Element Girls Book 2 by Mihaela Bogdan (classic books for 13 year olds txt) 📖

In book 1, four Earth girls (Oana, Laura, Helena and Michaela) became witches. Unfortunately, Damian Coldblood/the Dark Lord had put a curse on them making their magic powers inactive. The first person that figured it out was their teacher, Florin David/the Wise Elder, whom was killed by his rival, the Dark Lord. But before that, he send his pupils to his native planet Wiearth, who it seems to be planet Earth's twin.
  Petra, the Wise Elder's granddaughter, managed to convince four witches and wizards to help the last witches of planet Earth regain their magical powers. She also appealed to Violet, The Dark Kingdom's actual ruler, to help the girls settle in their new homes.
  Petra and Violet casted four magical portals, each leading to a different part of Wiearth.
  Petra turned her face to the Element Girls and said with sadness in her eyes:
  -These portals lead to the other lands of Wiearth: Water Empire, Wind Deserts, Meadows and Hills and Fire Territory. By their names, you girls know who's going where, right?!
  -It is simple. Oana replied looking fascinated at the portals. I'm going to Water Empire.
  Without any time to waste, Oana said good-bye to her old and new friends and she went through the first portal. After she was gone, the portal disappeared, leaving three more to go.
  -I hope to see you all again. Gavriel, I will miss you the most. Laura said almost crying while hugging and kissing Gavriel.
  -I will miss you too, Laura. Gavriel tried to be a man and not cry when he saw his girlfriend disappear through the second portal.
  -Rafael, I ... Helena wanted to say something to him as well, but he shut her mouth with a kiss. When he released her, Helena's face was as red as her hair. He then helped her cross the third portal.
  Michaela's departure was emotionless. She didn't cry, nor hugged anyone, she didn't even look at anybody. She just said: "See ya!" and ran through the last portal as quick as she could. The others thought she was kinda rude, but in reality, Michaela left fast in order to not let her tears be seen. She wanted to protect her rough and strong girl reputation.
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  -Wow, Holly Mother of Jesus!! Oana exhaled with fascination. When she reached the other side of the portal, she couldn't believe her eyes.
  Water Empire looked a lot different from what she thought to see. It was a colossal white empire made out of huge tours, conical shaped buildings, long bridges and with crystal clear rivers streaming all over the roads that took her breath away.
  -Are you going to stay on this big rock all day or are you coming down?! A male voice scold her softly.
  In that moment, Oana realized where she landed. On a huge grey rock. But she soon forgot about it when she looked down at the person who called her. It was a tall, perfectly built man, about 50 years old, with white long hair tied up in a ponytail and with a short white beard. He was standing near the rock with half of his body in the water. Near him, was a cute dolphin harnessed to a big shell.
  -Excuse me, sir. I was too caught up admiring this beautiful kingdom. Oana excuse herself and kneeled to come down.
  -Jump into the shell. The water is deeper than it looks. The man said to her.
  After doing so, Oana was close enough to see the other half of the stranger's body. Instead of legs, he had a mermaid tail.
  -Let me guess. This is the first time you saw a triton. Am I right?!
  -Yes, excuse me again. I am from planet Earth and this is the first planet I ever traveled to. Oana said with a bit of blush on her face.
  -Petra told me all about you and your friends. You must be Oana. I am Neptune, the ruler of Water Empire, or how you earthlings call it in your myths, Atlantis the lost kingdom. But as your eyes can observe, here on Wiearth, Atlantis is still above water.
  Oana kept quiet while King Neptune and his dolphin, Shelly, were taking her on a tour of the empire. She gazed open mouth at every triton or mermaid that welcomed her. They said to her things like:
  -Welcome last water witch of Earth.
  -Nice hair, water witch.
  -Good evening your Majesty and water witch.
  -How are the oceans on Earth?
  And Oana just waved at them with a smile. All her life she saw mermaids only on cartoons and fairy tales. Their appearance were exactly as the earthlings picture them in books: men and women with fish tails instead of legs; their tops were made out of sea shells and seaweed, the mermaids had also starfish or marine flowers in their braided multicolored hairs. If her parents and boyfriend would knew where she is and what kind of living beings she's seeing right now, they would ...
  In that moment, Oana's smile disappeared. Hot tears began streaming down her cheeks.
