Chapter 1

I've always had visions. Nobody knows why. Only my parents and my sisters know. My name is Holly. And this story is about me.

* * *

I settled down in my light purple bed, closing my eyes and cuddling my holly bush stuffy. I'd had this stuffy since I was a baby. My parents got it for me because my name is Holly. And I love this stuffy. It helped me calm down after I had visions. "Goodnight Mom!" I called down the hallway with my eyes closed in bed. "Goodnight! Tell me about your vision in the morning!" She called back. Every night, I have a vision. Usually I just

have visions about cows and horses in a flowery meadow. But for some reason it's always the same meadow. And it looks endless. I always wish I could be there, picking flowers and laying in the sun with the wildlife. But I don't know where it is. There's one thing weird about it, though. In the middle of the meadow, there's a big holly bush going across the meadow like a barrier. But it looks the same on the other side of the meadow. And it's weird because my name is Holly, and the barrier is a holly bush. I talked to my mom about it and she says I'm destined to go there one day. But I don't know where it is! But I guess I should go to sleep now. I shut my eyes closed, tugging my holly bush stuffy 

close to my chest. And my mind drifted into a vision. The meadow was the same, with the horses and the cows. I sighed. Sunny meadow visions were boring. Couldn't I have something more exciting for once? Then I heard a whisper. "If you wish," They said softly and creepily. I shuddered as I was taken to the holly bush barrier. Ooh, is there something secret about this barrier? I thought. "Holly," Voices whispered around me. "You've come." And I was swung out of my vision. I sat up, gasping. Who was saying all that? And what was exciting about the holly barrier? I looked at the clock and realized it was 7:00. School started at 8:30. I leaped out of bed and went downstairs, where my twin sister, Charlotte, and my 

older sister, Olivia, were sitting at the kitchen counter, slurping up cereal. I got myself a bowl and waited for Mom and Dad to come into the kitchen before I told everyone about my creepy vision. They came in, Dad in his pyjamas and Mom dressed. They sat down. "Same vision?" Dad asked. I shook my head. Olivia and Charlotte stared at me. "It was the same meadow, but it took me to the holly barrier, and there were a bunch of creepy whispering voices." Mom's eyes widened. "Do you know why you went to the holly barrier?" She asked. "Well, I was just thinking about how I wanted something more exciting, then it took me to the barrier." Charlotte looked excited. "Ooh, so maybe there is a purpose to the

holly barrier! Maybe there's something secret on the other side of it," Charlotte wondered out loud with lots of enthusiasm. I shrugged. "I don't know. But I don't really want to go there." Charlotte laughed. "Well, if I had that vision, I would want to go there." I shook my head. "You would not, trust me." I got up and went upstairs to get dressed. I just threw on a t-shirt, some sweat pants, and a hoodie, then grabbed my toothbrush and toothpaste and brushed my teeth. When I was done, I started to brush my tangled red hair. My name is Holly because my hair is red, like holly berries, and my eyes are green, like holly leaves. I don't know why Charlotte and Olivia's names are Charlotte and Olivia, though. Me 

and Charlotte are twins, but we're not identical. She has the same green eyes as me, but she has dark brown hair and it's really long. Mine just goes down to my shoulders. But Olivia has dark brown hair like Charlotte, but it's the same length as mine. My parents both have the dark brown hair, like everybody in the family except me, but everybody including me has green eyes. I don't know why I have red hair. Olivia is thirteen, in grade seven, and me and Charlotte are ten, in grade 5. Our birthday is May 16, and Olivia's is February 27. But now it's time to leave for school. I flew down the stairs and grabbed my backpack, stuffed my feet into my shoes and ran outside. It was warm, because it was only the 

beginning of fall, September 28. I jumped into the car, where my sisters and my mom were already sitting. I closed the door, got buckled, and my mom started up the car and we went to school.

