2017 Inklings Book Contest finalist: Alvina Mastakar
Today we are featuring Inklings Book Contest 2017 finalist, Alvina Mastakar! Alvina finished 4th grade this past school year. The story she submitted is called “The Secret of the Other World”. We hope you enjoy reading it as much as we did!
Leave a comment below on what you thought!
The Secret of the Other World
by Alvina Mastakar
Lilly was looking closely and carefully at the dogs, one after another. Lilly was at the pet shop and she was going to get a dog! All her life, Lilly wanted to get a dog, and she finally convinced her parents to get one! “Lilly, we should get this one!” Lilly’s dad exclaimed, pointing to a black dog with rough fur. “No, not that one,” Lilly replied, looking at his dull fur. “His fur looks too shaggy and boring.” “How about a poodle?” Lilly’s mom questioned her. “No, not that one either. Poodles are not fun to play with.”
But just then, she saw this dog, a perfect dog, a dog with fuzzy, warm, brown fur. Her eyes sparkled, as if the dog wanted to tell her something. Lilly walked up to the dog and saw her name on the collar. ‘Brownie’, what a perfect name for her, Lilly thought. Right that moment Lilly knew that she should get Brownie. “I want to buy this one,” Lilly said, loud and clear hoping her parents would agree. They were both looking at each other, thinking what they should decide. Then, together, they said, “Yes, absolutely!”
That moment Lilly just wanted to jump in the air and yell, “Yay! Hooray!” She wanted to do a happy dance and jump all around the store. She could not believe that the dream she had wished for all her life had come true. But she was in a store, so she couldn’t jump all around. They bought the dog and took her home.
“Mom, Dad, can I play with Brownie?” Lilly asked. “Sure, of course Lilly,” Lilly’s parents replied. So, Lilly and Brownie went to the backyard. Lilly got a stick and threw it, expecting Brownie to run and fetch it. Instead, Brownie barked, “You expect me to fetch that dirty stick?! That thing has been covered with mud! What kind of game is that? How would you like it if I threw a dirty stick at you and expect you to fetch it!?”
Lilly was really stunned. “I think my imagination is running wild,” Lilly thought out aloud. “I think I just heard the dog talk to me.” “You just did,” Brownie stated. “But, how?” Lilly fainted because she couldn’t believe it.
Her own dog had talked. The dog looked like an ordinary dog. But it just didn’t make any sense! An ordinary dog, with ordinary fur, with ordinary everything, everything but how the dog talked. “Wow, you are heavy,” Brownie muttered, trying to pull Lilly back inside the house. Brownie pulled Lilly inside the house and then got some tap water to sprinkle on her. Soon after Lilly woke up, Brownie told Lilly the whole story.
“But that’s not possible,” Lilly objected. “Yes, it is true. Let me explain to you what happened. So, I am from another world. The world I live in is really different from here.” “Of course, why wouldn’t it be? It’s another world, after all.” “Yeah, I know that, but the thing is that I am a person, not a dog. In my world, I am a person, but when I am in your world, I become a dog.” “Oh, that makes more sense why your world is really different from mine,” Lilly said thinking about it. “There is more information I think you will want to know,” Brownie told Lilly. “There is more?!” Lilly asked, filled with curiosity.
“Yes, there is more. I got sent here, to your world, because I had a mission to find out some information about your planet. Nobody warned me that I would turn into a dog after I came here. So, when I came here I was lost and I didn’t know where to go. Then, some human found me and took me to the pet shop. That’s the last thing I remember because I fell asleep.”
“Oh, now that makes even more sense,” Lilly said, nodding her head, suddenly understanding what had happened. “Well, what should we do now?” Brownie asked Lilly. “I am not sure, maybe we should…” “Hi Lilly,” Lilly’s mom interrupted them. “Hi Mom,” Lilly replied. “Did I hear you talking to someone?” “Mom, I was just talking to my friend, Emily,” Lilly lied. “Maybe we can have a playdate another time Emily!” Lilly shouted, pretending that Emily was standing outside the house. “Oh, and Mom?” “Yes, Lilly?” her mom replied. “Where did dad go?” “He had to go to work. Why were you asking?” “No particular reason. I was just wondering,” Lilly replied.
