The Fantasy Genre "Epic tales of magic, mer-maids, astounding heroes and heroines, magical creatures of every kind. Fantasy is our favortie section! It can be about talking animals, traveling through time, any story from your imagination! Read these stories and then create your own by visiting the write page. You can also respond to the stories you see here. Enjoy! 1. The first clouds- By Evelyn, 12, Chicago IL "Long ago, there was a girl named Little Bear. She was sixteen when her mother died. Her mother told Little Bear that she should plant cotton to remember her by. Her mother loved..." Click to read... 2. Rain Cloud- By Bianca, 12 Chicago IL "This is the story of the first rain cloud, before humans existed. There once was a family of clouds. There was a little brother, a big brother, a mother, and a father. There were..." Click here to read... 3. How Birds Got Wings- By Rocio, 13, Chicago IL "Long, long ago there was a strange animal named the dlu. The dlu was quite big. He had a big beak, long feet and nails and long black feathers. At the time.." Click to read... 4. Pearl OF Mers and Faeres - By Daoyen Lei "If you think that mermaids are beautiful, bright, and kind, think again. They’re cruel, ugly and unmerciful. When mermaids are in their prime, they are uglier that Sam-pos-a-ble, ugly octopus of the sea. And how do I know that? I’ll tell you." Click to read... 5. FOREVER- Josephine 10, Forest Hills - "A lake of love /A joyous heart /brings things together"... Click to read... 6. Untitled- Jimei, 13 NYC - "This is a story of the sea. A tale of love between two worlds, of a battle between the Mer-people and the Vanias, a tale of a courageous rescue and this story is the magical adventure that would change my life forever. But most importantly it is a tale of transformation…" Click to read.... 7. The Legend of the Blue Flower- Sara and Jimei, 13 NYC- "Cassondra held a small child’s hand and protected her from the fumes coming out of the incinerator. She was shivering in her, thin cloak and was whining softly as they approached the building. The incinerator’s fumes filled the whole brick building and the air around the building was dark and musty...." Click to read.... 8.Untitled- By Jimei, 13- "The moon was full and we were dancing. A circle of witches dancing under the moon. We called upon the spirits to give us our powers, the powers the mortals had taken." Click to read.... 9. Untitled- By Unknown- "Once upon a time there was an island where all the feelings lived; happiness, sadness, knowledge, and all the others, including love. One day it was announced to all of the feelings that the island was going to sink to the bottom of the ocean." Click to read... 10. Cazmah's Tree (Part One)- "He turned around and looked at me. His eyes were full of excitment and lined with fear and doubt. His wings were twinkling in the early sunlight. He flew behind the tree of our new discovery. "Should we move it, Saylah?" He asked me, refering to the beautiful creature that lay before us." Click to read... Read | Write | Respond | Book Reviews | Site Reviews | Home                   Cazmah's Tree (Part One) By Jaxx, 14, New York He turned around and looked at me. His eyes were full of excitment and lined with fear and doubt. His wings were twinkling in the early sunlight. He flew behind the tree of our new discovery. "Should we move it, Saylah?" He asked me, refering to the beautiful creature that lay before us. We had never seen it before, it with it's long limbs and round ears. It was much bigger than we, and it was not moving. "Let's name it for now," I said, feeling a bit of disrespect with calling the creature 'it', "But what it is to be called..." "I'm rather fond of the title Cazmah...what do you think?" Asked Freyo. Lately he'd been inquiring my opinion on many things, reguardless of how petty they may be. "Cazmah will do...but this situation surely will not. We must retrive some further information on this creature, something beyond a faux name and a pretty structure." It was then I knew the right person to ask. Great Kameth would know of this foreign body. He was the oldest, most wise Faerie of our set. He knew everything in the world, or so he lead us to believe. "We must do it in secret", I told Freyo, after explaining my idea, "We musn't let the others see or they will surely dispose of our discovery." Adventureous littly Freyo took my hand, "We have a secret, this is so exciting." Looking straight into my eyes we were silent and I watched as his brown curls danced in the wind. His eyes were as blue as the sky at high sun, his smile as bright as the endless field of flowers in The Meadow of Spirits. He truly was beautiful, and at the same time, so innocent and naive. That night at gathering, I had managed to get a word to Great Kameth about our treasure as descretely as possible. "Excuse me sir, but I've been meaning to ask you something." "Yes, young lady, I am listening." "In bigger worlds than ours, are there things such as long limbed, wingless creatures?" "Well, my child, how have you come to ask me such a thing?" "Hm...merely a rumor floating about my quarters." "Well, yes. In bigger, foreign worlds there are such beasts. But I must tell you, child, they are dangerous. Their shiny, large-toothed animals cause much destruction to worlds like ours. If you should ever happen to meet one, jet away and do not look back, they are not your friend. They will expose you to their 'sciences', performing torturous 'experiments' to further understand our kind. Heed my words, child, and stay away. Better not spread this conversation as well, tell the girls in your quarter its merely a folktale. They musn't know of the world outside...their curiousity is insaciable." "Thank you, sir." As I turned away, a new thought was born in my mind. "Sir, what is this beast called?" "They are called 'The Chlortain'." I knew that meant 'The Taker of Life', but such a beautiful thing surely could not take life. I headed up to quarters with a full mind, and payed Freyo little attention but a wave good night. I had too much on in my brain and couldnt spare a though to my heart. I payed my quarter-mates little attention as well, and slept that much, too. I simply could not take my mind off of our Cazmah. I could not leave it like Great Kameth had told me. Surely Freyo could not understand the complexities of this species...he was too much of a lover to care about differences. He would be absolutely heartbroken at the thought of losing 'our Treasure'. It's just the way he was, and thats why he was beautiful. I had finally fallen asleep to a horrid nightmare. In it, Freyo and I were flying back to the site of our discovery, only to find our Cazmah with these 'sciences' that Great Kameth had mentioned. Waking in a cold sweat, I knew that true beauty would prevent this from happening and reassured myself we were safe. This was just too much. I had no idea of Cazmah and already! was I making assumptions. Just like me. Sleepless, I decided to keep up the rest of the night, filling my head with worry free thoughts of carefree Freyo, his eyes growing wide with each new idea of Cazmah and it's purpose. The unknown was fodder for his inquiring mind.   ''The first clouds'' By Evelyn, 12, Chicago Long ago, there was a girl named Little Bear. She was sixteen when her mother died. Her mother told Little Bear that she should plant cotton to remember her by. Her mother loved planting cotton before she died. Little Bear did what she was told. She would go out in the field, water the plants, kill the harmful bugs, and pick the cotton. Then she would trade them with her villagers. One day, instead of going to care for the cotton, she went to visit her friends. She said to herself, ''I'll just take care of the cotton some other day. Besides, the work is tiring and sometimes boring.'' She had a fun time visiting her friends but the next day she knew she had to take care of the cotton. ''Oh no, tomorrow I have to care for the cotton, but I don't want to! An extra day would'nt hurt.'' This went on and on. Eventually the cotton plants started dying. From the heavens the mother's spirit saw this and had an idea. That same night when all the village was asleep, Little Bear's mother raised up all the cotton balls in the air. She did this because if she didn't, the cotton balls would probably be wasted. Then the cotton balls joined together to make different shapes. The next day when everybody woke up, they were surprised to see white, fluffy shapes in the sky. And that is how the first clouds were made. The End | Back to Top | Rain Cloud By Banca, 12, Chicago IL This is the story of the first rain cloud, before humans existed. There once was a family of clouds. There was a little brother, a big brother, a mother, and a father. There were many other cloud families in the sky, but the sun was the most powerful of all. He was like the king. In those days, the sun was always shining. It never rained. It was always hot and there were dead plants everywhere, but the sun just kept on shinning. Only at night the sun slept and the moon awakened. One day the sun was so hot that it caused a fire! The fire had to wear itself out. Big Cloud, one of the clouds in the sky, snuck up behind the sun and whispered, "Maybe you should cool yourself off." "I can't! I am so hot that I cannot control my heat," said the sun. Dissapointed,Big Cloud went back to his family a little bit East of the sun. Big Cloud saw that his little brother, Small Cloud, was sad. "What is wrong, small Cloud?" asked Big Cloud. "The other clouds were calling me names. I feel so horrible I want to cry," said Small Cloud. "Wait, that just might be what we need!" Big Cloud said in his mind. "If he cries, then his tears will fall down from the sky, and the sun will cool off," Big Cloud thought again. Big Cloud left Small Cloud alone to see if he would cry, and a little while later, Small Cloud started to cry. Big Cloud noticed that water was falling from the sky. "Look, I'm cooling off," said the sun. Big Cloud yelled out loud, "It worked!" Big Cloud went to Small Cloud and said, "Whenever you feel like crying, go ahead." The sun and the other clouds and cloud families started to cheer for Small Cloud. The sun wanted to give the cloud tears a name so people would remember. "We should give a smooth, soft word to these tears," said the sun. "Let us name the tears rain," said Big Cloud. The sun agreed, Small Cloud became the first rain cloud and the most popular. | Back to Top | How Birds Got Wings By Rocio, 13, Chicago Long, long ago there was a strange animal named the dlu. The dlu was quite big. He had a big beak, long feet and nails and long black feathers. At the time all birds could fly exept the dlu. There was also a king of all birds, the eagle. Sometimes he was mean and greedy. He always said that everyone should do what he said and he would never need help from anyone else. The dlu knew that everyone should help everyone. The dlu was such a gentle animal, very helpful too. One day the eagle went flying around to check if everything was fine around his kingdom. He did not know that a lion was hiding and waiting to eat the eagle when he landed. The eagle landed right in front of the lion, and before the eagle could fly again, the lion caught the eagle. The eagle started to cry for help, and the dlu was the first one to hear him. So he ran as fast as he could where he heard the cry. When he found them, the lion was about to eat the eagle. The eagle was tossing and turning and he was trying to free himself. The dlu started to scratch the lion and poke him. The lion roared because of the pain. The lion wantwd to eat the dlu too, but he couldn't because he was in great pain. Finally the dlu killed the lion by poking him and scratching him. The eagle couldn't thank him enogh. So to show the dlu how thankful he was he gave the dlu wings. From that day on all the dlus had wings. | Back to Top | Untitled Author Unknown Once upon a time there was an island where all the feelings lived; happiness, sadness, knowledge, and all the others, including love. One day it was announced to all of the feelings that the island was going to sink to the bottom of the ocean. So all the feelings prepared their boats to leave. Love was the only one that stayed. She wanted to preserve the island paradise until the last possible moment. When the island was almost totally under love decided it was time to leave. She began looking for someone to ask for help. Just then Richness was passing by in a grand boat. Love asked, "Richness, Can I come with you on your boat?" Richness answered, " I'm sorry, but there is a lot of silver and gold on my boat and there would be no room for you anywhere." Then Love decided to ask Vanity for help who was passing in a beautiful vessel. Love cried out, "Vanity, help me please." "I can't help you," Vanity said, " You are all wet and will damage my beautiful boat." Next, Love saw sadness passing by. Love said, " Sadness, please let me go with you." Sadness answered, "Love, I'm sorry, but, I just need to be alone now." Then, Love saw happiness. Love cried out, " Happiness, please take me with you." But Happiness was so overjoyed that he didn't hear Love calling to him. Love began to cry. Then, she heard a voice say, "Come Love, I will take you with me." It was an elder. Love felt so blessed and overjoyed that she forgot to ask the elder his name. When they arrived on land the elder went on his way. Love realized how much she owed the elder. Love then found Knowledge and asked, "Who was it that helped me?" "It was Time," Knowledge answered. "But why did Time help me when no one else would?", Love asked. Knowledge smiled and with deep wisdom and sincerity, answered, "Because only Time is capable of understanding how great Love is." | Back to Top | Pearl OF Mers and Faeres By Daoyen Lei ~Chapter One~ If you think that mermaids are beautiful, bright, and kind, think again. They’re cruel, ugly and unmerciful. When mermaids are in their prime, they are uglier that Sam-pos-a-ble, ugly octopus of the sea. And how do I know that? I’ll tell you. My name is Sumra-lag, rag maiden. At least that’s what they call me. My real name is Sumra-Adai-Libeta.