  King Neptune noticed her sorrow when they arrived at his enormous marble castle. At first he thought she was overwhelmed with joy, since it was her first time here and she never saw a real mermaid before. Soon, Shelly began to worry about her new guest and caught Neptune's attention.
  -What is it, child? Neptune asked her worried.
  -Nothing ... I ... I just ... realized that ... I left home with... without telling my p ... parents. Oana tried to say between her sobering.
  -It will be fine, child. After I finish training you about the art of water magic, you will be free to go home. Until then, you must be strong. From what Petra told me, you are the leader of the Element Girls, right?!
  -Yes.
  -Well then. As a leader you must stay strong in any situation. I must teach you how to be a strong leader besides magic.
  -I'm sorry. I am acting like a little girl. I'm calm now, really.
  The rest of the day, Oana stayed inside the palace, making herself like home. She felt ashamed that the legendary King Neptune saw her crying for her parents. She made a promise to remain strong and focused her attention and energy for her magic lessons with her new teacher.
  "Who would have known that one day I may see real mermaids! Maybe I will become one. I wonder how hard it is to have a fish tail instead of legs."
  With these worries in her mind, Oana went to sleep in her new bedroom. Her bed was a huge azure shell. Before entering into the land of dreams, she thought about her parents, her boyfriend Andrew, her friends Laura, Helena, Michaela, Rafael, Gavriel, Petra and Violet.

  -What in the world?! No wonder this place is called Wind Deserts! If I didn't know better, I would have thought that this is the Sahara Desert. Laura landed on a bright golden desert. Although she was dressed in a summer white dress, it was still too hot for her. She tried to see something, but her eyes began to shed tears because of the heat and the brightness of the sand. I wish I had my sunglasses now.
  Soon, Laura heard some noises coming from afar. She squeezed her eyes once more into the direction where the noises were heard. After some time, when the source of the noise was at the perfect distance where it could be easily seen, the Earth wind witch saw some camels.
  By the look of them, they were four, carrying some sort of a carriage without wheels. The carriage was made out of wood and had white curtains hanging on the sides with golden strings and small silver bells. But the camels weren't alone. With them, twelve or maybe more men with heavily tanned skin wearing sandals on their feet and some sort of a white skirt around their hips were walking beside the carriage. Around their necks, they had golden necklaces with green and blue geometric shapes pendants.
  All this time, Laura stood still where she was, hoping these strangers might help her with directions. When the caravan stoped in front of her, from inside the carriage, a woman's voice asked the men:
  -Did we find the Earth wind witch named Laura?
  -Yes, your Majesty! All men responded together.
  The white curtains were unveiled by two young women and one of the men announced the queen's arrival to Laura:
  -Wind witch of planet Earth, I present you Cleopatra Adelaida, Queen of Wind Deserts!
  Laura observed in silence as the queen came out of the carriage. She was a tall woman with dark skin, dark hair cut in a traditional Egyptian haircut, deep brown eyes, thick lips; all her naturally beauty being amplified by the white long royal dress and golden jewelry she wore around her ankles, her arms, her neck and on her fingers. By the sight of the queen, Laura thought she was Cleopatra the queen of Egypt who lived long ago on Earth, at least what she could remember from her History class.
  Cleopatra Adelaida approached Laura, walking very calculated, so very elegant and royal. Seeing the amazement on the girl's face, she said with a soft voice:
  -I see you are amazed by my beauty, wind witch. And who could blame you?! For I am not only the queen, but also the most beautiful woman in my kingdom.
  -Indeed you are, your Majesty. Laura bowed in front of her. It was the first time she ever came in contact with a real queen and she wanted to make a good impression.
  -As my new apprentice, you are not forced to bow down in front of me like my subjects. But if you want to, I won't stop you. Come, let me take you to my palace, time in running out like sand in the hourglass.
  Laura went inside the carriage with the queen and throughout the trip she watched between the curtains the surroundings. Everywhere was nothing but sand. After some time, she finally saw a giant pyramid, inside of a large city. The houses near that pyramid were the biggest and tallest. As the distance from the pyramid was growing, the size of the houses was getting smaller.
  -The pyramid is my palace, the size of the houses represent the people's social status in my kingdom. You noticed that the richest of my subjects live near my palace, while the least fortunate near