THE CAVEY CREEKY MAGICAL QUEST

This is a love project I completed recently for my niece and nephew. I created the story and images in installments, and published them here over several months. I hope you write a story for the kids you love. - Mary

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away - on a planet behind the moon, there is a magical land called Cavey Creeky. There are two very important people who live there, a young artist named Prince Lucas and a brave princess named Maggie. 

One day, an evil sorcerer stole Prince Lucas’s magical paintbrush and Princess Maggie's royal crown. The sorcerer had hidden the precious brush and crown on a planet called Earth. Without the paintbrush, Cavey Creek began losing its colors, and without the crown, the kingdom's magic started to fade. They needed help! 

They asked the King’s Magician what to do. He said because the royal crown and magical paint brush were stolen, he didn’t have enough magic left in his wand to set things right. But he had an idea. He told them about Earth and a place called Cave Creek where a brother and sister named Maggie and Lukas lived. He felt this was much more than just coincidence and that these two brave adventurers on Earth were destined to recover the stolen treasures and save Cavey Creeky! He told the Prince and Princess he would write a letter to their mother and father and ask for their permission if the kids were willing to join this quest for the stolen crown and paintbrush.

THE KIDS SAID YES!

QUEST ONE SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED!

Our courageous adventurers, Lukas and Maggie, both of Planet Earth, have successfully completed the first quest! Below on the left, you can see Lukas drew a picture of himself as an artist adventurer, just like the Prince of Cavey Creeky. And sister Maggie created the most beautiful crown ever! Even more beautiful than the one Princess Maggie wears. And it FITS HER HEAD right, which is critical for it to become magical.

Prince Lucas had been sitting on the roof of the castle day after day while the skies grew ever darker — but seeing the drawing filled the heart of Prince Lucas with courage and strength.

Princess Maggie had been crying since her crown was stolen, knowing the kingdom’s magic would be gone forever unless the crown was found. Seeing the beautiful crown Maggie made, and that it fit her head right, made Princess Maggie smile for the first time in a long while. The Prince and Princess both realized they must give their people hope.

All the people of Cavey Creeky were gathered at the front gate of the castle in fear because the sky and the castle were getting darker and darker. After the Prince and Princess sprinkled magic glitter sparkles on the photos of Maggie and Lukas, they showed everyone the pictures they had sent. The Prince and Princess also told the people the story of how Lukas and Maggie were helping to save Cavey Creeky. The people cheered and sent colored balloons into the air. Each balloon had a little note inside that the Prince and Princess had written. The notes said “HOPE.” It was a very happy day in Cavey Creeky.

The hearts of the Prince and Princess and all of the people of Cavey Creeky were now filled with hope thanks to Lukas and Maggie. They believed if they all thought very hard, they could figure out the answer to the Sorcerer’s riddle and know where he was hiding. Here is the riddle from Cavey Creeky’s Oracle:

THE RIDDLE REVEALED!

It was early afternoon when the message arrived. The Cavey Creeky soldiers and police had been searching everywhere for the evil sorcerer who had stolen the magical paintbrush but couldn’t find them. They hadn’t thought of the Post Office though. When the solution to the riddle came in early afternooon, they began searching every single mailbox in the whole Post Office just like Lukas and Maggie of Earth had guessed. But the evil sorcerer was nowhere to be found. The sky grew darker. The castle grew greyer. And the people grew sadder. But the Prince and Princess didn’t give up.

Prince Lucas ordered the soldiers to search again. He knew Lukas and Maggie of Earth must be right! The Evil Sorcerer had to be in a mailbox somewhere in the kingdom. Then Princess Maggie said, “Wait. I know what happened. There is one mailbox in Cavey Creek that they didn’t search. The moved it from the Post Office yesterday to the castle so it could be guarded. It was at the Post Office when Lukas and Maggie made their prediction, but has since been moved.”

Mortimer Maxim, the Royal Magician, stood by the castle mailbox while everyone gathered around to watch. The soldiers had their swords drawn so they could arrest the Sorcerer. Mortimer slowly opened the mailbox and there he was! The sorcerer had turned himself into a stamp and was stuck on a fake letter!