(Turquoise Pearl Maiden) But call me Libeta, Pearl. So who is “they”? It’s the mers. I, Libeta, am a servant of a noble mer family, the Laschs. I care for their ugly brat of a daughter, Sobe-Luru-Chuu. So if they’re so ugly, what do they look like? Well, I’m your mine of information. A mer will be born, a beautiful darling, sweet and pretty and smart. Around the preteens, they go downhill by changing their personality. They turn cruel and sour, but always maintain a conniving and tricking mind. After that, they start turning ugly. Beautiful golden hair slowly fades into a dull, rusted bronze. Full red lips shrink into thin yellow ones. Turquoise eyes transform into dark mustard, and cruel, pincer-needle eyelashes grow. Don’t be fooled by the pretty little mermaids in stories- the real ones are terrible. I’m not really a mermaid; I’m a water spirit. I have legs by nature, but I can form legs if I wish. I burst into feathery wings when above water, where we’re called fairies. We’re really called Faeres. The story I begin is down below, deep, deep beyond the aqua ocean… It begins at the bottom of the sea…. My family was very rich, because he was the scribe of our Aquan, our king. I was considered a Seashell-Maid, a high-ranking noble position. My father was a Seashell-Lord, and my mother, a Seashell-Lady. My sister, Maj-Belle-Lyra was a Seashell-maiden. Maj-Belle-Lyra means Pretty-Lace-Woman. My family’s dwelling was beautiful. It was a sparkly golden circular design with winding outside stairs. I had my own bedroom, full of jewels and gold, and other Earth-walker treasure. My favorite one was silver tiara. It had my favorite stones, pearl and turquoise, studded on. My best friend was a girl named Taoz Maia-Quh-Chuu, Seashell Violet Girl. She was adventurous and brave, and I was not. I was more artistic, and I loved making jewelry. I had a special solid diamond knife and things for that purpose. Maia thought that kind of things were stupid. Maybe it was the way we looked. Maia had thick, brazen, gold hair and bold brown eyes. She was not fat but not slim, and had big breasts. I, on the other hand, am totally different. I am slender with long, straight jet-black hair past my hips. My eyes are an intense blue-green, and my figure is not hourglass like Maia’s, which is not fair. But Mother says that I will grow- I am, after all, only thirteen. There are personality differences, too. I was a die-hard romantic, been in love and has flirted with boys for countless times, and I loved to read and write stories about Earth walkers. Maia gloried in the sea. She did not care about Earth like me. Also, she had many other rough friends below our sta!tion that explored wrecks all the time. My other friends were high class, and we talked about boys and fashion. We always loved to make things. It was Day of the Joined Souls when my sister Maj-Belle-Lyra came twirling into my room wearing her favorite leolip, which is a see-through dress that was usually fitting. She was holding something. I was with a friend of mine, Belle-Tebb-Chuu, which means Pretty Dolphin Girl. We were talking about a boy named Maka-Chaa, which is Handsome Boy. His name said true. “So then, Maka-Chaa came up to me, really shy, and was about to give me a special Earth-Walker flower when that big flirt Sumra-Tebo (Whale Maiden) came up and took it and I said-” “GUESS WHAT, LIBETA!!” My sister screamed in my ear. “WHAT, Belle-Lyra??” I screamed back. My sister proudly brandished a heart shaped coral piece and some heart sugars. “Moj-Tebb(Dolphin-Man) gave it to me!” My sister said, and swooned on my circular shell-shaped bed. “That’s very nice, Sister, but I don’t really care.” I said. “WHAT?” My sister screamed. “Tebo-Chaa gave me a pearl in an oyster, and he carved designs on the shell. It is so much better than some stupid sugar-candy and a coral piece.” I said haughtily. “What were you talking about again, Belle-Tebb?” Maj-Belle-Lyra stalked out of my room. The day after, Maia came to our dwelling. “Oh, Libeta, my friends found the best shipwreck in the world, with so much treasures like gold coins and wood chairs. We must go there, tomorrow!” “Really?” I said. “I want to finish making the bracelet I am making for my sister. It is gold with amethysts and –“ “Forget about stupid jewelry, Libeta! This is your chance to go to your first Earth-Walker ship!” Maia said impatiently. “Why don’t we ask my father? It might be dangerous-“ “Don’t be a scared eop, (eel) Libeta! Are you going or not? If you tell, even that flirt Sumra-Tebo will know!” “Fine, Maia! Where is this shipwreck?” Maia twisted her hair impatiently. “Where so you think that it will be? In Shallow Waters, dummy-turtle!” I glared at her. “Don’t call me that, Maia! I’m not going to eel out. But we should be prepared with weapons. After all, mers live there. What if they caught us?” “That’s a good idea. After all, it’s not very safe to go to the Shallow waters because the Faeres and the Mers are warring. But after all, what’s fun without a bit of risk?” She laughed and splashed water over my head. Next day, I entered through Maia’s dwelling. I carried a strong bag made out of papka reeds. I held my special blaster. My blaster was a very good one. It was an almost-flat cylinder loaded with sharp rust-iron bullets containing poisonous squid ink. The trigger was a circular button on the top. “Maia!” I called loudly. “I’m here, Libeta.” Maia was wearing a beige leolip that clashed with her fair skin. Maia looked disgustedly at my leolip. It was my favorite, a wine-red one with draping loose sleeves, a tight body, and a thigh high slit. “Let me enlighten you with the fact that we are not going to school but a shipwreck, Libeta.” “Hmmph.” I followed Maia out of our city. I began to get nervous, but I didn’t say anything. Actually,I did. “Maia, are you sure you are going in the right direction?” “How can I be sure, Libeta? Do you want to use your powers to find out?” Maia’s voice dripped with sarcasm . My power was telekineses, and Maia’s was the ability to ghost through solid objects. I glared at Maia. “Maybe I should use my powers- to go away. This is really boring. I could have been finishing Maj-Belle-Lyra’s bracelet by now. And Belle-Tebb-Chuu was supposed to tell me about her and Maka-Chaa. Also-“ “Shut up, Libeta! I’m trying to find the damn wreck!” “Ooh, sor-ee, Miss-don’t-bother-me-or-I’ll-snap-your-head-of-like-an-evil-shark!” I stuck out my tounge and pouted. Maia and I always fight like this- we’re used to it. But all was forgotten when we both saw the wreck. “Look, Libeta! Isn’t this wreck beautiful?” Beaming, Maia rushed through a hole in the wreck. I swam after her. In the wreck, we started to collect things. I saw a beautiful gold pair of slippers. I put them on immediately. I couldn’t wait. All the boys (even Maka-Chaa, who was as good as a boy-mate to Belle-Tebb-Chuu) would stare at me (then I would blush prettily) and Tebo-Chaa would say, be my girl-mate, Sumra-Adai-Libeta, or you will break my soul. Then I would say, Ohhh, Tebo-Chaa, you will share my soul, I will love you and (and then Tebo-Chaa would pick me up and kiss me). Oohh. While I was dreaming my Tebo-Chaa fantasy, Maia was busily collecting several items- A black squarish thing with a spin dial and numbers, and it had a mouthpeice that was connected with it with a wire. “Look at this! I know what it is, too! I’s called a Felley-tome!” I rolled my eyes and picked up rusted locket, then tossed it away. “It’s a telephone.” Then I saw something that I wanted at once. A glimmering rope of elegant milky pearls were drifting in the water. Perfectly irredescent and shimmering, each pearl was a full circle. At once I snatched it. Maia had found some jewelry too- long, dangly topaz-and-gold earrings. Then, Maia and I both saw something truly beautiful. It was firmly stuck in the sand, but it was easy to see. A pure crystal ball, with a truly gorgeous golden stand, incrusted with diamons, sapphires, rubies, emeralds, and so many unameable jewels. I dived and immediatly grasped the crystal end and began pulling. Maia darted down, and kicked me hard and began pulling. She pulled it out, but my eyes flashed gold. Suddenly, the crystal ball dissapeared. And it matieralized in my hands. I smiled tauntingly. “Force never wins, Maia. Remember my teleporting power.” Maia dove toward me but I kicked her out of the way. “This treasure is mine.” I said. “I saw it first! Give it back!” “You never had it, Maia. If you hurt me, I will teleport you to Pluto.” I snarled. “You daren’t! I’m your friend... But I will stop if you don’t give me the Crystal back!” “Big deal... I have plenty of friends!” I curled my lip. “And I do dare.” Maia looked at me dangerously. “I’ll just leave you then, and you will get lost and rot.” “I’ll just follow you, Sam-Chuu!(ugly girl)” Maia left and I started to follow her. She soon disapeared from sight, so I prepared to teleport. But before that, I heard Maia scream in the distance. My heart started pounding. Was Maia in trouble? Or was this just a trick? “Maia?” I called nervously. Then I got angry. “Toaz Maia-Quh-Chuu!” I screamed her full name loudly. No answer. I panicked. This was no trick. Maia never did this. I concentrated extremely hard. Even though I have trained for years, I couldn’t teleport in a snap. I am incredibly eel about teleporting. I didn’t want to end up in Limbo. Limbo is a place for people who get lost in between worlds- people whose atoms dismaterialized but lost to much power to materialize in any place. People can get out, but it takes about 2 months to gather enough power. Teleporting yourelf and others were exausting. I started. I concentrated and I thought hard Maia. Maia-Chuu. Suddenly, The world began spinning. Everything turned into a blue-ish color whirl. Maia. I thought. “Toaz Maia-Chuu!” I screamed and I felt me disappear. I felt myself becoming solid soon, and I stopped concentrating. I fell. Ouch. “Oh, look, a pretty girl dropped from the sky!” I heard a sarcastic female voice. I turned around. Some one slapped me. Without thinking, I yanked on the slapper’s hand and twisted hard. “Truyaugh!” A mer woman cursed at me. “Tiama, sam-moj!” I yelled to her. it meant, ‘Cut off your tounge, ugly man!” “Be quiet, insolent brat!” The mer said. “You dropped from the sky, to save this little girl. Now you belong to me.” I noticed Maia. She was bound and gagged. A mer man appeared from no where. I screamed. “Truyaugh!” I panicked. “Leave me be!” No such luck. The mer man tried to tie and gag me. But I would not have it. I teleported the mer to Earth, but I stopped concentrating, which made him stay in Limbo forever. Ha. In an instant, Maia ghosted through the ropes and started fighting with the woman. A mer grabbed me, but my eyes flashed gold. I saw a club appear in my hands. I fought with my life, my freedom. “Almok, save me!” I pleaded to the Sea god. I smashed the mer on the head. I commanded a metal club to Maia. She wasn’t fazed at all. She swung the club at the the young female mer at the neck. The woman crumpled at Maia’s feet, and she kicked the mer woman. I wasn’t as lucky. I was fighting a much stronger mer man, and my energy was draining because I had just started to use my powers again. I spotted a mer spear, but my enemy grabbed it first. He pointed it at my throat. Terrified, I didn’t move. Maia stared. My captor had awful orange teeth, broken and crooked. It looked like he had been chewing on whale blubber. Would I die, then, staring at these teeth? “Faere girl.” My mer captor addressed the helpless Maia. “I will let you and this girl-” he pointed to me. “-Live if you surrender. Or, I will kill you both. I was skilled at the art of Death.” Maia stared at the spear, my throat, and my captor. She bowed her head. “I surrender.” ~Chapter Two~ I couldn’t believe what Maia did for me. She gave up her freedom for me. I knew that she knew that that she could easily escape from that man. But she did it. And it was only a couple hours ago when when she had argued with me.. “Why?” I asked Maia. I squeezed her hand. “ I honestly don’t know, Libeta. But we’ll live this out together, Libeta. I promise.” We crossed our wrists, and bunched up every finger exept for the pinkies. The sacred Sea promise. We were taken to a lonely looking crumbling stone building. The mer that defeated us looked triumphant. His name was Moj-Luru-Dentil, Broken Teeth Man. He shoved us in the door. There was no floor. We fell and would have gotten hurt if I had not levitated a large stone to bring us down. Below, I saw some sad looking Faeres. “Comedore tiam” I greeted them. It meant “Welcome, to a Home and your Home.” It was our traditional greeting. “Comedore tiam.” A glum Faere said flatly. She tried to fluff up her dull plum- colored hair. Then she noticed the Seashell Tiaras on Maia and my heads. The tiaras measured our status. The purple haired girl had a plain cedar wood tiara. “So you’re nobles?” She seemed astonished. “I can’t believe those mers capture nobles too. Those- those eops!” (Eels) A boy looked at me. “I’m Leb Tloy-Chaa. That girl is Kan Quhquh-Chuu. Who are you?” So he was Leb Sun-boy. Her, Kan Plum-Girl. Peasants. Simples. “My name is Betka Sumra-Adai-Libeta.” I said, dignified. I smoothed out my silk leolip. “I’m Taoz Maia-Quh-Chuu.” Maia said boldly. Tloy-Chaa noticed her breasts, which were scarcley covered by her ugly leolip. Humph. “What are we doing here, simple?” I demanded. Quhquh-Chuu said sullenly, “Get used to the inferior treatment, Tloy. She is a noble.” Tloy-Chaa noted my seashell tiara with torquioses and crystals that I added on as my jewls. Maia had added topazes and blood red rubian stones. Maia rolled her eyes. “This is how you handle a simple.” She told me. She grabbed Tloy-Chaa’s tunic and slapped him swiftly. “Tell me, eel dung, what the hell are we are doing here?” “Tloy!” The plum-haired girl cried out. She dove at Maia. I screamed. “Maia, what the-” Quhquh-Chuu had grabbed Maia’s neck. Maia was choking. I screamed. This was Maia, the girl who saved my life. I dove at Quhquh-Chuu. I shoved her off Maia and kicked her hard. Plum-Girl lay sobbing at the floor. “Maia, what the hell were you doing?” I screamed at her. “We’ve probably destroyed our last ally!” I went to slap her, but Tloy-Chaa stopped me. He was grinning. “Jaj (miss), your friend is very courageous. Nobles and simples always have brawls to prove themselves. Normally, simples win. This is the first fight I have lost. You have my respect. “ Tloy went to help Quhquh-Chuu. “Quhquh, you are being a sissy. Get up and pay respects to your betters.” Tloy-Chaa said. “Tloy, have mercy! I did it to help you and now you are scolding me. I love you. Please.” I thought of Tebo-Chaa, my boy-mate. Tloy helped up Quhquh. She shot hate at Maia and I. I glared back and spat at her. “Leave her alone.” Tloy said. I stopped. I was confused. Usually, I could twist my little finger around any boy in school, even the older ones. This was unfair! But I wouldn’t flirt to get even. I wouldn’t associate with simples. I turned away. I saw Maia talking to Tloy-Chaa. I looked at the sulky Quhquh. I sat on a stone. In my shoulder bag, I saw old things. Lip color, a blaster, a couple of treasures from the ship. I finally saw what I was looking for. Just a little trinket- a silk scarf with baby pearl embroidery. I gave it to Quhquh. “I’m, um, sorry. Will you accept...?” I said hesitantly. Quhquh said simply, “Yes.” She took off her mirrored bead bracelet off her arm. We traded. She closed her eyes and drifted to sleep. I tried to drift asleep, but I was used to silk couches and satin sheets. Linen pillows and transparent curtains. I couldn’t fall asleep on a hard stone. I would have to sleep drifting in the hazy water. I hated sleeping on nothing solid. At least I could sleep knowing something: I had a new friend. And, I was alive. I woke up in a rough cage. My bag was gone, but I still had my pearl rope, golden slippers, crystal orb and stand. Mers do not have jewels- their jewlry only uses animal teeth, stones, and wood. Everything was there, except for my blaster. Next to me was Maia in a cage, and Tloy-Chaa. I couldn’t see Quhquh. I noticed that we were now on a stage. With worn wood. This place looked like an auditorium. I closed my eyes, let myself myself drift and went to sleep. ~Chapter Three~ I awoke to the sound of laughter. Not like the happy, eaygoing, laugh at a joke laughter. This laughing was cruel, mocking, the way the school gossip had laughed when she spread that rumour that Belle-Tebb-Chuu had slept with Maka-Chaa. Mer laughing. “Yok i le Faeres!” Was the main malicious cry. It meant, Look at the Faeres! I saw Maia bite her lip. She was cursing under her breath. I trembled with rage. My pride shattered and my eyes flashed. I started crying. Not the crying you do when you lose your favorite seashell. This was the root of crying. I wasn’t ashamed. I was soft as a willow in my town, but in this place, I would be hard as stone. I felt every tear glitter down my disheveled face. I didn’t sob. I wasn’t looking pretty. My eyes red, my hair not shimmering like usual. But I knew that I would not break the promise to Maia. I would live it out. But later, I wasn’t sure. Downstage, there were two stone thrones. I knew that the mer royalty were sitting there- the Joj and the Jaj- the king and queen. Suddenly, the Joj banged a scepter. The crowd fell silent. “Mers will rule and conquer those filthy Faeres. We will enslave each one. But for now, we will enslave these brats to you. Spit on them and despise their flesh!” Joj roared. Maia’s mouth opened in shock and anger. Enslaving. I had wondered why they hadn’t killed us. But enslaving. Enslaving. Enslaving. Enslaving. I couldn’t get that terrible word out of my mind. Suddenly, my voice rang out, strong and brave. “You filth of an eel! Here I stand, cursed by the gods, and you gloat. But, by Almok and Ajaya, I will kill the last of you. Laugh at me, but my pride and hope will waver and stand. I am now your slave, but I shall never submit to you, teeth of the shark!” “Truyaugh!” Moj-Luru-Dentil shouted. “Enough, brat. Ten slashes of the Seaweed lash for you at midnight!” The crowd shouted in approval. Now, I would revenge. I stared at a rich looking mer cheering, and teleporting him to my town. The mers looked, very scared at the rich male’s empty seat. “Sir Mokeo!” Was the cry. But they would never figure it was me. Maia gave me a thumbs up. The crowd left, their thunder shaken. Ha. The mers let us out, but they chained us first. We resisted. I picked up a stone and threw it at my mer captor’s head. I saw Maia kick fiercely at her mer. When the mer put on her chains, She ghosted through them and started beating her mer up. I punched my mer. I started crying, “For Freedom! For Freedom!” The other Faeres picked up the chant. Though we gave a tough fight, we lost, because they were starting to use blasters at us. Maia dove into her sleeve and brought out her blaster. Some Faeres had blasters, but we still lost. The mers led us to a crumbling cave. They forced us in. Maia bit a mer and I could see him wince. Good. “Whath hav thu both me, mer thilds?” A soft lisping voice emerged from the cave. A Faere shrieked. A mer- was it a mer?