It was the next day, and Morin couldn't’t help but to think about Amanda. It took a long time for Morin to get ready for school that morning. His mind was filled with the past. Amanda, Amanda, Amanda. He got his backpack, and drove to high school. I know what I’ll do, he thought.
Amanda was there waiting for him. Morin bent down to her, and very gently kissed her on the lips. “To satisfy my heart,” he said, and went to his homeroom.






~~~

Morin felt that he would never forgive Amanda or be friends with any other girl. Once was enough to know how it felt to have a broken heart. And it didn’t feel good at all. When Amanda leaned over and kissed him, Morin was just plain joyful.

And then, the next day….. Oh, the next day, probably the worst day of his life. Amanda was leaning over and kissing another guy! A new guy from Washington D.C! Morin didn’t get it. Why couldn't’t the boy move to Italy, or wherever, just not Canada! Canada, out of the whole world! Morin felt as if everything was going wrong. When Amanda turned her head, her brunette curls bouncing, looking at him, Morin never wanted to see her again for the rest of her life. The feeling of true love was gone, forever.

Nothing good ever happened to him. Why did he think that day would be different? He ended up with the worst parents, the worst brother, the worst everything. The feeling that there could be a chance for happiness made him so joyful, that when she broke his heart, he felt that nothing could ever make him feel happy again.

She had tried multiple times to explain to him the true reason of why she was “kissing” the other guy, but he’d never let her explain. She couldn't have a good enough excuse for me to forgive her. Morin thought. But, maybe if Morin would just let her talk, maybe she had a good excuse, even a great one.

Amanda was walking up the path that led to the ocean. A slight breeze covered her shoulders as she started running. Right at the edge of the sea were her dolphin-friends, waiting for her. As a child she used to play with them. They had grown up to be best friends.

“Sheesh!” Amanda said to the dolphins. “Why can’t he for once just listen to me so that I could tell him the truth? I was just bubbling!”

The dolphins sang in their son-voice that no human could understand, “I know. It’s annoying isn’t it?”


“Yes….” said Amanda deep in thought. “I’ll tell him today whether he likes it or not.”

“Wait.” the dolphins called. “What will Juni do to you? He is capable of anything, you know!”

“Too bad for him!” laughed Amanda. “I’m sure he has never fought an Angelico before.” Amanda ran away, as fast as she could to go talk to Morin.

“Oh, she’s in for it!” said the dolphins. “Good luck!” they all called.


Amanda finally arrived at school. It was time to tell Morin. “Morin! I’ve got something to tell you!” Morin looked at her, but didn’t say anything. “Fine! I guess I’ll just have to show you then!” Amanda took off her heart necklace which contained all her human powers. Without it, she wasn’t human. When the final clasp of her necklace came off, her perfect body shape started forming. She murmured mysterious words. Morin watched every second of the transformation. She growled. She began to grow taller and taller, until she reached the ceiling. “Aaargh!” she growled. “I’m an Angelico! You see, I’m an angel, and I can turn into any creature I want!!” Her body was so muscular and huge that she could’ve stepped on Morin easily and killed him. Her skin was all brown, and she had vampire teeth. “Or this!” she yelled, and began to shrink into a complete clone of Morin. She said in a Morin voice, “The boy you saw me “kissing” was an Angelico too. To get our powers back, we have to do what’s called ‘bubbling.’ We have to lean over to each other so that the breath of the Angelico with more power revives the strength of another Angelico. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings! If you don’t believe me, then go away!” Morin stood there staring at Amanda.

She turned back into the monster again. “Welcome to the World Beyond!” she growled, and walked away, the school shaking with every step she took.

“I showed him.” Amanda was back in human form, swimming with her dolphin friends. Amanda was having fun, swimming with the dolphins, when a piranha arrived with a message for her in his teeth. The piranha said in a voice so low, that the sea



















































shook endlessly, “Juni is unimpressed with you.” Her white, perfect teeth shone in the water. “Don’t dare disobey him again!” Through her teeth, the piranha handed the message to Amanda, and Amanda took it with her hand shaking.

The message read;


Come to the Stand of Liberty tomorrow at three o’clock. You win, you rule. I win, you’re dead. See you there, or else your Morin friend will die a torturing death. (No pressure.)

