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The Emerald Dragon
By Jan Fields Annie's
Copyright © 2014 Annie's
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-57367-468-3
CHAPTER 1
The Invitation
Shaylee scooped up the notebook and her favorite purple pen with the fluffy feathers on top. She sat cross-legged on her bed and stared at the smooth blank page of the notebook. "I can't believe I have homework and school hasn't even started yet," she grumbled. It wasn't really homework, of course. It was really her friend Rissa's idea that she and her five friends each write down what happened when they all saved the Wellspring of Magic.
Then she wrote:
"It began with the strange packages. We each got one. I mean me, Shaylee; plus Alysa and Rachel, who are twins; and Kaida, Marisol, and Larissa. Only we don't ever call Alysa or Larissa by their real names because they sound so much alike. We call them Aly and Rissa."
Shaylee frowned and scribbled out the part about the names, muttering, "That's goofy. We know what our names are." Then she took a deep breath and went on writing.
"Inside each package was a magnet thing with a picture on it. We didn't know they were magical keys to a different world until later."
Shaylee stared at the paragraph. That's not really when it started, she realized. It started when all the houses in their neighborhood sold at the same time, and all to families with girls about the same age. She scribbled that down, and then stopped. Maybe it didn't really start then. Maybe it started when the girls met and found the funny park in the middle of the neighborhood.
"The park was full of weeds and bugs and statues of people that no one knew. We made a clubhouse in an old building at the middle of the park. We still go there almost every day to hang out and do crafts and talk about Wellspring. That's where Rissa said we should all write down what happened, so we'll have a record. Sometimes Rissa is a little bossy."
Shaylee tickled her nose with the pen's feathers as she stopped and thought. Then she scratched out the last sentence a bunch of times. "I should stick to the adventure part," she muttered. She took a deep breath and wrote really fast.
"The magnet things make some kind of hole when we stick them together. We used the hole to go into a different world that we call Wellspring, but the people there just call it 'the Realm' which sounds kind of old-fashioned to me. When we're there, we're all princesses, and we can do magic."
Shaylee stopped again and wondered if she should add that they couldn't do the magic very well most of the time. Then she sighed. "Just write fast and get it over with," she told herself.
"When we're in this magic world, we're all good at different things. I had to do a special dance to bring the magic water back to the fountain, the Wellspring of Magic. But first we had to go on this huge quest, and everybody had to work together. Rachel talks to animals, Aly talks to plants, Rissa can turn her poems into magic spells, Marisol can turn into a mermaid, and Kaida is just more Kaida than ever. She can start fires by just thinking about it, which was really helpful when we were all dripping wet and cold.
"Anyway, while we were there, we met these bears who could turn into people, but they were stuck being bears until we fixed the Wellspring. We also met people who made magical jewelry, and they gave each of us a special bead. We even met a dragon who lived in a river and almost drowned me. It turned out that he was nice, just a little scary at first.
"The magic that was left in the Realm before we fixed the Wellspring of Magic was changing, going bad. We saw plants that drank blood, and I had to help save one of the Guardian bears from the vampire plants because only I was small enough. That was scary, but not as scary as fighting giant spiders at the fountain. So even though we had to do a lot of stuff, we fixed the Wellspring of Magic and were able to come home again. We're thinking we'll go back soon, but I don't know when."
Shaylee stared at her notebook and sighed. She sure hoped everyone else wrote better reports than she did. "Maybe I should write more about the dancing part," she muttered.
Shaylee jumped when she heard a sharp rap at the door just before it flew open. Rissa burst in, and Shaylee gawked at her.
"Your hair is pink!" Shaylee exclaimed. Rissa's chin-length hair was a soft cotton-candy pink.
"The temporary red from yesterday didn't wash all the way out," Rissa said.
"It's pretty."
"You just say that because it matches your ..." Rissa paused and glanced around the room, "everything."
Shaylee's room was decorated in shades of pink with a few green accent pieces. Rissa turned in a slow circle as she looked at everything. "Wow," she said, "your room looks like the inside of someone's nose!"
"Ewww, thanks," Shaylee said. "If I wanted to hear gross stuff about my room, I could ask my brothers. Did you want something?"
"Oh, right. There's an emergency meeting at the clubhouse."
Shaylee looked at her friend nervously. She figured the girls were getting anxious to go back to the magical world, but Shaylee was in no hurry. It was cool to be able to do magic, but their last adventure was really scary. Finally, she sighed and asked, "Why?"
"Have you looked at your Realm key lately?" Rissa asked.
Shaylee shook her head as she hopped up off her bed. "I've been doing clubhouse homework." She walked over to her small pink-and-white desk and pulled open the drawer. A soft light pulsed from inside the drawer. Shaylee picked up her glowing Realm key.
