Olive's Dangerous Adventure

By Eva Jonker

Olive’s Dangerous Adventure

By Eva Jonker

1 Meeting Olive

Olive awoke to the sound of ringing in her ear. She just thought it was headaches or something. So she rubbed her eyes and slipped into her fluffy slippers. Then walked herself slowly outside to where her Dad was waiting for her already. She was as sleepy as a sloth.

“Hey I’m not feeling well,” she told her Dad Mike who she called dad.

She didn’t want to go to school so she put on her best sick face.

“Oh honey, I'm sorry you're not feeling well but I need you to go to school today. Don’t you have that math test?”

Her other Dad Rob walked in -who she called Papa.

“She’s not feeling well? Again? Is it the ringing?” he asked.

He looked concerned. Good. If only her Dad was this sympathetic.

“Yeah…” she muttered trying to sound as sick as possible.

“She has to go to school, Rob,” he turned to Olive “Okay, now get changed into your uniform, the bus will be here in ten minutes and you haven't even eaten yet!” he said.

Olive dragged herself into her brightly decorated room where she opened her closet slowly and pulled out her white button-up shirt, and yellow and blue tie.

“That skirt looks way too small” she muttered under her breath.

Now she pulled out her yellow and blue skirt and got dressed.

She rushed downstairs trying to time her morning so that she wouldn't be late. After Olive got her cereal and milk from the cupboard and fridge she was grabbing her spoon when she saw something out of the corner of her eye. Something just moved. What was it? Was it a who? Or a what? She turned around expecting to see a burglar or a stray cat that found its way into the house.

But she saw nothing. Nothing?

“This is it, I'm going insane,” she said. This wasn’t the first time this happened.

Olive quickly finished up her breakfast then she raced upstairs and brushed her teeth.

‘Honk honk’ the bus was here! Olive grabbed her black dress shoes and ran downstairs while attempting to slip them on. As she got downstairs her Papa, Rob was holding her backpack and lunch which she grabbed from him

“I love you bye!” she said to him.

“I love you!” but he managed to grab her and give her a little kiss on the forehead. Then he let her go. Olive ran at lightning speed to try and make that bus. When she finally made it to the door of the bus, the driver gave her a dirty look that said, I don't like you and never have now get on this gosh darn bus.

“Sorry,” said Olive.

“Don’t be sorry just don’t be stupid,” said the bus driver. Olive wasn't that offended though. As she was walking through the aisle she spotted her best friend Jack who was waving at her.

“Hey!” Jack said frantically waving his hands in the air. Jack was weird too, he had curly and thick ginger hair —Though he called it “strawberry blond”— and he had big freckles that covered almost his whole face. Olive took a seat next to him and opened her bag to get some chapstick.

Jack immediately knew something was up.

“What's wrong?” he asked. He knew she was stressed or in a bad mood whenever she put chapstick on.

“Nothing…” She wanted to tell him. But maybe he would think she was weird. And Jack was kind of the only friend she had.

He looked at her raising his left eyebrow.

“Well if you have to know…” she thought, “nothing, my lips are just chapped.”

“Well if you say so,” Jack said.

The rest of the bus ride was quiet. But Olive had other things on her mind.

‘Like what if I'm going insane?’ And ‘Which insane asylum would Dad put me in?’ Then the bus pulled into the parking lot of the school. She jumped out of the squeaky bus door after Jack. And they both ran to the door of the school as quick as two peregrine falcons.

Then they were greeted by their principal. Olive always compared Ms. Hammem to a bullfrog. She was short and cranky and she had eyes that seemed to bulge out of her head.

“Good Morning students,” she said in her old raspy voice.

“Good Morning Ms. Hammem,” all the students said in unison.

Then she opened the doors and the day went on.

2 Olive Unlocked

As Olive sat down for lunch she saw a group of girls heading her way.

“Hey Olive,” said Karis.

Karis was always mean to her. Ever since when Karis found out that Noah had a crush on Olive in Year One she despised Olive.

“Whatchu have there?” Karis asked. Olive didn't answer. She knew at times like these to just ignore her. Usually, Karis would just walk away but she kept going.

“I said what do you- Ow” Karis felt a sharp pain in her left hand. “What the heck was that?” Karis asked.

“I don’t know,” Olive said. She didn't know.

“If you're going to play little pranks on me you might as well just fight me. Right here and right now.” Karis said. Olive stared at her for a while.

