After they had walked another mile or so, Hilda was sure her feet would burst. Her hands were manifested with bloody lines and red bumps, in accompany to the aftermath of the large blue bruise she had recently used magic to divest herself of. They had just boarded and unboarded the train, and Michaeleighnna explained to them as well as the older graders that had joined them that they were walking the rest of way because the train could not go onto the narrow dirt path that led the rest of the way to Bleethwoods. “Just a bit farther dears,” Michaeleighnna encouraged them. She pushed another branch aside, and they came to a field. It was thick with wavering golden grains. Around it was a C shape of trees. “Well, here we are!” Lisa observed the field of blonde grains reflecting the pink sunrise that melted over the peak of Rindorr’s mountain line with a careful lack of insipity as everyone around her made an uproar about how a barren field couldn’t possibly be a school no matter how hard it tried. Michaeleighnna burst into an idiosyntristical laugh that continued until she was hoarse. “Oh shut up all of you!” She choked. “Don’t use your eyes you little nits use your imaginations —don’t you have any?” She asked mockingly in a teasy tone of laughter. “Or was the store all out?” This quieted the children long enough so they could listen to what Michaeleighnna had to say. “Now, stay here dearies.” She sprinted to the center of the field with a small blue bottle. After dumping the purple fluid contents onto the ground, she sprinted back, and loaded an arrow into her bow from the quiver that hung from her back. ‘Get back,” She warned with an insipid poignancy. Ripping the back the tendon of the arrow, she squinted down the shaft and through the window to her miniscule target. Releasing the tension, the arrow sprang from the bow and landed right in the center of the mass of purple liquid, which had cooled to become a small sphere of jelly. Drawing her wand, she whispered the following incantation: “Perrenium exporte!” Which a melodramatic flick of the wrist, a shower of blue sparks emerged from the tip of her wand and danced about a bit before dematerializing. The arrow split in half and shot up like a rocket, making a dramatic leave by taking the form of a firework before its final call. The ball of blue jelly began to shake and bounce around, and then it imploded with great drama and disappeared. “Alright stand back again loves.” Before they could ask why, a deafening rumble erupted somewhere from the center of Rindorr’s core. Then, quite suddenly, a loud BANG! CRACK! Sound was made. The epidermis of Rindorr split open like a fresh yellow banana peel. From that split, emerged a large castle. Actually, large doesn’t even begin to skim the surface of the ice concerning its size. Even gargantuan is an understatement. I was made of the mostuncontaminated of golds, and was detailed by etched swirls of rose gold. Its highest point, Michaeleighnna pointed out, was 1,000,000 miles higher than the vanishing point of whatthey could see. Thefoundations of the castle were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The top layer jasper, then sapphire, then chalcedony, then emerald, then sardonyx, then sardius, then crystallite, then beryl, then topaz, then chrysoprasus, then jacinth, and the last was amethyst. After the castle had erupted with a grand entrance, six rivers protruded from each of its corners, unfurling like carpets and them bouncing along the field before conjoining with the ocean a few miles down. Another crack ensued, and a sliver of ground in front of the castle split. Emerging from it was a large gate, first the left door, then the right, then they swung together with a loud click. The gates were extremely large and constructed entirely of black pearl and lined with gold. Etched at the top of the gate in silver cursive writing that matched the express train was these words: BLEETHWOODS ACADEMY. The river ends closest to the castle were slowly melting into a moat, and the waters were so crystal clear that even though they were a thousand and one feet deep, you could see right through it all the way to the bottom. You could clearly view all the eccentric fish, adorable crustaceans, and majestic plants, as well as some they could not identify. In-between each river a straight of land began to sink beneath the surface, and was replaced by a road paved with silver. The roads slithered on like liquid mercury, and when they got to the trees, they parted like a living crowd and the roads slithered on, until they reached six different fields that could be viewed plainly through the arches in the trees. From those fields, sprouted about a hundred mansions per field in the same grand entrance as the school, only these mansions, although colossal, were practically card board boxes in comparison to the school. They were made of silver, and the base was stippled with scarlet rubies, indigo sapphires, shadowy obsidians, and Verde emeralds. Each individual mansion had a small purple carpet leading to the front door. After the buildings had arrived, as if to top everything off, a huge breeze ran through the trees. When it passed each tree, that tree suddenly became laden with luscious fruit. They had every fruit or vegetable or nut you could possibly imagine, and on the ground beneath them were many bushes and roots and vines and herbs and things of that form that carry food but are lower to the ground than trees. And let me tell you, the berries, herbs, nuts, fruits, and vegetables were unmistakably GORGEOUS. Not a bruise or a scratch or a worm anywhere; and they were ten times the size of the vegetation on earth—there were grapes the size of Gilda’s head! And, in order to welcome them to the grounds, a long velvet red carpet unfurled from the gates, and it was plush and lavish; the perfect welcome mat for their sore feet to walk on. “I told you that old field wasn’t Bleethwoods!” Michaeleighnna laughed.
