It was a foggy night in London at the Spencer mansion. The walls had brown and white stripes.

“Hello,” Anonymous said.

“Who are you?!” the old man asked.

SHHHK.

A man with a long beard ha-- BUMP!! He fell to the ground. The man’s wife heard a thud, she went downstairs to check what happened. “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!”

The man had been murdered.

-----------------

“What do you mean by almond tea tea is better?” asked Sherlock.

“I never said almond tea is better, I said I like almond tea bett-” Watson got interrupted.

RIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!!!

“Hello, this Is Sherlock Holmes. ”

“HELLO THIS IS MSR. SPENCER,” The woman said anxiously and trembled.

“What is the problem?” Sherlock asked.

“MY HUSBAND HAS BEEN MURDERED!” She screamed into the phone.

“Where has this happened?” Sherlock asked.

“AT THE SPENCER MANSION,” The woman answered.

Sherlock covered the phone with his hand and told Watson,“Take notes,” he whispered.

“OK,” Watson answered.

“So, when would you like to meet?” Sherlock asked.

“Would today at 6 Pm. be ok?” Mrs. Spencer asked.

“Indeed,” Sherlock answered. “See you then.”

-----------------------------------------------------

“So, here we are, ” Watson said.

“We are.”

The Spencer Mansion was GIANT.

Sherlock started thinking,

8 meters X 17 big. 2 windows per Room; 7 bedrooms 3 bathrooms kitchen dining room. The killer could have snuck from the window, maybe shot one of them. There are 2 broken windows that might have broken out or in. Suspects: Wife, butl-

“Sherlock?” Watson asked.

“What is it watson?” He

“Are you ready?”

“Yes,”

DING! DONG!

“Come in please,” the maid said

“Hello,” Sherlock said.

“Hello. I suppose you are Sherlock Holmes”

“Indeed,”

“Well, Where is the man’s body?” Asked Watson with a weird look at the woman.

“This way,” She said

She walked them through the mansion. Sherlock asked to see everyone that was in the mansion the night of the murder, everyone was a suspect. First Sherlock asked to see Mrs. Spencer.

“Hello Mrs. Spencer,” Sherlock said

“So, When did the murder happen?” Sherlock asked

“Around… I...ummm… At like 10:47,” She trembled

“Ok. So what were you doing when this happened?”

“I was-” She got interrupted.

“Arrest the woman!” A man said

“Excuse me. Who are you?!” Sherlock asked

“I am Detective E.” He said while showing Sherlock his plate

“Take her to court” Sherlock and Watson ran behind their cars.They got in a Taxi.

“FOLLOW THAT CAR!” Sherlock yelled. They chased the police car. Sherlock started thinking again. Wait a minute the maid had wet clothes. Means those just had got cleaned. MAYBE BECAUSE OF THE BLOOD OF THE MURDER! But that means she was working with a partner because there were 2 broken windows. Wait a minute Wa-

“They stopped here, sir,” The taxi driver said.

“Thank you,” Watson said.

“Let’s go,” Sherlock said anxiously.

“WAIT!” Sherlock said.

“Do not arrest the wife,” Sherlock said. “Bring the maid.” It took awhile but the maid got there.

“She is ONE of the criminals. She did the dirty work, SHE MURDERED MR. SPENCER.” Sherlock said. The crowd gasped and murmured.

“If you look at her dress it is wet, she washed it because it had blood in it”

“And who is the other criminal?” Watson asked.

“Well it’s ironic you ask this Watson,” Sherlock said.

“BECAUSE YOU ARE THE OTHER CRIMINAL!” The crowd gasped and then went in silence.

“At the time Mrs. Spencer said the murder happened, 10:47, you left the house. You said you went to buy some bread, but clearly you lied.”

“It is done then,” The judge said.

“Don’t worry Watson, I’ll visit you,”

-----------------------

“How’d you find out?” Watson said.

“Never lie to me, my friend. Never.”

Jane was walking through her town one day. The town was so beautiful with its big trees and bright flowers. Jane was going to her friend Alice's house for a sleepover. Alice's house was very large, and it had a flower garden and a swing. As Jane was walking she saw a squirrel biting a gold painted button off of the town statue. The statue was important to the town, because it represented the inventor of famous butter crackers. The butter crackers were the town’s favorite snack, and they had made the town famous. Jane watched the squirrel run into the nearby park with the button in its mouth. She was shocked!