* * *

My mom stopped the car at the drop off area and we all got out. "Have a good day!" Mom called. I waved and walked to my class group. My teacher is Ms. Rein, and she's nice. She has red hair, like me, and we play lots of games in class. My best friend, Isabella, who's in my class, thankfully, walked up to me. "Hi Holly!" She said. She has brown eyes and short dirty blond hair. "Hi," I said back. Even Isabella doesn't know about my visions.  

Only my family does. 'Ringgg!' The bell rang. I stood in line with my class and waited for Ms. Rein to come out and lead us to the classroom. Soon the doors to the school opened and Ms. Rein came out, and we went into the school and up the stairs to our classroom. I hung my backpack up on my hook and pulled out my planner. Then I went in the classroom and sat at my desk, copying down the writing from the chalkboard that we needed to write in our planner.

sure I would study tonight. Ms. Rein and the rest of the students came into the classroom, and Ms. Rein waited until we we're all done writing in our planners. "You can put your planners in your desks now. It's time for literacy." There was a little bit of noise as everybody bent down to put their planners inside their desks. I was one of the few kids who had a neat desk with this class. Ms. Rein wrote Genres in her fancy writing on the chalkboard, then underneath it she wrote Fantasy. "Today, as you can probably see, we're starting genres as our unit in literacy. Our genre for this week is fantasy. We will read a short story each day in our genre, then do a book report on it. Sophia, can you hand out the books?" A small girl 

with curly dark, dark brown hair, almost black, nodded and picked up the stack of books from the table beside Ms. Rein's desk. She walked across the rows of desks, giving people the books. She put the last book down on her desk and sat down. "Thank you, Sophia," Ms. Rein said. "Now, when you are ready, the book report sheets are here on the table where the books were. Just so you know, this is grade four review, so you should do good. But it doesn't have to be perfect." I looked down at my book. It was called The Holly Barrier. I stifled a gasp, realizing it was the exact same meadow from my dreams, with the holly barrier and everything. But on the other side of the barrier, it was dark. It looked like night, 

but with no stars and moon. I shuddered, wondering if that was on the other side of the holly barrier. It didn't look like that in my visions, but maybe you had to be over on that side to see the darkness. I opened the book and started to read.

* * *

So it turned out that the book was about a girl who got trapped on a planet nobody had ever heard of, and she found the meadow and passed the holly barrier. It was dark, and if she tried to get out it would pull her back in. But she was strong enough to finally get out, and bring the light to conquer the darkness. I shivered. Am I the one destined to do that? Why me? I thought. But I 

pushed those thoughts away and handed in my book report, making sure I didn't get carried away and write something about my visions on there. Ms. Rein stood up and took the book report from me. "Thank you, Holly. Did you like the fantasy book?" I had to admit it, the book was really good. I nodded. "Yes. It was really good." Ms. Rein smiled. "You might have not noticed, but on the back of the book it said it was a true story. I picked one that looked like fantasy but really wasn't. But you can go finish up any work from yesterday." I nodded. "Okay." I walked back to my desk, feeling a little bit scared. That was a true story?! And the weirdest thing of all: The girl in the book's name was Holly.

Chapter 2

I walked home with Charlotte and Isabella, trying not to show my anxiety. I looked back over at the daycare where Olivia was picking up Lucy, a little kid she was babysitting. I saw Olivia looking at me. She probably knew there was something up, because usually I walk up beside Isabella and Charlotte and I'm always talking. But right now, I was in the back, thinking about the book and my visions. When we got home, I was so relieved. I could come in and talk to Mom and Dad about it. I waved bye to Isabella as she crossed the street to go to her house. Then I ran inside and threw off my backpack. I went into the kitchen, where Dad was making dinner. I sat down 

and reached my arms across the counter. Dad looked back at me. "Hey, Holly. How was school?" "Exciting," I said with a bit of sarcasm. Dad rolled his eyes. "You know we all know when something's up. Tell me." I sighed. "For literacy today, we started doing genres. The one for today was fantasy, and we had to all read the same book. It was called 'The Holly Barrier'. The cover had a picture of the exact same meadow as the one that I have visions about, except on the other side of the holly barrier it was all darkness. The book was about a girl named Holly who got trapped on a different planet and she found the meadow. She passed the holly barrier and she was in darkness. Then she had to find the light to 

