LET'S GET IT

~

if <<> and <>> then

end

A/N This is not my best work, probably because I had no idea what was going on in the poem TT but it was really interesting anyway
In the land of Denmark there were many brave men. One, Shield Sheafson was a brutal warrior, known for being able to take out any enemy. He united the different tribes of the land. They all paid tribute to Shield, who was an honest man. He was a very good ruler. He had a son, Beow. Beow was honest and determined. He was admired everywhere. Shield died in a terrible battle. There was a massive funeral in his honor, and everyone mourned for him since he was such a good king. Beow became the new king, and ruled for a long time. Beow had four children, Heorogar, Hrothgar, Halga, and a daughter whose name no one knows. Hrothgar was an excellent warrior and he built a large army, as well as a very big hall. A demon called Grendel sought to attack the kingdom. He caused a lot of destruction, and killed many people. He tried to take the throne but it was protected from him. Hygeleac came to get rid of Grendel and Beowulf is part of the force sent to rescue the Danes. Hrothgar recognized who Beowulf was and allowed his army to come into Denmark, especially since he would help save them.

It was a rainy day when the children came. The rusting metal surrounding me was slick and the sky was dark and unforgiving. They wore bright colors, and they laughed. I couldn’t remember the last time I had heard that sound. They jumped from place to place, slowly climbing the piles of forgotten junk. So carefree. So innocent. One of them came near me and looked through my cracked windshield. The rain splattered on his hair, pasting it to his forehead. He couldn’t have been more than ten years old. Thunder rumbled and a giant flash of lightning illuminated the junkyard in eerie white light. The boy stumbled in fright, crying out. He fell, trying to grab anything on his descent. I could hear when he hit the ground.
There was no more laughter.
The next day there were shiny police cars. It was sunny, a lying sun. The people got out of the cars. They walked around, looking at the metal and plastic and wood and death around. They took the boy’s body away. They closed the gate, and locked it.
There was no one for a long time. I could see the cars streak past on the freeway just beyond the gate, a distant memory of what I used to be.
But no one ever reentered.
And there was no more laughter.

The Gingerbread Man could not outrun the fox, and was captured by him. He was sitting in the fox’s den when inspiration struck. Ginger knew that the only thing the fox liked more than food was money, so Ginger decided to go out on a limb.
“Why foxy, you know I can turn anything into gold.” The fox looked up from his preparations.
“Ginger, don’t lie to me. I want to eat you!” The fox was thoroughly unimpressed.
“No, I really can! It takes quite a while but it would be much nicer to have all the gold you could ever want than just one snack, right?” The fox considered this, then nodded.
“The only thing here is straw. Turn it into gold right now!”
“Patience, dear fox. It will take a while. Why don’t you go hunting while I work on it?”
The fox left the den and Ginger tried to come up with a way to trick him into thinking it was gold. To the gingerbread man’s immense luck, Rumpelstiltskin was flying around on his soup ladle that night and saw the morose cookie sitting in the den. He landed outside and asked if Ginger needed anything.
“I have to turn this straw into gold or I’ll be eaten!”
“Well, lucky for you I can do that! I’ll turn all that straw into gold, but you’ll need to pay me.”
“I don’t have anything to pay you with!” The gingerbread man looked around sadly.
“Well, how about this? I’ll turn the straw into gold and if you guess my name by the time I’m finished I won’t charge you.”
Eagerly, the gingerbread man accepted this offer. As Rumpelstiltskin turned the straw into gold, Ginger guessed names.
“John?”
“No.”
“Edgar?”
“No.”
He was losing hope, and the straw was almost all gone. Just as Rumpelstiltskin finished, the fox came back. The gingerbread man was upset because he hadn’t guessed the name, the fox was upset that Ginger had lied, and Rumpelstiltskin was upset that he had been tricked. Then, Rumpelstiltskin and the fox ripped Ginger in half and ate him. The end.

