I took my position at the head of the bed, and Deli jumped up beside me.

“Press the CRUISE
MODE button again,” she commanded. I may have been flying the bed, but I didn’t feel much
like I was in charge. 

Right after I pressed it, the bed started to shake. The orange shield receded slowly, and I felt the
temperature drop. The pillow popped up into my hands, and I grabbed it, doing my best to steady
the bed. Deli pointed to a large cloud which was now directly in front of us. I noticed that it was
in an odd shape: long in the body, but still thick, and there was a wisp of cloud coming out of the
top. 

Soy recognized it before I did. “It’s a whale!” he shouted. 

I steered the bed upward, heading for the tail. We followed its curve and headed up the back. I
had underestimated how fast we were going and we passed right over most of the body in a few
seconds. 

We were almost at the head when Deli yelled, “Drop us down!” 

I pushed down hard on the pillow, and we broke through the top edge of the cloud, just a little
past the blowhole. There was a flash of white, and I felt a cool wet breeze. A split-second later I
felt warm, like it was a spring day. The white surrounding us turned to open space, and I realized
that this cloud wasn’t solid. It was hollow. 

I looked down and saw green speckled with small squares, and there were shapes moving around
in-between them on tan lines. There was also a blue circle. My brain searched, trying to match
what I was seeing with everything I knew about clouds. But it was somewhere else in my mind
that I found the answer. What I saw reminded me of a map. I was looking down at a village. 

We were falling faster and longer than I’d ever fallen before. My stomach felt like it was inside
my throat. I tried yanking up on the pillow, but it was not responding to my touch; it felt like
there was something stronger controlling it. As we got closer to the bottom, lights flew up from
below us and began whizzing by the bed. 

“Do something!” yelled Soy, “I don’t want to die inside a whale cloud!”
Deli hadn’t moved since we entered the cloud. She looked as calm as ever. 

The back of the bed hit first, and then the front came crashing down. To my surprise, water shot
up from all sides and splashed down onto our heads. 

“Welcome to Pavidale,” Deli announced.

10. PAVIDALE
The water was clear and blue. When I peeked over the side of the bed I saw strange fish
swimming below us. They had long snouts and small fins, and most of them were purple and
yellow. The fish were sprinting through tubes made of something spongy and, every once in
awhile, they jumped above the water to do a flip. 

I saw that that we were in a small pond. The bank had bright emerald grass and a group of
houses that were the size of dog houses, but fancy as mansions.

At the far edge of the pond was a flat stone with dozens of glowing lights dancing around on top
of it. They were the same lights that had flown by us during my “landing”. They were moving in
a way that even the best Christmas lights in the world couldn’t mimic.
“Why aren’t we sinking?” asked Soy. 

But before he got an answer, the bed started to float towards the stone platform. I got a closer
look at the lights and realized that they weren’t just lights. They had a human shape, with one big
difference. 

“Are those over-sized fireflies?” Soy asked.

“I think… those are fairies,” I said, when I saw their wings.
“That’s right,” said Deli, “Pavidale is the home of the fairies.” 

“… Do you ever do anything normal?” Soy asked. 

The fairies wings were glowing brightly, and you could almost see right through them. Their ears
were tall and pointy on the sides of their long faces. Each fairy had its own colorful glow, and
they all hummed with excitement as we drifted closer. Without a sound, the bed tapped the edge
of the stone. 

I guessed that the fairies must be about six inches tall. Almost all of them were a shade of green
or blue, but there were a few yellow and red ones, too. There was only one pink fairy, and its
glow was stronger than any of the others. The pink fairy floated forward from inside the crowd. 

“Allow me to introduce, Tryt,” Deli said as she gestured towards the pink fairy.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Miss Tryt,” Soy said, bowing his head low behind me.
“We have waited a long time for your arrival. Although, I had hoped that you both would have
learned some manners by now. Just because a fairy is pink, does not mean that it is a female,”
Tryt said. 

Soy picked his head up and blushed. As we stepped off the bed onto the stone, the fairies
swarmed us. They fluttered and giggled, and gossiped in whispers. 

“Come now,” commanded Tryt, “leave them be. They’ve traveled far, and there’s much to do
before they leave.” 
I had never seen a place like this before. There was something magical and comforting and
serene about it. I wasn’t ready to think about leaving anytime soon. We followed Tryt down a
wide, tan road. He flew low to the ground, at the same height as Deli’s hops. 

Tryt had a regal look about him. He wore a magnificent clear robe that glimmered (with holes in
the back for his wings). Somehow he always seemed to be talking down to us, even when he was
speaking from a few feet below. 

“There were some fairies here who were beginning to wonder if you’d ever find him,” Tryt said
to Deli.
“Yes, well. It’s just that, I needed to be certain,” she responded meekly.
After a long pause, Tryt spoke again. “Of course,” he said calmly, “I knew you wouldn’t fail
with so much at stake.” 

Tyrt led us to a circular building much bigger than the houses, with pillars and some letters
above the entrance that I did not recognize. As we walked through, I discovered there was no
roof in the center, just an open garden with a round table. Around the table were four chairs that
looked like they were made of glass. 

“The pond fairies will take care of your bed. Although I must say, we did not expect you to land
so abruptly,” he said to me. “Have a seat and let us get down to business." 

Tryt showed us to our chairs around the table. Soy was to my right and Tryt was to my left, with
Deli straight across. I noticed that the chair was super hard and strong, but somehow still really
comfortable. It was like mine had been made specifically for me. I also noticed that Tryt’s chair
was the perfect size for him, and so was Soy’s. Deli’s chair was the only one that wasn’t the
exact right size. It was even taller than mine, and she had to hop up to sit on it. 

“These are beautiful chairs, Mr. Tryt, sir. Are they made out of glass, Mr. Tryt?” said Soy. 

“Your words are more transparent than this fairy glass, Soy,” answered Tryt. 

Soy shot me a puzzled look. 

“Transparent,” I whispered, “it means he can see right through it and knows what you’re trying
to do.”
“Ah,” Soy whispered back, “… I don’t like him.”
“Soy, I think he can hear everything we’re saying,” I responded shyly.

“Oh, because of those pointy elf ears? You might be right. He can probably hear Miss Weaver’s
lesson from here with those things.” 

By this point, Tryt was glaring at Soy.

“Miss Weaver isn’t teaching right now,” Tryt said. 
 

I looked at Tryt and wondered if he was being serious. His face hadn’t changed and, besides that,
Tryt didn’t seem like the type of fairy who was known for joking around. Although, to be fair, I
could count the number of fairies that I knew on one finger. 

“How do you know what Miss Weaver is doing right now?” I asked. 

“I told you, it’s the pointy ears,” whispered Soy.

Tryt took a calm breath. “A fairytale begins when a single sentence appears in the Book of Lore.
After that, it is up to the fairies to record what happens. In order to do so, we must keep a close
eye on all those who may be involved in the story. For this we use lore,” Tryt said. When he
spoke, it wasn’t with the same kindness as Deli, but it still made me feel better to know that he
and his fairies had been looking out for us. 

“And our ears aren’t that pointy,” he added crisply. 

Soy smiled back, rubbed the top of his ear and then pretended to cut his finger on a pointy edge.
Apparently, Soy was no longer worried about staying on Tryt’s good side. 

Given his history, it wasn’t all that surprising. Soy never got along with authority figures; it
usually took less than a day for him to battle with one. The fastest that I ever saw it happen was
when he held a “special election” on the walk to school and decided that he would only respond
to “President Soy” from then on. (I was the only other person who voted, and Soy told me there
was an error with my ballot). The substitute teacher never made it past roll call that day. 

“So are the fairies speaking to you right now?” I asked, still not understanding. 

