Playing With Fire by R. K. Johnson (rainbow fish read aloud txt) 📖

1
The Beginning
Hidden, cold, and alone with my 4 friends, I’ve never felt this way. I was the one of the last pure spirits, and they were hunting us. “They “meaning “The Element Keepers”. Every day for the last 4 years, we’ve been running and hiding from place to place. They haven’t found us yet, but I knew I couldn’t hide forever. Wait, this must be confusing; let me start from the beginning.

I, my parents, and my 12 brothers and sisters, all were very happy on the planet “Zuokoe”. We were a very special family because we contained one of the four elements, fire. We were very poor with our power, so we didn’t bother learning at all. Our kind didn’t really have any rules, except a silly old prophecy, but of course no one believed it was true. It foretold that dark forces would be yet to come, and drain the pure spirits out of each family that contained one of the four elements. Unless the four chosen ones stopped the dark forces, we would be doomed, forever. No one believed it, so everyone just moved on with their lives.
One day, while I was picking eurdaniums, I came across an unusual one. It was green and silver, instead of blue and gold. I thought it was just a late bloomer, but then my friends came along. They all spotted me from across the lake and sprinted right to me. Kiera, Daisy, Hans, and Charles, were all my best friends. We weren’t that far apart in age, Kiera being 13, Daisy 11, Hans 11, Charles 12, and me 13, so it didn’t seem to bother anyone. When they came over, they saw me staring at the flower. Seeing that I was bewitched entirely, they convinced me that it was only a late bloomer. When I looked at all of their faces, I knew they were going to tell me something serious. Apparently they wanted to wait, so we went to my house to play in the garden. It was very silent and I couldn’t wait. The anticipation was just killing me from the inside. I glared at all of them, hoping to get them talk. Tick…Tock…Tick…Tock…

“All right, I’ve had enough! What are you guys going to tell me?”I shouted.

They each looked at me with a very surprised look.

“I know you’re going to tell me something serious, but you’re all a bunch of pansies to tell me” I shouted again.

Finally, Kiera jumped down from tree and walked up to me, everyone else following closely behind her. She handed a piece of paper to me.

“Look, we all want to learn how to use our elements, and we found this. We could be the best element keepers ever! The only bad thing is we’ll be gone for quite a while.” She said.

“What kind of bad thing?” I glared at her.

“Just a tiny….little…big thing. Just read the paper,” She smiled hesitantly.

I look at the paper, my eyes widen.

“….You will have to pack all of your things, and leave your family behind. You will be gone for 2-4 years?!?! Kiera what the heck is wrong with you!” I yelled angrily.

“Not just me!” She said stepping to the side.

I look behind her, Hans, Charles, and Daisy shaking with a frightened look on their face.

“We’ll only be gone for two years. At the very most, 4 years. Just thi…” they said.

“ONLY 2 or 4 years?! Think of how old we’ll be when we come back, all of your brothers and sisters will probably not even recognize you when you come back! Or worse, they won’t remember your name, or who the heck you are!” I interrupted.

Hesitating now, Kiera takes my hand, but I snatch it out.

“Have you all even talked to your parents? Or thought seriously about this at all?” I said calmly, sitting down.

Seeing myself calmed down now, Kiera quickly sits by me and puts her arms around me, before I heated up again.

“We’re old enough to make our own choices now, Persephone. We’re 13 years old, that’s more than a decade!” she said enthusiastically.

I took her arms off me and stood up, facing them.

“We are not even close to making our choices, nor will we ever be! This is what I say. We can grow, grow, and grow as we’ve fussed, but our decisions should always remain in our families trust.” I stated.”We need to think about this, you all just wait here, I’ll be right back. While I’m gone, think about what I said. Please.”

I go into the house where my mom and dad are. I smiled and sat next to them on the couch.

“What’s wrong, Persephone?” said my mom.

