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Lori and Kolulu
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On Christmas Eve at nine in the morning ...

"Bye, Kolulu! I've got to go to school today!" Lori said with her backpack lighter than usual. 'I hope she doesn't suspect anything unusual, because if she does, my surprise for her will be ruined!' she thought.

Kolulu came out of the kitchen and asked, "Why are you going to school today? On Christmas Eve? It says right here on your school calendar that there's no school today. And why does your backpack look so light? You usually go to school with a backpack so heavy not even an ox could carry it. 'Or so you say' ... And why are you going to school at nine in the morning? Normally you're out of here at six."

Lori didn't know what to say, so she just said the first thing that came to mind, "Well, um, the school, they told us yesterday that ... in order to make up for the days lost due to helping the Louisiana people recover from hurricane Katrina, we will have school today, starting at nine thirty."

"Well." Kolulu didn't know whether to accept it as the truth, or consider it a lie. "The Louisiana people DID need a lot of help, and some of them still do ... "

'Yes, yes, yes. Keep going, you're doing great.' Lori told herself. "Yep. That's exactly it. Since our school went over to Louisiana for a 'field trip' and lost school days, we are making them up today. OH, look at the time. I don't want to be late. Bye!" She shut the door quickly behind her.

Kolulu was still confused because Lori was acting so different. 'I wonder if something's wrong? I better go get her a gift at Dollar Tree today. After all, tomorrow's Christmas!'

So Kolulu took a bag that contained five dollars with her and set off to Dollar Tree, where everything is just one dollar.

Meanwhile ...

"Mya ha ha ha ha! I can't believe that Kolulu actually bought that lie! Even I don't believe it, and I'm the one who told it!" Lori was talking to herself while walking to Dollar Tree, where everything is just one dollar, as you already know. "She probably thinks that I'm in school right now. Ha ha ha! Maybe she thinks that I forgot that tomorrow's Christmas, and that I wasn't going to get her a present. Well, that's what makes it a surprise, right?"

Lori walked further until she got to Dollar Tree. 'Finally, I'm here. Now, what does Kolulu like? Pepper? No, I like pepper. Coloring books? Maybe. I'll just get her a few coloring books and a ... box ... of ... colored ... pencils? Huh? Is it just me, or does that girl look an awful lot like Kolulu? ... Eeek! It IS Kolulu! What is SHE doing here? I thought I told her to stay inside. No, wait, that was yesterday. Still, why in the wild world is she here at Dollar Tree? Oh, no! She's coming this way! What do I do? What do I do? What do I do? She thinks I'm in school!' She looked at the coloring book in her hand and covered her face with it. 'Ha ha ha. She'll never know who I am. I'm a genius! Okay, Lori, act natural.'

Kolulu walked right past her without even noticing who it was.

'Phew! That was a close one! Now, back to my shopping.' Lori thought to herself. She picked out two coloring books, a box of colored pencils, a snow scooper, a butterfly net, a small colored pencil case, and some wrapping paper.

When Lori saw that Kolulu was out of Dollar Tree, she went to make the checkout line. Then she saw a battery and remembered the science experiment she had done at her school, so she went ahead and bought the packet of batteries and some aluminum foil and started walking home.

After an hour of walking, Lori said to herself, "Hey, where did my house go? I'm sure it was around that corner. Where could it have gone? Well, anyways, before I get even more lost, I'll just go back or get a map at the train station over there ... Train station? I don't remember ther being a train station where I live. Great, I am now one hundred percent lost."

She was looking around the area when she found a fortune teller's tent. She said to herself, "Maybe the fortune teller in that tent over there will tell me if I'll ever get home, since I'm so lost," and went inside the tent.

Inside of the tent, there were purple, red, and white drapes made of silk almost everywhere and a medium-sized desk in the middle of the room with cards and a crystal ball on top of it. In front of that desk was a wooden chair painted in purple, red and white swirls. Behind the desk was a comfy computer chair, and there were a few holes in the ceiling as if someone had thrown a fire ball into the air and accidentally burnt the ceiling, but that was it. The tent looked much bigger on the outside than it did on the inside, and the only light came from the holes in the ceiling.

Lori was starting to have second thoughts about whether she shoul've come into this mysterious tent or not.

