Sunshine's Writing Journal

2008-12-03T16:33:00.002-05:00

here's my compare and contrast paper!

you'll have to request access to the page so just email me at livinglovinglearning13@gmail.com and i'll grant the access. :-)

Snipe Hunting!

2008-10-29T20:32:00.001-04:00

here's my paragraph on snipe hunting! hope you like it!

“Let’s go snipe hunting!” A few of the high school girls agreed with Hunter’s enthusiastic suggestion while the rest of us twenty girls questioned her sanity. Hunter explained that snipes were basically like fireflies with a purple glow. The only way to attract snipes from underneath their leaf-havens is to click two sticks together repeatedly. Krisha and I skeptically set out, click-click-clicking our sticks. Rebecca drew the group of girls to a huge oak tree where she “found” a colony of snipes. My pulse quickened as we neared the ancient tree, hoping to find my first snipe at my first youth retreat. Instead, I got scared out of my wits by some high school girls hidden in the deep, dark woods. They told us that our efforts were basically as futile as Winnie the Pooh looking for heffalumps in the 100 acre wood. To add to our humiliation, our gullible adventure was caught on tape by our own Jonelle. I now have more sympathy for Winnie the Pooh and am an expert in snipe hunting. Care to join me?

so what do you think?

luv,
Sunshine

Jr. High and writing papers

2008-10-24T23:05:00.002-04:00

Wow...this year i am now in 7th grade! this year has been going well so far...i have only accomplished, really, two writing assignments. The first one is a narrative paragraph and the second is a draft of a compare and contrast paper. i will post my narrative paragraph soon, but...right now it's 11:10 p.m., and i'm babysitting. we got a foster baby a few months ago! she's absolutely adorable! my mom and dad are out 2nite so i am babysitting for them :-) if you'd like to know more about me and my life, my real blog is http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/DolphinGrl. thx! ttyl!

In Christ,
Sunshine

Haikus for School

2008-05-08T08:38:00.003-04:00

This week for writing I am writing haikus. I have a few prepared....hope you like them!

Sunshine

Nighttime
When purple ascends,
Birds cease their endless chatter;
Stars wink at the clouds.

The Gardener
Sighing lovingly,
The Gardener sees His work
and smiles on us.

Rain
Rain on my window-
Luna throwing small pebbles;
She wants attention.

Your God is Too Small

2008-04-28T14:06:00.002-04:00

I really like this poem! it is SO cool. :-) My God is BIG!! is yours?

Sunshine <><

Your God Is Too Small

Your God is too small
if He cannot save you.
Your God is too small
if He cannot listen to you.
Your God is too small
if He will not fight for you.
Your God is too small
if He will not forgive you.
Your God is too small
if He cannot love you
just as you are.
Your God is too small
if He cannot bear with you.
Your God is too small
if He has not your trust.
Your God is too small
if He has no word for you.
But my God is big
because He can do all that
your too small God can never do.

Chidimma N. Esomonu

Haiku

2008-04-13T08:57:00.004-04:00

This is a haiku poem I wrote for the daily poetry.com haiku contest. :-)

Sunshine <><

(to see the inspirational picture, go to poetry.com/haiku and look for April 13th's winning poem and picture)

Darkness surrounds me,
Yet through pain, darkness, and rain,
God brings the Rainbow.

By the way, a haiku is a poem of 17 syllables: 5 the first line, 7 the second, and 5 the last.

More Poems

2008-04-11T20:04:00.002-04:00

these are some cute poems, also from poetry.com

Sunshine <><

Puppies

Puppies are cute, they're usually small,
Sometimes they're short,
Sometimes they're tall.
Puppies are playful and so much fun!
And mine always loves to lay in the sun.
Puppies are small, but they lick a lot,
Right on the face! That's the spot!
Whenever you leave, they want you to stay,
They want you to come on the floor and play!
Puppies are furry, they're easy to hold,
"Wrap a blanket around her! She looks like she's cold!"
You take her to bed, she looks into your eyes,
And you promise her this, you'll get up at sun rise.