Tryt pulled out a shiny yellowish pen from the pocket of his robe. It had a broad tip, and the top
of it was an even shinier crown of gold. There was something about the shape that grabbed my
attention, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. 

“Magic pens are extremely powerful. They can use lore in many ways. I use the Fairytale Pen to
collect information from fairies all over the world. It’s how I’m able to write the stories as they
happen,” he explained.
“This isn’t a story. It’s our lives,” Soy protested.
“I see no difference,” replied Tryt coldly. 

“How do the fairies collect the information? Are they watching Miss Weaver right now?” I
wondered out loud.
“As you know by now, magic can be used to disguise. The fairies take the form of small
creatures that go largely unnoticed by humans,” Tryt explained. 
Deli hadn’t spoken in a little while. She just sat and listened. I looked at her for a moment and
thought about what Tryt had just said. 

“Small creatures… so, does that mean that Deli…” I asked.

“No,” replied Tryt, “a fairy would never choose the shape of a frog. And Deli isn’t a fairy, she’s
—“ 

Deli cut him off before he could finish. “What about Ream?” she said loudly. 

“Ah, yes. The King of Dragons,” he responded. 

Deli nodded, happy to have changed the subject. 

“He took his human form again and stole a costume from the set of the school play,” said Tryt,
“he left the campus twenty minutes after you fled.” He was staring at Soy as he emphasized
“fled”.
“Where did he go?” I asked. 

Tryt paused for a moment and looked at Deli. Deli looked back at Tryt blankly. She waited for
an answer. It was clear that Deli was just as much in the dark as we were since leaving the
school. 

“He went to your house,” Tryt said to me. “My fairies tell me you missed each other by less than
two minutes." 

It took a moment for the news to sink in. I stared down at the table. A dragon. At my house. With
my mom! The thought scared me beyond words. And then I got angry. I stood up from the the
table and pressed my hands down hard. 

“My mom was home when we left!” I shouted.

“Yes,” said Tryt, “now calm down and have a seat.”
“No! He’s a dragon, and he could destroy my entire house with one breath and my mom is
inside!” 

I was hysterical. The tears came pouring out. My view of the courtyard blended into watery
colors. Deli hopped onto the table and then onto my shoulder. She patted the back of my head. It
was so soft that I could barely feel it, but still, it was nice. She spoke to me in a soothing voice.

“She's all right,” Deli said.

Tryt spoke in a matter-of-fact way. "Ream cannot enter your home. He was struck with
stonegold in a battle many years ago, and it cannot be removed. Stonegold is an ancient metal
with a strong magic. It’s the same magic that forged The Fairytale Pen,” Tryt explained,
gesturing towards the pen he had shown me. Through my teary eyes, the shape looked even more
familiar to me.
“That’s the same color as his bowtie,” I said.
“Yes,” said Deli, “Ream’s stonegold took the form of a bowtie when you met him. Lore is able
to control stonegold, and nothing that touches it may enter your home unless the fairies permit it.
It’s the same magic that has protected Pavidale for centuries.” Her voice faltered a bit as she
spoke the last words. 

Soy stood up now, looking just as upset as I had moments ago. 

“What about my mom? What about my family?!” he asked.

“We’ve done the same for your home,” replied Tryt, “although your brothers proved to be a
challenge.”
Soy laughed a little in relief. “Ha, yeah that sounds right.”
“My fairies found them throwing a squirrel out of a window upon their arrival,” Tryt said with
disgust. 

“I’ve told them not to,” said Soy, a bit more relaxed.
“Yes, well it won’t be a problem anymore. Two of my most trusted fairies gave the squirrel
enough lore to truly fly. When your brothers tried to throw it out the window this morning, the
squirrel simply kept on going and flew away.”
Soy smiled now. “How did they take it?” he asked.
“Rick accused Hank of throwing the squirrel too hard. Hank accused Rick of secretly attaching it
to a drone. They wrestled for seven minutes, and then looked up “flying squirrels” online for the
next two hours on their phones,” Tryt elaborated.

It occurred to me then that fairies must be better with details than any other creature in the world,
imaginary or real (although, I felt like I really didn’t know which animals belonged to which
category anymore).

“I always liked that squirrel,” said Soy.

“So what happens if our families leave our homes?” I asked, becoming nervous again. 

“I wouldn’t worry about that,” said Tryt, “Ream left Stagwood hours ago and is headed straight
for us.”
11. FOR FAIRY EYES ONLY
“Why didn’t you tell us that right away?” Soy asked as he stood up.
“You did not ask,” replied Tryt, still seated.
“I also didn’t ask to be flown here to hang out inside a cloud with a pointy-eared jerk. But here I
am!” Soy shouted. 

Tyrt stood up too, but as a fairy, it didn’t have the dramatic effect that he had intended. 
“Soy, just calm down,” I said to him. "They’re trying to help us.”
“They’re the whole reason we’re in this mess,” Soy said gruffly. “How do we even know that we
belong here?” 

Soy had made a pretty good point. It seemed that Ream was only interested in us because Deli
was, and she still hadn’t shown us any evidence that either Soy or I was the hero. For a moment,
I thought that maybe everything was a mistake, and that we might be able to end this all and go
home. The thought didn’t make me sad, but it didn’t make me happy either. 

“I believe we can answer that,” said Deli from my shoulder.

As she hopped onto the table in front of Tryt, she spoke only to him. “It’s time to show them,”
she asserted. 

Tryt’s face told me that he wasn’t thrilled about the idea. He wore the same expression that I had
when my mom insisted that I do my homework right when I got home. I knew that she was right,
and that it wasn’t her fault she was right, but still… harumph. 

Tryt raised one of his neon pink wings and motioned some fairies over, using it like an arm. Four
fairies came flying in from the side of the courtyard opposite from where we entered. They were
carrying a large, dark brown book. 

These fairies had on medieval-looking armor made from the same glass as the chairs. The book
they were carrying was thicker than a dictionary and wider. It was the kind of book that Soy
would have openly protested if we had been assigned to read it for our class.*

It also seemed that the book was heavier than it looked, since the fairies were out of breath by the
time they put it down on the table. Tryt shooed them away with his wing, and they disappeared
straight up and out of the courtyard. 

*Soy once proclaimed that making kids reading anything over one hundred pages was
technically illegal, but he never found the documents to support it.

When the fairies left, Soy and I stood up at the same time to inspect. It was a dusty, rundown
book. There were no words on the cover, but it was hard to say whether they had rubbed off, or
were just never there at all. Along the center, a buckle with a lock ran horizontally across, made
of the strange yellowish-gold that I now knew. 

“Stonegold?” I asked.
“Yes,” said Tryt, “only a magic pen may write in the Book of Lore, but it does not hurt to be
safe.” 
“Why would anybody want to mess with the book?” asked Soy.

“The Book of Lore chronicles every fairytale throughout history. Changing them would change
the fate of the world,” answered Tryt indignantly. Soy didn’t respond this time. 

All four of us gathered closer, hovering over the book as Tryt held up his shiny pen. Without a
word, he turned it over, placed the crown on top inside the stonegold lock and turned it. The
buckle surrendered, opening up with a low hiss. I thought the pages smelled like pine trees, but
didn’t say it out loud. Tryt began flipping through the book and it was hard to see the words.
Whenever I did catch a glimpse, the writing started off hard to focus on, but then got more clear.
The words were written in fancy, old looking letters.

Soy’s face was getting closer and closer to the pages by the second. 

“It’s in English,” he said finally, “I thought it might be in fairy or elvish, or something weird like
that.” 

Tryt didn’t look up to acknowledge Soy, but it was obvious from his voice that he was agitated. 

“It is not ‘in English’. The fairytales in the Book of Lore appear in the first language of
whomever is reading it,” he said. 

“That’s English,” said Soy, pointing at the book.

“Soy, to you it is in English, but to someone else it may be in French or German,” said Deli. 

