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

Chapter 27: Stacy takes her aircraft for a very dangerous ride

Stacy flew her aircraft through the falling rocks, clutching the piloting levers. A giant rock appeared in front of her windshield and she yelled, "Crap!" before pulling the controls to the right. The spaceship made a sharp turn and continued on its way. Stacy's plan was to somehow get to the northern tower, where most of the elves would have gathered and where she could get help. Sometimes a rock would crack the windshield and Stacy would have to yank the reverse lever backward before it could punch a hole in the glass. She floored the gas and dodged a giant rock. In front of her, there was a gap in the rocks, just big enough for the spaceship to get through. If she was fast enough, she could get into the region of the more spaced out rocks. Stacy gritted her teeth, flipped open a button cover, checked her seatbelt, and pressed the button, which was labeled roll.

***

Jake slid across the floor and yelled to Tara, "What's going on?" "I don't know!" Tara replied. Well, that's just great, he thought. He was wondering why in the world Stacy was driving through the falling tower rubble so fast when the aircraft started to roll wildly. Jake flew into the air and slammed into the ceiling - ouch - and then just as suddenly changed direction and slammed into the wall. Lily yelled, "Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow! Oh, no - OW!" as she tumbled around in the aircraft. Her loudspeaker flew through the air and nearly whacked Jake in the head. Tara had curled herself into a ball so that she bounced safely off the walls without screaming in pain. Jake grabbed the pilot chair as he flew past the cockpit and yelled, "Stacy! What - ow - are you - ow - doing? Ow!" as he smacked against the back of the chair. Stacy, who - lucky her - was in seatbelts, continued to calmly maneuver the spaceship. Her message couldn't have been clearer: Go away. I'm working, can't you see?

The spaceship made another roll. Lily's loudspeaker slammed into Jake. He let go of the chair and slid across the floor. Tara bounced off him as she sailed by, knocking him into Lily, who yelled in surprise and shoved him into a wall. The air filled the word 'ow' as Jake, Lily, and Tara smacked into each other and tumbled off into opposite directions. Then suddenly the rolling stopped as Stacy hit the brakes. Jake crashed into the pilot chair, Lily was hurled into the front windshield, and Tara uncurled herself just as she slammed into the floor and came to rest against the wall, groaning. Stacy grinned. "See?" she said. "That wasn't so bad-" "Oh, yes it was!" Lily interrupted. "-anyway, we shall be arriving at the northern tower in approximately ten minutes. Thank you for joining us on the flight of the Alpha 201," Stacy continued. "You're very welcome," Jake grumbled.

Tara complained from the floor, "Why did I agree to do this?" "I saved your life, remember?" Stacy said. She glanced out of the front windshield. "Okay, we have arrived at the northern tower," she reported. Stacy landed the Alpha 201 on the ground and Jake stumbled out through the door, Lily and Tara walking behind him. "I'll stay here, just in case you need a ride," Stacy said. She tossed Lily her loudspeaker. "If you need me, yell," she advised.

Lily caught the loudspeaker and pried open the tower door with her borrowed sword. Immediately, elfin guards blocked her path, swords crossed. Jake stepped forward. "Swords down," he commanded, "we are survivors from the war. We are not going to cause any harm." The elves uncrossed their swords and they ran into the tower.

The tower was packed with elves. A young medic rushed forward. "Oh, Jake, when will you stop hitting your head?" she said crossly when she saw the bump on his head. Another elf grinned. "Your sister's right. I mean, dude, how can you hit your head about a million times in a row without getting knocked out?" "Shut up, Parker," Jake muttered, "I only got knocked out once or twice." Parker grinned.

"Oneida, why don't you take care of your older brother?" Tara suggested. Oneida grinned mischievously and dragged a protesting Jake into the elf crowd. An older elf pushed her way towards them. "Tara!" she said. Parker suddenly looked nervous and said, "I'll be, um, just over there." He ran into the crowd and disappeared. The older elf ran to Tara and gave her a big hug. "Mom!" Tara complained. "Oh, honey, I'm just so glad you're safe!" Tara's mother said. "Oh, go away, mother, you're embarrassing me." Tara grabbed Lily's hand and pulled her into the crowd.

Lily said, "You're mom's, um, really nice." "You can say that again," Tara grumbled. Nearby Oneida was making Jake sit in a chair with an ice pack on his head. "Now, Jake, you can sit down and take some rest," she cooed. "I don't need rest!" Jake said. Spotting Lily and Tara, he begged, "Tara, Lily, help me!" Lily came over and grabbed Jake's younger sister, swinging her into the air. Oneida giggled with delight as Jake jumped out of his chair, tossing his ice pack over his shoulder.

Lily set Oneida down. "We should go to our living quarters," Jake said. They went over to the service booth, where a small wrinkly elf sat. They waited in line. When it was Jake's turn, he said, "Fid, I could arrest you for many reasons, but right now I need a room." The old elf chuckled. "Alright, Jake, I'll give you room 3765," he said. Lily pushed her way out of the crowd and yelled into her loudspeaker, "STACY! COME ON DOWN, WE'RE GETTING OUR LIVING QUARTERS ASSIGNED."

After Stacy had come out of the aircraft, Fid assigned the girls their rooms. When he saw Lily, he said, "You're Lily, right? I've heard about you. Okay, I'll give you the luxury room 3849." Tara got luxury room 3837 and Stacy got luxury room 3839. As Jake complained why all the girls get the luxury rooms Lily went up a hallway to room 3849 and unlocked the door. Tara appeared behind her as she stared at what was her living quarter. "Oh ... you are so lucky," Tara said. Lily didn't blame her for having a twinge of jealousy in her voice.

Lily's room was huge, with an enormous window overlooking the entire elfin city. There was an awesome-looking video game console with at least fifty games on a nearby table. A giant glass TV dominated a quarter of the living room. The bedroom contained a posh queen-sized bed. Lily and Tara went into the kitchen to find a polished dining table, a chandelier, and a sparkling granite countertop. Lily opened the fridge to find thousands of foods stacked neatly on shelves. Pizza, ice cream, soda and candy made up only one-tenth of the varieties of foods. "Wow," Lily commented, "this is nice." "You think?" Tara asked.

Lily checked out Tara's room and found that was just as amazing as her room. She grabbed a bowl of salad and a can of Coke from her fridge and ate her lunch. For the first time, she realized just how hungry she was. Lily gobbled down the salad and added a yogurt to her meal. Then, yawning, she collapsed on her bed and fell asleep instantly, for once not worrying about dwarves.