This book is dedicated to Lyla Jane Seals, our best friend, and the one who started Owl Post.

This book wouldn't be here without her.

Part One

Pandas, Owls, and a Secret Agent

Written by Sophie R. Britton

Dedicated to Lyla S.

    It all started with an unexpected letter. 

    It was 6:30, thirty minutes before my alarm went off. I had woken up early and I was eating my breakfast: porridge with raisins. 

    The dining room had a light wood table and light hardwood floors. There was a large window on one wall. On the wall beside it, there was an accent wall. The accent wall was a white and black herringbone pattern, while the other walls were a pale grey. There was a black door leading into the living room. 

    The window gave me a view of our backyard: No trees, and a small flower garden. The light flooded through the window into the room. 

    Then, I heard a hooting sound.

    "Hoot! Hoot!"

     I looked out the window. Sitting on the ledge outside the window was a large snowy owl. 

“Hoot.” She told me. “Letter from Owlet and Ollie.” 

    The sound was slightly muffled by the window. I opened the window and the owl flew in. She dropped the letter on the table and flew through the archway and out of sight. 

    The owl’s name was Silverveil. She was my triplet, LJ’s owl. I opened the letter, cracking the green seal. 

Odd. Normally the seals were red. 

The letter read:

dear lj, kat and sahara,

sos! help! we have been captured by the pandas! please rescue us! panda coming. need to stop writing.

    Oh no! Those pandas! What had they done now? 

    We, meaning LJ, Kat (my other triplet), I, and the owls, were enemies with the pandas. They had always wanted our secret mansion. But none of us had ever gone to hostages or violence! 

    Owlet was my elf owl chick. She was six months old. Ollie was LJ’s owlex (half owl, half phoenix). She was also only a chick. I then noticed another letter underneath Owlet and Ollie’s. 

    It had the same green seal as the previous letter. 

    I opened it. This letter read:    

Dear Owls,

We have Owlet and Ollie! Surrender your mansion to us if you ever want to see your owls again!

From,

Kung Fu Panda (general of the panda army, kung fu master, VIP soldier of the year)

    I wasn’t really worried about this letter. Kung Fu Panda’s bark was always worse than her bite. But LJ and Kat needed to know about this. I ran up the stairs toward our bedroom. 

    Our bedroom had pink walls, and a white door with a silver doorknob. There was a purple dresser beside two doors leading to a closet. On the other side of the closet doors, there was a black bookshelf containing all sorts of unnameable items.

    Getting a wall all to itself was the triple decker bunk bed. The bottom bunk had a pink sheet, and a pink duvet. There was also a white pillow and a large foot long stuffed hippopotamus. The middle bunk had a

purple sheet and a leopard print duvet. The pillow was white with a cat design. The top bunk had a pink sheet and an orange duvet. There was a green pillow. 

Kat was asleep on the middle bunk and LJ was on the top bunk.

    I looked at the alarm clock. 

    6:50.

     I quickly set the alarm clock to 6:51. Thirty seconds after I changed the alarm, it rang. 

    RING! RING! 

    Kat and LJ sat up. 

    We all had long, brown hair and pale skin. Kat and I had brown eyes, while LJ had blue. 

    I was still in my pink hippopotamus PJ’s. Kat had

leopard print PJ’s, and LJ had turtle pattern PJ’s. 

    “Why was the alarm set to 6:51?” Kat asked me. 

    “So I could wake you guys up.” I told Kat and LJ. “I have bad news.” 
    “What is it?” LJ asked me. I handed Kat her glasses and passed them the two letters. 

    “Silverveil sent these.” I told them as Kat handed the first letter up to LJ and opened the second letter.             

    “What!” LJ exclaimed. 

    “Why did the pandas do this?” Kat asked. 

    “They are not going to get our secret mansion.” LJ exclaimed as they switched letters.

     “We need a plan.” I told them. “Mummy and Daddy

will be leaving for work in ten minutes.” 

    “Let’s tell the owls.” Kat told me. 

    “Sure.” I replied as Kat and LJ climbed down. 

    We all ran over to the spare room. The spare room had light blue walls and carpet the color of honeysuckle.             There was a long table against one wall with ten perches on it. Seven were filled, but two were vacant.         Owlet and Ollie’s perches. 

    The rest of the owls were there, though. 

LJ’s owls: Feathers, who and Silverveil 

Kat’s owls: Twigs and Twiggy  

My owl: Hedwig 

My toucan Beaks 

    They were all snowy owls except for Twiggy. Twiggy was Owlet's sister, a baby elf owl. 

    Twigs was odd, though. She was a snowy owl, but she wasn’t white or grey. She was pink. Nobody knew why she was pink, not even Kat. 

    There was also a table on the adjacent wall with a terrarium and a small aquarium. In the terrarium there was a green python. There were two turtles in the aquarium. 

    The python was my pet, Basil. The turtles were Taya and Leonardo, LJ’s pets. 

    The spare room was also called the pet room. 

    I told the owls about Owlet and Ollie. A murmur of

hoots arose from them. 

“We need a plan.” Feathers hooted. 

    I looked at my pink watch. It read 7:20. Mummy and Daddy were at work. 

    “Let’s grab the bikes.” I told Kat and LJ. 

    We changed out of our PJS. I was wearing a dark pink shirt with black leggings, Kat was wearing a purple shirt with leopard print leggings, and LJ was wearing a rainbow striped shirt with a turtle on it, and wearing rainbow polka dotted leggings.

    We all walked out of the room toward the garage. Our bikes were each different colors. Mine was pink, LJ’s was orange and Kat’s was purple. 

    We rode half a mile until we arrived at an open park. We parked our bikes on the edge of the sidewalk and ran over to an area with trees.

    At first glance, they all looked the same. But if you looked closely, you could see that one had a slight sparkle to it. LJ pressed her hand to it. 

    We arrived in an entryway. The entryway had pale grey walls, light hardwoods and no doors. There was a portrait of a painted owl and a bench. 

    We walked through the entryway into the windowless, light filled hallway. 

    The walls and floor were the same colors as the entryway. There was also another owl portrait. 

    Kat pressed her hand to the portrait and said “Meeting room.” 

    We arrived in a room with pale blue walls and the same floor as the rest of the mansion. 

    There was a large black table that sat fourteen. On some spots there were computers and others had parchment and quills. Three of the spots were empty.

     I sat down at a seat with a large stack of parchment and a pink quill. Kat was sitting at a seat with no parchment or technology. LJ was sitting behind a computer. 

    “So,” I began. “ We first need some information. We need to know about Owlet and Ollie's setting. Where

they are and who is guarding them.” 

    “You have the parchment,” LJ pointed out. “Write them a letter.” 

    I pulled out a piece of parchment and my pink quill and wrote:

Dear Owlet and Ollie,

We need some information to plan your escape. Send us a letter with the answers to the following questions:

Where are you?

Are you in a cage?

Is there a lock?

What is needed to open the lock?

Who is guarding you?

Burn this letter once you received it.

From,

LJ, Kat and Sahara

   The next day, we got a reply back:

dear lj, sahara and kat,

we are in the panda hq, spare room. we are in a locked cage that needs a key to open it. we switch guards daily between kung fu panda, big bambo, and xiao. our current guard is xiao.

    “Yes!” LJ said. “We have information.” 

    “I have an idea.” I told them. “What if I start spying on the pandas? I could pretend my name is Sophie. I could also pretend to be on the pandas side.” 

    “Great idea!” LJ told me. 

    “I agree with LJ.” Kat replied. 

    That afternoon, we all went to the mall on our bikes. It took us an hour to get there. We had three hours until Mummy and Daddy came home from work. 

    At the mall I bought hair dye to disguise myself. The pandas would recognize my long, brown hair. I also bought some panda merchandise to wear other than my normal pink, purple, or blue t-shirt with black tights. 

     I bought them using the money that I had been

saving up for nothing in particular for three years. I left the mall with only a third of it remaining. But it would be worth it. 

    When I got home, I went over to our Art Room and sat down at my desk. I pulled out a sheet of parchment and wrote:

Dear Kung Fu Panda,

I overheard a group of owls talking. They said that they would break out Owlet and Ollie two weeks from now. I hope this information comes in use to you. Panda’s for the win!

