“Shh, Jilly, the door is going to say something!” Princelda said.
The door said:
“If you want me to open up,
Drink the potion that’s on my side.
Beware though, fools, that if you drink,
You will be sad because you’ll shrink!”
And the mouth disappeared.
Lily looked down and saw a small container on the ground. She picked it up and examined it.
“So, we must drink a potion.” Jilly said thoughtfully.”Whoever drinks the potion, will become smaller.”
“I will drink it, girls,” Princelda said. “I am small anyways.”
The girls agreed. Lily gave the potion to Princelda, and she drank it. She became smaller and smaller, until she was nowhere to be seen.
“Oh, no! We’ve lost her!” Jilly exclaimed. The door to the chamber opened at once.
“Jilly, don’t worry, I’m all right. I will sit on Lily’s shoulder.” A tiny voice came from the air.
“Jilly, it is Princelda’s voice. Don’t worry, she’s all right,” Lily said and entered the chamber. Running right towards the wooden case, she opened it. The magnificent sparkling rainbow crown was there.
“Quickly, Lily, grab it!” Jilly said, looking around with frightened eyes. Lily grabbed the crown and hid it under her blouse.
The sisters ran out of the chamber.
Chapter 9: Puzzle Time
They flew up the stair flights and looked around. The light ball made it visible that there was a passageway going deeper into the cave.
“Where do we go now? Where is she hiding the queen?” Lily asked thoughtfully.
“Girls, let’s go through that passage.” Princelda’s voice was heard from Lily’s shoulder. “We don’t know anything at all starting from now, so we must just trust our instincts.”
“She’s right, Lily,” Jilly said. They started to fly through the passageway.
When they got deeper into the cave, they appeared in a round space, with two doors.
“Now what?” Jilly said.
Without saying a word, Lily knocked on one of them three times. The mouth appeared on the door and said:
“If you desire me to open,
I will tell you something spoken,
I am hungry, mind it, fools,
I will let out my drools.”
“What does this mean?” Lily said.
“I really don’t want to get inside this door.” Jilly said. “I think that if we get inside, this door will eat us.”
She turned and went towards the other door. Without hesitation, Jilly knocked on it three times. The mouth appeared on the door and said:
“Come in, come in, little fools,
And call me your master,
Where the network is in place,
You will die much faster.”
“Oh, Lily, what does this mean? Die much faster?” Jilly said.
“It said something about a network. I don’t understand.” Lily said.
“It said to call it a master.” Jilly said.
Without hesitation, Lily said: “Our master.”
To their surprise, the door opened and they went in. The door closed with a click behind them. The cave which they were in, was covered in a huge cobweb. The girls tried to put the light ball ahead of them to see the cave, and saw that the cobweb wasn’t covering the floor.
“We must lie on our bellies, Lily,” Jilly said. “I don’t even want to think what would happen to us if we didn’t have the light ball!”
They got down onto their bellies and started to crawl ahead. Lily looked up and saw a huge spider on the high ceiling. The spider was Lily’s size. Obviously it was asleep. Quickening her pace, and trying not to touch the cobweb, she reached the other end of the cave, followed by Jilly. There was a door there. The sisters crawled out of the room and stood up.
***
“At last we left that scary place,” Jilly said, shivering. They looked and saw that there was a door in front of them. Lily walked up to it and knocked three times. The mouth appeared and said:
“If you came this far then you,
You were crawling on the ground,
Note that it’s not only you,
There’s something, too, huge and round.”
“Oh,” Lily whispered. “Do you have an idea what it is? I can’t solve this riddle.”
Jilly was silent. She was thinking.
“Lily, there’s something huge and round that can crawl on the ground like us… and its there, inside.”
“Crawling on the ground? It may be an ant…” Lily whispered. “Huge and round? Oh, it may be so fat and round, that it can’t walk, so it crawls.” She giggled. Princelda’s nervous laughter was also heard from Lily’s shoulder.
“Lily, I don’t think it’s the ant,” Jilly said, her face frightened and pale. “It’s snake! A huge snake!”
Just as it got to Lily, the door opened.
The sisters peeked into the cave and due to the light ball they saw a really big black snake lying down on the ground and it wasn’t moving.
***
“Lily, I am afraid to go in. How are we going to defeat the snake?” Jilly whispered, her eyes round with fear.
“I don’t know, Jilly. But we have to go in there. Only then we can rescue the queen.”
The sisters went in. The snake occupied the whole floor of the cave, leaving only tiny gaps on the ground, where a small foot could fit. Lily tried to fly, but obviously the flying power had faded. The sisters understood that they had to walk carefully, so that not to touch the snake.
“I hope that it’s asleep,” Jilly whispered.
“I hope that it’s dead.” Lily whispered back.
