Naytnal - Voices from eternity (english version) E-Book

Elias J. Connor

• Herausgeber: FINN Books Edition FireFly
• Kategorie: Fantasy und Science-Fiction
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Beschreibung

At Lantyan boarding school, nothing is as it should be. Kitty and Jojo have to deal with the tragic death of their dear friend Natalie, who lost her life during the last visit to Naytnal. When, months later, the two girls received another call for help from the Star of the Realms, as Naytnal is also known, hope germinated in them. Is Natalie still alive after all? Kitty and Jojo embark on a grand quest with Kitty's boyfriend Dennis - unaware that their return to Naytnal could have serious repercussions. Because this time the evil is spreading so unrecognized that it is almost impossible to counteract it... The fifth volume of the fantasy series NAYTNAL takes Kitty and Jojo and their friends to worlds never seen before. Heroic action, dark fantasy and romantic moments combined in a story that you won't forget.

Leseprobe

Elias J. Connor

Naytnal - Voices from eternity (english version)

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Dedication

Chapter 1 - The awakening of a new species

Chapter 2 - Wedding in Lantyan

Chapter 3 - The mysterious book

Chapter 4 - In the realm of the pyramids

Chapter 5 - No one will ever separate us

Chapter 6 - Secrets

Chapter 7 - The lunar eclipse

Chapter 8 - The first sign

Chapter 9 - The forgotten waters of Troxyro

Chapter 10 - Sarah-Selina

Chapter 11 - Lina, who are you?

Chapter 12 - Sarah's confession

Chapter 13 - The battle in Anshalyn

About the Author Elias J. Connor

Impressum

Dedication

For Jana.

you are the light of my life

You are the dream I've had all my life.

You are the person I want to stay with for life.

Thank you for your love, your encouragement, your trust.

I love you.

Chapter 1 - The awakening of a new species

The little lantern wobbled leisurely back and forth. Sometimes she made a noise, whenever the gentle wind hit the stick on which she was hanging. Then you always heard a gentle “ping”. The lantern wouldn't even be noticeable at this time of day if it didn't make itself noticeable every now and then. Because of course she was always out during the day. It was only sometimes lit at night. But most of the time she was simply forgotten. And then, when she made her gentle noise again, you knew she was there.

This afternoon the sun was hot. The five to seven houses in the small, cozy-looking town were painted white. That was the best remedy for this constant heat. They didn't even have real roofs, but instead had tarpaulins made of white linen. They let in enough air during the day and kept out the cold at night. They also sheltered well from the sand that the night's storms eroded from the nearby dune.

There wasn't much going on here. There was never really much going on here. Very rarely did anything exciting happen. And most of the time, when it was hot like today, the residents just stayed in their homes and went about their business.

However, a young boy was undeterred by the heat. He stood determinedly in the middle of the small village square, if you could call it that, and looked around with interest. He wore a white robe, and on his head he wore a white cloth, which was held in place by a black ribbon. The boy must have been about fourteen or fifteen years old. In his hand he held a crooked stick, which he carefully waved around.

Suddenly he thought he heard a noise. Hectically he turned around - but none. There was nothing and nobody behind him. Very carefully, he took a step forward, then another, and another.

Then the small lantern sounded, swaying gently in the wind, tied to a stick. The boy jumped again and then took a few more steps forward. Then he stopped and held his breath. He listened intently around the area. It was quiet. Only the soft, quiet wind blew.

Suddenly two little girls, about the same age as the boy, came out from behind one of the houses. They quickly circled the boy. They giggled happily while holding his arms so he couldn't really move.

“We got you,” said one girl. "Now your game is up, Mister Blixton."

"You'd better surrender right now," the other girl urged the boy.

Completely out of breath, the boy voluntarily put his hands behind his back while the girls took the cane from him. Then they dragged him into a small, white shed next to one of the houses.

"I knew you would find me," said the boy. "Now that you've caught me, what shall my punishment be?"

"Silence!" One girl asked him, mock-angry. "Sit on that stool and be silent." She pushed the boy onto a stool and then blindfolded him.

"You have committed crimes," said the other girl to him. "You have betrayed our village to the highest of the dark rulers. Say your last word now, before you suffer the punishment that every traitor deserves.”

"I'm innocent," the boy protested. "They found me, I didn't find them."

The two girls walked slowly around the stool on which the boy was sitting, mockingly shaking.

“Mercy,” he pleaded while one girl tickled his legs with a stick.

