Blood oozed out of bodies. Screams wandered through the air. Lightning struck a garbage can. Clash! Damon walked beside Joey, holding a knife. Blood dripped from the blade into a pond, feathering through a school of fish. The moon’s reflection glistened on the water’s surface. Joey’s eyes gleamed brown.
“I want the pearl!” moaned Damon.
Joey ran out into the woods, clutching a handful of shiny orbs. In the middle of the strand hung a glass pearl. Legend said it gives power to the one who shines it on the full moon. He ran straight and saw nothing but trees. Then Damon held the knife in front of him. “Give me the pearl!” he shouted. Joey ran deeper into the woods until he came to a ledge. A waterfall poured into a pond beneath him. Sharks circled around. Joey quickly jumped in. Splash.
“I’ll find you later,” Damon called.
Glug, glug, glug! Joey gasped for air. Something rubbed against his leg, leathery and rough. It was Damon’s shoe.
Joey pointed at the necklace in his fist. “Why do you need it?
“He who holds the pearl controls the world,” Damon said, twisting his head. Damon dragged Joey out of the pond up by his collar and cut the string of the pearls, scattering all but one to the bottom of the pond. He slammed Joey down to the ground.
“Now you must obey my master,” said Damon, roping Joey’s wrists together.
“I don’t want to,” said Joey, but Damon’s crimson eyes hypnotized him. “Yes I must.”
“You will meet him now.”
Damon led Joey toward a crystal cave. Gems, rubies, and emeralds glittered on the walls. Standing in front of the cave was an altar. Flames flashed from two pillars. Between them was a table set with a bowl.
“Now my master shall arise.” Damon dropped the remaining pearl into the bowl, a ring of fire circling the bowl as the gem fell. Thunder roared and lightning sparked. Wind rocked the bowl. Whoosh. The pearl spun. Then all the lightning and thunder vanished and it was a clear night sky. Stars blinked, the moon glistened.
“Nothing is happening?” Damon said to himself, but behind him black smoke swirled through the air. Joey stared into the distance. The smoke floated towards the moon. Two ruby eyes dotted the forest. From between two tall trees, a dragon swooped over the altar. His eyes stuttered as he looked the pearl. Little gusts of wind froze Joey’s fingers as the dragon led him towards the ledge of the cliff.
“Don’t!” said Damon.
“Why shouldn’t I?” said the dragon. “My name is Drogan, the God of Evil, isn’t it? Are you questioning me?”
“Yes, what would you do with the pearl then?”
“You will find out. Do you remember that the pearl can raise the dead?”
“You are going to do that?”
“Yes! So if you want to live, listen.” Damon plucked the pearl from its bowl, climbed onto Drogan’s back and they flew to a cemetery. The dragon pointed a claw at a moss-covered cross. “Now place the pearl on top of this.” Damon did as he was told and the cross cracked. Snails crawled all over it, sliming the wood.
“Lift it so that it glows in the moon’s light, and point the light into the hole in the cross.”
Damon balanced the pearl on the cross. Behind the cross was a chest, and in the chest was a staff. Drogan clawed the staff and shouted, “Arise, my friends, and listen to my command!” Then groaning rose from the ground.
“It worked, master.”
“Yes I know.” Drogan rose the staff into the air and arms and legs grew out of the ground. Then bodies and heads popped out too. They walked towards Damon. Arms crumpled to the ground. Blood splattered on the gravel. One of the bodies tripped on a rock and toppled another behind him. The smell of rotting flesh strangled Damon’s lungs.
“I can’t breath.” Damon swayed through the army of shredded bodies, rubbing his neck. Drogan hovered overhead, now with Joey on his back. Damon floated into the air, still rubbing his neck, and landed beside Joey on Drogan’s back.
“Where are those things going?” said Damon.
“To the city to get more, and they all obey me!” said Drogan.
“So what are you going to do with the kid?”
“I will...”
“You will what?”
“This,” he said, flying over the ocean, throwing Joey’s body into the blue water. “We won’t be seeing him any more.” Damon sprouted wings and flew with Drogan towards the rising sun. Flames burst out of his flesh. The heat scorched Drogan’s scales, throwing them off his body and turning them to meteors that scattered over the earth. One crashed onto the Great Wall of China. Tourists took pics and tweeted, The sky is falling!
“Why must you do this, master?” said Damon. “You destroyed your home. Where will we go?”
“If you say one more thing I will burn off your wings and you will fall to your death.”
Damon turned around and watched the earth disappear.
“I remember now,” Damon said.
“You remember what?”
“I remember now that I am a human. I was born on earth. My mom died when I was born, before she died, I was wrapped in a blue cloth and placed in a basket then dropped in a river. I floated to the entrance of your cave. That is where you found me.”
“How can you still remember that?” Drogan said. Somehow. Damon fluttered down to earth.
Joey floated in the sea. Some sharks swam up beneath him, looking like they were going to attack, but they didn’t.
“We know how you feel, Joey,” one of the sharks said.
“How do you know me?”
“We heard you talking to Damon and saw you fall into the pond. We were there, Joey.”
“We feel nothing,” said the second shark, “and so do you.”
“Nothing?” Joey whispered. Nothing...
About the Author
Hi! My name is Wendy and I am eleven years old. I live in San Francisco, sometimes in Chinatown with my mom, grandma, and my brother, and sister, sometimes on Polk Street with my dad and the lady from Beijing. (Read about her in my book, My Family Who Cares About Me But Also Makes Me Crazy.) I speak Chinese at home, and my family comes from China, somewhere I have never been. If I were weather I would be a cloud so I could watch all my friends from above. I would like to be a photographer when I grow up, because I like to take pictures and hold a camera. This is my fourth published book, and the last book I am ever going to write in Room 2.
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