- materialized. She was genuinely pretty. Her hair was piled and curled on top of her hair. It was blonde, and held by pearl-and-gold combs. Her tail sparkled. Her figure was perfect and she wore a gold bikini top that glittered. She looked like the early mers- when they were still pretty. Her expression changed once she saw us Faeres. “Oh, look, Faeres!” Her voice whispered. She picked up something and unsheathed it. It was a knife, shining bright as the silver sun. I heard Quhquh-Chuu’s shrill scream. “Thu wilth be the fithst.” The mer- maid smiled like it was a joke. I covered my eyes. Maia nudged me. “It’s over.” I looked, frightened. I did not want to see Quhquh’s severed head. But Quhquh was alive- the only difference was that Quhquh was now in an ugly sharkskin tunic and her hair was in an ugly short cut. One by one, every Faere had short hair and a gray bulky sharkskin tunic.I did too. After my turn, I thanked the gods, Almok and Ajaya that I was alive. But I was angry. How would the school laugh if they saw me, Betka Sumra-Adai-Libeta, in this tunic. My shiny long black hair, glimmering and irredescent, was gone. The best part about me. Now I was ugly. Still chained, we had to go up to that horrible mermaid again to recieve our mer names. Quhquh was first. “Name?” The mermaid whispered. “Kan Quhquh-Chuu.” Her voice wavered. The mer laughed. “Thu are now ‘Quh-Bao’ (purple brat) and thu will work in the Kumquan (Mer fruit- little purple and red berries that have unbreakable cores) fields. “ And so on. It wasMaia’s turn. “Name?” “Toaz Maia-Quh-Chuu, eel woman.” Maia said boldly. The mer woman glared at her. She screamed, “Well, then, thu will be the EOP-CHUU. And thu will work in the kithens.” (eel girl) Maia looked stunned at her insult returned. Then I saw the anger. She flew at the mermaid, but the mer guard dragged her back. “You- you bitch!” She cried. I felt her anger. I decided to pay that mermaid back for ruining Maia’s pride. “Name?” I said nothing. She repeated, “Name?” I replied in a whisper. “I canth hear!” She whispered-screamed. “MY NAME IS BETKA SUMRA ADAI LIBETA, you simple and ragged crater!(old, ugly person) “A crather?” She didn’t believe me. The she said, “Thu are Sumra-Lag now, ha! Thu will care for Sir Lacsh’s daughther.” (Rag Maiden) I couldn’t believe it. Me, a noble, a rag maiden? The mermaid was all ready looking at Tloy-Chaa. “Name?” “Leb Tloy-Chaa.” His voice wavered, but he looked brave. “Ha! Go thu the fishing docks, Aquik-Chaa!” She laughed. (Aquik means water slave.) Tloy- or Aquik turned red and was about to curse in simple language, but then a guard pushed him away. Finally, all names were done. The guards let us into another stone biulding. It had many floors. A guard lead some girls, Maia and I, into a room. It had seaweed mattresses lain on the floor, and several globe lamps, run by whale blubber oil. Oh, great. Now our rooms would smell terrible. A door was set in a wall. That was probably the bathe room. “You, Sumra-lag.” The guard addressed me. I flushed. I hated that name. “You are to report at the hour of midnight for your punishment.” I remembered the scene of me shouting at the Jojo and Jaja.I wish I hadn’t done it. I was sure that I would get plenty of whippings. After the whipping: I swam back, collapsing several times. Maia was waiting and opened the door. “Libeta!” She cried. She felt my back. I cringed. I took off the sharkskin tunic. I took of my leolip and my under layer. I touched the raw flesh. I sobbed. It hurt more than everything. I touched something wet. Blood. Maia handed me a sponge and a bottle full of green healing potion. I sponged my back and moaned. It hurt. Maia slathered on the green potion and handed me some soap. I stumbled into the bathing room. I looked at myself in the mirror. I looked horrible. ~Chapter Four~ I awoke to Maia shaking me. I groaned. The beds of the girls in the room were full of stirring Faeres. I stumbled into the bathing room and soaped myself. I soaped my face hard. I didn’t brush my hair. I didn’t have much hair left. I brushed my teeth with a wooden toothbrush. The bristles were stiff plastic. I rinsed the brushed and walked back. I handed the soap to another girl who had freckles. Maia was the only girl standing. I put on my layer and the tunic. I didn’t want to wear out my leolip, but I put on my layer. I did NOT want shark skin scars. Only servants had those. Moj-Luru-Dentil was waiting outside. “Hurry, stupid Faeres!” He rumbled. “Hurry to your new masters.” Us girls became considerably slower in doing everything. He became annoyed, and began cracking his seaweed lash, Everyone panicked and hurried. When everyone finished, he lead everyone out the room. Maia looked very secretive. “What’s up?” I asked. “Shh. You’ll see.” Moj-Luru dentil shoved a girl with a leaf tiara into a mer dwelling. Maia took something out her sleeve. Her blaster! “Maia, what the?” I asked her. She winked. I understood. “Go get him in the head.” I crossed my fingers and touched my fore head. “Good luck.” “You, Sam-Chuu.” Moj-Luru-Dentil addressed to a plump girl, who winced. “You belong on the docks, serving the mer men working there. And you,-” He fell to the ground, a blaster bullet at his head. He was dead. Good. “All right, Libeta. Teleport this idiot away from here. And let’s all get away from here.” Almost everyone scampered away from the dead man, terrified. I closed my eyes and landed him a permanent trip into Limbo. Maia and I swam fast away. “Wow.” Was all I could say to her. “You’ve got a very good aim. I’d hate to be your enemy.” She grinned, but stopped, and looked at her hands. “Libeta.” She whispered. “I’m glad he’s dead, but I.... But I killed him. I killed him.” She stared at me. I hugged her. I have never had a worse day in my life. As soon as Sir Lacsh’s daughter saw me, she screamed, “Faere stupid, ha ha!” I was so angry, but I couldn’t do anything. Argh. As I dressed her, I noticed how pretty she was. Two long golden braids glided down her back and wide opaque blue eyed stared at me. Actually, glared at me. Her full lips pooched out. “That’s not fair. You are pretty and Faeres are supposed to be fat and yuckoface.” She screamed, “You yuckoface yuckiest of the yuckyyucko yucky Faeres, you are really, REALLY yucko!” I pursed my lips, trying to not laugh, but I laughed. I cracked and doubled up laughing about the word “yuck” and the oh so many different ways to use it. The Yucko girl glared at me and screamed. Her mother rushed down. Yucko’s mother was as “yucko” as ever. She was tall and rasor thin, with a dull green pompadour, sallow skin, and thin yellow lips. Her Mergown was grand, with a tight bodice and a puffed up skirt. Pearls and silk ribbons dangled around her skirts. “AYAPI,(exclaimation) what did you do to Kime-Sobe-Likat-Chuumei? (Green Seaweed Seahorse Little Girl.)” She scrceamed at me. I said nothing. Lady Lasch’s eyes slitted. “Filth! Go back to your dormitary full of Kaptok (filth) like yourselves. You will not eat with your Mer superiors. Go, Kaptok!” So I left. Kaptok to themselves, humph. I left eagerly and dashed to the “dormitary”. I sat on my mattress, wishing I had food. I was starving. I looked through my bag, but I could only find an old chewy piece of toffee. I ate it. It tasted like stale seaweed. I spat it out. Ughhh. I thought a while. I could wait for Maia to come back: she would save me some scraps. That was sensible, except how the hell will I know whan she comes back? I could sneak into the kitchens, maybe. But I’d get caught, and I did NOT want to get whipped again. So I just sat there, smelling the gross scent of whale oil, and wishing there was something to eat in this godforsaken place. Suddenly, Maia burst into the room. TOO BE CONTINUED [Back to top] [Forever] A lake of love A joyous heart brings things together close or apart A friendly glance A warm smile too Brings us together just me and you A warm memory A heart warming gesture really does bring us together [Back to top] [Untitled] This is a story of the sea. A tale of love between two worlds, of a battle between the Mer-people and the Vanias, a tale of a courageous rescue and this story is the magical adventure that would change my life forever. But most importantly it is a tale of transformation… It all started when my aunt Cecilia took me to the ocean for my fourteenth birthday, a treat that came once a year, every July 18th. My aunt Cecilia had brought me up since my parents had died on a cruise across the Pacific on their anniversary when I was one. My aunt did not love me, in fact the only reason that she kept me (besides being my only living relative) was to impress her sewing club friends. Every time they came by for a club meeting, my aunt would tell them of how nice she had been in taking me and her old lady friends would agree by nodding their heads and saying how charitable she was. I knew this because she told me and repeated it constantly almost as if she wanted me to know I wasn't loved. My aunt hadn't bothered to get me a bathing suit so I was swimming in a tank top and old shorts. The ocean water felt deliciously cool compared to the blazing sun and I felt more happy and comfortable than I ever had on land. I was born loving water and even though I never had lessons I learned to swim in the local pool. I swam through the waves feeling wisps of seaweed brush my legs and I breathed in the salty sea air. I started floating on the surface of the water, that was when I met Aaron. First I saw a torso come and break the surface of the water. Then I noticed it was a boy, with raven hair and gray eyes the color of a storm. "Hey," he said "you alive?" he flashed a smile and I nervously grinned back. That was when I saw his other half, a long, blue fish tail. I gasped and lost my float from shock and because a large wave had suddenly passed over. I tried treading to stay balanced but it felt as if my legs had been glued together. Water closed over my head and a shiver passed through my body as if millions of pins had just pierced my skin. I screamed and bubbles from my mouth drifted to the surface but as I accidentally inhaled I realized that I could breathe underwater. I looked down, my legs had turned into one long purple tail with the most beautiful fins I had ever seen. My shorts had been ripped as the scales had come out and the shreds of fabric were floating toward the ocean floor. A hand clasped mine and brought me to the surface. "Oh, you must be a Sian. I'm called Aaron, descendant of Poseidon," said the boy flashing another cocky smile. I stared back at him frowning, "What has happened to me? And what do you mean you're related to Poseidon! Poseidon isn't real!" Aaron wasn't smiling anymore, he looked angry. "How dare you! Poseidon is very real and the king of the sea doesn't like being insulted especially by one of his own." "Okay, okay." I said "But you still haven't answered my question, what happened to me!" Aaron looked mad but he did answer me. "You were just transformed into a Mer-maid. Every few years a human mortal who has Sian blood will be transformed by the sea into one of us." Suddenly I heard aunt Cecilia screaming "Karen, you brat. That's enough! You better be here in 10 seconds or else I'm leaving you!" I swam over to my aunt, to ask her what I should do. But as soon as she saw my fish-tail she screamed, "Good God!!" Then she jumped into her car and drove away at the fastest speed possible. As I stared at my aunt's car driving away Aaron came over "I'm sorry," he said softly " I guess you'll be missing life on land, but you came come with me to Atlantis." I looked towards the beach, memories came flooding back, unhappy memories. My aunt blowing out all my candles on my birthday cake and then laughing at my tears, loosing my first tooth when the neighborhood bully punched me, looking forward to school until everyone constantly teased me about being teacher's pet. My parents were dead and my atrocious aunt had abandoned me. There was no reason to stay. I smiled back at Aaron and said "I'm Karen and well, what did you say about Atlantis?" Aaron looked very pleased with himself. "I'm guessing you're accepting my invitation. Well Atlantis is inhabited by the Mer-people and…"suddenly he began frowning, his gray eyes were clouded with anger "the Vanias." He looked at my red curls and stated "You look like my mother. You both have the same hair and not many have that color." I was bursting with questions. What were Vanias, why did Aaron dislike them, why had he brought up the fact I looked like his mom, what did he mean Sian blood and Atlantis! I had so many questions about that sunken island. However I thought it might be better to ask him all my questions later as I followed him, swimming downward. The sensation of swimming with a tail definitely takes getting used to. I moved clumsily since I wasn't used to my bottom half having so much flexibility so I observed Aaron, his blue tail moving with ease and grace. I tried copying him, I couldn't move the dance-like way he did but I managed to push enough water away with just enough skill so that I could swim. It seemed that other parts of my body besides my legs had been transformed too. Somehow my lungs were taking in oxygen from the watery, my hands were also different; there was a thin webbing between my fingers which made it easier to swim and my body didn't seem to feel the extreme coldness or pressure of the sea as I swam deeper and deeper into the blueness of the ocean. Ahead, Aaron pointed to a huge palace that seemed to be made of coral. Mer-people of all sizes and shapes were swimming around and talking! "Welcome to Atlantis!" Aaron said and when I told him how beautiful the palace was my own voice could be heard. It didn't escape my throat in bubbles or become a gurgling sound as it always had before, when I was… human. I swallowed, that thought was creepy so I quickly shut my mind to it and looked at the palace in Atlantis some more. Outside the palace there was what reminded me of a market-place, in fact it looked a lot like Chinatown. There were tiny shops displaying their wares and their owners sitting behind them shouting out to possible customers about the fine quality of their products. I was about to look more closely at one of the customers, he looked like a man I remembered from the front of a magazine. He had died in some kind of plane crash in the ocean, his body