‘It’s only a bit further away.’ Adiya shouted from the front of the carriage. Her shout was amplified a thousand times by the excitement that tickled Maya’s ears with promise.

It had only been a few weeks since Maya had met her as a beggar on the streets. She hadn’t walked past her like all the other people had day after day. She reached out her hand and looked after her, taking her into her warm and welcoming home. She fed her, bathed her, read her stories like the mum she used to have. Maybe that was why she trusted her so unthinkingly when she said she was taking Maya to stay with her grandma.

The clacking of hooves on gravel halted.

‘We’re here.’ She announced.

Excitement and adrenaline flowed haphazardly through Maya’s body, a mixture she could barely contain as she jumped off the carriage. All around her there was forest. The forest Adiya read to her about in fairy tales. The forests with ugly outsides and beautiful castles on the inside at their heart.

Maya held her hand as she guided her through the forest until they arrived at a rock. She gently bent down and untied the pink ribbon from her long raven hair. It fanned out forming a thick curtain around them. As she gathered Maya’s messy locks into a ponytail and tied it with the ribbon she said,

‘Turn right and you’ll find a path. At the end of the path you’ll see a palace just like the one in the stories I read to you. You must keep walking until you are at the door, do not look back.’

She stood up, placed her hands on Maya’s shoulders and turned her around to the right. She gasped.

There were trees on either side of the pathway forming an arch. Pretty pastel blooms grew all over them falling like pink snow onto the path that lead to a palace with sweeping lawns and a grand stair case at the entrance. Without even registering it, Maya begun to walk with awe, an awe that prevented her from feeling the rock launched at the back of her skull, rendering her unconscious…

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To be continued next week!