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The Tale of Another Dimension Harriet Hutson

With special thanks to Celia for her beautiful illustrations, to Mum, for editing my book, to Dad, for designing my book and to both my grandmothers, for buying so many books for me to read!

A Paperback Original First published in 2020 by Harriet Hutson Text © Harriet Hutson 2020 Illustrations © Celia Warre 2020 The right of Celia Warre to be identified as the illustrator of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988. ISBN: 9798578568961 Independently Published

The Tale of Another Dimension By Harriet Hutson Illustrated by Celia Warre

CHAPTER ONE THE BEGINNING OF IT ALL

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nce upon a time, in a place where no one had discovered, there was a palace. An underwater palace, full of gold, pearls and treasure. A wonderful family lived there. Their names where Grandmother Mabel, Grandfather Frank, Mother Merissa, Father Merderic, Princess Lucy and Prince Luke. However, in the other world - the normal world, there was a small family and their names were Father Joe, Daughter Ellie, Brother Arthur and Uncle Bob. Did I tell you there was a secret tunnel from one world to the other, that absolutely no person from the normal world had discovered? Well, there was a tunnel in the normal world that led from the sea into the underwater world’s ocean. Now, let’s start with the story then. It all began with Ellie’s family and Ellie’s friend, Mia, going out to the beach. Ellie and Mia were in their wetsuits ready to jump into the sea and go 1

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swimming. The rest of Ellie’s family were setting up the beach towels and the beach umbrella on the smooth, golden sand. Ellie asked: “Dad, can me and Mia go out into the sea to have a swim? I mean we have got our wet suits on already.” Dad, worriedly replied: “OK, but be careful because I can see the tide going out.” Ellie replied “Thank you Daddy. We’ll be careful!” So, Mia and Ellie ran into the water. They were having lots of fun, but suddenly a very strong current came and pushed Ellie far out at sea, she was then pushed again by the waves. That meant she was pushed under the water. Mia ran to shore quickly and told Arthur and Bob, who were lying on the beach towels. She couldn’t tell Joe because he was getting ice cream. Mia said breathlessly: “Ellie, she’s been wiped out to sea, under the water, far out. Current strong, no chance finding her!” Arthur and Bob glared at each other and got out their phones, they rang the police to help find Ellie…Meanwhile, Ellie was stranded under the ocean, glimpsing at a hole with her waterfilled eyes. Suddenly, Ellie saw a flash of colour. She thought her eyes were playing tricks on her, but then she saw it again, there was a flash of colour. Ellie could see there was something fascinating down towards the seabed. So, she swam through the hole and saw a palace made of gold, jewels, pearls and seashells. “Boo! You must be new. Ooooo, you’ve got legs. I’ve never met one of you before” said Lucy excitedly. Lucy pulled Ellie forwards and breathed into Ellie’s mouth. Suddenly, Ellie could breathe underwater and see properly. Ellie saw a sparkling pearl pink tail with long black hair, blue eyes and a figure wearing pearl earrings and a seashell bikini top. Ellie gasped: “Are you a mermaid?!” Lucy answered: “Yes

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and everyone else here is too.” Ellie yelled: “There are more of you!?” “It’s merpeople world! And, what’s your name?” said Lucy. Ellie replied: “My name is Ellie, what’s yours?” Lucy said: “Lucy, correction, Princess Lucy. My mum’s Queen Merissa and my dad’s King Merderek and my twin brother is Prince Luke. I’m 15, how old are you?” Ellie mumbled: “I’m 15 as well.” Lucy grabbed her hand and began to swim. Lucy was swimming towards the palace, when they reached the palace doors when Ellie stuttered: “You live here?” Lucy answered “Yes, I do live here. It’s where all of my family live.” Ellie gazed at the two big gold doors. The ruby nobs sparkled as the warm water rushed past. Lucy opened the door on the right and swam through. She said: “Follow me,” and then Ellie asked nervously: “Where are you taking me?” to which Lucy replied: “You’ll see”!

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CHAPTER TWO THE FAMILY ROOM

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Lucy stopped halfway through the corridor. Ellie caught up with her to find herself standing in front of a medium sized bronze and emerald door. Lucy pulled the door open with the emerald knobs revealing a small room with pictures of merpeople and bookshelves filled with dusty, cobwebbed books. But the book that caught Ellie’s eye was the book with glimmering, red rubies along the side of it. Lucy swam towards the ruby book and took it out of the bookshelf. She flipped to a random page and placed it on the golden book holder. Lucy called to Ellie: “Ellie come over here, I want to show you my twin brothers’ photo.” Ellie swam to where Lucy was. Ellie giggled at the sight of Lucy’s brothers’ photo, she flipped to another page and saw a picture she didn’t know. “Lucy, who is Lila Merrice? Her photo has been crossed out and it says she hasn’t been seen in the last five years!” Lucy looked 5

