Snapdragon Book II: In the Land of the Dragon

by Brandon Berntson

  Eddie looked at him. “What?”

  “That we’re no longer in Ellishome, or Colorado,” he said. “Yet the land is exactly the same. Except for the marshes, nothing has changed. But then…look at the sky. Look how different the constellations are.”

  The six of them looked above, and Seth saw Malcolm smile in the darkening light.

  “It’s incredible,” Malcolm said.

  “You can say that again,” Albert said, in a whisper.

  “No,” Malcolm said, looking at Seth. “It’s so…real. I feel like I’m in one of my grandpa’s fantasy novels or something. I wonder what he would think—knowing we’re here. He lived those stories in his head, but we’re actually here.”

  Eddie nodded, taking off his glasses, and polished them on his shirt. He slipped them back on and continued to gaze at the sky.

  After relaxing in the cool grass, they slipped their shoes back on, and decided to set up the tents. They staked them to the ground, getting the ropes taut. Kinsey, Seth, and Malcolm shared one, while Gavin, Eddie, and Albert shared the other.

  “Hey, no funny business, either,” Albert said, looking at Seth and Kinsey.

  “Jealous,” Kinsey said, smiling.

  “Oh!” Eddie said, and poked Albert in the ribs.

  Gavin smiled to himself.

  They weren’t able to make a fire. All the wood they found was still wet. Instead, they sat outside in the dark under the light of the stars. Seth pointed to a spot above the trees where more of the night sky was revealed.

  Pinpricks of colored light in a nebulous current moved through the air. Some winked rapidly on and off, while others remained bright and incandescent, making the trees glow in a variety of colors.

  “Oh my,” Kinsey said, in awe.

  “Wow,” Eddie said. “They look like Skittles.”

  Malcolm chuckled.

  Some spiraled down independently. A red one dropped from the current, encircling the bole of a dead pine, then spiraled back up to join the others. Another one—blue—did the same, mimicking its neighbor. Four more: two green, one orange, and one purple, came together over the camp, dancing rhythmically through the air, then shot off in opposite directions at lightening speed.

  “Do you think they’re alive?” Eddie asked.

  “Listen,” Seth said. He held his breath in order to hear it. Kinsey looked at him, and her eyes went wide.

  A sound similar to Christmas chimes was audible over the rippling creek.

  “What do you think they are?” Malcolm asked.

  No one said anything. After several minutes, the lights dwindled, the current tapering to a thin, lazy trail, leaving them alone with the coming darkness and the foreign stars.

  “Too bad we don’t have any marshmallows,” Eddie said.

  “We can’t make a fire anyway,” Albert reminded him.

  The thought made them realize how hungry they were, and they dipped into their packs, snacking on raisins, peanuts, cereal bars, and jerky. Seth hadn’t realized how hungry he was, either, and Albert was right: a big, juicy steak sounded delicious.

  “Where’s that deer you were talking about?” Gavin asked, nibbling on a cereal bar.

  Albert shrugged. “You have to let the deer come to you, I think.”

  Their voices hushed to a whisper.

  “What do you think they’re doing in town?” Eddie asked.

  It was amazing to Seth how quiet it was under the stars and the overhanging trees. Not a cricket chirped.

  “Calling off the search for the night, probably,” Malcolm said.

  “I wonder if they think we’re dead?” Albert asked.

  “Probably some do,” Malcolm said.

  They sat in silence for a while, thinking about home.

  “What do we do if we see those…you know…those monsters again?” Eddie asked.

  Malcolm shook his head. “I don’t know.” He looked at Seth. His eyes, in the gloomy night, turned to the hilt of Seth’s sword. “It’s hard to imagine what else could be in this world.”

  Seth had been terrified when the monsters had chased them through the marshes. He’d been equally terrified when Sadie had tried to pull him down into the bog.

  “What happened to you back there, Seth?” Gavin asked. “When you fell?”

  Seth turned to the boy. “It was Sadie. He grabbed my leg. Those things were getting closer, and it was like Sadie was trying to drag me into the ground. He didn’t have any eyes, just empty sockets. I think I know what I’ll be dreaming about tonight.”