“If it was in French of German, I wouldn’t be able to read it,” Soy explained politely, “so that’s
how I know it’s in English.” 

Tryt let out an un-fairylike grunt and continued flipping through the pages while he spoke. 

“The characters in these stories had their fates sealed by the outcomes written here. But Ream’s
first fairytale is unique in its ending.”
“Ream was in a fairytale?” I asked with surprise. That seemed like a big deal to me. 

“Yes," Tryt replied. "When a hero or heroine defeats a villain, their story and their fate are sealed
within this book. All the rile of those defeated, all of their magic, is confined within the book so
that they may never use it against the world again. And every villain inside the Book of Lore was
defeated, save one." 

“Ream,” I said gravely. 

“Yes,” replied Deli, “instead of defeat, his tale ended with an escape. That is why he was able to
hold onto his rile.”
“He was injured. Pierced with stonegold, to be exact,” Tryt said as he slowed his page turning.
“And once stonegold pierces you, it may never be removed or covered. That is why Ream
always has a piece of stonegold visible, regardless of his disguise." 

“But nobody has explained yet why he’s after us,” said Soy. “We didn’t do anything to him!” 

“You’re not a patient child, are you, Soy?” asked Tryt in a half-question.
“And you don’t own a bookmark,” rebutted Soy, not at all in the form of a question. 

Tryt turned one last page, then covered it with his fairyhand, unleashing a slew of sparkles that
shot out to conceal the center. 

“This is your fairytale. And this is the reason that Ream is after you,” Tryt said, looking directly
at me. “It may be the last fairytale ever written. All the fairytales that came before it, and all the
creatures inside of them are at stake. Ream and the forces of rile are trying to change their fate.” 

“But, why are you calling it mine?” I asked shyly. 

Deli looked up at me. 

“Because you are the hero,” she replied. 

Tryt moved his hand, and the sparkles flew away. Written on the page in a thousand languages,
but English to me, was the title: The Boy and The Flying Bed. And underneath it, there was a
small drawing. 
It was the same one I had been drawing when I noticed a frog staring at me from behind a
window.
12. PLANS
The drawing in the book was the same shape that I had dreamt about on the flight to Pavidale,
and maybe more times then I realized. I finally recognized the shape for what it was. 

“Is that supposed to mean something to me?” asked Soy.

“It’s... what I was drawing that day in class when I saw Deli,” I told him. 

“So, you’ve seen this book before?” he asked.

“No, never,” I answered.
“You are the first humans to see it,” said Tryt solemnly. "It is a great honor that I have bestowed
upon you.”
“Well, we deserve to be bestowed,” said Soy (clearly not sure what the word meant). “So, what
do the rest of the pages say?” he asked. 
Tryt closed the book with surprising speed. 

“All you need to know is that if you fail, the consequences will be dire,” said Tryt. 

“Okay, but I feel like we’re missing something major here,” Soy stated.
“What do you mean?” asked Deli. 

“So, Ream’s the villain and he’s the hero?” Soy asked as he pointed to me.
“Correct,” said Tryt.
“Yes,” said Deli.
“And I’m some kind of expert guide who helps the hero,” Soy continued. 

“Nobody said that,” said Tryt.

“But what is the point of the fairytale? Like, what’s the thing we have to beat Ream at?” Soy
inquired. 

It was a question that I hadn’t even thought to ask. There was always a reason for a fairytale.
Maybe a giant was terrorizing a village, or sometimes a kingdom was under siege by a witch, but
it was always something. What was it that Ream wanted? Why was this fairytale happening at
all? 

“I’m curious too,” I said, “and that title doesn’t seem to help.” 

Deli jumped on top of the book in a puff of shiny dust. Her head was low as she spoke. “Ream
didn’t escape his fairytale by chance. He knew things that helped him. Things that he shouldn’t
have known.” 

“Somebody helped him, then?” I asked.

“We believe so,” said Deli.
“Some believe so,” said Tryt, glaring at Deli.
“What we know for sure,” she replied, “is that once he escaped, he set out to find the one thing
that could make him more powerful.” 

“What is it?!” asked Soy, “a magic wand?”

“No,” said Tryt. Then he turned to Deli and me. “Why do you let him guess so much. He’s
terrible at it.”
“Hey!” Soy yelled. “I can still hear you. Regular-sized ears work, too.”
“How would you like it if I turned you into a newt?” said Tryt, staring angrily at Soy.
“Tryt!” exclaimed Deli.

“He can’t actually do that, can he?” Soy whispered to me. I shook my head, hoping I was right.
Tryt got back his composure and confessed, “Apologies. I just… he just, draws my ire.” 

“Yeah, well you should really work on that,” said Soy.

 

I spoke up, “It’s the pen isn’t it?”

Soy look at me, puzzled.

“That shape in the book and the shape that I was drawing in class; it’s a symbol for your
Fairytale Pen isn’t it?” I asked Tryt.

“Ah, now I see it!” said Soy.

“A pen,” Tryt answered, “but not mine.” 

He lifted the pen up to show us more details. As he spun it, I saw the stonegold shimmer and
dance like it was alive. It was mesmerizing. 

Soy had done battle with a hypnotist once at a birthday party. She made the mistake of picking
him to be the volunteer, and it all went downhill from there. By the time Soy he stood up, he was
already convinced that he had learned enough to hypnotize the hypnotist. We watched them try
to hypnotize each other for about a half-hour. Her, with techniques that she had learned over the
years, and him with exaggerated movements and shouts of “sleep!” and “bark like a seal!”.
When she finally gave up and asked him to sit down, Soy commanded her to sit down, instead.
That lasted another five minutes.

But, even Soy was entranced with the stonegold pen. 

Tryt explained as it spun, “Before time was time, there was a King of the Mountain. He ruled the
world along with his brother, the King of the Valley, and his sister, the Queen of the Sea. But the
King of the Mountain wanted to rule the world alone. His advisor, a fairy himself, told the King
of the Mountain about two hidden wells of legend that could make this dream a reality. One held
all of the good magic in the world: the ancient Well of Lore. The other held all of the evil magic,
known as the Well of Rile. The fairy told the King of the Mountain that if he could find and
control these wells, he would become more powerful than his brother and sister combined. That
very day, the King of the Mountain enslaved his entire kingdom, magical and non-magical
creatures alike, charging them all with finding the wells. Ultimately, it was a group of eight
dwarves who found the wells deep within a mountain, since they were the most skilled at
digging.” 

“Eight dwarves?” I repeated.
“Yes, eight. Why?” Tryt inquired.
“No reason, go on,” I said.
He continued, “However, the dwarves did not go back and tell their king, as he had commanded.
Because of his cruelty, the dwarves instead used the magic of the wells to craft two pens and a
book. The first pen was made with the most powerful magic from the wells. It had the ability to
create tales from nothing, and make them real. This pen is known as the Author Pen. It is the pen
that you were drawing.”

“So, if you write something, it comes true?” I asked. Deli nodded, then gestured for me to keep
listening, even though I had many more questions ready. 

“Next, they crafted the pen you see before you, using a strong, but less powerful magic. Then,
the dwarves dipped a blank mining ledger into the wells, creating The Book of Lore. As I have
said, only these two magical pens are powerful enough to write on its pages. And when a story is
completed within the Book of Lore, it becomes known to all the kingdoms in every corner of the
globe, so that the world may learn from them.” 

I stared at the book and the pen with a new sense of respect (it’s not everyday you see magic
stationery). 

Tryt explained, “The dwarves used the power of the Author Pen to make sure that the King of
the Mountain would never find the wells for himself. Unable to find them and use their magic,
the king was not strong enough to defeat his brother and sister. He was banished, and the
“Mountain and Valley” became known simply as the “Land”. All of the great leaders for
centuries to come were descended from one of the two remaining, wise siblings.” 

