Grand Canyon Race

Once there lived a cheetah called Dash. Dash lived in Slot Canyon, in the upper Antelope Canyon, and loved racing with the other cheetahs. One thing she loved about racing was that she could leap from side to side on the curves. It was a really short race and Dash wanted a longer race. She wanted to go to the race in the Grand Canyon but she needed meat to pay for the race and hunting was the perfect job, so she joined her mom in hunting. Her first two hunts were not that good but she got good at it after a while. After a month, she had enough meat to afford the race so she packed all her stuff and said goodbye. She traveled for about two and a half days, including water breaks. When she got there she saw the longest race she had ever seen. She saw a big hotel for the racers and in the middle of the hotel, there was a big, filtered drinking pond. When she entered her room there were leaves for a bed, and her room was a little cave. Dash slept because she was tired from the long long walk and run and because it was night. She woke up early at 5:30 AM and practiced running until six in the evening. This race was really important for her and she took it seriously. After she ran, she ate breakfast. She was surprised that she didn’t need to hunt, and she ate her rabbit and antelope. After eating, she was coached and the class really helped her run even faster. Her day was packed, and she forgot to eat lunch. For dinner, she ate half of a kudu. The next day, she would have to run the race and she needed to rest. Dash woke up at 6:30 AM and the race would be at 8:30 AM. She ate a small antelope and a little bit of her leftover kudu for breakfast. She then took a bath and used leaves to dry herself. She styled her hair with some grass hair ties. After that, she practiced for the race. The prize was a bunch of meat and a trophy. Dash was nervous, but it was time for the race so she took her spot and started racing. It was super fun but she was also nervous because someone else was first. Negative thoughts filled her head like “I can’t do this,” and “I’m definitely going to lose.” Then she realized the whole reason she wanted to be in this race was to have fun. So she set all her negative thoughts aside and had fun. And she was winning! Just half a mile and she would win the race. Dash did her absolute best and she reached the end in 40 seconds. Dash won the race and she received her meat and medal. As soon as she won she started packing up to meet her family. When she got there and told everyone in town, she was famous! 

Coco and Rosie

Part 1 

Once upon a time, there were two sisters, Coco and Rosie. They lived with their mom, dad and grandma. Their dad was in charge of the house but he usually would say yes. His name was David. Grandma Mimi was eighty-seven years old. She came to New York from Africa when she was seventeen. Mimi was their mom’s mom. Mimi liked flowers and ran a flower shop called Mimi’s Flowers. Their father was a police officer. Coco loved to learn, and she loved school. She always said so, and always studied. She loved to study biology, geometry, and history. Rosie just sat in Pre-K. She cried, pooped, and ate. One day Coco was talking to Mimi. 

“Why did you bring me over here?” asked Coco.

“I need to talk to you about studying. You work too much and I think we should have a vacation. We are going on a cruise for a year. I know you’re going to miss school, but it’s going to be more fun! Your teachers sent me some homework you can do, and turn it in next year,” said Mimi.

“I’m not sure about this. Are you sure this is a good idea?”

“I am organizing it right now. I just wanted to tell you so that you don’t get overstressed,” said Mimi.

Coco felt nervous. She felt like no one would like her anymore because she was going to be gone for a year. But she felt okay about not studying because she did feel overworked.

Coco packed her bag and Rosie’s, but because Rosie’s was very small, she didn’t have to pack that much. On the cruise, there was a whole bunch of food, a whole bunch of games, and fun things to do. She played in the pool a little bit, and even though she really missed studying and school, she was having too much fun to think about it. She met two girls and three boys. The boys were really nice, but she was a year older than them. One of the girls had the same birthday as she did, and the other one had a similar birthday (but it wasn’t the same day). They played games together like Bingo, Marco Polo, and Limbo. After that, they all went to bed and woke up in the same room. But, for some reason, Coco wasn’t there. 

They looked all over for her, and even tried to call her. But she didn’t answer. She was flying away to go back to school. Her family had taken a small boat to the shore and gotten on a plane back home. Coco was miserable because she really liked the cruise. But they had to leave because Mimi thought that everyone would get boatsick. She had totally forgotten about it because she was too busy organizing and planning everything. When they got back from the cruise, Coco ran into her bedroom and started crying. 

But a year later, all of her friends from the cruise came to visit her. She was so happy that she was speechless. She got a letter that said that if she wanted to, she could go and join College University. Everyone was so proud of her. 

Eight years later, she was twenty-four working as a nurse, and made enough money to help charity. Coco moved to Africa and Mimi came too. Because Coco had to go to work three times a week Mimi had a caregiver. 

Three days later, Mimi fainted. Coco had to take Mimi to the hospital. They found out she had lung cancer, but it wasn’t that big of a deal. But, her whole family flew in from New York so they could check on her. 

For two months, Mimi couldn’t go anywhere except her house and all she could eat was soup and water. So the family stayed so they all could have a family trip. But they didn’t get enough tickets so they couldn’t. One person would have to fly by themselves. 

Coco took the one ticket and flew by herself. She was worried, but also happy because she was nervous about something happening to her like the plane crashing or almost hitting the water, but she was happy that she got to drink soda. 

She looked out the window and it looked beautiful. She saw the ocean, she saw birds flying. She also saw a rocket going into space. She was so amazed that she forgot all about her family. She took a whole bunch of pictures until 6 AM. She fell asleep. At last, she got to her house. She was so happy to see her family. Mimi was alright, and everyone was so happy. 

Coco went back to Florida. Instead of being a doctor, she wanted to be a nurse. So she went back to school, where she finally became a nurse, and she stayed in New York City. She got her own house, but she visited her family every single day. She still sometimes helped with the flower shop. Coco had a party to become a nurse and doctor. Her parents, friends, cousins, grandparents, sister, uncles, and aunts were there. It was a blast. 

Sharky’s Adventure in the Deep Blue Sea

Chapter 1

This is Sharky. He lives in the southern part of the Pacific Ocean. He loves to play and hug his mom. Also, he is eight years old.

But the one thing that he can not do is go to the east part of the ocean because there are orcas. Sharky loves the holiday Christmas because he gets so many presents! His favorite is this wind-up toy saw shark. He also has a fear of humans because they love to kill sharks and make shark fin soup. They capture a shark and cut off his fin, and then they put it in a bowl of water with vegetables! His favorite meal is called fish stew. It’s dead fish with seal skin, and he loves it. His favorite dessert is seal ice cream.

Chapter 2

Well, Sharky was just swimming around, and then he heard a rumbling sound. It was a swarm of fish! Well, he is a shark, so he did what all sharks did: he ate them but not them all! He saved some for fish stew. Oh – forgot to say they were yellow tang fish, his favorite. Then, his friend Barky came over to play. He also told him that he had saved him fish stew. Barky’s favorite food was fish stew, too!  They played Pin the Dorsal Fin on the Fish. They also played Fish Attack, which is when they go to the sea and just attack fish together. They play a lot of games together, including tag (not the one people do). They also played Conversation Wheel. How you play is you spin the wheel and whatever you get, you have to have a conversation about. Today, they got: Do you like pumpkin pie? And one that said, Prize. “Prize” means that whatever you rolled the day before, you get. So, if tomorrow they got Prize, then they would get to eat pumpkin pie. But the bad part about it is that, no matter what, you have to eat it. So if you don’t like it, it’s going to be a nightmare. They love to play Among Us, Shark Mod.  

Sharky and Barky played Among Us, Shark Mod for 35 minutes and played Conversation Wheel for another 26 minutes. They also played Pin the Dorsal Fin on the Fish and ate their fish stew. Then Barky left.

“Goodbye,” Barky said.

Chapter 3

Now, Sharky was going to bed. For some reason, he could not sleep. He was thinking about a current that pushes him to the other side of the ocean. He was trembling with fear in his bed. He tried to go to sleep, but then, there was a small current. It felt like a pretty hard breeze. He almost fell off his bed, but then he used his fin to stop himself. Now, his bed is very short, so it was pretty easy. Then there was a medium-size current. This one felt like really hard rain that was not drops, just water – kind of like in a jug. This time, he fell off his bed. Don’t worry – he was okay. 

Chapter 4

Then there was a super-big current that knocked Sharky right off his bed, and he floated out of his house, and he kept floating and floating and floating until he was somewhere in the middle of the ocean. He said, “Oh no! I must get out of here!” 

But then, the water current came back and he kept floating and floating and floating. 

Then he came to the other side of the ocean. He said, “How did I get to here? I must swim back.” 

But he was very tired. He only usually swims in the middle of the day or right when he gets up. He doesn’t usually swim at night because if you swim at night, you don’t know what could happen. Things that could happen are: jellyfish could sting you, turtles could hit you with their shells, nets could be lowered down, and you could get captured, orcas could swim to the other side, and people could scuba dive down and make you into shark fin soup. Sharks have really good smelling senses, so he smells this drop of blood. So he swims slowly to it. Then he investigates it, and he finds out it’s people’s blood. And he goes away because it smells really, really bad, and he tries to swim slowly back to his home, but then something swims out of the seaweed! It is an orca. The orca grabs his tail and brings him to his home. Sharky doesn’t know what to say. 

The orca is like, “Are you my new dinner next week?!” 

He said, “I don’t know, but maybe?” 

“Well, I think you are.” 

Sharky said, “I am?” 

“Yes, you are,” said the orca. He said, “Well, while you’re in my home, you can sleep in a guest bedroom.” 

Sharky said, “Thanks, because I’m really sleepy.” 

And then the orca said, “You’re welcome. I’ll see you in the morning.” 

Chapter 5

Sharky woke up the next morning thinking, How can I escape this orca’s house? But then he had an idea. He loved that there was this rope on the playground that you could slide down into the water. He would always make a big splash. So he looked around for something like the rope, and then he found so many stacks of paper. They were clean and white. And then he looked around for something to stick it with. Then he found fish glue. The fish glue was really strong, so he made three tunnels. And then he said, “Now how can I make this stronger?” He found some metal bar things, and then he was like, “Well, how can I cut this off?” So he slapped his tail against it so many times, but it still wouldn’t come off. Then he found this billboard that said, ORCAS FOR LIFE. And he said, “Well, I could just hit that billboard with it and it would probably fall off.” So he held it with his tail and revved back and threw it right at the metal bar. The metal bar flew right off and right onto the ground. Bing! it said. But then he got scared, and then the orca came in. 

He said, “I heard a sound in here! This is where Sharky sleeps. What’s going on here?” He called out, “Sharky! Sharky, where are you?” 

Sharky was hiding behind a pole. Not that pole. There was another pole. He managed to get his body in there. Once the orca left, he came out. 

“Phew!” he said. “I thought I would get caught!” And he ran out and pushed the metal bar into his tunnels. Once the metal bar was gone there, he used fish glue to stick it together. And then he said, “If only somehow I could disguise myself and get out there!” He found this policeman costume in the closet. So he was like, “But why would a policeman be in his house? Maybe I can just run past, and then I’ll get there.”

So he swam as fast as he ever could past the orca and threw his “slide” that he made down the steps and slid right down. Now he was energized, so he swam as fast as he could through the ocean and to the other side. The next day, Barky came. They had so much fun, and he told him about the story about getting pushed by the currents and seeing the orcas, and that was his dream the night before. They had fish stew, and while they were having fish stew, the orca was back at home, trying to find something to eat. Sharky lived happily ever after. 

The End.

Tommy’s Adventures

Tommy’s lungs gratefully greeted the fresh air as he and Bobby (his best friend) piled out of the airport. Tommy and Bobby the Acorns had arrived in San Francisco!!!

Tommy’s mind drifted back to a few days ago, when the leaves had delivered the mail. Sitting patiently on top of the pile was a colorful flier. It was the flier for the all-new nuts and seeds skatepark. 

“Earth to Tommy!” Bobby’s voice rang in his ears.

Tommy’s mind suddenly snapped back to reality. Somehow, while Tommy was having his little “flashback,” he was able to get a taxi for him and Bobby.  Before they knew it, they arrived at the skatepark! It also had a hotel you could stay in. And it was pretty cheap too! He and Bobby had pooled their allowance and managed to fill the price of 50 wood chips. 

When the taxi driver opened the door, the hot air hit his shell.   

“Gulp,” Tommy gulped. Climbing up the steps was a slow and tedious process. When they got to the top, they saw a sign that said, “Congratulations! You’ve reached the top and proved you’re worthy of staying at Nuts Sk8er Park!”

“Wow,” said Bobby, as they walked into the hotel. “Nooo! My life is ruined!! More stairs!!!”

“They’ve got a busted elevator? Come on!” said Tommy.

***

20 minutes later… 

*pant pant* “Bobby?” *pant pant* “I forgot my skateboard.”

*pant pant* “That’s okay.” *pant pant* “I don’t have one either.”

5 minutes later, they got their skateboards. 

“Now, Bobby,” said Tommy playfully, “I know you’re not as advanced as me, so we can start with a simple trick.” 

“Ha ha ha. Very funny.” 

They waited in a line as long as a ball of yarn. Finally, it was their turn! As they were speeding down the hill, Tommy imagined what it would feel like if he had any hair to rush in the wind. Suddenly, the skateboard slowed, lowered and started to make a scraping noise. The wheels had popped off! Bobby seemed to be in the same sticky situation. 

“Ummm, Bobby?”

“ — let’s go back to the hotel.” Bobby finished his sentence. 

***

When they got back to the hotel, Tommy heard the manager arguing with one of the staff members in the skateboard return center. 

“Do you want everyone else to find out this place is a scam!?” 

When they heard that sentence, they marched right in and demanded their woodchips back. Luckily, they got an early flight back to the city and told their families all about their adventures.

Kiki the Witch

CHAPTER ONE

It was a normal Saturday, and I was taking a walk around town running some errands. 

“Hi Kiki,” said the baker. “By the way, a girl stopped in here and wanted to know where you live. She said her name was Maya.”

How funny, I thought. I don’t know anyone named Maya.

“She told me to tell you to meet her in front of the clocktower at 4:30,” the baker told me. 

Now I was getting scared. But I was interested. So, I quickly ran to the clocktower. A girl with short curly brown hair and glasses waved at me.

“Hi,” she said.

“Hi,” I replied.

The girl was wearing an all green uniform. Her hair was brushed. She looked very different from me. I was wearing jeans, a white t-shirt, and red Converse, and my black hair was pulled in a ponytail.

“Who are you?” I said.

“Why, I’m here to take you to the Witch’s Institute.” 

“Wait, I’m a witch?! I cannot believe this!!”

“Yes, you’re a witch! Now let’s go!”

CHAPTER TWO

Maya got out her bike and told me to get on. She started to pedal, then she started to pedal super fast. Suddenly, we were flying — well, for three seconds until the bike started to drop. We landed in a pile of leaves.

“What just happened?’” I asked.

“My wand fell out of the bike basket. That’s what keeps us levitated. Help me look,” said Maya.

We rummaged around in the leaves for a few minutes.

“I found it!” Maya yelled. The wand was in a sharp thorny bush a few paces off the path. She ran to go get it and then stopped. “That’s poison ivy and I’m wearing a skirt! You need to go get it.”

“No, I can’t.”

“But you’re wearing pants,” Maya said.

“Fine, I’ll go get it!”

I ran as fast as I could, hoping I wouldn’t touch the poison ivy. I grabbed the wand and ran back. Maya patted me on the back, put the wand in the basket, told me to hop on!

CHAPTER THREE

We flew for about thirty minutes, and I tried not to look down. Finally, we arrived. The Witch Academy was big and made out of bricks. Maya led me in. She handed me my uniform, a map of the school, a wand, and a canvas bag to put everything in. Then she told me that I would pick out a cat tomorrow. A cat! I was so excited. I loved cats. Then, Maya showed me my room. Nice, I guess. There was a twin-sized bed, a closet, a small window, a navy blue quilt, a wobbly stool, and an old fashioned rug. Next, Maya gave me a tour of the school. I saw lots of other witches come from classes. Then, Maya and I sat down to eat dinner. Maya introduced me to her friend, Lily, and we became friends. After dinner, I went back to my room and got ready for bed. As I lay down to go to sleep, I realized that I was about to become a real witch.    

CHAPTER FOUR 

Next morning, I was woken by Maya, who told me it was time to go get a cat. So, I brushed my teeth and hair and put on my uniform. Maya led me downstairs to a room full of cats. There were black cats and small cats. Suddenly, a tabby cat kitten rubbed against my leg.

“I’ll take that one,” I said.

I picked the cat up and carried him upstairs. Next, I went to potions class, then witch history class, then basic spell class. Overall, I liked being a witch. I still missed my parents from time to time, but I had my cat and my friends, and the best part was that it had been almost a year at Witch Academy, and I will be going home for summer in a week. 

To be continued….

Amelia and the Fire

Three minutes before the house broke down, Amelia had to get out of the broken house. It looked like a scary mansion. Nobody was there. It was just cracked mirrors and wood. The ground was shaking and the house was about to break, but a fire was outside. She had to get out or she was going to get burnt. The house was about to collapse in 3, 2, 1. 

Amelia got out just in time, but the fire was still there. She packed up all her stuff and ran away. Her whole village got burnt except Amelia. She had to go to a new town and build a house. She felt sad and scared. Her family did not make it. It was just Amelia, left alone. 

She had to get her own wood, so she went back in the forest. However, when she came back to the forest, she was glowing. It was a gem, a magical gem, but what did it do? She forgot the wood and brought the gem to the town. When she brought it, people and buildings started coming back. It was her family and her village. Amelia was so happy to see her family again. That was the story of Amelia trying to get her family back. 

The Alien WAR

Alien Joe lives in Zagburn. Alien Joe has big eyes and can swim in boiling water. Zagburn is a hot planet. It’s 400 degrees, which is why the aliens are all made of water. They’re exactly 65% water. It rains fire on planet Zagburn. The aliens survive in a bunch of water houses that are stabled by gravity so they don’t collapse. Zagburnians have hands that look like mustaches, but they’re not brown. It’s like a blue mustache. They’re actually pretty tall, they’re about 67 and ¾ inches. 

Alien Joe fits in with the other Zagburnians, but he’s an orphan. The Zagburnians decided to have a war with the Yagburnians and his parents died in that war. They were at war for the planet. They were fighting as soldiers. The Yagburnians are made out of obsidian and they’re really evil. The Yaburnians got forced out of the planet because Zagburn won, so now they have to live on an empty planet that has nothing alien involved, Luno. The planet is made of ice, so a quarter million aliens die every year. 

Alien Joe wants a family. Alien Joe is going to try to make friends and then try to convince them to be his family. He thinks he can make friends with Alien John, who is the nicest alien in the alien universe. There’s a bunch of rumors about Alien John (a Yagburnian) — if you meet him and you’re friends, then every wish you have will come true. Alien Joe could wish for a family from him! Alien John is not very good at being a detective so he’s not good at figuring out who really wants to be his friend. All you have to do in front of Alien John to be his friend is act rude. So basically, shake your butt in front of Alien John. Alien Joe goes up to Alien John and shakes his butt. It works! Alien John and Alien Joe are now friends. 

The hints and rumors actually backfire because they’re all fake! It was just to torture  people. That’s probably why the Yagburnians were the ones who told them all those rumors. Alien Joe wishes for a family and the opposite happens. He ends up in a torture chamber! The Yagburnians forced Alien John to stay with the Zagburnians because they wanted revenge on the Zagburnians. The Yagburnians forgot that the Zagburnians have water powers so he can easily slide out of the torture chamber. Before the Yagburnians left, they told the Zagburnians about Alien John and his powers so the Zagburnians would come to him and make wishes. They said he was Willzen which meant he could give you powers to have any wish you want. He’s not like a genie. He was supposed to be 100% better than a genie. But he was 100% worse! 

Alien Joe is going to sneak up and go to Alien John. Since the Yagburnians have fire powers and the Zagburnians have water powers, he can easily get rid of him. Alien Joe sneaks into a puddle because he’s the only one who knows about all this and he jumps out and destroys Alien John! Alien John flattens up and sizzles for five minutes. Then he transforms into a volcano and explodes. He’s a fire alien. Now Alien Joe warns everyone and he tells everyone to form into a big bridge to Luno and then they all jump across and now they turn into a giant water monster. They all jump onto the floor and that turns them into the giant water monster. The Yagburnians do the same. The Zagburnians hit them and the Yagburnians try to hit, but then they miss. Then they charge through the middle and there are more of them so that easily destroys them. But then there are two immortal people who are immortal because they were seriously from Willzen and they can grant wishes. Willzen people also have immortal people. The Willzens do not like the Yagburnians. Two Willzens are disguised as Yagburnians, and they have been watching in their mind and they give Alien Joe the power to grant any wish. Now, Alien Joe is the emperor! He gets a family. They look just like him. Now he can grant any wish since the Willzens give him the power to. Alien Joe feels happy. 

Ali and The Missing Book

One day, when the sun was up and hot, Ali the snake was slithering in the desert as usual. Right then, he heard that the latest book was coming out and it had only one copy! He slithered straight to the library only to see that everybody was leaving. Ali asked somebody what had happened. He said, “The latest book that just came out was bought but the person who got the book said he dropped it but doesn’t remember where. Nobody found it after that.”

Then, Ali thought that if he found the book, he could buy it for free. He first started with finding the name of the person who sold the book to know who had bought the book. So Ali found the person who sold the book and his name was Fred. He had black hair, was about 5 feet tall, and had a red jacket. Ali asked Fred who he sold the book to. Fred replied, “The man didn’t say his name but he was in his teens ,had red hair, and had a grey jacket. Pretty easy guy to recognize but rumor is that he is hiding.”

Ali said thanks to Fred and he said, “No problem.” After that, Ali set off to find him. He just saw him but he ran away and Ali just couldn’t catch up to him. Just then, out of the corner, somebody crashed into the man who was running away. Ali caught up to the man and said, “What is your name and where did you know you dropped your book?” The man answered,

“I’m Jack, but I guess that I just dropped the book.”

Just then, a small bucket fell on Ali and Jack started running away. Meanwhile, Ali didn’t like tight spaces so he tried to wiggle out but the bucket was too heavy. Then, somebody lifted the bucket. It was Fred. He said, “I saw the whole thing but I was too far away to do anything. Oh, I forgot to tell you about the book. It had a big gem in the middle surrounded by tiny gems.”

Just then, a gem fell out of somebody’s bag. Ali couldn’t see the man who dropped the gem because he was running. Then, he spotted a trail of tiny gems and followed them to the missing book! Then, Jack and the man who dropped the gem came out of a corner and Ali hid. Jack said to the man who dropped the gem, “Did you get the book, Bill?”

Ali suspected Bill was the man who dropped the gem. Bill had brown hair, brown sweatshirt, and peach skin. Ali got an idea. He made a shadow of a King Cobra and Jack ran away but Bill picked up the book and tried scaring Ali away. Just then, somebody jumped out of a bush and grabbed Bill. It was Fred, but Bill didn’t even think about looking. He dropped the book and ran away as fast as he could. Ali grabbed the book from the ground. Then, he asked Fred, “How did you know I was here?” Fred replied, “I saw the crystals and they led to Jack and Bill. Then, I realized that they were working together and saw that you tried to scare them and I tried it too. First, I sneaked up on them. Next, I waited for you to scare them once, then I scared them the second time. So that’s how I found you.”

Finally, they both returned the book and Fred gladly sold it to Ali. The tiny crystals on the book were put in a red and blue pattern. There was also a very big gem in the middle. It was half red and half blue and felt very smooth and soft. Ali started reading the book. The title was “The Missing Book.”

Tommy the Mouse

Tommy groaned as he sat down in his cage. He looked at Joseph, who was playing with his toys as if they were the best things in the world. Joseph was a little brown rat that had a light pink nose and tiny little whiskers. He was like the opposite of Tommy in every single way

Tommy was a black mouse with a light brown nose and long whiskers. See what I mean? But, also, Joseph loved humans, and Tommy absolutely despised them. Tommy decided to start a conversation with him, even though he had just met him. 

“So… uh, you hate humans, don’t you?”

“No.”

“Well… you want to escape, right?”

“No.”

“Don’t you think this place is boring?”

“No.”

“Hmph.”

Tommy asked Joseph to write some things down. Well, that’s one of the things he likes, Tommy thought, watching Joseph. Tommy began explaining his escape plan. “So, you know the human’s laundry chute, right? We’ll sneak into their clothes that go down the chute, and then quickly scamper out.” Joseph looked like he was about to say something, but didn’t.

“Hm… how do we get out of the cage though?”

“W — I’m still figuring that out.”

“Hm,” Joseph said, and then looked out of their cage.

The next day, their tiny human came and showed them a sweater. “Human human! Hu — ! Human!” She showed them the sweater again. “I think she wants us to wear it,” Tommy whispered to Joseph. Joseph ran over to the cage and looked at her as if to say, Me first! Me first!

The human picked Joseph out of the cage and put the sweater on him. Next, it was Tommy’s turn. He was picked up (and he kicked and squirmed a lot) and the sweater was put on. He had to admit, it was warm. But he tried not to show that to Joseph. After that, the human plopped the sweater in their cage, and that gave Tommy an idea. Their owner’s parents did not really care about them, so they would not listen when their child talked about the rodents. They just said things like, “Yes,” and, “We know.”

So, the rats would hide in the sweater, the girl would ask her parents where the rats were, she would assume they let them out to play, while they went down the laundry chute to paradise!!! 

Tommy immediately told his plan to Joseph. “What if the girl sees us in the sweater? And how will we both fit?” Joseph asked.

“Well, if she finds out, we go to plan B.”

“What’s that?”

“Paw helplessly at the cage till she lets us out, and then we slide down the laundry chute.” 

Joseph looked at him skeptically.

* * *

Welp, as you can see, Tommy and Joseph were now pawing helplessly at the cage, waiting to get out. 

Tommy saw the human coming towards them. “She’s coming!” He whispered excitedly. 

The girl only had to look at them pawing at the cage a few times, and let them out. “Now come on!”

They ran to the laundry chute, the girl running after them calling, “Human! Ma — Human!!”

But they had already jumped down the chute. They could hear the girl crying behind them.

Still, they had other things to worry about. This was like a water slide — with no water! Tommy and Joseph felt like their tails were on fire. Thankfully, they fell down on the ground. When they looked up, they saw the wonderful eyes of a c — eyes of a cat??? 

The cat walked towards them, pushing them against the wall.  “This. Is. My. Alley!” she growled.

“Oh-h-hello cat. I’m going to call you — Waffles.” He did not want to admit it, but he felt a little scared. She growled louder. “Have mercy, Waffles! We just escaped from our home!” She scraped her claw against the ground and looked at it. 

“But if I don’t catch you, I’ll starve in the winter!” For a moment, she looked sad. Then her regular, terrifying stare came back. She started chasing them all around the alley. Then, Joseph spotted an air vent up high. They climbed up and went through. They had escaped Waffles. After a little while, they came out of the vents and landed in a grocery store. Once they explored a bit, they had to dodge a few feet from stepping on them and crushing them, you know, normal day. 

After that, an old human with a broom came, and once he saw them, he looked at them as if they were the weirdest things in the world. Then, he started bashing his broom against the floor. They ran behind the shelves and jumped behind the boxes. Then, when it looked like the humans were gone, they scampered out through the doors. They decided to take a little break on some white and black lines. They were both so exhausted from dodging things. Afterwards, they wanted to walk around a bit. But suddenly, a shiny red car with sharp tires came and almost sent them flying! If it weren’t for the human’s pants they were clinging onto, they never would have been able to be here again. The human crossed safely, and Tommy wondered how she did it. The human walked into the park, sat down somewhere, and rummaged in a backpack. 

The only reason he knew what backpack meant was because their owner had shown it to them so much, and he sort of picked it up. Wait… that was their owner’s backpack! Tommy tried running away, and Joseph tried to follow, but his tail got stuck and he squeaked in pain. The owner suddenly looked at him, with a surprised look. Then, she noticed they were her pets. She picked up Joseph, rummaged in her backpack again, still looking at the mouse, and then pulled out the sweater. Tommy smacked his forehead. She thinks he’s going to fall for that? Ha! Tommy thought. 

10 minutes later… 

He fell for it??? Really? Ugh, Tommy thought. Right now, Tommy was being held (more tightly than he’d like) in his human’s hand. Joseph, on the other hand, was nuzzling the human and squeaking happily in his sweater. Great, she’s taking us back to her building. Tommy tried signaling to Joseph to do something about this. He started to get annoyed. After three minutes, he finally responded. He looked at the human for a little and then unexpectedly, almost bit her. But he hesitated at the end. The human dropped them in alarm. She screamed, which apparently got her parent’s attention, and they came running down. They shooed Tommy and Joseph away, and started looking at the bite. The two rodents ran forward, happy to be rid of the humans, and…. fell into a hole

 * * *

Tommy blinked open his eyes. He saw a rat that looked just like Joseph.

“Hey! What do you think you’re doing, ova’ here in our territory?”

“Joseph?”

“What? Oh, trying to stall are you?”

“You look like Joseph.”

“Joseph?” the rat replied. “How do you know Joseph? He was my brother, I thought he died!!” Tommy sat up, immediately wide awake. 

“Your…  brother??” he asked incredulously. Before the rat could answer, an older rat came up behind her.

“Louisa, Joseph is here.”

Louisa froze and looked at him. “Joseph? I — is that you?” The old rat made way for Louisa. She looked at Joseph and almost leaped forward to hug him. 

Then, she looked back and called, “ALLIE! Joseph is here!” A brown rat that looked just like Louisa came running, and hugged Joseph too. “I’ve missed you!” By now, Joseph had almost fallen down. Louisa and Allie stopped hugging him and he promptly fell backwards 

“We’re your sisters!” they both said at the same time. “And twins!” they said together again as Joseph got up.

“Wait…” Tommy said. Everyone looked at him as if he just appeared out of thin air. He looked at them all and his jaw dropped. “You’re all family?”

“Yes, we’ve been missing Joseph so much. I’m Louisa, this is my twin Allie. Over here, is Grandma and Grandpa.” Louisa gestured to the old rats behind her. “Then we have Arthur, and Ash.”  

Two rats with scars on their paws stepped up to Tommy and said, “Who’s this little mouse?” Arthur pushed Tommy backwards. 

Before anything else could happen, Louisa stepped in and said, “Okay, calm down.” Suddenly, a gust of wind made Tommy stumble. Louisa looked up and said, “I’m sure it’s nothing. We’ll just take cover in case.” More gusts of wind blew through the sewers. It smelled so salty. They tried to find cover, but there was not much that they could use here. Tommy suddenly got blown up out of the sewers, but thankfully he was holding onto the grates of the storm drain. Still, he was slowly losing his grip. He saw Joseph’s family being blown away behind him. The wind was too strong, and he let go.