  Gavin nodded. “I heard voices, too, when I fell,” he said, looking at the ground. “But it wasn’t one kid. It was a bunch of kids. I heard them all around me. Some were screaming. Some were crying. I was lucky. I was able to get up and get away before anything happened. When the cracks started to open, I didn’t know what was happening. All I kept thinking about was how crazy it was. But then I looked up…and…I saw something in the sky…”

  The others looked at Gavin.

  “What did you see?” Albert asked.

  Gavin looked up. “I saw two figures. One light, the other dark. It lasted only a few seconds. But they took up the whole sky. They were wrestling arm in arm. I mean, not like arm-wrestling, but holding onto each other, like they were fighting for position. And…I don’t know how to say it…”

  “Try,” Malcolm said.

  “It was like…” Gavin said. “It was like they kept shifting, like they were transforming into different shapes. I saw Ben as a tiger, then an angel, then a warrior. The other one was dark. It was the phantom on the horse; then it was a strange beast; then it was a dragon. I don’t know what it was. I don’t know why I saw it. I can’t explain it. But…that’s why I said what I did earlier. It happened as the earth was opening up around us, as the beasts were moving toward us. I think when Ben and the Dragon do battle, it affects this world. I think when they fight, they create all this chaos, and it affects the world we’re on. It doesn’t make sense, does it?” Gavin fell silent and looked at the ground.

  “I wonder what it means,” Eddie said. “I mean…I know we’re here for a reason. There must be something we’re meant to do…but I wonder what exactly.”

  “I don’t know,” Albert said. “I wonder how much farther we have to go, what else we have to find or do.”

  “I don’t think anyone can answer that,” Malcolm said. “But I’m sure we’ll find out soon enough.” As if remembering how tired he was, Malcolm yawned.

  Seth realized how long they’d been up, and he did the same. His limbs were weary, eyelids growing heavy.

  Kinsey plucked the grass in front of her and piled it onto her lap.

  “I hope that deer comes along soon,” Eddie said. “I’d like some hot meat. Not that I’m complaining about the cereal bars.”

  A long silence followed. Kinsey stopped plucking at the grass and looked up at them. “I don’t feel the same,” she said.

  The others looked at her.

  “You know?” she said. “It’s not the same. It’s like we’re not the same anymore suddenly, any of us. We’re already different. I feel like we grew older by another ten years or something. I don’t know how to explain it. I want to go back and do fun things already. I don’t want to forget how to do fun things, you know? I feel like something’s threatening more than just us, but who we are. Something weird is happening to me, maybe to each of us, and I don’t know if I can stop it. I don’t know if I want to. It’s like some change is taking place inside, and it scares me. It’s not fair. I don’t want any of this to happen yet. I mean, I knew this wasn’t going to be easy, but what were those things back there? What if they come again? What if we’re not so lucky next time? And what if we make it back? How different will we be? Because really, this is all we have. We’ll be the only ones in town who know anything about this, what we’ve done. We’ll be outcasts.”

  Seth was surprised. He understood what she was saying, but it wasn’t the Kinsey he knew.

&
nbsp; “Hey,” he said. “What’s the matter? Why are you talking like that?” Seth tried to put his arm around her, but she shrugged him off…like a dagger in his heart.

  “Seth’s right,” Malcolm said. “I don’t think it’ll do us any good thinking or talking that way. We have to stay strong. We have to stay strong for each other. Especially when we make it back home.”

  Kinsey looked incredulous.

  “We’ll be heroes,” Gavin said, excitedly. Hearing this from Gavin was as shocking as hearing the defeat in Kinsey’s voice. “We’ll be in the paper!”

  “Who cares about the stupid paper,” Kinsey said. “That doesn’t mean anything.”

  “Come on,” Malcolm said. “It’s not gonna do any good talking this way. We have to keep each other focused.”

  “Yeah, Higgs,” Gavin said, elbowing Eddie in the arm. “Hear that? We have to keep each other focused.”

  “Call me Higgs again and see what happens,” Eddie warned.