Oh no, oh no, oh no! Once, Amanda had a feeling that she didn’t have to go, since it was just Morin he would kill, not her. But since it was Morin, and no other Morin, she had to go. Amanda dreadfully walked one step at a time as she walked to the dolphins. Amanda was sweating by the time she got to her dolphin friends. Her face shone like a moon in the night. There were three things she had to worry about- Morin, Juni, and how was she going to get to the Stand of Liberty.

“Hello!” the dolphin said.

“Hi,” replied Amanda.

“Why do you seem so sad?” asked the dolphin.

“I’m- I’m going to fight Juni today,” Amanda stuttered.

For a second, the dolphin didn’t understand, but then exclaimed in shock, “Oh no! I can take you there if you want.”

“Really? Thank you so much!” said Amanda, scared.


Amanda climbed up onto the dolphin’s slippery back and sat comfortably. With a swish and a whoosh, the dolphin sailed away.

“Morin? Why are you putting your jacket on? It’s one o’clock in the morning! You woke me up!”


“Sorry Mom,” said Morin. “There’s someplace I have to go.”


“Where?”


“To Amanda’s house. She’s a friend of mine.”


“What are you going to do there?”


“We’re going to play some games.”


“Why can’t you play those games later? Like at a normal time?”


“Mom, please!”


“Fine. Just this once!



“Thank you. I’m out of here!”


Morin zipped up his faux-fur jacket. He buried his face in the fur, thinking of all the dangers that lay ahead. Morin started walking slowly toward Amanda’s house, and when he got there he hid in the bushes. He waited and waited. With each movement, the thorns pricked him, but thankfully his thick jacket made it hard for the thorns to hurt him.


He was thinking, “When will she come out?” when he heard a rustling sound, and somebody slowly opened the door.


At first Morin didn’t recognize Amanda, but then her brunette curls came out of her cap. Morin was sure it was Amanda. Who else could it be? Morin followed her down the street. Amanda walked and walked and walked towards the ocean. Once, Amanda looked back, but didn’t catch him. Finally, when Amanda stopped walking, Morin saw one of the most beautiful creatures on Earth -- dolphins.


Morin eavesdropped on every word of Amanda’s and the dolphin’s conversation.


As he heard the conversation, he thought, Juni? Who was Juni? He sure did seem dangerous. Wait a second! Morin thought. If Juni is so dangerous, why would she fight him? Is Amanda fighting Juni for me? Do I have something to do with the fighting? Morin had to find out.

Morin watched Amanda leave. He decided he couldn’t be shy.

“Hi. I’m Morin. Could you please tell me who Juni is?”

The dolphins told him everything, including the secrets Amanda told them not to say. She told them a lot about Morin, a human. A human is a human, right? And humans can’t understand any word dolphins say.


“Why would Juni want to be a cruel leader?” asked Morin.


The dolphins started to shiver. “You can understand us?”


“Yes, of course! Doesn’t everybody?”


“No, just Angelicos.”


When the truth revealed itself to Morin, Morin understood. It was his legacy to save Amanda, and he would never be content until he did.




10 MINUTES LATER


Wow, Morin thought as he was riding on top of the dolphin’s back. He was amazed. The dolphin’s skin was the softest skin he had ever felt in his life! And the dolphin was fast! Morin told the dolphin his plan to save Amanda. Every time Morin finished a sentence, the dolphin nodded agreeably.


“I would have never thought I, out of all people, would be riding on a dolphin’s back!” Morin exclaimed eagerly, not wanting the ride to end. Finally, the dolphin skidded to a stop. Morin was a good swimmer, and he saw land not far away.


“Go straight until you reach the land.” said the dolphin. “That’s all I can help you with.” Morin got off the dolphin’s back, and started the swim.

Amanda looked at her sandals. The land the dolphin told her to go to was covered in snow. Snow everywhere, snow, snow, snow! One thing was for certain- Amanda certainly did not like snow. (She had to use all her willpower not to change into furry animal.) While she was walking, she heard a voice behind her. The voice was filled with the past, it was familiar, lovely… MORIN!


Swiftly Amanda turned around. When she saw Morin standing in the snow, she almost fainted with surprise and anger. Why was he there? He wasn’t supposed to be there!
Morin was asking the same question, over and over again. “What are you doing here?”
