September Mini Contest
– Sept 2023
Winning Entry (Ages 9-10):
The Cat’s World
© Mara Scott – Age 10, United States
The boy woke up from his dream. It had been the most odd dream, yet it felt so real. He had been standing on a different planet—some sort of alternate universe. The moonlight shone across the clear lake below him, and what had looked like the northern lights shone in the dark sky and lit up the world around him. There had been no moon, no clouds, no stars. Only a distant mountain surrounded by trees stood before him.
The first thing he heard when he woke up was, “I know it’s midnight, but we need to pack our bags because we’re leaving in four hours. Now you get out of bed this instant, Mako Kingston Therid!”
Mako rolled out of the bed, banging his head on the side table in the process. “Ugh…” he moaned.
Mornings were the worst. He pulled on a shirt and clomped downstairs. His mother, who was a morning person, was making pancakes. “Go to the pantry and get me the syrup,” she said. Mako walked to the pantry. When he opened it there was a cat with mysterious eyes sitting on the floor. She mewed and hopped onto the shelf where the syrup was.
“Wait, that bottle’s glass!” Mako shouted as the cat pawed at it. It fell to the ground. He expected there to be shattered glass everywhere, but instead it disappeared. For a second all was quiet. Then something magical happened. All the foods and cans—everything, in fact—began to hover in the air. Even the cat and Mako.
“Follow me, Mako,” the cat purred.
“Wait, did you just-” Mako shrieked as he plummeted through the floor into darkness.
The cat started glowing.
“What the…” Mako breathed.
“My name is Yumibu,” the cat said. “And I’m about to show you my world.”
Mako landed face-first on grass. It didn’t hurt. When he stood up, he saw Yumibu falling too. She landed on her paws, of course. Mako scanned the area. It looked just like his dream. The altered northern lights shone in the pitch-black sky.
“Why did you bring me here?” Mako asked.
“Of course you’ve already seen it,” Yumibu purred. “In your dream.”
“How do you…?”
“I just know stuff.”
“Well if you know I have seen it before why did you bring me here?” Yumibu walked toward the end of the cliff they were standing on and said, “Follow me.”
Mako followed Yumibu down a winding path. Eventually they made it to what Yumibu called the Lake of Memories.
“This lake holds all the memories of the world—this world and yours,” Yumibu began. “I protect it. But recently a wicked king stole one of the memories. I need your help.”
“Why?”
“If he destroys the memory, all the worlds will collapse, including yours. Don’t worry. No time will pass in your world. Your mom won’t be looking for you.”
Mako pondered for a minute. Then he said, “Let’s do this.”
Winning Entry (Ages 11-12):
The Mountain
© Talitha Borstad – Age 12, United States
It was a frigid autumn night. The stars had been out for at least an hour. Everything seemed to tell Keith to stop and make camp.
Everything, that is, except the small, persistent voice in his head which told him to keep going, keep going, keep going.
He stopped to adjust his pack. The hill he was hiking up was steep, and he was getting out of breath. And he seemed to have lost Tiger again.
He had crossed paths with the cat a week into his travels. For some reason, it had followed him after that.
He whistled, then called. “Tiger!”
The large, blue-grey cat appeared at the top of the hill. She tilted her head to the side and meowed questioningly.
Keith grinned. “Wait for me, will you? We can’t all have four legs. I’m coming as fast as I can.”
The cat purred and sat down to wait.
Keith’s mind wandered as he climbed. He thought of his hometown, Greenborough, where he had lived with his uncle and aunt until two months ago. He had been quite happy there, until his uncle and aunt decided to apprentice him to the village banker. It was a splendid opportunity, they said.
But Keith didn’t care much about splendid opportunities if they involved sitting in a dusty building when you could be running and climbing and exploring. So, he had packed a knapsack, left a note on the mantelpiece, and set off.
Keith reached the top of the hill and stopped.
Stretching before him was a lake, its water pure and crystal-like. On the other side was a Mountain.
It was the most beautiful thing Keith had seen in all his twelve years. It shone in the starlight. Snow and ice gleamed on it, like a glittering cloak.
It seemed to him that the Mountain was a living thing. Breathing. Growing. Watching him.
The voice in his head was quiet now. So, he began to set up camp. As he did, he promised himself that he would get to that mountain.
…
It took Keith a day’s travel around the lake to get to the Mountain. When he reached its base, he found a winding, upward-sloping tunnel leading into it. He and Tiger followed the tunnel for what seemed like several hours.
Finally, Keith reached a doorway off the side of the tunnel. Inside lay a massive pile of gold. He stepped inside, staring in amazement as he walked around the treasure. Then he froze.
Behind the gold sprawled an immense silver dragon. He had obviously been asleep, but now he lifted his head and stared at Keith with piercing blue eyes. He opened his mouth, but instead of flames, words came out.
“Well, one certainly gets hungry after a long sleep. Would you be kind enough to tell me what century it is?”
Winning Entry (Ages 13-15):
An Unplanned Landing
© Karena Christen – Age 15, Latvia
“Warning! Warning! Ship failure imminent. Please follow emergency landing protocols.”
Xye swiped the bright red error warning to the side of the screen and tapped the forwards camera reading. Spread out beneath the bow of the Riley were thick clouds painted dark blue in the evening light. They were almost pretty, Xye supposed. They’d be a lot prettier if the craft wasn’t about to crash into the forest below.
“Shouldn’t you be consulting the manual?” Ere appeared at Xye’s shoulder. “In the event of an unplanned crash, I believe guidelines require a message to be sent to Headquarters.”
“Transponders are knocked out. We’re going to have to execute an emergency landing.”
“You’re right.” Ere jumped past Xye to take control of the ship’s motion, her right paw slapping against the control panel.
“We need to find a place to set down.” Xye pulled up a scan of the planet and searched for some sort of clearing. “Do you think you can aim for the lake?”
“We’re not ready for a water landing. Floating struts are disabled.”
“There’s a small rocky beach just this side of the water, though, so we might be able to land there.”
“Warning! Warning! Ship failure imminent. Pl—”
Ere turned the warnings off. “How small is ‘small’?”
“About three meters.”
Ere’s slitted pupils rolled in their yellow irises. “That’s probably pushing it, Xye.”
“It’s our only option. If we die, my parents’ll kill me.”
“That’s illegal.”
“Just put us down.” Xye checked the monitor. “We’re approaching on vector 2.67, heading 33.46 by 42.57 by 12.93.”
“You might wanna brace for impact.”
Xye sat back in the harness and switched on g-force reduction. Ere’s fur stood in shackles, her tail pointed straight up. Briefly, Xye considered the fact that maybe Ere couldn’t do this. But no. That wasn’t an option. She had to be able to save them. It was the whole reason Companions were included on missions: they could do things humans couldn’t.
The ship hit the sand at the close edge of the beach with a gasp and the whoosh of the reverse thrusters. Ere’s paws flew across the screen as she fought desperately to keep the craft from grinding its way over the edge and into the glassy lake. With an almighty clunk she released the rear grappling claw.
On the display, the claw caught onto a small pine tree.
It grappled for a second.
Held.
The craft bounced against the end of the line as it stopped.
Xye sighed.
“We should familiarize ourselves with the surroundings,” Ere said.
“You’re right.” Xye edited the craft. The friends stepped onto the loose sand and looked out over the lake. In the distance, a mountain peak rose. Its reflection rippled softly on the surface of the lake.
“It might have been terrible getting here,” Ere said, “but I have to say that this view is worth it.”
“Definitely.”
“Still round the corner there may wait, a new road or a secret gate.”
– J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings