Keeper of the Stars

This is the story I love by my good friend Mitzy Myers

Chapter 1
“Dad, why don’t Thorner and the Thornites like us?”
“That’s a hard question, Daphnè,” my dad answered thoughtfully. His name was Robert Smith, but I call him Bob when we’re out of the house. “Nobody knows for sure, but I think it’s because we have the key to the sorcerers’ castle, and…”
“…And he doesn’t?”
“Right.”
“That’s a good hypothesis.”
“Yes, well, it’s quite easy.”
“Oh.”
“But anyway, we’d better get going. You know what to say if someone catches you?” I nodded. I ran into the bathroom and applied Thorner’s tattoo, the thing that he uses to see who his followers are.
Top-safety, you know. I hold the book that has the secret of the sorcerers’ castle, but I haven’t opened it and I can’t open it until we are in great need.
‘We’ is us, the Tarandiddles. Thorner has already killed Tarandee, so it’s up to dad and I to get to the SC and save the Tarandiddle Empire – before it’s too late. Well, even if the ‘evil dudes’ did catch me, and knew I was on the good side, when they found the book, it would look like an old cookbook. It looks like a cookbook to everyone but a through-and-through Tarandiddle.
“Daphnè, time to go!”
“Coming!” I ran out of the bathroom and to my father.

“Dad, why do we have to go on Thorner’s ship?”
“Because my diamond ball told me so,” he answered.
Oh yeah, that dumb diamond thing – it’s not even diamond; it’s crystal. It ‘tells’ dad where to go – usually to the bottom of a forty-mile-deep trench, or to the top of the Thorner Empire Building, which is five hundred miles high (and there’s no elevator!). You can kinda tell that this ball-thing is most unreliable.
But I follow him anyway, and we usually end up in the most undesirable situations, like last time when we were told to go into Fire Cave, and we met a rather large (and hungry) dragon. It’s a good thing I had fresh pepper-salt in my bag, or who knows what would’ve happened to us.
“Daphnè, are you daydreaming again? You almost ran into that tree. Take a drink of water,” dad suggested. “Maybe you’ll come down to earth.” He laughed, and then looked down at his watch. “We’d better hurry!”
Dad and I rushed down the old dirt path and quickly filed onto the boat. Dad disappeared into the crowd of people onboard and I looked around for any other kids that might be there.
“Hey, you kid,” one of Thorner’s soldiers hollered. “Children are below deck!”
I bowed my head and crawled through the trapdoor to the few kids below.

“Hey there!” came a friendly voice. I turned around to see two boys sitting behind the rope ladder. I wouldn’t have known they were there if I didn’t know where to look. “Come sit with us!”
“Hey, you!” one of the girls from the side I was on yelled. Everyone got quiet – it seemed that this girl was boss. “Don’t sit with those crummy old boys – come sit with us.” The circle of girls opened. There were so many of them, and they were all wearing shiny dresses studded with gems. “My name is Amaria, Princess Amaria, daughter of King Thorner.”
“Not until Thorner overrules Tsarmania,” a tall girl corrected her.
“I suppose, but it’ll be easy – the Tarandiddles leave their capital city completely unguarded.”
I frowned. I really didn’t know if I wanted to sit with these girls – they were definitely Thornites. But didn’t want to disappoint Amaria – what would she do then?
I took a chance and walked away from the ring of girls. “I don’t want to sit with you!” I shouted.
All the girls gasped. The two boys grinned. “You’ll regret this!” Amaria said loudly. Then she whispered in my ear, “I know who you are. You’re a Tarandiddle! I can’t hypnotize Tarandiddles. Or are you a boy? What’s your name?”
I racked my brain for a boy name. “Smith!” I sputtered.
“I’m on your case, Smith!” Amaria smiled wickedly.
I ran over to the two boys.

