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Welcome to our Serial
Story. Part I first appeared in the last issue. Part II has been
added in this issue. But you'll have to come back for the final
part of the story . . . . .
My name is Chris. Chris Alan Sawa. If you knew me, you would probably consider me a 12-year-old jerk like the rest of Whitehorse Middle School (WMS). Bullies are attracted to me like flies to honey. I also get pushed around at home because I'm the youngest of 8 kids. Both my parents work, but us kids don't need to stay after school, because it's a two and a half-hour bus drive home. Here in the Northwest Territories, Canada, people don't live close together, so we have to drive long distances to get to school and work.
My adventure began on the first day of school. I was walking around in jeans and (in my opinion) a cool red shirt with a picture of an angry white horse on it. I was terrified that the Goon Gang (or the Snob Mob) would see me. Joey, Alex, Ryan, and James make up the Goon Gang. Even older kids stay out of their way. If you looked up 'bad boys' in the dictionary, you would definitely find a picture of them. The Snob Mob is a club of girls that call themselves the 'In-Crowd.' If you EVER mingle with these people, you'll be snobified. The Snob Mob and the Goon Gang are like feuding families. Think of the Capulets and the Montagues in Romeo and Juliet. Their hate is like kitten's play compared to SM and GG.
The only likeness between the two of them is that they love to hate me. As I was saying, I was walking down the hall. Everything looked clear, for the first minute or two. The rest of the day was horrible! The Goon Gang had a new member, John, and the Snob Mob had acquired an enemy. Her name was Liz Deirdre Barstow. She had a dark brown, middle length haircut, flares, and a brilliant blue shirt. I liked her immediately. She stuck up for me at recess, when the SM came after me. She didn't even know me. I became her first friend at WMS, and found out we had a lot in common. She was the youngest of four children, and she only lived 5 minutes away from me! I asked her if she wanted to come over. She said, "Sure, my mother doesn't come home until late any way."
"You have a pretty nice house," Liz said after we finished the tour of my house, and she had called her mom to let her know she may be late.
"I have an even nicer house out back," I said.
"What?" she asked quizzically.
"I'll show you, come on," I said, indicating to the back door. I grabbed my coat, some cookies, and a water bottle. She grabbed her coat and bounded after me into my back yard. I first showed her how to walk like an Indian through the forest. After jumping a few creeks and climbing a cliff, we reached our destination. We had walked for about fifteen minutes.
I stopped at a big oak tree. "Are we there yet?" she inquired.
"Yes." I answered simply. I walked around the back of the tree and pulled an innocent-looking vine. I heard Liz yelp. The rope ladder had fallen down right in front of her. I couldn't help giggling.
"Not funny," she managed to say before she, too, broke into giggles. Little did I know that that rope ladder was the door to another world. I opened the trapdoor of my tree fort. I climbed in and then helped Liz up. "Wow", was all she managed to say. I was amazed at myself when I first built it. My dad goes hunting sometimes, and every once in a while I go with him. The floor of the tree house was covered in deerskin, and I had deer horn and bones for tools. I slipped on my rabbit skin boots and handed Liz a pair. I had made both of them myself. On the wall hung my bow and arrow pack, filled with six arrows
"I made this all myself, and my parents are still wondering where these boards went." I said. She laughed. "I've never shown this to anyone," I confessed.
"I can see why," she replied. All of the sudden, I heard a buzzing noise. It wasn't loud, but it wasn't soft. I could see that Liz heard it too. It got so loud we had to kneel and cover our ears. Then, it stopped. The floor began glowing. We heard a voice.
"You have been chosen." The entire room was glowing. Suddenly, one of the walls shot a bolt of light to the middle of the room. It started forming a ball after every side of the tree fort had given in a surge of energy. The ball spoke again. It repeated its message over and over. I felt my body changing, but I couldn't feel it. It was weird. My lips hardened. I grew. I blacked out.
When I woke up, there was a monster in the fort. It was either sleeping, or knocked out. Either way, I was glad it wasn't awake. It was a 6-foot . . . something. It had a panther's head, and a lion's tail. It had huge bat wings and an almost human like body. The body was actually structured like a human's, but it was covered with a dark brown fur. It's hind legs were shaped like a T-Rex's, but the same dark brown fur covered it. It's front legs also had fur. It then had a talon like paw. Four toes on the front, with four-inch, razor sharp talons, and one in the back. If it had grabbed onto something with its front foot, it could have used its back toe to insure that whatever it grabbed wasn't going anywhere.
I jumped up from the floor and looked out the window. We weren't anywhere near my house. The forest was thicker, and it was getting dark. Great, I thought, We took a Magic Tree House ride. I moved around, quietly. I felt heavier, some how. And I could see much better. I sensed that something wasn't right. I would have gotten my bow and arrow, but the living gargoyle/griffin was sleeping right next to it. Then I remembered Liz. I reached for the trapdoor in the floor to go and look for her. Then I noticed . . . . . . .
I was a monster. A weird voice in my head said Grigoyle, grigoyle. I assumed that's what I was, a grigoyle. Then it came to me, was Liz a grigoyle? If not, then where was she? Wait! There wasn't time to think about it, Liz (?) was waking up. "Grrrrr," she/he growled. It leapt! In mid leap, it seemed stunned by its power and look. "AHHHHHHHH!" It had to be Liz, because before I knew it, Liz was head over heels, tumbling across the floor. "Relax, Liz. It's just me. We both look like this. Something happened with that ball. It brought us deep into the forests of the Northwest Territories." Liz looked like she had seen a ghost. I couldn't blame her. I left her in thought while I gathered up my compass that I keep out here, my bottled water, and my storage of food. I put them all in a small weatherproof backpack and found that I didn't need to do that. I had a small pouch built into my front, like a kangaroo. It was very small, though. I stuffed everything in my pouch and called to Liz, "Ready to go, Liz?" "Go where?" she replied with a smile, if you could call it a smile, as she gathered up some supplies I couldn't fit in my pouch. "We're going to find out what this is all about."
"Why are you sitting on the window?" she inquired. "To test these wings." I hopped out the window and opened my bat wings. WOW! I felt great! It was SO cool! I was soaring! "Come on out!" I shouted. Liz looked uncertain. "I'll walk," she said, hopping out of the window and descending to the ground. She dropped on all fours and started running. I was surprised how well she kept up.
We ran/flew for a while until we came to a meadow. Liz couldn't possibly see it. There were what looked like white horses galloping and feeding. I looked down. Liz had stopped. Suddenly, Liz and Chris were one, me and her, I saw through her eyes, she saw through mine. It stopped. We were us again. But we could communicate without using voices. We shared thoughts. That's why she stopped. She didn't want to scare the animals. I silently landed in a tree over her. I "told" her I was going to try to get closer, and for her to stay there. She nodded, she understood.
I dropped to the ground and started toward the creatures. When I got closer, I realized they weren't horses. They were unicorns! One unicorn saw me. "Grigoyles!" he whinnied. The unicorns started running away. I thought fast. I stood up, but didn't run after them. I opened my arms to show I meant no harm. An elderly looking unicorn halted. He cautiously approached me. "What do you want, foul creature of Natas?" he asked me. "Natas? I am human. A ball of light brought me here. I want to know how to get home." "Shrina, the guardian of mystic creatures has brought you here. You are the one, with your companion, who must go see the oracle, who will show you your quest. Don't fail. Natas will destroy us all, if you don't destroy him first." Then, they disappeared. Everything, everyone. It was pitch black. I could hear Liz breathing beside me. We were alone.
To see what happens to Chris and Liz, log on to our web site in two months.
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