"Come on my dear, it's time to show you how you can relax after a hard day at school."
Professor Harmony took Elizabeth by the hand, and they both disappeared, as if swallowed by the earth.
Elizabeth ended up on the backseat of a classic car, as red as fire with white interior, running smoothly on an unpaved road. It had no driver.
"Look out the window," said Miss Harmony, smiling. "Do not be afraid there is no driver in this car, because it knows exactly where to go. Enjoy the wonders that this savannah hides ..."
Seeing Mrs. Harmony's calm and warm smile, Elizabeth looked out the window of the car. She did not understand where they were, because no one ever told her about a savannah, or show it to her, as it happened now.
"What you see now is a group of lions. That's how they live, in groups ..."
The girl saw some beautiful animals that looked dangerous.
"They seem huge and fierce."
"These kittens ... I'm curious what you say when you see a fire dragon. If they are fierce, then how will the dragon be?"
The professor smiled. The girl smiled too, because she felt safe with Miss Harmony.
They looked for some moments at some lion cubs playing, fur balls, swirling and running around their feline parents.
"Look ... Those with long necks in the distance are giraffes, those with one horn, are rhinos and those running in the herd are antelopes. And the zebras are the striped ones.
Needless to say, it was a splendour even for those who saw at least at the zoo such beautiful animals, let alone for a child who never had the chance to see more than mice or rats, very rarely cats or dogs. And now, she saw them in all their glory, lazing in their environment, as the lions did, or running free, as the antelopes did.
"You can also see them in the Sanctuary of non-fantasy creatures. I thought you would be more pleased to see them in their world. Wait to see when you enter the Sanctuary of Fantastic Creatures ... and you see a real fire dragon. Or a flying pattern of his floating high in the sky."
The girl smiled, nodded, but couldn't find her words so she didn't say anything.
"Get ready. I have another surprise for you."
And the two girls got out of that beautiful and welcoming car and popped up elsewhere ... on a ship.
Properly dressed, considering the place where they were, because on the deck of the ship one could see everywhere icicles, the girls were amazed to see the sky so ... lit up.
"Boreal aurora, dear. It is a phenomenon that occurs when solar wind hit the Earth's magnetic field. Only at night can you see such lights in the sky ... Usually, they emit the colour green or red, but look, there are other colours now ..."
The splendour of the lights was divine. Even a bright mind could hardly understand how such a show could be so easily created on the starry sky.
For a few moments, even Miss Harmony was speechless.
"I am amazed too, even though I admired this light shower during so many nights. It looks like sunbeams carried by the wind. It's wonderful ... but wouldn't you like to come back?"
The girl who felt cold and shivered, signalled to her that she wanted to leave, even if she was amazed at that splendid light show in the sky.
So the professor took Elizabeth in his arms and they disappeared again ...
The two appeared on the bank of a large stretch of water, on a pontoon. And what you could see from that pontoon would leave anyone speechless.
Several dolphins swam near that dock, jumping and playing with each other.
"We are in the place not far from the Recreation Sanctuary. You can go there if you want. Daznache is a guardian there. Of course he is a stone elf ... which is sometimes so grumpy that he closes the Citadel gates, and the students have to look for another way of recreation."
"But ... I can't get here without going to Daznache, as I did today?"
Miss Harmony laughed.
"Unfortunately not, dear. The way we came here today is ... an advantage of being a professor at Elmbridge School. It is against the rules for a child to enter here without Daznache's will, the guardian of the Recreation Sanctuary."
"Should I get that we both violated a school rule?"
This question puzzled Miss Harmony.
"Well, I don't think so. Or…?"
After a few moments of thought, the professor continued, but not too convinced:
"No, you didn't break any rules. Neither did I. I brought you to show you what you can do after school. It's like a presentation of the school ... and I was asked to show you the school.
