Mushroom Land

By Nicole Lily

Lily and her sister are ready to start their first year of college. They move into a beautiful home together, and while exploring her new space, Lily comes upon a sparkly blue mushroom. Since Lily loves mushrooms, she pulls the giant thing from the ground, leaving a huge hole behind. When she peers into the hole, though, her trouble begins.

Lily falls and tumbles down, down, and further down until she lands in a strange, unfamiliar world. She is shocked to see that everything in this mysterious land is made of … mushrooms. Her adventure has just begun. She makes friends with a spa employee named Amanita. Celeste—a kind, older woman—offers Lily guidance and wisdom.

However, not everyone in Mushroom Land is friendly and helpful. On the contrary, Death Cap is an evil man with secrets. Lily’s curiosity has led her to this strange world, but unforeseen challenges wait, including the challenge of how she will make her way home.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Archway Publishing
• Release date: Jun 23, 2021
• ISBN: 9781665708319

Nicole Lily

Nicole Lily is an eleven-year-old seventh grader. She started writing at the age of four in a variety of genres including fantasy, horror, historical, science fiction, and poetry. One of her poems was featured in the America Library of Poetry.

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Copyright © 2021 Nicole Lily.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

Archway Publishing

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Bloomington, IN 47403

www.archwaypublishing.com

844-669-3957

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

ISBN: 978-1-6657-0830-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6657-0831-9 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021912253

Archway Publishing rev. date: 06/22/2021

Contents

Character Description

Dedications

Discovery of Mushroom Land

Amanita

Death Cap

Mushroom Palace

The Grocery Store

The Mission

Death Cap’s Lair

Rowan

Beginning of the Journey

New Mission

Alone

Lily

Pixie

The New Rowan

Back to the Forest

Death

The Final Countdown

Abandoned Land

Character Description

Amanita: A nice girl who is very generous and kind.

She works at a local spa and has a prominent role in this story.

Lily: One of the main characters in the story who is very

curious...However, her curiosity may lead to trouble.

Celeste: A kind, old woman. She is very knowledgeable and helpful.

Death Cap: An evil man with many secrets.

Chanterelle: Amanita’s closest friend. She as well works at the spa.

Dedications

Dedicated to my mom, who is obsessed with mushrooms.

Discovery of

Mushroom Land

I was on a plane with my sister, traveling to Hashburg to attend our first year of college. Hashburg is a recently discovered continent by a unique group of people. Inside of Hashburg, there are four small villages, which are themed by seasons: spring, summer, fall, and winter. Each village stays in its season all year long. There is an excellent college located in the center of the four seasons, Alastair College. It is said to be built about 200 years ago! It’s honestly shocking to know that it’s still standing. The antique attributes really contribute to the vintage atmosphere of the college. The knowledge they learn is so accelerated! To get in, you would need to take the entrance exam, which is the most challenging test you could possibly imagine. I heard it is randomly generated, having questions about every topic.

Though Hashburg may seem impressive for its uniqueness, it also has some interesting stories tied to its history. Apparently, something odd has happened there before. I read online that 15 years ago, someone even disappeared... Just reading the title of the story sent a chill up my spine. My curiosity made me interested in finding out more, but the thread was never continued as no one had ever commented on it again. Well, I’m not in the mood to scare myself, so I am just hoping that it’s probably a myth.

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My sister, Bella, is two years older than me and she has short brown hair. She took two gap years in order to go to college with me, so now we are heading to Hashburg together. She wears glasses and loves photography. Bella prefers to be at home other than grocery shopping and always tries to annoy me! I am kind of the opposite of her...I have long ombre hair; I don’t wear glasses; I am younger (obviously); I love drawing and shopping, and mostly adventure! I always want to be outside, whether it is shopping, planting, or swimming outdoors.

Please prepare to exit the aircraft. We have now made it to Hashburg. Thank you!

Wow, that plane ride seemed quick. Regardless, what a relief it is to have made it finally. Many people have said Hashburg was a strange place (which I didn’t believe at first,) but now, I feel they are right. The energy was so weird. The sweet smell of the air, everything seems so saturated, and there’s plenty of people outside, and they all have smiles on their faces that it’s almost unreal!