The weary travelers were around a table in an inn on the edge of a large forest. They were having a drink and telling each other tales of their exploits. After a lull in the conversation, one man who must have been as old as the trees in the forest asked if anyone knew of Little Red Riding Hood.
“I heard her story from my mother!” The beautiful young woman with hair as black as night’s eyes gleamed in memory as she remembered the times her mother would tell her that story before she went to sleep.
“That’s a ridiculous child’s tale” The middle-aged man with a mustache and a skeptical look seemingly always on his face looked bored. “I have more important things to think about than that nonsense.”
An older woman with dark hair and a small frame looked up in surprise from her mug. “Ah yes! I do seem to remember that story…”
A young blonde girl, not even twenty, wandered from behind the counter. “The story about the wolf eating people?”
“That one exactly.” The old man’s words were clipped by his English accent. “Well…one day long ago there was a young girl who always wore a riding cap. She wore it so often she was known as Little Red Riding Hood.”
At this point the dark-haired woman pitched in. “I heard it as Riding Cap.”
“It doesn’t matter.” He gave the woman a sideways glance. “She was an average girl-”
“Now I don’t care one bit about this story, but I know for a fact that you are wrong.” The mustachioed man glared at the old one. “She was the most beautiful girl for miles. Let me tell the story.
Little Red Riding Hood’s mother had just finished making some cakes and told her to go visit her grandmother who was very ill.”
At this point, the young waitress came back with another round of drinks. “Nei, nei. There was no cakes! She was playing in the garden.”
The young woman with ink black hair lifted her head from her drink. She gazed around the table and opened and closed her mouth several times, as if she had something to say.
“Something you’d like to share with the class?” The ancient man was sitting across from her and noticed her indecision about speaking.
“Well, if you insist…” her voice was quiet. “The way I heard it, there were three sisters.”
This caused an uproar, and the old man started laughing. When the rest of the people looked at him he smiled. “I didn’t know you all were so invested in this.”
The man with a mustache scoffed. “As if. I just know when I’m right.” He glared at the young woman. “And she is not right.”
She looked affronted. “Excuse me. I know this story like the back of my hand. My mother told it to me, her mother told her. This story has been in my family for generations. I think I know what I’m talking about.” She glared at him. “Now, do let me continue.
The girls, Shang, Tao, and Paotze, were left alone after their mother went to visit their grandmother.”
“What?” The small woman was shocked. “Isn’t Red the one who goes to the grandmother?”
“This is the way I heard it. I wouldn’t lie in a story.”
“Well, let me finish it.”
“No!” The younger woman exclaimed. “I had barely gotten started!”
This outburst surprised several people around the table, and the grumpy man glared at her. “Fine. Just make it quick.”
She opened her mouth again to continue the story.
“There was a wolf outside who thought these three little girls would make a fine snack, so he dressed up as their grandmother in order to trick them into letting him in.”
“That was not even close to how it goes!” The girl was refilling someone’s drink when she joined the conversation. “The girl left her mother’s house and picked some flowers on the way. She spent so long at this that it became dark and she decided to take a shortcut.”
The older woman looked up. “There was no flower picking in this story! She was simply found by the wolf as she was walking.
Little Red Riding Hood was walking down the path when a wolf came up next to her. She was unaware of how evil he was, so she decided to talk to him.
‘How do you do?’ Red asked.
‘Very well.’ The wolf grinned. ‘Where are you going?’