“Oh, Lily, we must be very careful,” Jilly whispered, just as Lily did the first step. Tiptoeing and making little jumps from gap to gap, she managed to get through the cave safely. Jilly did the exact same thing and reached her sister safely. At the end of the cave there was a door, which was half-open.
The sisters tiptoed out of the cave and took a deep breath of relief. In front of them there was a door again.
Lily knocked on it and the mouth appeared. It said:
“Password!”
Lily and Jilly looked at each other.
“If only the door gave us a hint. How on hell can I guess the password?” Lily said angrily. The door answered: “Wrong answer. You have two more tries left.”
The sisters got silent. They didn’t want to waste any more tries.
Finally Lily said: “Sparkle”.
“Wrong answer. You have only one more try left.”
It was crucial to guess the right answer. This was their last chance.
Without thinking, Jilly said: “Red scorpions.”
To their surprise, the door opened. Obviously lazy Acnepus hadn’t bothered to create a new password. Lily and Jilly entered and were astonished to see that a sparkling big butterfly was sitting on the ground.
Chapter 10: Victory
The butterfly was the size of a person, and it was pink and sparkling.
“Mommy!” Princelda’s voice was heard from Lily’s shoulder.
The butterfly looked at Lily and Jilly, who were standing there, not believing their eyes.
Finally Lily was able to speak: “Are you Sparkle? Are you the queen?”
The butterfly nodded. “Who are you?” she asked. Her voice was very beautiful, and it seemed that it was also sparkling.
“We are Lily and Jilly.” Lily said.
“We are sisters,” Jilly added.
“I thought I heard my daughter’s voice. Where is Princelda? And how did you manage to get here?” the queen asked.
“Mommy, I am here. You can’t see me, though. I am very tiny, because I have drunk a potion. We have come to rescue you.”
The queen’s face brightened when she heard her daughter’s voice again. But she sighed sadly: “Princelda, you can’t rescue me unless you find my crown.”
>
“We have found it, too.” Lily said happily and took out the rainbow crown. It was shining with seven colors and lit up the room. Lily put it on the queen’s head. Sparkle shook her wings.
Immediately everything changed. Seven colors burst out of the crown and spread all over the cave. Then they started to spread out into the passageways and throughout entire Horriworld. The dark and uninviting cave became a bright and shining palace. The spiders and snakes became happy people. Horriworld became a sunny world, full of happiness and beauty. The dry trees became beautiful blossoming trees and flower bushes.
Princelda became big again and shook her wings happily, resulting in a nice sparkling cotton candy, which the sisters ate immediately. The four of them flew out of the palace and headed towards Buttershine. Looking back, Jilly saw that on the palace there was written: “HER MAJESTY QUEEN SPARKLE, THE QUEEN OF SUNNYTOWN”.
On the way to Buttershine Princelda told her mother everything that had happened during those days.
***
When they reached Buttershine, it was still dark and unpleasant. The words on the ugly cave still represented Acnepus. Obviously the magic of the crown hadn’t reached there yet.
Flying into the big cave, the four of them headed right towards the throne room, where they found Acnepus sitting on the throne, with a few frogs around her.
Seeing the sisters, Acnepus got very angry, but then her eyes fell on Princelda and Sparkle with the crown on her head, and she became very frightened.
Before she could do any magic, Sparkle emitted several rainbow rays towards her, which tied her hands and feet.
“Oh, Your Majesty, Queen Sparkle, I apologize.” Acnepus stammered.
“Lily,” Sparkle said, “I guess this is a very convenient moment to carry out your wish.”
Smiling widely, Lily came up to Acnepus and punched her hard in the face with her fist. Satisfied and happy, she returned to her sister. Sparkle shook her wings, and seven bright colors of the rainbow shot out of her crown, blinding everyone around them.
When the bright light was gone, the cave had become a nice palace again, and the whole Buttershine world had become a sunny and a beautiful world, as it was before. The frogs had turned back into people, and one of them was Medicol, who kept thanking Lily and Jilly.
“And where is Acnepus?” Lily asked.
A beautiful woman approached them, wearing a pretty smile on her face, pink butterfly wings on her back, just like the people had in Buttershine. She said in a pleasant voice: “Please call me Kindie,” she said. “I want to be the kindest person in the world. I want to forget my dark and shameful past. I want to forget that once I was Acnepus.”
Lily and Jilly looked at her with wide-open eyes. Sparkle smiled kindly and said: “I know, Kindie, that’s why I didn’t kill you and thanks to these little sisters, I turned my world into Buttershine again.”
Princelda added: “Only Lily and Jilly could help me. I had a reason why I chose you, girls. Lily’s bravery and Jilly’s brains made it possible to complete this important mission. And, most importantly, you are very good sisters, you never fought during these days, which made it possible to stay on the same page and carry out our plans. You two complete each other. Thank you very much for helping me.”
Lily and Jilly smiled. “Thank you, too,” Jilly said. “This was the most rewarding experience in my life so far.”
