Soaring Squirrel Race

 

            From the moment Squeaky woke up on the day of the big race, she couldn’t contain her excitement. This was the first season that she would be allowed to participate in the “Soaring Squirrel Race.” She may be the smallest squirrel, but what she lacked in size she made up for in speed.

            Squeaky went outside to check the weather. “Perfect!” she exclaimed eagerly. There was a mild breeze that would be just right for flying. She checked over her flight suit, looking for any defects. Finding none, she put on her suit and started to run through the forest canopy.

            The race would be starting at Big Red, the tallest tree in the forest. Squeaky scampered up the massive trunk. Higher and higher she climbed until she reached the starting branch for the race. Some of the other competitors had already arrived and greeted Squeaky. She looked around at all the different sizes of squirrels and flight suits. The wings on the suits were of different kinds and colors.

            Squeaky chose an empty spot on the branch and looked down. The tree they were aiming for was more than 150 feet away and 60 feet lower than the branch on Big Red. Squeaky felt confident about making the jump. She’d had plenty of practice flying with Ollie. She looked to the sky, and there was Ollie now, flying toward Big Red.

            Squeaky moved over to give him room, and Ollie landed so quietly for such a large owl. “Are you ready Squeaky?” he asked her excitedly with eyes that sparkled mischievously.

            The small squirrel looked into the owl’s face suspiciously. They may have been best friends, but Squeaky knew when Ollie was up to something. “What are you smirking about?” she asked curiously.

            “Oh, nothing, nothing,” he said, trying to appear casual.

            “What did you do?” Squeaky asked, a little angrily. “If you’ve done anything that will ruin the race…”

            “Oh, don’t worry Squeaky, it won’t ruin it.”

            Before Squeaky could find out more, Bushy, the squirrel in charge of the event shouted, “All right, everyone! Line up!”

            Feeling a little apprehensive, Squeaky checked her flight suit one more time, and got into position in the line of squirrels. Ollie was her best friend, but he was also known for being a clever trickster. Who knew what he was up to now? She turned to watch as Ollie flew up to a higher branch and appeared to be settling down to watch the race.

            Ollie saw the squirrel’s eyes on him and he shouted, “Good luck, Squeaky!”

            Squeaky only pulled her attention away from Ollie when she heard Bushy yell, “On your mark!”

            Squeaky turned her focus back to the end tree, so far away.

            “Get set! Go!”

            Squeaky leaped off of the branch with an almighty jump. She kept her body as straight as she could to build up speed. Suddenly, she spread all four of her legs wide. The material in her flight suit caught the breeze, and she started to glide. She knew she’d had a good jump and angled herself slightly down to keep up her speed. Suddenly, from right next to her, there came a cheerful, “Well, hello Squeaky! I thought I’d join the race.”

            After the initial shock, Squeaky rolled her eyes and said, “Ollie, this race is for squirrels.” She maintained her focus on the tree as it seemed to rise up closer and closer.

            “Oh, I know that,” Ollie called out cheerfully. “But I can’t let you beat me!” With a great whoosh of his mighty wings, Ollie surged past her. Seconds later, he had landed gracefully in the tree and was there waiting when Squeaky landed next to him.

            Slightly put out, Squeaky turned to Ollie and said, “You know it’s impossible for me to ever beat you right?”

            “I just want to make sure that the record stands clear,” Ollie replied. “By the way, congratulations! After watching the race closely, I can say with certainty that you are definitely the winner.”

            Squeaky looked around in surprise. After landing in the tree, she’d been so focused on Ollie that she didn’t notice all the squirrels around her who were smiling and waiting to congratulate her. She looked back at a smiling Ollie.

            “I always felt that you did better when we trained together,” Ollie said, a little sheepishly. “I just wanted my friend to have the best jump possible.”

            Feeling a rush of gratitude to her best friend, Squeaky celebrated with the other squirrels. Now she was no longer just the smallest squirrel. She saw respect in the other squirrels’ eyes as they all celebrated with her.

            Afterwards, Squeaky and Ollie sat in a tree companionably, talking about the race. “So, Ollie,” Squeaky said with a grin. “Are you going to be part of the race every year now?”

            “Maybe,” Ollie replied happily. “As you know, owls are proud creatures, and we have to be the best at everything.” He paused and looked seriously at Squeaky. “Also, I have to be so serious around the other owls. You’re way more fun than they are. Thanks, Squeaky.” He threw a wing around Squeaky and gave her a hug.

            Squeaky returned the hug and said, “Well, it’s easy to have fun with your best friend.”

Night at the Arcade

 

            Josh and Gabe were in trouble. The twins were stuck in the arcade after hours, with no one else around except for the man dressed in black and a ski mask. He had expertly picked the lock on the front door and slipped quietly inside as the two boys watched. Moments later, they saw a police car with its lights on drive past the arcade.

            The man smirked and locked the door again from the inside. He turned around and glanced at the old arcade games. Josh felt Gabe stiffen beside him as the man’s eyes slid over their hiding place.

            Josh and Gabe were invisible. They had finally grown old enough to exercise their superpower, which turned out to be invisibility. To celebrate, they told their parents that they were having a sleepover at a friend’s house, but instead, they had come to the arcade. All they had to do was walk in during business hours, and then turn invisible before closing time. They had planned to have an epic game night. That is, until this strange man had come in and ruined all their fun.

            Josh and Gabe loved the old arcade. The man who owned it had converted all of the coin operated arcade games into free to play games. All the twins needed to pay for was the entrance fee at the door, and then they could play as many games as they wanted.

            The boys remained as still as possible, so as not to make any noise. Then the game that they had been playing, Street Fighter II, played its theme song. It startled Gabe, who jumped and accidentally landed on Josh’s feet. Josh bit back a cry of pain, but the man by the door had heard something.

