School can be a deathtrap

Shamus McFarllen

     We ran into the woods still being followed by Coach Clops the cyclops. Then I looked back to see that he wasn't chasing us anymore.

     "Stop, he's gone." I said panting. She stopped and looked back.

     "What the hell!" she screamed. Then exhaled and began mumbling to herself.

     "Calm down Penelope it's a...it's a...birth defect a baby born with one eye that's logical." she said.

     I grabbed her shoulders and said," Penelope he is a cyclops it's even in his name Coach Clops."

     "No,because cyclops don't exist!" she yelled. Then we heard a voice behind us.

     "Hello kiddies."it said. We turned to see Coach Clops glaring at us. Penelope screamed and I had to drag her deeper into the woods. Coach pulled his whistle to his lips and blew. It was awful the sound was extremely shrill and high pitched and rang in my ears. Penelope clasped her hands over her ears. She the took one away and thrusted it towards Coach. The whistle exploded and Coach Clops was thrown back a few feet. We continued running again. Coach Clops quickly caught up with us. He raised his club and charged. I kneeled and he came running straight for me. He swung his club down right as I raised my hand up. There was a bright light and in my hand I held a brand new, shiny, silver katana. His club smacked down on it, but I held firm. I pushed him back and got into a fighting stance. Coach swung his club at me, which I easily dodged. I raised my sword and sliced downwards. A bolt of curved lightning shot straight for Coach. It hit him and sent him hurling into a tree. He grunted cursed to himself and limped away.

     "Well done." we heard a scruffy voice say. I turned around to see a man who looked like a lumberjack.

     "Who exactly are you?" Penelope asked.

     "Well little miss I am Shamus McFarllen." he said sticking his hand out.

     "Pleased to meet you." she said taking his hand. I just simply waved.

     "So tell me this right now what strange things have you seen today?" Shamus asked.

      I answered," A talking frog, a mermaid, and a cyclops." He thought to himself for a minute pacing back and forth.

     Then he turned towards us and asked," Do you want answers?" I nodded for the both of us.

     "Then follow me." he said. We both followed and that's when I realized that the katana had disapeared. I sighed and continued walking. When Shamus stopped I saw a little cottage. It was at least 3 stories tall, made completely from white bricks, had a nice little porch, but the most amazing part is what was in front. It was a giant bird easily the size of 2 of me. Its feathers were a burgandy, its eyes an amber yellow, its wings were speckled with dust, and it looked very aged. When the bird saw us it shrieked and held out a talon.

     "There there Tammy these are friends." Shamus said calmy the beast down.

     "Tammy?" I inquired.

     "Tammy is my pet phoenix." he said seriously.

     Then he added," Look's like it's time."

     "Time for what?" Penelope asked.

     "Just watch." Shamus said with a smile. As he said this he untied the rope holding Tammy to the porch. The bird spread her wings and took off. The wierd thing is she was heading straight for a tree. When she colided with it she exploded and the tree burst into flames.

     "Holy crap!" I yelled as Penelope stared wide eyed. Shamus began to laugh when the flames burnt out.

     "What are you laughing at!" Penelope screamed. This only made Shamus laugh harder.

     "He then pointed to a pile of ashes and said,"Look." From the ashes came out a little baby chick. It had the same yellow eyes and burgandy feathers as Tammy, but it was so young.

     "What happened to Tammy?" I asked.

     Shamus picked up the chick and said,"This is Tammy."

     "But Tammy was so old." Penelope said.

     "Phoenixs never die they are simply reborn." Shamus replied. He then gestured for us to go inside. We did so and Shamus immediately started a fire in the fireplace. Once it was going he placed baby Tammy in it.

     "What the hell man!" I yelled. He chuckled when I tried to pull Tammy out of the fire.

     "Baby Phoenixs need heat to live." he stated. I looked at Tammy and she began to sleep in the fire.

     "Now who's ready for the answers I was talking about?" Shamus asked. I raised my hand like a small school kid. Penelope sighed and slowly raised hers.

     "Alright then, Shamus started, you know the schools legend right?, we both nodded, Good makes it shorter. This place is a refuge for mythical creatures, where they can live in safety. However they need people to take care of them. These caretakers must learn how to not only take care of every creature, but also how to fight them. For even cute creatures like unicorns,pixies, and elves are evil on the inside. It's just their nature to be evil against humans, because of what happened so long ago. Caretakers were very hard to find so eventually we opened up the school. Now caretakers are easy to find. Caretakers are able to see throught the spell of the old yew tree. Like you two. However just, because caretakers help keep this place alive dosn't mean that even teachers and faculty won't try to kill them. So caretakers often die."

     "Then why isn't Tammy evil?" Penelope asked.

     "Excellent question Penelope. Tammy isn't evil, because she is an original. Originals are the first of their kind that  know how to be kind towards humans. Some other examples of these animals are animals in legends. Like the four horses of apocolypse, Medusa, and Pegasus. Since they are immortal they never die and therfore knew humans when they were kind." Shamus finished.

     "Oh." I whispered.

     "What does any of this have to do with us?" Penelope asked.

     "It has everything to do with you. because I want you two to be the next caretakers." Shamus finished with a smile.