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at her and at the book: “I’ve never seen that before. I should call Luke, he’ll know”! Lucy took off her multi-coloured bracelet and tapped three times on a blue pearl. Then she said: “Come to the Royal Family Room quickly. Lucy Merrice!” Lucy and Ellie waited for about two minutes and then suddenly the doors burst open. A boy with short black hair, a pearl coloured tail, friendly blue eyes and a multi-coloured bracelet, just like the one Lucy was wearing entered the room. “This is Luke and Luke this is Ellie. Anyway, we need your help. Do you know who Lila Merrice is??!!” shouted Lucy in a panicked voice. Luke replied: “Calm down sis. If her surname is Merrice that means she’s from our family. Her first name is Lila and SHE IS OUR COUSIN WHO WAS TAKEN BY THE SHARK PEOPLE!! We have to find her and soon!”. “Why? Did something happen to her!? I’m so worried. We should go pack our bags! I mean now, because what if she’s in big, big, danger!!!!!” pronounced Lucy. “Sis calm down again, you’re really stressing this. We’ll go pack our bags quietly because everyone will get angry if we’re planning on leaving the house for a long time to save Lila and what about Ellie? She hasn’t got any stuff to bring” remarked Luke. “I was planning on bringing some stuff of mine for Ellie and we’ve got plenty of things for her to use anyway, we are Royal and I have a feeling we should bring Rodeo in case we fall asleep on the journey and he can carry our stuff if we use the belts we have?” wondered Lucy. “Guys, who exactly is this Rodeo, I think I’m going to need to know if we’re going to use it?” questioned Ellie. “Rodeo is not

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an it or this, Rodeo is a pet seahorse. He’s abnormally large for a normal seahorse, but we use him to ride - a bit like horses from your world and it’s just like a horse, but he can talk to us and Rodeo’s his name. He’s friendly and will carry anything we ask, and he loves us more than anything else. More than seaweed and he’ll probably help us through some things so just go along with it. You’ll meet him in a second” answered Lucy. “Lucy, good idea. We’ll take Rodeo and you go pack your bags in your room. Take Ellie with you and I’ll go to my room to pack my bags. Remember not to pack much and then we’ll go to the kitchen and pack some food. Then we’ll go get Rodeo and head out. I’ve got a compass that leads us to the shark people seas” said Luke. The three of them headed out of the room through the big bronze doors. Lucy and Ellie went left through the hallway and Luke swam towards two shimmering silver doors with amber knobs. A few minutes later, Lucy and Ellie reached two big silver doors with two gold knobs and a bronze heart in the middle. “Is this your room Lucy? It’s cool, I mean, I haven’t seen the inside yet, but the doors are amazing” asked Ellie. “Yup, this is my room. You should totally look inside, anyway, we should go straight to the wardrobe. At the wardrobe we’ll get some clothes for us, you can find something you like to wear, or you could stay in what you’re wearing for a while” said Lucy casually. “Come on in then! Let’s have fun choosing outfits!” Lucy and Ellie entered the room. They swam to the doors of the brown oak wardrobe and opened them. Inside were lots of different outfits; party dresses, different seashell, gem and

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crystal bikini tops and a few skirts, but obviously no trousers. Each item of clothing had either an aqua colour or a pastel colour. Lucy grabbed a rainbow sequin backpack and picked a weeks’ worth of clothing out of the oak wardrobe. “Well, what are you waiting for Ellie? Grab a backpack and pick some clothes. Maybe a weeks’ worth like me” said Lucy. So, Ellie grabbed a lilac backpack from the bundle and picked out a few items. “Right, now we’ve got packing out of the way, we should probably go get Luke from his room and go to the kitchen, get some food then we’ll go get Rodeo and go!” screeched Lucy. “Uhuh. I’ve never done anything like this before” replied Ellie nervously. “Oh, come on. It’ll be really fun; I mean some bits will be scary, but Rodeo and Luke will be with us and I’m with you too” answered Lucy calmly. So, they swam through a spacious hallway past a dining room, a ballroom, the family room and finally reached two big silver doors with two amber knobs. Lucy knocked on the door and a few moments later Luke came to the doors. Luke asked: “What are you two doing here? Oh, let me guess, you’ve come to get me. Well, you are lucky cause I’m ready, come on let’s go to the kitchen. We should probably sneak in, otherwise cook will see us or our parents and we’d be in big trouble.” “Umm, yes, we’re here because we hoped you were ready. We’ve got our bags so let’s sneak to the kitchen. Quiet!” stammered Lucy. “Up these stairs Ellie,” whispered Luke. Once they were half-way up the stone staircase to the kitchen, Lucy