            The man pulled out a flashlight and shone it right where Josh and Gabe were standing. Hardly daring to breathe, they stood as close as they could to the game as the man walked over to investigate. Seeing the rows of tightly packed game cabinets, he walked down all the aisles. There was a really tense moment when he nearly stepped on Josh’s foot, but thankfully he didn’t notice anything strange.

            After a few more tense minutes, the man seemed to decide that there was nothing to worry about and walked in to the manager’s office.

            “That was too close,” Gabe said in a low whisper.

            “We’ve got to do something,” Josh whispered back worriedly. “We need to get out of here before he finds us.”

            “I know,” Gable answered. “Did you see his gun?”

            “He had a gun?!” Josh said in a strangled voice.

            “Shhh…quiet! Not so loud,” Gabe said, softer. “He was wearing a pistol at his waist. Didn’t you see it?”

            “No, I had my eyes closed.”

            “You know, you don’t need to close your eyes to become invisible, right?”

            “I know that,” Josh said, annoyed now. “I was just trying to make sure that he didn’t step on us or anything.”

            The noises coming from the manager’s office stopped. Carefully, Gabe and Josh moved over to look through the office window. The man had made himself comfortable in the manager’s chair and it looked like he was planning to sleep there.

            “We have to get the police,” Gabe whispered urgently.

            “How?” Josh asked, concern in his voice. “If we open the door, the bell will ding and we’ll wake him up.”

            “I’ll hold it, so it won’t ding,” Gabe offered as he went to grab a folding chair to stand on.

            Moving the chair made a lot more noise than the twins had counted on. Luckily, the man didn’t come back out of the office. Finally, they had the chair situated under the bell. Gabe carefully stood on it and grabbed onto the bell. “Ready,” he whispered.

            “Okay, here goes.” Slowly, Josh eased the door open while Gabe successfully silenced the bell. “Come on Gabe, let’s go.”

            They hurried to leave the arcade, and let the door shut behind them. With no one to silence the bell from inside, it gave out a deafening, “DING!”

            Still invisible, Gabe and Josh fled across the street. They stopped under the awning of the ice cream shop and turned to look back. Breathing hard, they could see the man through the windows of the arcade, shining his flashlight wildly around.

            “Let’s call the police!” Josh whispered urgently. He quickly brought out his cell phone and dialed 911. He told the operator that there had been a break-in at the old arcade. As he talked, he saw the thief stealthily slip out the front door. “He just walked out and is heading north up the road!” Josh’s voice was getting louder, and the man heard him.

            “Who’s there?” he called out, bringing his flashlight beam right on to their invisible selves.

            No one moved, and suddenly a police car turned the corner, and the man took off running. Josh and Gabe watched as he ran right into a mailbox as he hurried to get away. Two police officers scrambled out of the car and handcuffed the thief.

            Later, Josh and Gabe were congratulating each other on their first successful use of their new invisibility powers. They couldn’t help exclaiming over all the tense moments they had gone through and didn’t realize how close they were to their house.

            “Hello boys,” Mom said in an icy voice. “I guess you didn’t want to spend the night at your friend’s house?” The look she gave them let them know that now they were in serious trouble.

            Gabe and Josh looked at each other. They knew that there was no way to fool Mom with her supersonic hearing. She could hear whispers from a block away, and the twins hadn’t been whispering. Gabe heaved a sigh, and Josh knew what Gabe was thinking. Sometimes it’s hard being part of a superhero family.

The Storm

 

            Cody was tired, but happy. He and his friend, Tom, had just hiked up the monstruous mountain that they now looked down from. “We did it!” he exclaimed as he gave Tom a high five.

            The two friends took a few pictures of the fantastic view below. They ate their snacks that they had brought as they waited for their hiking group to get ready to descend. The other boys from the day camp laughed and relaxed after their long hike.

            It was a perfect day, thought Cody happily. Then he noticed some ominous looking clouds over to the west. They seemed pretty far away, but things could move quickly out on the mountain.

            Tom must have noticed too, because he said, “I hope we start down soon. I don’t want to get rained on.”

            It was then that Jerry, their hiking guide, called out, “Okay, guys, time to head on back!”

            Cody was anxious to get a move on now, but he and Tom ended up in the back of the hiking line. The trail was narrow, and they were hiking single file. Cody kept looking over his shoulder to the west, and was shocked at how fast the black clouds were moving. The wind started to pick up, and it was getting darker, even though it was only four o’clock in the afternoon.

            Their whole hiking group picked up the pace to try to outrun the storm, but it was faster than they were. The first drops of rain fell, and Cody called out to Tom, “Hey, hold on a second. Let me get my jacket out of my pack.”

            Cody threw down his small daypack, and hurriedly pulled out his rain jacket that he had stuffed inside earlier. Tom was doing the same thing with his pack. It took both of them less than a minute to get their packs back on, but their group had kept going without them.

            Cody wasn’t that worried. The trail was well-marked, and there was only one way to go. As the raindrops became more frequent, however, a fog started to set in and it became difficult to see. The wind became stronger, and soon it was howling around them like a pack of wolves.

            The rain continued to get heavier, and soon Cody and Tom had to stop. It was almost impossible to see ahead of them. “We have to stop and find shelter!” Tom shouted, barely making himself heard above the gusting winds.

            Both boys looked around wildly, trying to find a place that would at least keep the rain off of them. “Over there!” Cody shouted, pointing to the left of the trail. There were some trees growing closer to the side of a rock face. There were also some large boulders that might provide them with a little bit of shelter.

            Tom ran out ahead of Cody toward the rocks. They found a space that was bordered on three sides by boulders that were tall enough to keep out the worst of the wind. A large pine tree towered over them, and the boys ran gratefully under it.

