Kinard Mythology Anthology Volume III

by Kinard Middle School

Name: Ethan Michael

  Teacher’s Name: Mrs. Bean

  English Period:5/6

  Date: 3/6/17

  Ethan’s Adventure

  It was a fine day in West Hartford, Connecticut. There was not much do in West Hartford, but Ethan always tried to make today, a great day. He was a tiny boy for his age and always got made fun of because of his height. Ethan's most favorite thing to do in Connecticut was to walk down this windy, twisty, turny path that seemed to him like it never ended.

  Later in the day after school ended, Ethan decided to go out and walk on the path. It was his favorite time of day because it was the only time he was alone by himself.

  Ethan never really had the chance to meet his dad because he disappeared when he was young, and his mom always worked extra hours to try to support her family.

  Whenever Ethan went on his walk, his mom always made him bring a sack lunch.

 

  About a mile in his walk, he came across a tree that he had never seen before. He went to go examine it but then all of a sudden a man dropped out of the top of the tree and landed right next to him. He was a very tall man, flimsy boots, raggedy clothes and smelled like he hadn't showered in a year.

  “Hey” the man said with an excited tone.

  “I'm doing ok what about you,” said ethan in an intimidated tone.

  “What's your name?” said ethan in a determined tone.

  “I am Vedant Sharma known as the traveling tradesman”.

  “Ill tell you what” said Vedant, “I will trade you this magic rock that will allow you to travel into anyone of your lego sets if you trade me your sack lunch.” They exchanged each other's possessions and they were both satisfied with their trade.

  Ethan Immediately started to run back down the path and back to his house to see if the rock actually worked.

  “Wait,” said Vedant eagerly glad that he caught his attention, “the only way that you can get out and in your lego set is to find a precious diamond to activate the rock again.”

  Ethan nodded and ran as quickly as he could back to his house. He knew the perfect lego set.

  He soon arrived at his house and ran up stairs to his room. He took the lego set “Temple of the Diamond” out of his closet and set it on the floor. He set the rock on the lego set and nothing happened. He took it off and tried it again but nothing happened. He tried to remember what the traveling tradesman had said but nothing came to his mind.

  ”Ohhh I remember now” Ethan said in an enthusiastic tone.

  Ethan ran to his mom's room and looked in her jewelry drawer and found a diamond necklace. He set the rock on the lego set and then the diamond necklace and there was a bright green glow. Ethan Hopped in and moments later he had arrived in his lego set.

  “Woah,” Ethan said not imagining it to be this cool.

  Ethan had pictured it to be all legos surrounding him, but it was real! He was on a dock near the ocean and he knew just where he was “The Gods Sea.” He grabbed a small boat that was near the dock and took off wanting to get away as fast as possible. It was a bright red speed boat that he had remembered putting together when he was 8. He was about halfway to the temple when Poseidon stopped him in his path. Poseidon struck his trident in the sea making him seem like he was mad. Poseidon saw something shining in his back pocket and wondered what it was.

  “What is that in your back pocket,” Poseidon said curiously.

  “Its my moms diamond necklace,” Ethan said stuttering a few times because of how frightened he was.

  “I have never seen such a beautiful thing in my life,” Poseidon said.

  “Ill tell you what,” Poseidon said. “I will give you a safe journey to the temple if you trade me that diamond necklace,” Poseidon said eagerly wanting that necklace.

  Ethan started to wonder and thought that if he gave him the diamond his mom would be upset, and how would he get back into his normal world. If he traded him he would have to get the top of the temple which has a countless amount of traps and recover the diamond.

  “Alright, I guess so,” Ethan said very clearly, “but as long as you take me to the temple first.”

  Poseidon quickly agreed and knew that he could trust Ethan. Ethan and Poseidon were at the temple in a matter of minutes and Poseidon held out his hand wanting the diamond necklace. Ethan handed over the necklace and Poseidon immediately grabbed and swam away back into The Gods Sea.” Ethan made his way to the temple wondering if he would make It out alive and go back to his mom.” He now started to think about how to get around the temple without getting trapped or killed. He reached the front and saw a younger fellow standing at the front looking petrified.

  “Hello” Ethan said in a confused tone wondering why there was a human in his lego set.

  “Hey,” said Simon in a very scared tone.

  Ethan remembered now that he said his name. Simon was the person who would recover the diamond. Now it was a competition to get the diamond. Without saying a word, Ethan ran up the first set of stairs quickly and then simon soon followed. Ethan knew this maze like the back of his hand. Ethan took a sharp left knowing that it was the safest place to go. It seemed to Simon that he and Ethan had onced lived here before because it looked like he knew where he was going. Simon took a right. Ethan was twisting turning around various objects such as spears, knives, nets crashing down. He had noticed that Simon wasn't following him so he must've gone right. At that moment, Ethan knew he was dead. If you go right the first tile, you step on you fall to neverending darkness.

  Ethan had finally reached the second floor which in his opinion was the hardest floor. Suddenly, he saw an object running and it was Simon, but running up the flight of stairs to the third floor! Ethan really needed to hurry if he wanted to get the diamond to go back to his home. Ethan remembered from reading the cover of his lego set in “red not dead”, and “in blue you're glue”. There were very few red tiles, some tan tiles that disappeared right when you stepped on them and various amount of blue tiles. He knew this was his time to go. His first step was onto a tan tile and quickly transitioned to another and then another. He reached a red tile and took a break but then quickly got up and started to move.

  He reached another tile and noticed that there was a skeleton on a blue tile and figured that they had been stuck there forever. He reached the end of the massive maze, but now the 3rd and last floor. He slowly crept up the stairs towards the third floor. He noticed that Simon was trying to fight off the giant minotaurs. Ethan remembered from the lego set that there was a secret passageway to the diamond that was on the third floor. He snuck around the battle trying not to be seen. He got to the underground passage and ran knowing that Simon almost was completed fighting them off. Ethan walked up and sprinted for the diamond. He quickly united the rock with the diamond and in a matter of seconds he was home.

  It was exactly 9:00 pm just in time right before his mom got home.

  “Woah,” Ethan said, “what an adventure.” He was very glad that he had brought his sack lunch on that walk or none of that would have ever happened.

  The Beginning of the Universe

  Adarsh Payyakkil

  Once upon a time, there was nothing. Blankness, the void engulfed everything and there was just nothing. Nothing moved, and nothing lived. The blankness reigned and no light would show through the absolute midnight. But then, in this dark and cold space altered. Though it could not be seen, a small blob had willed itself into creation.

  So you ask me, how would you know if the little blob was there, if you couldn’t see it? Well, I’m just telling you the story. If you wanted to know how he was created, just ask him. But, he probably doesn’t have an email. Or a mail box. In fact, just forget about your question. See? All better now.

  Suddenly welling up from deep within the blob, came a great strength.

  Don’t ask me what the power was. I don’t have the words for it. Or for that matter, know how great this power was, just that it was great.


  By using just a minute fraction of that power, he created fire. Warmth engulfed the spongy body of the blob, and he smiled.

  Before you ask me how he smiled, since he didn’t have a mouth, let me tell you this; his power is so great that if he wants to do something, he can do it, even if he doesn’t have the right materials. In this case, lips.

  And there was light. The blob felt a kind of joy, that can only be felt by those few people. It was the joy of the little things in life.

  Hmmm… I wonder what that felt like.

  Then the blob floated around in the nothingness, peaceful and serene. Feeling bored, the blob changed shape into a humanlike body. Eyes grew in first, then a shapely nose came into being. Red lips popped onto his face, and he smiled, yet again, feeling extremely pleased with himself.

  What was that? Oh you said that it is impossible for lips to simply pop onto one’s face? Well, then, according to you this story is impossible, because if it hadn’t popped, then this story would not have happened. And even though he wasn’t a blob anymore, we’ll still call him that.

  Far away, in a world where life will never be the same as it is here, a god awoke.

  But this story is called the beginning of the universe, right? Yeah, but this is another universe. So technically we’re living in a multiverse. And by the way, this world had absolutely no free space at all.

  His eyes flashed, blue irises sparking with power. He rose from his seat of power and and his mouth grimacing into a frown. There was another powerful being in the multiverse.

  Meanwhile, the blob floated around, intrepid of the slightest attack.The fire that he had created warmed the dark coldness that surrounded him. Without thinking, he fell asleep. But, unbeknownst to him, an ancient evil would work into his world, and prey on him like a parasite. But there he slept, caring not about any threats, or danger that threatened his life. But something in his head, spoke to him.

  So basically, he had the original spidey sense.

  “I warn you, there is a powerful being who approaches will ill intent to you. Beware,” and so saying, the little voice in his head vanished as if it was never there.

  But now, the blob was awake and aware of the threat that now opposed him. And he still didn’t care. He still lazed around, as if nothing, or rather no one had warned him. He was too sure of his power, too confident that he was the ultimate being.

  Far away, in the other universe, the other god chuckled. He had his work cut out for him, he thought. He laughed, a slow grin spreading across his face. I’ll have some fun before I go and destroy him, he thought. He flew down through the clouds, making them vanish with a small poof, and stopped, standing upright. Then he flew toward a small village, where he saw villagers going about their daily tasks and chores, like harvesting wheat. The god smiled gleefully to himself and went to work. One fireball was all it took. An entire village decimated. The god giggled, an evil glow in his eyes.

  The maniacal god stood, focusing his energy. Energy crackled around him, sparking off the air. A rip appeared in front of him, electricity flowing freely from its sides. It widened revealing blank nothingness. The blob’s world.

  So technically the god was defying all laws of physics and nature, but hey, he’s a god! So, you know?

  He entered the world. A chill creeped into his bones, seeping through, making him think maybe it wasn’t the greatest idea to come here. But, steeling himself he flew through the air.