Cheyenne Elizabeth Andrews

Music's Ability

I walked up to my piano bench.
Everyone was watching,
Burning holes into my neck with their stare.
But as I sat down, my fingers took me away, Far far away...
They flew over smiling daisies, lanky sunflowers, and
Deadly Venus Fly Traps.
They played with the dolphins, swam with the fish, and
Escaped from the most dangerous creatures.
They watched the lovers' first kiss,
The epic of Warrior and Heroine, and defined
Happily Ever After.
They showed me what my boundaries were in the
Land of Imagination.
But there was no boundary.
And so I was taken to see jungles and safaris.
They ran with the zebras and lions and antelopes.
They sang with the parrot and blue jay and rooster.
They led me to the end of our journey.
Roaring applause filled my ears as I finished my piece,
And the daisies smiled at me once more.

Cheyenne Elizabeth Andrews

True Love

by: Tina Daniel

True love fears nothing
it does anything for you
it loves you enough
to become you in darkness
to bear your darkness.

True love forgets itself
it will not abandon you
it cares for you enough
to take your pain as its own
to keep you safe.

True love gives up anything for you
it will abandon its treasures
it will leave its own kind
to be with you
to become one of you.

True love fights for you
it stand by you forever
it dissolves into you
to stay with you in this world
to stay with you in other worlds

In Your Arms.

by: Laci Brown

To be held in your arms, what a delight.A kiss upon my rosy
lips,in the early morning light.A tender word spoken
aloud, all my dreams coming true.How can I say anything at
all,except I love you .Thank you lord for listening to my
prayer,and acting so soon. Sitting on the porch swing,
legs tangling together, staring at the moon.Listening to
your heart and whispered charms.Always and forever, held
in your arms.

God

I never thought you would be the first one to go.

But with God is where you now are I know.

He is beside you right now with a smile on your face.

Helping you in heaven find your place.

So when I pray about you to the heavens above.

I know God is still letting you feel my love.

With each passing hour that slowly goes by.

I am comforted by God and he helps me to not cry.

So if on the outside I appear to be happy and ok.

It is because I know we will be together again someday.

Laci Snow Brown

Colors

2008-04-11T19:52:00.004-04:00

this is the poem of the day today! I really like it...don't you?

Sunshine

I got it from poetry.com

Colors

A purple sound comes humming
In a yellow dawn's full bloom.
Red eyes read the rising
Of another marbled moon.
And the jagged, blinding whiteness
That crowned the sightless night
Sleeps above blue heaven
And the rainbow's prism light.
Green life lifts and stretches.
Aqua waves anoint the shore.
Brown bodies kneel and kiss the earth.
Black yields to blue once more.

By Linda Mac Dougall

An Adventure on the Oregon Trail

2008-04-11T14:03:00.000-04:00

This is a story I wrote for a short story contest at our library. I won 3rd place in the 6th-8th grade category!

~Sunshine

An Adventure on the Oregon Trail

Who would have thought that an afternoon cleaning an attic in an old lady’s house would have been an adventure? Not the average thirteen-year-old. But for me, that day, cleaning an attic, was one of the most exciting days of my life.

I’m Jane Nevaeh Randolph. This is my adventure.

It was a Saturday morning, the first of May. Earlier in the week, I had agreed to help a little old lady down the street, Mrs. Suzanne, clean out her attic. You know, spring cleaning. I was hesitant at first, knowing that her 200-year-old log house was probably filled with rust, mildew, moth balls, and really gross things. I had asked my best friend, Megan, to come and help me, and she was glad to.

Megan met me at my house that morning at 7:00 A.M. The breeze in our lonely little Idaho town was very faint, like a whispered secret. It offered very little cooling off on that seventy-degree day, with the sun shining bright. But Megan had the same idea as mine: no sleeve shirts with the shortest possible shorts we were allowed to wear. With her bright pink tank top, dark blue jean shorts, tennis shoes, and her brown curly hair pulled up in a bun with a bow, you would have thought she was going to cheerleading practice.

“Do we need to bring anything?” Megan asked.

“We shouldn’t.” I replied, “Mrs. Suzanne said that she would have all of the necessary items, including lemonade and cookies.” We laughed a little.