            Cody couldn’t believe how loud it was. The wind was no longer pushing them around so strongly, but it made a terrific noise as it moved through the rocks. The pine tree swayed above them. He noticed Tom shivering, and he realized that he was doing the same. “We have to get ourselves warm,” he said, a little shakily.

            They moved right up to the trunk of the tree. Luckily, there were several lower branches that felt like it provided some sort of cover. Cody and Tom sat back to back while they waited for the rain to stop.

            An hour later, it was still pouring rain. Cody had never felt so miserable. There was no longer rain pouring on top of them, but the wind still brought the cold. They were hugging their knees as they watched the rain drip around them.

            Another hour passed, and Tom felt like the cold was reaching into his bones. He didn’t know how much longer he could last. He shifted, trying to find a better position. His stomach growled, reminding him that he’d missed dinner. He pulled his pack toward him and took out what was left of his snacks that he had brought along for the hike. “Half a granola bar and some trail mix,” he said dispiritedly.

            “I’ve got some beef jerky,” Tom offered.

            After sharing their grand meal, Cody felt even hungrier than he had before. It was growing darker now, and he looked in his pack for his flashlight. “I should have put fresh batteries in,” he said with a sigh.

            The rain finally started to slow down, and the wind wasn’t howling so loud. Twenty minutes later, the rain stopped, and Cody and Tom emerged from their shelter among the rocks.

            Cody checked his watch. “9:30 P.M.” he announced. “Do you think we can make it back down tonight?”

            “Well, I’d say that we’ve got a good two hours of hiking left to do,” Tom answered thoughtfully. “It might take us longer in the dark, but I would rather do that than spend the night here. I’m freezing, and maybe we’ll get warmer as we walk.” He pulled out his own flashlight and clicked it on.

            They headed back to the trail and started down. Everything was now wet and slippery. They moved at a much slower pace than when they had hiked up earlier in the day. They didn’t talk much so that they could concentrate on where they were placing their feet.

            They were hiking through a particularly muddy part of the trail when Cody lost his balance and grabbed on to whatever he could to prevent himself from falling. That thing happened to be Tom. “Whoa!” Tom yelled as he nearly fell as well.

            When they had both righted themselves, they started to laugh, but then stopped when they heard a strange growl.

            “What was that?” Tom asked, fear on his face.

            Cody shone his flashlight over to where he had heard the sound and felt his heart stop. “It’s a bear!” he yelped, panicked. “What do we do?”

            Tom looked over, and saw a great big black bear not 30 feet away from where they stood. “Make some noise and wave your arms!” he yelled as he started to do just that.

            Cody joined his frantic yells to Tom’s noise, and they watched as the bear started to lumber away. They looked at each other in relief. “Let’s get out of here,” Cody said seriously.

            They started off again, quicker now after seeing the bear. They hadn’t been hiking for too long, when they spotted lights coming up the trail toward them. Tom called out, “Hello!” and immediately they heard an answer.

            “Tom, Cody, is that you?” It was their hiking guide, Jerry’s, voice.

            “We’re here!” Cody called out happily. He was beyond relieved when he saw Jerry come into view. There were a few other men with flashlights.

            “Thank goodness we found you guys!” Jerry said happily. “No one realized that you weren’t with the group.”

            “We stopped when it got too rainy and windy, and we sheltered under a pine tree near some rocks,” Tom explained. “Where have you been?”

            “We never stopped,” Jerry answered seriously. “It was pretty bad for a while, but once the trail got into the tree cover, it was much better. It wasn’t until we reached the trail head that we finally realized that you weren’t with us. Glad to see that you guys are okay.”

            Some of the men had brought some warm coats, and Cody and Tom put them on gratefully. They told the story of their little adventure as they hiked back down to the trail head. When they got to the part about the bear, Jerry turned right around to stare at them, incredulous.

            “You guys saw a bear?!” he asked in shock.

            Cody explained how Tom knew what to do and how the bear left.

            “You fellas are lucky,” Jerry told them. “Bears around here have been known to be pretty aggressive.”

            It was close to midnight when they finally reached the trail head and were able to catch a bus back home. Cody sank gratefully into bed after showering and calming down his worried parents. He didn’t want to do any more hiking anytime soon. He felt like he had had enough of the mountains for a while.

A World Outside Every Darkened Door

 

            It took more than seven hours to reach the house in the countryside. Millie’s parents were going on a trip for a few days, and now Millie finally had the chance to stay at Uncle Albert’s house.

            Dad had told her so many stories about Uncle Albert and his house. He would tell Millie about how he pretended he was a spy or a ninja or a cowboy while his parents left him for the summer. Now it was Millie’s turn to make her own adventures there.

            Looking up at Uncle Albert’s huge house, Millie felt a little intimidated. Her parents helped her with her things, and then they all strode up to the enormous front door. After ringing an old-fashioned bell that made a terrific noise, the door was answered by Uncle Albert.

            Uncle Albert greeted Millie’s parents warmly, and then stood back to look at Millie. He wore an uncertain expression, and Millie felt herself wanting to please him. After saying her goodbyes, Uncle Albert showed her where she would be sleeping. She stowed her pillow and overnight bag in the room, and then they went down the hall to a cozy looking sitting room.

            Millie sat nervously as she and her uncle had tea. Albert noticed her discomfort and tried to help her relax. He asked her, “What did your Dad tell you about his summers here?”

            Millie was more than ready to tell Uncle Albert all of Dad’s stories. He listened patiently for a while and then asked, “Would you like to have your own adventures while you’re here?”

            “Yes, please!” Millie answered excitedly.

            The housekeeper came to take all the tea things away while Albert told Millie about his house. “You many go anywhere you like,” he said kindly. “Except, of course, my private rooms on the south side of the manor.” He paused and looked right at Millie. “Just remember that there’s a world outside every darkened door.”

