A Really Different Place

“Yes, I shall have a cake or two.  Thank you.”  I’m a royal, you see.  An eleven year old, but just getting used to being wealthy, satisfied as far as food, and servants.  I’ve been royal all my life, and so are my three sisters, but have been thought to be poor ever since we were just toddlers.

Moondrop was three and two months.  BlueWave was one year and seven months.  SunnyWing was one year and one month.  And I, Irabelle, was two and three months.  I, at first, was the only one of us girls to be respectful and use manners toward my head servant, Elzabeth.  My sisters then saw how happy I was, and Elzabeth too.  Therefore, they treated their own servants more fairly, and noticed that their servants became much more delightful.

The story of my sisters and I regaining our nobility is quite interesting, really.  We used to be thought of as peasants, then the princess came to the village.

She is very sweet and generous.  Her light brown hair hung down at about her shoulder blades in ringlets.  The pale and round face of hers included sparkling eyes and a soft smile.  Her yellow dress was long and loose.  She only looked a rich merchant’s daughter.  Clairina Faith Tarrinsel is her name.  The kind princess of Chelslaring.

The princess walked calmly down the dirt road admiring her people, handing out scraps of food to the poor here and there, and a coin or two to those who needed it most.  My sisters always seemed to arrive at the side of the streets and gobbled up the scraps of food as soon as they were placed gently into their hands.  They never saved any for me, but I never had the time to visit the streets when the princess came because I would be roaming the streets, searching for dropped coins and food.  All of us girls worked in shifts.  I worked from about sunrise to late morning.  BlueWave looked from late morning to early afternoon.  SunnyWing searched from about one o’clock to early evening.  And Moondrop tried to find lost resources from the time that BlueWave was finished to sunset when no one could see very well.  The princess arrived in Versaillet Breentan, where we stayed and called home, in the early midmorning hours and had passed a while before I returned to my sisters after a long morning’s hard work with hardly any income.  Moondrop said that Miss Tarrinsel visits daily, and the others agreed.  My darling life companions had talked with Miss Tarrinsel and knew Clairina personally, as they say, but I had only once laid eyes on her, from a window, inside a bakery.  It was a cold rainy day, and Clairina didn’t see me through the fogged up window.

Chapter One

The sun was mild on Maya and Breanna’s back as they trudged up the hill to the library.  Maya devoured pretzels while on their daily hike, and Breanna savored every last bit of an apple, usually honey crisp or granny smith.

Maya Schmidt was almost eleven years old and adored her fifth grade teacher, Mrs. Shultz.  Maya was very much daring and loved adventures. Her hair was short and light brown that went unbrushed most days, and she had brown eyes to match.  Maya was four feet and eight inches and weighed seventy pounds exactly.  Soccer was her favorite sport and the only sport she played.

Maya’s neighbor, twelve-year-old Breanna Brooks was very cautious and relaxed by contrast.  She was very wise and also loved her school teacher, Mr. Wagoner. Breanna was five feet and two inches, and weighed sixty-eight pounds and four ounces.  While the two girls had opposite personalities, they had one thing in common: a love for mysteries.

Years ago, on May fifth, right when Maya and Breanna were packing up their homework to go to their neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Gamli’s house, Courtney Smith, a friend of both Breanna and Maya’s families came running into the library screaming, “Somebody’s after me!  Somebody’s after me!”  Then the librarian told Courtney to quiet down.  That’s not at all what she did.  Instead, she started crying, “I can’t quiet down!  I’m too scared!  Somebody’s after me!!!!”  By then, she was crying so hard that her face was crimson.  So, the librarian told her to sit down, and calmly tell was troubling her.

Breanna and Maya were eavesdropping and once they heard the words “criminal” and “crime,” they had to seriously control themselves from going bizarre with their excitement.  They started in on listening even closer.  “The criminal stole some of my son’s toys,” Courtney sobbed.  Breanna and Maya stared at each other with impatience and sprinted to Mr. and Mrs. Gamli’s house.  The Gamli’s are Maya’s and Breanna’s neighbors.  Mrs. Gamli had gotten home just as the girls were approaching her house.  Mr. Gamli pulled in the garage just after Mrs. Gamli.  “Well, hello, girls. How has your day been?”questioned Claudia Gamli. Mr. Gamli had gotten out of his car.  “Hey, Justin.  How was work today?” asked Mrs. Gamli.

“Great!  We earned six-hundred dollars, just in the meat department.  What are we having for dinner, Claudia?”

“I don’t know yet, honey.  What do you want?”

“Let’s go to ‘Steak and Shake.’ ”

“Alright. But let’s leave in an hour or so.”

“Okay.”

“Mr. and Mrs. Gamli’s names are Justin and Claudia?” whispered Maya.  “I guess so,” Breanna responded.  They looked at each other with puzzled expressions and ran over to Mr. and Mrs. Gamli.

“There was a crime today!” they announced.  Claudia and Justin looked at each other with half startled, half frightened faces.

“A crime?” Claudia questioned.  She didn’t seem to be at all surprised.  “What happened?”

“Someone stole the Smith’s son’s toys,” replied Breanna.

“Oh,” Justin spurted out.

“Do you girls want some orange juice,” offered Claudia.

“Sure,” they said in unison.

Everyone casually walked up to the house.  After the girls finished the juice, they lugged their heavy backpacks back to their houses, not knowing the mysteries that would follow them tomorrow.

Chapter Two

The next morning at school, Breanna found a note on her desk in her mother’s handwriting, which read:

            Dear Breanna,

I have been stealing toys.  I know that you look up

to me for just about everything, but, I’m sorry, you can’t trust

me anymore.  I’m evil and devilish.

                                                               Love,

                                                                       Your Leader in Life

“Mom?” Breanna whispered.  She doubted it, or at least she wanted to, but it seemed so real.  She couldn’t focus all day in school, and after school, when she showed Maya the note, Maya pulled a slip of paper from her pocket.  It was in Maya’s mother’s handwriting. When Breanna read it, it said,

                                       Dear Maya,

                                                    Don’t even look at me anymore.  I’m not on the

                                    good side any longer, but I love you and want you to be

                                     on the good side.  I am a thief, a stealer. I miss and love

                                    you.

                                                                                                Truly Yours,

                                                                                                                 The One You Love

“Your mom too?”  asked Breanna.

“I guess so,” Maya answered.  Both girls were thinking the same thing: we’ve got to cover our moms and act as normal as possible . . . and be extremely cautious.  They went to the library and hurried through their homework.

Breanna went home, and so did Maya.  Maya went straight to bed, worrying herself to sleep. Breanna tried to talk to her parents about the stealing, but her mother interrupted, “Breanna, sweetie. Stop getting involved with crimes, especially this one, because another stealing happened again today to Gracie and Calum Price.”

“How do you know that?  I didn’t see it in the news today at the library.”

“Well, Mr. and Mrs. Gamli told me they were driving by as it happened. Such a sweet couple.”

“Oh, I’m going to bed.”

“Goodnight, honeybee,” Breanna’s father, Cooper, replied.

“Ow!!!” howled Snooky,” I rolled my paw!” “Again?” asked Jake, “that’s the third time in the past five minutes.” It was true, Snooky had been rather clumsy that day.  Despite the pain of a sprained paw, Snooky limped onward.  Even after an extensive conversation with Jake, Snooky had absolutely no idea where he was going.  He only knew that he was going to see Jake’s family, and hopefully find new owners.

“Wait, do you see what I see?” Jake inquired.  Snooky swung his head around, scoping out the surroundings.  “What?”  “A mouse,” Jake hissed, “Don’t you know how to hunt?”  After Snooky reminded Jake that he hadn’t ever had to worry about food.  It had always been plentiful and waiting in his dish.  Jake sighed and rolled his eyes,”You said you’d never been in a fight, or even a scrimmage either.  How am I suppose to travel with someone who can’t supply their own food, or even protect himself.”  As Jake fretted over Snooky, Snooky was worrying about seeing, smelling, or hearing that mouse Jake had mentioned earlier.  With complete concentration, Snooky was just able to see the outline of the mouse, along with a strange but delectable smell.  He could also hear the slightest rustling of leaves.  Snooky began to stalk toward the mouse.  With a pounce off his unsteady and weak legs, Snooky landed on the mouse and killed it with the flick of a paw.  As Snooky stood up with his mouse, ready to show Jake, he realized that he had fallen into a trap.  Snooky had time to howl, “Jake! I need he-”  His last word was cut off as a cat twice the size of him landed on his back.

