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

Chapter 39: Return

Stacy yelled, "What have you done?" Theresa waved her hand impatiently. "Oh, stop being so glum. They'll all be here in about, hmm ... ten or twenty minutes." Jake moaned, "That sucks." Lily looked at them, concerned. "Uh, thank you for that terrifying presentation, but we really should be going," Lily said. She managed to push the doors open. "Hmm. Fine. Just don't come back," Theresa purred. Lily pushed the others through the doors and shut them. A flash of gray magic glowed between the doors, sealing them.

Foxfire trotted towards Lily. She stroked his mane and he whinnied impatiently, like, what took you so long, girl? "I'm all right, Foxfire," she said, though she doubted the others were. Jake climbed onto his donkey. "I guess we go now," he said. "Right," Lily said. She mounted herself on Foxfire's back and he instantly shot off into the gray mist, Geiger and Trevor following close behind. Soon the mist opened up and the battle appeared. Tara met them near the battle.

"Where were you?" she demanded. "And why are Jake and Stacy so pale?" "We met Theresa, and she showed us some crap," Lily said. "What kind of crap?" Tara asked. "She's captured your mother, Tara," Stacy said, "and my sister Sandra, and Parker and Oneida."

Tara gasped. "But how could she possibly-" "Theresa tricked them," Lily said. "Your mom thought you were calling for help." Tara looked ready to run to Theresa's palace and slap her in the face. Her snake hissed. "Please don't go back," Lily said. "We'll find a way together." Tara said something to the snake and they bolted past them. Foxfire chased after her, blocking their way. "There's no point going there," Lily said. Tara's shoulders slumped and she headed back to the dwarves.

Jake tossed what was left of his sword onto the ground. "Tara's right. We should go back." "No," Lily firmly replied. "Jake, stop it. We should ... stay here," Stacy said. She was obviously forcing the words out. She glanced at Lily, and her eyes conveyed a message, repeating itself over and over again: please let us go back. Please let me save my sister.

"Change of plans, we'll go there now," Lily relented. Stacy said, "Thank you thank you thank you." "You're welcome," she replied. Jake shouted into the crowd, "Tara! Come on, I changed my mind!" In a flash, Tara was next to them. Lily spurred Foxfire back across the ground, back to Theresa's palace.

Soon they entered Theresa's realm of gray mist. "Stay together!" Lily called to the others. "We should be there in two minutes." Five minutes later the palace hadn't appeared. She urged Foxfire to go faster. "Keep going," she said, "Theresa's prison should be here somewh-"

A wall of gray mistmaterialized in a flash. Foxfire balked violently to avoid crashing into it."Calm down!" Lily said into the horse's ear. Then bam - a misty gray hologram of Theresa appeared in front of them,glowering. "Come back so soon, haven't you?" Stacy didn't miss a beat. "Hello,Theresa! We'd love to see our families, please." The queen sighed and flickedher hand at them. Gray fog obscured their vision, and Lily felt herself beinglifted into the air.