never recovered. Then an owner yelled out "Hey Aaron, come over here and…" the Mer-man saw me "bring your friend." Aaron beckoned me to follow him so I glided beside him to the owner who had called out to Aaron. The Mer-man pointed to what he was selling, books. I picked up one, the pages were made of very thin but strong seaweed and the writing was in silvery ink. The front cover read History of Atlantis and It's Royal Family. I placed the book down among the others and glanced at their titles. Most of the books looked really interesting. Encyclopedia of All Sea Creatures Tales of Sea Nymphs and Water Goblins Anatomy of the Mer-People and Vanias Geography of Atlantis and Other Sunken Islands I wanted to read them all, but since I didn't have any money I knew I couldn't. Aaron must've been trying to get my attention since when I looked up he said "Finally!" in an exasperated sort of way "Karen, this is my friend Robert." He pointed to the owner of the books. We shook hands and I was surprised that he had a job since he looked close to my age and I didn't know any teenagers who worked unless they baby-sat. Robert ran a hand through his blond hair "Uh, so Karen are you new here? I don't think I've seen you." "Yeah" I answered "I'm new, I was swimming in the ocean and well…" I pointed to my tail and Robert nodded. " I see, you must be a Sian. Welcome, and here." Robert pushed A History of Atlantis and it's Royal Family into my hands. "Take it as a welcoming gift." "Oh, thank you so much!" I said pressing the book into my stomach, fighting the urge to rudely begin reading. "Later." said Aaron to Robert and I waved good-bye. I followed Aaron into the palace, inside, the walls shone with gold and cooled lava. The palace was lighted by electrical eels inside what looked like large fish tanks. Shells and beautiful rocks from the ocean floor were pressed onto the ceiling of the room. Suddenly a beautiful Mer-maid swam in. She had flowing red hair, misty eyes and a gorgeous purple tail, she was wearing a shirt of sea-weed. The lady stared at me for a moment and then she turned to Aaron. "Honey," she said "who is your friend?" "Oh Mum, glad you're here. This is Karen, she's a Sian." He gave the last word a lot of emphasis. "I met her just before she transformed." I guessed that the beautiful lady was Aaron's mother (even though he didn't look like her) and strangely she looked a lot like the picture of my own mom. The only one in the house, where she stood next to my dad on their wedding day both smiling. My aunt had not been on good terms with her brother (my dad) so she only kept that one picture. I held out my hand for her to shake "I'm very pleased to meet you Mrs.…." I didn't know her last name! Aaron's mom took my hand "Mrs. Jacobson" she finished. My mouth dropped open, my last name was Jacobson too! "Karen," Mrs. Jacobson said, "I'll be quite frank with you. Aaron and I have been looking for my daughter and we think it might be you." "But…" I stammered "my parents died on a cruise!" "Yes, that definitely sounds like something Cecilia would say for a cover-up," she replied. "Are you talking about Aunt Cecilia?" I asked "Oh Karen, don't you see, it all fits. I'm your mother!" "How come you didn't come for me before!" "Darling, I've been looking for you. Then when I found out Cecilia was taking care of you I sent messages to her. I told her to bring you to the ocean when you were five and that I would take you. When you went in, nothing happened. I couldn't take you unless you transformed. Otherwise you would die in the water and I can't come on land." "How come then when I went swimming I never saw you?" I truly wanted her to be my mother but there were so many questions. "We're not supposed to be seen by mortals." Mrs. Jacobson answered looking severely in the direction of her son. "Aaron doesn't always follow rules. Also, I have some items to prove I'm your mother." I followed Mrs. Jacobson and Aaron into another room, which looked like an apartment. She reached into a tiny treasure chest and took out some pieces of laminated paper. She held them out to me and I took them after gently putting my book on the floor. Obviously the papers had been treated with care. One of them was a birth certificate : New York University Hospital Date: July 18, 1985 Baby's Footprints: Baby's Name: Karen Noemi Jacobson Time of Birth: 5 AM Weight: 7 pounds 2 ounces Mother's Maiden Name: Alice MacTyler Father's Name: Jonnie Jacobson The next item was a photograph. The very same one of my mom and dad on their wedding day that my aunt had! I looked up at the lady, my mother. I began crying and I hugged her. She hugged me back and kissed the top of my head. Then she took my face and stared into it as though making up for the thirteen years when she hadn't seen me. Aaron cleared his throat loudly. "If no-one has forgotten about me I think there's another important fact." He turned to me and suddenly I knew. "You're my brother!" "Yes, an adopted brother. I'm two years older and I've been helping mom in looking for you." I felt very content and happy, my family! Robert's gift lay forgotten on the floor as I embraced my newly found mother and brother. Then another question came "Where's Dad?" Aaron glanced nervously at our mother and she began speaking in a sad tone "Your father, like me was transformed when the cruise ship sank. Then…"she began choking on tears "we came here and started looking for you, living peacefully until the Mer-folk and the Vanias went to war. Your father was recruited and he was captured by the Vanias along with many others. After that I adopted Aaron since I was so lonely for a child, we've been that way ever since, looking for you and trying to bargain with the Vanias to get your father back. At least we have completed one of the tasks." Anger flared in me, anger for the Vanias. Now I knew why Aaron had reacted with enormous dislike. "Mom," I said, a bold new courage rising, "I'm going to help bring Dad back." My mother shook her head sadly. "There's nothing we can do. The Vanias won't accept money and breaking in is too dangerous." I felt very frustrated, almost cheated. I should've known the goodness wouldn't last. But I forced a smile when Aaron suggested that we celebrate my home-coming. The restaurant wasn't far from the palace, but when I swam there following Aaron and my mom there was a close call with a shark. I was swimming along thinking about how I might be able to rescue my dad when a huge white shark roared and swam after us. It was just like the movie JAWS and I was so scared I froze. Mother pulled me away just as the shark was going to bite down. We swam very fast to the restaurant, Oyster's Pearl, the shark in hot pursuit. Our rescue came a few minutes later when a Mer-man appeared holding a spear. He threw it at the shark and missed, so I grabbed it and held it not knowing what to do. But when the shark wheeled around to attack I instinctively thrust the spear. My aim was deadly, the shark made a few last efforts to attack and then began sinking. Dozens of Mer-people came out with sharp knives and the sliced the shark taking away pieces of it and jovially saying what sounded like "shark soup." The cook from Oyster's Pearl came too, he took an especially large piece of the fin. I swam inside with my mom and Aaron I noticed that my brother was eyeing me with a new respect. The blood was quickly washing off my hands but the memory would stay with me for life. As one would assume Oyster's Pearl only served sea-food. Aaron and my mother seemed to know what was good because immediately they called the waiter over. I, on the other-hand had no idea what most of the dishes were so I ordered the special and hoped it was okay. When the waiter returned he gave my mother catfish fried with sea cucumbers and Aaron got boiled flounder eggs wrapped in seaweed. My special turned out to be shark fin soup and I breathed a sigh of relief. I knew what that was for my aunt had often gone to Chinatown and ordered it so of course I had gotten some. The soup was delicious, better than any I had ever had in Chinatown. I was having a good time, talking happily with my family about how I had done in school, certain awards I had received, and they told me about all the wonderful things in Atlantis. Then the table next to us was filled with a family, a girl, boy, mother and a father. When I saw that I couldn't help myself and I began crying so I hid my face in my arms. I felt some reassuring pats on my back and then Aaron whispered into my ear. "I know how you feel. Six months ago I stole keys for the Vanian palace. Tomorrow we can break in. It's their moon festival and most of them leave to celebrate." I raised my head and watched as my tears floated away in the sea-water. I nodded to Aaron and my mother luckily didn't notice. In a few minutes she called for the check and we left. As we were swimming towards the Mer-palace I saw a strange creature. It looked like a large frog with some human features. It was the same as a human or a Mer-person from the waist up, but from the waist down instead of a long tail there were legs! However the legs weren't human, they were scaly and between the toes was a webbing, like a frog's. "That," said Aaron with apparent hatred," is a Vanian. They were Mer-people 100 years ago, but then they started doing surgical experiments with themselves and over the years they have become more and more different. Now they are considered a separate species." "Wow," I said in awe, "You know a lot about them." "Yeah, when I was helping Robert with his shop I read a little, it was very interesting." That night my mother set up the bed she had been keeping for me. It was a huge open clam. The inside of the shell was a white creamy color. The bottom part held the meat of the clam (the mattress). The blankets and pillow were made of sea-weed and the pillows were stuffed with soft whale blubber. I lay down in it and laughed, if felt exactly like a water-bed! After putting my book under a pillow I snuggled in and tried to fall asleep. I couldn't, that night I tossed and turned. My family watched in concern before they too drifted off. It was pitch black and I was still awake. I reached under a pillow and took out my book. Strangely when I looked up at the cover the silver words glowed from the green seaweed. I began reading. Just as I had thought, the book was very interesting. I read about Poseidon and his descendants, the Vanian surgeons and the wars. The back of the book had a map of Atlantis and glowing in silver were the different buildings and places. I smiled when I saw Oyster's Pearl and the Mer-palace. I traced the route to the Vanian castle, it would be a long swim, I estimated close to ten miles round-trip. I had figured this out by using the key below 1cm = 1mile and my pinky nail which looked close to 1cm. I felt myself getting drowsy and the next thing I knew mother was shaking me awake. "W-w-w-what?" I sputtered. "Darling! It's the most wonderful thing! There's a prisoner exchange going on between Vanian and Mer captives, your father!" I forgot that I had fins and attempted to jump out of bed, the result was very awkward. I fell down with all the pillows and sheets with me. Luckily I was in water so I drifted. However, I was thoroughly tangled and mother had to help me out. By the time we finally got outside it was packed, but Aaron had saved spots for us high up with a good view. A Mer-maid wearing a shirt with small shells yelled shrilly out to the crowd, "Unfortunately, not all Mer prisoners were returned since the number of our own Vanian captives was smaller than the number of their Mer ones." I crossed my fingers and prayed that father was one of the lucky ones. The lady began calling out the names of the returned Mer prisoners " Matthew Alvarez, George Anderson…" She continued to speak and it seemed that only Mer-men fought in wars. I was waiting to hear Jonnie Jacobson but when the lady came to that section she said "…Mark Huang, Justin Ilian, Louie Ilian, Ewan Jorge, Frank Kennedy…" Father was not one of those lucky few and when I looked down at the ones who had been returned I saw they were scarred from what looked like torture instruments and that many of them looked partially deformed. Father might still be enduring awful treatment by the Vanias while his fellows were safely here. Tears trickled out of my eyes thinking that it wasn't fair that the Vanias hadn't returned all of their captives and when I looked at my mother she was crying too. However my brother just stayed there waving his tail back and forth to stay in his position with a stony look on his face and his eyes not seeing what they were staring at. We returned to the palace and for the rest of the day I explored it. I had wanted Aaron to go with me so that I wouldn't get lost but he was in a grumpy mood and told me he was spending the day with Robert. Mother suggested that I go by myself, for it would be more fun that way. She spent the day sewing. So I went off exploring. The castle was immense with numerous rooms, halls, corridors and passages. Instead of stair-ways there were long tubes which zoomed one up to the next floor. In total there seemed to be around thirty floors. Many of the rooms were apartments like the one I had stayed in and were locked. However, there were a lot of other types of rooms which were open. I swam into a ball-room on the second floor and along the walls were large paintings of dancing Mer-people. In the pictures the men wore green tuxedos (or at least the shirt part) many of them wore an earring, the women had shirts made of silvery gauze and the sleeves came down way past the wrists so that when they danced they trailed behind them. Some of the ladies wore short skirts made of the same gauzy material as their shirts only in different colors. I peered closer at the painting, there didn't seem to be any children there, the youngest Mer-people looked thirteen. I left that room and went into some others. In some of the rooms there were activities. I didn't stay for any of them but I did listen to a brief introduction about the activity. Most of the people in the castle seemed very enthusiastic to talk about their jobs and give a tour of the room, especially the cook for the palace. By the time I left her kitchen I had eaten many sweets that she had insisted upon giving me as samples. I didn't end up exploring the entire castle. Most of the time I spent in the palace library where there were many books, each one better than the last. Nobody else was in the library so I read without disturbance. When I returned to the apartment my mother was dishing out what looked like mushy lettuce for herself and Aaron. "Sweet-heart, you're just back in time for lunch." She said wiping some cream off my chin. "You met cook? Well she probably spoiled your appetite." I nodded but sat down on a shell chair and took a bite of the mushy salad she had given me. It was really good so I smiled at my mom and finished my plate. However I didn't ask for more since the salad was very filling. "Glad you liked it," said Aaron who had finished his second serving. "It's really good seaweed isn't it?" I nodded and said, "Thank you mother. It was excellent." She beamed at my approval and I helped her wash the dishes in a contained bubble which didn't let any water out. It let your hands, dishes and more soap in but the water from the outside never mixed with it. When the dishes were done the water went down what appeared to be a drain and the bubble was left hollow sitting on the counter. After lunch I was going to do some more exploring but my mother first wanted me to try on some clothes she had made for me. Aaron whispered in my ear that we would leave at 8PM that night for the Vanian castle. Then he left to go with Robert who was outside, waiting for him. The first piece of clothing was a shirt made of seaweed, then another shirt made of silver gauze, a skirt made of blue gauze and lastly a small