From,

Sophie

    There. Now this would hopefully earn the panda’s trust. All I needed now was their reply. 

    Three days later, I was sitting at the dining room table with Kat and LJ having lunch. 

    Then, Twigs flew in carrying a letter. 

    “Hoot.” She said. “Letter from Kung Fu Panda.”  

    Yes! The reply! 

    I opened the letter. It read:

Dear Sophie,

The information will be useful. Meet me at the Panda HQ on June 13. The address is 1654 leaf street Conroe, TX. It is 4 blocks down from welch park. Be there at 4:00. Don’t be late.

From,

Kung Fu Panda (General of panda army, Kung fu master, VIP soldier of the month)

    Yes! I got to head to the Panda Headquarters! And I had the address. 

    The meeting would be in four days. 

    Four days later, at 3:30, I went into our bathroom to apply the hair dye. Within ten minutes, I had 

changed my hair from dark brown to black. I then put on the panda merchandise. 

    I left at 3:40. I went to the park, holding the paper and searching for 1654 leaf street. I found it after searching for ten minutes. 

    It had red bricks and a dark brown roof. It had no garage. The door was a vibrant green and had a brass panda knocker. 

I knocked on the door three times. 

    The door was opened by a small, blue, potato shaped panda stress ball. King Potato. 

    “Hello.” I said to the tiny potato. “Who are you?"             "State your purpose.” The little panda demanded. 

    “Sophie, Kung Fu Panda invited me.” I answered. 

    The potato let me in. 

    The hallway has green leafy wallpaper and dark wood floors. A gray panda, much like King Potato came into the hallway through one of the many doors. 

    Couch Potato. 

    “Show Sophie to The General’s room.” King Potato ordered Couch Potato. The little gray potato led me to a

black door with a green doorknob. 

    I knocked on the door twice. 

    A small panda, Kung Fu Panda, opened the door. She was bouncing up and down. I showed her the letter before she had time to ask my name. 

    “Enter.” Kung Fu Panda told me. 

    The room had dark green walls and impossibly black floors. There was a small bed in the corner. Well, it wasn’t really a bed. It was a mound of pillows underneath a blanket. 

    There was also a black dresser with four locked drawers. There was also a desk with an unlocked drawer. 

“I’ll go and get snacks.” Kung Fu Panda told me. “I’ll be back in five minutes.” 

    I looked in the unlocked drawer. There was a small dagger. I pulled out the dagger and stuck it in my pocket. 

    Just as I finished closing the drawer, Kung Fu Panda came in.

    She had a stick of bamboo and a bag of cheetos. She gave me the bag of cheetos. 

    “The info will be useful” 

    “Thanks.” I told her. 

    “Am I allowed to see your hostages?” 

    “Sure” Kung Fu Panda replied. “They’re in the room

three doors down.” 

    “Thanks!” I said as I left the room. 

    I went down three doors and entered a room with green walls and brown floors. 

    There was a bed with black sheets and a green duvet. The bed had a white pillow. There was also a black bookshelf. On the bookshelf were two birdcages. 

    Inside the birdcages were Owlet and Ollie. 

    I went over to the bookshelf and looked at the locks. Ollie shoved something behind her that resembled parchment. 

    She must have thought I really was on the pandas side! That meant my disguise is working!  

    The lock looked like an owls talon could pick it. Perfect! This would be very useful in the plan. 

    Then, a large, square panda walked in. 

    Big Bambo. 

“Hello.” He said. “General told me there was a visitor.” 

    He handed me a sugar cookie. 

    “Thanks!” I told him as he walked out the door.

    I then went to Kung Fu Pandas room and sat down on the bed. She came in and told me 

    “You have to leave now. Secret panda business.” 

    Then a potato walked in. This one was transparent with black and white orbeez. 

    Transparent Potato. 

She showed me to the door. 

    “Thanks for having me over.” I told the tiny, sort of weird looking panda as I closed the door.

 I arrived at our house at 5:30. Mummy and Daddy would be home in thirty minutes. I went into the bathroom and took a quick shower to wash out the hair dye. I then put on my PJ’s. I found Kat and LJ in the art room, drawing. 

    Then, Hedwig flew in, holding a letter. It read:

dear triplets,

we figured out that big bambo is a terrible guard. he will be on guard duty in 3 days. that would be a good night to rescue us.

    This would be very useful in the plan. I sat down at my desk and wrote:

    Plan to free Owlet and Ollie       

     June, 2018

    Plan will commence on June 16th

1. At 8:40, send feathers to lure big bambo out of the room using bamboo

2. At 9:00, send Hedwig, Twigs, and Silverveil to panda HQ

3. Hedwig and Twigs stand guard while Silverveil picks locks. Feathers fly out the window.

4. Silverveil opens cages

5. Hedwig, Twigs, Silverveil, Owlet and Ollie fly out the window.

    I showed Kat and LJ the plan. “Looks great!” Kat told me. “I’ll bring it to silverveil.” LJ told me. I gave LJ the sheet of paper. She then walked out of the art room. 

    On June 16th, I told the owls ``Remember the plan. If Big Bambo comes, hide. Feathers, you leave at 8:30. Hedwig, Twigs, and Silverveil, you leave at 8:50. Have a good trip.`` 

    Kat, LJ and I went to bed at 8:00. The owls would tell us how the plan went tomorrow. I hardly slept that night. 

    The next day, Hedwig gave us a sheet of paper. “Read this.” She hooted. We read it at breakfast. It read:

Escape of Owlet and Ollie Escape Log      

June, 2018

8:40: Feathers left to head to panda HQ

8:50: Feathers arrives at HQ; Hedwig, Twigs, and Silverveil leave for panda HQ

8:58: Big Bambo is lured out of the room

9:00: Hedwig, Twigs, and Silverveil arrive at panda HQ; Feathers leaves panda HQ

9:01: Hedwig and Twigs fly over to door to stand guard; Silverveil starts to pick lock

9:04: Cages are open

9:05: Silverveil, Hedwig, Twigs, Owlet and Ollie leave panda HQ

9:10: Feathers arrives back home

9:20: Hedwig, Twigs, Owlet, Silverveil and Ollie arrive home

Escape duration: 40 minutes

    Owlet and Ollie are back! I then noticed a letter on the table. It read:

Dear Owls,

We pandas, declare war on the owls. Surrender now or face the consequences.

From,

Kung Fu Panda

   And that was how the formerly cold war became a real war.

Part Two

Kat and the Cat

Written by Lyla Joyce Britton

Dedicated to Po, my very crazy cat.

    I woke up at 6:20. The alarm would go off at 6:30. I was happy, because it was nearly the weekend. It was a Thursday. 

    Then I remembered the note from last night. Last night we (Sahara, LJ and I; My triplets) got a note from Kung Fu Panda, the panda army general, saying that a war had begun. 

    I didn't really want a war. This war had all started when the pandas had wanted our secret mansion. Then the pandas took Owlet and Ollie hostage, Sahara spied on the pandas and freed the captured owls, and KFP (Kung Fu Panda) declared war.

My triplets and I had brown hair and brown eyes. Well, me and Sahara had brown eyes but LJ had blue. I was wearing a shirt that said Cats Are The World, and I had a leopard print skirt. Sahara had on a dark pink t-shirt and black jeans. LJ was wearing a shirt that said SAVE THE TURTLES and green leggings.  We lived in our house with our parents, Coco and Reyna, but we also had our secret mansion. Our secret mansion was so secret even Coco and Reyna didn't know about it. 

    I then went down to the Art Room. In there, I found Twiggy, my pom-pom owl. 

    "Hoot. I have an idea for the war. We could get panda hostages. They took Owlett and Ollie, remember?" Twiggy suggested. 

    ‘Of course I remember,’ I replied. I clearly remembered our first letter from Kung Fu Panda saying that they had taken Owlet and Ollie hostage.

     “That is a great idea! But how are we going to get a panda?”‘ I asked. 

    “With careful planning,” Twiggs hooted from behind me. Twiggs was my pink owl. I had no idea why she was pink. Even Twigs had no idea why she was pink. She was Twiggy's mother. 

    I then heard the alarm ring. LJ and Sahara would be waking up now. I walked over to the bedroom. When I went in, I saw Sahara putting on her glasses. 

    “Hi. I woke up early.” I told them.