“Wow, Smith, you’re so cool! I can’t believe she didn’t hypnotize you. And you’re a girl, aren’t you? You can’t really be a Tarandiddle, can you?”
“Me?” I shuddered. “No, of course not! See?” I pulled the leg of my pants up to show the two boys the tattoo. “It was made by Thorner himself.”
“Wow, you’re special,” the first boy said. “My name’s Andrew. Is yours really Smith?”
I shook my head. “My name is really Daphnè, but can you call me Smith anyway?”
“Sure,” Andrew replied. “This is Daniel.”
“I…I’m a Telmarine t-too!” Daniel stammered weakly. “S-s-see?” There was a tattoo on his leg as well. But something about his looked…fake.
And then I knew. I wasn’t the only stowaway on board. There were two, and there might be one more as well – Andrew. There was one way to test them – show them the book.
I pulled out the book. “No!” Daniel gasped. He collapsed on the floor. “The SC in the hands of a Thorite? How could it be?”
“Cool it, Dan. My name is Daphnè Smith, keeper of the key to the SC.”
“All I see is an old cookbook,” Andrew admitted. “What’s the fuss?”
I hope Andrew didn’t hear us.

Chapter 2
That night, I couldn’t go to sleep. Andrew was asleep beside me, and I couldn’t tell if Daniel was asleep or not.
“Daphnè, are you awake?”
“Daniel, is that you?”
“Yeah. C’mere.” I walked over to Daniel, who was holding two cloaks in his arms. “Before we came onto the ship, my mom told me that Daphnè Smith was going to be there. That’s you. She gave me two CIR cloaks, and I’m supposed to give one to you.”
“What do they do?” I asked.
“Well, the two CIR cloaks go together,” Daniel explained. “We have to wear them all the time, and if you pull the hood over your head, you become invisible. The CIR cloaks are special because since ours is a set, we can see each other and talk to each other, but nobody else can see or hear us, no matter what.” He handed one to me. “You and I – we have a job. We’re supposed to stop this ship from attacking Tsarmania.”
“How do we do that? We can’t do it alone.”
“Mom packed other things as well.” Daniel pulled out a white case from his bag. He handed me one vial of flying, strength, time stopping, freezing, and fire-throwing powder. Then he handed me a tiny pouch. “There’s healing powder in there,” Daniel whispered. “We have to be very careful with it.”
Daniel pulled out two royal blue bags just the right size for all the vials and the pouch. I put all of my powders in one bag and he put his in the other.
I caught sight of Daniel’s fake tattoo, and remembered that I had an extra one in my bag. “Here, Daniel.” I applied the tattoo to Daniel’s ankle. “Your other one was seriously fake.”
“Thanks,” Daniel smiled.
Daniel and I left our old bags on the ground, put our cloaks on, threw the blue bags onto our shoulders, and threw our hoods up. Then we climbed up the rope ladder and right through the trapdoor. “One more thing,” Daniel said. “When we put the cloaks on, we can go through any substance and breathe underwater.”
“That’s helpful – let’s go!”
We will succeed.

Chapter 3
“We’ll have to go in the water and swim to Clock Reef. There we’ll find the Clockmen. The Thornites have hijacked their system so that the Clocktowers can’t sense any danger. We’ll have to warn them ourselves.
“After that we’ll contact the Watermen who’ll send out sharks and other water animals that’ll try and sink the ship, or at least get rid of a few extremely bad people.
“Then we’ll visit the Birdmen who’ll send out seagulls and other birds trained to attack the bad guys, and then the Watermen will send out dolphins to collect all the children and bring them into captivity.”
“Sounds like a plan to me,” I agreed. “‘The Tarandiddles leave their capital city completely unguarded.’ We’ll see about that!”