As she held the quarter-sized triangle of metal in her hand, the glow brightened, and an image appeared in the air over the key. It looked like a square envelope with a thick wax seal on the flap. The seal was stamped with the same figure of the dancing fairy that was on Shaylee's Realm key.
As Shaylee watched, the seal broke and the envelope opened. A card slipped out and hung in the air in the light of the Realm key. The print on the card was fancy, and Shaylee squinted to make out the words:
Official Invitation to the Celebration of Gratitude and Joy Honoring the return of Wellspring And the Courage of the Six Princesses of the Realm In the Village of the Meadow Folk On the last day of the Feast Cycle
"When's the last day of the Feast Cycle?" she asked.
"We don't know," Rissa said. "That's why we're having the meeting."
Shaylee closed her hand over the glowing Realm key, and the image of the invitation vanished. She slipped the key into the pocket of her pink skinny jeans and grinned at her friend. "I love parties. They're way more fun than giant spiders and vampire plants. Let's go!"
As Rissa and Shaylee walked between the strange statues in the park to reach the clubhouse, Shaylee kept her eyes down. Normally she liked statues, but these gave her the creeps. They all looked angry. Who would fill a park full of grumpy marble people? Their neighborhood was full of weird mysteries like that.
When they walked into the old stone building they used for a clubhouse, Kaida was leaning against the table where they did their crafts. She looked up as soon as they stepped inside and said, "Great, we can get started."
"Started doing what?" Shaylee asked.
"Since we don't know what the Feast Cycle is," Aly answered, "we thought we'd go into the Realm and ask."
"We don't want to miss the party," Marisol added. She stood and danced with her hands in the air. "I love parties."
"Me too," Shaylee agreed, though she had hoped they'd have a little more time to get used to the idea of jumping back into the magical land. It did make sense to check on the date though. "Should we put the keys on the table like last time?"
Kaida shook her head. "It was too hard climbing down into the hole. I think we should try putting them on the wall. They could make something more like a window."
The girls gathered around a flat expanse of wall. "Do you think they'll stick?" Shaylee asked.
"They do," Aly said, putting her key with its delicate flower and vine design on the wall. "We already tried."
Rachel pressed her key with the bear on it to the wall near her twin sister's. The two keys snapped together. "If it opens back into the forest, we can ask Fleet about the date," Rachel said.
Shaylee glanced at her friend and noticed Rachel's pink cheeks. She suspected Rachel had a crush on Fleet — at least when he was in his cute guy form.
Rissa added her key with the open book design. She whispered, "Rachel's got a boyfriend."
Rachel gave her a friendly shove and laughed. "We're just friends."
"Sure," Kaida said, as her flying unicorn key snapped into place. "We totally believe you."
"Totally," added Marisol, pressing her key into place. The river dragon on the key seemed to glow brighter as the keys united.
Then the girls turned to Shaylee. The younger girl held her key tightly in her hand. "Everything will be OK," she told herself. Then she stepped forward and slipped her key into place with shaky fingers. "I just hope we can stay away from spiders this time."
The keys made a tight ring on the wall, and the small circle of rock in the middle seemed to disappear as if the girls could see through to the outside. Then the keys slid apart slightly, and the hole grew bigger. A thin, green face popped up into the empty space, and Shaylee shrieked.
"It's about time!" the frowning man snapped. "We have much to do." He reached up and stretched the hole until his upper body showed clearly. He was dressed in a fancy white shirt and a green vest heavily embroidered with brightly colored flowers and vines.
"Who are you?" Kaida asked, frowning.
"I am Thornspinner Flax Martinsong," he said. "It is my job to help you princesses prepare for the celebration. I am the director of protocol and decorum. We understand that even though you are princesses, you have grown up in a barbaric world and aren't likely to know how to behave in proper company."
"Don't know how to behave?" Kaida echoed, frowning. "There is nothing wrong with our manners." Then she looked at Rissa, who was grinning. "Well, maybe Rissa could use some work, but the rest of us do just fine."
"I went to my cousin's wedding," Marisol added. "It was very fancy, so I learned all about proper manners."
Shaylee had actually read a couple of books on manners, so she thought she was probably OK on most things, but she still wouldn't mind listening just to be sure. "It would be OK to get a few tips," she said. She turned toward the man in the wall. "When is the celebration?"
"The last day of the Feast Cycle, of course," the thin man said, speaking as if Shaylee was unusually stupid. "Didn't you princesses read your invitations?" "When is the last day of the Feast Cycle?" Kaida asked. Her voice was very quiet, and her friends knew that meant she was getting really mad. The fussy man must have sensed it because he took a small step away from the hole.
"Tomorrow," he said. "It begins early."
"Then you better just hit the high points on the manners stuff," Rissa suggested. "What do we have to know?"
"Well, your clothes will be taken care of after you arrive. Do try to do something nice with your hair," he said, looking pointedly at Rissa. "And we should go through gift protocol."