Mortimer grabbed the envelope and put it in a metal cage and handed it to the police. They took it down to the dungeon and locked the envelope in their strongest jail room. They will question him in the morning to find out where to find the magical paintbrush. In the meantime, the people of Cavey Creeky are attending a big gala party tonight to celebrate the capture of the evil sorcerer thanks to their two wonderful earth friends Lukas and Maggie. For sure, Cavey Creeky will need their help again to get back the paintbrush.

THE SORCERER MAKES A DEAL

Early in the morning, the Sorcerer was put in handcuffs and brought to the Royal Court to stand trial. Of, course he was found guilty of trying to destroy Cavey Creeky, guilty of stealing the crown, and guilty of stealing the magic paintbrush. The Judge said, “Because your crimes are so terrible, you will have to live in the dungeon for the rest of your life.” The Sorcerer replied that he wanted to make a deal. He promised he would tell them where the paintbrush was hidden if they would let his black cat live with him in the dungeon. This is just what the judge wanted. Finding the magic paintbrush was essential for saving the kingdom. So the Sorcerer shook hands with the judge and told him,” The magic paintbrush is in the middle of the labyrinth.” But it was a trick!

The magic book is 4,000 years old. People say it contains secret spells and magic potions. The Royal Magician said it is mostly recipes for cookies and soup so people won’t realize how important it is.

Mortimer read his Magic Book and it told him just what to do. But he couldn’t do it himself. The entire planet would have to rely on Lukas and Maggie of Earth. He prepared a second challenge for them.

THE WORD PUZZLE

Please try your very hardest to figure out the missing letters in each phrase. Write those letters in a row. It will spell the name of the maze where the magical paintbrush is hidden.

The Sorcerer continued working his spells on Cavey Creeky and all the colors faded away a little more each day. Somehow, the portal was locked and no messages could go between Earth and Cavey Creeky on the planet behind the moon. The Royal Magician said the Sorcerer enchanted it and Mortimer just couldn’t figure out a way to fix it. The people all became very worried. If they couldn’t talk to Earth, how would Lukas tell them which labyrinth to run and how to get out of it? And how would they hear Maggie’s story of hope. How will it be read to the people on TV? How would the riddle be solved?

It was so scary in Cavey Creeky. The colors were growing grayer. All the people were very sad. They weren’t sure how much time they had left before all the magic and color would be gone. In the picture above, you can see how much color they’ve lost already without the magic paintbrush.

People were also very worried about the Prince getting lost in the maze forever and were losing hope. 

Mortimer Maxim spent days and weeks in his magical library reading every enchantment he could find. Finally he came across a spell called “Dulce Somnia.” It means “Sweet Dreams” in a language called Latin. All the spells are written in Latin. Mortimer mixed up some flower petals, cinnamon, and one hair from a unicorn’s tail. Then he stirred them into some melted wax from the royal bees. He poured it all into a mold of a heart and made a magical candle. He said the magic words (which no one knows but Mortimer). Then he lit the candle and let it burn all night until it was completely gone. And in Lukas and Maggie’s dreams, all was solved!

Mortimer could see Lukas and Maggie’s dreams in the smoke of the magical candle. He wrote everything down in his orange spiral notebook. Lukas solved the riddle in his dream. The missing letters spelled out L•O•O•P•E•R, and now Mortimer could tell Prince Lucas in which maze the magic paint brush was hidden. While sleeping Lukas of Earth dreamed he was drawing a little map of the Looper that showed the way out. Mortimer wrote that down too.

Maggie wrote a lovely story about the the town being saved in her dream. It had a very happy ending. And now it could be read on television by the Prince and Princess to calm the people’s fear.

Maggie’s story had such a happy ending. All the people of Cavey Creeky cheered and went to the parks to dance with their neighbors and sing songs. They were happy and hopeful again thanks to Maggie’s wonderful story. 

The very next day, the whole kingdom gathered to watch brave Prince Lucas run The Looper maze and find the magic paintbrush. Almost everyone held a sign they’d made wishing him good luck. The photo below is from the Cavey Creeky newspaper. It shows the Prince courageously running the dangerous maze. He said he wasn’t scared because of the excellent maze map Lukas of Earth had made. The Prince said he knew which way to turn at every corner thanks to Lukas’s dream.

Although the Prince was very brave when running through the maze, something very strange happened when he got near the place where he expected to find the magic paintbrush. He had stopped and was looking around for the brush when his crown flew off his head and into his hand. The Prince yelled, “Something weird is happening!” Everything got quiet while the people listened to hear the Prince’s voice. "Oh, my goodness,” he yelled. “My crown has just turned into some kind of giant cane and it has a pointy stabbing thing on the top. I don’t know what to do.”

