Prologue
''Hello? Is this Jardineiro's garden?''
''Not anymore!''
A smiling, strange girl - which Ameena first had thought was some kind of decoration - hurried towards the newcomer.
''My name is Leafos! You must me Ameena, the person who's going to take over my father's garden...''
Ameena nodded. She glanced around the wilderness... When she had found the Ebay-advertisement of a pitoresk, exotic garden, infertile terra and dry brownish grass was not what she'd expected. And what was up with all the rubbish lying around?
But she wasn't going to complain. No, Ameena never had been one of complaining. Instead, she smiled her most friendly smile.
''Nice to meet you, Leafos. Cool name...''
Ameena shook the other girl's hand, which was hidden in some green sort of glove.
''Is this the garden?''
''Yes.'' A shadow fell over Leafos face. ''It's not what it used to be, though.''
''Hmm...''
''If you want to grow flowers and veggies here, and of course attract the better kind of piñatas, you have to... clean up the mess a little bit, I suppose. But I'll help you. Oh, and I have something for you. First thing a gardener needs. A journal!''
The strange, masked girl - who sounded happy again - handed Ameena a huge book. It looked pretty old, no hundreds of years, but certainly a half a decade or so.
''Heavy thing!''
''Certainly, it contains all information a professional gardener could ever need! Oh, and of course you need a cell phone...''
''Ehm, I have a cell, actually.'' Ameena showed her white Blackberry Bold, which she was very proud of. It had taken her mother ages to safe enough money, so she could buy her daughter one for her birthday!
''Nah, that thing won't work around here.''
A shock went down Ameena's spine. This was worse than when miss Dittmar, the German teacher, had taken it in for three weeks 'cause she'd been using it in class!
''Strange radio-waves, you see? Piñata Island isn't just an island, you know. It's kind of... magical. We're located near the Bermuda Triangle, so the radio waves are kinda different... This is the kind of cell you need.''
The phone wasn't very pretty. It didn't look like it had many functions too, Ameena doubted if it even had a camera.
''Time for another present! Damn, I feel like Santa Claus!''
Ameena looked at Leafos hands, in which had appeared a whirling stream of colored energy. After a few seconds - or less - she could clearly see the shape of a shovel. The whirling streams gradually disappeared, until there was nothing left of the magical thing but rusty old piece of metal.
''A shovel! A gardener absolutely can't do without one, especially not in a tough garden like this...''
''How did you do that?''
''Haha, islander's secret! Now, use this thing I've given you, please?''
Actually, Ameena never had a garden all her life. She didn't know hell about gardening tools, the only thing she had experience with was a watering can!
The strange masked girl smiled at her. ''Don't worry, Ameena. You'll get the hang of it. I promise you.''