 * * *

Tommy woke up with two black mice standing over him. He sat up and asked, “Who are you?”

“We’re your parents, Tommy!”

Tommy couldn’t believe his ears. “Parents?” he repeated.

The mice nodded their heads and looked to the right. “It seems you have brought friends with you.” Tommy followed their gaze. Joseph! he thought. 

“Is he okay?” he asked his parents, standing up.

“Yes, yes. He’s perfectly fine. Just getting some sleep,” Tommy’s mother said. “His family has told us all about that snowstorm.”

Tommy rubbed his eyes, and looked at his parents one more time before walking outside. They were on a farm! There were fresh crops growing in the fields, beautiful flowers, and when Tommy turned to look back to where he had come from, he saw a huge red building, with magnificent white doors. The whole place looked amazing. Tommy had gotten his dream. 

Bill the Foodie

Bill was a foodie. He loved food of all kinds, and if you were to ask him if he had gone to this restaurant or that restaurant, he would always say yes. There were no restaurants in the vicinity of his house that he had not been to at least 17 times. But there was one restaurant he hadn’t been to that was across the world, but so far, he could not get there. It served special food, such as fish that only was in the waters in Australia, where the restaurant was.

He had heard about the restaurant from a friend of his in Australia who loved the food in the restaurant. He was in Chicago, and the weather had been bad, so he couldn’t get a plane. No boats would take him either, because they were worried about a storm. It had been raining and thundering for the past couple days, and there were no modes of distant transportation. Although Bill loved food, he also had a degree in building planes. One morning a few days later, an idea came to him. He would build a plane that could fly in any type of weather. But he knew that in the town where he lived, there were criminals who would steal his idea. He wanted to make sure that he would be the first one to file the patent.

He had a high stone wall built around the house, so high that it was unclimbable. He also had a tunnel built within the wall to get out and go to the supermarket or to one of his favorite restaurants. He went to a supply shop and got all the materials needed to build the plane. Then, he put them in his house via the opening in the tunnel in another place in his spacious yard. He started building the next day but accidentally put a piece in a place that it was not supposed to go, and it was bolted in, so to take it out and still have the plane be intact would be nearly impossible.

He was in a rage. Why hadn’t he checked that he was building the plane correctly? He felt like he was under so much pressure, but he realized that it was just a restaurant, and a plane that may or may not work.  Luckily, he had a close friend, who also built planes, and his friend gave him parts under the condition that he would let his friend fly in the plane as much as wanted. Gary, his friend, though, did not like food at all, and the nutrition he got was from a drink that he drank every day. Bill disagreed with him about just drinking things, but he told himself that he didn’t need to care. He knew that it wasn’t him, but other people do other things. Bill got a manual to build a plane, and he based his plane off of it. Unfortunately, the workman who worked for him also cleaned his house, and, by mistake, he threw away the manual. Luckily, right after, Bill saved it from the wastepaper basket, told the workman what had happened and forgave him, and then he kept going with his plane. 

Months passed, and he had his plane finished. Coincidentally, there was also bad weather, so he could still use his plane, and he flew happily to the restaurant. Also, he patented his plane.

The restaurant was everything he dreamed of. He loved the food so much that he decided to move to Australia permanently. He married and had children and everyone loved his plane, and soon it was used commercially. Time after time he went to the restaurant. He declared that it was the best restaurant he had ever experienced in his life. He lived a couple blocks away from the restaurant, so he could go there anytime he wanted. Bill realized that he didn’t need to go to every restaurant. He could start his own restaurant. And that is exactly what he did. 

Bill was happy with his restaurant, and he served interesting things, like smoked bats, steamed horse, and strange muffins full of grape and shallot and tomato. He had lots of customers because word passed quickly that he had very strange things in his restaurant. Every day, 50 people would come and take their favorite salads (with oranges, onions, and cranberries) and favorite soups (with grapefruits, tomatoes, and garlic). But he was bored with his menu. Every month or so, he would change it up. There would be tea with carrot juice, water infused with tomatoes, every strange item you can think of. Soon, people started moving closer to his restaurant, so that they could go there constantly. He had so many customers, he had to build a bigger restaurant to fit all of them! Finally, he decided to sell the restaurant. He sold it to his most loyal customers. The restaurant was operating even better without him. But he was still helping out if any of his new employees had any questions. Bill wanted to go back to Chicago though, so his entire family (he was getting quite old) packed their bags and left Australia. He wrote a book about his life, and a cookbook with the dishes he had made over the years. But word had come from Australia that the new employees had quit and sold the restaurant. He was devastated. What if they made his restaurant have normal food? He quickly flew to Australia, and had his by then 40-year-old children take over the restaurant. He flew back to Chicago, and after his children confirmed that everything was in perfect order, he relaxed. He made some of his dishes from the restaurant in his house, and they tasted even better. Word came out that his restaurant had become the number one restaurant in Australia. He was so very happy. People from all over the world had been coming to Australia just to see his restaurant. He flew over to Australia and saw that everyone was enjoying the food. He loved the food too, and finally he settled down and enjoyed the restaurant.

But, from the children’s view, life wasn’t all beer and skittles. They found that it was hard for them to run the restaurant as well as their father had. The children didn’t have the same obsession with food. They changed the dishes to what they wanted to make, and it felt easier. But they wanted to have a different career. They told this to their father, and he approved. They sold the restaurant, and moved on. One of the children became an accountant; another, a real estate agent; and another, a government official. They were all happy, and all fondly reminisced about the restaurant. But they still wanted to visit, so they saw how it was, and they helped with the food, and they gave the chefs ideas, as they weren’t totally separated from the restaurant. They still enjoyed it, they weren’t against it, they just had different interests than their father. Just like Bill and Gary. They had different opinions, but they still liked each other. Then, all the children remembered that they knew how to build planes, and got into the plane-building business. They enjoyed it, but realized that they actually wanted to be in the restaurant business again. So they bought it back and started again and found that they liked it more then they ever had. But they were getting old, so they soon retired, and left the family business to their children. And everyone remembered how the whole journey had started with one restaurant in Australia. Bill’s grandchildren liked it more than his children, and happily, they ran the restaurant the best that it had ever been before. 

But dishes were getting out of date, so the grandchildren changed it up a little bit. There was stewed tiger, fried guinea pig, and lettuce and orange peel salad. People enjoyed it, and one day, the grandchildren got an offer that they could not resist. A man was offering to buy the restaurant for 50 million dollars because it was such a good restaurant. He wanted the restaurant because he was a good advertiser, and he would get even more customers. It turned out that the offer was worth it. The man handled the restaurant quite well. Customers now from all over the world came to Australia from Hawaii just to go to Bill’s restaurant. It was in newspapers all over the world, and every single list of best restaurants always listed Bill’s restaurant as #1. By now, everyone in the world had at least heard of it, and three quarters of those people had gone to the restaurant. The man wanted to make the restaurant cheaper so that everybody could come. It was a good idea. Now, everyone had seen his restaurant, and lots of celebrities were coming to see how they got so much business. Most other restaurants had permanently closed because they could not keep up with Bill’s restaurant. The man changed the menu every day so that there would be lots of customers. They had to move into a bigger location so that there would be enough room for all of the customers! Business was doing well, and the man decided to open locations for this restaurant all over the world. It was doing so successfully that the business was worth two trillion dollars. All of the locations got more customers, and every single person in the world had heard of Bill’s restaurant. Bill’s restaurant even had a museum all about it. The business was doing so well that they had so many great chefs because all of the best chefs would take 5 million dollars to do the cooking. Finally, the restaurant was such a success that they had to move into the biggest building in Australia. They had enough money to create a whole chain of buildings named after them. Finally, the grandchildren took it back, and with the man’s advice, continued the restaurant for years to come.

The Alien Bob Books

Chapter 1: The Alien Trying to Get Back Home 

There was an alien that needed an alien spaceship and fuel to get back to his home in space. When his parents were going to go on vacation in space, Alien Bob fell out of the UFO and landed on Earth. The alien named Alien Bob was searching for a spaceship/UFO. He had been searching for weeks, but he gave up hope. But there was a firewall to get to the UFO. He went into the Internet but there were internet golems so he fought the internet golems with his sticky tentacles, and Alien Bob won against the internet golems. So then he went to see the internet firewall. 

The firewall said, “Guess the password if you want to pass or I will blast you with a fire.” 

Then Alien Bob saw the UFO. “Ok,” said Alien Bob, “I think firewall.”

 The firewall said, “Error, nobody ever got past me. You may pass, you just need fuel.”

Alien Bob went down to the underworld to defeat the fire golems. He dug with his green pail head. Then Alien Bob went to defeat the fire golems. He punched them with his green fists and defeated the fire golems. Then he went to the top of Mount Everest to kill the ice golems. He got to the top of Mount Everest. An ice golem missed the Alien Bob with a liter of fuel he brought all the time.

Then Alien Bob hit the ice golem, then got the fuel. Now, he needed to get back to the UFO. He went back to the internet. The internet golems were dead, so he said to the firewall, “Firewall,” and he put the fuel into the UFO. He went into space but there were obstacles in space, so he turned on his guns and killed the robots. He went back to his planet and reunited with his alien mom and dad, and his mom and dad were so excited when they saw Alien Bob. The last time they had seen Alien Bob was 20 years ago.

Chapter 2: When Alien Bob Got an Alien Dog and Cat

One alien day on an alien planet, there was this new invention called an alien dog and cat. Alien Bob really wanted the alien dog and cat. But Alien Bob’s parents said, “No, no, we are not doing that. You already got lost on earth. We’re not spending $9,999.”

“Mom, why are you crying?” said Alien Bob.

“Well, your grandpa invented alien dogs and cats and he died today, so I don’t want to get the dog or the cat. But you can use your money to get a dog or cat.”

 “Ok,” said Alien Bob. He got the dog and cat. 

Chapter 3: Learning Everything of Alien

The alien planet is named Bleezama. They always have hot weather. Alien Bob’s mom’s name is Bloop Burp and Alien Bob’s dad is named Alien Blurb. All the aliens look green and have 90 small eyes. Aliens Bob’s parents act very happy. Their house in Bleezama is green and blue.

Chapter 4: How Other Aliens Almost Destroyed an Alien Planet

One day Alien Bob was friends with different kinds of aliens. They played alien tag. Alien tag was played if you got tagged you had to stuff your head in water, then you tag someone else. Then one day Alien Bob’s friend didn’t show up. He knew that his alien friend Zooburg was up to something. Alien Bob placed a tracker on Zooburg, and he was on a ship with a super duper Death Laser of DOOM. The ship with Zooburg in it went to Alien Bob’s planet. But then Alien Bob got his jetpack and the Sword of Justice and went to the ship. He broke the glass and killed the person controlling the Death Laser of DOOM. Then he found the reactor that gives power to the ship and he broke it. Then his bad friend Zooburg died with the ship. Alien Bob felt happy because his friend almost killed him and his planet.

Chapter 5: Zooburg’s Rebirth

 You know in the last book Zooburg died, so he will be reborn in this book. Zooburg’s death resulted in his dad being mad, so he gave him a second life. His dad had the power to give him a second life because he was emperor of all aliens. You can only give someone a second life once you’re an emperor because it uses too much energy. You also have to have a reason to use it on someone. Then Alien Bob found out about Zooburg’s rebirth in one year. He tried to destroy the house but he got away with the Sword of Destiny. But then, five years later, Zooburg came back with the Death Laser of DOOM and his emperor dad. So then all hope was lost, but his mom and dad had been hiding for years. They had the lost Sword of the Cosmos. Legend said that anybody that had, it was the god of the cosmos. So then Alien Bob’s mom gave Alien Bob the Sword of the Cosmos. 

Zooburg said, “You have the Sword of the Cosmos?”

 “Yes, I do. I’m not killing you, I’m killing your dad,” said Alien Bob. He stabbed Zooburg’s dad, who died, and now Alien Bob was the emperor with special abilities. 

Alien Bob said to his parents, “I promise you guys will be emperors.”

Chapter 6: Alien Bob’s Parents Becoming Emperors

“Ok,” said his parents. Alien Bob made two more of himself. Then, his parents killed the copy of Alien Bob by stabbing it. Then, Alien Bob’s parents were now emperors. The emperor powers are making two more of yourself, making someone alive again, killing someone instantly, and making the Sword of the Cosmos.

Three Minutes Before the Earthquake

Three minutes before the earthquake happens, Izzy has to escape the house. The floor is shaking, the house is falling apart. Three, two, one, the floor fell apart! Izzy almost falls but more trouble is coming, a flood! Izzy gets so scared, she packs all her stuff and runs away to a different town where her family lives. 

Ten more seconds! 

Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one… the flood is coming! 

Izzy almost gets washed away. She finds her mom, dad, and big sister. She is so happy to see them. The town looks very new, kids are playing soccer, and parents are talking. It looks like no disasters will happen. So from now on, there will be no more floods.  

Sick

Sneeze! Sneeze!

This is not a breeze!

I’m sick at home

Stuck in this dome

I can’t even eat any cheese

My mother gave me a very hot towel

Then some medicine, I thought it was foul.

I gulped it down.

It made me frown.

And then I started to howl.

My teachers sent me a get-well card

And some homework, I thought it was hard.

I asked if I could go downstairs.

“This homework is a nightmare!”

“No,” my mother said, and stood on guard.

Finally, I did get better

The doctors sent me a very long letter

My mother read me the prescription

And gave a weird description

Later at school, I got 29 hugs and a nice, warm sweater.

Uni the Unicorn

Uni the unicorn was staring at the glittering stream, thinking about nothing except for sunlight. Ten minutes later, her little sister named Luna came and plopped herself right next to her sister and asked, “Whatcha doing?”

“Oh, I was just thinking about my power of sunlight,” Uni said. 

“I was thinking about the same thing!” said Luna. 

At the same precise moment, the darkness of twilight took over the shining sun. Uni questioned, “What is happening?”

When she looked at Luna, her little sister did not have any pupils, her eyes were just plain white. Her mane had streaks of black, purple, and navy blue. Instead of the rainbow colors on Luna’s horn, there was bronze swirled with gold. 

Luna shouted, “Do you now know why my name is Luna? It’s because I am the evil sorcerer of darkness!” Then she cackled an evil scary laugh and strode off. 

Uni started to get the spooks. She asked herself, Was her little sister actually on the dark side, or was Luna just trying to be funny? 

Then Uni had an idea. What if she were quick enough to follow her sister to Luna’s home and spy? She got right to work. She galloped home and quickly packed up and got some food and water. Once she was done, she ran off into the darkness of the afternoon. 

But after months and months, she still couldn’t find Luna. So what she did was give up reluctantly and went home as slow as a snake.

The Train of Horror

Once upon a time, I was a kid named Jack. It was a normal day in winter. I was sleeping. Suddenly, a letter popped in my window and flew to my bed. I opened it carefully, making sure my parents didn’t seem awake. The letter said, “Come to a train party, there will be hot cocoa and you will have a lot of fun.” I thought this was gonna be super fun. It said, “Go to fiftieth street at 3:30 PM.” I hid the letter in the drawer and then slept. 

The next morning, I forgot the letter, but then as soon as I saw the clock go to three, I remembered. I went into my room, grabbed the card, and ran to 50th street. And then I saw a line. A lot of people were lined up. There were kids like me. So I saw the time was 3:25. I quickly lined up. And then a man said,

 “Come in the train.” I couldn’t say what he looked like because he had a black hood on top of him, covering his face. We went inside. He said, “This will last a few days.” I thought that this would be no problem. So I saw a playground there. He thought that was pretty odd. But I was energetic so I invited two kids to come with me. 

They came and we played tag. Once we ran out of all our energy, we went back in. 

In all of the seats, everyone was missing. This was pretty odd. Then the guy with the black hood on top of him said they were on the way in a waterslide park in the train. Now I was thinking this would be pretty fun and odd too. It was too odd. How could there be a waterslide? Did they have infinite water? But I didn’t mind. I went to the water slide and I saw all the children who were jumping up and down in the water. And it was pretty great. After we were done playing in the waterslides, we all went to bed. Each room was carefully designed for three people. So then I thought this was perfect. I invited the ones I invited to the park. They said it was a great idea. I asked what their names were. The first one was Sammy, the second one was Rafa. I thought we were gonna be great friends. So, we went to bed. 

The next morning, a girl screamed on the train. Me, Sammy, and Rafa ran to where it came. We came to the room, opened the door, and already four kids were just standing there. I asked what happened and they said they didn’t know either. We opened the door and saw one of two roommates went missing. Now I was starting to think this was a really odd place. How could two kids go missing? We asked the four kids to investigate the room. They said okay. We searched every closet, including the roof. Finally, there was a footprint. Then, under the footprint, the plank was loose. He pulled it up and there was a letter. He told everyone to come. Everyone came. He read the letter out loud, making sure everyone could hear him. When everyone heard what was happening, they were now aware. I said for everyone to calm down, not tell the driver at all, because the driver was acting the most sus in the whole train. They agreed so we went to the water park. I said to Sammy and Rafa that we had to do something about this problem. They said that we should get more info so we did. I knew what the letter said. I didn’t want to tell it. I told it to Sammy and Rafa. It said,

 “DON’T RUN :D!” I knew something was up so I told them, 

“Don’t act scared because then whoever is doing this is going to react and attack.” So we agreed we had to get out of here. WAIT, OH NO. I realized we all remembered the legend on 50th street. A monster came trapping children, and when they said a word, they got their soul cut so that meant that the driver was the REAPER. Spread the word! They remembered 50th street was the most deserted place. It was the scariest. Whoever went there was never to be seen again so they investigated. No clues. We went to bed. 

Nothing happened, yet I sighed with relief. A scream filled the train. I expected the driver to come out but nothing. 

“Wait,” the girl said. She had a bad dream. “We know the REAPER is fattening us for the kill. We remember the REAPER got a curse. The only one he can kill is who is most afraid.” So it was good that she wasn’t that scared. So now I felt scared. I tried not to feel too scared. We went to sleep. I felt afraid. 

I felt like going to Rafa and Sammy and asking them to sleep with me, then someone opened the door. I sensed the REAPER close. I knew he had come for me and then as soon as he was about to cut my soul, my soul came back. A sigh of relief came to me. 

“What happened?” I was still afraid and the REAPER went away. Luckily, when we were about to go to sleep, we papered a button on the bed. When one of us pressed it, we alerted the other person that the REAPER was here. I pressed it: boom.

 “Yay!” I whispered. BOOM. The door slammed open. The REAPER came out. 

Of course, I think. The REAPER could hear every word we said but luckily he was all the way on the bottom of the train.

We survived the first night. I told Sammy and Rafa that the REAPER came into our room and was about to cut my soul. Sammy said,“There is another legend… it says one day, a boy and a group of 3 have powers. The first has the power to Command the animals, the second can control the ice and snow and water, the last cannot be cut by the REAPER but can kill him.” 

“THAT’S IT!” I told them I must be the one who can’t get cut and that was why my soul came back to me! I said, 

“Of course!”

 Sammy said, “But who are the other two?”

 “It’s YOU and Rafa!”

“No way,” Sammy said. “So what should we do?” said Sammy. 

“IDK,” I said. “Maybe we save everyone?”

“NO WAY,” said Rafa. 

“Why not?” I said.

“Because I know we have to save them but what about us?” said Rafa. 

“I agree,” said Sammy. 

“Let’s tell the crew,” I said. 

“Midnight 8:00 PM, another day of surviving,” I said. Luckily, no one screamed. “Wait!” *Lights turned off* “Sammy, Rafa!” They woke up. “What’s happening and the reaper is coming!” We went to bed faking. He passed right by us. Suddenly, dogs started to come in our room. That’s it! Rafa could control the animals. The REAPER saw. He came in the room and the dogs barked and attacked him, and wolves even started hopping in the window and attacking too and mice started to bite him. Cockroaches just annoyed him. The REAPER was scared of the animals. He was outnumbered and if he took a soul, they would devour him. He ran away, staying there, waiting for the next attack. They kept barking but then snow came in and stopped the barking. Its powder snow must have made a fluffy pillow and then a snowy hand closed the window.

Ouch! Goes the Weasel, Books 1 & 2

Squeaks to you all! 

My name is Ronalds Squeak-sq, and I am the youngest weasel in Utteramma Field. My brother, Carl, is the leader of Squeak Scouts. Squeak Scouts is another name for your “Boy/Girl Scouts.” Anyway, back to my family. 

My father is the Executive Director of Utteramma Field Electricity Institute (UFEI). The UFEI produces electricity to every weasel in town during the Weasel Uprising in 2123, when the Handemolen peeps are protecting every weasel in the world of the TSSA. 

Eventually, we smart weasels learned to use human materials, so we used them on our own as well. Back in my family, my mom just took a job as a nurse in Utteramma Field Hospital (UFH). With no one in my family guarding me, I had to figure out a way to get a babysitter. 

I dialed 167-999-9998 on the weaselphone in my house. A babysitter named Alexia came. Instead of making Mom mad, my mom was… well, actually proud of me. My dad, on the other hand, wasn’t so amused. 

He usually is the most easy-to-get-angry weasel in town, but sometimes, if I finish my homework early, my dad will reward me with three-quarters of an hour of TV time. 

This story is just the beginning of a story of what had happened to me and my family. Happy reading and exploring my inner self!

______________________________________________________________________________

“Ronalds, hurry up,” Carl whined, “or you will be late for your first day of nursery school.” Carl and I were eating breakfast on a chilly fall day. We had to block our entrance hole up with a huge plate to keep out the leaves from falling into our house. 

Yup. A weasel like me is going to nursery school already. That’s because we weasels’ generations have been separated by three years. That’s why weasel schools don’t earn much money, though the teachers have to spend so much energy controlling 3-year-olds. 

My dad, with a tough-looking face, glared at me with impatience, but didn’t even make a single squeak. I’ve got to hurry to school. Everyone in my family was impatiently waiting for me. Unusually, even my mom was glaring at me with impatience (that’s not common in my family). 

Alright, diary, see you at school!


Here in my school, Weaselmentry Nursery School (or as I like to call it, the WNS {pronounced WHNNS}), everyone gathered up, and I gazed out the window. Earthworms tumbled in the mud. I guess my new teacher put the window there for a reason. 

Finally, the bell rang. 

BLING! BLING! BLING!

“Alright, class,” the teacher announced, “my name is Mrs. Olaf. I am also the Phys Ed coach here. You have a very special teacher.” 

Everyone oohed and ahhed. All except for me. I sat there, still as a statue. (Well, I had to admit I was still blinking.) After Mrs. Olaf calmed everyone down, she announced another thing: “This is also my first day here.” I opened my mouth to squeak, but nothing came out. 

Despite my silence, I did manage to squeak up. “You — you just came?” I gasped. I paused to catch my breath. “Lie — like us?!” 

“Sure, hon,” Mrs. Olaf replied, “I just moved into Utteramma Field.” 

I guess school wasn’t so bad after all:* after all, I did have a teacher who had lots of things in common with me! 

*Oops, I forgot to mention that I didn’t want to go to school earlier in this book! So sorry for interrupting the story. Go on reading, now.

Just then, a booming voice came from the hallway. Every classmate in my class had their fur standing on their tips. I can’t tell if they were sweating or not, but I was. 

“Today, my new friends, I would like to announce the new staff and students in this school. First, our new Physical Education coach: Mrs. Dorriana Olaf!”

Everyone cheered during the 10-second-pause. Then, the strange voice continued. 

“Next, our new Computer teacher: Mr. Rockliff Anderson!”

We heard some cheering in the neighboring classes. The voice went on. 

“Finally, let me introduce the new generation of students. In Mrs. Olaf’s class, welcome the new students of Mrs. Olaf!”

We smiled to ourselves. 

“Next, welcome the students of Mr. Jankerson!”

Okay, so this is going to be a long announcement, so I will put it together in one piece. 

“Next up: Mr. McUnterson’s class!
Last but not least, welcome Ms. Lankeran’s class to this school!

Now, I want to announce that we are in a lockout drill. An eagle is coming! Lock everything!”

“What’s a lockout drill?” I heard someone ask. 

“It means ‘Lock everything,’ ” Mrs. Olaf replied, “because we can’t let eagles and other predators come and snatch us. Good question, Kiki.” Kiki. Now I know a new friend, I thought. 


After 10 minutes of waiting, we finally could squeak. The thing is, we were actually working pretty hard as nursery schoolers. We learned shapes, size, how to count to five, and a bunch of other things, including word study (that one was the hardest). 

After all that mind-cooking learning, it was finally time for recess. We had an extraordinary playground: lots of rides and also brainworking challenges and even steep slides. SO STEEP. It was going straight down! 

I was deciding to meet Kiki when the bell rang that ended recess. 

BLING! BLING! BLING!

Everything was now harder, even harder than the word study. We learned to use a ruler to measure. We even met numbers up to 10! 


On my way home, I thought about how far nursery school is taking me. It sounded so hard! HARD! By the time I got home, I was half panting, half shivering. And why? Because I was afraid to go back to school! 

When Carl saw me shivering, he asked, “Hey, Pooper-Ronalds, are you cold?” I didn’t answer because 1) He would reply with a much meaner thing than “Pooper-Ronalds” and 2) He would ask me more stupid questions. (Why did I use the word “stupid”?!)

When my dad saw me shivering, he asked the same thing, only politely: “Ronalds, my boy, aren’t you cold? Let me give you a cup of warm water. Meanwhile, borrow my jacket.” 

“No thanks,” I said, “I’m just afraid of school.” 

Unfortunately, Carl heard me and teased me: “Ronalds is afraid of school! Ronalds is a loser!” Just then, a voice shot down from the stairs as fast as the fastest bullet. 

“CARL!” Mom scolded. “Get over here right now. Time out for three hours!”

I was now quarter scared of school, quarter shivering, quarter sweating.* It was just too much to handle! I can’t believe my family is like this. Meanwhile, upstairs, I could hear my brother crying out, “Momma, don’t throw away my video games! NOOO!”

“I am too,” Mom said, “and I mean now.” What did that mean? I thought. This is what I do know: my mom locked the so-called “detention door” and trudged downstairs to the basement, where she threw away a video game console and a gadget. 

*Sorry, that was just three quarters, not four. And also, HOW AM I GOING TO GET TO SCHOOL WITHOUT KNOWING MY FRACTIONS?!

After heading downstairs to see what the commotion was all about, my dad pushed open the detention door and locked it again. I was expecting for Dad to punish him with 4th grade homework, but instead went there just to give a good shout to Carl. 

Although I was happy that Carl was now punished, I also feel kind of bad for him. I decided that we have a pretty breakable family. This is what I mean. I made a list below. 


Ronalds’ recipe for Family connection

——————————————————————————————————————————-

Ingredients: a family

How to make: Imagine that all your family members have a Wi-Fi love transmitting heart. If someone’s heart breaks, the entire Wi-Fi is disconnected and everyone is in a bad mood. (My family is like that.) So, to always connect, let each other calm down during a Wi-Fi free period. That way, your family could reconnect. 

Thanks for listening and making the recipe at home!


Whew, that was just too much writing! I’d better go and eat my lunch. After that, I’d take my afternoon nap. Good Noon, Diary!


Oh, hello again! Good morning!* Oh, right… I have to tell you what happened next! Silly me. 

*Sorry again! I just remembered, it is the afternoon! And, also, HOW AM I GOING TO GO TO SCHOOL IF I DON’T KNOW HOW TO READ TIME?!

Unfortunately, during my afternoon nap, Carl video-taped me talking in my sleep. He then burst out laughing when I awoke. He then played the video over and over. It sounded something like this:

Someone’s taking Ronalds away, poopsy pants! Leave Carl alone! Call Ronalds “Pickle Face”! Someone’s taking Ronalds away, poopsy pants!

That video — IT! THAT’S IT! My brother is just too obnoxious. He is just too… bad. Sorry, can’t think of another word. To my most luckiest luck, though, Dad heard the video being played. But that wasn’t just the only thing that was lucky; Dad also scolded him because — well, I’ll use markers to draw this. 

“NEVER DO THAT TO YOUR BROTHER! WHY ARE YOU TRICKING HIM THAT IT WAS RONALDS THAT WAS TALKING, NOT YOU?! YOU ARE GROUNDED FOR ONE MORE YEAR!!!”

Uff, I try to cover my tiny but sensitive weasel ears to drain out Dad’s ear-splitting noise. I could even hear his sound loud and clear even when I plugged my ears with my dad’s earplugs. But a punishment for Carl for more than a year?! Even the bullied victim (me!) felt sad for the bully (Carl). I was also relieved to hear that it wasn’t me talking, it was Carl. 

That night, I couldn’t sleep. Not because of school, but because of Carl’s punishment.


At school the next morning, I just couldn’t concentrate on my work. I kept on thinking about Carl. When I was to read a sentence with a vocabulary word, I answered with a squeaky voice, a voice kind of like this:

Wah cuas Wah Aqash Chew!

Everyone stared at me. And also, do you even know what “Wah cuas Wah Aqash Chew” means? 

Answer: “Wah Cuas Wah Aquash Chew” means “One plus one equals two.”

I started to sweat. In a bad way, that is (not in the way you sweat when you are relieved). No one figured out the answer, though. Only you did in the little script above.* 

*I could write even smaller than the answer I wrote. I was forced to write at the minimum of one-millimeter type.

Also, school was getting worse. Way worse. But I didn’t know that an exception was coming to town…


It was Wednesday, and it was Writopia Day. We started our stories that we are supposed to send for the governor to read last week. Now, we were finishing up our stories. Today was the deadline and the day the governor was coming to our school for Writopia Day. 

I was writing with so much concentration, I couldn’t even hear what Leo, the weasel sitting next to me, was saying to Lina, the weasel in front of my seat who usually blocks my view of the blackboard. I finished before anyone else did. Then, it hit me: the title was wrong:

A Onlman World

I was actually meaning to write

An Onlman World

Just as I was about to erase the mistake, Mrs. Olaf finally spoke up. “Class,” she said, “stop where you are. If you are not finished, you could finish tomorrow and the governor will read your piece tomorrow.”

I stood up and jogged to the door. No, more like rushing. My classmates came after me. Then, I saw a black car backing up into the parking lot outside. It must be the governor, I thought. I felt a shiver going down my spine. 

