Today, we are featuring Inklings Book Contest 2024 finalist Haruka Sophie Rowland! She finished 5th grade this past school year and wrote a fast paced and magical fantasy story titled “Out of the Woods.” One judge praised Haruka’s “vivid descriptions that help me picture the scenes in my head.” Continue below to enjoy her work in digital book or plain text form.
Laying low was hard. It was especially hard for Isabella Thompson, who sometimes couldn’t help it. I mean, it was Jackson’s fault when he called her an idiot. And Layla shouldn’t have thrown away the drawing that Isabella spent so long to make. The reason these “incidents” happened was mainly other people’s fault.
And now it was happening again.
‘You really need to improve your grades, Isabella. A “D” is not an acceptable grade! Do this worksheet for homework and next time, make sure you know your fractions well enough to pass.’
‘But Miss-’
‘I don’t want to hear another word out of you, young lady! Now, go back to your seat immediately.’
She could feel it. That churning fire in her stomach, the burning behind her eyes, the twitching in her fingers. Then it happened.
With no control over her actions, she suddenly held one hand in front of her and, in a split second, her teacher was no more. In her place, a hazelnut-brown, fluffy fur ball was scurrying around, making frantic squealing noises, such as eek eek.
‘Hamster!’ somebody shouted, and suddenly everyone was panicking, shouting, or cheering at the sight of their fluffy teacher, and the once orderly class was pandemonium.
Horrified at what she had done, Isabella backed away and quietly slipped out of the classroom. Once out of the tumultuous room, she broke into a sprint, her trainers squeaking madly on the polished floor, her untamed hair flying wildly around the place.
She flew down the flight of wide marble stairs, her hand sliding down the gold-trimmed banister, and burst out of the front doors. Dashing through the playground, she headed for home, the one place she was accepted for who she was…
…
‘Isabella, look what you’ve done! Why is it that you always have to lose your temper and turn people into other things? Why can’t you just stay calm and keep your head down? Your father and I are doing everything we can for you to have a good education, and you repay us by turning your teacher into a rodent?!’
‘It was a hamster,’ Isabella muttered, her head hanging low in shame. She had arrived at her house and explained very awkwardly how her teacher had given her more homework and shouted at her, how she then lost her temper and turned Miss Jones into a hamster with her powers. You see, Isabella Thompson was not a normal child. She had superpowers. It was not a useful or cool superpower like superspeed, or flight, or invisibility. Her power was transformation. If she somehow lost her temper and became extremely angry, without being in control at all, she would turn that person into an object or animal. Some of her last victims were Jackson, the boy next door, now a hare, Layla, one of the popular girls at her school, now a turtle, and Mr. Brown, the gardener, now a doormat. And since she could not transform them back, she often ended up in a load of trouble.
This was one of those times. Her parents’ lecture was almost as boring as the lecture her teacher, Miss Jones, had been giving about fractions, which was why she had not been listening and had gotten a “D.” But she suspected that if she told her teacher that, it probably would not have helped the situation very much.
After her parents’ voices had grown hoarse, she trudged up the stairs and slouched into her room. She went straight to her desk, where a sheet of paper was laid out. Pencils and colour pencils were splayed across the desk as well. She perched on a stool, picked up a pencil, and started sketching out a beautiful fairy, with silver wings and a flowing dress. Art was the one thing that made Isabella feel calm and comfortable, and if she was ever stressed out or furious, she would sit herself down at this little table, and start drawing or painting. She was very talented when it came to art, and she had impressed people with her skills.
Today had been a terrible day, and she really wanted it to be over. Her breath evened a little and she felt herself dropping off to sleep. Her grip on the pencil loosened and her head drooped onto the desk…
‘Help! Help!’ A little girl’s voice. ‘Help me! Save me! I am in Whopping Woods, at the very heart of the forest…’ Then the voice faded away.
Isabella sat bolt upright. Sweat was sliding down her back, and her heart was beating so hard it felt as if it would burst out of her chest. It was a dream, she told herself. But it felt so real, the words so sharp, so desperate. She decided it must have been real, no dream would sound so clear.
And if it was, she had to help this girl! She had to go to Whopping Woods, and she had to save her. Isabella told herself she was brave, that she could do it, she could show everybody that she did not only cause trouble. But she hesitated for a second too long to persuade herself that she was courageous. Whopping Woods was dangerous. People had gone in there and never come out, and the villagers told stories of monsters and creatures sent from hell who lurked in the shadowy depths of the forest.