Amanda sighed, and told Morin about the note the piranha gave her. Morin was mad that Amanda would risk her life for him, but deep inside he knew he was happy. Morin told her he could understand dolphins. They said everything they knew, until Amanda ran out of breath. They both lay down on the snow, looking into the fog. Slowly and carefully, Morin reached his hand over to Amanda. Amanda gratefully took it. They held their hands together for a long time. When they got up, two imprints were left on the snow, kind of like snow angels. Snow angles holding hands.


“Since you’re here, you might as well come with me,” Amanda said. “What the dolphins probably didn’t tell you is that there are three obstacles we have to go through to get to Juni. There are spirits watching over us now- even though we can’t see them. So I can’t tell you any important information. Since you’re here, you have to answer a riddle. It’s one of the obstacles. If you get it wrong… well, let’s hope you don’t get it wrong. I will give you a clue- just watch me.” Amanda sprinted off farther and farther into the snow, Morin following her every step of the way.


Finally they arrived at a statue. It looked like a cat; it was gold and sitting down. The cat opened its mouth while Amanda nodded. This was the first obstacle, the one that Morin would have to solve. Morin was wondering how Amanda knew so much, and she had told him she had a friend who went through all three obstacles, but when he finally reached Juni’s castle he got too cowardly and ran back home. A guard appeared, and forced Amanda away, but she had time to stifle a bark. She winked at Morin, then left.

“What animal is the best at keeping time?” asked the cat-like statue in a raspy, hoarse voice.

“How am I supposed to know?” Morin muttered to himself.

“Is that your final answer?” asked the cat.

Morin shook his head no.

“Fine; continue your thinking.”

A bark. What animals bark? A dog. What keeps time? A clock? Yes. A clock dog. That sounded wrong. A watch? Maybe. A watchdog! That was it.

“A watchdog!” Morin said in a confident voice.

“Is that your final answer?” asked the cat.

“Yes,” replied Morin with confidence again.

“That is correct,” said the cat. In one second everything was gone, and Amanda was back with Morin.

“How did you not figure it out earlier?” Amanda exclaimed.

“I was trying my hardest!” replied Morin.

“Fine.”

Again, Amanda and Morin were walking through the same snow. To make their walk faster and less boring, they talked about school. “I just passed the test…” there was a silence. Morin looked for Amanda. She wasn’t there! Could this be another one of her tricks? Morin heard thumping coming from underneath him. Maybe he was in a dream. Just in case, he pinched himself, and took a step forward. Morin started falling, falling, falling into a deep, deep hole.

So maybe it wasn’t a deep, deep hole. Actually, it was a small hole with the sunshine shining through. Morin saw Amanda. She was safe, and fine. Morin helped Amanda climb back out. The only opening in the cave was a small hold, just big enough to fit both Amanda and Morin. But right as Amanda stuck her hand through the hole, the hole started to close rapidly. The hole to freedom suddenly started closing. There was no way to get out.

Now it was dark. And now it seemed more musty, cold and wet. Morin and Amanda walked blindly. Morin felt Amanda’s arm and held on to it. They started walking forward, their eyes adjusted to the darkness, and their hands trembling. They felt three doors in front of them. They had to choose one. They chose to separate.




~~~
There were snakes, mice and spiders crawling around her. “Why did I chose this door?” Amanda asked herself. As Amanda was saying this she slapped herself on the leg. A spider had crawled on her. “Ughhhh!” I hate spiders!” Finally, Amanda made a decision. She would use a bit of her powers to turn into a spider, so she would blend in with everything else. She glanced at herself while transforming into a spider. She looked at her new ugly, hairy stubby legs as a spider, and hated spiders even more.



As Amanda crawled through the door, to reach the end, Morin was having other thoughts.

“Oh my, how happy I am to pick this door! Everything I want I get!” Morin thought of strawberry ice cream, and some strawberry ice cream came to him. Yummy! This is the best day of my life! As Morin thought of things he wanted, he forgot about the true reason he was there; to get through the tunnel, and not to wander around. Morin sat down in a comfy space. Ahhhhh. He sighed. This was wonderful! He wondered if anybody could be better off then he was right now. Not his mom, not his dad, and definitely not… And then he remembered… AMANDA! What should I tell her? Morin thought. I totally forgot about her! Would she be mad?
~~~

“Where is he?!” Amanda wondered out loud. “He’s supposed to be here!” Amanda’s voice got louder and angrier as she spoke. Worried and in disbelief, Amanda sat down. Where could he have gone? He wouldn’t just leave her by herself. Right? RIGHT? Amanda’s voice echoed through the cave.

What was that noise? Morin thought. It sounded like… like… Amanda? He must hurry up… something might have happened to her! With all his might, Morin ran, and ran, and ran. He ran through the gateway and found Amanda.

