Lara cursed under her breath and shook her sandaled foot. "Of all the days to get a package!" She lamented as she carefully perched her clay sculpture on the porch bench. "At least it's small." Lara consoled herself while she dropped the slender package into her messenger bag, it quickly disappeared amidst a sea of paint brushes, notebooks, and the sweater it had turned out to warm to wear.
After much fumbling and maneuvering Lara finally got her clay dragon to it's waiting spot on her dresser. She then tipped her bag, spilling the contents onto her fluffy, violet comforter. "I wondered where that went!" She exclaimed while detangling a sparkly barrette from the sleeve of her scarlet sweater. Lara carelessly flung the sweater in the general direction of her laundry basket, it landed on her desk chair instead. The disaster zone of dirty laundry was quickly forgotten when she noticed her name was the one written on the package.
It had to be from her Aunt Marisol. Who else would address a package in electric pink and chameleon green swirly ink? Lara quickly tore away the tan paper and gave it a careless toss, not noticing that there was no return address nor the tell-tale, novel length letter from Aunt Marisol.
Her eyes lit up and she trailed her finger along the metallic inlays of the book's cover. Something sent showers of electric excitement down her spine as she pulled the tail of the midnight corded bow. Lara slowly pulled the leather cover open and gasped as the world fell away.
Lara was astonished to discover that she was not only still standing, but not alone when she finally opened her eyes. A glimmer of color floated above her right shoulder according to her reflection in the mirror. Lara spun around to try and catch a glimpse of it. "You can't see me for real yet, silly!" A lilting voice floated to her ear. The glimmer giggled before continuing, "You are really new to this aren't you?"
Lara blinked slowly, wondering if time she had indeed lost it. She mustered up the courage to once again look at the book. Bold, scarlet text spattered across the page, The Arlinia. Lara shakily closed the book and retied the cord. The glimmer in the mirror disappeared and Lara rubbed at her temple. Still a bit uneasy she pulled her comforter from her bed, and the contents of her bag spilled unnoticed to the floor. She laid her head on her pillow, contemplating the wisdom of actually eating the school's mystery meat for lunch.