More of the shell crumbled, until the whole head and most of the body were free. Zetta stood there petrified. She didn’t know what to make of it. Four legs, a long, scaly tail, and flappy wings that looked way too large for its body. Plus it had purple eyes similar to those of endermen, but sort of innocent and cute?
It was cute, like a little pup in most ways. It purred at her, then chirped, then gurgled. Its nostrils flared. The way it looked at her, it was all wrong.
“No, no, no…” Zetta said, holding the hoe up between them. “You’ve got the wrong idea. I am not your mama.”
The creature took a few more timid steps toward Zetta, then chirped again, trilling up at the end, almost like it was asking a question. The creature nuzzled Zetta’s waist. It was large, the size of a half-grown cow, but a lot stronger. It nearly knocked her over.
“I said, ‘No.’ Aunty Meryl will be home in a couple weeks. She’ll know what to do with you, so just wait until then to start loving on somebody.”
She tentatively patted it on the head, then backed up a few more steps, carefully moving the hoe between them again. But the creature bit the tool gently and began shaking it back and forth, like a dog with a stick. Zetta tried to tug it away from the beast, but it only got more excited, and its grip grew tighter, until the hoe’s handle snapped clean in half.
Zetta shook her head, trying to ward off the truth. She was responsible for this mess, for looking after this creature, at least until her aunt got back. This was not the distraction she needed right now. Her town was in trouble, and she needed to figure out a way to help it that didn’t involve exploding potions.
Zetta looked at the creature again, staring at those black scales and strong wings. Strange thoughts started to meander through her mind. This…whatever it was…seemed familiar to her somehow. She’d helped her cousin make a dragon costume that was black and scaly, just like this little beast. Ashton really bought into all that Eve of Hostile Mobs nonsense and had probably imagined up a new dangerous mob of his own. What had he called it? An ender dragon? Zetta always smiled and nodded when he showed her those silly little sketches he drew in his notebook. Ashton was just a kid, so what did he know? Heck, he still slept with a torchlight.
Besides, there was no way this cute creature could turn into something as menacing as a dragon. No purple poison spewed from its nostrils. It didn’t have claws that could slice Zetta in half. Nor did it have the heft to deliver “dragon kisses,” a strong hit with the end of its snout that would knock you into next week.
Ashton had a wonderfully overactive imagination, that was it. This was definitely not a dragon, just some sort of oversized bat. She could take care of it. Who knows, maybe if she did a good job, her aunt would see how responsible she actually was and reconsider training her on potions. It was a long shot, but Zetta didn’t exactly have any other hopes to rest on right now, so she would put all her focus into raising this beast that was definitely not a dragon.
“Okay,” Zetta said to the creature. “First things first. You’re probably hungry after being inside an egg for the past decade, so what do you eat?”
The creature cocked its head.
Zetta fished around in her pack and laid out some carrots and a bowl of cold rabbit stew in front of the creature. It sniffed at both, then turned its head away with a huff.
“Not hungry—okay, got it. What do you want then?”
The creature came even closer, then jumped at Zetta. Her quick reactions allowed her to reach out her arms and catch the baby beast. It nuzzled her neck as she struggled to keep it snuggled upon her chest. She gave it a little hug and the beast purred in her ear. She could feel it through her body as well, a slight vibration that put a smile on her face. Maybe she’d enjoy this time with her new not-so-little little friend.
All of a sudden, her muscles started straining. Her insides felt like they were folding back up, her inner strength collapsing like a stack of scaffolding. The strength potion. It was wearing off. Zetta’s muscles shook, trying to keep the creature tucked safely in her arms, but they gave out, and she dropped the poor creature on the hard floor. It let out an alarmed cry, then gave her pouty eyes. It looked at her with all the disappointment in the world.
Zetta tried to apologize, but the baby beast was inconsolable and started snorting and galloping all over the workshop, knocking over bottles and overturning chests, and threatening to make an even worse mess than Zetta had caused with the explosion. She was starting to realize that this wasn’t a cute little creature, but instead a force of destruction.