All the people started whispering. Some started to cry. “That is not a cane,” the Royal Magician yelled back. He said, “Remember, I told you! In Lukas’s dream, that is the key that unlocks the portal to Earth. Remember, the evil Sorcerer said he hid the crown and the magic paintbrush on Earth. You have to go there.” 

And just then, a portal appeared. It looked like a door but was shaped like a circle instead of a rectangle. The Prince used the giant cane-key to unlock the door. It looked like there was nothing behind the door. It was just blackness. The Prince was feeling a little anxious. “Are you sure I should go in,” he asked the Royal Magician.

“Yes, of course, Your Highness,” said Mortimer. “You are a leader. You must be brave and save your family and friends.” So the Prince exhaled his fear with a big emptying breath. Then he inhaled courage, filling his lungs as much as he could. As he breathed he thought, “inhale courage, exhale fear.” He did that with every breath as he stepped through the doorway — where the blackness was gone and this is where he was!

It was a fantastic maze with colored lights under the ground in the desert near Cave Creek in Arizona on Earth. The Prince had no idea how he was going to get to the middle, find the paintbrush, and go through the portal to get back to his own planet, but he trusted things would be okay somehow. And off he went. It took a very long time because the Prince made many mistakes in the maze, but finally he reached the center where he found this:

In the center of the Cave Creek desert maze was this fancy room with this fancy box covered with jewels. The Prince could feel with all his heart that the paintbrush was inside. But he couldn’t get it open. So he grabbed the whole box and ran with it back through the desert maze with the colorful lights, through the portal that took him back to The Looper maze where he knew just how to find his way out because of the maze his earth friend Lukas made for him.

When he emerged from The Looper, all the people of the kingdom started cheering, “Lucas, Lucas, Lucas” over and over. He walked through the crowd of people holding the box over his head so everyone could see it.

Later, back at the castle, the Royal Magician, the Prince, and the Princess sat at the giant castle table and stared at the box, trying to figure out how to open it. They decided it would be best to ask Lukas and Maggie of Earth what they thought and then do that.

Here is the letter the that was sent to Lukas and Maggie from the Royal Magician:

Time passed and the universe unfolded.

Meanwhile, Mortimer Maxim, the Royal Magician, has been busy trying to make more enchanted heart-shaped candles so they could see the dreams of Lukas and Maggie of Earth. He knew all the clues were hidden in their dreams, and the only way to find them would be to see them in the magic candle’s smoke. The problem was that the Royal Bees were slowly disappearing too and he couldn’t get enough wax very fast.

Meanwhile, the evil sorcerer replaced his missing cat with a diabolical talking rat that lived in the cell with him. Together, they spent their days plotting their escape from prison.

Meanwhile, the skies of Cavey Creeky got darker and darker and darker. Frontier Town had completely disappeared and it looked like Janey’s would be gone next.  It already lost its color. 

Meanwhile, the Prince worked every day trying to get the orange box from the maze to open, which he hoped with all his heart contained his magic paintbrush.

Meanwhile, the Princess loved her new royal cat, who used to be the evil sorcerer’s cat. She was hoping to hear from Maggie soon on what to name this new kitty.

Meanwhile, Lukas and Maggie of Earth ended their summer vacation and started school.

And then, one day, things were about to change! The Royal Bees had finally made enough wax that the Royal Magician was able to make the most gorgeous enchanted heart candle. The whole kingdom of Cavey Creeky was so excited. The candle emits a cloud of smoke that acts as a viewing screen of the princess’s  beautiful dreams.

That night, after Maggie of Earth fell asleep in her bed, the Prince and the Royal Magician lit the candle, and waited for Maggie’s dreams to begin. They stared at the candle’s smoke for a very long time, when suddenly, there it was! The orange box that the Prince found in the maze. A hand reached out and started removing all the orange jewels that were decorating the box and setting them on the table. When the last jewel was removed, the jewels started swirling in the air, reshaping and changing color until they had turned into a jeweled pink paint brush. Then the hand in Maggie’s dream reached out and plucked the sparkling pink paint brush from the air. With one hard smack against the edge of the table, the hand smashed the beautiful brush. All of the pink jewels fell away, and the hand was holding the Prince’s Magic Paintbrush. And the dream was over. 