We then started down the little street of Potato Avenue. We looked at all of the houses we were passing, having seen them for years -some with brick and some with colored siding. We walked for about a half of a mile and came to a Mrs. Suzanne’s log house with roses and daisies planted all around the front porch. The front door was coming off its hinges and the windows needed some cleaning.

Mrs. Suzanne met as at the front door with lemonade and cookies, just as she promised.

“Hello there, girls! I just got done making some cookies so you come on in out of this heat and rest a while.” said Mrs. Suzanne. “Don’t even think of workin’ till you have some lemonade to cool that throat of yours.”

“You’re very kind, Mrs. Suzanne,” I said as politely as I could.

“Yes, thank you very much,” agreed Megan, taking a cookie and a glass of lemonade from the tray she carried.

Her house was a little farmhouse that had two bedrooms, a living room, and a kitchen. The little living room was full of little collectables here and there of things from the Oregon Trail. Her house was actually the place where a prairie family once lived in 1847. The one thing that Megan, Mrs. Suzanne, and I had in common was that we all loved the time of the Oregon Trail.

After thanking Mrs. Suzanne for the lemonade and cookies, Megan and I headed to the attic.

We walked up the ladder into the attic. Just as I thought, it was as dusty as a neglected bookshelf. We coughed a little and then started getting used to the dusty air. I had already packed some trash bags and gloves in my backpack, so we were okay for a little while.

The attic was filled with things from top to bottom. Dressers, clocks, a bed, boxes, and some more furniture took up most of the space. And then in the corner was a little radio. It looked at least twenty years old, and had a good layer of dust on it. I had hoped she had one, and I had brought my CD case for that very purpose.

I turned the radio on to 88.1, my favorite station. It worked, and the music gave off some brightness to the room. I pulled out our equipment and started working.

“Look at this stuff!” said Megan. “There are hundreds of years of history up here!”

“I know,” I replied, “there are all of these sketches of the Oregon Trail. Her mother or grandmother must have traveled west and stopped here in Idaho.”

While we were looking at the sketches, we noticed that the song “Scenes of Childhood” by Robert Schumann had come on. All of a sudden, I felt dizzy and confused, like the whole world started spinning faster. I held on to a couch and noticed Megan doing the same.

Then everything went black.

I opened my eyes to see myself lying on bales of straw. I looked beside me and saw Megan on what looked like a wood floor. I sat up and heard a fuzzy noise, now realizing it was the radio. It had somehow looked like a brand new radio, never been used. It was also not playing any music, just fuzz. I got up and turned it off. I looked below me and gasped.

We were in the loft of a barn!

Down below us were horses and a few chickens that were coming in to be nosy. It smelled terribly of cow manure and farm animals. There was straw and hay everywhere and I could see some oats stored up in an open cabinet.

“What happened?” said Megan groggily.

“I have absolutely no idea,” I replied.

We heard a voice, and then saw who it belonged to. There was a girl, about thirteen, and she was feeding the horses. She shooed the chickens out of the barn, looked up, saw us, and gasped.

“Who are you and what are you doing here?” she said with excitement and fear showing in her face.

“Well, I’m Jane,” I replied, “and this is my friend Megan. I was hoping you could tell us where we are.”

“In Idaho, of course!” she replied. “Now come on down from there!”

We did as we were told.

“By the way,” I said, “what is your name?”

“Carrie Shultz,” was the reply. “Now you’d better hurry, we’re leaving soon.”

“Where are you going?” Megan asked.

“To Oregon,” Carrie cried, “on the Oregon Trail. I don’t think Ma or Pa will have a problem with you comin’ along, but you’ll have to work for your food. Got that?”

“Yeah, sure, but why exactly do we have to leave?” I asked.

“There’s a famine comin’, and we’ve got to get a move on if we want to beat it,” said Carrie. “Where are you two from?”

“We’re from Idaho, too,” I said, “but we somehow got transported here. What year is this?”

“It’s 1847, of course! May the first!” Carrie replied.

“1847!” Megan exclaimed. “That’s two hundred years ago!”

“Come on, we can talk about this later,” said Carrie, getting obviously impatient.
Carrie led us to a big wagon loaded with possessions. The house that was behind it looked almost exactly like Mrs. Suzanne’s house, except different in some ways.