Elizabeth smiled like the rising sun. Miss Harmony did the same, she took the girl by the hand again, and the two disappeared into a huge room, the hall of a grand palace.
"This Citadel is as imposing as the others, as you can see. As all Elmbridge School Centres, all other Sanctuaries. From here you can get anywhere you want. To climb the peaks of the high mountains between India and China, to swim in the waters of the coral reefs of the Hiyndonesia islands, or to ride the winged mustangs from the distant prairies of the Lost Continent. You will see some fantastic creatures there, as wonderful as those in Antarctika. But all this in time, when you grow older."
"In Antarctica, no animals live. There is no way to ..."
"My dear, you behave like a sceptic. Listen to her, there are no animals in Antarctika..."
Miss Harmony laughed so loud that hearing the words about Antarctika, that she seemed crazy.
Elizabeth said nothing more, she just smiled.
"There are so many places I have to visit. I will definitely go everywhere ..."
In a moment the guardian of that Sanctuary, Mr. Daznache, popped up.
"Hello. Do you know if Jack was here?"
"Yes, as usual," the stone elf answered sharply.
"Thanks."
Harmony grabbed Elizabeth by the hand and the two arrived at the "usual place."
"I like it so much here ..."
The girl understood why, as soon as she gazed, surprised at the summer outfit with which Harmony's magic had dressed both of them.
The sea was crystal clear as the sky. The sky seemed overflowing it, so transparent it was. The girl saw fishes of all kinds swimming beside her and Miss Harmony. Because the professor took her exactly in the mirror of that stretch of water, not so deep and so pleasant to the touch. A simple girl who until recently hadn't come out of that orphanage where she lived her first part of life, now enjoyed a view that could leave anyone speechless.
Even if they were far enough from the shore, the bottom of this lagoon they were in was smooth and a little deep, so far.
The girl looked behind her and saw a man approaching them.
"Look at him. The greatest wizard at Elmbridge School ..."
Elizabeth looked doubtfully at Miss Harmony.
"Really? I thought Mr. Knudlac was ..."
Miss Harmony sighed softly and smiled.
"For me he is the greatest wizard. And he spilled his magic on me ... only on me."
"What did he do to you?" asked the girl puzzled and scared.
"He stole my mind ... heart ... and many other things," Miss Harmony smiled.
But seeing the girl was not completely clear:
"You understand it later, over many years. Now let's get to know him."
And the girls headed for the man.
"Hello," greeted the young man when he reached the girls.
"Elizabeth ... Jack Hughes. Jack, she's Elizabeth Edwards," Miss Harmony introduced them to each other.
The two shook hands.
"Pleased to meet you."
"Pleased to meet you too."
After a short break, the young man took a little courage.
"Miss Elizabeth, can I kidnap you and Miss Harmony for a picnic on the lagoon? I prepared it there on that turquoise sand, in the shade of those palm trees."
"Of course ... I was really hungry," the girl smiled and reached out her hand to Jack.
Miss Harmony also reached out to Jack's hand and the three of them headed for that shore with turquoise sand.
"Any friend of Miss Harmony's is my friend too. I don't care you stole those things from her," Elizabeth said. "Just give them back to her."
"What ... what did I do?" the man wondered, looking at Miss Harmony, asking for explanations, but apologized for any mistake he might make.
"Heart, mind ... and many more. But I know you give them back when she asks them from you ..."
The woman and the man looked at each other, then at the girl and they smiled.
They get to the place in question, and Jack, of course, began to serve the girls with the goodies he had in the basket he carried there.
And so Elizabeth took part in her first picnic. Not anywhere. Even in paradise. Because, I don't know how else that place could be called, so wonderful and welcoming it was.
A girl who until recently had been just an orphan, now enjoyed being with those who were like a family. A girl who until now had only visited the roof of the orphanage from time to time, one day she was in the savannahs of Africa, in the frozen waters of Antarctika, and now she was in ... the Paradise of Tropical Islands.