Seven-year-old Susie finds a shining pebble in her garden and slips into a magical forest full of strange creatures, glowing flowers, and a mystery waiting in the trees.
Susie loved the garden best when the sun warmed the strawberry leaves and the bees hummed softly over the flowers. One afternoon, as she knelt beside the bush, something caught her eye. A tiny pebble glinted in the soil, dark blue with a gold spark inside it, like a star trapped under glass.
Susie picked it up. The moment her fingers closed around it, the pebble gave a gentle ring.
Then the wind whirled.
The strawberry bush shivered. The grass bent low. Susie blinked hard, and her garden was gone. In its place stood a tall gate made of green leaves, woven together as neatly as ribbon. Beyond it, tiny lights flickered between silver trunks, and the air smelled sweet, like strawberries and vanilla.
Susie stared. 'Where am I?' she whispered.
'Right where you need to be,' said a small voice.
A little gnome stepped out from behind the gate. He wore a red cap, green shoes with bells, and a beard as white as fluff from a dandelion. He bowed so low his nose nearly touched the ground.
'Hello, Susie. I’m Plumek,' he said. 'That pebble is a key. It has opened the way to our world. Will you come in?'
Susie looked at the glowing gate, then at the pebble in her hand. Her heart beat fast, but not from fear. Something magical was waiting.
She nodded.
Plumek touched the leaf gate, and it swung open without a sound. Susie stepped into the forest, and her breath caught. The trees rose high above her head, their branches disappearing into the clouds. Bright little hedgehogs darted along the path. Butterflies as large as plates drifted past her ears. From somewhere nearby, flowers were singing in tiny clear voices.
A cluster of mushroom lanterns dangled from the branches like sleepy moons.
'First, we must visit Smudge,' Plumek said, leading her toward a pond that shone silver and still. 'She knows things.'
The water rippled.
A frog with a purple spot on her back lifted her head and smiled at Susie. But before she could say a word, the bushes behind them rustled.
Something moved there.
Not a bird.
Not a rabbit.
Susie held the pebble tighter as the leaves shook again, and a dark shadow slowly began to step out from the trees.