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    Once Upon a Winter
    Once Upon a Winter
    Once Upon a Winter
    Ebook131 pages1 hour

    Once Upon a Winter

    By Megan Atwood and Natalie Andrewson

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    About this ebook

    Wintertime at the orchard has Peter learning some important lessons about speaking up in this second novel of a sweet series about the bonds of friendship.

    Blanketed in snow, the orchard looks like a magical wonderland. But Peter is not so charmed by his new life. He just can’t ignore how he’s always ignored any longer. Sarah, Lizzie, and Olive are always talking over him and bossing him around. And on top of that, it’s really cold outside.

    One January day, Peter reluctantly agrees to join the girls on a carriage ride through the freshly fallen snow. But things go terribly wrong when a dog incident has the horses running away in fear, with Peter and the carriage trailing dangerously behind them. Then, Peter hits his head on a passing branch and is thrown to the ground.

    Woozy, Peter wakes up alone in the snow but he makes his way to a cozy cottage. Kai, the cool new kid, opens the door and welcomes Peter inside. Kai shows him a magical mirror that brings the two new friends to another world. A world where people listen to Peter and need his help to defeat dragons, warlocks, and other scary things.

    Then Peter wakes up in the hospital with a bandage around his head. Everyone is so happy to see him awake. Peter tries to tell them all about the mirror but they dismiss his experience as a wild dream. When Peter goes back to school, it seems like Kai knows what Peter’s talking about. Could the dream have been real? Is there really a magic portal deep in the woods behind the orchard? Even if everyone thinks he’s crazy, Peter is determined to find out.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAladdin
    Release dateDec 19, 2017
    ISBN9781481490504
    Once Upon a Winter
    Author

    Megan Atwood

    Megan Atwood is a writer and professor with over 45 books published. She lives in New Jersey where she wrangles cats, dreams up ridiculous stories, and thinks of ways to make kids laugh all day.

    Read more from Megan Atwood

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      Book preview

      Once Upon a Winter - Megan Atwood

      CHAPTER 1

      Magic Is in the Air

      Peter watched the snow come down, swirling and white, like a magic spell come to life, and listened to the chaos behind him. His house was packed, like normal on game night. Most of the time he didn’t mind. And his dads loved hosting. But today the world seemed a little off. He rolled his shoulders and tried to shake the feeling.

      Are you here with us, Peter? a voice said near his ear. His twin, Olive, climbed up next to him in the window seat. Her eyes looked worried—she’d started having a tiny little crease on her forehead every time she talked to him lately. She knew something was wrong. There was something wrong, but Peter wasn’t exactly sure he could put words around it. Maybe he felt sad because he missed his friends in Boston. Or because every time he talked, someone interrupted him. Or because he’d felt beside the point ever since they’d moved to New Amity. And that their new best friends, Sarah and Lizzie, were really just Olive’s new best friends.

      Maybe he felt sad because it seemed like he was from a different world and didn’t belong here.

      Mostly, he felt a big ball of emotions that he didn’t know what to do with. So the snow seemed simpler at the moment. Plus, the way it sparkled under the streetlight made it look like it was winking at him.

      With some effort, he dragged his gaze away from the snow and said, I’m here. He couldn’t think of anything else to say so he just looked at Olive.

      Olive huffed. Of course you’re here. I mean are you going to come hang out? We’re getting ready to play charades. Kids against the grown-ups—you know we’ll win! She smiled at him, and he couldn’t help but smile back.

      He loved playing with Olive, especially when they played guessing games. Olive and Peter each always knew what the other one was thinking—they had since birth. He stood up and tried to shake off his mood. I’m definitely in. Olive grinned and stood up.

      His dad John said, Uh-oh. I think we’re in trouble, when Peter and Olive walked into the living room. David, his other dad, said almost at the same time, Let’s not make any bets, okay? Peter looked at the Garrisons. Tabitha and Albert Garrison owned the oldest apple orchard in New England. When Peter and Olive had first moved to the town, they’d met the Garrisons’ daughter Lizzie, who was their age. And Sarah was Lizzie’s best friend. The four of them had been inseparable ever since.

      The Garrisons had another, older daughter named Gloria. She was a little . . . weird. But Peter liked how she had committed herself to becoming an actress. Even if it was a little annoying.

