Wow, thank you, Hawkstar! I’m so glad you liked my summary! And congrats to everyone else, all the summaries were aMaZiNg.

The next theme is castle – whether a mysterious old ruin in the depths of a fantasy world, or a metaphorical castle, or whatever else you can come up with! The judging day is September 1st. Can’t wait to see your summaries!:)

darn, my post disappeared! Here it is again.

Thank you for first place, Hawkstar! Congrats to everyone else too – all the summaries were aMaZiNg.

The next theme is “castle” – whether it’s a mysterious ruin in a fantasy land, or a metaphorical castle, or whatever else you imagine! The judging date is September 1st. Can’t wait to read your summaries:)

Castle Walls – (fantasy with light romance, YA)

Princess Clariesse has been stuck behind castle walls her whole life, and when one day, she makes the biggest mistake of her life, she runs off, away from high society, piling expectations, stifling glares, and the forbidding castle walls. She finds a companion in Khalil, a mysterious but friendly young man who offers assistance in establishing her new secret life in the streets of Ashveil, a city faraway from the castle. However, as Clari gets to know Khalil more, it seems that there are more secrets behind him than she realized, and that he has built castle walls around his heart. Clari is determined to help Khalil break through his own castle walls, but will she be able to when there is much more darkness behind it than she could have imagined? And when a disaster occurs in the royal family in which Clari is the key to resolving it, can she keep her new, free life intact or will she be involved within the castle walls again?

I know that this is a little late. Sorry! (Since there’s only one entry so far, I’m assuming that I can submit this late.)
—–
The Lost Princess of Castleton (fantasy, MG)
Ell has lived in the shadow of the famous Castleton castle her whole life, raised by her groundskeeper parents. Nobody lives in the old building, and in fact it’s a miracle that it has been allowed to stay standing by the dictator who took over twenty-five years ago. He promised freedom from the old monarchy, who were absolute rulers (albeit ones who listened to the people), but he has delivered worse government, with tight restrictions enforced on free speech, religion, and daily life. Anyone suspected of being against him will be put to death, and neighbors are encouraged to tattle on each other to his Inspectors. Nobody trusts anyone.
Ell has a secret: she has been sneaking into the castle, because of her fixation on Princess Estrella, who vanished when the old king and queen were executed. She was rumored to have been quietly exiled to an island, since she was just ten years old when the dictator took over and he wouldn’t have killed a child, but nobody knows. Ell is sure that she is alive somewhere, and will return to overthrow the dictator; she has been keeping the castle clean for Princess Estrella’s return.
One night, Ell is sweeping the princess’s bedchamber when she suddenly hears a noise from the corridor outside. Curious, she hides behind the door and sees not a bunch of Inspectors coming to burn the castle down, but a band of revolutionaries from the island where Princess Estrella was possibly exiled. They were sent by the princess herself to get rid of the dictator, with another party accompanying Estrella back to Castleton in a week’s time. But they need help from someone who knows the city, and so Ell decides to give that help. At the same time, her parents have joined a resistance network, trying to distribute banned books secretly. It is dangerous work, and suddenly Ell’s grandmother, who doesn’t care much about who’s in power as long as she herself is safe, comes to the cottage and tells her that she’s moving in because her parents have been seen. She begs her grandmother to wait a week before tattling to the Inspectors.
The clock is ticking as Ell and the revolutionaries set the stage for their takeover before Estrella returns (the dictator is certainly bloody enough to kill adult Estrella, not to mention any of the revolutionaries) and before Ell’s grandmother reports her parents to the Inspectors, in this tale of fighting for what is right with everything that one has.

Is this still going?

aaaaack sorry guys I didn’t totally forget about this:( But since there are only two entries anyway, do you want me to extend the judging date? I could extend it to like September 13th. If not I could go ahead and judge the two there already are:) super super sorry I didn’t update you sooner:(

I suppose I’ll do one then…
          Mystery at Edinburgh 
         
       

 12 year old Lucy was on a trip with her family in Scotland. Today’s adventure was visiting the Edinburgh castle. Lucy, lover of all things Scotland, was thrilled!
She went on and on and on about how excited she was. (She had read all about Scotland.) She finally gets in the entrance to the castle. Once inside, she glances at a wall and notices something is strange about it. It seems oddly thick. She nocks on it and realizes that it is hallow. What is behind the wall? Soon, Lucy peers behind the wall and discovers something of much importance, an old treasure chest. 

             “Where did that come from?” She wonders. “I bet it’s old!” Lucy asks one of the castle staff. They say that they have never seen it before. 

             “Lucy, I think you’ve made an important discovery,” says the employee

             The treasure chest had been behind the castle wall since the castle had been built. To this day, Lucy’s find is in the castle.

(There actually was something behind the Edinburgh castle wall, except it was a soccer ball)

       The End!!!!

Just in case no one’s seen my judging on Random Thoughts (my posts keep disappearing on this thread) here’s the order of judging:

3rd place: Thalorwin
2nd Place: Seadragon
1st Place: Moon Wolf

There’s more feedback and details on my Random Thoughts post:)

@Poinsettia thank you!! The other two were really good as well 🙂

The next theme is fly, from airplanes to birds to mythical creatures to anything related to the theme. I will be judging September 28th.

The Flight of the Phoenix (fantasy)

One day, in the mythical land of Rivendell, a phoenix awoke in a cave. It let out a growl, wondering how it got there. The truth is, no one knows. There are legends saying it just appeared. The phoenix, whose name wasn’t known, leaves the cave. He walks into a dark world, looking engagingly at the beautiful, starry night sky. He starts flapping his wings, realizing that they’re there. He takes off. Flying through the sky.
After an hour, he touches down. He wasn’t sure what to do. He sees a dim light off in the distance. The phoenix, very curious indeed, decides to check it out. As he is walking over, he admires the dark, star filled sky. Soon, he reaches the light. It is a glowing egg. He wonders how it got there, forgetting about himself. He touches it with his beak. He makes a vow to himself and the egg. Whatever is inside, he will take care of it.
The phoenix picks up the egg, balances it on his back, and takes off. He flys carefully, making sure the egg doesn’t fall off his back. He adjusts his wings to stabilize the little egg. After a long flight, he feels something weird taking place on his back. The egg was hatching. Quickly, he touches back on the ground, unsure of what he will find. On his back, is a baby phoenix. He is quite unsure what to do with him. It lets out a little squeak. The phoenix soon realizes that this is his first adventure. He’ll love and care for this little guy forever.

The End