Chapter 2
"But... but I'm just a little girl," Dasha whispered in confusion, looking at the notebook floating in the air. "How can I help you?""That is exactly why we need you!" the Book's voice grew louder, and its pages rustled excitedly. "Adults cannot enter our world of magical notes; they forgot how to believe in miracles long ago. Agree quickly, Dasha! Look out the window: the sun has almost set. We have very little time left.""And what will happen then?" Dasha asked warily."The rays will fade, and you will never be able to enter the magical land," the Book replied strictly."What should I do?!" Dasha thought in panic. "I was so sure there was no magic in our world... Well, here goes nothing!""I agree!" she shouted loudly.The magical book rustled its pages deafeningly. At that very moment, its sheets flew through the air and froze right in the middle of the room, high up near the ceiling."Step onto the shadow of the sunset!" it commanded.The girl obediently ran to the dark stripe on the floor and hesitated for a second: "Oh, what am I doing?" But there was no time to delay — she resolutely stepped straight into the cool shadow.In that very instant, the room disappeared, and everything around her plunged into darkness. It felt to Dasha as if she were flying through endless space. Only instead of stars and planets, glowing lines of musical staffs, sharps, flats, and colorful notes floating in the air rushed past her at breakneck speed. For a moment, it even seemed to her that strict but great composers, whose portraits had always hung in the music classroom, were flickering in this stardust.Suddenly, a mysterious tree wrapped in a shimmering light flashed ahead, and the musical vortex stopped abruptly. Everything ended in a single blink.Dasha closed her eyes tight, and when she opened them and looked around, she realized she was standing in a huge, majestic hall. Right in front of her floated an open Big White Book. On its glowing page, in a carved dark frame, like on a live screen, her own room was visible, left somewhere back there, in the ordinary world.Next to the Book, Dasha noticed an unfamiliar girl, and a little behind her stood a majestic lady. Near them fluttered two tiny little girls with transparent, iridescent wings. Dasha didn't doubt for a second: these were real, kind, tiny butterfly-fairies the size of a palm!They all smiled warmly and welcomingly at the confused guest."Welcome to the magical land of notes," the majestic lady said gently, taking a step toward Dasha.