“Ma, Pa, these two here girls are willing to work for their food if you would let them come along with us. Can they come?”

Carrie’s Ma looked very nice, with her pale pink sundress and blue bonnet.

“Sure, why not?” she said. “What about it, Jim?”

“If you’re willing to work, I don’t see why not,” Carrie’s Pa replied.

But we never got that far.

Carrie’s parents sent us out to the wide open prairie to fetch some Nebraska coal. Megan didn’t know what that was, and when I told her it was Buffalo chips or droppings, she about fainted.

“We have some gloves, it won’t be that bad!” I told her.

We ran back to the barn to get my book bag, which just happened to be in the loft, and I also took the radio, just to be safe.

All of this time I had been trying to figure out how to get back home. Well, I thought, we came by the radio, so we have to go home through the radio.

It wasn’t as easy as I thought.

Megan, Carrie, and I were out in the prairie, collecting Nebraska coal (Megan complaining the whole time), when we heard rumbling. The ground was shaking, like it was sobbing. It became louder and louder until we started seeing dust up ahead.

It was a stampede of buffalo.

And all of our stuff was in the middle of the prairie, about to be trampled on by the buffalo. Including the radio.

Part of me wanted to seek the shelter of the nearby forest, but then Megan and I might not have a way to go home.

I took my chances.

I ran at full speed towards the buffalo. My heart felt like it was about to come out of my body; my adrenaline letting me go faster than I ever had in my life. I had managed to get the bag on my shoulders and my feet heading for shelter, but the buffalo were still faster than I was.

Carrie had come out with me to try and help, and so had Megan. All of us were trapped.

We ran like the wind, not daring to look back.

“Quick!” I yelled, “Into the woods!”

We all were running full speed when all of a sudden Carrie tripped.

I gave my bag to Megan and said, “Go to the woods! Get help!”

I ran back to get Carrie, not hearing Megan’s reply. She looked as though she had fainted, or had been knocked out. I picked her up, looking for gaps through the stampede’s tight pack. Then, I felt strong hands behind me grab my shoulders.

“We’re here to help you!” yelled a boy’s voice. “Let Carrie go! Bill will get her!”

I did as I was told and the boy named Bill picked her up and ran towards the woods.

“Come on!” said the first boy, grabbing my hand.

We ran through and with the stampede, trying not to get trampled. We both got some pretty bad cuts and bruises, but we were alive.

We breathed heavily with relief and exhaustion in the safety of the forest.

“Thank you,” I breathed to the boys.

“Your friend here let us know what was happening,” said the first boy. “It looks like we got here just in time.”

“How is Carrie?” I asked.

“She’ll live,” said Megan.

We waited for about fifteen minutes while the stampede ran through the prairie. Then we all set out for Carrie’s little house.

When we got there, wounds were tended to, thanks were given, and the boys were on their way.

“I really do thank you,” I said to the first boy.

“Don’t mention it,” he said.

I leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

“Please tell me your name,” I said, feeling a little strange on the inside.

“Michael,” he said, looking bewildered and delighted at the same time.

“See you later, then, Michael,” I said, giving him my best smile.

“Good bye,” he replied, returning my smile.

After explaining things to Carrie’s Ma and Pa, Megan and I talked about how to get home.

“We’ll have to get home by the radio,” I said, “so I’ll put in a song and see if we can get home that way.”

“Okay, let’s do it,” Megan replied.

I put in a CD, since radio stations hadn’t been invented yet, and we wished together that we were back in the attic.

Once again, we felt a dizzy sensation, going forward in time.

And there we were, back in Mrs. Suzanne’s attic, listening to “Scenes of Childhood”.

I guess you could say I “tuned in” to adventure, but Mrs. Suzanne still thinks we were daydreaming. And that we have excellent imaginations.