"No mercy!" the two girls shouted. "No mercy for Blixton the traitor."

Who or what had the boy betrayed? Who had he betrayed her to? Or was it just a harmless role-playing game that the two girls played with their boyfriend?

It was still very quiet outside the shed. But after some time, two men, a woman and three more children finally came out. Everyone was wearing these strange white robes. And each had a head covering held by a black ribbon.

The children had with them a wondrous ball that somehow had a bluish glow. The ball was no bigger than a tennis ball, but it had strange rippled patterns on its skin.

The children then lined up in a circle in the middle of the small square between the houses. The boy who had the ball then threw it into the air.

Suddenly the ball stopped in the middle of the throw and didn't move anymore. For almost two full minutes, time seemed to stand still. And the ball was in the middle of the air, completely still. Completely motionless. It really was as if time had stood still if the children hadn't moved, all watching the ball in anticipation to see what it would do next.

Suddenly time seemed to move on. The ball flew just as mysteriously as it came to rest in mid-air, right into the hands of a girl opposite the pitcher. She skillfully caught the ball.

"Wow!" she said hesitantly. "Almost two minutes. Crazy."

"One more toss like this and you could be a candidate for the next Tajuna Ball Championships," said another girl with a cheeky smile.

The girl pushed down her hat for a moment, and then you could see what you hadn't seen the whole time: the girl had strange, pointy ears. All the inhabitants of this village had these strange, pointy ears.

The small village with its quiet inhabitants, where the children played so happily, was a desert village in a big, wide desert. It was in front of a huge dune, the crests of which were movable and constantly changing. However, the dune itself appeared to be a fixed mountain, although it must be made entirely of sand. Some large cacti and three huge palm trees that looked quite odd lined the space between the houses.

A small fountain in the middle of the square was apparently the only source of water in the area. Often the women of the village could be seen standing there and filling their buckets.

For a long time, the children endured the heat. The sun was slowly tilting towards the west and a few small clouds appeared on the horizon. They moved strangely quickly and flickered golden in the approaching sunset.

“Come in, children,” called a woman, raising her caped head to one of the windows. "There will be food soon. Cockroaches with snails. Yummy."

The children quickly ran into the largest of the houses. Most of the time everyone ate together in the largest house in the village. Two or three women then prepared food for all the residents. Apparently there really weren't very many people living here.

In front of the houses, on the village square, it now became very quiet. The two girls and the boy who were just playing in the shed have already gone into the house where food was already waiting.

The clouds on the horizon danced back and forth and a light wind came up. And you could hear the lantern banging in time against the stick to which it was attached.

Suddenly - no one seemed to have noticed - a small, inconspicuous golden flash came out of the clouds. He slowly moved towards the small village. A strange, strange light enveloped this flash and would not let it stop shining.

And that glow got closer and closer.

Still no one seemed to notice.

Now you could see that this strange thing, floating high in the sky, had to rotate somehow. It appeared to be rounded in shape, but not quite round. Something in that round shape seemed to flicker or flutter oddly.

The structure was inexorably approaching the site.

It was only when the strange, majestically shimmering structure flew directly over the village that one could see that a huge animal was floating amidst the light. It shimmered golden and was in the shape of a large horse. But the most unusual thing about it was that the horse had real, big wings. And they shimmered just as golden as his fur.

A rider sat on the powerful, huge horse. He wore a golden robe. When you looked closely you could see that the soft glow was obviously coming from him.

Still no one noticed this strange phenomenon of the flying horse with wings carrying its rider.

He circled the village once. And in the next second, before anyone saw him, he disappeared just as mysteriously as he came.

At that moment the sun disappeared below the horizon. The whole sky now shone in a delicate afterglow, and the first stars came out in the east.

And the clouds danced on.

Suddenly the lantern attached to one of the houses fell down.

Suddenly a tremendous thunder shook the desert, and shortly thereafter several lightning bolts flashed around the dune in front of which the small village was located. And the wind got stronger.

It thundered again. And again lightning flashed simultaneously through the sky.

The clouds gathered over the village in a matter of seconds. They reared up insanely fast and got bigger and bigger. It looked like something out of a video you watched on fast forward, it happened so fast.

Loud thunder again, this time even louder than before.

The residents of the village quickly ran out of the largest house where they had gathered to eat. They looked up at the sky in disbelief. It has rained and thundered here and there, but they have never encountered such a storm.

