A week couldn't have passed by more slowly. Sure, it was only seven days, and Ari had plenty of fun helping her dad around in the garden and cooking and playing with her stuffed animals and listening to bedtime stories. But for once the familiar, comforting routine seemed mundane now that Ari knew what kind of adventures and excitement was out there waiting for her. The tug on her heart had gotten so strong it kept her awake at night. She could picture all the people in their castle shooting out sparks and laughing and having fun with each other, but no longer were they just some far-off phenomenon sealed away behind tall towers and closed windows. Very soon, Ari would be able to soar across the boundary into independence and find her place among her flock.
While Ari was so excited she could barely sit still, Dad was so nervous he had practically turned into a rubber band of tension. Now the crease between his brow was always there, as deep and prominent as a valley. At night he clung onto Ari so tightly it was like he was turning into one of those vines that crept along the side of their fence. And even though Ari tried to convince him that she would be fine at Hogwarts and no harm would come to her at her new school, he still seemed scared about letting her go.
Ari also felt rather nervous about leaving home and her family for the first time, but the feeling was mostly overshadowed by the rushing torrent of happiness and excitement. Every day when she woke up, she rolled over on her bed to look at the giant stack of textbooks and cauldron on her desk, just to remind herself again that it hadn't been some crazy dream, and that she really had gone to buy school supplies and was on her way to a real school to become a real witch. She could stare at the windows for hours, daydreaming about her adventures at Diagonally or her new school, and then wondering what Professor McGonagall could be doing right now. Was she also as excited as Ari to pick her up and take her to the train station?
In the meantime, Ari liked to play with her wand and wave it around and try to make sparks shoot from it again. But even though she could still feel faint flickers of warmth from the wood, no matter how hard she tried or how fast she waved, she couldn't get the wand to light up as it had the first time. So Ari quickly lost interest in the wand, and instead turned her attention to her brand new owl, Prince. He spent most of his time pent-up in his cage in the corner of her room. Ari felt bad for trapping him in such an uncomfortable-looking space, especially after how miserable he had looked back at the pet shop. But when she tried to open the cage door to have him hop onto her shoulder, he would give a huge scream and bite onto her finger so hard that Ari screamed back. And then she quickly removed her bruised finger and slammed the cage door back shut, muttering darkly to herself. Fine, then! Let that grumpy old owl stay in his cage — it was all the less work for her, anyway!
The only thing Ari had to do was feed the owl, since he couldn't go hunting by himself. The shopkeeper had given Ari an assortment of dry owl pellets and wet food to try out. Prince turned out to be quite picky — he wouldn't touch the pellets and would only peck at the wet food. But when Ari fed him some of the raw rabbit meat that Dad had prepared, he would gobble it up as fast as Sam and then caw demandingly for more. Talk about annoying.
On the other hand, Sam seemed to be having a better time with his snake. He had even built a little terrarium from it from the glass tank he had gotten at the pet shop. The terrarium had lush plants and miniature streams and everything, and Ari had to admit, she was kind of jealous. It looked way better than Prince's bare, empty cage. And he seemed quite proud of his hard work, for he demonstrated how to scoop the snake out of its cage and had it crawl around his shoulders. Sam even let the snake crawl around Ari's arm. Even though it was weird feeling the snake's cold scales on her skin, it was nowhere as scary as Dad made it to be. But even if Ari didn't bat an eye at the snake, she immediately hopped out of the room when it came the snake's feeding time. Sam had bought a box of little hamsters from the pet shop and fed the snake that, and it was like watching the rabbits get shot all over again. Actually, it was even worse than that, actually, because apparently the snake choked the hamster in a slow, painful death before devouring it whole. When she found out about this, Ari cried and begged Sam not to feed the cute hamsters to the snake, and he responded by shoving her out of his room and slamming the door.
Thank goodness the week was almost over and Ari didn't have to deal with any more dying hamsters. On the morning of September first, she woke up to the delicious smell of pancakes permeating throughout the house. She tossed on her clothes and skipped down to the kitchen, where Dad was cooking at the stovetop.
"Ari! You're here!" he exclaimed the moment she hopped in. He whirled around so fast he dropped the spatula and almost knocked the pan off the stove. "Are you all right? Are you feeling okay? Do you think you can go the train station today?"
"Of course I can!" she declared, jumping up and down so fast she was like on a pogo stick. "I've been waiting for this moment for my whole life!"
"Oh, yeah?" Dad said, smiling tensely. "Are you hungry? Would you like some pancakes?"