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anxiously whispered: “Err, guys. Hide! The cooks coming. At least we now know that no one’s in the kitchen”!!! “Behind here, quickly. Either cook finds us or we hide behind the wall!” panicked Ellie pointing to a crack in the wall. They slid through the crack and waited till the stairs were clear. Then they slipped back out and swam upwards until they came to a white elm door. They opened the door with a small bronze nob and came into the kitchen. In the kitchen there was a wide range of clams, oysters, crabs, fish and other sea creatures for eating. Ellie, Lucy and Luke each grabbed a few items of food and packed it into their backpacks, then they headed back down the stairs and luckily didn’t bump into another cook. Once they were through the hallway, they turned left and headed through the open seafloor into a stable. Ahead of them was a very large seahorse named Rodeo, Rodeo was the colour of the ocean with cute black eyes and a red flipper on his back. “Rodeo, my boy. We’re going to go on an adventure. Is that okay with you, because we’re going to need you? So, are you in?” asked Luke, with hope in his voice. “I’m all in babe” said Rodeo humbly. Ellie screeched right after Rodeo had finished talking, “He c-can t-t-t-talk-k!!!!????” squealed Ellie. “Didn’t I tell you before? Oh, maybe I didn’t, but I’m pretty sure I did.” said Lucy firmly. “Oh-oh yeah, I-I forgot about y-you telling me th-that Rodeo could t-t-t-talk” answered Ellie. “Girls stop chit-chatting, I’ve got the belts with me so let’s attach them to our bags and get on Rodeo. We’ll use the shark compass to find the way” silenced Luke. Ellie, Lucy and

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Luke clambered on to Rodeo’s scaly, turquoise back and rode through the clear, warm water.

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CHAPTER THREE NIGHT-BLOOMING BEARS

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fter a day travelling on Rodeo, they came across a wild batch of purplish, yellowish flowers. “Hey Luke,” said Lucy casually, “Yes sis, whatever is it?” replied Luke. “What flowers are these, I’ve never seen them before. But you know, like, everything. So, what are they?” asked Lucy curiously. “Well, these flowers are called Night-blooming flowers, they only open at night and spread their pollen, which is toxic and deadly. But during the day, Night-blooming bears guard them and they look super cute, like purple fuzzy, yellow tummied, cute teddy bears. But they are ferocious creatures and it isn’t going to be easy getting past them. But I know what their weakness is” said Luke anxiously. “Well Luke, what’s their weakness?” asked Ellie, now getting into the conversation “Yeah Luke, you heard Ellie. What’s their 11

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weakness!?!”. Luke gulped, then hesitated before telling them. He knew Lucy wasn’t going to like it, “Well, their weakness is The Gurgles. Ellie, you’ve probably never heard of it, but it’s basically a boy band which is really famous and also Lucy’s favourite band. I know you have a dozen tickets on you, so hand over the tickets Lucy. It’s the only way through and the only way to save Lila!” demanded Luke “But I was keeping these for Lila!!! Oh, all right. Here!!” said Lucy angrily, shoving them into her brother’s hands in the nick of time. The Nightblooming bears, Luke had told them about, were creeping out from hiding behind the flowers. “LUKE, DO SOMETHING” screamed Ellie and Lucy at the same time. “This is where the tickets come in. Night-blooming bears, we’ve got Gurgle tickets” said Luke, loud enough for all of the bears to hear him. He then placed them gently on the seafloor and not surprisingly, every bear raced ahead to get a ticket. Once each bear had a ticket, they ran away from the flowerbed and further into the ocean. “Well that was a lucky escape. At least you asked me for the tickets before they came in. Anyway, let’s quickly get through these flowers before it’s night, otherwise we’ll have another dilemma. Right everyone get on Rodeo. Rodeo, ya boy, ya!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” said Lucy relieved.

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CHAPTER FOUR SNAKEWEED

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few hours later Lucy and Ellie had fallen asleep. Luke had the job of staying awake, as he was on look-out, so he had put a hyper spell on himself. Luke spotted something in the distance, but what was it? They were getting closer and closer to the something. Luke began to get worried. He had no clue what was coming towards him…so he decided to wake Lucy and Ellie up. “Lucy, Ellie! You need to wake up now!” shouted Luke. “W-w-what? Wait (yawn) Luke why are you shouting your head off!” asked Lucy sleepily, “Isn’t it obvious? There’s some sort of seaweed over there! Umm, guys it doesn’t look very friendly though” said Ellie confidently. “No, it doesn’t,” replied Lucy. “Luke is that snakeweed?!” panicked Lucy. “Don’t panic, I know how to get through it, but we can’t do it” answered Luke. 13

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“Well, who can get through it?” asked Lucy. “Rodeo can because he’s a seahorse” answered Luke, “We’re about one metre away from it guys and it looks like the Phandomsonia!!!!!!” screeched Lucy. “What’s Phandomsonia? And what’s Snakeweed?” questioned Ellie curiously. “Phandomsonia is a creature-merman from a fairytale, and Snakeweed is a strangling plant, but there’s no time for big explanations,” answered Luke quickly. “OK, Rodeo can you get us through the Snakeweed?!” said Luke to Rodeo. “Sure boy,” answered Rodeo. So, Rodeo swam faster and faster towards the Snakeweed until he reached it. “Right, here I go. Remember not to wriggle or squirm or you could fall off and get tangled up in it!” said Rodeo nervously. He wrapped his tail around the first bit of Snakeweed and slowly moved across the rest. About half-way through, Ellie breathlessly said: “Lucy, when we first met each other you breathed into my mouth so I could see and breath properly underwater, does it wear off?” “Well, it should wear off in about a few days, and it’s been a few days! Oh no, Ellie, it’s going to wear off in about…” answered Lucy, who was not able to finish her sentence because Ellie had drifted off into the Snakeweed and was instantly getting tangled in it. “ELLIE, NO!” screamed Luke as he dived into the Snakeweed to retrieve Ellie! “Luke, there’s no way to get out now!” shouted Lucy. Somehow the Snakeweed was letting Luke and Ellie come out, “How is that possible?” questioned Lucy stunned. “The power of love,” answered Luke calmly. “We need to restore Ellie back to normal quickly!” said Luke, so Lucy leant

