Reach for the Stars

By Karen Hughes

Take a journey out of this world with this magical collection of stories written by our talented kids-with a little help from author Karen Hughes. From terrifying squid monsters to fire-breathing dragons, wisecracking detectives to astronauts lost on strange and lonely&nbs

• Language: English
• Publisher: Hunter Valley Writers
• Release date: May 31, 2023
• ISBN: 9780645459388

Book preview

Reach for the Stars

REACH FOR THE STARS

A COLLECTION OF STORIES BY OUR TALENTED KIDS

Compiled by

KAREN HUGHES

Hunter Valley Writers

CONTENTS

Braver Than I Thought

Keira Gurney

We Will Run

Sienna Hardy

A Thousand Year Legend

Maisie Cotterill

The Planet of Witches

Ananta Sharma

Wind

Amelia Michell

I Accidentally Joined a Duck Worshipping Cult

Edru Smit

1023

Evie Burns

They Were Four

Marley Krishnan

Let’s Play Follow the Leader

A. R. Lewer

The Mystery the Forest

Alana Naicker

The Dragon

Keira Gurney

A Journey Through Space

Luke Nguyen

A Magical Disappearance

Willow Gore

A Trip to Space

Anushka Iyengar

An Adventure to the Dragon Caves

Twiny Tsang

Alex the Fish

Liam Winterton

Lock and Key

Jacelyn Tsang

The White Star of the Mountain

Georgia Shaw

Fantasy School

James Michell

Outback Days

Sienna Hardy

Orphaned

Keisha Petersen

The Curse of the Wolf

Daisy Blenkin

The Dragons of Destiny

Grace Irvine

Diary of a Detective

Pravin Paramarajah

The Conspiracy at Peony Palace

Anushka Iyengar

The Enchanted Woods

Aina Storm

The Being

Mali Fergus

The Arena

Archer Gibbs

Henry Sanks

Otis Fell Agnew

The Squidkeymaid Attack

Twiny Tsang

The Men from the Alley

Archie Winterton

The Missing Crystal

Annabel Nagy

Under the Willow

April Hines

Inner Demons

Marley Krishnan

Lost with a Dog

Lucinda Oost

Alien Invasion

Willow Gore

The Magical Orbs

Pravin Paramarajah

The Lost Forest of Mythology

Marc Kwan

The Whispering Necklace

A. R. Lewer

The Fatal Effects of the Loss of Gravity

Mali Fergus

The Fatal Reverberations of the Repairing of Gravity

Mali Fergus

The Creature

Edru Smit

Who Would’ve Guessed

Keira Gurney

An Adventure with the Glintguins

Twiny Tsang

Christmas Story

Evie Burns

Deasel and the Emerald

Roc Storm

Spirits

Keira Gurney

Have You Ever Seen a Dog Like Sparky?

Anushka Iyengar

Poems

Sienna Hardy

Tales of Hercules

Pravin Paramarajah

Giraffe

Alana Naicker

The Kid and the Kangaroo

Keira Gurney

The Goblin-Monkey

Anushka Iyengar

Talented Kids Program

Adventure Unlocked

Kalika Magic

Books to Read

Copyright © Hunter Valley Writers 2023

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed Attention: Permissions Coordinator, at the email address below.

[e-mail]

Hunter Valley Writers

Australia

https://huntervalleywriters.com

Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.

Ordering Information: Special discounts are available on quantity purchases by corporations, associations, and others. For details, contact the publisher at the address above.

Hunter Valley Writers — First Edition

Compiled by Karen Hughes

ISBN  978-0-6454593-8-8

The main rule of writing is that if you do it with enough assurance and confidence, you’re allowed to do whatever you like.

—Neil Gaiman

BRAVER THAN I THOUGHT

KEIRA GURNEY

Ihadn’t heard that noise before, it was fast …

No, whirring.

Repetitive.

No, hammering.

It was like a spinning fan but louder and more aggressive. I bent down under the table to see what it was, the seatbelt straining against my hips. There was a hole in the floor, and the noise from the wheels below was travelling upwards and into the campervan.

Prim? I heard my name and drew my head back, banging the back of my skull on the table.

