jumped down. Lanaya was going so fast that she thought she would hit the ground and die, but once Lanaya and Seela were just a few feet away from the ground, they magically slowed down and landed softly on the grass.
Seela walked to the front of the crowd of people and Lanaya found Taleo and stood next to him.
"What did Seela tell you?" Taleo asked.
"She said-" Lanaya started, but Seela interrupted her.
"OKAY! So, you are probably wondering what your dreams have to do with anything. Well, all of your dreams were either warnings for the future or... I guess just to get you excited," Seela said.
She snapped her fingers, and a screen labeled DREAMSCREEN came down. On it appeared a kid holding a trophy... it was the kid who dreamt about winning a contest's dream!
"Jako's dream was to get him excited," Seela said.
Then the DREAMSCREEN changed to a dream of water slowly rising... with a village underneath. It was the kid who dreamed of a flood's dream.
"Jeita's dream was about a flood. Her dream was to give her a warning. She can tell her village there's a flood coming... but they might not listen. You'll probably have at least your family listen," Seela said.
The DREAMSCREEN changed again. It was Lanaya's dream.
"Lanaya's dream was... different. She dreamed of someone, not an event like Jako and Jeita. It is very rare when people get a dream like this. When they do... they get a quest,"Seela explained.
"Is this what she told you about earlier?" Taleo whispered.
"Yeah, but not the quest part," Lanaya whispered back.
"Lanaya, come up here," Seela ordered, and Lanaya obeyed. "She gets to choose one of you in this crowd to come on the quest with her. She also can choose three other kids that aren't here, like friends or family members,"
Lanaya looked at the crowd. A lot of people were practically begging to be chosen. Several kids were hiding behind others, obviously NOT wanting to be chosen. The rest just stood still.
"I choose Taleo," Lanaya said. "For the people who are not here, I'll go with my younger sister, Lilana, and my younger twin brothers, Linko and Lisho."
Taleo ran up to Lanaya. Although he didn't look like he really wanted to go on the quest when Lanaya was choosing someone, now he looked VERY happy!
Suddenly, three other figures burst out of the crowd. One looked like Lanaya but smaller: dark skin, black hair, brown eyes, and she was wearing purple pajamas. It was Lilana! Following Lilana were two boys, both with dark skin, dark brown hair, black eyes, and blue pajamas. Linko and Lisho!
"Lanaya and Taleo, you two can wait under the leaf while I explain to Lilana, Linko, and Lisho what's going on. Then I'll tell you all what you have to do," Seela said.
The five of them nodded. Lanaya and Taleo walked over to the leaf and sat down under it. After a very short time of waiting, Seela came over with Lanaya's siblings.
"Okay, so you five have to find the cloaked figure from Lanaya's dream. Find out who he is and what he's doing. Then I will come to you and you can tell me what you found out," Seela explained. "Now follow me and I'll show you where to go so you can start searching."
The five kids nodded and they followed Seela to another leaf.
"Touch the stem," she ordered.
The five kids obeyed. The world around them disappeared, and then seconds later they were in a forest.
To be continued...
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