by L. C. Miller
“Wow!” Abby exclaimed as she looked around. They were high off the ground and she could barely make out Ethan waving across the field. “How long does it last?”
Martin answered, “It all depends. They can be either really long or very short. I believe the shortest game was about three minutes. Whoever gets four of the five racers to the finish line the quickest wins.”
“Whose mazes are down there?” asked Abby, looking as the empty rows of fields.
“Stone Leprechauns and Sea Serpents are racing first,” said Martin.
“They look pretty empty—” began Abby, seconds before bells started ringing. “Wow.” The once empty fields below the red tower erupted with loud splashes. It now held a massive lake with water splashing high in the air. The field in front of Abby changed to a murky brown color and she barely made out little shadows of something moving underneath it. “What is that?”
Martin shrugged. “I don’t know. The races start all the way at the other end, which is why there are four referees from the three remaining houses. They are spread out to watch the back three fields. The teachers watch the fourth through the seventh fields.”
“What position is Carly?” asked Viviane.
“What happened?” yelled Paul as cheers ran up the Sea Serpents’ blue tower. In the distance, they could see specks of people flying on broomsticks.
“She’s a chaser,” Abby answered.
“What is that?” asked Viviane, peering through Martin’s binoculars.
It appeared as if creatures were jumping in the air trying to hit flying students. “They look like small squids or something,” said Abby, squinting.
“Octopuses,” Martin corrected automatically before looking embarrassed.
“Nerd.” A few older students in green robes behind him snickered. Martin hung his head and hunched his shoulders before Abby put her arm around him.
Cheers erupted from the Stone Leprechauns’ gray tower as one of their members passed through the first field, and then the second. “Looks like they had to catch one,” remarked Martin as one of the students in gray came flying by carrying a large bag.
He hadn’t gotten very far when suddenly a person in blue came after him. “That’s Carly!” Abby said excitedly. “Go, Carly!” she started yelling.
Abby was hardly paying attention to the loud speaker until it suddenly announced, “Nathan from the Sea Serpents is the first to reach the last field. It’s about time, too! I’ve wanted to know what was hidden under all that muck.”
Groans and boos started as snakes, including anacondas, sprang from the depths to attach themselves to students flying through. Abby watched in horror as the snakes started dragging the student down.
“I’m not surprised they would do something like that,” said a disgusted Viviane.
“Won’t that drown them?” asked Abby, staring when the giant snake wrapped itself around the student.
“Yay!” Martin and Paul started yelling as another blue student flew up. They watched as he pointed his wand at the giant snake and in seconds it turned to dust.
“What is he covered in?” asked a grossed out Viviane. Abby saw the student was glistening as if covered in some sort of slime.
“Look! The snakes can’t attach themselves to him,” said Martin, pointing. He was right; every snake that came from the water fell back down, unable to get a hold of the student.
“Okay, that’s two Serpents who’ve completed the maze,” the announcer said. “Oh, what’s that? A Stone finally made it through the third section of the race. Let’s see if he can make it through the fourth.”
Abby watched anxiously while the gray-robed racer made it halfway across the field. The calm water suddenly became rapid. Loops of water started springing all around the student.
She watched as he tried to shield his eyes from the spray. Boos echoed when a gray teammate slammed into the water.
The loud speaker came across the fields. “What an amazing belly flop that one was. Sure to leave a mark!” the announcer chortled.
Two more students in gray flew around the water. One of the students used his wand and shoved back a wave that was trying to take him down. Abby and Viviane started yelling as both of the students in gray touched down.
Abby barely heard the voice over the loud speaker as she searched for Carly. “Do you guys see her?” Gasps sounded as another blue-robed student flew past with a gray-robed student on her tail. Cheers erupted when blue teammate looped through and around the snakes trying to grab her.
“There’s Carly!” shrieked Viviane as Carly came flying right behind another student in a gray robe. A loop of water shot out and Abby yelled as he slammed into Carly, slinging her into the water. It was now neck and neck for two students, one from each class, as they raced toward the finish line.