Ring! Ring! “Oh, the phone is ringing upstairs! I better go get it!” “Lilly, thank you so much!” Brownie said with relief, after Lilly’s Mom rushed upstairs to get the phone. “If you told your mom the truth, then she would have mentioned it to her friends, and her friends would have passed the news to the whole community! That would have been really terrible!” “You’re welcome, Brownie,” Lilly replied courteously.
“Lilly, this may sound weird, but your mom looks very familiar. I think that we have met before, but I just can’t recall where.” “It does sound weird. Maybe your imagination is just running wild!” teased Lilly. “Hmmm, maybe…….” Brownie thought.
“Hey, Lilly, I’ve got an idea! Maybe we can go to my world so you can explore my world. So, what do you think?” “That’s an awesome idea! But I think there is a problem. What if my mom realizes that I am gone?” “No problem,” Brownie reassured Lilly, “all I have to do is to turn her into an ice cube.” “You have powers, Brownie? That’s amazing! I wish I had powers!” “Yeah, I can do magic, but I am not that good since I just started learning how to use it. So, should I turn your mom into an ice-cube now?” “No, wait, don’t do it yet! I don’t want to live with a frozen Mom!” “Don’t worry, I will make the spell in such a way that when we enter the house again, she will turn back to normal. I am not that good at magic, but it’s better than nothing.” “So, do your magic, Brownie,” Lilly remarked.
They went upstairs to find Lilly’s mom, but she wasn’t there. They came down again, and found her cleaning up the living room. As soon as Brownie saw her, she moved her paws in the air in a certain way and then Lilly’s mom turned into an ice-cube. Mom looks very interesting inside the ice-cube, Lilly thought. “See, it’s a piece of cake. Now let’s go through my personal portal.” Brownie got this portal which was hiding inside her collar. “Come on, let’s go Lilly,” Brownie called, eager to show Lilly where she lives. “Okay,” Lilly answered, excited of what this adventure would turn out to be. Nervous, but also very excited, Lilly went inside the portal, and so did Brownie. “Wow, this place looks so cool!” Lilly gasped, looking around at the colorful portal. The portal was rainbow colored and the colors were moving around. Soon, the fascinating portal had come to an end.
In Brownie’s world, everything seemed so tall and the grass seemed so close to Lilly’s face. Then, she looked at Brownie in awe, who had turned into a human. Brownie had brown hair, blue eyes and looked much taller than Lilly. Instead of having a black collar that said Brownie, she had a nametag that said ‘Grace’. Then suddenly Lilly looked at her own hands, which had turned into paws.
“Here, look at yourself,” Brownie revealed, handing a mirror to Lilly, who was totally astonished. Lilly took the mirror from Brownie with her brown paws and looked at herself. “What?!?” Lilly was so surprised of how she looked like. “I’m a dog! But, how …” “It’s all very simple,” Brownie remarked. “Remember how I told you that when I came to your world I was transformed into a dog? Well, since in your world, you are a human, in my world you are a dog.”
“Yeah, but I’m still confused,” Lilly responded, looking at Brownie’s nametag. “Oh, this. My real name is actually Grace, but my nickname is Brownie, because my hair looks like the color of a brownie. I have two nametags. One, which has the name ‘Grace’ on it, and the other which has ‘Brownie’ on it. I wear both nametags, but I mostly wear the one that says ‘Brownie’.” “But why do you have to wear a nametag?” Lilly asked, hoping that Brownie wouldn’t get too tired of answering all her questions. “Well, everyone who lives here has a job and my job is to welcome the new people who come,” Brownie explained. “Oh, okay,” Lilly nodded, no longer filled with questions.