No, Isabella. She told herself firmly. This is not the time for you to get scared. There is a little girl out there who needs your help, and you are not going to let her down.
Feeling somewhat more courageous, Isabella stood up and marched across her room. She opened the door, and strode out, knowing she could do this.
A few seconds later she returned, marching back over to her bed. Before going off to the forest, she had to prepare.
Most people would make a plan. But, Isabella could not think of one. All she had to do was go to Whopping Woods, go through the forest to the very heart, and save the girl. Simple.
But she would have to gather the things for her trip. Starting with food. Isabella sneaked into the kitchen and grabbed all the food she could lay her hands on. She grabbed a couple of full water bottles and headed out of the kitchen.
Back upstairs, she put all of the food and drinks in her backpack. She added a long coil of rope, a map, and a few other items.
Lastly, she ripped a page out of her sketchbook and scrawled a quick note to her parents.
Dear Mum and Dad,
I have gone to Whopping Woods to save a little girl. If I am not back by dinner time, please come and look for me.
Love you,
Isabella
She folded the note and placed it on her bed.
Now she was ready.
She tiptoed down the stairs and through the kitchen. She crept across the dining and living room and went to the back door. With one last glance behind her, Isabella slipped through the door, shutting it with a tiny click.
Striding through the lush grass on her lawn, with her bag on her back, the gentle sun pouring warmth on her, the breeze pushing her bright blonde, wavy hair back, Isabella felt surprisingly confident and strong. Her electric blue eyes sparkled with excitement as she set off to find and save the little girl.
But this positive demeanor did not last very long. After an hour or two, her legs started aching, and the butterflies (more like snakes, actually) were going crazy in her stomach, for the giant black mass of Whopping Woods was looming into view, ever closer.
For a few more minutes, she kept walking, until she was right at the edge of the forest. Though it was bright daylight, the woods were very dark. The canopy of leaves overhead blocked most of the light that tried to inch its way in. Isabella pulled out the rope that she had packed and went over to one of the trees. She chose a particularly tall one and tied the rope around the trunk twice, to be sure. Then, unleashing the coil as she went, Isabella stepped into the forest and its dark secrets.
…
Isabella felt the coolness of Whopping Woods wash over her and wished she had brought a slightly warmer jacket. She watched out for any signs of movement or rustling, but only silence pressed down on her ears. It was almost as if the woods were waiting for something, holding its breath, which, all in all, was more unsettling.
The trek was making her legs tired, and after half an hour, Isabella sat down against the trunk of a tree. She took an apple out of her bag and, under the shade of the trees, she munched on her snack. The sweet juice of the fruit was welcome in her mouth, and very soon she had gobbled it up. She felt re-energized and refreshed, and, with enthusiasm, got up and set off again.
For a long time, Isabella trudged through the forest, encountering nothing. After a while, she thought maybe there really wasn’t anything in there, that those stories of terrifying creatures were just made-up nonsense.
That’s when a glimmer in the distance caught her eye. Wondering what could possibly be this bright in the middle of the woods, she drifted over to the source of the light, almost in a dream-like way.
Isabella entered a clearing, full of beautiful lush green grass. Gently swaying trees bordered the clearing and all sorts of flowers were blooming. Sunshine-yellow buttercups, pale purple violets, and sweet-smelling tulips were scattered across the blanket of grass. A magnificent, dazzling sun spilled its warmth over the whole place.
And as she came closer, a huge mound came into view. This mound seemed made of shiny leather, the sunshine reflecting off of it, which is what she must have been seeing. And on top of that mound, a small cage was perched, barely large enough for one person. And in that cage, a little girl was huddled, shivering. This girl had straight dark brown hair which was flowing down her back. Her once pretty clothes were ripped and torn, with dirt smeared over them. Her dress looked as if it might once have been silk, with a pearl white cardigan over it. Now, the edges were frayed and torn, and through her cardigan, Isabella could make out gashes. One nasty cut on her arm looked extremely painful, and Isabella could see that as the girl moved, she would occasionally wince.