  Or swam. Same thing in the void.

  And there he saw the blob. Anger pulsed through his body, sending ripples of power through space like waves in the ocean. Surprised that there was really a being who could rival him in power, the blob stood. His calm eyes gave nothing away, but he was actually a little scared. He set his lips into a determined frown, and slowly flew(or swam) toward his opponent. Being courteous, the blob bowed, as an acknowledgment of power, but then swung his fist up to see how his foe would react. The god didn’t move. The fist struck his jaw, and his head snapped backward. Slowly he moved his head down, pushing the fist down as well. Good, thought the blob, I like a challenge.

  “Why have you come to my world?” questioned the blob.

  “To kill you,” came the reply.

  They both moved forward. Rearing back they both struck at the same time. Explosive waves spread. Our universe was being created. Fist and feet clashed, at speeds faster than light could travel.. if it was 10 times faster than it was now. Bones crunched under the pressure of each hit. Bruises formed all over their bodies. The blob hit the opposing god in the face. He returned the favor. And for years they fought, never tiring. The god’s universe, which had no blank space at all, merged with the void in which the blob lived.

  So it’s not a multiverse anymore.

  The stars formed, in an instant. Dust and pollution swirled up creating galaxies.

  Yes. We live in a swirling pile of junk.

  The animals were formed, the same way the blob was. Shifting and changing they were at first, unnatural like the blob, but without his power. Eventually when all the animals, and plants were created, they pleaded for the gods to stop their seemingly endless combat, for if they did, they would destroy the newly made universe. The blob agreed. He stopped and apologized for nearly destroying the world that they had just created. But the other god would not agree, and he unexpectedly punched the blob, our hero in the face, sending him sprawling to the netherworld.

  “I am your king now. Your ruler, your god. You will obey me,” said the malicious god.

  And our god was stuck in the underworld, and is now deemed the devil.

  So, what I’m saying is that the devil, should have ruled the world, but he was unfairly ruled to the underworld. Call me a heretic, but it’s true.

  The End

  The Origin of the Chicken and Chicken Nuggets

  By Kennilworthy Whisp

  Chickenopolis was a quiet village in Ancient Greece with only a handful of inhabitants. Its main focus for girls and boys was archery. They valued it because of its uses in hunting and self protection. In the village, there was one main dirt road. There was one blacksmith for making bows and arrows. For no reason, the whole village smelled of chutney. When someone asked why it smelled like chutney, they just said that a traveler long ago came to the village all the way from India and brought them chutney, but that is another story.

  Now, enough of that. Let’s see, the main character... his name was Horace. He was 11 years of age, almost 12, had beautiful green eyes, and thick, black, unkempt hair. Unfortunately for him, he had a voice like a six year old with asthma. More than anything else in the world, including school, Horace enjoyed playing with his friends.

  He had a mother named Kerry, who had beautiful green eyes which she had passed to her son and long golden hair although his father was unknown.

  Now today was a special day for the family of Horace because he was turning 12, and when the children of the village turned 12, they had to take up archery. In most ways, Horace was a respectable young man except that he hated archery and anything of the sort. Horace said to his mother, “Archery is only for gormless fools. I hate it!.”

  Kerry gasped and started to sob so hard that she fell to her knees. She felt so horrible butsaid, “Apollo will be furious. I’m sure he heard you. He’s going to inflict horrific things upon us!” Sure enough, Apollo heard Horace from way up on Mount Olympus, but he wasn’t just furious, he was fuming!

  Apollo decided to dispatch a dream to Horace to tell him what he had to do to repay him for what he said.

  Later that night, Horace had a dream, a terrible dream; he dreamt Apollo was shouting at him and that he was trapped so he couldn’t get away. The thing Apollo wanted for payment was a new food, and if it didn’t come in time, he would rain arrows upon the village of Chickenopolis and would make sure everybody died. The dream was over.

  Without warning, another dream flickered into image like when a television turns on and this time it wasn’t Ap
ollo speaking...it was another god! The god had black, unkempt hair and sounded like a eight year old with asthma sort of like Horace. The god said, “I am your father, Orpheus, and I know what you’re thinking. Why hasn't my mother told me about my father? Well, I told her not to tell you because I knew there would come a time where you would need me,” said Orpheus, “and the time is now, but first I want you to wake up tomorrow and go to my temple in the hills. Then,I want you to say to my statue, ‘I need help.’ That’s it, and a miracle will happen.”

  The dream was over and Horace woke with a start. He jumped out of bed and instantly hoisted a cloak on then departed.

  I’ve been walking for at least an hour he thought, when will I get there? And as if to answer his question, he bumped into a column and seconds later he was sprawled on the floor of the temple of Orpheus.

  Horace picked himself up and walked up to the statue of Orpheus and wailed, “I need help!” Just as his father had said, Horace heard a noise that he had never heard before. It went something like this bock, bock, bock, bock, bock, begowwwwk. Then, nothing happened. With a look of disbelief, he walked back to the village and got in bed.

  The next morning, he woke up to the same sound bock, bock , bock, bock, bock, begowwwwk, but instead of nothing, there was a little white bird with blotches of red on its temple. Then, he spotted a name tag that said chicken, and he figured that Orpheus, his father, had named the animal after his village.  

  After that, he thought, didn’t Apollo want a food? And at that thought, like magic, the idea came to him of how the chicken would be cooked. He sprung out of bed and ran to the kitchen. Realizing that he forgot the chicken, he ran back to his bedroom and grabbed it.

  Thirty minutes later, he finished the chicken. Well, actually, the chicken nuggets. Horace had cooked the chicken, cut it into nuggets,then dipped those in breadcrumbs, and then  fried his new invention. After huffing,puffing, and sweating, he was exhausted but finally there. But he still had to deliver the new food to Apollo, so he decided to go back to the temple of Orpheus with the nuggets safely in a bowl and ask again for help with delivery.

  It was, of course, the deadline day as he travelled,and when he got there, his exhaustion was renewed. Horace yelled at the statue “I need help!” and once again something happened but wasn’t a noise, it was that the statue had turned into the real Orpheus. “I will bring that bowl of chicken nuggets to Mount Olympus,” spoke his father. After a second or two, the bowl was gone and so was Orpheus.

  Up on Mount Olympus, Apollo was stuffing himself with chicken nuggets like a pig eating its slop while he said over and over, “DIS ID DELICHOS!” with his mouth full of course. When he was finished, he spoke to Zeus, “This is the best food I have ever tasted! Will you please tell Hebe to make this mortal…uhh… Horace... into the god of chicken nuggets?”

  “If they are that good then certainly!” said Zeus. So, Horace drank from the cup of Hebe and he became the god of chicken nuggets.

  The Origin of Rainbows

  By Giselle

  A long time ago in ancient Greece, high upon Mt. Olympus, sat the goddess Iris talking to the goddesses Aphrodite and Athena. Iris sat on a plush stool with her long black hair shimmering down her back appearing to change color in the sunlight. Her long black eyelashes fluttered over her crystal blue eyes. She was in the midst of telling the other goddesses about how astonishing she was when they stood up in a rush their eyes looking anywhere but at her.

  “I have a thing that I have to do,” muttered Athena under her breath, “with someone.” She added as she quickly sped away. Aphrodite sputtered in agreement, but secretly they only hoped to get away from Iris and her bragging.

  Iris felt hurt for a moment, but then brushed it off by thinking that they were only jealous of her glamor. Instead, Iris indulged herself by soaking in the surrounding of Olympus. The tall white columns sprouting out of the ground appeared to hold up the sky. The wind rustling through the plants brought up the sweet smell and a faint taste of a dinner feast being made. Iris suddenly felt herself start to feel a raging hatred for everything as the god of war, Ares, stormed past but it soon disappeared.

  As the sun started to dip below the sky, the gods sat down for dinner at a grand table. Iris sashayed in and sat in the middle of Aphrodite and Athena. They subtly scooted away from Iris as if they worried that she would start spouting facts about how stunning she was. They should've worried more.

  “I’m so amazing, I have a ton of worshipers,” Iris boasted loudly.

  “I’m full,” proclaimed Athena as she pushed away from the table, the rest of the meal passed in silence except for the clinking of forks on the plates.

  The next day, Iris spent 30 minutes picking out the perfect outfit, 3 hours on her makeup, and 5 hours on her hair. She flounced into the crowded living area and immediately started commenting on what the other goddesses could do to make themselves more beautiful like her.

  “If you put your hair in a bun,” she suggested to Hestia, “it would show off your facial features more.” Iris moved in front of Athena. “You should try curling your hair, like mine,” Iris said, “and you really must lose the war helmet.”

  “I know,” Athena said rolling her eyes, “you’ve told me a million times.”

  “But you never seem to listen- Oh! I just remembered all of my temples are the busiest now, probably because I’m so perfectly popular,” Iris turned and her smile faltered. All the other goddesses had disappeared except for Athena, who loomed in raging anger over Iris.

  “So, popular, are you?” roared Athena, and then she smashed her hands together and a beam of pure death shot down and killed every worshiper in every single temple dedicated to Iris. Iris wanted to do something to help. However, she knew that her powers could not outlast Athena’s and that if she tried to stop her, then her hair would get ruined.

  In grief, Iris fled Olympus. She wandered looking for a place to hide when she came to a cave that was perched on the side of a cliff. She hurried inside, hoping that no other gods had seen her enter. The cavern looked like no one had ever been in it Once she was inside of the cave, she heard what sounded like a small rainstorm, and then a gray and black unicorn ran right into her. The unicorn has a light blue mane and tail. The cave was dark and crowded. The air inside was stuffy, but none of the gods would ever find her here.