The student in a blue robe struck out against the one in gray with his bag. What looked like slime hit the gray-robed student full in the face. He shrieked and clawed at his eyes. “Joseph is closer to the line,” wailed Martin. “The Stones will win again!”
Seconds away from the finish line, the student in gray found himself facing another loop of water. Trying to aim for the center hole, he did not see Carly burst out of the water. She slammed into him, throwing him off course. He yelled as he hit a wave. Cheers echoed when the fourth blue student made it to the finish line.
“The Serpents win! The Serpents win!” the voice yelled through the loud speaker. Excitement rang through the students as they made their way down the tower.
“Do they get a prize?” asked Abby.
“We don’t know yet,” said Paul. “Do you see that spiral post right there? The one with all the different colored gems in it?” Viviane pointed across the field. Abby nodded, looking at it through Martin’s binoculars.
“The principal is turning something on it,” Abby said.
“How many points the winning team gets depends on what color drops. Emeralds are fifty-four points; rubies are seventy-nine points; cat eyes are ninety-seven points; onyxes are two hundred and three points; and diamonds are worth one thousand points,” explained Martin.
“But don’t hold your breath for a diamond to drop. One hasn’t dropped in almost two hundred years,” Viviane stated.
“Looks like the Serpents received the cat eye. That’s ninety-seven points for the Serpents, folks,” said the overhead speaker.
“What are the points for?” Abby asked.
“Whoever wins the game gets to turn the post. Whoever has the most points in the end wins some pretty cool prizes.”
“Last year the Griffins won a day off. Of course they took it on exam day, so they got off really lucky.”
After leaving the green tower, Abby found Carly in the middle of the now clear field, cheering with what seemed like all of the Serpents.
“That was awesome!” cheered Abby, giving Carly a hug. Face flushed, Carly beamed. “Come on, Blue, time to go get cleaned up,” said a teacher.
“Who is that?” asked Abby.
“Oh, that’s the water creature teacher,” replied Carly, giggling and trying to wring water out of her robe. Abby walked with her toward the boats. “She’s the leader of our house. Besides being in the water, I think this is the only time she comes out of her rooms. I can’t wait until I have her next year; I heard she is an awesome teacher. She’s like Mr. Figg, but she teaches about mythical water creatures instead of land ones.”
Ethan and Aaron came running up, cheering. Laughing, Carly said, “Don’t forget, Dad said you guys had to come to dinner tonight!” She waved bye as the teacher called to her again. “See you guys soon! And I hope you get to referee tomorrow, Ethan!”
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Abby ate breakfast the following morning with a gloomy Ethan. “Look at it this way,” said Brannon, “you’ll be playing in your own game soon enough.”
“Yeah, but refereeing is half the fun. You’re up in the air with them, monitoring from the high towers instead of the l
ower ones.”
Shrugging, Brannon grabbed a muffin and bit in. “Well, maybe next week you can be a referee.” Brannon left the kitchen as Mrs. Herrin came in.
“What time does the game start?” she asked, grabbing her purse. “Your father and I are going to go visit Eleanor, but we want to make it back in time.”
“Starts at three,” answered Ethan with his mouth full.
“Good. If we don’t see you there, we will see you afterward. Dinner is at Emily’s tonight. And, Ethan, don’t speak with your mouth full.”
Ethan choked on his muffins, and Abby laughed as Mrs. Herrin left.
Later that afternoon, Abby sat with Martin, Viviane, and Paul again at the top of the green tower. This time, Chris and Rosie joined them. “Aaron’s a racer, ain’t he?” asked Rosie, grabbing a handful of popcorn. Martin and Abby nodded.
“I wonder what they are going to do,” Viviane said excitedly. A siren sounded in the distance.
This time the field in front of the green tower held the Griffons’ fields. Using a new pair of binoculars, Abby saw many black circles on the ground. “I wonder what all those are.”
“They look like flying ants on sticks,” Rosie commented, squinting to see the racers. Laughing, Abby agreed. “Oh, holy moly!” screamed Rosie when a student in gray dived as little paper birds flew at him.