Yeah?

So, what do you want to eat?

Err. The last thing I wanted to do was eat. This campervan was feeling smaller and smaller, and now that my head hurt from the table, I longed to just rest. I’m good. Do you know that there’s a hole in the floor?

Oh yeah! Sorry! It’s been there for a couple years now. This baby’s getting old, Noah shouted from the front seat, one hand on the steering wheel, one hand on a bottle of beer.

Oi! Hailey jumped up and swatted the beer out of her brother’s grasp. No drinking while driving. How many have you had?

Noah chewed his lip and grinned guilty, his gaze still resting on the dark road. Six?

Dammit, Noah, Ollie said, though no one heard other than me because I was directly in front of him.

We can swap when we get off the highway. Noah grinned again.

"We are swapping once we get off the highway! Hailey retorted, slumping into the other front seat and keeping a worried eye on every security camera we passed. And for everyone’s sake, Noah, hide those beer bottles somewhere else."

Then they stopped talking, which was bad for me because I was able to, once again, be alone with my thoughts. With sweat dripping off my red hair, I ground my teeth.

When will we get there? What time is it? Are we off the highway yet so that Hailey can swap with Noah?

I ran my acrylic nails up and down my jeans, sidling them higher up on my hips until I found my pockets.

Calm down, it’s fine. Ollie rested his elbows on the table between us and smiled innocently.

Why does he look so sweet all the time?

I sighed and looked down at my feet, which were now underneath Ollie’s Air-Jordans. He patted my shoes with the soul of his and took out a box of cards from a bag on the table.

I shook my head. I don’t want to be distracted if it happens—

It won’t happen. Ollie started drawing out the cards and Noah looked at us through the review mirror.

I’ll join! Save a pile for me!

Concentrate, Noah, Hailey hissed running her palm up through Noah’s hair so that his heavy blond locks didn’t fall over his eyes.

Are we nearly off the highway? I looked down at my cards, a sad pile with nothing good. Nodding, I motioned for Ollie to go first. Shoot, pick up five already.

Reaching for the pickup pile, Hailey sighed It seems it’s going to be another five minutes. Stay sober, Noah.

We all knew Noah was very past sober. He grinned goofily at himself in the window’s reflection, his grip slowly becoming looser round the wheel.

Pick up two! I exclaimed.

Ollie reached for the pile, his hand cupping round two cards, but then his weight was on my shoulders. A force was against me, a heavy one. Ollie was scrambling up, trying to get back into his seat but he fell and slid beside me, one sturdy hand gripping my leg.

I shrieked. All at once my life was flashing before me.

It was happening again. I was going to die.

The cards in my hands flew out and I felt one brush by my cheek and leave a papercut on it.

Hailey’s shriek was, surprisingly, louder than mine. She was bent down in a braced position, using the map as a helmet, while Noah turned in confusion to hide under the wheel.

There was another jolt, and an angry honk, and then I felt the force re-position itself. Suddenly, everything was falling upside down. I wanted it to be a dream, a nightmare, like so many I’d had, but this felt too real. Hailey’s shriek, Ollie’s weight on my leg, the honks from outside ringing in my ear drums. Even my sweat seemed real, as it seeped into my open mouth, tears already flooding from my eyes.

Something fell from the shelf above me but landed on Ollie’s head instead.

I’m alright! he said quickly, swatting the book away from his black hair and holding my thigh tighter.

Finally, as though time itself had stopped, I felt the force freeze. The campervan stopped moving and things stopped falling. Hailey stopped shrieking, which was really now a mangled sob, as she choked on her tears.

I don’t know why, but I expected to hear sirens, like last time. Except last time I felt pain when the force stopped. I’d seen Dad in pain too, his hands sliced with glass and his arm pushed behind him in a weird position. Last time didn’t seem as real as this though; last time it felt more like a dream—a time where everything had slowed down, until it had stopped, and I was left without a dad.

I held Ollie against me and breathed in sharply. How could I ever step foot in a vehicle again? After this? I’d needed so much therapy to get me through the last one when I was nine. Now, ten years later, it’d happened again.