“I will never forget the adventures that we had,” Lily added. “Thank you so much.”
***
After saying goodbye, Lily and Jilly flew up into the sky with Princelda. When they were high in the clouds, Princelda created the magical sparkling passageway, and the three of them got through it into the other world.
“Princelda, I will never forget you,” Jilly said.
“And the cotton candy,” Lily added.
“And the ability to fly,” Jilly added.
“And our cave full of deliciousness,” Lily added.
“And our armchairs,”
“And the most perfect feeling when sliding down the rainbow!”
Princelda was laughing. “Girls, I am so happy that you have so many beautiful memories to remember. And I will also remember you and your help.”
They descended into the forest and walked up towards the hill. The house was already near.
“Your parents haven’t noticed your absence, because I had stopped the time for them, remember?” Princelda said. The girls nodded. Princelda said goodbye and flew away.
Lily and Jilly ran up towards their home and entered.
“Lily, Jilly, you are just in time to have lunch,” their mother said smiling, and put pink sparkling cotton candy on the table.
The girls smiled and thought to themselves, “Nothing is impossible, if you set your mind to it.”
BONUS
THE ADVENTURES OF LILY AND JILLY
Lily’s Birthday Wish
It was noisy in the house. Grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins and friends were at Lily’s and Jilly’s house. It was Lily’s birthday. Everybody was having a fun time. The elders were chatting in the living-room, while the children were playing different games. Jilly was showing her cousins her drawings of Buttershine, and Lily was surrounded with her friends, looking at the brand new book that she had got as a birthday present from her grandparents. The book was about the North Pole and Eskimos. A small Eskimo boy in his furry coat was pictured with his husky dog on the cover of the book.
“Lily, where are you?” Jilly’s voice was heard from the other room.
“I’m here, in the kitchen,” Lily called, as she was looking through the pages of her book.
Entering, Jilly said: “Lily, mommy and daddy are calling you. I guess it’s time to blow your candles.”
Lily put the book aside and ran into the living-room, followed by her friends.
“Time to blow the candles!” Said their mother and brought a beautiful cake with seven candles on it. Lily came closer.
“Make a wish, honey,” everybody said.
Lily looked at the wall clock: it was 7:07 p.m. Closing her eyes, she thought: “I wish to travel to the North Pole and see Eskimos. On a sledge full of goodies and two good husky dogs pulling the sledge.” Then she opened her eyes and blew all the seven candles in one blow.
Everybody applauded. Mommy cut the cake, which was a strawberry cake with chocolate topping and it was very tasty, too.
In the evening, when the guests had already left. Lily and Jilly were in their bedroom and were looking at the gifts that Lily had received. There were a couple of dolls, a few books, two summer dresses and some stationary.
“I had a beautiful time, Jilly.” Lily said happily.
“Me, too,” Jilly said, changing into her pajamas.
Lily changed into her pajamas, too. When they already were in bed, Lily shouted: “Mom, dad, we’re in bed!”
Their parents came and kissed them goodnight. Then they turned off the light, closed the door and left.
“Goodnight, Lily,”
“Goodnight, Jilly.”
***
Lily woke up from the cold. She was shivering.
“What’s happening!” she heard Jilly’s voice next to her.
Lily opened her eyes and at first couldn’t understand what was going on. There were snowflakes and wind everywhere. Lily was half-asleep, but she could tell that she wasn’t dreaming because she was really cold and she clearly remembered that it was the middle of summer.
“What’s happening?!” She heard Jilly shouting next to her. Lily opened her eyes wider and looked around, trying to see anything through the snowstorm.
They were sitting in a big sledge, which was being pulled by two big white husky dogs. The sledge was moving very quickly. Cold wind and freezing snowflakes were blowing into their faces and making their long red hair fly. They were still in their pajamas.
“Lily, what’s happening?!” Jilly shouted again, and her voice was barely audible in the noise
the wind made.
“I… I don’t know, Jilly,” Lily shouted back. “Are we dreaming?”
“Of course not, Lily! I’m shivering!” Jilly shouted.
The sisters were blue from cold. Suddenly Lily remembered.
“Jilly!” she shouted. “Yesterday I made a wish for my birthday!”
“So what, Lily?”
“I wished to travel to the North Pole and see Eskimos! But how can this happen in reality?”
“Oh, Lily!” Jilly shouted. “Why on earth would you make such a wish?”
“I saw it in my book and so I made a wish to travel there on a sledge with two husky dogs and all sorts of goodies in the sledge.” Lily shouted.
“Goodies? What goodies?” Jilly asked and looked around. The sledge was rather big and on the backside of the sledge there were boxes.
“Lily, look, there are boxes behind us!”
Download the rest of Book 2 here
Children's Stories: The Fairy Tale Adventures of Lily And Jilly Series - Book 1 - The Magical World Buttershine Page 4
