True Love!

by Katrina Kahler

  “Looks like it’s up to us to help!’ Zeke said.

  The two of us raced towards the door. I flew behind Zeke giving him a little push to speed him up.

  “Go!” Tanya yelled to us. “We’ll catch up!”

  “Yes, help Nitivia!” Paula yelled. “Remind her to turn us back! Then we can help as well!”

  I heard Paula mumble, “I hate waddling!”

  Tanya said. “I actually find it fun!”

  Penguin Zeke and I made it outside. Being a penguin, I found I kind of really liked the feel of the ice and snow on my little feet. Zeke tapped me on my wing and then pointed skyward. “Ah, I think you’d better look up and not down!”

  “Right!” I said.

  Turning upwards, I saw Nitivia and Luna, who was now in a totally black outfit, blasting away at each other with magical energy. Nitivia’s green energy beam was slowly being pushed back towards Nitivia by Luna’s black energy beam.

  “Man, Luna must like black!” Zeke said. “Maybe because it’s slimming on her?”

  “Yeah maybe,” I said. I had to admit that Luna looked good in black. Heck, with light peach complexion, she’d look good in almost any color. But that wasn’t important now. The important thing was that we had to stop her! We had to shut her down big time!

  “Hey! Nitivia! Don’t forget us!” I screamed. Of course, being a penguin with penguin vocal cords and all, I didn’t scream very loudly. Plus, I’m pretty sure I screamed in penguin. Turning to Zeke, I said. “Oh man, I’m pretty sure we’re talking in penguin!”

  Zeke nodded. “Duh, we are penguins! How could you forget that?”

  Rolling my little penguin eyes, I said. “I didn’t forget that, but we need to get Nitivia to notice us and change us back!”

  “Right. I know that!” Zeke said.

  Zeke started jumping up and down, squeaking and squawking. I did the same, waving my wings. By now, Tanya and Paula had reached us. They noticed what we were doing, and they all did the same.

  Meanwhile, above us, Nitivia and Luna continued blasting each other with magic beams. Luna apparently noticed the racket we were making and looked down over her shoulder and said, “Those are the nosiest penguins I’ve ever seen. I suggest we call a truce for the moment so I can turn them into stuffed penguins! It’s hard to fight with all that racket!”

  “Fine!” Nitivia said. Her attacking beam retracted, becoming a shield around her.

  I turned to Zeke, Paula, and Tanya and squeaked. “Being turned into candy would not be good!”

  “Agreed!” Paula said.

  “So not cool!” Tanya said.

  “So bad for our teeth!” Zeke said.

  “Let’s split up!” Tanya suggested. “That way she can’t zap us all at once!”

  We each took off in opposite directions.

  From above, Luna laughed. “It’s like the little bird brains understand what I’m going to do!”

  She snapped her fingers. Zeke turned to chocolate.

  “Ha! You can’t hide from magic!” Luna laughed.

  Another snap. Paula froze in place, not a statue of chocolate.

  Luna laughed from above. “Being evil is so cool! And fun!” she turned to Nitivia who had flown up beside her. “You want to turn the other two into chocolate?”

  “Sure!” Nitivia said. There was a snap of her fingers. Tanya turned into a chocolate penguin.

  I gulped. Had Nitivia forgotten about us? Or worse had she turned bad?

  Nitivia pointed at me. She snapped her fingers. I shuddered. This would be game over. Only, instead of feeling myself solidify into chocolate. I felt my wings turn to arms; my little feet grew into legs. I shot up into the air.

  “What the?” Luna said. Turning to her sister, she snarled, “You—”

  Nitivia cut Luna off by head-butting her square in the forehead. The move caught Luna totally off guard and drove her down towards me. Flying up, I caught Luna just as she started to regain her senses.

  “That won’t happen again, sis!” Luna shouted, waving her fist.

  “No, you’re right. It won’t!” I told her. I started spinning as fast as I could; faster and faster, around and around. I didn’t think the elf brain could handle that amount of speed. I also figured Luna wouldn’t be able to concentrate enough to use magic.

