Maddie Shirkoff: World of Odds Read online

  Maddie Shirkoff

  World of Odds

  Danit Knishinsky

  Opuntia Press

  Opuntia Press is a division of Opuntia Payments LLC

  Copyright © 2021 by Danit Knishinsky

  DanitBooks.com

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Knishinsky, Danit, 2007–

  Maddie Shirkoff: World of Odds / Danit Knishinsky

  Dedicated To…

  My father, Ran, my mother,

  Alma, my sister, Yael, and my dogs, Capser & Chloe

  To Doobi…

  You were the most caring and

  kind dog a girl could wish for

  Contents

  Chapter 1: Discovering the Portal

  Chapter 2: The Land

  Chapter 3: The Monster

  Chapter 4: The Goblins

  Chapter 5: The Palace

  Chapter 6: The Royal Family

  Chapter 7: Midnight at the Royalis Castle

  Chapter 8: Busted!!!

  Chapter 9: Time to Break Free!

  Chapter 10: Queen Lilith’s Palace

  Chapter 11: The Battle

  Chapter 12: Medusa

  Chapter 13: The Enchantress

  Chapter 14: The Great Doobi

  Chapter 15: Coming Back!

  Epilogue: One Year Later

  About the Author

  Chapter 1

  Discovering the Portal

  Maddie stared at her notebook. Not enough. She scribbled down a few more words. Perfect. One three-thousand-word essay completed! It was such a relief to be done. Maddie Shirkoff had been working on this essay for days but couldn't seem to find a decent topic. “How can you change the world?” her teacher had asked, earlier that week. Maddie could think of many things that could change the world. No more pollution. No more littering. No more bullying.

  But Maddie’s ultimate answer was: THE PEOPLE. Most things that have been problems in the world were because of the people. Of course, some problems were natural causes, yet Maddie was beyond proud of herself for thinking of this answer. After all, there was no better way to finish the day than with an essay fully completed and an appointment on the books to head to the world’s greatest sport!

  “Maddie!” called Maddie’s mother. “Come here this instant! You are going to be late for figure skating!”

  Maddie hurriedly grabbed her bag and stuffed her notebook inside it. She had lost track of the time and would be arriving incredibly late if she didn’t move quickly. Maddie gave one last look at her bedroom before slamming the door shut behind her.

  “Coming, Mom!” Maddie yelled back. She pushed herself down the stairs before taking a quick stop behind her mother, who was on a business call. Maddie’s mother didn’t seem to notice the young girl behind her. Maddie crept silently to the back door of the house in order to avoid one of her mother’s favorite things to do: tardiness lectures.

  Maddie passed by a mirror that was located in the hallway. She remembered when her six-year-old sister, Avery, would step up to this mirror and insist on looking at herself ALL THE TIME. Maddie gave herself a good stare. She tried to notice all the features about herself that she wouldn’t have usually paid attention to.

  Maddie had dark brown hair and chocolate brown eyes. Her hair was the color of burnt umber with highlights of coffee brown. She was your typical eleven-year-old girl who had a passion for just about everything.

  Her skin was slightly tanned, and she was told that she looked and acted like her mother in many ways. She was very fit, and she knew how to take care of herself.

  Maddie was very athletic and was an ice skater. Sometimes she wondered why she always chose to practice full time sports.

  She loved to engage in sports since she had the privilege to ice skate every day (but not when it went down like this, and she was late yet again!). She was constantly being yelled at for being late. Now, she might just make it to practice without being told that she had officially been the latest person to ever step foot at the ice rink.

  Maddie absolutely adored figure skating. Living in Arizona, it was the best way to abandon the heat. Maddie took off through the back door of her house as she sported a brand-new club jacket with the words Maddie Shirkoff on the front. To her, the name Maddie Shirkoff was the best name she could ask for.