When Jane got to Alice’s house she told her friend all about it. Alice listened to the story and said, “Oh No! What should we do?” Jane replied, “Let’s call Jeffrey from next door and ask him if he wants to help us get the button back.” Jeffrey was another of Jane and Alice’s friends. He was Alice’s next door neighbor, and he was always hungry.

When Jeffrey came over he agreed to help out. Jane, Alice, and Jeffery decided to track down the squirrel and get the button back. Since Jane saw the squirrel go into the park, she thought that they should look there first. The friends prepared by gathering some butter crackers in case they got hungry. Then they went off on their journey. Alice’s pet cat Cookie wanted to help too. She started to follow them to the door, but instead, got distracted when she saw a rubber ball under the couch.

Jane, Alice and Jeffrey walked to the park and looked around for the squirrel. Jane saw something shining like the golden butter on a butter cracker. It was between the squirrel's mouth and paws. As Jane, Alice and Jeffrey ran to the squirrel, the squirrel got startled and dashed up a large tree. It disappeared into a little hole in the tree.

Jeffrey said "Dang it!” “We were so close!” Jane sat on the green grass and looked at Alice’s backpack. “I have an idea,” she said energetically. “Let's use food to lure out the squirrel!” “All right,” Alice said and Jeffrey agreed.

Alice took out a bag of butter crackers from her backpack. “Ooh Butter Crackers,” Jeffrey exclaimed as he licked his lips. “They look very delicious!” Jane looked at Jeffrey and then said, "They’re not for you Jeffery. They’re for the squirrel!” "Fine" Jeffrey said, in a disappointed tone.

Jane carefully climbed up the tree, taking time not to slip. She put a few crackers in the squirrel's hole and put the rest of the crackers on the ground near the tree. The squirrel began to eat up all the crackers in the hole. The friends could hear the delicious crunch noise of the butter crackers. The squirrel still wanted more so he climbed out of the hole and ate the rest on the ground.

Jane carefully climbed back up and reached for the golden button in the hole. She felt around and pulled out an acorn. “That’s not right,” said Jane. She tried again and pulled out a golden butter cracker. “That’s golden but it's not a button,” said Alice. Jane tried again and finally pulled out the golden button. “Yay! I got it!” she said proudly. “Let’s go to the Town Hall” Jane jumped down from the tree and startled the squirrel. The squirrel angrily climbed back in his hole full of butter crackers.

Jane and her friends ran back to the town and gave the button back to the mayor, explaining what had happened. The mayor was so glad that the button was back and he had it put on the statue right away. The mayor planned a ceremony to celebrate Jane and Alice and Jeffrey. He gave Jane a golden butter cracker trophy and Jeffrey and Alice received a certificate. That night, as Jane and Alice were about to go to sleep, they saw Cookie licking the golden butter cracker trophy. They both laughed.

.

Heavily based off of the Percy Jackson series, including some characters from the books.

SPOILER ALERT: some details mentioned may be spoilers to readers who have not read these books. Read with caution.

Chapter One: A New Age

Parker

I honestly don’t really remember then. It was just a matter of survival. My mom had just disappeared and my father wasn’t ever around, so I just left. Like that.

Now that I think about it, it would have been smarter to go to an orphanage. I was five, after all. But my mother had had to give up my brother to the orphanage, and she never forgave herself. I swore not to do the same. Even at the age of five, I always kept my word.

When I spoke comprehensible sentences.

Anyway, I was sitting on the curb of a mainstream cobblestone street, smiling at the rich snobs who passed by. They often either gave me dirty looks, or sighed sadly at me and shook their heads. I would hold my hands out to the sympathetic ones, putting on a weary, tired face. Tears automatically sprung from my eyes. Most of the time they gave me a “sweet” smile and deposited what they thought was a little money. Some glared at me and stalked away. Some whispered to their spouse or children that druggie parents make poor kids like these. I won’t lie to you, I dreamed about killing those ones. But that was before. When I was around fourteen, one of the snobs who normally didn’t give a crap about homeless kids approached me and asked me if I wanted some dinner with his family. Me, being an idiot kid who never learned not to trust strangers, (after all, they provided me with my meals) accepted and followed him to his fancy, black carriage. I climbed inside, immediately sighing. It was the middle of the frost season, and I was cold. His carriage was warm and insulated, like it was made for cold, hungry kids. The guy climbed in after me and smiled, handing me a black cloak.