As my class strolled into the auditorium, I quivered. I’m not a brave weasel. I’m often shy and I don’t squeak up very often. When my class was assigned to an area, I gulped. Will the governor award me first place? Second? Third? Last? I just couldn’t hold a breath more, and it felt as if my throat were plugged. Ulp!

Finally, the governor strolled onto the stage. He took a microphone. I plugged my ears. I don’t like loud sounds. 

“Attention Everyone! Welcome to today, Writopia Day. First, let’s start by handing your brilliant pieces of writing to me.” 

And then, it hit me. I had made a mistake on my cover. And now it was too late. I felt tears fill my eyes. Everything was blurry. In no more than five seconds, I was crying. 

Finally, my teacher comforted me. I was one of the last weasels to hand in their work. I, with a trembling hand, handed in my work. I then tip-toed as fast as I could off the stage. 

Finally, the governor started to read the books out loud. All of them were boring. But the worst part came when my book was being read. I felt guilty for some reason that I had written the book. My book was lamer than the others. But then, after what felt like a million hours, the most exciting part came: the selections. The awards. I squealed. 

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

“Attention, everyone!”

came from the governor’s microphone. 

“The awards have been discussed by my fellow helpers. We will announce the winners.” 

I held my breath. 

“3rd place: Ira Lemising for the book The Trouble With Monkeys [2nd version]!
2nd place: Israel Knoma for the book The Ghosts with the Surprise!
And finally…”  

Some drum-rolling was played behind the curtains of the stage. 

“1st place is awarded to Ronalds Squeak-sq for the book
A Olman World!” 

What?! No way, I thought. I got first place? Impossible times a hundred.

Meanwhile, all of my friends were crowding around me like I was a hero or something like that. Yay, I had finally achieved fame! Now, it was just the right time to change my very-strict dad — read on to find out how I did it. 


I made sure everything on my list was present:

  1. Certificate and Trophy
  2. Bravery
  3. Smiling face
  4. Working brain

I knew that I already had #1 on my list. #2 was pretty hard and took some practice to overcome. But I still checked off #2. #3 was just as hard as #2; it made me panic! Finally, #4 was automatically checked off because I really didn’t need a working brain except when I’m panicking. That’s why I erased it. Actually, I really don’t need #2 and #3, either. That’s why I had a really big space; I just erased too many things! I just needed my certificate and trophy, which was, in fact, already beside me. 

Then, I slowly crept towards Dad’s door to his room (I don’t want to be tricked by Carl again for the third time this week.) Then, I nudged toward the door. It budged open. 

Creeeeeeeeeeeeeeeak!

“Hmm?” Dad said. 

“I just wanted to say,” I replied. Ronalds, that was such a stupid answer, I thought to myself. 

“What, Ronalds?” Dad asked. “I just wanted to say that I really don’t want you to be so not-thoughtful and careless,” I said, “and I have some things to cheer you up.” I handed him my certificate and trophy. 

“Why, good job!” my dad said. I have never seen him be so excited. 

And although I cured my dad, something was still not part of the plan… 

To be continued in…
OUCH! GOES THE WEASEL BOOK #2

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Ouch! Goes the Weasel
{Book #2: Ronalds’ Fourth Year}

By Enhao Ren

Author of Enhao’s Adventures and Crazy Days with Enhao, the best-selling series

Why, welcome back, everybody!

It is your old pal, Ronalds Squeak-sq. Remember what happened last week? Yes, that’s right. My brother Carl got in trouble for bullying me and was sentenced to be grounded for an entire year and two weeks. This week is now Carl’s second grounded week, and he still has 365 days to go. 

Because of this, Carl can’t be the leader of Utteramma Field Squeak Scouts. Squeak Scouts is what you call “Boy Scouts” or “Girl Scouts.”

Back in my family talk, my father is the Executive Director of Utteramma Field Electricity Institute (UFEI). The UFEI produces electricity to every weasel in town during the Weasel Uprising in 2123, when the Handemolen peeps are protecting every weasel in the world of the TSSA. 

Eventually, we smart weasels learned to use human materials, so we used them on our own as well. Back in my family, my mom just took a job as a nurse in Utteramma Field Hospital (UFH) a month ago. With no one in my family guarding me, I had to figure out a way to get a babysitter. 

I dialed 167-999-9998 on the weaselphone in my house. A babysitter named Alexia came. Instead of making Mom mad, my mom was… well, actually proud of me. My dad, on the other hand, wasn’t so amused. 

He usually is the most easy-to-get-angry weasel in town, but sometimes, if I finish my homework early, my dad will reward me with three quarters of an hour of TV time. 

Oh, sorry. I forgot we were talking about what happened last week. Well, I got first prize at this year’s Writopia Day, which is a holiday in Utteramma Field for all schools. The governor comes and reads our stories. Then, he and his helpers nominate the first, second and third place winners. 

After that crazy week, my dad had been pretty nice to me. But after the weekend, nothing went right anymore…


It all started when something covered in a huge cardboard box with wheels rolled into our door. 

@Rumble Rumble Rumble@

Carl trudged downstairs to peek at the commotion. “What the hell is that thing?” he asked in total disbelief. “Is it a monster? A dragon with wheels? An automobile?” 

Well, I’ll definitely tell you this: 

It was scary to look at it.

It really was. I shuddered. I don’t like creepy things. Just then, Dad galloped downstairs. Yes, he really galloped. “Well, well, well!” he said with pride, “our piano is here.” 

“What’s a piano?” I asked. “A type of monster? No, thank you!” 

“Don’t be silly,” Dad replied, “it is an instrument. An instrument is something that you use your hands or mouth to make the instrument make noise. The noise will sound very pleasant in a song. Here, I’ll teach you. I’m a real piano man.”

And you know what? A shiver ran down my spine faster than you could say, “Uh-oh.”


Yep, I really didn’t like the sound of that. My dad is the worst teacher ever. He always loses control of his feelings when something goes wrong. So, playing the piano with Dad’s way of education was rather hurtful. 

Before I knew it, Dad was placing me on the piano chair. “Alright, buddy, sit still.” 

“Yes, I will,” I squeaked, sitting up like a student really paying attention. 

“Alright, could you find ‘Middle C’ for me?” 

“Dad,” I said, “I don’t know where ‘Middle C’ is.” 

That got my dad ready. “THE ‘MIDDLE C’ IS AT THE CENTER OF THE KEYBOARD!” he screamed. Then, I pressed the center of the keyboard. But it definitely wasn’t “Middle C.” “THAT’S ‘MIDDLE B’! MOVE MORE RIGHT!” 

I moved right. I pressed the key, and I knew I got it. “That’s better,” said Dad, lowering his voice. “We use ‘Middle C’ as our guide,” Dad explained, “and ‘Middle C” is the first note, though there are notes at the bottom of it.” I didn’t get that. 

The rest of the piano time was just junk. Dad kept on urging me to find “Middle C” without looking at the keyboard. My dad kept track of how many times I got it:

None out of 20

My eyes went blurry after I was told the score. You know what was happening. I was crying. In a split second, I felt a teardrop trickle down my cheeks. My cheek pouches, to be exact. 

That night, I couldn’t sleep a wink. I was scared to practice the piano again. And because of that, I didn’t close my eyes until it was half past midnight. 


Because I only slept like, the first hour of the next day, guess what? I overslept. When I arrived at school, my friends were already having their daily snack break. When I stepped into the classroom, everyone froze, and they did, literally. Then, they burst out laughing. 

“Class, class, I don’t know why I am yelling,” Ms. Olaf, our class’ teacher and school phys-ed coach, screamed. Well, not literally screaming, but at the minimum, err… voice.* *Let’s go with that.**

**You see those two interacting single stars (*)? Well, I was supposed to put them here. I’m so sorry for the accident. 

Everyone quieted down in an instant. Katie, the most beautiful girl in the school, put up an “L” sign with her paw. Though Katie may be beautiful, she is often very serious. 

Recess was worse than ever. Many kids from older grades bullied me for being late. I hate being bullied. I hate it so much,

It is even a bit creepy for me. 

Yup. I hate experiencing something creepy. I like everything to be butterflies and lollipops.

Ahh… it just makes me dreamy when I see that font I wrote above. I love the handwriting for script type. (Although I printed it to glue in this notebook.) Oops, I forgot we were talking about something serious. 

Continuing on the “serious path,”

I was bullied so much, I cried for the first time in school. And it was very embarrassing. More and more kids came and said,

“This guy is a noob,”

and

“This guy is a crybaby.” .

Oh, and did you see that period? Sorry, I’ll erase that. There. Until, something happened. Did you see that mark, at the “guy is” and the “bab”? That’s right, two teardrops. Maybe I was a crybaby after all.


I, once again, couldn’t sleep a wink. This time, because I was afraid of piano practice and going back to school, because of that feeling when, you know, when something that’s your best dream ever happens to go wrong and it becomes your lifetime nightmare? 

I don’t know if you know the feeling or not, but let me tell you this: that was the case with me. And, unfortunately, I, once again, overslept. When I arrived at school, everyone was already in recess, playing after D/E/A/R* time which is after lunch. 

*Everyone in your family should know D/E/A/R time. It stands for
Drop Everything And Read.

And, even more unfortunate, was that I was sleeping on my desk the entire time in class:

ZZZZZZZZZZZZ… 

And, if that was not bad enough, I had drool all over my face and papers (I’ll show you my paper):

Please write a word that starts with the letter “T” and ends with the letter “E.” For example, tongue.


Please write a word that begins with the letter “M” and ends with the letter “E.” For example, mile


As you could see, our class is working on words ending with “E.” When I woke up, I was surprised to see myself on my booster seat. Guess what? I was in my car, being driven from school back home. “How was school today? I see you are very tired,” Mom cooed. 

“Good,” I lied, “very good. We studied to find words ending in the letter ‘E.’” At least I got some truths in, I thought. 

“Oh, really?” Mom asked in a voice that made her sound a bit excited. “May I see your piece of paper you worked on?”

I twitched around on my booster seat. I couldn’t show her that I had drooled on it. I didn’t want Mom to know that I was lying. I had to make an excuse. “Err… I lost it during lunch.”

That turned out to be a pretty dumb move, because the second Mom heard that, she made a U-turn that almost flung me out of the grasp of my seat belt. “Honey,” Mom cooed, “let me help find it for you.” 

I thought for a moment and called out to her, “Mom! The custodians had already shoved it into the trash basket!” That did the trick. Mom came running back toward me. She then climbed into the driver’s seat and made another U-turn that almost made me throw up. 


Back at my house, Carl was helping to wash the dishes from lunch. The second he saw me walk in, he shoved me with his dirty hands and called, “Ronalds Poopypants, Ronalds the Loser, and Ronalds the Crybaby is back!” His words ended after a big, long cackle. 

HEE HEE HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH!

Just then, Mom came skipping downstairs three at a time. Yup, she really did. She then ran over to Carl holding a piece of duct tape. What was that for? I thought. But before my eyes could even turn around, Mom was taping the duct tape onto Carl’s mouth. I giggled to myself. 

Tonight was the best dinner I have ever had. Usually, Carl was the “root” of the commotion that usually takes place. But with his mouth duct-taped, no one even had to make a squeak


Remember the super-good night at my house? Well, let me just say that school isn’t the same. It is surprisingly because Carl is not there. Yup, I don’t like anyone from my family being away from me for even a minute. And in this case, I have to be away from everyone in my family for an entire seven hours. 

You might be wondering why I want Carl to be there, not anyone else. Well, that’s because Carl is the only weasel I know th________

||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||


So sorry. I just don’t know why I just keep on falling asleep. Carl is definitely going to laugh at me for his entire life when he sees my notebook. The book you are reading right now. 

Anyway, I’m just too tired to write more. I quit on this book and I’m working on a new one two years later. See you then!

To be continued in…
Ouch! Goes the Weasel Book #3

The Haunted Cheeseburger (Series 1)

          THE HAUNTED CHEESEBURGER

                           PART 1

Once upon a time, there was a haunted cheeseburger and he got eaten by a pack of fries!!! Butt, oh, the butt you know that isn’t the, “Oh, but I don’t want to,” it’s the butt on your bottom. Someone ate them before they could finish themselves. So after, he had to go to the bathroom and you know what, they did. But, sniff sniff, sorry, if you, sniff, can’t hear me well, this story is just sooo sad!!! 

So anyway, they escaped from the pipes and they went to the Food Mart Valentine’s Day dance and had their moment but something happened. They realized that the ice cream cop that arrested Aaron when he took Ms. Potato Head the Pack of Fries in Part 1. 

So they hid for hours to survive. But they ran to the Valentine’s Day dance and had the time of their lives and they kissed but that kiss ended up turning into them eating 

each other!!! But wait, oh no!!! What happened? You will find out in Part 2. 

                            HAUNTED CHEESEBURGER

                                        PART 2

PREVIOUSLY ON HAUNTED CHEESEBURGER: 

“OMG, WE’RE GONNA GET SQUISHED BY SOMEONE’S BUTT!” SAID AARON. 

“I KNOW, LET’S GO IN THE PIPES!” SAID MR POTATO HEAD.

“WE’RE HERE AT THE VALENTINE’S DAY DANCE,” SAID AARON.

AND NOW THE PRESENT. 

“OKAY, WE’RE HERE FINALLY AT THE VALENTINE’S DAY DANCE AT THE FOOD MART,” SAID AARON. 

“OH MY GOSH, LOOK. THERE’S VOMIT CHEESEBURGERS. THERE’S FART PUNCH POOP CUPCAKES, AND AND FINALLY, PEE CHOCOLATE MILK,” SAID MRS POTATO HEAD.

“LET’S DANCE,” SAID AARON. 

“OH NO!!! IT’S THE COP THAT ALMOST CAUGHT US IN THE LAST PART! WE HAVE TO HIDE, COME ON, LET’S GO BACK IN THE PIPES,” SAID AARON. 

 “NO, IT’S GROSS IN THERE. ROTTEN HOT DOG, WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?”

“HIDING FROM THE COP. SHE’S A PSYCHO. SHE WILL JUST SEE SOMEONE AND SAY, ‘YOU’RE UNDER ARREST!!!’ BUT I STOLE A COKE FROM THE FOOD MART BEFORE THE VALENTINE’S DAY DANCE AND THAT’S WHY SHE’S ON MY CASE.”

“BUT WHAT DID YOU TAKE FROM THE FOOD MART?”

“WELL YESTERDAY, I HEARD THAT THERE WAS GOING TO BE A DANCE AT THE FOOD MART. I WAS TOTALLY GOING TO GO BUT I NEEDED A DATE SO I STOLE MRS. POTATO HEAD,” SAID ROTTEN HOT DOG.

“HI.” THERE IS MUSIC THAT PEOPLE PLAY WHEN THEY FALL IN LOVE. “OMG, I MUST BE IN HEAVEN CAUSE I’M LOOKING AT THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PACK OF FRIED POTATOES EVER.”

 “WELL ANYWAY, THE COP IS GONE SO WE WILL GO BACK TO THE DANCE,” SAID AARON.

SEE WHAT HAPPENS IN PART 3! WILL MRS. POTATO HEAD AND AARON HAVE THEIR MOMENT AT THE UNDREAMABLE VALENTINE’S DAY DANCE AT THE FOOD MART OR WILL MRS. POTATO HEAD DUMP AARON FOR ROTTEN HOT DOG?

OH AND BY THE WAY, IF YOU HAVE A DOG THAT IS SUCH A GOODY TWO SHOES IT MAKES YOU LOOK LIKE A DORK. TAKE YOUR DOG TO ISLA’S UNBEHAVED DOGGY DAY CARE.  

                       HAUNTED CHEESEBURGER

                                   PART 3

“So, Aaron, will you accept Mrs. Potato Head to be your yummy wedded wife?”

“I do.” 

“And Mrs. Potato Head, do you accept Aaron to be your husband” 

“I d — ”

“Hey, Mrs. Potato Head, what the heck are you doing here?” 

“Oh, um, Rotten Hot Dog, what are you doing here?”

 “I’m picking up my wife, wait. Rotten Hot dog — wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, Mrs. Potato Head, what is he talking about?” 

“I’m sorry, but I married him at the Food Mart at the pre-Valentine’s Day dance and I agreed to go with him to the real dance in a month. I’m so, so sorry but I have to go with my real husband… ” 

“Well, what am I going to do now? We already got a mansion… ”

“OMG, Aaron, I do. Yes, yes, yes, we’re married, let’s go to our mansion, and Aaron, since we’re married, can you go to the Valentine’s Day dance with me?”

Of course. Yes.”

Read more in Part 6 where they have their moment at the Valentine’s Day dance (the real one) and move into their mansion or will a Rotten Hot Dog ruin everything and steal his woman back?

I know your address, you guys, you are in big trouble. This is your last chance to go to Isla’s inappropriate doggy day care!! 

                         HAUNTED CHEESEBURGER

                                    PART 4

Aaron: Come on, Mr. Potato Head, let’s go and boogie.

Mr. Potato Head: Oh, uuuuum, Aaron, I have to tell you something. I have fried potato Itis.

Aaron: WHAT!!!

Mr. Potato Head: But only on you, not on Rotten Hot Dog, and when you have fried potato Itis, you can’t marry the person you’re with, so I’m super, duper, fruit-looper sorry, but I have to divorce you. 

Aaron: But wait, I’m sorry. 

Mr. Potato Head: It’s too late!! Hi, Rotten Hot Dog, wanna dance?

Rotten Hot Dog: Oh, you know it.

Aaron: Well, now what am I going to do? 

Mr. Potato Head: Aaron. 1,2,3, APRIL FOOLS!! (JAZZ MUSIC.) We’re not really divorcing. I just wanted to get you really good and we’re having a pool party in our mansion tonight, and in the pool, I added some really cool lights and we will watch their favorite show.

Mr. Potato Head & Aaron: “NAILED IT!!!” 

                       HAUNTED CHEESEBURGER

                                  PART 5

Aaron: We’re finally home!

Mrs. Potato head: Y —

Mrs Potato Head’s soon-to-be husband: Mrs Potato Head, what are you doing!?

Aaron: Mrs Potato Head, who is this?

Mrs. Potato Head: His name is Mike, he’s my-soon-to —

Mrs. Potato Head’s soon-to-be husband: She’s my soon-to-be wife.

Mrs. Potato Head: Yeah. 

Aaron: But we’re married?

Mrs Potato Head: I’m sorry, I have to divorce you but you can come to the wedding. 

Aaron: Well okay. 

(5 hours later.)

Wedding Guy: Do you take Mrs. Potato Head to be your yummy wedded wife?

Mrs. Potato Head’s soon-to-be husband: I do. 

Wedding guy: And Mr. Potato Head, do you —

Mrs. Potato Head: I… I… I do not, Aaron, I’m sorry, I don’t want to marry Mike. Let’s go home and watch —

Aaron: “Nailed it!!?”

Mrs. Potato Head: YES! 

                          HAUNTED CHEESEBURGER

                                     PART 6

Mrs. Potato Head: Um, Aaron? (As they are sitting on the couch watching “Nailed it.”)

Aaron: Yeah?

Mrs. Potato Head: Well, uh, you see, we have to break up. 

Aaron: WHAT!!

Mrs. Potato Head: I’m sorry, it’s just I got engaged to someone else. 

Aaron: What? But the Valentine’s Day dance is coming up so soon, it’s in a couple weeks. 

Mrs. Potato Head: I’m sorry, I just- I have to do what’s right. 

Aaron: Fine, I’ll break up with you and I never want to see you again. 

Mrs. Potato Head: Wait no, Aaron, wait, this is a prank. 

Aaron: Nope, I don’t care if it’s a prank, I don’t want to be with you anyway. You prank me constantly and you never ever appreciate me. 

Mrs. Potato Head: OMG, what have I done? I can’t believe I just said that, I didn’t mean to break up with him. Oh my gosh, who made me do that? 

Rotten Hot Dog: Oh who did that to you, you’re wondering? Well, me, I did it. 

Mrs. Potato Head: AARON, WAIT! 

Aaron: Mrs. Potato Head, what’s going on?

Mrs. Potato Head: Please take me back, please please please. 

Aaron: Wait, what, why?

Mrs. Potato Head: It’s Rotten Hot Dog. I didn’t want to break up with you, he made me. 

Aaron: Well of course I’ll take you back. 

Mrs. Potato Head: Well let’s go home and watch — 

Mrs. Potato and Aaron: “NAILED IT!” 

                                HAUNTED CHEESEBURGER 

                                           PART 7

AARON: HEY, MRS. POTATO HEAD!  

MRS. POTATO HEAD: HEY, AARON. 

ROTTEN HOT DOG: YEAH, HEY, AARON!!

AARON: ROTTEN HOT DOG, WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE? 

ROTTEN HOT DOG: OH YOU KNOW, JUST CONTROLLING MRS. POTATO HEAD’S MIND. 

AARON: WHAT?! 

MRS. POTATO HEAD: HELP ME, AARON!!

ROTTEN HOT DOG: OH, MRS. POTATO HEAD. HE CAN’T SAVE YOU UNLESS HE STOPS ME. 

AARON: THEN I WILL, HIYA!!!

ROTTEN HOT DOG: THE ONLY THING THAT CAN DEFEAT ME IS WATER. WAIT, I SHOULDN’T HAVE SAID THAT. 

AARON: WELL, THEN TAKE THAT! SWOOSH! 

ROTTEN HOT DOG: NOOO!

MRS. POTATO HEAD: YOU SAVED ME! 

AARON: YEP, NOW LET’S GO WATCH “NAILED IT.” 

                     HAUNTED CHEESEBURGER 

                                 PART 8

AARON: IT’S MOVIE NIGHT, MRS. POTATO HEAD. (AS THEY ARE SITTING ON THE COUCH.)

MRS. POTATO HEAD: I’M SO EXCITED, I CAN’T BELIEVE WE HAVE 998,987 SEASONS OF “NAILED IT” LEFT! I’M SO GLAD WE GOT THIS SPOTLESS MANSION. 

ROTTEN HOT DOG: YEAH, I’M SO EXCITED. 

AARON: WHA… ??? I THOUGHT I, WAIT, WHAAA? I AM SO CONFUSED. 

ROTTEN HOT DOG: OH, YOU SEE, I TRIED TO MAKE IT SEEM LIKE I WOULD DISAPPEAR IF I TOUCHED WATER, BUT REALLY, WATER MAKES ME STRONGER. 

MRS. POTATO HEAD: SO YOU BAMBOOZLED US. 

ROTTEN HOT DOG: I FOOLED YOU BUT I DON’T KNOW WHAT BAMBOOZLED MEANS. 

MRS. POTATO HEAD: BAMBOOZLED MEANS YOU FOOLED US BUT ALMOST DIDN’T, WE’VE BEEN OVER THIS!!!

AARON: THAT’S NOT WHAT BAMBOOZLED MEANS, WAAAAAAAIT! 

ROTTEN HOT DOG: WHAT!  

AARON: WHEN WOULD YOU HAVE TIME TO DISCUSS THAT!!

MRS. POTATO HEAD: UUUUUUUUMM. 

ROTTEN HOT DOG: OH YEAH, WE WENT ON A DATE YESTERDAY. WE HAD SPAGHETTI. 

MRS. POTATO HEAD: FOR THE LAST TIME, IT WAS NOT SPAGHETTI, IT WAS ANGEL HAIR!!! 

AARON: HOLD ON, YOU WENT ON A DATE!!!

MRS. POTATO HEAD: ROTTEN HOT DOG MADE ME. 

AARON: CARE TO EXPLAIN YOURSELF, DUDE?

ROTTEN HOT DOG: UHHHHHH, OH, SORRY, GOT TO GO. 

MRS POTATO HEAD: WELL, STILL WANNA WATCH “NAILED IT”?

AARON: YOU KNOW IT. 

MRS. POTATO HEAD: SEASON 2,013, EPISODE 5,976. 

The Mimic

Chapter 1

For my little brother, Damir

The sky is black and lights almost look like they come to you. Legend said that a Mimic lives in Embassy Park Where I live. Oh, if you’re wondering who I am, my name is Liam and I am 16. I have been spying on the Mimic for 5 years now and I know who it is.

It is my friend, Tanqr, the Youtuber. I know Tanqr is the Mimic because I went to his house and saw his tentacles. Tanqr was not the Mimic all the time. The Mimic died but his soul got into Tanqr.

Chapter 2 

On a Friday at midnight, I spy on him, but he is nowhere to be found. 1 second later, he is behind me! 3 hours later, I wake up. I’m tied up on a chair.

I say, “What do you want from me?”

“I want to KILL YOU,” he says in a broke-up voice. “I know that you saw my tentacles. You do not want to know what I am going to do to you.”

I say, “Where are we?” He says we are in the abandoned metro station. I ask why. He replies,

“Because I want you to suffer like I did.”

5 years earlier, Tanqr was making a video and the soul went into him.

Chapter 3

He was making a video of a game in roblox called arsenal. He also plays Big Paintball. The way The Mimic’s soul got into Tanqr was The Mimic had a hideout in a nuclear power plant with his friends and it exploded and killed them and one soul survived and got into Tanqr. Back into the future, the Mimic lets me go. The Mimic says he needs to go somewhere when he lets me go. The next day at school, my other friend, Mack, and I go to math class. 45 minutes later, dinggg! The math teacher, Ms. Katz, grades my work, and like always I get a straight A. Hmmm, Tanqr is not at school, which is weird. He needs to go to school.

Chapter 4

The next day, he still is not coming to school. It’s getting weird because I am thinking maybe he could be planning to take over the world. The next day, he comes to school, but he looks sus (P.S., sus means suspicious). I’m wondering what is he doing. He’s wearing a bowtie, but I haven’t seen him ever were a bowtie. Tanqr is also so nice today. He’s supposed to be shy. First, someone dropped their books and Tanqr helped him. Next, someone was getting bullied and he embarrassed the leader bully by saying that he pooped in his pants.

ChApTeR 5

After school, he says, “Yo, can I come to your house?” I say yes.

1 hour later, you will not believe what happened, not in a million years. Ok, fine, I will tell you. THE MIMIC’S SOUL GOT OUT OF TANQR. I can’t believe it, not in a million years.

2 Days later, I hear a whoosh sound at night and I turn around. I can’t believe it, the soul is here. I run to the bathroom and I splash the ghost and it goes away but it doesn’t die which is weird.

… To be continued.

Epilogue

The next day, the soul tries to kill me again. Does this guy ever give up? (No, he does not.) I can’t believe it. The Most Info about Ghosts book says that the ghost that attacked me does not give up (see, I told you). The author, Jalley Brown, claims she saw a ghost but I asked her at the museum of ghosts and she said she lied (which I partially knew) because she wanted attention and to be famous .Then I research all night and I get the only why to defeat the ghost is to get the rarest rock in the world, which is called (drum roll please): Clockstone.                                     

Monster and Mushroom: A New Beginning

There once was a monster who lived in the woods. We’ll call him Monster. What Monster really wanted was a house, but he was just too shy to go to the house seller. Monster wanted a house because he lives in the woods. But why was Monster so shy? Maybe because he lived in the woods so long that fungus grew on his toes, moss on his back, and a mushroom on his nose, and he was scared to show his face in public. Or maybe he needed a friend to encourage him. Anyway, onto the story!

Monster sat on his stump, wondering if he would go to the house seller today. No, I can’t! They’ll tease my mushroom nose! He thought. Sigh. So then Monster gathered up all his courage (he didn’t have that much) and he went over to the gate to the human world. When he got to the gate, he felt something under his foot. He picked it up in his giant fingers. It was a glass bottle, with glowing liquid inside! Great, this liquid might make me less shy! Monster thought with a smile. So he went back to his cave and placed the liquid on his stump table. Tomorrow, Monster thought, I will be social.

The next day, Monster woke up with a jolt. He was so excited to drink the pink liquid! He was shaking with excitement! And maybe also fear. Monster went to the kitchen of his cave and popped the top off the bottle. He went to drink it, hand quivering. Just as he had it up to his mouth and went to take a sip, a crow flew into the window and cawed. Monster’s hand shook so that all the liquid spilled onto the mushroom on his nose! No! The liquid! Now Monster couldn’t be social! Monster sighed. He went back into his moss-bed and fell into a deep sleep. He dreamed of wizards and dancing mushrooms. Then he woke up. Phew, just a dream, Monster thought. He got up and went to the river to get the extra pink juice off his nose. When he looked at his reflection in the river, he didn’t see anything missing at first, but then he noticed it. His face went pale. His nose mushroom was gone.

Monster kept touching the spot where the once red-with-white-spots mushroom was. Then the water rippled. Probably one of those birds, Monster thought. He looked up to shoo it away, and saw the most unbelievable thing. His nose mushroom. “Mushroom?” he said to the mushroom. Then, like it was alive, the mushroom jerked its cap up and hopped away. Luckily, Monster was faster. He caught the mushroom in his big hands and took it back to his cave. Hmm, Monster thought, I can have a big meal if I cook him! So then Monster decided to tie the mushroom up and cook him over a fire. Then Monster went out to get some berries as an appetizer. But then something poked his butt. Monster spun around, ready to attack, but it was the mushroom! He touched Mushroom’s cap and she hopped around playfully. Then Monster felt a pang of guilt. He tried to cook Mushroom, just so he could eat. No, he would not feel sad for this mushroom. Monster would just ignore it. Monster marched back to his cave. Mushroom followed. “Just leave me alone, ya dirty mushroom!” Monster shouted at the mushroom. Mushroom hopped away sadly. Great, Monster thought sarcastically, now I have nothing to eat. Monster saw Mushroom peek around the corner of his cave. “I told you, GET OUT!” Monster roared at Mushroom. Mushroom hopped closer. Monster got madder and madder. He roared at Mushroom, then Mushroom started hopping away, quickly. Monster dropped down on all fours and chased him. They were nearing the cliff. Perfect. Monster thought. Then right when Mushroom was about to fall off the cliff, she doubled back. Monster fell off the side and was being held only by a branch that was growing out of the cliff. Then, crack, the branch broke. Monster closed his eyes and braced for the fall onto the sharp, jagged rocks below. But when he landed on something, it didn’t perce his skin. It was bouncy. It was Mushroom! Monster bounced back up to the cliffside, and somehow, he found Mushroom there. Mushroom was magical! Monster reached out and touched Mushroom’s cap. It was soft as silk. Then together, they went and got food so they could have a decent meal.