THE BLUE PEARL JOURNEY

By Madison

PROLOGUE

This story begins in a very small orphanage in Russia. In one of the rooms, there are four children. Three out of the four are the triplets Rose, Laurina, and Raven, at the age of eleven. The other was adopted into their family from America, sometime before they came across the orphanage. His name is Fred and he is ten.

These four children were sent from somewhere special, as their old grandfather told them. So, together they must go on a journey. A long and blue journey . . . .

CHAPTER ONE: THE JOURNEY

“You get Raven, I’ll get Fred.” Laurina whispered.

“Get up Raven. Pack up, we’re leaving!” Rose said as she shook Raven awake.

“Why are we leaving?” Raven questioned.

“We’ll explain on the way. Wake up Freddy Jones.” Laurina said.

“What?” Fred said sleepily.

“Hurry up and pack your things. There are people on our trail.” Rose warned.

“Tell us why we’re going and maybe we’ll pack up.” Raven said stubbornly.

“Okay,” Laurina said shaking Fred awake, “We’re blue pearl princesses. Your probably princes. Rose, show them the pearl.”

Rose took a small blue sphere out of a bag. “Here’s the pearl. It glows in your hand if you’re a true prince or princess. Now pack up.”

The boys asked pleadingly, “Why can’t we hold it?  I want to try.”

“No.  Not now.” Rose replied sternly.

The four packed up some clothes, food, drink, weapons, and the pearl. They decided to set out for the Blue Pearl Kingdom.

CHAPTER TWO: INTO THE COUNTRY

“W-W-Where are we going?!” Fred yelled, as he ran to the west of the country.

“He’ll turn up sometime.” Laurina said.

“Yeah. Raven, I really wish you would’ve brought your winter clothes. It’s cold where we are going. It’s cold here too.” Rose said to Raven.

“Guys . . . .” Laurina whimpered. “There’s some horn-head coming . . . coming from where Freddy was!”

Then, Rose started barking orders, “What are you waiting for? Raven. Fight him! Laurina! The horn-head came from Fred’s direction. Find Fred!”

Laurina ran to the west, Raven got out an axe, and Rose ran to a nearby tree. The horn-head, who really didn’t have horns; just a horn-hat, took his hat off, and charged at Raven.

“Give me the pearl. Master wants it.” the creature said in a voice that sounded like a talking cat that was growling like a lion.

“You will not have it!” Rose screamed at the horn-head. Then the battle began. The horn-head with his horned hat, charged at Raven. Raven, meanwhile, was running at it with his axe. Raven hit the horn-head on the arm, just before it hit himself. Then, though the horn-head was hurt, it ran back the same way it came.

A few minutes later, Laurina returned with Fred.

“Freddy Jones! Next time DO NOT run away like that! Be a good boy like Raven for once!” Rose yelled.

“Don’t treat him like that!” Laurina said to Rose as she held him in a very tight grip. She let go of him.

“I want to cross the border now. Fred and Raven, go check the east side, Laurina and I will check the west. Meet back at this tree if you find anything.”

CHAPTER THREE: ANOTHER BATTLE

Raven and Fred went to the east, as Laurina and Rose went to the west.

“I wonder what we do now.” Fred said to Raven. “It’s a little creepy over here.”

“Calm down.” Raven soothed. “Hey! Look over there. I see a gate! It might be a way to the border! You try and open it while I go find Rose and Laurina.” Raven explained.

Fred replied as Raven ran away, “Ok. Hurry back! Hmm . . . What was that! Ahhhh!”

Just as Fred said “ahhhh” another horn-head came at him. This time it had an axe. It was growling, and banging the axe on its horn-hat. Fred screamed again.

“Who yelled?” asked Rose.

“Freddy!” Laurina yelled looking at Rose. They both ran. Once they got there, they found Fred swinging his arms around wildly. Rose swung her bag at the horn-head, and knocked it out. “Is . . . is it d-d-dead?” Fred said stuttering.

“I don’t think so. Let’s cross this gate before we find out, or worse, more come.”

CHAPTER FOUR: ACROSS THE BORDER

The four crossed the border, only to find a tall, grass house, with a wheel barrow over logs for cooking. There was a nearby stream, and a tree.

“Let’s go hang our things on that tree, and I’ll cook dinner. Raven, give me your stuff and go start a fire. Freddy, you go check and see what the inside of the house is like. Rose, you don’t mind washing this in the stream, do you?” Laurina explained plainly.

Rose answered, “No, I don’t mind. Here, give me your coat.”

They went off in their different directions.  Later, Rose came back with clean clothes.

“Is dinner done?”

“Yeah,” Raven said with his mouth full, “and it’s good.”

“Ok . . . . ,” Rose whispered, “Laurina, I know you think this is a nice place and all, but, I really, truly, don’t like it.”

“I don’t know how you feel, so I can’t help you there,” Laurina replied, “Let’s eat.”

CHAPTER FIVE: CAUGHT

The next morning, Rose decided she would do some cleaning, and let Laurina take a rest. Raven was usually an early riser, but he was still in the house, asleep.

“You take a rest. I’ll do some cleaning.” Rose said.

“I refuse,” Laurina grudged. “I’ll make breakfast, you sweep. Here,” she said handing Rose the broom.

Soon enough, the two girls were hard at work. Little did they know, that lurking in the shadows, were two of the Dark Sorcerer’s minions; horn-heads. “Let’s get the blonde first,” the large one said; meaning Rose. “Then the red-head.”

The other one replied, “I want to see some o’ the pearl! I don’t attack em’ for nothing.” The large one didn’t seem to hear the other one.

“Get the hook! Remember, crawl and creep. Not, stand and be loud.”

The horn-heads got out a hook made out of a strong metal. It was like a shepherd’s staff, but in this case, for kidnapping and stealing. Rose was sweeping still, with her back to the minions. Laurina was facing them, but didn’t know they were there. They took Rose first. They put the hook across her neck and pulled. She let go of the broom and screamed before being pulled into the shadows. Laurina couldn’t do anything, because within ten seconds after they pulled Rose, they pulled her.

CHAPTER SIX: LAVA

The horn-heads pulled them to a tower, where they were tied onto a swing. Not just any old swing to play on, but a swing that hung over a pit of lava.

“What do you think you’re doing!” Laurina cried.

“We’re leaving you here until you give us that pearl. Give it, or stay. Those are your choices.” one of the horn-heads replied.

“What should we do?” Rose whispered to Laurina.

“I-I-I . . . I think we should give them the pearl.” Laurina replied quickly.

“Seriously!?” Rose whispered sternly, “I thought you were on our side.”

“I didn’t mean it that way. I just thought that it would settle the problem.” Laurina said in a whisper.

“Now, I don’t think anything can. Raven might be able to fight, but Fred . . . ” Rose’s voice trailed off.

Meanwhile, at the cottage . . .

“Wake up Fred! Laurina and Rose are gone! Laurina has the pearl! Get up!” Raven shook Fred awake.

“They’re gone! Where could they be?” Fred asked.

“I don’t know. I’m going to look for them. Come with me if you want.”

The boys got dressed quickly. They explored the land around the house, and ended up finding the tower where the girls were being held hostage.

“Help! Get over here now!” the girls both screamed. “We’re over a pit of lava! Can’t you see that?”

“Yeah, we do.” Raven said coolly.

“Then get us down! There’s a log, but it’s too far away.”

The boys saw some more horn-heads. Raven battled them, while Fred swung his arms wildly again. The girls tried swinging to the log, and Laurina got onto it. Rose couldn’t see how she had done it. She wasn’t much of a gymnast.

Finally, Rose got off by swinging with all her weight, and they all ran before even more horn-heads could come.

CHAPTER SEVEN: THE OLD MAN

“We have to leave. Get your stuff. We’re going back across the border. We’ll try to find another place.” Rose said to the other three.

“Ok. I believe you.” Laurina said slowly, “Let’s pack and we’ll be on our way.”

