Young Writers Society

The palm tree’s leaves fluttered in the breeze like slender fingers tickling the sky. The waves sloshed over the sand, pulling reluctantly back into the sea where the setting sun had cast a shimmering carpet of golden light on the water. It It should be They, since you are referring to the waves of the previous sentence. Waves is plural, so it should be they.slithered like a pathway from the horizon to the shore where two lovers perched on the outstretched bough of a tree. Silhouetted against the coral orange glow of the sky, they faced each other, legs interlocked and swinging like a pendulum, haloed in yellow light. The sun sunk below the surface of the water, fleeing the majestic face of night. The rippling waters echoed the couple’s enamored giggling whispers.
I grimaced and stuck my tongue out as the girl leaned in and their shadowed faces melted into each other. Sickening. I glanced over at the dark mansion, towering over the beach like a whale in a puddle. Do not ask me why anyone would build a mansion on a beach. Pure idiocy is my best guess. In any case, the distance between the building and the sighing couple was unacceptable narrow. My tail swishing in irritation, I leaned against a tree, arms crossed, glaring at the shadowed figures. The couple posed a problem for me because (a) there was no way I could get past them to the mansion without notice, (b) by law they would be required to report any magical creature sightings to the wizard immediately, and (c) they were very close to making me part with my dinner with their grimy affection I absolutely loved the a b and c parts. For me, mentioning that she's a magical creature and saying there's some kind of wizard made this story a whole lot more interesting to me xD. However, the 'making me part with my dinner' confused me for a few seconds. I didn't relate it to barfing at first. So I would make it clearer by rephrasing it to something like 'c) The urge to barf up my dinner increased with each passing second I stood near their grimy affections. Or something else, since that sounds terrible xP. Well, when one can’t go unseen, the next best thing is to get rid of anyone who would be doing the seeing. Simply disposing of them would be preferable, but my master would not approve, and the last human I “disposed of” rather disagreed with my delicate stomach. Unfortunate, this, but I decided that suggesting they scurry in a different direction ought to buy me enough time to carry out my orders.
I knelt in the sand and shifted to my panther form, venturing from the edge of the Forest Region farther into the Beach Region. About halfway to the palm tree, I started to run, punching little dents in the sand under each paw. I let out what I hoped was a menacing hiss and leapt up, plowing my head into their dangling calves. Girl and boy lurched forward, making fine impressions of their faces in the sand. Sputtering and clawing the sand from their eyes, they turned to face their attacker. Complete wrong direction, of course, but hey I’ll give them points for effort. Upon seeing nothing when they opened their eyes, the pair spun around. I flashed them a gleaming smile of arrowhead teeth and purred. My sudden appearance had the desired effect on the girl; she squealed and jumped behind her boyfriend who, on the other hand, snatched up a pathetic-looking piece of driftwood.
“Back, beast! Shoo!” he shouted, waving the stick.
Shoo? Seriously? You would think he was addressing a housefly, not a magnificently ferocious feline such as I, the most powerful Crivvin who ever lived. I rolled my copper eyes and changed forms. The reaction was much more satisfying. As I rose from the beach, the stick rolled out of the boy’s hand as he cowered with his love. I stood, as they did, on two legs but a few heads taller. I’ve been told that from a distance people have mistaken my outline for a human’s. Those who have said so have since regretted their insult. For one, have you ever seen a human with velvet black ears and slender tail like a panther’s? No human has ever boasted claws curved more perfectly than the crescent moon i like this line ^_^. While human skin is dry and cracked, mine is like jet-black leather covered in short bristles like a peach. No one in their right mind would compare a Crivvin to a human.
Sadly, I can’t attest that these two had any mind at all. They gaped at me for a while until the boy whispered that the girl should alert the wizard at once. As if I couldn’t hear him. Poor thing was a bit of a numbskull. Well, I had done my best, but they didn’t seem to want to cooperate. Plan B, then.
I will not go into details about Plan B for the sake of any squeamish readers. I will say that the following scene ended with me breathing slightly heavier, feeling pleasantly alone, and quite full. For those overcome with curiosity, ask me later and I’ll be happy to share details. haha!

