Two Worlds (Written by a 10-year-old author, 62,000 words, 72 chapters)

Chapter 18: Fid the fortune teller

Jake was not having a good day.

Even in the sweltering heat, the dwarves fought on. Most of the elves had collapsed from heat exhaustion, and the elves still fighting didn't seem to be any better. Of course, there was the real problem: the elves' control center manager and an officer who happened to be one of Jake's best comrades had gone missing. To make things worse, Lily, the human girl the elves took from earth, had vanished with them.

The dwarves stampeded the elves, kicking up dust. Jake blindly fired his dart gun until a dwarf ran right into him, and he fell over with a yell of surprise.

When Jake finally managed to get up again (darn, those dwarves were too good at trampling people), the dwarves were not too far away, clambering over the ruins of the city wall and whooping and yelling like monkeys. Elves chased after them, but Jake knew one hundred elves weren't going to do much against an army of one thousand dwarves. He brushed the dust off his clothes and ran after the dwarves.

Ten minutes later, the dwarves had reached the central tower. As they charged straight through the door, Jake veered off course and headed into a nearby tiny house. He yanked open the door and pushed his way past various glass jars on shelves (which promptly fell and broke) and a big metal sign that read: THE FUTURE IS YOUR DESTINY! (Which toppled over and nearly whacked him on the head).

Jake reached an empty counter topped with a big glass sphere. He knocked on the counter and an elf popped up from behind it. The elf had wrinkly ears and a long nose. "Hello!" The tiny elf had a creaky voice that sounded like a mouse farting, only louder and squeakier. "Fid DeFazio," Jake said. "I have a question for you." "Is your question about the future?" Fid asked. "No!" "Fortune charms?" "Are you kidding me?!?"

Fid glared at Jake. "I'm just a fortune teller. I can only help you with things about fortune and the fut-"

"Don't you dare lie to me," Jake growled. "You may be a fortune teller, but I know that you are also a gadget collector." Fid snorted. "What's with all the funny talk, Jake Iander? I'm just what I say." "Shut up, DeFazio."

***

When Lily, Tara, and Stacy touched down in the grass, the sun was setting. Lily extracted herself from the tangled parachute and got to her feet. "Where are we?" she asked.

Good question. The landscape that stretched out in front of them was nearly barren, except for a few dried up shrubs. Far away on the horizon, there was a thin line of buildings, indicating that there was life somewhere in this bleak place. "Fifty bucks and a year's worth of candy that's the dwarf city," Stacy said. "Of course not," Tara chided. "That line in the distance is obviously the elfin city." The two argued about taking bets and just how important candy was while Lily kicked dead shrubs into dust. As the argument intensified, Lily began to get bored. She put on her bossiest, I'm-in-charge-so-you-better-listen-to-me voice and said, "That is enough. You two stop arguing right this instant!"

The effect was immediate and satisfying. Tara and Stacy stopped talking and glared at each other, but the argument was over. "We have to find out what that line in the distance is," Lily said. With a reluctant sigh they started over the bare ground.