We’re okay, Noah slurred. Damn Noah.

Are we? Hailey croaked.

I didn’t want to move, I didn’t want to open my eyes, but I wanted to see what the damage was, if anyone was hurt.

Scrambling up, with the help of Ollie, I looked out the window. A large crack sliced it in half and outside it was too dark to see.

Are the police coming? An ambulance? I asked, turning to Ollie for answers. His face looked different; his usually blurry hazel eyes were sharper, the brown and green more distinctive. His jaw hung open and his eyebrows were furrowed into each other.

I can’t hear anything. What should we do? Hailey pushed Noah off her and sidled into the back area.

We sat there in silence. Our campsite shouldn’t be too far away, should it?

Should we, ditch? The words tumbled out of my mouth like falling hailstones.

Aghast, Ollie, Hailey and Noah turned to me. Ditch?

Yeah, take the tent in the boot and walk to the campsite, and leave this here. Let’s be honest, this old van isn’t going to last much longer anyway, and if the police find out Noah was driving, we’ll be in trouble. Something about the way I said it made me feel brave. Sure, this was wrong, but it wouldn’t hurt anyone. No one had been hurt. Another flash of Dad, unconscious in the hospital bed, split across my mind. I closed my eyes and groaned.

Ollie rubbed my back. I think Prim’s onto something.

Hailey looked at us and contemplated on it, before slowing nodding. Wait, what? Hailey Maroon was agreeing with a decision I made? I was … leading?

No, that couldn’t have been it, but it seemed so. I wasn’t a complete mess. I wasn’t in horror. I was breathing. I was breathing after all this …

Was I brave? Most people don’t treat that word like the trophy it should be. All my life, people had been telling me: Oh, you poor soul, you must have been traumatised. You were so scared.

Never had I noticed those things were in past tense. I’d always thought of myself as the jumpy type, the wuss, warning my friends before they invited me to amusement parks and … well … camping trips.

But I wasn’t crumpling—because I was brave. Maybe I did cry, a lot, when Dad died. But I got through it. Just like I was going to get through this.

Like Dad would have wanted.

I stood up, my legs wobbly, using the shelf to grip onto. Come on, we’re ditching this. Hailey, grab the tents. Ollie, get any other supplies we need. I’ll help Noah out of the front.

Ollie’s face lit up with a proud smile and I melted into the floor. That’s right, Ollie, I’m brave.

I sidled past Hailey and pulled the campervan door open. It seemed Noah had tried to turn off the highway, thinking the stop sign was the turn off sign, and we’d ended up in the woods, deeper than I’d hoped. I stepped onto the grass. It was moist from the heavy rain this morning, which also resulted in the humid air.

Alright, I breathed, pulling down the long sleeves on my crop-top and twisting my red hair into a ponytail. Stumbling round the campervan, I opened the driver’s door for Noah, letting his hands rest on my shoulders as he tripped on out.

Thanks! Woo hoo! Noah was becoming more and more goofy, his consciousness drifting further and further away. Oh, he’ll be in so much trouble tomorrow.

Ollie and Hailey joined us from behind, Hailey holding the tent in one hand, a backpack in the other, and Ollie holding a backpack in each hand and on his back.

Ready. Ollie smiled.

I’ve got signal, let me direct. I dug my hand through my back pocket until I felt the rectangular shape. The screen lit up, blinding us, and I quickly turned down the brightness. Swiping into the map app, the map-lady spoke:

Walk one hundred metres down the Highway. Turn left and walk three hundred metres. Then you will arrive at Hornsby Campsite.

Righto, lead the way, Captain Primrose! Noah giggled, and we trotted into the darkness, my heel leading the path.

Because I was brave. I was brave.

WE WILL RUN

SIENNA HARDY

Trees, frosted over with glistening ice crystals, glitter like fallen stars spun with silver silk as I stalk silently through the winter shrouded forest. My paws sink into the powder-soft snow as I hunt for my breakfast. I try to get away from the snow leopard encampment as much as possible. I am always volunteering my time for hunting parties and material collecting groups that will be away from camp for days at a time.