The thick, black clouds now obscured all the sunset and the stars that had already risen. The sky was now completely dark, black as night.

The wind was slowly becoming a real storm, getting stronger.

The sand of the desert was thrown through the air, and in no time it fogged the whole area, including the small village. And after a few minutes you couldn't even see the dune, the mountain that stretched up behind the village.

The residents fled quickly. They ran out of the village. They ran across the village square, ran behind the houses and sought shelter there. But the sandstorm was too strong. They could hardly hold on anywhere. Dense sand was blown into every little corner. And the men, women and children had to wrap themselves completely in their white robes so that they could breathe at all.

The storm intensified, the lightning and thunder increased, and the clouds were thick and monstrous as ever. And they kept growing.

The residents could no longer find shelter behind the houses either. It was as if the storm also blew the air out of the village. They quickly fled the village. Into an uncertain future, full of fear and without knowing where to go. They ran and ran.

Suddenly the clouds began to circulate. They turned. Slowly at first, then faster and faster. And the lightning flashed and the thunder resounded through the whole area.

When the village was finally deserted by all its inhabitants, the storm blew away the canvas roofs of the houses. And soon the little lantern flew into the air.

The storm turned into a violent whirlwind. An immense tornado formed at once, and it swept away whatever loose objects lay in the square and in the houses, whose roofs were no longer there. The tornado swept across the village at insane speed.

Suddenly it snowed. Yes, it really started to snow. Hailstones and snow came from the dense, black clouds that were spinning in circles ever faster. Within seconds, an impenetrable layer of snow lay in the middle of the village, burying the houses. It was a snowstorm that was now raging here, and it was raging in the middle of the hot desert.

It got cold. Very cold. The snow didn't stop. The first icicles were forming, hanging from what was left of the walls of houses that had not yet been buried by snow. Within a few minutes, a thick layer of ice formed on the village square. The lightning that kept striking was reflected in her.

After some time, the cyclone suddenly stopped.

The thick, dark clouds suddenly vanished into thin air.

And the lightning and thunder stopped. The whole catastrophe ended as mysteriously and suddenly as it had begun.

Then it got very, very quiet again. The bright full moon and the stars of the night appeared.

The snow and ice stayed. The entire desert village was covered in ice and snow. Some walls just looked out.

And not just the village - the entire area around it was also covered in ice and snow. And the mountain, the sand dune behind the village, was also covered in snow and ice. The great hill shone majestically in the dull night light of the moon.

It was still quiet, just absolutely quiet.

After a while, you could hear faint, strange noises. It was difficult to say where they might have come from. Actually nobody was here anymore. The noises sounded eerie, like a low, eerie squeaking. Quiet but very spooky.

Suddenly something happened on the dune, which was now a tall iceberg in the middle of the desert. It was as if a larger opening suddenly appeared in the middle of the mountain. And as soon as it appeared, other, smaller openings appeared to the left and right of it, and above and below it. The dune was now an iceberg with nothing but caves.

Suddenly the strange sound came again, that eerie beeping.

Shortly thereafter, a strange fluttering sound was heard, as if many small birds were soaring through the air. The sound suggested that whatever it was, it was moving very quickly. And if it had wings or something, it would flap them incredibly fast, maybe like a hummingbird, one of those little birds that flap their wings so fast they can stop in mid-air.

But the flapping that could be heard here now could not come from countless hummingbirds. Hummingbirds are gentle, good-natured animals. This flapping sounded eerie and spooky. Whatever caused it, it just couldn't be up to anything good.

Suddenly a small bat, hardly visible in the dark night, streaked through the remaining walls of the village. She squeaked excitedly. Then she flew up towards the huge iceberg.

A second later, a second bat fluttered in the same direction.

A little while later, a whole flock of bats suddenly arrived. She also floated through the icy desert village and then flew to the iceberg. One bat chased the other. And there were more and more of them. And they all flew in one and the same direction, namely towards the big iceberg behind the village.

They all flew into the largest of the caves that lined this iceberg. The one that was right in the middle, surrounded by the other small caves. The bats flew in there for a reason - almost as if they wanted to gather.

The interior of the largest cave glowed dimly. A strange, mysterious light emanated from the ice walls in a strange reddish hue. It was still gloomy, but the reddish glow suffused the whole cave, and the bats danced in the dim light.

Quietly squeaking, they sat down on poles, which must also have appeared suddenly in an eerie way. And as soon as they sat down, they let themselves hang. They were now hanging from the poles with their heads down. And as soon as they did that, the squeaking suddenly stopped.