      Why can’t we make bets? Sarah asked, a huge whipped-cream mustache on her upper lip. She licked it off and took another big drink of her hot chocolate. She and Lizzie sat together in one of the overstuffed antique chairs Peter’s dad David had gotten. The house they were renting was a large Queen Anne, and David had decided the whole house would be decorated in different periods of antiques.

      Lizzie was trying to catch a marshmallow in her hot chocolate with her tongue. Do we normally make bets? she asked, confused for a second. But she caught the marshmallow and didn’t seem to care about the answer. She smiled at Peter when he joined them. Lizzie and Peter were the most alike. Even though Olive and he were twins, they had very different personalities. But Lizzie and Peter were both quiet and were okay if Sarah and Olive took charge. And they always did. Sometimes at the same time.

      Okay, said Tabitha, let’s let the kids go first. She snuggled into Albert, her husband, on the antique settee. Peter’s dads also sat back on the huge velvet davenport and snuggled in, and Peter noticed that Sheriff Hadley and Ms. Shirvani also sat pretty close together at the other end. He glanced at Sarah—did she know her mom and the sheriff seemed to be . . . well, closer than most friends?

      Sarah and Olive said at the same time, I’ll go first. But then Gloria swept in and said, "All right, darling babies. I shall show you how one inhabits a role."

      She grabbed a piece of paper before anyone could say anything. Please do start the timer, Gloria said, looking down her nose at the adults. Gloria was the only kid Peter knew who could do that and make it look convincing.

      John turned the hourglass timer over, and Gloria looked at the piece of paper with the charades word on it. She set the paper down, closed her eyes, and whispered, Acting! to herself. Then she opened her eyes again and widened them. She let out a huge roar and made her arms beat up and down like wings.

      A bat! said Lizzie.

      A vulture! said Olive.

      A flying lion? said Sarah.

      Peter didn’t say anything. He had no idea what it could possibly be. Gloria made her mouth into an O and then moved her head back and forth, like she was blowing on everyone.

      It reminded him of something . . .

      His new video game, Elf Mirror! There was a dragon in there that made exactly those movements. He had just gotten the game a few days ago and already he’d become obsessed with it. In fact, it was hard for him to sit and play charades with everyone when Elf Mirror sat in his room. But here he was, and he knew what Gloria was acting out.

      A dragon, he said quietly.

      A hose! Olive yelled.

      Jack Frost! Lizzie said. Everyone looked at her, and she shrank back. What? Mom and I are reading about winter lore at night. Tabitha grinned and winked at her, but Gloria stamped her foot in frustration.

      A flying lion with bad breath? Sarah guessed. Lizzie and Olive giggled, and Peter snickered too.

      A dragon, he said, but the girls had started shouting again and no one heard him.

      Time! his dad said, holding up the hourglass.

      Gloria huffed. "What would I expect from babies? I was a dragon, clearly." She flounced off to another antique chair and plopped down. Peter saw his dad cringe at how hard Gloria sat in the chair.

      I said that, Peter said, but everyone had started talking again and the grown-ups were taking their turn.

      Maybe he wasn’t really there after all.

      When it was the kids’ turn again, Olive turned to Peter. Why don’t you go? He knew she was saying that so they could easily get a point. He nodded and stood up.

      As he grabbed the paper with the word, his dad John said, Ready? He flipped over the hourglass timer just as Peter flipped over the paper.

      His word was hero.

      That was a hard one. He took a second to think about how he would perform his charade. The room was quiet, making him nervous. He wasn’t a fan of having all the attention. It made him tongue-tied.

      But he knew how to do this. Easy.

      Looking at Olive, he pointed to Gloria. Olive said, Acting?

      Peter shook his head. He mimicked the actions Gloria had done. Lizzie said, Dragon?

      He nodded. He was more than a little surprised that Olive hadn’t gotten that but Lizzie had. Still, he had no time to think about it.

      Sarah yelled, Dragon Gloria! Everyone looked at her, and Gloria rolled her eyes.

      Peter mimicked riding a horse and holding a spear. He didn’t like horses, but he didn’t mind riding a fake one. Olive guessed, Horse! and Peter grinned. Now they were in sync. When he mimed thrusting the spear at Gloria and then getting off his horse and celebrating, Olive guessed, Olympic medalist!

      He stopped to furrow

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