  Many months passed and Iris stayed in the cramped cave with Rainy, the unicorn. The gods searched everywhere, but they could not find her. Athena had seen the cave but had thought that Iris would not stay there because she cared so much about her appearance. Athena was riding back to Olympus when her chariot wheel caught the light of the sun and it shot a beam of color into the cave that Iris was hiding in. Iris saw the flash of light and was suddenly reformed. She realized that she did not have to spend so much time on how she looked and instead she should make other people feel happy. Suddenly, an idea struck her like lightning. She quickly rode Rainy to Olympus and went straight to Zeus with her request.

  “Zeus,” said Iris calmly, her hair tangled and matted with dirt,” instead of becoming the goddess of beauty like I intended I would instead like to become the goddess of rainbows and travel around the world with Rainy.” Zeus was started by her request, but he let her have what she wished.

  And so, Iris contently goes around the world with Rainy creating rainbows and making everyone feel happy after a time of sadness.

  Mountains of Rocky

  By: Alice Canonico

  Once a time ago, three young animals were pretending to be gods on an unnamed mountain range as big as the whole world and as tall as Mount Olympus.

  Voodoo, the pitbull, was the youngest and the only boy. His fur was the color of night with stars all over his body he loved romping ad playing with the goats all over the steep rock faces.

  Paz, the two toed sloth ran, ha, sat on the brilliant mud colored alicorn,Rocky.

  Rocky flew all the way through the unnamed mountain, she swore tha
t once she had almost touched a great ball of fire in the sky.

  In their cave, filled to the brim with trees and plants and a lake to make the most natural habitat a cave can have, the air was crisp ,not cold but, crisp and smelled of sweet  apples.

  “Paz, what are these big tall rocky piles called?”asked Voodoo.

  “Mountains?”said Paz.

  “What’s the name of the mountains?” said Voodoo, irritated.

  “That’s an excellent question,” said Hebe.

  “Who are you?”said Voodoo.

 

  “I’m the god Hebe, and I want you to be a part of my competition to name these mountains. You’ll each bring  these mountains a gift and whichever is the best will get these mountains named after them, and become a god.”

  “Cool,” said Paz.

  One week later, They gave their gifts.

  “I will give the gift of the wind so the animals will always be safe from evil spirits,” said Voodoo.

  “I will give the gift of trees so the animals can eat, sleep, and play,”said Paz.

  “Will give the gift of snow to drink, hide, and play,” said Rocky.

  “These are all wonderful gifts to the mountains, I can’t decide,”said Hebe, “Rocky, go and fetch a human to decide for me.”

  Back with the human, restlessly Rocky waited to learn the name of the mountains.

  “Good Rocky, human what is the best gift for this mountain, snow, trees, or wind,” said Hebe.

  “Oh this is very hard but I must go with…”said the human. “... I guess snow because it is filled with nutrients and water to survive  and you can play in it.”

  “Yeah, but we all should be gods and name the mountains after me,”said Rocky.

  “Excellent choice you will all be gods of the Rocky Mountains.” said Hebe.

  The Fox’s White Tip.

  By Jackson Clark

  Long ago, in a field of lush and soft green grass, rich and wet soil, and a small stream, lived the all seeing owl, the fast and fuzzy rabbit, the big, black bear, and the sneaky, clever, but nice, fox.They all lived in peace together.One day the fox wanted to see if he was the sneakiest so he challenged all the animals to a contest. All you had to do was steal a purple pebble from the owl faster than your opponent and without being seen.The fox beat them all with ease.

  “I need a real opponent,” said the fox.

  His wish was granted and Athena appeared in front of him.

  “Mitey Athena what brings you here,” said the fox. Well, he already knew.

  “I was watching you compete and when you said you needed a real challenge I couldn’t resist,” said Athena.

  “Well than, since you were watching you know the rules, let's start,” said the fox with excitement.

  A little rowboat appeared in the stream big enuff for the animals and Athena.

 

  “I had another idea, so climb in,” said Athena.

  The animals were puzzled but did so.

  The boat stopped at the hydras forest. It was very thick, very green, and the canopy was very high.  Also it smelled of rain and the air tasted wet.They all climbed out and Athena started to explain.

  “The rules are super simple.Whoever can get the hydras chalice and get out of the forest alive with the hydras chalice wins. Also, I can’t shapeshift into a fox. Do you accept?” said Athena.

  “Yes,” said the fox.

  The race started and the fox started with an early lead. He went ahead of Athena. He thought he had won. But then he remembered where he was. Then he saw the hydra. He ran right next to him. The hydra saw him and loudly roared , and then  started to run after him aggressively. Then he saw Athena up ahead gliding as a flying squirrel. He ran under her and because she was gliding at head height of the hydra, the hydra bumped into her and started to chase her instead.

 

  Then the fox saw the chalice, grabbed it and started on his way. He went back to the boat.  He got to the boat with no hydra or Athena in site. The fox had won! Then Athena came out of the forest.

  “I won, I won, I really won!” said the fox.

  “Yes you did. But I warn you, don’t get cock,” said Athena.

  The fox did get cocky and started to steal from everyone and one day he crossed the line the fox tried to steal something from Athena and was caught.

  “I warned you not to be cocky and push your luck with stealing, so now I curse you so you will always be caught,” said Athena with rage.

  Then the fox had the tip of  his tale turned white and now you see him all the time and he never gets away with stealing.

 

  Head in the Clouds

  By: Hailey

  Once upon a time, there lived a goddess named Ronyia. She lived up in the sky on top of a bunch of white fluffy clouds, called Cloud Ville, and it overlooked a tall kingdom, the “Academy of the Performing Arts.” Ronyia was a very talented ballerina with long black hair swirled into a bun and sparkling brown eyes, she had the beautiful shoes that could make her stand on her tiptoes. Ronyia also had a cat, a very spoiled cat named Lucy. Lucy had her own cloud house painted pink and covered in diamonds. Ronyia even gave Lucy her own sparkly tutu and a little pink tiara.

  “Knock, Knock,” someone demanded at Ronyia’s cloud door.

  “I’m coming! Stay, Lucy” Ronyia said, trying to throw on her bright pink robe with diamonds all over.

  “Good morning, Miss Ronyia. I have some flyers for the royal ball performance here at the Academy of Performing arts, I thought you might be interested in performing?” A little frog came to ask.

  “You want me to dance?!? O.M.G! That would be an honor! When is it?” Ronyia screamed, quickly grabbing a flyer out of the frogs hands.

  “Your in?”

  “Heck yeah! I’ll be sure to have a dance rehearsed by next week.”

  The next day Ronyia thought of a dance, but then she realized she needed a song.

  “Who is good enough to play my music?” Ronyia said while pulling out a dusty old book that smelt like it had been on that shelf for a million years. Hummingbirds?” She questioned while putting the number in her phone.

  “Hello. Hummingbirds at your service, what can we sing for you?”, the phone bursted.

  “Oh hi, I have a dance performance coming up next week, so I need someone to play the music I need really soon, so I can be the best and win lots of money.”

  “Do you want us to sing for you today then?’’ The bird asked.

  “Yes, please. Now would be great, see you soon!’’ Ronyia says in excitement while slamming down the phone and running up stairs.

  Two minutes later.

  “Come on in! Let's get to rehearsing, let me just lace up my pointe shoes and I’ll be ready!” Ronyia sa in excitement.

  “Oaky Doaky!.”

  “So my plan is, I’m just going to do some leaps on the clouds, maybe a few turns then land in a big finish, so the music needs to match.” She demands.

  While the hummingbird hums, and Ronyia dances, everybody in cloud ville started to hear the beautiful music coming from Ronyia’s cloud house.

  A few hours past and all of a sudden, all of Ronyia’s neighbors started coming over to listen and watch.

  “You guys can watch my beautiful ballet, but you have to be quiet.” Ronyia says in a rude tone.

  “Hey Ronyia, I think I need a break. We’ve been doing this over and over for the past five hours, don’t your feet hurt from those shoes?” The bird says.

  “No they don’t, in fact practice makes perfect, so if you want some of the money I win, you better keep playing, or else I won’t pay you.”

  In the wink of an eye, the little bird flew back to his nest and brought lot’s of his other hummingbird buddies to help him play.

  “Let’s get back to practicing.” the little bird says while giving the other birds a lesson on what to sing.

  “5, 6, 7, 8.”

  “My ankle!”

 
“Ronyia, what can we get you… Some ice, cup of tea?”, the birds asked.Ronyia didn’t say a word, she was in such pain.

  “I need ice! Now! My ankle is puffy and purple!”

  As the birds grabbed Ronyia ice, “What even happened?”, the bird asked.

  “Those stupid shoes! Now just leave me alone,” Ronyia started to cry.

  Puddles of tears started to build up, and the clouds couldn't take it anymore.

  Drops of water started leaking and leaking through the clouds the suddenly, the tears started to cause a storm. The wind started blowing Ronyias hair everywhere, the birds didn’t have enough power to stay flying. But least of all, Ronyias magical pointe shoes drifted down the sky.

  Soon the whole city underneath cloudville was flooding and the villagers were needing to escape.  

  “Ronyia! Stop crying! The village needs your help! There is too much tears and it will make the

  villagers trapped in the water!” The birds say.

  “What can I do to help?” Ronyia said kindly.

  “We got to do something to help because it’s all my fault.” She yakked grabbing her ankle.

  “The performance is tomorrow and my ankle is broken!” Ronyia sobbed.

  The birds flew into Ronyias living room handing her a shiny glass of this purple bubbling liquid.

  “Drink it! It’s a healing potion. It will heal your ankle.”

  “Yes! I will be able to win the money…”

  “Ronyia! Stop being so greedy!” the bird spoke.