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forwards and pressed her mouth against Ellie’s, this time she breathed into Ellie’s mouth twice so it would last longer. “Ellie are you back?” asked Luke hopefully “I’m back. But how did you get me out of the Snakeweed?” asked Ellie. “Luke dived into the Snakeweed to save you and the power of his love for you made the Snakeweed open up” whispered Lucy into Ellie’s ear. “Luke loves me?!” whispered Ellie back into Lucy’s ear “I think so!” whispered Lucy into Ellie’s ear. They both burst into silent giggles. “Lucy, Ellie, what are you two whispering about?” asked Luke. “Nothing,” chorused Ellie and Lucy, still giggling. So, all four of them - Lucy, Luke, Ellie and Rodeo - set off again through the Snakeweed until they eventually came through it. “Well that was tough,” said Rodeo “Yep,” said Luke. “We could sleep in that cave for the night, that way we can all get some sleep” said Lucy sleepily. “Good idea sis let’s go check it out.” replied Luke, also now feeling sleepy. Rodeo swam towards the cave and Luke, Lucy and Ellie hopped off. They all swam into the cave cautiously but saw nothing inside. So, all four of them lay on the ground. “Night, guys,” said Lucy “Good night and don’t let the bed bugs bite,” said Ellie. “What?” asked Luke and Lucy together. “It’s a bedtime phrase from my world,” answered Ellie, “Ohhhhh,” said Luke and Lucy together again. “Night,” said Luke, and all four of them drifted off to sleep…

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CHAPTER FIVE THE DREAM

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llie was having a dream, not a normal dream, it seemed more of a warning. In her head, she could see a man with a shark’s tail and a fin on his back. He had a dark grey, bushy beard and short, dark grey hair. He wore a silver crown marked with runes, he held a gold trident and he had gills in his neck like Luke and Lucy. Ellie instantly knew that this was the Shark King. There was a small, silver locket open on the seafloor, it had a picture of Lucy smiling inside it. Ellie thought ‘Why would the Shark King want a locket with a picture of Lucy inside?’ The Shark King was pointing his trident at the open locket, when suddenly a bolt of lightning hit the picture of Lucy which melted into the locket. He cackled loudly, and then Ellie heard a girl around the age of nine or 10 pleading: “No! Don’t do it!” “There’s no stopping me Lila!” boomed the Shark King. The 17

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girl had a short, black bob, vibrant blue eyes, a pearl tail, a seashell bikini top, gills and lots of cuts and scratches. Ellie could tell it was Lila because she looked like Luke and Lucy. Ellie suddenly woke up. She sat there for a few minutes replaying the dream in her head, hoping for a clue she had missed but nothing came. She decided she would wake Lucy and Luke up. “Lucy, Luke, wake up. I’ve had a dream that seems to be more like a warning!” said Ellie. “(Yawn) Tell us about it, but next time can you wake us up at like seven o’clock in the morning, not like three o’clock in the morning?” said Lucy sleepily. “I agree with Lucy. And yes, tell us about this dream slash warning,” said Luke, also sleepily. “OK” answered Ellie. So, she told them everything she saw and heard, hoping they would see a clue or at least something, but all they said was: “We should get going, Lila could be in serious danger” said Luke. “I agree with Luke, let’s go,” said Lucy “But what about the picture of Lucy burning into the lo-” said Ellie worriedly “I don’t know what that was Ellie, but whatever it was we’ll find out soon,” interrupted Luke. “But L-” said Ellie now angry. “Come on girl, let’s just go,” Lucy interrupted this time. Then Luke woke Rodeo up so they could start travelling again…

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CHAPTER SIX A MIST OF VAPOUR

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hey had been travelling for five hours straight and were thirsty, hungry and tired. “Shall we stop now, just to have a drink and snack?” said Ellie. “Definitely, I’m starving!” replied Lucy. “I’m hungry and thirsty too,” said Luke. Ellie picked up the lilac backpack and pulled out some mussels and three bottles of seawater. She handed them out and grabbed some fish cookies for Rodeo. “Mmm, this is so good,” said Lucy whilst chewing her food. “This is the best” said Luke, “I’ve only ever had seafood at restaurants and the last time I went to one and ordered seafood I was eight years old!” said Ellie. Once they had finished, they packed away the bottles and threw the shells from the mussels onto the ocean floor. They set off at Rodeo’s normal pace and soon enough were passing through swarms of coral and seaweed. Sea creatures swam through the seaweed and out 19

