Project Elething (To Be Renamed)

By Danny S

“Where are we?” I had to ask.

“Glandossy,” was Sarah’s only reply. 

“What?” 

She mumbled some things about some king’s son under her breath again, and we started to swim through the cobalt blue waters towards the shore. The sea was relatively calm, and only one or two waves splashed across my face.

“That word you just said–”

“Glandossy?”

“Yeah. It sounds…sort of familiar. Like I’ve heard it a long, long, time ago and forgot all about it, but it’s still somewhere in the back of my brain.

“Well, at least he’s not totally hopeless,” she muttered under her breath again. I didn’t know what to say to that. Then, “You’re swimming all wrong,” she criticized.

“What do you mean?”

“Well,” she drew out the word. “First of all, it’s like you’re scrunching yourself up in the water. Stop doing that.” I did as she said. Then she showed me how to properly kick my legs and move my arms.

“How do you know so much about swimming?”

She just smiled.

“Okay…here’s another question. How’d we get here in the first place? We were at a duck pond just five minutes ago.”

 “Jumping. We can stand now.”

She was right. Below my feet was a long sandbar. I stopped swimming and stood up. My legs were so very grateful for the rest, even if it was difficult to walk through the wet sand and water. We walked the remaining part of the sandbar to the beach. Beyond the sand, I could see a forest and beyond that, the tops of skyscrapers peaked above the trees.

By now, we had reached the beach. We were both soaking wet, but then Sarah snapped her fingers and I was dry again. “How’d you do that?” I couldn’t help but ask. “And why do you keep saying ‘jumping?’” 

She gave me a mysterious smile. “Come on,” she said. “We’ve got to get you to the castle.”

• • •

The castle turned out to be a palatial glass and wood structure. It had turrets and towers branching off a windowed building. In the center, there were giant oak double doors, which we walked right up to. Sarah knocked. The giant doors swung open. I recognized the man who greeted us. 

It was Jerry, my dad’s brother.

“Hi, Wylie. Hi, Sarah,” he said.

“Uncle Jerry?” I ran over and hugged him. “What are you doing here? Actually, where is here?” I inquired.

He chuckled. “Glandossy.” Would I ever find out what “Glandossy” meant? “You can go back to class now, Sarah. Ready?”

“I have to give you this first.” She reached into her pocket and gave him a folded-up piece of paper.

“Thanks. Now are you ready?” Sarah nodded, and my uncle snapped his fingers, and a hole opened underneath her. Suddenly, she was gone.

“Where’d she go?” And why was everyone so mysterious?

“All will be explained. Now, if you’d follow me, I’ll take you to the King. I didn’t think I had a choice, so I followed.

Uncle Jerry took me past the doors and into a foyer. There was a giant glass chandelier, lit with some sort of brightly glowing rock. In the center of the room sat a dark polished mahogany desk, and at that sat a guard. She waved us on. Past the second set of doors was a sitting room. Two couches facing each other, and there were two leather chairs and two end tables on each side. To the left and right, there were hallways. We went down the left. The hall was lined with pictures. And I recognized every single one. In fact, I was in most of them.

I didn’t have time to voice the question that was forming on my lips, because Uncle Jerry whisked me into a humongous library with mahogany shelves filled to the brim with books, then into a throne room with a giant throne on a platform. He led me behind the throne to a hidden door, which he opened. 

The wall on the left was one giant window, and the other three walls were covered in floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, which in turn were covered with books. In the center of the room was a beautiful U-shaped mahogany desk. But none of that mattered. What was important was the man sitting behind the desk. I knew him. He was my father.

About the Author

Danny S. is from the Bay Area. He has written numerous short stories for school. In his free time, he enjoys reading and screen time.