‘I’m going to my grandmother’s house to bring her food and drink.’
The wolf was intrigued by the possibility of so much food. ‘Where is her house, my dear?’
‘Down the path a ways.’ Red was foolishly trusting.”
The man with the mustache cut in. “And then he told Red that there were beautiful flowers in the woods and she should pick some for her grandmother. After she had disappeared into the forest, the wolf-”
“Nei! The wolf simply ran as fast as he could towards the grandmother’s house.”
“I am very confused.” The young woman added. “This is nothing like my story.”
Ignoring both of them, the man continued on. “The wolf ran the other direction towards the grandmother’s house. He got to the door and knocked.
‘Who is it?’ The grandmother’s weak voice drifted from the back of the house.
‘Little Red Riding Hood, with food and drink.’ The wolf impersonated her voice and the old woman fell for it.
‘Well dear, just come in as I’m too ill to get up.’
The man seemed to be finished, and everyone but the young woman with the dark hair was nodding along, seemingly in agreement.
The girl was behind the counter, watching. Suddenly she reached up and took her hair down from its tightly coiled bun and let the golden waves frame her face. She stepped out from the counter and walked towards the gathering, now the only people left in the room.
“I have finished with my shift, do you mind if I join you all?” There were murmurs of assent and the girl sat between the small woman and the grumpy man.
“Now…where were we? Ah, yes.
The grandmother leapt out of bed and the wolf chased her around the house. Eventually she managed to hide in a closet and since Red was swiftly approaching the wolf couldn’t do anything about it, so he left her there.
The skeptical man interrupted her. “She didn’t hide in a closet! He ate her up!” The small woman nodded along with him. “Clearly you don’t know this story. Let me take it from here…
The wolf ate the old woman up and put on her clothes. Then, he got into the bed and waited for Red. She knocked at the door and he called out for her to open it. Red walked into the room and set down the food and wine she had brought. She sat on the bed next to the wolf dressed as her grandmother and looked at him.”
The young woman had been quiet for the past few minutes, but she suddenly began to speak. “In my version, the wolf pretended to be their grandmother as well, but once he was in their house he helped put them to bed. It was dark, so they couldn’t tell he was a wolf. Some of the sisters were observant though, and they are curious.
‘Po po! There is a bush on your foot!’
The sly wolf answers that he brought string to make a basket.”
“Red asked, ‘Grandmother! What big ears you have!’
‘The better to hear you with, my dear.’ He replied.”
“‘Grandmother, what big eyes you have!’ Red noticed.
‘The better to see you with, my dear.’ The cunning wolf said.”
“‘Grandmother, what big teeth you have!’
‘The better to eat you up with!’ The wolf snapped his teeth at the frightened girl.”
The man twitched his mustache. “And the wolf ate her all up.” He leaned back and took a swig from his mug. “The end.”
The two women were indignant.
“That is not the end!” The dark-haired one cried.
“Certainly not!” The other one added.
The small woman continued the story, to the mustachioed man’s dismay. “The wolf began to sleep, and luckily a huntsman was wandering around outside and heard the wolf’s snores. He cut open the wolf’s stomach and out popped the girl and her grandmother! They put stones in the wolf’s stomach instead, and he broke his back trying to sit up–why the cutting open of his stomach didn’t kill him first is beyond me, but that’s the way it is. The end.”
“In my version it was a woodcutter who heard Red’s scream and saved her before she was eaten. He chased the wolf away with an ax. Red was looking for her grandmother when she found her in the closet. They lived happily ever after, the end.” The girl glared at the mustachioed man. “A much better ending, don’t you think?”