On their way, they found an old man. Rose asked, “What way can we go to find a shelter?  We need some place to stay.”

The old man replied, “You can go to a house if you go back across the border and follow a small path.”

After saying that, there was a pop, and he was gone.

“Well, that was weird and pretty blunt too, but at least he told us where a shelter is.” Laurina said.

Then they set off.

CHAPTER EIGHT: THE NEXT HOUSE

They went back across the border, and followed a path to a house; just like the old man had said.

“This is a nice little place. A lot of trinkets and rust, but I think it will do. For now at least.” Rose said.

“Hey! Swords!” Raven said excitedly.

“You can use them, just be careful.” Laurina said worryingly. “Look, a cane!”

“That cane is familiar. It . . . It couldn’t be. This is grandfather’s house!” Rose said.

“Do you think the swing is still here?” Laurina asked.

“The swing!” Rose said, running out the back door. Laurina ran after her. They both jumped on the swing.

The boys ran off to the left out the back door.

“Now to business.” Laurina said grimly. “If the boys find out about the pearl . . . they could take over us. We have to lie; tell them they’re not blue pearl princes. I’ll do it. You look for a map, a note – anything to help us get to the kingdom.”

“Where is a map? Just show yourself, you little rat of a map! A shield! I’ll take it . . . use it against my enemies.” Rose said as she took the shield off the table. “A map! There’s a note on the other side . . . blood! And . . . it says something weird – Beware – Dark Sorcerer – Good luck – Grand . . . Oh, the blood is too splotchy.”

She stuffed the note into her bag just as Raven marched in holding out his sword. “You are so evil. I thought we were blue pearl princes! You betrayed.”

“No,” Rose said, walking toward the back door. “You betrayed . . . . Laurina! Your power! Use it!”

Laurina thrust her hand toward Fred. Fred’s sword went flying strait into Rose’s hand.

“Now we can battle.  Laurina, you get Fred,” Rose said turning toward Raven, “I’ve got him.”

CHAPTER NINE: RAVEN

The small battle went on. There was the clanging of swords from Rose and Raven, the sounds of swishing from Laurina’s skirts, as Fred kicked and punched. Laurina didn’t need a weapon; she had her power.

Rose never knew how good Raven was with a sword. She supposed he had started using his power. This was not a good sign for the girls. If Raven only used his power when angered, he could become an apprentice of someone they didn’t want to deal with.

“Raven! I’ll get you!” Rose screamed as she flung her sword to his side. Raven was gone in a puff of black smoke.

CHAPTER TEN: THE DARK LORD, PODIACK

“Lord Podiack. I will do anything you say.” Raven said in the fortress of the Dark Sorcerer Podiack. “You saved me from my horrible sisters and brother. I thank you for that.”

“You will use your power against them,” Podiack said in a voice that would chill anyone to the bone. “You will become my apprentice. I know to do this against your sisters. Your brother does not understand. Go after him first. You do not know how strong he is though; be careful. Be off!”

With that, and another puff of smoke, Raven the apprentice of the Dark Sorcerer Podiack, was gone.

CHAPTER ELEVEN: MORE SMOKE

“It was for his own good.” Rose said stubbornly. “He was going to turn no matter what.”

“I wish you wouldn’t have said that.” Laurina said shakily. “I think our fears came true.”

Laurina pointed off into the distance. Raven, now wearing a black helmet, (without horns) was walking steadily toward them. He was un-armed, but the girls knew he had his power.

“Pull out your axe Fred. Laurina here’s this.” Rose said throwing her a sword; the one Raven had before.

Raven was nearing them, as Fred ran closer to him. This was very un-like Fred.

“Freddy! Don’t do it!” Rose screamed, but it was too late. With one swish of his hand, Raven had struck him down. There was another puff of smoke, this time blue.

CHAPTER TWELVE: TRUE

“What? This isn’t true, I’m dreaming.” Laurina cried picking up Fred’s back pack he had carried before. The two children, crying, walked into the house. Raven had left.

“We have to go. The threat is now even more powerful. I found a map. There’s a note too. Here, I’ll read as much as I can: ‘Beware of the Dark Sorcerer.  Good luck, Grand’ That’s all. It seems like Grand would have an ending or something.  Maybe grandfather!  I don’t know though.  There’s more, but there’s a blood stain and I can’t read it. Look at the map.” Rose said handing it to Laurina, but she was paying no attention any more, for someone was talking.

“Hello. I just fell asleep, and woke up a little away from here.” Fred said excitedly.

“Oh, Fred.” Laurina said hugging him tightly.

“Freddy, we have to leave. You’re coming with us aren’t you?” Rose asked him.

“Oh, yeah! I’ll come!”

Together, the three headed out once more, on their way to the kingdom.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: THE CAVE

It was snowing when they found another path. It was easy to find, but hard to follow. There were rocks, and the whole path was made of gravel.  ”This is hard. I’m tired. Can we take a break?” Fred complained.

“Maybe,” Rose replied, “We want to keep moving. Right now we only have a few miles left. We should cross a river, then see the castle gates. I guess we can rest over there. It looks like there is a cave.”

They headed toward the cave. Laurina used her power to start a fire, they ate, and Rose stood guard that night. But she didn’t really stand guard. She wandered around for quite a while before returning. Rose found a creek that ran a bit away from the path. She thought it might open into a river, the one that was in front of the castle gates. That gave her an idea. Then, the girl returned to the cave, and within a few hours, the sun returned.

The next morning, after eating breakfast, they started off. This time they followed the creek. There was nothing to see except for the endless flats, and not too often, logs floating down the creek.

Then Laurina said, “Logs! If there are logs, there must be trees! The map showed trees around the kingdom. We are nearing it!”

With high spirits, they started running.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN: RIVER, TREE, AND CREATURE

The next thing they saw was a river and many trees. It didn’t seem much like a river though. It was gold, shining, and moved to fast to believe. All they could say was “wow”. There was one thing they couldn’t figure out. “How do we cross it?” Fred asked over the roaring sounds of the river.

“Um . . . What do you think Laurina?” Rose said.

“I think we should use our power. We can build a bridge. I’ll get the pearl out.” Laurina explained. “The pearl will do what we think. Everyone – think of a bridge.”

Laurina pulled the pearl out of its special blue case. As she held it out in her hand, something dark pulled up around them. Horn-heads had closed in. There were about a hundred.

“Put the pearl away.” Rose whispered to Laurina.

“No, it’s the only way across.” Laurina whispered back urgently. Laurina kept it on her palm.

In the midst of it all, Fred was the only one who saw the girl. She was riding a blue horse with a silver mane. Blue! She swept the three up onto the back of her horse, and rode into the kingdom. And as for the pearl, it had fallen into the river.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN: THE NEXT MORNING, THE NEXT MEETING

The next morning, Laurina was the first to wake up. She woke Rose up, but the girls left Fred to sleep.

“Rose,” Laurina said somberly. “I lost the pearl. It fell out of my hand when we were swept up. I don’t know where it fell. The enemy probably has it now.”

“Your wrong.” said a clear voice. “My father, the king, has it.”

“Who are you? Wait . . . you’re the one on the horse.” Rose said.

“I am Eliza, daughter of the high king and queen. You can just call me Liza though. And you are right. I was on the horse. My father wants to see you – I don’t know why though. Follow me please.”

The princess was about fifteen. She had dark brown hair, and green eyes. Unlike regular princesses, she was wearing a tan poncho over a brown shirt and pants. She led them to a hall that had a long table, and many chairs. At the end of the table was the king. To his right sat the queen, and Eliza took a seat to his left. There was an old man sitting next to the queen.

In a loud booming voice the king said, “Welcome to the Blue Pearl Kingdom! We are very pleased to have you here. I am the high king, ElTheaden. This is the high queen Elizabeth. I suppose you have already met Eliza. She saved you from the Dark Lord’s minions.” After this he paused. Rose and Laurina were listening intently. Then he went on, “What are your names?”

“I’m Rose Jones. This is my sister, Laurina.”

“Ah . . . And do you have any brothers besides the one who lies in bed?”

“Yes. He . . . he . . . ” Laurina never finished her sentence.

“We know,” the queen said quietly. “We are sorry.”

Then the king spoke up again. “Here is my wife’s father.”