“Welcome, welcome,” Brownie greeted as she saw some new people she had never seen before enter inside her world. “My name is ‘Grace’. Call me ‘Brownie’, that’s what I would prefer.” “Hi Brownie!” a little girl waved standing next to her mom, looking around the new place she had entered. “My name is Gloria.” “Hello Brownie,” Gloria’s mom said. “My name is Liza. We’ve come here to live with our family. I’ve heard how beautiful it is outside. I can’t wait until my children learn how to do magic!” “Well, set your bags down and go explore!” Brownie suggested. “I hope you enjoy living here.”
“Okay, now let’s explore. I think you’re going to love it here.” “Yeah, I think I’m liking it already,” Lilly admitted. “So this is the library,” Brownie said, having a happy look in her eyes. “This is my favorite place to go. All my memories are here. Like, for instance, my friend Lucy and I did some mischief when we were really little. At night, when everyone was asleep, we got out all the pencils from the librarian’s desk and hid them in places. We heard someone coming and we didn’t want anybody to know we were there, and we were still hiding pencils. We got so scared and surprised, we dropped the pencils on the floor and hid. The next morning, when the librarian unlocked the library and let everyone in, she slipped on the pencils we had dropped. We were laughing so much when we heard the news from our friends.” “That must have been hilarious!” Lilly laughed, sounding like a maniac, laughing so hard.
“So, can I meet your parents? I can’t wait to meet them! They must be really nice.” “Sorry Lilly, but you can’t,” Brownie murmured in despair. “You just can’t!” “What’s wrong?” Lilly whispered to Brownie in a soft voice. “Are you okay?” “Yeah, I’m alright. It’s just that – well, let me tell you what happened. You deserve to know.” Reluctantly, Brownie told the story. “So, I was really young, like about two years old. My parents had got sent for a mission too, the same as mine, to find some information on planet Earth. My parents had a wristwatch, just in case if they got lost, other people on my planet could locate them. Unfortunately, my parents lost their wristwatches somehow and got lost. They also lost their magical portal that leads us back to our world. My parents were nowhere to be found.” “It is okay, Brownie,” Lilly said sympathetically. “Let’s just forget about it, okay.”
Brownie continued giving Lilly a tour all around her community. Lilly glanced at her watch. “I should go back home now,” Lilly sighed after sometime, wondering if she would ever come back to this wonderful planet. “It’s getting late. Thanks for bringing me here. It has been a wonderful experience coming here.” “You’re welcome. You’re welcome here anytime. Here,” Brownie said, handing a bracelet with a heart charm. “Any time you want to visit here, just get some of the sparkly, golden dust from this bracelet and sprinkle it on yourself. That will bring you to my planet. When you want to go back home, just sprinkle more of the golden dust on you.” “Thank you, this is so kind and thoughtful of you. I know that I can go home from using my bracelet, but can we go home by your portal, so we have a longer time to say goodbye?” “Sure! I’ll just get my portal and drop you home.” Brownie threw a little square shaped thing in the air and apparently that little square turned into a big, humongous portal. Lilly and Brownie stepped into the portal together and shortly arrived at Lilly’s warm, cozy house.
“Bye Brownie!” Lilly said. “I’ll see you later.” “Bye!” Brownie called after Lilly. “I’ll be heading back now.” To Brownie’s surprise, Lilly called after her to come back. Brownie stepped out from the portal and asked what was wrong. “What’s wrong?” Brownie wondered. “What’s wrong? I’ll tell you what’s wrong. What’s wrong is my mother. You said my mother was going to turn back to normal when we entered my house. She is still frozen! What did you do to my mother!?!”