"Yeah!"
"Right then," he said, quickly picking up the spatula and washing it under the tap, "just sit down and they'll be ready in a minute!"
Ari took her place at the table and enjoyed some delicious warm, fluffy pancakes. Later, a disheveled Sam came out of his room with the snake wrapped around his arm. Thank goodness Ari had already finished her first pancake by then, because the sight of the hamster-shaped bulge in the middle of the long snake was enough to ruin her appetite. Ari glared at the snake and its beady eyes glittered evilly back at her.
While Sam demolished his stack of pancakes, Dad didn't eat anything at all. In fact, he just sipped his tea and drummed his fingers on the table and checked his watch so many times that Ari thought he might be doing some kind of wrist workout. He didn't say anything until there was a sharp knock on the door, and he bolted up so fast he almost overturned his mug of tea.
"Professor McGonagall!" he yelped, his face white. "That must be her! Quick, Ari, are you ready? Have you gotten your supplies? Are you ready to go?!"
"Yeah, I've got everything ready!" she yelped, jumping up as well.
They both rushed to the door and found Professor McGonagall standing at the doorstep. She was wearing a dark green dress today, but still had on her pointy wizard's hat and glasses.
"Good morning, Ari," Professor McGonagall said, smiling down at her. "How are you? Are you ready to head to King's Cross?"
"You bet!" Ari declared, gesturing to the trunk and Prince's cage she had pulled down the flight of stairs. "I'm more than ready! I've been waiting for this day my whole life, Professor!"
Professor McGonagall smiled, and once they were all ready, she took their arms and apple-rated them to the train station. It was as crowded and filled with as many people as Diagonally, but it didn't have all the cute little shops or clear blue skies, and mostly just felt like walking through a weird, narrow sort of tunnel. Ari didn't like how cramped it felt, but she enjoyed looking around and seeing the different types of people. Unlike the ones at Diagonally, Ari couldn't find anyone here wearing those long dress things. In fact, their clothes were kind of plain-colored, plus a lot of people were wearing backpacks and carrying thick rectangles, not unlike Ari's own luggage. Ari wanted to ask the passerby if their luggage contained school supplies and they were all boarding the train to Hogwarts, too. But it was so loud and everyone was moving too fast to stop for a conversation, and Dad was holding onto her hand so tightly that she wasn't able to wander off, anyway.
Professor McGonagall explained that the train to Hogwarts had a special platform, and in order to get to it, they had to walk straight into the barrier between platforms nine and ten. Ari wasn't sure what that meant, but then Professor McGonagall pointed to a section of the wall with the labels nine and ten, and in between there was a giant empty space. When Professor McGonagall said that, Dad looked at her like she was mad, but the professor assured him that the wall had some sort of magicky system in place where it could sense who was a Hogwarts student and then would let them through.
Of course, that also meant that Ari had to cross the barrier by herself and Dad and Sam wouldn't be allowed through. Dad had been relatively subdued so far, but when Professor McGonagall said he couldn't come on the train with Ari, he broke down immediately and bent down to wrap Ari in a great bear hug.
"Oh, Ari," he cried into her ear. "I can't believe this is happening. I'll miss you so, so much, you can't even imagine. I know I should be happy for you, but…" he tightened his arms around her, "but I just don't know if I'm ready to let you go."
"But I'm ready, Daddy," Ari said, extricating herself from his arms to gaze up earnestly at him. "And if I'm ready, then you will be, too."
"I'll certainly try," Dad said, smiling sadly. "It won't be easy, but I'll try. Just have fun at your new school and don't worry too much… and write to me whenever you can, about anything you want. If anything's urgent bothering you and you need immediate assistance, go to Professor McGonagall and she can sort it out. Okay?"
"Okay."
She hugged him tightly for a moment longer, trying to memorize the feel of her dad's arms around her and warmth. When she finally let go, she was ready to lug her suitcase and cage through the barrier and finally begin her much-awaited journey. But then she noticed Sam standing beside Dad, and had the thought to give him a quick hug, too.
"See you later, Sam," she said. "I'll miss not being able to wake you up anymore in the morning and knocking your door down. But on the bright side, I guess all your dreams of hibernation will finally be able to come true now."
He smirked. "So I'll finally have some peace and quiet."
"For now, at least," she corrected, holding up a finger. "But I'll be back for the holidays before you know it, and I'll make up for the time lost."
He rolled his eyes. "Oh, goodie. I can hardly wait."
