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

Chapter 43: Tara vandalizes a tunnel

Being a chicken was extremely disturbing.

To be a small feathered bird was horrible. Jake couldn't do anything but squawk - and then to make things worse, his friends actually renamed him Squawk. I mean, seriously - what kind of name was that? Thanks a lot, Lily.

He looked towards the end of the tunnel as Tara used her sword to scratch the pure gold off the walls. Typical of Theresa to choose the most luxurious decorations for a tunnel. Jake felt himself sailing through the air as Tara tossed him to Stacy. To his surprise, Stacy set him down on the floor. "Just because I'm being nice," she said, "I'll let you walk by yourself." Jake adjusted to his role of Squawk the chicken and followed his friends.

***

Lily jogged to the end of the tunnel. There was a locked door in front of her. "Squawk," Jake/Squawk the chicken said. "Yeah, I know," Lily said bitterly. "Squawk!" Gray mist seeped under the door. It surrounded the chicken for five seconds, and then bam­ - Jake was sitting on the floor in front of them. He groaned and stood up. "Man, being a bird sucked." He glared at Lily. "And don't ever tempt Theresa like that. You know what she's like." "Uh ... sorry?" Lily used her sword to pry open the door.

Theresa sat in her already-fixed throne, drinking a cup of coffee. She had turned an entire wall into a huge glass window, and Lily was pretty sure nothing would stop her from crashing through and escaping. Also, the gaping hole in the floor had been repaired. "Did you have a nice talk?" the queen asked. "Oh, yes, we did," Tara said sarcastically. "Oh, you're so happy," Theresa said, mocking Tara. "Hello, Jake. You make a very nice chicken, you know." "Theresa, where are our families?" Stacy asked. "Hmm?" the sorceress answered. "I turned them into mist. I'll be sending them off anytime now." "Wait, what?" Tara said.

Theresa threw her coffee cup over her shoulder at the window, making a hole in the glass and splashing liquid everywhere. Cold air rushed in. The queen waved her hand and a stream of gray mist flew through the hole and disappeared.

"Where did you take them?" Jake demanded. Theresa got up from her throne. "To my favorite vacation spot, of course. I've been there so many times." A gray video screen popped up, showing a woman and a younger version of Theresa arguing. Behind them, there was a city, packed with houses on a desert plain. The other lady was yelling, "Theresa! I shall not let you take over." Theresa screamed right back, "Thy brain must be scrambled. You clearly do not have my power, and if you do not let me rule, I shall destroy thy city." Gray fire lit up the houses, and the video vanished.

Due to Lily's history knowledge, Theresa had been speaking in the kind of language from somewhere in the time B.C or A.C. "Uh, you must have been really young," she said. In front of her, the sorceress raised her eyebrows. "There are many advantages of a magical life. But you do not know how long it took me to change to modern talk. Took me centuries, but now, I am more modern. Anyway, your families, like I said, are in my favorite vacation spot." "Uh, can you give us, like, GPS or something?" Lily asked.

Theresa looked ather. "Actually, no, because I was planning to destroy all of you, which I shalldo in about five seconds."