“What happened to the pens after that?” I asked.

“A fairy stumbled upon the dwarves at the wells. He had been hiding from the greedy king, deep
inside the mountain, refusing to be enslaved,” Tryt said. "The dwarves decided to give the
second pen to the fairy, to keep it safe, and to pay for his silence. But they charged him with
much more than just protecting its magic. The fairy would have to be the one to record the tales
and would use his brethren to watch these stories unfold. All would know the tales of good and
evil, and the pen would seal the fate of villains defeated. They dubbed this pen the Fairytale Pen,
and that is what it is used for to this day. This is how fairies became storytellers," said Tryt with
pride in his voice. 

“This all sounds a bit… made-up-ish,” said Soy.

“I assure you, every word of it is true,” Tryt stated firmly. 

Suddenly the story took on a new meaning. I understood why Tryt was taking all of this so
seriously. 

“You’re the fairy in the mountain, then?” I asked.

“I am,” he said.
“The one who was hiding?” Soy asked me, the same way that he asked me about characters in
movies (during the movies).
“Seems like it,” I whispered.
Soy looked triumphant when he whispered back, “Hmph...hiding.”
“And the Author pen, did they give that to you as well?” I asked.
Tryt shook his head. “I tried to convince the dwarves to let me care for both pens, but they
refused. They said that no creature should hold both pens. They used the pen one last time to
begin telling their story, the one you just heard, in the Book of Lore. The story is not yet
completed, and it is blocked from being read, just as I am blocked from finding the wells again.
Those pages will not open. Instead, they left this poem engraved on the inside cover." 

Tryt flipped to the front of the book and pointed to the grey inside cover. As the words settled
into English, we read: 

One pen we place in fairy’s hands, lest history be lost. 

One pen we keep inside these buried wells at any cost. 

If ever there is dire need to find the Author Pen,

A hero true of mind and heart will hold it once again. 

Find the hero’s mark, and you will make the quest begin.
He alone can reach the wells and find the pen within.
Two guides to aid: an expert on the foe they soon will face, 

A second known for loyalty, nobility, and grace. 

For such a heavy burden, beg the hero to beware.

To write more of their fate in ink, we dwarven do not dare. 

I read the poem three times, trying my hardest to remember every word. 

“Nobility and grace! It’s like they knew me,” said Soy.
“Yes, speaking of that…” said Tryt to Deli.
“It’s him,” she said immediately. “He’s the companion. I’ve seen the loyalty part. The rest will
come in time.”
Tryt resigned himself and got back to us. 

“So you see, the Author Pen was locked in the mountain; nobody but the hero can get to it.
That’s why we need you.”
“Then there’s one thing that I still don’t understand,” I interrupted. “Where’s the dire need?”
“What do you mean?” asked Deli.
“If this hero is me, then I’m the only one who can find this pen, right? So why did the fairytale
need to begin. Ream can’t get it without me. So, where’s the urgency?” 
Deli’s face turned pale. Well, pale green. 

“Ream is taking fairies.”

“What do you mean?” asked Soy.

Tryt replied with a purposeful voice. “For years now Ream has been taking fairies from us. Some
he converts into spies, and others… well, we don’t know what’s happened to the others.”
“You see, that’s why we need your help!” said Deli with emotion in her voice. “If you don’t get
that pen and stop Ream, soon there will be no fairies left at all.” 

The fairies’ excitement at our arrival made even more sense. I wasn’t just a human to them, I was
suppose to be their hero. At that moment, I knew that’s who I needed to be, whether I liked it or
not. 

“Let’s not waste any more time, then. If I’m the only one who can stop Ream, then I’d just as
soon get to it,” I declared.

Suddenly the pen glowed brighter, and Tryt started flipping through the pages of the book again,
settling back on the last story. My story. He scribbled down some words, but covered the rest of
the page.

“Look at that,” Deli said looking over the page with an enormous smile, "it looks like the hero
has finally taken his place in the story."
“There it is!” shouted Soy, “There’s your name!” 

The line read: “Within Pavidale, the meeting of the four had concluded. So began Cal’s quest for
the pen.” 

 
13. ROAD TRIP
It was time to go. Still, I wanted to know as much as I could from The Book of Lore.  

“Can we see Ream’s fairytale?” I asked politely.

Tryt shut the book swiftly, again. 

“I’m afraid not,” he answered. "That story is not yet completed, and I’ve already shown you too
much. It’s time to go.” 

Deli agreed. 

Tryt escorted us out the back of the garden. As we passed under another ornate archway, we
stepped onto a path made of stone. It lead us to a wooden platform near the edge of the cloud.
From inside, the cloud had a slightly blue color to it, like a lighter shade of sky. 
Every once in awhile, a fairy would fly in through the cloud wall onto the platform, and the spot
where they entered shimmered with orange for a moment. I figured that this must be the right
way to enter Pavidale. I felt even more embarrassed that I had entered by dropping my bed into a
pond. But, in fairness to me, it’s not like there was a sign…

On the very edge of the platform, my bed was waiting, fully restored to its normal, dry self. Even
our backpacks were there, looking as full as ever. A few fairies were still working on the bed,
using instruments and contraptions I had never seen before. I wished that I could inspect them
closer up. 

“Wait a second, we’re going back on the bed?” Soy asked.

“The bed knows where the mountain is,” Deli said.
“Well, there are planes and cars and boats too. And they know where things are, when you tell
them. It’s called GPS,” he responded.
“And do you know what GPS stands for?” she asked. 

Soy looked at me. 

“Global positioning system,” I whispered softly.

“Globule position sanctity,” Soy boasted.
Deli smiled. “Close enough. And to use it, you need an exact location. Nobody knows where the
mountain is without magic. That’s why only a vessel using lore can find it.” 

Deli hopped on the front of the bed, and I followed behind. Soy climbed up slowly in protest. 

“Ask anyone who’s not a magical frog: planes are better than beds,” he mumbled. 

“I told you I’m not a frog,” she said.

“But you haven’t told us what you are, and frog is still the most obvious choice,” Soy argued. 

It was the same logic Soy had used with me many times. When I had a secret that he wanted to
know, he would make a guess that was ridiculously wrong and then assume it was right until I
told him otherwise. It worked on me. Every. Single. Time. 

I felt like Deli was telling the truth, that she wasn’t a frog, but that didn’t mean I was any closer
to knowing what she was.

Tryt flew to the front of the bed with impressive speed.

He addressed only Deli, “He doesn’t have to go with you two, you know.”
“He does,” she answered, “and you know that. Besides, I have a feeling he’s more valuable than
you think.” 
Tryt did a graceful flip to the back of the bed. We all prepared to depart. 

“We will return when Ream is defeated, and the pen is safe again,” announced Deli. 

I turned around and realized that the all the fairies were on the platform watching us, and there
were even more of them than when we first arrived. I saw young fairies flying around clumsily
and older fairies using their wings to hold themselves upright. I had the sad thought that there
used be far more fairies in Pavidale, before the yellow dragon started taking them… before my
fairytale began. 

Deli started punching commands into the phone, but Tryt stopped her. 

“That won’t be necessary,” he said. “I will create a current for you to ride on. It will work with
the bed to take you straight there and, as long as you don’t stray, you will go much faster." 

Deli looked at him with gratitude and bowed her head.

“It is important for Cal to get there without delay. If I can do anything to help, I will,” he added. 

Tryt began to glow much brighter. His face became hard to see. In fact, he started to look like he
was just a pink ball of light. 

I looked ahead at the wall of the cloud. It was fascinating. A hole with an orange outline started
to form in front of us, shooting off sparks like a lightning storm. The fairies got behind us and
pushed the bed forward. As the front of the bed peeked out of the cloud, I saw that there was
nothing below us. In a few seconds, the bed tipped down and we started to plummet. The air was
cold enough to sting my face. 