"We get gifts?" Shaylee said, delighted at the idea of more magical gifts.
"Get and give," the man responded, and again he seemed to think the question ridiculous. "It's a gratitude celebration." He glanced from girl to girl, clearly expecting that to be meaningful. Then he shook his head sadly. "Everyone will bring a gift. It should be wrapped. Make certain the wrapping reflects something about you as the giver. And the gift must be something you have made."
"But we just found out about it today!" Kaida yelped.
"You should not have waited so long to open the doorway," the man answered. "We sent the invitations well in advance."
"But the keys only started glowing yesterday," Rachel said.
The man looked startled. "Oh, it must take longer for magic to reach your land than we thought. Well, don't worry. Allowances will be made."
"OK, look," Kaida said. "We have to go work on our presents. Any other stuff about how we're supposed to act, you can tell us in the morning. So, um, bye." She reached out and snatched her Realm key from the wall, and the doorway vanished. Then she turned around with a panicked look on her face. "Presents? How are we going to come up with presents by tomorrow?"
CHAPTER 2
Party Day
Shaylee studied the wrapped present lying on the desk before her and wondered if it needed more flowers. Finally, she glued a small silk butterfly on instead and decided it looked as good as it was going to. She scooped it up and slipped it into her dance bag.
Hurrying toward the clubhouse in the middle of the park, she caught sight of Rissa. Her present was wrapped in brightly colored comic strips with a fluffy scarf tied around it.
"Your gift wrap really looks wild," Shaylee said.
"You know that's how I like it," Rissa responded with a grin.
The girls hurried into the clubhouse where the others had already gathered. "How come I always seem to be last?" Shaylee asked.
"Because Aly's moving faster these days," Rachel said with a laugh.
"Hey," Aly said, "I wasn't always last."
"Not always," Kaida said. "There was that time Marisol turned her ankle. She was definitely slower than you then."
"For a couple days, as I remember," Marisol said, looking up from her package where she was tying on some bells and ribbons threaded with beads.
"Are we ready to go?" Kaida asked. Her present was the largest, but almost flat. It was wrapped in plain brown paper that Kaida had stamped all over with different dragon stamps and then tied with twine. It was cool looking, in a totally Kaida way.
"What's your gift?" Shaylee asked.
"That cross-stitch dragon picture I've been working on," Kaida said. "I worked like crazy half the night getting it done and framed."
"Oh, that picture is gorgeous!" Marisol exclaimed, as they walked to the wall to place their Realm keys. "My painted seashell is going to look totally lame next to that."
Shaylee's stomach clenched as each of her friends placed their keys on the wall. She hoped her gift was a hit, but mostly she hoped this visit wouldn't be as scary as the last one. With a trembling hand, she placed her key last and then held her breath as they waited for the window to the Realm to appear.
The smooth wall seemed to fade away, and they saw a brightly lit morning on a bustling cobblestone street. Almost immediately they heard an excited squeal, and a friendly green face popped into view.
"Princesses!" said the green-haired girl, who was one of the Meadow Folk who lived in the Village of the Realm.
"Eidermoss!" Shaylee cried. She was delighted to see the friendly face instead of the grouchy man she was expecting.
Eidermoss tried to hug Shaylee right through the narrow gap but got stuck in the hole. She wiggled, and the gap widened. Then the other girls pulled the opening wider so they could step through.
"I'm so glad you came," Eidermoss gushed excitedly. "Thorny said you were coming, but he talks so much and so long that sometimes I fall asleep, and I'm not always sure exactly what he said."
"Thorny?" Rissa asked.
Eidermoss giggled. "That's his nickname. Not that we say it to him. But he is prickly, don't you think?"
"Not to mention bossy," Kaida added. "Where is he?"
"Oh, someone put the wrong flowers in entirely the wrong spot," Eidermoss said, imitating the grumpy man's high-pitched rant. Then she giggled again. "I agreed to meet you and make sure you were appropriate."
"And are we?" Shaylee asked nervously.
"Oh, you're wonderful," Eidermoss said. "But you might want to change your clothes. Everyone will be wearing dance dresses. Well, everyone except the menfolk that is."
"OK," Rachel said. "We made our clothes change the last time we were here. We just hold hands and kind of imagine — right?"
The girls nodded and joined hands. Then Shaylee said, "Maybe you could hold hands with us too, Eidermoss, to help. You could think about what might be nice for us to wear."
Eidermoss squealed with joy and rushed over to join hands with the others. Then they closed their eyes. Shaylee pictured something like a dance costume, long and swirling. She could feel the bodice of the dress smooth against her skin like satin and the skirt flow in layers down her legs. She pictured dancing slippers and felt them gently hug her feet. Then her eyes popped open, and she looked around.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from The Emerald Dragon by Jan Fields. Copyright © 2014 Annie's. Excerpted by permission of Annie's.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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