“How do we cross the river again?” Rishi asked. “The Quiggly isn’t going to come back for us again.”

Dhruv sat down on the bank and peeped into the water. Before we could say careful, he slipped into the deep waters.

“Oh no, what do we do?” we cried.

We waited there for some time and peered into the waters. Suddenly, Dhruv floated up to the surface.

“Thank god, you are safe” Rishi said.

“Guys!” Dhruv said. “We can breathe underwater. Come with me. I found something”

So we all jumped into the water. Dhruv was totally right. We could breathe in the water. We were like fish, but didn’t sprout any extra organs. Dhruv led us deep down till we reached the river-bed. There were multi-coloured fishes everywhere and only friendly sea animals. Coloured corals and seaweeds swayed with the water.

“Come” Dhruv said impatiently. “Fast”

We reached a dark hollow tunnel. It looked scary.

“Do we really have to go in there?” Kiko asked

“It looks like an entrance into some other world. I want to explore it, Are you coming?” asked Dhruv.

“No……. I don’t think it’s safe. We don’t know anything about this world, we should be careful” said Kiko.

But Dhruv was adamant. After a lot of persuading, Kiko agreed. We swam into the hollow tunnel only to find ourselves in a cave. Madeline had also come and was literally clinging to Kiko. She was terrified. Like I said, she was 1 year younger to us. There was no one in the cave. There were 2 entrances leading out of the cave and something written/ carved on the wall we were facing, of the cave.

“Which route do we take?” Rishi asked me, as I was the leader.

The writing on the wall seemed like a riddle to me. But I was sure that if we solved it, we’d know which route to take and where it leads. The cave wasn’t filled with water. So, I told everyone to sit and think. I tried to analyze what was written on the wall-

Where the fungi can speak

Where the same can leap

Where taking right, nothing can be seen

That’s the place where you’re meant to be.

“What?” I said. “This doesn’t make sense, what do we do?”

“Slowly read it again” Kiko said.

“Madeline,you?” Kiko said and looked at her askance.

“Je ne sait pas”(I don’t know)

 “Ok ! Let’s try” said Kiko. “Take the first line- Where the fungi can speak. Fungi- replace another word for that. Dhruv- another word for fungi. Someone….”

“Could it be mushrooms?” I said. “Since they are a kind of fungi”

“Possibly” said Kiko. “Let’s try replacing it- Where the mushrooms can speak. It makes sense because anything can speak in Calypso, be it mushroom or trees. Ok, next line.”

“Where the same can leap” I said. “Ok, the same is the mushrooms. But how can they leap? This is getting confusing.”

“No, it isn’t” said Rishi. “It makes sense.”

“How?” I asked.

“Listen, frogs leap right?”

“Ya, so….”

“What’s the other name for frogs?”

“Wait…..toad” Kiko said.

“Exactly. One of our destinations is Toadstool Village. Doesn’t it match? You know toads leap and fungi talk?”

“Hey, I think you are right Rishi” I said. “What a genius!, and that too we have come to the right place, cause our next destination is Mushroom Corner and Toadstool Village is in Mushroom Corner right?”

“Yes” everyone said.

“Good job Rishi and Dhruv, Dhruv for finding this place and Rishi for cracking the last bit of the code.”

“ But which route do we take?” Kiko asked.

“Let’s the solve the rest” I said. “There are 2 more lines-

“Where taking right nothing can be seen,

That’s the place where you are meant to be.”

“I got it” said Kiko. “Where taking right nothing can be seen means that if we take the right route, we won’t reach Toadstool Village.”

“And the last line” I said. “That’s the place where you are meant to be, that’s because it’s our next destination! So what route do we take?” I asked.

“Left” they all cried.

“Good job!” I said and gave a Hi5 to everyone. “We cracked the code! Come on everyone. We are off to Toadstool Village.”