Ari laughed and patted Sam's shoulder, and after a moment's hesitation, she quickly tapped the hissing snake around his wrist, too. She grimaced and tried not to look at its hamster bulge.
Now that she was done saying her goodbyes to everyone, the past few weeks of blissful dreaming came screeching to a halt now that the reality finally caught up to her. She really was leaving now, leaving her safe bubble she had been in all her life to venture out into a new world. A world without Dad or Sam and their home where they had created all their memories together. The nerves were finally starting to sink in now, and along with that, she could also feel a sudden, familiar tingling sensation in her eyes. The feeling grew stronger until it overpowered every other sensation and made her vision blur over. But she couldn't cry, at least not in front of her Daddy. Or else he would get worried and hug her again, and this time, Ari worried that neither of them would be able to let go.
And with her suitcase in tow, she quickly turned to face the brick wall and walked through the barrier between signs nine and ten, just as Professor McGonagall had instructed. She didn't dare to look back at her family and have them see the tears in her eyes. But the moment she passed through the barrier, she regretted she hadn't given them one last look. Because now there were all sorts of strange new people, people who were noisy and busy and jostled past her and didn't give her a second look. Now that she was really here in this strange new world without Sam or Dad, she suddenly felt so very lost and alone. Was this how Prince felt when he had been stuck alone on the floor of the owl enclosure? She tightened her grip on the cage handle, suddenly feeling more connected to the crabby owl than she ever had before.
Thankfully, Professor McGonagall had walked through the barrier with Ari, and Ari grabbed onto the professor's arm like a lifeline. In front of them, where all the people were gathering around, was a long, gargantuan scarlet train sitting against the train tracks. The smooth, lustrous metal train glittered in the sunlight and blew out columns of smoke from the top, which made the whole train whistle. It looked like a great beast about to come alive. Immediately, Ari's nervousness and homesickness melted away at once as she gaped at this magnificent new sight in front of her.
"Oh my bananas!" Ari shrieked. She gaped at the train, entranced. "It's a train! A real train! Is that the train that'll be taking us to Hogwarts, Professor?"
"Yes, indeed," Professor McGonagall responded. "Only you have the ticket to board. Since I don't have my own ticket, I won't be able to accompany you on the ride" — Ari gasped, and Professor McGonagall quickly added, "however, I will be there to greet you and the other first-years when you arrive at school.
"But!" Ari protested.
"It won't be long," assured the professor. "It's around a nine hour journey to Hogsmeade station — which is the nearest train station from Hogwarts. Once you arrive at Hogsmeade, you and the other students will be given clear instructions on how to reach the school. Is that clear?"
"Yes, Professor," Ari responded. She felt a brief flash of panic at leaving Professor McGonagall, but the professor had said they would meet again very soon at Hogwarts. And Ari trusted Professor McGonagall. She had promised that she would come back for Ari this morning, after all, and she had — so why would it be any different this time around?
And so after Ari hugged Professor McGonagall one last time and tried not to get tingly-eyed again, she boarded the train and dragged her luggage inside. The inside of the train wasn't as shiny and fabulous as the outside. It felt squished and cramped, and a bit dusty. Cutting through the middle of the train was a long narrow corridor that had dozens of boxes branching off from it. It took some difficulty for Ari to drag her suitcase and Prince's cage through the passageway, and Prince kept squawking indignantly whenever his cage bumped against anything.
Ari opened up the door to the first empty box she could find and tossed everything unceremoniously onto the ground, ignoring Prince's furious screeches. Then she plopped against the chair, completely exhausted. Ugh, who knew pulling a suitcase around could be so tiring! It was all 'cause of that stupid cauldron and the brass scales that made her suitcase so heavy and made her almost pass out while dragging it around. All Ari could say was, this Potions class better have been worth it if she had to work so hard for it!
Ari had just gotten the chance to relax, however, when the door slid open and in stepped a chubby boy who was clutching a frog in his hands. She jumped up from her chair at once. "Ooh, a person!" she shouted in delight. "Are you real? Are you going to Hogwarts, too?!"
"Yes, I am," the boy said. "Can I sit here? All the other compartments are taken."
"Yeah, sure," Ari responded. He thanked her and sat across from her, and Ari gazed avidly at him. This was her first time seeing one of those funny people all up close and personal, and she wanted to make the most of it while she could. He had a round, sweaty sort of face, and he kept making faces as the frog kept trying to squirm out of his hands. A second later, the frog managed to slip free and the boy let out a yelp as it bounced right from his hands and into her lap. Ari shrieked and flung the frog off her. It banged against the window and the frog flopped bonelessly to the ground.
