The Lost Sister

Angelina added cinnamon to the sweet potatoes. The cinnamon's label had chipped, and it said: cinnmo. Her friends would be over any minute; she didn't want to be late. She swiped up the platter of sweet potatoes off the kitchen counter and placed it on the kitchen table.

Just then, the doorbell rang. They were here! Angelina rushed to the front door and opened it. Standing there were her four friends: Olympia, Blythe, Carissa, and Irene.

"Hi everyone!" Angelina exclaimed. She hugged everyone as they said hello to her and to each other.

They all sat down at the kitchen table. "So, how is everyone?" Carissa asked.

"I'm good!" Angelina replied.

"I'm okay", Blythe said. "Eva got that job."

Evangeline was Blythe's sister. But they always called her Eva. She'd wanted to be a journalist at the New York Times since she was six years old, and she'd finally gotten it.

"I'm great!" Olympia said. "I'm working on that new novel now."

Olympia had always wanted to be a novelist. She'd always thought that was so cool. She was now writing a fantasy series for middle grade kids.

"What about you, Carissa?"

"Well...nothing, really. Except...well, Caroline took her first steps yesterday!"

"What!" Angelina exclaimed.

"Yes."

Carissa was two years older than the rest of them. She was twenty-seven, and had married when she was twenty-four.

"What about you, Irene?" Angelina asked.

"Nothing. My dad decided to have that car shop."

"Really!" Irene's dad had always loved cars. When they were younger, he usually took the girls in his old mustang. They'd all squeeze inside it.

"Well, for dinner, we have potatoes, steak and some rice", Angelina said, pointing towards everything.

"Yes, let's sit down", Olympia suggested.

After they had served themselves, they all took a bite of the steak at the same time. "Mmm!" they all exclaimed at the same time, and that turned into a hysterical laugh.

"Now for the potatoes!" Blythe said. "Three, two, one..."

But none of the others heard Blythe say "now", and neither did Blythe. There was a darkness, and then they all opened their eyes.

A bustling city stood before them; it wasn't quite New York City; it seemed more magical. There were fairy lights hung on the trees, and streaks of purple light wound around each building.

The buildings were made of glass and vines. It seemed like a combination of city and forest. The sky was bright and beautiful and full of fluffy clouds.

Angelina was the first one to speak. "Whoa."

"I have a really bad feeling", Carissa said.

"About what?" Olympia asked.

"About this whole thing. It seems like a setup or something. It seems to good to be true. Literally."

"Yeah", Irene agreed.

They were in the middle of a street. A taxi came zooming down it. "Watch out!" Blythe cried. They all ran backwards to the curb.

"Phew", Carissa said. She brushed her brown hair behind her ear.

"What do we do now?" Olympia asked.

"We should ask someone where we are and why we came here", Angelina suggested. The group walked around on the streets until they came to a large glass building. "Someone should be in here", she said.

They walked into the building. There were tons of people already bustling around; it was like a small city, just in this one building.

The group made their way to the front desk. As they did, everyone started staring at them. "I don't like this", Olympia whispered to Irene. "Me either", she whispered back.

The front desk woman looked up, then gasped when she saw Carissa. "What are you doing here ‒ get back here right now!" She pulled the group into a door behind her desk. Then she looked back out before she closed it.

"What is it?" Carissa asked, puzzled.

"You're my sister!" the lady blurted out.

"E..excuse me?" Carissa said. "I don't even know your name."

"Bethany ‒ my name is Bethany", the woman stuttered.

"I did have a sister that disappeared..." Carissa thought for a moment. "How old were you when you came here?"

"Ten, by accident", Bethany replied.

"Where are we?" Angelina spoke up.

"Cinnmo", Bethany said.

"That explains it!" Angelina exclaimed. "It might sound dumb, but...my cinnamon, that I used on the sweet potato, had peeled off a little ‒ or, a lot ‒ and that's what it said! When we ate the sweet potato, with the cinnamon on it, we must have gotten transported here!"

The rest of the group stared at Angelina. "Okay..." Irene finally said slowly, "so the cinnamon transported us here?"

"Yup", Angelina replied. h

"We need to get back", Olympia said. "How do we?"

"That is a little complicated", Bethany replied. "You need to go to the king, ask permission, take the orb, flip it around three times, and then you're back."

"Oh..." sighed Irene.

"Can you come with us?" Carissa asked hopefully. "Mom and Dad will be so glad to have you back."

"Well..."

"Please?"

"All right. I'd better tell my boss, then."

"Where is the king's palace?" Blythe asked.

"All the way at the end of fifth avenue", Bethany replied. "I'll meet you there."

"Okay." As the group left, Carissa said, "I can't believe I found my long-lost sister! Mom and Dad are going to be so happy!" The others smiled.

The group walked all the way down fifth avenue for what seemed like an hour. They were going pretty fast, too.

The palace was giant. It seemed to stretch miles into the sky. There was a large gate in front of it. "Now we just need to get in..." Olympia sighed.

They tried to ask the guards politely, to catch a tour of the palace, and even tried to sneak in. But nothing was working.

Finally, Bethany came running down the street in heels. "Department of Electronics. These ladies are my friends." She showed the guards her ID, then they let them in.

The palace foyer was a hundred feet tall, and there were golden statues everywhere you turned. But Bethany immediately led them to a large room with a polished wooden table and papers stacked really, really high on it.

"Can we please go back to Earth?" Bethany asked the man wearing the crown at his desk.

"Yes", he replied. "For what reason?"

"We came here by accident", Carissa spoke up.

"All right", the king replied. He handed Bethany a blue orb. "Remember, flip it around three times, and you will be back."

"Thank you, Your Majesty", Carissa said. The group walked back out to the really large foyer, Bethany flipped the orb in her hands three times, and they were back at Angelina's house, all seated at the table.