“They charmed paper birds,” Viviane giggled.
“They’re dive-bombing the students,” Paul said at the same time.
“Do you see Aaron?” Abby asked, looking around for him.
“Is that him?” asked Martin, pointing to a blond student in blue, who was trying to shake off some slime.
“Eh, could be,” Abby replied, trying to study the flying figure.
Viviane grimaced. “Looks like he got to wear the slime today.”
“Looks like Aaron from the Griffons and Sean from the Stones are neck and neck for the third field. Come on, guys, give us some action!” the voice on the overhead yelled cheerfully.
“Yes!” said Chris, whooping. “Now we get to see what those black holes are about.” As soon as the student in gray started to cross the last field, he was flung high into the air, losing control of his broom.
“Oh man, those are air sockets,” Chris exclaimed.
Abby watched the student toss around. “What’s an air socket?” she asked Chris.
“It’s where very strong air is pushed through those little holes. That’s why it’s hard to get around them. It’s a spell we’ll get to learn next year. There are only a few paths you can use to get around them.”
Abby went back to watching through her binoculars as another student in gray tried to get around the air sockets.
“That’s one for the Griffons, folks,” the overhead yelled as Aaron touched down.
Abby jumped up and down as she cheered for him.
Four hours later, the Griffons had beaten the Stones with four landings to three. “Principal Bauble is turning the wheel now, folks, let’s see what the Griffons get,” yelled the overhead. “Ruby it is, ladies and gents; seventy-nine points for the Griffons.”
Dinner at Aaron’s was more like a party by the time Abby and the Herrins arrived. Besides Carly and her father, two Griffon students in yellow gear were there as well. “Abby, this is Joseph and Parker,” Ethan introduced them.
“You’re the Unrestricted, right?” Joseph asked Abby, shaking her hand. Nodding, Abby changed her hair to bright green. “That is so cool.”
Laughing, Abby handed Aaron a jar of crickets. “Here, I brought Fintz a present.”
“Is that the pet you were talking about the other day?” Parker asked.
“Want to see her?” offered Aaron and led the five of them into his room. “Aw, Fintz,” groaned Aaron as Abby and Carly giggled.
Fintz, covered in feathers, was happily gnawing away at one of Aaron’s mythical creatures books. “Another pillow and a book?” Ethan asked, grinning. Handing Abby the jar of crickets, Aaron made a grab for his half-eaten book.
Screeching, Fintz jumped into the air. She landed on Aaron’s bookshelf, knocking most of them off, before jumping again and landing on a pile of clean clothes. “No, not those. Those are new!” Aaron made another grab for Fintz. This time it wasn’t just Abby and Carly laughing, but Parker and Joseph joined in.
“Look, Fintz, food!” Abby said, opening the jar of crickets. Screeching, Fintz hopped at Abby’s feet, trying to get the jumping crickets.
“I swear,” said Aaron out of breath, “I can’t wait till she flies.” Picking up his destroyed mythical creatures book, he hung his head. “Mom’s gonna kill me.”
“Oh, it’s okay,” said Parker. “They moved Figg into the building for the rest of the school year, remember? We don’t need this book anymore. We need the new one by Mandalay Sewers.”
“For the rest of the school year?” asked Carly.
“Did he say why?” Abby inquired.
Parker seemed confused. “No, he just moved everyone inside. I have my first class inside next week. He also said not to worry too much about the exams since learning about inside creatures is so new most of our questions will be on outside creatures.”
Later that night, Ethan asked Abby if they could visit her tree friends to see if they had learned anything. “Hey, guys, how’s it going?” Piney almost screamed when Abby stepped up next to him.
“Abby!” said Orn, surprised. “What are you doing out here so late? And who’s that?” Ethan looked up to see a large branch dangling in his hair.
“Wants to know who you are,” Abby explained to him. “It’s Ethan. Do you remember him? From last fall?”
