The Sleeping Sleuth: Lucy's First Adventure

By Mindy E. Wilde

Thirteen-year-old Lucy Petrol is tired. Tired of noisy city life, tired of avoiding bullies, and tired of trying to be a perfect representation of what her classmates call “normal.” It seems like no matter what she does, nothing works out in her favor. But on one fateful, extra-horrible day, something happens that turns Lucy’s perception of life upside down. She discovers a whole new world of magic and friendship. Not to mention she’s suddenly capable of things she never dreamed possible, like time-travel, for example. Now, when her most annoying adversary is in trouble, Lucy decides to use her newfound powers to help him, and maybe, just maybe, she can find herself in the process.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Feb 1, 2022
• ISBN: 9781662447327

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The Sleeping Sleuth

Lucy's First Adventure

Mindy E. Wilde

Copyright © 2021 Mindy E. Wilde

All rights reserved

First Edition

PAGE PUBLISHING, INC.

Conneaut Lake, PA

First originally published by Page Publishing 2021

ISBN 978-1-6624-4731-0 (pbk)

ISBN 978-1-6624-4732-7 (digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

The Beginning

Lucy’s Awakening

Unreal

Tunnels

Magic in All Its Glory

Back to School

The Statue at Last

All’s Well That Ends Well

Chapter 1

The Beginning

Riiiing!

All right, that’s it for today, class, a deep voice said as the bell continued to ring. But don’t leave yet! he cried as excited shouts came from all around.

Lucy’s blue eyes slowly began to open. Everything was a little foggy, and she could barely make out the figure of her history teacher, Mr. Phillips, writing something on the blackboard.

What happened? she thought as she blinked her eyes, trying to make the blurriness fade away. As she did, her head jerked up off of her arm, which had apparently served as a leaning post for her head.

Oh no, I fell asleep again!

Lucy really tried to stay awake and focused in her history class, but it was just so hard. No matter how much she tried to listen, the countless names and dates and words never seemed to stick in her brain.

She would hear them, and just as she tried to mentally grasp them and force them to stay, they would slip away, almost like trying to catch fog with your hands.

On top of that, Lucy could never get any sleep during the night. She lived in the middle of a busy city, where lights were always flashing, cars were always driving, and people were always making some sort of nonstop noise that would keep her up all night. Is it seriously that impossible to just be quiet for once? It certainly shouldn’t be.

Lucy’s favorite dream (when she could actually get some sleep) was to live in the country, where there was nothing around but trees, and maybe a nice bubbling creek that would actually help you to fall asleep instead of forcing you to count millions of sheep before you ever got tired.

So, truthfully, history class was a perfect place for Lucy to get some shut-eye. Everyone was silent except for Mr. Phillips, whose constant droning was as close to a country creek as Lucy could get.

Lucy Petrol!

Mr. Phillips’s yell was loud enough to yank Lucy out of her reverie. Her eyes popped open again, and she quickly sat up.

Mr. Phillips was giving her a strange look, along with the rest of the class.

Do you find my class boring? Mr. Phillips asked quietly, but sternly. He wasn’t a mean teacher, exactly, but when he got all quiet and stern, you knew you had to say the right thing or he would explode.

No, Mr. Phillips, Lucy said quickly, wiping the trace of drool off her face and focusing on her teacher. She could almost feel the eyes of all the students burning holes in her back.

Then act like you are here in my history class, not in your bed.

Lucy heard whispered laughing and fake snoring from behind her. She felt her face turn fire-engine red. Oh, how she wished that she could just turn around and shout, Why don’t you try to live life without ever sleeping! to the clowns who were making fun of her. Instead, she shoved her anger back down inside her and nodded as politely as she could manage to her teacher.

"I expect you all to behave in my class, Mr. Phillips said, taking care to look at everyone, even staring down the kids behind Lucy who had made the noises. Craig, that means you too."

A lanky boy in the back muttered something unintelligible and blew his long brown hair out of his eyes.

Craig Barkley was the biggest bully in the entire seventh grade. He and his crew picked on everyone in the class, but Lucy seemed to be his personal favorite. If she fell asleep, he would make fun of her. If she answered a question incorrectly, he would throw a pencil at her. Even if she did everything perfectly, he would just choose something else to make fun of, like the shirt she was wearing or how she wore her dark hair. He wouldn’t hurt her physically, but he did just enough to make school miserable for her. Kids were almost scared to be Lucy’s friend because they didn’t want Craig bothering them too.

Lucy understood that completely, but that didn’t mean she had to like it.

Yeah, Craig! a curly-haired girl named Maya called out suddenly. Get your feet off your desk!

Lucy didn’t know the girl very well, but she did remember Mr. Phillips praising Maya for her hard work and awesome test scores.