“For the winter,” he said. I smiled at him uncertainly.

“Why did you bring me here?” He smiled and shook his head. Then looked at my neck.

“That’s a nasty scar you’ve got there.”

I winced and brought my hand up to my neck, where I had my first fight to get my cozy spot under a tent to protect me from the cold Athens rain. But I wasn’t going to tell him that. I wasn’t that stupid. I’d heard of the creepy rich men who had a taste in young girls, and I scooted as far as I could from him. “Who are you? Where are you taking me?”

He seemed to think for a moment, and then muttered something I didn’t understand. Then he spoke.

“You’re a smart girl, you should know. As for who I am, my name is Morte.” Morte. Where had I heard that name before? Morte, Morte, Morte. Then I remembered.

A little girl who walked past me alone once. She was about my age. She had crouched by me and talked to me, until we were interrupted by an old man with dark hair and obsidian eyes.

“Bianca, it’s time to go. Come along now.” Bianca had pouted at him and turned to me, giving me a small smile.

“I’m Bianca. This is my nonno, Morte. I’m a princess!” she announced loudly. Morte had shushed her and guided her back to the carriage, where a little boy’s bright eyes shone, staring warily at me.

I came back to reality. “You’re Bianca’s grandfather.” He smiled.

“That’s not what people normally call me, but that’s alright. I’m King Hades’ father.” King Hades? Who the heck was King Hades? But instead of asking like a normal person, I just sucked it up and nodded, pretending I knew exactly who King Hades was.

“Oh, I see. What I don’t see is what this has to do with me.” Morte chuckled. “Well, I was just wondering if you wanted to see Bianca again.”

I laughed. “Yeah, right. No way.”

“I’m being serious.”

“Sure.”

“No, look. We’re here.” Morte pointed out the window. There was that girl I had met 4 years ago, smiling and waving from a window at her grandfather. He opened the door and stepped outside, offering me a hand. I ignored it. As we walked up to the house, Bianca’s eyes seemed to widen as she stared at me. I smiled hopefully at her, wishing she would remember me. But her eyes weren’t widened in shock or surprise, I realized. It was fear that glittered in her obsidian eyes. She silently shook her head at me as Morte opened the door, and plastered a happy smile on her face as he walked in.

“Hi, grandpa!” she said almost too brightly, like one of those cheap yellow dyes. Her enthusiasm reminded me of disinfectant. And lemons. Morte squinted his eyes at her in a sort of sick smile.

“Hello, Bianca. How is Nico?” The glint in her eyes screamed “Help me.”, while her smile gave away nothing but pure happiness to see her grandfather.

“Oh, he’s alright. Just playing with Jacklyn.” He seemed to sour at the name. His eyes narrowed.

“Oh, is he? Tell him that I got him a special friend.” Bianca frowned.

“Alright. It’s good to see you again, by the way.” She ran towards the back door, shouting something in Italian. I glanced at Morte, who seemed to be glaring in that direction. He cleared his throat.

“Well, you’d best be off. Go have fun in the back, all the kids are there.” I nodded, wondering what possibly could be so bad about this Jacklyn figure, and walked towards the same door that I saw Bianca walk through, feeling my eyes widen involuntarily as I saw the literal most beautiful person to ever exist. She had short curly black hair and vibrant emerald eyes and skin so pale, I could just see hints of her black veins from a distance.

Wait, black? She noticed me and jogged over, smiling at me with a gap between her two front teeth. “Hey, I’m Jacklyn. It’s nice to meet you.”

“Uhm uh gah.”

“Are you feeling alright?”

End of Chapter One.

Chapter two coming soon if I can get my commitment issues under control! goodbye

-Kristi

The Painting

A SHORT HORROR STORY

By: Mark Elentuck

Lila knocked on the door of Moonlight Manor.

Don’t panic, she thought. They’re rich, but you don’t have to impress them. Just be yourself.

“Who is it?” a voice came from inside.

“It’s Lila,” she said. “Your new maid?”