  “Stop! Be f o rrrrrrr e I barrrrrrrrrrf!” Luna begged.

  I came to an instant stop. I swear Luna’s eyes were spinning around in her head. I tapped Luna on the forehead with super strength. Her eyes fell shut. Her head dropped. We landed on the ground.

  Tanya came running over to us.

  “Oh, I see you’re not a chocolate penguin anymore,” I said.

  Tanya smiled. “Good thing Nitivia turned me back.”

  “Why?” I asked.

  Tanya pointed at Luna whose eyes had just popped open. “Freeze, fool!” she ordered. Luna froze in place.

  Tanya crossed her arms. “She was playing possum to get a chance to take you out.”

  Tanya blew on Luna, knocking her over. “She’s not going anywhere now!”

  With Luna taken care of, Paula and Zeke turned back into normal penguins. Nitivia landed next to us. “Sorry I had to either turn you into chocolate or let Luna do it. I wanted to get her to let her guard down so I could clobber her. Oh, and big sorry that I got so caught up in the battle, I forgot I turned you guys into penguins. But you were all so cute.”

  Paula smiled. “I don't love your methods, but I can’t argue with the result.”

  “I wonder if we were tasty chocolate?” Zeke asked.

  “I’m just glad we got Luna stopped! Literally!” I said.

  “Yes, good job, all of you!” Nitivia said. “Now, let’s get my pain in the behind sister to my North Pole so we can combine the two Lunas back into one.”

  “Let’s do it!” Zeke said. “I can’t wait until my honey is whole again!”

  Dear Diary: It felt good taking Luna down. Without her being inhibited by her good side, nothing got in the way of her being able to do whatever she wanted with her magic. She almost proved to be a match for all of us. But luckily, with some quick thinking by Nitivia and some teamwork and some cool moves, we were able to stop Luna, hopefully once and for all.

  It felt so weird being a penguin. I’m not saying it was a bad weird, just a different kind of weird. I guess it was good to look at the world from a different perspective. As a penguin, you need to slow down and look up at the world. I kind of appreciated that.

  Oh, I know Zeke feels so excited about getting Luna back to one person. But I’m not sure he should be. Now that I’ve had time to think about the situation, it makes more sense. Zeke didn’t drive Luna cray, cray because she had no bad in her. That meant Zeke’s weirdness didn’t get to her like it does almost every other being in the world or worlds. Now don’t get me wrong; Zeke is a good guy. He is kind of sweet in his own way. But Luna is the type of girl who could get any guy she wants. I hate to say this, but she could do way, way better than Zeke.

  I feel bad saying that, but I’ve been around long enough to know that girls like Luna don’t go out with guys like Zeke. After all, he is a zombie!

  Finding Love

  Santa, Mrs. Claus, Nitivia, Zeke, Tanya, Paula, all the elves and all the deer stood around outside the toy shop. The snow came down, but it felt cool and refreshing. The dark Luna stood there still frozen in time by Tanya.

  “Now what?” Paula asked.

  Santa spoke. “We will all perform the spell needed to combine the two Lunas!”

  “Oh goodie,” Zeke said. “I know they say two is better than one. But two Lunas is one too many for me. I guess it didn’t help that the evil one turned me into a chocolate penguin.”

  “Yeah, that was actually an improvement. You smelled better, and you were quiet for once!” Paula remarked.

  “But didn’t you miss my wit and charm?”

  We all shook our heads.

  “Okay, what do we have to do to get light Luna
and dark Luna back together?” I asked.

  “We just need light Luna to show up.” Nitivia pointed to the ground next to her. She snapped her fingers.

  Luna appeared. She smiled. “Oh, hi! Were you waiting for me?”

  Everybody nodded.

  “Sorry, guys!” she told us.

  Santa moved the frozen dark Luna over next to light Luna. He motioned to light Luna and said, “Simply touch your other half’s head while we reset the magic binding spell!”

  “How come Luna can’t do the spell herself?” Tanya asked.