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of the coral peacefully, “This is exactly like The Great Barrier Reef!” screeched Ellie excitedly. “What’s the Great Barrier Reef?” asked Lucy curiously. “It’s a place in Australia,” answered Ellie. “Where’s Australia?” questioned Luke. “Never mind, it doesn’t matter,” answered Ellie, “anyway, how far ‘till we reach the shark people seas?”. “Ummm, about another two weeks or so,” said Luke. “Is it really that far away?!” said Ellie taken aback. “You realise how long it’s going to take us; Lila could get into sooooo much danger in that amount of time!” said Lucy. “If there was a shortcut, I would have told you two already,” said Luke. “We know but I guess we just had our hopes up that you were saving it for now,” sighed Ellie. “Oh, guys, there’s a fog in the way,” she added. “We don’t get fogs in the Underwater World Ellie” said Luke. “Right, you don’t have clouds,” said Ellie. “What is the thing in the way then?” asked Lucy curiously. “I actually don’t know,” answered Luke. “What do you mean by, you don’t know?!” said Lucy. “How about we just go inside it and find out,” suggested Ellie. “We could do that” said Luke. “Well what are we waiting for, ride towards it Rodeo!” said Lucy enthusiastically. “Err, sis wait I don’t th-” but Luke couldn’t finish his sentence because Rodeo had already set off towards the mist. They entered the fog and all four expressions changed from exited to worried. “I don’t have a good feeling about this” said Luke

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nervously. “You never have a good feeling about anything, Luke” said Lucy. Lucy coughed. “Are you OK, Lucy?” asked Ellie. “I’m fine,” said Lucy weakly, Ellie and Luke coughed. “Are you two OK?” asked Lucy. “I’m fine,” said Ellie, also weak. “It’s like-cough-the mist is making us cough,” said Luke weakly. “Yes-cough cough-it’s like a mist of vapour!” said Ellie. “Exactly!” said Lucy. “Shall I keep riding through it?” asked Rodeo. “Yes Rodeo, carry on and be as quick as you can! Please,” said Lucy. “Sure,” replied Rodeo, so they sped through the mist. The green bead on Lucy’s bracelet had begun to glow “Oh no, it’s mum!” said Lucy whilst panicking. ‘WHERE HAVE YOU TWO GONE?! NO NOTE, FOOD GONE FROM THE KITCHEN, CLOTHES GONE AND RODEO MISSING! ANSWER ME NOW!!!’ “That’s your mum?!” said Ellie as she giggled. “This is no laughing matter Ellie, Luke shall we answer mum?” asked Lucy. “Yes, but you should lie to her,” said Luke. Lucy tapped the green bead and said, “We’ve been at the Gurgles concert and then went to Shelly’s afterparty that was also a sleepover, sorry we didn’t tell you” said Lucy. “Phew, I completely forgot about mum and dad”. “Yes, I did too,” said Luke.

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“Guys, we’re out of the vapour!” said Ellie. “Well done Rodeo,” said Luke “Yes, finally,” said Lucy. They swam through the water high-fiving each other and chatting.

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CHAPTER SEVEN THE DARKEST TUNNEL

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I’m so exhausted!” said Rodeo breathlessly. “We can swim if you want,” said Lucy. “No, I’m exhausted because I’m swimming so much,” said Rodeo. “Oh,” said Lucy “How long is left of the journey?” “I told you earlier Lucy, about two weeks,” answered Luke “Come on time, hurry up,” said Lucy annoyingly. “Well, if this makes you feel any better, we’re getting closer,” said Ellie. “How?” asked Lucy curiously. “For starters, there are a load of fish in the way and for seconds, there’s a cave-ish tunnel,” answered Ellie. “Those are puffer fish!” said Luke. “And puffer fish have those weird spiky spikes that are sharp, and I think poisonous,” said Lucy nervously but with a slight bit 23

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of curiosity. “Well we can’t go through them, but we could go through the tunnel that’s beneath them?” suggested Ellie. “I guess we could, but it looks a bit too dark for my liking,” said Luke whilst biting his lip. “Yeah, for your liking, not for ours. If Rodeo’s in we’re all in, and this time your definitely not squeezing your way out of it Luke,” said Lucy. “Fine,” said Luke angrily and disappointedly. “Well, Rodeo, can you do it?” asked Ellie “I sure can” answered Rodeo humbly. “Yes!” screeched Lucy and Ellie. “But on one condition, can I have some fish cookies?” asked Rodeo. “Sure thing,” answered Ellie and she grabbed her lilac backpack and threw some fish cookies onto the seafloor. “Nanks,” mumbled Rodeo, as he had his mouth full of fish cookies. Rodeo munched up the rest of the cookies and then they swam to the tunnel, it was a very grim cave full of algae, rotting dead fish and old looking shark teeth which were scattered across the seafloor. “It gives me the creeps,” said Ellie “Samies,” said Lucy. “Now should we go back?” asked Luke hopefully. “Only if you want Lila to be killed,” answered Lucy. “I s’pose not,” mumbled Luke. “C’mon guys we can do this, can’t we?” said Lucy bravely and she zoomed into the cave. “You coming?” asked Lucy, “Sure,” said Ellie and Ellie and Rodeo swam in after Lucy. All of their heads turned to Luke who was still outside the cave “It’s not that scary Luke,” said