"S-sorry about that!" the boy stammered as he scrambled to retrieve his limp frog. "He does that sometimes, I guess he must be nervous…"
"Is it your pet?" Ari asked.
"Yeah."
"Well, I've got a pet too, and he's an owl," Ari bragged. "And he's way more interesting than your weird frog. And what's better, he doesn't move. He's right over there, in fact!" And then she pointed to the overturned cage on the floor where Prince was still squawking furiously. Ari hurried to set it straight, and she caught a glimpse of the ruffled featherball inside, who glared daggers at her.
"Oh, that's very nice," the boy said, smiling.
"I know, right?" she said excitedly. She held up the cage for the boy to get a better look. "His name's Prince, and I got him at the pet shop. But he was sitting on the floor by himself, 'cause he broke his wing or something. And the shopkeeper said I wouldn't be able to take care of him or something, but I proved him wrong and bought him. And he really loves me. Or, at least, not yet, but I will get him to love me, sooner or later."
"That's nice," the boy said again.
That was when the train gave a huge creak, followed by a loud whistling sound. Ari screamed and dropped the cage in her fright, causing Prince to screech even louder than the train. "What's that?!" she demanded, looking at the boy. "Why's the train moving? And why's it making that noise?!"
"I guess it's blowing its whistle to show it's ready to leave," the boy said, checking his wristwatch. "Yeah, it's eleven o'clock… the train's about to leave. Oh, I hope that I got all my stuff…" he looked nervously out the window, "well, it's too late to go back now."
Sure enough, soon the train began to chug and pick up speed, and before long the scene outside the window began to move! Ari let out a scream and planted her face to the window as she watched the station pass by them. All the people standing on the platform turned to indistinct blurs, no more than clumps of trees in the forest. Before long the station disappeared altogether and they were met with real trees and houses and blue skies, and Ari screamed again at the sudden change in scenery.
"Wow, it just changed!" she said excitedly, planting her hands on the window and gazing outside in total awe. "How'd it go so fast? Professor McGonagall said the train would go really fast, but I didn't think it'd be that fast — but wow, it's so pretty outside, and so many plants and houses and trees — it's so nice!"
"Yeah, it is," the boy agreed, his voice barely heard over Prince's screeches. "Is this your first time riding the train?"
"Mhm!" Ari answered, still gazing out the window.
"Me too," the boy said over Prince's caws. "I was scared when Gran told me about it, but it's not too bad so far, a bit rocky, though… er…" he stopped suddenly as Prince began screaming harder still, "I think your owl's calling for you."
Letting out an impatient sigh, Ari had to tear her gaze from the spellbinding scenery to tend to Prince. Stupid bird! Couldn't he shut up for five seconds? Ari threw in some raw rabbit meat she had packed into his cage, hoping that that would occupy him for a little while.
Then Ari went back to staring out the window in peace, and she even got her puppy and birdie from her suitcase so they could enjoy the sights, too. After dreaming of exploring the outside world for so long, now that she was actually here undergoing this journey, the entire experience felt surreal. The strange sights that whipped past her window was nothing Ari had been expecting. The terrain was way different and more varied than back home, which just consisted of lush forests and snow-capped mountains. But here, there were fields, moors, hills, rivers, all the things Ari could dream of, and more — and she even saw cows and sheep grazing on the grass! She squealed with delight when she saw those cute little animals and wanted at once to jump out the window and go and pet them.
"I bet you weren't expecting to see that, were you, puppy?" the bird squeaked as she pressed her beak to the window. "Who knew there were all sorts of these funny things beyond the mountains!"
"I know, right?" the puppy agreed, placing his paws longingly against the glass. "I've never seen an actual cow before, or a sheep — but they're so cute and fluffy, like clouds! They're even fluffier than your feathers, birdie!"
"Birdie?" the boy repeated blankly. Ari whipped her head toward him, suddenly remembering that he was here, too.
"Oh, yeah," Ari giggled, holding up her stuffed animals. "My birdie and puppy're just talking together, you see."
"Ah, I see," the boy said with that same tense smile Dad had given her earlier.
