Quest for the Keys

by Scholastic

“Huh?” Farran asked. “But it’s a tree, and I know trees. As long as we go in with a plan, this should be as easy as—”

  “I already tried reopening the portal. It didn’t work,” Azari told him. “We’re moving on.”

  “Wait a second—” Farran argued. “You’re fire. I’m earth. There’s a difference. I can do magic you can’t.” He quickly added, “And you can do magic that I can’t.”

  “Sorry, Farran,” Aira cut in. “I think Azari is right. We have to find another way to send Emily home.”

  Farran was insulted. “Another way? There is no other way! What we need is a big bag of tools and a supersmart earth elf who knows how to use them!”

  Azari snorted. “And where would we find this supersmart earth elf?”

  Farran pointed to himself. “Isn’t it obvious?”

  Aira laughed then said, “Farran, this might sound nutty, but I actually know an old story about a portal that might be related. It’s in a castle. It’s crazy hard to get to, and there are something like four keys to open it.”

  “That’s ridiculous. Sounds like a myth to me, which means it’s not true,” Farran said.

  Emily hadn’t been sure if she should try to step into the elves’ discussion, but now she was really curious. She loved stories.

  “Can you tell me the whole story?” she asked. “I’ve never heard it.”

  “Sure!” Aira agreed. “It’s the legend of the five sisters. Four of them were elves of different elements.”

  “Like us?” Azari asked. “Earth, fire, and wind!”

  “Exactly!” Aira said. “And water, of course. But the fifth sister had no magic. After a long search, she found a place where there were others like her, and decided to live there instead. She left Elvendale through a portal.”

  At the word portal, Emily’s heart raced. Could the story be about the same magical passage she’d come through?

  “Why would anyone want to live in a world without magic? How boring!” Azari gasped.

  “Uh … I do,” Emily said, pointing to herself. “It’s not that bad.”

  “Oh, right,” Azari said. “Um. There are probably some interesting things in your world, too. Sorry!”

  The legend was exciting to Emily. Maybe it could even help her get home! “What else do you know about the portal in the story?” Emily asked Aira.

  Aira thought for a moment. “I remember that the elves actually built two portals,” she said at last. “One to enter and one to leave. The one to leave Elvendale was in the castle.”

  “I bet the one to enter was in a tree!” Emily bounced up on her toes. “If it was, that would explain why I couldn’t return home through it.”

  “But it’s a myth!” Farran repeated. No one paid him any attention.

  Aira said, “To protect the portal, the elf sisters made magic keys. It took all four of their keys to open the portal from this side.”

  “Can we find those keys?” Azari asked, and Farran rolled his eyes.

  “I wish I knew how,” Aira said. “The story goes that the fifth sister became mortal and began to grow older in her new world. Eventually, she stopped visiting. Without her, the sisters who lived here grew apart.” She gave a long sigh. “The keys were lost. It’s even possible that the castle disappeared.”

  “If there was ever a castle at all,” Farran said. “Look, using a legend as our guide is not very practical. Instead of looking for mythical keys to an imaginary castle with a pretend portal, we need to get back to the portal that we know actually existed and send Emily back through there.”

  “Forget it, Farran,” Azari told him. “We can’t go backward. We’ve gotta go forward!”

  “Yes! Forward to the forest!” Farran announced.

  “That portal is closed. We need to find the second one,” Aira put in. “Could there be a map to the castle?”

  “A map?” Azari echoed, her eyes lighting up.

  “We don’t need a map! There’s no castle!” Farran countered.

  “Don’t be such a wet blanket of moss! We’re going on an adventure!” Azari exclaimed. “And we are gonna find those keys.”

  Farran moaned and rolled his eyes.

  Emily piped up. “We have to do something, or I may never get home!” She’d promised her parents she was only going on a short walk. She needed to get back before dark!

  Farran started heading toward the forest again.

  “Give it up, Farran!” Azari called after him.

  Aira told Emily, “Come on. We are going to visit Naida. If a map exists, she’ll know about it.”