  “You interrupted me! I was going to say, when I win the money I will help the villagers stop the flooding, maybe we can make a draining system.”

  “Sounds good to me, I’ll see you tomorrow for the music.”

  “My ankle feels better already! Thank you so much!” Ronyia said while shutting the front door and the birds flew out.

  “I got to practice, practice, practice!”

  The next day Ronyia was ready to perform. She got on her pointe shoes and her beautiful tutu.

  “I can almost just taste the moment of me winning the money!” She whispered to herself while waiting backstage.

  “Welcome to the stage, contestant number 36, Ronyia!”

  Ronyia performed so amazing that she instantly won the money!

  “Thank you so much for letting me dance for you guys. I really appreciate it,” Ronyia screeched.

  “You are very welcome, what do you think you are going to do with this money,” the judges

  asked.

  “I’m going to build a river to drain out all the flooding.”

  “Very nice.”

  The very next day, Ronyia and the birds got started on buying the supplies to build the river.

  “There goes a ton of money!” The bird spoke.

  “I’m happy I did so!” She said with a smile as big as the world.

  The village gratefully appreciated Ronyia’s help. The villagers, the hummingbirds and last but not least, Ronyia lived happily ever after.

  The City of Heraklion

  By: Lily Douglas

  One day in ancient Greece, Zeus, the king of the gods needed a god to look after a new city so he called Hermes to ask all the gods if they want to protect the city and report to back to him. Hermes asked all the gods and two wanted to rule over the city. When Hermes got back to Zeus, he said that Hercules, the strongest god,accepted.Zeus And so did Hebe, the cupbearer of the gods.

  Then, Zeus called both gods and said they would both need to come up with ways to prove to him that they would protect the city. Hercules and Hebe both looked at each other in a competitive way. Hercules walked up to Zeus and said “if I rule this city I will turn it into a city that will never lose and fight battles and never surrender. And then Hebe walked up to Zeus and said “if you let Hercules rule over the city there will never be peace, but if I rule it will be a city of peace and there will be farm land and nature all over the city.” Then both walked away to let Zeus decide. Zeus was puzzled, He didn't want to disappoint either of them they where both his children, he didn't know what to do. As the two were walking away they both said “I will destroy you!’And then the trouble began.

  Both gods had the same plan. To try to get all the gods they could on their side.So both went around and told every god what they wanted to do with the city.

  Hebe got the gods Demeter, Artemis,Persephone, Hermes, Hestia, and Apollo to agree with her. And Hercules got the gods Hades, Athena, Aphrodite, Ares, Poseidon, and Hephaestus to agree with him.The one god who refused to choose a side was was Hera.She just didn't want to choose.

  As the days went on the fighting got worse and worse between to two gods, but it wasn't battle it was petty little pranks.Hercules was the first to strike. He took her cup of immortality and replaced it with a cup of death.  Hebe was sent to turn someone immortal, and she went to get the cup.  When she touched it, she turned into stone. When this happened all the gods that were on Hercules side realized he had gone to far. The goddess Athena saw what happened to Hebe, and went to go report it to her dad, Zeus. When Zeus heard what happened he was furious.

  Zeus quickly sent hermes to find the cure to turn Hebe back into flesh. When Hermes got back they used the cure Hebe.Then Zeus summoned Hercules, Zeus had never been so frustrated.

  When Hercules came, all the gods were watching outside to see what would happen. Everyone could tell that Hercules was very scared.The gods were nervous because Hercules had never looked like that before.Zeus look at Hercules in disappointment.And Zeus gave Hercules a talk about how Hebe would never do nothing like that. But he was wrong. While Hercules was getting a talking to by Zeus, she was coming up with a prank just as devious as the one Hercules pulled on her. She came up with the idea to put a cursed saddle on his prized pegasus that he rode every day. When Hercules would sit on the saddle it throws him off every time he gets on it. So after Hercules got a talking to from Zeus, he went to go for a ride on his horse. When he got on his pegasus and started riding, he was thrown off. Hercules thought it was his horse throwing him off. So he got on again, and he was thrown off again. Hercules kept on getting on his horse over and over again and he kept on getting thrown off. After a while, he started to figure out it wasn't is horse. He knew that Hebe would do something like this, and he figured out it was Hebe not his horse . Hercules wanted to make her pay for what she did, but he knew if he did that he would get into even more trouble with Zeus.

  Hercules made a plan, but word got out about what Hebe did and what Hercules wanted to do, so Zeus called them both for a private talk. Zeus decided he wasn't going to let this go on, so he said that Hebe and Hercules had to spend a whole entire week together in the land they were competing for. Both gods obviously didn't agree to this, but they didn't really have a choice. So, they went down to the land that they both wanted to rule over. As they spent more time together, they started to not hate each other as much as they thought they did. This all changed when on the last night they started to talk about why they wanted to rule over the city. When they started to talk, they got into a huge argument and Zeus was watching them the whole week, and he was very disappointed.

  When he saw them fighting, he didn't know what else to do. Hera, the wife of Zeus saw he was stressed and came up with a plan to bring them together again. Hera asked Cupid to shoot them both with his magical arrow. Cupid didn't want to shoot them he only shot mortals, but he had to say yes to Hera. Then when cupid was walking he saw Hercules and Hebe walking toward each other. So, he first pointed his bow at Hebe and then he shot her with his magical bow, then he shot Hercules.

  When the arrows shot them both, it took awhile to have its effect. Then when they looked at each other, they fell in love. And they did everything together, but then they completely forgot about the city. Then the goddess Athena saw them together and them not yelling at each other she said, “I'm glad you guys figured something out about the city”. Then they remembered they didn't do anything about the city.So
they and Zeus had a talk about what to do with the city. And they decided to name it Heraklion. All the gods wondered why it was named that. Hercules and Hebe said it was because Hera brought them together, and that Hera wouldnt rule over the city that them Hercules and Hebe would rule over it together.

  THE END

  Onion Soup

  By Clara Griffey

  Every evening, at 6:30 sharp, the gods came to Mount Olympus for their dinner. This dark cloudy day made them all tired as they came in to take their seats. Afterall, they had all been watching the nine year war of Troy and Greece.

  After about five minutes of sitting and waiting for their chef, Zeus, the god of all gods, was getting impatient. So, he threw his big muscley fist on the beautiful oak wood table and called for the head chef, Ladelclyse. Ladelclyse heard Zeus’ big rumbling voice and came bounding in at full speed.

  It was his first day on the job, and he was talking to Marcellus, a good friend of his fathers, the past head chef, Bowlaclyse. Bowlaclyse went out to fetch some water from the river that slowly trickled down Mount Olympus and never came back. But, putting that matter behind him, and now Ladelclyse had to cook for the gods. He had only been in chef school for a year and a half before he heard the terrible news.  Students are only allowed to start training at age twelve, and being fourteen, the young lad didn’t know that much.

  “I’m sorry sir, my greatest apologies. What may I do for you?” Whimpered Ladelclyse.

  Seeing this young version of Bowlaclyse suddenly made Zeus feel sorry for the young boy and felt a rush of warm love and pity for him. Seeing him so alive and happy, made Zeus feel happy.

  Zeus replied with a simple, “No worries dear boy. Now go make us some of your lovely food.”

  Surprised, Ladelclyse felt a smile start to grow on his face. He straightened his back, put his head up high, and asked what the gods would like to eat. Athena turned to the rest of the gods, and made eye contact with all fourteen of them. It was as if she was psychic and knew what everyone wanted.

  Then she looked at Ladelclyse and said, “We would like alliepa broth.”

  The smile on Ladelclyse’s face turned askew and he slowly wrote down on his notepad.

  Thousands of thoughts started going through his head. Some pointless, and others he should consider. How long will it take to make? Will I end up like my father? What kind of soup even is that? Why do I even have a notepad? I only have one thing to remember.

  But he held all of that in and said, “Yes my lord, coming right up.”

  As he walked back to the kitchen, the thoughts started getting bigger and louder and more stressful and the worst part was, now he had to think about them. Alliepa broth. What was that? He walked past the big burning pot and around the washing tub to the cabinet of scrolls. Getting lost in the kitchen was easy and you were lucky if you could get what you needed in a timely manner. The scroll cabinet was six shelves high and eight sets of shelves. It was a beautiful dark red sandalwood and smelled of roasted chicken. He slowly opened up the dusty glass doors and began his search for alliepa broth.

  About five minutes into his search, he found the recipe in a small gold-rimmed scroll with olive trees carved into it.

  Alliepa broth was an ancient delicacy made of mushrooms and onions. But not just any onions, the rare pearl onion. They had mushrooms, broth and seasonings in the kitchen, but pearl onions can not be harvested in a garden, but grown in the depths of the deepest forests, so he had to go get one. But the problem was Mount Olympus was high up in the clouds and without power from the gods, it would take at least a whole day to go down to the forest and chop your way through to find a pearl union. That doesn't even include the time it would take to come back.

  He couldn’t tell the gods that they are not allowed to have the meal, and he couldn’t ask them to help him retrieve the onion, so what would his father do? Ladelclyse sat and thought a while. Marcellus came in just then.

  “Do you need help my good sir?” said Marcellus in his sweet gentle voice.

  One minute later, Ladelclyse had explained the whole story to Marcellus, and his response was giving Ladelclyse a meat knife, pushing him through the kitchen and out the back door.

  “What are you waiting for?” shouted Marcellus, “Go get some pearl union!”

  Ladelclyse was surprised by his action, for Marcellus merely ever told anyone what to do, but the intelligent man was right. The faster he got the delicacy, the better.

  “But what about the gods?” he asked. “It is going to take more than a couple minutes to get the onion, if not even days, and we can’t make the gods wait that long.”

  “I’ll handle it,” said Marcellus with a cheesy grin on his face.

