Amelia jolted awake. The sun was just barely peeking out. The sky was a dark blue with streaks of yellow and orange piercing through. She swung her feet over the side of the bed and put on her shoes. Jodi was sound asleep, the covers pulled tightly around her. 

Amelia walked out into the living room of Derek’s house. There was a large bookshelf on one wall filled with colorful spines of books. She walked over and examined a large red book. The cover was made of cloth that was fraying at the corners.

She pulled it out and opened it and saw it was filled with detailed maps. They were all carefully drawn and labeled. She flipped to one of the Great Oak Tree. The map covered two pages. One showed it from the outside and the other showed it as if the tree was hollow. There were 13 floors. The top one was amongst the branches and had a large round table with 13 chairs. Each chair had a name over it, which must be where each council member sat. 

“You’re up early.” Amelia let out a small gasp as she turned around, clutching the book to her chest. Someone stood behind her. It sounded like Derek, but it was a man, not a pegasus. 

Amelia pressed herself against the bookshelf.“Who are you?” she asked, looking him up and down. 

“Oh, I’m sorry. I should have warned you I’m a shapeshifter. I take the form of a pegasus when I help travelers cross, but it’s not the form I prefer.” Amelia just nodded watching him and he set a kettle to boil on the stove. He was tall and thin, and his clothes hung loosely on him. His hair was dark and his eyes were a piercing blue. 

“How’d you sleep?” he asked, looking up from the stove. 

“Fine, thank you. How about you?” 

“Good.” A few minutes of silence passed before Derek said, “So how do you like my maps?” He asked gesturing to the book she was still holding. 

“Did you draw these?” Amelia asked, sitting down at the table.

“Yes, it’s a hobby of mine,” he sat down across from her, “ever since I was a kid I loved to draw and it became a passion of mine a few years ago to draw the world, so I make maps and I draw maps of places.” 

“That’s really cool! These are so detailed you did a beautiful job.” 

“Thank you.” He was about to say something else when Jase and Jodi walked in along with Emit. 

“Who is that?” Jase and Jodi both asked at the same time. 

“Derek, he’s a shapeshifter,” Amelia said smiling at them. 

“Good to know,” Jase said, giving him a quizzical look. 

“Sorry, we should have mentioned that sooner,” Emit said, waddling over to the table where Amelia sat. The kettle whistled and Derek poured everyone tea.

The group talked as Derek made eggs and toast. He spread a purple jam onto the toast and laid the egg on top. Amelia’s stomach gave an angry growl as she took a big bite. The flavors flooded her mouth. The jam was sweet and sour at the same time and the egg yolk was so rich. 

“Derek, this is so good,” Amelia said, taking another bite. 

“It really is.” Jase had already finished with his and was reaching for another. 

“Your welcome. It’s razzle-dazzle berry jam with an egg.”

“Cool,” Jase said, finishing his second one. 

The sun had fully risen and settled high in the sky as the group packed up their things. Amelia made her bed and walked out into the living room. She handed Derek his book. 

“Thanks for letting me look at your maps,” Amelia smiled at him. 

“No problem,” he took the book from her, “take this, it’s a map of our entire world, it might come in handy.” He smiled at her as she tucked the map safely into her bag.

“Thank you,” she said as she, Jase, Jodi, and Emit all stepped outside. 

“Is Derek coming?” Jodi asked, looking around for him. 

“Yes, he just has to transform,” Emit said sitting down. A few seconds later Derek walked out in his pegasus form. He bent down and Amelia and Jodi settled themselves onto his back.  

Taking off the chilly morning air hit Amelia’s face, and she breathed in its crispness. It took a few minutes to reach the other side. Derek landed and Amelia and Jodi hopped down off his back. 

“I’ll be back in a second.” He took off, and they looked around. They were standing in a field filled with flowers of every color. Honeybees buzzed all around them and the air was sweet. Amelia pulled out her map to find where they were. 

She found the Floating Islands of the West and traced her finger across to where she thought they were. “Fairy Land,” Amelia whispered. 

“What did you say?” Jodi asked. 

“We’re in Fairy Land!” Amelia said, her voice filling with excitement. She looked around and noticed that in the trees little homes hung like birdhouses and that amongst the bees were little figures, fairies. 

Derek appeared in the distance and landed next to them, dropping Jase and Emit off. 

“This is Fairy Land, right?” Amelia asked, looking back and forth between Derek and Emit. 

“That’s right, we cross Fairy Land and we arrive at the Great Oak Tree,” Emit said.

To be continued