Young Writers Society

This storybook is unusual.

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10. Due to the everlasting nature of the storybook, the storybook will remain stickied until it dies and its replacement will be stickied.

Tommi

As I walked down the sidewalk I felt like I was on top of the world. Pants three sizes to big, hat off to one side, a little bit o' swagger. Yup, this was it. Despite my appearance, I wasn't all gangster, and I didn't do drugs. Killer barked and pulled on the leash, seeing a stray cat down the way.

It was getting late... and he had already dragged me halfway across town. Killer was a strong one, on his hind legs he was almost as tall as me, and built like a doggy tank. His dark fur shone under the street lights, in this light, his fur was almost blue.
"Killer, quit it," I whispered.
I gave his leash a good yank, it hardly effected him, but nonetheless he turned his head. I couldn't help but smile as his tongue lobbed out of his mouth.

Suddenly his head snapped forward and he concentrated on the path in front of us. A chill ran down my spine. We weren't alone.

Cressida:

The girl wandered down the path, frowning. This was not Curuwen, her home. This wasn't any of the other neighbouring kingdoms either. Sighing, she tugged her trailing skirts out of the way and followed the stone path out of the trees...to find herself staring at towering stone buildings that weren't stone and things that sped past. Startled and confused, she raced off down the street and into an alley.

Once in the dark, narrow space, she stopped and tried to catch her breath. Where was she? She wasn't an Amovta, nor was she anything other than a Spirit Bender... Why was she here? Wherever here was... Cressida stared at the creatures that growled past her alley so fast and leaned back against the wall, rubbing her forehead.

After a while, she approached the now quiet street, curious. She needed answers and she need them now. Just as she left the alley, she froze. There was a Prakfura, a huge one. She stared at it, not moving. And then she noticed the boy behind it. The creature had a collar around its neck and a length of rope attached to the collar....and holding the rope was the boy.

Startled, she dropped the dark blue skirt of her dress and stood up straight, brushing her pale blonde hair out of her face. "Excuse me," she said, giving the Prakfura a wary glance. "I'm a little lost, could you tell me where I am?"

Jeremiah

Frowning, I checked my monitor screen once more before tucking the tracker in my pocket. According to the reading, there was an illegal Prakfura wandering the streets of the city, and as junior assistant to the Dangerous Animal Division manager, I was determined to apprehend the owner of the beast and make sure it got microchipped. The creatures were usually fiercely loyal to their owners, but they could be dangerous if loose and were almost always smuggled in from a neighbouring country. Besides, there was a vacancy for senior assistant coming up in the department and a catch like this could be exactly what I needed.

The tracker begin to beep as I grew closer to the target. Bip... bip... bip...

I rounded the corner, official license held out.

Tommi... who is a girl.

I was about to answer the strange looking girl, when a van spun around the corner, screeching to a stop. A man tumbled out of the vehicle and held up a badge.
"Dangerous Animal Division! Nobody move!"
I of course, turned and stared at the freak. I moved my long dark hair out of my face and turned to the girl.
"New York," now the guy, "Killer isn't dangerous, despite his name, he's just a big pup."

The guy stood and stared at Killer, who in turn stared at him. The girl looked confused, she wasn't from around here obviously. The guy opened his mouth to talk, but I interrupted him.
"If you think you're taking Killer away from me, you're sadly mistaken."
I bent down and wrapped an arm around Killer's neck.

Jeremiah

I crossed one my arms indignantly. Oh, so it was one of these, was it? Another kid who thought they were above the official regulations? "Well, I'm sorry, but this animal needs microchipping," I replied. Killer snarled at me, then sat back and yawned slowly, revealing rows of pointed teeth. I backed away nervously. The creature really was very large.

"That's right, stay away," the girl said, her arm wrapped protectively around the Prakfura.

The other girl who had been standing quietly, watching, cleared her throat nervously. I turned towards her gratefully and raised an eyebrow. "Can I help you, miss?"

"Yes... It's just..." she began, trailing off. "What is this 'Newyok' place? I've never heard of it. And where can I catch a skyship to Curuwen? My friends will be getting worried."

I groaned. "A what? Are you kidding around? Some of us have jobs-"

"You're from a different world, aren't you?" Killer's owner interrupted sharply. "Did you get here through the Vortex?"

Killer

I looked up at Tommi, my wonderful master as she watched the girl. I huffed and growled menacingly at man-who-tries-to-take-me. Then at the lost girl. Tommi scratched my chin. It was better than anything else she could of done; she was proud of me. Love. Man-who-tries-to-take-me spoke.

"I need to take this... creature in." I snarled again, lunging and stopping in a you-will-not-get-my-mate threat version. How Tommi taught me.

"You can pry killer from my cold, dead hands." Tommi said. I huffed in agreement. Man-who-tries-to-take-me ponders what Master said.

"I must have traveled through it, yes." Lady-who-is-lost says. Please do not help this pile of meat, Tommi, I will catch all of the mice and mean people you want.

"We'll help you, won't we Killer?" He asked, nudging me gently. I huffed in disapproval, but he did not see or hear me.

"Give me the Prakfura." Man-who-tries-to-take-me asks.

"This is a dog, mister." Tommi replies, mocking him. They stared into each other's eyes hatefully.

Allie Brown

It was 11:15 PM, and Allie could feel her eyelids drooping. How on earth was she going to read twelve more pages of the reading and write the two-paragraph response Professor Lloyd had assigned? She had just ran out of coffee yesterday morning. Although she didn't feel like it, she decided that she was going to get coffee from the McDonalds from across the street. Although it tasted disgusting to Allie, at least it would be something, besides, all of the grocery stores and other coffee shops in a four-block radius (she didn't want to walk far this late at night) would be open.