  “Well ok then.”

  With that, Ladelclyse walked out the door and down great Mount Olympus. He untied one of the horses in the stalls and hopped on.

  Ladelclyse was a surprisingly good horse rider, for every day he rode down the Mount Olympus with his dad because walking from their house would take a day.

  So he rode past the city of Athens, past his home, past the sea cliffs and to the edge of the forest.

  He hopped off the chocolate brown horse and tied him to a tree near the edge of the forest. He took a second, standing at the edge just staring in. He could hear the trees rustling in  the wind. He could smell the damp nature coming from inside. He could taste the dryness if it already. Pulling his knife out of his pocket, Ladelclyse walked in.

  He had never been in the forest before, and it wasn’t quite as bad as he imagined it. Or so he thought. As he walked around the forest, he started to doubt himself. The trees got bigger and the light got smaller. How can he look if he can’t even see?

  Meanwhile, at Mount Olympus Marcellus made dinner. The only thing he really knew how to make was chicken noodle soup, so he started to make that.

  Cut the chicken, feeling the slimy breasts split apart with the knife. He cut the carrots, cut the onion, cooked the chicken, in no time Marcellus had a pretty decent soup.

  Spooning it into the large silver rimmed serving bowl, he brought it out to the gods.

  Mouths water, they all took large spoonfuls and dumped it onto their plates. Moments later Zeus spit it out and cried,

  “This isn’t Alliepa Broth!”

  Standing up so his seat flung across the room, he came marching over to Marcellus.

  “Where is my Alliepa Broth?” Zeus screamed. He looked Marcellus in the eyes and you could see the fire start to burn up inside when-

  “Stop!” Athena yelled. Zeus backed up and sat back down in his seat.

  Only half the size of Zeus, Athena spoke.

  “Where is the soup that we ordered?” Athena said in a smooth stern voice.

  Feeling much more calmed, Marcellus said, “Well you see, Alliepa broth needs Pearl unions. Pear onions can only be found in the depths of the deepest forests. Your head chef, Ladelclyse, went out to get it. In the meantime, for who knows how long he is going to be gone, I have made you chicken noodle soup.”

  Raging up again, Zeus stood and said, “I want a professional! Not some assistant, where is Ladelclyse, chicken noodle soup is not fit for a god!”

  Athena cocked her head sideways and stared at him with an evil eye. Zeus sat back down once again.

  Turning back to Marcellus, Athena said, “What is your name young lad?”

  “Marcellus.”

  “Very well then Marcellus. Chicken noodle soup will do for now. But please, make sure Ladelclyse gets back as soon as humanly possible.” And with that Marcellus went bursting back into the kitchen.

  He had never even looked a god straight in the eye, but to be punished by one was a whole nother story. Taking deep breaths he grabbed a wet washing rag and began to clean the counters.

  Still looking, Ladelclyse was starting to lose all hope. For it had been at least five hours and he had only found a couple of dandelions. Continuing walking, Ladelclyses started feeling delirious
. His head felt light, and things got fuzzy. His brain went blank and he tumbled to the ground, for he had no water or food, and had been walking for hours straight. By now it was also turning dark outside, not like it could get much darker in the depths of these woods. But everything got dark and Ladelclyse just fell asleep.

  Maybe it was the fact that he had been up all morning, talking to Marcellus about his job, maybe it was the stress from finding the pearl onion, but either way he slept for a long time. As it turned to day Ladelclyse felt more sleepy and waking up to the warm sun beaming down on his face made it no easier to get himself moving again, but he knew he had to. Using the tree above him to pull himself up, he straightened his back and made a great big yawn. Looking around he saw some unusually bright green leaves growing out of the ground.

  He stood for a second, staring at the odd thing, waiting for his eyes to adjust. It was still bright green and poking out of the ground.

  Drowsy, Ladelclyse walked over and began to tug the leaf from the ground.

  Pop! The root came springing out and Ladelclyse got a facefull of dirt. Inspecting the object he had pulled out of the ground, he couldn’t believe his eyes! It was a pearl onion! Bright white with a strong smell, he saw it, there, in his hands!

  With the vegetable in hand, he began running. He didn’t even know where he was going, he just wanted to get back to Mount Olympus before the gods got anymore angry. Sprinting at full speed, he jumped over the tree roots and around the trees until he began to see a light. It was the edge of the forest!

  Stepping out of the forest the light burned his eyes. Looking down the great hill that stood before Ladelclyse, he saw a small town down below him.

  Not knowing where he was, Ladelclyse went down to the tiny little town.

  Once he got there he was welcomed with a big grand arch reading: Welcome to Avexaville! Avexaville? Ladelclyse thought to himself. That was an oddly familiar name. It gave him tingles down his back. But, with no time to lose, Ladelclyse stepped into Avexaville hoping for the best.

  Everybody here was dressed just like him and looked exactly like Athens. Going through what he assumed was the center of town, it was a lot more crowded and big than what it looked like up on the hill.

  Back at the god’s palace, they were all hungry for dinner once again. Prepared this time, Marcellus had a bowl of chicken soup in the pot. Before Zeus could even scream his name, Marcellus had rushed in with the bowl of chicken noodle soup.

  This sight made Zeus groan and slouch down in his chair as a little two year old would do.  

  “Please, no more of this mushy gushy chicken concoction you’ve made here. Please” he complained.

  Athena replied, “Zeus, daddy, it’ll have to do for now. It’s better than no food at all.”

  Quietly, Marcellus carefully spooned the mushy gushy chicken concoction onto each of the god’s plates.

  “Excuse me?” asked Ladelclyse to a man wearing more bright, royal clothes. The man whipped around to stare at Ladelclyse with bright piercing blue eyes and a beautiful baby blue robe, just like his.

  “Yes?”

  “Uhhh, well,” Ladelclyse started, “I was wondering, where am I?”

  “Why, you’re in Avexaville!” Exclaimed the man.

  “I know that, I saw the sign, but do you have a map or anything?” Ladelcyse though for a second and said,  “And what is your name?” He knew that if this man lead him to trouble, Ladelclyse could report to the gods and report the man.

  “ I am the great Effron. Maker of the best pots in all the land,” said Effron.

  “Or so he says,” exclaimed a random stranger walking down the crowded streets.

  Shaking his fist in the air, Effron exclaimed, “Curse you Mercedes! Your pots are merely squares!” Turning back to Ladelclyse, he said, “Excuse my interruption stranger, but there are many families competing in the competition of the pots, for the creation of the pot was here, in Avexaville.”

  “No worries,” said Ladelclyse.

  “So what is your name?” Asked the man.

  “I am Ladelclyse.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry, you needed a map, come, this way.” Effron grabbed Ladelclyses hand and dragged him through the city to a less crowded part of the city into a little shop with maps all over the walls. He grabbed a map out of a bin, pulled out his coin sack, took out three coins and put them on the counter. Putting the map in Ladelclyses hand, they walked out the door.

  Still saying nothing, they walked out the door. Ladelclyse put the map in his pocket right next to the onion. For a moment, Ladelclyse had forgotten his job at the town but the Pearl onion alarmed Ladelclyse.

  Casually walking to who knows where, Ladelcyse asked Effron to speed up.

  “I really am in a hustle.” said Ladelclyse.

  “Well, of course,” said Effron, “and not to be mean young lad, but what is that smell? Do you need to bathe yourself?”

  “No,” Ladelclyse said. “Where we come from it is culture to rub yourself with mud.” What was that excuse? Thought Ladelclyse. Well, it was the best he could do for now, because if he told Effron it was a pearl onion, he would have to explain the who story and how he is technically a god, and he didn’t want to have to explain all of that. Either way, the old man seemed to buy it, and they started running through town.

  As the streets got less crowded, they got a lot bigger and Ladelclyse could see the beauty of this town. It was almost as if Mount Olympus got turned into a city.

  The huge gargoyle popping out of every nook and cranny where as detailed as one of an artist’s paintings and the clean polished white marble railings leading up to the homes where as clean and white as snow. And the cobble streets had each brick placed with love and care in just the right spot. You could just tell.

  As the two men kept on running they came to an opening with a big golden statue. There was no one else around and you could only hear the pigeons picking at the ground.

  But the statue-it made Ladelclyse stop right in his tracks. It was bigger than anything he had ever seen and the detail. But that wasn’t even the most amazing part. It was a statue of Zeus. He stood grand and tall with lightning bolts in his hand, ready to strike at anytime.

  Effron stopped as well and stared at the marvel for a moment too.

  “That is our god, Zeus, he built this entire city.” Explained Effron.

  “Oh, trust me, I know who Zeus is, but he built this city?”

  “Why, of course, this is Avexaville, the land of good people. Once it comes their time for people to go, the gods look at the life they lived and if that someone was a good, loyal person, they would go to heaven, but if they were greater than good, they come here.”

  Ladelclyse gasped. His mother told him stories about a place like this when he was young. That’s why it seemed so familiar!

  “So,” continued Effron, “you seem a bit young to be here. Where are you from young Ladelclyse?”

  “Athens.” Ladelclyse murmured still trying to wrap his head around the idea he was in some super heaven. “And how I got here, I don’t know.”

  “Well,” said Effron,

  Ignoring everything else, Ladelclyse walked up and touched the statue.

  Everything got bright and next thing he knew he was at Mount Olympus.

  How he got there, it must have been the gods, but he rushed into the palace just in time to see the sight of Zeus dangling Marcellus by the neck.

  “Stop!” cried Ladelclyse. Everyone turned to the young man.

  “I am here!”

  Zeus set down Marcellus and sat back down in his seat to see Ladelclyse run into the kitchen.

  “Oh, thank goodness you’re here,” started Marcellus.