“Are you serious?” Olive asked.

“Yes.” She said. Olive started to get annoyed. She felt this burning rage inside of her. So she got up. Was it a good idea? No, and Olive knew that. But she didn't know how bad it would be.

So Olive got up and was ready to fight, the whole of the lunch room watching them. Cheering, yelling,

“Fight fight...” Karis threw an uppercut at Olive and hit her in the head. Olive felt a bump forming on the spot where Karis punched. The room went cold. And then something insane happened. Something that no one would ever forget in the history of this school. Olive’s eyes turned a sapphire blue and her hair began to float. Rocks and pieces of the earth started to tear out from the ground. The rocks and soil launched at Karis knocking her out and hitting her multiple times in the arms and legs. Olive plummeted to the ground and landed on her knees.

What had she done?

Olive looked over to Karis who had multiple wounds all over her body. Then she looked around her. Everyone was staring at her. Fear in their eyes.

“Olive, Karis is…” She turned around and standing behind her was her best friend Jack.

“Jack I-” but it was too late. Jack had tears welling up in his eyes and he ran away. Soon so did the rest of the lunchroom.

The vice-principal came in and looked at her after a couple of minutes. By this time Karis woke up and ran away from her. She knew she was in trouble.

He sat down next to her and pulled out his phone. On his phone was the video of her. One of the kids took a video of her!

“Now at first I thought this video was one-hundred percent fake but as soon as I saw Karis walking down the hall with those bruises on her body I knew it wasn't.”

“Listen, Mr. Cranston, I’m so sorry. I didn’t- don’t know what's happening,” she said.

“I’m not mad but listen to me. You are very special and that's a good thing but the government thinks so too. What they're going to do is take you away and perform experiments on you to try and make our army as powerful as you are.” He said “I’ve seen what they do with people like you before, and the government has already told me about bringing people with ‘otherworldly powers’ to them,”

“I- I don't understand. So you want me to hide from the government?” Olive asked.

“Yes. So the video has been taken down but there’s a chance that they've already seen this so we’ve messaged your parents and you are going to stay at your grandparents’ house. Ok?”

“Uhh yes” what was happening?

He started speaking again. At this point Olive just wanted all this to stop.

“Unfortunately we will have to keep moving you from relative to relative so the government won't find you,” he said. “Your phone will be taken away and your iPad and pretty much everything that the government could track you on. Is that ok?”

“Yes…” she said. No. Everything was happening so fast.

“We’re here,” said Dad.

“And we have cookies!” Said, Papa. “Oh look at our little baby.” he leaned in for a hug and squeezed her as tight as a boa constrictor “It’s all going to be ok,” meanwhile Mr. Cranston was digging into the cookies.

The next few minutes were a blur, but she remembered her Dads dropping her off at her grandparent’s house and giving them one last goodbye hug.

3 Olive Discovered.

She stayed a week at each of her relatives’ houses. She still didn’t quite figure out how to unlock her powers but over the next few days, she began being able to move small items around the house.

On week three of moving from house to house Olive was pouring her morning cereal when she saw something out of the corner of her eye. Again? This time Olive investigated further she looked out the window and she saw a tall dark figure walking towards the door.

Ding dong. The doorbell rang. Olive stood on the spot worried about what might happen to her if she answered.

“Hello?” Her great aunt answered the door and in walked a tall man who she would, later on, know very well.

“Hello, I am here for Olive.” Said the tall man.

“Of course,” said her great aunt Marge “She’s right here.” Obviously, Marge wasn’t educated on the rules about Olive’s safety because Mr. Cranston clearly stated that there were to be no visitors.

The tall man and her great aunt Marge walked in. As soon as he saw Olive his face lit up.

“Hello, are you Olive Abram?” said the tall man. His voice was deep and raspy. Like a moose.

“It depends,” said Olive “is that a good thing?” Immediately Olive thought that he worked for the president.

“Yes, it is, but I’ve been so rude,” Said the man “Let me introduce myself, I am Marcellus but you will call me Headmaster Marcellus.”

So he’s not working for the president?

“I’m confused,” said Olive

“I’m taking you to a school where we teach special children -like you how to use your powers,” he said “this school is called Liberi Peculiari Academy. Or LPA for short.”

“What does this mean exactly?” Said, Marge

“It means we’re taking Olive to Liberi Peculiari,” Said Headmaster Marcellus.