“Here we are; Clock Reef,” Daniel finally announced. I hurled myself onto the sandy beach-ring surrounding Tsarmania, exhausted. Daniel flung himself beside me. He dug into his blue bag and pulled out a map showing where we were and where everything else was.
“I also have a more detailed map on Tsarmania,” he announced proudly.
“Let me study that,” I said, and I picked it off the sandy beach. “Hmm…let’s see…we’re right there, and the Clocktower is over there…there’s the Watermen’s home, and the Birdmen’s…”
“Let’s just take a break for a while, okay?” Daniel suggested. “I am really tired. Seriously.”
***
Princess Amaria was sitting on a dirty boat below deck, waiting for another girl to come down through the trapdoor. Just out of luck, the trapdoor opened and a girl wearing a ruby-red dress climbed through.
“Hello there,” Amaria smiled. “I love your dress.”
“Thanks. My dad made it for me.”
“Whatever. Come sit with me.”
“Whatever.”
“What’s your name?”
“My name is Jessica.” And the girl sat down beside Amaria.
Amaria counted the girls she had. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven – more than enough. She pulled out a tiny silver bell and shook it. A loud clanging came from above the trapdoor, and after a minute the trapdoor was gone.
“How is my little sweetie?” Thorner cooed.
“I have seven of them – see?” Amaria stood up.
“Wonderful, my flower; we now have enough for the job.”
Amaria held out her hand expectantly. Thorner sighed and handed Amaria a vial full of golden powder. “Use it wisely,” he warned her. Amaria nodded gleefully and scurried up the rope ladder to the deck above.
Amaria sprinkled some of the powder in her hair and flew away.
***
“I guess we’d better head for the Clocktower,” Daniel sighed.
I sat up and yawned. “How long have we been asleep?”
“Most of the day, by the look of the sun. Before we went to sleep, the sun was way over there, but now it’s way over there.”
“Right. Um, should we wash the sand off our backs?”
“It’ll come right off. Here, let me help.”
Daniel brushed the sand off my shirt and pants with his hand, and I did the same for him. Afterwards we traveled slowly around the Clock Reef until I spotted the Clocktower, in which case we ran to it.

Chapter 4
The Clockmen had brown hair and beards. They were friendly little men, like dwarves.
“Hello there, children. Why are you here?” said one. “My name is Lope.”
“Hi, Lope,” I replied. “We have urgent news.”
“It’s a matter of life and death,” Daniel added.
“What is your news, youngsters?”
“We have been captives on Thorner’s battleship, but we escaped. Before we escaped, we found out that the ship is headed this way to Tsarmania.”
“And you expect us to believe that?” another man said. “You are just children.”
“Do you think we would lie about such serious matters?” Daniel challenged.
“Daniel, I don’t want them to get mad…” I worried.
“I know,” Daniel agreed.
“No, I suppose you wouldn’t make a joke out of Thorner,” Lope agreed. “Where were they when you escaped?”
Daniel pointed at the spot on the map nailed to the wall. “And we’ve been gone for about twelve hours.”
“Oh dear, oh dear!” Lope cried. “We must get a move-on! Lim, Lire – go fix the Clocktower! The rest of you, ready the explosives around Clock Reef! You two children, you might want to contact the Birdmen and the Watermen – fast!”
“That was our plan,” Daniel informed him. “See ya!”
My heart pounded as I ran out the door behind Daniel. “If Thorner gets his hands on Tsarmania, we’re all going to be under the mercy of the Thornites!”
No longer was Daniel the timid little boy I met on the boat. Now he was a fierce, determined boy trying to save all the Tarandiddles and their capital city – with me. Man, there was a lot at stake.
“Put your hood up,” Daniel ordered. “The Watermen live underwater.”
I did as I was told quickly and threw the hood over my head. Instantly we vanished. Daniel grabbed my hand and we jumped gracefully into the water without causing even the tiniest ripple.