“Grandfather!” Laurina yelled out.

“You know this man?”

“Yes! Yes! He is our grandfather! Wait . . . did you say he was the queen’s father?”

“Yes.”

“Then . . . then you’re my father? You’re my mother?”

“It seems to be. Long ago, there was a war. A war between our kingdom, and the Dark Lord’s. Yourselves and your brothers were sent away with your grandfather. You were given the pearl as well. We only thought to send you four away so it wouldn’t be suspicious that all our children were gone. We had adopted Fred just before we sent you. Now you have returned. We will have a celebration.”

“But, why don’t we remember any of that?  And where is the pearl? We sort of . . . well . . . lost it.” Rose said.

“Your grandfather put a spell on you, once you arrived at his house. And we have the pearl safely hidden.” the queen replied. “Now, I believe this is enough to take in before breakfast. I will arrange for a celebration. Now, run off.”

Liza, Rose, and Laurina went back to the room from which they came. Liza showed them a map of the kingdom. Surprisingly, they learned it very quickly.

“I can’t believe I’m a princess! And that you’re my sister.” Rose said to Liza.

“Yes, it’s wonderful. I don’t remember having sisters. Mother and Father must have put a spell on me too.”  The girls laughed.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN: THE CELEBRATION AND THE STABLES

The celebration the next day was wonderful. Rose, Laurina, and Fred were all guests of honor. They also met every one of importance. There was a lot of shaking of hands. As they went to sleep that night, all of their worries were washed away. Everything seemed back to normal.

The next day, Liza took them to the stables. “Rose, this is your horse. Laurina, follow me. Yours is back here.”

Rose looked at her horse. It was all black, except for its shining blue eyes. They matched her own. Rose had decided to name her horse Rocket. Laurina and Liza came back. Laurina was skipping excitedly. She had named her horse Leo.

After lunch, they decided to take a ride on their horses. Liza came with them. They rode through the forest, and to the golden river.

“This is the Golden River.” Liza explained. “It runs all the way around the kingdom. If we cross it, we would not be on our property anymore.” They turned back to go to the stables.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: THE BATTLE BETWEEN THE GATES

Many horn-heads were lurking in the trees across the river. With them was Raven.

He said in his new evil voice, “Search the river. One of the girls dropped it in there. If you don’t find it, I will not be pleased.” At this, some winced, then they all went to search.

“This water is gold!” said a horn-head. “I just want one touch of it.” He dipped his hand into the pure gold river. He was sucked down into it.

“Help. He’s drowning!” said another minion. A few rushed over. Instead of a floating body, there was nothing at all. “He’s gone. Don’t touch the river as he did.”

“But, how will we find the pearl?” another asked.

“We won’t be able to find it, because they already have it.” Raven said, coming out of the shadows. “We will have to go into the kingdom.”

That night Fred wasn’t sleeping well. He got out of bed and crept to the front gates. Outside he saw nothing but the dark. “Well, I guess I just wasn’t sleeping well because of – of – I don’t know.” Just then he heard a noise coming from outside. It was the sound of an axe being pounded on a helmet.

“Horn-heads! Everyone wake up. There are horn-heads outside!” Fred yelled while running back to the girls’ bedroom. “Horn-heads.”

King ElTheaden came out of his room and bellowed, “Guards. Protect the queen and princesses. Soldiers. Come with me!”

The soldiers and the king ran to the gates where Fred was, just a bit ago.

“Open these gates!” yelled Raven. “Or give me the pearl!”

“No!” the king yelled in reply at a level so loud, that everyone in the village woke up.

“We will return.” Raven said softly, but sternly. He said it, though, no one could hear.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: THE LAST BATTLE

The next morning, King ElTheaden was out surveying the land. Princesses Eliza, Laurina, and Rose were out talking with the queen. Everyone was armed; just in case. It was good that they were armed because just then, a few horn-heads, Raven, and Podiack, came running.

The king then yelled, “Battle!!!”

Everyone stopped what they were doing, pulled out their weapons, and charged. The queen was the fastest and ran to the front. As she ran, Podiack stood still, and as she was about to swing her sword, the Dark Lord swung too.

There was a cry, and Laurina and Rose ran over to where Queen Elizabeth had disappeared into a cloud of blue smoke. Liza started shooting with her bow and arrows. Laurina and Rose started crying. King ElTheoden ran to the Dark Lord with his sword held high. He swung, and Podiack disappeared. He was gone. Dead.

There was still something odd. The king hadn’t done it alone. Someone else had to had helped him . . . . He couldn’t kill The Dark Lord, himself.

CHAPTER NINETEEN: RETURNED, REUNITED, REUNION

The battle soon ended. All of the evil was destroyed. There was only one death on the good side, and one gain too. A mysterious gain. Raven, who had returned; betrayed the Dark Lord, and had killed most of the horn-heads.

There was a meeting that night, in the same room that they went to when the Jones arrived for the first time. Their grandfather was there too. He was the first to speak.

“This battle is now over. The pearl is safe. And we are in peace. Now, you, you, you, you, you, and you,” he said gesturing to each of them. “Will all go and find the knife that you must use to cut the pearl. Destroy it. It is off in a faraway land. You have the map. Now, I will be leaving for dinner.”

“But! Wait!” Rose said. “When you disappeared; what did you do?”

He replied, “I move-traveled here of course.”

“You mean we walked all this way for no reason!? We could have just move-traveled!”

And with that, the seven went off to dinner.

THE END

(The next book will be called The Silver Knife Journey.  Look for it in a while!)

At school we had to choose a famous person a right a speech about them from their perspective.  Then we had to memorize it.  We will be dressing up in costumes and reciting it to younger kids.  That’s why I say “just in case you couldn’t tell” as the beginning of my first paragraph.  Read it through and tell me what you think of it.

Just in case you couldn’t tell, I’m Albert Einstein.  Today I will be telling you a little bit about my life.  My life was full of events, good and bad.  You will be hearing of both.  Sit back and enjoy my little speech.

I was born on March 14, 1879 in Ulm, Germany.  The first time my grandmother saw me she screamed, “Much too fat!  Much too fat!”  In my childhood, I was slow to speak, and my parents thought I had a mental disorder.  I disliked the way that teachers taught in school in Germany.  It was all memorizing.  In 1894, I moved to Italy with my family.

I went to school at the Swiss Polytechnic Institute in Switzerland.  I then went to college at Zurich University.  I met my wife, Mileva Maric at the Swiss Polytechnic Institute.  We married on January 6, 1903 in Bern.  We had three children, a girl Lieserl, a boy Hans Albert, and a boy, Edward.  Later, in 1919, I divorced Mileva and married my cousin Elsa.  We didn’t have any children.

The highlight of my career was when I won a Nobel Prize in 1922.  Some of my achievements were publishing five revolutionary scientific papers and receiving my Ph.D. from Zurich University.  In 1912, I was invited to teach at the Swiss Polytechnic Institute.  In 1914, I was appointed a professor at University of Berlin.

My childhood friend, Max Talmud, inspired me.  He was my only childhood friend and was ten years older than me.  Mileva Maric and Elsa, my wives inspired me.  My family helped, and inspired me.

Elsa and I moved to Princeton, New Jersey in 1932.  Elsa died in 1936.  I died nineteen years later, on April 18, 1955 in Princeton, New Jersey.

This is an unasked question that hardly any can answer, why is my hair so crazy?  It’s because I was so wrapped in my thoughts that I forgot to comb my hair repetitively.  In fact, I was distracted from many things because of my thoughts.  Sometimes I would even miss meals because of them.