The next day, Mushroom jumped up and down on Monster, urging him to get up. “What? I’m up,” Monster groaned. Mushroom had something on her cap. She slid it over to Monster. It was a small book. Then Mushroom slid over a black stick. Monster picked it up. It was shiny. He opened the book and put the strong black stick onto the paper and slid it around. Wherever the stick went, it made a line. Mushroom took the pen from Monster and used magic to write three letters: pen. “Is that what the stick is called? A p-pe-pehn?” Monster asked, sounding out the word. Mushroom jumped up and down. Monster took that as a yes. But why would Mushroom give me these magical objects? Monster thought. Then it hit him. He could draw a house! Then show it to the house seller because the humans spoke a different language! “Thank you, Mushroom!” Monster exclaimed.

Mushroom jumped around in response, as if to say, “You’re welcome.”

Monster drew a house, with a tall roof. It took him three hours, but he finished eventually. Here is what he did:

Monster took the paper and Mushroom followed. Monster walked over to the human world gate, his heart thumping. Ba bump, ba bump. Mushroom followed him, her hopping making little sound on the damp moss. Slowly, Monster opened the gate. Creeeeeak, it went. Monster stepped through the gate and into the portal. It felt like he was being stretched out and cut up, then being put back together. Mushroom followed, having the same experience. Then the feeling started to slow down, and Monster got plopped down on land. Mushroom bumped on Monster’s leg being shot out. Monster looked down at Mushroom, she was jumping around like crazy. “Calm down, Mushroom. I’m excited too,” Monster said calmingly. Mushroom slowed down. She tilted her cap up at him. Monster got filled up with hope. Monster strided over to the house seller, not noticing the stares from the people around him. He gathered up all his courage (he had a lot) and, with a shaking hand, he handed the house seller the picture. A crow flew onto the fence behind the house seller. It cawed. Monster shooed it away. “You don’t scare me,” Monster hissed at the crow. The house seller understood the drawing. He said something quickly in human and started walking to a giant metal container on black tree stumps. It looked like this:

The house seller walked inside and took out what Monster knew as a “unicycle.” Then the house seller hopped on his unicycle and started moving. He gestured for Monster and Mushroom to follow. Monster picked up Mushroom in his giant hands so she wouldn’t slow them down. Monster followed the house seller until they made it to a giant house. Monster put Mushroom down and walked inside. The ceilings were 4 feet above his head! Great! There was a black box, too. The house seller walked inside and picked up a shiny, black piece of bark. But it wasn’t bark, and the box wasn’t a box. “Television. Tv,” the house seller said, pointing to the box. Monster repeated, 

“Tellyvision. Tv.” 

The house seller pointed to the shiny bark. “Remote,” he said. 

Monster repeated again, “Reemote.”

 The house seller shrugged and mumbled something in human. It sounded like “cloz enuf.” Monster ignored it. He said in the closest human he could put on, 

“Mi wan hous.” The house seller put a sign outside that said with bold red letters “SOLD.” Monster knew that the house was his. 

“WOOHOO, Mushroom!” Monster exclaimed, and he started dancing. Mushroom started dancing too. They danced for hours together, then went inside to enjoy their new life.

EPILOGUE 

Monster sank back into his chair. He tried to press the tiny buttons on the reemote, but his fingers were too big. “Mushroom? Can you help me press the reemote buttons?” Monster called. Mushroom angrily hopped in the tv room. She was levitating a toothbrush with half-used toothpaste on it. “Mu — what? Why are you using a toothbrush? You don’t even have teeth!” Monster exclaimed. Mushroom angrily hopped over and pressed the “on” button for the tv. As she hopped back to the wetroom (we know this as a bathroom), Monster saw on the back of her cap she had used toothpaste all over it. Then Monster had an idea. He went to the feedingroom and took a prong-tip. Then he took it back to the tv room. He used the holding-side to press the reemote buttons, and the prongs to brush through his fur. Monster leaned back in his chair and sighed. He lived an amazing life now.

Lenmonoral Academy Part One

Chapter 1 

Magic

Amber Flickspell wasn’t a normal girl. For one, she was twelve, and knew how to fly a helicopter, and at the moment, she was lying in her bed, staring at the ceiling and trying to freeze it. “Falendor,” she muttered. “Falendor, Falendor!” Frustrated, Amber turned over and punched her pillow. 

“Amber, dinner is ready! Come set the table!” She heard her father’s voice downstairs, calling her.  

“Coming!” she said, walking out of her room. 

***************

“So, Amber, been practicing your magic lately?” Amber’s father asked her. His fire dragon, Flamelick, lay curled up in his corner, fast asleep. Amber took one longing look at him, then answered her father’s question.  “Yes.”

“And?” he asked.

“Nothing,” she sighed.

“Well, I’m sure it will come when it needs to, honey,” he said reassuringly.  

“But it also might never come — ”

“ — that’s enough, Sebastian,” he scolded. Sebastian, her younger brother, gave a mischievous grin and started eating his chicken.  But Amber didn’t feel magic churning inside her. What if — her stomach twisted even thinking it — what if she had no magic?

                                                                                *************

Amber weaved her way through the garden, brushing a fern off her leg, and stopped in a small clearing. A few trees dappled the sky, their leaves dancing in the wind. On the ground, there were many plants of a variety of colors. There was nightshade kennel, that was dark blue with a purple stem, burning flamcor, red, yellow, and orange, and countless others. But she walked up to the one in the middle, the most exquisite plant in the clearing. Each stem was either green, blue, purple, red, or black, and they all faded into a creamy, colorful white at the bottom. After that pair of colors, there was another, this time fading from white to a color. And it went on and on and on until it got to the middle, where a stem grew out, and at the top, a sparkling light came out of it. The light was made of tiny particles of —

Fairy dust, Amber thought. She moved her hand through it, remembering when it had finally grown to its fullest height, back when her mother was alive. She remembered it all. “Look, Mom, look!” she had said. Her mother had looked up from her book and smiled, then walked over. 

“Amber, that’s fairy dust. Even just a portion of it can make you do anything.” 

“Anything? Mom, that sounds like just a few things to me.” Her mother had turned her head towards the sky and laughed. When she laughed, everything felt better again. She could make Amber feel better, even in the darkest times.  Her mother had faced her and said, 

“Well, not everything, but it can make you fly, or shrink. That’s something, isn’t it?” Amber had turned wide-eyed and looked at the plant. 

“Are you sure that something as small as this could make you FLY?” 

“Yes, Amber, I’m positive. Do you know why fairy dust is so powerful?” she had asked. 

“No, why?” 

“Fairy dust is made with bravery and compassion. Those are the most powerful elements.” Amber’s eyes welled with tears. She searched her brain for her earliest memory of her mother, but all she could remember was cool blond hair resting on her face and arms embracing her. She sucked in breath, but it was no use. Drops of water slowly slid down her cheeks. She wiped them on her cloak, and trudged back up to the house, leaves crunching beneath her feet.

Chapter 2

What they wonder and what they know

“We have granted her the gift,” the first one said, “but she shines a little brighter than the rest. Why is that?” 

“She is the one. The weight of the world rests on her shoulders. She must save us all,” the second one murmured. The wise one looked up and said, 

“Yes, I agree, she is the one. She will not only have to save us all, she will have to defeat the one who has never been defeated. She has to find the thing that has never been found, and survive the place that has never been survived.” The first one looked questioningly at the wise one. 

“But one from her heritage has been stolen by the wicked-souled, the one that has never been defeated. Why take her into the battle, too?” The wise one looked on.

 “She will not be taken into the battle, she will be the one to end the battle.” The second one quietly said, 

“Yes… yes… I see it. She will be the one. She is the one. But she needs to know that she is the one. How do we tell her?” 

“We don’t,” the wise one said, 

“We have to watch. We do not help her. She will have help every step of the way, she just won’t know it.”     

Chapter 3

The seer tree’s advice

Amber shivered in the cold night air.  She was outside, wearing her blue-and-purple swirl cloak, standing in front of a towering oak tree. But this wasn’t any normal tree. This was the seer tree, the tree that could see the future. She took a deep breath, then knocked three times on the ancient oak. It grunted, then opened one eye. It looked down and saw Amber.

“I’m sorry to have woken — ” But she was cut short by the tree, its wide mouth split into a smile and it bellowed, 

“Amber!  How are you, and what brings you here?”

Amber opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. Instead, she thought it. She knew better than anyone that the seer tree could read minds.

“Ah,” it said wisely, “you are wondering whether you have powers or not.” She nodded. “Well… well. Let me see here. Yes, that one,” it muttered, scavenging through its leaves. “You are unaware of it, Amber? Of the sensation that the sun is cold, the moon warm?”

Amber thought. Now that the tree mentioned it, Amber had seemed cold on that sunny day they went to the park to exercise the dragons, and when they were catching fish from the pond. “I have,” she said with confidence in her voice.

“Well,” the seer tree said, “if you have magical powers, you will get them in the next three days.” Amber’s heart soared. She was very sure that the tree had seen her magic happen! In the future, of course. She turned and ran home, and the last words she heard the tree yell were, “And don’t try too hard! You’ll get an opportunity soon!”

*******

The next morning, Amber got up before the sun rose and went out. She felt hot, which she took as a good sign and took off her cloak. She had taken several deep breaths when she heard footsteps. She felt a little spooked as her father never got up this early, but nonetheless, she tiptoed curiously around the house into the backyard. She followed the sound of the footsteps into the garden where she stopped. She saw someone pulling plants out of the ground, one by one, stowing each one into their satchel. Amber stood, horrified for one second, then without thinking, lunged herself at the figure, knocking them to the ground. “Stop!” she cried, but no sound came out. She had lost her voice. The figure was sucking her in… grasping her soul, tugging it. Sweat trickled down her face. She was falling in… in… Amber bolted upright in her bed, looking around. “Just a dream,” she thought. “Just a dream.”

**************

But as much as Amber hated the dream, it followed her out of bed, down the stairs, and into the kitchen. She sat down at her chair, as usual, and heard Sebastion whine that it was his chair, as usual. Her father scolded him, as usual. But, it felt… unusual. When she told him this, he stole an excited glance at Flamelick, then asked her the thing she least expected.

“Amber, are you having… strange dreams?” 

She looked up, startled.

“Yes,” she said, pushing her long, raven-black hair out of her face. He gasped and asked, 

“When?” 

“Last night,” she explained, starting with her being outside at night. When she ended, Sebastian let out a squeak of terror and ran to his room. However, her father’s face split into a wide smile as he said, 

“Amber, those dreams are called terror dreams. They’re there to mark the start of your powers. They stay with you for four months at the most, and three weeks at the least. The normal time to lose them is around two months, but the earlier they leave you, the more powerful you will get.” He paused and went on, “I myself only had the dreams for about a month and a half, and your — your mother had them for about five weeks.” He pushed back tears.

“But are the dreams always the same?” Amber asked. 

“A little bit is added on each time,” he said. 

“Oh, no!” she groaned. “That dream alone is bad enough!” 

Her father smiled weakly at her as if to say, “There’s nothing we can do about it.” 

“Well, Amber, this might actually be a good sign!” 

“How can a nightmare be a GOOD sign?!” she exclaimed.

“This is not a nightmare. This is a terror dream,” he said. “And with terror dreams come powers.” Amber gasped. “And with powers come this.” He used his finger to indicate his ear, which was pointed at the top. She gasped again. 

“I’m an elf?”

“That you are. And elves go to academies,” he said.

“I’m… I’m… going to… Lenmonoral Academy?” she breathed. 

“Yes, Amber you are going to Lenmonoral Academy!” 

****************

Amber heaved her trunk down the last step, collapsing the moment it hit the ground. Panting, she sat up and looked at her father.

  “Need a hand?” he asked. 

“No… I’m… perfectly fine…” she panted. “Fine… yes, I need help.” He grabbed the trunk and heaved, dragging it behind him. 

“What did you pack in here?” he said, exasperated. 

“Everything you told me to pack,” Amber said casually, her green eyes sparkling in the sunlight. 

“Well, either I told you to pack too much, or you packed a few extra things,” he said. “My guess is that you packed a few extra things.” 

“Well, if you think that, then you’re wrong, because the only extra things I packed are my flying boots, and an extra book,” she argued. 

“Fine, fine, let’s just make it out the door, and then we can talk about it.” Flamelick scampered over to her and nuzzled her cheek. 

“I’ll be all right, Flamelick, don’t worry.” She held out her hand. Flamelick nibbled her fingers. She giggled.

 “Okay, Flamelick, don’t worry, it’ll be fine.” She turned, and followed her father out the door.

***********

Amber clambered inside the Ottonoski (an Ottonoski is a flying otter/elephant), excitement coursing through her. She had only been in an Ottonoski once, when she was seven and had broken her arm, and they had needed quick transportation. But she wasn’t excited about riding an Ottonoski. She was excited about the reason she was riding it. An Eloker flight attendant, a man with light blond hair, brown eyes, and a mustache, stepped up to her and said, 

“Hello. My name is Charlie Egnol, and I will be your assistant for today’s trip. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask. I will be in sector A-56 if you need me.” 

“Wait,” Amber said curiously as Charlie started to board. “There are different sectors in an Ottonoski?” 

He climbed down the steps and said, 

“Well, this one here is a big one, so, yes, Eurora has different sectors.” 

“Eurora?” she asked. 

“That’s the name of this particular Ottonoski,” he answered casually. 

“Oh.” Amber climbed inside Eurora, and looked around. The room itself was giant, with squashy pillows circling around it, and in the middle, a chair that could turn itself into a bed and a tray with water, a sandwich, and some fruit. The air smelled moist, and the whole room had a pink tinge to it. It was then that she noticed the doors, camouflage into the wall, leading to what she guessed were different sectors. 

“Well, I’d best be off now!” Charlie said cheerfully. He walked toward a door labeled,  “Work sectors, A-11 through A-73.” But just as he reached the door, a sound mixed with a very loud snore and high-pitched music rang out, and then the ground felt as if it were lowering at high speed beneath her feet. When she looked down, she realized that that was exactly what was happening. Then — BOING! Amber was bounced up, as if she were on a trampoline. But, unlike being on a trampoline, she didn’t come down. She felt the floor lower — without her. She looked over at Charlie in horror, but he looked as if he got bounced up by an Ottonoski and didn’t come down every day. Casually, he patted the wall and said (or, rather, yelled),

 “Eurora! Drop!” 

Amber felt the ground bounce back up to the right height, and, heart pounding in her ears, turned to him. 

“What,” she said furiously, “just happened?”

 Charlie answered by saying simply, “She just breathed.” 

“Oh, that makes sense, now I understand,” she said hotly. He turned to face her. 

“Ottonoskis don’t need to breathe. Air gets attracted to the small holes in their tail, and that’s how they get it into their body. However, they can breathe, and Eurora just did. You just felt what happens inside their body when they do,” he said, opening the door and walking inside. 

****************

Many hours had passed. Amber had drunk many glasses of cold water (a water elf kept refilling it), and Eurora kept doing loop-the-loops in the air, making her feel sick. An earth elf had come by once asking her if she needed anything. 

“No,” she had said. “But I have a question: how do you get up to Eurora’s Olwanxes?” (An Olwanx is a little bump on an Ottonoski. There are usually about twenty-seven of them.) He had made a ladder made out of plants, and then left. Aside from the water, fire, and wind elves that came by, Amber was alone with her thoughts. She started doodling a picture of what she imagined Lenmonoral Academy would look like, when Eurora did another loop-the-loop, causing her to smash into the wall face-first. Sitting up and rubbing her bruised cheek, she started on another page. She drew a castle, with blue gates and many towers. There was a pathway made of cobblestone, and carriages were coming up that road. Halfway through drawing a third carriage, though, she fell asleep. When she woke up, she thought,  Maybe Charlie can do something about how hot it is. She went through the door labeled: work sectors A-11 through A-73, looked for sector A-56, and, once she found it, opened the door. It was a replica of the room she had just been in, but smaller, and it had a desk with a computer. But no Charlie. She looked around. “Charlie?” she said timidly. but there was no doubt about it; Charlie wasn’t in this room.

************

Amber had gone back to the main room, and opened Eurora’s Olwanxes. She popped her head out of one of them and gasped. Not only was the wind cool, but the sky didn’t have a single cloud in sight, and when she looked down, she realized that she was flying over a sea of green trees, colorful plants, and every type of bird she could imagine. But, at that moment, Eurora did a loop-the-loop and it was all Amber could do to hold herself in the hump. She was climbing down when she heard a voice behind her. The voice said,

 “I would stay in the hump if I were you. There are big winds in the Clonerlech lands.” Amber fell down the rest of the ladder, startled. A face appeared above her. It was a boy, and he didn’t look too much older than Amber. He looked about sixteen. 

“We’re in the Clonerlech lands?” she asked. 

“Yes,” he said, “we are currently flying over Berrinor forest. My name is Thomas. I’m helping Charlie around the place. I suspect you’ve already met him?” 

“Yeah,” she said, “but I don’t know where he is.” 

Thomas looked curiously at her. 

“What do you mean? He’s in sector A-56.”

 “No, he’s not. I checked. Anyway, when will we get there?” Amber asked. 

“Well, probably in an hour or so. But Eurora might need to stop and take a break.” 

“Only an hour left?!” she exclaimed. 

“No, not exactly,” he said. “We’ll stop in the Erierlon lands in about twenty minutes at an Ottonoski airport.” 

She gaped at him. He laughed.

 “Amber, I’m excited too. You know, I’m in my fourth year at the academy.” 

“Wait…” Amber said curiously. “I haven’t told you my name yet. How do you know it?” 

“Because,” Thomas said, “I know the name of every person who boards. I have to. There’s twenty-one-year-old Henry, nineteen-year-old Emily, twelve-year-old Nora — ” But he was cut short by Amber.

 “Wait,” she said, “there’s another twelve-year-old here?”

 “Yes,” he said. “I thought you already knew. C’mon, follow me.” 

She bobbed excitedly around him as they walked into a sector labeled, “Rooms for 12 to 17 year-olds.” They walked down the hall, passing rooms labeled, “Lost treasures, or eagle egg room, or plant room.” Finally, they stopped at a room called, “Replica room for young elves.”  Thomas opened the door. A girl sat there. She had dark red hair that stopped at her neck, dark brown eyes, and, when she stood up, Amber realized she was very much her height. 

“Hi,” the girl said shyly. “I’m Nora. I’m going to Lenmonoral Academy, also. What’s your name?” 

“I’m — I’m Amber,” Amber said. But she was looking at Nora’s ears. The tips had turned grayish purple, and they looked very swollen. Nora saw where she was looking, and said even more shyly,

 “That’s just my elf ears becoming elf ears. They look like that, don’t worry.”

 “Oh. that’s neat. When did it start?” 

“A few days ago,” she answered. “Sometimes it hurts, but most of the time it doesn’t.” 

“When d’you think I’ll get them?” Amber asked. 

“Right now,” Nora said, pointing to her ears. She looked in the mirror, and saw her ears had turned a glassy blue. She gasped. 

“I… I didn’t know… I mean, I hadn’t noticed it before.” 

“When I got mine, my powers came a few… oh, what was it? About half an hour later.” Thomas smiled. 

“Well, I’ll leave you two to it, then.” And with that, he closed the door behind him, leaving the girls in the room. Amber tried using magic while Nora watched for a few minutes, but flopped down next to her, exhausted.

 “I give up,” she said. 

“You can’t just give up!” Nora said. 

“I can barely make a snowflake, but as long as you have signs, that’s good enough! Watch.” Amber watched as she twirled her hand majestically in the air, and she could just make out a single snowflake float silently down and land on Nora’s tongue. 

“Fine. I admit, that is not a lot but it’s more than I can do!” she said hopelessly. 

“Try again.” 

“Oh, fine.” Amber did the same twirl in the air that Nora had done, but still, nothing happened. 

“Well,” she said, “maybe snow isn’t your strong suit. Try filling that cup of water over there.” They tried, and tried other things in its path. They tried making plants grow, making a light wind, making a fire in the hearth, making, making, making. Nothing worked. Finally, after hours of practicing in the flickering light of the candle, who else to walk in but… 

“Charlie!” Amber exclaimed. 

“Where were you when I went into sector A-56?” He looked at her questioningly.

 “What are you talking about?” 

“What are YOU talking about?”

 “Nothing. I came in here to tell you two to get some rest. We’ll be flying into the night.” Then he left without another word. 

“Well, that sure was weird,” Nora said, before cuddling up to the couch and falling asleep. 

****************

Amber, too, fell asleep, but she suddenly found herself in her cloak outside. She heard footsteps. She followed them. She saw a figure ripping out their magical plants and stuffing them in their satchel. She lunged at the figure, tried to scream, “No!” and lost her voice. The figure tried to suck in her soul, but it didn’t end there. Instead, Amber grabbed her soul, pulling it back inside of her. The figure then raised its hands, and… 

“Amber! Amber! Wake up!” Amber shifted uncomfortably on the ground. 

“What?” Nora was peering at her with wide, excited eyes. 

“We’re at the airport! We’re in the Erierleon lands!” 

She sat up instantly. 

“We’re almost at Lenmonoral Academy!” 

Chapter 4

Color

Nora stared, wild-eyed, out the window. 

“Can you see anything?” Amber asked her anxiously. 

“No… wait, yes!” She squinted her eyes, looking for whatever it was that she had seen. “What did it look like?”

 “Well… it looked sort of shiny, like a toy glimmering in the sun. but it’s hard to see because of all the fog. It should clear up in fifteen minutes or so, but — hey! There it is again!” 

Amber looked out the other window and peered out. But the most she saw was a swirling fog. “I don’t see anything, Nora. Maybe it was just… I don’t know, another Ottonoski?” But then she saw it. A faint, shiny glimmer. It looked very far away, but — suddenly, the ground gave a very large heave, and thumped down to solid earth. 

“We’re finally at the airport!” exclaimed Nora. But no sooner had the words left her mouth than the ground began to rumble, throwing the door open and throwing the girls into the hallway. Thomas was there, along with Charlie. They brought them out into the main room, where the door outside had opened. 

“Thanks for the ride, Eurora,” Thomas said, petting the Ottonoski’s trunk. The air was chilly, and they saw their breaths rise in the air as they stepped out. Amber shivered beneath her cloak. 

“Inside, inside, please!” A short man with a tangled beard and a very round nose stepped up to her. 

“In ‘ere, you! Too cold, too cold, yes. Follow me.” The man walked through a thick crowd of elves, Nora and Amber trailing behind. Finally, they reached a glass door. The little man stepped up and pulled something out of his shirt. He waved the thing in front of the door, and, to their astonishment, the door opened. They stepped inside and looked around. They were in a very orderly room. The ground was made of marble, and there were gray armchairs. In the front room, there was a lady at a desk, absentmindedly freezing things like glasses of water, or bracelets. There was also an unlit hearth in the room they were standing in. The man turned to Amber and said, 

“D’yeh mind lightin’ that hearth for me?”

 “I — I can’t,” she said, embarrassed. 

“Course yeh can! Yeh just wave yer hand and BLAMMO! A fire.” (At this, he waved his hand dramatically in the air, narrowly missing Nora’s face.) 

“No, I’m sorry, I just don’t have my powers yet,” she mumbled. 

“Just ‘cause yeh don’t have yer powers, doesn’t mean yeh can’t try!” he said, with another dramatic wave of his hand. So Amber looked hopelessly at the hearth and waved her hand in the air. Nothing happened. 

“Well, at least yeh tried,” the man said. “I’m Stiltskin, if yeh wanna know. Well, that’s my last name. My firs’ name’s Redtail. Everyone calls me Stiltskin, though. Now, you’d best pick yer carriage. Follow me.” 

Stiltskin led them up a winding staircase and stopped when they reached a door. The door looked like just a door from afar, but up close, she could see it had tiny engravings in it. There was a fairy, a hippogriff, and many other mythical creatures. Unfortunately, Stiltskin opened the door too quickly, and the girls couldn’t look at it for too long. But what was behind the door was even more stunning. At first, Amber couldn’t see a thing. But, as her eyes adjusted to the brightness, she gasped. They had stepped out onto a balcony, the biggest balcony she had ever seen. It was at least as big as five Ottonoskis. Five BIG Ottonoskis. And the things on the deck were… carriages! But they weren’t ordinary carriages. They were made of gold or silver, and they were all jewel-encrusted. Some had rubies, some had diamonds, some had opal, and one even had all of them! 

“Well? Choose quickly now!” Stiltskin looked out through the sea of jewels. Nora had started moving towards one with opal and rubies. But Amber looked out through the carriages and one of them caught her eye: it was one with sapphire, moonstone, emerald, and diamond. The curtains were red velvet, and the carriage itself was gold. Stiltskin saw her looking at it and said, 

“Ah! So you’ve found yer ride! Well, I’ll bring this one down, and you go ahead back to the main entrance.” She walked down the steps, pondering what Lenmonoral academy would look like for the twelfth time. But when she got down to the main floor, she stopped, looking wide-eyed at the hearth. There, where there had once been cold, lonely logs, was a blazing, crackling, unmistakable fire.

 **************** 

“Nora! Stiltskin! The fire!” Amber rushed up the stairs, not even stopping to say sorry when she knocked over a short man in a green hat. When she got to the top of the staircase, panting and exhausted, she flung open the engraved door and rushed over to where Stiltskin was examining a carriage with diamonds, rubies, and emeralds. He looked up, and by what Amber could see, he looked slightly annoyed. 

“What’re you doin’ back up here?” he asked. 

“The… fire… it’s lit… ” she said, hands on her knees. At that moment, Nora walked over and said,

 “I thought you had already picked your carriage! What are you doing back up again?” Nora looked at Stiltskin to explain, but he was gone. They turned around just in time to see his little foot disappear behind the open door. They looked at each other, then followed, Amber much slower, as she had also run up the stairs. When they got to the bottom, Stiltskin was beaming at Amber. 

“I told yeh you could do it, didn’ I? Didn’ I?” Nora swiftly moved past him and gaped at the fire, watching as it turned to embers as it reached the top of the hearth. 

“How did you do that?” she asked in envy. 

“Honestly, I have no idea. It was just there when I came down,” Amber said. But Nora was no longer looking at the fire. She had turned to look at her and slowly said, 

“Amber… your eyes…” Nora faltered, still staring. Amber looked at Stiltskin, and saw that he, too, was staring. 

“What?” she finally said to him after a few moments. He looked around jerkily and whispered in her ear, 

“I’ll get a mirror. It’ll explain everythin’.” And with that, he bounded up the stairs, only to return a second later with a very fancy mirror. She looked in the mirror and gasped. Her eyes, usually a brilliant shade of green, were rapidly changing color. It went from blue to lavender to red to yellow… it was too confusing. Keeping count made her head spin. Nora stepped up and said, 

“This happened to me also. The color it lands on is your main power. My main power is water, and my eyes were blue for a couple of hours. But… it’s still neat to watch.”

 “Wouldn’t my main power be fire, because I lit one with magic?” Amber asked, curiously. 

“No, the first thing I did was grow a small beanstalk.” 

She kept looking in the mirror. Was it just her, or were the colors slowing down? It looked as though the glassy blue was coming around a lot. She looked excitedly at Nora, who grinned back. She looked back in the mirror. The colors really were slowing down! Slower… slower… slower… the colors completely stopped. Glassy blue eyes stared back at Amber from the mirror. Stiltskin lowered the mirror. 

“Ice! That’s yer power! A thumpin’ good power, ice is!” He started to talk about the ice powers that he’d heard of, when Nora checked her watch and said, 

“Amber! We’re going to be late!” And she hurtled up the stairs, Amber and Stiltskin following behind her. 

********** 

After five minutes of staring out the window at the beautiful sights, Amber started looking for Nora instead. She kept thinking that they were there, with all of the looming towers and carriages. But nothing exciting had happened yet, other than the fairies that kept flying in through the windows. Amber had never seen one before, so she whipped out her sketchbook and stared intently at one who had landed on the seat and was talking to her in fairy. She knew the difference between girls and boys, and this one, with its long, orange-and-purple-hair, bare feet, and patterned wings, was definitely a girl. She started scribbling a picture of the fairy, who seemed very annoyed that Amber was paying no attention whatsoever. It started talking in what seemed like its impression of English. 

“… you know, you sould wiwy pay attention to me. You hoowmins awe so stwange. I don’t undewstand why I had to come hewe. hmph!” And with that, the fairy dove off into another carriage. Amber tried to see inside the carriage, but she was nowhere to be seen. Instead, something else caught her eye: a blue ear. Amber leapt up in her seat, looking through the window once more, just to make sure it hadn’t been a trick of the light. There! She caught a glimpse of it again. 

“Nora!” she said loudly. A face appeared out the window, but it wasn’t Nora. It was a boy, and by the look of the carriage and his ears, he was headed for the academy, too. He had dark brown hair, brown eyes, and looked as though he had just come off of a roller coaster. 

“Boy, fairies can be annoying. That one was asking me if I had a horse at home, and if so, how tall was it!” he said, obviously glad that the fairy was gone. Amber giggled. The boy looked irritably at her. 

“If you think it’s funny, it’s not. That fairy, that fairy pinched me, and you don’t want to know what a fairy pinching you feels like.” He looked at her sharply. “I’m Oliver. Who’re you?” 

“Amber.”

 Oliver looked at her, then asked, 

“Well, AMBER, why’d you call me… what did you call me?” Amber looked around, suddenly remembering why she was talking to Oliver in the first place. 

“Oh… I was looking for my friend… have you seen her?”

He looked questioningly at her, then looked around too. 

“No, but I have seen a few carriages, I could tell you what they looked like. I have a good memo — ” But he was almost thrown out of the carriage by a bump in the road.

 “Um… Oliver?” Amber asked, because he had disappeared back into the carriage. She waited for a few moments before realizing that Oliver wasn’t coming back out. She slumped in her chair, waiting and waiting and waiting for another looming tower to appear, just to get her hopes up. And finally, another tower did.

Chapter 5

Lenmonoral Academy

It was like no other one she had seen before. It was gold, and had so many towers, she couldn’t have counted them if she went around the castle. There was one tower, leaning just above some of the biggest ones, as if holding its breath, or as if trying to touch the sky. At the top of it, there was a flag, and it showed the academy’s symbol: a blaze of fire, a splash of water, a breath of wind, and a twisting vine. She looked out the window again and saw a crowd, and the biggest crowd she had ever seen. Clumped together, spread out, parents, kids, she could even spot a purple dragon sitting next to a man. But no matter how hard she looked, she couldn’t find Nora. Once, she thought she saw her, but it was only a girl who had red hair too. The front gates caught her eye, and she gasped. They were gold, and two guards in Paddingswood silver stood on either side of it, cautiously surveying the crowd. But that wasn’t what had made her gasp. A woman in an elegant purple cloak and two vines twisting up her legs, which were the same color as her cloak, was chatting with a guard, who looked very attentive. Her hair, streaked with white and quite obviously once a brilliant shade of raven-black, was tied back in a strict bun. Her sharp blue eyes focused only on the guard, boring into him. She looked… somewhat controlled. Leaderly. That was the only thing Amber needed to know before realizing who this was. 