“If I remember correctly, the Watermen Place should be right over there…and it is!” Daniel said.
“What are the Watermen anyway?”
“What do you think?” Daniel asked me.
“They couldn’t be…” I wasn’t even going to say what I thought they were.
Daniel grinned big and swam faster. He rang the doorbell. The door opened and a tiny girl’s face popped out. “Hi-hi!” she squeaked. Suddenly, from behind the girl, two arms reached out and picked her up. That was when I saw the little girl’s tail. The Watermen were merpeople.
“Hello, children,” the lady said. “I see you met Persephone. Isn’t she darling?” I nodded. “Come on in, you two.”
When Daniel and I were seated, several mermen swam in. “Magyk, why are there strangers in our home?” the largest one asked.
“I feel they need to tell us something,” Magyk answered calmly.
“This is a matter of life and death, guys,” Daniel said seriously. “Thorner is on the way and with him are many soldiers armed to take over Tsarmania. We have been sent here by Lope to tell you to release your trained animals to try and stop them, or at least slow them down.”
Magyk’s eyes widened as Daniel spoke. When he was done, she cried, “Corridor, I always worried this would happen. You must send out the…”
“Men, gather around,” Corridor commanded. In a loud voice he told them what to do. “Go now, and do as I said!” he yelled after them as they swam out of the house. Corridor followed them.
As soon as they were gone, Magyk handed Persephone to me. “Keep her safe, child. I must go help the others. Please, keep her from harm – I trust you.”
“I’ll protect her with my life,” I answered confidently. Magyk smiled and swam away.
“Will you be okay, Daph?” Daniel asked.
“I’ll be fine! Go contact the Birdmen, and hurry!”
“May Tarandee be with you,” Daniel said. He gave me a quick hug and hurried out the door.
***
Amaria swooped down towards Clock Reef. Spying was her second favorite thing to do, especially when rewards were involved. “No one will ever suspect that a little bird like me could be guilty of such a crime,” she said gleefully to herself.
Amaria landed on top of the Clocktower. She snickered when she saw that one of the Clockmen was snoozing in a makeshift chair. Seeing nothing that would get in her father’s way, she flew back towards the ship.

Chapter 5
Ba-roo! Ba-roo! Ba-roo! Ba-roo! I literally jumped out of the coral bed. Persephone jumped up beside me.
“It’s an alarm!” I exclaimed wildly.
“Bad guys coming!” Persephone informed me. She swam over to a shelf where she picked up a bag just the right size for her. “Mommy carry me in this!”
“Okay, Persephone.” I took the bag and gently set her inside. I tied it to my shoulders like a backpack and rushed out of the underwater hut in search of Magyk.

I found Magyk wedged between two rocks just below the surface. “Magyk, what happened?” I cried.
“Nothing, really,” she replied. “I was making a coral catapult to fling rocks at the Thornites when an underwater torpedo started coming towards me. I dodged out of the way, and the torpedo hit the rocks, and they fell on me. I think I’ll be okay, but my tail is cut.”
I sprinkled strength powder over my head and pulled the rocks off Magyk. I sprinkled some healing powder over her tail and handed Persephone over. “She missed you,” I said. “You two need to go to the hut right now. It’s not safe out here.”
“What about you?” Magyk worried.
“I’ll be fine,” I assured her.
Magyk smiled, held Persephone tight in her arms, and swam towards the hut. I swam up to the surface and burst out of the water, and my hood flew off my head.