  “Because the original spell was created by a together Luna. A separated one can’t perform it. But luckily all of us together have the power to make her one again.”

  “Oh yeah!” Zeke said, leaping up into the air. He rushed over and took Luna by the hands. “I can’t wait until you’re one again!”

  “Oh good…” she replied.

  “Zeke, stand back!” Santa ordered. “It’s time to let the magic begin!”

  Santa and Mrs. Claus and Nitivia all said:

  “Luna who was two…

  One good….

  One evil…

  You know what to do!

  Become one!!

  One that loves to have fun!

  One that loves to run!!

  One you under the sun!!”

  Everybody held their breath and watched. The two Lunas remained apart.

  “Oh, I still see two of them!” Zeke said.

  “That’s cause there are two!” Paula said.

  “Why didn’t the spell work?” one of the elves asked.

  “It’s because Luna doesn’t want to be united with her bad side,” I explained.

  All the elves gasped. Luna nodded. “That is correct!” All the elves gasped again.

  “Luna, honey why don’t you want to be one again?” Mrs. Claus asked.

  “I like this me better! I’m helpful! I never have bad thoughts! I have a boyfriend who’s a cool zombie!” she replied.

  “Oh, you lost me on that one!” Tanya said.

  “But, honey, you are meant to be one,” Santa said. “Splitting your good and evil sides isn’t right.”

  “Why?” Luna asked.

  Zeke stepped forward. “It’s because we make our good sides better when they have to contend with our bad sides. They make us think and do the right thing!”

  “That’s a very good point.” Luna smiled at Zeke.

  “Plus, bad sides can have a lot of fun!” Paula said. “I love being a future super villain!”

  Luna pointed at Zeke. “I like what he said better. But I also see your point. I understand that I need to be complete.”

  Santa ushered Luna right up next to dark Luna. They all repeated:

  “Luna who was two…

  One good….

  One evil…

  You know what to do!

  Become one!!

  One that loves to have fun!

  One that loves to run!!

  One you under the sun!!”

  A giant snowflake engulfed the two Lunas. The snowflake spun and spun around. It slowed down. One Luna, now dressed in red stood smiling at us.

  “I’m back!” she said.

  Santa grinned. “Thank the stars!”

  Luna nodded. “I now understand I must do my share to help out here! After all, Mom and Dad aren’t getting younger!”

  “True,” Santa said. “I’m glad you’re back!”

  “Me too!” Luna said.

  Zeke ran up to her and hugged her. “Yeah! My GF is back!!” He stopped and looked into her eyes. “Hey, now that you aren’t completely good, do you still like me?” he asked.

  Luna leaned in and kissed him. “Does that answer your question?”

  “Ah, no!” Zeke replied.

  Luna leaned in and kissed him again.

  “Hmmm…,” Zeke said, still not sure.

  “Zeke, she somehow still likes you!” Tanya said.

  Zeke grinned. “I know. I just like it when she kisses me! But wait…we live in two different worlds! Literally!”

  Luna smiled. “Zeke, with my magic, I can come to visit you whenever you want!”

  “Great!” Zeke beamed at her. “Can’t wait for you to meet my pal, Adam. He’s a lot like me, just not as green or as good looking.”

  Tanya, Paula and I rolled our eyes a bit at that. But who was I to question Zeke and Luna? I guess it’s true, love is weird.

  Well, what do you know…Luna was a lot deeper than I thought and Zeke was a lot smarter. As I stood there, a little dumbfounded, Santa walked over to me smiling. “Thank you for your help! Because of the work you all did, happiness can grow and spread!”

  “Santa, we want to do whatever we can to help!” I said.

  Tanya agreed. “Yes, we do!”

  “Even I kind of like helping now and then,” Paula commented. She then added, “I don’t want anybody ruining the world except for me!”

  “Yes, well, hopefully, you will grow out of that,” Santa replied.

  I grinned. “If not, I’ll just have to stop her!”

  Nitivia walked over to us. “I have every bit of faith that you will succeed. Thank you for coming. If you ever need me, call, and I will be there. Unless of course, it’s our rush season!” She smiled.

