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

Chapter 49: A reunion at Kmart

The next morning Lily and her friends gathered near Central Park. Stacy gave a brief report. "I saw Theresa last night from my hotel window. I'm sure it was her. She was walking, possibly running, in the direction of the Statue of Liberty's location – at least, until it disappeared." "Which is away from here," Tara said. "We can still try to blend in. I already have ideas." She pointed to all of them, one by one. "Lily and Oneida, you should be fine. Stay in school as long as you can. Stacy, I'm thinking you should be, um, a volunteer for Lily's school. I'll think about what I can do. But Jake ..." Tara thought for a moment. "You need a job."

Jake looked incredulous. "Who, me?" "Yeah. There's an opening for cashiers at the Kmart over there," Tara replied distractedly. "But-"

"I'm starving!" Stacy announced. Food must've been on everyone's mind because Lily and her friends began to search for a restaurant. "There's a McDonald's over there." Lily pointed.

"No, there isn't."

"Jake, I'm sure. See the big M?"

"Stacy, do you see it?"

"Uh, wait ... Tara, I see it!"

"I see it too!"

"Me too! I am starving!"

They reached the McDonald's and went in, ordering a jumbo fries and hamburgers and an extra-large salad (Tara was a vegetarian.) In a few minutes, Lily and the others were inhaling fries. Tara munched down her salad. Soon, full of fast food, they went to the Kmart to see if they could get anything of actual value.

As they got closer to the store, Lily heard a shuffling sound. Jake yelped in surprise as he was dragged into a nearby alley by someone in a black sweatshirt. After a few moments of shouting, Jake and the stranger began to talk. Lily stopped the others from running into the alley as Jake began to speak:

"Gah! Whaa..."

"Yo, little dude."

"Parker, I am very glad to see you, but for the last time, I am not little! Why are you wearing that?"

"Thank you for noticing. How many times have you hit your head?"

"Okay, just because I hit my head a billion times back home doesn't mean I have to hit my head on Earth."

"Yeah. It's been, like, several hours since I've eaten, and you smell like fast food. Do you have a hamburger?"

"Actually, no."

There were more scuffling sounds and soon Parker came out of the alley, dragging Jake like a naughty dog. Oneida instantly pounced on him, scolding, "Parker, where have you been? You idiot - that is no way to treat your poor little sister, by which I mean me, leaving her all alone ..." and so on. Jake snuck off back to the McDonald's and bought his older brother a hamburger. Parker munched on it and stood politely, watching as Oneida rambled on and on for what seemed like hours on end. Eventually, she ran out of breath. Parker finished off his burger and smacked Jake on the back, nearly knocking him over. "Well, bro, we better get going. I hear Theresa's been up to naughty stuff! Messing up the Statue of Liberty, what an accomplishment!"

Lily decided to interrupt the conversation before Jake started screaming. "That wasn't Theresa, that was Sophie," she said. The color drained from Parker's face. "Say what?" "Theresa is being chased by her sister," Stacy explained. "She's even more powerful than we thought," Oneida added. "Gradually, she's sapping Theresa's energy and her powers."

Parker took a deep breath. "Well, I wasn't expecting that. She devastated the elfin city ten years ago; back in, uh, 2027. Sophie destroyed half of the city. I wasn't hurt, but I got pretty freaked out when she left Jake dangling from the twentieth floor outside the damaged main center." "I was only 147 years old," Jake complained. "I don't know. I would be so sad if she demolished all the candy stores on this planet," Parker said with a shake of his head. Next to Lily, Stacy shuddered, as if recalling the terrible candy incident. "Anyway, Theresa dropped us all over New York City. I fell in a trash can. Ouch."

"We can all be sympathetic and cry later, but we need to find my mom and Stacy's sister," Tara interrupted. "Right!" Jake smacked Parker's back, who turned around and hit Jake on his back, sending him sprawling. "Ow." Stacy helped Jake to his feet and they all began towards the Empire State Building after Lily suggested it.

As they were walking down5th street Stacy suddenly stopped in her tracks and whispered, "Doyou hear that?" Coming from their right side was the sound of a toddlerscreaming and crying. "Stacy!" Stacydashed into the street and disappeared around the block, coming back secondslater with her sister Sandra in her arms. Sandra had stopped crying and was nowfocused on eating the end of her flowered shirt. "I found her next to a garbagecan," she said happily. They took a detour and dropped off Sandra at Lily'shome before continuing their walk.