            Millie wasn’t sure what that meant, but she nodded and smiled politely. Then Uncle Albert abruptly announced that he had work to do in his office and he left.

            Since Albert had told her she could do pretty much whatever she wanted, she decided to go exploring. She wandered down the hallways, looking into rooms as she passed them. The house was even more enormous than she had realized at first. There was an immense dining room, a gigantic library, an indoor pool, and even a greenhouse. She told herself she would go swimming later, and then went upstairs to see more of the house. Her own room was on the first floor, so this was the first time that she had been upstairs.

            While all the rooms downstairs were full of light, the hallways upstairs were mostly dark. All of the doors leading off the hall were closed. The only sources of light came from the stairwells. Millie remembered that Albert had said something about dark doors. Was this what he had been talking about?

            Millie walked halfway down the hall before she decided to try one of the doors. She picked the one closest to her to see if it was locked. It opened easily, and she was surprised to feel warm air blowing out of the room. She also thought she could hear seagulls.

            Curious, Millie walked into the dark room. As soon as she was over the threshold, the door slammed shut behind her, and she was blinded by a blistering sun, shining overhead. She closed her eyes and could feel herself rocking.

            Totally disoriented now, Millie opened her eyes and took a good look around. Behind her was the door that she had come through, but that was the only thing that resembled a room in her uncle’s house. She was standing on the deck of a ship that was tied up to an old wooden dock, outside of a bustling city.

            The ship was like ones that Millie had seen in old pirate movies, and there were people on the deck of the ship, on the dock, and on the streets of the city. Millie felt like she was inside the book, “Treasure Island.”

            Millie just stood there, not quite knowing what to do, when she heard a voice say, “Are you ready to go Captain?” She turned and saw a man looking at her.

            “Excuse me?” she said, even more confused now.

            The man was wearing loose clothing with a bandana on his head. He held out an old piece of paper toward her and said, “We’ve got the ship stocked and the crew’s ready to follow you to find the legendary treasure of Captain Bluebeard. We’re ready whenever you are.” He smiled and offered her the piece of paper, which she could see was some kind of map.

            Millie cleared her throat and said, “Um, not quite yet. I’ll be right back.” She turned around and dashed back through the door into the hallway. She ran down the stairs, calling out to her uncle in an excited voice.

            Albert met Millie at the bottom of the stairs with a big grin on his face. “Did you find something interesting?” he asked.

            Millie launched into an explanation of what she had just heard and seen. Albert nodded along as he listened, and when Millie finished, he said, “I told you there was a world outside every darkened door. Wait until you see what’s outside the other doors.” Then he walked away, leaving Millie wondering what else was upstairs.

            Millie turned and bolted up the stairs again. She opened some of the other darkened doors and went inside each of them. There was a bustling jungle village, a freezing Arctic plain, and even a swampy jungle where she glimpsed something huge that was walking along. She came back out to the hall and took a few deep breaths.

            When Dad told her about Uncle Albert and his magical house, she didn’t realize that there was actually magic involved. Making up her mind, she went back to the first door she had opened. The man with the treasure map was still there, waiting for her. Striking her best authoritative and grown-up pose, Millie said, “Let’s go find Bluebeard’s treasure!”

Life Brush

 

            Sam brought out his painting supplies as he thought about what he was going to paint. As he got things all set up, he realized that he had forgotten an important piece of equipment.

            “Hey Grandma, do you have any paintbrushes I could use?” he called out to her. She was working over in the garden in the back of the house. He could see that she couldn’t hear him, so he started to look around.

            Grandma was always telling him not to mess with her stuff, but he knew she had some paintbrushes somewhere. He looked around in her office and couldn’t see any with her other art supplies. He looked in the closet and saw an old box that was simply labelled, “Art.”

            Sam carefully pulled down the box and peered inside. There were professional quality art supplies in here. Sam had taken enough art classes to know that when he saw the bright purple paintbrush, that it was very high quality. It was a medium size round paintbrush, perfect for his current project.

            Now that he had something to paint with, Sam went back to where he had set up his easel and his other supplies, and he started to paint. He wasn’t sure if he was just having a good paint day, or Grandma’s brush made him paint better, but he was able to finish his artwork much more quickly than he ever had before.

            He stepped back to admire his work. He had finished while Grandma was still out in the garden. The dragon that Sam had painted next to a beautiful silver tree really turned out amazing. The blue-green of its scales seemed to sparkle, and its wings looked magnificent. He moved his eyes to the dragon’s face and realized that there was steam coming from its nostrils.

            “Hmm,” Sam said, perplexed. “I don’t remember painting that.” Then something happened that really surprised Sam. The dragon moved and flapped its wings.

            Sam startled back from the painting with a gasp. “What?” he breathed, shocked. The dragon’s eyes focused on Sam as it started to lift up off of the ground in the painting, and then up off of the canvas itself.

            Before Sam could even process what was happening, he found himself standing nose to nose with the dragon. Sam hardly dared to breathe, and then the dragon spoke.

            “Thank you for breathing life into me,” it said, and then it fell unmistakably into a bow.

            “Umm, what?” was all Sam could say.

            Now the dragon looked a little confused as he said, “You created me from the life brush. I now owe you my life and will do whatever I can to serve you.” He paused then and said a little more hesitantly. “You are the one who painted me, aren’t you?”

            Sam looked down at the purple paintbrush in his hand as he said, “Well, yes, but I had no idea…How is this even happening? Am I dreaming?”

            Grandma chose that moment to come back into the house from her work in the garden. She held a bouquet of flowers and went straight into the kitchen as she called, “Are you doing all right in here, Sam? You should come out to the garden with me. It’s such a gorgeous day outside.”