  Gavin frowned, but the tone in Eddie’s voice was admonition enough. “What a gloomy bunch. I think I’ll go to bed.” He stood up without saying goodnight and retreated into the tent he shared with Eddie and Albert.

  “I think I’ll do the same,” Kinsey said, and followed. She disappeared between the flaps of the opposite tent.

  “What the hell was that all about?” Albert asked.

  Seth wondered as well. He hoped it was nothing more than the futility of their adventure. The palace was still miles away for all he knew. Maybe Kinsey missed Ellishome more than Seth realized.

  For the rest of the night, their conversation turned quiet, and Seth decided to head to bed as well. Maybe the mood would be lighter in the morning.

  v

  Eddie’s Journal:

  Hello fellow travelers!

  Our first day on the journey to the land of Oz has proved eventful. Still, the palace looms a day closer, whatever that means. I don’t know what’s happening to us. A while ago, Kinsey started talking about how we’re all changing, and she doesn’t feel the same. Something weird about it. She has a real defeatist attitude all of a sudden. It doesn’t make sense. Malcolm suggests we try to stay optimistic, and I agree.

  Can we be changing? I’m not sure. Seems strange, when the important thing is to stay together, but Kinsey seems to have taken a hard turn. Jeez, this is only our first day! What chance do we have, if we’ve already accepted defeat? We have to stay strong.

  As we moved through marshes (desert), shadowy monsters as big as dinosaurs chased us until, somehow, the earth cracked around us and swallowed them with beams of light.

  Sadie tried pulling Seth into the marshes. Dead Sadie, that is. I’m still unsure how we made it out of there alive. We are definitely not home anymore.

  Since then, Kinsey hasn’t been the same. I don’t know what’s wrong with her. We are moving through a fantastic wilderness where nothing is what it seems.

  Ben’s here, though. He’s a tiger, Journal. What do you think of that?

  Before all this started, Seth found a sword, or rather, Gavin found it. The sword is solid black with a shimmering black blade.

  It’s weird to think we have some role to play in the fate of Ellishome. Could there be more at stake here than we realize? I pray we’ll stay strong and true to one another.

  Gavin says we’re traveling two different worlds. That the Dragon, as we call him, and Ben are fighting between themselves, and we are moving through the destruction they leave behind. Makes no sense to me. I’m just here for the ride, I think.

  I’m worried about us, though. No one seems the same since yesterday, like we’ve all taken some negative turn. Please, God, help us through these hard times. We have so long to go and so much to do, and it’s hard staying sane, staying hopeful, when so much darkness is looming over us all the time.

  Albert keeps making comments as I write this under the beam of his flashlight. He’s wondering why I brought it, and I told him it’s to record the events of the day.

  Could it be that we’re in for more than we realize? What’s going to happen next?

  Anyway, I’m getting kind of tired. I’m hoping tomorrow will be less traumatic. It’s hard to say. Already, we seem to be slipping into the hands of the enemy. We can’t afford to lose hope. Not now.

  It is a strange land, some magical place, but dangerous, too. I miss Mom’s apple pie already and long for the comforts and warmth of home.

  Anyway, I can’t think of anything else to write, and my eyes are getting heavy. I don’t have the strength.

  We need some rest. And I agree. Until next time, Journal…

  To the palace!

  Higglesby.

  vi

  She is a demon, not an angel. She’s turning against you, all of you.

  Seth followed a beacon of light through a long, black cave. Kinsey stood on the other end, beckoning with a smile. She held something in her hands, and Seth realized—whatever it was—was alive. Blood dripped and made a wide, dark pool at her feet. Spiders crawled over her face.

  Knowing he should feel horror, but couldn’t resist, Seth stepped deeper into the corridor until he saw the expression on Kinsey’s face.

  “Take it, Seth,” she said. Her voice was the voice of Sadie’s. “Know its horror.”

  Kinsey chuckled, but this sound, too, wasn’t her own. As Seth walked the length of the cave, he saw her more vividly. Her eyes were gone. He took a step backward and realized she was holding the head of Howard Colorcup.

  He looked up at Kinsey. Her head now, as well, had been replaced. Sadie’s dead stare gazed back at him over a neck sewn between Kinsey’s shoulders.