Birdie and puppy continued to gaze out the window. They marveled at the changing landscape and guessed what kind of new delights they would see next. It was a feast for the eyes, and Ari kept oohing and ahhing at every new cliff face or stream or mountain range that popped up. The world really was so unthinkably big, and now that she saw it with her own eyes, it was so very beautiful, too. Ari couldn't understand Dad's worry. The train had been speeding along for an hour or so now, and Ari hadn't seen any of the mean wild wolves he had been talking about. She had only seen nice, peaceful creatures, like the cows and sheep who had been grazing on grass and just enjoying life.
Sometime later, the door slid open again to reveal a lady pulling a big cart thing stacked high with various snacks. Ari had a real good time inspecting the treats. They were all wrapped in different-shaped boxes and covered in vibrant foil. Ari chose a few that caught her eye and paid with the bag of coins Professor McGonagall had lent her.
And then Ari sat down and taste-tested all her treats. First up was something called a chocolate frog. Ari had heard of a frog, but not chocolate, but the treat was sweet and creamy and melted on her tongue. It was delicious! And what was more, there were funny cards inside the cards! The cards had pictures of people, and Ari cried out in shock when she realized the people were moving! Some of them were waving and winking at her, and Ari got so excited she screamed and waved back at them. But then the boy explained that the people couldn't actually see her, and they were basically just animations that looped endlessly.
Still, it was pretty fascinating, and Ari spent the next ten minutes just going through all the cards and inspecting all the different pictures. The boy gave Ari some of his own cards, so she could look at his, too.
Once Ari had enough of the cards, she moved onto the jellybeans. She liked them because they came in all sorts of different colors and flavors, or more specifically every flavor, as advertised by the box. The boy warned her that the jellybeans really did come in every flavor, both good and bad, and unless she had a strong stomach, she shouldn't sample them so casually.
But Ari ignored him and popped them all in her mouth with reckless abandon. There was one flavor that was fruity and sweet, and then she tasted something like the ice cream she had had at Diagonally, and then another one tasted like Sam whenever he didn't shower for a week. She immediately gagged and spat it out. Despite that, the horrible stench of rotten socks lingered on her tongue for the next twenty minutes.
Once she gulped down lots of water and the rancid taste went away enough, Ari went back to sampling the rest of the box. And the boy was right, there really was every flavor. And for the most part, it was a fifty-fifty shot if you were going to get a good one or bad one. Still, the gamble was fun, and she spent the rest of the afternoon sampling the different jelly beans. She tried to convince the boy to have some, too. But he went pale and blatantly refused, saying he had had enough of those jelly beans after once trying a throw-up flavored one.
After Ari was finished trying out her jellybeans, she turned her attention back to the window and her conversation with birdie and puppy. By now, the fields had disappeared and now there were dark, looming trees all around her, consuming her with their shadow. Before long, the sky started to darken too and rain began to fall. It felt even more spooky, and Ari shivered. She had a vision of being lost in those trees and wandering aimlessly as she tried to find a way out. Was that how those rabbits felt when they were trapped in the woods, trying to dodge the hungry wolves or the menacing sound of Dad's rifle?
Ari's thoughts were interrupted when the train began to slow down. A mysterious voice that came from nowhere announced they would be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time. The boy told Ari they had to put on their robes, which were the big puffy dresses Ari had gotten fitted for at the clothes shop. She rummaged for the robes through her suitcase and tossed them on quickly. The boy seemed to have trouble getting all the buttons clipped on his, and asked Ari to help him out. In reality, she was just as clueless as him and ended up shoving the buttons in random holes. His robes ended up looking a bit uneven, but there was no time to fix it, because that was when compartment doors began sliding open and people began piling into the corridors.
After some squishing and pushing and kicking, Ari managed to fight her way onto the platform outside. It was dark and rainy, and the air was much cooler than it had been this morning. She shivered and pulled the robes closer to herself. Now would be a really good time to be back at home, in the warm confines of her room while watching the rain patter against the window at a safe distance. Ari was still immersed in her daydream when she saw a bright yellow light shine over the heads of the students. The light illuminated the silhouette of a gigantic boulder, which was followed by a deep, booming voice:
"Firs'-years! Firs'-years over here!"
Right… she was a first-year, wasn't she? Hastily, Ari ran toward the light and followed the sound of the voice. Before long, she had joined a jabbering group of kids gathered around the boulder. But only when she was right in front of the boulder did she realize it wasn't a boulder at all, but a man! But he was the giantest man Ari had ever seen, with a thick dark beard and twinkling black eyes. His foot was so big, it could have squashed them all with a single step!