The Titanic was an unsinkable ship. That’s what everyone on board knew, and Rose was very excited because it was almost at the port. She had never been to America, and she started making a list of all the things she would do when she got there. It was the middle of the night, and she woke up from a nightmare, looking around the pitch black cabin. It was spacious, for a ship, and very well decorated. Rose got up to get a cup of water, and then went back to sleep. The next morning she awoke to the bright morning light streaming through the window. She went to put on her best dress, as this was the last day of the voyage. She went to the breakfast room with her family, and as they were sitting down some crew members passing them were discussing a close call with an iceberg that night. Rose wondered if that was what woke her up. She put it out of her mind as she made plans for her first day in New York.
A few days after they docked, Rose saw a newspaper headline: THE RMS TITANIC FINISHES ITS MAIDEN VOYAGE: A TRULY UNSINKABLE SHIP. She smiled, knowing that she had been on that ship during its famous journey.

I am invincible. I’m not even exaggerating, it’s pure fact. Nothing can harm me, not since my mother made a deal with the devil seven years ago. I’m not sure if you’ve ever seen the devil but he’s not how you might expect. He looks like the person you love the most. That’s why you trust him. When my mom made her deal with the devil, he looked like me. I’m her favorite. She loves me more than anyone or anything else. I don’t know what my mother gave in return.
***
I got home after football practice and set my heavy backpack on the floor of my bedroom. I clicked open my phone and looked through my notifications. Lots of pictures my friends took on their day at the beach yesterday. I didn’t go because we were doing a full day training session. I’m the star of the team because I can’t get hurt. I can get tackled or punched, I can fall to the ground or get a hard kick to the ribs and I won’t even pause. I slid my history textbook out of my bag and set it on my desk, since I want to go for a jog after dinner. I open to page 324 and start reading.
***
I’m excited as I tuck my phone into the pocket of my shorts and head into the cool night air. I run down the darkening street, and as I pass a convenience store something stops me. I see two figures, one looking blankly into the distance somewhere behind me and one looking straight into me. I recognize them immediately: Loki and Hodr. I inwardly groan. They’ve hated me since middle school and my reputation as a football player has not made them stop. Loki is grinning as I approach apprehensively.
“Out for a jog, eh, Baldr?” Loki’s snide voice grates against me. He’s like a real-life Draco Malfoy.
“Nonya,” I reply and turn to continue running.
“I’d stop there if I were you.” Loki’s voice turns dark and I immediately feel something shift in the air around us.
Fear surrounds me as I turn back around to face him. “What?”
That’s when I see the bow. Hodr, who used to be my friend until Loki corrupted him, is holding a bow pointed at me. It’s point-blank range. Even without eyesight he can’t miss. But I’m not concerned. After all, what’s an arrow to invincible me?
“Did you know that your mother’s little deal had one teensy loophole?” Loki narrows his eyes at me. “I bet she wouldn’t tell her precious baby that he has an Achilles’ Heel, would she?”
I keep looking at him, but something about that rings true and I can’t call his bluff.
“Mistletoe. Ever heard of it?”
“It’s such an innocent little plant, isn’t it? So harmless…unless you’re a problem solver. And I just happen to have a creative streak. Isn’t that right, Hodr?”
“Yes, Loki, you do. And the arrow I have in this bow here is made of the stuff.” Hodr’s empty eyes rove around the area. “Since your mother is so vain, she thought that mistletoe would never harm you and therefore didn’t add it to your little gift. Such a helpful woman, isn’t that right?”
Loki looks at me. “You heard him. This is the end of you, my little friend.”
I’ve been assuming they’re lying this whole time, but now I don’t quite believe it. As realization dawns, I hear a swoosh and then…
nothing.
***
There are always two sides to a bargain with the devil. I guess I’ll never know what my mother paid, but I paid with my life. I do suppose no one is truly invincible. Heed this story and don’t fall prey to my downfall.

-lxve-bug- wrote:

pup's thread (boy am i late :skull: )


AYYYY IM 100TH LMAO

Part 1: Mythology
4. Retelling (218 words)
Once, Brahma and Vishnu were having an argument about which of them was the greater God.
“It is certainly me,” said Vishnu heatedly. “I’m the Preserver. I protect the entire world, for heaven’s sake! Nothing would be safe if it were not for me!”
“Oh yeah?” Brahma sputtered back, all four of his faces turning red with anger. “Well, if it were not for me, you wouldn’t even have anything to preserve in the first place! I created all this stuff. Everything! Everything is here because of me. I am the Creator!
“I wouldn’t toot my conch if I were you,” said Vishnu dangerously. ‘In fact—”
“Stop!” thundered a voice behind him, and Vishnu stopped abruptly. Shiva walked up to the two of them.
“This argument is pointless,” he said with impatience. “Neither of you are proving anything. In order to decide who the greatest God is once and for all, we need to hold a competition.”
“A competition?” said Brahma and Vishnu in unison.
“Yes,” said Shiva. “At first, I thought of rock paper scissors, since it would have been very interesting to watch, but unfortunately, that’s based mostly on luck. We need a game that relies on actual skill, and I know the perfect thing.”
“And what might that be?” Brahma asked sourly.
Shiva smiled. “Chess.”

Part 2: Hi-Fi
4. If These Walls Could Talk (240 words)
They say that walls have ears. They’re not wrong. We have pretty good eyes, too.
I’ve been a part of this house since it was first built, long before the family currently living here, long before the people before them, and, yes, even before the folks before them. My sisters have been here with me as well. They are on my right, my left, and my opposite. I’m the south facing wall.
The stories we could tell you are innumerable. Throughout the years, we’ve lived with and seen so many families. Of course, the one we live with now is by far the most interesting. There are two kids, both girls, and to tell you the truth, living with them can sometimes be a little overwhelming. For instance, they both seem to have a distasteful fondness for crayons. When the elder one was five, she scribbled on me with five different colored crayons. I would have at least liked to say that I looked pretty when she finished, but alas, I suppose you don’t get everything you want in life.
Then the younger one, well, she drew with crayons too, but thankfully it was on my sisters and not on me. On time she wrote something embarrassing on the door. Simply thinking about it makes my ears blush. (My metaphorical ears, of course. The ones that walls have.) Either way, I will not go into detail about what was written.

