Some friends of mine know that I am a writer and told me about this 48 hour "flash fiction" writing contest that the University of Iowa holds every year. They said that they all participate and encouraged me to do so as well. I wasn't sure that I would. I'm not terrible at writing short stories, but I struggle with them. I always want to explore more and go further into the world or plot I've created and end up writing the beginnings of a novel instead (which ends up abandoned deep in my files more often than not). But, this competition was only 48 hours long, so I wouldn't have very long to write and rewrite and try to perfect every little detail, it had to be 1,000 words or less, so there really wasn't room for details anyway, and the contest would provide two prompts, so I didn't have to pull something out of thin air. When the 48 hour challenge rolled around, I gave it a shot. The contest gave these two prompts: Prompt A: A thriller, the primary character is a fortune cookie writer, and it must include dish soap somewhere in the story. Prompt B: A fantasy, the primary character is an elevator inspector, and it must include a balloon somewhere in the story. I actually ended up writing two stories, both for Prompt B, because I hated the first one after I wrote it and wanted to do better just to spite myself. I get some of my best writing done out of spite for others and myself and I liked the second story better so that's what I submitted. I knew they would be announcing the winners today, and though I had high hopes, I had low expectations. I told my beloved cat, Elinor, before I went to work today that she shouldn't get too excited because this was my first year entering and there are many wonderful writers out there. She ignored me and then meowed at me to turn on the faucet for her so that she could drink some tap water. When I was at work, I quickly got caught up in the busyness of the library and forgot about the writing contest, planning on checking the results when I got home. While I was helping someone print endless copies of personal documents, the phone rang. My coworker told me it was my mom and offered to swap places with me so I could talk to her. Lo and behold, my mom was calling to congratulate me on being named one of five honorable mentions in the writing contest! While I was excited, I was also needed to help with the copier, so I was not as appreciative to my mom as I should have been for her call and hang up rather quickly (sorry, Mom!). The happy thought of having my work looked at and mentioned honorably has warmed me up all day. It will make me even happier to share the story here with anyone who might see it. If you would like to read the fantastic winning entries and the other honorable mentions, check out the University of Iowa Write Now website by clicking the button below. Then keep on scrolling here to read both the story that I got honorable mention for and the first story I wrote for this contest (which I don't hate so much anymore). Honorable mention story: Adaptable Nature Pixies were never meant to live in cities. They weren’t meant to dodge traffic, wheeze through smog, or build their homes out of litter. But, neither were pigeons. Along with their fascination with French fries, pixies and pigeons shared an adaptable nature. Despite the cement towers dominating every block of the city, pixies had still managed to carve out a corner of nature for themselves. They’d found a park on a prime slice of real estate between two highrise behemoths. Humans never noticed their petite homes made of discarded boxes or saw the smoke rising from their drinking straw chimneys. Never had a human foot trampled the pebble paths lined with bottle caps, nor knocked down the picket fences made of cigarette butts. It was a quiet, happy community. Allani, a glittering purple pixie, loved her juice carton home and her plastic bag hammock. She would lay back in the evenings and watch the light from the streetlamp catch on the chandelier she’d crafted from lost earrings. She and her neighbors had just cleared a patch to start a garden and a new coffee shop had just opened near the park--promising a world of tasty cast offs. All would be well. With a contented smile, Allani stretched eagerly one morning. It was still dark, but her chore for the day needed to be done early. She closed her front door and flapped her dragonfly wings. Buzzing into the air, she took off down the street and hummed to herself, observing the neighborhood. She waved at a rat she knew as he scurried away, dragging a soft pretzel behind him, and blew a kiss to the raccoon in the dumpster. She cried out in pure delight when she spotted a purple balloon stuck in the scraggly tree by the street. It was the same color as her hair and she loved it immediately. For ten minutes she fought with the string and the branch holding it, before freeing her prize. The few, sleepy humans who noticed the balloon watched it only for a moment. In their city there were more exciting things to pay attention to than a lone, bobbing balloon. Allani towed the purple orb to the shiny building not far from her park and used it to trigger the sensor for the sliding glass doors. Once inside, she breathed in the scent of the perfumed lobby. She admired her reflection in the floor and then made her way to the elevators. Both were out of order, but Allani was in a good mood. She could have found the stairwell and flown up, she supposed. However, she knew that elevators were important in emergency situations for paramedics and police. So, Allani decided to investigate and find the cause of the problem. She’d lived in an elevator shaft for a short time before moving to her current home and she considered herself an expert. At least among pixies. She left her balloon waiting in the lobby and pressed the button on the elevator. Nothing happened, so she pried the cover off the button panel and examined the wires. Humming again, she used her teeth to cut through a few wires and rework them to open the heavy metal doors. With a nod to herself, she entered the elevator and began poking around. Her inspection seemed to be a dead end. Nothing she could find would stop the lift from lifting, so she tried pushing a button on the panel. It lit up, but there was no movement. Crossing her arms and tapping her chin, Allani tried to think. Eventually, she snapped her fingers and flew through the crevice that led to the shaft. She fluttered up to the suspension cables and looked around. Just as she’d suspected, a fuzzy green creature sat, gnawing on the cables, a fistful of important looking wires in his hand. A gremlin. Allani wasn’t big enough to fight the machine destroying creature, but she was smart enough to get rid of him. It helped that gremlins were not so bright themselves. All she had to do was tell him that there was a helicopter landing on the roof and he scampered up the cables and away with a hoot of excitement. There was nothing gremlins liked more than air vehicles. After that, it was short work to put the elevator back in working order. Before she rode to the top floor, she went back for her balloon and brought it with her. She’d learned the key code for the penthouse days before by silently watching and she entered it to gain access to the luxurious apartment. Once inside, she marveled at the array of trinkets. When she finally found her way to the bedroom, she picked up a sparkly diamond earring. It would be perfect decor. She glanced at the two sleeping figures in the bed and then at her balloon. She knew she couldn’t keep