“I told you I wasn’t that good at Magic. Oh, no. I just realized …” “Ugh, more bad news,” Lilly broke in. “As I was saying, I just realized that I might have frozen your mother forever. I am so sorry. It’s all my fault. I shouldn’t have done that.” “It wasn’t all your fault. I should have not agreed with you. Well, I guess there’s nothing we can do.” “No Lilly, no. I don’t ever quit, and neither should you. I know there is a solution. There’s always a solution when there is a problem. We just need to think.”
“The first thing we need to do is close all the curtains and doors. That way the neighbors would have no chance of coming inside or looking inside and seeing my mom as an ice-cube.” “Good thinking,” Brownie said as she and Lilly rushed around the house, closing doors and curtains. Brownie thought for a moment. “Lilly, I think we should go back to my world. Maybe there is a potion, or some magic we can use. Anyway, nothing is going to help us here. There’s no magic here, but there is in my world.” “You’ve got a point. Let’s go.”
“Wait a second! I just realized something else! If we find some type of magic to save your mom, we only have seven hours to save her!” “Hey, how do you know that?” Lilly questioned. “It’s Rule #1 of Magic: To undo a mistake from Magic, one only has seven hours to fix that mistake.” “So we spent about five hours at your world so…….WE ONLY HAVE TWO HOURS TO SAVE MY MOM?!!!!?” “Sorry?” Brownie apologized in a small whisper. “We have no time for your sorry! Let’s go!” So, once again, they both dashed inside the portal.
“Is there a place where all of the potions are, Brownie?” “Yes, in fact, there is. Follow me.” Brownie led Lilly to a building called the Special Magic Building, (also known as the S.M. Building). The S.M. Building looked like it had nothing to do with magic. But as Brownie led the way inside the building, deep inside the building, Lilly figured out how wrong she was. There was a clock, an unusual clock that had swirls on it, instead of numbers. “Here, in my world, we write our language more differently than how you do,” Brownie explained, seeming to read Lilly’s mind, answering Lilly’s question, even before Lilly asked it. “So those are the numbers in your language?” “No, those are words.” “Why are there words on that clock?” “Well, I’m about to tell you. Anyway, you’re probably wondering what the words mean. It says, ‘Secret Passageway’. That’s pretty smart, because if a bad guy comes to my world, he doesn’t know the language we use here, and he won’t know that the clock says, Secret Passageway.” “You’re right. That is smart. The clock is kind of a disguise. It’s a place where nobody will expect a secret passageway to be.”
“Now, I guess I’ll open the secret passageway.” So, Brownie pressed at the middle, top, bottom, and then middle of the clock again, and then the clock automatically got pushed away. Behind the clock, the numbers zero to nine were revealed. Brownie clicked ‘1320955’ and the solid brown wall that had numbers on it had separated into two parts, revealing a staircase. Lilly didn’t know how, but it just did.
There were some steps leading down to the basement of the S.M Building. It looked dark and scary in the secret passageway. Cobwebs and dust filled the place. “Do we have to go inside there to find a solution?” Lilly complained. “Well, we don’t have to, but if you want your mother to be unfrozen, then we’ll have to go down there,” Brownie reminded her. “Okay, fine, but where is the light switch?” “There’s no light switch. However, I do have a torch I can light a flame on so that we can see.” “Sure, but be careful,” Lilly cautioned Brownie. Brownie followed Lilly’s advice and lit the flame carefully. Together they walked down the stairs. “Wow, it’s really hard to walk down these steps, especially since I turned into a dog,” Lilly stated.
When the two girls came down to the bottom of the stairs, Lilly saw all the potions. There were little cups with green or purple liquids in them, ready to be mixed. There was also a big shelf with big books, ready to be read. “We should read one of these books,” Brownie advised, pointing to the top shelf. “Why? Is it because those books might have a solution of how to unfreeze my mother?” “No, it’s because the books are ready to read.” “That’s silly. What do you mean? Any book is ready to read. It’s not like a book will start annoying you and say, ‘Read me! Read me! I’m ready to be read!’” “Read me!” a book began. Lots of books joined him. “Read us! Read us!” they all chanted. “We’re ready to be read. We’re ready to be read!”