I guess it all really started one night when I was getting ready for bed, eating ice cream. My name’s Jackie and I am a spy. Yes, a real spy, not one of those people who run around in black suits. A real spy dresses in something normal, to fit into the surroundings. If I dressed in all black and snuck around, someone would notice something strange about me and I would get caught.
Anyway, I was just about to get in bed when the alarm went off in my house. I sprinted out of my house and ran to my car, then got in. Then I got back out and went to go get my keys. I put the key in the ignition and turned it. I was in a hurry, so of course the car wouldn’t work. I hopped on my bike and sped off. I was heading to the spy headquarters. I forgot to mention that the alarms in my house were a call from the spy headquarters.
I was at the headquarters in twenty minutes. My bike had gotten a flat tire and I had to stop and fix it. It wasn’t too hard because I’d had to fix it countless times before, but it still took way too long. This is how my life goes.
Most of the other spies in the organization were already there. They were staring at me. I assumed that it was because I was late. I tried to ignore them, but my face was bright red from embarrassment. The Spy Master came out of his office. He scanned us over, then said, “Jackie, come.” I wasn’t sure if I should be worried, or excited. Was I going too kicked out for being so later, or sent on a spy mission? Spy Master said, “Though you have failed to be on time, you are the strongest and smartest spy here.”
I blushed, but Spy Master continued, “Therefore, I have a good reason to offer you the opportunity for a quest. A sorcerer has gained a great power that can force anyone to do anything he wants them to. He has gone crazy, drunk on power, and is now trying to take over the world. Will you accept the quest to stop him?”
“Yes,” I replied, “How could I not? This will be the first quest I’ve ever lead.” “Good, said Spy Master, “Now go change out of your pajamas and choose two friends to take with you.” I could see his eyes sparkling with humor. “Send them in when you’ve finished choosing.” I stomped to the door in mock anger, then turned around and said,” Don’t worry; I’ll go home and change clothes before I leave.” Spy Master laughed, and I did too. Then I left to go choose two friends to go on my quest with me.
As I left Spy Master’s office, I wasn’t surprised to see that several people were laughing at me. I suppose they thought I’d been kicked out for being so late and not in proper clothing. I walked over to my best friends, Alexis and Megan. I said, “Spy Master told me to send you to his office his office. Tell him I have chosen.”
Alexis and Megan shared a confused look, then left to go to the Spy Master’s office. As they entered the office, I laughed to myself. They sure would be surprised and, hopefully, pleased.
I was beginning to wonder if they’d ever come out when the door of Spy Master’s office flew open. I smiled at them and said,” Let’s go.” Without another word, we all quickly went home to pack. As I promised Spy Master, I changed out of pajamas. Megan pick up Alexis, then came to my house to pick me up. I climbed into the car and she drove us back to the spy headquarters. We would be receiving items that were supposed to help us on our quest. They weren’t always used, but could be very helpful.
Spy Master met us at the door. He wished us good luck and gave us a bag with several heavy objects in it. There was something light in it too, but that wasn’t the first thing I noticed. Soon, we were off.
Megan was driving, so I opened the bag. On top was an envelope, which I handed to Alexis. She was supposed to be figuring out where we should go, but she had no lead at all. She opened the envelope and pulled out a note, and gasped. Then read it aloud:
“In this note are three simple clues. No one knows exactly where the sorcerer is, and I am telling you all the information I have.
1. The sorcerer is in a place with a large population
2. All schools and most businesses in this area are closed
3. He loves shoes, so a shoe store will be open wherever he is
Good Luck,
Spy Master”
“I might know where he is!” Megan exclaimed. She made a U turn and began to drive the opposite direction. I unpacked the rest of the bag and inside was a laptop, jug of water, and three masks. I didn’t understand, but Megan and Alexis did, or at least pretended to.
“Put on a mask,” Alexis said. “Why?” I asked. “Just do it!” She replied, “You’ll understand later.” Megan, keeping her eyes on the road, leaned over to Alexis and murmured something in her ear. She nodded and said, “Yes, take a left turn at the next stop light.” “Where are we going?” I screamed. Megan opened her mouth to tell me, when the car was slammed on its side with such force that we rolled into the ditch. The last thing I saw was a hooded figure standing over me, and then I passed out.
I woke up in the same place. The hooded figure was gone! Relieved, I shakily stood up. Megan and Alexis were gone! The car was too! I could see the bag and its contents lying all around it. Picking them up, I looked at the masks. Megan and Alexis hadn’t been wearing the other two masks! Thinking of this, I took off my own mask and stared at it. I got a strange feeling that the mask had just saved me from the sorcerer. I put the mask back on, hoping it could save me if I got into trouble again. Then I asked myself, “Why is the car gone? Where are Megan and Alexis? Where were we even going?”
I knew exactly why Megan and Alexis hadn’t wanted to tell me, I couldn’t keep a secret to save my life. That’s exactly why I was required to bring two friends (which isn’t usually a required task). I would have wanted them along anyway, but that’s not the point. The point is that everyone knows that I can’t keep a secret, and that I’m really forgetful. I suppose I would tell a stranger who might be working for the sorcerer where I was going and when I would get there. I would probably the things that I had to fight the sorcerer and how I was planning to as well. Now the spy mission was three times harder. Without my friends I was would get lost and know all the secrets. I’d have to keep them to myself too. I couldn’t confide in anyone. Suddenly, it hit me. The hooded figure was the sorcerer! He must’ve taken Megan and Alexis! Red hot anger momentarily blinded me. The sorcerer took my friends and ruined my mission. I was going to get him good!
“Calm down,” I told myself,” You’ll never get anything done like this. Focus on what you need to do get out of here.” I took a few deep breathes to calm myself down, and then went through the bag again. There was a smaller bag inside the big bag. I opened it and inside there was about $500.00. “For the mission,” I reminded myself, “not luxuries.”
I packed up everything around where we had crashed. There wasn’t much, just a couple t-shirts and a pair of socks.
We had passed a bike shop a mile or so back, so I decided to go back to it and when I got there, I bought a bike. I biked back to the ditch to check one last time that there weren’t any objects there that I had overlooked. After I was sure that the area was clear, I biked off in the direction that Megan had been driving.
I rode until nightfall, then took a looked around and saw a cave about ten yards from the road. There was no city around, in fact, there was no sign of life other than me. I walked my bike to the cave and peered inside. There was still no sign of life. The cave was shallow and I could see all of the sides in the dim moonlight. Confident that there was nothing around that could bother of hurt me, I spread out my stuff on the ground in the cave.
I had no pillow or blanket, but the cave was warm enough, and the bag could be used as a lumpy pillow. I lied down on the hard and dirty floor of the cave and fell asleep at once.
I woke with a start the next morning with a start, banging my head on the wall of the cave. I ran out of the cave, forgetting my shoes. Then I saw what had woken me. A car was coming down the road, and it was quite loud. I dove back into the cave, but of course, I stepped on a sharp rock. That’s when I realized that I had forgotten my shoes.
Despite my own problems, I noticed that the car was slowing down. Maybe the driver had seen me! I cursed at myself under my breath for being so clumsy.
Once inside the cave, I looked out toward the road. The car that had been driving was now stopped. They must’ve seen me, there’s no other reason that they would’ve stopped. Apparently, the people in the car thought I was a criminal or something because a minute or two later, a police car came speeding down the road. The police reached the other car and exited to ask a few questions. I could see someone in the car pointing at my cave, and the police racing toward me. My bag was packed and my shoes were now on. I grabbed the bag, jumped on my bike, and sped off. All I knew was that I had to get away from the police. If they caught me, they would ask too many questions and eventually find out about the spy organization and make it work for the government.
The police saw my bike and ran back to their car. They got in and turned off the road and followed me. I knew I couldn’t out-bike a car, so I looked around frantically for a place to go where I could be hidden, or where the police couldn’t follow me. There! Off to my left was a forest! The trees were thick and close enough together that the police couldn’t follow in their car.
I made a sharp turn to the left and entered the forest. The police swerved and started to pursue, but slammed on the brakes so that they wouldn’t run into the trees. The police got out of their car and began to run clumsily through the forest. That was the last thing I saw. The trees were too thick to see around. I wanted to see exactly how much progress the police were making, and how quickly, so I made a U-turn. I slowing rode back to the part of the forest where I had entered. I passed the police. They didn’t see me, I was well hidden by the trees, and they were busy fighting the brush anyway.
I burst out of the forest and hopped off my bike. The people who had spotted me were gone. I took my bike and put it in the police car. Then I hopped in the driver’s seat. I found what must’ve been a spare set of keys under the seat, and I was off.