Maybe she could help me with history, Lucy thought as Craig put his feet down and stuck his tongue out at Maya. We might not have much in common, but I know we have a common enemy.

As Mr. Phillips turned around, Lucy took a glance at Craig, who proceeded to lay his head on his hands like a pillow and silently snore. The kids surrounding him silently laughed and high-fived him. Lucy whipped her head back around as fast as she could, the tears just barely managing to stay in.

Now, I want you to read up on chapter 3 in your books and hand in the homework assignment about the Industrial Revolution by Friday, Mr. Phillips said as the bell rang again. Have a great day!

Quickly, Lucy grabbed her backpack and scooted out of the room, hiding herself as best as she could in the sea of kids trying to get out of those doors and into the sunshine. Even so, she heard the taunting calls of Craig and his gang as they pushed people out of their way. Lucy slung her backpack over her shoulder and started to run, weaving in and out between kids.

Craig’s voice was slowly getting louder and louder as she ran. Lucy took a quick glance backward to see him marching through the sea like a bulldozer, plowing kids to the side as he went. Suddenly, she saw his piercing gray eyes lock on to her.

"Where are you going, Snoozy Loozy? he shouted, pronouncing her name wrong just so it rhymed. Back to your bed?"

His gang behind him laughed, and even a few of the other kids started giggling.

Lucy spun around and began full-on sprinting, scolding herself for stopping for even one second. Hot tears threatened to spill out, but she held them in. Her backpack bounced along on her back, beating her again and again with those hardcover history and science books with every step she took.

Not even my backpack’s on my side, Lucy thought dejectedly as she leapt out of Marville Middle School and into the schoolyard. Her eyes rapidly began searching for the bus that would take her back to the safety of her home.

Where is it? she muttered, stopping to let her eyes focus better on the numbers of the buses.

Snoozy Loozy!

Internally, Lucy groaned. Why couldn’t Craig and his gang just leave her alone? She tried extremely hard to ignore them, but it was literally impossible. Especially with them calling her Snoozy Loozy. What kind of a name is that?

After about a million years, Lucy finally spotted her bus. The shiny number 14 on the side seemed to be calling, Lucy, Lucy! Get inside and come on home, darling!

Before she could heed the call, however, she felt someone grab the strap on top of her backpack. Her heart instantly started pounding with fear.

Excuse you, Snoozy, a slightly-raspy voice hissed from behind her, spraying spit on her neck. We didn’t say you could leave just yet.

For a second, Lucy considered slipping her arms out of the straps and fleeing, leaving the bullies with only a backpack. As soon as she had that thought, she banished it from her idea list. There was no way she was leaving her stuff with these guys. Absolutely no way. Craig would see to it that she never saw her books and notes again, which would in turn make her grades even worse. Okay, Lucy thought grimly. So now what?

She whirled around as quickly as she could, breaking the kid’s grip on her pack and allowing her to see her adversaries.

What do you want?! Lucy cried, quite bravely in her opinion. What did I ever do to you guys?

Well, said Craig, putting his hand under his chin in mock thought, let me think about that for a bit…

As he pretended to think, his crew slowly began to spread out in a circle around Lucy. She backed up, trying to get out of it, but they anticipated her movement and ended up behind her already. Lucy then started scanning the yard for a teacher, but none were in sight. As usual.

When someone’s just a little bit drowsy in class, teachers are right there and ready to rid the world of its evils, but when there’s a real problem, they just seem to disappear.

Suddenly, Craig snapped his fingers. Oh yeah, I got it! You’re so extremely stupid that it actually ends up annoying us instead of making us laugh.

That’s saying a lot, considering how stupid you all are, Lucy countered quickly, still looking for a way out.

The kid standing behind Lucy suddenly reached out and grabbed her arm tightly with his meaty hand. Lucy let out a tiny cry of pain as his fat fingers instantly bruised her skin.

Wut? You think we stupid? the kid said thickly.

Lucy tried her hardest not to laugh. Definitely not, she thought through her pain. Because what you just said didn’t sound stupid at all.

She tried shaking her arm out of the kid’s iron grip, but to no avail. Let go of me, you creep! she yelled as her arm started to go numb.

Surprisingly, he let go instantly. Lucy pulled her arm away and gave him a hard shove, one that should have sent him sprawling, but only made him step backward with one foot.

Then Lucy noticed the kids that were gathering around them instead of getting on their buses. Now she was completely surrounded with no way out.

Hey, hey! Wait a minute! Maybe this is a good thing, Lucy thought frantically, trying to find some hope in the situation. The more kids, the bigger it looks, and the more likely a teacher will come over to investigate!

All of a sudden, as if they had sensed her sprout of hope,