     Our bedroom had pink walls. On one wall there was a bookshelf with five shelves, all filled with books. On the same wall there was a purple dresser with three drawers. All the drawers were split into two parts, LJ´s stuff and Sahara and my stuff. The top drawer held pants, the middle drawer held socks and the bottom drawer held PJ´s. 

    Getting a wall to itself was the triple decker bunk bed. 

    The top bunk was LJ´ s and had an orange duvet. It had white pillows with turtles all over them. At the end of her bed were twenty stuffed turtles, all  

stacked along the back wooden wall of the bed. The middle bunk was my bed, and it had a purple duvet. There was a leopard print pillow and seventeen stuffed cats at the end of my bed. The bottom bunk was Sahara´s; it had a pink duvet with a white pillow. There was a two foot long hippo named Rosy at the end of her bed. 

    On the adjacent wall were the closet doors. The closet had our shirts, dresses and skirts. There was also a set of drawers in the closet that held winter gear and hats. There was a rug that took up most of the floor and had Harry Potter designs on it.

    “Twiggy had an idea about the war” I told my triplets. “I´ll tell you at recess. 

We need to get ready for school.”

    At 11:25 we went to the recess field. After we got on the monkey bars, LJ said 

    “The Science Fair is in a month. What should we make for it?” 

    Sahara replied “We can decide after Kat tells us Twiggy´s idea.” 

    “I´ll tell you the idea now. Twiggy thinks it would be a good idea to take panda hostages. We just need to figure out how. Now, let's decide what we will do for the science fair. “ I answered.  

LJ said “I don't want to do a volcano, because everyone is probably doing that.” 

    Sahara said “How about we do a report about owls and bring Twiggy as an example. I´ll tell her to act like a pom pom and not show anyone she can talk.” 

    I added “That is a good idea, but how about we make a model of the solar system. I found some instructions online about how to make different sized pom poms out of yarn.”

    LJ replied “Sorry Sahara, but I like Kat´s idea more. Let's do the model of the solar system.”  

    “OK. How about we get a spy on the pandas that isn't me? They would recognize me. “ Sahara replied. “We just need to figure out who.” 

    We got home at 4:00. Coco and Reyna would be back from work in about one and a half hours. 

    “ Let's go to the mall to get supplies for the science fair project. Plus, we need to get Oreo some more food.” I said. Oreo was my pet cat. Technically she belonged to all of us, but I fed her and she liked sleeping on my bed. My favorite animals are cats. After we made a list of stuff we needed to get on our phones,

we rode our bikes to the mall. The mall was only two miles away. My bike was purple, Sahara´s was pink, and LJ´s was orange. They all had baskets. We bought ten skeins of yarn to make pom poms, two bags of pom poms in case the yarn idea didn't work, five yards of wire to connect the pom poms to the pipe cleaners, one bag of pipe cleaners to make a ring to hold all the planets, and the sun, and the moon, together, cat food for Oreo, and some more colored pencils we needed some more colors.

When we arrived home, it was 5:04. We put the science fair supplies in the craft closet and the cat food in the pantry. When we got into our bedroom, I saw Oreo drawing something with a cat pencil. She then flipped it over to show us.

    “Meow” she said. The drawing was actually a very good drawing of a cat. I took it and pinned it on the wall. 

    “Now, let's figure out about the hostages. Let's head to the mansion.” 

    When I got on my bike, I saw Oreo had curled up in the basket. We rode over to the nearby park. When we got near the trees, we saw Silvervail on one tree. Silvervail was LJ´s owl. We pressed the hollow on that tree. We vanished and arrived in our secret mansion. We were in the entry hall. The entry hall had light brown floors and pale grey walls. I pressed the button on the wall. I then said to the wall 

 “Hello. Take us to the Art Room.” The floor shot up, and we arrived in the mansion's Art Room. The mansion’s Art Room had light brown floors, and shelves covering most of the walls. The shelves had stuff like pom poms, colored pencils, and pipe cleaners filling them. There was also a pink, orange, and purple rug covering half of the floor. On top of the rug was a ten feet by ten feet by ten feet triangle table. We each sat at a side. Oreo sat on a hanging chair that was five feet off the ground. 

    “Meow.” she said. She picked up a piece of paper from the chair. She placed it on the table. It was in sort of good handwriting. It read:

Plan To Get Hostage

1. chose hostage (Bamboo)

2. Figure out panda weakness (small, not good at fighting)

3. Figure out panda location (Panda HQ)

4. Sneak in at perfect time (midnight)

5. Get panda

    P.S. I (Oreo ) wrote this.

     had never before seen Oreo write. I had no idea how she learned to write. I didn't know she could write. “Meow”. 

    I then noticed she had a little bag next to her. She opened it and pulled out a pad of post notes and a five inch cat-themed pencil. It also had a cat pencil topper. The cat pencil topper was magenta. She wrote on the post it note:

    I learned to write by checking out books from the library. I learned to read when you learned to read. I have also learned how to draw. I am a cat, so I can not talk. I can communicate with a pencil and post it notes. I spied on pandas through the window.

    Well, now I know how Oreo could write. And we now had a plan. I then head my phone hoot. That meant I had a message. It read:

    driving home will b there in 10.

    That meant we had to get home before Coco and Reyna got home. We went out of the mansion and rode our bikes home. I had to practice my violin or Coco and Reyna would tell me off for not doing it in the one and a half hours we had at home. After I finished practicing, I went over to the art room and told our owls the plan. 

    We decided Hedwig would get Bamboo because she and Twigs were the largest and Twigs was way too easy to see. 

 We were going to capture Bamboo tonight. 

    I went to bed, knowing our owls would do the plan. The next morning, I was woken up by the alarm. It was set to 6:27. 

    “Why is the alarm set to 6:27?” I asked. I saw Twigs on the windowsill. 

    “oot. I set it. It was supposed to be for 6:30 but I have trouble with alarm clocks. We caught Bamboo!” I saw Bamboo tied up in a ball of yarn. His arms were tied together, his feet were tied together, and his arms were tied to his feet. He was wrapped into a ball of rainbow yarn.

    “The hostage is caught!” Hedwig hooted from the windowsill. 

    “MEOWW!” 

    I saw that Bamboo had rolled on top of Oreo’s tail. 

    “I distracted the pandas with bamboo. No one saw us.¨ 

    RING RING RING. The alarm clock went off. We need to go to school. It was a Friday. 

¨Why does school have to get in the way of a war?¨ I said. 

    After school, we needed to work on the science project. We made all the pom poms first. We still had about four skeins of yarn left for other hostages. LJ then

printed off a google document she had made with facts about the planets. We cut them out and taped them to the planets. We then attached wire to the top of them, and connected them with pipe cleaners. 

    We were done. It took us three hours. 

    I then heard Oreo hissing at something. 

    There were no dogs in our neighborhood. I ran outside and saw Oreo jumping on Sausage Panda. Sausage Panda then ran over the fence. 

    “She was spying,” Oreo meowed. “I tried to jump on her. She got away.” 

    About an hour later, while I was practicing Pirates of the Caribbean, I heard a hoot. I turned around and saw Silvervail. 

“Hoot. Letter from Kung Fu Panda.¨ This was probably not good. I opened the letter. It read

Dear Owls,

You have captured one of our panda soldiers. I will declare a battle on you. You have ten minutes to prepare. We are coming.

From

Kung fu panda (Panda general, VIP soldier of the Month)

    A battle had begun. And we had ten minutes to prepare.

     I ran over to the art room. 

    “Owls! We need to prepare for a battle! Get LJ and Sahara!`` Ten minutes later, we had gotten lots of yarn and extra wire. Owlet, Twiggy, and Ollie were left to guard Bamboo. We did not want them in the actual battle. 

    When we went outside, I did not see any pandas. Except for Zane, the talking panda. 

    “Hi. Do you want to chat?” She asked, “No. I will not talk to pandas.” I replied. 

Just then, Sparkle fell over the fence. While I was staring at her, something hit me in the back. I turned around and saw a blue panda stress ball had hit me. 

    The Potatoes were attacking. 

    The potatoes were stress ball pandas in the shape of potatoes. King Potato was blue, Couch Potato was grey, and Transparent Potato was see through. And they were flying. All the pandas crept out of their hiding places. 

    The battle had begun. 