the big purple thing, but she decided it could still be useful. She gently poked a hole near the balloon knot with her new earring. The helium whooshed out and she giggled in a higher pitch at the flatulent sound. Once it was deflated, she took the purple latex and flew toward the king sized bed. She landed on the man’s sharp cheekbone and watched him sleep peacefully for a moment. Then she pried open his mouth and shoved the balloon deep into his esophagus. He choked and spluttered. The woman next to him tiredly slapped at his arm, muttering for him to be quiet. Her wish came true a moment later and Allani sat on the man’s neck to check his pulse. Satisfied with her handiwork, she wrestled his phone over to his face to unlock it. With a gleeful grin, she typed a text message: I changed my mind. Don’t build on the park. Leave it alone. After hitting send, she took the earring and returned home. Story I started out hating, but don't mind so much now: Pat's Last Inspection Dust coated the panel and the buttons no longer lit up. The floor grabbed at shoes with years of sticky grime. Somehow, the handrail around the steel box was still shiny, but who really ever used the handrail inside an elevator anyway? Pat reached out to press the button for the top floor. One ride and then her inspection would be complete. After that she could go home to her recliner and her leftovers. Her joints rejoiced at the thought of sitting. With her boss and her knees reminding her every day that she was getting too old for her job, she wondered for the millionth time if she ought to retire soon. Just as the elevator doors started to close, someone stepped inside. She blinked and looked over her clipboard into the golden eyes of a young man. Her niece was into comic conventions and had a pair of contacts that did the same thing, but the shimmery color still unnerved Pat. “Did you not see the sign?” She asked. His hair was down to his shoulders in an unkept, but stylish shape. When he looked at her and smiled, she noticed stars painted on his cheeks like freckles. “Sign?” She wondered if the British accent was part of his character. “The ‘closed for inspection’ sign printed on neon paper?” “Are you a lift inspector?” He turned fully to look at her and she saw that his jacket was covered in patches of stars, hearts, and balloons. “Excellent career choice. Do you enjoy it?” She pushed the button for the next floor and when the doors opened she pointed, “Out. I haven’t finished my inspection yet.” “I can’t take the stairs,” he sighed regrettably and gestured to his cane. Had he been carrying that the whole time? Pat stared at the intricately carved walking stick. With her line of work, she liked to think that she was fairly observant, but she felt like the cane had been pulled from thin air. “Oh,” she shook her head, “Fine. I’m almost done anyway. You’re headed to the top floor?” “Hopefully.” “The elevator’s not in that bad of shape,” she laughed, “There’s no ‘hopefully’ about it. We’ll get there.” “Well, with elevators like this, you never can be sure,” he rapped his cane on the door, “Can’t see a thing through all this metal and there are no windows.” “Claustrophobic?” “I mean…” he waved his hand flippantly, “Well, isn’t it exciting? We step in a box in one place, push a button, and step out in entirely another.” Pat eyed him curiously, but didn’t comment. It was too late in the day to entertain whatever philosophical or phantasmical thought he was thinking. “How can we be sure of where we’ll be let out at the end of the ride?” “That helps,” she pointed at the box, displaying the floor number. He burst into laughter and didn’t stop until they reached their floor. However, when the doors opened, rather than the corridor of a low income apartment building, Pat saw a sidewalk lined with carousels, tilt-a-whirls, and roller coaster queues. Emitting an unintelligible flabbergasted sound, Pat looked around and then looked at the man next to her. He frowned and tapped his cane on the ground. “Just as I suspected,” he nodded, “This lift isn’t up to code. Wouldn’t you agree?” “What the--” “Hold that thought,” he stepped out of the elevator and walked toward a man selling balloons. He grabbed the bunch of balloons from the man and sprinted back to the elevator, shoving the balloons into the space. He pressed the “door close” button rapidly, but they didn’t close until the balloon man had nearly reached them. “What are those for?” Pat asked over the squeaking of the latex. “The lift isn’t up to code. We’d better take it in for repairs.” “I don’t understand,” she clutched at the handrail behind her and tried to process what was happening. Her best guess was that, along with a stairway, the Almighty had recently added an elevator, but the man didn’t seem like an angel. And her doctor said her heart meds were working fine. “I’m glad you let me on. Clearly this was a job for two inspectors,” he tipped his top hat--had he been wearing it before? “Two?” “We’re on the same career path, believe it or not. You deal with bothersome lifts, I deal with more delinquent ones.” “Am I dead?” “Doubt it, but you wouldn’t be the first ghost I’ve met,” he began poking balloons with his walking stick. “Anyway, let's get this box to the shop, shall we?” The balloons swelled and glowed. The floor number went higher than there were levels in the building. Pat felt her stomach flutter. When they finally stopped the doors opened to a whimsical workshop perched on a cloud. Pat gripped the rail tighter and refused to get out. The balloons floated out and the man approached the workshop, waving a clipboard. Pat’s clipboard. A woman wearing a hefty toolbelt took the clipboard and nodded before looking behind the man and waving. Pat waved shakily back. “We’ll get it fixed and have you back to your inspection in a jiff,” the woman called, “Just hold tight!” She approached with her tool belt and went straight to work on the button panel. What work she did Pat had no idea, but in twenty minutes she slapped the panel and nodded. “All set, thanks for your cooperation!” The man swapped places with the mechanic and brought the balloons with him. He hit the ground floor button on the panel and then began popping balloons with his cane. They dropped and Pat screamed the whole way. When the doors next opened, they were in the lobby of the building. The man shook her hand, his hat and cane missing, and left. When he was gone, Pat called her boss. “I want to retire. Today.” (I hope you enjoyed those stories and the silly covers I made for them on Canva! Thanks for reading!)
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Here we go with chapter three! This chapter mixes things up a little bit, introducing us to a character who is not like the other four. And also an elf. Please excuse my terrible accents, I needed a way to audibly distinguish between the characters, so you're just going to have to put up with it. My apologies. Also, I did include a very short blooper in this video because I hadn't read the chapter before reading and I was taken aback by a very random scene involving pudding. 8th grade me thought she had a great sense of humor. I'm not sure I agree. If you haven't listened to the first two chapters yet you can check out Chapter 1 here and Chapter 2 here. As always, you can read along in the text below the video. Chapter 3: Felix