“Of course I do.” Abby wasn’t convinced Orn did remember, but was interrupted before she could say anything. “You two should not be out late at night,” Orn told Abby. “You need to go home, Abby, where it’s safe.”
Abby gazed up at Orn. “But what about you guys? Do you remember anything about what the lightning dwellers do?”
Orn shook his branches roughly as Piney sniffled.
“It’s okay, Piney. I’m sure you’ll be okay.” Abby patted Piney’s trunk.
Orn snorted. “I spend half my time comforting him,” he said, sighing.
Abby looked at him and smiled. “Well, what else are you going to do? You’re stuck with him the same way he’s stuck with you.” Orn sighed heavily as Piney and Barky laughed.
“Does he know anything?” Ethan asked.
Orn spoke to Abby for a minute and then she translated to Ethan. “First, he said chill out. Second, he thinks more might have joined the group. He also believes it might not be lightning dwellers after all because they don’t group together like these things are.”
Ethan nodded as he listened. “Does he know where they are? Can we go look at them?”
“Absolutely not,” Orn said sternly.
Rubbing her ears, Abby repeated the message.
“Okay, okay, we won’t go look for them,” Ethan said grudgingly.
Bombers came up around Abby’s shoe. Picking him up, Abby turned to Ethan. “Besides, we really should be studying for exams.”
“Oh, exams! I want one,” Piney spoke wistfully, temporarily distracted.
Orn rolled his branches at Piney. “Kids …” He sighed heavily. “You be safe, Abby. Tell What’s-His-Name to be safe, too.”
Giggling, Abby translated for Ethan. Theyy said farewell to the trees and started back through the woods. “I feel really silly talking to them,” Ethan admitted.
“I wish you could hear them. They sound really neat. Take Orn, for instance. He sounds very old, but very intelligent,” Abby tried to imitate Orn’s gravelly voice.
Laughing, they went inside the house. “I think we’re meeting in the library tomorrow to try to study,” said Ethan, yawning.
Nodding to let him know she heard, Abby went on to her room.
She met everyone at an empty table in the library the next day before classes. Ethan kept running his hand th
rough his hair in frustration. “How in the world can I remember all of the twenty-seven histories of Sassafras the English Herbalist? I don’t care about him! I need to be out there practicing for our race!” Ethan jumped when a loud sound popped above their heads.
A scroll fell out from the bubble and clattered onto the table. Abby quickly grabbed it as the school librarian came hurrying over, demanding to know what the all ruckus was about. She left after they promised to be quiet. “What’s it say?” asked Carly as the three of them leaned into Abby.
Opening the scroll, Abby quickly read it and then told the others, “It’s from Rainy. Mia wants me to come by tonight to practice. I’ll need to start going every night to get ready for the dance.”
The librarian came by again, glaring them into silence.
“So, what’s this dance about?” asked Carly as they made their way to their next class. Abby shook her head and smiled at her. “That’s so not fair,” grumbled Carly as she and Aaron went to morphing class.
Abby was fuming by the time DETs was over. Her left arm still twitched where Terry had hit it with a jinx. “Did he have to hit it that hard?” Abby grumbled alongside Ethan.
“He’s just showing his anticipation for the race on Saturday. The Dragons haven’t beaten the Stones in more than seven years,” Ethan explained apologetically.
By the time classes were over for the day, Abby was ready to go to the camp. Teachers flew in the air on broomsticks as students left for the day. Aaron, Carly, and Ethan went straight over to Aaron’s house for their homework.
Natt, Micah, and Bastian were waiting for Abby when she arrived at home. “I didn’t know you had a Glider,” said Micah, impressed.
“Can we ride it back?” Natt wondered as he came up to it. Bastian hissed menacingly at the floating carpet.
“I don’t think Bastian would enjoy the flight,” said Mrs. Herrin as she came outside. Abby ran upstairs to change clothes, checked her plants, and picked up Bombers.
She let him go outside. “You guys be careful,” warned Mrs. Herrin as Abby left on foot with Micah, Natt, and Bastian.
