It was a lovely summer's day and it was the last day of school. Lynn, Jake, Elaine, Sean and Aideen were planning a sleepover for Elaine's birthday.
"Ye could come over at eight o' clock and we could watch a video," Elaine suggested.
"Cool! How about Scream 2," Jake insisted.
"Yeah!" everyone replied.
"Great! I'll rent the video," Jake offered.
"I'll buy the popcorn," announced Aideen.
"I'll bring the games," added Sean.
"And I'll bring the junk food!" said Lynn.
Suddenly the bell rang and they all went to class to spend an hour on the worst subject in the world, Irish! When they finally got back, it was lunchtime.
"Really! Mr. Corry should win the most boring teacher award," moaned Elaine.
"Don't forget the strictest teacher award, that's the third time he shouted at me this week!" Jake complained.
"That's because you keep nodding off during class!" Aideen laughed.
"Well we won't have to see him again for three months once today is over," Sean added in a jovial manner.
"Thank God!" Lynn exclaimed.
They all laughed loudly. When lunch was over, they trooped off to class talking. During class they got bored as usual and passed notes saying:
I have loads of homework,
Do ye want to meet after
school?
Yeah we could meet at
Lynn's house.
Sure, Mom won't mind!
"Lynn, Elaine, Jake what are you doing! Show me that note Lynn," Mr. Corry ordered.
"It's nothing Mr. Corry," Lynn said sweetly.
Mr. Corry grabbed the note out of Lynn's hand, which read:
Mr Corry is so boring,
I can't wait to get home.
"So you think I'm boring, do you," Mr. Corry snapped.
"No sir," Lynn mumbled quietly.
"Well I suppose I won't punish you since it's the last day of school. Nevertheless, I don't want it happening again," warned Mr. Corry.
"Yes sir," Lynn replied.
Chapter 2: The Sleepover
"Get the flour," Elaine's mum ordered.
"Yes, mum," Elaine replied.
They were making chocolate chip cookies for the sleepover. Elaine went to the high press and got the flour. She gave it to her mum and continued eating the chocolate chips.
"Elaine! Stop eating the chocolate chips," her mother snapped.
"Sorry," Elaine apologised. She put the chocolate chips down. "I'm just daydreaming about tonight, we are going to have so much fun!" Elaine sighed.
"Well, you'll have to wait for a while first. Now help me make these cookies," her mum replied.
Soon afterwards they put the cookies in to bake, watched t.v and relaxed. As it always is when you are waiting for something exciting, time seemed to go slower than usual. When eight o' clock finally arrived Lynn, Jake, Aideen and Sean were waiting at her doorstep. Elaine opened the door and they shouted "Happy Birthday". They raced inside and put on Scream 2 while Elaine's mum put the popcorn in the microwave to pop. They spent the rest of the night hiding behind cushions and munching on popcorn, sweets and cookies. Finally they raced up to bed and decided to play 'Truth or Dare'. In the end they ran out of ideas and were forced to play something else. But they couldn't think of anything.
"Hey, why don't we go up to the attic and look around," Elaine suggested.
"That's not a bad idea!" Jake exclaimed.
Everyone agreed to go. Elaine's house was huge with a large dark attic just waiting to be explored. Elaine led them down the stairs. They tiptoed down the corridor, through the small door and into the attic. In the attic, there were a lot of antiques and old junk. In the corner, there was an old, dusty mirror. Aideen strolled over to it.
Chapter 3: The Discovery
"Hey look at this," Aideen said excitedly.
"What it's only an old mirror," Sean commented.
Everyone else looked elsewhere while Aideen took a closer look at the mirror. It had old English words on it. Aideen tried to read them out but as she was reading, she felt a strange sensation. A white mist started to form all around her. She couldn't see, she felt frightened. Then suddenly the mist started to clear. She was no longer standing in front of the mirror. Just then she heard a loud thud and looked down to see Jake, Elaine, Lynn and Sean lying on the ground. They quickly jumped up.
"Is everyone okay?" Jake asked.
"Where are we?" Elaine sobbed.
They looked around. They appeared to be in a magical land that looked like it might have been extracted from a fairytale. All of a sudden a black cat appeared. Aideen loved cats. She bent down and stroked it on the head.
"Excuse me but I am not a house cat," protested the cat.
Aideen jumped back in fright.
"You can talk!" she blurted out.
"Why yes," replied the cat. "My name is Zembla".
Jake stepped forward.
"Where are we?" he demanded.
"Why you are in the Land of the green gardens and blue seas!" Zembla informed them.
"Why! You can talk?" Lynn blubbed in amazement.
Zembla added,"Many hundreds of years ago when the war was being fought here, I was kidnapped and turned into a cat never to be a man again."
"Oh no! That's so sad," Aideen cried."Is there anything that we can do?"
"There is only one solution. Kill the evil king and I will be turned back into a human,"
Zembla informed them.
"Lets do it, come on!" Aideen persuaded the others.
They reluctantly advanced towards the castle. However, they had no idea what they were getting into.
Chapter 4: The King and Zembla
When they arrived at the castle door there were two burly guards protecting it.
"Let us in," Zembla demanded.
The guards didn't reply but still stood in front of the door.
"Oops, I forgot they are from a different world!" Zembla laughed. "Elaine, would you open the door please?"
Elaine pushed the guards aside and opened the door. They cautiously crept inside. Zembla led them to the room the king was in. He was sitting on the throne.
Suddenly he screamed,"Its Zembla the evil cat".
Everyone fled and the king rose from his throne.
"Why have you returned?" demanded the king.
"What are you talking about?" asked Lynn.
"That cat almost killed everyone in the village three hundred years ago. That's why he was turned into a cat!" the king explained.
Zembla darted out the door. The children ran after him and caught him.
"You liar," they shouted.
Suddenly he slipped out of their hands and was gone. He had vanished from their sight.
Chapter 5: Back at Home
The children stood, staring in disbelief and were wondering what to do next when a white mist began to swirl around them. They clutched each other tightly as the ground beneath them started to shake. Before they knew it they found themselves back in the attic the old mirror standing in front of them.
"Did you just have a really weird dream?"
Lynn asked.
"Yeah," everyone replied.
"With a black cat in it?" Lynn added.
"Yes," they said again.
"Cool, lets go down and have breakfast," Elaine suggested.
They agreed to go down to breakfast.
"Good morning. Did you have a nice sleep?" Elaine's mum greeted.
"Yes a great one," Elaine lied.
They burst out laughing and sat down leaving Elaine's mum confused and baffled. This was the first time these children had actually slept on a sleepover. Whatever could be happening!