This is the headmistress, she thought, feeling foolish for not realizing it before. The woman looked exactly like what a headmistress should look like. She watched the woman a second longer before walking back into the crowd, although she didn’t know where her legs were leading her. She looked over her shoulder, just in case she could steal another glance at the headmistress, when —

”Ow!” a girl with long blond hair and blue eyes looked angrily at her. “Watch where you’re going!” 

“Sorry,” Amber said, but the girl clearly had a temper. She brushed past her without another word. As the girl walked away, Amber could hear her mutter, 

“Sheesh.”

“Gather up! Gather up, all of the elves who are coming to the academy!” The headmistress was shouting instructions out into the crowd, but when only a small group, including Amber, came up, she raised one hand and lowered it to the crowd. Snake-like vines twisted out of her hand, and out into it, disappearing behind a thick wall of people. Amber didn’t realize what was happening until the outer part of the crowd parted, revealing a somewhat larger group of elves. The headmistress looked to one of the guards and said, 

“Gather up the rest and bring them into the main hall. I will bring this group.” And with another flick of her hand, they were headed inside the castle. They stepped into the gleaming gates to the entrance and found themselves in a sort of brightly lit tunnel, but it wasn’t ordinary firelight. Amber looked at the walls and realized that the light was coming from the wall itself. A blue tinge escaped it, but it seemed to fill up the entire tunnel, flooding it with bright blue light. She looked, amazed, as the walls seemed to shrink inward, and the group suddenly became cramped. But, no matter how cramped they were, the light seemed to entrance them, and they couldn’t look away. Finally, a light came from in front of them, and this light seemed unmagical. They emerged in a room with five long tables, three dazzlingly bright chandeliers swinging from the ceiling, and a stage with ten chairs, in which professors sat. It looked very elegant, and everyone, as far as Amber could see, was trying to eat up every detail. The headmistress turned on her heel to face them, and all eyes turned abruptly towards her. 

“I am professor Ophelia Moontwist. This is MY academy, and therefore, you will not disobey the rules. Now, before the next group comes, I want to know who has done magic. If you have, please step out of the group.” Amber and a few other girls stepped up, and when she realized one of the girls was the girl she had bumped into, she edged a little farther away from her. Professor Moontwist looked at them for a moment, then led them up the stairs to the stage. Once they were up, she asked, 

“Now that I know who has powers, I want to know what your main power is. You!” She pointed to a nervous-looking girl with brown hair that fell over her shoulders and brown eyes. “What is your main power?” 

The girl quivered before saying in a tiny squeak, “M-my main power is c-crystal, but I f-first m-made it rain… ”

 “Good, good, crystal… interesting… and what might your name be?”

 “Juniper Skymist.” 

“All right, Juniper Skymist, you may go back down.” Juniper, looking relieved, walked quickly down the stairs. This time, Professor Moontwist looked sharply at the girl Amber had bumped into. 

“What is YOUR main power?” 

The girl looked up and slowly said, “My main power is earth, but I first made a lightball.”

 “And what is your name?” 

“Cattie Woodland.” 

“Cattie Woodland, you may go back down.” And it went on like that for four other people, until there were only Amber and a girl with curly reddish hair and hazel eyes. Professor Moontwist looked at Amber, then asked, 

“What is your main power?” 

“Ice, but I lit a fire first.”

 “And what is your name?”

 “Amber Flickspell.” 

“Amber Flickspell, you may go.” Dazed, she walked down into the now crowded main hall. She watched the last girl carefully. She looked completely unafraid. In fact, she almost looked more leaderly than Professor Moontwist. She watched as the girl walked down glamorously, and headed towards two other girls, one with long, pale blond hair and green eyes, the other with short brown hair and bright blue eyes. Amber looked around and noticed a girl with short red hair and hazel eyes. Nora flashed her a grin and disappeared back into the crowd. Excitement coursing through her, she began walking around, not knowing what to do or where to go. But a second later, Professor Moontwist called out,

 “Everyone! If you are water, ice, or snow type, sit down at the table in the middle!”

Amber sat down, looking at the others. She noticed Nora once again, and sat down next to her. “What are we doing?” she asked in confusion. 

“I think we’re being seated into our powers. You know, fire, wind, water, earth, and storm. My brother told me all about it. So did my sister. They’re both in their fifth year here.” 

“You have a brother AND a sister?” Amber said in exasperation. 

“Yes, but they’re not here right now. Professor Moontwist is about to give us our dragons!” Nora looked up to the stage, and Amber followed her eyes to see five dragons, two red, one green, one purple, and one shadowy black. And they were all looking, either impatiently or curiously, out into the crowd. She felt a jolt of excitement as one dragon, the purple one, stared right at her as sparks flew from its nostrils. And she felt even more excited as Professor Moontwist started speaking once more. 

“… the next five elves I call are to put on the receiver’s necklace, and look for a path of light towards a dragon. That dragon is to be theirs. Now, these are the elves who are coming up: Raven Nightmoon, Clay Starflight, Destiny Wisterlull, Memory Wisterlull, and Juniper Skymist. Please come up.” Amber sunk back into her seat. So no dragons out of that group were hers. But no matter how much sadness covered her, she couldn’t help watching. She looked up at the stage just in time to see Professor Moontwist pull a stone dangling from a string off of her neck. The stone was five colors, and she wasn’t surprised to see that the colors were blue, black, green, purple, and red. One of the girls, she couldn’t tell who, took the stone and slipped it over her neck. The girl looked at all of the dragons slowly, her eyes landing on one of the red dragons. She walked towards it, arm outstretched. She gasped quietly as the dragon walked up and nuzzled her hand. Professor Moontwist looked at the dragon and said, 

“Destiny Wisterlull, this dragon is now your responsibility. You care for it, and you name it. What is this dragon to be called?” Destiny looked at the dragon for a moment before saying, 

“Fireflick.” 

 “Fireflick, please follow my vine to your room. Destiny, please sit down at your table.” She raised her hand, for the second time that day, and dramatically brought it down with a swish of her hand. A vine crept out of it, twisting its snake-like body in the air, as if it were swimming. Amber watched Fireflick disappear behind the doors, and watched as the next elf was called forward.

And on and on it went, five elves, five dragons. She waited for her name to be called forward, but she waited all the way through the five main powers and she still didn’t have a dragon. The only fairly exciting thing happened during the weather types. They were halfway through, and once the five elves had gone, Professor Moontwist called out, “Cattie Woodland, Oliver Tistlemon, Petra Seashade, Azari Nightflame, and Nora Swirlcox.” Amber glanced at Nora, who looked as though her worst nightmare and best daydream had been squashed together in one moment. 

“Go on, Nora,” she whispered. 

“Oh… okay,” Nora said, sounding as though the air had been taken from her. Amber watched as she walked up the steps like a ghost. She saw the girl with curly reddish hair she had seen earlier, and she saw the girl push past Nora in line. Amber sat straight up, the excitement she had felt only moments earlier replaced by red-hot anger. But all she could do was watch as Nora looked at the other girl with pure hatred. Professor Moontwist looked at the girl and gave her the stone. The girl slipped it over her neck, smirked at Nora, and looked out at the dragons. Two of them were gray with purple claws and bright blue eyes, one was purple with a bright blue splotch on its paw, as if someone had spilled paint on it, one was a misty white, like a fog on a dreary day, and the last one was coal-black with forest green eyes and a purple hurricane-like shape on its tail, which was swerving this way and that, as though antsy to move about. The girl was walking towards the white one, looking it over carefully, but a moment later she swerved around and started walking towards the black one. It looked as though an invisible hand was pushing her towards it, and she stopped abruptly at its sleek, scaly head. Nonetheless, the girl still looked brave, and she tucked her curly hair behind her ear and held out her hand. The dragon looked doubtfully at her for a moment, but when the girl turned her head the other way, it nudged her hand happily. Professor Moontwist looked at the dragon and said, 

“Azari Nightflame, this is a weather night fury. Type: uncommon, main powers: moon, weather, and wind. Now all that is left to do is for you to name him.” The girl, Azari, said almost immediately,

 “Falconshine.” And then professor Moontwist looked at her, said, 

“Tell Falconshine to follow my vine.” Then moved on to Nora as the dragon walked down the steps. Professor Moontwist slipped the necklace off of her neck, yet again — but Azari never took it off, Amber thought. how is that possible? She barely had time to think about it, though, for Nora was looking out at the dragons, looking somewhat dazed. She walked down the line, first to the gray ones, but when nothing happened, she moved on to the misty white one. But after only a few seconds, her head snapped to attention at the purple one. She looked at it, puzzled for a moment, but she slowly started towards it, hand outstretched. The dragon, to Amber’s surprise, bounded up to Nora’s hand like a playful dog. It sniffed her hand all over before pressing its nose on it so hard, she almost fell down! Nora looked at the dragon for a bit, smiled, then muttered something under her breath. Professor Moontwist looked at the dragon, then said, 

“Nora Swirlcox, this is a wind-weather type, and her main powers are weather, wind, and earth. What would you like to name her?” She had barely finished her sentence, however, when Nora blurted out,

“Mistyshade.” 

“Nora, please tell Mistyshade to follow my vine.” And with that, Nora’s dragon had disappeared. It went on and on for what felt like ages until the weathers were over. But, once they were, Professor Moontwist looked out into the crowd and said, 

“Now, we’ll move onto the last section: the rares. These five dragons are almost extinct, but we need five rares every year. So, the next elves I call, come up. Audrey Finswick, Poppy Flowerdust, Luna SilverMoon, Sam Mistfawn, and Amber Flickspell.” 

Amber’s stomach lurched at the sound of her name, but she was slowly pushed to her feet and walked up the steps. The five dragons looked like tropical birds — but there weren’t five dragons. Four dragons stood dramatically, but where the fifth one should be, there was only a lone shadow. She barely had time to ponder, though, before she realized she was first in line. She looked up at the headmistress, trying to hide her terrified feelings. Professor Moontwist looked at her with a glint in her eye and handed Amber the stone. The stone itself felt smooth and cool to the touch, and when she slipped it over her neck, that feeling swept throughout her whole body. She slowly turned to face the dragons, and saw, out of the corner of her eye, something moving in the shadows. She quickly turned, but it was gone. Amber sighed. It was probably just her imagination, anyway. She walked over to examine one of the dragons, and yet again, her eyes snapped back to that same spot. But this time, there was something else there. A golden path that appeared to be made of light was leading towards the shadows, and a pair of blue eyes stared at her from their depths. Amber turned quickly, and saw something that surely hadn’t been there before. The dragon looked nothing like a tropical bird. In fact, it looked more like an ordinary rainbowspike than anything else. It was faded the colors of the rainbow with a silvery-white belly, and on its paw, she could see a gold sun with three stars around it in the same color. Its eyes were a dazzlingly bright blue, and she walked towards it, almost petrified by its stare. The dragon slowly lifted its wings just enough for her to see scattered star scales on the bright blue underside, making it look like the daytime sky, except with stars. Amber wanted to run away screaming, but she held her breath and edged closer, locking eyes with the creature. She held out her hand, and looked away, not wanting to see. She didn’t know what to think of it. Part of her was excited that her dragon was a rare, the other part was disappointed that the rare dragon that she had was plain. She was almost too lost in her thoughts, but she felt a warm, scaly muzzle press against her hand. She gasped quietly. Its scales felt like the cool night air, and she was reminded of home. Amber looked up at Professor Moontwist, who smiled, then said, 

“Amber Flickspell, this dragon is a rainlight fury. Her main powers are weather, ice, water, and light. What would you like to name her?” 

She stood, pondering, not knowing what to name her dragon. She was afraid that she wouldn’t be able to name her, but then Amber thought of the moment when she had touched the dragon, and it came to her. 

“Watertwist,” she said, looking at the sun on her paw.

 “Amber, please tell Watertwist to follow my vine.” Amber looked at her dragon, HER dragon, for a moment, then she stroked Watertwist’s scales and said in a low voice, 

“Watertwist, will you please follow that vine?” She pointed to the still vine, not moving an inch. Watertwist tilted her head, and she stifled a giggle. 

“Go on,” she said, looking into those great big eyes. Watertwist looked at the stairs, then bounded after the vine, which had started rounding the corner. And with that, Amber stepped down, knees shaking, and returned to her table. Nora was there, and she stared, open-mouthed, at her. 

“WHAT…WAS…THAT?!” she asked, looking as though Amber had just destroyed all evil. “Um… what was what?” she asked, looking curiously at her. 

“THAT! You just got a RAINLIGHT FURY! They’re almost extinct!” she said, excitement rising in every syllable. 

“Someone named Autumn Glory found a pack of only about thirty of them a few years ago! They were thought to be extinct, even then! But you got one!” 

She stared at Nora, not knowing what to say.

 “Well… she doesn’t look like a rare dragon, does she? She just looks like an ordinary rainbowspike. She can’t be THAT rare, can she?”

 “Yes, she can be that rare, Amber! I told you, THEY WERE THOUGHT TO BE EXTINCT! And, you got one. You got the type of dragon that was thought to be extinct! And all I got was a wind-weather dragon. At least she’s fully grown. Hey, we get to ride our dragons tomorrow!” Nora suddenly said, as if her jealousy was forgotten.

“I can’t wait. I wonder what it will feel like! Well, it will definitely feel like flying, but I don’t know what flying feels like, so I really hope it’s our first class!” Amber looked at her for a moment, but as she opened her mouth to speak, Professor Moontwist was starting to speak, and the whole room went silent.

“Everyone, before we start the feast, I would like to say a few words. Firstly, after the feast, you will be escorted to your room, and each room has three types of powers. For example, in one room, there is fire, weather, and ice, and in another, there is moon, earth, and crystal. Secondly, in your room, on your bed, you will find your flying outfit, including your flying boots, shirts that can help you turn invisible when your dragon does, and so on. And lastly, next to your flying outfit, you will find your course schedule, and the elves in your room will have the same one. Now, as I have spoken, we shall start the feast!” she waved her hand in the air, and silver goblets appeared. She waved her hand a second time, and silver plates and utensils appeared. And she twirled her hand in the air, and bowls of food appeared, along with food on Amber’s plate. Both she and Nora were utterly baffled. A boy to their right said, 

“First time seeing that? That’s exactly what I looked like when I saw it happen, too.” He nodded to Nora, then looked at Amber. Something about him looked familiar… 

“So, Amber, found out your main power yet?” Then it hit her. 

“THOMAS?” she said, looking at him in bewilderment. 

“Yeah,” Thomas said. “You’d better eat up. Tomorrow you start your lessons.” Nora looked at him the same way Amber had — as if she couldn’t quite place him. 

“Wait… weren’t you the person who dropped Amber off with me?” she asked, still looking curious. 

“Yep, and you’re Nora… Swirlcox? Is that right?” he asked her, a faint smile on his face.

“Yeah… that’s me,” she said quietly, grabbing a spoonful of potatoes. 

“So, as I was saying, Amber, HAVE you found out your power yet?”

“Um… yeah, it’s ice.”

“Oh. That’s what I thought. You have a blue tinge in your eyes.” He looked at her for a 

moment, then looked over his shoulder and said to a boy who looked about their age, 

“Hey, Raven! Come sit next to us!” 

A boy with unusual bright green eyes and very dark brown hair turned around, looked at Thomas, then said,

“You know you have snow power as your main and I have fire. I can’t.” 

“Oh, fine, as you’re the one who NEVER breaks rules, I guess you can stay there,” Thomas said sarcastically, looking hopefully at the boy who was supposedly named Raven. 

“NO, Thomas, I’m staying,” he said firmly, gripping the table. 

“Fine, fine,” Thomas said, and turned back to the girls.

“My little brother. He’s your age, but he’s all ‘never break the rules,’ so he’s no fun.” Nora laughed. 

“How many siblings do you have?” she asked him. 

“Well, we have a six-year-old brother. His name is Julian and then Raven, so that’s two, 

and then there’s Mabel, who already graduated. So, three.” He said all of this quickly, as if it were a speech he wanted to finish. And so it went on like that for a while, Amber and Nora asking him questions, him answering them, until before they knew it, Professor Moontwist was starting to talk again. 

“Everyone, everyone, now that the feast is over, please follow the escort at your table to 

your room. Once in your room, look at your course schedule, get used to being in there, and you should be in bed by 9:30.” Amber looked down the table to see a man in brilliant blue robes that matched his eyes. He was thin and had pale skin and brown hair. She sat up, not quite knowing what was happening, and lined up behind the man. He turned slowly around and started walking towards the exit, just as the other escorts did. With Nora behind her, she started following him down the blue-light path and into a door that blended into the wall. Once opened, Amber could see many other doors with pictures painted on them, like poison ivy or the night sky. They stopped at one showing an ice shard, a blazing fire, and a tornado. The man looked at them and said in a low, frosty voice, 

“Weather types, ice types, and fire types, enter this door.” 

Nora looked excitedly at 

Amber, and whispered, 

“We’re in the same room!” 

“We are?” she asked, puzzled.

“Well, I’m a weather type and you’re an ice type, so, yeah!” 

“Oh, now I get it! Good, at least I’ll know one person in my room.” They walked towards 

the opened door and stepped inside. It was a misty room with walls that were red, glassy blue, or lavender. The room had a hearth, which was flickering cheerfully, and six chairs piled around it — two lavender, two glassy blue, and two red. Over in the other corner was one medium-sized table with six chairs, and a purple carpet on the floor. Behind the table, there was a staircase, leading to what Amber guessed were their beds. She motioned to Nora that they should go check it out, and they hurried up the steps. As soon as they got to the top, they heard voices down below, which probably meant that the other elves had arrived. Amber looked around. It was, as she had suspected, the bedroom. There were twelve beds, four red, four glassy blue, and four lavender. At the side of each bed was a bedside table with a lamp. Nora looked at her and said, 

“I guess I’ll take one of the lavenders, and you take one of the blues.” 

“Yeah… I guess so,” Amber said, looking around. Another purple carpet was on the ground here, too. Nora started towards one of the lavenders, as she had said, and Amber took the bed next to it. She sat down in it and opened her mouth to talk to Nora, but a strange popping sound drowned her out. She looked down at her feet and realized that her suitcase was there, and on her bed lay a light purple, sky blue, turquoise, and pink swirl short-sleeved shirt with holes cut into the arms, blue jeans, and newly polished black flying boots with the Lenmonoral crest on the side. 

I guess I didn’t need to bring my flying boots with me, she thought. Amber looked at 

Nora, and realized that a popping noise had just echoed throughout the room once more. Lying on her friend’s side was a long-sleeved ocean-blue shirt and leggings that, on one leg, faded from neon green to purple, and on the other leg, faded from purple to neon green. And she could also see that Nora, too, had a pair of flying boots, but they were grey, not black. Aside from that, they were exactly the same as hers. The other thing the popping had brought was her suitcase, which, unlike Amber’s, was bulging. She stared at it and stared back at Nora. Nora laughed, and said,

“My parents made me pack a few extra things. They can be overprotective at times. 

Now, let’s go down and see who else is in our room!” And with that, she was off, racing down the stairs at top speed. 

“Wait for me!” Amber half-yelled, her black hair flying behind her like a shadow. When 

they got to the bottom, she counted ten elves, five were boys, and the rest girls. One of the girls she recognized as Destiny Wisterlull, the girl with the dragon named Fireflick. And she didn’t have to ponder if Destiny had a twin, for a girl walked up to Destiny, and she had the same bright, pool-blue eyes, but the other girl had red hair, while Destiny had brown. And she also placed one of the boys as Raven, Thomas’s brother. All of the other elves were complete strangers. Nora, however, seemed to know half the people in the room. She walked over to a blond-haired girl that had hazel eyes and said, 

“Hi, Eva! What’s your main power? Weather, fire, or ice?” 

Eva responded by saying, “My main power? Oh, just Ice.” 

Nora immediately looked at Amber and raised her eyebrows. 

“That’s Amber’s main power, too,” she said, motioning for her to come over. Eva looked 

curiously at her as she started through the small crowd to where they stood. When she got there, Eva said, 

“How old are you?” 

“Twelve,” Amber replied.

“Me too. Weren’t you the one to get the moonlight fury?”

“Yeah… ”

“They’re super rare.” 

“That’s what Nora said, too.” 

Nora looked at them and said, “You should really read an elf’s guide to dragons, Amber, that’s where I get all my facts from. You could get it at the library if you want to.” 

Amber listened intently and was surprised to hear how many things Nora knew.

“There’s a library here?” she asked. 

“Yeah, and greenhouses, and a garden, and obviously classrooms, and a lot of other things. I read about THAT in A History of Lenmonoral and Other Schools. It has a map of the place. It also has a map of Synteloc, that’s one of the other schools, Gistleno, and Echilora. Let’s get up to bed now. I know we only just got down, but I need to unpack all my stuff.” She smiled at Amber and motioned her to go back up. She climbed the stairs, and thought that she, too, should unpack. She unzipped her suitcase and started shaking everything out. She stuffed her patched, dirty flying boots under the bed, and heard a clink on the floor. She looked under and pulled her boots out. Out of the left one fell a small blue box with a note attached to it. It read: it will open when you need it. -Sychlora 

She turned the letter over, but nothing was on the backside. Who was Sychlora, and could Amber open the box? She picked it up and tried, but all that happened was her fingers became very sore. She gave up trying and stuffed both the note and the box under her bed, inside her boots. The next moment, Nora was bursting through the door, and she flopped down on her bed, looking at her suitcase. 

“Well, we’d better unpack.” And so they spent about half an hour putting everything 

away and organizing their bedside table, covering it with their belongings. Amber found many strange things in her suitcase, including dragon treats, which Sebastian had probably stuffed in. Luckily, Nora’s bulging suitcase wasn’t due to dragon treats. She unpacked four books, a writing notebook, and a few things Amber couldn’t figure out what were. One thing looked like a misty white ball with miniature trees, plants, leaves, streams, and a little door that she could just make out. 

“Um… Nora? What is that?” she asked, eying it with curiosity. 

“This? Oh, it’s my min-dwarf habitat. Min-dwarves are just very small animals that dwarves keep. So far I have two owls, a frog, three squirrels, and two woodpeckers. I really want a black cat, though. They’re really rare.”

 Suddenly, realizing what it was, Amber reached inside her own suitcase and pulled out an orb that looked almost identical, except that the fog was icy blue, and Nora’s looked like fall, while hers looked like winter, especially with the icicles hanging off of the trees. She slowly opened the small door, and held out her hand. A tiger no bigger than the palm of her hand stuttered out onto it, looking around. It growled and backed away when it saw Nora, but Amber simply picked it up and put it closer to her fingertips. 

“This is my second tiger, Esi, and my other is named Leku. I also have a fox, Nida, two squirrels, one is Silo and the other is Multo, a calico cat, Tilasa, two ravens, Iloe and Pilcel, a wolf, Xi, a raccoon, Azie, and a black panther, Tisk.”

 Nora stared at her, open-mouthed. 

“WHAT?! How do you have THAT MANY?? I only have eight, and you have eleven!” she said, exasperated.

 “I’ve been collecting for a long time; ever since I was five!” Amber said, laughing. “My dad gave me the ravens, though. We should head back downstairs now. We can finish unpacking later, and plus, I want to meet everyone.” Nora looked like she didn’t want to go back down, but she followed reluctantly as Amber started down the staircase. Amber counted ten elves, five boys and the rest girls. Nora’s reluctant expression changed, however, when she turned to look at a girl with silky blond hair and dark brown eyes. 

“Eva!” she exclaimed, rushing over. Amber looked curiously at the girl, and Nora whispered in her ear, 

“Friend from school. Well, not elf school, but, y’know, school.” She looked disgusted at even the word school, which made Amber stifle laughter. 

“And her name is Eva?” 

“Well, her name is Evida, but everyone calls her Eva or Eve.” Nora stopped behind Eva, and said, 

“Eva! Hi! How are you?”

Eva turned, and a smile appeared on her face. 

“Nora! I didn’t know you were at the academy, too!” 

“Yep, I am. And so is Amber!”

 “Who’s Amb — ” Eva started to say, but she was cut short as she finally noticed Amber standing there. 

“Hi!” she smiled at Eva, and Eva smiled back. 

“Hi… ” But at that point, Nora cut in and said, 

“This is Amber. I rode on the Ottonoski with her, and we went in to pick our carriages together. She got a RAINLIGHT FURY for her dragon, too!” By adding that last part, Amber suddenly felt like she wanted to disappear. Eva stared at her, open-mouthed, not saying anything until she coughed, 

“A RAINLIGHT FURY? Really?” Nora’s smile grew wider with every syllable Eva said. “Yeah, and hers has the mark, too. I saw it.” 

Now it was Amber’s turn to be surprised. 

“What’s the mark?” she asked in confusion. Eva spoke up, and it seemed she had finally regained her voice. 

The mark is a sun mark on the paw of a rainlight fury. Every ten times a rainlight fury is brought to Lenmonoral, the mark appears. It’s supposed to mark a lot of power, and a gigantic, unbreakable bondlight.” 

“And what is bondlight?” Amber asked. 

“It’s the bonding between you and your dragon. The longer you’re together, the harder it is to break. I’ve never actually seen bondlight before, though,” Nora said. 

“C’mon, Eve! You need to see the bedrooms and pick your bed. What is your main power, anyway?” 

She started bouncing excitedly up the stairs as Eva said, 

“Ice.” 

“Hey, that’s Amber’s, too! You can take the ice bed closest to us.” When they reached the top, Amber took her min-dwarf habitat and placed it on her bedside table. 

“I’m done unpacking!” she announced.

 “So am I!” Nora said. “We can help you, Eve!” 

Eva smiled and nudged open her suitcase, which teetered dangerously and then fell to the ground, spilling everything. There wasn’t as much as Nora’s, but it was still a lot, and Amber and Nora spent fifteen minutes unpacking. When they had finally finished, Nora flopped onto her bed, checked her watch, and said, 

“Uh… guys? It’s 9:15, we should get ready for bed.” 

And so they did, and once they were done, Eva started rummaging through her suitcase and pulled out a gold ball, which she placed in her hands and then placed back in the suitcase. She swirled her hand in the air, and a crystal shot out of it, landing next to Amber. 

“How did you do that?” she asked, picking up the crystal.

 “I’ve been practicing,” Eva replied, and they spent the rest of their fifteen minutes watching her performance, and waving to the people who crowded into the room. At 9:30, the man that had brought them to their room came in and told them to go to sleep. So Eva lay back down in her bed, and so did Amber. She didn’t even have time to see if Nora had gone to sleep, because she was in her backyard, in the middle of the night, with a figure raising its hands above her. She braced herself, but all the figure did was pull down its hood, and Amber realized who it was. It was her mother, and it wasn’t. Her eyes were clouded over in a dull, misty, cold grey fog. No pupils, irises, or white. Just grey fog. Amber reached up but drew her hand away quickly. The spot where she had touched had turned into fog and drifted away, only to recollect once her hand was drawn back. Her mother’s eyes narrowed, and she opened her mouth… Amber jumped up, fully awake. Except she wasn’t awake. She had jumped into another dream — and this dream was also a nightmare. 

To be continued…                                               

She Wonders

I wonder what Amelia Earhart saw in the sky to make her want to fly a plane

I wonder the source of  Barack Obama’s courage to change history becoming the first Black male President

I wonder why Clara Spence thought educating girls was important

I wonder if I could have been the pencil writing the words from Lois Lowry’s imagination 

I wonder if Lin Manuel Miranda thought of a woman playing Hamilton

I wonder all of these things but for me…

When I look in the sky my dream is to be a U.S. Supreme Court Judge.

I hope to have enough courage to get over my fear of dogs

I hope to never stop learning

If I was a pen who could continue writing words the world would never get tired of reading  from my spunky imagination… aka Jolie’s Adventures

The Adventures of Miles Black

One evening, Miles Black, the school bully, and his friends were egging houses. “SPLAT!” An egg crunched on Mrs. Blackwell’s window. Then they saw it, just what they’d wanted — a pet store that had a big sign saying “adoption day.” They went inside the store and went to where the bunnies were. They got them out of their cages. They hid them in their sweater pockets and went outside. When nobody was looking, they dropped them down on the ground. Suddenly, a bunny began sniffing. It sniffed all the way to a little boy eating baby carrots. The bunny climbed up the little boy, and the boy was covered in scratches, and bruises, and a broken arm by the time the bunny was done trying to take his carrots. Suddenly, the news spread. They all knew who it could have been, Miles Black and his team. The next evening, when they were ready to start egging houses, Miles said, “I don’t want to.”

“WHAT?” said Billy, the second-best bully.

“Yeah,” Miles replied. “Is there a problem with that?” 

“Whatever, dude, we will egg houses without you.” 

So Miles just went home early. 

“Oh, well, you’re home early,” said Mrs. Black. 

“I didn’t have much to study for, Mom,” Miles said (Miles’ mom didn’t know about the bullying). He ate dinner early and did everything early. He was afraid the bullies would tease him. 

The next morning, he put on his backpack and left. But he turned right around and went back to the house. He forgot he had baseball. When he walked to school, he took the regular route, not the bully route where he and the bullies used to talk about evil plans (egging houses and more stuff). 

“I see you finally stopped egging houses and bullying,” said Patricia Paro, the only smart kid in his class, when he was walking to school. He just pulled the hood of his hoodie on his head and walked away. When he walked into class, something was different today. There was one extra desk. Today, they had a new kid in their class. He looked like a nice kid. At lunch, the new kid asked Miles if he could sit with him. Miles liked him; he seemed like he would be a good friend. He learned his name was Michael and he liked baseball. 

“You know it’s spring, and we could use a new teammate, and don’t be shocked but we need a new name right now. Our name is Joe’s Pizza,” Miles said. 

Really? I mean, really? I didn’t know you liked baseball,” said Michael. 

BBRRRRRIIIIIINNNNNGGGG! The lunch bell rang. Michael and Miles ran back to class.