She looked around and saw nobody there, so she started to leave, but as she was leaving she heard something that sounded like exploding fireworks inside the tent, so she instinctively turned around.

Surpirsed and scared at the same time, Lori thought, 'So those things were fireworks, but how can you get fireworks into a tent and not burn it completely to the ground?'

After the smoke had cleared up a bit, Lori could see that there were two people there, one sitting in the chair and the other standing up beside him.

When the smoke had completely went away, the 'person' sitting in the chair said to Lori, "Hello, Lori. I was expecting you. Please, sit down and put your bags down. You may not know who I am, but I certainly know who you are."

Lori was frightened by this person's appearance, and the fact that he knew her name made her even more scared, but she obeyed and sat in the wooden chair and put her bags down. Then, out of pure curiosity, asked, "How did you know my name? Who are you? What are you?"

The fortune teller ignored her first question and said, "My name is Zofis and this is my assisstant, Koko. She reads all the magic spells from the magic book. I am a fortune teller."

Lori was relieved to hear this, and said, "Really? Wow, that's a relief ... Oh, yeah! I had forgotten I entered a fortune teller's tent, and then when I saw you, I thought you were going to, um ... I don't know. I just thought you had bad intentions."

Zofis laughed to himself. 'Wow, this girl is so dumb. I knew her name because it says it right there on her school uniform. Ha ha ha. Of course I have bad intentions! ... I sense this girl has a mamodo, but I don't think she knows it. If she did know she would have her mamodo and spell book with her at all times. Well, it really doesn't matter if I get to burn her mamodo's book or not today. We'll get to fight each other another day ... if they survive, that is. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.'

He told Lori, "Oh, no, dear, I don't have bad intentions. I'm just here to read you your fortune, if you want. Or to answer any questions about your future, if you have any.

Lori wasn't so sure about this, but she really wanted to get home to Kolulu before she starts to get suspicious and worried. "Well, actually, I wanted to know if I'm ever going to make it home again."

"That's it?"

Lori nodded.

"... A simple question. Alright." Zofis put his hand in the air. "Say the magic word, Koko."

Koko opened the spell book and said, "Radom!"

A big fire ball shot out from Zofis' hand and made a hole in the ceiling. Shortly after that his body started glowing a shadowy purple. Lori was really scared and amazed at the awesome sight. 'At least now I know how those holes in the ceiling were made.'

When the act was over, Zofis said, "The stars tell me, 'Pick a path and follow it to the end. That will lead you home.' I know it doesn't make much sence, but you have to find out what it means by yourself. It could mean nothing ... But, it could also mean everything."

Lori was amazed at Zofis' magic act. "How did you do that?"

"Ha, ha. A magician never tells anyone how he did his tricks."

"Uh, but I thought you were a fortune teller."

"Fortune teller, magician, same thing. Hey, isn't it time for you to get back home?"

Lori had forgotten all about home, and said, "Huh? Home? What home? ... Oh! Yes! I have to get back home before Kolulu gets worried or suspicious! Thanks for reminding me!" Then she left the tent.

After she had left, Zofis told Koko, "Ah, her mamodo is Kolulu. She is a foolish mamodo. She does not want to fight the battle to be king of the mamodo world."

"Why?" Koko asked her own mamodo.

"I don't know. I just can't figure out why someone wouldn't want that much power. All mamodo that come to earth must want to be king."

"Then why did she come to fight if she doesn't want to?"

"Because she was given another personality that loves to fight. That power-hungry side of her comes out only when a spell is read. Still, her chances she will get far enough to battle me are very slim. And even if she does get that far, she will never beat me."

"Yes, Zofis. I know that you will be king."

TO BE CONTINUED ...


I'm really sorry for not updating the story in such a long time. I was grounded so I wasn't allowed to even look at the computer until now. I get grounded from 1 to 5 months a lot, so don't expect a chapter every week, ok? I'm still very sorry for making everyone wait this long. Oh, yeah. Some of you were saying that Lori and Kolulu's grade level and ages are wrong. I know. I just changed that part to make the story a little bit more ... interesting. Ha, ha. I made Zofis a fortune teller. But he kind of looks like one, doesn't he? If you want to review, you can, but you don't have to, just if you want to.