  “Not now,” said Ladelclyse. He grabbed the scroll off the counter top and pulled the pearl onion out of his pocket. As he reached in he felt the map of Avexaville. Just another mystery in his pocket.

  After quite some time of frantically running around in
the kitchen, Ladelclyse had a fresh pot of Alepia Broth, ready to be served to the gods.

  He came running out with the pot and slowly spooned the same proportions into each god’s bowl.

  Zeus was the first one.

  “Why this is delicious!” he said. The rest of the gods nodded their heads in agreement.

  “Thank you young Ladelclyse,” started Athena, “This might be the best meal I have ever had.”

  Ladelcyse beamed with joy.

  “But,” Athena cut him off, “Due to the time it took to make this meal, there is a consequence. Whomever from this day forward chops and onion, they shall cry.” She made a figure eight motion in the air and took another sip of soup.

  Ladelclyse was happier than ever, even though he set a forever curse on everyone and everything, he was happy.

  What Happened to Savannah

  By: A.P.Hart

  A long time ago in a castle there lived a beautiful little girl named Savannah. Savannah had very long, blonde hair, her hair ran all the way to her ankles. She always had her hair up the same way because she didn’t have anyone to teach her how to put it up any other way. And her eyes were a beautiful bluish, greenish color. Her favorite color had always been purple. All her dresses were purple and she has lovely, glossy purple shoes to go with all her dresses. They all also had the scent of lavender.

  Her father, Alexander, was very handsome. All the ladies of the town drooled over his dark brown hair and dreamy blue eyes. His eyes had a sparkle in them that influenced everybody. Alexander was never home. He was always traveling. He left his maid Annie with Savannah.

  She was alone.

  Sadly, the castle was run down from the water crashing up on the castle walls. When rain was pouring outside the castle, it looked very gloomy and sad. There was one window that overlooked the palace garden. A certain window above the garden had a glossy tint in it and no one knew why, only Savannah and Annie because they were there the day it happened. During sunny days, the castle was shimmering from the glossy layer of paint. The air around the castle tasted like the flowers from the lovely garden that smelled of roses.

  Savannah wandered from the castle. She heard a scratching noise.

  “Hello?” Savannah whispered

  “Hello?” she repeated.

  “Go away!” a very deep voice yelled.

  “No. Are you hurt?” she yelled.

  “It doesn’t matter, just go away!” the man yelled sobbing from the pain and soaked from the blood running down his leg.

  She wasn’t really going to go away. She ran off and hid behind a tree. Then it happened!

  Aphrodite came down from Olympus and saved the old man from the sharp axe in his leg. Then they saw her.

  When she saw Aphrodite save that man, she thought to herself that she too wanted to become a goddess to save people.

  Thoughts were running through Savannah’s mind, but the most important one was the one that yelled “RUN!”

         

  Savannah had probably run two miles before she came to anything but trees.Then she saw what she had been looking for. Hebe’s palace. Savannah went up to the door. She didn’t know if she should knock or not. Her gut told her to knock. She did.

         

  “Who is it?” Hebe yelled.

  “I’m Savannah.”

  “Who?” Hebe said, “Anyways, what do you need?”

  “I have a favor,” Savannah said quietly.

  “Will you let me in?”

  Hebe finally came to the door. Savannah stepped into the palace. The palace was beautiful.

  The rose vases that held the flowers had a pretty tribal print around it. Maids everywhere. Unlike the other doors there was one unusual door in the back of the palace. I had an unusual,weird feeling about it.It was dark brown and was very clean.

  “Ok, what do you need?” said Hebe.

  “Oh right,” said Savannah, “I want to become a goddess.”

  Hebe clenched her fists and gritted her teeth. Her faced turned bright red. She couldn’t believe that someone had just begged her to turn them into a goddess.

  “And you expect me to do that?”

  “Yes, I will do whatever you want me to do.” Savannah pleaded, “please I’m begging you.”

  “I don’t think so, you can’t just expect someone to turn you into a goddess.”

  “Please, what do you need done? I will do whatever you need!”

  Hebe stood there and thought for a minute. Savannah just stood and waited anxiously, she really wanted to become a goddess it was her dream. Hebe had the perfect idea!

  “Alright I have a perfect idea. You need to go down to Poseidon's palace and steal his Cerberus.” Hebe said with an evil smile on her face.

  Savannah crept along the old grey walls and then Cerberus walked up to her to see who she was. Savannah knocked him out and took him back to the palace.

  Two hours later Savannah returned with the Cerberus. Hebe was delighted.

  “Good job. Meet me at the Garden of the Gods tomorrow at noon. You will receive your reward there.”

  Savannah showed up to the Garden of the Gods at noon like Hebe told her to do. Savannah was so happy her dream was finally going to come true. Hebe emerged out of the shadows with an evil grin on her face. Savannah was kind of nervous.

         

  “Great! You showed up like I told you to. Are you ready to get this over with?” Hebe laughed.

         

  “Yes, I am!”

         

  Savannah looked over and saw a little girl tied up. She was devastated. Savannah had wondered what had happened to the poor little girl.

  “Alright Savannah. Today you have to make a big decision, it will change the rest of your life.”

  Savannah stopped and stared straight into Hebe’s eyes. Savannah looked down and realized she was trembling and had a terrible headache.

  “Ok. What will it be?” Savannah said nervously.

  “You will either become a goddess and kill this little girl or save this little girl and never become a goddess.”

  Tears welled up in Savannah’s eye’s she knew she had to make the right decision, but she didn’t know what the right decision was. She knew what she had to do. She had to become a goddess, it had been her dream her whole life and she couldn’t just let a life full of dreams float away.

  “I have made my decision.” Savannah said, “I want to become a goddess. It has been my dream my whole life and I can’t just let that go.”

  “You foolish little girl!” Hebe shouted, “I can’t believe you would risk another person’s life to fulfill a life's dream. For your foolishness, you will become a  purple snake.”

  Hebe patted Savannah’s head.Suddenly, Savannah was slithering on the ground as a snake. She knew she had made the wrong decision.

  Haunting Hebe still wasn't pleased and took Savannah’s to Hades's palace and Savanna was forced to stay there year long for her foolish mistake. Hebe finally made a deal with Savannah; to keep her as a snake and let her go into the real world or become a human again and never be allowed up of the underworld.

         

  Sad Savannah chose to stay a snake and go up to the real world, but she will never be a human or a goddess all because of one little mistake that she made. Savannah was stuck as a snake forever. Savannah learned that day that she should have thought of the little girl before she thought about herself.

  The Cat and the Cucumbers

  By John Hebert

  Once, long ago in the land of Nohumania, the land where the savanna was like gold, the trees were bright green, the mountains are tall and the oceans were clear, and there was every animal but no humans, there was a golden-brown cat named scratchers. He lived in the prairie by  flowing stream next to the great forest and gardens of Biometer where the wind tasted like sunshine. Every day, he woke to the beautiful sunrise and happily roamed all day in the prairie with the
other cats and the birds. He would go back to his home by the grassy riverbank when the coyotes started to howl in the evenings and the birds stopped chirping.

   

  He ate from the gardens of Biometer but never from her cucumber plants. For she once said that whoever ate from the cucumbers would be captured by Zoos, the great god of all animals, and questioned on front of the gods with little chance of returning.

  Several friendly years went by for scratchers, and he had never eaten from the forbidden cucumber plants.

  One day, he and Clawers, another cat, were out enjoying the sunshine and they came around to the topic of the great garden of Biometer.

  “So, in the garden, do you think that you’ll ever eat any of the cucumbers?” said Clawers.

  “No. Of course not,” replied Scratchers.

  “Me neither. But if it was the only food around, would you eat it?”

  “No. I’d just look harder. There’s gotta be something else to eat around.”  

  “But what if there wasn’t anything else around?”

  “I’d rather starve to death. It sounds less stressful.”

  And so the conversation went on until they heard a soft squeaking noise next to them.

  “Hay!” it said. “Listen to me.”

  They paused, looked around and then saw a little innocent mouse. Puzzled, they looked at each other, and slowly continued on.

  “Hay! Guys! Stop! Listen to me!” It continued.

  They stopped again and looked over.

  “What do you want little mouse?” groaned Clawers.

  “Just listen to me. If you go over and eat a cucumber from the garden of Biometer, then I, Micebe, will make you immortal.”

  The two cats looked at each other in disappointment.

  “Just do it. I’ll distract the other gods so you won’t be caught,” she replied.

   

  The two looked at each other again, this time with a brighter look on their faces.

  “Okay. when should we eat it?” scratchers replied.

  “Right now. Just go!” She said just before she vanished.

  “Where’d she go” asked confused Clawers.

  “Come on! Let’s go!” said Scratchers.

  Once they got there, they took a cucumber, half hidden by the next to it, for Clawers was still not convinced that they should eat it, and broke it off the stem. Scratchers are it. It tasted delicious. Clawers had a nibble of the green vegetable but still wasn’t convinced.

  That night, Biometer looked down at her cucumbers and saw that one was missing. Others had been missing before because they fell off the stem, so she took no note of it.

  The next day, the two cats pounced back. Again, they took another hidden cucumber and broke it off its stem. They shared it, Clawers eating some too, and because it tasted so good, they ate another, then another, until they had eaten five cold, colossal cucumbers.

  While they were at it, Zoos had called a meeting to address the problem of the snakes eating all the birds’ eggs. Because of it, Scratchers and Clawers got away unseen by anyone.

  That night, Biometer looked down at her cucumber plants as usual and saw that lots of them were missing. “I don’t know what is happening,” she mumbled. “Tomorrow, I will keep a watch on them all day long.” She told this to Zoos.