Part 3: Fairy Tales pt 1
1. Using Sparks from the Past: Retelling (491 words)
Once upon a time, in the heart of a magical woods, lived a little girl with her mother. When it got chilly in the woods, as it so often did, she wore a red cloak to keep her warm. Hence she was known as Little Red Riding Hood.
One day, her mother called Red over and gave her a basket brimming with medicine and goodies.
“Your grandmother is very ill,” she told Red. “Please take this basket of medicine and goodes to her and give her my love.”
So Red took the basket, put on her red cloak, and went off to Grandma’s house. She skipped through the woods, waving at the grey squirrels and merrily whistling a tine.
Now, it just so happened that a wolf lived in those woods as well. He was big, and hairy, and had giant teeth. He was known and feared as the Big Bad Wolf, and everybody in the woods kept away from him. But this made the wolf sad, because he really wasn’t bad at all. He was a very friendly guy, but unfortunately, nobody wanted to be friends with him because they were all scared of him. So the wolf spent most of his days in his den alone.
On this particular day, Wolf was sick too. He had come down with a terrible cold. His eyes were puffy and red, his nose runny, and every two minutes he kept sneezing. ACHOOO!
Ah, maybe I should get some fresh air, he thought as he sniffled. So he shuffled outside, and that’s when he saw Little Red, skipping down the path with a basket of medicine in her hands! Wolf’s eyes widened when he saw it.
He ran to Red as fast as he could (which was not very fast, as he was sick and kept running out of breath) until he was a few feet away.
“Wairt!” he called, panting heavily. Red turned around. When she saw him, she shrieked.
“No, wait,” said the Wolf before she could run off again. “Please. I’m terribly sick. My head feels as though it will burst at any moment! May I please share some of the medicines and goodies in your basket?”
Red looked at him. “But,” she said, “you’re the Big Bad Wolf! Who knows if you’re trying to trap me? Plus, these goodies are for Grandma. She’s frightfully ill.”
“Oh, I’m frightfully ill too!” Wolf said pitifully, and coughed to prove it. “And I’m not really bad, I promise! In fact, I always wanted friends, but nobody wants to be friends with me! You don’t know how terribly lonely it gets.”
“I can imagine,” said Red sympathetically. “I don’t suppose I’d have very many friends either, if I looked anything like you do. Well, all right, I’ll let you have half the medicine and goodies since you’re so ill. And we can be friends, if you’d like.”
“Oh, thank you!” said Wolf happily.

Part 3: Fairy Tales pt 2
3. An Enchanting Reunion (463 words)
In the heart of a magical woods, in a little wood cabin, five friends sat around a small wooden table. The cabin belonged to the smallest one, who wore a red cloak and was, at the moment, plaiting her hair. Her name was Little Red Riding Hood.
The other four were Cinderella, Snow White, Rapunzel, and Aurora. They had all come to Red’s house to catch up with each other and have some tea.
“Thank you for letting us use your house as a hideout, Red,” said Aurora. “This is the perfect place.”
Red secured her plait with a ribbon. “It’s my pleasure, really! I’m so honored you all decided to come here! This is the safest place you’ll find—no witches will venture this far into the woods. And plus,” she added, grinning mischievously, “I wanted to hear all the tea. You never did tell me, Snow White, about how your nasty stepmother poisoned you?”
“Oh, yes!” said Snow White. “There isn’t much to tell, really. This lovely old lady came to me and offered me a most delicious looking apple. Of course, I had no clue at the time that she was my stepmother! The apple looked so appealing that I was tempted to take it, but the moment I bit into it, everything around me went dark! Then when I woke up, my dear Prince was staring at me with concern in his eyes. I suppose I had fainted.”
“Oh, you poor thing!” exclaimed Cinderella. “How unfortunate that we’ve both had to deal with particularly difficult stepmothers. Mine, too, didn’t like me, although I’m glad to say that she never tried to poison me with an apple. Still, my life wasn’t the happiest when I lived with her and my two step-sisters. I was so glad when my Prince swept me away to the castle!”
“My mother locked me high up in a tower and I couldn’t talk to anyone for years!” said Rapunzel. “It was the most dreadful time of my life. I just love talking to people, you know? To console myself, I would sing, and I’m so thankful I did, for that’s how my Prince heard me and came to save me. I built him a ladder out of my hair, but he was caught. My mother… well, she wasn’t really my mother, but what else can I call her? She poked out both his eyes with a thistle, and then my poor Prince walked around for months before we found each other again. It was the saddest thing, really.”
“Well, I must say you all had most unpleasant guardians,” said Red Riding Hood. “Mother and Grandma were always so sweet to me. They still are. The only problem I ever had was with the Big Bad Wolf.”