“You were saying Lilly,” Brownie said. “Okay, fine, I was wrong,” Lilly admitted. “But how do we get these noisy, loud, annoying books to be quiet?” “I have a technique. Watch this. I wonder which book I’m going to read. I’m probably going to choose one which is super quiet!” Brownie half yelled, half talked over the rowdy books, making sure they would hear. A sudden silence fell over the books. “See, it’s really easy.” “Thanks Brownie. I never knew books could be so loud.” “You’re welcome Lilly. Now I think we should get back to work.” “Yeah,” Lilly agreed.
“Maybe the book lying on the table will help us, Brownie.” Brownie got the book and flipped to the front cover. It wrote, ‘Ways to Help you in Magic.’ Everything in the book was in alphabetical order, so you could find things more easily. Brownie turned some pages and got to the page she wanted. Lilly read, “If you accidentally freeze someone into an ice cube forever, you should go to Jane Brown, the ruler of our world.”
“Hey, that’s my mother!!!” they both shrieked at the same time. “What? This is confusing!” both of them blurted out. “Stop saying everything I say!” they growled together. “Ha, ha, ha,” they giggled at the same time, suddenly realizing what had happened. “I can’t believe it! We are actually sisters!!! I think I know what had happened, Brownie.” “Me too! You can share what you think had happened first.”
“So, when you said our parents had gone on a mission when you were really young, I was probably not born yet, because if I was, I would have been living here with you, not on Earth. I was born on Earth during our parents’ mission. They lost their portal and lost contact with this place. I guess that’s why we’re long lost sisters. What do you think?”
“That was the exact story I thought. I was just wondering, but do you have these things, like visions? I hear these voices calling, ‘Brownie, Lilly, help! I can’t use my magic because my hands are frozen.’ I see our mother frozen in the vision. Do you see something like that?” “Yes, I do. It’s like a signal or warning. I don’t know why, but I have a feeling that something weird or bad is going to happen if we don’t do something fast!”
“We should continue reading the book. It might help us and lead us to unfreeze our mother.” “If that’s not possible, there is no spell or potion to help you, but you can go to the Wishing Tree and he might grant you a wish,” Lilly continued.
“Bingo! We’ve got it. All we have to do is to go to the Wishing Tree. I went to the Wishing Tree before, but I forget where it is. A map is probably in here.” Hastily, the two sisters searched in the spooky, dark room and finally found it in a cabinet. “I found it!” Lilly burst out, breaking the silence. It was a very old map, since you could see it was folded, creased, and twisted. It was very delicate, so you couldn’t snatch it or grab it from someone else or it would tear. Quickly they hustled up the raggedy steps and closed up the secret passageway.
The map directed them to go North, East, and to continue going east until you reach the Wishing Tree. The Wishing Tree was a long, long way from the S.M. Building. “How much longer until we reach?” Lilly asked Brownie while they were walking. “I know that it’s a long way, but remember, we need to save our mother. According to the map we’re really close. Oh, it’s right over there.” Brownie and Lilly looked up from the map and saw a brown tree with golden sparkles.
It had eyes, a nose and a mouth, just like a human. “Hello Brownie! Who is your new friend here?” the tree questioned Brownie. “I am Lilly and you need to grant a wish for us,” Lilly answered, determined to get the wish they needed. “Sorry, but I can’t give you a wish. You do not live here, and only trusted people can get a wish. For example, Jane Brown, Brownie and the rest of her family.” Hearing this, Lilly was getting indignant.
“Wishing Tree, Lilly is a part of my family. She’s my long lost sister. Please help us. It’s an emergency, and you’re the only one who can help us.” “What’s the problem? Is it really bad?” “Unfortunately, yes it is. The problem is that our mother is frozen into an ice-cube forever. We tried looking in a book in the S.M. Building, but all the book said was that you should go to Jane Brown or the Wishing Tree.”