“You know how my friends and I want to learn how to use our powers? Well, they found a paper that says we can learn them, at a high education facility. But, we’ll be gone for 2-4 years, and our families can’t come with us. I tried to convince them no to go, but they won’t listen to me.”I said
“I have an idea!” smiled my mom. “There is a close academy, just about 20-30 miles away from here; it’s not perfect, but you can still learn a lot from it, and we can visit you on the weekend”

“Really? I love you Mom!” I said as I jumped on her to give her a kiss and a hug.

I ran outside, and told everyone the news. They came up to me and said, “Persephone, we thought a lot about what you said, and we were losing our minds, thinking we could last 4 years without our family, so we like your idea. Can we come too?”

I laugh, “Of course, go pack your stuff, ‘cause we’re leaving tomorrow morning!”

We all returned to our individual homes, and went to sleep, for the morning to come.


2
The Academy

When the sun rose, so did my friends and me. We we’re all super excited to actually learn how to use our powers! I went to the kitchen to get breakfast, but when I went in there; my mom had already made it for me. Bacon, eggs, waffles, pancakes, crepes, fruit parfait, egg benedicts, hash browns, chai, hot cacao and hot chocolate, rolls, star fruit, mango, raspberries, watermelon, and my favorite, grapefruit! Everything just dazzled me at the finest expense. My mom only made a huge breakfast, if someone really made her proud.

“Morning, Persephone,” Mom said as she walked over to hug me.

“What’s all this for?” I asked, already knowing.

“Your brothers, sisters, and your father and I, are so proud of you. Even though, there is no danger to harm us, you will always protect us when you’ve trained. We are so proud of you,” said my mom.

After my mom was finished speaking, we all sat down at the table, and started digging in. Oh my goodness, the food was delicious! I haven’t had this good of a meal since…since ever! The crepes were light and fluffy; the fruits were all extremely juicy, and the hot drinks were just a dream come true. Unfortunately we finished eating and we all got into our flyer to meet up with my friends at the academy.
As we were soaring past the land in our flyer, we got closer and closer. Signs kept coming past us saying, “Go Back While You Still Can…Leave Or Die…We Dont Want You Here…” Mom and Dad kept reassuring me that the Academy was the safest place on planet Zuokoe. But I was a little cautious. I kept telling myself “Everything’s okay…you’ll be with your friends… you’re going to learn how to use your powers…don’t worry”. Of course, it helped a little, even though I thought I was going to die of a heart attack.
After another 10 miles or so, we finally arrived at the academy. I spotted my friends, so I hurriedly soared out of the flyer to them. My family grabbed my bags and we walked to the academy. How gigantic and beautiful it is! Grand doors or Blue and Gold like the flower, eurdaniums! As we walked in, many kids around my age, stood at in the halls. Everyone wondering where their rooms are and what to do just stood around supposedly waiting for someone to show them the way. Suddenly two large doors opened wide, with three adults, maybe 30, went through them, walking to the center of the room. The first one was a tall, blonde, white-man, who was wearing a long silken robe that touched the white marble floor. The second was a woman, with long red hair, that was wrapped in a huge, but delicate bun. Last was a dark-skinned man, he was tall, very tall; with pitch black hair, and eyes. He stood behind the other two, so I immediately thought he was the janitor or something. He didn’t look important, but he did look very creepy. Almost as if he had seen bad things, or he knew something bad was going to happen. I quickly turn away, as he starts to notice I was staring at him.

“…and everyone must be there at that time to get your keys and your daily plan,” said the woman.

“Wait, where do we go?” I asked as I snapped out of my gaze.

I wave goodbye to my family as I take my bags and follow my friends up the tall, twirling stairs. Ah! This is torture! So many stairs, for such a little girl. After

Text: I got the cover picture from online. I thought it was cool, so I decided to make a book out of it.
Publication Date: 11-18-2010

All Rights Reserved

Dedication:
I dedicate this book to my family for giving me my imagination, and for reminding me how much I love to write books.