Part 4: Folklore pt 1
3. Story with a Moral (458 words)
In a forest, there lived a beautiful golden deer. The deer spent her days eating grass and leaves from the forest ground. Every morning, she went to the same little clearing to graze. Her days were very happy and peaceful.
But in the same forest, there was a hunter. The hunter had seen the deer and thought to himself what a beautiful creature she was. If only he could capture her! He had observed the deer for a few days and noticed that she went to the same place to eat every morning.
“What if I laid a trap in this clearing?” he mused to himself. “Then when the deer comes here to eat grass, she’ll get caught in the trap!”
The hunter was very pleased with this idea. He left for his house and began preparing for the trap.
Early the next morning, even before the sun was up, the hunter tiptoed quietly through the forest to the little clearing with a shovel clutched in his hand. He began digging a deep pit. He dug, and dug, and dug, until the pit was deep enough and he was so exhausted he couldn’t continue. He took a moment to stand back and admire his work, and then he carefully laid sticks on top of the pit and showered the whole thing with leaves he had collected on his way there.
Now the trap was perfectly concealed. The hunter was sure the deer would fall right into it.
“Hm, but what if she doesn’t come to these leaves and goes somewhere else to graze instead?” he wondered aloud. So he went back home, got three delicious red apples, and then came back and carefully placed them on top of the trap.
“That’ll be sure to lure her in.” Then the hunter went behind a bush to hide and wait for the deer to come.
She came, soon enough, trotting merrily into the clearing. But she skidded to a halt when she saw the pile of leaves with the apples on top.
Hmm, she thought suspiciously. How did this huge pile of leaves get here? Usually the leaves are scattered all throughout the ground! And there isn’t even a tree right here! Where did they come from?
The deer looked cautiously around, but could see no one.
And are those apples on top of the leaves? There isn’t an apple tree here at all! How did these three apples get here on top of the pile.
The deer guessed that it was a trap, and that the hunter was probably watching her that very moment. She smirked to herself. You won’t get me today. And to the hunter’s immense dismay, the deer ran away, leaving the leaves and apples untouched.

Part 4: Folklore pt 2
Oral Retelling: Characters Passing Down a Story (268 words)
“Tell us a story, Grandma!”
“All right, then, gather around, all of you. This is a story that my grandma used to tell me.
There once was a man who wanted to travel the whole world. So he packed up his bags and money and told his mother that he was going to go. His mother didn’t say anything, only pressed a small stone into his hand. “Keep this with you wherever you go,” she told him. And she bid him farewell.
The man traveled all around the world, just like he said he would. He went to so many countries and saw incredible things, things you can’t begin to imagine. He saw huge pyramids in Egypt, giant elephants in India, marble structures in China. He saw so many great things, and from each place, he collected a souvenir.
Now, after he had gone to every single place in the world, he decided it was time to go home again to his mother, who was waiting for him. So he packed all his souvenirs and the stone that she had given him, and boarded a ship leaving at night.
That night, the ship rocked violently because of a storm. The man slept on through all of this because of his exhaustion. He didn’t notice when his door flew open in the wind and all his souvenirs flew out. He didn’t hear anything. He just kept sleeping.
In the morning, when he woke up, the first thing he saw was that everything was gone! All the souvenirs that he had collected! The only thing remaining was his mother’s stone.”