Before I could get scared and without warning, an invisible river of air caught us from below and
quickly carried us away. I turned to see the cloud one last time. The fairies were filling the hole
with their faces to watch us as it closed. Tryt was in front. The glow on his face began to fade as
the hole finally shut. Pavidale was a special place, and I hoped that one day I would visit the
home of the fairies again. The wind was cutting through us, as I remembered that unless I
defeated Ream, there may be no fairies left to visit. 
14. OVER THE SEVENTH SEA
The current we were riding started turning red as we got farther away from Pavidale. It stretched
out ahead of us for what must have been miles, with no end in sight. Tryt had been right about
how fast we’d be going; it was twice as fast as we had on our way to Pavidale. 

Deli found a way to put the shield up without putting us on CRUISE MODE, so that we’d be
safe. Still, at that speed it was twenty minutes before Soy and I felt comfortable enough to sit
back.
“So, what happens when we get to the mountain?” I asked. 

“Truthfully, I don’t know much,” said Deli. 

After a few minutes, she spoke again. 

“There are supposed to be three tests that you have to pass in order to find the wells.” 

“What are they?” I asked.

“I meant it when I said that I don’t know much,” she answered. I decided it was better than
knowing nothing. 

The bed was completely settled by then, and the ride was pretty smooth. I saw land pass by to the
east or west… or maybe north or south (I didn’t know which way was which anymore). Mostly
we just flew over the water, without anything to mark where we might be. Occasionally, I would
see a tiny island below us. Soy asked if we could fly down and stop at the first three that we saw,
but Deli refused. 

“Tryt’s current won’t last forever. He told us to stay on course and that’s what we’re going to
do,” she told Soy. 

“But there might be hidden treasure down there. Pirates loved hiding treasure on islands like
that!” Soy rebutted. 

I didn’t weigh in, until the third time. 

“Soy, if we find the wells, defeat Ream, save the fairies, and make it out alive, I promise we can
come back and look for treasure.” 

Soy stopped asking. Any objection to that would imply that we might fail, and nobody wanted to
do that. 

The few clouds that speckled the sky formed and dispersed quickly, like puffs of smoke. Later
on, the current took us straight inside a thin white cloud that gave me a nice feeling as we flew
through it. There was nothing inside though- not like Pavidale. I was beginning to like clouds
more and more… until I spotted a dark one. 

At first it was a black spot in the distance. We watched in awe as it grew larger and larger. Soon,
it was flat-out enormous, and it was clear that we were headed straight for it. Instead of being
black, it was actually dark grey up close, flashing in random places like there was a lightning
storm inside. Eventually, it was almost all that we could see. I got a queasy feeling in my
stomach when I recognized the shape it had taken. The dark cloud looked like an ocean wave. It
was not a normal shape. I remembered what made clouds take fantastic shapes. This cloud was
filled with rile.

“Um, Deli,” I asked. “Can we get off the current now?” 

Deli jumped to the controls (formerly known as my phone) and began pushing buttons. I didn’t
notice any change. She started pushing them more frantically. Nothing happened. I tried
grabbing the pillow to steer but it was glued to the bed and wouldn’t budge.

“What’s going on, Deli?!” Soy screamed as the wave loomed closer. It was the largest storm
cloud I had ever seen.

“I don’t know!” Deli yelled back. “The cloud is pulling us in!” 

“What can we do?!” I cried.

But I never heard an answer. The dark cloud swallowed us whole.

15. STORMSIDE
The bed couldn’t fly inside the cloud and started to dip the moment we broke through. We hit the
ground hard and skidded to a soft stop. 

The cloud was hollow, just like Pavidale. I doubted this place had a nice name, or any name at
all. It was empty and sad. The ground was covered with a layer of rocks, and I noticed there were
some pretty serious-sized holes everywhere. I imagined a like cloud like this could be home to
some nasty creatures, but thankfully none were there to greet us. 

“It’s the rile,” said Deli as she hopped down, “it’s too strong for the bed to work in here.” 

I was surprised that I could see fairly well. The whole place was lit by a dim red light coming
from another small pond, just like in Pavidale. But this pond looked gloomy and mean. 

Without saying it, we all sensed it was probably best to whisper.

“How do we get out of here? Can we push the bed back out?” I asked.
“It will just suck us right back in,” Deli said. "We’ll need to carry the bed across to the other
side.”
“You’re crazy!” Soy said angrily, but still whispering. “This looks like the place from my
nightmares! And they never end well!”
“What do you suggest we do then?” she asked coolly.
“Call up the fairies and get them to pick us up with a new bed. A king-sized one this time. I’ll
wait here,” Soy said as he sat cross-legged and cross-armed.
“That’s not going to happen, Soy. There’s no way to reach them from in here,” she replied. 
“Well, too bad, because I’m not moving. I’m pretty positive that those holes are filled with
monsters," Soy responded. "And you’re going to get gobbled up. Gobbled. Right. Up.”
“Will you talk to him, please?” Deli said, turning to me. 

Soy was pretending to chew while he stared at Deli. “OM NOM NOM NOM,” was all he would
say. 

I sat down next to him. 

“Soy, I know this isn’t exactly what you signed up for…” 

He nodded emphatically.
“But, you’re my best friend, and I need you. And those fairies need you even more than I do,” I
pleaded.
Soy wasn’t moved. 

He replied, “If you walk across this cloud, you’re going to get eaten by the green hog monster
things in those holes. And I’m not going to watch it happen.” 

I understood now that he wasn’t just angry, he was worried. Worried for me. But my mind was
racing from what I just heard. 

“Soy, how do you know what’s in those holes?” I asked.

“I told you, this place is just like the one from my nightmare. And I always, always get eaten!”
he whimpered. 

I looked at Deli and knew that she had heard the same. 

“Soy… you’re here to save us,” I said.

“What?” he asked.
“There’s a reason you had those dreams, Soy, just like there’s a reason why my bed can fly. You
were meant to be my guide. You heard the words inside the Book of Lore. What I’m trying to
say is that you got gobbled up in those nightmares so that we wouldn’t get gobbled up in real
life. You are the only one who can get us through this cloud,” I told him.
He opened his mouth, but before he could speak, I repeated, “The only one.” 

He sat there for a moment, staring at the ground. Then he looked back towards the cloud wall
that we just passed through. Finally he let out a big sigh, and rose to his feet. 

“Right," he said, “Cal, grab the other side of the mattress, then both of you get behind me. We
need to move quickly. I think I may have found the way out last time.”
“Got it, Soy. I trust you,” I told him.
“So do I,” said Deli. 

She jumped on the bed as we lifted it up. It wasn’t heavy, but it wasn’t light. From where we
stood, the far end of the cloud looked at least two football fields away, but it was hard to tell. I
started to notice that the holes weren’t the only obstacles in our way. There were bumps in the
ground that looked like small hills, and some tall, scraggily looking trees. 

It took Soy and me a minute to get our steps in sync, but once we did we moved well together.
Soy weaved the bed in-between the holes deftly, and periodically stopped to change course. He
had made it clear that under no circumstances should we make noise. Apparently, in his dreams,
making too much noise tended to get him eaten. A lot. 

At that moment, in the dark cloud filled with rile, with monsters sleeping below our feet, Soy
was leading us. And he was doing it well. We made it about halfway through without any
trouble, but then Soy looked stuck. There were three large holes in front of us and a few trees to
our right. I spoke softly. 

“What is it?” I asked.

“I’ve seen these holes before,” he whispered back, “and I’ve never gotten past them. There are
hog monsters in each one. The middle one has the biggest.” 

He turned to face me, “He’s bigger than a truck and the scariest monster in here. I call him
Hampton. My mom said I might be less frightened if I named him.”