“Ah, yes,” the voice said. There was a click, and the door opened.

Lila stepped into the manor and the smell hit her. The smell of old paint and books. It was beautiful. She stopped and breathed it all in.

“I didn’t think maids needed to smell our house,” a voice came from over her shoulder, making Lila jump. Standing behind her was Lady Moonlight.

“Oh fudge,” Lila said under her breath. She turned to face the lady. “Sorry, it’s just been a bit since I smelled something this good.”

“Well, I hope it doesn’t smell too good,” Lady Moonlight replied. “Otherwise, we wouldn’t need any godforsaken maids like you.”

Rude, Lila thought, but instead said, “We? Where is your husband, Lupin? I do believe that is his name, am I correct?”

“That’s Sir Moonlight to you,” Lady Moonlight said. “And he’s off… ” She paused. “Hunting.”

“Anything else I should know?” Lila asked.

“Never go into Sir Moonlight’s study,” Lady Moonlight. “Clean the house, but whatever you do, never go into his study.”

She turned around and headed for the door.

“If you don’t mind answering,” Lila said. “Whatever happened to the other maid?”

“She blinked,” Lady Moonlight said, and walked out of the house.

“The heck does that mean?” Lila said out loud. But Lady Moonlight didn’t answer, as she was already gone.

Lila began to clean.

It took hours, and hours of work, but in the end, she managed to clean the entire manor.

Well, not the entire manor.

Lila stood outside Sir Moonlight’s room. There was something bugging her about an entire room that she couldn’t go into. She put her hand on the doorknob, but changed her mind. Maybe the reason behind the room was a good one. She pulled her hand back.

However, as she looked at her palm, she noticed a reddish smear on it.

Probably just the paint coming off, she thought. But as she looked back at the doorknob, she saw that it was black, not red. So what was on her hand? Lila smelled her hand.

And that was the moment Lila realized that her hand was not covered in paint.

Lila held back a scream and she stumbled across the hallway. Her eyes were wide with fear.

What was in the room? What could be in it if it left that on her hand?

Lila burst into the room to find…

Absolutely nothing.

At least that’s what it looked like at first. The room had no chair, no desk, no furniture of any kind. The only thing in the room was a painting of a garden. Lila remembered driving by this garden on the way to Moonlight Manor. It looked really good, all things considered.

She looked around the room, trying to see if there was anything she missed, before looking back at the painting of the garden.

Which wasn’t a garden anymore.

Instead, it was a house. If Lila remembered correctly, the house next to the garden.

“A cursed painting?” she wondered out loud. Suddenly, she felt a sneeze coming on.

“A-CHEE!” she sneezed, and when she looked up, the painting changed again.

This time it was some sort of road.

I wonder… Lila thought. She blinked, when she opened her eyes, the painting changed again.

This is kinda fun! She thought. She blinked again and again, and the painting kept changing. Different houses and roads and cars.

It’s like I’m looking through the eyes of something, Lila thought. I wonder where it’s going. The painting changed to a road sign: Wulf Road. Why did that seem so familiar? Lila blinked again. The image it showed jumpstarted her memory.

Wulf Road was the street Moonlight Manor was on.

And Moonlight Manor was what the picture was showing.

Ha, Lila thought as she blinked again. I almost thought this was happening in…

It showed a car.

Her car, which she parked outside the manor.

Real time, she finished her thought. Holy crud! This was happening in real time!

She rubbed her eyes to make sure that’s what she was seeing. Which was a mistake, as the picture changed again.

It was the mop she left outside the door.

This thing, whatever it was, was in the hallway.

Right outside the door.

Lila looked at the door but there was nothing outside.

Oh, thank god, she thought, looking back at the picture.

It was her.

The picture was showing Lila looking at the picture, in the exact position she was. She heard a growling noise behind her.

Don’t blink, Lila thought. It can’t hurt you if you don’t blink. Whatever you do just don’t…

*BLINK*

When Lady Moonlight came back, the first thing she did was go into the study. Lady Moonlight looked at the painting and around the room.

“Great,” she said. “Another one. Even more stains to clean.”

The image the painting showed was a screaming Lila, staring right at whatever the creature was.