When the last bat flew into the cave, sat on a pole and then let it hang, it suddenly became very, very quiet again.

They all hung motionless.

The reddish, devilish light shone dimly in the room.

Suddenly, after several minutes, a loud crack was heard. One of the bats suddenly dropped. In flight, their wings grew. Her head took on a monstrous, dark and dangerous looking shape. Her little arms became paws. Her little teeth became an ugly set of teeth, which she bared greedily. And her eyes became blood red, like a dragon's.

And before the bat hit the ground, it turned into a spooky monster with gray shimmering skin about the size of an ostrich. The giant bat then stood on its two hind legs and scowled around the area.

A short time later, another bat dropped to the ground and turned into a similar monster. She was followed by a few more bats, who dropped and transformed in an eerie way. And after just a few minutes, all the bats were in the ice cave, mysteriously mutated into huge monsters, each and every one of them.

The monsters then lined up in a semicircle around one giant bat, whose skin was particularly ghoulish. The monster in the middle then finally climbed onto a kind of pedestal made of ice. It looked crazy, almost like she ruled over the other monsters. She seemed to be something of a leader or even a queen of bat monsters.

She looked around. She looked at her colleagues, looked deep into their eyes, which all glowed blood red. Then she craned her neck up and shook her head.

The other monsters seemed to be watching her intently, following exactly what she was doing, every single movement.

And suddenly the bat-monster on the pedestal seemed to start saying something to its fellows.

"Creatures of the night," said the presumed queen at once. "It is done now." She raised one paw majestically in the air. "Night creatures," she continued. "We've waited a long time for this. It was long awaited. And now…” She paused theatrically. "Now here we are, united with all our might. We are born.”

A cheer of whistles and screams ensued. The other monsters stopped abruptly when the queen gave them a sign.

"You have long predicted the arrival of our race," she finally continued. “It was this place that was destined for our arrival. And now we have arrived. Arrived in this world. And from here we will start.”

Again the others cheered in their most eerie, spooky way.

"From this place destiny will take its course!"

cheers.

"From this place, here on the Star of Realms, we will strike!"

cheers.

"From this place, the place of our creation and our birth, the further fate of Naytnal is determined," said the bat queen to her fellow bats. “I, who have been called to be your ruler, say to you: it is we who are called. Called to determine this fate. Our kind is born.”

cheers.

"The first sign has now come," said the Bat-Queen.

And their kin joined in a minute-long cheer of squeaking and screaming as the monster on the pedestal raised its paws.

After a while, the bat queen wrapped her long wings around her body. And at that moment, as if controlled by a magic hand, she floated up again. She floated back to the pole that seemed to be floating in the air above her. As she put her feet on it, she slouched again.

All the other monsters imitated her. And when they were all back on their poles, they suddenly turned back into little bats.

Then they fell asleep. Suddenly, hanging from their poles, they all slept soundly and deeply.

And they should sleep, here in their frozen village in a great desert on the Star of Realms. Sleep all day long until they wake up in the evening and become monsters again.

Calmly, the moon continued to make its orbits in the sky. No one outside of this village had noticed what had just happened. Not even the residents who had recently fled. Something has arisen in this frozen village, something that no one had any idea of.

Chapter 2 - Wedding in Lantyan

The stars shone clear. Her light shone softly in the firmament. There must have been thousands, no, millions of suns to be seen on this clear but cold night. Each star seemed more beautiful than the other. Even if most of them were many, many light years away, infinitely far away.

In the west the crescent moon shone faintly. The new moon was only two days ago, and now it was in the process of growing again until it would shine again in about two weeks, as it does every month.

The fact that it was now only faintly visible made the beautiful, late autumn starry sky an impressive sight. The autumnal constellations like Orion stood high in the sky to the south, and the vast winter constellations, chief among them the bright star Sirius, followed closely from the east.

It was very cold that night.

For some time now three people had been sitting behind a small mound of sand or earth. They didn't seem to move. You probably wouldn't have noticed them at all, but there was something strange about them.

“Can you see them?” one of them, a girl, suddenly asked.

She was about 17 or 18 years old. She appeared nervous. She turned around very carefully. She was wearing a very strange suit that shimmered silver. But it wasn't the suit that made her look so odd. There were small circuit boards, probably electrical, strewn about her arm. The girl looked like an astronaut or something like that.