Above water, Tsarmania was in a world of chaos. The Thornites were absolutely everywhere. Apparently they had shipwrecked on Clock Reef, which was not the best place for the Tarandiddles, a.k.a. me and Daniel.
Daniel – where was he anyway? I hoped he would be okay. I slipped my hood on again and started searching. I scanned the ground for any clue, any sign that he might be close.
I sprinkled flying powder on my head and flew into the sky. Looking down, I saw the Merpeople’s land sharks. I noticed the seagulls and other strange birds pecking, and I saw Daniel’s CIR cloak. I flew down to it, pushed the guilty-looking bird off it, and put it in my blue bag.
Then I realized that Daniel had probably been taken, so I flew to the shipwrecked boat and searched. There he was, surrounded by guards and wrapped in chains. I walked up to him.
“Daniel?” He looked around blindly, and I remembered he couldn’t see me. “Daniel, it’s me, Daphnè.”
“Daphnè?” Daniel whispered. “It’s unbelievable! I thought you’d never find me.”
“I found your CIR cloak.” I took it out of my bag and put the hood on his head. Daniel was able to move his hands right through the chains, and they fell to the floor with a clatter. Daniel put his arms through the correct spots and the two of us walked – or rather, sprinkled flying powder and flew – to the Sorcerer’s Castle.
Engraved on one of the gates was this:
When all hope is lost, turn to the truth and be willing to sacrifice.
I pulled out the book and remembered that time so long ago, when I just came to the boat with my father…where was my dad? Was he okay? Maybe all my questions would be answered…I pushed the book into the empty hole where it belonged.
Suddenly everything around Daniel and I became white and we were flung forwards into the castle.
Chapter 6
“Who are you, and why are you here?” demanded a loud, gruff voice. I looked up and blinked. My eyes slowly adjusted to the bright light, and I could see a man.
“Sir, we seek help for the Tarandiddles’ side,” Daniel requested boldly.
“Why should we help you?” a woman’s voice asked.
I stretched as tall as I could. “My name is Daphnè Smith, keeper of the key to the SC. Daniel and I have traveled from Tsylv to see you.”
A pillar of light appeared, and we saw the woman who spoke slowly descend from above them. The pillar of light vanished when she touched the ground.
The lady had shining blonde hair that fell down her back all the way to her hips, and her dress was baby blue with sequins glittering in the unnatural light of the castle.
“My name is Angeline, keeper of the sun,” the lady explained. She waved her hand, and three chairs appeared. “Come sit, and I will tell you about this place.”
Daniel and I sat down in the two royal blue chairs next to each other, and Angeline sat in the sparkling yellow one.
“Many years ago, this was the Palace of Powers. Tsarmania was ruled by the four seasons. But the Thornites attacked the city, and all the members of the Palace of Powers, known to the Tarandiddles as the POP, had to put a charm on the palace. We did it together, and luckily our magic was powerful enough to place the charm.
“Anyone who opened the palace’s doors would enter the sorcerer’s castle, the SC. Only the person who held the key could enter the POP. Generations of Tarandiddles went by, and almost all the Tarandiddles forgot us.
“But one day, a kind man named Tarandee found the key and visited us in the POP. He, along with many Tarandiddles, came into Tsarmania and protected it for us, until the palace could be restored. I think you might be the duo we’ve been waiting for.”
Daniel and I exchanged surprised glances.
“Before we do anything else, there is one thing I need: the CIR cloaks,” Angeline said.
I looked at Daniel. “We can’t, Daniel! Your mom…”
“Give it to her, Daphnè. It’s for a good cause.”
“Okay.” We handed Angeline the cloaks and sat down in the chairs.
“Daniel, Daphnè, this is Analgi, keeper of all animals,” Angeline explained.
Analgi made a friendly smile and made himself a chair. It was the same color as his robes, a brown color that reminded me of deer.
Immediately after Analgi sat down, all four chairs flew upwards. Everything was white. I squeezed my eyes shut and waited for it to be over.

Chapter 7
Suddenly everything halted. I was flung from my chair and into white nothingness.
“We’re on Powder Clouds,” Angeline announced. “Each one rains a different powder.”
I looked around for Daniel and grasped his hand. “Why are we here?” I asked him. Daniel shrugged and lay down.
“I dunno, but it sure feels good on the clouds.” I settled down beside Daniel. He was right. The clouds were soft and fluffy.
I thought about the fighting that was going on outside the safety of the palace. “Angeline, what about all the fighting going on out there?”
“Don’t worry, Daphnè. The fighting has stopped,” Angeline assured me.
Just after Angeline said that, the four of us were pushed upwards again. I held onto Daniel’s hand until we stopped moving, when I saw tons of people around us.
“These are the four seasons,” Angeline said. “Willa, keeper of winter; Stella, keeper of spring; Sandy, keeper of summer; and Fawn, keeper of fall.”
“Pleased to meat you,” Willa smiled.
The white dress and sparkling diamonds complemented her silver hair. Her white slippers were the color of snow, and her earrings were shaped like snowflakes.
Stella smiled and shook my hand, cheery like the season spring should be. Her dress was lime green with bright pink, blue, and yellow flowers dotted randomly around it. Her light blonde hair held the fragrance of flowers.
Sandy did a little curtsy, allowing us to admire her canary yellow dress and yellow-blonde hair. She grinned and giggled, but Fawn nudged her, so she hurried off, still smiling big.
“You don’t see that every day,” Daniel laughed. I liked his positive attitude.
“Um, hi!” Fawn smiled sheepishly and blushed. Daniel and I could tell she was shy. I only had a moment to see her dress, which seemed to be made out of leaves that were red, orange, and yellow.
“You’re beautiful!” I gasped.
“Thanks,” Fawn whispered, and she dashed away.
Fast as lightning, Angeline, Daniel, and I spiraled upwards, leaving everyone else behind.