Thomas Anderson was a normal 15 year old knuk. If you don’t know what knuk’s are, they are a subhuman race that lives under the ground and are very good natural diggers. All knuks have grey skin and thomas had brown hair and blue eyes. Thomas like most 15 year old knicks went to high school, this might surprise you but knuk’s are very similar to people. One of the most famed occupations for a knuk is a overworld explorer, overworld explorers go up to the crust of the earth and steal inventions to copy them for the rest of the knuk’s. This is how Thomas found his favorite hobby - he LOVES his skateboard and takes it everywhere with him. He rides it to school, he rides it into town with his friends, he even competes in skateboarding tournaments. Thomas’s dad is a famous miner and that's what Thomas wants to do when he grows up. So every day after school he goes into the mines with his dad learning how to be just like his dad. The miner's rule of the family is anything that you find you keep and one day when Thomas and his dad were mining Thomas found a mysterious gem it was purple and looked like a diamond and it glowed when you looked at it from your peripheral vision.

“That's a good find.” Said Thomas’ dad “You should take it to the pawn shop it’ll sell for a lot.”

“That's great! I can finally buy that new skateboard I’ve been saving up for.”

“You sure can with a gem like that.”

Thomas dashed out of the cave as quickly as possible jumping on to his skateboard and rushing to the pawn shop faster than someone running out of a haunted house. Thomas practically jumped through the window of the pawn shop to sell his gem he was so excited he didn’t even notice the odd man in the shadows of the shop watching him intensely while the the store owner Mr.louie rang up his gem.

“That's a good gem you got there,” Said Mr.Louie “How bout instead of giving you the money I just give you that skateboard.”

“How did you know I wanted the skateboard?” Said Thomas.

“Because you’ve been staring at it in the shop window ever since I put it up.”

“Was it that obvious?”

“More obvious than a diamond in a coal mine.” And with that he walked out of the store with his brand new skateboard. But while on his way home he was on his way home he was pulled into an alley by a funny looking man. Unlike most knuk’s this man was very tall and very frail, Thomas thought that he could blow on him and he would fall over. Unlike what he probably would have done if any other knuk had grabbed (punched him with everything he had) he sensed an odd aura about this man. Even though he didn’t look it, Thomas sensed an odd and ultra powerful presence surrounding him.

“Where is the gem!” The mysterious man said urgently.

“I sold it to Mr.Louie for this skateboard,” Answered Thomas confused, how did this strange man know about the gem, he hadn’t noticed anyone on his way to the store.

“We must go to the pawn shop at once!” Said the man more urgently than before, without another word the man grabbed Thomas by the arm and started sprinting back the way Thomas came. Thomas tried to wriggle free but the man kept an iron grip on his arm, all while sprinting faster than Thomas could manage. Even with that incredible pace they were too late. They found Mr.Louie on the ground frothing at the mouth shaking like he was in a trance, and the gem was gone.

By the time the ambulance got there Mr.Louie’s heart had already stopped beating.

“I can’t believe it,” Said Thomas, “I had seen him just ten minutes ago, how could he have died?”

“There is something I have to tell you, but not with all of these people around.” and the man brought Thomas into the alley and in a whisper he told him everything.

“My name is Gerebald, you may have heard of me for I am a wizard and that gem that you sold to Mr.Louie was actually a piece of a magic orb, the orb that I got my power from before it was shattered. I’ve been on a quest for 15 years trying to put my staff back together piece by piece and that gem was the final piece. I’m not the only one looking for the final piece of the staff though, there is a very dark wizard his name is Elben Fatch and he is a very dark wizard who has tried to find the last piece of the orb just like me and I am almost one hundred percent sure he was the one who took the gem and killed Mr.Louie.”

“Um Gerebald we have a problem.” Said Thomas pointing to someone standing in the alley.

“Oh my we do.” Said Gerebald “how much of what we said did you hear?” Gerebald said to the child in the shadows

“All of it.” said the boy

“Wait, I know that voice, is that you Jhonathan?” Asked Thomas,

“Yes its me.” said Jhonathan

“Gerebald its okay I know Jhonathan he’s my friend we can trust him with this information.” Said Thomas.

“Good because he just joined our quest.” Said Gerebald.

“What quest?” both boy’s asked

“The quest to find the gem obviously.” and with that the group walked out to look for Elben Fatch.