Hunter of the Green Garden

2008-04-11T13:56:00.000-04:00

Hunter of the Green Garden

Prince Chase quickly came into the privy room of the Maids of Honor. He looked around and, finding what he was looking for, walked over to Lady Hunter’s bed. He gently placed a small buckskin package at the foot of the bed with a hand-carved hunting horn and slipped back into the shadows. The time has finally come, he thought, let the Prophecy be fulfilled.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hunter groggily sat up and yawned. Sunlight was pouring in through the open window, illuminating everything within its reach. Feeling something heavy on top of her feet, Hunter looked at the foot of her four-poster bed and saw a small package wrapped in buckskin and tied with rope and a hunting horn with sapphires embedded on the outside. She smirked to herself and picked up the book. On the front was a piece of parchment with a freshly-written note, which said:

Happy Birthday, Hunter

~~~~~~~~

She quickly untied the package to find a small book. Evidently old, the book was covered with soft leather and another piece of parchment attached by red wax. This note was not so inviting:

BEWARE!

This little book holds secrets from the past

That, if opened, will be unleashed at last..

Take heed, dear reader, and please refrain

From reading this book or in the Garden darkness will eternally reign.

Sounds like my kind of book, thought Hunter. She carefully opened up the cover, ignoring the very urgent warning.

Immediately, Hunter’s heart skipped a beat, as if someone had stopped and restarted time. Hunter gasped, dropping the book on her bed. She looked around, hoping she hadn’t awakened any of the other Maids of Honor. Thankfully she didn’t-except for Lillian.

Lillian stirred and turned her head towards Hunter. “What happened?” she asked sleepily.

“Nothing, Lillian. Rest some more,” was Hunter’s reply, still a little shaky.

Lillian moaned a little and turned on her side. She was soon sleeping soundly again.

Hunter slipped a sigh and picked the book up again. She opened it, waiting for another heart-skipping moment, but none came. Instead, big black letters in beautiful handwriting spelled out on the front page, “The Prophecy of the Hunter”. Okay, this is just weird, she thought.

But that was just the beginning.

Hunter got up and got dressed. She silently washed her face and hands in the water basin and carefully took off her night gown. She pulled out of the closet her green muslin hunting dress and put it on over a corset and two petticoats. Hunter had secretly sewn into one of her petticoats a pocket (which she shouldn’t have done) and in that pocket she put the small book, a few shillings, and the horn. She then braided her long brown hair and slipped her mother’s sapphire ring on her left thumb. Hunter had been orphaned five years ago, when she was ten, and her uncle sent her to the Buckingham Palace of Queen Victoria to be a Maid of Honor. Victoria had compassion for Hunter and took her in, and all of the other Maids of Honor enjoyed her company.

Hunter glanced out the window and saw clouds now lingering with the sunshine. She scrunched her eyebrows together in confusion, but did not pay too much attention to it.

Once outside, Hunter went to the stable to get Belle and her archery equipment.

“I’m taking Belle for a ride, Michael,” Hunter said, strapping her bow and container of arrows to her back.

“Looks like a storm’s brewing,” Michael said, nodding towards the clouds.

“Perhaps,” Hunter said, “but that never stops me from a good ride. Good day, Michael!”

“Good day to you, miss,” said Michael with a slight bow of his head.

Hunter mounted the salt-and-pepper mare Belle and they started to trot along the dusty path out of the stables. Hunter began to hear voices; not loud voices, just whispers; cries for help. They seemed to be tugging at Hunter, calling her; lulling her.

Nervous, Hunter got Belle up to a fast trot, and finally a run. The voices followed her, crying and screaming in the wind. Hunter guided Belle into the forest, desperately trying to eradicate the voices. As suddenly as they had come, they were gone.

Hunter looked around her, her heart pounding. They were deep in the woods now, far away from the castle. Surrounding them was bushes of undergrowth and thistles, and right in front of her was an archway, about eight feet in height and three feet in width. Ivy and vines intertwined with each other creating a doorway. On the other side was a simple garden, oddly placed in the heart of a forest. Hunter dismounted Belle and prepared an arrow in her bow for safety.

“Stop!” said a female voice. Hunter stopped and raised her bow.

“Who’s there?” asked Hunter.

“It is rather I should be asking you, traveler,” came the reply. “State your name and business here.”

