The children, who were desperate for an adventure, decided to just have a look at the universe in which they had found themselves in.
They scrambled out of the corner which had now, turned into a multicoloured bush, which contained an upwards flowing waterfall that glowed. Desperate to be freed from their heavy bags, Zack instructed the group to hide their bags somewhere they could find later.
“What about the ball what should we do with it?” Daisy questioned.
“I’ll keep it with me for now, until we know what’s going on,” Zack replied with a stern tone.
As Zack was speaking Hazel picked up what looked like a strawberry and ate it. Suddenly Hazel started to float.
“Ahh help me!” she cried.
Toure quickly reached for Hazel’s hand, just managing to grasp it, but as he tried to pull her down, he himself began to float. Daisy (being the nearest to them) jumped and grabbed Toure’s feet with the slightest of grips but she too got lifted upwards.
Only Zack and Woody were left to help. So Zack shoved the metallic ball into his pocket and just about reached Daisy’s hand. When he got hold of her hand, he ran as fast as he could to a tree which they saw earlier on. He managed to grab hold of it and bring everyone down.
“Is everyone okay?” asked Zack concerningly.
“Yes,” replied Hazel.
Zack looked at his younger sister with utter fury!
“Hazel what did you do! Do you know how much danger you put everyone in! You could have poisoned yourself eating that and you could have killed us all!” Raged Zack.
As Zack stormed off, tears filled her eyes, and she ran off in the opposite direction. Daisy followed after her, while Toure and Woody went to look for Zack, who headed into a dark and gloomy forest following a luminous blue path. As Zack was walking he accidentally bumped into someone.
“Sorry,” he said in an apologetic voice, as he looked up and upon closer inspection, he realized the person he had walked into was Toure.
“Oh hey, sorry about that,” Toure replied in a deep, husky voice. He seemed not to recognize Zack as he was about to continue on his way.
Zack slightly confused by this and as to why Toure’s voice seemed to have changed to a much deeper tone said, “Hey Toure it’s me, Zack. The guy you’ve been best friends with since pre-school!”
“Um, are you sure?!” Toure asked with a bewildered expression.”I can’t seem to recall ever seeing your face!”
“What do you mean? And why has your voice changed?” asked Zack. Suddenly the metallic ball fell out of Zack’s pocket! Toure stared hard at the ball as Zack picked it up.
In a loud voice, Toure said, “Where did you get that?”
Zack stood still and watched Toure nervously. Suddenly Toure made a leap for the ball. Before Zack could react, Toure had snatched the ball out of Zack’s hand and ran off! Zack dumbstruck and stunned, shouted for the others to come to his aid.
As soon as Toure heard Zack’s voice he ran to him but when he reached Zack, Zack just looked at him suspiciously and then in an abrupt and raised tone said: “Who are you? Where is the ball?”
Toure looked at him baffled, “I’m Toure, your best mate since nursery! And you have the ball.”
Baffled, Zack replied, “Are you guys playing a trick on me? If so HAHA very funny! Cause you stole the ball and ran away…Even your voice was different…Still trying to figure out how you did that one and where you left Woody.”
“What do you mean Zack, what are you talking about!?” exclaimed Toure unknowingly. “I don’t have the ball and my voice hasn’t changed a bit. Plus Woody’s been with me this whole time and you know we can’t leave him by himself.”
Soon after Daisy and Hazel arrived to see what all the commotion was about.
“But I saw you… You were right there…” mumbled Zack.
“What’s going on… Are you all ok? We heard the shouting?” inquired Daisy breathlessly. She was all puffed out from the sprint she took to get to Zack.
“I’m fine but lost the ball…”
“What do you mean you lost the ball,” said Daisy in a worried voice.
“Toure stole it from me.”
“I did not.” retorted Toure.
“If it wasn’t you, it was someone who looked just like you in every way, but with a much deeper voice.”
“Like a doppelganger?”
“I guess so…”
Zack looked defeated. Hazel looked up at her older brother and grabbed hold of his hand.
“It’ll be ok. We’ll find it again, don’t worry bro.” She piped.
“It’s far from ok. You children have just lost a portal to your universe. If that portal gets to the emperor, whatever universe you came from will soon be taken over.” Came an eerie voice from the bushes.
“Who are you and what do we do?” asked Toure worriedly.
“A friend and I will help you get it back,” said the voice. “For a price. Of course.”
Zoe H Hopkins 