cape made of a purple material. All of the clothing fit and my mother was very pleased with herself. "You'll look absolutely stunning for the ball tonight," she said smiling. "There's a ball tonight?" I asked as my mind screamed but what about dad's rescue? I hoped Aaron had known this and that he knew what to do. "Yes a ball," said my mother. "It's to celebrate those prisoners returning. It starts at eight tonight." I groaned, how was I ever going to find an excuse to leave? My mother looked closely at me so I quickly answered, "I don't know how to dance." "That's easy to solve, there's dancing lessons going on today," she said. "Aaron never wanted to learn how to dance so every time one comes around he sulks in a corner or leaves. But then not many boys like dancing." She chatted on as I took off the skirt, cape and shirts mother had made and put on my first tank-top. When I finished she took my hand and led me out to the ball-room which now had close to twenty people. A Mer-maid glided over and looked me up and down. "Hello Ali, are you taking ze dance lesson?" The lady said with a French accent. She had blonde hair made up into a tight knot at the back of her head and pink fins. "I'd like for my daughter Karen to take the lesson today." My mother said giving the lady some little pink shells which had markings of different numbers on them, money. My mother kissed me and told me to have fun, she then swam out of the room. The dance teacher paired me up with a girl who had brown hair and freckles. The girl's name was Briana and when I told her my name she smiled nervously and said that she was taking lessons because her father wanted her to. However for the rest of the time we didn't speak much because we were concentrating so hard on memorizing the different patterns. By the time the lesson was over I was completely exhausted. After swimming down to the apartment I sank down onto my bed and relaxed my sore muscles. "Wow!" said Aaron. "That was a long lesson, three hours!" I looked up at him and since I didn't see mother I asked, "Aaron, tonight's the ball. How are we supposed to rescue Dad?" Aaron seemed perfectly calm "The ball ends at three in the morning Sis. This will give us the chance to go rescue Dad." I didn't feel a quarter as calm as my brother but I trusted him and then asked, "Have you ever seen Dad?" "Yes, I have seen him. The Vanians allow visiting. So whenever mother went to visit him I came along," Aaron answered. I had no idea what my father looked like. There was only one photograph. He must've known what I was thinking so he said to reassure me. "Dad doesn't look very different from the photo. He just has some gray hair and has lost some weight." Before mother came back, Aaron described to me exactly how our rescue mission would go. "First, we'll swim to the Vanian palace and sneak inside through the wall. There's a hole there, I checked for it today. Then we go down to the prison chambers and stay low since there are always guards there even on special occasions. We go to his cell, I know where it is, and let him out." "Good plan," I said. "You still have the keys, right?" He nodded and after a few minutes I fell asleep, dancing lessons were very tiring. When I woke up I felt very rested. It was 7:30PM so I put on my blue skirt and then pulled the silvery shirt on top of my tank-top. After brushing my hair with the comb on my dresser, I swam out of the room. My mother and brother were dressed and having a tussle over his hair style. "Mom, ER NO! It's supposed to be like that!" he screamed pulling the brush out of my mother's hand. "Mom, let him do what he wants," I said, and the two stopped. My mother was wearing a beautiful ruby-red skirt and a silvery shirt. Aaron wore the green tuxedo top I had seen on the Mer-men in the ball-room. "Fine!" my mother said throwing down the comb as Aaron gave me a look of thanks. "Of course," I added, "It'll be his fault if he scares all his dancing partners away." Mother laughed and Aaron scowled but she did let him keep his hair-style which I personally thought was okay. Mother then put some lip-stick on me, a pink color and then we left to go to the ball. Many other Mer-people were going in the same direction as us, each one of them wearing a fancy outfit. All of them looked excited and I spotted Briana who was holding her father's hand tightly. When we reached the ballroom it was filled but the room was so huge there was plenty of space. One side of the room held refreshments, one had chairs and tables, another side had a platform where there were what looked like instruments and microphones. The last side of the room was for the royal family. The King and his family sat on thrones each wearing crowns and observing the scene below. I stayed with my mother who waved to some of her friends and began talking to them. She introduced me and each one of them told her how lovely I was and how lucky I was to have such a wonderful mother. Then they began discussing patterns of clothing and gossip that I was not interested in so I left and swam over to Aaron who was with his friends. "Aaron, is that your girlfriend?" one of the boys asked. Aaron looked over and saw me. "Hey Karen, these are my friends. You know Robert, and this is James, David, Lance, Bill, Sam and Jared. And she is not my girlfriend. She's my sister." "Hi," they all said and the boy, Bill, who had thought I was Aaron's girlfriend went very red. "How are you doing with the book?" Robert asked politely "I finished it," I answered. "It was really fascinating, thanks so much." I felt stupid. I knew I didn't belong there but I didn't want to go back to mother and her friends. Everything was quiet for a long time and I could tell I wasn't the only one who was nervous. Another boy came over, my brother and his friends stared at him as he asked me to dance. I felt myself going red as I accepted and swam with him to the dance floor. "I'm Karen," I said. "Who are you?" "William," he answered. "Are you new?" "Yes, I'm a Sian" I said while concentrating hard on the dance movements I had learned that day. "You're a good dancer," William answered and I thanked him. As we danced by the royal family I saw the Queen stare at me and many people did, especially my mother. When the dance ended I excused myself and swam to my mother asking her why. "Honey," she answered quietly "you were dancing with Prince Jason." "No I wasn't," I said. "He told me his name was William." "That was the Prince all right. Sometimes he doesn't like to say who he is because he doesn't want to be treated like royalty," said Aaron who had just come over. "I can't believe he danced with you." I looked at the boy I had danced with. The Prince? I couldn't believe it. He didn't act like a prince even if he sort of looked like one. Aaron jingled the keys to the Vanian palace that he had on his wrist. Father! "ER, Mom," I said making my excuse, "I think I dropped something outside, so I'll be right back." I swam outside and my brother, who made his excuse two minutes later, followed me. . I was swimming toward the entrance hall when I noticed that someone was following us. I was going to turn around but Aaron did first. "Your highness," my brother said, "my sister and I are just going for a swim." "May I join you?" the prince asked. "I have some questions to ask your sister." "Actually," I said, "we're going to race. Will you fairly state who wins?" NO! Aaron mouthed but it was too late, the prince accepted. When we swam to the entrance of the castle I told him that we would be swimming back for our race and he would say who the winner was. "This," Aaron whispered as we prepared to compete, "is going to be a long race. I just hope he falls for it." I ignored him and nodded to the prince. "On your mark, get set, GO!" shouted the prince and I whizzed away. I couldn't believe how fast I was going. Suddenly I could swim really well. I looked over my shoulder, the prince was still in sight and Aaron was behind me. I knew he could swim much faster than he was going but he was making it seem more like a race. However as soon as the prince was out of sight Aaron caught up. "Do you know how long this is going to take!" he said. "I was going to have us use some wheelers but because of your wonderful race idea we'll have to swim there!" "Could you have thought of anything better!" I replied curtly. Aaron didn't answer although he began muttering angrilly. Soon I understood why Aaron had complained so much about having to swim all the way there and back. I began breathing rapidly and I got a cramp in my side. "Are we almost there?" I asked feeling like a kid and when my brother nodded I was very glad and sure enough a few minutes later a huge castle loomed up made of white marble. Echoing out of the castle were screams of pain. Shuddering, I followed Aaron toward the wall surrounding the castle. He pointed to a hole in the wall and I was about to go in when I heard the sound of a motor. It was prince Jason on a motorcycle. "Some race," Jason said, and I guiltily looked up. "It's fine though. I lied to you too." Aaron came back out of the hole. "Will you please stop bothering us?" "I want to help you," the prince answered. "It's time the rest of them were freed." I looked over at Aaron who slowly nodded and all three of us swam into the hole. "Listen," my brother said to the prince, "we're breaking in and setting our father free." "What about the other prisoners?" said Jason as we swam down to the prison chambers below. "Can't we set them free too?" "Yeah, I guess. It'll just be more difficult to get them out. But why not?" I said. So we decided to set all the prisoners free. When we reached the prison chambers it was very dark and I could barely see. Most of the Vanian guards lay slumped against the wall, asleep. However, we still swam very quietly and when we un-locked the first prison cell we immediately covered the captive's mouth and then put a finger to our own lips to tell him to be quiet. The prince brought each of the freed prisoners back up and through the hole in the wall and told them to swim back to the Mer-palace since all of them knew the way. I felt very weird since when Aaron unlocked the cell doors and the captive came out they immediately began kissing our fins with gratitude which is a strange thing I wasn't used to. So I hurriedly told them to follow Jason since I didn't want any noise that might possibly cause the guards to wake up. It went on like this for eleven prisoners and the twelfth was father! He knew Aaron and hugged him, tears of joy pouring out of his eyes. To my surprise when he saw me, he knew who I was, too. "My daughter!" he said in a hoarse voice. I nodded after putting a finger to my lips since one of the guards had suddenly moved in his sleep. I hugged my father and truthfully he didn't look too different from the wedding photo. "I thought I'd never see you again," Father whispered. "How is your mother?" "She's fine. Just misses you," Aaron replied. "Father, how many prisoners were left?" I asked. "Thirteen," he answered, "but don't mind the last one. He's being slit now, it would be too dangerous to rescue him." Aaron covered his mouth in horror, so did Prince Jason. I wasn't sure what they were talking about but I understood most of it since I remembered Aaron telling me that the Vanias did surgical experiments with themselves. The Vanias were probably making that Mer-person one of them! A scream issued from a chamber at the very end of the floor. Sparks were coming out of the room. I knew immediately that that was where the Mer-person was being sliced. Prince Jason began swimming toward the room and I followed. Aaron and Father were protesting saying it was too dangerous, so I turned around and slowly replied, "Another family is missing that man, just as much as we missed you, Father. We should at-least try to save him. Aaron, you don't have to come. Just give me the keys." Aaron and my dad followed telling me it was stupid to risk my life. But I didn't listen to them. We were just about to go inside the room since it wasn't locked when a Vanian guard saw us. "FREEZE!" the guard shouted and he woke the rest of them up. "INTRUDER ALERT!" The guards saw the empty prison cells and some went after them. But most of them came after us. We were cornered, so without thinking I swam into the room with Aaron, the Prince and Father. Then I quickly shut it and had Aaron lock and bolt it from the inside so that the swarm of angry Vanian guards could not get in. Prince Jason laughed and that sound betrayed us to the Vanian surgeon at our backs. "Well, well, well. What do we have here?" I spun around and saw a short Vanian standing by a table holding a Mer-person. The Vanian had sharp tools in each of his hands and slowly started advancing upon us. However, I was not looking at the Vanian. I was looking at the Mer-person he had been "slitting". I could see why the Mer-man had been screaming so loudly. The fins were being ripped slowly apart and being burned to fit a mold of web-like feet. He was whimpering with pain and would scream every time the tail was ripped apart a little more. "No!" I shouted as I pushed the Vanian away. I pulled the man off the table. His tail was ripped around five or six inches. My father swam forward and took the Mer-man from me and the Vanian who had been temporarily stunned by my push was now laughing in an evil way. "There's nothing you can do, he already is injected with the Vanian DNA, that is what is tearing his tail. He soon will be one of us and will turn upon you as his enemy. That is the way of the Vania, to assimilate. This Mer-man was a worthy enough to become one of us." "But he didn't have any choice did he?" spat Aaron and this made the little Vanian mad for his eyes turned red. "Don't talk about things you don't understand, boy!" the Vanian said through bared teeth. "If we didn't do this we would become extinct." He lunged at Aaron who dodged but he did succeed in winding the Prince who fell back, unconscious. Suddenly the Mer-man in father's arms began to twitch, his eyes glazed over and moving like a zombie, punched my father hard in the chest. My father staggered and dropped him. The Mer-man swam up towards the ceiling and began revolving in the air and screeching. He began moving so fast I couldn't see anything but a blurred shape. The Mer-man gave one long eerie shriek and then stopped spinning. I looked at him in horror, he had been transformed into a Vanian. Aaron was staring at him too and I couldn't take my eyes away. The Vanian gave a loud roar like a shark and propelled himself toward me. I swam toward the other corner of the room and saw under the crack in the door that the Vanian guards were still there, cheering their leader, the surgeon. I was taken completely by surprise when the new Vanian charged and bashed my head against the wall. My head hurt and red liquid went floating away in the water. The Vanian kept pushing my head in the wall with frightening strength, when my father pulled him away from me. The two wrestling, biting, punching, hurting each other however they could. I moved my head a little, it hurt so much. The pain was very dizzying and I leaned back against the wall and surveyed the fight. My father was still wrestling with the newly made Vanian. Aaron and Jason were fighting with the Vanian surgeon. I looked around on the floor, there were some nice sized loose rocks and I picked these up. My father was having a very difficult time with the Vanian so I threw one of the rocks right for the it's head. I hit the creature on the neck and it howled in pain and then advanced upon me. I started swimming, as long as I didn't move my head or neck the pain wasn't so bad. I threw one of the rocks at it and missed. It caught up with me and put it's frog-like hands around my neck and began squeezing my life out. Rage for hitting it with the stone made it squeeze harder. Blackness filled my mind and in a last attempt I threw a