They started passing notes to each other, and they decided that they would meet at Miles’ house when they went home. It was a long four hours but they went through it. When Miles brought Michael to his house, Mrs. Black, Miles’ mom, was cooking Miles’ favorite food: tacos. And set on the coffee table in front of the couch was a big bowl of chips and guacamole. 

“Mom, meet Michael, my friend, and Michael, meet my mom, Mrs. Black,” said Miles.

“Hi, Mrs. Black,” said Michael shyly. Miles led Michael up the stairs into Miles’ bedroom. Miles’ bedroom was full of posters with baseball stars on them. It had a big, wide window looking out to a tree in his yard. At exactly five o’clock, Michael went home. 

The next day, they were walking to school. Miles saw the bullies. Then suddenly, Miles said, “I may not have told you everything about myself.”

“Okay, so tell me now,” said Michael. 

“I used to be a bully,” Miles blurted out.

WHAT!” replied Michael. For the rest of the day, Miles and Michael didn’t talk until after school when they realized that they were neighbors. 

“Sorry,” said Miles but Michael just walked away. Great, Miles thought. I need to find a new friend again. 

The next morning, Miles walked to school, sat alone at lunch, and his day went by as fast as a snap. When he got home, he found his grandma sitting on the couch. Miles forgot today was the day his grandma was coming over to celebrate Valentine’s Day.

“Oh, Grandma Joan, I forgot you were coming,” said Miles. “And anyway, I have to go upstairs  and make some Valentines for people I don’t even know.” 

“It is alright, and Miles, we are having rice and beans for dinner,” said Miles’ grandma in a nice, soft voice. So Miles went upstairs. After a while, Mrs. Black said,

“Miles, your dad is home. Come say Hi.”

So he went downstairs glumly. 

The next day, after they exchanged Valentine’s cards, Miles looked at one of his cards and it said a bunch of mean stuff but the card wasn’t signed. Then he looked around the room to see people whispering and pointing to Miles. At lunch, Milly Marino asked Miles, “Did you write this note?” 

“No,” he replied.

 “Good, because everyone got one.” 

That day, a lot of people asked him the same. Suddenly, he found who sent the notes.

It was the bullies. Of course. How could he not think of this (he was supposed to be the smart and talented Miles Black! Why else would someone make up a story about him?). That day, right before the class left for home, he asked his teacher if he could say something to the class. He said, “Wait, I know who sent the mean notes!” 

“Yeah, right,” one boy said. 

“The bullies did it, they wrote everyone mean notes including themselves so they wouldn’t be caught,” Miles said. Everyone was quiet for a second, then shouted out, 

“REALLY?!” 

Then the teacher said, “Anyone who helped write the note, step up.”

Miles looked at the bullies with red eyes. He made his hands into fists, and finally, the bullies stepped up and the teacher gave them Saturday detention. That day, when Miles was going home, Billy came and said, “You will get REVENGE.” He just smiled and ran all the way home. He was glad that was over.

My Pet Slime

Once, there was a girl named Piper. She loved, loved, LOVED animals, but she couldn’t have a pet because she was allergic to dogs, cats, guinea pigs, every kind of pet. Her mom wanted to make her feel better, and she knew that Piper loved to make slime, so she took her to the toy store to get a slime-making kit. 

When Piper got home, she opened up the kit and made the slime. Then that night, a fairy came and sprinkled her fairy dust all over Oozie. 

The fairy said, “You’re gonna be a lovely pet to this girl,” and flew away silently, as if to not wake Piper.

When Oozie came alive, he said, “Wow, what a cool place!” and snuggled on Piper’s counter and fell asleep. 

In the morning, Piper found out that her slime had come alive! She decided to name him Oozie because he was oozy. He could also change his shape. He could be flat as a pancake or round as a ball or just his normal shape. 

Piper screamed, “Ahhh!” And Oozie screamed back, 

“Ahhhh!” She ran to her parents’ room. 

“Mommy, daddy, the slime came alive!” Her parents ran into her room, but Oozie wasn’t moving. He was only alive for Piper because he was being shy. 

“Sweetie, it was just your imagination. Come on down for breakfast once you get changed,” her dad said.

Piper started to get ready for breakfast, but as soon as her parents left the room, Oozie came alive again! Piper loved Oozie so much so she put him in her backpack, but he couldn’t breathe. She cut out breathing holes in her backpack. When she came downstairs with her bag, she hoped her parents wouldn’t notice the holes. She dropped some crumbs through the holes. 

At school, she met up with her worst enemy, Claire. Claire was the most popular girl in the class. She has good ideas, but she teased Piper. “Hi, Pipe for my building that’s connected to my bathroom,” she laughed out loud.

“Hi, Claire’s the store.” Life was easier when you agreed with Claire, Piper thought.

Then, at the end of the day, Piper actually made friends with Claire, because Claire was nice to her in geometry and said sorry for calling her Pipe. They became best friends and had a playdate every day after school. Once Oozie got used to Claire coming over, he actually came alive for her, too, and they had many fun adventures. 

The end.

Wicked Witch of the Night

A werewolf haunts a decayed old mansion, the walking dead stalk you in the night. 

The crawling bones, the creaking floors, they make you want to die. A whole world of arachnids live in that big, old house.

 And you won’t escape alive, even if you try. The night was as quiet as a mouse. 

And you did not hear the walking mummy, who was as tall as the sky, but could become as small as a louse.

 But he’s as quiet as a mouse. And that was the end of you. You didn’t experience the walking evil living in the cellar of that house.

 The skeletons are with the ghosts.

 You hear the sound of creaking doors. 

The zombies eat your brains and more. 

The floating ghouls all go to schools, and the pumpkins are alive! 

The evil creature living in that house is none other than the wicked witch of the night! You walked downstairs to the cellar. The pumpkins lit the way. 

The witch ate children like you, and you cannot run away. The moon was full, the man turned into a wolf. The witch was cooking something, in that big, black cauldron of hers. 

She beckoned for you to come closer, and then she locked the doors. You crawled into a corner, like a little mouse. You saw the witch’s wart-filled face,

 She had some claws that were sharp as a mace.

 You could not now win with an ace,

 for you saw the witch’s wart-filled face. Her eyes were glowing red. And they were filled with rage!

 You saw the unfortunate humans that died, whilst trapped in her cage. The whole army of monsters, living in that big old house, cornered you like a little mouse. And then, they pounced!!!

Vacations Everywhere!

Peggy was at home, very sad. She was grounded by her parents because she did not do her homework and couldn’t go out with her friends. She wanted to be at her grandma’s house, but she was too small to go there all by herself and her grandma lived far away. She was at her yard and saw something sparkly in the bushes and found a mirror. 

She looked at the mirror and said, “I wish I was at my grandma‘s house.” The mirror was magic so it took her to her grandma’s house. Peggy didn’t know that the mirror was magic, so she was surprised! She snuck out of the kitchen and surprised her grandma. 

Grandma was sitting and watching T.V., and when Peggy scared her, she looked to the side and asked, “How did you get here?” 

Grandma recognized the mirror and said, “You found my mirror. I left it at your house when I went there. Thanks for finding it.” 

“You are magical?” 

“Yes I am.” 

“What? You are?!” said Peggy, amazed.

Grandma said, “I am a witch. My mom was a witch, too. You are a witch, too. I will teach you how to be a witch, too. But don’t tell anybody. That was my mom’s mirror now it is mine.”

“How is magic real?” asked Peggy. 

“Magic is in our lives,” said Grandma. “First you need to think of the places you want to go and then you appear there. If you want to take a buddy, you have to hold its hand.”

Peggy held her grandma’s hand and they disappeared to Paris. They went to the carousel, rollercoaster, and ate cotton candy. They had so much fun. They went to Spain and went to Portaventura and went on a lot of rides. When Peggy was on a ride, her mom noticed that Peggy was not home and her mom started to get nervous. Peggy’s mom went to the yard and discovered that Peggy had the mirror. Mom got her mirror and went to Grandma’s house, but Mom did not see them. She asked the mirror where to go, and the mirror showed her. She appeared right in front of Peggy. Peggy was surprised.

Mom said to Grandma, “Enough playing with Peggy.” Mom grabbed Peggy’s hand and used a broomstick so that no one could see that they were transporting with mirrors. However, when her mom was about to go, Peggy jumped out of the broomstick and stayed with Grandma. 

So Grandma showed Peggy how to ride a broomstick because Peggy wanted to be a proper witch. “The first thing you need to ride a broomstick is that you need to learn where to sit and where to put your cat. So, your cat goes on the end of the bush and you sit at the front. To make your broomstick go, you need to move your legs up and down and then it will start flying. To turn your broomstick, you need to put your arm where you want to go. To land, you put your broomstick down to the floor, it goes straight, and when you want to stop, you pull it up. And that’s how you ride a broomstick.” 

Peggy went for a try and Peggy twirled, turned, and almost fell out. She screamed, “Get me off this thing!” 

Grandma said, “Stay calm and your broomstick will keep on flying the right way.” 

When Peggy twisted and turned she felt excited, but when she almost fell off she felt scared and nervous because she thought she was going to fall down onto the floor and get really, really hurt! 

Every day after school, Peggy’s mom let her go to Grandma’s only if she did her homework and behaved. Peggy did a very disgusting spell. “What is in this spell?” Peggy wondered as she asked her grandma.

“There is worm poop, worm slime, water, and sunlight,” Grandma told Peggy, putting her fingers together.

“Yuck!” Peggy said, disgusted. 

Peggy got all of the ingredients, mixed them together, put them out in sunlight, and waited for four hours. In those four hours, Peggy lay down, counting all the flowers and grass until she lost count. She counts about 1,400 flowers and 6,045 grasses. 

Peggy asked if her grandma had a pool in her backyard. 

Grandma answered, “Yes.”

Peggy got dressed in her swimsuit and jumped in the steam and the water was like fire. Peggy was really hot because the light of the sun was hard and shining really bright. Peggy sat on the edge of the pool and then stood up and dove in. She almost hit her head on the bottom, and the pool was really deep. It passed the grass. It was under the ground. 

The four hours passed and the potion turned green and icky. Even though the spell had horrible ingredients, it actually smelled like lovely flowers. Peggy brought her potion home and gave it to her little sister, and it turned her little sister into a worm. 

Her mom came in and said, “Why is there a worm in your sister’s room?”

Peggy answered, “I turned my sister into a worm.”

Mom laughed. “I see that you learned a new spell.” 

When Peggy got back to her grandma’s house, she asked, “How do you turn people back into themselves?”

Grandma answered, “Instead of the same spell, you use the opposite. Instead of smelly and disgusting things, you put flowers, grass, perfume, and the last thing is sunlight.”

Peggy mixed the ingreetings together. It took two hours. During the two hours, Peggy went into the pool that was deep. After the two hours, she went home and gave it to her sister. Her sister turned back to herself.

Peggy’s favorite toy was her stuffy. She got it when she was two months old and it was named Soniño. She slept with it. It came with a blanket, and the blanket was named Peludo. It was one of her first stuffies, and if someone took it away from her forever, she wouldn’t be able to sleep. Peggy didn’t like hard homework and tests, but she liked normal homework. Peggy wasn’t allowed to go to her grandma’s house because she had to do her homework. Since her homework was really hard, she didn’t want to!

THE TEST happened on Friday at school. THE TEST was a lot of really hard multiplication, addition, subtraction, and other math things. Peggy’s school was not a magic school. It was a very different school, which was very hard. They sent her homework for Saturday and Sunday, and on Monday-Thursday, they did little tests at home to prepare for Friday. If Peggy did all of THE TEST’s answers wrong, she would go back to second grade. If Peggy did halfway of THE TEST correct, she would stay in third grade. If she got all of the answers in THE TEST, she would be able to go on to fourth grade. Peggy was very scared and nervous to take THE TEST because it was a really big day, and she needed to know her answers.

Peggy was not able to escape from her house because there were lots of booby traps, and if she passed one, a big alarm would sound. The booby traps were for the parents to know when Peggy was escaping because they wanted her to do her homework. Some of the booby traps were on the floor and some were on the ceiling and some were on the wall. The walls were bright white and the ceilings were dark white and the floor had light brown patterns. The booby traps looked like a little ball with something that they sat on so they didn’t roll off. The ones that were on the ceiling and walls had this little sticker, and some walls had magnets that they stuck on. The sound they made sounded like an ambulance and a fire truck and a police car noise all together! The only way that you could pass them was by being invisible, but the problem was that Peggy didn’t have all her ingredients, book of spells, and magic pot since she left them at her grandma’s house.

While Peggy was trying to escape, she went to the kitchen to find some ingredients and see if she had enough. While that was happening, her parents and her family were all in a meeting at her grandma’s house. They talked about how worried they were about THE TEST because Peggy didn’t want to do her homework, and they were so worried that if she didn’t do it, she would fail. They all talked about what Peggy liked most, and they all forgot what it was. They were so worried that they would not figure it out, and that Peggy would escape and not do her test. Her mom went with her magic and went to a spell that said, “To Know Your Daughter’s Favorite Toy.” She mixed up the potion ingredients, and she knew right away that her Soniño and Peludo were just it. 

So, with her magic, she saw that Peggy was in the kitchen trying to find some ingredients for her spell. Her dad took her Soniño and Peludo with his magic, and her mom and dad went right back to their house. They warned Peggy of what would happen if she didn’t do her homework (that they would take Soniño and Peludo from her forever). Peggy got so worried because she could not sleep with Soniño and Peludo missing, so she went straight into her room. She forgot there was an alarm right on her door but her parents weren’t mad because they knew she was going to do her homework since she really loved Soniño and Peludo and that she would do anything to avoid her parents taking them away. 

Peggy was on her desk chair working hard on her homework. Every day, when she woke up, she had breakfast and went to her room to practice math, reading, writing, and social studies. Peggy felt nervous. If she didn’t get all of it right, her mom might be mad at her and make her practice more! 

After lots of days of practicing, the test day arrives. Peggy felt nervous. Very nervous, because she didn’t want to be held back or stay in third grade. The teacher set a timer, so they would do their work. 

The teacher said, “Ready, set, go!”

Peggy remembered all her studying and wrote, wrote, wrote everything. When math was done, she moved to reading. Then she moved to writing, and then to social studies. 

Finally, the test was over. When the teachers went to check her work, Peggy bit her lips and shook her legs. The teachers called in her whole entire family to say her results. Peggy took a deep breath in and calmed herself down. When the teacher said, “Peggy, you can move on to fourth grade,” Peggy was relieved and her family cheered. 

Since Peggy passed, her family thought of throwing a party. So, they went to buy donuts and a congratulations cake. Her friends and grandma and grandpa came to celebrate, too. Peggy got a present from Grandma and Grandpa. It was a card that said, “Congratulations, Peggy! You did great.” Peggy thanked her grandpa and grandma because she really liked the card. She gave them a kiss and a hug. 

Peggy also got a graduation dress and hat. It even said her name. 

At her school, everyone passed, and they had a graduation party. Peggy wore her congratulations dress that her mom and dad bought for her. It even had a tassel and it said the year that she graduated. They took a class picture. Peggy smiled happier than ever. 

Peggy graduated at this very fun play place. It had lots of games and lots of very fun rides. She went on ten rides and played many, many games. When it was time to leave, Peggy helped her teacher clean up the tables and put away the cake. Peggy was really sad to start fourth grade and really happy at the same time. She was sad because she was going to miss her teachers. They were really fun and helpful. She was happy to move to fourth grade because she really worked a lot this year, and she was really happy to find new friends and teachers. 

Her parents bought a house for the summer. It had a pool and it had a lake. They went swimming in the lake and in the pool. They also went paddleboarding in the lake with their paddleboard. Over the summer, they also did a thank-you card for her teachers. 

Peggy found out that two of her friends rented a house right beside hers. One friend was on the right and the other one was on the left. Every day, they invited each other to go to their houses and make a thank-you poster for their teacher. They also opened the pool gates and swam in the pool together with lots of flamingo floaties and surfboards. 

It was the last week of summer, and Peggy brought lots of things, so they started packing. When the day was over, they still had a lot to pack, so every day they packed a little until it was time to go. Peggy said goodbye to her friends and goodbye to her summer house. 

Peggy was happy that school was about to start. But she heard some really sad news that her friends weren’t going to the same school as her. She was going to miss her friends, but her mom and dad said they would always visit them. 

When school started, her teacher’s name was Ella. She found lots of new friends and classmates. But her old friends would always be her best friends forever. Mom and Dad were so proud. So were Grandma and Grandpa, to see Peggy make new friends and have fun. 

Now Peggy was doing her homework every day. She went to her grandma’s house and also learned spells, and got her very own cat. The cat’s name was Chocolate, because her fur was brown and it smelled like chocolate. She was a magic cat with the power to create chocolate any time that Peggy asked her to. Peggy also got her very own broomstick to share with her cat, so her cat could sit on the tail and they could fly home. Peggy also learned many new spells. There was a changing-color spell, a weather spell that was really hard and dangerous (because you were controlling the weather and you never know what type of spell you might create), and also a math spell that helped her concentrate. 

Peggy was talking to her grandma about magic spells, but then Grandma had some horrible, very sad news. 

She said, “I’m dying. I’m very old.”

Peggy was really sad, and she started crying a bit, but Grandma told her that this happens to everyone. Peggy hugged her grandma as tight as she could. Peggy said, crying, “But without you, I can’t learn magic spells!” 

“I know you will!” responded Grandma. “I have to go to the hospital now to see my checkup,” said Grandma, “and you need to go home.” 

So, Peggy took her magic mirror and hopped on her broomstick and took her kitten named Chocolate and they went home. She told the news to her mom and dad, who were super disappointed because they liked Grandma a lot! 

“We know that darling,” said Mom. “Do you want to go visit Grandma?”

“Of course I do!” responded Peggy. 

So Mom, Dad, Sister, and Peggy went out to visit Grandma. They all took out their magic mirror except her sister, she didn’t have one, but she hopped on Peggy’s broomstick and carried her cat Chocolate. They went to the hospital where Grandma was, and Grandpa. Peggy held Grandma’s hand super tight. 

“The checkup is done!” said Grandma. “I’m going home now. Want to come with me?”

“Yes please!” responded Peggy.

So this time, her sister hopped on her Grandma’s broomstick and they all flew to Grandma’s house. Three days later, it was the day before Grandma was about to die, they went to this very cute sprinkle shop called Delicious Sprinkles. They went in and bought a bit of delicious sprinkles. When they got home, they baked a cake with Grandma. Grandma was also a very excellent baker! They baked 100 cupcakes and ten cakes. Imagine ten cakes! When they were done, they sprinkled lots and lots of cute and sparkly sprinkles. Of course, Grandma had to help! When they finished, they popped the cake into the oven and they forgot that they put the sprinkles in. 

“We needed to put the sprinkles after!” said Peggy. 

When the cake was finished, the sprinkles were completely melted! So they added sprinkles again. Grandma took a little bite without any sprinkles. She said, “Melted sprinkles taste delicious all together.” 

Peggy took a little bite. “You’re right!” said Peggy with a mouthful of cake. They saved some for later. 

They got to the hospital to see how Grandma was doing with her last day. 

The doctor said, “She’s doing great.” Peggy gave the doctor a cupcake.
“Why thank you! It tastes delicious.”

“You’re welcome,” said Peggy.

They went back to Grandma’s house and they had a sleepover all together. Before they took Grandma to the secret room, Peggy and Grandma had a very personal goodbye and kissed together. 

Grandma said, “I know you’ll become a great witch.” 

Peggy thought about it, and she said, “I will miss you.”

While they took Grandma to the private room, Peggy discovered the book of spells. The book of spells was something that Grandma left for Peggy. The note said: “From Grandma, To Peggy. This book of spells was mine and now it’s yours so you will become a great witch like me and your family. You can also use it to teach your sister. Love you! – Grandma”

Epilogue

Two months later, Peggy has been leaving flowers every day after her studies and writing notes of what she studies to her grandma. Peggy starts teaching her older sister. Her sister and her get into a bit of a problem. Her sister tries a spell, they hear a rumbling and then they get blocked! What will happen next to Peggy and her sister?

The Robot Who Met a Person

In another world, there was a robot named Emily who really wanted to meet a person but herio mom said she couldn’t. Emily went to her room and started crying, and then she said, “I really, really want to meet a real person. I’m gonna find a way to.” 

She started thinking, she was really into science and she even once said, “Oh, I want to learn about who existed thousands of years before me.” Next, she asked her mom, “Can I look up on your computer what existed thousands of years ago?” The computer said they were called People. After that, she went and looked it up in her book, and the book said that they were really cool. But they didn’t have a picture of the people. So, Emily said, “Oooh, I really, really want to meet a person so I can see what they look like and see what language they speak.” 

Emily wanted to go, so now she was gonna go outside and look all over the city for a person, but when she went home, she started crying again because she could not find a human. Then, she asked her mom if she could look on the internet. Her mom said, “Yes.” 

She went on the internet and looked to see if there was a way to find a human, and it said to go back in time to the 1900s. She thought and then she looked on the internet and looked up how to go back to the 1900s. It said to go to the darkest cave in the land, but first she had to travel to the Robot Island on a robot bird. She did not want to tell her mom because her mom would not let her so she had to sneak out. She started packing up her things then said to her mom she was going to a sleepover with her friend for a week.

Then she said goodbye to her mom and walked out the door, took her car, and drove to robot city airport and looked for the sign that said Robot Island area then she got out of her car and then took out her suitcase from her car then went in to the airport. She bought a ticket using her money that she had saved for just the occasion. Then she took the move (escalator) to the top floor to the waiting room and waited for them to announce that the Robot Island bird was boarding. She waited ten minutes and then they announced it was time for the robots going on the Robot Island bird to board. So she got up and she walked to where the robot captain was and she gave the captain the ticket and she boarded the robot bird. She found her seat and she sat down and started reading her book, and then they announced that it would take five hours to get to Robot Island. 

 The robot bird was flying into the air and Emily looked out the window and everything looked so small. So she watched some TV, the flight attendants gave out some drinks, and Emily watched five movies that were each one hour. Then, she got off the plane, and she saw a bunch of trees and this giant ocean. She looked up in her research book, and it said that this ocean was the biggest ocean in the Robot world. And then, she walked out of the plane and she went to her hotel. It was this round shape and it said, “Robot Island Hotel.” She walked into the hotel, checked in, and the hotel manager gave her the key to her room and then he showed her where her room was. She walked to her room and put all her stuff down, and then went out of her room and her mission just began. She went out of the hotel and took her research book with her and looked for the cave then found it. Then, she sneaked towards the cave, but there were guards standing in the entrance, so she tried to find another entrance from the back but she couldn’t. So she broke open the cave and sneaked in, then tiptoed towards the time machine, but there was a guard standing right in front of the time machine. So she tiptoed a tiny bit closer but the guard saw her and said, “Out!” 

So Emily quickly tiptoed another way and came back, and then he turned around and she tiptoed away so the guard couldn’t see her. She was feeling confident. She thought she probably wouldn’t get to the time machine cause there was a guard right in front of it. So then, she went out of the cave and tried to get to the front of the cave. The guard was looking toward the back of the cave because he was expecting her to come back. So she went out of the cave and went to the front entrance. There were guards. So then she distracted them and said, “Come get this gold rock,” and she threw it and they went to go get it because they thought it was gold. So then she sneaked in and the guard wasn’t looking and she got the time machine.

She put it in her bag and she ran all the way back to the hotel. Now she was so happy she quietly said, “Yes!” She ran to her hotel and waited for the elevator, then she got on the elevator and rode up to the fifth floor and opened her research book and it said to go outside in an open space where no one can see you. So she took her backpack and put her research book into her backpack. She put on her footwear and walked out of the hotel door and waited for the elevator, and then got on the elevator. Now she was very, very, very hungry. She walked out of the hotel and looked for an open space where there was no one. So she looked around a little more and finally, she found a space where she didn’t see anyone and it was very open. So she got out the time machine and said, “I want to go back to the 1900s.” And then, a whirl of wind caught her and she flew back very fast. Finally, she landed. 

It was very different from the robot world when she saw it. All the people looked different. They looked like they had round heads and oval bellies and weird shaped feet and little tiny toes. They were wearing long dresses that went to their ankles. There were also people wearing t-shirts with short sleeves and they had little words on them, but the words were different from robot language words. She also saw shops and saw people walking in and out of the shops. It looked very busy. 

So Emily walked around a little bit. She saw people looking right at her face. Their faces looked confused and weirded out and scared because they never saw anything like it. She was feeling embarrassed and she thought it would take a little bit of time for humans to get used to her, and that meant it would take time for her to get used to the humans so she could really meet the humans. She walked around, then she recognized the writing. It was a little similar to robot language words. She saw a shop that said, “Costume Store,” so she went inside. 

She tried to hide herself so no one could see her. She looked around, then she saw a costume of a teenage girl. “Perfect,” she said, but then she realized she needed money and she would have to sneak out of the costume store. So she tried to hide herself and the teenage girl costume. 

Emily made it out and tried to hide herself when she was putting on the teenage girl costume. Now she wouldn’t be embarrassed because she was wearing the teenage girl costume. 

She started taking a walk and then she saw a park, so she went to the park and ran around a little bit. Then, she saw a hotel and she went into it. She waited in line. When it was her turn, she just thought, Oh, I forgot! I almost forgot. I got a little bit of magic from the time machine and I’ll use that and I’ll tell the time machine that I want money because I don’t have any money. 

So Emily said to the person at the front desk of the hotel, “I’ll just step aside for a second. The next person can go.” So she stepped to the side, stepped out of the hotel, and she ran into an open space in the park. Then, she took out the time machine and she said, “Abracadabra, Time Machine, I need…” And then she looked at the hotel, and it said, “For one hotel room, it’s going to be $25.” So she asked the time machine for $30 just in case. Then, the time machine gave her $30. So then she put it into her pocket and she went back in the hotel and, at the front desk, she paid the money and they showed her where the hotel room was. They gave her the key to her hotel room so she went into the hotel and put down her stuff and started to think about how she would get the humans to like her. Then, she got an idea. 

She would set up a stand that sold pancakes because she learned in a research book that one kind of food that humans loved were pancakes. This book was all about humans, and she brought it with her from Robot World. It was a robot language, which was similar to human English. So she took her bag, and since she had money left, she would buy stuff for the stand. So she saw a store that had supplies, and she gathered all the supplies like a table, and she went to a store called Alex’s Deli and bought pancakes. Then, Emily went to the park, and on the side of the park, she set up the stand. Then people started coming to get them. They said, “How much does it cost?” 

She said, “Ten dollars per pancake.” So they got a pancake and went. After she got 30 customers, she took everything down and cleaned up. She made $300! She was very happy. She had made lots of money and people liked her because she sold them pancakes. They didn’t think she was a robot because she was acting normally and wearing the costume. It was hard for her not to be her normal self, but she wasn’t uncomfortable, because people liked her.

Then, Emily walked back into an open space in the park and said to the time machine, “Time Machine, please take me back to Robot World, right back to the front door of my house with all my luggage.” So the time machine formed a cloud that took her right back to her front door with all her luggage, and she knocked on the door and her mom opened it and said,

“Hello, darling.” It had been less than a week, so she decided to go home early then go unpack her bag. 

Finding the Banana Tree

Chapter 1: Obstacle Course 

There once was a monkey who wanted a banana so he went on an adventure.

On his search for his banana, he discovered an obstacle course. He had to swing vine to vine to go over a pond. So he jumped on the vines until some alligators came. “If you don’t make it through this obstacle course, you’re dinner for us!” 

And now the monkey was scared. So he had to go fast and he had to face his fear. 

The alligators followed him so that if he fell, they could catch him in their mouths. But he got through the obstacle course so the alligators didn’t have anything to eat. 

The next part of the obstacle course was pretty hard. He had to go through a maze but there were cheetahs in it! The monkey had to make sure he didn’t bump into any of them. He just had to try. So he went through the maze and then he bumped into a cheetah. He ran away, but while he was running, he found an exit. But then there was another cheetah! Both of the cheetahs bumped into each other and the monkey got out of the maze. The cheetahs were dizzy and mad that they didn’t get to eat the monkey. 

Then, the monkey had to jump on some hippos without getting eaten. The monkey jumped and he jumped and he jumped until he almost got chomped. He got away with only  a scratch. He finished that obstacle course. He found a banana but it wasn’t a regular banana. it was a golden banana! So he went back home and tried to eat his banana. But when he bit the gold banana, his teeth fell out. He felt sad. And he still felt hungry. 

Chapter 2: A Bad Day

Monkey had a bad day to start off with. He woke up hungry because he didn’t eat anything the day before. He decided to ask for help from his friend, Pete the Parrot. Since Pete could fly, Monkey had a great idea. He’d ask Pete to fly high and search the land for bananas. Monkey started to go to Pete the Parrot’s house. On his way to Pete’s house, he met a lemur who looked sad. Monkey asked the lemur, “Why are you sad?” 

Lemur said because she had no friends. 

Monkey invited her to come with him to Pete the Parrot’s house. Monkey asked the lemur her name.

“My name is Leah, what’s your name?” 

“My name is Miles,” said Monkey. 

They continued walking to Pete’s house. When they arrived at Pete’s house, Pete was outside planting tomatoes. 

Miles told him about not finding any bananas yesterday. He also told him about an obstacle course he discovered and how he was almost eaten by the alligators, cheetahs, and hippos. After surviving the other animals, he had found a golden banana. “I thought the banana was a real banana,” Miles said. “I bit it and my teeth fell out. It was a solid gold banana.”

So Pete agreed to fly over the jungle in search of bananas. After two hours, Pete returned with his findings. Pete said, “I found a tree with a lot of bananas, but it’s going to be dangerous  to get there.”

Miles said, “Fine, I’m not scared, because I’m brave and I want those bananas!” 

Chapter 3: Off to the Tree

So Miles, Leah, and Pete all headed into the jungle but first they took something to protect themselves from the predators. They gathered some sticks and rocks. Miles, Pete, and Leah went on an adventure to the tree. They were walking through the jungle being led by Pete. Pete was flying  ahead and told them to take a big blue palm tree. They got to the palm tree and a panther jumped out. 

The panther said, “This is my land, who are you? What are you doing here?” 

They felt a scared little wiggle in their tummies like butterflies. 

Miles said, “We’re on an adventure to a banana tree of bananas? I’m very hungry, I didn’t eat yesterday. My friend, Pete, found this tree.” 

Panther then said, “Well, if you promise to bring me back some bananas, I will let you go.” 

