IIMAZINEMAZINE 20132013 VOLVOL.. 33 New Castle County Libraries’ Annual Teen Magazine Cover: Frame of Mind by Taylor B. (age 17) 2 TableTable ofof ContentsContents (cover) Frame of Mind Taylor B. 5 A Grimm Fairy Tale Chloe M. 6 Lotus in the Night Sky Sangeeta 7 Alexander and the Star Chloe M. 10 If Life Was One of Us Medha R. 12 Colossal Transformations Kayla V. 13 Spirited Jordyn V. 14 Beyond the Looking Glass Taylor B. 16 Bonnie and Frank Matthew W. 18 Complementary Color Chloe M. 19 Fall Leaves Sangeeta 20 Sleeping Beauty Taylor B. 22 Game of the Season Benjamin 24 Rise of Gold Caroline 25 Beauty of Fall Sangeeta 26 The Suspicious Friends Donovan T. 28 Time Arianna H. 29 Sundial Taylor B. 30 To the Voices Inside My Head Medha R. 31 Mistakes Matter Jordyn V. 33 Winding Path in Shadow and Light Taylor B. 34 Damsel Taylor B. 36 Give Me Arianna H. 37 Smile Medha R. 38 Vibrant Jordyn V. 39 Now this is emptiness… Taylor B. 40 Room 401 Rebekah M. 42 Wounded Soldier Caroline 45 The Hum Chloe M. 47 Day's End Jordyn V. 3 4 A Grimm Fairy Tale by Chloe M. (age 16) Like looking through a looking glass, that's not completely clear a beautiful and dark glimpse of neither here nor there a world of dim light and foreignness of deep shadows and night a place where demons kiss and angels learn to bite you see it in old stories that warn of curiosity where innocent and desperate unleash the caged ferocity those frightening tales of caution of a place that we all know that from the time we're children we fear but want to go 5 Lotus in the Night Sky by Sangeeta C. (age 19) 6 Alexander and the Star by Chloe M. (age 16) A tiny spacecraft glided through space, a silver bullet streaming a trail of light behind it. "Destination approaching," a grainy computer voice echoed inside the cabin. A young man pushed his dark locks from his forehead and leaned back in the control chair. "I said as far away as possible....and this is where you took me?" he muttered, staring out the cockpit window as the visor cleared. "We're not even near the Avis System yet!" he said exasperatedly. The computer gave no reply, empty silence punctuating his sentence. Alexander sighed and reflected on the events of the past week. Nothing had gone right. He had lost his home... again... along with his friends, and his master. His master.... How could a man who had once been his role model become what his master had: bitter, corrupt and power hungry? Alexander felt the memory flash back into his minds-eye like a reappearing nightmare: his master standing at the helm of a spaceship while a fleet burned in front of him, his own fleet. "Alex, I had to. They were going to betray us." His master had told him, stony eyes that had once been warm, an open mind now warped into distortion. "I had to..." he said. Alexander blocked the memory from his mind, massaging his temples and looking back out through the cockpit window. Outside was a massive orb of light. Angel wings of fire flared, rippling out from its surface of molten gold. He lurched forward in his chair and rebooted the ship’s system. "Bring us in closer," he told the computer breathlessly. The ship rumbled to life and glided closer to the light. As they drew nearer, Alexander could feel a pull, a tug at a distant part of his consciousness that he had never felt before. Curious, he brought the ship to a stop right alongside the star and found it wasn't hot. The star released a soft warmth but nothing close to the diamond- melting furnace a star was supposed to generate. "Engage oxygen and gravity field," he told the ship's computer, leaving the controls and opening the ship's ceiling hatch. Agilely, Alexander pulled himself onto the roof of the ship, the stars winking around him as he sat on the edge, his legs dangling over the edge above numerous galaxies. He placed his hand on the ship's shell and couldn't feel it shuddering like it was supposed to when resisting gravity. Something was definitely odd about this star. Not only was it not hot, but it had no gravity; it wasn't pulling them in like a sun should. He glanced back at the star, its bright form wreathed in heatless twisting flames of champagne gold, like the soul of god. Spirals of energy rippled across its surface like water on a lake. 7 It had once been said that the Travelers could talk to stars: That the heavens would converse and share its wisdom with the children of the