We ended up in a hallway with doors on both sides. “Follow me, children,” Angeline instructed. She walked along the narrow corridor and stopped in front of one labeled ‘DSD.’ “This is your bedchamber. Sleep well.”
Angeline vanished into thin air, leaving a small key behind.
“We’d better try and unlock this door,” Daniel announced. Ugh. He was being practical again.
“Whatever,” I grumped.
“Cool it, Daph.”
“I’m sorry, Dan. I guess I’m just a little tired,” I apologized.
“A little? We haven’t slept for, like, days! I’m all for this night.” Daniel turned the key in the lock and the two of us walked in. There was an empty chamber with a door on each side. The chamber’s floor had a huge star printed in the middle.
“Nice,” I commented.
“I like the star,” Daniel added. “How about I go in this room, and you go in that room, and see if it appeals?”
“Sounds good to me,” I replied. “I’ll go into the one on the right.”
I opened the door on the right while Daniel walked to the other side of the room to the door on the left.

The first thing I noticed when I entered the room was the note taped to the light switch. I yanked it off and opened it up. It read:
Dear Daphnè,
Congratulations on being the newest Keeper. I am sure you and Daniel will be excellent keepers of the night.
On your bed is a CIR cloak with stars and moons on it. Wear it always, as it has all the powders you’ll ever need in it. And of course, you and Daniel’s robes will be connected. In fact, all the Keepers’ robes are connected, so we can all see each other.
Be prepared for battle at any time, my dear.
Angeline, keeper of the sun
Okay, so this was definitely my room. I went over to the bed, and yep, there was a CIR cloak on it.
I picked the cloak up and put all my vials into the pocket of it. It seemed to have a no-bottom charm, because everything fit. I reached into my cloak pocket again and found another note in the same handwriting.
Daphnè, keeper of the night:
As accounted for, you are keeper of the night, but I need to be a little more specific. You are keeper of the stars. Daniel shall be keeper of the moon, but when together you two shall be called ‘keepers of the night.’
Angeline, keeper of the sun
Keeper of the stars? It sounded…official and special somehow. I lay down on my bed, pulled up the comforter, and spiraled into slumber.