stone. It didn't hit the creature even though it suddenly let go of my neck, it hit the surgeon in the eye. The stone had bashed the into the skull and I threw another rock. This one hit the surgeon in the heart and sunk in. The Vanian surgeon gave an un-earthly howl and then burst apart into a million pieces. The Vanian guards had broken into the room but they stopped and stared as the Vanian burst and white light streamed out of him. The light was blinding and I covered my eyes with my hand and then something amazing began to happen. First the newly made Vanian who had tried to strangle me started becoming a Mer-person again, the white light un-doing what had happened. The feet became fins, the legs were knit back together into a tail and the eyes lost the glazed look. This began happening to all the Vanian guards too. I watched with fascination as each of the Vanias were transformed back to Mer-people. Then the white light was gone and all that was left of the Vanian surgeon were some wisps of green hair. The room was crowded with Mer-people, laughing, crying and hugging each other. I swam over to my father, Aaron and the Prince. They all had numerous bruises and small cuts but I was the most injured of all. My father inspected my head, "We should get you home quickly," he said. "I'm afraid you have a concussion." My head didn't hurt as much as it used to but I didn't protest. Then I heard the castle groaning and the wall started crumbling. "The castle is going to collapse!" shouted one of the newly transformed Mer-men. "Let's get out of here!" said another, and all the Mer-men went through the door and out through the main entrance. The one who had nearly strangled me stayed behind and apologized. "I'm really sorry," he said. "I didn't have any control. I almost killed you, and you saved me." "It's okay," I answered while massaging my sore neck. "It's not your fault, you said yourself you didn't have any control." The Mer-man thanked us and then swam with the others. Aaron, Father, Jason and I went back through the hole in the wall and just as we got out the entire castle gave one last shudder and then collapsed. "That was close." Prince Jason said looking at the fallen remains of the castle. "Thanks for the adventure, and will you two visit me sometime? It's been a while since I've been treated like a normal boy?" He looked at me and Aaron. "Why not?" said Aaron shaking hands with the Prince, who got up onto the motorcycle (which turned out to be a wheeler) and invitingly patted the seat. Aaron and I immediately sat down on it since we were both very tired from the long swim and Father said that he would follow behind us. The wheeler's motors roared and it zoomed away. I held tightly onto Aaron who was holding onto Jason so that we wouldn't fall off. Jason steered the wheeler so that it went up until it broke the surface of the ocean and then we plunged back down into the water. I had accidentally fallen off and I was laughing as the wheeler came back for me to get on. "I'll swim a little." I said when Aaron motioned for me to get on. He shrugged and stayed on the wheeler so I swam with Father. Suddenly Father swam to his right as though avoiding something, I kept swimming when I saw what he had been avoiding. It was a huge net and I tried to swim away from it but I wasn't fast enough, the net scooped me up to along with lots of fish. "Help! Father, Aaron!" I screamed while struggling to get out which tangled me even more. Father, Aaron and Jason came back and tried to cut the net apart so that I cold get out. Unfortunately none of them had a knife and the string wouldn't break even with teeth! "Go back to the Mer-palace!" I said while trying to untangle myself," Get a knife and hurry!" The three of them all went on the wheeler and zoomed away towards the palace which was now in sight. I relaxed a little, help was on the way and I was going to be perfectly fine. A huge tuna who was also trying to escape swam into me. My head was jolted backwards and I fell into an unconscious state of blackness. The next thing I knew I was lying on something solid and I could hear sea-gulls. A old man and woman were peering over me. I looked up to see what I was on, some kind of fishing boat, but I didn't only see that, I had legs again. "You gave us a shock." The lady said shaking her gray head "We weren't expecting a human to come up with the fish. Especially an unconscious girl, at first we thought you were dead." "What were 'ye doing out in the middle of the sea?" asked the old man " There aren't any cruise ships out and 'ye aren't wearing any scuba gear." The old lady wrapped a towel around my shaking body and handed me a cup of steaming tea which I drank, thankful for it's warmth. "Where'd 'ye get such intrestin' clothes?" the old man asked pointing to my shirt "Looks like it's made outta silver. Molly, look at this!" The old lady walked over and stared at the sleeve of my shirt. I shook my head, had it just been a dream? A very strange dream at that, I remembered finding my family, being turned into a Mer-maid, rescuing my father and taking dance lessons. However everything was so blurry I couldn't think straight, besides how had I ever ended up on a boat? The old man and woman asked me many questions: How had I gotten into the net? Why was I in the middle of the ocean? What was I doing without scuba gear or a swim-suit? Where had I gotten my strange clothing? To each of these questions I said "I don't know, I don't know." At first I had tried to shake my head but that hurt a lot and brought back memories of a froggy creature strangling me. All these blurry images ran through my head and I didn't know what they meant. I looked at the shirt I was wearing, the shirt had been made by someone who loved me and said I would look stunning in it…There had been a ball and I had left it with my brother to save my father and gotten caught in a net when we were going back. It was all beginning to come back. But then again it might've all been a dream. I shook my head again and suddenly a sharp pain spread all throughout my the back of my head. I touched the spot and pain shot out from the contact so I quickly removed my hand. I sat there huddled in the blanket at the side of the ship asking myself again and again "had it been a dream?" I couldn't tell, I truly wanted it to have been real but there was no way to be sure. The beautiful clothing that my mother had made, now out of the water and wet-ness had dried up and crumbled into a fine powder and then been blown away with the wind. So it might have been sea foam. I still had the pain in my head but that might have been from being dumped on the boat's deck. So I sat there frustrated with my memory as tangled thoughts came whirling back. The old lady gave me some Chinese food and some more tea. "We're going below deck to call the Coast Guard and get your family. If you need anything just holler," she said and then left. The food was cold but still good. There were some dumplings, noodles, a spring roll and a fortune cookie. I drank the tea, ate the noodles and had some of the spring roll then I cracked open the fortune cookie and took the slip of parchment inside. I knew what fortune cookies were since I had gone to Chinatown with Aunt Cecilia often. The cookies themselves were bad-tasting and often stale. However, I never cared about that since the fortune part had always been what I was interested in. The fortune paper was very different from all the other ones I had gotten. Instead of the paper being white and written in pink or black ink, it was dried sea-weed with a silvery ink. I stared at it for a moment before reading the actual message: Sometimes travel to new places leads to great transformation. I stared at the paper some more as the truth filled me, it hadn't been a dream! I clutched the tiny parchment and dived off the boat and into the ocean, thinking to myself "I'm going home." | Back To Top |  Read | Write | Respond | Book Reviews | Site Reviews | Home [The Legend of the Blue Flower] Chapter 1-The Blue Flower Cassondra held a small child’s hand and protected her from the fumes coming out of the incinerator. She was shivering in her thin cloak and was whining softly as they left the building forever. The incinerator’s fumes filled the whole brick building and the air around the building was dark and musty. The incinerator was used to heat the castle one mile away. It fed on the trash of the Oninon people. It also fed on their sacrifices: No direct heat, no outside visitors, restricted rules that explained when you could leave, and no possession of any magical creatures whatsoever. The Oninon people always complained about these unfair laws but they did not follow through with their complaints. It is the nature of the Oninon people to not be persistent. All except for Cassondra, who was not a full Oninon. She married into the family. Cassondra was used to fine living and dining and her own personal magical creature of her choosing-- a sphinx in which she called Zelenda. Cassondra grew up with Zelenda from when she was a tiny baby nestled in a cradle. Zelenda had golden fur and was treated like a princess. Zelenda was Cassondra’s best friend, they had an unbreakable connection. They almost shared the same thoughts and could reach into each other’s minds. * * * * * * * * * * Cassondra’s marriage to her gambling husband was arranged by her family. Her husband, Julian, was a perfect angel in front of her family. He spoke about his flourishing trade business, his big house in the country and the hundreds of magical creatures he had in his private stables. Her parents were impressed by Julian and they organized the wedding right away. Cassondra saw that there was something suspicious about Julian because he hesitated on some of the easier questions that she asked him, as if he was making the answers up as he went along. She secretly sent Zelenda to follow Julian. Zelenda followed Julian, disguised as a stray dog, and saw that instead of traveling in-style to a fancy home on the country side that he walked into a dirty brick building surrounded by leafless shrubs and a large incinerator that sent ashes into the air. Cassondra was outraged when she heard what Zelenda had told her. This brick building was the building where the Oninon people lived. Cassondra would have to live in a terrible brick building where smoke filled the air and where people were restricted by harsh rules. Then, too Cassondra realized that she would never see Zelenda again. She tried to tell her parents what she had seen, but they were certain that Julian would be the one for her. The night before the wedding, Cassondra and Zelenda cried for hours in each others arms. The next day, Zelenda would be sent to live with Cassondra’s brother Alexander. They were married and then Julian took her to live in the brick building, where nobody could help her leave. Not even her parents who looked on helplessly when Julian took her to his awful home. * * * * * * * * The child was crying. The 6 year old girl was not hers. It was adopted from a woman of her own culture. The rules allowed this sort of “visitor”. The girl’s name was Ana. She had dark brown hair and olive skin and was quite pretty for someone her age. Cassondra resolved not to go near Julian. He was always drinking and was short on gold all of the time. They hardly ever spoke to each other. She always stayed in the house, and sat near the soot filled window, thinking of what her life could have been like if she had not gotten married to him. Cassondra looked at the child whose frail hand she was holding. She was whimpering softly. “God help me.” prayed Cassondra as she gathered a small parcel which contained most of what she owned, and took Ana and walked outside of the building. “And where the hell are you going?” Cassondra stopped walking. Standing in front of her was Julian, her husband, and by the awful reek of his breath; he was drunk again. “I was,” Cassondra hesitated, “Just going to meet my family”. Cassondra answered. She continued to walk around Julian, but he stood in her path once again. “You don’t have permission, and even if you do, I say no! Get back inside and make me dinner!” Cassondra pushed Julian aside and continued walking. Her husband roughly tugged her sleeve. “Leave Momma ‘lone!” shouted Ana. She began violently punching him. Julian was unprepared for the blows from his adopted daughter and this gave Cassondra a chance. Clutching Ana, She began running. Julian went after her for awhile but he ws not a persistant man, so he quickly gave up. As soon as Julian was out of sight, Cassondra stopped running. She leaned against a tree and caught her breath. Little Ana crawled out of her mothers’ arms and walked to a tiny shrub near by. “Ana”, Cassondra said, “I don’t know what to do now that we’ve run away.” Ana took out a blue flower from her cloak and placed it in the center of a rock near the shrub. Then she sprinked some earth on various parts of it. <<<<<<Parts are missing, sorry>>>> “Very well then”, said Vanalla, “but listen closely mortal, for I will only say it once! The flower you see in the hands of your adopted child is a rare flower that grows on the star tree. You must keep it safe by wrapping it in the shell of a turtle. Before the ash cloud towered over the earth, the blue flowers grew in number on the star tree along with the orange and purple flowers. These blue flowers held all of the magic of the world within their petals and stayed fresh forever after they were picked. They were not like the others that grew on the bush with them, that just grew fruits of many colors. Wizards and witches with special talents would use the blue flowers to cure ailments, raise the dead and to summon mer-creatures. But there were a thousand other uses that the wizard or witch would find out for themselves. Then, the king arose a tall building that blew ashes into the air, but the ashes were not like those of a regular fire. The ashes began killing the blue flowers, but only the blue ones, the magical ones. Several wizards and witches noticed the killing and tried desperately to put them in air tight places where they could keep them safe for future generations. But these witches and wizards were persecuted and over the years there were fewer and fewer blue flowers. The rest of the story I do not know.” Cassondra realized the importance of this story to where she was living right now. “The building is destroying the magic of the earth. We have to stop it, we have to save it for it is our only hope of ever leaving the building, and of letting others out who I know despise it. Teach me all of the magic you know, O great mistress of the deep.” Cassondra said. “It isn’t I who must teach you, it is her, the young one, she posesses more magic than I will ever know, I can see it deep inside of her.” Vanalla said, as if she saw what was on Cassondra’s mind. “Take these gifts, and take care of them. The first is the shell of a turtle. This will protect your flower when you are not using it. The second gift is a Star Tree. For though there are only purple and orange flowers on it, it will still give you guidance. Farewell.” Vanalla handed them a pot the color of the sea with a tiny star tree growing inside and the turtles’ shell that Ana clutched in her small arms. The young girls’ brown hair blew in the wind as Vanalla vanished to her home under the Caspian sea. “What magic do you want me to show you momma?” asked Ana “Invisibility” stated Cassondra. “Before we begin saving the Oninon people, there is someone I want you to meet named Zelenda who can help us along the way.” Chapter 2-The Dream "Invisibility is simple!" Ana pointed a finger at Cassondra and began muttering incantations while waving the blue flower around her small outline. The next thing Cassondra knew she was invisible. The feeling passed over her as though a sheet of ice had been thrown on her body. Cassondra shivered and began rubbing her hands together. But, when she looked down her hands were not there. "What have you done to me!"