I like being on my own, away from the camp, my parents, and the commander who issues all the hunting parties and any other groups being sent out. I think my parents are catching on though. They’re starting to get me to attend more battle training sessions and to train more young snow leopard cubs while, unbeknownst to me, my brother, Arctic, is being sent on these missions instead. I hardly see him anymore but, I guess, this is what it was like for him when I was always away. Plus, I am too busy to think about it anyway.

A flicker of white up ahead alerts me that there is another snow leopard about, looking for food as well. I turn my back and ignore whoever it is and continue looking for the glassy lake I discovered yesterday. It’s hard to see the lake when everything refracts and reflects in this expansive forest. The trees seem too thin, and more light filters through as a clearing emerges before me.

I don’t realise that it has begun to snow until I enter the clearing and snowflakes brush my whiskers. I twitch my tail in annoyance. Great. Fresh snowfall means any mice or voles that were out, sniffing around earlier, will be hiding now.

I shake these thoughts away and pad quietly towards the lake, growling softly. Maybe I can catch a fish or two and take them back under the trees to eat, I think hungrily, as I watch the silver shapes writhe under the thin layer of ice covering the large, glittering lake.

I make my choice. I unsheathe my serrated claws and smash my paw down on the ice. Cracks shoot out from where I strike the frozen lake. I strike again, going through to the frigid water beneath this time. I skewer two fish on one claw and yank them out of the water, shaking freezing droplets off my numb paw. The fish flail their silvery tails feebly before I toss them into the air and snap them up with a flick of my snow-dusted tail.

I glance around the clearing as the snow begins to fall thicker and faster. I should get back, before the encampment is buried in snow flurries.

I turn to leave the clearing, just as there’s a snarl from behind me and something slams me to the ground. I growl, lash out with my back legs, and claw blindly at my attacker.

Wait! Frostfell! It’s me!

My attacker jumps off, seeming to recognise me, and I leap back onto all fours, growling softly. This snow leopard is a dustier white than most other snow leopards, who are usually a crisp sharp white like my brother, my parents and me. One ear has a pattern of black dots, and the end of his tail looks like it has been dipped in ink or the blackest of winter night skies.

Oh, hey Iceclaw.

I sit down and study him closely as he swipes away snowflakes that keep settling on his nose. He has a scattering of little black dots across his muzzle that look like freckles and he is one of the kindest snow leopards in the pack.

Leopards are usually solitary creatures, but the number of snow leopards got so low that we all had to form one big tribe, basically. The only snow leopards who are thriving alone are the ones in captivity, and we will never see those ones again.

I came to find you, Iceclaw exclaims.

Now, this is not unusual. Iceclaw often comes to find me, either on my parents’ orders or just to hang out with me. But this time, he has a grim expression and his words are filled with grief. Your mother requires you in her den, immediately.

We race through the forest with fresh snow obstructing our vision. If my mother has summoned me to her den, it’s urgent. I burst into the snow leopard camp with Iceclaw not too far behind and trot into one of the larger shelters where my mother is waiting.

Frostfell. My mother is never one to dawdle and she jumps straight to the point. We have received a devastating report. I’m sorry, Arctic has been captured and taken into captivity.

My heart drops to the floor and shatters into a million splintery shards of ice. I stagger backwards, a gaping whole opening inside my chest.

No, no, he can’t have. I was talking with him this morning!

I race out of my parents’ den, tear past Iceclaw and into the den I share with Arctic. Without my brother’s high energy and joyful spirit, the den seems cold and desolate, empty. I curl up in my nest of snow and twigs, next to Arctic’s bare one, and close my eyes—but not before a tear slips down my muzzle and splashes on the ground.

Frostfell. The call is distant at first. Hazy, through all the smoke. Frostfell.

Someone is shaking my shoulder now, disturbing my sleep, even though cold winds of grief are still howling through my bones.

Frostfell!

I groan, roll over and open one eye a fraction to see Iceclaw standing over me. I can’t read his expression as I stretch and get up from my sleep.

What? I cock my head at him and he flinches.

That’s odd, I think. Why would he flinch?

Um, your parents wish to see you. Like, now.