Miles agreed to the deal and they kept walking on the path to the banana tree. As they kept walking, Pete told them to take a right turn, so they took the right. Pete did not see the pool of snakes waiting in the path. Miles and Leah were freaked out when they saw the poisonous snakes. Leah said, “We have to find a way to get over these snakes.” 

Then Miles said, “We can swing from vine to vine, like I did yesterday during the obstacle course.”

As they swung from vine to vine, the snakes began to spring at them to bite their legs. Pete yelled, “Faster, faster!” 

Miles and Leah yelled back, “We’re trying but it’s so hard with snakes below us!” 

Miles and Leah made it across the snakes. “Whew, we made it.” 

Miles asked Pete, “Are we almost there? I want to eat the bananas, I’m hungry.”

Pete said, “We’re almost there.” 

Chapter 4: See You Again

Pete saw the tree and yelled, “I see the tree!”

Miles and Leah started dancing because they are so happy. Then, the cheetahs popped out and said, “Hello, Miles, nice to see you again.”

Leah said, “Who are these guys?” 

“I met them in the obstacle course I told you about,” said Miles. “They tried to eat me.” 

“Yes,” the cheetah said, “but this time, you will be our dinner.” 

Then the cheetahs yelled, “Attack!”

Pete started to drop rock on the cheetahs, while Miles poked them with the sticks. The cheetahs then fell to the ground and said,

“We surrender, please stop poking us with the sticks, and tell your friend to stop throwing rocks.” 

So Miles, Leah, and Pete stopped their attack. The cheetah moved out of the way and let them pass. 

Chapter 5: Finally

Finally, they arrived at the tree and took as much as they could carry. Miles said, “We can’t forget panther.” 

So they collected bananas for panther, too. After collecting the bananas, they headed home. On their way home, they stopped at a panther’s house and dropped off his bananas. They thanked him for letting them pass his land. Once they got to Miles’ house, they had dinner. Their dinner, of course, was bananas. Then Pete the Parrot said,

“I have to go back home to finish planting my tomatoes.” 

Miles said, “Ok, goodbye, and thanks for showing us where the bananas were.” Miles said to Leah, “If you want to stay here with me, you can.”

Leah said, “Ok, I would love to stay with you.” 

Crazy About Computers

Chapter 1: New Computer

“A new computer!?” shouted Veronica. 

When she found a new computer had been delivered to her dad, she got really excited, even if it wasn’t her computer. Her dad had worked from home, because her mom was the president of the U.S., so she was too busy to take care of Veronica.

“I can’t wait for my new computer,” said Veronica. 

“Really, it’s Daddy’s computer, Veronica,” Veronica’s mom said. “I won’t get you one if you won’t go to school.”

Her extended family was from England, but a month ago, they had moved to America. They had a cat and his name was Strike. Veronica named her cat Strike because a few years ago, when Veronica competed in bowling, her cat helped her win. 

“I need a new computer,” shouted Veronica. “I need it to order my new manicure set because in two weeks there is a birthday party, and I have to look my best!”

Her mom said, “If you want people in your class to like you, you have to go to school, that’s the only way!” 

Veronica got persuaded immediately. “But does that mean you will get me a new computer?” Veronica asked. 

“Yes!” her mom said, annoyed. Since her mom was distracted, she was late for work, as the president. So she got so mad at Veronica, that she said, “For dinner, I can’t cook your favorite pasta, this time. Just make a sandwich for dinner tonight, maybe next week if I have time, I can make the pasta for you, if you don’t distract me.” 

Veronica’s younger brother, Dylan, said, “You are so irresponsible! You are late for everything, again.” Whenever Veronica had arguments, she became late for school. 

Chapter 2: A Day At School

In the morning, Veronica had slept in, so she had eaten on the bus. 

“But Mom could get me an alarm,” she snapped. 

Her mom said, “Now get on the bus, you are not going to get me late again.” 

Veronica got on the bus, and was actually allowed to use her mom’s MetroCard. Veronica did not like school. When she arrived, some other girls whispered about her, and Veronica was pretty sure it was rumors about her and her mom since she was the president’s daughter and the dad was owner of the most famous restaurant. Most other girls in her school were jealous that she was a celebrity and her mom was the president and the other kids’ parents weren’t. They all did not want Veronica to know that they were jealous. Veronica’s teacher was also from England. When school was over, Veronica got to know her classmates better. She was happy. 

“Mom will finally get me a computer! I am so excited! I can do so many other things other than ordering my new manicure set!”

When Veronica got on the school bus, she actually had someone who could talk to her and actually, since that friend was pretty popular, she said that all of the girls on the bus would be able to play a game. Veronica was so excited that she actually had friends because before, she was not invited to any of the games.

Chapter 3: Sick!

Veronica talked about the whole school day to her dad because her mom was nowhere to be seen. “Where is mom?” Veronica asked. 

 “Mom is sick so she is in your room relaxing.” 

“Will I still be able to get my new computer?” Veronica said excitedly. 

“I am sorry, but she is the president, so she needs all the rest she can get so she can get back to work.” 

Veronica asked if her dad could get her a computer, but he was always doing things and didn’t have so much time to just order stuff. “Now to not be bored, how about you play with Dylan for a little while or you can play on your iPad,” said Veronica’s dad. 

Veronica would always choose to play on her iPad because whenever she tried playing with Dylan, he always made excuses, telling her he had to do something else, like make dinner. 

When Veronica was heading to her room, she passed by Dylan and he said, “Did you know that mom is sick?”

“Of course I know because that means I don’t get a computer, even though today on the bus some other girl invited me to play a game with some other friends! But I can’t get a computer because mom is sick,” Veronica aggressively said. 

“Then use mine!” Dylan said. Veronica gasped.

Chapter 4: Dylan’s Computer 

“You have a computer!?” shouted Veronica. 

Then Dylan automatically pulled Veronica over to his room and showed her it on his desk. Veronica was never really allowed in Dylan’s room but today she was allowed. She was super confused that Dylan had a computer because she didn’t know. She became super jealous. She was screaming inside her head. Her hands were in fists. 

“How could Mom not get me a computer, and get Dylan one? It’s not fair.” 

“Mom is sick, and she has so much work to do, until she gets you one, you can use mine. But you have to wipe every key that you touched after every single use. I want it SUPER neat,” Dylan said.

Dylan downloaded all sorts of video games, his screen was covered with them, and he used so much money to buy the games. 

Veronica then threatened to tell on Dylan, but Dylan said, “You can’t use my computer ever again, if you tell on me.” 

Veronica sighed. “I won’t tell if you let me play your games WITHOUT complaining.” 

“I have a perfect streak on all of them, besides, don’t you have a huge test tomorrow? You should study.”

Veronica asked him if she was saying all this to her so that she wouldn’t go on his computer anymore, and so she wouldn’t tell on him, and he nervously laughed and said, “No,” looking at the floor.

Veronica went to her room, and started texting her friends about how unfair it was to not get a computer. She and her friend, Caroline, got in a fight because her friend bragged that she had three new types of computers, and Veronica had none. Veronica got so mad, and her friend texted her not to sit next to her, or play games with her.

Chapter 5: Caroline Ignores For The Day

In the morning, Veronica left the house earlier because she wanted to make up with Caroline, and she knew that her ex-friend came to school super early to exercise at school. Veronica was going to say bye to her dad, and complain that Dylan got a computer and she didn’t. 

“Do you understand that Mom is sick and needs to go back to work soon, so she has to rest? Before, when Dylan got his computer, Mom was not sick, so she ordered one for Dylan. When Mom feels better, I promise she will get you a computer, too. And if you want to go to school, then you have to stop asking questions and eat,” said her dad. 

When Veronica was at her school, she saw Caroline and said, “I really want to make up!” 

“Is it because you just want friends? You are so lonely!” Caroline teased. 

Veronica was now not so sure about being friends with Caroline after all. Now Veronica realized that Caroline was the most popular girl at school for no reason because she was absolutely mean!  

“Caroline, I don’t have a computer because my mom is sick and I think that you know that my mom is the president so she has to rest the most so she can get back to work,” said Veronica.

“What about your dad? I thought you said you have a great dad that cares about you so much. If your dad cares about you so much, then why can’t he order it for you?” Caroline said meanly. Her eyes squinted at Veronica, her hand on her hips. “And anyways, I can’t even believe I am even talking to you? You are so snooty and I think that’s why no one wants to be your friend. I am going to tell everyone in the school to not even try to be your friend because you are not likable.” 

At math, Caroline did not sit next to Veronica. Veronica could not even pay attention in  class. “This is all your fault,” said Veronica to Caroline. 

“Can I have one of the school computers?” Veronica asked the teacher.

“Don’t you have your own to use? And no way you can have one, because we need them for students who don’t have access to computers at home, and besides, we already have a shortage of computers,” Mrs Jones, Veronica’s teacher, said. 

Then Veronica thought of a plan: to sneak into the classroom at midnight and get a computer. She was sure that she would return the computer after she ordered the manicure set, but then she remembered that Caroline told everyone in the class that no one should talk to her. She frowned, but there were other things that were fun that Veronica could do on the computer. She wanted to get back at Caroline, she wanted to play a prank — put a water balloon in Caroline’s locker so that when Caroline opened it in the morning, it would make her wet for being so mean! Hopefully, she wouldn’t get caught! Veronica thought this was the perfect plan.

Chapter 6: The Plan 

She knew her parents were watching TV, and had fallen asleep on the couch. She decided to climb out of her window. She pushed the window open, and it creaked. She climbed onto the roof, swung onto the gutter, and landed on her feet with a thud. First, she went to the water fountain and filled the balloon up with water. There was only one problem, every locker had a code! Caroline would pick something that was very not obvious, Veronica thought. She stomped her foot and didn’t even think about being too noisy. She said to herself, I need to figure out what Caroline’s very secret code is.  But she didn’t need to figure it out! Veronica was overthinking about the plan. When Veronica realized that she did not need to figure out what the code was, she heard some footsteps. Veronica said to herself, I can’t run because it would be too easy to hear the footsteps of me while I am running. Veronica had to think fast but she did not have any time so her only choice was to run! She brought the balloon, and since Veronica took rock climbing classes, she was able to climb out the window in five seconds, and her plan had been a failure.

Chapter 7- Planning Plan B

Dylan always snuck into Veronica’s room at midnight and didn’t see Veronica, so he shouted and Veronica’s parents were all freaked out that Veronica was not in her room sleeping, so when Veronica came back they were so relieved. 

“Where were you? We all were so worried! Why did you even sneak out at night?” Veronica’s mom said. 

“I was just getting my project from school, that I was working on this past week, it’s worth 40 percent of my grade, and is due tomorrow, so I was freaking out!” Veronica lied. 

“You could ask me to drive you, don’t scare me like that again. Next time, just don’t do it in the middle of the night. Okay?” Her mom said relieved, and sighed. 

Then Veronica went back to her room, and was exhausted. I can’t fail to pull the prank, Caroline should get what she deserves, she thought. I’ll wake up super early tomorrow morning to plan this,  Veronica thought to herself. She set her alarm that was technically for Dylan but Veronica stole it from him, for 5:30, and then when it rang, she started immediately planning and looking at the blueprints of the school, so she wouldn’t fail again. 

Chapter 8: New Girl At School

 When Veronica was just done planning the plan, she quickly turned off the lights and hid her plans and snuggled under her covers and fell asleep again. Since Veronica fell asleep again, no one would know that she had woken up at 5:30 to plan. Dylan woke Veronica up and Veronica couldn’t take her mind off her plan that she had planned. Veronica’s dad had made eggs and pancakes, and then Veronica was not late for the school bus, so she did not have to ride the public bus.

Veronica had memorized everyone on her school bus, and then she had realized that there was someone new, she looked pretty shy. All the seats were taken. Caroline and Veronica were living in the same neighborhood, so they took the school bus together. So Veronica could not sit anywhere, but there was one more seat next to Caroline! Caroline refused for Veronica to sit next to her but all of a sudden, the new girl said to Caroline,

“She can sit wherever she wants!”

That new girl, Shelby, was shy, but the master of standing up for others.  Veronica had made friends with Shelby immediately. They sat next to each other at lunch, and since they were starting to become good friends, Veronica told Shelby about the plan. They decided that Shelby would be able to be part of the plan because she helped make it 100% accurate. Shelby would get the computer and Veronica would pull the prank on Caroline.

Chapter 9: Rebels

In after-school, Shelby and Veronica were both in rock climbing class so they chatted about the plan the whole time. 

“So remember, set an alarm or anything to help you remember to wake you up at 12:00. I am using my little brother’s alarm, who is in 3rd grade, because I actually don’t have one. So you got it?” Veronica said. Veronica was a little embarrassed that she told Shelby that she did not have an alarm. 

“I promise that I won’t tell anyone,” Shelby said.  

When it was midnight, the alarm rang loudly and woke Veronica up, Shelby stayed awake until 12:00 because she wanted to make back-up plans. Then exactly at 12:00, both of them went to school and met each other in the corridor. 

“So remember: the computers are in the classroom, so get one, but if you want one too, then you can get one for yourself, and I am going to be pulling the prank on Caroline,” Veronica whispered. 

“Here’s a flashlight for you. I have my own,” Shelby said as she was pulling out the flashlights out of her mini backpack. 

Veronica said, “Well lets hope our plan works. If you hear any footsteps, then hide under the table in the classroom, and I will hide in the other classroom right across from Caroline’s locker. Okay?” 

“Got it,” Shelby said. 

Then Shelby got the computers and Veronica pulled the prank, and it worked! They headed home with the computers and Veronica was super tired and excited that she forgot to hide the computer. So, when Dylan snuck in Veronica’s room while she was sleeping, he spotted the computer from school and was going to immediately tell her parents, but he already woke Veronica up.

 She said, “Go away.” But Dylan already told Veronica’s parents. They looked very confused about the computer. 

“How did you get the computer from school to here?” they said. 

Veronica did not want to tell the truth so she said, “Dylan stole it from the school then did not want to get in trouble so he put it in my room!”   

“Really, you are going to blame me?” said Dylan. 

“Let’s discuss this tomorrow because it is so late,” Veronica’s parents said angrily.

Chapter 10: Caught Red Handed!

It was good that Veronica’s mom was not sick anymore so she always went to work super early, and her dad always just quickly made breakfast and then went back to his room where he worked. So Veronica did not have to talk about the computer. Veronica quickly ate breakfast and hopped on the bus and sat right next to Shelby. 

“I am so excited at the prank,” Shelby whispered. 

Then when they arrived at school, the principal had called them into his office. “I heard, Veronica, that you were Crazy about computers! They were missing this morning, but there last night, when the janitors checked.”

The vice principal said, “Let’s check the security cameras to see who stole them! I mean, they were probably stolen!” 

Veronica gulped, her palms were so sweaty, she had to keep rubbing them on her jeans. Shelby kept glancing nervously between the principal and Veronica. They checked the security cameras to find Veronica and Shelby, both in black hoodies and leggings to blend in. 

The vice principal asked with a harsh tone, “Where are the computers? This is really bad, you can end up a huge fine, and we have to tell your parents!” The Vice Principal exclaimed. “Whether you are the president’s daughter or not, it doesn’t matter!” 

Chapter 11: Making Mistakes 

“We are so sorry!” Shelby said.  

“We just wanted a computer and we will definitely make sure that we will return it by this morning because we know we felt bad!” Veronica said. 

Shelby begged, “Please don’t tell our parents, because we are so sorry!” The principle forgave Veronica and Shelby, but he was still going to tell their parents. 

When Veronica’s dad found out that Veronica had stolen the computers, he was upset but understood why. He said, “You have to be patient because your mom is really busy because she is president and I have to take care of you and work! I can’t even believe that you stole the computers from school! Just because you really want to get a computer, it really does not mean that you can steal it from school with your friend. I will get you a computer some time.” 

“You are going to get me a computer? I am so excited! You are the best dad ever! It’s gotta be perfect,” Veronica said excitedly.

Chapter 12: Getting the Computer

Then Veronica waited and waited, and when her birthday came, she got a new computer! 

“A new computer?! I can’t believe I have a new computer. This is so exciting but I can’t order the manicure set that I was going to order for the birthday party but I can download some games and order other cool things and I will have so much fun! Thank you so much! I love this new computer so much! You are the best parents ever,” said Veronica.

And the prank that Veronica had done was a success. Caroline got all wet when she opened her locker and no one had known that it was Veronica’s fault except Shelby and Veronica. Veronica was so happy because she finally got her new computer!  “YAY!”

The Story of Sunglass Dude & Pengu the Penguin

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 1: LET’S GO!

Chapter 2: Into the Forest

Chapter 3 The Impossible Eating Wall

Chapter 4: Wait, I Have a Great Idea!

Chapter 5: Hurry to the Flight!

Chapter 6: WE GOT THERE, WE’RE GONNA HAVE SUNGLASSES AND A DOG!

———————————————-

Chapter 1: LET’S GO!

Once upon a time, there was a boy named Sunglass Dude and a penguin named Pengu. The penguin and Sunglass Dude were best buds. Anyway, they were about to go on an adventure to go to Hershey Park to get sunglasses for both of them and get a dog.

So they started by getting out of the house and saying, “LET’S GO!”And they were off, with a grapple hook, on their journey walking to their favorite things. 

Chapter 2: Into the Forest 

So then they walked and walked so far that they saw a beautiful forest. The trees were light blue and it was like a miracle. They said, “Whoooooaaaaa!” They were so surprised that they said, “That’s so cool!” They were so happy to go through the forest! They saw birds and squirrels, and even a bald eagle. They played in the forest a lot, and it was the best place to play because the animals were nice to play with. Then they went off to walk off to the unknown, or should I say, the airport. So they went off on the long walk back on their journey. Then they saw a modern mansion. It had a pool and it was shiny and it was so cool! They saw the owner and Pengu, and Sunglass Dude said, “What are you doing in this forest?” 

The owner said, “Well, this is the mage forest, you know that, right?” 

They said, “No.” 

The owner said, “Well, we’re in magic city.” 

They said, “Okay.”

 Between them, they were like, “This is so cool!” 

Pengu and Sunglass Dude said to the owner, “We need to look around the city. Can you show us around?”

 The owner said, “Okay! Come with me!” 

When they were done, Pengu and Sunglass Man asked, “Is there an airport around here?”

The owner said, “Yes. But there is a giant chocolate wall that’s, like, impossible to eat through.” 

Either way they went…

Chapter 3 The Impossible Eating Wall 

… anyway, they went to the wall and started to eat through it. They were eating so long that they needed a rest, so they decided to sleep all day and then they kept eating. Even though they were so tired, they started to climb. But they kept falling on their butts. They said, “Oww!” every single time. Then they went on to keep trying and falling on their butts. 

Sunglass dude said, “I QUIT!” 

Pengu the penguin said, “ME, TOO!” Then they walked away. Suddenly…

Chapter 4: Wait, I Have a Great Idea! 

… Sunglass Dude said, “Wait, I have a great idea! Remember, we have a grapple hook. Let’s grapple over the top of the giant wall!” 

Pengu the penguin said, “Yeah, let’s do it!”

They did it, but they still had a river to cross. They saw the river and it was brown and smelled really good so they started smelling the river again and again. Then finally a person went up and said, “What are you doing?!” 

They said, “Umm nothing. We were about to go to the airport.” 

He said, “Oh okay.”

Pengu and Sunglass Dude got into a boat and began to sail to the airport. While sailing, they saw a bunch of fish, a bunch of swans, two great beard gray herons, and one mythical animal called a kitsune that is so cute and that is a type of fox. Everything was so cool to watch. Then they arrived at the airport. When they got there, they had some money for a ticket so they went and bought their tickets. 

Chapter 5: Hurry to the Flight!

When they got a ticket, first they went to one of the lunch bars because they were hungry. When they started to eat their first bite, they said, “This food is amazing!”

Then they kept eating there so long that they had to hurry to the flight when it was called! They said, “Oh no! We’re about to be late!” 

They both ran so fast that they were able to make it. By the time they got there, they were so tired, they were out of energy! They were so exhausted, that they slept on the plane for four hours. Then they ate some food and it was okay and they were full. They went to the bathroom and after, they were bored that they played some games on the screen in the seat in front of them. Pengu and Sunglass Man played Pac-Man, which made them happy. After they finished playing the virtual game, they were sleepy so they slept again and when the plane landed, they woke up. 

Chapter 6: WE GOT THERE, WE’RE GONNA HAVE SUNGLASSES AND A DOG!

When they got to Hershey Park, they were like, “We GOT HERE YESSSS, LET’S GOOOO!” So then they drove to the city in the car and they went to the bathroom, they were like, “This is so shiny!” They looked all around and got a quick drink. They kept walking and looking everywhere for the dog and sunglasses, and found them! Then they were like, “It’s party time!” So they made a cake and balloons and invited everyone and had fun. That night they played and cuddled with the dog with sunglasses who was very cute.

The end !

Or is it…

Seymour & a Piece of Cheese

I, Seymor, am a little hamster who just really wanted a piece of cheese. Every night, I would sit eating disgusting sunflower seeds. I would daydream about cheese. 

But one day, a little girl came to clean my cage. I just ran out of the cage. The little girl screamed! 

I said, “Talk about loud!” I ran. All that time on my exercise wheels paid off. Buck, her big brother yelled, “get the hamster.” The little girl started throwing traps. Unfortunately, all of the traps went on Buck. Oww, that must have hurt. 

While Buck was pinned down, I ran to the front door to make my escape. At just the right moment, their mom came and opened the door. I ran out at last. I was outside finally. New York is not a safe place for a hamster! I ran, but everyone seemed to hate hamsters. One even caught me. I ran inside the cage, but I saw there was a hole in the cage, so I ran back out. When I was outside again, I ran for the subway. I ran down the steps to the subway and I sniffed cheese, but a person on a bench holding a coffee cup and with a hat on, was eating the cheese. Nooo! 

I ran to the person and I was literally on his lap. He seemed very scared of me, but luckily I got away before he smushed me. I ran up the stairs and I was outside. I used my little hand to swipe the top of my head. Phew, it was sweaty. I ran inside. Gee, it was cold inside. I jumped on this snuggly thing. I snuggled in this thing that was very comfy. 

After an hour, I left the house and I saw a cheese store. I started running like crazy and finally I was in front of the store. Luckily they just opened and the owner of the store had a bright smile on his face. I looked right and left and there was just CHEESE! The owner opened the door AND I RAN IN! I ate EVERY PIECE AND CRUMB OF CHEESE. I spotted a cheese piece on a pedestal. My eyes filled with water and I jumped and ate the piece of cheese. From that day on, I lived the BEST LIFE EVER! 

The End.         

Jenny’s Candy World

CHAPTER ONE: The Cookie Tower 

Once upon a time, there was a teenage girl named Jenny who always wanted to be a princess. Jenny lived in a candy town with her mom and dad. Jenny knew her dreams would never come true so she decided to become a superhero. Her parents would always tell her that no one could just become a princess. She wanted to prove to her parents that she could become a superhero and a princess. 

One morning, when Jenny walked to the Cookie Tower, she saw the cookies slowly falling down. The cookie tower is a cafe where you would usually go to eat cookies. Jenny was worried that there might be people inside the tower. Jenny went inside the tower and saw people trying to make it out the back door. 

Jenny asked the barista, “Are you guys okay?”

“No, the cookie tower started to collapse!” said the barista. 

“Okay, how can I help?” Jenny asked.

“Just make sure that everyone is out of the Cookie Tower by the time it is going to collapse.” 

“Okay, everybody out!” Jenny said. She pushed open the door. 

Everyone wanted to get out of the Cookie Tower. Everyone ran out of the Cookie Tower and watched it collapse. 

The barista said to Jenny, “Milk from the bucket from the construction next door spilled on the Cookie Tower and it caused the Cookie Tower to start to go down and get mushy.” 

Jenny walked over to the construction area and she found the head construction worker. “The Cookie Tower got destroyed. I would like to ask you if you can build it again.” 

“Okay, but it may take a while,” he said.

“Okay, thank you,” said Jenny. 

Everyone thanked Jenny as she walked back for saving their lives. Jenny now felt one step closer to becoming a superhero.  But Jenny also felt one step further from becoming a princess. 

CHAPTER TWO: The Candy Store

Jenny walked over to the candy store to treat herself to some candy. The candy store was next to the old cookie tower. It was made of yellow cotton candy and smelled like pineapple, and you could take a bite as you walked down the street. Jenny realized the candy store was closed. She thought to herself, The candy store is never closed. Jenny felt a little bit upset. She walked over to the candy store owner’s house. It was in a chocolate apartment complex. When it got too hot, the apartment would always melt, so they would have to rebuild it again. And when it rained cotton candy and was humid, it would also collapse from that, too. 

When she got there, she realized that Nina, the candy store owner, was already outside and Jenny asked her,

“Why is the candy store closed?” 

“Because we had to shut down because of bankruptcy.” 

Jenny asked Nina how much was needed. 

She told Jenny 109k. 

“That’s a lot of money.” 

“I know, but I have to get it.” 

“How?” Nina asked. 

“I will loan you some money, and then when you get enough, you can pay me back.” 

Nina started to jump for joy. “Thanks, Jenny, you can get whatever you want in the store for free. Thanks. Wait, but how do you have all that money?” 

“I used to work for the richest man in Candy Town,” Jenny said.

From this, she thought she was going to give up being a princess because a princess got help and didn’t really help other people. She was just going to become a superhero.  

CHAPTER THREE: The Parents Talk  

Before coming back from Nina’s house, Jenny was craving chocolate from the yummy chocolate roads. Now Jenny was ready to start her walk back home. When Jenny got home, she called her parents downstairs

 “Mom, Dad!” called Jenny. “I have some great news,” said Jenny.

“What?” said her parents.

“I am a superhero!”  Jenny said.

“That’s nonsense,” said her parents.

“NO, IT’S NOT!” Jenny said as she stormed into her room. I am moving, Jenny thought to herself. Jenny started packing up as she listened to music. As Jenny walked down the stairs, of course her parents were not even home. She caught a gummy taxi all the way to the other side of Candy Town! When Jenny arrived at the new apartment, it smelled like a yummy s’more. It got late, so Jenny unpacked and got to bed. 

The next day, Jenny thought to herself when she woke up that she was feeling more like an adult. She had to go to the supermarket to get food for her brand new house. She walked to the store and everything was a gummy or a type of candy food, like her favorite vegetable was broccoli ice cream. After she bought herself some food, she was on her way back to her new house. When she got there, she realized she needed furniture. She called the candy store to ask if she could take some old furniture for free. Nina said yes. Jenny had this one chair in mind; it was a gummy bear chair. When you took a bite, it grew back to being a gummy bear chair. She picked up her chair and went back home. But when she got there, her parents were waiting for her at the new apartment.

CHAPTER FOUR: Jenny’s Way 

Jenny didn’t say anything when she saw her parents, she just walked back up to her new apartment. 

“Wait up!” Jenny’s parents said. 

“No, I am done with you guys, you were never there for me, but I will be able to be there for myself and take care of myself like the family I never had!” Jenny said. 

Jenny walked up to go inside her apartment so she could put her new chair down. Jenny’s parents were forced to leave because they were not a resident of Candy Town. 

Nina called Jenny’s candy phone. “Hey, Jenny!” says Nina. 

“Hi,” said Jenny.

“Is it ok if I come over to help you today?” 

“Yeah,” said Jenny. She hung up the phone. When Jenny got off the phone with Nina, she began to burst into tears. She was so torn apart about everything. Jenny went to text Nina and tell her not to come. Nina did not reply.

Jenny went to sleep and she slept for days and days and days and days and days. When Jenny woke up, she finally realized that she needed to be her own superhero, who fought for herself and who was powerful no matter what. After that day, Jenny was never down anymore!

Audrey and the Guardians of the Wall

 Chapter 1 – Getting Home

Once upon a time there lived a unicorn Audry. She was trapped in a land and the name of it was Earth. Her home was in Unicornland which was in the clouds. She wanted to get home, but the only problem was that there was a big wall that separated the two worlds. And there were a lot of guards that guarded the wall. 

One beautiful, sunny day, she went out and she decided to try to fly over the wall, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t jump over the wall or fly over it. But then she spotted a small window that was in the middle of the wall. She thought if she shrank to half her size, she could fly through it, but she didn’t. 

Then, many days passed and she was really frustrated. But then she thought that she could shrink herself to a fourth of her real size. When she did it, she should have been able to fly through, but her wings were too big. 

Then she was sitting outside when she remembered something. When she was shrinking herself, she forgot to shrink her wings. She shrank them, and she thought she could fly through. But she couldn’t, because her wings could only shrink to half of their size, not a fourth. 

So the next day, she was sitting outside and thinking of new ideas and how she could go back to her home. Then, an idea struck her. She thought that she could take out the bricks and make the hole wider so she could fly through. But there were three guards guarding it. 

One was so tired from all the work that he retired. But two of them were still standing there and they saw the unicorn trying to take out the bricks. They immediately took their staff and then the unicorn didn’t know what to do. And it was getting dark, so she went back to sleep. 

The next day, the unicorn thought that if she could put a sleeping spell on them, she could take out more bricks. She did that for the following couple of days. She did that but she only took out a couple blocks in a day. So she only took out half the bricks she needed to fly through it. Then, the guards woke up, and their hands were slippery and so they couldn’t hold the staff very well. So the unicorn took their staffs and so they ran away. They were too scared. 

The unicorn started taking out the blocks very easily. She took out another fourth of the blocks and only had another fourth to take out, but then a whole army of guards came, and then the unicorn put a sleeping spell on every single one except one, and then she took his staff away, which was the sharpest, and then she took out all of the bricks and could finally go home. When she got home, everyone was so happy to see her and she was so happy to be home. 

And then she built tons of layers on the wall so none of the guards could put a spell on any of the unicorns or hurt them ever again.

Chapter 2 – Back home 

But the unicorn never knew that there was a whole other island where they made those staffs so then the guards started making the same tiny hole. And then, when they made it, Audry and all the other unicorns thought they were trying to have some fun making windows. But they didn’t know that the guards were trying to get Audry the unicorn back. 

So then the guards had a special potion to make her come back to Earth. But the guards never knew that when she got back, she was training, so now anywhere she went, she had her powers, and not only flying. So it would be much harder for the guards to get her back. 

Then, when the guards finally got her back, they closed the window with magic bricks. But they didn’t know that the unicorn had all the powers now, so she could just break the bricks. But now that they knew she had trained, when they found out about it, they made a whole row of guards standing on each other’s heads so the unicorn wouldn’t be able to make a hole. But then the unicorn remembered that she could make herself and her wings bigger, almost fifty times. So she did that and flew to the top and started waving her wings. And the soldiers on the other row of soldier’s heads started wiggling and fell and got hurt so they ran away.