What a great day. Felix Royal thought. Royal IS a weird last name. That is because it comes with the job Felix has. You’ll see what I mean in a moment. Felix couldn’t believe what an unbelievably good day he was having. It was so good that Felix started to hum an old nursery tune. This was rare for Felix because his family had to worry about every dangerous creature in the world attacking anyone in the kingdom and he was rarely giddy enough to sing. Felix sang to himself as he carried a basket of unicorn food. Why in the world would he need unicorn food you ask? That is also part of the boy’s job. Yes, I am talking of the same mystical creature you’re thinking of. The thing is Felix lives in a different world than us. In his world there are unicorns, dragons, and elves. Oh elves, the sneaky little creatures, not the same kind that help Santa Clause. These little fellows love to play pranks and cause mischief. They are about one foot tall and wear all purple, even their hair is purple! All right, let’s get back to Felix. He was carrying unicorn food to the unicorn’s stall at the back of the stables. Now you are probably wondering what job would cause you to change your last name and make you feed unicorns. The answer is simple, Felix is the prince. I hope I gave you enough time to recover from your shock; it is SO irritating when you faint in the middle of a story. Felix has the last name Royal because he is royalty. He has to feed the unicorns because only princes can handle unicorns. I know this is a lot to take in. Oh well, you’ll get it eventually. Felix dumped the slop into the feed trough. He whistled and the kingdom’s three best unicorns came running to him. He brushed their manes and stroked their sides. After Felix had taken care of his unicorns he went inside the well-lit castle. The sun fell on the tapestries that hung on the ancient brick walls. Felix wandered, dawdling so to keep him away from other people. He hated running into people that he didn’t know personally, they always bowed and made a big deal about him being prince. Do you know how annoying it is to be right in the middle of walking your dog and someone comes up and says “How is your health your majesty?”? It is quite bothersome Felix can assure you. Perhaps people wouldn’t recognize me if I took off my crown… The boy took his golden band off his cranium. A few seconds later two big, burly fellows ran up to him and picked him up! “Hey! What’s the big idea?!” Felix hissed into one of the men’s ear. The two paid no mind to the teenager’s questions, but instead they tore through the halls of the castle. They, unlike Abby and James, looked where they were going and ended up exactly where they wanted to be, the throne room. Inside the throne room Felix’s parents sat upon their regal chairs. The queen dashed over to her son and ordered the men to put him down. The gents looked to the king, who nodded. The fellows put Felix down and stepped back from the mother and son. “Felix! Are you alright? We sent guards to you as soon as your crown was taken off your head.” The Queen said, inspecting her son. “H-how did you know w-where I was and that I had t-taken off my c-crown? I, I didn’t tell anyone w-where I was.” Felix stuttered after he recovered from his shock. The Queen sighed. “Can I tell him darling?” The Queen asked the King. “I suppose he can know.” The King sighed melodramatically. “Know what?” Felix pursued. “Felix,” his mother began, “Before you were born I made a deal with an elf that had an amazing talent, spinning straw into gold. My father needed money, so he claimed that I had this talent as well. YOUR father heard of this and offered to marry me if I could spin three rooms full of straw into gold. The first room was filled to the brim and I knew that I would be executed for not doing as the king told. Then the elf appeared. He promised to do it for me in exchange for a bracelet that I had.” The Queen took a breath and continued, “I told him that I’d give it to him if he saved me from what my father had gotten me into. He helped me with the first and second rooms of straw. On the third room I ran out of jewelry.” Felix scowled as the Queen continued, “I ran out of jewelry and I promised the first royal child.” The Queen looked as if she could cry, “As you know that is you.” Felix nodded. “Go on.” He requested grimly. “When I became queen it was the last thing on my mind. Shortly after you were born I didn’t even remember, until the elf showed up. He said that if I could guess his name he would let me keep you. I thought, ‘How hard can it be to guess his name?’ So I got a list of all the names that anyone had ever named anyone. I kind of forgot to get the list of elfin names. So the little man thought he had won. Then one day one of the kingdom’s best spies spotted the elf in the woods. The elf was chanting ‘They’ll never guess my name! Rumplestitskin’s won the game!’ The spy came back to the castle and told me immediately what he had seen.” Felix nodded but didn’t understand fully. “So what does this have to do with me being found when my crown is taken off?” “Honey, you’re not going to like this, but Rumplestiltskin, the elf, is still after you. Because of this we put a tracking spell in your crown. It tells us where the crown is no matter what happens to it. This way Stiltskin couldn’t take you without us knowing where you are, unless, of course you take your crown off. So the crown also tells us when you take it off.” Felix was mad, angry, and maybe even furious. His parents had been tracking him every day of his life, and he hadn’t even known it! What else were they keeping from him? Felix threw the crown on his head down. “I’m not going to wear this anymore! You can’t make me either!” He roared, leaving the room. Later that day Felix felt bad about yelling at his mother. He also felt bad about making the castle wizard work so hard trying to make his crown stop beeping because it wasn’t on Felix anymore. So the teen walked out of his chamber that his father had sent him to after the outrage in the throne room. As he exited the castle and headed to the gazebo where his mother sometimes went to think, Felix noticed a dark shape creeping around the court yard. What is that, I wonder? Felix thought. The shape crept around corners and snaked towards Felix. What was it? As it came nearer Felix saw that it had the shape of a man, but much smaller. It was only about a foot tall. It had dark clothing on and its hair was dark too. An elf? Felix guessed catching a glint of purple in the dim moonlight. But why would an elf be sneaking around the court yard? Felix didn’t get it. Most creatures were allowed in the palace, with the exceptions of trolls and ogres. Felix then made the mistake of going up to the elf. “Excuse me sir,” he started courteously. Before the boy could finish, the short man in front of him jumped at Felix. The young prince took a step backwards so the elf missed him. The elf grunted as he landed on the hard ground. Dust flew everywhere; it got in Felix’s eyes and all over the elf, coating his purple hair in dirt. The prince coughed and the elf took it as an advantage. Leaping onto the unprepared boy he knocked them both to the ground causing even more dust to fly into the air. (It hadn’t rained for a while.) The two struggled for about five minutes until the experienced elf wore out Felix. The elf knocked the prince unconscious and carried him away. You are probably wondering if I have forgotten about Jeff, Rosie, James, and Abby. As you can see by reading this page, I haven’t forgotten our friends from our world. Well if you are from the same world as Felix, then I haven’t forgotten our friends from my world. So if you keep reading you will eventually see why I have included Felix in the