April 2020

This novella, which placed third in our 2019 Book Contest, will be appearing in three parts across the April, May, and June 2020 issues of Stone Soup. CHARACTERS – In order of appearance ELANA (Uh-LAY-nuh) A young furow girl who is the Chosen One MS. SMIT Elana’s science teacher, who later reveals a secret identity HENRY A tiny, green-haired fairy who guides Elana CASEY FLUMPTON An evil rock star and Elana’s mortal enemy ASTREA, DANIEL, HERA, ALLEN, and SOPHIA Henry’s friends TWEETLE and TWOOTLE Casey’s messengers TOONA A Neptune devil MRS. RICHARD Elana’s writing teacher MOM, DAD, MARY, DAISY, JOHN, FIONA, and EDGAR Elana’s family KĀLEKA CAKE (Kay-LEE-kah), TAFFY CRUSTULUM, MEL LIMBUM, SUGAR SWEET, CHOCOLAT TREAT, COCO SCELERISQUE, and VANILLE GLAÇAGE Gingerbread workers in the Palace of Honey GALETTA A snappy owner at a bakery in Sugar Top BUBBLES, GUMMER, LICORE, and CHOCO Workers at the Background Theater SPOTS Coco’s pet dog PRANKSTER Vanille’s pet cat HALLOWEEN and EASTER A dragon and a chick in Casey’s palace FILLINUS The ambassador of light HAU’OLI A girl who befriends Elana in Casey’s palace PHILADELPHIA Hau’oli’s pet rat CAPTAIN HAWKINS The police chief MR. REMY and MR. SAGARD Two police officers Prologue The main creatures that live on Neptune are furows, intelligent beings that look exactly like humans. They also act a lot like humans and like having human names. However, they aren’t exactly the same. They can survive both on solid planets like Earth and gas planets like Neptune. Furows share the beautiful planet of Neptune with other creatures, such as living gingerbread and various animals. These animals resemble Earthen animals such as cats, dogs, and crocodiles. We use Earthen animal names in this book to help our Earthen readers follow the plot. Elana, the heroine of this tale, is an ordinary furow girl who uses her determination, daring, and faith in magic to save the planet. I: The Chosen One Once upon a time, on the planet of Neptune, in the bustling city of Thener and country of Thou, there was a tall, redheaded, 10-year-old girl named Elana Garfield. One afternoon in science class at Jonesberg Elementary, Ms. Smit, the teacher, announced that they were going to change from their current subject, animals, and start discussing electricity. “To start with, class, I have a question for all of you,” Ms. Smit declared. “What are the two different types of electrical circuits?” Elana raised her hand at almost the exact moment Ms. Smit finished her question. “Yes, Elana,” Ms. Smit said with a smile. “Series circuit and parallel circuit,” Elana answered immediately in the most confident voice she could muster up. “Very good,” Ms. Smit congratulated her. “Do you want to tell us more?” Elana, though very shy, never wanted to lose a chance for attention, especially because she had six other siblings. “In a series circuit, if you break it, then all the light bulbs will turn off,” Elana said. “In parallel circuits, if you break a light bulb, the rest of the light bulbs will stay on.” Ms. Smit looked impressed. But she did not want to give Elana too much attention or then her other students might think she liked Elana best. “Very good,” Ms. Smit said again, and then began teaching the class how to make a parallel circuit. Elana was bored. She liked being the center of attention but rarely was because she had six brothers and sisters. “Elana, are you listening?” Ms. Smit asked sharply. “Uh, yes,” lied Elana. Ms. Smit gave her a skeptical look, then continued her lesson. Elana began to fidget with her paper on her desk; she did that when she was bored. Just then, the bell rang. Elana’s class ran out the door to a different class. But Elana herself couldn’t budge. Something deep inside her felt different. She felt that she was about to change at any moment. “Elana,” said a familiar voice behind her. Elana thought everyone had left and turned around, surprised. Behind her was Ms. Smit. “What!?” screeched Elana, feeling startled. “Calm down,” soothed Ms. Smit. “I just want to know which emojis spark your interest.” Ms. Smit then handed Elana an iPad. Elana was quite surprised by the odd question, but she typed in her favorite emojis in response: 💡🕯️🎤📡☀️😈🧚‍♀️👿🎇🎆⚡💀🌝🎭 Ms. Smit’s jaw dropped as if she had made the most fantastic discovery of her entire life. Then she disappeared in a puff of green smoke! The smoke began to turn into pictures of the emojis that Elana had chosen. One of the emojis slowly formed into a small, beautiful fairy with pale skin, green hair, green pants, and a purple shirt. She was about the size of Elana’s hand. Elana gasped in excitement. She had never seen a fairy before! Best of all, she looked just like the fairy emoji that sparked her interest on the iPad! Elana wanted to scream in excitement, but she thought better of it. Maybe Ms. Smit wanted her to keep the secret that she was a fairy. Well, if the fairy was Ms. Smit. Maybe she was a totally different person or creature. “You are the Chosen One,” announced the fairy grandly. “And you will go on an adventure to help me, Astrea, Daniel, Hera, Allen, and Sophia.” II: The Story “What are you talking about?” Elana asked loudly. “Shhh . . .” the fairy hushed. “I guess I’ll have to tell you the Story.” “What is the Story?” Elana inquired. “The Story is long, and at the end of your mission, you can learn my name. Now, I’ll tell you the Story,” the fairy (or possibly Ms. Smit) cleared her throat calmly, then began: “Long ago, Neptune was very dark because we are so far away from the sun. Back then, there was only one light on the entire planet of Neptune, and that came from one bright, dazzling light bulb. A couple of years later, another light was created. It was a single, brilliant candle. These