“Hunter, Maid of Honor to Queen Victoria of England. May I ask yours?”

A rustle of bushes made Hunter look to the right, and gasp as a girl jumped out of them. The girl bowed and laid her sword down in front of Hunter.

“Oh, great Hunter, forgive me,” said the girl kneeling before Hunter. Her hair was very blonde, and she wore a blue dress with a blue cape.

“Get up, girl; why do you talk such nonsense of me being a ‘great Hunter’?” Hunter said lowering her bow and arrow.

“Oh, it is not nonsense, Your Royal Highness,” replied the girl while rising to her feet. “The Prophecy clearly states the great Hunter will come after Hunter the Fourth and will deliver us from the Dark Shadow. You are her daughter, aren’t you?”

Hunter began to feel uncomfortable being called “Your Royal Highness”.

“Who was Hunter the Fourth?” Hunter asked.

“Your mother, of course!”

“What do you know about her?” asked Hunter.

The girl looked somber. Her pointed ears drooped and the brightness of her eyes dimmed. “The Dark Shadow himself put her under a deep sleep,” said the girl. “He took her as prisoner because she would not hand over her precious ten-year-old girl to him. When she neither did that nor told him where to find the Sapphire Horn, he was greatly angered. So he made her go into a deep slumber, never to be awakened again except by the sound of the Sapphire Horn. That is why he wanted it so much,” explained the girl.

“So she really didn’t die, then,” muttered Hunter under her breath.

“Of course not!” said the elf-girl. “She is alive and well, just as you and I, only asleep.”

“What did you say your name was?”

“I didn’t, Your Royal Highness. My name is Erin, daughter of Elvin, Queen Hunter the Fourth’s most trusted advisor.”

“Did you say ‘queen’”? Asked Hunter, a little bewildered.

“Yes, I did! And you are definitely a princess! The princess of the Green Garden, to be exact,” exclaimed Erin.

It seemed to be too much for Hunter to take in. Could she really be a princess? And could her mother really have been a queen-a queen of a magical garden? It all sounded too good to be true!

“Come, I will show you your home, the Green Garden,” said Erin. She walked forward through the ivy archway, beckoning Hunter to follow. Hunter took Belle by the reigns and led her through the ivy.

Things began to fade and become clear again. When everything was normal, Hunter saw buildings and houses made from mud and covered with vines. Flowers bloomed everywhere, and people with pointed ears roamed the stone pathways. Overhead, the sky was slowly continuing to darken, but only at a snail’s pace.

When Hunter came through that archway, everyone turned and stared. They started to whisper amongst themselves. The whispers began to escalate into low talking and finally shout of joy. “It is she,” they cried, “who comes to save us!”

The people came towards Hunter bowing and curtseying. Hunter looked around her, amazed at what she saw. She looked upon the east horizon and saw a big castle with black swirling clouds over it.

“I would assume that is where my mother is being held?” Hunter asked Erin.

“Yes,” she replied, “and no one can enter or exit from the castle except the Dark Shadow himself or his followers.” At the very name of the Dark Shadow, the people cringed and gasped. Some even cried out in fear.

“Hunter, if you do not blow the Sapphire Horn by tonight, Midsummer’s Eve, at midnight, your mother will never awaken,” Erin said suddenly, turning to Hunter.

“Is this the Sapphire Horn?” asked Hunter, pulling out her new hunting horn from her pocket. The people gasped and whispered, not believing their eyes.

“Where did you get this?!” exclaimed Erin.

“It was a birthday present,” replied Hunter.

“Come tonight at 11 o’clock; I will meet you at the edge of the forest,” said Erin.

And that was that.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Excuse me, Lady Hunter, but there is someone I would like you to meet,” said General Bemáu. Hunter was now at the Queen’s Midsummer’s Eve ball and being introduced to a young man by General Bemáu.

“This here is Sir Shad Kardow.” Sir Shad did a slight bow, and Hunter curtsied in return.

“May I have this dance, Lady Hunter?” Shad asked. His smile was dazzling, and his black hair was smoothed back very nicely.

“I think you may,” replied Hunter, blushing slightly.

So off Hunter went with Shad, and they danced three dances together. While dancing, Shad asked Hunter:

“Do you like to hunt?”

“Yes, hunting is my favorite thing to do,” replied Hunter.

“What sort of equipment do you use?” he asked. At that moment, Hunter noticed that Sir Shad had one blue eye and one brown eye. How strange, Hunter thought.