  But you may be wondering…why would the name Maddie Shirkoff mean anything to this young girl? The name didn’t mean much to others, but to Maddie, it was like a symbol of power. She loved that her family was involved in the development of one of the most famous amusement parks ever; she came from a long line of family members who attended ivy league schools, and they KNEW how to play sports. Any sport. You name it.

  Maddie was in a great mood today because she had just celebrated her eleventh birthday and had beaten the snobby brat Charlotte during a jump contest at the rink. This contest was between her and Charlotte, and Maddie’s victory had only made her day even better. She recalled arriving to explain Charlotte the rules.

  “Now… you start over there. I’ll go first. We will start with something easy. Axel,” Maddie said in a calm voice. An axel was one of the most basic jumps for a skater who has been doing the sport for a while. It was hard, yes, but if you had your doubles, the jump was incredibly simple. One and one-half turns. Not hard at all.

  “Ok,” Charlotte sneered, “easy for me! I don’t know about you, loser.” Then she laughed a high-pitched, cold cackle.

  “Save the laughs,” Maddie growled, “because who knows. You might fail miserably.”

  “So, you’re saying I will fall super hard and lose this competition?” she glared at Maddie, a smile etched across her face as if she already knew she would win.

  “No. I’m just saying don’t be so sure that you will win. You never know,” Maddie concluded briskly.

  A crowd had formed around the two girls. People eagerly waited to see which one would run away in tears. But the crowd knew. These two girls were some of the best skaters at the rink. And if someone crossed them, they were bound to find some sort of problem arise. The difference between Maddie and Charlotte, however, was that only Charlotte got incredibly mad at situations. Maddie was a patient person.

  Even though people were mean to Maddie, she would only fight back if the situation was truly horrible. Maddie and Charlotte had been throat-to-throat ever since they could remember. Maddie moved to Arizona when she was only six. She had been to many different rinks, but only the rink she was at now really impressed her. All the skaters were very friendly, and they always made Maddie feel welcome (except for Charlotte, of course).

  Maddie advised the crowd to take one giant step back. Charlotte claimed the challenge would be the easiest thing she had ever attempted. They had performed their usual warm ups, Maddie working harder than ever before. Stroking around the rink, stretching before hard spins, and doing the basic jumps to get started.

  She had to prove to Charlotte that she was capable of being a better skater, friend, and just a better person in general. Each of them landed their axels up to double flips perfectly. Maddie couldn't help but replay the perfect double lutz she performed, and the cheated double lutz Charlotte had barely accomplished during the middle of the competition (“I didn’t get a proper warm up!” Charlotte had whined).

  It was these tiny moments like this, which quickly make Maddie’s day. She hated mean people, so by showing a mean person who deserve
d to be treated nicely, she pleased herself and others. These “others” included her friends and family. Maddie remembered when Charlotte angrily threw her jacket on the floor and stormed into the locker room, only to realize that she had entered the boys’ hockey lockers.

  Maddie had laughed incredibly hard that day. Other things, such as mean teachers like her 2nd grade teacher, Mrs. Mardova, made Maddie want to bang her head against the wall multiple times and have her mother put on a beastly mom look accompanied by a good two hour talk with the principle about Maddie’s confusing, complicated, yet incredibly funny life. Maddie’s mother had a business personality. A meeting was due if something was wrong. However, if the meeting did not go as planned, Maddie’s mother than would lose her calm demeanor and would storm out of the room, making this idea just as bad as all the other ideas Maddie had come up with involving her mother and school.

  Maddie was quite fond of taking hikes, so it was no wonder that when Maddie ran out the door wearing her favorite hiking sneakers, dirt trailed everywhere. Her mom DEFINITELY wouldn't be happy when she got back. Today, it was Maddie’s turn to watch their dog, Sparky, her brown furred bundle of joy. That little dog had been with Maddie for the entire day, including being her companion on the hike. That meant, both of them were leaving mud tracks wherever they went. Normally, the mud tracks would lead to the rink, but when Maddie saw a glowing white light emanating from somewhere in her quiet neighborhood, that’s where she headed. She reached the ball of light in about 5 minutes since it wasn't far from her house.

