Lena hated stormy evenings, especially when the wind howled so loudly that the windows shook. But that day, she and her younger brother Igor tried not to be afraid. They were sitting on the carpet in their room, putting together a jigsaw puzzle, when suddenly they heard a prolonged creaking somewhere over their heads. - Did you hear that? - Lena looked at Igor, whose eyes lit up with curiosity. - 'Surely something has come loose again in the attic,' the boy stated, getting up from the floor. Although Lena would have preferred to stay downstairs, she was not going to leave her brother alone. They quietly climbed the stairs to the first floor, passed the door to their parents' bedroom and reached the dark wooden door leading to the attic. Igor turned the key and pushed the door open. The old hinges groaned loudly and the smell of dust and old books rushed in. The attic was in semi-darkness. Lena noticed a huge, dusty clock with a pendulum standing by the window. It looked as if it had never stopped ticking, although no one remembered it ever moving. Moving closer, Igor brushed away the cobwebs and noticed a small silver key stuck in the door of the clock. - It looks like something out of a fairy tale! - whispered the delighted boy. - 'You'd better not touch it...' - began Lena, but before she had time to finish, Igor turned the key. The clock trembled and the hands began to turn faster and faster. Suddenly there was a strange noise. The air around the clock thickened, and an unusual bluish light flashed above their heads. The floor beneath their feet began to tremble as if during a small earthquake. - Lena! - shouted Igor, and his voice sounded as if it were very far away. And then everything around them changed. Instead of the attic, they found themselves in a vast clearing, where the grass glowed in all the colours of the rainbow and three pink moons moved slowly across the sky. In the distance, they could hear laughter, the sound of bells and the quiet rustle of the wings of invisible creatures. Lena held Igor's hand, feeling her heart beating harder than ever. - Where are we? - she whispered. They didn't have time to think about it, however, because suddenly a strange creature slid out of the dense, multi-coloured bushes. It had a slender body, fur shining a silvery green and eyes like two tiny emeralds. As it approached them, Lena clearly heard quiet, melodious words: - You have chosen the path of the Shadows, and the clock is already ticking down.... And then a loud bell sounded from afar. The clock, which they could not see, stopped somewhere in their heads, and the whole world around them suddenly began to flicker....