Allie slipped on some khakis and her purple overcoat, walking as quietly as she could as not to awake the other residents of her apartment. Even as she walked, she could feel how tired she was. She wanted coffee now.

It was mostly quiet, but as Allie walked further she began to hear voices. They sounded like they were arguing. One had a dog with them. And the other was wearing the strangest thing that Allie had ever seen. it was a dress, blue and lacy. Not from this time period, to be sure, but it was nothing like Allie had ever seen or read about when studying history in Professor Lloyd's class. It seemed more like a princess dress, and with that thought Allie began to laugh hysterically, and she was loud, too.

The next she knew, they were staring at her.

"Hi!" she called. "Nice night out tonight, right?"

Tommi

I looked over to the girl, and smiled weakly. I wanted to tell her off. I wanted to ask her to mind her own business and push away from all these people, so I could retreat to my bedroom and draw. With Killer laying at my feet.
"Ya, it is. I guess," is all I say.

I turn to the girl who is lost, furrowing my brow. Now how the hell did I know what a vortex was?
"It's getting late, I guess you can stay at my place tonight, mom's never home so she won't mind," I start.
I look over to the guy, he's eying Killer.
"Listen mister!" I shout at him, "I don't care if your the queen of fudging Sheba! This is my dog. My dog!."
And I'll be damned if he was going to take him away from me.

Cressida:

She stared at them, not quite sure what to do... And why had she asked about a sky....ship? There was no such thing, at least. Not in Curuwen, anyhow. She frowned at the boy-who-was-not-a-boy with the dog and then what she'd said registered.

"That is a dog?" Cressida asked, staring at the....thing. It glanced at her, tongue hanging out. She blinked. "Where I come from, dogs are never black."

The boy-who-was-really-a-girl stared at me. "Why not?" she asked.

Cressida stared back. "Why, if they were black and that big," she said, pointing at the dog-that-was-not-a-Prakfura named Killer, "they might be confused with a Prakfura, which is a large cat with very large claws and fangs."

"Wait," said the man. "That's not a Prakfura?"

Cressida laughed, amused. At least she wasn't confused at the moment. "No, sir. That is not a Prakfura, tis just a dog."

Tommi

I felt very ignored.
"Mister, I told you a million times. It's just a dog! My dog!" I exclaimed, a full fledge teen-angst-tantrum coming on.
"I'm so..."

I cut him off.

"I can't believe you'd be so incompetent as to think my dog was a cat!" I paused and pointed to the girl, "She's obviously not from around here, but you! You have no excuse! You're supposed to be some... big shot.... animal control guy! Do your darn job man! And do it right!"

I wanted to smack him on the back of the head so badly. He stood their dumbstruck, the girl across the road stopped to watch the teenager rant and rave. My cheeks flushed red.
"I'm sorry," I muttered.

Killer had a sly grin on his face, as if to say 'That's right, she told you!' Oh how I love this dog.

Jeremiah

I clenched my teeth angrily. So all this time it hadn't even been an illegal creature? Killer's owner glared at me. I cleared my throat hastily. "Well, I might not need to take the creature in, but we still need to sort out how to get this girl home. Are you sure you want to stay with this kid? You don't even know each other's names! And what on earth is the vortex?"

"It's Tommi," the other girl interrupted. "And how the hell should I know what the vortex is?"

Killer yipped, and offered a shaggy paw to the lost girl. She took it solumnly.

"I'm Cressida, daughter of Kaleia."

The student who had called out to us was still standing there, her eyes flicking over the strange scene. "You know about the vortex? Professor Lloyd said that even the world's leading physicists don't know what it is, or how it works."

"So what is it? Why have I never heard of it? And has it got anything to do with this girl wandering around the streets talking about Prakfuras and Cressidas?" I turned to the student, hoping she could finally give us some answers.

Cerssida:

"My name is Cressida!" She told him. Stupid man, couldn't even get that right. "My mother is a daughter of The Prophecies." She turned to Tommi. "Please, ma'am, could you tell me what kingdom I am in?"

Tommi wasn't listening to her, she was glaring at the man. Sighing, Cressida crossed her arms over her chest and waited, watching the others. What else was Cressida supposed to do? She had no idea where she was, and all she wanted was to go home.

And so, the man glared at Tommi. Than She registered what the other girl had said, the one across the street from them. Well, wasn't that interesting. The girl knew about Llyod. "Excuse me, miss. You said something about Lloyd? As in Lord Lloyd of the Faraway Earth?" Cressida called, staring hard at the girl. "Do you know where I could find him?"

Allie Brown

Allie frowned. The vortex; she remembered it being brought up in the lecture on Tuesday. Apparently, it had originated somewhere in Britain before the Norman invasion of 1066, and spread out to various locations across the world. While Professor Lloyd did say it was real and that scientists were trying to find and experiment with it, Allie saw it as little more then an insignificant legend. Why would other people, besides physcicts, that is, know what it is?

"He said that it could transport one from one dimension to another," Allie said, "But I don't know much more than that. I don't even think it's real." When she heard the girl, she added, "No, Lloyd is my western history professor at Manhattan Central College. His first name is Andrew." Vortex or not, there was something going on that was seriously wrong.

Erik

How I love my iPod. How I really do, and how I love singing along to it at 10:30pm at night, walking down the alley on a short cut to my house.

"Roxx-aaannnee! You don't have to put on the re-ed light. Roxxxxx-anne you-"

"Excuse me?" I heard a voice from my right call, the voice was distinctly feminine. I stumbled. And I faced her.

"Hey," I said, turning on my signature charm.