Aunt Meryl had warned Zetta not to have any more big mess-ups, but there was nothing bigger than this. Getting this creature out of here was Zetta’s first priority. She opened the door, whistled at it, cooed, then tried speaking to it in a high-pitched voice.
“Who’s a good beastie?” she said, imitating how her cousin Ashton talked to the farm animals. “Who’s the best beastie in the whole wide Overworld?”
The creature looked at Zetta with mistrust in its eyes, then snuffed.
It liked sticks. She pulled a stick from her pack and waggled it in front of the creature. It didn’t look impressed.
“Okay, something bigger, right?” She borrowed a bit of wood from her aunt’s stash, then crafted a wooden shovel, dull enough that it wouldn’t hurt anyone. When she was done, she took a piece of charcoal and drew eyes and a friendly smile on the face of the shovel. “Do you like this?” she asked, holding the shovel out to the creature that was definitely not a dragon. “Come on, I know you want it.”
The creature took a step forward. And another. Zetta took a step back toward the door.
“We can play fetch outside. Outside and away from all of these fragile objects.”
The creature wagged its tail, knocking over a cauldron with dank purple liquid inside. Zetta winced, but the creature didn’t even notice. It took several bouncy steps toward her. She turned and rushed out the front door, the dragon, err…not-a-dragon following behind her. When she was on the porch, she threw the shovel as far as she could.
The creature flapped its wings as it ran, but couldn’t get off the ground. It pounced on the shovel, then picked it up in its slobbery maw and shook it violently from side to side.
“Careful,” Zetta said. “Don’t break that one. Gentle. Gentle.”
The creature trotted back to Zetta and dropped the slobber-covered shovel at her feet.
“You like that, huh?” She picked the shovel up again and tossed it even farther. The creature darted after it again. And again. At first, Zetta was having fun, letting loose, but after the twelfth throw, her arm began aching and the game was getting old. The creature, however, was far from done playing.
“Don’t you eat? Or sleep? Or just…” Ugh. She was going to need some help with this. Rift and Rayne would have some idea of what to do, but she couldn’t exactly stroll back into town with a beast like this. And she couldn’t leave it at her aunt’s place. It would smash the whole house apart by sunset.
So Zetta decided to split the difference…take the dragon somewhere safe, and then fetch her friends. She packed herself a few of her aunt’s pies for the trip, promising she’d come back to bake some replacements. Then she lured the dragon back down the mountain, shovel toss by shovel toss, until she came upon a cave that looked like as good a spot as any.
She peeked into the darkness, turning her ear and listening for the skittering of spiders or the clattering of skeleton bones, but she didn’t hear anything. She ventured farther in, holding the shovel up for protection. The baby beast followed her in, its purple eyes glowing eerily in the dark.
The cave was deep and came to a dead end, perfect for stashing the not-a-dragon for a bit. She put out a cauldron of water and a few snacks for the creature, just in case it got hungry or thirsty, then backed up some. The poor thing would be cross with Zetta for thi
s, but she didn’t have a choice. She threw the shovel deep into the cave a few times, and the creature always came back with it, so happy, Zetta could swear it was smiling at her.
Each time it went to fetch the shovel, Zetta laid down a few more cobblestone bricks near the cave’s entrance. Then Zetta did a fake throw of the shovel, and the baby beast fell for it and went loping deep into the cave, looking and searching frantically for the tool. It was gone for nearly a minute before it came back, sulking. By then, Zetta had closed off the entire opening of the cave, except for a small hole so the beast could get fresh air.
She peeked inside. Those cute puppy dog eyes eased into slits like those she would imagine on a giant, poison-breathing ender dragon, if she’d believed in that sort of thing. Which she didn’t.
“Sorry, friend,” Zetta said. “This is for your own good. I won’t be gone long. I’ll bring friends, okay? Rift is a bit of a jokester, but he’s really smart. And Rayne is great with a bow and arrow and is the bravest person I know. You’ll like them both.”
The creature snorted.