  Though Emily didn’t know who Naida was, she decided to go with the girls. But she also didn’t want to leave Farran behind. And what if he was right about the tree? As they walked away from the forest, Emily was filled with nerves. She kept glancing back over her shoulder, watching as Farran got farther away.

  Azari was far ahead, but Aira walked next to Emily. “He’ll catch up. He always does,” the wind elf whispered. “I bet he’ll say something about how much we’ll need him.”

  They were about to cross a little bridge over a stream when Emily heard Farran’s voice coming over the meadow.

  “Oh, fine,” he called, his tool bag clanking. “I’ll come. You’re going to need me.”

  “Told you.” Aira winked.

  Emily couldn’t help but smile.

  Naida was a water elf. She lived in a vast system of caves full of hidden waterfalls and rivers, opening up to a beautiful ocean view. Elvendale was full of surprises—Emily had not stopped being amazed.

  When they entered Naida’s caves, Emily completely understood why they’d come. There were smaller caves carved out in Naida’s walls that were full of scrolls. Naida was standing near a whirling tidal pool in a flowing dress of many different shades of blue.

  Azari marched over. “Naida, we need your wisdom! What do you know about the legend of the sisters and the four keys?”

  “Not much,” Naida admitted. She was distracted by a chirping noise that Emily realized was coming from a dolphin in the water. “What?” Pause. Then, “Oh, thanks, Delphia,” Naida said to the dolphin. Then she explained, “My place is a mess.” She ran a hand through her long blue hair. “Delphia is helping me clean up.”

  Naida could talk to dolphins! It was clear they understood each other, and were close friends. Emily wished she could talk to animals!

  “Naida?” Azari interrupted whatever she was saying to Delphia. “About the five sisters?”

  “Oh. Right.” Naida swept her hair back over her shoulder and said, “Well, I don’t know much, but I can tell you—hey! Wait a minute!” She turned her head to Emily. “Do I know you?”

  Emily laughed. She loved how Naida’s brain spun at a million miles an hour.

  “Hi, I’m Emily,” she said, and explained how she got there.

  “I like your ears,” Naida whispered as Azari joined in with her own explanation. “So we need a map of Elvendale! An old one,” Azari finished.

  “I’ve got tons of maps,” Naida said, waving an arm around the caves.

  “If you’d just let me invent something to help, your collection would be a lot more organized,” Aira moaned. “Delphia wouldn’t have to work so hard.”

  “Thanks, but I’m okay,” Naida said. “Delphia and I have things under control—most of the time.” Everyone laughed.

  Naida walked to the ocean’s edge and talked softly to Delphia. The dolphin dove deep and disappeared from view.

  “She’ll be right back,” Naida told them. “Delphia says she knows what you need.”

  Suddenly, Delphia reappeared, flipping high in the air, bumping her nose against a shelf near the top of the room. When she returned to Naida, she presented a tightly wound scroll.

  “Thanks!” Naida said.

  She carefully spread the parchment on the table. It was an old map labeled “Elvendale.”

  “Good work, Delphia,” Naida called to her friend.

  The map was a large drawin
g on faded yellow parchment. The center of the land was marked with mountains and hills and pathways connecting cities with crazy names like Highland of Helyan and Enki Island. “Look, there’s a castle!” Emily said, pointing. The map seemed to shimmer around the image of a fortress in the mountains.

  “Where?” Farran squeezed between the girls. “Let me see.”

  They all pored over the document, and Naida lifted it up to look more closely. All of a sudden the image began to move and shift, swirling and glittering!

  “Magic,” Naida said calmly, as if this always happened.

  As they watched, the swirling slowed, and the mountains and lakes and forests settled back in place.

  Naida studied it closely, “Hang on. There’s something else here.” The map was shimmering in one area. “Check it out! There’s a picture of a key here,” Naida said, then muttered, “Only one, though. Shouldn’t there be four? Hmm.”

  Aira took the map from Naida. “I want to see! Wait, it’s all moving around. I think I see … Look, there’s a different key now!”

  She turned the map to Naida. “When you held the map, a key appeared by the ocean. Now this one is floating above the tallest mountain.”