Melting back into the shape of the big cat, I padded my way to the mansion gates, where I used my superior agility to pass over them into a garden. If you ask me, building a house in sand is one thing, but planting a garden and expecting it to grow is just foolishness. This wizard was a prime example of a brainless human, but I appreciated him making my job easier. All but two windows had been left not only unlocked but open as well, so he could feel the ocean breeze or whatever. Turn a fan on. It has much the same effect with fewer bugs entering your home. Like a dark liquid, I slid in through a window with the kind of grace not even a real panther could pull off. I retracted my claws so as not to make any betraying clicking sounds on the hardwood floors. great job here
Now. What were my instructions? Up the stairs, third door on the right. But which way do I turn at the top of the staircase? I sat back on my haunches, tail curled around and tapping the floor in front of my paw, ears swiveling. A few rooms over, the sound of a snapping fire was accompanied by loud snores snapping fire? Why would he have a fire going if he also had windows open to cool the house?. Well, I needn’t worry about bumping into the magician. I didn’t have time to sit around and plan, so improvise it is.
The staircase was easy enough to find. To my sheer joy, I discovered that the steps had been carpeted, which was much more conducive to swift, silent travel than planks of shiny wood. At the top of the stairs, I scanned the hallway for company and made the change into my other form. I had found that turning doorknobs was easier with opposable thumbs. To my left, two doors on the right side – to my right, six doors on the right side. Well, problem solved. I tried the doorknob. It was unlocked, and I got that uneasy feeling in my stomach. But I couldn’t guarantee that the feeling wasn’t due to my recent meal beginning to disagree with my system, so I pressed on. As gently as a Crivvin could manage I turned the knob, ears flattening against my head as the hinges gave weak squeaking protests. I paused, waiting for an ambush of some kind, but the house was silent save for the sleeping master downstairs. I opened the door just wide enough to squeeze through, ducking under the doorway. After my tail was securely in the room, I shut the door with a muffled thud.
When my eyes adjusted to the dark, I wrinkled my nose. Wizards weren’t known for their tidiness, but this was absolutely disgraceful. How did he plan to find anything in here? And how exactly was I supposed to find a small grey pouch? Excluding the wall with the door, a flimsy bookshelf dressed every inch of the walls. I might have caught a glimpse of a small desk in the corner under a fort of cardboard boxes. Useless relics had been scattered around the floor, no doubt the wizard’s most prized possessions: a carved wooden pole, a dragon’s head, a wizard’s cloak and hat (entirely for show, this. Neither had a speck of magic in them), a large crystal ball. True, it was the largest crystal ball I had ever seen, but I doubted it worked. Nothing in the room suggested to me that he was a particularly powerful magician, not to mention I hadn’t met a single guard or security of any other kind.
I was just starting to feel the dust cling to my fur when I caught sight of the pouch. Tiptoeing around stacks of leather-bound books, old dishes, and piles of who knows what else, I clambered up a tower of boxes and lifted the crocodile-skin pouch from its place in the corner of the highest shelf. I brushed away the cobwebs, which then stuck stubbornly to my claws. Lovely. The bag was surprisingly heavy for being so small. I rubbed it roughly with my palm to get it somewhat clean before hesitantly taking hold of it between my teeth. Like someone testing cold water, I let the top of the pouch touch my tongue little by little, lip curling at the taste.
Don’t look in the bag. Those had been the idiot’s instructions. What did I care what was in this bloody piece of dead skin? How I would have enjoyed telling him to get the thing himself. Better yet, if I had just killed him there –
Ah, well. It’s better not to dwell on missed opportunities.
Like an acrobat, I descended lightly to the floor and made my way for the exit. My ears dropped as I felt pressure against my ankle. I looked down to see a thin, almost invisible wire barring my path. As highly unsophisticated as this was, I had still failed to see it. Easy mistake. It just goes to show you that even the best of us can get careless. The wall in front of me started to blur. Bloody wizard.
With jarring screams, translucent figures glided through the wall and into the room, some more enthusiastic than others. They had straggly manes and pointed snouts, using their long hooked arms to swipe at me. More disconcerting though was the absence of a lower body. I ducked as one reached for the pouch, which I had been struggling to hold anyway with my mouth contorted in distaste. Before I could react, the bookshelves shuddered and toppled over. I crouched down to wait for the impact, but it never came. The tops of the bookcases had caught each other, forming a sort of dome above me.
Well, I’m going to go out on a limb here and guess the intruder-crushing trap was never tested.
The pale creatures continued to swirl around above me like fish in a bowl, moaning and screeching, “Help, master! Thief! A thief in your library!” One of them plunged and swam clean through me, giving me an intense cold pain uber picky comment, but you can go further with this description of intense cold pain. Instead of simply saying 'it was an intense cold pain' go for something like 'it was like having a four foot wide icicle sear through my flesh and then back out again' I love the idea of these creatures, though ^_^. I darted for the door. Locked. Curse it all. Why hadn’t I left the door open? I turned in panic and spotted a small gap between the bottoms of two bookshelves, letting white light through. I couldn’t fit, but a panther could.
The black cat since you are the black cat, just say 'I bolted across the room...'bolted across the room, crashing into stacks of boxes, shooting loose papers into the air where they fluttered like leaves in fall. Once I forced my head through the space, the rest of my body followed like a stubborn cork released from a bottle nice . A window? What kind of idiot has a window behind a bookshelf? As much as I would have loved to ask the moron himself, it was time to make good my escape; the cries behind me had grown into wails of rage. I set my jaw and sunk my teeth into the pouch. With a splintering crash, the panther dove through the window, plummeting to the earth in a shower of winking glass shards, dainty as falling dewdrops. I landed on my feet, as any half-decent cat would, letting out a small yowl of pain. Even with a limp, I ran at full speed to the gate and scaled the chain link, launched myself over the top, and landed on the safe side. I dropped the pouch in the sand and squinted up at the mansion. My unsuccessful attackers - forbidden to leave the boundaries of the house - had turned rather unbecoming shades of purple and red, shrieking at me in a jumbled mass and waving their arms.
I bowed deeply to them and danced around in a circle. “Ha! You pathetic creatures,” I bellowed. “Be honored to have been graced by the presence of one so powerful as I! You have faced Aunix, the Crivvin who slayed the Dragon of Mar, fought with the trolls of the Mountain Region - ” I sat in the sand, spouting off my list of accomplishments. I may have exaggerated a few points, but think how boring life would be if everyone were strictly bound to the truth. I continued my boasting, practically hugging myself until I heard familiar howls. I glanced around, and saw the orange light no doubt cast by their fiery breath. Hollow laughter emanated from my ghostly friends at the window, chilling me.
And then came the Sharakas.

In any case, the distance between the building and the sighing couple was unacceptable narrow.