Once Upon Imagination
an excerpt

Various excerpts...

“Oh!” She [Sarina] gasped. “Thank you so much!” Her hand stroked the curve of the sleek bow.
“I thought you were ready for it. Besides,” He [Frank] shrugged, “Things are getting worse and you will need this!”
Sarina nodded soberly. She knew that John, the self-appointed emperor would not rest until he had complete control over Sarina, Frank, and those sympathetic to their resistance. John’s men had been around for a long time, but now that he had left Frank’s planet to quench the uprising here, the trouble grew greater by the moment. The people of Frank’s home had ceased fighting long ago. That is why Frank had fled to find others to rally against the cause.
“Sarina!” Sarina’s mother’s voice called for her. It sounded distant, but no less insistant.
“I must go!” Sarina concluded. She knew her parents didn’t understand the cause she fought for. “Thank you all for this. It was wonderful! Thank you, Frank, especially.” He nodded, acknowledging her thanks. Sarina’s mother called again and her friends faded into the woods as if they had never been there. She ran through the woods and across the field to her house. She waved to her mom and her mom smiled before going back into the house.
....
“All ships are ready for flight,” Honeydoo calmly informed over the intercom, “All pilots to your ships. Clear the floor.” Anyone who wasn’t necessary on the floor scurried towards the door next to the glass window. Some entered the control room to watch. Titus perched anxiously near the glass, occasionally flitting from one place to another. He hoped his information would pay off.
Everywhere you could see, pilots were dropping into the seats of the fighter-ships. The glass closed over them and the engines sprang to life. Sarina’s ship was next to Frank’s. Frank gave her an excited thumbs up.
“This is Frank Sherwood in command. I’m ready for take off.” All pilots echoed that they were ready, too. “All ready for take off, Honeydoo.”
“Opening the hatch…” Honeydoo hit a large button with a clawed paw and a patch in the ceiling groaned opened. It thudded to a stop and some dirt trickled down into the bay. “You are cleared for take-off!”
Frank gently lifted his ship from the floor and out into the night sky. The other ships followed him, one-by-one. When they had left the Earth’s atmosphere, Frank warned everyone to ‘stay sharp.’ “We want to keep the element of surprise here. There will be a batch of cookies for whoever spots them first. According to what Titus said, they’ll be bigger ships than us, so we should be able to see them before they see us.” They maundered to the spot that Titus guessed that they had been coming from and waited, looking every direction. Frank wished there was something to hide behind in space like there was in a forest.
“Enemy is at six o’clock and approaching fast!” Flo spoke up first.
...
When Sarina’s mother looked in on her daughter, she was sleeping peacefully with a smile on her face. Her mother hung up Sarina’s bathrobe, closed the window, and recovered her daughter with blankets. As she pulled the blankets up, she noticed that in the bed with Sarina was her small teddy bear, Honeydoo, who was usually there, but there were also small toy space ships.
...
“Maybe I can shoot it…” She wasn’t sure. It was a small creature and she might not make the bull’s eye. I’ve got to risk it! She changed her bow setting so that a red arrow sprang into life as she pulled back the glistening string. Nervously, she took aim and let the arrow fly.
Frank saw the arrow hit the creature. It jolted, but would not let go of it’s captives. That won’t work, but she doesn’t know that... He head felt fuzzy as he ran out of air.
A motion in the corner of his eye caught his attention. The General and his men were closing in. Regaining motivation at the sight of his arch enemy, Frank reached inside his tunic and produced one of his second favourite weapon. The hilt was a metallic red and, when activated, shot forth a blue blade. Quickly, he severed the weedy tentacle. The creature howled in pain and released all its captives.
Frank and the others gasped for breath, but not for as long as they had liked. The General was upon them! Frank fought his way toward the General, not caring about anyone else. “General Hicks,” Frank called to him, “It’s you and me.”
The General looked at him, scoffingly. And then the General and his men disappeared.
“No again,” Frank groaned. Sarina came to his side. “We’ve got to disable their teleportation hub if we’re ever going to make real progress!”
“I don’t know if that’s why they left, Frank.” Sarina pointed a shaky finger towards one of the roads that went through the field. John had been riding by on his bike and stopped when he’s seen Sarina. It was suddenly not night anymore but the middle of the day, and hot and sunny.
Sarina looked around her and noticed that everyone had left and she stood by herself in the field. John walked towards her. Robbie and Kellie weren’t with him this time and Sarina was glad, but still frightened of John himself.
“What are you doing standing in the middle of the field with a stick in your hand?!” John mocked. “It looked like you thought it was a bow or something!”
The bow! That reminded Sarina, she wasn’t alone. In that instant she heard Frank calling to her. He was in the woods, hiding. She looked at him and then at John who slowly approached her. Then she made up her mind and ran into the woods.