            “Uh, Grandma?” he asked softly.

            Grandma must have heard something in his voice, because she finally focused her attention on him, and her eyes went wide. She saw the paintbrush in his hand and the dragon in her living room. Very slowly she asked, “What have you done, Sam?”

            Sam felt his face grow hot as he tried to explain. “I forgot to bring my paintbrushes, so I went to find one in your office. I found this one in a box that said “Art” on it.”

            Grandma took a deep breath and then asked, “I believe that I’ve asked you not to go through my things?”

            Sam felt Grandma’s eyes cut into him as he said lamely, “It was just a paintbrush.” Obviously, it wasn’t just a paintbrush. There was silence for a moment between the three of them – Sam, Grandma, and the dragon, who still stood right next to Sam.

            Then, Grandma’s cat, Rufus, strolled in and looked around. He walked right over to Grandma and said, “It looks like Sam’s got your magic gene.”

            Another layer of shock fell over Sam. “What?!!” He stared down at Rufus, who he had thought was a completely normal cat. Up until now.

            Grandma gave a great big sigh and said, “This will take some explaining. Sam, let’s move to the couch and sit down. Bring your dragon.”

            Sam walked over to the couch, and the dragon followed him. He flopped onto the couch and the dragon sat down beside him. For the next hour, Grandma told him about how some people in her family had magic. She hadn’t been sure that Sam had any magic, so she was always looking for clues. She began to suspect recently that he might have magic, so that’s why she had invited him to stay with her for the summer.

            Grandma then talked about the paintbrush that Sam had used on the dragon, or what she called, The Life Brush. She said that it was used to create a life-long magic partner for those who had magical powers.

            “Wait,” Sam interrupted. “Are you saying that this dragon will be with me for life?”

            Grandma gave a little laugh as she said, “Yes, but usually we create normal looking animals for our partners.” She saw Sam turn white and then quickly added, “I’ll teach you how to use your magic to disguise your dragon. You’ll have to change him into something like a dog or a cat whenever anyone else is around.”

            As the shock of what Grandma was saying started to sink in, Sam began to feel something else. “So, I can actually do magic?” he asked with excitement. He looked at his dragon and started to think about all the possibilities.

            From that day on, Sam learned all he could about magic. He never got tired of working with his dragon, Dorian. Grandma taught them everything she knew. Sam and Dorian became very successful magicians, even if they had an unusual start. Sam never met another magician with a dragon for a partner, and he felt proud that he was truly unique.

The Crash

          Piper and her twin brother Liam hopped out of the Jeep, excited for their excursion into the jungle.

            Mom and Dad wearily climbed out behind them and started to unload their supplies. It had been a long six-hour drive over bumpy dirt roads. Their guide, Jose, started to help them organize everything into their packs.

            Piper’s pack felt unbelievably heavy, but nothing could dampen her spirits of finally setting out to find the old crash site. It had been nearly 70 years since her Great Grandpa Tony had walked out of this same jungle, lucky to be alive.

            Tony Calloway had been on an archeology expedition, researching the legend of El Dorado. He believed he had found its location, and went in a plane with a small team to investigate. They didn’t find El Dorado, but what they did find was an ancient temple surrounded by several old dwellings.

            Piper and Liam had been told the story so many times of the beautiful temple and the riches that had been found within. Great Grandpa Tony had insisted that they take some of the artifacts back with them. Unfortunately, their plane crashed, and only Grandpa and one of his friends survived. After several days of wandering the jungle, the two men finally found the road that eventually led them back to civilization. They had always vowed to return and collect the artifacts, but after several attempts, the crash remained undiscoverable.

            Until now. After years of looking for clues, they finally found the crash site using advanced satellite technology. Piper and her family had flown down to Colombia as soon as everything could be arranged.

            “I can’t believe we finally get to see Great-Grandpa Tony’s old plane!” Liam said excitedly. “Let’s get going!” Piper shared Liam’s enthusiasm, but it seemed to take forever to get everything ready. Finally, they took those long-awaited steps into the Colombian jungle.

            After a few hours of walking through the jungle, Piper had to admit that some of the excitement had worn off. Her pack grew heavier, and they made slow progress. One day of hiking turned into two, and then finally, on the third day, they reached the old plane.

            “This is what we came all this way to find?” Liam asked dubiously. The last three days had sapped all of their energy, and it was hard to feel too excited just now over a hunk of twisted metal, covered in moss and vines. The jungle seemed to have grown right over the top of it.

            “Did you know that it took nine days for Grandpa Tony and his friend to reach the road from here?” Dad asked cheerfully. “It only took us three days!”

            Piper sat down on a fallen tree nearby and stared up at what used to be an airplane. “So, where are all the artifacts that Great Grandpa Tony talked about?” she asked tiredly.

            “Well, Grandpa said that they made sure that the artifacts were stowed safely in the back of the plane,” Dad said as he walked toward the rear of the plane. His cheerfulness seemed to dissipate as he got a good look at the tail section. “It looks like something fell on top of it, and it caved in.”

            Piper ran for a closer look, but Liam got there first. “Aww man,” he said sadly. Piper came up and saw that the whole back of the plane had been crushed inside. From what she could see, everything looked damp and covered in moss and jungle growth.

            “Maybe it’s okay,” Piper said hopefully. “We just need to get this outer layer off.”

            The five of them got to work removing items from inside the plane. First, they had to remove the pieces of the roof that had fallen inside. Piper couldn’t believe how wet everything was. However, the more that they removed, the drier things became. The collapsing roof had actually helped preserve what was inside the plane.