“How do you know where this Elben guy is Gerebald?” Asked Thomas

“Because even though I don’t have my staff I can still do magic, for example watch this.” And right as he said it Thomas saw an odd purple glow around the wizard and they all levitated off the ground for a few seconds.

“But how can you do magic without your staff?” Asked Jhonathan

“Because the staff doesn’t give me my magic power it gives me energy, its very hard to do magic and it's also very tiring. That's why I have the staff. It replenishes my energy.”

“Oh ok I understand now well let's catch this villain.” Said Thomas

“If you want to” said gerebald, and then all the sudden everything seemed really blue but when it went back to normal they could see someones blue footprints.

“That spell shows where anyone untrustworthy is going so obviously those are the footprints of Elben Fatch, let's track him down.” The first day of walking was very uneventful they would walk for an hour or too and then they would rest they repeated the process until it became dark then with some very cool magic Gerebald produced a campfire and three tents, even more surprising than that was when Thomas looked in his tent it was as big as a house but from the outside it just looked like a small tent, and even better the tent had all of Thomas’s belongings from home just as he had left them.

“This is incredible!” Said Thomas in disbelief

“Magic can do some incredible things.” Responded Gerebald, and after a nice big meal and a short chat sitting next to the fire the group went to bed dreaming of what was to come. But not everyone was sleeping soundly. Something was nagging Gerebald. Something he had forgotten to do, and unfortunately it was a very big thing.

Thomas was the first one to get up and he followed Gerebld’s orders from the previous night to wake everyone else and start a fire to ward off predators.

“Wake up Gerebald.” Thomas said to the tent to his left and slowly Gerebald got up and exited his tent, but when he asked Jhonathan to wake up, there was no noise coming from the tent. That worried Thomas and he asked Gerebald to do the footstep magic again. Gerebald obliged and just as Thomas had feared, there were footsteps going into Jonathan's tent and that meant that there was someone else in Jonathan's tent. And it wasn't a good guy. Slowly Gerebald lifted the cover of the tent and there was a man holding Jonathan. Jonathan's eyes were wide open with fright. He was tied to a chair and there was a rag in his mouth so he couldn’t yell for help.

“You will never catch Elben, he is too deceptive. He sent me here to kill you but I guess the boy will have to do, for now.” The man said in a high raspy voice. But before the man could make another movement, Gerebald, without having to move a hair, trapped the man in a glass box and teleported him far away.

“That was incredible! Thank you so much for saving me!” exclaimed Jonathan

“No,” Said Gerebald, “It was my fault that man found us in the first place, I forgot to put up protective magic around our campsite. This never would have happened if I hadn’t forgotten.”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself you did great.” Said Thomas.

“Yeah, you are a great magician.” Agreed Jonathan

“Next time we’ll remind you because we're all in this together and I trust all of you completely.”

“Thank you boys, now let's move.” The group chatted about random things while they walked and then Gerebald said, “I may not be able to do any more magic till tonight and I want you boys to be safe so I present you with these swords for self defence for whenever we get in trouble.”

“Thank you Gerebald, but I don’t really know how to use a sword.” Said Thomas.

“Well you don’t have to master it most of Elben’s goons are dumb so you can just poke them with it, how about that.”

“I can do that no problem” Said Thomas, and Jonathan agreed. The group walked for a while longer until they got to the forest of dead dreams. It was called the forest of dead dreams because all of the trees were dead along with the shrubs and it was covered in fog symbolizing dreams that had flown into the forest and never came out.

“Be careful in here.” Said Gerebald, “There are odd creatures in these woods, dangerous ones too.”

They walked through the forest for a while with no incident other than barely being able to see through the fog, Gerebald said that he could part the fog for the group but he would pass out and they didn’t want that to happen so they were forced to walk through the fog. Then they got to a clearing where the fog parted and the dead trees disappeared.

“I don’t like this.” said Gerebald, “I sense a strange magic power, get your swords out boys.” It was good he said that because right after they got out their swords there was a deep guttural roar that came from the fog in front of them. A dog looking monster as big as a car jumped out from the trees and Pounced on Jonathan. Jonathan screamed and the monster ripped the sword out of his hand.

“Someone do something!” Jonathan screamed, “Thomas please help me!” He screamed again

“DON’T HURT MY FRIEND!” And Thomas lunged at the monster stabbing it in the heart and it went limp.