Lucy and Leia hurry down the street back toward their apartment which is just on the next block. Suddenly, a soft voice trying to make a dent in the din of the city cuts through and Lucy can hear the blonde girl yelling for her.
“Wait, wait! Don’t go, please! Please!” The girl bundles her skirts and runs toward Lucy. As she gets closer, Lucy can see the tears lining her face. She decides to stop moving and give her a second chance.
“La vache, what happened?!” Lucy is almost concerned for this naive girl, a pretty princess in the wrong side of town. People walking down the street glanced at her, confused.
The girl’s stomach heaves as she tries to catch her breath amid her sobs. “I-I…After you left I got…closer and I saw who he was…I-I recognized him.” She looks up with her large eyes filled with tears and whispers, “he was my father.”
“Nom de Dieu is it-is it really?” Lucy is confused and concerned and upset all at the same time, she hadn’t thought she would feel anything for this girl. “Come on, princesse, let’s go back.” Lucy holds out her hand and the girl’s delicate fingers lace around hers.
“Leia, go home. It’s just around the corner. If Maman isn’t there, go to Tante Joséphine’s.” Lucy presses the remaining francs into her sister’s hand. “Now, don’t spend these on candy. Keep them just in case. Be a good girl”
“Just in case.” Leia repeats slowly. “Good girls don’t waste money and are fast.” She disappears down the street and is swallowed by the crowds.
“Leia is a beautiful name,” the girl suddenly interjects. “What’s yours?”
“Lucy. Et toi?”
“Isabelle.”
“Well Isabelle, I do believe we have a mystery on our hands. Allons-y!” Lucy and Isabelle head back to the Jardin, but when they get there the two girls are shocked.
“He-he’s not there?” Isabelle says in her soft way.
“How very astute of you.” Lucy adds dryly. She wanders around the clearing looking for any sort of clues. “I see nothing…this is very strange.” Lucy notices Isabelle pull out a beautiful pocket watch from her bodice and check the time
“Oh no! I have to get home or my mother will be very upset…” She sniffles and Lucy walks over and puts her arm around her.
“Would you like me to come with you?” Lucy offers, even though the thought of going to the eighth arrondissement sounds terrifying.
“No, Mère would be very angry if she knew I was talking to someone like…you” Isabelle looks down, ashamed. “Thank you very much, though.”
“Good luck, Isabelle.” Lucy hugs the other girl. “A demain.”
Isabelle’s eyes shine with tears as she moves away from Lucy and towards the gate. “You too.”

The next day, Lucy awakes to see that Leia has left the bed next to her. She feels where the indent in the pillows was, and it is cold.
She’s been gone a while, Lucy thinks and quickly throws on a simple dress and braids her hair away from her face. Her mother has gone off somewhere, so Lucy opens the shop and prepares for the morning rush of people coming to buy their daily bread. Lucy decides to take a tram out farther into the city because Leia wasn’t anywhere she would have expected, and as she boarded the tram she recognized the girl sitting a few rows in front of her.
“Isabelle!” She calls out quietly, hoping Isabelle would hear her. The other girl turns around and meets Lucy’s eyes before quickly extracting herself from her full bench and moving to sit next to Lucy. “Have you any news?”
“No,” Isabelle says sadly, looking down. “My mother is not home yet and I don’t know what to do. Hey wait, where’s Leia?”
“I don’t know! I can’t find her anywhere, and I’m afraid something bad has happened to her…since the whole, well, you know.”
The tram stops at a station and Isabelle moves to leave. “I have to grab something to eat, I’ll come by the garden later, oui?”
“See you then,” Lucy replies as Isabelle steps off the tram and onto the busy boulevard. As another person passes, a small slip of paper falls into Lucy’s lap and when she lifts it up to return it to the man he just winks at her and keeps walking. She unfolds the paper and looks at it closely, trying to read the messy handwriting scrawled on it.

Parc Monceau. 7 o’clock sharp. Bring the girl.

Lucy doesn’t have to guess to understand who “the girl” was, nor what the purpose of the note was. The people who murdered Isabelle’s father had struck again: they had kidnapped Leia.