“Where have you been? I’ve been waiting for you!” Amanda cried. She had already changed back from a spider.

“Uhhh.. well,…” Morin told Amanda the truth, about the ice cream and all, and then Amanda told him about her journeys. They wanted to sit down and relax, but they had to get going. They could see light, and they hurried out toward it. When they got out, it seemed like a whole new world was waiting for them.

Finally, in view, they saw Juni’s Castle. The whole trip was to the castle, and they had finally made it. They blew a sigh of relief. It was the time to show Juni, and all the other creatures in the land, what they had got!

The steps were steel. As Amanda and Morin were climbing up the stairs, the door swung open. And there, standing before them, was the one and only Juni.

“You foolish kids still think that you can beat me?” laughed Juni mercilessly.

“With all my heart, I will show you what I was taught since a child, since school, since my life!”

“Let’s make this battle traditional,” said Juni. “Follow me.”

Amanda made her way after Juni. As they came into his castle, he locked the door. “Just in case somebody gives up.” Every second, Amanda and Morin were getting more nervous. It was about time to make history! Amanda kept repeating in her head.

Juni led them into a room. There was nothing inside it. More space for us to fight, thought Amanda. Finally, the battle started.

Juni turned into a dragon. That was stupid, thought Amanda. Dragons are the most powerful creatures on earth, so they took up of the most power. The more powerful creature you transformed into, the more power you lost. Right away, Juni’s power went down by half. But Juni wasn’t worried. After all, who could beat him now? I might not be able to turn into a dragon, but try finding me now! Amanda turned into an ant.

“Aaargh!” roared Juni in anger. “Where are you?” Fire came out of his mouth. He shot it at a spot on the floor. Amanda was on the complete opposite side of the room. She turned into a dinosaur, with spikes. That was her turn. Now he could see her. Again, he roared fire out of his mouth. Amanda’s power went down, for the fire hurt her. She had only had half left, but Juni had only a quarter of his powers left. Amanda hated his strategy- it wasn’t always the best to be the strongest. You had to be smart too. And of course, it’s important to have a strategy.

Amanda hit Juni with her spikes. Blood gushed out of Juni’s dragon tail. He was losing too much blood, thought Amanda. By the look on Juni’s face, Juni knew that too. But he had one last chance. With all his strength, he blew and blew at Amanda. He was too strong. Amanda dropped to the floor. One more tiny strike, and she’d lose her Angelico powers forever.

“I give up!” she begged. But Juni was too set on making her a human forever. “This is my last stri…” he couldn’t finish his sentence. Morin’s tail hit Juni. And Juni was the one who had to be human.

“Morin? Is that you?” asked Amanda in a weak voice.

“I have one ability. I can turn into a dolphin,” stated Morin as if he had known this for his whole life.

“How did you find out?” asked Amanda.

“Well, since I could listen to dolphins, and understand them, I thought maybe I had another connection to dolphins.”

“You’re amazing.” said Amanda, thinking that she was lucky to have such a friend.

“Wait!” said Morin. There was one last thing he had to do.

Morin had never tried bubbling before. Of course, that was because he never knew he was an Angelico. He leaned over to Amanda, and they bubbled. At first, Morin’s cheeks became red because when you let your powers out, you can’t breathe. A bit later, his cheeks wasn’t as red- he had gotten used to it.

Suddenly, Amanda pushed Morin back. “You’re losing too much power. If you continue to bubble, I’ll be fully healed, but you’ll lose all your powers. Didn’t you know that?” asked Amanda.

“Well, I-I, don’t want to be an Angelico. I liked knowing I was normal. Now it’s different.”

“Oh.” Amanda’s heart felt as if it had sank down into her stomach. Morin could tell he had hurt her feelings.

“I need time alone.” she muttered. Amanda turned around, and walked away from Morin.

“I’m sorry!” called Morin.

“Yeah.” Amanda walked off, leaving Morin wondering.

Was she mad? Upset? Both? He thought. Would she leave me? This time for real?

Morin sat down on the ground. What was happening to me? Morin thought.

Tons of feelings swept over Amanda. But most of all, she was feeling sad. Once she knew Morin was an Angelico, she had imagined tons of times playing with him, changing forms and shapes. It was going to be so much fun! Amanda decided that it was time to return to Morin. After all, she could still be friends with him. Couldn’t she?