“No. I’m afraid I can’t let you do that,” said her great aunt.

“Well since you won't cooperate,” and then The headmaster made eye contact with Olive “Hold on.”

Then the headmaster grabbed Olive’s arm, whipped out his wand and said “imus ad locum” then all of a sudden Olive and the headmaster teleported to a large tunnel where they were shooting forward at the speed of light she felt her guts turning and twisting. And then, THUMP they both hit the ground. And before them was a gigantic school where people were freezing water with their bare hands, floating in thin air, teleporting out of nowhere!

“Olive welcome to Liberi Peculari Academy”

4 Olive at Last

“This is Liberi Peculiari” Said Headmaster Marcellus.

“Wow” Said Olive. She had never seen anything like this.

“Now you are going to be sorted into one of the power categories,” said Marcellus “the first is elemental powers, like air water fire and earth,” then he gestured to a young girl who was lifting pieces of earth out of the ground and shaping them into bunny rabbits, and dogs

“Then we have flight and strength,you will be sorted into one of these three catagories” Said Marcellus. “Lastly we have mind,” but unlike the rest she did not see many people with the power “This is the most powerful category and the least amount of people get put there,”

“Cool!” Said olive

Then Marcellus led her through the door into a giant hall filled with students, there were people flying through the air and kids heating up their lunch with just a swift hand movement. It was complete pandemonium. Soon Olive found herself in a large office with something that looked like a completely normal laptop but as soon as the headmaster opened it he turned it toward her and a beam of light shone on her face. It hurt so bad she thought she would go blind. She rubbed her eyes.

“What was that?” asked Olive

“That was how we will determine which category you will be in,” said the headmaster. He turned the computer back towards him “Mind” come now let's go to your dorm.

As she arrived in the dorm, Olive was disappointed to discover that only three other students were in the room.

“Maxwell, Alice, Joseph, welcome the newest member to your category, Olive.”

“Hey Olive!” said the other students. And at last Olive felt like she truly belonged.

Over the next few weeks Olive became quite close with two of her dorm mates. Alice who had a similar experience to her, and Joseph, who was quite funny and easy to talk to. But unlike the others Maxwell was not as accommodating to Olive he felt she was a slow learner and that she made the mind team seem ‘weak’. But Olive was determined to get Maxwell to like her. She tried to be as nice as possible to him and earn back her respect. Aside from that Olive started to really enjoy her new life at Liberi Peculiari. She was especially good at ciphering which was the equivalent of math in the human world. She also mastered many subjects such as System class which was like science but less about physics and more about how your powers worked. One thing Olive noticed was the fact that to be magical you have at least one magical parent. And her dads adopted her so one or both of her biological parents had to be magic!

5 Olive Fights

Olive was acing all her classes and making friends outside of the mind category! At last she enjoyed going to school. But on the fifth to last week of school Olive got a disturbing call to Headmaster Marcellus’s office.

“Olive Abram, please come to the headmasters office, now.” She heard over the loudspeaker. So olive made her way to Marcellus’s office.

She wondered what this could possibly be for. As she entered his office Marcellus looked stern and as if something was so wrong it could put everyone at stake.

“Take a seat,” he said.

“So why did you call me in here today?” asked Olive.

“Have you gone into the human world recently?” asked the headmaster.

“Yes, I went with Claire from the elements category and Alice from the mind category to the beach,” she replied. “Why?”

“Because you were shown in some girls Instagram post and now the government knows where you are.” He took out a cell phone with a girl posing with her friends.

“I don't see myself?” Olive said. Then the headmaster zoomed in and indeed she was walking with Claire and Alice.

“The government is probably on their way now,” he said

“But we can fight them! We have powers that they don’t,” said Olive

“That's a good point,” said Marcellus “Ok I will tell the other teachers to prepare the school, and you tell the children to prepare for the fight of their lives.”

As Olive ran through the halls of Liberi Peculiari she saw teachers casting spells upon the walls in order to protect the school. This is insane. She thought to herself. As she entered the dorm area where there were different doors for each category on either side of the hallway she used her powers to open all the doors at once, and steal a megaphone from one of the teachers downstairs.

“Students of Liberi Peculiari, the school is under attack, prepare yourselves for battle immediately,” Olive said. She heard gasping and gibbering coming from each door. She was getting sidetracked by her thoughts but managed to pull herself together “The government has discovered where we are and we must fight them. So get yourselves ready for the battle of a lifetime!”