Then the wall shook. Ugh. Zetta constructed a second layer of cobblestone, just to be safe. And a third. Then she took off back toward town.
CHAPTER NINE
Rift looked at Zetta like she had a squid sitting on top of her head. “You say you’ve got a what now?”
“I don’t know how to explain it. There was an egg, then it disappeared. Then it was back. Then I cracked it. Then this thing…hatched out of it.”
“A cow? With scales?” Rayne said, nodding slowly.
“No, not a cow! It’s almost as big as a cow. And it’s scaly, yes, and black. And has wings, but I don’t think it can fly yet.” Zetta took a deep breath. They were at their secret meeting spot at her grandparents’ farm. She couldn’t risk going back home, so she’d stayed up here, in the rafters of the barn, trying to ignore the smell of chickens and pigs wallowing below.
“Just come. You have to see it to believe it. I have to take care of this thing until my aunt gets back, and I can’t do it alone.” Zetta shrugged.
“The town is still a mess, Zetta,” Rayne said. “We just can’t leave it.” Not like you did, were the words that went unspoken. The twins had told Zetta about how her father had stopped by their home multiple times looking for her. She hadn’t even told her friends where she was going, and she felt guilty for causing them to worry. Now she’d come back with this nonsense story and needed their help.
“Yeah, we need to prepare for the next attack,” Rift continued. “Because there will be another.”
“That’s why I left! To figure out how to use potions better to help us defend Sienna Dunes. But then I almost conjured up a wither, destroyed my aunt’s alchemy room twice, and broke an egg and released some kind of baby beast. I can’t fix this by myself, but if I had your help…”
“Our parents aren’t going to just let us leave for days on end,” said Rayne. “We’ve got responsibilities here.”
“I realize that,” Zetta said. “That’s why we’ll split shifts, cover for one another. If we time things right, your parents won’t even notice you’re—”
A loud thump came from down below. Suddenly they were all on edge, nervous that someone had discovered their hiding spot. The three friends poked their heads over the lip of the barn rafters, staring down at the dirt floor below. Hay bales were stacked in the corners, and an old stone hoe was propped up against the back wall. A cranky chicken perched on top of a seed storage chest, like it was waiting for someone to open it.
“Hello?” Zetta called out. The only noise that came back was the grunt of a pig.
Rayne shrugged. “Don’t see anyone. Pig probably knocked over a feeding trough or something.”
Zetta let out a sigh. They couldn’t afford to get caught now. Nana and Papa’s farm had eyes, and not just the ones on Papa’s potatoes. It was best not to linger. The friends climbed down a rickety ladder, then ran off to the town square. Most of the smaller messes had been cleared away, but the larger damage still lingered.
The bell tower was missing a huge chunk of sandstone near the bottom, looking as if it should topple over, but it still stood tall. Townspeople were working on adding a second layer to the wall, and Zetta pulled the loose fabric at the neck of her tunic up and over her nose, hoping no one would notice she was back. She was so caught up in not accidentally running into her father or the mayor that she nearly ran into the egg display outside the grocery store.
“Careful!” Gloriana the grocer said, holding her hands out so Zetta wouldn’t knock over what looked to be at least a hundred eggs.
“Sorry,” Zetta said, her voice slightly muffled by the fabric. She’d cracked quite enough eggs today already. She avoided eye contact with Gloriana as the friends ducked into the store to buy snacks for their adventure…can’t sprint on an empty stomach. Between them, the friends had only five emeralds, but it was enough to purchase six loaves of bread and some sweet berries.
The friends then took off into the desert, running as fast as their legs would carry them, trying to avoid mobs when they could, and fighting them when they couldn’t.
The desert scenery slowly became lusher. The sun became less oppressive, and the air became more humid. Patches of green oases started appearing here and there, until the friends found themselves in a new biome altogether.
Zetta saw the mountain off in the distance. She was tired and frustrated that they still had so far to go. The trip had already eaten up so much of the day. But they kept sprinting, nibbling on bread and berries every time they started slowing down.