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Ellie. “Fine,” said Luke and he swam in after them. The four of them turned around and began to swim “Aggghhhrrrr!!!” Ellie, Lucy and Luke screamed. About a dozen or so zombie merpeople were chasing them from every direction and the four of them were cornered. “Please don’t hurt us,” begged Lucy to the zombies “Lucy it’s not very likely a bunch of zombie merpeople are going to listen to your begging,” said Luke. “Luke’s right, but how are we going to get out of the cave if we’re stuck here? And look, there getting closer” said Ellie. “Ooooo, I know. We could distract them, then we can swim out of the cave at top speed and TADA! A perfect plan” said Lucy excitedly. “What do we use for the distraction then?” asked Ellie “Well everyone knows that zombie merpeople are afraid of octopus,” said Luke. “How are we going to get an octopus if we’re stuck here?” asked Ellie. “I can magic one up with my bracelet,” suggested Lucy “Yes, of course. Rodeo, do you think you can do it too?” asked Luke. “Anything to get us away from these zombies, I’m fine with,” said Rodeo nervously. “Right, it’s settled. Lucy you make the octopus appear and as soon as they’re not looking, we swim away as fast as possible,” said Luke. Lucy tapped an orange bead on her bracelet and misty swirls shot into her hands, and she waved her hands around with her eyes closed. A purple octopus appeared out of nowhere and

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suddenly all of the zombies swam away and looked in the other direction of Luke, Lucy, Ellie and Rodeo. All four of them shot off as fast as they could possibly swim to the other side of the cave and through the jaggedy hole. They kept on swimming until the cave was a small spec of black. “Great job guys,” said Ellie “I’m just glad we’re out of there, it was horrible,” said Luke. They swam on to Rodeo and carried on with their journey.

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CHAPTER EIGHT SHARKS

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s they were swimming, Ellie noticed a few small, moving figures. “STOP!” screamed Ellie. “Why?!” asked Luke as he was confused. “Look ahead, I can’t tell what it is, but I expect it’s not good news,” replied Ellie. “Rodeo, do you think you could go just a little closer so we can see what those moving creatures are?” asked Luke. “OK,” said Rodeo and he swam closer, but not too close because otherwise they would all be right next to them. “OMGeesies! They’re sharks!” cried Lucy. “What, sharks!?!” said Ellie. “They’re guarding something. Shark people can control sharks and we’re really close now, so I think that those sharks are guarding the key to the gate of the shark people seas” said Luke. “I agree with you Luke,” said Lucy. 27

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“Thanks,” said Luke. “I only agree because you’re always right,” replied Lucy. “Anyway you two, how are we going to get this key and get past the sharks?” asked Ellie. “We have a knack for this sort of stuff” said Luke “You’re not saying we just go through them, without anything to protect us!?” said Ellie shocked. “No, of course not. That would be crazy” replied Luke. “I know how… Bows and Arrows,” said Lucy exitedly. “Sis, isn’t that a little over-the-top?” said Luke. “NO, it is definitely NOT over-the-top!” said Lucy, infuriated. “I’ve done archery classes before and I think Lucy’s idea is great, besides we don’t have any other ideas” said Ellie argumentatively. “Even if I do say yes, where would we get Bows & Arrows?” said Luke. “Easy, magic” replied Lucy. Luke had put on his thinking face, he was wondering if he should say yes or no. His final answer was “Yes, I’ll do it. But only because we don’t have any other ideas,” said Luke. “Great,” said Ellie. “Lucy, can you create three sets of Bows & Arrows. And Rodeo, can you move a tiny bit closer so we can get a good shot at the sharks?”. “On it,” said Lucy. “Going a bit closer,” said Rodeo humbly. “Perfect,” replied Ellie. So Lucy took out her bracelet and tapped the orange bead and the orange mist swirled into the palms of her hands, she then muttered an incantation whilst waving her hands around in a confusing pattern. Suddenly, a pink bow and a few pink feathered arrows appeared in a

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Chapter Eight

spiraling mist of orange, along whith it was a blue bow and some blue feathered arrows appeared. “Ellie, what’s your favourite colour?” asked Lucy. “Umm, red,” replied Ellie, and then a red bow and a couple of red feathered arrows appeared in a mist of orange. Lucy then handed the blue set to Luke, the pink set kept in her hands and the red set to Ellie. Then they each swam off Rodeo and stood on the seafloor, or, in Lucy and Luke’s case, swam a little above the seafloor. Ellie took the first shot, she aimed for one of the sharks in the heart and she let go of the arrow and the redness rushed through the salty seawater. It hit the shark in the stomach and“Bullseye,” said Ellie. “Your go now Luke,” said Ellie, as the shark slowly sank to the seafloor. Luke held his bow and arrow high, pointing it at the second shark, his fingers slipped off and the arrow hit the head of the second shark and it sank to the sandy sea floor. However, the third shark had realised what the trio were doing and was swimming at a hundred miles an hour at them, “Shoot, it’s now or never, Lucy!” screamed Ellie. Lucy raised her bow and let go, it hit the shark right in the heart and it crashed into the sand leaving a clear path for them. All three of them high-fived each other and swam onto Rodeo, “Rodeo, lets go,” said Luke. “Sure thing, buddy” he replied. They began to swim across the sandy bay, until “Rodeo stop, Lucy, pick up that glowing golden key and put it in your pocket. My theory was right, they were guarding the key to the gates, we’re very close now,” said Luke worridly…