After driving for about an hour, I reached a small town. There was no hotel to stay in, but there was a grocery store. I didn’t want anyone knowing that I had been driving a police car, so I pulled of the road into a ditch. I removed the bag and bike from the car and headed into the town. I headed into the town. I entered the grocery store. The shelves were almost empty with only a few watermelons, two bags of oranges, about twenty loafs of bread, and three apples. A young man no older than fourteen was standing behind the cash register.
I bought a watermelon and an apple. I paid the man, gathered my food, and left. I sat on a bench just outside the store and ate my apple. Then I walked back to the police car to see if there was a knife. There was, and I used it to cut the watermelon. My bike was still sitting next to the police car, in case you were wondering what I’d done with it. As I inspected it, I saw that it had blown a tire. I walked it back to the town to get it fixed, and ask for a plastic bag. After finding both, I continued the way I had been traveling.
At nightfall, I stumbled upon a sewage pipe. It was probably disgusting, I couldn’t see, but I didn’t care. I crawled into it, dragging my stuff behind me. I wanted to explore the cave before I went to sleep, but I was exhausted from biking all day, and I fell asleep at once.
A growl awoke me. I looked deeper into the pipe as dawn approached. I could see the outline of a bear. I sprinted out of the pipe. Luckily, I had fallen asleep before I could take off my shoes or unpack the bag. I just grabbed the bag, hopped on my bike, and was out of there before that bear could react.
A seven hour bike ride followed. I finally spotted a town that looked like it could have a hotel. It did! I stopped there, but didn’t stay very long. It looked like the person at the front desk was in a trace, which is not usually a good sign.
There was another hotel right next to it. I went in, and the people there didn’t appear to be in any sort of trance. I stayed in a cheap room that night. Right before I fell asleep, I thought about the people at the other hotel. Why had they acted so strange? Did it have something to do with the sorcerer?
A long night of tossing and turning followed. All through the night, loud noises echoed through the halls, like a safe door closing and the lock clicking. As soon as the sun came up, I jumped out of bed, got dressed, and opened the door of my room. Make that tried to open the door. I look through the crack between the door and the door frame and then realized that I hadn’t unlocked the dead bolt. I undid the lock and pushed on the door again. Still locked! That must’ve been the clanging noise I heard the night before. The door was locked from the outside! How?
It was definitely no ordinary lock. The sorcerer must’ve been here and locked me in! There wasn’t any way out of the room. The door was the only exit unless . . . “No!” I told myself, “I will not go through the window. How will I ever get to the ground?
It was a good thing I had experience removing windows. I learned when I got trapped in the lair of the lobster spies, but that’s a long story, and not this one.
I quickly and silently removed the window. What else could I do? I looked out the window and groaned. I was on the top floor and had no rope. The bed sheets! I’d heard tons of stories about people making ropes out of bed sheets. I set straight to work. As I tied the sheets together, I wondered how long the rope would be. Would it be long enough? “Stop worrying about everything and just get to work,” I whispered to myself, “just work.”
The rope was now finished, so I tied one end of it onto the bedpost and flung the other end out the window. It didn’t even reach halfway down the building. I hauled the rope back up into my room and began searching for things to add to my rope. There were tons of towels in the bathroom. I added those to my rope and continued to search. I found some extra sheets in the closet. After adding the sheets, I secured my knot on the bed post, and flung my rope out the window. The rope now almost touched the ground.
I gathered my courage and clambered out the window, holding tight to the rope. I climbed down the rope slowly and carefully. When I was about halfway down, I looked up. I could see my knots failing. I stared up in horror at my unraveling knots for a few seconds. It ended up being three seconds to long. The rope broke, and I fell. I fell twenty-five feet and hit the concrete. Amazingly, I landed on my feet, and thankfully, my rope. I was about to start off for my bike when a thought stopped me cold. I had forgotten the bag.
The bag! How could I have forgotten the bag? It was on the floor in the hotel room! Then I saw it. It was under my pile of rope! Then I remembered I’d thrown all my objects out the window before I started to climb down. I gathered my things and started to walk toward my bike. A sudden pain shot through my left ankle. I must’ve landed on it after the fall. I limped painfully toward my bike and got on it. I headed toward a cave off to my right.
“Almost lunchtime,” I murmured to myself as I reached to cave. I stumbled off my bike and limped into the cave. In a corner hidden behind a cardboard wall, something moved. It groaned. I walked quietly over to the wall and peek over. Alexis was there! Megan too! They were both sleeping at the moment, but a little yelling and screaming woke them up. “Jackie!” Megan exclaimed, “Where have you been? Where . . . where are we?”
“We’re in some small town in the middle of nowhere. Where’s the sorcerer?” I asked. “Nearby. I can sense that,” Alexis replied, “when do we leave?”
Alexis, Megan, and I left the cave, anxious to be on our way. There was just one little problem, there was only one bike. Alexis, noticing my limp, requested that I rode the bike, even though I claimed I was fine. We traveled until nightfall. We stopped to sleep in a meadow. It was warm enough to sleep, but not comfortably.
In the morning, a fine layer of frost covered the grass and a light snow was falling. All of us were wearing t-shirts and shorts. Even though the wind was blowing hard, we continued on our way. Soon, we reached a small town with a bike shop. We bought two small bikes and continued on our way.
Megan led the way because she was the only one who knew where we were going. I still had no idea where we were going because, as I’ve already said, I can’t keep a secret to save my life.
After a while, I saw a road sign that said Chicago: 4 miles. So that’s where we were going. We weren’t able to reach Chicago that night, it was too dark.
We woke early the next morning. “I’m starving!” Alexis complained,” When do we get something to eat?” “In Chicago,” I replied,” It’s probably only a mile away.”
I’d been anything but right on how far we were from Chicago. It took almost an hour to reach the outskirts of the city.
“Food!” Alexis screamed, and she sped off down the street. Megan and I shared a laugh as we started after her. We saw Alexis rush by a taco shop, heading straight to a place called Barbeque Paradise. Megan and I stopped at a McDonald’s right next door for breakfast. It was surprisingly almost empty. Alexis came in just as we were ordering our food. “Everyone in there was asleep!” she exclaimed, “The sorcerer is here!” I nodded. “Let’s eat and then go look for him. It’s no fun searching on an empty stomach.” Alexis didn’t need to be asked twice. We ate, and then left to go look for the sorcerer. As we rode our bikes down the street, I noticed a tall man wearing a long dark cloak inside a shoe store. He had an evil grin on his face. “Stop!” I hissed to Megan and Alexis, “I can see the sorcerer!” They nodded. They too had seen him. “There’s a back entrance” Alexis whispered, “Let’s go.” Leaving our bikes next to the shoe store, we followed Alexis around back. Normally, I wouldn’t trust Alexis, but she obviously knew this area a lot better than I did. She was right; there was a back entrance, just not quite what I’d hoped for.
“Alexis!” I hissed, “Why is there an entrance to the bathroom?” She blushed. “I’ve had to hide here quite a few times. It’s a long story. You don’t want to know.” That was enough information for me. I pressed my ear to the door, trying to hear what was going on inside. I could just barely hear the sorcerer talking. “This is an inescapable sphere,” he said,” Once you enter it, you cannot escape.” “Yes my king, you are surely the greatest in the world” said a man who sounded hypnotized or in a trace of some sort. I put on one of the masks that had been in the bag that Spy Master then handed each Megan and Alexis a mask. I then stepped out into the room and said,” My king, surely a sorcerer as great as you could escape this sphere.” “No,” he replied,” not even Houdini could escape this sphere.” Megan and Alexis stepped out and said in unison,” My king, can the sphere be moved?” “Certainly.” the sorcerer replied,” Even a servant as lowly as you could move it.”
The sorcerer walked right up to the sphere and said,” Once someone gets trapped inside it, it shrinks to the size of a baseball. Only the touch of a sorcerer on the outside can break the spell.” He said. Megan, Alexis and I shared an excited look, and then pushed to sorcerer through the wall of the sphere. As he promised, it shrank to the size of a baseball, which I stuck in my pocket. The man in a trance snapped awake, and I could see shops around the city opening. Megan, Alexis, and I left the shop, hopped on our bikes, and sped off toward home. Luckily, the taxis were running again, so we stopped and got a ride all the way home. Sure it cost a lot of money, but we got there fast. We got our bikes out of the taxi and rode them to the spy headquarters. When we got there, Alexis could barely contain her excitement. We went in and saw the Spy Master waiting. When he saw us, he jumped up and exclaimed,” You’re back!” The rest of the spy organization stepped out of the shadows. One man walked toward me while saying, “Finally! We’ve been waiting here since the day you left!” I blushed. I’d totally forgotten that the entire spy organization waited at the headquarters during a mission until the person/people returned.
Everyone wanted to know one thing; how did I defeat the sorcerer? I handed Spy Master the sphere with the sorcerer in it and began to explain.
When I had finished my story, Spy Master said, “Impressive. It looks like you caught him just in time. Now you may go home and rest.” “Thank you,” Megan, Alexis and I replied in unison. “Oh, and by the way,” Spy Master continued, “we fixed your car!” At this, laughter filled the room as Megan, Alexis and I headed home.