  Azari grabbed the map from Aira. It shimmered in her hands as well. “And now there’s a different key! It’s near the volcano.”

  She held out the map to Farran. “Let’s see what happens when you try!”

  In Farran’s hands, the map shimmered again, and another key appeared. This time it was at a spot called Sparkle Rock.

  “Four keys and a castle, just like the legend,” Emily breathed. “It must be true.” She felt a huge sense of excitement bubbling inside her. This magic was real!

  Azari punched Farran in the arm. “Not a fairy tale anymore, is it?”

  Farran shrugged. “I always believed,” he said, tapping his heart. “I was just kidding around before …”

  Azari snorted at him. “Well, should we go find the keys?”

  “How long do you think it will take?” Emily asked. “My parents are probably already really worried that they can’t find me.”

  “I don’t know,” Azari said. “All the more reason to hurry! Who even knows if this magic map will show us where they are again, so we’d better start while we remember.”

  Suddenly, Emily realized that she was asking a lot of these elves. “Maybe I should go find them on my own,” she suggested. It would be hard, but it was her problem. She didn’t even have anything to give the elves in return for helping her. “I mean, we just met, and I’m sure you have other things you need to be doing.”

  “You’re being silly,” Azari said. “We love adventure!” She quickly added, “Well, except for Farran.”

  “Yes … but I like returning lost things,” Farran told her. “And you are lost.”

  “I like helping,” Aira reminded her. “And I’d love to see that castle!”

  “One other thing,” Naida said. She passed the map to Emily. In her hands, the map showed the ocean and the mountains and the island … but no keys. “Just like I thought,” Naida said. “You need us to find the keys!”

  Just as Emily was going to respond, the map began swirling again. No keys appeared—instead, there was a fancy script message in a language Emily didn’t know. Azari translated: “Greetings, Four Elements and Girl from Another World. You will need each other to claim the legacy of the sisters.”

  Emily could hardly breathe. The map knew about her, the girl from another world. How was that possible?!

  “See?!” Azari said. “We all have to go! The map told us to stick together. So. Naida’s key is the closest, somewhere in the sea. Let’s go there first!” She handed Naida the map and the girls all started walking toward a boat docked at the far end of the cave.

  Farran had put his hand over his heart like he was reciting a pledge. “Now, more than ever, we must unite to help Emily on her journey,” he proclaimed. “Even if it means leaving our homes, and—hey! Where did everybody go?”

  As Emily glanced back at Farran, he was already running to catch up.

  The sun warmed Emily’s face as she and the others rested on the boat’s deck, sailing slowly toward the first key.

  Too slowly, Emily thought. Not that she wanted to go at Azari’s rocket speed, but this wasn’t even Farran’s snail pace. They seemed to be stopped.

  “Um … Are we moving?” Emily asked the elves.

  Azari had her eyes closed. “We’re going so fast you can’t feel it, right Naida?”

  “Actually … we’ve stopped.” Naida admitted, looking over the edge.

  “Looks like we ran out of wind,” Farran remarked.

  Aira was on it. “Right. I’ll make a windmill. Or a supersized sail. Maybe some wings …” Emily could practically see her mind spinning.

  “Um, Aira, can’t you control the wind?” Emily asked. “Could you just make it windy?”

  Azari giggled. “Em’s right.” She paused and looked at Emily, “Can I call you Em?”

  “Sure.” Emily smiled. “My grandmother used to call me that sometimes.”

  Azari grinned.

  Farran said, “I’ll re-rig the sails, then Aira can give us a breeze to get us going!”

  “Maybe you can help, since you’re full of hot air!” Azari said, chuckling. Farran rolled his eyes.

  “Here we go!” Aira raised her arms, focused, and started creating wind. While she worked, Aira sang quietly—which didn’t hide that she was tone-deaf! Emily would have laughed, but if singing helped Aira make wind, they’d all learn to enjoy it.

  As the boat picked up speed, Emily went to Naida, who had one hand on the steering wheel and the other on the map. An image of Naida’s key had thankfully returned, glittering directly over water.

  Finally, Naida announced, “This should be the place!” She dropped anchor.