  The day after that, Scratchers, Clawers, and all the other cats came to the garden and started eating the cucumbers. Everyone loved them. They ate and ate until they ate all of them.

  “Zoos! The cats are eating my cucumbers!” yelled Biometer quickly.

  “The cats?” said Zoos.

  “Yes. The cats!” she replied.

  At that moment, Zoos struck down his lightning bolt directly at the garden. It exploded everything. All the plants. All the trees. All the remaining cucumber stems. Then, a giant beam of light shined down at the cats.

  “Who did this?” said Zoos with his low, powerful voice.

  Awestruck at the event, the cats said nothing. They all just started at the beam of light shining above them, flummoxed, as frozen as a statue.

  “Answer me,” said Zoos.

  The scarred cats were silent, waiting for someone to answer.

  “It was I,” said a quiet voice. It was Scratchers.

  There was silence.

  “Why did you do this horrendous act?” asked Zoos.

  More silence.

  “To become immortal,” replied Zoos.

  “Who told you that?” said zoos.

  There was more silence. He couldn’t remember anything. He was afraid. He didn’t know what to do.

  “Answer me!” thundered Zoos.

  Then it came to him.

  “Micebe,” He replied in a shaky voice.  

  “MICEBE!” Zoos yelled, shaking the frantic atmosphere.   

  The skies became cloudy. They started to shake. Lightning crashed.

  “From now on, cats would be afraid of cucumbers but cats would be able to chase down mice!” declared Zoos. And it was. And it still is that way.

  Therefore, cats will panic at the sight of a cucumber, but mice will panic at the sight of a cat.

  The Path to Darkness

  By Dylan

  Long before time was told, in a village not far from the sea, there lived the humble people of Magnatriterra. These people lived good lives and honored the gods as often as necessary. The town was always a welcoming place to people living there or just passing through. It was almost always warm and the air tasted of fresh blossoms.

  But this town had someone special inside of it, his name was, Xexn. He lived on a farm with his family, Mom, Dad, and little Lory. Xexn helped in the fields planting and growing crops. But it was his way of growing the crops that marveled others. He simply stuck out his hand, concentrated real hard and the crop would grow at a tremendous rate. Within a few seconds, he would have a full grown crop.

  The council of the village was afraid of Xexn but was okay with him in the village as long as he didn't use his powers for evil. Xexn kept that promise no matter how tempting it was. Even though Xexn was gifted in that way he wanted to be more, he wanted to be a hero.

  A few months later after pondering the thought of becoming a hero, Xexn grew more fond of the idea. In fact, he trained every day to see what his powers could do.

  One day while he was training Xexn suddenly froze at the thought of a single question. “How did I get my powers?” he asked himself.  

  He ran inside and found his mother organizing next year's crop placement. “Mom can I ask you a question?”  

  “You just did honey”, she said being funny.  

  “Ha-ha, very funny. Now can I ask you a serious question?”  

  “I guess so.”

  “I was wondering about how I got my powers?”  

  His mom sighed a long disappointing sigh. She told him a story of a beautiful goddess named Gaia, the goddess of nature. She had a son but he was stolen from her by an evil nymph named Arsuisus. Arsuisus brought Gaia’s son down to earth and dropped him in a river hoping that he would drown, but he didn’t. One day while a village woman was out picking flowers, she saw him in the river, picked him up and brought him home. Xexn was stunned at what he had heard.  

  “Why did Arsuisus take me from Gaia?” he asked.

  “I’m not sure, sorry” she replied.

  Xexn headed back out to the barn to ponder this thought. Then he decided that he was going to meet his birth mother and then answer his questions.

  Suddenly, he heard the loud screeching and yelling of the townspeople. His mom came running outside and they both dashed to see what was the matter. When they got to the beach, they found themselves stunned at the horrifying sight of a giant sea monster, “It’s the Kraken, run!” The Kraken stood 100 feet tall and full of long dreadful tentacles. It grabbed several people shoving them into its mouth and ate them. Xexn felt a shot of excitement, this was the opportunity he was hoping for.  


  He ran up to the mighty beast and stuck out his hands. All of a sudden, long, thick vines shot out of the ground like bullets and wrapped around the Kraken. This made it fall to the ground with a hearty thump. Xexn wrapped up the tentacles so they couldn’t move. After the beast was subdued, the townspeople peaked out from their hiding spots. A loud cheer roared from the crowd. Everyone was clapping. Xexn took it all in. It felt good.

  Without warning, a dark cloud appeared in the sky, a pitch black chariot flew down from the cloud and landed on the ground. Everyone but Xexn fled back to their hiding spots. None other than Hades stepped off the chassis of the chariot.

  “Foolish mortal!” he boomed “Do you know what you have done?” Xexn was frozen with terror. “My pet was here to graze and you interrupted her.” Hades released the Kraken and it went scurrying back into the sea. “And because of this,” he went on, “I will take your family’s souls.” Hades held up a hand and four ghost like figures came to him, and Hades put them into a jar and sealed it. Xexn watched as his mother fell to the ground, still and lifeless.  

  “Mom”, he yelled. Hades laughed and flew off with his family’s souls.  

  It was days after the incident when Xexn heard a knock at his door. He opened the door and saw a little elderly woman standing there, it was the town librarian. She barged in the door with a load of papers and books. She set them down on a table.

  “Listen”, she said,” I think I know how to get your family back”. Xexn felt a rush of relief and happiness. She opened up a book and showed it to Xexn. “It says here that to get a favor from Hades you have to do an even greater favor for him.” She explained to Xexn that getting a soul from Hades was a big favor to ask. To get all four souls he would have to bring Hades Decapitor's ashes.  

  “Who the heck is Decapitor?” asked Xexn.

   

  “He was once Hades’ apprentice but got jealous that Hades was the ruler of darkness. Decapitor had a very messed up mind. It was always dark. Decapitor swore to one day become the lord of darkness. Decapitor left Hades and they have been enemies since” explained the librarian. Xexn took a long deep sigh and took all of the information in. He was shocked.

  Xexn helped the librarian pack up her things and sent her on her way. Once she was gone he walked to his room and started packing. He was going to find Decapitor and bring his ashes to Hades.

  He walked out of his house and took one last thoughtful look at it. He started to walk, but he stopped abruptly. “Where the heck am I going?”, he thought. And dashed to the library to find the librarian standing on the steps. “I almost forgot to give you the map to his lair”,she said “Sometimes I can be really stupid.”  

  Xexn traveled on for many days through forest, desert, plain, and jungle. Following the map, he came to a large cave in a mountain. The map ended at this place. “This must be the lair of Decapitor”, Xexn said to himself. Xexn walked a few feet to find a jade ax stuck in the ground. He took the ax just in case.  

  There was a ginormous magma chamber inside of the mountain. Xexn looked down over the ledge, when he did, a giant monster with a blazing head and midnight black horns stood up.

  “I am Flamox, demon of the volcanos. What brings you here, puny mortal?” asked the raging demon.

  “I am Xexn and I am here to find Decapitor” replied Xexn weakly.  

  The monster let out a blood curdling laugh. “I care not who you are, but the fact that you seek Decapitor humors me. You don’t stand a chance.” Xexn gripped the ax tightly.  

  “My map to Decapitor’s lair ends here, tell me where I need to go”.

  Flamox stood up taller. ”I am the guard of the second map. To get it, it must be over my corpse”.

   

  Flamox threw a flaming boulder at Xexn. Xexn just barely dodged it. The battle went on. Xexn kept attempting to lash at the beast with the ax, but always missed.

   

  Xexn was getting tired. He didn’t have much left in him, but he still kept coming. He leapt at Flamox with all of what was left of him and slashed off the head of the demon with a blow so powerful is sent the ax flying into pool of molten magma.

  Flamox fell. His motionless body lying in the ash and lava.

  When Xexn landed, he was on a ledge that was on the opposite side of where he began. There was a cave that continued the original path. Xexn stopped at the entrance of the cave to catch his breath. When he was ready he hurried into the cave.

  After walking for a while he found a cage. He suddenly heard the words

  “Help me.”

  They were not out loud but inside of his head. Xexn peered closer into the cage

  and a majestic dragon stepped out of the shadows.

  “I am Alumadon. I was captured by the horrid beast that guards this place, now he keeps me as his trophy,” the dragon spoke softly and peacefully.  

  “If I let you go, then you will have to promise to help me on my journey,” Xexn

  said sternly.  

  “I promise,” Alumidon replied. Xexn opened the gate and walked over to the rear

  end of the dragon. There laid a chain clenching the dragon’s ankle with its nasty grip. Xexn found a nearby rock and started banging it against the chain. It broke easily from all of the years that had worn it down. “Why didn't you break the chain?  That was easy” exclaimed Xexn.

  “The chain was made of nickel”, replied Alumadon,” Nickel makes me weak”. Once Alumadon was free, he seemed to get stronger.

  Xexn told Alumadon about his family, Decapitator, and the second map. Alumadon seemed surprisingly emotionless. He showed Xexn to what seemed to be a stone shrine. There in the center was the second map. Xexn carefully took it off of the shrine as if it were his mom's favorite china. Thinking of his mom made Xexn smile.

  Once he possessed the map, Xexn mounted Alumadon and flew out of that dreadful place.

  Xexn grew more blue every day that he was away from his parents and more determined to get their souls back.  

  After what seemed like days flying, the two finally came to a huge fortress covered with flames. Xexn was humbled. Alumadon landed at its towering drawbridge gate. Xexn knocked and the door fell with a disastrous CLORNCK. Xexn and Alumadon stepped inside. There were two rows of a thousand cages lined up along the walls, one on each side. They walked along the path leading to the main chamber of the lair. The air reeked of death and despair.

  It wasn’t long before Xexn heard a weak, “Help me.”  

