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Collaboration Challenge Pt. 5 - UPDATE

HEY! I'M EXTENDING THE DEADLINE BY A WEEK! GET IN YOUR SUBMISSIONS FOR THE NEXT PART OF THE STORY BY SEPTEMBER 4TH!

Wow! Part five already! This week we follow Molly further on her adventure with Mr. Walnut. The first part was written by Rayna Perry, and the second part was written by.... yours truly!

So... what happens next??? Where is the Walnut man taking Molly? Who is waiting to see her on the other side? Why is she here? Let me know! Send your 200 word submissions to [email protected] by August 28th (that's ONE WEEK!). And please... no attachments!

Find part 1-3 of the story here.

And part 4 here.

Once again the acrobats were spinning about in all different directions. They flipped, danced and twirled their way around, instead of simply walking. The vivid, colorful acrobats like a rainbow come alive.

The carts were being packed and readied, and Molly turned to the man with the one eye and said "Sir, where are we going?"

"A magical place." he responded simply, before mounting one of the carts. That was all Molly needed to hear. "Come on, now." he said offering a firm hand to help her up onto the cart. Just as Molly was safely on it, an acrobat dressed from head to toe in a stunning ruby red approached them. "We're ready, Walnut." she said.

So the man must be called Walnut, then, Molly thought. It seemed fitting.

He nodded and the acrobat cart wheeled away. Walnut snapped his fingers and the cart began to hover no more than a foot off of the ground. Molly gasped. This truly was a magical place. She turned to see that the rest of the acrobats' carts were hovering as well. Without any warning Walnut bellowed "Onward!" in a thunderous voice. All of the carts zoomed ahead, never once touching the ground.

"Wait!" Molly cried out, fearing she would be left behind. But before the last cart could bypass her, she felt herself roughly grabbed by the collar and lifted off her feet. Walnut himself hauled her up and into the final cart. He released her and she tumbled clumsily backward.

"Thank you," she said, with as much dignity as she could muster, given the fact that she was still wet, her hair was in disarray, and she was sliding back and forth along the cart bottom, like a pea rolling along the bottom of a barrel. Her parents had always emphasized manners.

Thinking of her parents made an uncomfortable feeling worm in her stomach. Would they worry about her? Would they miss her?

She doubted it.

"Tea?" Walnut asked her. With a flourish, he produced a tea set from his breast pocket and offered her a cup. It was delicious--chamomile, she thought--and despite the motion of the carts, didn't slosh or splash at all.

The carts zoomed forward toward the line of thick, moss-encrusted trees. It occurred to Molly suddenly that they would surely collide. Any second now, the carts would slam up against the vast, ancient tree trunks, and be splintered to shards.

Molly gripped her tea cup so hard, she worried it would shatter. Any second now...the trees loomed ahead of them like a wall...she wanted to cry out but she was too scared to make a noise...

And then, soundlessly, the trees seemed to bow; as the first of the carts approached the towering forest, the trunks simply swayed apart, allowing the carts to float easily between them. And as they passed into the dark forest, Molly noticed that each cart was equipped with several colored lanterns, so that the whole procession looked like one giant succession of blobbing, bobbing colors.

"We'll be there before sunrise," Walnut said. "If you feel the need to rest, you should do it now. I, for one, find sleep very tiresome."

#collaboration challenge #Lauren Oliver