  Azari looked around. “All I see is a bunch of ocean.”

  Naida was studying the map again when a misty fog covered most of the image. When it cleared, a new message had appeared. “Looks like we have a clue to help us get the key!” Naida exclaimed. “What you seek rests next to the mermaid’s tears.”

  All the elves looked thoughtful. “Do you guys understand it?” Emily asked. Everyone shook their heads.

  Mermaids—there were so many magical creatures to know about! It made Emily want to stay and explore more of Elvendale, but she really did need to get home. She had her regular life to get back to. And at Grandmother’s house, it would be dark soon—her parents would be very upset that she hadn’t returned. She wished there was a way to tell them she was safe and trying to get home.

  “Mermaid’s tears …” Emily repeated the clue over to herself. There was a memory nagging at the back of her mind. “I—” she started, then stopped. It was frustrating not being able to remember something so important. “Wait … Mermaid’s tear!” Emily suddenly jumped up and rushed to Naida. “I have an idea that might be a hint!”

  “What?!” all the elves shouted at once.

  Emily said, “Well, when my grandfather Richard proposed to marry Grandmother, instead of a traditional engagement diamond, he gave her a small rose-colored pearl. Grandmother loved it—she always said the pearl glittered in the moonlight like a mermaid’s tear.” Emily had also once asked Grandmother how she knew what a mermaid’s tear looked like, but she had just smiled mysteriously.

  “That’s so romantic,” Aira said breathily. “True love.”

  “Uck,” Farran rolled his eyes. “I prefer stories with more excitement—you know, like if your grandfather saved your grandmother from the jaws of a scary sea monster!”

  Emily laughed. “I don’t think that ever happened.”

  “Too bad,” Farran said with a grumble.

  “Anyway, could mermaid’s tears have something to do with pearls?” Emily asked.

  “Of course! Yes!” Naida replied. “Emily, that’s it—thank you!” She leaned over the side of the boat, and so did everyone else.
Looking down into the clear blue water, they all saw the bottom at once. “Oysters!”

  “We are at Oyster Cove!” Naida raised her arms and began using her water power to split the sea and raise a shell to the surface. Her hair glistened with droplets of water, and a fine mist swirled around her. Soon she held a large oyster, and pried open the rough shell. “No key.”

  “Did you really think it was going to be inside the first one you checked?” Farran asked.

  Naida shrugged. “I was hoping …”

  “Well, that one doesn’t have the key, and now he looks angry,” Farran said. “I’m not sure we should be prying open their shells like this. Oysters have lives, too, you know …”

  Aira joined in. “Plus, there must be a million oysters down there. We will never find the right one if we’re just picking randomly!”

  Emily’s heart sank. “Could we skip to another key?” she suggested. “Farran’s showed up not far from here, right?”

  Naida handed the map to Farran, but it didn’t swirl, and the key image stayed in place. No matter which elf held it, the map didn’t budge.

  Emily wished she had another idea. They had to keep moving! If they failed, she’d never get home!

  “Ouch!” Naida shouted as the oyster she held snapped its shell closed on her finger. She shook it off, tossing it back into the ocean.

  Aira had been thinking. “Naida, can you tell us everything you know about oysters, pearls, and mermaids?”

  They all turned to the water elf. She was rubbing the red tip of her finger where the oyster had clamped down. “Oysters create pearls from grains of sand that get into their shells,” Naida said. “The sand is annoying, so they make a milky smooth layer to put over it again and again until—”

  “Wait,” Emily interrupted. “If a tiny grain of sand is annoying to an oyster, imagine what a large key might feel like! A key is probably too big to coat with a smooth essence. It must really hurt. I feel bad for the poor oyster.”

  “You have such a soft, loving heart, Emily,” Aira said, smiling. “It’s nice.”

  “And helpful,” Naida said. “I’ll be right back.”

  Naida again raised her hands over the water, this time spinning it into a whirling vortex with a water staircase in the middle. Naida climbed out onto the steps, glowing with a blue light as she descended into water. At the bottom, she reached out to the oysters as if speaking to them. Some opened their shells; others rolled away.