Young Storykeeper Volume III

168 | STORYKEEPERS VOLUME III AGE TEN | 169
THE LIGHTHOUSE OF DEMIGODS
Perseus raced through his home city of Athens. He could hear them behind
them. He mustn’t get caught!
Perseus knew they wouldn’t believe that he had met Zeus, king of the
gods. Zeus had said that he could have it, but to them he had just stolen a loaf
of bread and some cheese. Why, Zeus had even handed the cheese to him! But,
of course, nobody believed in the Greek gods and goddesses anymore, so why
would they believe he was a demigod, a son of a god?
The next day, Perseus woke up in the pile of cardboard boxes he had gone
to sleep in. He had had that dream again. Poseidon had told him that if he
travelled to the sea, he would find his heart’s desire.
On his third day walking, he knew that it couldn’t be far.
Perseus’ shorts and t-shirt were ripped and torn. And although they offered
more gaps for a non-existent breeze to blow through, he was hot. Very, very hot.
Perseus pressed on, day after sweltering day, until one morning he woke to
a gentle breeze blowing across his face. The air smelled of salt and he sprung to
his feet in joy. He gathered up his belongings and ate his provisions.
He could hear Poseidon’s voice inside his head. Wait, the voice wasn’t
inside his head. There, standing at the entrance of the alleyway that Perseus had
slept in, was Poseidon.
“Hello Perseus,” the god said. “My children will offer guidance.”
“What do you mean?” Perseus asked, puzzled.
“My children will offer guidance,” he repeated, then he turned and exited
the alley. Perseus raced after him but when he reached the entrance to the alley,
Poseidon had disappeared into the crowd.
The demigod sighed. “You can’t have a decent conversation with a god
before they disappear,” he thought.
Perseus continued his journey and reached a port. There were big boats and
small boats. Perseus looked about, taking it all in.
There was an identical boy and a girl both waving at him. “Over here!” they
called.
Perseus walked over. “Err, hi,” he mumbled, shyly.
“Our dad told us to watch out for a new boy at the port,” she said.
“Yeah, that’s right,” said the boy. “My name’s Max and my sister is Megan.”
“Your dad’s Poseidon?” asked Perseus, “I know I’m a demigod but I don’t
know who my godly parent is. My name is Perseus.”
Max told Perseus to get into the small boat and then he and Megan got
in too. Perseus looked out at the rough sea and gulped. “Don’t worry,” Megan
assured him, “Our dad is the sea god.”
They reached a lighthouse and pulled the boat on to the rocky shore.
The demigods entered the lighthouse and what was inside took Perseus’
breath away. “Welcome to the Lighthouse of Demigods,” the twins said in unison.
Inside were lots of rooms, for the hundreds of demigods. And an endless
flight of stairs up into the sky.
Isabella McGarvey
Co Antrim
THE LIGHTHOUSE WITH NO LIGHT
Thunder and lightning rolled over Dingle Lighthouse.
All the sea creatures were terrified. Seimí the seal sheltered under a
rock as he could feel the sea grow choppy! Meanwhile Finn the fish did
his evening stretches as he knew he would have to do a lot of swimming
in the stormy seas!
Seimí was a very scared seal and always stayed on the rocks close to
the lighthouse. As night fell and Seimí was just about to drift off, suddenly
he heard a loud crash and felt a massive wave crash over him!
“Oh no, a tsunami!” Seimí said to himself, shivering. Next thing it
grew as cold as the Arctic and as dark as the winter. The next morning
Seimí met his friend Finn.
“Who turned off the lights?” asked Finn.
“It’s all dark and cold,” Seimí said. He then realised that the lighthouse
had been damaged, and the light was gone! Seimí became worried for the
sailors. If they couldn’t see the light of the lighthouse they could crash into
the treacherous rocks.
“What are we going to do?” said Seimí to Finn.
“I can ask my friend Saoirse the seagull to help us,” said Finn. Saoirse
came over and Seimí told her about the situation.
“Can you fly around and see if you can find the missing part of the
lighthouse?” asked Seimí. Saoirse had lived in Dingle for years and knew
how important the lighthouse had been for all the ships that sailed nearby.
She said she would be delighted to help and off she soared.
Seimí waited nervously on the rocks. It wasn’t long before he heard
her squawking back. Saoirse had flown all around the rocks until she saw
something strange. She swooped down to get a closer look. There on the
rocks at the bottom of the cliff was the top of the lighthouse. It had been
blown off by the fierce winds. Saoirse flapped her wings excitedly and flew
back to Seimí and Finn.
Meanwhile, back on the rocks, Seimí had noticed many people had
gathered at the lighthouse. They were looking up at the damage, shaking
their heads. Padraig, the lighthouse keeper, looked very worried!
“Down at the bottom of the cliff, it’s there!” squawked Saoirse. “It’s
hard to see as it has washed up behind the mossy rocks. Padraig will not
be able to find it unless we help him,” said Saoirse.
“What are we going to do?” said Seimi,
“We need to help Padraig find the missing parts so he can fix it,” said
Finn, racking his fish brain, wondering how he could help.
Suddenly Seimí let out a loud bark. “I know! We can ask Fungi the
dolphin to help us. He is the friendliest dolphin in Ireland. Everyone comes
to see him. We can ask him to swim to the mossy rocks, and he will get
their attention.”
“Ní neart go cur le chéile,” said Finn as he swam to find Fungi!
Dara Simpson
Co Galway