Isabella didn’t know how to get the girl’s attention. She was excited, of course. She had found the girl. But she wouldn’t succeed unless she saved her, and to do that she first had to get her attention. In the end, she whistled to her. The sound was sharp and cut through the air, and the little girl immediately turned her head in surprise. Isabella noticed that she had dark brown eyes, and pale skin, turned even paler from terror and pain. She looked almost like a frail snowman.
Immediately, once the girl had spotted her, her eyes widened and she put a finger to her mouth in a mime to be quiet. Isabella did not quite understand why she should be silent when nobody seemed to be around, but she shut her mouth nevertheless.
She stealthily sneaked across the meadow and stood right next to the mound. Without hesitating, she started trying to scramble up the huge lump but the surface was hard and slippery, and no matter how hard she tried, she just could not get to the top.
Meanwhile, the imprisoned girl was frantically shaking her head, trying to silently get the scrambling girl to stop. Finally, she had no choice but to tell her verbally, for she was too determined to climb to the top to look at the girl. ‘Get down!’ she whispered, but Isabella seemed not to have heard her. A bit louder, she said, ‘Get down! You will wake him up!’
‘What?’ Isabella shouted back.
Finally, the girl lost her patience. ‘Get down right now!’ she shouted.
Suddenly, the huge mound underneath the two girls started moving, rising. Isabella started slipping down the giant lump and landed with a thud on the forest floor. Looking up, she realised with a jolt that this thing was not a huge mound. It was a colossal giant, a creature of some kind, covered completely in sparkling scales. Its body was in the shape of a human but it was the farthest thing from a human. Its face, if you can call it a face, was in the shape of an alligator, with rows of sharp teeth, and its eyes were blood red, a shade you see in the worst of nightmares, with no pupils. Isabella realised it must be blind. It was probably about the height of a large building, more than a hundred feet tall, and about the width of a bus.
Before Isabella could observe the horrific creature anymore, it raised one monstrous hand and swooped down upon her. It could have her fly a hundred feet with one flick of its pinky finger, but she dove out of the way just in time, scraping her face. She immediately dragged herself out of the way of another blow, but this time the creature’s hand hit the ground too close to her, and the impact sent her flying off. She hit the ground and felt all the air being knocked out of her, and for a few seconds could not move until she finally regained her breath.
Isabella staggered to her feet, and without completely knowing it, she again felt that anger deep inside, that boiling sensation, but this time it was a new feeling. Stronger, with more power. She had never felt this sort of rage before. On the other occasions, it had been little things to set her off, such as homework and teasing. But this time, it was pure hatred, looking at this monster. She felt that fury running through her blood, and the rage in her bones, and she could feel it all rising in her, and packing itself into one ball, one package of power. She brought that power up through her body, through her arm, into her hand, her fingertips. And she raised her hand and pointed it all at the creature, the one who had tried hurting this innocent little girl. Then she let go.
An orb of some kind, a flash, was sent from her hand to the monster, slicing through the air. It reached the place where the monster’s heart would have been and went right through it. A sudden blinding white light filled the whole clearing, and then it was gone. The creature was gone. In its place, a tiny animal sat, with fur as white as a swan’s feathers, and as fluffy as Miss Jones. The innocent little bunny looked from side to side, befuddled, twitching its pink nose.
Isabella’s heart filled with relief, and she let out a deep breath as the former monster bounced away. But her sense of relief was not long-lived.
The little girl in the cage was falling. As her cage was placed on the monster’s back, the moment he transformed into that bunny, she started plummeting down. Seeing this, Isabella darted over to where the girl would land and reached deep within herself. She knew what she had to do, and she could do this. She had just beaten a hundred-foot-tall giant, after all. With all the strength left in her, she focused on her power. She could feel it rising up, but not in the same way as with the giant. This was desperation, and hope, and courage. And again, she felt her fingertips tingling, and her bones burning, and for a moment, she felt herself leave the clearing. Everything was a dazzling white, she closed her eyes…
Then she was back. She looked down at herself, and to her amazement, her hands had disappeared, and in their place were paws. Four white and orange paws, with sharp claws at the ends of them. Her body felt stronger, and she felt she could jump high into the air and climb the tallest trees. She was a tiger. Immediately, she pushed herself off the ground, and with one quick movement, she carefully grabbed the girl in her jaws and threw her on her back. Then she landed on the ground, girl and all.
She placed the shocked girl on the ground, and with a last surge of strength transformed herself back into her human form. The last thing she saw was the little girl hanging over her, a shocked but smiling face. Then everything went black.