The Magician said, “My dear Prince, you know what you must do. Prince Lucas jumped to his feet and ran to the throne room where the orange box was sitting on a table. Mortimer the Magician ran after him. The Prince carefully removed each jewel and set them on the table. He held the last one in his hand. “Here goes,” he said as he placed the last orange jewel on the table. He watched all the jewels turn to pink and float in the air, twisting and turning until they had become the pink jewel paint brush like in Maggie’s dream. It looked like a beautiful dance. Prince Lucas reached out and grabbed the brush. He smacked it on the table, and the pink jewel casing cracked and feel away. “IT’S MY MAGIC PAINTBRUSH,” he exclaimed. Now we can save Cavey Creeky!” 

The magician and the prince hugged each other. They knew that brush would save the kingdom, but first they would need to find Princess Maggie’s crown. That meant a visit to the Evil Sorcerer. They placed the magic paintbrush in a magical safe. The magician said magic words that made it impossible for anyone but the prince to open it.

On the following day, Prince Lucas traveled to the prison to see if he could find out where the crown was hidden. He tried to reason with the sorcerer. He tried to bribe him. He tried to scare him. Nothing worked. After hours and hours, the Prince gave up for the day, but promised to be back the next morning to try again. He said he would keep coming every single day until his kingdom was saved.  

Princess Maggie felt so sad for Prince Lucas. He was trying so hard but getting nowhere. She decided she would go to the prison in secret and see if she could have better luck persuading the Evil Sorcerer to return her crown. The Princess put on her cape and summoned her horses and carriage to take her to the prison. 

Princess Maggie was very kind and very brave. She brought a basket of chocolate chip cookies for the Sorcerer. As she walked down the hall toward his prison cell, the princess could see the sorcerer through the bars. He looked even bigger and scarier than she thought he would - but she continued. She inhaled courage and exhaled fear with each breath.  The Princess knew she had to do her royal duty to try to save Cavey Creeky no matter how scared she was.

The Sorcerer was very mean. He screamed at the Princess and said he would never ever tell her where her crown was. He claimed, when he escaped, he would smash her crown into a million pieces so no magic could save her kingdom. The Princess apologized for disturbing his rest and gave him the basket of warm cookies. The Sorcerer threw the cookies against the wall and said a very bad word. The Princess said she hoped he would find love in his heart and she left.

As the Princess walked down the hall of the prison, she heard a small voice whisper. “Hey, Princess. I’m down here.” She looked around the hall and there was the Sorcerer’s rat eating one of her cookies while sitting in her shoe. He talked with his mouthful, but the Princess politely overlooked his bad manners so he wouldn’t feel embarrassed.

“I know where your crown is, Lady” said the rat in a tough guy voice. “If ya get me outta this place, I’ll tell ya - but ya also gotta give me a place to live and a basket of these cookies everyday forever.”

Before she knew what she was saying, she scooped up the rat in her arms and held him like a little baby. “YES,” She said. I promise you a basket of cookies every day and you can come to live at the castle with me and be the Royal Rat. If you help me find the crown, I will make you a knight of our kingdom and you will evermore be known as Sir Rat of Cavey Creeky.” The rat was amazed. This was so much more than he hoped. He was beginning to realize what a wonderful and kind person the princess was. “I accept,” said the very surprised little rat. And the Princess kissed him.

When the Princess and the rat returned to the castle, they found the Prince in the Royal Magician’s lab where Mortimer was busy making more enchanted candles. She told them of the fabulous deal she struck with the rat. The Prince hugged her tightly and agreed to make the rat a knight if he helped them find the crown.

“Where is it, dear rat,” the Prince pleaded? The rat said he was having trouble remembering because he was so hungry and suggested more chocolate chip cookies would help. They summoned the Royal Baker who brought a dozen. When the rat had eaten them all, he said, “Eureka! I remember. The Crown is hidden on Earth in a place called The Jewel in Arizona.” 

“How do we know this rat is telling us the truth,” asked the Magician. The rat quickly answered, “I can prove it. I stole the map from the Sorcerer.” The rat pulled out a photo of this place on Earth and there was an arrow that showed exactly where the magic crown was buried. 

