Prolog 

Lilli was not happy. She has just ran away from her mother and was busy making a daisy crown-an easy getaway from anxiety. She stopped stringing her daisy crown long enough to spot a glowing red stone just inches away. Inquisitive, she grabbed the stone and strung it onto the daisy crown. As soon as she put the crown on, she blacked out. Strange happenings came to Lilli that night.

Chapter One

Rowr? I spiral around with Morgan. A baby dragon sits in our path. “Oh no!” I cry. “It must have followed us home.” 

“Well, we can’t go back,” Morgan says. “There must be another way.”

“We have to.” I sigh. I really didn’t want to. The last trip was unpleasant but nice at the same time. The little dragon was bright yellow with blue zig-zags on its face, tail, paws, and wings.

”We will have to ask Spark for help.” I hug the dragon’s tail and drag it into the well. It got stuck. Then, we see a magical glow and the dragon disappears. “Hurry!” We swiftly jumped in. We get up and see the dragon flying off. Morgan and I jump and Morgan manages to grab the tail. The tiny dragon flicks us onto its back. It seemed to be going toward…    Spark’s house?! We landed in the doorway. “Buzz!” Spark squishes the baby in a hug. She does the same to us-just not as hard. “This little guy came home with us,” I say,

pointing to Buzz.

“Huh. He was in his room,” says Spark, gesturing to a medium leaf tent in a corner. 

“We’ve got to get home,” Morgan says. We scurry down the trunk, go down the well and back to town. When we get there, a squirrel engulfed in flames comes up to us. We flinch back as the fire reaches for us. “I’m sorry,” the squirrel says, the flames dying. “I’ve just come to say that you’ve been invited to the royal castle in Frozen Forest.”

Chapter Two

The Frozen Castle?! The Frozen Castle?! I could tell Morgan was just as excited. We were escorted to the forest by the

squirrel whose name was Willow. She was Pine’s best friend. Pine is the queen of the Frozen Forest. As we approached the forest I shivered. Willow was ready and handed out hats. I pretended to be casual as we walked under an ice bridge, where there were dozens of icicles hanging from it. Tiny icicles on brown branches clinked in the wind and made a quick little tune. It reminded me of Buzz, the baby dragon. Finally we  reached the castle. Pine was outside greeting us.

She gave us a little wave. Pine is much bigger than us. She’s a rabbit. Morgan and I ran up to the castle. It was huge. We climbed up a snowy staircase. We are all silent. Then I speak and break the ice(haha),”I love your castle.”

“Thank you,” says Pine. “But the reason I invited you is because there is something wrong with the Crocus.” I knew what the Crocus was. It’s a giant winter flower that provides food and is thought to give good fortune. If the Crocus dies, most food in the castle and the village would be gone. We had entered the room where the Crocus grew. I had seen pictures of it and it was light violet and huge. This time though, it was mostly wilted with very little color. It had shrunk and was surrounded by mice, squirrels, rabbits, and other rodents. The rodents were fanning it and, every now and again, watering it. Pine told us to help her and the workers to try to figure out what’s going on. She couldn’t do it herself because she was helping the other rodents gather

food if the Crocus died. We decided to set up a camera and we took naps to be as well rested as possible-we were going to be staying up all night. Night came and we went to the Crocus’s room. We sat silently in the corner. Hours passed and I spotted a shape in the corner of my eye. It looked like the silhouette of a rabbit. I tiptoed over Morgan's sleeping body. I closed and locked all exits. Then I flicked the lights. It was a poor rabbit that lives in our village. “I’m sorry!” it shouts. “I’m just trying to get some food. Honestly! But I heard that it’s actually Willow’s brother. He’s mean to everyone.” 

“Thank you,” I say to the rabbit. I hand them some currency and send them off. I head to our room.

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I wake up and look out the window. It was still pitch black. I sleepily walk to the Crocus’s room. I sit down on an icy bench. It was so cold in the castle I could see my breath. Then I saw a small shadow with a large bag.

Chapter Three