I growl low in my throat and stalk out of my den, accidently flicking Iceclaw in the face with my tail.

When I get to my parents’ den, my father is pacing the cave while my mother sits majestically in her nest, her tail twitching slightly every now and then.

Ah, Frostfell. We have some news. I narrow my eyes sceptically as my father continues. As I’m sure you know, your brother was taken into captivity yesterday. We have sent a team of leopards out to the last known location of Arctic and they will expand outwards from there. The important part is this: you are not to leave the camp. You are forbidden to follow the team in any way and we have assigned Iceclaw to keep a close eye on you at all times.

My jaw hits the floor. What?! I shriek loud enough that both my parents flinch really hard and I can hear muffled grumbling outside. You can’t keep me from finding my brother! It should be mandatory that I follow him!

My mother shakes her head as if to say, We knew it would be like this.

Well, I’m not having it! I storm out of their cave without saying another word and nearly run into Iceclaw who is waiting outside.

"Icicles and penguins!" I scream when he makes me jump nearly a metre in the air.

S-sorry! I didn’t mean to startle you. What did your parents say?

I growl and he shivers slightly.

They said I have to stay in camp, I reply gruffly and carve sad faces in the snow.

But you’re not going to, are you?

A wicked smile crosses my face and Iceclaw’s ears flatten to his head. No way, I’m going to find my brother. Whatever it takes.

A THOUSAND YEAR LEGEND

MAISIE COTTERILL

The sun rose over the paddocks turning the rolling fields of Norville yellow. Annora galloped through the golden fields around the peachy lake on her loyal horse, Raven. He was a beautiful stallion with a coat blacker than the blackest midnight and a blindingly white blaze stretching from the first strand of his wispy mane to the tip of his long snout. His powerful legs were striding to the edge of the lake.

Annora staggered off Raven and tumbled into the lake. She jumped up quickly in fear but shook that off quite fast. Frustrated at her own clumsiness, she grudgingly stomped out of the water and wrung the water out of her caramel hair. She untied a bucket from around the horse’s neck and dipped it into the cold water, collecting the clean liquid to bring back to her father.

Annora’s father had been deathly ill since she was six. It had come to him and majorly affected him since her mother died. One of the things that was keeping him alive was the clean waters of Norville Lake, said to be the purest waters in all of Lestaria.

She slung the bucket over her shoulder and climbed on her horse’s saddle. Raven stomped and whinnied as Annora clamped her soggy boots to his belly. He never liked water, especially when it was cold. She looked to the path from the distant castle town to her ranch. There was a person coming on foot. She whipped the reins and Raven galloped at full speed to the ranch.

It wasn’t long after Annora arrived back home that she heard footsteps on the wooden deck. She came out from the paddocks out the back, ready to sell Norville Ranch’s famous milk, but instead found a muscular man a few years older than her. He was around her height with tousled sandy hair and attractive blue eyes. Or rather eye, as his left one had a large bleeding gash stretching from midways up his forehead to his cheek bone. Although he was wearing armour made from steel, it was rather scratched and dented. The man himself was battered and bruised, as though he’d just come back from a battle with a horde of dragons. When he spoke, his voice was hoarse and gravelly, as though he’d just eaten a bunch of rocks.

Help … me … he managed to breathe.

Then he collapsed unconscious on the floor.

Annora paced around the room not knowing what to do. Her first thought was Oh God! I have a dead person in my house! That chain of thought was broken when the man let out a gasping breath. Annora heaved him up onto a spare bed with great difficulty. She removed his armour and chainmail and dressed him in lighter clothes, after dressing the wounds on his face, arms, legs and the rest of his body in a cream made from dragon saliva. After bandaging him up and resetting four broken bones, the only thing she could do was wait.

A few hours later, once Annora had finished milking the cows, the man’s eyelids fluttered open. His left eye looked red and swollen from the closing cut but was otherwise fine. His swollen peach lips barely opened as he mumbled.

W-where am I? he mumbled sleepily. Where’s Sarai?

He blinked and lifted his hand to his head.

My head hurts! he moaned.

Who’s Sarai? asked Annora, staring at his confused face.

Sarai … he said, staring off into the distance.