? Cassondra shrieked. "You wanted to learn invisibility." Ana replied before she too turned herself invisible. "I wanted to learn, not actually be invisible!" Cassondra answered as she started pulling her hair in exasperation. "The only way to learn is to be." Ana said quietly reflecting a side of her that was much more ancient than her child-like form inferred. Cassondra sighed, feeling around in the air for Ana's hand and grasping it she began walking to her brother's house where Zelenda would be. As the two walked Ana was lecturing her on invisibility. "Each form has a name and a song, there is one song that each person uses and only that person. These songs are made while being in that state…" Cassondra's head rang with her child's serious and mature talk. So far, she hadn't comprehended any of it though she grappled desperately for an idea. Next to her, Ana had suddenly gone quiet. She slowly loosened her mother's grip on her hand and then she sprang away leaving Cassondra to fend for herself. "Ana," Cassondra called out blindly, "Why did you let go? I can't see you, I can't see myself! Oh Ana, change me back; teach me how to do it myself. "Um, momma I don't know how to change you back but I know it will wear off in a day. You have to learn to see completely when you are invisible and that I can't teach you. Think of something you fully understand and just look." The only thing she fully understood was Zelenda. As memories flickered in her mind she saw Ana next to her. "I can see you! I can see myself too I just had to think of Zelenda! But, can others see us?" Asked Cassondra. "No momma, we can see them and each other but they cannot see us." Ana answered. "How will we rescue Zelenda when she can't see us?" Asked Cassondra. "We will have to create a dream and come to her as if in a vision. She will believe it for she is you and you are her." Ana took Cassondra's hands in hers, "Now we shall make the dream. Concentrate momma, concentrate on Zelenda…" Cassondra closed her eyes and held her breath as she recalled her memories of Zelenda. How they had played together every single day, the entrancing and soothing sound of her voice… "Concentrate!", Ana shouted. Cassondra bit her lip and squeezed her eyes tighter as she remembered the beautiful glimmer of Zelenda's eyes, the softness of her golden fur and her majestic presence. Suddenly, a small hazy cloud appeared above the circle made by Cassondra's and Ana's entwined arms. Inside the cloud was a blurry picture of Cassondra's pet sphinx. Ana watched the hazy form as she slowly added parts to the dream. But when Cassondra opened her eyes she gasped. "My brother Alexander is torturing her! Oh no! He will never give her back!" Cassondra's eyes widened with disbelief as she saw Zelenda slash at what looked like a chain around her neck as she gave frantic cries of pain. "No! No! My wicked brother Alexander, NO! Stop it! Leave her Alone!!!" As Cassondra observed her friend's pain she too felt it. Suddenly, the image of Zelenda vanished. Cassondra weeping in empathy for her pet leaned against a tree as she put her face in her hands. Ana watched her mother; creases spreading across her forehead as she observed the pain her mother bore. Cassondra's action was almost exactly what she had done when the king had burnt her mother since she was a witch. "We must rescue her." Cassondra said, "We must save her." "We've sent the dream." Ana answered as she watched two blue petals dance through the wind, "For now that is all we can do." "How will we know when Zelenda has had the dream?" asked Cassondra. "She is falling asleep right now and will have the dream shortly. We need to get there quickly because the dream will be more powerful if she hears our voices soon after she wakes up." Answered Ana. "We have to hurry to my brothers house. Can you make possibly make us fly there?" Cassondra asked. "I cannot do two self-formation spells at the same time. Flying would involve creating wings, but we are already invisible. It is complicated and involves years of training. Let's just run." Ana said Cassondra led the way up to the cobblestone streets of the ports near the sea to the hills. They quickly passed the brick building of the Oninon people. It seems as though they had organized a search party to look for them. They simply strode past the armed soldiers of the king and ventured their way to the houses on the other side of the village. Once in the hills they turned down an endless amount of streets that twisted and turned. They were both out of breath and heavily panting but they continued until they reached the dirt paved dead end street where Cassondra's brother lived. The large house was dark and old. The stones were growing moss and they continued in a crumbling pattern all the way up to the peak high near the tops of the trees that grew near the house. They hurried up the steps. The doors were unlocked so they crept up the stoop and opened the door. "Now remember, we might be invisible, but we can still make noise" Ana whispered. They grasped hands and went inside. The house was dark, lit only by a few candles at the front. It smelled of mold and dust. "Where is Zelenda?" whispered Ana. "The third floor. I can feel her thinking. She knows we are here…. She's telling us to climb to the third floor and walk to the room at the end of the hallway." Cassondra whispered excitedly. They climbed the steps, making sure they did not creak, but they were old steps and made noise anyway. "Who is in my house?" A loud voice said from the top of the steps. "If you don't get out right away, I swear I will release my dogs on you!" Suddenly, a tall man with ripped, dusty black robes on appeared holding what looked like a rifle. "Show yourself, there is no need to hide. My dogs will be able to smell you a mile away." He said. Ana took a rock from her pocket and threw it down the steps. It crashed at the landing on the first floor with a loud thud. "Ah Ha!" shouted the man. He hurried down the steps, brushing just inches from where Ana and Cassondra were standing. They silently continued the few stairs they had left and walked down the hallway to the end. "In there." Cassondra whispered. They quietly opened the door to reveal a dungeon-like room. Dozens of magical creatures lay chained up on the wall; unicorns, fairies, and there was Zelenda, in a deep sleep. She was having the dream and communicating with Cassondra. Her eyes opened. Her golden fur was matted with blood and her face was tear-stained. Ana walked up to her and whispered, "We have come to rescue you. I am the adopted daughter of your best friend Cassondra. Stay still and I will perform a charm to get this lock off." Ana whispered some slight incantations to the flower and the locks opened. "I knew you would come for me." Zelenda whispered hoarsely, "I knew it!" Slowly and cautiously Ana, Cassondra and Zelenda crept through the hall. But Zelenda had been tortured so much that after two flights of stairs she fainted. Gently, Cassondra carried her sphinx, this slowed them down since a fully grown sphinx is quite heavy. The two were concentrating on getting out as quickly as possible and as quietly, in fact, they were concentrating so deeply that Ana accidentally bumped into Alexander. Zelenda was not invisible and when Alexander bumped into them he saw Zelenda 'floating' in the middle of the hall. "Ghosts!" he shrieked and ran down the hall screaming. Cassondra watched her brother run into a room and lock the door as he muttered crazily to himself. Then, she continued walking, gently cradling Zelenda. Once outside the building and far enough away so that the stone castle was no longer in sight the three of them rested. Cassondra gently placed Zelenda onto the grass. She searched the forest for wormwood, rogwart and other healing herbs. Once she had gathered a sufficient amount, she ground them up to made A poultice which she spread on each of Zelenda's wounds; they treated infection and would stop fever. Ana watched quietly taking in everything her mother did. "Don't you know this?" Cassondra asked. "No." Ana replied, "The only magic I know is what real momma taught me; I don't know how to heal. If she had showed me I would have saved her." By now, Cassondra had almost mastered invisibility. She could see Ana perfectly and it was no longer difficult. Cassondra hummed a tune to herself as she dressed Zelenda's wounds. But her voice was the only sound in the forest. It was unusually quiet and the one thing Ana noticed was that there were no birds. Chapter 3- The Prophesy The sting of the herbs on Zelenda's wounds woke her. "Where am I?" she said. "You are with me, Cassondra, and my daughter, Ana. Oh Zelenda, I miss you so much! The past year has been horrific without you." "I am so filled with happiness to finally be near you that I can't even see you!" said Zelenda. "We are invisible my love! Ana, will you please turn Zelenda invisible because otherwise she wont be able to see us for another couple of hours, when the spell wears off." "Yes momma, right away." Ana said, amazed at the mysterious beauty within the wounded magical creature. "Zelenda, you might feel a burst of cool air come over you but don't worry, I trust her for she is my daughter." "Then I trust her too", Said Zelenda. For a moment, there was a deep understanding between the girl and the sphinx. Ana waved the blue flower over the hunched figure of Zelenda. Instantly, she cringed and twitched. "I still cannot see you my dear." Zelenda said. Ana said the same thing she told Cassondra just hours before when she first became invisible. "Think of something that you totally understand and then look". "That is simple. My Cassondra." Zelenda said with a mysterious sigh. The process of seeing while invisible came quickly to Zelenda and soon she was in Cassondra's arms. "I love you and this is where I was wishing to be for the time you were with that fraud! Oh he treated us awful! He starved us and beat us for his own twisted pleasure! All of us were in it together. We all stayed strong, waiting for when we could escape." Zelenda exclaimed. Suddenly, they heard a scurry of feet and a flutter of wings. Ana's magic had worked on all of the locks. All of the tortured magical creatures had escaped! "We owe you both a great debt" they heard a high voice say. Then Cassondra and Ana explained everything about the mermaid, the legend of the blue flower, Julian and their quest to rescue the Oninon people from the horrid conditions set upon them by the king. "Vanalla gave us these gifts" Ana explained, as she showed the sphinx the turtle shell and the star tree. The star tree already had a fresh fruit growing on it so they split it, devouring the sweet red juice that dripped out of it. After they had eaten in a small alcove in the woods, Zelenda said "We should spy on the king to find out exactly why he's put this incinerator up, and maybe how we can stop the incinerator from ruining these people's lives!" The three of them agreed on this and walked as the sun was setting. Soon they arrived at the same twists and turns in the road that Ana and Cassondra had run down just a few hours before. When they reached the bottom of the hill, they saw the search party, still looking for her. They saw a sign that announced: "The person who can find the escapees alive will become heir to the throne." They reached the back of the Oninon building and followed the pipe that leads from the building to the castle. They followed it for about a half of a mile. It was twilight when they reached the castle and they were all tired and hungry. The star-tree fruit refreshed them but didn't fill them. The castle was an old building but it was well taken care of. Gas jet lamps lighted the castle windows. They shone through the thick curtains. Since they were invisible and Ana's magic allowed them to easily pick locks, they were inside the castle in no time. Their first stop was the kitchen where Ana stole some vegetable and fruit tarts. She also stole some stew. They ate their food quickly without even tasting, for they were so concentrated on their quest. They walked to the corridor near the king's meeting chamber. They heard a voice call from inside, "Send in the royal magician for my weekly prophecy." "You wished to see me your highness?" the court magician said with a voice that trembled. There were large circles under his eyes, his hair was matted and his robe wrinkled. As Cassondra watched she felt sympathy for the poor, overworked man. The King got off his throne and began to pace. "As you know," he said. "The incinerator does not actually heat the castle. It burns the trash of the Oninon and, with that special potion the other wizards conjured, every time a piece of trash is burned the Oninon's souls are slowly burned too, however for this to happen they must be inside the building. This is why we only allow them to go outside during certain time periods. The Oninon used to be the proudest, haughtiest and majestic people in this country. They are also the strongest. I needed that strength in my empire but when I attempted to enslave them they resisted. With the help of your illusion magic they thought I was their king. Over the years they have become less persistent and I am slowly breaking them. But now, they've started marrying into other groups, the Lephilia people. The Lephilia are not under my power and if they ever discover out our secret it will bring an end to my empire. I've heard, that one of the Lephilia women has run away with her witch child. Does she know! our secret, I don't know. Is she organizing a rebellion, I don't know. I need to find out if this woman is a threat." "Yes your majesty." The magician quietly replied. He pulled a wand out of his sleeve and waved it around in the shape of a circle. A bowl appeared, a bowl full of water. The magician seemed to understand what the clouded swirls meant for, after staring at the water for a few more moments he turned to the king and whispered into his ear. Cassondra leaned forward but she couldn't hear what he had said. The magician then bowed to the king and walked to the hall where Cassondra, Ana and Zelenda were hiding. He paused for a moment as he stared at the sign that proclaimed whoever captured Cassondra and Ana and then brought them back to the building would become the heir to the throne. Then, he continued walking. He walked right by Cassondra and Zelenda but the hem of his robe brushed against Ana's mouth. Ana gave a little sneeze and the magician stopped walking. He began sniffing, for, although he couldn't see them he could smell the ashes on their clothing. He looked around the hall and saw some traces of black footprints. Again, he took out his wand. But this time, when he waved it around a shimmery veil escaped the tip. It filled the entire hall. Ana watched it with wonder, but suddenly, her eyelids felt heavy. Slowly, she, Cassondra and Zelenda fell fast asleep as the golden veil covered them. The magician chuckled and thought of what a great king he would make. Chapter 4- The Green Potion When Ana and Cassondra awoke, they were in a dungeon, lit only by a patch of sunlight shining through a crack in the stone wall. "Momma, where are we? How did we fall asleep? Zelenda, where are you?" called Ana. Her mother's hands were locked in shackles together with her own, and on their feet were chains that locked them to the wall. Luckily, they weren't in single cells. They were still together. "I am here" called Zelenda, "and still invisible. My spell lasted longer than yours, so those guards could not find me. I trained myself to sleep with one eye open because of that awful Alexander. The king saw you sleeping outside the hallway and thought you came to confess. He made his guards gently carry you to the dungeon so that more displeasure could come to you when you awoke." "How could we fall asleep?" asked