            They started pulling out items that had obviously come from the ruins. Piper realized that Grandpa Tony wasn’t exaggerating on how beautiful the artifacts were. There were a lot of jungle figurines encrusted with jewels and inlaid with what looked like gold. There were boxes of decorative stones and broken pottery shards with intricate designs on them.

            It was growing dark when Dad called a halt to their work. “Okay guys, I think that’s about the last of it. We’ll camp here for the night and head back to the Jeep tomorrow.”

            “It must have been hard for Grandpa to leave all of this here, “Liam said as he looked over everything. “No wonder he’s been so keen to come back and get it.”

            Piper’s excitement had come back as they sorted through the treasure of the day. She had a hard time sleeping, and the morning came slowly. When it did finally come, Piper got up groggily and started to get ready for the day. She walked out of their tent after getting dressed and noticed that the camp looked a little different.

            “Dad! Mom!” she called in a panic. Her parents looked over from where they were getting breakfast ready. “What’s the matter Piper?” Mom asked worriedly.

            “It’s all gone!” She pointed to where they had stacked everything up the day before, but now there was nothing there.

            “Jose!” Dad called out as he searched the area. There was no sign of their guide. The truth suddenly hit them all as they realized what had happened.

            “Jose left!” Piper cried shrilly. “Without us!”

            Mom looked over at Dad and asked, “Can you get us out of here, hon?”

            “Yes,” Dad answered softly. “But I’m sure Jose will get to the Jeep before us. That treasure is gone.”

            “We still have the satellite phone though, right?” Mom asked him worriedly. “We can call and have someone else meet us at the road.”

            Disappointment coursed through Piper as she thought about what they had lost. All that time spent searching for the crash and finally seeing the lost artifacts. Now they were just…gone.

Dispiritedly, they began to pack up camp. “I think we got everything out of the plane yesterday, but it might be worth it to check one more time,” Dad said slowly.

They walked back over to the ruined plane and started to pick through what was left of it. They found a few more figurines, and their spirits lifted a little. “Well,” Dad said, a little more cheerfully. “At least now this trip wasn’t a total loss.”

They put the few items into their packs and started to leave. Piper gave one last look into the plane, and she noticed a small blue light flicker under some other debris. “Hey guys, wait!” she called out excitedly. She moved some branches aside and saw it again. A blue flicker shone out underneath where one of the airplane seats used to be.

Dad helped her move the debris aside to reveal something that shined under moss and dirt. Now Liam jumped in too to start to move things out of the way. Finally, they pulled out a wooden box with the lid partly rotted away. It was about as big as a shoebox. Carefully, Piper helped lift it out of its hiding place. She opened the box and gasped as she saw what was inside.

Liam gave a low whistle. “Well, this trip has now been officially worth it,” he said with a huge grin.

The box was full of gems. There were some small ones, like those on the figurines, but most were wider than marbles, and a few of them were wider than golf balls. Sapphires, emeralds, rubies, and diamonds all shone out of the box.

“Grandpa Tony never said anything about this,” Dad said softly, amazed.

            The walk back to the dirt road seemed like a breeze after that. Because of the satellite phone, Dad was able to get someone else to meet them. They didn’t expect to hear from Jose again, and they weren’t too worried about it. Piper knew that if they had all walked back with Jose, they would have missed the most valuable treasure of all.

            Once they got back home, they told their story to Great Grandpa Tony himself. His eyes sparkled when they told him about how Piper found the box. “Was the gold chest still there?” he asked excitedly.

            Piper turned to look at her family, who looked just as confused as she did. “It was a wooden chest, Grandpa,” she said slowly.

            “Oh, well that was just the box of small gems,” Grandpa said as he grinned. His eyes were dancing as he said, “But no matter. Just leave it for some other lucky adventurers to find.”

Finders Keepers

            Alex pushed open the creaky door and stepped inside the old mansion. He couldn’t believe that he was even inside. The place hadn’t been lived in for at least 15 years and was the perfect subject for haunted house stories. Kids had dared each other to go inside, but no one had ever found a way in. The doors were always locked, and the windows seemed to be made of thick, bullet-proof glass.

            Alex looked down at the key in his hand. Someone had left the key and a note by his front door this morning. The note had simply said, “There’s something strange inside the old mansion.” There was no signature or any hint of who had left him the note.

            Alex considered himself a pretty good investigator. Even though he was only 11 years old, he had a reputation for tracking down things that had been stolen or lost. That’s why he wasn’t too surprised when he found the note. Someone had a mystery for him.

            Even though it was only ten o’clock in the morning, Alex clicked on his flashlight as he pulled it out of his backpack. He shone it around the darkened entryway. The door swung shut behind him and Alex gave an involuntary jump. There was a thick layer of dust everywhere except for a set of footprints leading down the hall. Alex followed the footprints and came to an ornate set of stairs. The steps creaked as he climbed up and reached the landing.

            Nervously, Alex adjusted his backpack as he continued to follow the footprints. With every step, the wood underneath him moaned and groaned in protest. The footprints stopped in front of a door that was slightly ajar. Alex pushed open the door and stepped inside. He glimpsed an old, dusty room before suddenly, everything changed.

            There was such a powerful whoosh of air that Alex closed his eyes and took an involuntary step back. When he opened his eyes again, he was absolutely dumbfounded. “What the?!!” he said, totally confused.

            Alex was standing in the middle of a bright, sunlit meadow. His eyes darted around and landed on a strange man standing a few feet away. He was wearing a suit and tie, and a warm smile as he said, “Welcome Alex!”

            Alex had never seen this man before. He pulled out the small flip phone that he carried in his backpack, just in case.

            “That’s not going to work here,” the man said kindly.

            All was silent in the meadow until Alex asked, “Who are you, and what is this place? I was in the old mansion, and I suddenly find myself here. What happened? How did I get here?” This all came out very fast, thanks to his nervousness.