    The Owls were trying to grab pandas, but the potatoes were knocking them out

of the sky. Kung Fu Panda was doing kung fu on owls. Then, Oreo jumped out of the window and grabbed one of the potatoes. It was King Potato. She ran back into the house and stuck him in a box. She also grabbed Couch Potato and Transparent Potato. Oreo had captured the Potatoes. The pandas were now retreating.

    Kung Fu Panda said “This is not the end.” When the owls and I went inside, I saw Oreo was sitting on top of the box with the Potatoes in it. Bamboo was wrapped up next to her. 

“There is some bad news.” Oreo meowed “Ollie and Owlet were, again, taken hostage.” 

    “Again? Really?” I replied. 

    “At least we caught some hostages.” LJ replied. 

The next day, at recess, LJ, Sahara and I were on the step of the swinging ball pit thing. It was a pit filled with foam balls that you could cross with a swinging rope. 

    I then saw a flash of pink in the trees. 

    It was Twigs.

     “Hello” She hooted. “I have a plan to spy on the pandas. I’ll tell you more about it when we get home.” 

    When I got home, I saw Twiggy waiting outside on the doorknob. 

    “Hi. I wanted to greet you when you got home.” the little owl explained.”¨Twiggs wants to see you and the other two.”

 I went inside, dropped off my violin in the bedroom, unpacked my bag, and then went over to the art room. Twigs was sitting there with a shopping list. 

    “Why do you have a shopping list?” LJ asked, confused. 

    Twigs replied “I have an idea to spy on the pandas. We are going to disguise Twiggy as a panda. We can use some dye to make twiggy look like a pom-pom panda. The pandas will think that she is on their side.” 

    I replied “That sounds like a good idea. Let's head over to the mall and get the supplies.¨”

We bought black tye dye, white tye dye, black fabric to make ears and legs, fake stalks of bamboo, cat food for Oreo, and a bag of pretzels for snacks.

    When we got home, I found Twiggy sitting on the island, next to the toaster. 

    “I had a quick snack break.” She explained

    Well”¨ I exclaimed “It is time to dress up like a panda.” 

    I went into the bedroom and grabbed the tye dye. I then went to the bathroom and put Twiggy next to the sink. I opened the white tye dye and poured it on Twiggy.

    I then put a stripe of black along her. Her black wings would look like arms. 

I added panda legs onto Twiggy, and some panda ears. She looked like a pom pom panda. 

    “Hoot. I do not like looking like a panda, but I guess I’ll be a spy owl-panda. “ Twiggy determinedly hooted. I then picked up Twiggy and put her on the windowsill. 

    “Go to the Panda Headquarters.” I told her. 

    The little spy owl flew off, towards the panda Headquarters.

    Two hours later, while I was practicing violin, a little white and black fluff ball flew straight in front of my music. It was Twiggy. I gently placed my violin on the 

floor, 

    “Hi,” I greeted Twiggy. Then I saw a white pom pom owl next to three sugar cookies. It had purple wings.

    “Hello. My name is Snowball” the owl explained. “I was captured by the pandas. Then Twiggy came along and freed me. ” 

    I replied “Hello. LJ and Sahara would like to meet you. “

    I went to go and get my triplets, when Silvervail flew in through the door. 

    She panted “I was spying on the pandas. They are making plans for battle. They

saw a new pom pom panda take their hostage. Twiggy was discovered. We have about two days to prepare for battle.” It looked like she had been flying at top speed the whole mile that separated the mansion from the Panda Headquarters.

     I ran off to find LJ and Sahara to tell them the news. I found them in our room. I told them what silvervail had told me. 

    “We will defeat the pandas!”  LJ said. We made plans. 

    Two days later, it was noontime during summer break. Coco and Reyna were at work. We heard hooting from outside, so LJ and Sahara went outside to see which owl it was. When we went outside, we did not see any owls. We didn't see any

creatures except for a squirrel in the neighbors backyard. 

    I then heard someone shout “Attack!”  

    Another voice copied the message. “Attack!”  

    The next second, there were pandas flying everywhere. Sausage Panda whizzed past me and ran inside. I heard Oreo hissing at her. Then I saw a bird cage hidden behind a bush. Inside was Owlet and Ollie. The only key was around Kung Fu Panda's neck. I saw Silvervail flying straight at Kung Fu Panda. She barely missed her, and Kung Fu Panda hit her away. 

    I thought I heard something break. 

I then saw Silvervail hand something to Feathers. Feathers then passed something to Who. Who flew over to the bird cage and found Big Bambo guarding it. 

    LJ  picked up Big Bambo. 

    Who opened the cage. The object she held was the key. 

    Owlet and ollie flew out. 

    Then, nerf gun bullets were flying everywhere.

     Xiao, Sophie and Little Diamond, Sparkle, and Baboo all had nerf guns and lots of bullets. They were hitting owls out of the sky. 

    I thought we were doomed when Snowball flew outside holding a plastic bag. 

    She and Twiggy grabbed glitter slime and threw it at the pandas. 

    It was getting everywhere. Three handfuls of slime had been thrown when the bag vanished.  Sparkle was holding it. She dumped all of it on Silvervail, Owlet, Ollie, Twiggy, and Snowball. 

    “Retreat”! Silvervail yelled. 

    Silvervail had been made general of the owls. All owls flew back into the house, and the pandas vanished back into the bushes. Inside, I saw Oreo covered in panda stickers. 

Sausage panda freed the potatoes. And she stuck these all over me.

    “How come there's so many more pandas than owls?”  Twigs hooted. 

    “No idea”  I replied “But we need to start the next battle. Take the pandas by surprise.” 

¨”That sounds like a good idea.” Sahara said. 

“But how are we going to attack them?” LJ asked.

    “We could head over to their headquarters and sneak inside. We then attack. We could make some weapons.”

     “¨That is a great idea!” I said “Let's make weapons tomorrow. We will think up ideas today.” 

We worked together, and made a list of DIY weapons. The list contained cardboard tube glitter bombs, knitted and crocheted nets (I knew how to knit, and Sahara could crochet.), friendship bracelet ropes, slime, nerf guns (Not DIY, but we could buy some at the store), glitter to distract sparkle, and fake bamboo to distract some pandas

    The next day, we made twenty glitter bombs, two nets, about thirty braclets, two gallons of slime, and we bought four large jars of glitter and three small nerf guns, equiped with one hundred bullets. 

    We were going to fill the bullets with glitter. 

    We were making battle plans, while Oreo was drawing maps of the panda headquarters. She was a really good artist. Our plan was to head to Panda Headquarters, then Snowball would use a  bobby pin to unlock the door, then  we would sneak inside, and make sure no pandas see us, and spread out. Lastly, we would attack.

    The next day was a Sunday. After church, we were going to attack. The Panda Headquarters was not far, and Sahara showed us the way. Oreo, Ollie, Twiggy, and Owlet were left at the house because we needed someone to guard the house, and Oreo was asleep. 

    When we arrived at the panda Headquarters, there were no pandas in the driveway. 

    The Panda Headquarters looked like a normal, two story house. The dark wood door had a panda knocker. When Snowball went to the door, she found that it was unlocked. That was odd. 

    When we walked inside, we saw no pandas. The next step was to spread out. The owls went upstairs, while Sahara, LJ and I stayed downstairs. I went to the kitchen, LJ went to the living room, and Sahara went to the dining room. 

    We saw no pandas. 

    Then, Big Bambo came out from under the island and jumped on me. He was not strong enough to knock me over, but it was still surprising. We were supposed to be surprising the pandas, not the other way round. The Potatoes also started attacking. 

    I pulled out one of the glitter bombs and threw it at Big Bambo. It exploded, and Big Bambo turned from black and white to blue and sparkly. He started shaking himself off like a dog, but the glitter had some glue mixed in, and it stayed on. Then, out of nowhere, a net knitted from bright green yarn fell on me. At the same time, Big Bambo hit me on my feet and knocked me over. The net was tied by Sausage

Panda, who appeared out of nowhere. Before Sausage Panda could escape though, I grabbed her. 

    I then grabbed one of the knives in the knife block and cut a hole in the net. I climbed out, and then climbed out through the hole. 

    I heard LJ say “Silvervail said retreat! Meet up at the house!” 