For a few moments Ari was so taken aback she just craned her neck and stared up at the humongous man, until he rattled his lantern and yelled in that same booming voice: "we all here, then? Righ' then, let's go!"
And so the man turned around and led the students down a steep, narrow path flanked with dark trees. It was so dark around them Ari felt the darkness was blocking out all the warmth and light except for the man's lantern. It was even colder here, she shivered even more violently. Ugh, just where were they going? Surely the walk to the school couldn't have been that long, right? Her feet were so sore and were just about ready to give out from underneath her.
Eventually, the trees thinned and the path branched out to a damp, sandy patch of ground. And as Ari emerged from the bushes, her jaw dropped to the ground. Because there was a great black lake stretched out before her, its perfectly still surface reflecting the starry night sky above. And perched atop a high mountain on the other side of the lake, its windows sparkling in the starry sky, was a magnificent silhouette of a castle with many windows and towers. Shock flooded her body like ice water. It was the same castle she had seen in her dream! The very exact scene!
"Oh my bananas!" Ari shrieked, slapping her hands to her face. "It's a lake! And a castle!"
But everyone was so busy scrambling into boats that they didn't hear her. And then Ari did a double take and gasped again. Boats! Just like the one in her dream! Only instead of one, there were now hundreds docked against the shore.
In a sort of disbelieving trance, Ari stumbled forward and sat down in one of the boats. Her mind was spinning and she had to pinch herself a few times to make sure she wasn't dreaming or the cold wasn't making her hallucinate. But no, she remained in the boat, staring spellbound at the lake and castle, while they gazed steadily back at her. Anticipation crackled in the air like electricity, and she was filled with a surreal sort of haze. This was it… after all this waiting and dreaming, she was finally here, at the place she was meant to be all along, the place where her heart had led her.
The hundreds of boats came to life at once, and in one unified fleet they glided away from the shore and across the inky waters of the unknown. Ari stuck her head out from the side, trying to recreate the feeling she had from her dream. The boat was definitely going slower than in her dream, but the cool night breeze still whipped through her hair and drops of water splashing against her face. And all the while, the castle loomed larger and larger, the light of their windows illuminating deep into her soul. She shivered even more, so cold and numb she could barely feel her fingers. But it didn't matter. Soon, she would finally be able to complete her dream and enter the warm castle and finally make her existence known to the occupants inside.
"This is crazy, isn't it?" Ari said to the boy with the wiggling frog beside her. "Funny thing is, I had an exact dream of this castle and lake! Plus, I was riding a boat in my dream, too! Just like this one!"
"Oh, really?"
"Yeah!" she enthused, gazing sparkly-eyed at the castle. "I didn't think we'd actually end up here, though! I wonder what that castle's doing here, though? I thought we were going to Hogwarts?"
The girl across from them gave a loud snotty sniffle. "Don't you know?" she exclaimed. She had a big head of hair that trembled with each word she spoke. "The castle is Hogwarts!"
"Are you serious?!" Ari's mouth fell open. "So the castle is the school? We're going to school in a castle?"
"Of course!" the girl said all snappily. "Haven't you read Hogwarts, a History? The author clearly states that Hogwarts is a castle built in the fourteenth century. And not only that, it's protected by millenium-old enchantments and charms erected by the original founders!"
And then the girl began ranting about a bunch of weird complicated words that flew over Ari's head. Ari didn't even bother to listen to her, and she really wished the girl could just shut up, because her nasally voice was seriously ruining her beautiful daydream. But before Ari could tell the girl off, the squirming frog flew from the boy's hand again. Ari shrieked as the slimy frog whacked her right in the face. The boy apologized profusely, but before he could pick it up, the frog jumped again and landed right on top of the jabbering girl! And what was better, the frog was enough for her to shut up. Finally, now Ari could have some peace around here. But it quickly turned out that it didn't matter anyway, because next thing Ari knew, the boat ride was already over!
They had docked at what looked like some dark, underground harbor, and Ari was feeling rather disgruntled as they climbed out of the boat. But her bad mood disappeared as they followed the lantern man up the huge mountain that led to the castle, which loomed over them like a guardian. She was so close now she could see each of the individual cracks and stones that made up the wall, and she could feel the fiery warmth emanating from the windows. She had completely forgotten about the cold as she skipped up the hill, her entire body buzzing as her feet brought her closer and closer to her dream. Her heart beat faster and faster with each step they took, fluttering in her chest like a bird trying to get free. She was almost there… almost free.