The man shook his head and his body snapped up as though everything came into focus. Oh no! Sarai! Father! The castle! Oh … if I get my hands on that filthy Zander … his voice was no longer gravelly and hoarse but quite lively.

Who on earth are these people? asked Annora.

He looked at Annora as though he had only just noticed her for the first time.

Who are you? he asked, confused.

Annora, owner of Norville Ranch. And you are?

Avery, Prince Avery the second of Lestaria. Pleased to make your acquaintance. Avery held out his hand to shake.

Annora did not take it. She suddenly did not like the prince. Royals were selfish and overrated and didn’t care for people on a lower rank than them.

And I am not, replied Annora smugly. Now would your royal highness like some tea? she said sarcastically.

Ooh! Yes please! With some extra sugar!

Annora groaned at the prince’s obliviousness. She would never get along with that idiot.

So, Prince Avery, is it? she said, cutting him off when he went to answer. Why did you show up almost dead on my doorstep?

Oh. That story. Well, long story short, the royal sorcerer, Zander, wanted more power so he killed my father or, as he’s more commonly known, the king, kidnapped my sister, Princess Sarai, and is now using her royal blood to make himself stronger. So, yeah! he said quickly and happily.

He reminded Annora of an excited puppy.

Why aren’t you at the castle? she said, wondering why he was here and not there when his sister needed him.

My awesome combat skills and killer muscles allowed me to escape unharmed! the prince said proudly.

Not unharmed, considering you broke three ribs and an arm, and you have a nasty cut on your face, which will no doubt leave a scar. said Annora, smirking.

Yeah, but a super awesome scar! said the prince excitedly.

Anyways, what brings you here of all places? she said, gesturing at the ranch.

I came here for help. I heard your brother was awesome at combat, so I want him to help me beat Zander. Is he around?

Nope. Charlie’s on a quest out of the country, replied Annora.

Well, that’s a shame. Are there any more men in this ranch? he said, looking around.

There’s my father, but he won’t be able to come because he’s sick.

Oh, well, best be off then. Also, is there a horse I can borrow? And some water? And some food? And–?

No! Annora shouted. Why does it have to be a boy anyway?

Well …. it doesn’t. Men are just generally stronger than girls.

You could take me along, Annora tried. I could send for someone to look after Father.

Hmm … said the prince, deep in thought. I guess you can tag along. But I will have to borrow a horse.

Deal! A horse for an adventure!

When someone arrived to look after Annora’s father, they set off on the dirt paths of Lestaria.

So … where are we going anyway? Annora had been travelling for days and she was already sick of it. Her back was aching and she had absolutely nothing to do.

There is a legend passed down through the royal family. It says that there is a sword and a stone. The stone is prison to a horrible creature that caused despair on Lestaria one thousand years ago and the sword is the sharpest blade ever made, forged where hot and cold are perfectly balanced to the point of purity. If you insert the stone in the sword, it will bend to your will by either imprisoning evil or releasing it. The only problem is that they were both lost hundreds of years ago. Although, there has been a rumour saying that stone is in a temple in the middle of the Waste, explained Avery.

So, that’s the plan? We go to a temple based on a rumour, and collect a sword and a stone that we don’t know even exists? It sounded like a stretch to Annora, but it was the only chance they had.

Not we. Me. I will do all the combat like a true man and you can do the cooking and sewing like girls are supposed to do, the prince said fondly.

This was the last straw for Annora.

Ugh! That’s it! You are sexist, immature and self-centred! No wonder you’re a royal! You are just like the rest of them! Why did I choose to do this quest with you? Annora shouted.

She galloped ahead on Raven, hoping to get a bit of space from the obnoxious prince, but of course, being dim-witted, he did not know when to walk away. He galloped quickly on his shining white stallion to catch up with her.

I’m getting the vibe you don’t like me, he said in concern, no doubt for himself.

Because I don’t like you, scowled Annora.

Yeah. I already knew that. But why?

I literally just told you. Annora was getting more and more agitated.

I could tell before then. Back at the ranch. Please tell me what I’ve done wrong, pleaded Avery.

"You didn’t do anything wrong.