“Did it work?” Deli whispered.

“No, now he’s just a Soy-eating truck-sized monster and also his name is Hampton.” 

Deli and I sat patiently while Soy planned our next move. A few minutes later Soy was ready. He
took a breath and motioned for me to turn the bed on its side. We followed him as he lead us to
the skinny trees. Squeezing between them, Soy and I were careful not to touch a single branch. I
looked closely at the lowest branch and realized the true danger. What I thought was a leaf
wasn’t a leaf at all. It was a sleeping animal. It had long claws that wrapped around the branch
three times, and its wings came together to form a flat surface that made it resemble a
humongous leaf. It wasn’t just this one creature that worried me really; it was the 500 more that
were sleeping above it.

Once we passed through the trees, we came to a low, rocky hill. It was steep enough to make me
tired, and Soy was getting winded, too. When we got to the top, we had no choice but to rest for
a minute. At the far foot of the hill were two more trees, larger than the batch we had just passed.
It would be difficult, but we could make our way through them and avoid the nearby holes if we
took our time. 

Soy laid down on the bed while Deli took a moment to take stock of how much ground we had
covered. I was the only one looking forward, so I was the first to see the light. It wasn’t like any
other light inside the cloud. It was a dull yellow glow coming from inside one of the two holes at
the bottom of the hill. But I knew that it wasn’t actually yellow… it was stonegold. 

“Soy. Deli,” I said with a tremble, “Look!” 

They turned in time to see Ream fly up from inside the hole, spreading his wings. He had found
us. 

I hadn’t seen his full body in the school. The auditorium wasn’t large enough for him to show his
full form. Ream’s wings were larger than I could have possibly imagined. He was the King of
Dragons, and I was frozen in fear. My heart beat out of my chest. My legs locked in place. I felt
smaller than I ever had before. Ream flapped his wings and sent a tornado of wind towards us. 

“So, this is the hero that you send to his doom?” bellowed Ream, “The boy named Cal?” He
bared his teeth and looked at me with a glint of gold in his eyes. 

“You will not touch him!” shouted Deli, “You will not speak his name!”

She jumped in front of me, trying to shield me. She was no larger than his smallest claw. As a
frog she could not protect me from a dragon. This was not a battle she could win. But, she did it
all the same.  

I felt like I might cry. Then, without a word, Soy stepped up next to Deli, and I did. My best
friend Soy. Standing between me and a dragon. Ream started to laugh, almost like he was happy
that they had. 

“This will be easier than I thought” mocked Ream, “You have failed again, Delilah. Your hero
cries.” 

But Ream didn’t understand. There are all kinds of tears. Some tears are for a sad rainy day, and
some are too happy for just words. Some don’t even tell you why they’re there. But, then there
are tears that have fight inside them. Those were the tears that found me. I promised myself that
we would be leaving that cloud. All three of us. 

 
I picked up a rock and took aim behind us. There was only one hole that I wanted to hit. To make
the baseball team the previous spring, I had practiced throwing a ball against the wall every day
after school, and it was about to pay off. I squared my shoulders and feet, and brought my arm
back. Hurling the rock with all my strength, I watched it fall out of sight into the hole. We didn’t
have to wait long. 

The monster came barreling out within seconds. I could see why Soy had called it a hog. Its
snout was long and flat with pulsing nostrils, and I could see long, sharp teeth even with its
mouth closed. Hampton was enormous. 

As he crept forward on four legs a row of spikes shot up from the top of his back.

“Yep, he’ll do that,” said Soy.

The creature was so mad that it spit as it stomped the ground.

Ream flapped his wings and flew back slightly, but not in retreat. He was laughing again.

“You think that a warlug will save you? What do you think was in this rock hole before I got
here? They make for delicious meals!” he said. 

The warlug (a name I had just learned) took a moment to look around and then charged up the
hill towards us. 

“Grab the bed and follow me!” I yelled. 

We started down the hill as fast as we could. Ream was content to watch the chase unfold. It
seemed to amuse him. We were almost at the bottom when Hampton reached the top of the hill.
He ran straight downhill at a blistering pace. 

When the ground leveled off, I made Soy help me prop the bed up between against trees. We had
barely finished when the warlug closed in on us. Ream knew that we couldn’t outrun it, and he
smirked.

I looked at my two companions.

“When I say so, jump to the right,” I said. 

We hid behind the bed as Hampton charged towards us with furious speed. He was ten yards
away, then five. I could hear his angry breath from behind the mattress. 

“Now!” I yelled. 
We jumped out from behind the mattress, beyond the trees that held it up. The warlug saw us and
tried to change course at the last second, but it was too late. His body went sideways, and its
momentum carried it forward. Hampton crashed into the trees, hard enough to shake them to
their roots. And that was exactly what we needed.

In a single moment, every sleeping eye on the tree had opened, and the winged creatures
fluttered up. Over a thousand leafy creatures went parading into the sky. They blocked out
everything else from sight, including Ream. 

“Let’s go,” screamed Deli. 

We grabbed the bed, and Soy took the lead again. Without second guessing, we sprinted past
hole after hole. From above us, Ream let out a deafening roar. I looked back for just a moment to
see the creatures swarming him from every angle. 

We were almost to the cloud’s edge when the holes ahead began to come alive with noise.
Warlugs were stirring inside. By the time some of the hogs started rising, we had just three more
holes to pass. The first two were empty, but I saw a particularly spiky warlug poking his head out
of the last one. He saw us just as we were about to pass and we only had a second to decide what
to do. 

“Jump!” shouted Soy. 

Soy vaulted above the warlug as it eyed me up behind him. I took one step straight onto the top
of its head and launched myself forward, flipping onto the bed. It chomped down onto the empty
air and let out a groan. As I landed, the mattress hit the ground.

The warlug’s rock hole had a slope of dirt on the other side that led directly to the cloud’s edge.
We started sliding down fast. Soy couldn’t outrun the bed as it scooped him up. Deli was now
between us again. Without a sound, we slid out of the dark cloud and found the current waiting
for us. 
16. BOY MEETS FROG, AGAIN
I spent the next hour staring out the orange shield, down onto the ocean. Nowhere felt safe.
Ream had found us in the middle of the sky. He’d known where we would be, and he’d been
waiting. Still, when I did finally decided to speak, it was about something else. 

“Deli, what did Ream mean when he said that you’d failed, again?” I asked. 

Deli looked exhausted. “I guess it’s best to just tell you,” she said. 

She hopped in front of us, and began to explain. 

“I was a heroine once, and Ream was my villain. He was the fiercest that we had ever seen, and
the first and only King of the Dragons. Back then Ream had been taking elves and making them
fight for him. Tryt said he’d never seen a creature so skilled at building an army. It was my job to
stop him, and it was a great honor. Tryt kept assuring me they would be telling our tale until the
end of time. Except, it didn’t go the way it was supposed to.” 

“No kidding,” said Soy. I nudged him from behind. We had lost the backpacks in the dark cloud
and Soy was getting hangry (hungry and angry at the same time).

Deli went on, “The plan was for me to find him in his lair using a secret entrance. The fairies had
located it behind a waterfall. I would catch him by surprise and defeat him with my stonegold
bow. But that’s not what happened. I found the entrance without a problem and swam in through
a small rock pool. But, when I crawled out, Ream was waiting for me with his army of elves.
Summoning almost all the magic I had, I was able to get one shot off, wounding him. I used the
rest of my lore to create this disguise. Quickly, I jumped into a stream running through the walls
and floated out into the base of the waterfall. The blow had broken Ream’s magical hold on the
elves, but he had gotten away. Tryt tried to find Ream himself, but he never succeeded. I had
failed. Ever since then, Ream has been gathering his strength and building his new army. His
fairy army.” 

“Why you? Why was it your job to save the elves?” I asked. 

