The Mystery of the Missing Platform 4

The Mystery of the Missing Platform - Chapter 3 - Puzzles & Pieces

Summary from Episode 2: Iris, W-Sam and Becky discover a diamond ring and silver necklace on the ground between Platforms 3 and 5. Becky touched the necklace and disappeared. Iris and W-Sam suspect that Becky went into the necklace, and they conclude that there is a ring in the dimension inside the necklace - so both of them touch the necklace and disappear as well.

EPISODE 3 - Puzzles & Pieces

Wind hurled around them; darkness fell, and the feeling of their stomachs falling churned in their body. It seemed as if a tornado was happening - they were falling ... falling, falling into the unknown...

A thud sounded, and Iris's scream echoed in W-Sam's brain. Both of them landed on the ground with a thud, and luckily, it was a soft landing - but a dusty one.

Iris scrambled to her feet, coughing. Sand was in her nose and caught in her mouth. She spat out a lump and choked.

'Where is this place?'

W-Sam sat up wearily. He knew he should be grateful for the soft landing - but he couldn't. He stood up, forcing himself to open his eyes. Light streamed in, burning his gaze, and he felt a trickle of sweat dribbling down his forehead.

'Are we in ... the desert?'

The sun was glaring at them so harshly that they needed to squint and look the other direction.

'We're in nothingness! It's a desert! We're in a desert!'

'Becky!' called W-Sam, cupping his hands to his mouth. 'Beck - ky! BECKY! Hello? Where are you?'

'She can't hear you!' yelled Iris, as though she was miles away from W-Sam.

'I was just shouting just in case!' W-Sam yelled back. 'BECKY!'

Iris fanned herself. 'My lord, this place is hot,' she said. 'The sun is roasting me!'

'That's not the problem now!' shouted W-Sam, shading his face from the sun. 'The point is, we need to find Beck - oh gawd, there are camels now!'

A few camels galloped under the sun, looking very much like horses. W-Sam squinted to look. They were miles away.

'I hate camels!' Iris shouted. She punched the air with her fist. 'Look, we're trapped in a stupid desert. We're supposed to find the damn ring and Becky and get the hell out of here!' She swung around and pointed to W-Sam accusingly. 'You said once we touch the ring, we would -'

'What's the problem here?' a voice said.

Iris swung around, her face red from heat and anger. A boy with freckles and hazel-blonde hair and green eyes stood there. He looked around W-Sam's age. W-Sam squinted at him, raking his hair with his fingers.

'Who are you?'

'Jeremy,' the boy said. He had a slight, British accent. He scratched his head, puzzled. 'What are you doing here?'

'Same thing to you,' Iris said, raising her eyebrows.

There was a small pause. 'I live here.'

Iris snorted, and for the first time, W-Sam found that this was the right time to snort. Besides, who lived in the desert? 'Yeah, right, you live in this burning hot and dry desert,' Iris said. 'I don't see any house here, do you?'

Jeremy sighed. 'You don't have to be sarcastic. Where are you from?'

'We'll tell you later. Where are you from?'

Jeremy clicked his tongue impatiently. 'Here. Now tell me where you're from. Are you from Elixir too?'

Iris stared at him as if he was crazy. 'What,' she said slowly, 'is Elixir?'

It was Jeremy's turn to stare at her. 'You,' he said, eyes round and wide, 'don't know what Elixir is?'

'How am I supposed to know?' yelped Iris.

Jeremy said, 'Look, I may be able to help you; but in order for me to do that, you need to tell me where you're from. Seems like you're a human, considering you don't know what Elixir is.'

'Of course I'm a human! So are you!'

'Okay, okay, guys, chill!' W-Sam said, stepping in. He turned to Jeremy. 'I'm W-Sam, and this is my sister Iris. We're from Earth. You know? We were in a train station... and then we found a necklace and a diamond ring on the ground. Our younger sister Becky touched the necklace, and she disappeared ... so we decided to touch it too, and here we are.'

'You left out the most important part,' Iris wagged a finger. 'We wanted to find Platform 4. There was no Platform 4. There was 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6, but no four.'

Jeremy was gaping at them hard, his eyes jumping from W-Sam to Iris, then to W-Sam again. When they finished, all he managed was, 'Wow.'

'Can you like, do you know how to get us out of here? Did you see Becky? She's got blonde hair, like Iris's, and blue eyes. She's seven. Did you see her?' W-Sam asked worriedly.

Jeremy shook his head. 'No. But I think I can help you. You need to come with me. One thing you need to know, we're heading to Elixir.' He looked around. 'We're in the Approach to Elixir.'

Iris looked outraged and confused. 'Who are you? What is Elixir?'

'Look, Elixir is not full of people like you. Not normal. We're like, magicians.' The look Iris and W-Sam gave him was unreadable. 'I know it's hard to believe, but you have to trust me. And step one is to follow me. I'll take you to Elixir.'

Silence hung around them. 'How do we get there?' W-Sam asked.

Jeremy's eyes twinkled mysteriously. 'You'll see,' he said, the corners of his lips twitching into a slight smile. 'For people like you, you'll find it surprising.' He rummaged in his pocket and fished out a short tube with glowing blue liquid inside. 'To get into Elixir, we need to drink this elixir. An elixir is also known as a magical potion,' he translated. 'That's why the kingdom is named after this drink. We're going to take sips, one by one.' He held it up. 'Ready?'

Iris and W-Sam took in a deep breath, trying to convince themselves that Jeremy would be able to help them, and that they would find Becky. 'Ready,' they said at the same time. Jeremy took a sip first, then passed it to W-Sam. W-Sam held his breath and drank it. It guzzled in his mouth and fizzed and popped like soda. He handed it to Iris, who swallowed it, and then, wind swept through their hair, and they were on their journey again.