CHAPTER 1

Every morning at daybreak,Aunt Sybil who was the Guardian of the Bridge,climbed to the top floor of the house where she spent most of the day. Sofia's aunt was sharp and intelligence woman, which showed in her body that was lean and angular as if a firm hug would be painful for the hugger and unwelcome for aunt Sybil, who preferred interactions to take place at a safe distance, at least one arm's lenght. From time to time, Sofia made attemps to interfer with her aunts routine or to become part of it, always without success

“Aunt Sybil” she would say, feigning innocent “I brought you a cup of coffee and a pastry”

Aunt Sybil would fix her with a piercing stare.

“Sofia,you know that i drink precisely one cup of coffee in the morning and that i simply abhor sugar . Go play outside.”

Aunt Sybil always sat at the window, on a chair with a high back and wooden armrest, and a little pedestal for resting her feet.On the windowsill lay a leather bound ledger with a little, lock and every morning and evening, she wrote the time and date and the events of the day in it. A cast iron bell hung in the window,and in case of sudden danger, it would fall to her to toll it as loudly as she could.

And every morning and evening , she wrote with neat, small letters that nothing had happened. Nobody had ever heard the toll of the bell, not in as many generation as were still around to tell stories. There was a library to keep Aunt Sybil company, and each day she choose another book to read from science to astronomy to thr fine arts, which was why she was so smart .When she came down the stair to join Sofia and Uncle Tomas for dinner, she was even better educated than she had been in the morning. Sofia would ask her about it, but Aunt Sybil was usually too tired to past on many knowledge and dinner time went by to the sounds of Uncle Thomas gulping down a liquid with a deceptivelybland color that didn't fool anybody because it's sharp and bitter smell filled up the room. It was unfathomable to Sofia when people told her how much Aunt Sybil and Uncle Thomas had been inlove when they had been young people because there could not be two people less suited for each other.

Uncle Thomas was soft, chubby man, with a heart of gold and an incorrigible weakness for drinking ,which meant that each good nature promisw he made was broken almost as soon as it was uttered.Most days he slept until noon, then dragged his aching body to the kitchen where he woke his spirit with, well , spirits. Sofia loved her uncle for his tranquil smile and hated him for his cloudy eyes . Aunt Sybil seemed to only hate by now, and he wasn't any fonder of her. The Border Village counted a mere few hundre people , and the only bizarre thing, apart from the bridge and what lay beyond, was the fact that ther were only three children and none of them had parents. There was Sofia ,who was almost twelve years old , and twin boys of about the sane age called Pip and Tin , who also lived with an aunt and uncle.

Pip and Tin only went places together and didn't like to talk to anybody but eact other. They played enigmatic games, and when somebody past them they cast their eyes downwards and giggled at private joke. Threfore it felt to Sofia as if she was the only child in the village, and while she had become used to this there are some things that are impossible to get used to. When Sofia was sent outside to play , she mostly stayed around the bridge, in calling distance of her aunt's window,hoping that, one day,Aunt Sybil would call her insideand finally starts teaching her to become Guardians of the Bridge. In Sofia's mind she just had to be her aunt's successor , and even though it was never mentioned, she was refused to waver in this conviction . Many days, it was the only thing she had to look forward to. There were a lot of strange things to be said about the bridge, like its size, which seemed to change everyday or the pillars that were rammed deep into the rivers ground and yet kept changing in number . But the strangest thing was that nothing was ever said about the bridge at all as if the inhabitant of the village had forgotten its existence . People had unlearned to look its way and when mentioned in conversation its sometimes took them a moment or two to remember its existence. Sofia often played beneath the pillar of the bridge, where tha lawn stretched down to the water. The water was clear and smooth, with polished stones glinting on the ground. She flipped stones over the mirrored surface .She had perfected her technique and the stones jumped up to seven times as they flew weightlessly over the waves. The water was peaceful on this side of the shore , but when Sofia directed her eyes to the other side, the changed took her breath away. The water crashed dark and wild against spicky rocks. The stream tore mercilessly downhill, its foam yellow and foul .When Sofia focused, she could hear the wind howling and hissing, and smell the rancid odor of the fish that had found their watery graved smash against the rock. Quickly, she would turn her eyes back to this side of the shore,and all would be well again. A few ducks swam towards her ñ, and she greeted them like old friends, even though she could never be sure that they were the same ducks as the day before. But no day went by that Sofia didn't lift her eyes toward the other side. Sone days. The shore was shrouded in a cloud, white and thick, and it was imposible to imagine anything behind it except the sky. On those day. Sofia quickly list interests and went back to her solitary games. Other time,the shore stretched hellishy toweards the end of the horizon, an inhospitable wasteland, colored in black and grey and flashes of red as if fires were burning The gruesome setting made Sofia hug her arm around herself, and she felt cold even on the hottest day.