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CHAPTER NINE AN UNBREAKABLE FORCEFIELD

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Which fish is the most expensive?” said Lucy “I don’t know,” replied Ellie “A goldfish!” answered Lucy. Ellie and Lucy laughed together “Hey, Rodeo, do you know any jokes?” asked Lucy. “I know one,” said Rodeo. “Tell us,” said Ellie. “What kind of hair does the ocean have?” asked Rodeo. “Err, I dunno,” replied Lucy. “I do, I do, wavy” said Ellie. “Yes,” replied Rodeo. Suddenly, they hit a wall, not any wall, an invisible wall. “An invisible forcefield, they know we’re coming” said Luke nervously. “Magic won’t work on this forcefield, we have to use potions” he said. “Well, did you bring the potions?” asked Lucy. “I brought all six of my potion kits, we should have all of the potion ingredients to get through the forcefield,” said Luke. He 31

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grabbed his grey backpack which was hanging off the side of Rodeo and he unzipped the zip. He then rummaged through his bag for a couple of minutes and then he swam to the seafloor with his hands full of different corked bottles and a traveling cauldron (a small cauldron that can be carried around). “Come down here, I’ve got all of the ingredients to make the right potion to get through the invisible forcefield,” said Luke. He had uncorked one of the bottles and was ripping some sort of purply plant and sprinkling it into the mini cauldron. Ellie and Lucy had swam to the sand, Lucy was helping Luke uncork the bottles and put the ingredients in the cauldron and Ellie was stirring the light purple potion round and round until it began to smoke and hiss. “It’s ready, we each need to drink a spoonful of it,” said Luke, he took out a metal spoon engraved with their family crest on. Then he dipped it into the cauldron and pulled out a full spoon of the bubbling, purple potion. He gave the spoon to Lucy and he said “Lucy, you should have it first, mostly because you’re more likely to not want it after we’ve had it,” and Lucy raised the spoon to her mouth and drank it. Surprisingly Lucy said, “It’s really nice, it tastes like clamtastics,”. “What are clamtastics?” asked Ellie “A type of sweet,” replied Luke. “Great, I’ll have the next spoon,” said Ellie, so Lucy passed the spoon to Ellie and Ellie dipped it back into the cauldron. She sipped it all up, “Mmm, I’d have this as a drink if it wasn’t a potion, by the way I now suddenly feel amazing,” said Ellie “Luke, have some, I mean you have to”. Luke took the spoon from Ellie and he dipped the spoon into

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the potion, before giving some to Rodeo and then Luke drank the rest. “I feel light and happy,” said Luke, as he swam round in circles. “He’s turned a bit weird,” whispered Ellie. “He’s never acted like this before,” whispered Lucy. They all swam through the forcefield with ease and Ellie stared at the gates in shock, as she couldn’t believe how beautiful they were…

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CHAPTER TEN THROUGH AND BEYOND THE GATES

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he gates were pure gold, glimmering as the rippling water rushed through them and arrow spikes stood up on the gates. “Lucy, pass me the key,” asked Luke. Lucy took the key from her tail pocket and passed it to Luke. “This key should fit, but it’s not going to be easy because there are shark people guarding the entry if anyone has the key. We could fight our way through, or we could use disguises because there not that clever,” said Luke. “I can make really good disguises, I could make us look like shark people coming back from hunting,” said Lucy excitedly. “Brilliant,” said Luke. As Lucy had done twice before, she took her bracelet and tapped the orange bead, the orange mist swirled into her hands and her hands glowed, this time she closed her eyes and waved her hands around. Suddenly, each of them had a shark tail and a fin on their 35

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backs, each had vicious teeth and Rodeo was no longer a seahorse, he was a shark. Lucy appeared to be holding dead fish and a crab. Luke inserted the key into the keyhole and the gate creaked open. They swam in slowly, as though they were being repelled by something, but really, they were repelled by their own hatred and fear for what would happen next. They did not know and did not guess. There were a couple of shark people guarding the entrance behind the gates, “Hunting, I see. Take it to the king, I daresay, he’ll be happy to have some food. He’s a mess, he’s very angry,” mumbled one of the guards. “Why?” asked Lucy in a shrill voice. “His plan hasn’t worked, he wanted Princess Lucy Merrice to come with her brother, he stole their younger cousin five years ago and he put a curse on an object. He hoped that the Lucy girl and her brother would come to save their cousin and in the process the Lucy girl would find the object and keep it until the curse worked on her. It’s obviously not working though because me and Gory have been guarding the inside of the gate for a day now and no mermaids and mermen have appeared at all. “Besides, they would need the key to get through the gate and the Lucy girl and her brother would never get it from the place it’s hidden in, I don’t know what the king was thinking. Anyway, go give him the food, I can’t be bothered to scan you, you’re obviously not merpeople,” said the guard. The three of them plus Rodeo (A.K.A. the shark) swam towards the stony castle that was in the distance. What awaited them they had no idea...