story. So read more if you can’t stand not knowing what is going on. When Felix awoke he was lying on his back. The sight he saw was a clear, blue morning sky, outlined by incredibly tall pine trees. Felix turned over onto his side and saw the elf that had attacked him, cooking bacon in a child sized frying pan. “Pardon me sir, but where have you taken me?” Felix said, trying to be polite to someone who had just kidnapped him. “Oh, so you’re awake are you?” The elf said in a sassy tone, “Well I suppose that you’ll want breakfast too, what do I have to do? Treat you like royalty!” Felix noticed that the elf’s voice was gruffer than most elves. “Um, sir, I didn’t ask you for anything except where I am.” The boy commented. “I guess you didn’t, did you? I hate you sassy teenagers, you always think you’re right.” The elf mumbled this to himself so that Felix could scarcely hear it. “Um, sir, might I ask who you are?” “Guess. I bet you can’t figure it out.” The elf snickered rudely. “Let me think, oh, I don’t know, could it be Rumplestiltskin?” Felix said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. Rumplestiltskin chuckled. “I like you kid. You’ve got a good sense of humor. Here I have you tied up good and tight, and you are making cute little witty remarks!” Felix glanced down at his arms, he WAS tied up. How was he going to get away now? His crown! His crown had a tracking spell on it, maybe he could just knock it off and the whole army would come! Oh, but wait, Felix had taken off his crown at the castle yesterday! It was back to the drawing board then. Minutes later the elf that was Rumplestiltskin came over and fed Felix bacon, or he tried. Felix refused to eat the stuff, wondering if it was poisoned. The elf sighed, “Come on Felix, you can trust me, I’m like your uncle or something.” Felix still didn’t eat the bacon. Uncle Stiltskin was a scary thought. Later that day, Rumplestiltskin left Felix alone because the small man needed to look around in case of royal soldiers. When he came back he picked up the young prince. The elf was surprisingly strong for his size. “Hey! Put me down! I CAN walk you know!” Felix demanded. Rumplestiltskin set him down and looked him in the eye. “Alright Felix, I’ll tell you why I borrowed you.” Borrowed, ha! That’s a laugh. “Okay Stiltskin, tell me why you KIDNAPPED me.” “Your mother has no doubt told you about our past of you, me, and her. She tried to break our deal; she guessed my name, blah, blah, and blah. I needed you those fourteen years ago. You see, when I make a deal with someone, it doesn’t usually turn out so good for me. I lose my power to spin straw into gold. It gets passed on to the person I made a deal with. So why did I help your mother? Because I felt bad for the girl, that’s why. Now I need my power back.” Rumplestiltskin said dramatically. “So how does this involve me?” Felix asked dubiously. “Well when I found I didn’t have my powers anymore I decided that there was only one thing left to do. First I gave your mother some gold that I had stored away. Then in return I asked for you. Since the powers get passed on I figured the talent would go to you. The power did go to you and you were as good as mine. Until of course the Queen guessed my name. Do you know how devastated I was?” Felix shook his head. “I need some gold. You want to know why?” The elf moaned. The prince shook his head. “Well there is this lady I know who I owe some money, she gave me until you were old enough to spin and now she wants her money. I didn’t think your parents were going to let me have you and so I borrowed you.” Oh, I guess he did borrow Felix. The elf untied Felix and told him he could go free if he wanted. Felix, being a noble prince, told him that he would help. Rumplestiltskin took Felix to the nearest spinning wheel, which happened to be at the elf’s cottage. The boy tried and tried to learn to spin, but the wheel just wouldn’t work for Felix. Stiltskin groaned. “No, no Felix, the wheel goes the other direction!” It took a while for them to figure out that Felix should just make a deal with Rumplestiltskin. “What kind of deal should we make?” Felix asked. “How about if I give you a sandwich if you sweep my floor.” Felix nodded but remembered that being a prince; he didn’t know how to sweep. He told Rumplestiltskin this. So they decided that Felix would get a sandwich if he wiped the pudding off of Rumplestiltskin. What pudding you ask? The pudding Felix “accidently” spilled on Rumplestiltskin. When Felix cleaned off Stiltskin they immediately tried his powers. The power to spin straw into gold, didn’t work. “Maybe I should get that sandwich for you now.” Rumplestiltskin grunted. So he got Felix a sandwich and they tried again. The power to spin straw into gold worked! The two shook hands and shared the sandwich. “If you ever need anything, let me know, no cost for that.” Stiltskin stated kindly. Felix nodded smiling. They were friends now that they understood each other. As Rumplestiltskin walked Felix home the two noticed that the woods were eerily quiet. “Wow, it sure is quiet.” Felix observed. When the two reached the Enchanted Creek, they were ambushed! Royal soldiers jumped from the trees and tied up Rumplestiltskin. Felix was picked up and set down on a large, white horse. “Hey! What is going on?” Felix demanded, but then he remembered that Stiltskin was still public enemy number one. “Leave him alone! He isn’t all that bad!” The captain of the royal guard sent Felix a look that shut the prince up immediately. Felix gasped as the soldiers tossed the elf into the creek. “He’ll drown!” Felix exclaimed. “That is the point, uh, Your Highness.” Captain said with a hint of hatred. All the boy could do was watch as his new friend struggled in the deep, magical waters. But, hey, Felix was the prince! The captain had to obey him right? “Captain, as your future king, I command you to release that elf!” The captain looked confused that a child was telling all three hundred pounds of muscle that was Captain, what to do! Felix looked at the soldier with an unwavering face. “Hurry up before he drowns.” Then a gear in the large man’s slow brain clicked, and he realized that this small teenager would be his boss someday. So Captain pulled Rumplestiltskin out of the creek and set the elf before Prince Felix. Felix winked at Rumplestiltskin, who, in turn, winked backed. “Set him behind me, Captain.” Felix ordered. So Felix led the troop’s home on his white stallion. Stiltskin frequently turned around and stuck his tongue out at Captain. Now Felix’s only problem was his parents and explaining what had really happened. Drinking game: take a shot every time I say "vibes" in this video. Actually don't. It is probably dangerous to your health. And I don't condone excessive drinking in this here corner of the internet. I still have almost three months until the Renaissance Festival in my area, but I am already exceedingly pumped for it. I get giddy just thinking about it and always love to have books to read that give me the same warm fuzzy feeling that the Ren Faire does. So, I thought I would share some great books to read if you would also liked to be excited for Renaissance Faire season with me! Feast thine eyes on my latest YouTube video and let the merriment begin! (Yes that's me in the thumbnail... no I did not hit the target.) I finally took a bit of time to sit down and record Chapter 2! And it's just as bizarre as I remember it being. Remember this was written by an 8th grader who had limited access to the internet and had no idea how public school worked. Science? We don't know her. Middle school classes? Most of my middle school education was on the computer on these stupid CD-ROMs that I hated. Realistic children? Don't count on it. But it's all fun anyway! At least I think so. Just like last time, the text version of this chapter is below the video if you feel like reading along! Enjoy! (Or cringe and turn away in horror.) Chapter 2: James and Abby