A young man crouching close to her gently nudged the girl. “Psst!” he said quietly.

The boy was maybe 19 years old. He also had on a silver glitter suit with these strange circuit boards on the sleeves, just like the girl. He also wore a silver headband.

Next to the two was a girl who didn't move the whole time. She kept staring up at the sky, motionless. The thousands of stars were reflected on her silver suit, which she wore like the other two, and sometimes a dot actually blinked.

"But they should have been here by now," she finally whispered.

Suddenly, seven large moons were seen rising in the sky. The sight was beautiful and majestic. The moons were not round, more like islands with hills. And they were a lot closer to Earth than the actual moon.

Suddenly you saw more people walking through the night. They all gathered around the two who were already sitting here.

A young girl, about 17, padded to the two people with her boyfriend.

"Kitty," she was greeted by the other girl. "Dennis. There you are. Look at the moons.”

"Jojo, I told you we'd get in trouble if we did magic," Kitty said.

As if she had suspected it, a woman approached, apparently the mother of the two.

"Are you insane?" She asked Kitty and Jojo. "Break up the night. And stop conjuring up pictures in the sky. No one should know about Naytnal, you know that.”

"But mom," Kitty huffed. "Jojo and I just sent a salute to the star of realms." Kitty made a hand gesture.

And the next second the sun came out, shrouded in some clouds. It was still cold and the field was still bare, for it was early November in the Lantyan Valley; Colorado.

The clock on the large main building of the complex read one o'clock in the afternoon.

Lantyan. The large elite boarding school in Colorado in the USA. It lay very mysteriously in a large valley, shielded by mountains and hills. Only one road led up here, and it was a good eight to ten miles to the next town.

The Lantyan house was built more than a hundred years ago. But it only became a boarding school about thirty years ago. Many of the teachers here used to be students themselves. They were simply drawn to the mysterious magic that was Lantyan. And she wouldn't let go.

Few knew about Lantyan's secret. But there were rumors that were already spreading across the country. No wonder more and more people wanted to go to Lantyan and that the list of contenders was already immense and growing. The admission criteria are correspondingly difficult. Only a few were able to move into Lantyan and attend the wonderful boarding school for at least two years.

The building was huge. It was shaped like an oversized, recumbent U. There were two large towers at each lower end. And on both of them flew a strange but beautiful-looking flag: on a blue background there was a lying crescent moon bent upwards. Below were two waves in which a spiral shell was swimming.

All the classrooms were on the western side. And in the middle was the large dining room, where people not only ate, but also drank coffee, played games or had parties. The dining room was open from morning to evening, including on weekends and holidays. Finally, in the eastern wing were the bedrooms - each with two beds. The boys had their rooms on the lower floors, the girls slept higher up. In the two towers, which also provided access to the secret attic chambers, there were offices and the library. And then of course there was the huge basement room that stretched underneath the entire building. It was so big that many had never seen it in its entirety, even if they had been here for years. The huge basement was undoubtedly one of the most mysterious rooms in the boarding school.

The boarding school also included several recreational facilities. A huge yard, in which a large fir tree stood, provided a very nice playground with jungle gyms and swings for the younger ones, and basketball and skating facilities for the older students. Further up there were tennis courts, a soccer field and a soccer field.

Between the sports fields and the main building was a two-story wooden house with a large garden. Leonie, Kitty, Jojo and Leonie's fiancé Trent Thorn lived in this house.

"She's so terribly strict today," Kitty muttered softly to Dennis.

"Oh dear," Dennis smiled. "She's just really stressed out. After all, she's getting married tonight. And that in front of a large audience.”

"Yeah... yes..." Kitty didn't really know anymore what she actually wanted to say.

"It's going to be great, I think," Dennis said reassuringly. Seeing Kitty still brooding, he added, "Look, nothing's changing for you guys. Trent has been living in your house for half a year. And actually nothing will be different than it already was.”

"Oh, Dennis," Kitty breathed as Dennis put an arm around her. "I don't know what I would do without you." She smiled at him. "Thank god you're my friend."

The others who were with them then waved at Kitty, Jojo and Dennis and ran back into the main building. When Dennis and Kitty arrived at their wooden house together with Leonie and Jojo, Dennis said goodbye to Kitty with a big kiss and then ran back to his quarters in the main building.

At the same time, Kitty ran into the house and then trudged up the stairs. A little later you could hear a door slamming.

"I..." Jojo wanted to start.

“Just leave it alone,” said Leonie. "I will do that."

Leonie then ran upstairs while Jojo sat down in the kitchen and poured a glass of coke.

Leonie carefully knocked on the door of Kitty's room. Kitty didn't respond. Leonie slowly opened the door.

"Kitty..." she said quietly.

Kitty sat on her bed. She buried her head in her hands. She didn't look at her mom as she sat down on the bed next to her. She cried softly.

"Kitty... you understand why I got so angry, don't you?" Leonie asked her daughter calmly. But Kitty didn't answer. Leonie gently stroked Kitty's head. "You can't play with your strength," Leonie continued. "You both received it as a gift at the time and were told not to abuse your spell."

Kitty slowly turned and looked at her mom. But still she didn't answer.

"Kitty, Jojo and you are something very, very special," said Leonie. “Your powers, the spell and magic you carry within you are a very special gift. They were given to you so that you can help the beings in the other, mysterious world.” Leonie took a deep breath. “Whoever abuses them runs the risk of losing their powers. Kitty, Lantyan is very special. It contains the only access to this other world. Please don't risk this chance, Kitty, just because you want to play."

Kitty mumbled something unintelligible.

Because Leonie didn't understand her, she looked at her questioningly.

"What?" she said.

"I created Naytnal from my dreams," said Kitty. "I can choose where I use my gifts."

"Kitty, it's not that easy," Leonie countered seriously. "And you know that, too. You know what Trent told you about the Star of Empires.”

"That it's secret," Kitty knew. "That one shouldn't talk about him." It almost sounded ironic. Kitty grabbed her pillow and tossed it in the corner. "Trent, Trent," she said. "Always Trent." She looked at her mom. "Since he's been living here, you hardly have any time for me anymore."

"Honey, what really bothers you?" Leonie wanted to know. "You're not angry with me at all."

Kitty cried. "I... I just don't want you to forget me again. Just like back then..."

Leonie hugged Kitty. "But darling," she said. "I didn't know you were here then. I never forgot you kitty. I kept thinking about you and it hurt like hell, every day, every hour.” Leonie stroked Kitty's arm. "They told me at the time that you were also killed in the accident. You know that. I had no idea you lived here all these years, kitty. And then we found each other again.” Ernst looked at Leonie Kitty. "There will never be anything in life more important to me than you. Than you and Jojo."

"I'm sorry we did magic when it was forbidden," Kitty cried softly. "I don't know how it came about either. I... just... wanted... because of Trent... I was scared."

“Believe me, Kitty. Nothing will change for us, not even if Trent and I get married tonight.” Leonie then stood up and tenderly shook Kitty's sleeve. "So, and now get your things together that you will wear tonight."

"Okay mom," Kitty said. And a small smile crossed her lips.

Leonie then ran back downstairs.

Kitty hopped up and pulled out of her closet a beautiful white dress that she got last week, especially for the wedding party. She put it on her bed. She quickly slipped out of her silver suit. Then she went to the bathroom and took a shower. After a few minutes she finished, and then, dripping, ran back to her room and dried herself with a towel that lay on the floor. As she was about to put on her beautiful dress, Jojo came into the room.

"She's still really nervous about tonight," she noted.

Jojo also wore a white dress.

"I don't think that's going to go away either," Kitty said. Then she turned to Jojo. "How do I look?"

“Geez, Kitty,” Jojo said. "You look crazy. Almost as if you were getting married yourself today.”

Kitty grinned. “You look just as amazing, Jojo.”

The evening finally approached in unstoppable steps. Kitty and Jojo had already decorated the entire house with garlands, candles and beautiful plants. Three long tables were set up in the garden, seating at least one hundred and fifty people. The most beautiful holiday dishes stood on the white tablecloths.

A bunch of strangers had been trudging through the house since morning. Again and again they carried things around, built things up, took them down again and put them back up again. Even now in the early evening it was still the same, and even if everything looked absolutely great and beautiful, it was far from finished. And not even the scaffolding of the marquee was up.

"Wait!" a man called down, pacing the upstairs windowsill. He had the end of a colorful chain of lights in his hand, which he still had to attach. "Now!" he then shouted to another man who was standing on the terrace below with a cable drum. The other man then plugged a cable into the socket - and shortly thereafter the fairy lights began to shine in all sorts of colors.

Kitty and Jojo just came out of the house. "Wow!" they both marveled as they saw the lights decorating the house.