  “Thanks!” I said.

  Nitivia leaned in and hugged me. She whispered, “Watch out for Tanya’s sister. That one worries me a lot!”

  Nitivia snapped her fingers.

  I glanced around and realized I was back at home in my room. I felt good. I had saved happiness in our world. I’d also learned that love could be quite strong. Luna seemed to see past all of Zeke’s many, many flaws.

  I now knew two things…whatever the future had in store, I could handle it. Plus, if Zeke could find love, I certainly could too!

  “Nice job!” said a voice from behind me. Turning, I saw Val, the strange new girl from school standing with her arms crossed. “You passed the first two tests!” she told me

  “First two tests?” I asked.

  “Yes, you worked to protect your town, which is important. Not every issue is a world-shattering problem. Plus, you saved the holiday spirit, and that’s way big!”

  “Thanks,” I replied. “Now, are you going to tell me what this is all about?”

  Val grinned. “I will, but you still have one last test remaining. Are you up for it?”

  The end for now!

  Find out what happens next in

  Diary of a Super Girl - Book 14: LOVE BATTLE

  IS OUT NOW!

  Things YOU can do to be a hero!

  Hey, you don’t need the powers of Super Teen to make the world a better place.

  1) Clean your room: yeah it doesn’t seem like much, but you can bet your parents would love it. Plus, you might be surprised how nice it is to live in a clean room.

  2) Go out to the park and maybe pick up some trash! Use gloves of course. But a clean park is a happy park. Plus, you set a good example.

  3) Help a neighbor or a relative with a chore. Maybe walk their dog or take out their trash. You’ll like the way you feel!

  4) Find a bunch of friends and go door to door, offering your help. (With your parents’ permission, of course).

  5) Find a lonely friend or relative and just talk to them.

  6) Bake cookies for your class or your neighbors.

  7) Pick a book and go read to kids younger than you.

  Everyone can be a superhero if they want to be!

  If you have time and could leave a review, we’d really appreciate it!

  We’d love to hear what you think!

  Thanks, heaps!

  John and Katrina x

  Just a reminder about Lia’s superhero BFF, Adam, in Diary of a Super Clone! It’s another great series that combines the two super teens.

  Zeke and Paula also star in this story.

  Click on the link below to read all the details.

  Diary of a Super Clone is p
erfect for both girls and boys and is funnier than ever!

  Diary of a Super Clone

  Some more great books by Katrina and John that you might like to check out…

  Nina the Friendly Vampire

  Ghost Busters– Book 1

  Zara the Ghost Zapper

  I Shrunk My Best Friend - Ooops

  (This book is FREE!!)

  Girl Power

  About The Authors:

  John Zakour is humor / SF / fantasy writer with a Master's degree in Human Behavior. He has written thousands of gags for syndicated comics, comedians and TV shows (including Simpsons and Rugrats, and Joan River's old TV show.)

  John has been a contributor to Nickelodeon magazine writing Fairly Odd Parents, Rugrats and Jimmy Neutron comic books. John currently writes Bart Simpsons comics for Bongo comics.

  In the 80’s and 90’s, John was a computer programmer and web guru for Cornell University and was also an EMT and judo instructor. John currently lives in upstate NY with his wife, a professor at Cornell University. The two of them have one son, a student at Cornell. For exercise, John plays softball, is a competitive pickleball player and javelin thrower, and still hits his punching bag daily. To relax, John likes to play World of Warcraft, watch TV and do Tai Chi.

  Find him on FB! 

  Katrina Kahler is the bestselling author of Julia Jones Diary, Twins, Mind Reader, The Secret, Angel, Diary of a Horse Mad Girl and Julia Jones the Teenage Years.

  She lives in the beautiful coastal town of Noosa in Australia and has two grown-up children.

  Follow Katrina on Instagram @katrinakahler and @freebooksforkids

  And don’t forget to subscribe to our website so we can keep you updated on all our new books and series…Best Selling Books for Kids