Amanda sat down with Morin. Neither of them were looking at the other- they were too embarrassed. It reminded them both of the first day they had met each other. Morin was new, and Amanda showed him around the school. They were too shy to look at each other back then, too.

Morin was, of course, the first one to speak. “Ummm… I think we should be getting back now…”

Amanda looked at him, and then said, “Getting back where? We came this far all for nothing?”

“You defeated Juni, not for nothing. You saved millions of creatures like other Angelicos, and wild beasts, that would’ve been bullied around if you hadn’t defeated Juni! I just think that my mom would be worried by now…”

“Your mom? Is that all you care about? How about me? What if I want to do something to?”

“Fine. What do you want to do?”

Amanda started running towards Juni’s castle.

“Where are you going?” asked Morin.

“You said fine. Don’t question me. Just follow me.” Morin wanted very badly to go home, but he couldn’t leave Amanda all by herself. Well he could, but… he already promised…

“Don’t run so fast!” called Morin. Amanda was way ahead of him.

“I can if I want to!” she called back.

“Ugh!” Morin was getting annoyed by Amanda’s stubborn attitude. “I already said I’m sorry! Can you just forgive me? Please?” Amanda ran on ahead without answering, and Morin still followed her.

They ran silently the rest of the way. Morin didn’t talk to Amanda once. Finally they were there. Amanda went inside the castle, observing all the jewelry, gold, rubies, and many more fascinating gems. Morin could see in her eyes that she really wanted to take a jewel. ‘Not just one, tiny Jewel?’ her eyes begged. ‘No.’ One tiny jewel, no matter how tiny, was still stealing. Amanda walked away, turning around to look at the jewels every few steps. She tried to clear her mind of them, but she couldn’t leave them there, with nobody to wear them… No. She wouldn’t take them. She would move on, to the throne room.

“Oh, my, gosh.” Morin stared, dazed. Amanda sighed in envy at the sight before her. A throne was presented right before their eyes. It was completely gold and silver. Rubies were attached onto it. Amanda and Morin had never, ever seen anything like that throne in their entire lives.

Amanda sat down on the throne. She rested her hands, and then leaned her head against the soft plush of the throne. As Amanda’s head felt the softness of the chair, she instantly fell asleep.




***

“Morin, where are you?” Amanda was dreaming. As Amanda walked through each and every door throughout the castle, Morin was nowhere to be found. “MORI…” Morin shook Amanda awake.

“I’m here, don’t worry!”

“Oh Morin. I didn’t realize how much I needed you with me everywhere I went. I’m so sorry about how I acted yesterday. Can you please forgive me? I know yesterday I didn’t forgive you, but I really am sorry. I was overreacting yesterday. We’ll still be friends even if you won’t be an Angelico. It’s fine. Just forgive me.”

Morin bent over, and gently kissed Amanda on the cheek. “I forgive you.”

Amanda and Morin were flying back home. And by flying, I mean soaring. Morin was holding on to Amanda’s feathers. Amanda had turned into a ostrich. Her powers made it so that she could fly. First a ride on a whale, now an ostrich? What’s going to happen next? Morin thought.

As they flew, two sleek swans flew over to them. “Those are Angelicos.” Amanda whispered to Morin, as if not to attract attention. “They are perfectly harmless.” The “swans” came closer and closer to Amanda and Morin, and then started talking. “Please, Amanda, Morin, please return to be our rulers. Without a ruler of the ‘World of Beyond,’ there will be havoc!

Morin and Amanda had a great decision to make.




***

“Mom, where are you?” Morin was back inside his house. Amanda took him home. It was such a cool day! thought Morin. Now, hopefully, he and Amanda would be rulers of the “other” world. Finally, Morin’s mom came out of the bathroom. Waiting for her was Morin’s teacher, Mr. Swindol.

“Oh no! Has Morin done something bad?” Morin’s mom asked Mr. Swindol.

“On the contrary. He is the best student in our class. Can he please stay after school on Mondays? For a special enrichment class?”

“Oh yes! I always knew you were such a great student, Morin. See?”

Morin’s mom was falling for the plan. Mr.Swindol nodded his head. “Well then, I will see you on Monday.” Morin smiled.


It was Monday. Amanda made Morin sit on her back, and they flew to the World of Beyond to rule. Morin had the whole day off. “Amanda, you did a great job of acting out as Mr.Swindol! I wish I could transform like you!” Morin said happily. “And someday you will.” Amanda replied. And every soon-to-be Mondays would be the most exhilarating days Amanda and Morin had ever experienced.