Long ago, when there was still magic, there lived twin sisters called Willa and Willow. 

They lived in the city of Evangeline with their mum and dad. They were both eleven years old (Willa was two minutes older). 

The twins loved nature. Whenever they had the chance to, the twins would go outside to plant seeds, water the plants or play on the grass. 

Their favourite game was to pretend the grass was their fairy home. 

One day, as they were coming home from school, the twins heard voices and not just any voices, whispering voices that sounded like it was meant for them and only them to hear. 

They looked around to see if anyone was trying to communicate with them, but there wasn’t. 

After a few minutes of silence, Willa said: “What do you think that was?”

“I don’t know,” replied Willow. “We looked around and saw no one trying to get our attention.”

“Yeah. Maybe it was the trees.” laughed Willa.

Willa then looked at her.

“You don’t think… it was the trees do you? asked Willa

“It could be,” she replied.

“Maybe we should go home,” suggested Willa

“Yeah. Okay then.” Willa said with a sad face.

Soon after, they arrived home. As usual, they went outside to do some gardening. 

When they finished, they ate their dinner and got ready to go to bed as it was getting late. As soon as they closed their eyes, they heard the voices again. 

Before the voices were quite faint, but now it was loud and clear. It said: “Help us please, we are the trees. Humans are cutting us down and not re-planting us. Bad things are happening everywhere. 

“The deep blue seas are being polluted by plastic, fuels and petrol are polluting the sky and wildfires are burning down rainforests which can lead to animals losing their homes. 

“Listen to us carefully. Go to the Tree of Power. There, you will ask to speak to the God of Nature. 

“Together you can save the world. You have seven days. If you are not there in time the world will be doomed!”

“What powers?” Willow asked her sister.

“What should we do?” asked Willa in a scared way. 

“Maybe it’s our mind playing tricks on us. We should go to bed,” suggested Willow.

But deep down in her heart, she knew that she wanted to go and help. So when she thought Willa was sleeping, Willow started packing a bag full of supplies for the journey and a map of the Tree of Power that she got from a book hoping it would work. 

As she was leaving, Willa woke up.

“Where do you think you’re going?” questioned Willa.

“To the Tree of Power” replied Willow.

“Then I’m going with you,” answered Willa.

And off they went to seek the Tree of Power.

Their journey had just begun.

By Zainab Janneh