"That surpasses everything," said Jojo.

"Where's Trent?" Kitty finally thought.

"Bachelor party," Jojo explained curtly.

"Kitty, darling," Leonie's voice came from inside the house. "He's not allowed to see the bride in her wedding dress before the wedding. That brings bad luck.”

Kitty ran to the front door. She tried to open it, but apparently someone had locked it.

"Mom?" Kitty said thoughtfully.

"Everything is fine, little one," Leonie answered. "I'm just not ready yet."

Jojo then suddenly nodded to Kitty with a mischievous smile. And Kitty understood what Jojo meant.

Kitty and Jojo always got along blindly. They only had to look at each other and they already knew what they wanted to say to each other. Except for one time - and Jojo couldn't do anything about it, even though she was the culprit - Kitty and Jojo had never fought. The friendship, which later led to an intimate sibling relationship, has always existed.

In this particular case, Jojo meant Kitty that it was now time to retrieve Leonie and Trent's wedding gift that they had hidden in one of the towers. For days, the two girls made a big secret out of it. Leonie, being a curious person by nature, didn't manage to figure out what it is.

Kitty and Jojo crept quietly to the main building.

"Man, this is going to blow her mind," Kitty whispered.

"She really doesn't know yet what we're giving her and Trent for the wedding?" Jojo smiled like a rascal.

Kitty shook her head. "That shows how well we hid it."

The two girls came into the large entrance hall off the dining room. From here you could get to all corridors, all rooms and all floors. The stairs went up majestically to the left and right, shimmering white, and large windows adorned the wall with great decoration. Next to it were pictures of landscapes and people. Many fairies could be seen in the pictures. The entrance hall was laid out with a golden shiny parquet floor.

It was very, very quiet here in the main building at this hour, no doubt in large part because the upcoming wedding was a big event for all the people living here. And they were all getting ready for it now.

Kitty and Jojo crept quietly to the first floor. They crept past the lower-class classrooms until they came to the stairway to the right-hand tower.

There was something mystical about the towers. The light in the small staircase, which consisted of a spiral staircase, shone dimly like candlelight and it looked almost a little spooky. Eerie and mysterious.

Finally they have arrived upstairs, upstairs in one of Lantyan's most secret rooms, which very few people have entered - the library. This is where Kitty and Jojo hid their present.

"Do you have the keys?" Jojo asked Kitty.

"Sure," Kitty said softly. "I stole these from Mom's keychain this afternoon without noticing."

Kitty pulled the key out of the pocket of her beautiful dress. Then she carefully guided him into the keyhole. He passed. Kitty turned him around... but just as she was about to open the door, Jojo suddenly touched her shoulder.

"Kitty..." she whispered. Her voice sounded oddly startled, like she'd just seen a ghost or something.

Kitty turned to Jojo.

"What's that?" Jojo asked.

It was totally weird. Kitty and Jojo have often come up here, if only because Leonie and Trent often work in the library. There was always just this one door that Kitty just wanted to open. And suddenly there was a second door opposite this door. It looked exactly like the first door. She was the exact likeness, almost like a mirror image.

Kitty carefully raised her arm and touched the door. "A second door," she stammered.

"Since when are they here?" Jojo looked at the door in disbelief. "Is it new? Or was it always there?”

"Why didn't we ever notice that?" Kitty asked in surprise. "I never noticed the door before."

"Neither do I," Jojo stammered.

"Great!" Kitty said. "Totally crazy." She still looked at the door in surprise. "You, I would really like to know what kind of room is behind it."

"Try whether the key works," Jojo asked her.

And Kitty took the key out of the first door. Then she put it in the keyhole of the second door, but it didn't fit. Even if the two doors looked the same, the keyholes were obviously different.

"Crap," she said. "Doesn't fit."

Jojo took a deep breath. Then she knocked on it a few times. But nothing happened. "There doesn't seem to be anyone inside either."

"Yo-yo," said Kitty. "How can that be? Suddenly there is a room that we didn't know about for years. There was always a wall there, at this very spot. And suddenly there's a door.” Kitty looked at Jojo seriously. "Don't you find that strange too?"

"Extremely strange," Jojo confirmed.

"You know what I'm thinking?" said Kitty. "That we should find out what kind of room this is first thing in the morning."

"Tomorrow morning is school," Jojo said discouraged. “Or were you planning to skip.”

“Oof!” said Kitty. “Well, after school then.”

"And why don't we just ask Mom or Trent?"