  When she finally arrived in front of the ball of light, she stared intently at it. It was a swirling ball of white light around twice the size of Maddie. Maddie was about four feet, eight inches for her age so seeing something this tall was quite the view. Staring at this giant ball of light made Maddie shiver. Could it really be more than a ball of light?

  Maddie’s FIRST instinct was to go back home to find her mother. This could be dangerous, after all. But, a part of Maddie insisted she walk through it and discover it for herself. Almost like a fairy tale. Plus, what would she say to her mother? Oh yeah, 1 more thing. I was walking to the rink and saw a ball of white light. I want to jump into it. Do you mind?

  Maddie’s mother was quite a nice person. She did everything she could for Maddie. Maddie’s father was at work all day, leaving Maddie’s mother with the children. Maddie has 1 sister named Avery who is only six. With her mother being the only person watching the kids all day, especially one who was in the first grade, Maddie had learned to rely on herself. So, one can't blame Maddie for getting distracted without anyone by her side to say, “DON’T GO INTO THE RANDOM BALL OF LIGHT!”

  She was willing to step into the ball of light but just for a quick peak. Her parents would never have allowed her to enter the light, however. But what if there was something adventurous that waited for her on the other side of that step? She stared at the giant ball of light. She felt like she was hallucinating. What are the odds of a ball of light from a fairy tale just sitting in the middle of a boring, quiet neighborhood? Well, the best way to know was to jump in. She hopped in with Sparky and in a flash, they were gone.

  Chapter 2

  The Land

  Maddie tumbled onto her bottom after falling down a very steep hill, which seemed to be a mile long and incredibly painful. She stood up, groaning, rubbing her back that took an unfortunate hit from her fall. As she checked her surroundings, she realized that the ball of light must have actually been a portal. The giant and terrifying portal had transported her to a different world. She didn't know where to. Checking to see Sparky was by her side, he barked when they met eyes. Good, she thought. My dark brown bundle of joy is still with me. Then she began to look around intently at the landscape.

  The land looked pretty normal. Trees with blooming flowers shone brightly against the sun. The grass seemed to be incredibly lush and well taken care of. The sky was a lovely blue and the clouds appeared to be cumulus clouds. They were fluffy and looked like giant pieces of cotton candy. Odd silhouettes seemed to rush by Maddie. But, when she turned around, she saw nothing. The only idea that terrified her about this world was whatever inhabited it. She had read books and had fallen in love with the fantasy genre. But seeing creatures from those books and myths in real life made her nervous.

  To the right of her, was a unicorn horn that seemed to be laying on the ground, the large and tall pieces of grass slowly covering it from view. It was clearly no longer on the unicorn, as if it was cut off. It just lay there untouched. Where was the unicorn? She didn't know. But just knowing that it could belong to a unicorn terrified her. Or the bugs flying around? They seemed to change form. Fly. Wasp. Bee.

  No skating. No Mom. No Dad. No Avery. No things she knew about. This world was beyond what she had ever had to experience. She realized, sometimes, when you are trapped in a bubble of comfort, you don’t tend to really notice what exists around you. And you DEFINITELY don’t bother thinking about killer fly-wasp-bees…

  As she looked up to check out the sky, the sun’s glare hit her harshly. Staring closer upward, she recognized the glare to reflect off something shiny. Almost like a scale? Suddenly, a group of big, red spheres came flying towards her.

  She screamed, as she stared at the huge red spheres.

  It was a group of fire breathing dragons! There seemed to be nine rows, five dragons in each row, all huddled around one large dragon. The center dragon was crowned with jewels and held a deathly stare. Its eyes seemed to say: If you cross me, you are dead meat.

  “Everyone for themselves!” Maddie cried as she ducked behind a rock.