“Yeah!” the other children said. And immediately they started flying through the air and they were all making plans.

“We can surround the perimeter and the others will fight from the inside in case they get through us,” said one of the students.

“Great idea, I”ll tell the others,” said another

“You fly to the top and give us the signal when you see them,” Another student said.

Some time went by and now everyone was in their positions waiting for the signal. It was dead quiet. Until they heard from the distance

“CAW CAW,”

“That's the signal, everyone get ready.” said Olive.

“3, 2, 1!” said Headmaster Marcellus and then all the doors opened at once and everyone came charging out. Everyone from the Mind took out the government's guns first. Then Elements threw fire around the perimeter of the school, careful not to light it on fire. They did this in order to keep the government from entering the school. And then the battle really began. People were sending dirt tigers to charge at the government and take them out. Some children and teachers were picking up their tanks and throwing them into the forest beyond. The children from the mind category were picking up at least 10 soldiers at a time and keeping them in the air. This went on for about an hour before a general yelled

“Retreat!” and indeed they did.

6 The End

After the battle everyone was tidying up the school grounds, and you know taking the tanks out of the forest. When Olive was called to the headmaster’s office once again.

“I can’t thank you enough for what you did there Olive,” said the headmaster “So, is there anything I can do to repay you?”

Olive thought for a moment.

“Yes actually” She said “I would love to meet my biological parents.”

“I can do that, just give me a few weeks to trace them down,” he said. A smile formed on Olive’s face. Her heart was racing. Was she really going to meet her parents? For all her life she sort of despised her parents for abandoning her but once she found out she was magical she was dying to know who they were.

Over the next few weeks her goal was simple. Pass all her classes and end of year tests with flying colors, try her best not to annoy Maxwell, and stay positive. She was going to meet her biological parents after all.

One day the second to last week of the school year Olive got a call to the headmasters office, again. She knew she was going to meet her parents. As she got to the door of Headmaster Marcellus’s office she took a deep breath and opened the door. In the office sitting in the chair opposite from Headmaster Marcellus was... Mr. Cranston?

In case you somehow forgot, Mr. Cranston was the Vice Principal of the school Olive used to go to.

“Mr. Cranston?” Said Olive, surprised.

“Yes Olive, I’m your dad,” Said Mr. Cranston.

“What I don’t-” Olive said

“Just let me explain, Your mom was magic just like you. She told me early on what the government could do to people like her and yourself. So when she died I figured that, I cant take care of you on my own,” he started tearing up “I had no choice but to leave you.” This conversation went on way too long for me to continue but they both came to the mutual agreement that Olive will stay with her Adoptive parents over the summer holidays. Mainly because he couldn’t afford to take care of Olive and himself on a teachers salary. Also Olive didn’t like him as much as she liked her dads.

At the end of the school year Olive said one last goodbye to her friends. And went home to her Parents house

“My babies’ home!” said Papa.

“Olive” Said Dad

“I missed you so much!” Said Olive.

“We have some fun activities planned for this summer” said Papa

Olive spent the rest of the summer hanging out with her fathers traveling around the country and visiting Mr. Cranston every month or so. After the summer Olive was packing her bags when Jack came into her room.

“Jack?” said Olive

“I missed you!” said Jack. He gave her a big hug and they both started tearing up. Jack explained that even though he was mad at her at the time he never got to say he was sorry due to her loss of connection to the outside world for so long. For the rest of that day Jack helped her pack and they talked, they even made pancakes at 2:00 in the afternoon together. It was just like old times. They agreed to write letters to each other and stay in contact throughout the school year. The next day Olive teleported to Liberi Peculiari and continued the school year. This round Maxwell seemed to be nicer to her and she started making new friends. Olive even joined the welcoming committee where they welcomed new students.

Olive’s life was going great. She is now waiting for her next adventure.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Eva Jonker is an 11 year old writer in the 5th grade. Eva was born in South Africa and is currently living in Hong Kong though, she is moving to Singapore shortly. In her freetime Eva enjoys dancing, acting, making art, and of course, writing! Eva is going to The Harbour School but due to her move she will be going elsewhere. Eva has two sisters who go by the names of Maya and Cailen. Maya is 12 years old turning 13 and Cailen just turned 20 years old. Eva also has a mom named Kerry and a dad named Coenraad. This is the first full book Eva has written but there are many more to come so stay tuned.