Brad’sMine                            Garrison’s

Neil Johnson and the Scorpions Part 2

  It’s been six weeks since Jorden and I left the Emerald Isle and we aren’t having a lot of luck finding Ashley Cambet but I’ll explain that later first let me catch you up on what’s happened so far. First, on May 12^th Jorden and I left the ISS and headed off to Giza so we could save this multi-millionaire’s daughter, Ashley Cambet, she was kidnapped a few weeks ago by an agency called Scorpion. They’re an Egyptian Taliban basically. They bomb houses, cause riots, kidnap important people and or their family, and basically just cause all kinds of hell in Egypt. In fact the week Jorden and I arrived there was a string of vicious martyrs of Christian folk, at that point we decided to hide our crosses beneath our shirts and avoid church.

So right now we are on our way to a source that ISS gave us and we are going to question him about the Scorpions and their base of operations. His name is Chigaru Al-said and he’s a former agent for Scorpion after a few hours of intense interrogation he spilled the beans and we found out that the Scorpions work on Amar Road in the old apartment complex, on the top three floors the bottom seven are abandoned so the cops think it’s completely empty and they knocked out the stairs so the cops can’t get up. The Scorpions climb a fire escape to get their Headquarters.  Now you’re probably wondering what a sixteen year old could do to a hardened criminal, I’ll tell you that six weeks in Giza with gangs of criminals watching your every move, you start to defend yourself better and it toughens you up a bit.

“So, you think he was telling the truth about where the Scorpions’ base is?” Jorden asked skeptically as we walked away from Chigaru’s house. “Well, we roughed him up a lot so yeah, I’d say he was telling the truth.” I said as I thought of the chances that he was wrong and or lying. The chances seemed incredibly slim in training the ISS had taught us how to tell when someone was lying to us. And the guy didn’t seem like he was lying, I could tell he was scared and he didn’t want to think what two ticked off teens would do to him if we didn’t get the right info.

We passed Omar Lane and as we were about to turn the corner we got jumped by a gang of low level thugs. There were maybe twenty and half had guns while the others had blunt objects like pipes and a few had chains. “Uh, Neil, I don’t think these guys wanna have a party.” He said, some guy had him in a headlock with a gun to his head. “Yeah, I figured!” I said, for some reason they hadn’t even touched me, like they were scared of what I might do.  And they were right in doing so because I’ve been in a few situations since I’ve been in Giza and I survived all them. “What do you idjits what with us?” I said as I looked around the alley. To my right there was an old warehouse and to my left was an old apartment that looked like it had been deserted long ago. There was only one way out and that was behind me and there was a wall of men blocking the street.

“What are you doing in my alley?” Said a voice from somewhere in the alley. I saw a silhouette of a man but the dust made it hard to see. I decided to play along with these bozos, “Hello, mind telling me who the heck you are?” I said to the guy standing on the old fire escape. He stepped out of the gloom and I caught my breath the guy looking down at me was none other than the guy we were looking for, Jorgen Miller. “You,” I thought to myself, ‘Don’t be stupid! Then he’ll know you’re ISS!’ “Do I know you from some place, perhaps a party or a bar?” I said in a confused voice like I didn’t know who he was, Jorden must’ve been confused because he looked at me weird when I looked back at him I gave him a ‘play along!’ look. He must’ve understood because he calmed down a little and stopped looking like I was insane.

“Yeah, you know you look like that dude from the party in Beijing! Yeah! What was your name, Hammurabo?” he said in a relaxed tone but I could see he was praying he didn’t mess up and say something that would blow our cover. “My name is not Hammurabo, my name is Jorgen Miller!” he said this in a very angry tone.   Now he was climbing down the fire escape and heading towards us. “Now that you know my name, what’s yours?” he said through gritted teeth. “My name’s,” I decided I was gonna play the part of a drunk idiot, “uh, I can’t remember. Do you know where my wallet is?” I decided to ‘check my pockets’ as another of the Scorpions went up to his leader, I caught a couple of words in Arabic and used the translator in my ear to see what they meant. “Translator activate.” I muttered to myself. Then I found out that they were saying something about the plan of Isle of Man. “Hey, I found out my name’s, Josh Hanks!” it was a lie but it was a high stress situation. “Very well,” he waved the other guy off and stepped just a bit closer. I got nervous I tensed my legs and looked at Jorden who must’ve been thinking the same thing because I saw his legs tense.

Just as Jorgen reached for my wallet that actually contained my ISS identity and pass. “NOW!!!” I screamed as I kicked back like a mule hitting the guy behind me in the gut and groin he groaned and collapsed. “They’re agents! Kill them now!!!”Jorgen screamed as he pulled at his gun and leveled it at my head I whipped my gun out and pointed at his face. “You don’t have the guts to shoot me boy!” but I could tell he was scared that I would shoot him. “Oh? Wouldn’t I? I’ve got no qualms against killing you where you stand!” a bluff, Hansen had given me direct orders to keep the casualties to a minimum.

Ok, no casualties. “Well, are you going to shoot or are you too chicken?” he was taunting me. I kept my gun up and with one hand I had it pointed at his left leg and my other hand I reached up to my blue tooth and said, “Call agent Hansen.” The built in phone was ringing when it picked up I heard Hansen, “What’s up Johnson?” he said. “I have Jorgen Miller in custody and he’s ready for interrogation.” I said proudly. “What are you talking about? I’m- uh!” he suddenly stopped talking because I had shot him, not anywhere that would kill him. I shot his leg the shot was messy and gruesome yet he looked and immediately vomited on himself and then passed out. “What, did you shoot him!?” he sounded confused.

“Yeah, in the leg that should keep him from escaping. What do you want me to do about the others, kill them?” I asked, “Yes, no witnesses.” Then he hung up. “Jorden round up the others we have an execution!” I said but he had already tackled and tied all of them up. “Dang! You work fast!” I exclaimed.

“While you were talking to Hansen I used a smoke bomb and caught all these dumb butts.” He boasted. “Great, well I have orders to interrogate and kill these bozos!” I said with a grim look on my face. “Oh,” he hesitated, “Ok, whatever the boss says!” We decided to set them up in a row so we could interrogate ‘mono e mono’. We started with a guy named Javari he said that Jorgen had planned to blow up the Isle of Man with a nuke so nobody could interfere. When we got all we could from him, this sounds cold but, we shot him right between the eyes.

We interrogated everyone and it took about two hours and after each we would blow their brains out. We finally got to the last person a guy named Amir Jihad. He was a tough cookie because he was Jorgen’s right hand man, at least that’s what we thought, “There’s another who can and will detonate the bomb! Jorgen took precautions.” He said as though that would stop us from saving the Ambassador of Ireland. “What’s his name?” I said as I looked at the ground and crossed my arms. “If you think I’m gonna tell you got another thing coming!” he said in a disgusted voice.

We roughed him up a bit and then told him to spill everything. He did. He told us where the bomb was, who was gonna detonate the bomb and when. We got everything from him and then like the rest we killed him. We went over to Jorgen and woke him up and questioned him. “Where is the missile base, Miller?” I said. “Go to johium!” he spat in our faces. We roughed him up a bit then asked again, he still didn’t spill the beans. We realized he wasn’t gonna tell us so we left him there. I felt generous so I kicked a gun over to him with one clip, “Let’s see who makes if you can survive.” I said in a disgusted voice, you’re probably thinking ‘Why give a criminal a gun? That’s stupid.’ The answer, I thought that if he was the one with gun he would be found guilty. So I left him there. But then we hauled the bodies into the center of the alley and (wait, if you are easily squeamish do not read the next few lines) we searched them for money, transmitters and weapons. We found two hundred Egyptian dollars which is about €22.00. Then, this is the squeamish part; we burned the bodies so there was no evidence. We stood there and listened to the cracking of heated human bones. Little did we know we were being watched.

Jorden heard one the hand bones of a guy near him shatter under the heat and he threw up on the asphalt, I realized that this was the first time he had killed anything, he didn’t even like to hunt deer. “You gonna be okay dude?” I asked as I patted his heaving back.  Then in the distance I heard sirens, someone had seen the fire! “Jorden we gotta go, like now!!” he must’ve heard the sirens too because he nodded and grabbed his backpack and then ran. I followed him and we didn’t stop until we got to the river banks. We heard shots fired and kept running. I realized we had left Jorgen there, whatever, we got we could from him. Panting, we looked back the way we came and saw the glow of the inferno we had set. Then I noticed Jorden’s leg, blood was oozing down his leg from just below the leg of his shorts. “What happened to your leg?” I asked pointing at his leg. “Huh?” he was recovering from the fire and was a little dazed, “Oh god, I’ve been shot! Jorgen shot me!  But, I’m fine!” He said trying to reassure me, he tried to stand and then collapsed on the road in a yell of pain. He was so tired he passed out on the spot.

“You need somewhere to rest for a few days.” I said to myself as I hefted him on to my shoulders, fireman carry, the agency had taught us how carry up to three hundred pounds. And Jorden weighed barely a hundred-twenty. I looked around for someplace to rest. I saw an old warehouse on the other side of the road. “It’ll have to do.” I said to myself.  I heaved Jorden onto my shoulders and ran across the road. When I got to the door it was padlocked. I cursed and then thought for a moment. I had an idea and it was potentially dangerous. I pulled out my gun and looked around, no one watching. I aimed at the chain and pulled the trigger the chain exploded in a blast of sparks and a flash of bright light. When I looked at the chain it was completely severed and the ends of the chain were red hot.

“Bingo!” I said as I tucked my gun back into the holster. “Ugh.” Jorden moaned. I hefted him onto my shoulder and carried him into the warehouse. Lucky for us there was no one in the warehouse. “Let’s find somewhere safe to rest.” I said to myself. I pulled out my gun and realize I was out of ammo in the clip. “Ugh! Really!?” I groaned as I reloaded my gun with one arm. I pumped the gun and walked with hand on my gun and the other on Jorden’s back so he wouldn’t fall off my shoulder.

I walked slowly and surprisingly silent, I saw one or two rats that looked hungry, ‘guess I’m gonna set some traps.’ I thought to myself.  After a good twenty minutes I figured it was all clear. I climbed an access ladder to the second floor and found a place to sleep, to my amazement, there was an old office for the manager. It had long since been abandoned obviously but the furniture was still intact. I saw there were a couch, desk, and surprisingly, an old futon. The old manager must have been a late worker. I set Jorden down on the couch and then I sat down on the futon and huffed.

I looked for a light switch, by the corner; I reached for it and flipped the switch. The light flashed on and flickered; I looked around and noticed there was a mini fridge! I opened it and saw multiple sandwiches, some bottles of water, and soda. The sandwiches were still good! And they were ham and cheese, wait there is no way this is a coincidence. Someone had been here recently, just as I was about to tell Jorden to wake up, I heard something on the bottom floor. To loud to be a rat, a stray dog perhaps?

No, again too big, must be a human. I looked at Jorden, then back at the door I decided to check. I wrote a note and placed his gun on it. If he woke up and decided to come with me, great. I took one of his clips and slid it into my ammo belt. I looked on the desk and saw the keys to the shack; I grabbed them and attached them to a belt loop. As I walked out I heard voices, definitely Arabic. I turned on the translator and listened close. They weren’t cops and they were looking for Jorden and me. I did what my instincts told me to; I pulled out my gun and shot them. All quick and silent, they collapsed in a heap. The shots must’ve woken up Jorden because he came out, limping, with his gun in his hand.

“Get your butt back in that office! You can barely stand!” I yelled at him, now furious that he knew he was crippled yet he came out to a gun fight. “But my leg feels,” he winced and then sicked all over the floor and over the balcony. “better.” he muttered. He fell to his knees, and screamed in pain. Then he puked again all over his hands. “Gross, I think I saw a water spigot beside the warehouse, I’ll go get some stay here and try to aim over the railing.” I said to him. I walked around the puddle of vomit and grabbed a nearby tub about the size of a storage container. I tossed the tub down the ladder and then lowered myself down the rickety old ladder. I jumped down the last few rungs. And landed on my feet, I grabbed the tub and went out the front doors. As I passed through the doors I realized the doors weren’t locked anymore and that someone might find Jorden so I picked up the chains from the lock and rapped them through the handles. Then slid the padlock over the chains, I decided that was enough.

I walked over to the rusty, iron spigot. I pumped the lever on the spigot and water came flooding out. It filled the tub in a matter of minutes. When I was satisfied that the tub had been filled, I took out a canteen I had picked up a few weeks ago and filled that as well. I stuck the canteen in one of the pockets in my combat fatigues. As I walked into the warehouse I realized I wasn’t gonna be able to get the water up without spilling it all.

“Hey! Jorden!” I said, “Yeah?” came a muffled call. “Toss down the rope by the ladder will ya?” I called. A moment later a nylon rope about twelve feet long came tumbling down the ladder. I tied the rope through the tub’s handles and then said, “Jorden, hoist the rope up!” “Alright.” He sounded tired. The rope suddenly rose a few inches, “Careful there’s water in the tub.” I called to him. I then started to climb the ladder. When I got up to the second level Jorden wasn’t alone, in fact there weren’t just two people there were three, including Jorden. I whipped my gun out and leveled it at the one closest to Jorden, “Back up!” I said waving the gun in front me. “I said move! Away from him!” I raised my voice. The strangers moved away from him with their hands up.

“Step forward slowly with your hands up!” I told them and they stepped into the light, they weren’t Egyptian or Middle Eastern for that matter. They looked like they were from Ireland.  “Who are you and what do you want?” I said with my gun still aimed at them. “Neil, they’re from America. They were told by the American CIA to tag and follow us.” He explained. “And when did you learn this? Huh?” I was getting irritated that he hadn’t shot them on sight. “So, you guys are really from America?” I said hesitantly “Yeah and we don’t like guns pointed at us.” Said the one closest to me. “Let me see your badges.” I said in a demanding voice. “Alright just lower the gun please.” Said the one to my right.  I lowered my gun and they relaxed a bit. As they reached for their pockets I aimed my gun at them to make sure they weren’t gonna try anything. They pulled out badges and guns… which made me uncomfortable. “Chill! Here are our badges.” He handed me his and his partner’s badges, their names were Jack and Natalie Howard. According to their ID’s they were married and lived in San Diego, California. “We’re under orders from the President of America to help you.” said Jackson.

“Why should I trust you?” I said in a condescending voice. My accent must’ve confused him but he still got the point. “Curse mo stupidity!” I muttered to myself. “Fine you can come!” I said finally. “Great! So are we going to stay here or are we going to arrest and stop Jorgen?” Natalie asked. “Uh, we already got him arrested we got all we could from him and his little gangster minions. We couldn’t get the bomb site info though.” Jorden said “Oh, we could hunt them down and question them again!” Jackson considered.

“Yeah… we kinda killed them after we questioned them.” I said hesitantly. “… YOU WHAT??!!” Jackson exclaimed “Now we have no one to question!” Natalie said somewhat calmer. “Oh didn’t think about that.” I said. “Wait there’s still that guy Omar! He should know!” Jorden exclaimed. “Great let’s go!” Natalie said.

THE END OF PART 2

As you may know, it is the end of EL for the 6^th graders. Next year we will be going to SEEK at middle school. I will miss everyone and everything at EL. I will miss Mrs. Moffitt, my friends, the projects, and the silly or funny things that happened here.

So, when I was surfing the web, I found this quote.

Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.

-Harriet Tubman

This is true, and I know you are getting tired of hearing this, but seriously, REACH FOR THE STARS! YOU CAN DO ANYTHING!