            “Well Alex,” the man said as he shook Alex’s hand. “I was the one who sent you the key. My name is Greg.” He led Alex over to a nearby garden bench and invited him to sit down.

            Alex slowly sank down on to the bench and asked, “Where are we and why are we here?”

            Greg chuckled as he sat down next to Alex. “Well, I wanted to let you know that you’ve caught my attention. Not many 11-year-old boys are able to do what you do.”

            “What’s that?” Alex asked.

            “You’re a finder.”

            “A what?”

            “A finder. Someone with the magical gift to be able to find anything that they’re seeking.”

            Alex’s confusion now turned to disbelief. “That’s not magic! I’m just able to find things that people lost or were stolen because I’m a good investigator. There’s no such thing as magic!”

            Greg’s smile grew wider. “I beg to differ, Alex. How do you think we got here?” He gestured to the meadow around them. He continued explaining to Alex. “Usually, people with this magical gift take years to use it properly. You’ve been able to master it without any training at all.”

            Greg paused as he pulled something out of his suit coat pocket. “That’s why I’m inviting you to join the Finder’s Society.” He showed Alex what was in his hand.

            Alex couldn’t believe his eyes. Greg was holding a miniature gold dragon in the palm of his hand that was moving. The dragon paced around his palm as it studied Alex. Alex was shocked and didn’t know what to say. Finally, he asked, “What’s the Finder’s Society?”

            “Oh, it’s just a secret group of Finders like you and I. Yes, I’m a Finder too,” he answered before Alex could ask.

            “So, what does this society do?” came Alex’s next question.

            “We just work behind the scenes, helping others. It’s what you already do, right?”

            Alex thought for a moment and then said, “I suppose so, but what about the dragon?”

            Greg held the tiny dragon out closer to Alex and then said, “Go ahead, take it.”

            Not knowing what else to do, Alex reached out to touch the little golden dragon. Immediately, it wrapped itself around Alex’s finger and became solid. Alex felt something inside him shift and looked up at Greg.

            “With this dragon, you’ll be able to use your finder magic more easily, and other Finders will be able to sense you.” Greg smiled at Alex again. “You will also be able to sense other Finders.” He abruptly stood up and said, “Well, that’s it, time to go.”

            Alex had a million questions and opened his mouth to ask one when suddenly, there was another powerful whoosh of air that made him close his eyes and fall off of the bench he was sitting on.

            When he opened his eyes again, he found himself on the ground outside the old mansion’s front door. More confused than ever, he reached to open the door again, but discovered that it was locked and he had lost the key. He was seriously questioning his sanity when he saw the dragon ring still on his finger.

            Alex went home that day, not really believing or understanding what had happened. But for the rest of his life, he wore the golden dragon ring around his finger. People often came to him for help, and he was a very successful private investigator. They were always surprised at how easily it came to him to get to the bottom of every mystery. Alex would just say that it came naturally, but he always rubbed his golden dragon ring as he said this. People assumed it was his good luck charm, but Alex knew better.

In Storage

            Leo paced the floor of his grandfather’s small house. He looked out the window and saw, yet again, the barrage of unending lightning. Why couldn’t his parents have taken him with them on their interplanetary cruise? He let out a long sigh and flopped down onto the couch. Instead of seeing new and exotic places, he was stuck on the small planet of Zoltan, far away from all of his friends, and indeed, most of civilization. Zoltan was very sparsely populated, mostly because of the near constant lightning storms that covered the planet.

            Leo pulled out his soccer ball and started to play keepie-uppie. He was on his school’s soccer team, and he was a fair player. He managed to keep the ball up for a few minutes before he lost control and it rolled away. Luckily, his grandfather’s house didn’t have too many breakable things. The ball rolled and bounced harmlessly toward the hall.

            Leo started after it and saw his grandfather coming toward him, concern on his face. “You all right, Leo?” he asked with furrowed brows.

            “Yeah,” Leo answered quickly, a little shame-faced. “I just let my ball get away from me.” Before his grandfather could say anything, Leo followed his ball. He knew he shouldn’t have been playing keepie-uppie in the house, but he was so bored.

            At the end of the hall, there were some stairs that went down to the basement. He’d never been down there before. Leo ran after his ball, and was amazed to find himself surrounded by tons of boxes at the bottom of the stairs. They were stacked nearly to the ceiling. His ball was still rolling down a small aisle in between the towers of boxes. Finally, after running what felt like an entire soccer field, he reached his ball which had stopped at a closed door. He looked behind him at the towers of boxes and was again amazed to see how far he had come. That’s weird he thought. I didn’t realize Grandpa’s basement was a tunnel.

            He also hadn’t realized how dark it had gotten in the race after his ball. He looked at the door where the tunnel ended, and could barely make out the small sign on it that said STORAGE.

            Curious now, Leo turned the knob, which opened easily. Automatic lights came on and he saw that he was indeed in a small storage room. “Why does Grandfather have such a long tunnel that only leads to a storage room?” he asked out loud.

            A thick layer of dust covered everything around him. He looked around at all the objects that had been carefully mounted on the walls. At first glance, it all just looked like junk and old computer parts. But now he saw that everything was carefully labelled. This stuff was old. Underneath each item was a small screen that displayed a name and a date. All the dates that Leo saw seemed to be around the year 2235.

            “Wow,” Leo breathed excitedly. It was now the year 2301. He moved closer to inspect an interesting piece of tech that looked like it came off of an old hovercar. Then a purple light flashed from the corner of his eye. He turned and saw a small hand-held device that hadn’t been labelled with a name, but bore the year 2230. “Wow,” Leo said again, awe in his voice. He reached out to pick up the item, and saw that it fit in his hand like it was made for him.

