Mystia - Jenna (top 10 non fiction books of all time .txt) 📗

looked up, too. The other griffin was now circling above them. It made Dawn nervous—it reminded her of the way a vulture circled over a dead animal.

“Why doesn’t he dive straight down like you did? It’s faster,” Dawn said, trying to keep from cracking up again.

“I never saw no one else do that before.”

Cobalt was by now only about twenty feet above them. He almost seemed to float down, until his claws hit the ground with a solid thud. Dawn gazed up in awe at his size and obvious dignity. He must have been twice the size of Amethyst. His fur was a grayish blue, and he had a menacing air about him. “Um…hi,” she said meekly.

Amethyst arched her neck and dipped her head in a respectful bow to her king.
For the first time, Dawn was able to get a grasp on her surroundings. They were in the center of a clearing that was in the very center of a forest thick with trees with yellow leaves. The ground was dappled with circles of sunlight that penetrated through the high, wide-spread canopy of leaves and vines. Other than that, it was dim and dark. The clearing glowed with a strange, soft green light, but it was hardly enough to see by. Piles of leaves and the occasional twig were scattered here and there.

Dawn turned her attention back to Cobalt. He was watching her, his bright yellow eyes squinted. He seemed to be somehow disappointed with her. She began to grow nervous. She didn’t like the way he was watching her.

It looked like he’d like to sooner swallow her whole than let her onto his island.

“My name is Dawn,” she began carefully. “If you don’t mind…what do you want with me?” She realized that her question had come out much less respectfully than she had meant for it to.

Cobalt growled. “Do not speak to me in such a way. I will be the one asking the questions.”

As soon as he had said “questions,” a figure had descended from his back. It was another person, a boy, not much taller than herself. The wind blew the his longish dark hair off of his shoulders and revealed two thin, pointed ears. So he was an elf.
What do you say to an elf? Dawn wondered. Hi, I like your ears? She turned her attention back to Cobalt, who was still staring indignantly at her. “I’m sorry, your majesty.” The words sounded strange and hollow to her own ears. She had never said that before. She did her best to bow in the way Amethyst did. Cobalt just stared at her like she was trying to make candy canes come out of her nose. He exchanged a glance with the elf boy. It clearly said, We’ll have to work on that. They both turned back to Dawn.

“We’ll take you to Mystia,” said the boy quietly, almost inaudibly. “You will meet the rest of the islanders.” He lowered his head. “My name is Ben. Well, that’s my Amican name…Cobalt and I will be your escorts to our island.” He didn’t seem too excited about it, and Dawn was pretty sure he meant “American.”

She guessed that Mystia was the name of the island that Ben was talking about. “Okay,” she said nervously.

Ben put one hand on Cobalt’s wing. He stuck there (like Velcro) as Cobalt lifted it until it was level with his back, which Ben leapt bravely onto from yards away. Dawn hoped that she would be able to do that once she had gotten more practice. She decided it wouldn’t hurt to try it now. She put one hand on Amethyst’s wing. Her heart began to beat faster as Amethyst’s strong feathers wrapped around her hand and ground dropped away from her. This is scary! I’m not doing it again. She realized that Amethyst’s wing was now next to her back. “Umm…” Dawn couldn’t bring herself to jump. What if she missed? The ground was pretty far below her.

Amethyst seemed to realize that and brought her wing over to her back until Dawn was practically sitting on it. “Thank you,” she breathed, sighing in relief and clutching the griffin’s neck firmly. I don’t care if I am stuck here. She sat up straighter. “I’m ready to go.”

Cobalt nodded and soared straight up into the air, Ben looking completely at ease. Dawn couldn’t help letting the words “show off” ring around in her mind just once…or twice.

Then Amethyst snorted and did the same thing. Although her teeth chattered in the frigid air and her heart just wouldn’t slow down, Dawn was able to at least hope she looked like she wasn’t having trouble.

Once Amethyst was at the same altitude as Cobalt, she evened out and Dawn was once more able to relax. She sat back with her hands behind her head. This is actually kind of cool, she thought. How many people get to meet an elf and two griffins? Oh—and a werewolf…but I don’t think they’d want to.

Amethyst sped up for a moment until she was neck-and-neck with Cobalt. They began to talk about their experiences from the time Amethyst had left the island to the time Cobalt had showed up, or at least that was what Dawn was pretty sure they were talking about from the bits and pieces they said in English. She put in the part about the werewolf. She noticed smugly that Ben looked impressed that she had outrun it—at least for a little while. That lasted until about five seconds later when he began talking about his tangle with an ogre.

Dawn didn’t brag anymore.