  As the dragons landed, their sparkly, red, and shiny scales shone throughout the land. The odd-looking animals surrounded Maddie, who cowered down onto the ground, trying not to be noticed. One of the dragons in the front was quite smaller than the others. They had clearly seen Maddie because they walked straight in the direction of the polka-dotted rock where behind, Maddie hid herself. Of course, a polka dotted rock was the least weird thing she had seen here!

  She had begun to panic. When the dragons approached close enough, she could make out bits of what the dragons were saying. “The thing has quite an unusual look,” said one.

  “It is so ugly!” another one scoffed. Maddie couldn't help but roll her eyes. Just at that moment, the smallest dragon that she had just seen peaked over the rock. Its color was a bright apple red. And its scales were as shiny as the sun. Its eyes looked innocent and curious. However, the innocence in its eyes didn't stop Maddie from freaking out. She began to sweat and unleashed quite a few words that even left a few of the dragons baffled.

  She scanned her surroundings, looking for a body of water to hide under it or at least a couple of big trees to hide behind. Maddie took off running in a random direction. Her clueless dog, Sparky, happily trotted along. He clearly doesn’t know we’re probably about to become dragon food, she grumbled to herself.

  She ran, stopping to catch her breath for a few seconds before realizing those could possibly be the last big breaths she might ever take. She looked at Sparky, annoyed that he wasn't also panicking. She took a right and bumped into a tree. The tree opened its eyes and said, “Oh! You big old klutz! Can’t you see I’m living here?! I can’t move so it would be kind of you to WATCH OUT!” he yelled quite loudly.

  “You can talk?” Maddie asked in a whisper.

  “Why, of course I can talk! What am I doing right now?!” he screamed. This entire experience so far had reminded Maddie of a children’s story book. Something random that popped up every few seconds. She was one for adventure, but adventure in an orderly manner. She liked everything that way. Of course, she sometimes bent those rules, but the point is…nothing here seemed to be in order at all!

  All of a sudden, a deep voice began to speak. Maddie looked up and noticed it was another tree speaking. The tree was incredibly tall. A good seven feet. The tree had dark circles in its bark, which were meant to stand in as eyes.
They looked tired, as if experience ran through what the tree would call its head. The bark on the tree looked a lot like wrinkles. If there was such a thing as a wise looking tree, this would be it. Maddie fought back a smile. It reminded her of what her grandfather looked like back at home. Home. The word hit her harder than ever. She had only been in this world for a few minutes and already missed home. No mom. No dad. No Avery.

  “Now what did we say about being kind?” the wise looking tree asked the younger (and clearly grumpier and more dramatic) tree. Maddie could not hear the other tree’s reply because of a giant roar behind her. While she was talking to the trees (Yeah, I know. You don’t hear that every day), the dragons had caught up with her. The smallest dragon looked up. It was looking at an older female dragon who was most likely the small dragon’s mother. The young dragon couldn’t inflict as much damage as the adults. The big ones, those are the ones who she had to be afraid of.

  The center dragon with the crown stomped up to Maddie and grabbed her entire body, including Sparky, with his paw. The dragon was humongous. Imagine a three-bedroom house. Now imagine that house coming to life and being slightly smaller than this dragon. It was HUGE. HUGE. HUGE. Even with Sparky’s growling and biting, she knew they had no way out.

  Maddie looked helplessly at the ground and watched as all the dragons joined together. They were chanting. It sounded as if they were doing a ritual to please the alpha. To Maddie, this sounded like a bunch of mumbo jumbo.

  The dragons brought a stick of fire, something to probably burn Maddie and Sparky. The dragons wanted to eat them. Then she realized in an instant. The chance of her ever escaping from this dragon’s hand was an astonishing zero. She didn't know the first thing about the creatures here, let alone this entire strange world.

  Maddie watched this all unfold horribly in front of her. She desperately tried to follow, but there was no point. She knew that there would be no way out.