“The Land of Awe”

Alison

“The Eggs have been place so that she has to find them.”

“Good. This is the perfect way to have good and evil come together, wouldn’t you agree, Zan?”

“Zan?”

“Oh, no, no, this can’t be.”

“The Land of Awe is in grave, grave danger.”

“How could Zan do this?”

~ Somewhere in Maine ~

“Just up this path is the Pine Lookout,” the tour guide said. I was at the back of the line with my friend Alice when we saw the tour guide stop, stalk still. I pushed my way to the front of the line to see what was going on, and I stopped dead in my tracks. I stared wide-eyed. It was a nest, but not just any nest. It was HUGE, and in the nest were ten big golden eggs. Golden, big, bright, shining eggs.

Just then one of them started to shake, and I saw a crack. Then, I heard a loud thump, and I turned around to see the tour guide faint. When I looked back at the nest, I saw the shell fall away to reveal another golden eggs. Everyone was watching now, eyes wide, as the eggs began to shake again. When the shell fell away, there was a small black, bat-like creature with three golden horns. It made a cawing sound, almost like a crow, and suddenly the other eggs hatched one by one, shedding the shell and cawing loudly.

Everyone covered their ears as the creatures continued to caw and attempted to fly. Some were a dark purple and some jet black. But one by one they took flight and the tiny black one grabbed the back of my shirt. It tried to pull me upward, and I squirmed to free myself as I was lifted out of the ground, up, up into the air.

“Alice!” I screamed as the thing pulled me up, up, and away into the horizon. I stared down and saw that there was nowhere to jump to. Below me was all water. I sighed and looked out over the sparkling water. This creature was surprisingly strong for a not-even-one-day-old baby something.

Just ahead the creature had spotted something. I looked around to find what it was but found nothing but empty sky. The creature started to dive, and I screamed. Was this “thing” crazy? We were going to die! But just then an island appeared, and I let out a sigh; we were safe.

We landed softly in a clearing by the other creatures. Just then a man walked out of the trees wearing long robes and a pointed hat. “You’ve arrived! And in good time, too!”

“Um,” I said.

“Sorry about the ride,” he said. “I’m getting used to them, too! Well, considering this is the first time I’ve seen them out of their shells.”

“Excuse me, Sir, but where am I?” I asked.

“Ah, yes,” he replied. “You are in a very, very special place filled with magic and mystery.” He smiled and then said, “You are in The Land of Awe.”

“The Land of What?” I asked.

“The Land of Awe, Sierra.”

“How do you know my name?”

“We’ve been expecting you for quite a long time now,” he said calmly, as if a child was dropped off on his island every day.

“Really?” I said defiantly. “I never heard anything about getting pulled out of a class field trip and being taken away to some island by some creature.”

“They’re called lev-ats.”

“Are my parents okay with this?”

“Saving the world? Yes,” he replied.

“What do you mean, saving the world?” I asked.

“There’s no time to explain. We will take the lev-ats back to my castle where I can explain.” He started to walk toward one of the lev-ats before he turned around and said, “Oh, and that little one is yours to keep.”

The little lev-at nuzzled me, and I stared back at it. Then, he picked me up by the back of my shirt, like he had done before, and started to take off. I sighed. Man, carried away from my field trip by a three-horned bat to save the world. Man, I hope this is a dream!