“Because I was their leader. I am their princess,” she said.

“You … are an elf princess?” Soy said in disbelief.
“Elven princess,” she corrected. 

“Why not change back then?” I asked.

“I can’t. I am bound by the story, just as Ream was bound with the stonegold. Until Ream is
defeated, I am stuck in this disguise.” 

Soy began to fidget a lot more than usual. 

“So, um, what kind of stuff do you like? If you even like stuff, I mean? What’s like,, you know,
your favorite stuff?” he asked Deli.
“Soy? What are you doing?" I whispered.
“She’s an elf princess! I’ve never talked to an elf princess!” 

“Elven princess,” she corrected. 

“Exactly!” he said.

Deli jumped on Soy’s shoulder and whispered something into his ear. Soy’s face changed, and
he stopped fidgeting. Deli and I made our way to the front of the bed. 

“Don’t worry,” I told her, “this time, we’re going to win.”

Deli smiled back at me. “I believe we will.” 
She pointed ahead, and I saw a dark brown mountain rising from the middle of the ocean. It had
a bit of snow on top and was surrounded by a forest below.

“The dwarves set the mountain adrift on an island to make sure that no one could chart a map to
it without lore,” Deli explained. 

The current was winding us down towards the mountain. There was an opening between two
orange trees at its base. 

“What did you say to Soy?” I asked her quietly as we descended.

She whispered, “I told him that I’ve been watching you two for a while. I know that he refuses to
go to school every morning without his rocketship underwear. So, he has nothing to be nervous
about in front of me.”
“Every morning?” I whispered.

“Every morning. They don’t make them anymore, so his mom can’t buy another pair. She has to
wash them every night. If they aren’t ready in time, he throws a fit.” 

“Oh,” I said. 

I made a mental note not to forget about the rocketship underwear.

17. THE MOUNTAIN
It wasn’t hard to get inside the mountain itself. The opening had been waiting for us. But once
we were inside, things got a lot trickier. 

The way was lit with torches that burned violet. They led us down a path that ended abruptly at a
stone wall. We saw right away that there were exactly five wooden doors. Each of the doors was
painted a different shade of orange (all pretty dulled down by age) with an animal engraved in
the center. They weren’t tall, as far as doors go. I thought that maybe the dwarves had built them
at their own height. Then I noticed that there were words above the center door, etched onto a
silver plate.

“What does it say?” asked Deli, squinting through her glasses. 

I read the plate aloud: 

To find the door, you must be clever, 

Else you will be lost forever.
 

No amount of magic spells, 

Will aid you if you seek the wells. 

Don’t forget the trodden trail, 

For those who do, are doomed to fail. 

“What does that even mean?” asked Soy. 

“I’m not sure,” I answered. “Deli?” 

Deli was biting her miniature glasses. For a moment, I thought I saw a shimmer from inside her
mouth. 

“It’s some kind of clue. We need to find the right door to get to the wells.” 

“This is easy,” said Soy impatiently, “let’s just try each door, one by one, and look inside.” 

He strode forward to open the door closest to him, second from the left. It was a pale orange door
with a carving of an antelope in the center. But, opening doors in a magic mountain willy-nilly
seemed like a bad idea, even for Soy.

“Soy! Stop!” I yelled as I lunged towards him. 

The moment that Soy turned the wooden knob, the door flew in away from him. He was being
pulled in, too, by an invisible force. I reached him just in time to grab his other arm and we fell
to the ground. I pressed my feet against the wall to get leverage, desperately trying to keep him
from being sucked in. 

“Close the door!” yelled Deli from behind us. 

Although my heart was racing with fear, I couldn't help but look through the doorway to the
other side. It clearly led to another dark cloud, even scarier than the one we had just barely
escaped. But something else was different about it, too. Instead of seeing a field of rocks and
trees ahead of me, I was looking at a distant wall with holes in it. Warlugs jumped out towards
us, then fell back away. This door was in the top of the cloud. 

 
The words “Else you will be lost forever" hit me with a chill. Using all my strength, I pulled Soy
until he was free from the doorway. The moment he cleared it, the door slammed shut behind
him.

We rested on the dirt floor, both out of breath.

"Soy, what were you thinking??" I asked, surprised at how angry I was. "You can't just go
opening strange doors!"

But, when I pointed at the door that almost took my best freind, I didn’t see an antelope. Instead,
it had the face of a lion. The color was slightly different too. 

“Deli,” I asked, "did the doors just ...”

“Yes,” she stopped me short. “The doors changed.”
“Okay, but ... wherever the antelope is, we know never to open that one again, right?” Soy
said, still catching his breath.

Deli looked upset, and when I looked around, I understood why. The doors in front of us were
now a serpent, a lion, some kind of fish, a spider, and a rhino. No antelope. 

“I think the doors are trying to tell us something,” said Deli.

I let out a frustrated sigh. 

“That no matter what we do, each time we open a door it will be for the first time,” I finished. 

“That’s unfair!” cried Soy. “They can’t do that!” 

Soy had almost been sucked into a dark cloud, so I could understand why he was upset. I gave
him a minute to cool off and turned my attention back to the words on the plate. My mom had
taught me that when I don’t understand something, I should take it apart piece by piece. Maybe
that was what I needed to do with the clues. 

The first verse seemed pretty straightforward. 

To find the door, you must be clever, 

Else you will be lost forever.

 
To find the right door, we were going to have to be smart. We also knew what "lost forever"
meant now. Choosing wrong again was not an option. The second verse was no mystery either. 

No amount of magic spells, 

Will aid you if you seek the wells.

We couldn’t use lore to find the wells. That meant that Ream wouldn’t be able to use rile to find
them either, though. Plus he couldn’t get to them without me, anyway. The last verse was the
tricky one. 

Don’t forget the trodden trail, 

For those who do, are doomed to fail.

“Hey Deli,” I asked without taking my eyes off the plate, “what exactly does trodden mean?”
“It means that it’s been walked on before, like a path that’s someone's already taken,” she
answered. 

I thought about the story Tryt had told us. The dwarves who found the wells made it almost
impossible for anyone else to find them again. So if there was a “trodden” path, it must have
been theirs. But how did they find them in the first place? I had hit another dead end. Tryt never
told me which way they went to find the wells. In fact, he had really only told me one thing
about the dwarves.

Suddenly it hit me. I read the clue one more time and it all made sense! 

“That’s it!” I shouted.

“What is?” asked Deli.
“The ‘trodden trail’ means the path that the dwarves took,” I said.
“Okay,” said Soy, now perking up, “But, we still don’t know which way they went. The clue
says that we have to pick the right door and I’m not up for guessing another one. Actually, I’m
not up for guessing anything ever again.”
“But it doesn’t say pick the door, it says, to find the door, you must be clever. The door is
hidden!”
Deli and Soy looked confused. 
“So … where is this hidden door?” asked Deli pointing to the empty room.
"The dwarves found the wells because they’re the best diggers. So that means the path they took
should be right where they left it: under our feet!” 

Luckily, that was good enough for them and, since no one had a better idea, we really didn't have
any other choice. Deli suggested digging in the center of the room, but I strongly disagreed.
There was an area of dirt to the right of the doors that seemed right to me. I couldn’t explain it,
but I knew it was out best shot. After just a few minutes of digging with our hands, Soy and I felt
the first sign of the sixth door.

It’s a good thing we found it when we did, because Soy was beginning to get annoyed with Deli.
She was directing us as we dug, and Soy didn’t take kindly to orders from what he described as a
“doesn't-digger”. 

The wooden door that we discovered wasn’t orange like the others, but purple. I cleared off the
top and bottom, getting it dirtier before it got clean. There was another difference between this
door and the others. The carving in the center wasn’t an animal; it was a shape that I could now
easily recognize. It was a fairy. And something told me that this carving would never change, no
matter how many times we opened the door. 