Chapter 8
Bam! Bam! Bam! “Huh? Who is it?”
“Daphnè, open up!” Daniel shouted. “We’ve got to hurry – Thorner’s brought a fresh batch of Thornites ashore!”
I leapt out of bed and realized I slept in my clothes last night. “I’ve got to change!” I yelled through the door.
“There’s no time! Throw on your robe and let us be off!”
“Okay.” I put my robe on quickly and pushed my feet into my boots. I ran out the door into Daniel, who toppled over. “Oops.” I blushed.
“It’s alright. C’mon, the city is at stake!”
“Again already? Man, I’m more than a little tired of trying to save the city.”
“But we’re going to be able to be in the battle!”
“So maybe you’re looking forward to this, Daniel. I, on the other hand, am not! I really don’t want what happens to most people in the wars to happen to me.”
Now we were in the bottom floor of the POP. Daniel seemed less in a hurry now that we were close the battle.
“Daphnè, just sit down for a moment.” I sighed and sat down on a dark blue cloud couch. Daniel smiled weakly and sat down beside me. “Look. I don’t want anything to happen either, but we have our CIR cloaks. We have the protection from the POP. I wouldn’t want anything to happen to you. I don’t want anything to happen to me.
Finding a new energy source, I pulled up the hood of my cloak. Daniel did so as well. Just then, streams of keepers flew down to us, hoods up.
“This is the first time in a long while,” Angeline announced, “That the keepers fight and win in battle! No enemy shall see us. Our goal: get the Thornites out of here forever!”
Whoops and hollers came from the mouths of the keepers.
“C’mon, everybody – let’s go!” Daniel exclaimed.
If someone was standing there by the doors, they would see the doors open for, like, two minutes, before the doors closed again. And they would be, like, “I didn’t know the SC was white inside.” Yeah right, people. That wasn’t the SC. That was the POP. Sounds more interesting, huh? Yeah, I thought so. Okay, Thornites, bring it on!
Daniel soon disappeared in the chaos of battle. I decided to track down Thorner, so I sprinkled flying powder over my head. Then, making sure that my hood was up, I flew over the battle, scanning the devastating scene for any sign of him.
There he was! I swooped down towards him and pulled out the freezing powder vial. I took a pinch out and dropped it on his head. Ice slowly crept down him until Thorner was just a solid ice statue. I gave him a hard push that sent him flying to the ground, shattering into a million pieces.
Just then Daniel flew up. “What did you do to him, Daphnè?”
“I got rid of him,” I answered simply.
“I don’t think the Thornites are too happy about that,” Daniel said nervously.
“Let’s fly,” I suggested.
“Good idea,” Daniel agreed. In a flash, the two of us flew high up into the sky.
“Daniel…” I threw his hood up over his head. “You and I…we were meant for each other. I know it.”
“Hey, we’re both keepers of the night,” Daniel joked.
“Dan, you know what I mean.”
“I do, Daph. But I don’t want to talk about it right now. Let’s head for the POP and get some sleep.”
“Daniel?”
“What?”
“Do you ever…well…you know, miss your mom?”
“Sure. But we don’t need to worry about that.”
“You’re right,” I agreed.
Chapter 9
“Wake up, Daphnè!”
“Waking me up again, Danny Boy?” I stretched and yawned. “I can’t believe you.”
“They’re having a celebration day in our – or rather, your – honor!”
“Now that’s something worth waking up for,” I said. Smiling and humming a little tune, I put on my fancy sky blue dress with the red rose pinned on the top middle.
After a little fixing up, I walked out the door, where Daniel was waiting for me. He was wearing one of those fancy white shirts – a tuxedo shirt, maybe – and everything below that was black – the pants, the shoes, and the socks. His hair was clean and sharp – sharp meaning that not a single hair was out of place.
Boy did he look handsome. I’m sure I looked pretty, too. I had taken a shower earlier that morning, and last night I had put my long black hair in curlers, so after my shower my hair was curly around the bottom.
“Wow, I love the color choices,” Daniel complemented.
I smiled. “I think you look handsome. By the way, how old are you?”
“Sixteen,” Daniel replied. “And you?”
“So am I. I’ll be seventeen in May.”
“Late April. Enough talk – I heard that there’s fresh waffles for breakfast!”
It turns out there was more than just waffles. There were regular biscuits as well as cheese biscuits, my favorite. There was bacon, pancakes, French toast, and the syrup was homemade by Dahlia, keeper of greenery (plants, trees, you know). She says it’s a mixture of maple syrup (from her own maple trees), sugar, water, and a secret ingredient she won’t tell anyone.
Okay, maybe more than one secret ingredient, but never mind that – it was delicious! It tasted heavenly, as if angels made it! (Or maybe it was just one angel named Dahlia who got help from the maple tree spirits.)
Anyway, after breakfast all the keepers visited Powder Clouds while it was ‘raining.’ It was so beautiful! All the colors rained down into these barrels that were labeled according to what the powder was.
I spotted ‘freezing,’ ‘healing,’ and ‘flying’ right away. Angeline must’ve seen me staring at the barrels because she called Paella, keeper of the powder, over.
“The healing powder cloud hardly rains anymore,” Paella said wistfully. “Neither does the freezing powder cloud. But you two have those powders, don’t you? Boy, you’re special.”
“I suppose so,” I said gloomily.
“What’s wrong? Don’t you like Powder Clouds?” Paella worried.
“Oh no! It’s not that. It’s just…well…I guess I miss my dad a lot.”
“Really? Well, talk to Angeline about that. She can check and see where he is.”
“I hope he doesn’t need rescuing,” I muttered under my breath.
Angeline walked over. “I know you’d love for me to check, but not today. Today’s your special day, and all the keepers want it to be perfect.”
“Thanks, Angeline.”
Angeline waved her hand and we fell back down to the bottom floor of the POP.
“Lunch time already?” I gasped. “This day has gone by quickly.”
“I know!” Daniel agreed. Then he smiled. “Part of the reason is that you woke up late.”
“How late?”
“Nine-ish,” Daniel replied.
“Wow!” I exclaimed. “That is late.”
“Never mind that. We’ve got to eat lunch. Boy, I’m starving!”
“Me too!”
Daniel and I waltzed into the dining hall.
“You’re so beautiful!” Analgi complemented when he saw me. “And your date looks so handsome.”
“Date?!” Daniel and I gasped at the same time.
“Why not?” Analgi grinned. “Everybody knows you like each other. You should call this your first date.”
I looked at Daniel, searching for the answer, but all I could see was admiration in his eyes.
“There’s a point in what he’s saying,” Daniel finally said. “I mean; we definitely like each other. I think we could call this a date.”
“Thanks, Analgi,” I said to him. “I don’t suppose you have a camera?”
“Right here.” Analgi grinned again. “I’ll take the pictures. Oh boy, this’ll be fun! I haven’t taken photos of people in forever!”
I shot a friendly smile at him, wondering what he had gotten us into.