            The item started to shift, and then there was a bright green button that appeared on the surface. Without waiting to think about any possible consequences, Leo pushed it.

            A small holographic image appeared in front of Leo, hovering in the air. It was a boy, around Leo’s age, whose face was covered in panic. “You have to help me!” it said desperately. “I’m trapped here!”

            Leo studied the image. He was impressed at how well it had held up after all these years. Everyone knew that holographic images degraded over time. This one was seventy years old, and it looked like it had been made yesterday.

            “What is this thing?” Leo wondered, intrigued. To his immense shock, the image answered his question.

            Some of the panic on the boy’s face seemed to dissipate a little as he said, “I’m a personal assistant, Model #A214. My name is Kenneth.”

            Now Leo began to understand. He had heard of the holographic personal assistants. They were really popular a long time ago. With a jolt, he remembered why they were no longer around anymore. He hurriedly put the device back on the shelf and turned to leave.

            “Wait!” Kenneth said, urgently now. “Come back, please!”

            Leo picked up his ball and hurried out the door and into the tunnel. He slammed the door shut and leaned against it, his heart pounding. A holographic personal assistant? Now he remembered the story that had become a legend. He ran back down the long tunnel, and had just gotten to the stairs when he nearly crashed into his grandfather.

            “Grandfather!” he shouted, relieved. “You know you have a holographic personal assistant in your storage room?”

            Grandfather’s already concerned face turned into real worry at this news. “Did you talk to Kenneth?” he asked, a little too quickly.

            “Only for a minute,” Leo said, struggling to regain his breath. “I put the device back as soon as I knew what it was.”

            Grandfather looked back the way Leo had come. “He’s the reason that I live alone on this awful planet,” he said bitterly. “He was the leader of the holographs that waged war on humanity.”

            Leo felt his eyes widen. “That kid was the leader of the revolt? Why wasn’t he destroyed with the others?”

            “Because he’s a model A214,” Grandfather said resignedly. “Those models were directly connected to their users with a special brain chip. The only way they could ever be disconnected was if the host dies.”

            Leo had never heard this part of the legend. “Who was Kenneth’s host?” he asked, tentatively.

            Grandfather held his breath for a moment, and then let it out with a soft, “Me.” He turned and walked up the stairs, with Leo following close behind him.

            Now Leo understood why his grandfather lived on Zoltan, alone. He made Leo swear to keep his secret. If the government ever found out that there was a surviving holographic personal assistant from the AI revolt, they would kill Leo’s grandfather without a thought. They could never again risk AI taking over humanity.

            When his parents came back from their cruise a week later, Leo was almost reluctant to leave. He hugged his grandfather tightly and stepped back into the world that had been eradicated of artificially intelligent machines and programs.

Man Overboard!

            Diego loved his job. He ran a tourist boat up and down the river near his home in Brazil. He lived in a smaller city outside of the main area of Rio de Janeiro. They weren’t technically part of the jungle proper, but close enough for tourists to say that they’ve seen it. As long as they could see the thick jungle from the boat, they were satisfied.

            That is, until today. Diego’s passengers today were a group of young adult men that had obviously had way too much to drink, even though it was only 11 AM. They were loud and annoying and demanded that Diego drive them into the forest itself. Diego wouldn’t have done it, but they had offered him a bonus that he couldn’t refuse. He had to make a living, after all.

            So, against Diego’s better judgement, he had steered his boat into a smaller side river. With every yard of progress that they made, the jungle seemed to move closer around and behind them, shutting them in it. Diego started to worry about the safety of his boat, when one of his passengers shouted, “Hey, look over there!”

            Diego followed his line of sight to see an enormous crocodile. It was bigger than even he had ever seen, even though the river was full of them. Before he could caution his passengers, they were all leaning out of the boat, trying to get the perfect picture. “Keep yourselves inside the boat please!” Diego shouted, a little panicked. “It’s really easy to lose your balance!” Especially when you're already wasted, he thought.

            One young man turned to Diego and grinned with a devil-may-care smile. This annoyed Diego more than he already was. His annoyance changed to something else, however, when the boat gave a little lurch and the young man abruptly disappeared over the side.

            “Man overboard!” one of the other young men called out, jokingly.

            Diego, however, knew this was no joking matter. He quickly turned off the boat motor and grabbed a length of rope. With expertise born from years of experience, he tied the rope to the boat, and threw the other end to the young man in the water. He was further annoyed and dismayed when he realized that the young man couldn’t really swim. He was flailing about in a ridiculous sort of dog paddle. “Grab the line!” Diego shouted to him.

            The young man tried desperately to grab hold, but to no avail. The river was pulling him away from the boat, and the crocodile, Diego noticed, was coming closer to his flailing form. Diego shouted to the rest of his passengers, “As soon as I grab him, pull us in!” He noticed with some satisfaction that they were finally starting to realize the gravity of the situation.

            Without another word, Diego dove into the river and swam powerfully over to the struggling young man. He grabbed a hold of one waving arm and shouted, “Pull us in!” Nothing happened for a moment, and he turned to watch the crocodile getting closer. Finally, he felt that they were being pulled by the rope, back to the boat.

            The other passengers were hurriedly working to pull the two men up. Diego made sure that they got the young man inside the boat, and then he heaved himself out of the water onto the deck. As soon as he was in, he turned around to look at the crocodile. Diego looked in horror as the monster rose halfway out of the river with its gigantic mouth open. The crocodile was even bigger than Diego had at first thought. Thwarted of its prey, the crocodile angrily started to swim away.

            Diego watched it for a moment, and then turned to his white-faced passengers. “It looks like it’s time to head back now,” he said nonchalantly. All of the young men stared at him as he worked to turn the boat around and headed home. Never again would he be lured with anything to venture that far into the jungle. Once was enough for a lifetime.