“Do the honors, Cal,” said Soy. 

I opened the door slowly, not knowing what would pop out at us (or suck us in). It turns out there
wasn’t much to see, just a stark black tunnel. It was impossible to tell where it led since only the
first few feet were visible. Beyond that, I saw only darkness. 

“I’ll go first,” I told them.

“Are you sure?” Deli asked.
“Yes,” I replied, “It’s why I’m here. I need to get to those wells.” 

I had barely started to lower myself down into the dark hole when Soy grabbed my arm.

“Cal,” he said with a concerned voice.

“Yeah, Soy?” I asked with a smile.
“It’s just, if there’s something horrible down there … make sure you yell up really loudly, so I
know not to follow you,” he said.
“Sure, Soy,” I answered without the smile.
“I’ll be mad if you don’t,” he added. 

Deli rolled her eyes. 

“Rocketship underwear,” I thought to myself. 

I dangled my legs over the edge and took a few breaths. When I finally built up the courage to let
go of my grip, I immediately regretted it. I’d counted on the tunnel wall to curve under me and
catch me, but nope- it went straight down. I started falling fast, not sure if I was screaming out
loud or just in my head. 

I could barely think at all. I’d never fallen so far in my life and had no idea what was waiting for
me at the bottom. The tunnel seemed to go on forever. Finally, I started to scrape the sides with
my back. More and more of my back touched the tunnel, slowing me down. The walls got
smoother and eventually took most of my weight. The fall had turned into a slide and I was
starting to level out. The ride ended when I was ejected out onto a landing. As I stood up
(slowly) I saw that there was a rich purple lake glowing in front of me. It was the only source of
light, showing off a stubby, wooden dock jutting out over the liquid. 

I knew that I must've been deeper underground than ever before. It was hard to tell how long I
had been falling, though. My guess was somewhere around three minutes. I called back into the
tunnel, not knowing if Deli and Soy had any shot of hearing me. 

“Hello! Deli! Soy! I’m OKAY!” I yelled.

To my utter surprise, I could hear them like they were only a few feet away. 

“What took you so long to say something, then?” Soy asked suspiciously. 

“Because … I was falling,” I said. "Pretty far,” I thought.

“Are there monsters with you?” he asked.
“No monsters, Soy. Come down and bring Deli, but be careful on the way down.” 

I could hear him whisper to Deli, “See, but that’s exactly what a monster would make him say.” 

I decided to use the acoustic phenomenon to my advantage.

“Soy, you can hear how close I am. If there were monsters you’d hear them too,” I said. "Just
jump down. I can still see you from where I am.” It was a lie, but time was wasting.

I heard Soy arguing with Deli until he let out a big sigh. They jumped in after me. 
18. THE LAKE
I didn’t have to wonder how long the fall was after that. I listened to Soy scream at the top of his
lungs for about two minutes before he was deposited on the ground in front of me, with Deli on
his stomach. She looked like she had actually enjoyed it. 

“See, now that’s the kind of fun we need more of!” she said.
Soy pointed his fingers at both of us and said, “You, Cal, are a liar. And royalty or not, you, are a
weird little frog.” 
Deli hopped up towards the dock and inspected the lake. 

“Uh oh!" she gasped.

“What is it?” I asked worriedly.
Deli replied, "This lake is filled with rooze. It’s the waste that’s left over when rile and lore are
used in large quantities. It occurs naturally, but there’s a reason why it is buried so deep in the
mountain. As legend goes, it turns anything it touches into food for magical creatures.” 

“What are you saying? It could transform us into dragon food?” asked Soy.
“Or warlug food or troll food or ogre food. The legend doesn’t really specify,” she answered.

I looked across the huge lake and saw another spot of land. It was the only other one in sight. It
led to a bright purple door. 

“There,” I said pointing, “that’s where we need to go.”

“Great. And did you happen to hear about the lake of death? It’ll turn you into a Cal smoothie!”
Soy answered with frustration.
“I can assist with that," someone said. 

The voice we heard came from the dock. A small metal boat had appeared without us noticing. It
was towing an even smaller dinghy (the size of a milk crate). A thin rope connected the two. 

The voice belonged to a short creature who could barely see over the sides of his boat. His round
ears rose a few inches from his head, and his pointy snout had silver whiskers. He held a large
oar that was at least three times his size. When he stepped up and stood on the bow of the boat
the grey fuzz on his body seemed to ruffle in a breeze from the lake. There was no way around it.
This was an abnormally large, talking mouse. 

“Who are you?” asked Deli forcefully.

“I am Sebastien. I row the boat from this side to that, waiting for passengers,” he answered
calmly. 

Soy mouthed the word “mouse” at me and pointed towards Sebastien. 

“And how many passengers have you had down here?” I asked.
Sebastien looked at me with his beady eyes and gave a smirk. “You will be my first.” 

There was no other way across without his boat. That much was clear. Without a word, I stepped
inside. It only wobbled a little, but it was enough to make me uneasy. Sebastien held us steady
by keeping his paw on the dock. 

“Careful now, we wouldn’t want you falling in,” he said with a hint of amusement.
“We don’t have a choice,” I said to Deli and Soy, “and there’s no turning back now.”
“He’s right,“ said Deli, and she hopped aboard.
Soy followed slowly, looking around the boat, and then stared at Sebastien through squinted
eyes. Now that we were closer, I could smell the rooze. It smelled like raspberries that had gone
bad. Real bad. If “undead zombie raspberries” were a thing, they would smell like rooze.

“What do you eat out here, rowing back and forth all day long?” Soy asked him, still suspicious.

Sebastien pushed us off with his oar and began turning the boat towards the other side of the
lake. The smaller boat followed behind as we moved forward. 

“I do not require much food,” he answered.

Sebastien rowed us steadily out into the open water, alternating sides with his oar.
“And what do we owe you for the trip?” asked Deli.
I hadn’t thought of that. If Sebastien set a price too steep, I wouldn’t know what to do. 

“There is no cost, Princess,” he answered, “I ask only for your company.” 

I sense of fright came over me. He had called Deli “Princess”, and we had all heard it. I didn’t
know what that meant, but it definitely meant something. Soy was glaring at Sebastien through
even smaller eyes. A few minutes later we had reached what I thought was the center of the lake.
I could tell because the light glowed brightest there, like the center of a chandelier.

“Hey, Sebastien,” Soy said, “I’ve got some crackers for you in my pocket if you get us there
faster.” 

Sebastien plunged his oar beneath the surface, and the boat stopped dead. 

“I’m afraid I cannot get you there faster. In fact, I cannot get you there at all,” Sebastien said,
turning around to face us. 

“Hey,” Soy said with concern, “I didn’t mean anything by it. You can row whatever speed you’d
like. Just … definitely keep rowing.”
“I’m sorry” he replied, “but, there is a leak in the boat, and we cannot continue.” 

Sebastien pointed to the middle of the boat. All of a sudden, the purple liquid started to seep into
the boat from a hole too small to see. Soy and Deli jumped toward the front with Sebastien, and I
scrambled to the back. The putrid smell added to my panic. 

The rooze was filling the boat more and more by the second. Deli jumped onto Soy’s shoulders,
and we both lifted our feet onto the wooden planks for sitting. Sebastien didn’t move. 

“What’s happening?” I shouted, “There must be something you can do, Sebastien!” 
“There is,” he said, “but only for one of you. The dinghy behind us can fit a single soul.
Anything more, no matter the size, and it will sink into the lake forever.” 

I stared at Deli and Soy across from across the boat. They were scared. I was scared, too. 

“It’s got to be you,” said Deli. "You’re the only one who can stop Ream.” 

Soy looked at me with a sad smile, and nodded. 

“I know you can do it,” he said.