    I climbed out the window, and ran all the way back to the house. When everyone got back , Everyone was covered in glitter, and LJ still had a net on her head. 

    LJ said “Big bambo spied on us, and told the pandas the plans. They took Who hostage.” I said “I have sausage panda.” We used friendship bracelets to tie up Sausage

Panda, and we tied Sausage Panda to the desk in the art room. 

    We had to defeat the pandas. 

    And we would. 

    All we needed was a good plan.

Part Three

The Seven Stories

Written by: Lyla Joyce Britton and Sophie R. Britton

Dedicated to: Feathers, the stuffed owl who started it all

I was busy trying to stuff Sausage Panda into a bag and failing.

    Sausage Panda is a panda who looks like a mix between a panda and a hamster, making her look like a sausage. We, meaning Kat, Sahara, and I, had taken her hostage last week. It had been an oddly quiet week, judging by the fact that we were in the middle of a war.

    It was the pandas VS the owls. We were on the owls' side. The pandas were trying to take our secret mansion. This war was not like other wars. There were no casualties. Also, the largest army was the pandas army, which had twenty troops. Their general was Kung Fu Panda. Our general was my owl, Silvervail. Our owls are Feathers, Silvervail, Who, Snowball, Hedwig,

Twigs, Owlet, Twiggy, and Ollie. Well, Ollie is actually half phoenix. Also, Sahara has a toucan named Beaks who is helping us. And we have a cat named Oreo, but that is mostly Kat’s pet. The pandas have a bunch of pandas that I can't remember all their names. 

    Our secret mansion had thirteen stories and was located underground. It was so secret that not even our parents, Coco and Reyna, knew where it was. The colour scheme was pink (Sahara’s favourite colour), purple (Kat’s favourite colour), and orange (my favourite colour, along with pink). 

    Kat’s real name is Kathrine, but since she liked cats, the nickname stuck. Oreo had actually been helpful in previous

battles against the pandas after we learned that she could write. For some reason or other, she always wrote in cursive. I don’t know how she learned it, but she couldn’t talk (cat vocal cords didn’t allow that), so writing was our only option. The cursive writing was only a problem to Kat, who had trouble reading cursive.

    Sausage Panda was trying to escape. I understand, she is a hostage, but if you have a hostage you have to try and keep it a hostage. So I was trying to get her into a bag. But she was very wriggly. I finally managed to get her into a bag with the help of Oreo. Oreo menacingly hissed and distracted Sausage Panda so I could get her into the bag. I then gave Sausage Panda to

Kat who stuck her in an empty birdcage. She then duct taped the door so she couldn't escape. I didn't even know we had duct

tape, let alone duct tape in Kat's favorite shade of purple. 

    Then the note appeared.

    Dear LJ, Kat, Sahara, Hedwig, Twigs, Silverveil, Owlet, Ollie, Twiggy, Feathers, Who, Snowball, and Beaks,

    Okay, I probably should have shortened that to the triplets and the owls. Or maybe just the owls. Don’t ask how that note appeared out of nowhere. I am watching you and can hear you, but you can not write notes back to me. Sorry.

    You can call me Classified. No, that is not my actual name. You will figure out who I really am after you defeat the pandas in this war. Yes, I know about it. Yes, I am on your side. I will not betray any information to the pandas.

    I don’t believe in violence. I have a plan of defeating the pandas, but you will learn

that later. Not in this note. Not in the next. It will probably be at least seven notes before you hear my plan.

    You need to find the Seven Stories. They are in the Seven Caves. I will only tell you how to get to one of the Seven Caves at a time. These stories are all crucial to my plan. Don’t worry, they aren’t entire books, they are just short stories.

    You will get more information later.

From,

Classified

    A mystery note? Randomly appearing? I didn’t recognize the handwriting. From the look of it, Kat and Sahara didn’t either.

    “Classified? That’s an interesting code name.” Sahara mentioned.

“We will get more information later. Yeah, that’s helpful. If he has a plan, why doesn’t he tell us right away?” Kat complained. “LJ, ask the owls if they know who classified is.”

    Then Classified wrote back.

Dear the Triplets and the Owls,

The pandas are going to attack soon! You have ten minutes! Hurry!

I would advise hiding. Also hide sausage pandas. Since you are at your house, they have nothing they want to take.

Now go!

From,

Classified.

    “Owls! Beaks! Oreo! Ollie! Head to the bathroom! Lock the door! The pandas are coming in ten minutes!” I then turned to

Sahara. “Grab Sausage Panda, give her a gag, and lock her in our room.” I then told Kat, “Lock all the windows! I’m going to hide the notes from Classified and our weapons! Then both of you head to our room. Quick!” We then raced around doing our jobs. I grabbed the notes from Classified, stuck them in Kat’s homework folder so the pandas wouldn’t find them, then ran to our bedroom.

    Our room had pale grey walls, light brown hardwood floors, and white doors with silver door knobs. On the wall with the main door, there was the closet, our turquoise drawers, and the windowsill. Kat was next to the window, locking it and closing the orange, pink, and purple striped curtains.

    On the adjacent wall, there were the cubbies with nine boxes in them, and the brown wooden bookshelf overflowing with books.

    And then on the next wall, there was the triple-decker bunk bed.

    The bottom bunk belonged to Sahara, with pink sheets, a pale grey and pale pink striped duvet, a pink pillow, and hippo stuffed animals. The middle bunk was my bunk, with orange sheets, a pink and orange striped duvet, pink pillows, and stuffed turtles at the end. The top bunk was Kat’s, with leopard print sheets, a leopard print duvet, leopard print pillows, and stuffed cats littered all over it.

    The fourth wall held artwork and a cat tower for Oreo. I just finished filling up Oreo’s dry food when Sahara ran in.

    “Lock the door!” She commanded. “I stuck Sausage Panda in the Art Room, with Oreo guarding him. Oreo locked the door. Yes, she can lock a door.”

    “Get on your bunk! Even if the pandas manage to look

through the window, they can’t see the bunk bed!” I told my triplets.

    We then huddled on the bunk bed, waiting to see what would happen.

    Thump. That was probably one of the potatoes hitting the window. I then heard muffled voices.

    “The window’s locked.” King Potato announced.

    “Same with every other window.” Couch Potato added.

    “And the front and back door.” Transparent Potato chimed in.

    “What’s your plan for getting inside? We need Sausage Panda. We could break the window. Or the door.” Zane chartered on.

    “Why do you always have to be so talkative?” I recognized that voice.

    Kung Fu Panda.

    Kung Fu Panda was the general of the panda army. She was the best fighter, and the most organised. The only thing about Kung Fu Panda that wasn’t military perfect was her handwriting. She used all capital letters. Never any lowercase letters.

    “Wait! I found an unlocked window!” Bamboo cheered. I gave Kat the death glare.

    “Oh. I told Oreo to lock the window in the Art Room.” Kat whispered.

    I heard the window to the Art Room open. Plop. Plop. Plop. That would be the potatoes.

    “Meow!” I heard Oreo meow. I then heard her hiss. And jump.

    “The cat’s going to eat us!” Couch Potato yelled. Silly potatoes. Oreo couldn’t eat plastic. Or pandas. Or rubber. Or

whatever the potatoes were made from.

    “Run!” King Potato ordered. “Head out the window!”

    I then heard the plop. Plop-plop. Of the potatoes landing. We waited for a few minutes to make sure they were gone. Then Sahara slowly opened the door. Creeeeaaak.

    “Coast clear.” Sahara announced.

    We all entered the Art Room. Oreo was still there, hissing at the open window.

    But Sausage Panda was gone.

    Oreo grabbed a stack of post-it notes and wrote The Potatoes got Sausage Panda. Couch Potato and Transparent Potato distracted me. They were behaving like mice. I can’t lock a window! It’s too high up!!!!!

    “I thought she could lock a window.” Lyla argued.

    “So that’s our leverage gone.” Sahara said.

    Then Classified sent a note.

Dear the Triplets and the Owls,

You are probably wondering where the first cave is. I am trying to be like the Room of Requirement, so I will give you riddles. Riddle one is:

Down

Down

Down

Very far down

Light

Not weird light bulbs

As down as you can go

Look in the cave the size of an elephant.