Chapter 2.

Continuation...

But occasionally, the view took on a beautiful aquarelle quality, soft color bleeding into each other, the sky bleeding with the tops of the trees. Butterflies and bird outgoing each other in splendor, and a breeze wafting across the river like an invitation to come over and play. On these days, Sofia would have crossed the bridge and gone over there, but it never entered her mind to do so.

Sofia was immersed in her favorite game Guardian of the Bridge. Sitting against the pillars, her back straight, her eyes fixed on the stone structure in front of her, she held a few pages of paper she had bound with a leather string from one of her uncle's shoes. With a piece of coal, she noted the time and date. She wrote 'Uneventful'and out loud she said, mimicking Aunt Sybil's stern tone of voice

“But that does not mean, we can be any less vigilant. ”

She looked to her right as if at an imaginary interlocutor and clarified

“Because it is a very important duty and only few people are choosen to fulfil it. ”

She frowned at the imaginary answer that seemes to have contradicted her.

“But,” she added, her face lighting up again , “It is a big secret , and I wont be allowed to tell.”

Then she rolled up the paper, hiding it carefully in between two stones. She got up to take a little stroll along the shore and maybe find Pip and Tin to at least interrupt their games if they wouldn't let her join in. She didn't much like the boys, but she wasn't spoiled for choice in the village.

She was thinking about a way to maybe play one against the other when she heard a strange choking noise. It was coming from the river.

Sofia looked it's way, adjusting her eyes to the water, which always took some effort as if it didn't want to be seen. There was nothing, except for a few bubbles rising. Sofia turned away again. It was only after a few steps that she realize she had seen something breathing beneath the waters after all. There had been an elongated shape in a light color , a skin color, that she hadn't been aware of at first, as if her eyes had refused to see anything they weren't expecting to see. Sofia stood very still as if every movement might distort the imaged. She glance up toward the window of her aunt, but it was too steep, and she could not see her. The bubbles had intensified , then lessened until they had almost vanished. Sofia another step closer , the water lapping onto her shoes. Feeling moisture she took them off and stepped into the ice cold water, carefully keeping her balance on the slippery stones. She leaned over,trying to get a better look.

It was a body.

It was lean and slim, and a mass of silver hair surrounded it's head like a crown. The limbs were long and light blue, and it was completely motionless ,floating.

The bubbles ceased. There was no more breath leaving the body. Without thinking Sofia jumped into the water, which deepened infinitely after the first step , and dove towards the floating girl.Below the surface of the water, the sky moved far away, and the river expanded in width and depth until it seemed endless. Sofia swam towards the body trying to ignor the eerie feeling of having entered to another world.She reached for one of the arm, grabing its wrist when the girl suddenly came alive and struggled out of her grasp. Sofia tore back in suprise and fright, and the two girls shot towards the surface at the same time. Sofia gasped frantically filling her lungs with air , brushing her hair out of her face, as her eyes became used to the outside world again. She stared at the girl who was staring back at her, although she was not gasping for air and didn't seem ruffled any way.

“Who are you? ” Sofia said with her first breath.

The girl moved backwards, not taking her eyes from Sofia. With every inch she put between them, her gaze became calmer and somewhat superior. She reached for a rock in the water and pulled herself upon it in one fluent motion.Sofia could have sworn that the rock had not been there before, and she realized that she was standing comfortably on the ground, the water only reaching up to her stomach ,even though it had been deep and endless a mere few second ago. The girl brushed her long silver hair from her face. It seemed neither wet nor dry, but smooth like a velveteen sheet.

“Since you disturbed me,” she said in a haughty voice “you should answer that question before I do.”

“Disturbe you? ” Sofia blurted out “I saved you. ”

The girl give a little laughter that rang as clear as a bell.

“Why should I need saving? ”

“You-you were drowning.”

The girl pulled her legs up on the rock and looked around with a slightly bored expression. Her arms and legs were light-blue,colored from inside. She was wearing a white and silver suit that was constantly changing form wrapping itself around her body every time she moved.