Today, Bella and I are going to be shopping for houses. We had searched through summer, fall, and winter, but we did not find the home we desired. Summer was sweltering, and the houses were beach themed, which didn’t suit Bella and I’s style. Plus, when I garden, the plants wouldn’t be able to survive. Then, in Fall, the houses were warm-toned, which gave off a cozy feeling, but was too dark for my taste. Lastly, in Winter, the houses were cool-toned, which gave a light feeling, but it made the house feel lonely and gloomy. Eventually, we visited Spring.

Spring was light like winter, but also bright and cheerful. The temperature was perfect, and the houses were pastel. Soon, we had found a wonderful home. A pastel yellow house decorated with bushes, flowers, and a white fence--it was perfect. Inside, it was spacious with blush pink and white walls. The floor was made of wood, but it felt like memory foam as I walked on it. The ceilings were high as well, which was a nice finishing touch. Bella had left to get some groceries, so I decided to do some exploring in the meantime. I spotted a large door and turned the transparent knob. I opened the door and found myself in the backyard. It was just the right size and covered in grass. Something about this backyard is just so satisfying and relaxing. There were many trees with pink flowers and apples, and some even had birdhouses perched on them. On the right side was a rectangular wooden box with soil inside. Such a perfect place to plant mushrooms! I have quite an obsession with mushrooms…. If I find a mushroom out in the wilderness, I will take it and eventually photograph it into my mushroom scrapbook. And for Bella, well, she’s just obsessed with lettuce.

Anyway, I began to dig a hole in the dirt garden when I saw something magnificent! What could it be? I looked a bit closer. A sparkly blue mushroom! It emitted such an earthy but sweet smell--I needed it. I began to try and take it out…When it finally came out, it was almost 7 feet tall! I was amazed. No wonder people call this place strange. I had to cut the mushroom with the root still in the ground. I was eagerly looking forward to growing more mushrooms with the humongous root. I pulled out the rest of the root and broke it into many pieces for planting them back into the big hole in which the root resided. But, something drew my attention. I looked at the hole--something shiny was still there.

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I couldn’t tell what it was...so I got a little closer, and closer, and closer--till I eventually fell in! How? It was only a small hole? Anyways, AHHHH!

Down, down, down, I fell through the dirt. I noticed some bones…, socks, food, small animals, and even books. Where am I going? Am I going to die? Soon, I hit the ground. Ouch! That really hurt. I closed my eyes and dozed off.

I awoke and found myself somewhere, and the shiny thing in my hand turned out to be a charm. It was a blue mushroom charm. It had a note attached to it. It said, Only blood can unlock. Anyway, where am I?

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There were vines everywhere. A small gleam of light shined through the vines. I opened the curtain of vines to find something unique. The sky was blue, the sun was shining, and I appeared to be in…. A MUSHROOM LAND! I walked out through the bushes and stood in awe.

There were mushroom houses that looked like giant mushrooms with a door and two windows, mushroom trees with little animals running around, and mushroom-shaped clouds that looked like airy pillows. Overall, the whole place smelled like mushrooms too! All of a sudden, it started to rain mushrooms. I stuck my tongue out and realized that some mushrooms tasted like chocolate, and some were like cotton candy!

The villagers who lived here all crowded together and got out their mushroom umbrellas. It was all so cute! I saw some fairies flying around the trees, an animal mixed between a deer and a dog, and some giant smiling flowers!

There were mushroom spas where everything was made of mushroom, mushroom stores in a huge shopping plaza, mushroom cars which looked like a mushroom on wheels, and mushroom everything! The roads were not the usual concrete color like on Earth, and not even one color, it was color changing! Even the mud was colorful and felt like slime. The whole area was filled with mushroom villagers. It felt like a dream came true! I twirled around, imagining the incredible things this place holds. I can’t wait to explore here! Where do I even begin?

Amanita

I walked around in the crowd of mushroom villagers when I stepped backward