Cassondra. "That magician. He used a Dark wand to spread sleeping gas in the corridor. I knew that he wasn't a fake but I never knew he could own a Dark wand. Not only can they do Black Magic, but also they can see the hidden and reveal what the naked eye wont see. He knew we were here," answered Ana. "If he knew we were here, then why didn't he just tell the king right away?" Asked Cassondra. "I don't know…." Said Ana. "How will we escape this dreadful place?" Cassondra knelt, defeated and in tears. "My flower! It is gone. THE KING TOOK MY FLOWER!!!! The gifts that Vanalla gave me have vanished. Someone stole them. We will never escape!" cried Ana, also half to tears. Though they could not see her, Zelenda licked their tears and tried to cuddle with them dearly. Suddenly there was a loud noise. The door was unlocked and opened to reveal the magician that had put them in jail. "YOU. I WILL KILL YOU ONCE WE ARE OUT OF HERE!" Cassondra yelled to the shivering figure of a man in tattered ropes. Cassondra headed for him but she was chained to the wall, like a vicious dog. "I want to help you", the man said in a quivering voice. "I put you in jail, and now I want to get you out. It is wrong what the king is doing to those people. He's burning their garbage, burning their souls, burning their self-esteem, their will to love each other. I spent a long time last night, thinking about my actions. They were wrong. Please forgive me." "WHAT!!!" yelled Cassondra! You put us in jail, you are helping along the deterioration of innocent people's minds and you want forgiveness? Get out of my sight." With that, Cassondra sank down near the wall crying in loud moans that echoed throughout the dungeon. "No, please. I really want to help. Take this. They are the plans of the incinerator. I know where your turtle and your tree are. The king is keeping them in his quarters as 'decorations'. Do with them what you will. I will take my leave now. I trust you with the future of the Oninon people." With that, the magician left, head hanging in shame. He left the door unlocked. "Zelenda, my darling, please, are you feeling brave?" Cassondra said between tears. "Yes, I am. What do you wish me to do?" Zelenda said in a comforting tone. "Please Zelenda, can you go up to the king's quarters and get the star tree and the turtle shell with the flower in it. You are the only one who can." "I will. Yes I will. I will try to communicate with you when I am in trouble. Good bye for now." Zelenda said valiantly. "Good luck." called Ana. "What are all of these papers that the magician gave us? It says: The incinerator does not merely turn the garbage into ashes to heat the castle. The Dark magic put on the incinerator allows the king to destroy the souls of the people living there. With their spirit gone, all of these people simply become slaves or zombies. Over the years, studies have shown that the people that live in the building have become less persistent. As the deterioration progresses the burned spirits rise up. The spirits have a habit of holding on to some source of salvation. The blue flowers are the last earthly objects they see. When they reach for it, the blue flowers shrivel up and die, almost as if they received the 'kiss of death'." Ana stopped reading, in horror. "This is horrific! How can someone do this to people? They are ridding people of their spirit and killing the magic of the universe." Cried Cassondra. "Oh Zelenda, where are you?" "Going up the main staircase. I'm following a servant who is taking food up to the king in his room." Cassondra heard Zelenda's thoughts echoing through her mind. "I'm walking down a great hall behind the servant. I'm in his bed chamber." Cassondra heard again. She told Ana what Zelenda had emitted to her. "I see them." Zelenda thought to her "On the window-sill. The servant has left and the king is napping on his bed." "She sees them!" Cassondra cried to Ana. Zelenda thought again. "No, I'm starting to become visible. I keep seeing my self disappear and then reappear!" "Zelenda is in trouble. Her spell is wearing off!" Cassondra told Ana. "Run" Cassondra thought to Zelenda. "Get the gifts and RUN!" "I almost have them. I'm trying to knock them off with my paw. They fell! I have them in my mouth, but I am now totally visible! The king is waking up! He sees me!!" thought Zelenda. "Run, fast!" Cassondra thought to her. "I am! The king is groggy from his sleep. He thinks I am a dream. I am running down the hallway. Now down the steps. I have the tree and the turtle shell in my paws and my mouth." Zelenda thought. "I am here." Zelenda called out of breath. "Oh Zelenda! You made it. Give the flower to Ana." With that, she flung Zelenda's tired head between her locked arms while Ana said the lock opening enchantments. They were finally free! Ana made them all invisible and they all walked out of the dungeon together. We have to shut down the incinerator!" Cassondra stated as the three of them walked outside the palace and into the woods. Ana gently touched the blue petals of her magical flower and Zelenda knew what she was thinking. "What about the Oninon people?" Zelenda asked, "We don't know how to shut down the incinerator and if we make a mistake the fumes might become worse." "We'll have to evacuate everyone." Cassondra answered as she began looking at the paper the court magician had given her. She couldn't understand any of it except that a soul was needed. She thought that somehow the blue flower would help them to destroy the incinerator. "How'll we evacuate the people?" Ana asked. "We could send them dreams." Zelenda suggested. "There's too many of them." Ana said in response to the sphinx's suggestion. "We should just go there and persuade them to leave." Zelenda again suggested. "They aren't persistent so it should be easy." Then, the three of them walked back to the brick building that was leaking black clouds of smoke. During the time of their invisibility the three of them whispered into the ears of the Oninon people, saying they were the ghosts of their ancestors and that they should leave. At first they had told the truth but nobody believed that. "Trust me, your ol' granny always told you the truth right? Well, leave this place, just for a little while. For, death is coming here tomorrow and he is going to kill everyone here." Cassondra whispered into the ear of a little girl who ran to tell her parents afterwards. "You must leave this place. It's unsafe, my darling sister. Please, leave while you have the chance." Zelenda said to a middle-aged woman who grabbed her child and husband and pushed them outside. It went on like this for many people, some didn't want to leave and Zelenda had to literally push them out as they complained loudly about leaving their homes. When the people still had no wishes to leave, they heard a flutter of wings and a scurry of feet. The magical creatures had returned to pay their debt. They tempted the people (who had never seen such beautiful creatures) to come out of the building. Once the people were gone. Cassondra bolted the door When all the people left Cassondra, Zelenda and Ana searched for a way to reach the Incinerator. They looked for entrances in cellars and climbed to the roofs of houses. Again and again they looked at the large brick column that held the incinerator. They searched for an entrance but the column had no doorway. They finally found the entrance next to the sewage system. There was a lock, but Ana quickly opened it with her magical blue flower. When they climbed to the furnace where the trash was being burned black fumes filled the entire room. Ana began choking, as she covered her mouth the blue flower brushed against her nose giving her oxygen. So, whenever they had difficulty breathing they took the blue flower and deeply inhaled it's fragrance. Ana had cast many different spells on the furnace and none of them had worked. The fire licked the blue flower hungrily but couldn't burn it since there were no Oninon people inside the building and without their souls the fire was harmless. All three of them were covered in ashes and were sweating because of the heat. Ana was coughing as she continued to recite spell after spell as she waved the blue flower. It seemed that their efforts were for nothing. Then, Cassondra saw a little green bottle on a shelf above the incinerator; she remembered what the king had said about the special potion made to burn the souls. Couldn't this potion possibly be it, and if it was that was what they had to destroy. She began climbing a ladder to reach it when she noticed two pairs of eyes were looming above hers. Two bushy pairs of red eyebrows now covered in soot trembled. It was the court magician! The magician revealed himself through the dust. "Why are you here?" asked Cassondra. "I want to help. Please, just give me a chance!" pleaded the court magician. Cassondra closed her eyes. She could tell that he was telling the truth. "What is your name?" Cassondra asked. "I am Neale" the magician pronounced. "You are telling the truth and so you shall become our friend". Cassondra said. "Oh thank you! I know how this incinerator works. The only way to stop it from killing the innocent is to overwhelm it." Said Neale. "Overwhelm it?" Ana said puzzled. She had reached the liquid that lay on the shelf and showed it to Neale. "What is this?" "Oh, that liquid is thrown over the fire every week. The liquid, along with the souls of the living is what it feeds on. A regular fire needs a certain amount of air and it will use the right amount of air to its advantage. However, when there is too much air, the fire will perish. This fire is similar. It feeds on the souls of the living, but it takes them slowly. If a whole soul was to be thrown in the fire, it would be smothered and would die out. But before the soul is thrown onto it, that liquid must be destroyed in a way that I don't understand. It won't react to slamming, or hammers. It is enchanted. I did not create it. "I know how to destroy it!" Ana cried suddenly. "My old Momma taught me that the power of three was needed to break anything evil. But the three have to have songs that express no evil in them." "That leaves the three of you to do the spell of three. I changed my song when I became a court magician for the king to avoid persecution. Which one of us shall jump in the flames once the liquid is destroyed?" Neale asked. At once, all four of them, humbly stepped forward, saying that they should be the one to sacrifice their life. Neale said, "Please, let me be the one, I was a traitor, a scoundrel. You have your whole lives to live while I am growing old. I should have died in honor, when the king came for us wizards and now, I have the chance once again to die with honor." They all had tears in their eyes. Cassondra could not let him do this. She began to speak but he cut her off. "Please, he said, I need to do it." Cassondra stepped aside. "We will never let your name go forgotten! You shall be known throughout the land and across the many seas." Cassondra said. "After I go," Neale said, "Burn these plans and any others you can find. The king will not remember how to make the liquid so the plans are crucial to be destroyed. "All right", Ana said, "To destroy the bottle all three of us need to sit with crossed legs like we did on the shore to meet Vanalla." Cassondra gathered her faded colored skirts and sat down. Zelenda also sat down. "Everyone, concentrate on the task that needs to be done. Do not speak, just concentrate. I will put the bottle in the middle of our circle of three. Start now" As soon as Ana said those last words, the room was silent, except for the rumbling of the incinerator, hungry for souls and liquid. They concentrated so hard that they could see the bottle cracking in their head, could hear the sound it made, the smell of the liquid, the way it would spill out and then mopped up by a single stroke of Ana's flower. They started to feel chills running up and down their spine. Nobody broke the chain of concentration and soon the bottle popped open, and the liquid came pouring out. Smiles broke out across their faces. They had destroyed the liquid. They then turned with heavy hearts to Neale, the traitor who wasn't a traitor, the dark wizard turned light. He said one simple word, "Farewell…." He jumped into the incinerator, which sputtered a blue flame and then went out forever. The sphinx, the girl and the woman were overcome with sadness, but also with joy too. Ana then swiped the flower over the puddle of liquid, which sealed it and destroyed it forever. They gathered up their things. The star-tree was growing a new fruit. Zelenda picked the fruit and peeled it. Inside, there was a silvery piece of parchment, which had a note from Vanalla to see her at once. As they walked out of the gates the Oninon people were rubbing their eyes, as though this was their first time viewing the world. They were feeling full of life and they started to gain the original senses they were born with- before the king put the spell on them. So they walked together to meet Vanalla by the sea. As they ate the fruit, they began to flicker away from being invisible. Vanalla had given them the fruit so that when they arrived, she could see where they were. They reached the sea and the sparkling waters seemed to be illuminated with joy. The incinerator was gone, and so was the haze that spread over the kingdom. "You have done a great deed." A voice said. Cassondra turned around and she saw Vanalla with her mer-family. "You have saved many innocent people and have brought the destruction of your king's terrible era. For this you will be given the mark of the star-tree on your hands. This will show how truly magical you are. For your deed we will reward you with anything you desire." Ana memories floated back to her real mother. Ana's eyes looked imploringly into the oblique silver eyes of the mer-maid and Vanalla knew what was in her mind. A tear fell slowly from Vanalla's eyes and she replied sadly, "No, this is the one thing I cannot do". Ana's thoughts then drifted to the wizard. "Make Neale part of the sea so that he doesn't roam endlessly, lost in the world. Make him part of the plants, the currents. Let his spirit dance with the dolphins and sway with the urchins" "Yes Ana," Cassondra said. Zelenda agreed with a mysterious deep nod. Then Vanalla smiled. "You have a kind heart. It is done". And from a distance they thought they heard a splash of water thanking them. But perhaps it was only the tide lapping against the sandy shore. | Back To Top |  Read | Write | Respond | Book Reviews | Site Reviews | Home [Untitled] The moon was full and we were dancing. A circle of witches dancing under the moon. We called upon the spirits to give us our powers, the powers the mortals had taken. But this time He did not answer. I did not feel the surge of energy race through my veins as it had before. We turned to each other, each with faces the color of moonlight. Without our powers we were nothing. The humans would kill us. We pleaded before the great one, but He did not answer; He had forgotten us. Years have passed and all my witch sisters have died, I am the last one, the last of our clan. Every full moon I have prayed to Him, crying for vengeance. But the humans have killed his spirit and He is no longer there. I have wandered the earth as a mortal, but even without my powers, even without the very essence that makes me a witch, I am not one of them. I never will be. They look upon with me fear, but I am the one afraid. Afraid I will never taste the breath of the wind as I soar through the sky, afraid that I too will never recieve my powers and mostly afraid that I will die; for I cannot fight. I have lost the will to fight. My child, you must remember everything I've told you. For I am going away and am never going back... TO BE CONTINUED>>>>> STAY TUNED>>>>> | Back To Top |  Read | Write | Respond | Book Reviews | Site Reviews | Home