Chapter 10
It was five o’clock pm. Daniel and I were sitting on a bench beside some indoor lake on the bottom floor [of the POP], talking about ‘things’ and ‘stuff,’ if you know what I mean.
“I have an announcement to make!” Angeline announced from the next room. Daniel and I walked towards her. Once all the keepers had gathered `round, Angeline continued. “First we’ll have dinner. Then there will be a ball/dessert festival on the ninth floor. Dinner will be served in the dining hall right now. Thank you!”
Everyone literally ran to the dining hall. Bits of conversation floated around. “I’m starving, Stacy.” “I wonder if we’ll be having pork chop?” “No chopped liver, please.” “My mom always cooked brussel sprouts.” “Ho, ho, ho, I’m feeling rather hungry.” “Who said that?” “It wasn’t me.” “Or me.” “It was too you.” “Be quiet! I don’t want anyone to know!” “Know what?” “What to know about what?” “Huh?” “Hey look, the food’s here!”
Everyone stared at their plates as, one-by-one, they started filling up with food. My plate actually came with a bowl, which was filled with sausage and veggies. (Seriously, that stuff tastes good.) Then there was this hot dog inside a tortilla, which is also delicious. I also received oyster crackers, but most likely the best things were the three rolls that came pre-buttered. Man, they were so totally buttered!!! The butter was, like, a centimeter deep!
Well, after I ate it all, I was pretty full. But all the keepers went up to the ballroom. I decided to try and get up there myself. I did a pretty good job, if I do say so myself.
And we got up there to the ballroom plenty fast. Daniel and I danced around the room, with the disco ball above us, and the flashy lights flying around us, who couldn’t be happier? This was probably the best place to go for a date! Amaria would be jealous.
We had cake afterwards. Mine was a chocolate-Oreo ice cream cake with extra frosting, while Daniel’s was plain vanilla…in the shape of a penguin.
Daniel and I had fun stuffing cake in each other’s mouth, but eventually it was time for bed.
“Good night, Daniel.”
“`Night, Daphnè.”