From, 

Classified

    “The Room of Requirement? Like from Harry Potter?” Sahara said

    “I think so. I mean, what other Room of Requirement is there that gives riddles?” I replied

    “What do you think it means?” Kat said “And I think that it is odd that Classified thinks that light bulbs are weird. ”

    “What is somewhere very far down, or deep?” I said

    “The Mariana Trench!” Sahara said “The lights must be fish using bioluminescence.”

Oreo wrote I am hungry. Can I have some fish? Can I come with you and eat the fish? Please? MEOW? MEOW? MEOW?

    “I filled up your dry food!” Kat told Oreo, “Go eat that.”

If I get to eat the fish I will tell you how to get to the Mariana Trench.

    “You know where the Mariana Trench is?” Sahara asked.

Yes. You just need to let me come. I have everything planned out. LET  ME COME!

    “When you do all capitals in cursive, I can’t read it.” Kat explained.

    “You can come.” I told Oreo. She started purring.

    “Now how do we get to the Mariana Trench?” I asked her.

    We have a submarine. It’s underneath the swimming pool. You push the button with a fish on it, and the floor opens up to show the submarine garage. You need to drain the pool first. The submarine doesn’t work if it gets chlorine on it. Oh, and Kat, learn to read capital letters in cursive. It COULD be important SOMEDAY. MEOW. MEOW.

     “No, it will not be important. People write normally these days.” Kat argued.

    “We have a SUBMARINE?” I exclaimed.

    In the Secret Mansion. PUSH THE BUTTON!

    “Let’s head to the Secret Mansion!” Sahara decided. 

   We arrived in the elevator room twenty minutes later. The elevator room was the room you entered when you entered the mansion, and it led to all thirteen floors. We pushed the button to head to the rooftop. We have a rooftop pool that is twenty feet by twenty feet and is eight feet deep. 

    “How do we drain the pool?” Kat asked

    “We push that button.” I told her. “The one that literally says DRAIN POOL.” 

    “I have never seen that button before.” Kat replied. I pushed the button. The pool water all went through the edges. Then another button appeared with a fish on it. They pushed it. The floor of the pool opened. 

There was a submarine large enough to hold ten people excluding the pilot. It was black with a white stripe in the middle. It almost looked like…

    “Oreo!” Kat exclaimed. “Did you decorate the submarine?”

Yes. It was just plain blue before. You could call it the Oreo. Or the Cookie.

    “How do we get down?” Sahara asked. It was a ten foot drop onto the submarine, and a fifteen foot drop onto the floor below.

    You jump. Watch me.

    Oreo jumped down onto the floor next to the submarine, landing on her feet. Because she was a cat, she was not injured at all. But if one of the triplets jumped down, they would probably break their leg. 

    “We can't jump down that far without injuring ourselves.” Kat pointed out, “You can, because you're a cat. Isn't there a ladder?”

    Humans are terrible at jumping. Cats are superior.

    "Hey!" I exclaimed.

    Fine, I’ll get the ladder. Honestly, you guys need to learn to jump better. It's only fifteen feet.

    Oreo walked over to the wall and pulled over a ladder. It looked difficult saying that she wasn't a large cat. She leaned it against the wall. The ladder's sides were black and the rungs were white. Just like an oreo. Obviously someone had done some decorating. We climbed down the ladder, Kat first, then me, and Sahara last. When they got down, I nicely put away the ladder for Oreo. 

    The inside was also oreo colored. There were the controls at the front, and couches that folded into chairs in the back.

Then I noticed a problem.

    “Does anyone know how to drive a submarine?” I asked.

    Meow? You don't know how to drive a submarine? What do you guys learn at school? Algebra? Wars? Intently reading passages? Other useless stuff? I can drive.

    “Where did you learn to drive a submarine?” Sahara asked. 

    Oreo pointed at the manual. It said Fixing and Driving a Submarine.

    So that means that I am captain. And I say that everyone should get inside. We are going soon. 

    “Everyone aboard!” Kat said. We all climbed aboard and claimed a couch. There were five couches, and we used the other two for the owls. Each couch had three cushions, and three seatbelts. According to Oreo, we had to use the seatbelts. She also told us where the snacks were. There were

    Oreos and cat food. There was also a sign that said NO CHOCOLATE PERMITTED WITHIN TWO YARDS OF THIS SHIP. 

    “Why?” I asked “What is wrong with chocolate?”

    It is a VERY deadly poison. No other poison is permitted on this ship also. I know that it is not poisonous to people, but it isn't good for people either. I am the captain, I make the rules. Unless any of you are going to drive? Meow?

    “Chocolate is poisonous to cats?” I questioned, “I have never heard that before.”

    “I have!” Kat replied “I think I read it in a Bad Kitty book. Or possibly online. I don't remember. It is also poisonous to dogs, birds, and most other pets.”

    I'm getting bored. Let's get moving.

    And with that, a glowing sign appeared, saying EVERYONE MUST HAVE THEIR SEATBELTS ON. THE SHIP IS ABOUT TO MOVE. They all put seatbelts on, including Oreo. She was sitting

in the captain's chair with a cat designed seatbelt. The captain's chair was also half the size of a couch and looked very comfy. Oreo pulled a black lever and pushed some buttons. 

    Then they were moving. 

    But they weren't swimming.

    They were flying.

    “Why is a submarine flying?” Kat asked.

    Then computer letters appeared on a screen above us. Captain: Please use your keyboards to speak. They make it easier for me to drive and talk to you at the same time. We are flying until we reach the ocean. Then we will swim until we reach the Mariana Trench. When we get there, we will dive.

    LJ: The view is great!

    Kat (who needs to learn to read cursive): Why is my name so long?

    Captain: It only does that the first time. It is a reminder. Only I can delete messages from the screen.

    GPS: We are now flying over the Rocky Mountains.

    Captain: This submarine flies extra-fast. We will reach Japan in two hours.

    Kat: But that should be a fourteen- hour flight! We came from Texas.

    Captain: I told you- extra fast.

    LJ: Where is the button that does italics?

    Kat: It is the button with the uppercase slanted I.

    Sahara: Thanks for the information. I thought that was just the I button. 

    Captain: There are books in the black cupboard with white cat handles. Also, I brought your phones. They are in the small white cupboard with black cat handles. 

    Rulebook: Rule No. 3: Cell phones are allowed for music and reading only unless the captain allows otherwise.

    LJ: What are the other rules?

    Rulebook: Rule No. 1: Follow the captain’s directions at all times.

    Kat:So I have to do whatever my cat says?

    Captain: Yes.

    Rulebook: Rule No. 2: Don’t break anything. 

    LJ: I think that one might be difficult, but I can understand it.

    Rulebook: Rule No. 4: No chocolate allowed, period. It doesn't matter whether the captain says otherwise. 

    Rule No. 5: No cute puppy pictures or anything else featuring a dog. 

    LJ: But I like dogs!

    Captain: I don't care. I hate dogs. I can also monitor your

phones from the security cameras.

    Rulebook: Rule No. 6: No garlic or raisins allowed on the submarine.

    Saharah: Why?

    Captain: They are poisonous. Not as poisonous as chocolate, but poisonous all the same.

    Rulebook: Rule No. 7: Only the captain may add, delete, or change rules.

    Kat: Fine. But I have all the right to complain.

    Captain: I could make a rule saying that no complaining is allowed. Also, if you break the rules you have to sit in The Room Of Boredom. It is at the back and there is nothing there. Also, It is small. And soundproof.

    Sahara: Dictator.

    Captain: That is offensive. I am going to create a rule that

says no nicknames are allowed unless I allow it.

    Kat: Can I be the cat queen?

    Captain: Yes, that is approved

    The Cat Queen: Look! My name has changed.

    Rulebook: Rule No. 8: All passengers have the right to free speech. The captain can not change this rule. Exceptions: Bad words, mean comments.

    The Captain Handbook: The captain can:

    Sahara: Could you change the font to decorative?

    Kat: NO!!!!!

    Rulebook: Rule No. 9: Use correct grammar, punctuation, capitalization, and spelling at all times.

    Grammar Check: “Kat” used incorrect punctuation on her last sent post. Please edit the post within the next two minutes or it will be deleted.

    Kat: Fine.

    Kat: NO!

    Grammar Check: “Kat” has successfully edited her message.

    Captain: Also, there are emojis.

    Sahara: 80% of them are cats. 

