An Over-Active Imagination

Kid Imagines Anything Reality by M.O.D Entertainment

sneakers. She blinked at it like it might explain itself. A tiny silver bell sat there, no bigger than a marble, still warm as if it had just been pulled from sunlight. When she leaned closer, the bell gave a gentle “ting,” and the sound smelled faintly like peppermint. Mara’s mom was at the sink, rinsing a mug with slow circles of water. The kitchen smelled like soap and toast, and the curtains fluttered from the breeze that always found its way through the window. Mara’s cat, Peep, batted at the bell once with a paw that left a smudge of fluff on its shiny surface. The bell didn’t roll away. It stayed, as if it belonged there. “Where did you come from?” Mara asked, her voice small but curious. Peep meowed and rubbed his face against Mara’s ankle, which made her laugh a little. The bell rang again-ting-ting-like it was happy to be noticed. Mara’s fingers hovered over it, careful not to drop it, and her mind did something strange: she didn’t think about the bell at all. Instead, she pictured a different sound, a different sparkle, the kind of magic she’d imagined in her head while brushing her teeth yesterday. A pocket-sized bell that could make any room feel like a friendly spell.

• • •

CHAPTER I