Then the unicorn started breaking the wall, but Audrey never knew that the staff had a special power. So when Audrey touched her wing with the staff, it took away some of her powers and was much slower than she had expected it to be. The guards were fully recovered when Audrey finished, so when the guards were fully recovered, they went back to action. 

But they didn’t know that Audrey’s powers had healed, too. So she quickly took out the last few bricks of the wall and flew through it. When she was finally back home, she closed the wall for good and put a magic potion that made soldiers not be able to open the wall again so the unicorns were back together and didn’t have to worry about anything else.      

Chapter 3 – A Black Hole                                        

 

One beautiful day in Unicornland, Audry found out that people from Unicornland were falling into a black hole. Audry went on her computer to try to find how to close the hole. But no matter how long she tried, she couldn’t find answers. Audry got closer. Then she fell into it.  Audy fainted on the way down. When she woke up, the same two guards were holding her. They told her if she came back to Earth, they would leave Unicornland alone. She said yes. 

Chapter 4 – A Secret Escape   

At night, when all the guards were asleep, Audry started breaking the wall. She flew through. When she got back, all the unicorns flew to a different land and they lived happily ever after.                

The end          

A Bedtime Story

“Misty!” Cathy called. “I need you to read me a bedtime story!”

As soon as she heard this, 13-year-old Misty came racing up the stairs.

“What kind of story do you want to hear, sis?” Misty breathlessly responded after she dashed to Cathy’s room.


“I wanna hear a story about a tiger!” Cathy screamed.

“Ok, ok,” Misty said. “Once upon a time, there was a tiger named Splash. Splash wasn’t an ordinary tiger. He had a big imagination, so he decided that he wanted to write a story. He got the idea from watching people write and draw all day at the zoo.


“The next morning, Splash woke up, jumped up and down on the other tigers, and told them all about his wanting to write a story. They all just laughed and said stuff like, ‘You can’t write a story; you’re just a puny tiger, Splash!’ This was true – Splash was just a baby tiger with a dream, but Splash didn’t get discouraged. Instead he decided to work harder.


“At snack time, Splash usually did what he liked the most in the world, and that was splashing in the water. That was also how he got his name, Splash. All of the other tigers were eating and bragging about how long they could stay on their hind legs. Splash had something more important to do with his time. More important than splashing in the water. He decided to start his first book. He needed pencil and paper first, so when the people started coming, he stole their pencils, drawings and their paper when they weren’t looking.


“At noon, after Splash got everything he needed, he wanted to think about what his book was gonna be about. When he started to jot down some notes, he realized something awful — he can’t write! Splash spent the rest of the sobbing and listening to the others laugh and play.


“The next week, Splash saw someone walking up to the shelter. It was a little girl wearing braids and holding a small teddy bear. She went and asked the guy, Phil, who fed the tigers, ‘Are the tigers for sale?’


“She had a sweet little voice, but Phil laughed and dismissed her. Splash whined to let her know that he cared.

“The next few weeks, she kept on coming and she kept Splash company. Of course, the other tigers laughed all day. It turned out that she and her family owned a zoo. It almost seemed like she could understand Splash and all the other animals in the zoo. She was so supportive of the animals and Splash loved her. He wanted to go to her zoo with more friendly tigers and live with her forever. After a while, he knew her name: Dorothy.


“One day, Dorothy didn’t come. Splash and the animals who actually cared became worried. They didn’t have their usual spark. They didn’t eat for two days and grew very weak.


“They didn’t see Dorothy for the rest of the year and they spent it crying. It was hard for them, not seeing Dorothy and all. They didn’t get why she suddenly left. They thought they would never see each other again.


“In a year, Dorothy came and Splash was mad. She didn’t come with the braids she used to wear. She came with jeans, long hair, and a shirt. She looked so different. She was talking to her friends. She acted like she didn’t know any of the animals there; it was hard to watch.


“The other Tigers made fun of Splash, they said, ‘We knew she was never gonna remember you, never!’


“At midnight, Splash rolled onto something. It was something special; Splash could feel it in his small tiger bones. It was numbers, 2001, N Clark St, Chicago IL.


“Splash felt it meant something and he wanted to go there. Wait; there was something else on the address.


“It said, ‘To: Splash, From: Dorothy; I am sorry that I left and didn’t say hi today. I left because my parents divorced and I was forced to live with my dad in Indiana. That address is for my zoo. I will talk to you tomorrow, bye!’


“Splash felt like singing, but he fell asleep right away. All that reading must have made him tired. He was snoring all night. Now the other animals couldn’t sleep!


“The next morning, Dorothy came back. She walked right up to Phil and said, ‘I’ll give you 1,000 bucks for this whole zoo.’


“‘Lots o’ money!’ he thought with a sly grin, ‘We’ll take it.’ he responded, ‘Bwah-ha ha! We will use the money for the zoo!’


“After he had realized that he just sold the zoo so he couldn’t use the money, he yelled, ‘YOU TRICKED ME!!!’ Splash was worried, so he ran out of the zoo and went to Dorothy’s zoo. When he got there the sign read ‘2001, Lincoln Park Zoo.’ Splash ran in and went to the other animals. The tigers seemed nice, the giraffes were magnificent, the lobsters were nicer than he expected, and the kangaroos were awesome.


“Dorothy came after a while and said, ‘Splash! I got the zoo and they are going to rebuild it here! I am so happy you came because I brought the whole crew.’ She showed Splash every single animal from the zoo except the tigers.


“‘I know what you’re thinking,’ Dorothy continued. ‘Where are the tigers? They are in a special place for ‘Horrible Tigers.’


“Splash liked this idea. He nodded his head.


“‘Well, let’s get this party started!’ Dorothy said.


“They partied all night and played Splash’s favorite musi — ”


“ZZZZZZZZZ!” Cathy was asleep. Misty slowly tucked her into bed and went to her room.

“MOM! I need you to tell me a bedtime story!”

The Fairytale Portal

I looked into the deep lake. I s’pose you could call it a pond. That pond had been there for years, and when a drought occurred, we were afraid it would dry up.

Are you wondering why a retired police officer cares about this lil ol’ pond? It’s simply just very dear to me, my wife, the villagers, an’ probably the inhabitants. It’s dear to me and my wife, ‘cause that’s where I proposed. It’s dear to the village ‘cause it saved them from the drought. Oh, you’re wondering how? It  just seemed that someone “popped out of the pond.” Not literally, but that gentleman said so. It might as well be true, ‘cause he came in the middle of the night all soaked. Sure gave me a fright! And he carried a bucket of “Magical” water. None of us really believed him, thought he might be a little wonky in the head. But it sure did the trick! Rather odd if I do say so myself, for he was wearing a crown and said he was “Arthur.” Never saw him again, the little lass.

Anyways – back to the pond. The pond is a symbol in this town. It has overcome the impossible, brought attractions, and it’s very pretty. Sorta mesmerizing. You look and you see a million people’s dreams come true, just floating in the pond. ‘Course, after you snap out of it, you feel like you’re enlightened. That’s probably why me an’ my wife stare at it in the evening. It’s lovely in the evening.

You said… it might be a – portal?!

You’re kidd- Wait. Arthur, magical, overcame the impossible, mesmerizing – it all clicks…

That was the moment I realized that the pond might be a… portal.

Kate and Olivia’s Adventure

Chapter 1: The Treasure Map

Kate is a cat. One morning as usual she was eating pizza for breakfast with her BFF Olivia the lion while telling each other jokes.

“What did the door say to the other door?” said Kate.

“….Oh I know!” said Olivia “I a-door you.” 

“No,” said Kate, “I don’t door talk to you again!”

“Ha ha ha ha,” they all laughed! When she went back to the box, the pizza came in. She found no pizza, but she found a treasure map. 

“Look, look!” Kate said. “I found a treasure map in the pizza delivery box!”                                                                                                                    

Chapter 2: The A.E.

Olivia came running over! 

“Look there is a treasure,” said Kate. “It is called the A.E!!!!?????” 

“It’s a phrase,” said Olivia, “it means the Adventures Eye so that’s what the treasure is called!?!”

 “Let’s find the treasure.” They both said.

“Let’s each pack a bag, grab some food, grab a sword, a whole lot of water, and a notebook!” said Olivia.

“I’ll grab some food, some stuff for us to drink, a tent, and a knife!!” said Kate.

Chapter 3: the Adventure Begins

“Let’s follow the treasure map,” said Olivia.

They followed the map to an old hollow tree. 

“It says ‘Go in the door carved in the hollow tree,'” said Kate.

They opened the door carved in the hollow tree and then it slammed behind them! Inside the hollow tree was a house with a piece of armor and a table with a puzzle on it, and that puzzle was missing one piece!?! On top of the puzzle was a paper with a riddle on it. It said, “I feel heavy, I also feel empty, I never feel fear, but I always feel alone and if I move, blood may spill?!?” They looked around. They looked & looked. Until…

“I got it,” they both said, “in the armor!!!!”

They looked in the armor and they found the last puzzle piece. It was glued to the armor so it took them a long time to get it off and they scratched and they scratched. It finally fell on the floor and when they picked it up they put the last piece in the puzzle and then they appeared on a frosty island.

Chapter 4: The Undersea Monster

“What a great island!” Olivia said! “Why do you look nervous?”

“Be- be- be- be- because they are on an iceberg in the middle of an o- o- ocean!!! The map says they have to go in the water!!” said Kate

 “Luckily I brought scuba diving clothes for us.” said Olivia. “Oh no,” Olivia said, “our scuba diving clothes are frozen!”

“…let’s rub our scuba diving clothes on our backpacks!” said Kate.

“Great, that worked!” said Olivia.

They put theor scuba diving clothes on. They dived into the water and followed the map to an old shell house. Then a sea monster came out of the shadows!! 

“Cool, a sea monster on our adventure!” said Olivia.

He said, “My name is Bob. Are you in search of A.E?!?” 

“Yes!” they both said.

“You have to make an agreement with me to get past me. I am a guardian of the A.E!!!” said Bob.

Chapter 5: The Agreement 

“How about we give you a knife and we pass you?” said Kate!!! 

“Nooooo!” said Bob.

“Why?” said Kate.

“I’m not gonna use it, because I don’t like to chop up food and I don’t like to use it as a weapon.” 

“How about a supply of food?” said Olivia. 

“Noooo,” said Bob. “I don’t eat your kind of food. I would prefer to eat seaweed or sting rays!”

“How about two backpacks?” said Kate. 

“Nooooooooooo,” said Bob again. “You give me the map and you may pass me!”

“Is there anything else we can give you?” they both said. 

“No!” said Bob. “Give me the map because I am a guardian and I don’t want to let any outsiders get past me.” 

“All right, let’s give him the map. Here you go,” said Olivia.

They swam around the sea monster for years. Finally, they gave him the map, but it was stuck to Olivia‘s hand.

“Alright, you may pass anyway!” said Bob. “You can’t even use the map because it’s stuck to your hand!”

 When they passed the seamonster they landed in a picture. Kate and Olivia were stuck in a picture frame, but in the picture Olivia was holding the map. They were very nervous that they wouldn’t get out of the picture frame.

Chapter 6: The Puzzle

They looked around the picture. All they saw were four levers. 

“Hm…”

They both looked around. 

“… We have to pull the four levers!” Olivia said.

“Genius” said Kate.

They each pulled two levers. Nothing happened! Nothing happened for one hour. They looked around and the only thing they could think of to get out of the picture was going into the house inside the picture. They went into the house and inside was house furniture and a paintbrush. They picked up the paintbrush and they painted a really big hammer! Everything they painted came to life. Then, they painted a really big car and wooden cart (to carry the hammer so they wouldn’t have to carry it all the way to the front) and then a string. 

They tied the cart to the car and they pushed the hammer inside the cart and then they got into the car and drove to the front of the painting. They picked up the hammer and they smashed the glass of the painting frame for five weeks. Then they landed in front of a castle.

Chapter 7: The Fight 

“The treasure map says we have to fight?” said Olivia.

“You mean fight the two knights in front of us?” asked Kate.

“YES!” answered Olivia. 

They grabbed their swords from their backpacks!!!

“W….w…well…wh…wh…what……a…a…..are….w..w…we…..wait……wait…..

waiting……..f……f…..for,” they both shrugged. 

Olivia and Kate worried they were going to die because they were against two knights!

The knights and Kate and Olivia were all very nervous so the Knights said, “We are very nervous because you are cats, and cats can scratch you and pounce on you!” 

“So,” said Olivia and Kate, “maybe we could make an agreement and trade

things and we can get past you.”
“How about we give you a javelin and you give us your backpacks and everything you have!” said the knights.

They both said, “Ok, yes we will give you our backpacks and everything we have except for the map!”

The knights agreed. They traded the things and followed the map.

“The map says we have to walk into the castle and find the treasure!” they both said in relief.

Chapter 8: The Scepter

They followed the map to an old room.

The treasure should be here!” said Olivia. 

“But where is it?” said Kate 

“It says there are traps?” said Olivia.

They trained for one year so they could get past the traps! While they were practicing, the traps were shooting at them. Suddenly a bow and arrow shot out at them. They dodged it. They dodged and ducked and did cartwheels and made it past the traps. They had to get past the traps while they were still practicing. It took them one year to finish. Finally, they saw the treasure chest.

They tried lifting the treasure chest’s lid but they couldn’t open it, so they used the javelins that they had traded with the knights. They opened it and inside was a scepter!

“WWOOWW,” they both said. 

At the end of the scepter it had a glowing stone on the top!!!

To be continued …

Escape From the Mall

Once, there was a lipstick whose name was Magenta. She lived in the makeup store in the mall. People were smothering her guts on their lips! That was how her parents died. One day, Magenta decided to escape because she knew soon a person would buy her and that would be dangerous, one time a person almost bought her. She planned her escape at night so no people would see her but there was one obstacle, there was a night guard, and his dog and cat. It was a big problem!!!

The mall soon opened and filled with busy shoppers and people smothered the lipsticks’ guts on their lips. Every time this happened, Magenta thought to herself, Oww! 

Hours passed and finally the shoppers left, the mall closed, and the night guard came in with his pets, the dog and cat. Magenta was too small to see where to go to reach the exit, then she had an idea, she took the springs of an empty blush container and attached them to her feet. “Boing, Boing” went the springs when she jumped. The night guard heard the noise and Magenta quickly dropped the springs and closed her lid, the night guard looked at Magenta then the springs. “Those springs must’ve fallen off that blush container,” he said. He walked away muttering to himself, “This place is old.” 

Magenta attached small bits of tissue to the end of the springs, so the springs would not make noise. How am I going to get out of the mall? Magenta thought to herself, then jumped to the top of the shelf. She took the empty blush container and threw it on the sleeping dog. The dog woke up and started for the door, and the night guard started chasing the dog. Magenta took a mighty leap and landed on the night watcher’s head!!! The night guard was too busy chasing the dog, so he didn’t notice Magenta. Soon, Magenta worried that the night watcher would notice her, so she jumped off the night watcher’s head and ran into the arts and crafts store, but she didn’t know that the cat was in the shop. When Magenta saw the cat, she immediately jumped to the top of a shelf and thought to herself, Cats can climb so the cat can get me. Then she had a plan, she took a red, glow in the dark, cherry-scented, no smears marker, drew a perfectly round, red dot on the shelf, and cooed, “Here kitty kitty.” The cat climbed up the shelf and when the cat saw the dot, she kept pouncing the dot because she thought it was a laser. When the cat was distracted, Magenta jumped off the shelf and disguised herself as a mouse, ran out of the store, and headed for the door. Then the night guard turned around and shouted,

“Mouse!!!” and started chasing Magenta! Magenta ran as fast as her little legs could carry her, when she reached the door it was closed. Dead end. Then she ran to the tool store and pushed a hammer that was near the window with all her might. The hammer broke the window and before she could jump out, the night guard grabbed the tail of the disguise. “Got you,” he said. Magenta held onto the window ledge tightly. Magenta grabbed a needle, let go of the window ledge with one hand, and threw the gleaming sharp needle at the night watcher’s eye. “Oww!!!” he shouted. He cupped his hands around his eye. When Magenta’s disguise tail was free, she leaped out of the window. She did it! No people would smother their guts on her lips! She would explore the world.                                    

The End 💄                                                                             

Potato Land Book One: Humans Try to Take Over Potato Land But One Awesome Team Will Stop the Humans!

Chapter 1: Evacuate!

“Ring, Ring!” The lunch bell rang and all the students of the Potato School filed together inside the cafeteria to eat lunch. William, a young potato child, sat down on a table to eat his yummy ham and cheese sandwich. Shortly after he took his second bite out of his sandwich, he heard a “THUMP, THUMP, THUMP.” The ground shook fiercely. 

“Oh my!” a potato child exclaimed. 

“What is happening?” another said. And all the potato children ran outside their school and saw huge pieces of floppy laces with what looked like shoes attached to them. (The potatoes themselves usually just wore t-shirts and shorts.) Then they saw humans! William felt very scared at the moment. He shivered.  

“Ahhhhhhh!!!” Everybody screamed including the humans because they were so surprised to see talking potatoes. So all the potato children and potato teachers went to the evacuation center and pressed a big red button that set an alarm off to every building in Potato Land. Every Potato Land citizen knew exactly what it meant. They all went to an underground hole and sat there. 

Chapter 2: William Barely Escapes the Hands of a Human!

For days and days they sat in that big hole. Until one day brave William thought to himself, we can’t just hide here forever, someone has to stop the humans from destroying our land! So William carefully climbed out of the emergency hole and went out to stop the humans! 

“William?” his parents called out. Where are you?” 

“Oh no. I guess he went exploring again,” his mom said. His parents were used to him getting lost. 

“Oooh, what is this?” A human had come to William and had been licking his lips. 

“Ahhhh!” screamed William. He slowly looked up and saw a human looking down hungrily at him. “Please don’t eat me,” whimpered William, his braveness fading. 

“What else do you think I will do?” boomed the human. “Not eat you? Ha ha ha!” 

William scrambled up to the top of a building barely escaping the hands of a big scary human. 

Chapter 3: William Creates a Team!

He went back to the hole and thought about going outside again to fight the humans but he realized that he would need a team. As he climbed back into the hole, his parents rushed over to him. 

“What were you thinking, William?!” cried William’s dad. 

“We were so worried about you!” said his mom while hugging him tightly. 

“I was trying to save Potato Land. Our land! But I will need a team to fight the humans and to keep them from eating us,” said William. 

So William went to find some people to join his team. First, he went to find his friends, but when he found them they were so cowardly that they wouldn’t even come out to see him. So then William went to find some random people in the deep dark hole who were brave and adventurous to join his team. At last he found four other potato children who volunteered to help fight the big, bad humans! There were two girls and two boys. 

“Hello everyone.” William said. “Thank you for coming and joining my team! I am very grateful for that. Shall we call ourselves The Brave?” Everybody nodded in agreement. “Then great! Let’s go!” The Brave set off into the dark night trying to wake the humans from their sleep.

Chapter 4: Defeating the Humans!

It turns out, the humans made a whole city out of Potato Land! Oh no! thought William. He saw some humans clustered around his school using hammers to break it down and turn it into a new building!

 “Over there!” William told his team. They rushed toward the humans and started hitting them. William had lots of bad luck because  he saw the human who tried to eat him earlier! Oh no. William thought. Had he come to try and eat me again?

 “Hey!” said the human who tried to eat William. “Aren’t you the tasty potato that I tried to eat earlier?”

“No offense, but you do look very tasty.” 

“I take offense very much!” said William.

 “Hey, let’s get on with fighting them,” whispered one of his teammates.

“Okay, sorry,” answered William. The potato children charged at the humans and surprised them but when they hit the humans, the humans didn’t feel a thing.

“AAARRRGGGHHH,” William shouted so loudly that the humans flew back from the impact.

 “How did you do that?” His teammates asked.

“I… don’t know.” William said, just as surprised as them.

“Get him!” cried the human who tried to eat William.

“Run!” William told his team.

“I shall defeat them once and for all!” “YYYEEEAAAHHH!!!” Once again, William did the cry so loud this time even louder than the first one and all the humans around them flew back millions of miles away from them.

Chapter 5: Announcing the Hero of the Day! 

     “YES!” his whole team yelled. “WOO-HOO!”

“We did it!!!” All the potatoes in Potato Land crowded the hero of the day. The mayor himself came up to William and told every potato in the land that William was the hero of the day and from then on, he and his team were called, “The Mighty Brave.”            

The End

Stranded in Paradise

I, Vera Richardson, woke up sweating. I quickly looked around to make sure it was just a dream. Then I slowly sat up in bed. I swung my legs over my flower patterned blanket and slipped my feet into my soft, fuzzy slippers and got out of bed. While I walked over to the closet, I felt a shiver go down my spine. Was the window open? No, something was not right. I quickly got dressed and hurried downstairs.

The stairs creaked under my weight. I tried my best to noiselessly slip down the stairs and quietly open the door to my parents’ room. The door opened silently, and I walked in. I walked over to my parents’ bed and shook my mom.

“Mama! Mama, wake up!” She didn’t answer. She stayed still. It looked as if she couldn’t see me.

I tried my dad, but I only got the same response. Now I was starting to get pretty freaked out. I tried sticking my hand through her face. It didn’t go through, which wasn’t exactly comforting, but confirmed that I was not a ghost. Now the only question was: where was I?

Roaming The Underworld

I couldn’t explain where I was or what I was doing here, but I did know that I was trapped in some sort of dream. A dream where, I couldn’t wake up. A dream where when I woke up, if I woke up, I couldn’t say it was just a dream. I was pretty much about to pee my pants. I decided to go outside and see what was happening.

I shuffled into my shoes and opened the door. I was bewildered by what I saw. In the little town of Greensboro I had never seen any monsters. And even if I did, it would never be as many as these. They all had at least one extra leg or a wart on their face. I wanted to run back inside and never come out again. I wanted to cry for help. I wanted to barf. But I couldn’t move. My bones just wouldn’t do it. My brain screamed to run. My bones did. My hands did! But I couldn’t, I wouldn’t, and I didn’t. Until I came to my senses. I had to find the person who ran this place, or something. I gathered my courage and asked a monster.

“Excuse me? Mr. Hairy guy with warts?” He looked over at me. “Ummm, pardon me sir, but is there a high king or president here? I need to speak to him.”

“Eerfnooblegarfpuiyrtfegds,” he said and pointed to a tall building.

“So, the tall tower?” I confirmed.

“Erftooknjihgty,” he mumbled, which I took as a yes. And so off I went to the high king. (I hope.)

I learned a lot of things while I was looking for the head person.

  1. That monsters can smell really bad when it is 93 degrees out (or they just smell in general)
  2. That you get very thirsty very fast when you’re hiking up the avenue
  3. Lastly, I’m craving a cheeseburger
  4. Now I want a hot dog
  5. With lemonade
  6. That sounds really good
  7. But I’m getting off track
  8. I should stop writing like this
  9. Yeah, I should
  10. Okay this is my last comment

The High Queen

When I finally reached the top of the hill I was… wait for it… wait for it: Parched, thirsty, hungry, tired, I probably had athlete’s foot, I was having heat stroke, and I really needed to pee. So, in other words, I was pooped. I couldn’t move one more inch. Unless, unless I had some sort of inspiration, something that would give me power and would motivate me to do it. I collapsed on the ground, and rolled over. I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was big. And purple. And it looked very fancy and queenie. Somehow, the only thing I could think about at this second was that this was a huge coincidence and that it just so happened that less than ten seconds ago I was thinking that I would never ever ever get home and I would be stuck in this nightmare land forever and I would never see my parents again. But somehow I rolled over, and there was the High Queen’s castle, just waiting for me. Again, this was all a coincidence.


Trying To Convince The High Queen To Release Me (But Not Actually Convincing Her)

I was so relieved to finally get to the High Queen’s palace. I knew she would immediately let me go, because I was not a monster and she was obviously not evil. Or at least I really hope she wasn’t. Now that I thought about it she probably was evil and would probably not let me go because she was probably the Queen of Nightmare Land. This made me a whole lot more nervous. I used to be a lot more excited, but now I just felt like giving up and being trapped in Nightmare Land instead of being trapped in a prison cell with no food, water, or sunlight. I decided that I should go back and live as a ghost for the rest of my life. But then my survival instincts kicked in, and I knew that if I wanted to escape this land, I needed to go to the High Queen and convince her to let me go. And if that turned out well, I would ask her about why she trapped me in this land and that she should never do that again. And so I proceeded to walk to the door.

I walked up the stairs and rang the doorbell. Ding-dong. I waited. There wasn’t an answer. And so I tried again. Ding-dong. I twiddled my fingers behind my back.

Oh well, she’s not here. I better go, I thought to myself when suddenly the door opened.

“Hello?” the man said.

I turned around slowly, and stared. My mama told me it’s rude to stare, but I couldn’t help it. He was just so short. His head barely was up to my hip, and he just looked so ridiculous in his mini suit from the kids department store.

It was stunning. The walls were a bright red with gold drapery on the magnificent windows. There was fancy furniture everywhere you went. When I looked up, the ceiling was covered in glass paintings. I was dumbfounded. But I didn’t have time to look around, because he had already grabbed my hand and took me inside without even asking my name or why I was here. While we walked, I studied him a little closer. He was a short, stubby man. His chin was rounded, but his mouth was covered by a huge, bushy, curly mustache. Like the ones you see in the movies. It was accompanied by a tuxedo and black dress shoes. His eyes kept shifting around, like he was late for something, or he was going to get in trouble.

“Umm, excuse me? I need to see the queen. I don’t know where I am or why I’m here or why you are taking me wherever you are taking me, but I need to see the queen.”

I was surprised by myself. I was usually not this forceful, but I was mad. I was mad at the queen and Mustache Man here for taking me to a place I didn’t know how to get out of. I breathed heavily. My chest heaved up and down. The man stared at me.

“Okay,” he said.

“Um, yeah! And take me to the queen!” I responded, a little confused.

I had expected him to start a fight. He turned around and started off in the other direction. I didn’t move.

“Well? Aren’t you coming?” I shrugged and followed behind him. On the walk, he asked me my name.

“Vera Richardson,” I had responded. “What’s yours?”

I just wanted to stop thinking of him as the Mustache Man.

“Picher Lennox. Mr. Lennox to you,” he snapped.

The rest of the walk we walked in silence. It was probably just one minute, but it felt like a century. We finally arrived at the High Queen’s office.

“Here we are,” he said.

He opened the door and let me in. I was floored. It was by far the most amazing place my eyes had ever laid sight on. It was better to look at than a lottery ticket or an all-you-can-eat ice cream buffet coupon (not that I have seen one of those before). My jaw hit the floor, not literally, but it might as well have!!! Well, now I’m keeping you in suspense, so you really want to know what it looks like don’t you? Okay, okay I will tell you.

The walls were painted a wonderstruck shade of gold, and the floors were covered in a velvet carpet with yellow on the edges. There was a desk in the middle of the room, with two large windows on each side, pouring light into the dark room. Then there were the shelves. There were shelves. Lots and lots and lots of shelves. They carried books and games and toys, they held marvelous things that lured you in, wanting to touch them so badly. I looked at the desk, and peering down at me was the queerest woman I’ve ever seen. She was tall, with red hair on one side and blue on the other. She kept them each parted down her slim shoulders, like she didn’t want them to mix. She wore the glasses that you see librarians wearing, hanging from a chain on her ears. She wore dreamcatcher earrings, and her face was wrinkled up like she just sucked on a rotten lemon. I thought, Hey, she looks just like a bulldog, but of course I didn’t say that to her face, because she looked pretty scary, and I was afraid to make her angry so she didn’t blast me to ashes.

“Who are you?” she asked.

I didn’t hesitate to say my name.

“Vera Rihcardson, with an H before the C.”

“And do you know, Vera, why you are in the land Paradise?”

“Ummm, no,” I responded.

“You are here because you have been having dreams, Ms. Rihcardson. Very lively dreams. And, as you might know, I feed on human dreams. If I notice that you have started to have very juicy, very, very scary dreams, I send for you here. As your time here grows, you will turn into a monster, like these.” She pointed to the monsters outside. I shuddered. “To have the dreams you dream, my dear, is very unnatural. And so I bring you here, to the land of nightmares. To the land we call Paradise. And so all of your soon to be equals outside are all, I guess Stranded in Paradise.”

I gaped. I didn’t actually think that I was here for a reason. I thought that there was a mistake. I was dumbfounded for the billionth time today. I looked at the wall behind the desk. To my suprise, there was a giant dreamcatcher hanging on the wall. As I looked closer, I noticed that it was the exact same dream catcher as the earrings the High Queen wore.

Huh, I thought. I wonder what happens when I touch it. I ignored all of the High Queen’s yammering, and I started to walk over to the dreamcatcher, my hand stretched out in front of me. Something was pulling me towards it.

Don’t touch that!!!” she screeched. I jumped back in surprise. She smoothed her skirt and adjusted her glasses. “Sorry about that. Just do not touch that dreamcatcher!!!

I cowered in fear. But of course, as soon as she told me not to touch it, all I wanted to do was touch it. We just stared at each other for ten minutes. The door opened, and Mr. Lennox stepped inside.

“Um, sorry to interrupt, your majesty, but there has been a plumbing problem, and you are the only person who knows the plumber’s phone number — ”

“And the kingdom needs me, I know,” she cut Mr. Lennox off. She started to turn around and then faced me again. “And you, Vera Rihcardson, do not move a muscle, or there will be consequences.”

I nodded my head and stayed where I was. The High Queen turned around and headed out the door. The door slammed behind me, and I turned around. I walked inch by inch slowly getting closer and closer to that marvelous dreamcatcher. It had a dark wood outline with holes everywhere and rainbow string coming from all the holes, tied in the middle with a bow. Red ribbon hung from all the sides and tied together in a knot. It was hung on the wall by a simple red hook. I couldn’t help myself. I touched it.

The Ending of the Story You Are Reading Right Now

The world started spinning. I saw blurs of the castle falling apart and coming back together again. Spinning. Spinning. Spinning. I was getting dizzier and dizzier and dizzier and dizzier. And then it all stopped, and I was right where I was in my bed, laying there, panting. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. My dream was so… vivid. So real. I got out of bed, but I heard the High Queen yelling in anger when I brushed my teeth.

The End