Chapter Five
Journee made it to her seat just as the last bell rang, she was more than ready to get today started. “Good morning class, I hope everyone was able to get their homework done” Ms. Monroe addressed the class. Taking her homework out, Journee passed her two pages up to the front of the class. Journee knew she had done a great job staying in the lines of the two pictures that Ms. Monroe gave them to color. “Very well, I shall look these over and grade them while everyone takes a nap but for now does anyone remember how to count to 20?” Journee’s hand shot up before anyone else in the class could get a hand up because she was now able to count all the way to 30. “Very well Journee let’s hear it.” Standing next to her brand new desk, Journee started slow so she would not mess up, but by the time she reached 17 she was on a role. Ms. Monroe had to stop her once she had reached 23. “Ms. Monroe was laughing when she said “Okay Journee, that’s good enough.”
Happy she was able to make it to 20 without messing up Journee had a big smile on her face when she sat down. Even though she was a little sad she wasn’t able to show off everything she had learned. “Okay class can anyone tell me the whole ABC’s?” Ms. Monroe asked. Journee had spent all her free time learning to count to 30 so she was not yet ready to say all her ABC’s so she listened to the red haired boy Jimmy who sat in front of her as he sang out the whole list of ABC’s.
Journee’s little mind was starting to run out of space to store all her new information so when nap time finally came around she was more than ready to lay down. As soon as Journee felt her feet touch the ground she knew something was wrong. This is the first time Journee didn’t have to cover her eyes because for some strange reason her once colorful dreams were now dark with only moon light to see. All Journee could see was lights in the sky, which turned out to be lamps in the tree homes. The river’s smashing waves sounded louder and the sound of happy birds chirping were replaced with strange noises coming from the forest. “Journee” Aniya yelled as she ran up the dirt path holding a flashlight with Charlie by her side. “Hey Aniya” Journee said unsure if she should be worried or not. “We have to get you to the tree house, it’s not safe right now” Aniya said as she took Journee’s hand and rushed her down the hill.
Journee waited till they were both safe inside Aniya’s home before turning to her with a worried look. “What’s going on?” Journee asked. Feeling better now that Journee was safe Aniya told Journee how their land would see bad times for the next week because an eclipse which only took place every few months had touched their land once again. So for the next week there would only be darkness which brings out dark creatures. “ I have to ask you to take your earrings off for a week so you will be safe” Journee heard Aniya’s words, but she didn’t want to take her earrings off or leave behind her friends, but before she could express her feelings Daesin came running into the room.
“Aniya, we have to get to the half giant’s cave, the eclipse has turned the real giants mad and they are on their way down the mountain headed right for the half giant’s caves.” “Okay Journee you’re going to have to stay here where it’s safe” Aniya said turning to Journee. Journee was ready to go stop the giants when she heard Aniya’s words. “Aniya, I know you want to keep me safe, but I have to go with you because we always have to help our friends.” Journee looked to Daesin for help and wasn’t let down when he said “We have to get going so just let her come with us.” “Well if you’re sure Journee” Aniya said before leading the way. Journee could hear so many different sounds coming from the forest as Daesin spoke with the magical trees. As they made their way into the forest Journee could see glowing eyes staring at them through bushes and from above the tree branches as they ran through the forest. Journee was ok with the eyes staring, but the high pitched screams coming from deep into the forest made her stick close to Aniya and Daesin.
They soon found themselves within ear shot of the giant’s loud roars. “We have to speed up, they are almost at the bottom near the half giant’s caves” Daesin yelled over his shoulder as he picked up his pace. Once they reached the caves Journee was breathless with wide eyes as she took in the 12 foot giants making their way down the rest of the mountain. “How do we stop them?” Journee asked pointing at the peach colored giants with ripped clothes hanging off their massive bodies. “Well we need to get the half giants out of the caves and away from here” Daesin said as he ran into the caves leaving Journee and Aniya outside as they started moving behind boulders. “Okay Journee, once he comes back we have to hide the half giant’s behind these boulders then make our way to the apple field.” As soon as Aniya finished her sentence Daesin came around the huge rocks. “Let’s go guys” Daesin yelled as he kept running as the half giant’s followed behind him. Peeking over the rocks Journee saw that the giants were right behind them.
“Oh gosh” Journee yelled as she jumped down and ran as fast as she could go. “They are getting closer” Aniya yelled to Daesin as they entered an opening in the trees, which made the moon’s light touch everything bringing much more light for them to see. Now able to see better Daesin led everyone up a path which took them up hills and around huge rocks. To his surprise the mad giants were still right behind them. “Come in here” he yelled as he ran into a dark cave. Journee tried to catch her breath as she listened for the giants. “What’s going on out there?” Daesin asked Aniya as she looked outside for a few seconds at a time. “They are just standing around sniffing the air” Aniya reported as she pulled her head back inside the cave. “Let’s go out this way” Daesin whispered as he made his way out a back opening in the dark cave. Just as they all cleared the cave they ran right into three teen giants standing around sniffing the air which gave up their location. “Run” Aniya yelled as the giants spotted them forcing everyone to run. “Into the apples” Daesin yelled. Journee’s eyes followed the giants as she ran into the apple trees, which seemed to slow the giants down which gave them a good lead as they ran out of the apple field into an open field. Daesin stopped running when he saw the Centaur’s run past them towards the giants.
“Hold on” Daesin yelled to everyone just as the centaur’s reached the angry giants. “Why are the giants so mad?” Journee asked as she watched the family of centaur’s running circles around the three giants making them dizzy as they turned in circles following the Centaur’s. “Every time we have an eclipse something inside them turns bad and they get mad and pick on the smaller giants who aren’t affected by the eclipse which is not very nice? Aniya told Journee who was no longer worried because she was laughing at how silly the giants looked falling over each other unable to get their footing. Just as the giants clumsily made their way back up the mountain Journee’s body jerked letting her know she was about to wake up. “Bye everyone” she yelled as she went from seeing the Centaur’s reach her side to her colorful classroom where all her classmates stood folding their mats.