* * *

Dawn woke up, confused, to the shriek of a griffin. She had fallen asleep on Amethyst’s back, she realized. Her eyes were droopy and it took a little while for everything to come into focus. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and looked around for the sun. It was directly above them. Her stomach growled.

“Dawn,” said Amethyst.

“What?” She was irritated at Amethyst for waking her up.

“We’re about to land. The four of us need to do something.”

“Okay,” Dawn answered, heart racing at the anticipation of another long free-fall. She braced herself. “Let’s do that diving thing again!”

“What—again?” asked Cobalt. He looked over at Amethyst, clearly suspicious.

“Watch!” said Dawn.

Amethyst didn’t hesitate. With a single beat of her wings, she and Dawn were suddenly plummeting face-first. Dawn leaned forward with her hands out behind her and her hair streaming back. She screamed giddily. When Amethyst tipped back and her paws touched the ground, Dawn’s fingers and legs felt numb. She jumped down off of the griffin’s back, breathing hard. Amethyst happily rolled over on her back and then stood up quickly. “I hope Cobalt did no see that,” she said. “Is what dirty horses do.” She frowned. “Maybe we shouldn’t have done that dive, either.”

“Whatever he’s gonna do to us, it was worth it,” Dawn answered. She flopped over on her own back and looked up at the sun, which was blinking as the tips of the evergreen trees swayed back and forth in front of it. They were in another forest clearing. She sat up and looked around. There was nothing but trees and dirt everywhere she looked except for the rare blade of grass and a clear, glittering pool that was about ten feet long and five wide. She crawled over and stared into its surface, entranced.

By then Cobalt had landed. “Where is Parie?” he demanded furiously.

“We should not have trusted him to do something as important as guard the water,” said Ben, his eyes narrowed into little slits. “He probably ran off the first chance he got.”

“And now we don’t know where he is.”

“I’ll alert Khara when we get back. She will appoint a new guard.”

Cobalt turned his attention back to Dawn, who was completely confused by then. She had no idea who Parie was, or what would happen if he didn’t stay at his post. “I need to explain something to you,” said Cobalt, looking into the glistening pool. He was the first so far to not make a single mistake with his English. “The reason you can even see this water is because you’ve ridden Amethyst. You can only see it under two circumstances: if you have ridden on a dragon or a griffin, or if you are a griffin or dragon. There’s a story that goes with that—I won’t go into it now. As I was saying, if you drink from it and splash it in both of your eyes you will be able to see our island.”

“Okay,” said Dawn, already gathering some water in her cupped hands.

“Wait!” roared Cobalt, startling Dawn. The water splashed back into the pool. “The griffin must pour it into your mouth with her paws.” He said, emphasizing the word. He nodded to Amethyst, who looked surprised.

“Me? I no know how.”

“I’ll take you through it.” He gave her a set of instructions, most of which were in what Dawn decided must be their native language. She was told to lie flat on her back as Amethyst let some of the water trickle into her mouth a little bit at a time, then put a few drops in each of her eyes. Then she lifted Dawn up onto her back. “She shouldn’t touch the

ground for awhile,” Cobalt had said.
Dawn felt suddenly alive and refreshed. I feel like I just went skydiving or something. This is cool!
The griffins soared straight up into the sky while Cobalt said something vague about how he’d like to try to dive the way Amethyst had done. Dawn stifled a giggle. She glanced over at Ben, who was smiling. “On to Mystia!” the elf cried, raising his fists and standing up halfway on Cobalt’s back.

Cobalt and Amethyst picked up speed little by little until they were flying so fast that when Dawn looked down all she saw was a blur. In the distance she could barely make out the beginnings of a brown, sandy beach crowded with tourists. Dawn frowned. “People will see you guys,” she said into Amethyst’s cat-like ear.

“We’re high enough that they probably think we’re birds,” she answered.

They reached the water in seconds. Now that they were this far, Dawn thought she could see a green wall in the distance. She squinted, but she still couldn’t see any detail. It was just blurry green.

Cobalt shouted, “Mystia visible—twelve o’ clock!”
Dawn’s teeth chattered with excitement.


CHAPTER 3
ISLAND

It seemed like hours before they finally reached the island and began to descend. By then Dawn’s excitement had turned to stiff terror. They never told me why they’re making me come here, she realized, and her teeth started chattering all over again—and not from excitement. Just that I’m a representative. What does that even mean?

The griffins circled around in the air in preparation for the dive that Cobalt had given his permission to do. “Now!” shouted Amethyst, and they dipped downward and began falling. Dawn grinned and shut her eyes, which tears slid out of. Air whistled past her. She opened one eye. Everything she tried to look at was a blur. More tears rushed out and she closed it again.
Amethyst reached the ground much too