  “Kill it, Seth,” Howard’s decapitated head spoke. “She’s betrayed you already. It’s the only way…”

  It was still Kinsey, too, though. Her soft, delicate hands held Howard’s head out to him.

  Seth pulled the black blade free and swung it at Howard’s head, sending it deeper into the cave. A squelching thump sounded when it hit the ground, and Howard’s head rolled into the darkness.

  The figure with Kinsey’s body and Sadie’s face changed again. Eight spider legs penetrated outward from the inside of Sadie’s head, spraying clumps of dark blood and brain tissue. The legs elongated, reaching to the floor. Sadie opened his mouth and let out a piercing wail, making Seth wince.

  Gritting his teeth, Seth thrust the sword through Kinsey’s stomach. Black liquid, thick as syrup, spilled from her torso.

  When he looked up, it was Kinsey’s head now instead of Sadie’s. A shocked expression crossed her face, and she tilted her head, looking into his eyes. Her mouth was filled with jagged, misaligned teeth.

  “It’s going to be fun watching you die,” she said, in a diabolical voice. “One by one. Make you suffer.” Kinsey fell forward, holding onto her gushing torso. When she hit the ground, she exploded into a thousand, quivering pieces of muscle.

  vii

  Seth awoke with a start, chest heaving, panting for breath. He turned and barely made out the quiet, sleeping form of Kinsey next to him in the dark.

  He stared wide-eyed into the blackness. The wind was cold, fluttering at the tent. He shivered, unable to remember when he’d dreamed something so vile before.

  He closed his eyes, trying to will the vision away. When his breathing slowed, he realized how quiet it was in the dark.

  Leaves rustled in the wind. Kinsey breathed softly, while Malcolm lightly snored.

  Seth was sweating, his neck and face saturated. He wiped his brow.

  When he was able to relax, when the dream began to fade, he lay back down, and stared into the dark, gently touching Kinsey’s hand. He closed his eyes. The horrors of the day, and now the disturbing nightmare, had sapped him of his strength.

  Surprising him, Kinsey’s hand squeezed his in return. With it, Seth breathed easier. He had to get some rest. He’d been jarred awake twice in the last day, and hadn’t slept much the night before.

  Ellishome seemed miles
away. The palace…even farther still…

  Seth steered his thoughts toward Ben and closed his eyes.

  CHAPTER V

  The morning sun emerged between broken clouds, warming the tents. Their clothes had dried somewhat during the night after the cold rain but were still damp, so they changed into drier garments. Packing their supplies after a light breakfast, they headed out for the second day.

  Seth watched Kinsey carefully, stealing glimpses of her out of the corner of his eye. He’d slept harder and more peacefully after his nightmare, and for the first time in days, he finally felt rested and refreshed.

  Kinsey turned to him and smiled as they walked, a wave of relief washing over him. Whatever doubt she’d experienced the day before seemed to have lifted.

  They were silent as the sun rose higher, and they trekked deeper into the foothills. The land unfolded with patches of wildflowers: miner’s candle and wayleaf thistle.

  Even Gavin, Seth noticed, seemed to have gained strength since yesterday. He walked with more sureness, smiling often, despite his still swollen face. Regardless of the horrors, getting away from home was exactly what Gavin needed.

  Kinsey had been right. They weren’t the same, even now. Something strange, even extraordinary was happening. Seth couldn’t tell what it was, but it seemed more prevalent with each step they took. The land was changing them from the inside out. He no longer felt that vibrant wonder, his vivid imagination, able to believe in the impossible. He was growing up whether he wanted to or not. This journey—wherever it may lead—was only hastening the process.

  “I’m sorry about last night, guys,” Kinsey said, loud enough for everyone to hear. “I don’t know what was wrong with me. Yesterday…I’m just scared. I mean…I knew this wasn’t going to be easy, but…what happened back there…I just didn’t know we would have to go through something like that.”

  “Hey,” Albert said. He walked up to Kinsey and put a hand on her shoulder. “We all have to go crazy every now and then. Look at Higgs. He’s recording everything in a journal. Thinks he’s gonna get it published and become a famous writer someday.”