"Are you crazy?" Kitty looked at Jojo, startled. “We've already gotten into enough trouble today. Let's tell Dennis and we'll come back tomorrow.”

“Agreed,” said Jojo.

Then Kitty and Jojo unlocked the first door that led to the library. They hurriedly pulled out the present for the newlyweds - a large package wrapped in silver paper and decorated with beautiful red bows. Then they secretly ran down the stairs of the tower again, trudged down the hallway back into the large entrance hall. And then hand in hand they walked back to their house, where some guests had already gathered. Leonie was still in the house and apparently still busy getting ready. Thank god she hadn't noticed that Kitty and Jojo had snuck away for a few minutes.

In the meantime, the large, heated festival tent had already been set up, on which the workers had been working since the morning. The last tarp had just been put in place and the roof of the tent was aglow with the beautiful colors of the Stars and Stripes, the American flag. The tent was huge and had room for lots of people. Conveniently, it ended right at the entrance to the house, and the terrace of the house was converted into a stage and dance floor.

“Hey, Kitty!” called Dennis, who was sitting at one of the tables with Jeremy, when he saw Kitty.

“Hey, Jojo, mouse!” Jeremy called out to Jojo.

Jeremy was a handsome, well-dressed boy. He was in thirteenth grade and had just turned 18 a few days ago. Jojo had known him for almost a year, but it wasn't until last summer, at a party for Kitty's birthday, that things had really sparked between her and Jeremy. It started slowly because, contrary to his cool demeanor, Jeremy was a rather shy boy. Ever since Jeremy started dating Jojo, they have been hanging out with Dennis and Kitty, who have been together for a year. Jojo and Jeremy were sometimes embarrassed to openly show their love.

"Hi guys," Kitty greeted the two better halves. "Is the gift table ready yet?"

"Yes," Dennis said. "Right over there." He pointed to a table that already had some presents on it.

Kitty and Jojo then placed their present on the table.

"Mouse, what about you? “You look so confused,” Dennis then stated.

Kitty looked at him mysteriously. She smiled.

“You’ve got something planned,” said Dennis.

Kitty put an arm around his shoulder and brought her lips close to his ear. “I’ll tell you later,” she whispered to him.

"Hello," said a voice suddenly. A middle-aged man, tall, with white hair, suddenly stood behind Kitty, Dennis and Jojo. The children got a little scared.

"Oh... hello, Mr. Templeton," Kitty said.

“Isn’t Trent here yet?” Mr. Templeton asked.

“He has to be there any moment,” Kitty explained. “If you want something to drink, the bartender is already at the bar.”

“Thanks, Kitty,” Mr. Templeton replied politely.

Mr. Templeton was Kitty and Jojo's homeroom teacher. He was considered strict but very fair. Most children got along well with him. And if anyone ever had problems at school, they could go to him because Mr. Templeton always had good advice. Before Leonie became principal at Lantyan, Mr. Templeton was the principal. But he felt too old to do this job anymore. Now he was just a teacher.

"When does it start?"

"Where is Mr Thorn?"

"What kind of dress is the bride wearing?"

"When is your mom coming out?"

Children, teenagers and adults kept coming to Kitty and Jojo and bombarding them with curious questions. Kitty and Jojo felt very flattered despite all the stress.

In the meantime, almost all of the guests have arrived. And someone had already lit all the candles and the fairy lights. The front yard of the house shone beautifully in the setting sun. And the first stars, which were already appearing in the eastern sky, gave the whole thing the right, romantic atmosphere. Yes, this would be a wedding celebration to remember.

Finally the priest who was supposed to marry Leonie and Trent arrived. He gallantly helped Kitty and Jojo out of trouble and took care of the people who kept asking nosy questions. Dressed in his black pastor's habit, he ran to a pedestal to which a microphone was attached.

“Dear attendees, dear community,” he began a speech to the guests. “Well, it won’t be long. The groom is already on his way and the bride is still staying in her house. For good reason, because no one should see her wedding dress until the groom is there and the wedding can take place. So I ask you to be patient for a while longer..."

Suddenly, at that moment, a black sedan came around the corner and stopped on a small path that ran alongside the house. Two men dressed in black then finally got out and opened the back door. Then a very handsome man stepped out. Well-groomed, wearing an imposing, shiny dark blue suit, he walked slowly towards the front yard.

When the guests saw him, they started clapping and cheering.

---ENDE DER LESEPROBE---