…
She heard frantic voices. She heard people scuttling around. ‘Is she alright?’ ‘Oh, will she be alright?’ ‘Look at that nasty gash!’ ‘My, oh my!’
Isabella slowly opened her eyes. Bright lights almost blinded her, but she did not shut her eyes again. With every nerve in her body screaming in protest, she pushed herself into a sitting position and looked around.
She was in a large room with white lights. A hard bed with white sheets supported her and a pillow was propped up at the head of the bed. People were scurrying around the hospital room, some she knew, some who looked familiar, and some she had never seen before. Everyone had their backs turned. One of those she knew turned around and spotted her, then let out a cry of joy. Her mother rushed over to her and hugged her so tight that she felt she was back on the forest floor, winded from the creature’s hand. She felt hot tears squeezing themselves out of her eyes, and suddenly started crying, hard.
Soon her father joined them, and they became one big bundle of joy.
‘What were you doing?’ her mother asked through tears. ‘We found your message and found you lying in Whopping Woods. What were you doing there?’
Isabella opened her mouth but found she couldn’t speak. A hoarse grunt came out in its stead.
Mrs. Thompson shook her head. ‘You can tell us later. Right now I’m just glad you’re here.’
…
Ten days later, Isabella huddled up on the living room sofa and told her parents everything. How she had heard that voice, how she had gone to the forest and found that monster. How she had fought the creature single-handedly and saved the girl. Her parents didn’t need much convincing and completely believed her because the little girl, Lily, had found her parents, and told them she was so grateful to Isabella for saving her life. Isabella could just imagine Lily, the girl with bright eyes and dark hair, smiling widely and embracing her parents. They also now had contact with Lily’s parents, and Isabella got Lily’s phone number.
Once her parents had gone out of the room to make dinner, she rang Lily up.
‘Hello? Oh, Isabella, it’s you! Thank you so much for saving me! If you hadn’t found me, I would probably never have gotten home.’
Isabella laughed, ‘You’re very welcome. How did you end up there, anyway? How did that creature capture you?’ Though she hadn’t ever had a conversation with Lily, they chatted to each other like old friends.
Lily told her how she had had an argument with her parents, how she had run away from home and hid sulking in the woods. Her fury had pounded in her head and had kept her feet marching until she reached the clearing, and the monster had spotted and then trapped her.
He had kept her there, and every day a tiny portion of food would mysteriously appear in her cage. In the end, she was kept there for five and a half days. Then, just when she was about to give up all hope of being saved, Isabella arrived and defeated the monster. At that point, Lily thanked her again.
Isabella felt so proud, proud of herself for saving Lily, proud of her parents for being so understanding, and proud of Lily for staying so strong when kidnapped. And, though she could never transform herself again, she was happy. She knew she would never again have that indestructible sensation of power and strength that she had back at the clearing, but she would always be strong and powerful.
Meanwhile, she had finally figured out how to reverse what she had done and turned all the people she had transformed back into humans. She figured out how to direct her power in a positive way and to help people by turning them into other things for their use. In the future, she could help save lives!
There was just one more thing she needed to know. ‘Hey, Lily, how did you send me that message? Back at my house, when I went to sleep, I heard your voice in my head calling me for help. You told me where to go, and said you were in trouble. How did you do that?’
There was a pause. ‘I… didn’t do that. I never sent any messages. I was just wondering how you came to the clearing. I thought maybe you had run away from home too.’
‘But, if you didn’t send me the message, then who did?’ Isabella asked, knowing she would get no answers from Lily.
‘I don’t know,’ was the predicted reply.
And nobody knew. It remained a mystery for the rest of Isabella’s life.
That night, Isabella walked out onto the lawn. It was a warm night and the breeze was gentle, carrying the scent of her mother’s cottage pie. She remembered striding, nervous but determined, across that very lawn what seemed like a lifetime ago, setting off to save the little girl. It made her laugh a little, and the joyful sound carried on the wind, reaching far. After so much struggle, pain, pride, and strength, she had finally made it out of the woods.
.
Support the Inklings Book Contest Today!
Your support of the Inklings Book Contest helps us connect with youth writers and provide them with free learning opportunities throughout the contest – as they prepare, as they enter, and as they revise their work as winners and finalists.
Will you support the next generation of writers as they find their voices and make their mark on the world?