The football went flying towards his head as James stopped to ponder a science question. I can’t tell you what it was about because I know nothing about science, with the exception of the rule: What goes up must come down. That is exactly what happened in this football practice. The coach threw the ball and it hit James square in the face, well, then again, footballs are oval, so it hit James oval in the face. We’ll just stick to square, because it sounds a lot better. Anyway, James got hit in the face and plummeted to the ground. That also portrayed my rule from above, what goes up must come down. James scuttled to his feet and looked down, yuck, a tooth had fallen out! James bent to pick it up and went to hear the Coach’s complaints. “What were you thinking Kingston?!” Coach barked, “You have to look up to catch the ball! This is the ninth time this WEEK that you haven’t been paying attention!” All the other boys chortled behind their hands. “Sorry Coach, I was thinking about a science question, problem forty-four, ‘is it possible to create worm holes or portals to other worlds.’” James explained, “I think it’s a matter of opinion, but you know scientists these days, always coming up with a new theory.” The Coach actually growled at this. “Kingston, we aren’t the science club! If you like science stuff SO much, go and join the scientists! You’ll have plenty of time for it; you are suspended from the team for four weeks!” James was shocked. How could he be suspended from the team? He was their best player! What would they do in the big Thanksgiving game without him? There was only one thing to do, find Rosie Stone and get his revenge. Abby Gail wasn’t having any better of a day; in fact it might have been worse! She couldn’t decide whether to fry her teacher or roast her, either way would be simply divine. The deliciousness of Ms. Rottencandy would soon be-- whoops, wrong story, again. As I said before nothing too bad happens to anyone. Anyway, Abby was having a horrible day because her advice column in the paper had totally been wrecked because Jeff had come in and seen who was running the column when it was supposed be secret! What if he told? No one would want to tell her their problems anymore! Her dreams of being like Oprah were dwindling! The horror! The horror! (Yes, I did just repeat myself, get over it.) Abby had to find Jeff and make him swear not to tell any person on this earth that she was the Abby of Dear Abby! She rushed down the halls of the school, looking to see if Jeff was still there. When you run fast, looking for something or someone you rarely notice anything or anyone. This is precisely what happened to Abby. She was running so fast that she didn’t see James running quickly at her. James went into the school to see if he could find Rosie because she had been interviewing him in science causing him to miss question forty-four! So now he had a bone to pick with her because she got him suspended from the football team! As he rushed through the school he didn’t notice Abby rushing towards him because as I explained before, you can’t see too well when you are rushing through the halls of your school. Since James couldn’t see Abby running at him and Abby couldn’t see James running towards her, the two applied the law of gravity that I explained earlier. Since those two were standing up, those two must be knocked down, it’s really quite simple, and I just can’t believe you can’t remember it! So James collided with Abby and Abby collided with James. Ouch. When the two arose they were even angrier than they had been--which might not be possible. “Why did you run into me?!” The two said at the same time, “I didn’t run into you! You ran into me!” Again they said it at the same time. “No!” same time again, “I,” same time, “Hey!” this was becoming comical. “Listen,” wow, same exact time, “Stop it!” Finally, James said it this time, “Stop saying the same thing as me at the same time! I’m looking for Rosie Stone; she works on the paper with you, right?” Abby nodded. “She does.” “I have a bone to pick with her,” The muscular child growled. “I’m busy looking for Jeff, that guy whose desk you sit on all the time, I need to find him before…” Abby paused. James looked quizzically at her. “Before what?” “Something bad happens.” “Well I saw Jeff hanging around Rosie; maybe they’re at one of their houses. We can go together and pick their bones at the same time.” James concluded sensibly. So the two enraged children stomped to Jeff’s house. Then upon finding the other two children not there the two left for Rosie’s apartment building. They found them there, watching the news. The two seething kids rejoiced at their find. After the rejoicing stopped they got all malicious and impolite to Jeff and Rosie. “How could you get me suspended from the football team and not know what I’m talking about?” James said mid-way into the conversation, although he was beginning to understand that Rosie had unintentionally got him suspended. But he couldn’t lighten up now that he was angry. “And you Jeffrey, if that IS your real name, how could you not have seen me reading people’s problems? It was right in front of you!” Jeff looked at Rosie and Rosie looked at Jeff, very suspicious if you ask me, but of course, they didn’t ask me, I am, after all, only the author. Later, after a whole lot of arguing you don’t want to hear, all four children had somehow ended up at James house. I believe they got there like this: Jeff started fighting with Abby and James with Rosie, but Mr. Stone got a head ache and told them to play outside. So they all went outside and started walking around. Then, suddenly, James suggested they go to his house because his mom had made apple pie. After that they all stopped arguing because Mrs. Kingston’s delicious pie was crammed in their mouths. The pie was so yummy it caused them to chat good naturedly with each other and become friends. (That must have been some good pie.) The quartet went outside and sat on the lush grass of the Kingston lawn. The neighbors (the next door lady in particular) all looked skeptically at them through their windows because the children talked and laughed so much. The kids had a great time until James’ grandfather emerged from the old outhouse in the corner of the yard. The smell that emanated from the small structure could have killed an elephant! It stank so bad that the kids had to hold their noses in hopes that they wouldn’t lose their sense of smell all together. “Must have been those beans I had for lunch, I’ve been in that hut for about an hour.” Grandpa said, walking inside. The four children on the lawn groaned and ran to close the outhouse door. Whew! The outhouse would bother them no longer. The children started to giggle at the horrid smell, I don’t get what is so funny about almost losing your sense of smell but these kids are quite odd. “Wow! That is one putrid smell!” James said. “Ugh, I can barely breathe!” Jeff gasped. “Why does your grandfather even have an outhouse?” Abby moaned. “Because he thinks that indoor plumbing is too ‘new-fangled’ and ‘it was good enough for the people when I was a boy’.” James mocked