  Xexn looked back, in one of the cages was a young, beautiful woman.

  “Help me,” she said

  “For the second time on this journey someone was asking for help” Xexn thought to himself.

  Xexn walked over to the cell and tried to open it, the door wouldn't budge. Alumadon busted the door open with a ball of Krystelight ( A type of energy ). The woman thanked Xexn for the help and told him her story. She was Hebe maker of the gods and goddesses. She asked if Xexn was going to face Decapitor.  

  “Indeed I am ” he said.

  “Then let me turn you into a god, after all only gods have survived fights with Decapitor.”

  Xexn took the suggestion and Hebe turned him into an immortal god.

  Xexn was lifted into the air while a bright aura surrounded him. Xexn then was gently lifted back down. When he looked at himself he realized he had wings.  

  It took Xexn a while to get use to the wings but he eventually did.

  Once that was over Xexn walked to the second door, he paused, then opened it.

  Decapitor was sitting on a throne in the back of the room.  

  “Welcome to my dearest home, ungrateful pest, I am glad that you are here. I haven't had a visitor since… well… I don’t know, who cares. The important thing is that you are here”

  Decapitator, being dark and creepy, shut the doors with a swipe of his hand, leaving Alumadon and Hebe behind. He lunged at Xexn with great force.  

  The
y fought a battle that could only be described as unbelievable, Decapitor was attacking with astonishing strength. For every punch Xexn laid, Decapitor laid one ten times stronger. The battle roared for several hours. Hebe and Alumadon trying with all of their might to get in to help Xexn, but the doors wouldn’t budge. Finally, Xexn hammered Decapitor in the face, sending him to the ground. The doors opened and Alumadon and Hebe were allowed in. They rejoiced, not knowing that Decapitor had gotten back up. He struck Xexn, making him fall to his knees. The others jumped back frightened at what just happened. Hebe grabbed a spear off of the wall and tossed it to Xexn. Xexn stabbed Decapitor right through the chest. He stumbled backward. Slowly Decapitor started to disintegrate into ash. Hebe gave Xexn a handkerchief to collect what now remained of Decapitor.

  Xexn traveled to the underworld. With Alumadon and Hebe at his side and gave the ashes to Hades. Hades agreed to return the souls of his family after confirming that the ashes were pure. Then they were instantly transported back to Magnatriterra.

  Hebe said her goodbyes and left for Olympus, Alumadon was greeted as a guest in the city and as Xexn hoped he became a hero to all, now and forever.

  All was at peace in Magnatriterra, Xexn was reunited with his family, he continued to protect the great city, and he was accepted by the gods. But what no one realized was that Decapitor survived but not in a true form. He must stay in the shadows. Forever lurking.

  How the Unicorn Came to Be

  By: Claire Hoyle

  Long ago, when people were still new to the face of the Earth, there was a young horse.

 

  Now this horse was the most handsome, and most sympathetic of all the stallions in ancient Greece. His shocking white coat and mane won all the hearts of the fair mares. But the stallion, whose name was Gizmo the Great, (or just Gizmo,) could care less about mares.They followed him around and distracted him from important thoughts. All he yearned for was to dive into the water and swim along with all the other fish. Honestly, he felt like he could do so much more good below the surface of the water.

  His proud father, who was the leader of the herd, would not even let Gizmo go near the beach though, fearing he might be washed away into the waves forever. So the poor mustang would unhappily graze and gallop with the rest of the group with boredom.

  One day, Gizmo was feeling rebellious though, and confronted his father with his nose high and courage pumping through his chest.

 

  “Father, if you do not let me visit the beach, where my heart yearns to go, I will leave the herd, and never return,” neighed Gizmo.

 

  Although this comment broke his father’s heart, the ancient stallion had too much pride, and would not even let his favorite son get away with disobeying him.

 

  “You think you can get away with rebelling against your herd leader that easily,” his father screeched,” Do as I say or leave the herd now!”

 

  And with that, Gizmo ran as fast as his powerful legs would carry him, and came to the edge of the beach. He regretted his act, for he knew even being by the sea would not ease his everlasting want to swim. Desperately, collapsed onto his legs, and cried a tear reaching sound that awoke the god, Poseidon.

 

  Now Poseidon, was not only the god of the seas, but also the god of horses. He always made sure that horses were treated very well. People who misused their horses led a life of poor luck and sorrow.

 

  So when Poseidon jumped out of his bed at the sound the Gizmo made, he quickly tried to locate where it came from. And so when he found a broken hose crying on the hot, sandy beach, overwhelming pity came over the god. Poseidon rushed to Gizmo’s side and comforted the sad horse.

 

  “Why the long face?” Poseidon joked, “Get it? Because your a horse, and y’know horses have long faces and…..”

  Not paying any attention to Poseidon’s humor, Gizmo sighed and rested his head on the grainy sand below him.

  “I long to swim with the other fish, but no horse could ever dream of doing such a thing!” Gizmo wept.

  Then and there, an idea sparked in Poseidon’s mind. It was true, horses could not swim, but what if Gizmo was not a horse?

  “I’ve got it!” yelled the excited Poseidon, “What if I turned you into a fish?”

  Gizmo had a questioning look on his face for a moment, but the more he thought about it, the more he realized he could do it.

  “I’ll do it!” cried Gizmo.

  With those three words, started wondering what kind of fish he could turn Gizmo into.

  “One problem, I can only turn mammals into other mammals. So are you okay with being a whale or dolphin of the sort?” asked Poseidon.

  “As long as I can swim in the colorful sea!” grinned Gizmo.

  With his mind made up, Poseidon took his great powers of the sea and started to create his masterpiece. Waves crashed, clouds gathered, and the wind started to roar. Gizmo could feel himself starting to change. His strong, lean muscles turned to blubber and fat. The once silky white coat that famed Gizmo transformed gray and bald. And the most drastic changes were the size of Gizmo, and the 8 foot long horn that grew from his forehead. Then, all at once, instead of a handsome young stallion beside him, Poseidon was feasting upon his eyes a narwhal.

  Gizmo gazed at himself. Wow, now he could really swim! Without another thought, Gizmo, who was now a narwhal, crashed into the ocean and started to swim away, surprisingly well for his first time.

  “Wait!” called irritated Poseidon, “ I have to warn about something!”

  Gizmo turned his head around to see why Poseidon was calling.

  “Don’t go near any of the other narwhals, because if you do, they will know who you were and kill you!”

  Gizmo nodded to Poseidon and dived way down into the depths of the Mediterranean.

  As Gizmo looked around at the crystal blue magic that surrounded him, he felt great happiness arise through him. He swam wherever his heart would lead him, and did it without care.

  After hours of exploring what would be his new home, Gizmo came across a dark, mysterious cave. So not thinking of what might be inside, he rushed in to explore. But when he reached the main part of the cave, his heart jumped. In front of him, A body with a long,dark horn slept peacefully in the water in front of him. And when the dark figure in front awoke, Gizmo lost his breath.

  Then realizing he didn’t have gills, Gizmo could not breath. He swam as quickly as he could towards the surface, Gizmo plunged out of the water and gulped in a big breath of water. The waves crashed and churned from the body weight impact of Gizmo. When he was okay again, he dived back down into the depths. But when he turned around, he saw the figure who was in the cave.

  “AHHHH! Please don’t kill me!” wailed Gizmo.

  But when he looked at the figure, Gizmo realized that it was not a narwhal swimming before him, but a curious swordfish.

  “Calm down kid, I won’t hurt you,” said the swordfish.

  “Who are you?” questioned Gizmo.

  “I, am Miltonaties, the great swordfish that bows before you,” replied the swordfish, “ But you can just call me Milton.” and he winked at Gizmo, “ Who are you?”

  “ I’m Gizmo the Great, but just call me Gizmo.”

  “ Well, looks like both of our parents had big expectations!” said Milton sarcastically.

  “ Ha ha, well, I guess I’ll see you around then,” pressed on Gizmo.

  “Ok, see you later!” said Milton happily

  With that, the small swordfish swam off and left Gizmo with a confusing, happy feeling inside of his horn.

  After many days, the two became great friends. Milton taught Gizmo to catch small prey fish and where the best real estate was at the time. A few times, they almost ran into a big gang of narwhals that hung around the area. But they always managed to stay out of sight.

  One day, when the friends were looking for food, M
ilton decided to go get food from a smaller area where Gizmo could not fit into.

  “Okay, should I wait here then?” asked Gizmo.

  “Nah, go home and go take a breath. I’ll save some fish for you big guy,” answered Milton.

  Gizmo nodded gratefully and went home to get a big gulp of air. As he looked out onto the beach where he had been turned to a narwhal before though, he saw something familiar. A large, elderly stallion was sadly yearning for something dearly over the horizon. The closer he got, he realized it was his father.

  “Why! I told him to stay away from the water, but he wouldn’t listen. And now he is dead!” whinnied the sad horse.

  When Gizmo saw his father like this, he wanted to go up and comfort him. Then, he realized he gave up the ability to do that when he left him. Deep guilt came over Gizmo, and as he tasted undecidedness come,dove back down into the water. And what he saw next replaced his guilt with horror and anger.

  Poor Milton lay there on a rock, turning the the water making around him salty and thick with blood.

  “Milton!” screeched Gizmo, and he ran up to check on his friend. The swordfish had several ripped fins and a chipped nose.

  “Who did this to you?” he wept.

  Milton whispered pathetically, “The narwhals.”

  Without another word, and forgetting his promise to Poseidon, Gizmo swam off to avenge his friend.

  “Why did you hurt my friend!” snarled Gizmo.

  Three narwhals turned their heads around to find a small narwhal staring at them with hate in his eyes. And two of them managed to dodge him just before the third one was impaled with his tusk.