The Prince wasted no time, he ran as fast as he could down the palace halls to his royal office and looked up the phone number of his dear friends Pa and Sing. He thought they would be the perfect people to help because Pa used to be a pilot and knows about spacecraft. Sing knows The Jewel and can speak to hawks who can help her find the crown. 

The Prince called and asked them to please secretly get the crown from The Jewel and ship it to the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. That is the place Space X uses to launch rockets. These launches are often visible from Arizona because the rockets travel so high that they can be seen even after the sun has set in the state. The rockets appear to light up the sky due to the Twilight Phenomenon, which occurs when sunlight reflects off the exhaust trail of the rocket.  The Southern Arizona Rocketry Association (SARA) hosts launches at various sites in Southern Arizona, but these sites are just open for scheduled launches. It is not open to the general public for the unscheduled launches like the one they were about to do for Prince Lucas.

The rocket travelled over 240,000 miles to the moon. It took three days. But they didn’t land on the moon. Instead they circled it.  When they got to the backside of the moon they could see Cavey Creeky dimly shining on the nearby planet right behind the moon. That is when the big rocket launched its own smaller rocket that carried the magic crown from The Jewel in Arizona, all the way to Cavey Creeky. 

The Royal Astronomers had been standing watch for the crown’s arrival. They dispatched a recovery team immediately to where the rocket had landed, near the edge of their ocean. But there was no way to get inside the rocket! It was locked tight. They decided to use torches to cut the rocket open.  Janie’s was gone now and the whole town was starting to fade.

“I have an idea,” shouted Princess Maggie over all the noise. Everyone became perfectly quiet. “I think we should let the rat crawl in the vent holes and unlock the hatch.”  It was a brilliant idea. Everyone agreed and cheered. The rat, who had been riding in her purse, jumped out, ran to the rocket yelling “COWABUNGA,", and disappeared in the vent hole. Less than a minute later, he reappeared carrying the crown and held his proud little rat head high.

Prince Lucas grabbed the crown, hopped in a helicopter and raced back to the castle. He knew there was almost no time to spare. He landed the helicopter on the castle roof and ran at full speed to his art studio. Waiting in his studio was a large canvas and lots of paint. He grabbed his magic paint brush and set it next to the magic crown. Soon the brush started to glow and make popping noises. The empty brush was filling with special magic from the crown. 

When it was filled, it stopped glowing and was ready. He began painting a picture of Cavey Creeky with all of its color using his magic paintbrush. 

The Princess and Royal Magician soon arrived along with television crews so the citizens of Cavey Creeky could watch the Prince paint. He painted all night. The Princess fell asleep on the couch in the art studio. When he finally finished painting, the Prince put a cute bunny blanket on the Princess and headed off to his bed. He knew the painting would do it’s magic by morning.

As the paint slowly dried, the color started returning to Cavey Creeky. By morning, the kingdom awoke to the site of full color everywhere. Birds were singing, children were giggling, and everyone was dancing and singing happy songs. 

The Prince and Princess decreed that the next day would be called “Lukas & Maggie Day.”There would be a great celebration to honor their bravery, help, and friendship. And the Prince and Princess had a special surprise they would be announcing. Everyone was so excited.

The next day finally came. Everyone in the kingdom gathered at the castle and was treated to the most fabulous parade that the planet had ever seen. There were flying tigers, giant whales, people doing acrobatics on moving tightropes, and so much more. 

After the parade, there was a giant feast. There were over 1000 chefs who made whatever each person wanted to eat. And there was a gigantic cake as big as a water tower. Fireworks flew out the top, and to cut it, there were special skiers on special knife skis who skied around the cake as if it was a mountain.

The finale was a special presentation to announce the new money of Cavey Creeky. The face of Maggie of Earth was on the Creeker bill, and Lukas of Earth’s face was on the Caver bill. And every citizen of Cavey Creeky got one of each to spend at the Castle Gift Shop. Everyone danced and laughed and rejoiced in the salvation of the planet thank to two special friends - Lukas and Maggie. It was a wonderful party.

The next day, the Prince and Princess sat down to write a thank you note to Lukas and Maggie on behalf of all the people of their planet. They hoped these two special earth children know how much they are loved.

And that’s the end!

The next day, the Prince and Princess sat down to write a thank you note to Lukas and Maggie on behalf of all the people of their planet. They hoped these two special earth children know how much they are loved.

AND THAT’S THE END!