“I use a bow and arrow mostly, and for my birthday today I was given a hunting horn with sapphires embedded in the structure. No one left a note, though, so I never go to thank them,” replied Hunter.

Shad Kardow seemed very interested to say the least, and hunting was all they talked about for the rest of the evening.

At the end of the third dance, Sir Shad offered Hunter a drink (to which she accepted gratefully) and retired to the card room to play Commerce with other gentlemen.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Prince Chase stared at Lady Hunter and Sir Shad Kardow with glaring eyes. He looks like trouble, Chase thought. He’d better not get in my way, or I’ll be obliged to set him in his place. He sank back into the shadows with a troubled look, continuing to watch Sir Shad the rest of the night.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Around 10 o’clock, Hunter retired to her room for the night even though the ball had not died down too much. While walking through the corridors to her room, she began to hear voices again. Instead of being many voices, though, it was just one voice-a female voice. It was calling for help: “I need you! Save me! There’s not much time left! Don’t let me go! Help! Please!” Hunter followed the voices through the halls, the voice getting clearer every step. She came to the coat room at the end of a hallway where it was as if the voice was on the other side of the door, which was cracked open. She peered inside, not knowing what she would find. What she did find was someone she would have least expected:

Sir Shad Kardow.

He was rummaging through coats and cloaks, looking for something. Suddenly, as if he found what he was looking for, he smiled and held up...the Sapphire Horn! It all came back to Hunter, how she had left her hunting cloak in the cloak room with the Sapphire Horn in the pocket. She silently scolded herself for not being more careful.

Sir Shad put on his black cloak, wrapped the horn in a scarf, and placed the horn into his pocket. His form started to become an opaque black mist, blending in with the night, like a shadow. He slipped out the open window, heading towards the forest. Behind him, big bright letters spelled out:

Sir Shad Kardow;

The Dark Shadow

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At 10:30, when she had changed into her hunting dress and had everything she thought she would need, Hunter went to the stables to fetch Belle. She saw a figure moving about the stables, and a young man came out from behind the barn.

“My Lady Hunter, I am Prince Chase, the eldest and only son of Hunter the Fourth. We can talk later, but right now we need to retrieve the Horn the Dark Shadow took.” Prince Chase slightly bowed and mounted a young, brown gelding. “There’s not much time! Come!”

Hunter mounted Belle, asking no questions. They rode into the night and found Erin at the edge of the forest. First Prince Chase, then Hunter, and lastly Erin entered the Green Garden through the Ivy Door.

Prince Chase led the way to the Dark Castle where thunder boomed and lightning crackled through the sky. Some villagers took the horses while Chase, Hunter, and Erin slipped into the castle.

“Hunter,” Chase whispered, “wrap your sapphire ring onto one of your arrows; the Dark Shadow cannot withstand the touch of sapphire. When we meet up with the Dark Shadow, fire your arrow when I say so, OK?”

“Alright,” Hunter said, obeying Chase’s order. Being ready for attack, Hunter looked around and was surprised that no guards were anywhere, inside or outside.

A man jumped out of the shadows holding a long sword and lunged at Prince Chase, who drew out his sword. Prince Chase did the same, fighting with Sir Shad. Hunter watched helplessly, waiting for her signal to fire.

“Now, Hunter!” Chase yelled, and Hunter fired.

Just as Sir Shad was swinging his sword, Prince Chase dived to the ground, the arrow whizzing by his head-but it found its target. The arrow pierced the Dark Shadow right in the heart and the sapphire seared his skin. The Dark Shadow lay on the floor, slowly shrinking away with agony. “Let’s go!” Chase yelled.

Up in the tower, they burst through the door where Hunter and Chase’s mother was lying, asleep. Next to her bed was the Sapphire Horn, which Hunter picked up and blew. The sweet sound was heard all through the Green Garden, and Hunter the Fourth finally awoke from her slumber.

The people of Green Garden celebrated all night and in to the morning, now that their rightful queen was now in power again.

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Princess Hunter V remained a Maid of Honor to Queen Victoria until she turned seventeen and married one of the Garden folk. She then reigned as Princess Hunter V, Defeater of the Dark Shadow, and Eternal Protector of the Green Garden.

The End