    Captain: What did you expect?

    Grammar Check: “Sahara” needs to change “80%” to “eighty percent”. Please edit this post within the next two minutes or it will be deleted.

    Kat: I hate grammar checks.

    Rulebook: Rule No. 11: The word “hate” is not to be used. Change it instead to “strongly dislike.”

    Kat: FINE!

    Sahara: Just learn to write things correctly.

    RS: Snacks are in the black cupboard with the golden cat handles.

    Sahara: Yay!

    LJ: What does RS mean?

    Ship Dictionary: RS means Room Service.

    Kat: We get room service?

    Sahara: Yay!

    Rulebook: The punishments for breaking the rules vary. Some of the options are listed below:

    Rulebook: Rule No. 10: The captain does not have to follow

the rules.

    GPS: We are now flying over Hawaii.

    Sahara: I can see the islands!

    LJ: Hawaii is overrated. It’s just a bunch of beaches and smoothies.

    Captain: Smoothies taste bad.

    ALERT: WE WILL BE LANDING IN THE PACIFIC OCEAN NOW! PLEASE FASTEN YOUR SEATBELTS!

    ALERT: WE HAVE LANDED IN THE PACIFIC OCEAN!

    GPS: We are now in the pacific ocean.

    Rulebook: Rule No. 12: Grammar Checks do not apply to ALERT’s.

    Rulebook: Rule No. 13: There must be at least one can of cat food in this ship at all times.

    ALERT: EXPERIENCING TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES!

    ALERT: PASSENGER TEXTS HAS BEEN DISABLED!

    Captain: I did nothing!

    ALERT: SHIP HAS GONE OFF COURSE!

    ALERT: SYSTEMS ARE EXPERIENCING TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES!

    ALERT: ALL TEXT HAS BEEN DISABLED, SAVE FOR ALERT’S!

    ALERT: LIGHTS ARE EXPERIENCING FAILURE!

    ALERT: ENGINES ARE EXPERIENCING FAILURE!

    ALERT: ALERT TEXT IS EXPERIENCING FAILURE!

    Now the ship was dark, save for the emergency lights, which showed very dim light. No one could see anything.

    “Meow?”

    “Over here, Oreo!” Kat called. Oreo then padded out of her seat and sat in Kat’s lap.

   Something is sabotaging the ship.

 “WHAT?” I exclaimed. “What- or who- is doing this?”

    ALERT: ALERT TEXT IS BACK!

    It is very hard to sabotage alert text. I think this is an attack from the pandas. At least that means that the life support systems won’t fail. So that means we have three hours of oxygen left.

    ALERT: SHIP DATA TEXT IS BACK!

    ALERT: SOMETHING IS STUCK IN THE ROTORS, RESEMBLING A PIECE OF BAMBOO!

    ALERT: ENGINES REBOOTING!

    ALERT: ENGINE REBOOTING FAILED!

    ALERT: YOU HAVE TWO HOURS OF OXYGEN LEFT!

    So my calculations were off.

    “I’m scared.” Sahara admitted.

    “I HATE THOSE PANDAS!” Kat exclaimed. 

 “What should we do?” I asked.

    Isn’t it obvious? Send the repair fish out to fish the ship.

    “What are the repair fish?” Sahara asked

    “It’s kind of self explanatory.” Kat guessed. “They’re fish robots that fix things.”

    ALERT: REPAIR FISH SENT OUT!

    ALERT: ENGINES REBOOTING!

    ALERT: ENGINE REBOOTING SUCCESSFUL!

    ALERT: REPAIR FISH LOST CONNECTION!

    ALERT: PASSENGER TEXT CONNECTED!

    Scanners: Something has been sighted near the submarine, resembling a large fish.

    Kat: How large is this fish?

    Scanners: About two feet in length and five inches wide.

    Captain: Fish don’t appear on scanners. That’s weird.

    Scanners: The object is identified as a mammal.

    Sahara: Is it a small dolphin?

    LJ: Dolphins aren’t that small.

    Scanners: The object is not in the species database.

    Captain: We have all species in our database.

    Kat: It is a new species!

    Scanners: Object is travelling this way about five miles per hour.

    Scanners: Its tail looks like that of a Largemouth Bass.

    LJ: Largemouth Bass don’t live in the ocean.

    Scanners: The body and head resemble that of a land creature.

    Captain [instructions:scanners]: Tell me what land creature it resembles.

    Scanners: The body and head resemble that of a grizzly bear.

    Kat: It’s a mer-bear!

    LJ: No, it’s not.

    Sahara: That doesn't exist.

    OUTSIDE VOICE: Surrender your ship or we will sink it.

    Rule No. 14: This ship will never be surrendered. Never. Punishment for breaking this rule is a lifetime of guilt in the Room of Boredom.

    Captain [send to outside]: We will NOT surrender our ship!

    OUTSIDE VOICE: You give us no choice. ATTACK!

    I heard something land on the top of the submarine.

    [OUTSIDE VOICE renamed to Attackers.]

    Attackers: Tell us how to open this

ship without flooding it, or we will flood it.

    Captain [send to outside]: You click the green button with an O on it, then wait a few seconds.

    I heard a hatch open, then the sound of rushing water.

    Then the top hatch opened.

    Then the attackers came in. And, no, they were not mer-bears. Those (I think) didn’t exist.

    They were mer-pandas.

    The mer-pandas had the top half of a panda, and the bottom half of a dark green fish. There were three of them: one female, and two males. The female seemed to be the leader. Judging by the fact that there were four of us, and three of them, we should have easily been able to defeat them.

    Except for the fact that they had weapons.

    “We are the water division of the Panda Army. You know we

have weapons, and can sink this ship. Now hand over the cat and no one gets hurt.” The female mer-panda explained

    Meow! They are lying. I can’t swim! We are right next to the MARIANA TRENCH! The pressure would kill me. Even if there wasn’t the pressure, I couldn’t hold my breath for however long it takes for them to get me to the surface. DON’T SURRENDER! MEOW! MEOW!

    “We know that your cat can write. She is wrong- we have protection so she won’t get hurt. Now turn over the ship.”

    Don’t surrender! Don’t fail Classified! Don’t lose hope! MEOW!

    “Who is this Classified? Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. I am Zhanshi, and the other two are Shui and Haiyang. So now, tell me who Classified is and hand over the cat.”

    Then Classified came to the rescue.

Dear Oreo,

    Utilisez le charme répulsif. De plus, les mer-pandas détestent le feu.

From,

Classified

    “Meow.” Why did Oreo sound malicious? And what did that meow mean?

    Then her tail lit on fire, and she pointed it at the mer-pandas.

    Leave. This. Ship- or I will light you on fire. Don’t doubt me. Now. Leave. MEOW! Get. Off.  My. Submarine. You. Stupid. Panda. Vermin. Yuchun de. Dom. Ngo. Ahmoq. Poauau. Go. NOW!

    “What did those other words after vermin mean?” Kat asked.

    “You probably don’t want to know.” Zhanshi answered. She looked afraid. I guess since they were water pandas, they hated fire.

    “Should we leave?” Shui asked.

    “No. GET ME THAT CAT!” Zhanshi screamed. Now that was determination.

    “Meow.” Then a fireball shot from Oreo’s tail and barely missed Haiyang.

    “Retreat!” Zhanshi ordered. They went out through the hatch of the submarine.

    Database: Mer-pandas added to the Species Database

    Captain: Now let’s go into the Mariana Trench. Get back in

your seats!

    Sahara: What did Classified tell you? And what language was that in? And HOW DO YOU KNOW MAGIC?

    Captain: 1) Classified told me some spells that would be good to use against the mer-pandas.

    Captain: 2) French.

    Grammar Check: “French” is an incomplete sentence. Please change it within two minutes or your message will be deleted.

    ALERT: GRAMMAR CHECK IS EXPERIENCING FAILURE!

    Captain: Meow.

    Captain: 3) Classified taught me magic.

    Kat: YOU KNOW WHO CLASSIFIED IS?

    Captain: Yes. He told me not to tell you. His identity will be

revealed later. You will be surprised that I know him. He is suspicious. He is also hiding many secrets. Do I sound like the Room of Requirement? Now, back to our mission.

    LJ: Look- there’s a creepy cave with a glowing pink light!