while holding his nose, “I know it’s odd but Mom thinks that since it was his house to begin with he should get to do his, uh, ‘business’ where he pleases.” I’m going to stop writing about this rancid smell and skip to what happened next. The four kids started to play ball in James’ smelly backyard. It was so fun that they hardly noticed when the yard started to smell bad again. I have promised you I will not go into that, so the smell’s mention stops here. The long afternoon had the children worn out by the time they had to go home. That night their parents rejoiced, because the kids slept like rocks. In the morning James met Abby, Jeff, and Rosie before school. “Hey you guys want to come over to my house again after school?” James asked. “Yeah, sure.” Was the collective reply. “Cool, meet you there!” James said, leaving for his first class with Jeff trailing behind. In school James was caught off guard by his first class. His science teacher told his class that the biannual science fair was happening in two weeks. James hadn’t even begun to think of a project! What was he going to do? Then he got an idea, a brilliant idea. An idea that this whole story is modeled upon. The only questions he had for his teacher were these: “Can I with work with partners?” he inquired. “Yes James, as long as at least one of them does this class with you. You know, so someone else on your team knows what you’ve been studying as well. ” The teacher explained. “And also, Mr. Smellfoot, what is the correct answer to problem forty-four?” “From the practice we did yesterday?” James nodded. “Well, Mr. Kingston, I believe the answer to that problem is yes. I have always believed that travel to an alternate world is possible with the right equipment, the right people, and imagination.” “Thank you Mr. Smellfoot.” James grinned. Now you and I know that no real science teacher would ever tell a kid to “imagine” something, but Mr. Smellfoot was no ordinary science teacher. Mr. Smellfoot was a science teacher who had also been a substitute Creative Writing teacher, and so he learned that anything is possible with a little imagination. He learned this lesson as Chad, the Creative Writing bully, had stuffed a pencil up Mr. Smellfoot’s nose. James went home happy and started his science fair project. The frame of the thing was done, as were the blueprints. Now he just needed to have a little help from his friends. Until then he decided to hide the thing in the most unusual of places. Later, at James’ house, the four friends sat on the lawn, chatting. The girls were talking about something in the newspaper and Jeff tried to get James to talk about some story that he had read earlier. James didn’t really listen to any of it, mostly because he was trying to get his own two cents in. That means he was trying to tell them something himself, but the others were busy putting at least ten cents in. A loud rupture caused them all to stop talking and stare at the outhouse. “What was that?” Abby demanded. “I don’t know. Whatever it was it came from the outhouse.” James said with a mysterious smirk. The other three kids snuck over to the outhouse to see what had made the loud noise. James remained seated on the grass, snickering silently. You, “dear” reader may be expecting it was the Grandfather of James that caused the loud noise of the outhouse, but you, reader, are wrong. It was not a gas leak from the Grandpa that caused this “boom” in the outhouse, but a machine frame. The kids saw this as James pried the walls off the old privy. The kids gasped and asked about a million questions at once, mainly, “What is it, and how did it make that noise?” James “shushed” them with a wave of his hands. “Come on people! Not so many questions at once! This is what I like to call the M.T.M.” The rest of the kids looked just as confused as they had before, then James explained, “Magical (even though it isn’t magic) Transport Machine.” The kids appeared to be perplexed so James continued, “When it is finished it should be able to take us to a different world! And it probably just made that noise because I left it turned on.” As the gang grasped this information they all started to talk again. “You mean we can go to a different world?!” “How is that possible?” “When will it be finished?” Blah, blah, blah, they were really enthusiastic. James did his best to explain everything but the questions were too many. “Um, it will be finished sooner if you help me with it, and I really need you guys’ help.” The questions stopped for a second, but then everyone wanted to know how they could help. “Well, Jeff has two jobs, first he just needs to stay in science class with me so that I can have you guys’ help. Secondly, Jeff needs to not lose his memory of fairytales, we’ll need that. Abby needs to get us costumes. Your mom owns a medieval themed restaurant right?” Abby nodded, her mother owned the coolest restaurant ever, and it had waitresses dressed as damsels and waiters dressed as pages. NOT the paper kind. “Good, we’ll need you to get us some old costumes that your mom doesn’t need anymore. Rosie, you have one of the most important jobs. You have helped your dad fix his car wash before and I will need that mechanical help because I have no idea how to work tools.” James’ friends nodded and smiled, they got to help build one of the most amazing machines of all time! The kids could not wait. Before I told you that it wasn’t a story about kids who go on cutesy adventures. It still isn’t, don’t worry all you dark readers, it won’t get cute, just like I promised. BUT I didn’t promise I wouldn’t add more characters. I have to admit, this one was a little bit of a let down, but there was still some fun stuff. Also, I wanted to note that, since I've made this video, LitJoy Crate has announced the end of their YA subscription box as it is now. They will be changing it so that you can personalize your box and it will be called To Bee Read (the logo is really cool). They don't have much public information about it at this time and I only know because I get their newsletters, but if that is something that sounds interesting to you, keep an eye on their website! Spoilers for Steampunk and Petticoats box: 🕰️Book: My Imaginary Mary by Brodi Ashton, Jodi Meadows, and Cynthia Hand 🕰️Android Repair office supply kit from Cinder by Marissa Meyer 🕰️Frankenstein book tin designed by @carellafra_art 🕰️Discovery of Witches storybook key 🕰️Through the Wardrobe bookplates inspired by The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis 🕰️Peter Pan "Big Ben" pin designed by @carellafra_art 🕰️Adventure card from The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazaelwood designed by @sophia_volovik 🕰️Mystery signed book plate? Goodness gracious, the exclusive cover on this book is GORGEOUS. I opened this box last night and I haven't been able to stop thinking about the cover. The rest of the box was pretty good too! Not my favorite as far as items go, but definitely my favorite book cover from LitJoy Crate. Check the bottom of this post for the wrap up of everything that was in the box. Spoilers for the Magic Awakens Box