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CHAPTER ELEVEN MISSION: SAVE LILA

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What do we do now - we’re in, but where’s Lila?” asked Ellie. “I think I know” said Lucy shakily, as she pointed her index finger at a stony chained cage. The girl that Ellie had seen in her dream was looking even more rough than before, she had fierce cuts and burns across her body, some bled, some didn’t. Her many tears had left stains on her cheeks, she was extremely thin, and her lips trembled with fear, the beaded bracelet that Luke and Lucy wore all the time, had been snapped and the beads drifted in the water. “How do we get her out?” asked Lucy, “I’m not sure, but we need to think fast because our disguises are wearing off quickly,” said Ellie. “We could steal the king’s trident to unlock the chains and open the cage,” suggested Luke. “Yes, but how do we get in?” asked Lucy. 37

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“Easy, we break in,” said Ellie firmly. “Hold up guys, what about me? I’m a gigantic seahorse!” said Rodeo. “Come with us,” said Ellie. “OK,” replied Rodeo. “Right, what we need to do is swim quickly into the castle and take the trident from the king, destroy him with it and then take the trident outside and blast Lila’s cage apart and then go back home!” said Ellie slowly so they all heard it correctly. “Well, let’s go,” urged Ellie, each of them swam as quickly as they could to the castle and burst the doors open. “Oh, hello Lucy, Luke and who’s this?” asked the Shark King. “This is Ellie and she’s our human friend,” replied Lucy confidently. “I see, I expected that you would come and do something drastic,” said the king. “We are,” said Luke. “Go!” screamed Ellie and they all shot off and Lucy grabbed the trident and they swam out of the cave closely followed by the Shark King. Lucy pointed the trident at the king and screamed an incantation then blasted red jets of light at the king and he fell to the seafloor. “Come on now, we need to save Lila,” shouted Lucy and they swam to the cage. Lucy shouted another incantation and the cage burst open as the chain blasted into a million tiny pieces. “Lucy, Luke, you came,” said Lila as she cried a mix of sad and happy tears. “What’s your name?” asked Lila tearfully “Ellie, it’s nice to finally meet you,” replied Ellie. “Why do you look so worried, Ellie?” asked Luke. “Just because we’ve defeated the Shark King and saved Lila, it

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Chapter Eleven

doesn’t mean we’re safe, there are still a whole country of shark people,” said Ellie worriedly. “If my bracelet wasn’t broken, I could take us back, actually, you two have bracelets. Tap the red bead and hold our hands, then think of where you want to be and you’ll go there,” said Lila. Ellie and Lila held onto Lucy’s hands and Rodeo’s flipper held onto Luke’s hand, then Luke tapped the red bead and closed his eyes and thought of the grand, ruby encrusted castle and he and Rodeo disappeared. Lucy’s eyes had turned to the burnt locket lying on the sand and quickly looked away not wanting to be cursed by powerful dark magic. She tapped the red bead and closed her eyes, thought of her beloved, homey castle and Lucy, Lila and Ellie appeared outside the grand doors of the palace. “Home!” shouted Lila gleefully. “Come on,” screeched Lila excitedly as she pushed the doors open, inside Luke was swimming around their mother and father. “Lila,” gasped their mother. Lila and her mother cuddled each other, and they sobbed happy tears. “Lila, give me a hug,” said their father. “Dad,” sobbed Lila as she swam and hugged her father. “We didn’t really go to the concert, we went to save Lila,” said Lucy.

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EPILOGUE

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ater in life, Lucy and Lila were swimming up to the hole that led to the world that Ellie lived in, a face appeared through the whole, “Ellie!” said Lucy excitedly. “Hi,” said Lila shyly. “Hiya,” replied Ellie as she swam through the hole “Dad said I could go swimming underwater for ten minutes so I have an hour here,” said Ellie happily “We could do some underwater target shooting, Luke’s very excited to see you,” said Lucy delightedly. “Well, come on then,” said Lucy, and they swam to the castle and Lila pushed the doors open gently. Inside Luke was waiting, he swam up to Ellie and nervously stuttered “I l-lov-ve y-you,” and what happened next no one expected, Ellie kissed Luke on the cheek…

THE END

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

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arriet Hutson is a 9-year-old from Brighton, UK. The Tale of Another Dimension is her first novel. She loves writing stories, gymnastics and reading books. She wrote this story during the first lockdown while the schools were shut, due to COVID-19 in 2020. She hopes to write many more books in the future, so watch this space!

TheChapter Tale of Another Title (Optional) Dimension

The Tale of Another Dimension

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llie finds herself staring at a hole and the next thing she knows; she’s being dragged away into a fantasy adventure. Ellie makes friends with no other than, two mermaids and a giant seahorse. She finds herself facing difficult challenges and seeing dreams she’s not meant to. When she finds out there’s a plot set for one of her new friends, the four of them try their hardest to get to the end. They must save a loved one, stop a plot and face challenges beyond imagination, the question is. Can they make it home safely…?

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