Captain: I’m steering the ship!

    The cave was about twenty feet high and what looked like a mile long. Why was a cave that held one story so long?

    Microphone: There is a sound coming from outside. Click the blue button to listen.

    Oreo hit a small blue button on her side table. How did she tell all of the buttons apart? We then heard a song.

    This music is

    Creeeepyyyyyy

    This music is 

Creeeepyyyyyy

    This music is

    Creeeepyyyyyy

    This music is

    Creeeepyyyyyy

    Sahara: Ummmmm…..

    Kat: Why is there a song with creepy music that literally says ‘this music is creepy?’ Like, um?

    LJ: Something weird is going on.

Dear the Triplets,

    It is supposed to have that music. Things will be strange- so why not have strange music? I got a friend to record it for me. Don’t ask questions.

    Go right, right, straight, left, and you will find the First Chamber.

    Good Luck!

From,

Classified

    We followed Classified’s directions, and we surfaced in an air pocket. The top of the submarine popped off.

    “Finally! My legs were starting to get cramped.” Kat exclaimed.

    In the centre of the land piece of the air pocket, there was a pedestal with a piece of paper on it. Sahara ran over and grabbed it.

    “The First Story.” Sahara breathed.

    “Read it!” I demanded.

Once Upon a Time, there was a girl by the name of Kiara. Kiara lived in a house outside of a dark, creepy forest. Her parents had always told her, “you must never go into the Forest. No one has ever gone in there and come back.” And being the obedient girl she was, she never set even one toe in the Forest.

    Kiara had a pet dragon by the name of Camila. Camila stood about two feet tall, and she was a brilliant turquoise. Camila loved exploring and was always getting into trouble. She slept on a pile of pillows next to Kiara.

    One day, on the thirteenth of Katar, Kiara was getting ready for school. She took her shower, then got dressed in a deep royal blue tunic, her school’s uniform. She then went out to breakfast.

    Camila and Kiara always ate breakfast together. Camila munched on fish, while Kiara had porridge.

    But today, Camila wasn’t there. There was only a note.

    Dear Kiara,

    Sorry, but I won’t be able to have breakfast with you today. I am playing with Aleashiq. At noon, she will be leaving to go to the famous dragon boarding school of Hikma. I wanted to spend as much time with her as possible before she went off.

    Please make sure Ghidha doesn't eat all of the food!

    From,

    Camilla

    Aleashiq was Camila’s best friend, and Ghidha was Kiara’s cat. Ghidha actually meant ‘food’ in Arabic, symbolising the reason why Ghidha was the largest cat in

Bihaja, the village that Kiara lived in. But then another note floated in through the window, riding on a breeze.

Dear Kiara,

I have sent this letter to inform you of the fact that Camila, your pet dragon, has entered the Forest. I don’t know any more than that. You know the legends. I hope you know what to do about this.

From,

The Tahdhir

    The village Tahdhir was the person who sent out warnings, alerting the village of any danger. Sometimes letters were sent to individual people. The Tadhir had a crystal ball allowing them to see many places at once.

    Hearing that Camila was in danger, Kiara left a note for her parents reading I went to go and find Camila, I’ll

explain later. - Kiara , and she pushed open the back door and headed towards the Forest.

    And that was it.

    “Where’s the rest of it?” Kat asked.

    Classified then replied.

    Dear LJ, Kat, Oreo, and Sahara,

    Each of the Seven Stories make up one story. But the seventh one is different. I won’t tell you how, though.

    Here is your next clue:

    You solved the first clue! Good job! What is a light bulb? And what is and elephant?

    Your next riddle is not really a riddle. 

    Πήγαινε στο πάρκο. 

    Περιμένετε μέχρι να μην είναι κανείς εκεί. 

    Στη συνέχεια, πηγαίνετε στην άκρα δεξιά κούνια. πιέστε το. 

Τραβήξτε την παλιά περγαμηνή

    That is Greek by the way. I met someone who knew it. The password is charta. It is in latin, but it is pronounced like it is spelled. Chart-a.

    From,

    Classified

“Greek. Can this ship translate?” Sahara asked Oreo.

    ALERT: SHIP WILL DIVE IN FIVE MINUTES!

    Captain: Put it in the black drawer with a blue cat knob.

    I then grabbed the note and stuck it in the drawer.

    Translate: Detect Language to English. Go to the park. Wait until no one is there. Then go to the far right swing. Press it.

Pull out the old piece of parchment.

    Kat: That’s pretty straightforward. 

    LJ: How long until we get back to the Secret Mansion?

    Captain: Two hours. Enjoy yourselves.

We got back home at five o’clock, just before our parents got home. They would never know that we got in a submarine driven by a cat and went to the Mariana Trench and got attacked by mer-pandas and read a story in a part of the world that no human has ever been to.

    The next day, we went to the park. It was a Wednesday night, so it wasnt super busy. Plus, it was the summer so everyone was at the pool. We went to the far right swing. It was one of those baby swings that you could sort of sit in but they were hard to get out of. I always got stuck when I sat in one of them. Sahara and Kat fit better. They could climb out, but it was difficult. 

    We pressed the swing.

    An old piece of parchment came out. It was completely ordinary.

    What is the point of this?

    “I have an idea!” Sahara said “Charta!”

    Ink started appearing on the parchment. It spread out to say Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs present this map.

    It opened to a map of the forest next to us with a dot.

    “This is sort of a copyright to J.K. Rowling.” I said.

    “That is not the point, I’m guessing.” Kat said “Let's follow the map!”

    “But we are not allowed in the forest!” Sahara argued.

    “It will help stop this war.” I replied, “Plus, what is so bad about it?”

    “Meow.” Oreo said from behind us.

    “You came?” Kat said

    Of course! Why should I not come? We need some supplies. 

    1. Flashlights, with extra batteries.

   2. Some non-chocolate snacks.

   3. Water

   4. ME!!

   5. Some paper/pencils.

“Makes sense.” Sahara said “Let's get the supplies and go!”

    We went back to out house (not the Secret Mansion), and grabbed three flashlights (one light pink, one light purple, and one rainbow polka-dot), twelve extra batteries (each flashlight requires two), pretzels (no chocolate, plus they taste great), our water bottles (one pink and grey striped, one with Harry Potter stickers all over it, and one leopard print.), and Sahara’s notepad and pencil case. Well, I hope Oreo doesn't mind gel pens.

    We also brought three bags, one for each of us. We each 

took a flashlight, four batteries, two bags of pretzels, our water bottle, and Sahara took the notepad, I took the pencil case, and Kat took Oreo and her food.

    Sahara’s bag was a crochet duffle bag (she made it), pink, with a black pocket inside of it; Kat’s was a leopard print drawstring bag, and mine was a rainbow striped backpack.

    Sahara sent a text to our parents saying We’re heading to the park. We’ll be back before four. So that left us six hours.

    “Let’s follow the map!”

    I would add details about the forest, but it looked the exact same as every other forest.

    About an hour after we entered, according to Sahara’s hippo-faced watch, we arrived in front of a large tree stump. 

    Pinned to the tree stump was a file folder,

labelled Classified. Top Secret. Inside, there was a letter.

    Dear whoever is reading this,

    This can only be opened with the password.

    Alkilab afdil min alqittu. 

    Translate that to English, and you will have the password. 

    Xióngmao, rúguo nín zhèngzài yuèdú běnwén, qǐng lìjí líkāi. 

    If you could not read that last part, then it does not apply to you.

    Good luck!

    From,

    Classified

    “Alikai- okay, I’m not pronouncing that.” Sahara decided. “So that means something. Kat, pull up Google Translate.”

 “I have it up.” Kat said, pulling out her phone. “Spell it.”

    “A…L…K…I…L…A…B…space…A…F…D…I…L…space…M…I…N…space…A…L…Q…I…T…T…U…that’s it. What does it say?” I asked.

    “Well, it’s in Arabic,” Kat started, “and it reads ‘dogs are better than cats.’”

    Meow. Classified is so wrong. Dogs are annoying. And smelly. And gross. How could you ever say that dogs are better than cats? Oreo wrote in Sahara’s notepad. She used the black gel pen.

    “Dogs are better than cats.” I said. Oreo looked at me offended. “What? I’m just saying the password.”

    A piece of paper appeared. It was the next part of the story.