✹Book: Twin Crowns by Catherine Doyle and Katherine Webber ✹"Jude" socks from Cruel Prince by Holly Black ✹Percy Jackson Drachma Coin and Pouch designed by @maggie.rose.studio ✹Plastic coin case (the thing I'm really confused about in the video) ✹Frozen (Disney) Zen Garden ✹Cup/tumbler from Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Maniscalco designed by @kimcarlika_art ✹House of the Cerulean Sea sticker designed by @kimcarlika_art ✹Bookmark from Serpent and Dove by Shelby Mahurin designed by @kimcarlika_art ✹Adventure card from Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir designed by @sophia_volovik Thank you, Lord that I was finally able to upload this. Good golly it has been a struggle to get this thing to cooperate. I finally got it filmed, edited, exported from iMovie, and now uploaded. God is good! And this writing is terrible! Please laugh at my middle school self with me as I dramatically read through Fairy Tale Time, Chapter 1. This first chapter is dull, but things start to pick up in the next one, which I will hopefully post soon! If you would like to purchase a copy of the book (do not feel obligated to do so) you can visit the "My Writing" tab above. Or, if you'd like to read along for free, see the text below the video! Just keep in mind that I have not edited the formatting or grammar since I was in the 8th grade. Make of that what you will. Chapter 1: Jeff and Rosie Every story has its own beginning. This one starts as so: Once upon a time--no wait, those stories usually end up something like: happily ever after. Okay, retake: It was a dark and stormy night-but hey, that’s not accurate, as a matter of fact it was quite the opposite! Here we go again: It was a bright and sunny day… Yeah, that’s it. So now we have the beginning, let’s get this story moving, shall we? It was a bright, crisp, fall day. The leaves were at their best, sweet smelling in an assortment of reds and yellows. Jeff loved it that way. His favorite part of the day was upon him, walking to school. There is nothing like the satisfying, CRUNCH, of leaves beneath your feet. It looks like a Robin Hood kind of day. He thought. You might be like, “A Robin Hood kind of day? What on earth does that mean?!” I’ll tell you what that means. Well one thing you should know about Jeff is that he loves to read. He likes anything with a fairytale kind of view. Knowing this you should also know that Jeff reads on his way to school. So “It looks like a Robin Hood kind of day” means that Jeff is going to read Robin Hood on his way to school. Now you might be wondering, HOW it can look like a Robin Hood kind of day, and though your wonderings are annoying, I will answer this. “It looks like a Robin Hood kind of day” also means that Jeff thinks that the walk to school looks like Sherwood Forest. What’s that? You have another question! What is Sherwood Forest?! Well it is clear that you don’t read many a fairytale! Perhaps you should give this book to a more experienced fairy tale reader--but hey, you got me off point! Sherwood is simply where Robin Hood lives. Now, no more wonderings or questions! I have a story to tell! Where was I? Oh yeah! Jeff pulled a leather bound book out of his back-pack and started to read all about Robin and his merry men. The book was a gift from Jeff’s grandmother. She had known he loved books and gave him one from her vast private library. As Jeff was walking he glanced up from his book and saw a girl walking beside him, leaning over and reading along with him. “Hey! Would you PLEASE stop that?!” Jeff exclaimed. “I beg your pardon?” Oh great, it was that snooping reporter girl. Her and her big glasses and pig tails were always pinning someone down for an interview. She might be the only girl who was liked less than Jeff in their school (Washington Jr. High)! The only difference was that SHE had friends. “Would you stop reading my book?” Jeff answered more calmly. “Sorry, just trying to figure out what it was, the title must have rubbed off or something.” The girl said, “It’s pretty boring whatever it is, a lot of thy and thou in there.” You don’t have to tell me, I was the one reading it. Jeff thought angrily, “Yes, well it IS a very old book.” “So, what story is it?” “Robin Hood.” Jeff mumbled. The girl was silent for a long while and Jeff was grateful for the reading time. Once the pair got to the school the girl ran off and took a picture of some teacher pulling in on a motorcycle. Jeff put his book away and headed for his first class. After school Jeff started home but was stopped by the reporter girl. “Hi, it’s me again.” I can tell. He thought. “I was feeling kind of bad about wrecking your reading time this morning and I thought that I should at least introduce myself. I’m Rosie.” She said, thrusting her hand towards Jeff. He turned it down, seeing ink dripping off of her already messy arm. “Um, I’m Jeffrey, but all of my family calls me Jeff.” “Cool, my name is really Rosetta but all my peeps call me Rosie.” “Peeps?” “Uh, my friends.” Ah friends, Jeff would give anything to have some other boys to hang around with. (I’m glad I’m not that lonely.) “Your friends… oh, I see. You’re on the school paper, right?” Jeff inquired blankly. “Yeah, I’m the girl who writes all the front page stuff!” She said smugly. Jeff nodded and continued to walk towards his home. Rosie followed. “If you want to read again I can leave you alone.” Rosie asked awkwardly. Jeff was going to yell out, “leave me alone!” But he remembered that this strange reporter was the only kid in the school who had even bothered to talk to him. “That’s okay; it’s nice that someone isn’t worried about being seen hanging out with me.” Rosie looked questioningly at him. “What do you mean?” “Well most kids just don’t want to talk to me, maybe because I read so much or something of the sort.” Rosie looked sympathetic. “That’s too bad. I think you’re nice.” The girl said with a sheepish grin. When Jeff got home he opened the gate to his front yard and looked around. Good, no sign of King. King was Jeff’s dog. He was a Great Dane and loved to jump all over Jeff and slobber on him, Jeff wasn’t as joyful to see the dog, mostly because King loved to knock him to the ground. Rosie looked around, “What are we looking for?” “I want to make sure my dog doesn’t tackle me.” “So why are you whispering?” Rosie whispered. “I don’t want King to hear me.” “You mean the dog, right?” Jeff didn’t answer because he saw King running out of the house! “Duck!” Jeff called. The kids ducked as King landed on top of Jeff. “Oof!” The boy groaned under the weight of the hundred pound dog. King licked Jeff and sniffed Rosie. Rosie was giggling the whole time. “So, you want to get a snack from my mom? She has a policy that whoever King tackles gets a snack.” Jeff laughed. The twosome went into the old Victorian styled home and walked towards the kitchen, with Jeff leading the way. In the large, warm kitchen a woman stood making cookies by the oven. “Hi honey, how did school go?’” she said turning to see them, “Oh, you brought a friend! How nice, what is your name dear?” Jeff’s mom probed. “I’m Rosie.” “Finally, Jeff has a friend! He always seems so lonely with nothing but books.” The plump mother cooed. The kind woman sat them down at the table and gave them each a chocolate-chip cookie and a glass of milk. They thanked her and she went back to her baking. After they devoured the cookies they went into the living room and turned on the TV. “There are never any good shows on around this time.” Jeff said glumly. Rosie nodded. “There is never anything to do after school.” Since they had nothing else to do Rosie suggested that the two question each other about themselves. They started with questions such as, “What is your favorite ice cream flavor?” and important things like that and then they got silly and asked foolish questions like, “What is your favorite hobby?”, and “What do you think of this sports team?” The two found themselves in giggles and then laughter. One time they