conquer the darkness. I did my book report, and handed it in to Ms. Rein. Then she said that the book was actually true, and she picked one that looked like a fantasy book." Dad had wide eyes. "We have to talk to your mother about this. She's upstairs. Can you go get her?" I nodded. When I walked past the living room I saw Charlotte reading that same book we read for school. I gasped and walked in. "Charlotte, where did you get that?!" I exclaimed. She looked up. "We had to read it for school. I guess we're doing the same thing for literacy. But I guess I know what's gonna happen. I heard you talking to Dad." She paused. "It sounds scary." I sighed. "Maybe if you read it you could help me figure out if that

is going to happen to me." Charlotte nodded. "Okay," She said, and then started reading. I went upstairs and into Mom and Dad's room. Mom was in her bed, reading on her phone. She put it down and looked up at me. "Holly! Is there something wrong?" She asked. "Come down to the kitchen and Dad can explain it." Mom got up and we went downstairs. As soon as Mom came in, Dad took a breath. "You probably know something weird's happened," He started. Mom nodded, glancing from me back to Dad. Dad looked at me. "Is it okay if I explain it?" I nodded. I was tired. I walked out as Dad started the story and I sat on the couch with Charlotte. She was on her phone, looking at something with wide 

eyes. I looked at her phone. "What is it?" I asked. She looked up at me. "I searched up the book, and it says the book is by Louis Riving." I felt a jolt go through me when she said "Riving." Riving was our last name. It was an uncommon last name, so this person was probably related to us. I grabbed my phone out of my pocket and went on my family tree app. There. Louis Riving, grandfather of Chris Riving, father of Louis Riving Jr; and great-grandfather of Olivia, Holly, and Charlotte Riving. Born in 1944, his best book published in 1975, The Holly Barrier. Based on what happened to his little sister. I looked over to Charlotte. "When was the book published?" I asked. She scrolled through something on 

her phone. "Um... August, 1975." Oh my gosh.  "Charlotte, I went on our family tree app, and there was a guy named Louis Riving who was our great-grandpa. I read about him and it said he was an author, and he published his best book in 1975, which was called The Holly Barrier." Charlotte's eyes widened. "Oh my gosh! And the stuff in the book happened to his little sister... what was her name?" I peered at the name on the family tree app connected to my great-grandpa. "Holly?!" I gasped. Charlotte got up and rushed into the kitchen. I heard her ask Mom and Dad if I was named after our great-great-aunt.  "Is Holly named after another Holly in our family who is our great-great-aunt?" I came into the 

kitchen after her and saw Mom glance at Dad. "Yes," He said. "Why are you asking?" Charlotte looked a little bit excited. "Me and Holly are doing the same thing for literacy at school, so we got the same books. I was reading mine, and it said the author was Louis Riving. Holly found him on our family tree and read about him. It said he was an author and he published his best book, The Holly Barrier, in 1975. I searched it up and it said he did publish his book in 1975. And Holly said that it said the book was about stuff that happened to Louis Riving's little sister. Holly found her on the family tree and her name was Holly." Mom and Dad looked confused and surprised. "So... you think that the same thing will 

happen to Holly because she's named Holly and she's in the Riving family?" Mom asked. Charlotte shrugged. "Maybe not, maybe it's just a coincidence," She said sarcastically. Dad sighed. "Well, it's not like we could just search up how to stop her visions and stuff from happening. And maybe it's destiny for everybody named Holly Riving to be like this."  Charlotte rolled her eyes. "Well, obviously! It's kind of exciting. I love mysteries! And I'm great at solving them too! Maybe I should become a detective one day. Ooh, that would be really fun! Do you think I should be a detective? I think I should. A detective would be a really fun job! And I could get fancy clothes and a big magnifying glass!" Charlotte