“Oh my god, Jonathan are you okay.” asked Thomas

“Thanks to you I am, that was incredible your amazing thank you.” exclaimed Jonathan. As the two boys exchanged words Gerebald smiled to himself, Thomas would make a great wizard apprentice one day. And with that He set up a camp for the night. The next afternoon they got out of the forest with no issue and set off on their adventure. They made great progress and Gerebald said that they might catch up to Elben Fatch in the next day or two and he was right. One day later they arrived at a cave that the footsteps went into.

“This is it! Be safe and don’t do anything too reckless, Jonathan. WAIT-” right as he said it Jonathan sprinted into the cave with Gerebald and Thomas running after him. Right as they arrived at the end of the cave they saw Jonathan run to a man on the other side.

“Welcome back, My son.” Elben said to Jonathan, “But unfortunately you failed to kill them so I have to kill you.” And Elben threw his son into the chavis of lava between him and Gerebald.

“Elben you monster, how could you do that to your own son, you won’t get away with this.”

“Ah but I already have, I have the last piece of the orb and you can’t take it from me.” but while they were monologuing Thomas snuck up behind Elben and WHAM! He took the orb and shoved Elben over, allowing Gerebald to lock him in another glass jail.

“Unfortunately for you, you underestimated and forgot about Thomas, Quickly Thomas throw me the orb.” Thomas threw it and as gerebald attached it to the staff A black abis started forming underneath Elben.

“Goodbye elben.” Said Gerebald

“NOOOOOO” and Elben fell into the hole.

5 Years Later:

“Goodbye Gerebald”

“Goodbye Thomas, You’ll make a great wizard and don’t forget about me while you're out saving the world.”

“I won't.” Thomas walked away, the magic staff in his hand, and wearing the wizard’s cloak.

“I always knew he was special. I'm proud of him,” Gerebald said as he watched Thomas walk out into the world.

BEEP BEEP! The alarm pulls me out of my sleep. I let out a sigh. Time to wake up already? I slip on my fuzzy purple and blue striped slippers. I head to the bathroom and grab the toothbrush. Today I am helping mom out at our bakery, Hills Bakery! Doesn’t that name make you feel so happy? I start brushing my teeth as fast as I can, I'm supposed to be at the bakery in half an hour. I pull my hair into a braid and run back to my room. Gumball is staring at me through her cage with her big beady eyes. Gumball is my bunny, I just got her a couple months ago as a gift from my mom for my 12th birthday! I take a small bow in my pocket and put it on Gumball and gush over how cute she looks. Ok, you're getting distracted here, Lizzie, I tell myself. I quickly feed Gumball and jump into my clothes. I am wearing old clothes so that I don’t get mad if they get dirty. I dash into the kitchen, gobbled down some cereal, grab my bag and hop on my bike to ride to the bakery to meet my mom.

The bell on top of the bakery door announces my arrival.

“Lizzie Hill! There you are! You're late!” My mom calls from across the bakery. She doesnt look that mad, though. I can tell there is something going on. I go behind the counter into the kitchen and put on my pink frilly apron.

“Sweetheart, you better start baking! We have a really big order that is supposed to be picked up this afternoon! Apparently it's for a banquet hosted by some business CEO named Jullian Williams,” Her exciting voice turns into a mumble by the end of her sentence. Her neck turns bright red. Is there something she's hiding?

“Wow! So how much time do we have?” I ask.

“We have until this afternoon. We have no time to waste,” Mom replies.I glance at the clock. 9:15, it shows. “The list of pastries we need by this afternoon are on the table,” She continues. I salute jokingly and gather the ingredients for the mini cupcakes.

A couple hours pass by and I wipe the sweat off my forehead and look at my creations proudly. In front of me are at least 100 mini cupcakes, 3 cherry pies, and 1 huge 3-layered cake. The bell on top of the door rings and I go to the front to greet whoever is picking up the huge Williams order while mom boxes up the treats. My jaw drops. I try my best to stop myself from screaming. The girl in front of me is absorbed in her phone.

“Order for Julian Williams” She says carelessly.

“C-coming right up…” I sputter. The girl must hear my voice sounding like hers and she looks up from her phone and stares at me, eyes impossibly wide. The girl standing in front of me looks exactly like me.