vortex. They had the friendship and guidance of the universe itself. However, those legends had died with his people and the stars had been ever silent for him. Still, if Travelers could still talk to stars, then he might just find a being as alone as himself. “Hello?" he asked hesitantly. For a moment there was silence and the emptiness of space, but then.... “Hello," replied a rich voice of tone and fire, a voice that hummed with energy. Alexander was silent for a moment and completely in awe. “You are beautiful. I've never seen anything like you," he whispered "You've never looked," the star said. "I never knew to try," he answered "Isn't that most things?" The star replied, its light pulsing with every syllable. Alexander smiled. "What’s your name?" "Some things are so old they don't need names..." The star responded. That threw him for a second, because Alexander had never met a being without a name. "What is your name?" asked the star, soft warmth wafting from its surface and cloaking itself around him. Still a bit awestruck, he cleared his throat. "Alexander." "And why do you seek the stars?" Alex thought for a second, brushing his loose hair from his face. "Because I have no one else," he replied at last, the thought a heavy weight. "I understand," whispered the star, its comforting warmth permeating his t-shirt and tugging at his mind. Alexander felt himself growing more and more interested in the odd sun. How could something so old still have empathy for someone as young as he? "I have to ask, how does time pass for a star?" he asked after a pause. "Time passes in the same way for us both. I have been alive many, many millennia. I have seen histories unfold and witnessed many races’ first steps amongst the stars. The beauty and sadness of humanity and a thousand other species were laid out before my eyes," the star said. Alexander watched a meteor fly past him and strike the surface of the star haphazardly, ripples of light and fire flaring up like fireworks and cloaking the star in a halo of light. "Are you happy?" he asked, watching the flames and bright gas fly across the star's surface like seasoned dancers. "I desire to be part of life, not just an observer," the star replied slowly. "Do you know that there are people that probably wish they were in your place? That they were stars and didn't have to live their lives?" Alexander smiled. "I don't doubt it, I have heard their wishes," the sun replied, seeming almost to laugh, a ripple of golden color splashing across its front. "So if you could live differently, what would you do?" Alexander asked. "I would travel the universe at the speed of light, I would be the fastest and the most clever of stars," it answered, its whole surface lighting up with passion and nearly blinding Alexander with brilliant flares of fire. 8 "I can help." He grinned. "From one immortal to another, life is too long to spend in one place." And Alexander closed his eyes, reaching out to the vibrant vivacity of the star and opening a channel within him that hadn't been awakened for a millennia, the channel that connected his people to the heavens. The star surged and exploded into a celestial cloud of light so powerful and bright that it could be seen galaxies away. Alexander breathed in the liquid glow, the star flowing through his veins and streaming through his hair as it licked into a sphere around him and surrounded him in an immense womb of fire. Alexander shivered with the intensity of it and with the effort of moving a mountain he directed the glow towards the ship beneath him. A torrent of light surged into the little metal body, igniting the ship in golden white fire that burned brighter than any supernova, blossoms of stardust swirling like calligraphy against the stars. Alexander was thrown by the impact and floated, dazed, in an emergency oxygen bubble, watching in awe as the ship was contorted. The body had turned a fiery white, shaking violently and stretching, its chunky oval body lengthening and reinforcing itself into a sleek manta-ray form. Tear-drop engines formed under its wings, blue concentric circles pulsing a heartbeat as a silver casing spread over the body like paint on a canvas. Alexander watched the essence of the star embed itself in every crevice and curve, engraving itself into the ship like a second skin. Then he felt himself being pulled in closer, the missing puzzle piece.