Finally, they came to the cave entrance. “Okay, don’t be scared,” Zetta warned. “No sudden movements.” She took the shovel out of her pack, hoping it would be a peace offering for the baby beast. But as they walked deeper into the cave, pieces of busted cobblestone crunched under Zetta’s feet. Oh no, she thought. When she rounded the corner, she saw that the wall she’d built was totally smashed.
“So where’s this creature?” Rayne asked. “Is it invisible, too?”
“I swear it was here! It busted through the wall.”
Rift nodded. “Sure…Are you trying to prank us? Because you know that I’m going to prank you back even harder.”
“No! The dragon is real. I saw it with my own—” Zetta clapped her hands over her mouth. She’d said the “d” word, hadn’t she? She shook her head. “It’s not a dragon. They don’t exist. I’m not sure what the creature is. All I know is that it’s still a baby and now it’s lost somewhere out there, and we have to find it.”
But before Zetta could turn around, she heard crunching cobblestone behind her. She’d been in such a hurry that she hadn’t bothered to check the cave for mobs when they got here. It didn’t sound clattery like a skeleton or skittery like a spider. Then she heard the moan.
Zombie. Definitely zombie. Hopefully just one. In an instant, all three friends had their weapons drawn. They crept toward the moaning noise. When they turned the corner, Zetta felt her blood go cold…not from fear, but from shock. Her little cousin Ashton was leaning against the cave wall, rubbing his arm.
“Ashton! How’d you get here?” Zetta asked.
“Ran, same as you,” he said, still moaning.
“What’s wrong with your arm?” Rift asked.
“I stopped to cool off for a bit in a lake,” Ashton said sheepishly. “And some kind of super-soggy husk bit me. But I took it out with a couple swings of my sword.”
Zetta rushed over to examine the bite. It wasn’t deep. It’d heal quickly. Still, she was furious at her cousin for putting himself in danger. “You shouldn’t have followed us. You’re too young and inexperienced to be out here with hostile mobs about.”
Ashton frowned, then reached into his pack and tossed a bunch of rotten flesh and some bones in front of Zetta. “I killed seven husks and
four skeletons on my way here. It’s not that hard. I don’t know why you think I’m still a little kid. I’m practically as tall as you!”
Rift’s eyes grew wide. “Your cousin is hard-core, Zetta. I don’t know why you don’t want him to hang out with us.”
Zetta shot Rift a significant look. She didn’t want Ashton to know that she was the reason he’d been excluded from their group.
Rift fumbled over his blunder and backtracked. “Uh, I mean, uhh…I don’t know what I mean. Please don’t listen to me. I wasn’t even talking.”
But it was too late. Ashton looked up at Zetta with the saddest puppy dog eyes.
“I want you to hang out with us,” Zetta said, coming to her own defense, since Rift was being useless. “But skeletons and zombies are one thing, Ashton. This creature…I don’t know what it is, and it’s small now, but I can’t risk having it turn and become something dangerous with you around.”
“It’s an ender dragon,” Ashton said.
“You haven’t even seen it,” Zetta replied, rolling her eyes.
“I heard you describe it back in the barn.” He pulled out his notebook and showed it to Zetta. She’d seen the sketch before—a big black dragon with a menacing glare. There was some resemblance, for sure…if the baby beast were about fifty times bigger and a million times meaner. “Reed told me about it once when I was browsing for books about hostile mobs. He told me a bunch of other stuff about it too that could help me track down the dragon, but since I’m still a kid and all, you probably just want me to go back home where it’s nice and safe.”
Zetta was taken aback by the resentment in Ashton’s voice. Her cousin was usually so laid-back and positive about everything. She must have really wounded his pride. It was time for her to grovel.
“Ashton. You’re right. I was wrong. It’s just when I see you, I still have an image of that little kid I used to babysit in my mind. Remember when we used to build sandcastles together and used to try to fish in the little pond behind the silo? But you’re ready now. We want you on this adventure. Don’t we?” Zetta asked, looking back at Rift and Rayne.
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