“I see now what the problem is. However, I might not have enough magic to do that, but I will try to the best of my ability.” “What?! But I heard people say that you almost have as much magic as my mother.” “No Brownie, I get my magic from your mother. She fills a bucket with her magic of golden sparkles, pours it on me, and that’s what causes me to grant wishes.” “But how do you still have magic within you? Our mom hasn’t been here for more than 9 years!” Brownie said. “Well, apparently, she can transport her magic from there to here.” “Oh, that makes more sense.”
“So what are you waiting for?!” Lilly said impatiently. She looked at her watch. “We only have 5 minutes left!” Lilly yelled, her voice full of panic. “Start granting our wish, please!” “Okay, Lilly. I’m going to start now.” Excited of what was going to happen next, Lilly sat down below the tree. The Wishing Tree grunted, concentrating, when surprisingly a burst of silver and golden sparkles sprinkled on Lilly, and to her amazement she had turned sparkly all over! It was on her T-shirt, pants, hair and even her face! Lilly shook off some of the sparkles. “Ha, ha,” Brownie laughed. “You look like a sparkle monster.” “I know, I look like a sparkle monster.” Lilly and the Wishing Tree joined Brownie and all of them started laughing together.
“I can’t believe it!” Lilly said, once everyone calmed down and stopped laughing. “Me neither! Our mom is unfrozen, and everything is back to normal! Thank you Wishing Tree!!!” “Yes, thank you Wishing Tree!!! You’ve helped us a lot! Thank you!” “You’re welcome, Brownie and Lilly! It was nice meeting you, Lilly!” “It was nice meeting you too, Wishing Tree!” “I guess we’ll be leaving now, Lilly.” “Right.” “Bye Brownie! Bye Lilly!” “Bye!” the two girls chorused.
They bounced inside the portal, where all of Lilly’s sparkles wore off, and they arrived at Lilly’s house. Brownie turned into a dog again, and Lilly was once again a human. Lilly looked at the place where their mom was before, and saw her mother, her happy mother, her mother who was smiling so hard that Lilly wasn’t even sure if she was smiling!!!
“Mom!” Lilly cried and ran to hug her. She was so happy to see her mother. Lilly wanted to hug her for hours and hours. “Mom,” Lilly beamed, “let me show you your other daughter.” Brownie stepped in front of Lilly and said, “Hello Mother.” “Grace, is that you?” “Yes, it is.” “Grace, I’ve missed you so much,” their mother whispered. Suddenly, the front door opened.
“I’m home!!!” a familiar voice exclaimed. Lilly, Brownie, and their mother turned their heads to the door. It was their dad. He looked down at the floor where the ice cube was. It was flooded with water. “Whoa! What happened there?” “Dad, do you remember your other daughter?” Lilly asked. “Grace?” their dad said in a soft whisper. “Is that you?” “Yes, Father, it is.” “Oh, Grace!” he said joyfully. He bent down to hug her.
After that, their mom did the same and crouched down to Brownie and hugged her. Later, both parents apologized together, “Lilly, we’re really sorry that we didn’t tell you that you had a sister.” “It’s ok,” Lilly said hugging her parents. “I’m sorry I froze you.” “It’s okay, Grace. Just don’t do it again.” “We’re sorry too, Grace,” their dad apologized again. “We should have found another way to come back to you. When we came here, both of us lost our watch and our portal. Your mother and I both tried to use magic to bring us back to our world, but we didn’t have enough magic to go back home. Even when we combined our magic, we still couldn’t do it. But your mother did have enough magic to turn me and herself into a human whenever we are on Earth, and to give magic to the Wishing Tree. You see, your mother is much more powerful than I will ever be.” “It’s okay Father!”
“I guess you are wondering what had happened, Mom.” “Yes Lilly, I’m really wondering what had happened.” “It all began when we got Brownie from the pet shop and she started talking ………
