The Hidden Gemstone
The Hidden Gemstone
Written by Michelle MohrweisIllustrated by Dante Gabriel Hookey
Chapter 1
It’s cleaning day at the Feather Quill antique shop, which means I’m daydreaming about adventure. Maybe not the best idea while balancing on a ladder, but whatever.
“OK, next we need the books with orange spines,” says my cousin, Samara. She waits below me, tapping a finger against her notebook. Samara keeps track of everything in her notebook.
I rise on my toes, reaching for a book on the highest shelf. The ladder wobbles, but I’m not afraid. I, Cleo MacGuffin, am an adventurer climbing a towering cliff towards the sky and …
The door bangs open.
I grab the shelf to steady myself as Mateo, prince of the Kingdom of Pages, runs inside.
“I need your help!” he cries, clutching a newspaper. “Mum wants me to go on a quest!”
2
3
GEMSTONE OF FIXING HIDDEN IN FORGOTTEN FOREST!
A quest? Excitement buzzes from my fingers to the tips of my toes.
“That’s amazing!” I cry.
“No, no, no!” moans Mateo. He holds out the newspaper. “It’s not amazing. I have to find this!”
Even from high up on the ladder, I can read the massive headline: Gemstone of Fixing hidden in Forgotten Forest!
4
Mateo throws the newspaper aside. “Neither of you get it. It’s dangerous. I don’t want to go! Besides, we keep getting complaints about rubbish in the forest. It’s filthy there!”
“That sounds fun,” says Samara.
5
Sometimes I forget Mateo doesn’t like adventure the way Samara and I do. I don’t really understand it, but he’s my friend, and he’s upset, which means I need to comfort him.
“I’m sorry,” I say, scrambling to think of when I’ve felt similar. “I get it. My aunt always makes us clean the antique shop and I despise cleaning. It’s frustrating! But I feel bad if I say no because she lets me stay here all summer.”
Mateo scowls. “What’s that have to do with my problem?”
My stomach drops. Did I … just make him more upset?
6
I rock on my feet, back and forth, heel to toe. I rock so hard that the ladder rocks with me.
Why did that make him angry?
When Samara and I get upset, we share stories to comfort each other, and it always makes us both feel better. But now Mateo is glaring at me and … “Cleo, watch out!” yells Samara.
7