Later that day, Isabelle is eating a baguette while sitting on someone’s steps when she sees Lucy approach, a strange expression on her face. Before Isabelle can ask her about it, the other girl smiles and says that she has good news.
“I think I know where Leia is!” She exclaims, and glances at Isabelle to see her reaction.
“Well, have you gone there yet?” Isabelle is confused why Lucy would need to tell her first.
“No…it’s across town by the Parc Monceau. Have you heard of it?”
A smile flits across Isabelle’s face. Why hasn't she thought of that before? “I have in fact! It’s right across the street from where I live.”
Lucy’s expression brightens. “I’ve always wanted to visit it! I don’t know why in the world Leia would be there but she is I guess, and I, uh, don’t have enough money to pay tram fare across town and it takes too long to walk…do you think you could spare some?”
“Of course, I’d be happy to. Leia is such a sweet girl, I wouldn’t want anything to happen to her.”
The two girls arrive outside the Parc Monceau just before 7 o’clock. Isabelle turns to ask Lucy where Leia is, but she starts talking instead.
“I think she’s inside. Let’s go in. Please don’t hate me.”
Before Isabelle has a chance to ponder this strange statement, Lucy is grabbing her hand and pulling her into the darkening garden. The lush green vines arching over trellises with bright flowers dotting their branches add a much-needed pop of color to the dull March atmosphere, and Isabelle is so captivated by the beauty surrounding her that she doesn’t notice the man steadily approaching behind her until she feels the sharp coldness of metal at her throat
“Ne bouger pas,” a quiet voice in her ear says. “I am Lancelot.” She is as still as a statue, barely breathing. Lucy is standing next to her, looking at her with frightened eyes. But she doesn’t look surprised.
“Lucy! What have you done!” Isabelle momentarily forgets about the man with the knife pressed against her.
“I’m sorry. I really am. They had my sister. I’m sorry.” Lucy closes her eyes and Isabelle can see the glint of a tear in the moonlight, but she is not ready to forgive yet. When she opens her eyes again, Lucy has a determined set in her face. She faces another figure farther back in the garden whom Isabelle hadn’t noticed before. “Where’s my sister? You told me you’d bring her back to me.” She raises her voice at the end of the statement, surprising Isabelle at the ferocity in her words.
“I said nothing of the sort.” The chilling voice coming from the person covered in shadows terrifies Isabelle and she unconsciously shrinks back into the man holding her. “Take a look at your note.”
“WHAT?!” Lucy is terribly angry now. She rushes at the woman but another person appears and holds her back. “How dare you!” She struggles but the person’s grip is strong around her.
BANG!
A gunshot.
A shout.
A thump.
A wave of hair
A yell.
Before Isabelle can tell what’s happening, Lucy is tackling the man holding Isabelle, the figure in the distance is on the ground, presumably the one who was shot, and several meters away stands Leia, huddled on the ground with wide, scared eyes watching the proceedings with a sense of morbid curiosity.
With nothing holding her back now, Isabelle rushes to Leia. She scoops the younger girl in her arms and rocks her, whispering that it’ll be alright.
It’ll be alright.
Another yell comes from Lucy as the man pins her to the hard ground, the knife shining in his hand as he prepares to bring it down on her. Suddenly a flash of white streaks across the aisle and leaps onto the man. He lets go of Lucy in surprise and she scuttles away, watching as what turns out to be a cat attacks the man.
Realization dawns on Isabelle as she realizes who the cat is and why it’s there. It’s Chouxchoux, her beautiful Birman cat who lives in splendor and has never dirtied his paws a day in his life, somehow knew she was in danger and saved Lucy’s life. Chouxchoux backs up and the man lays limp on the ground. Lucy rushes over and takes Leia from Isabelle, cradling her sister to her body.
The sound of wagon wheels breaks the reunion and suddenly a group of sergeants de ville have arrived, no doubt notified of the commotion by a neighbor.
“Je m’appelle Mademoiselle Trim, and I’ll take it from here.” A stiff-looking woman steps off of a carriage.
“Merci,” Lucy says, as a courtesy because all three girls know she came too late.