even cackled. All and all they had a great time questioning each other. (Not the funniest activity if you ask me, but they didn’t ask me so I have no say in the matter.) They had such a great time that when Rosie’s dad called her cellphone to tell her to come home, they even seemed disappointed. Rosie asked if he wanted to come over to her place the next day so he could meet her dad. Jeff said sure and that they should walk home together again, unless, of course, something or someone totally destroyed their friendship in twenty-four hours or less. So Rosie went home and Jeff ate dinner. What a fine dinner it was, pizza from Fast Delivery Frank, with lots of extra meat. What a great day, or so Jeff thought, because really Rosie was a vampire trying to drink Jeff’s blood, oh how good that would taste! She concealed herself in the house, ready for Jeff’s demise, hoping for a taste of--oops, wrong story; it was actually a great day for Jeff. Don’t worry, this is not a horror story, nothing too bad happens to anybody. The next day Rosie and Jeff walked to school and talked about the story of Robin Hood. “Who is your favorite character?” Rosie asked Jeff. “Hmmm… I think Robin Hood himself, but then and again I really like Little John, how about you?” “I don’t know, I never really read the book, I just saw the movie.” Rosie said with a shrug. “Ha! The movie isn’t anything like the book! Not at all I tell you! I’ll lend my book to you sometime.” As they continued to walk to school Rosie looked uncomfortable. “Hey Jeff, what would you do if I, um, put everything I asked you about yesterday in the paper?” Jeff’s face was a mix of bewilderment and anger. I can’t say that I blame him. “You put that stuff in the school newspaper! How could you?! I didn’t think that you would, I mean, why?!” “Because my editor thought my stories should be so students can relate to it better. I thought it would be good to do an interview with a kid and see how the people who read it would react. So I walked home with you and interviewed you secretly. I’m sorry, but I thought you might like it because it might make you more popular.” “And how would this make me more popular?!” Jeff griped. “Um, well I thought people would like you if they got to know you better.” Rosie said meekly. Jeff stomped off and went to class. In class James, the jock, was showing off again. He was sitting on Jeff’s desk showing his muscles to everybody. As usual at least two girls had swooned and landed on the floor. Why don’t people ever catch those cheerleaders? Jeff pondered, stepping over them. “Um James, you’re sitting on my desk again.” Jeff said, groaning just a tad. “Yeah, I know. It has the best light.” “Come on, class is about to start!” James hopped down and shoved Jeff. “Well sorry buddy but I like it here.” “I need my desk back, James.” Jeff said, his temper rising. James laughed jollily. “I was just messing with you, here you go, one well-lit desk.” Jeff sat down and pulled out his book. What could go wrong while he was in Robin Hood’s world? If only he could visit more often. Little did he know that his wishes were to be granted, soon. Later, in the hallway, Jeff picked up a newspaper and read: JEFF ROBERTS, ONE SPECIAL STUDENT. BY ROSETTA STONE SOME OF YOU MAY NEVER HAVE HEARD OF JEFF ROBERTS BUT AFTER YOU READ THIS YOU’RE GOING TO WISH YOU HAD. JEFF IS A GREAT DUDE, REMARKABLE IF YOU ASK ME. JEFF KNOWS A LOT ABOUT FAIRYTALES AND NEAT FACTS THAT I BET YOU DIDN’T KNOW… There was more but Jeff didn’t bother to read it, he had to go find Rosie and apologize for blowing up at her earlier. The newspaper hadn’t said what he thought it would say. Jeff thought Rosie had just wanted to be his friend for the interview and then forget about him. He thought that she was going to put the embarrassing stuff that he had told her about; like that he had a stuffed bear. If I were the reporter I would totally put that juicy information in the paper, but alas, I am not a school newspaper reporter. When Jeff found Rosie she was in the classroom that the school used for the newspaper editing room. She was in there working over a computer, a click here a letter there. Jeff went in and a girl looked up. “Excuse me; do you work with the press? I didn’t think so. Now you leave, good-bye!” She said quickly while waving good-bye. Then Rosie looked up. “Hey Abby, let him come in, he’s the one I interviewed.” The girl named Abby flicked her blond hair angrily, but let Jeff pass. “Hi, um, I wanted to apologize for getting mad at you earlier, I should have read the paper before I assumed that you had written awful stuff about me, I’m really sorry.” Jeff mumbled. Rosie smiled. “And I’m sorry too. I should have told you that I was putting you in the paper. It was wrong of me to assume.” The two laughed at each other. After school, Rosie led Jeff to her apartment building and inside he met Mr. Stone, a great whale of a man, and always a jolly fellow. They had potato chips and pop and watched Rosie’s favorite TV show, the five o’clock news. Later Rosie showed Jeff her harmless pet snake, Charlie. Well I think it was harmless, no one got hurt anyway. All in all they had a nice and lovely time. Oh, that’s redundant you say? Here, I’ll revise: All in all they had a pleasant time. There. Now you might be starting to think that this is a darling little story where two children go on cute adventures together, grow up, and get married. It’s not. I don’t know if they get married, perhaps so but if you want to find that out you’re going to need a crystal ball and fortune teller because I simply don’t know. You might be getting the notion that I don’t like you because I keep talking to you so harshly. It’s not you, it’s just these ideas you have need to be corrected so that you don’t get the wrong idea. Another thing that you got wrong is that there are two children. That is positively incorrect. There is more than two, you just wait and see. I've been having difficulties making the videos that I want to make, which is super frustrating, but in the meantime, please enjoy a quick look at some of the antique books I've been collecting over the years! I think they're really nice to look at, but it's also so interesting to look at notes written inside of them or papers tucked between the pages, or even a name scrawled in the cover and think about the people who might have owned these books so long ago. I thought it would be kind of fun to just chat about books without much of an objective. So, I give to you C.H.A.T.T.R. - Corrie Has A Tendency To Ramble. Basically it's just me rambling on and on and on and on for twenty minutes about books I've been reading, books I want to read, and things I'm writing. I'll warn you, I have the attention span of a squirrel in this video and go off on many tangents. But if you watch, I hope you enjoy! Another LitJoy Crate unboxing! The winter box was delayed because the publishers had some difficulty printing the special edition book, but the wait was worth it! LitJoy Crate: https://litjoycrate.com/ Spoilers for this box: ♛Book: This Woven Kingdom by Tahereh Mafi ♛Goldryn letter opener from Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas ♛"Warrior Queen" candle inspired by Crown of Feathers by Nicki Pau Preto ♛Sleep mask and scrunchy inspired by The Selection by Kiera Cass ♛Magic carpet mug rug inspired by The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh ♛Mirror inspired by Fairest by Marissa Meyer ♛Adventure card featuring characters from Legendborn by Tracy Deon |
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