The scratch of a feather against parchment greets me as I walk in the door. Jason turns his head and nods, and I collapse into a comfortable chair. My backpack leans against the stone wall of the hut, shabby and worn. I glance at it, knowing that it contains the history of the world we left behind. So I pick it up and open it, and grab the first book I see. Myths and Legends, reads the title. I thumb through it, and wondrous pictures greet my eyes. I see pictures of the Hydra, and Griffins, and Pegasus, and Centaurs. The picture I want flashes by, and my thumb freezes on the picture of Draco, the Dragon. In the picture, he smiles menacingly as he engulfs a house in flames. I sigh as I shake my head, and turn to the last page, the back cover of the book. The tattered card in the back hangs by a thread; after all, the local Library won’t recover it for . . . what, nine hundred years? So it doesn’t matter whether or not the card stays in place. The picture on the page seems much more important to me.

The picture shines on the page. I drew it myself, with our last sharp pencil, and then retraced the lines. The picture had to be perfect, so I wouldn’t forget the person it depicts. It took me five days to finish it, and now the face of Daran stares back at me from the page. The scales gleam in the light from the flickering fire, and the eyes reflect at me, full of life and humor. Those eyes, especially, are important to me, because they saved my life. Dragons have amazing eyesight; they can see a feather fall from an eagle a mile away. And dragon tears, when drunk, protect you from most curses. Lucky me.

Curse. That word reminds me of our old adventure, one that is supposed to end sometime soon, but hasn’t yet. I turn to stare into the fire, remembering the days of long ago, though in truth they are the days to come . . .

It was a foggy, soggy day, I remember, the day when we got stuck. Jason, Rick, Sara, and I got on the bad side of Kim. Oh, yes, Kim Kettleduff, an interesting name for a weird and interesting character. All the kinds in my group of friends had nicknames. Rick was Slick, Sara was Archer, and I was Computer, so we just called her Witch. She always seemed to have magic on the brain, and had repeatedly tried to curse people with little (as far as I could tell) success. But one unfortunate day, she succeeded.

What happened, as far as I know, is this: Kim and Jason were talking about magic, as usual, in the cafeteria after lunch. Most of the other kids had already left, but we had stayed in because it was raining outside, so Rick decided to pester them. I don’t know what he said, but it carried mockery, and the next thing I knew, he was flying. Kim had turned to him, said something in a whispery voice, and put out her palm. Rick lifted off, fell through the doors above the cafeteria clock, and disappeared inside. Strangely enough, there was no crashing sound.

After a moment we turned to look at Kim. We all just gazed at her in stunned silence. Then she snapped out of her daze, looked around, grabbed an adjustable stepladder from its place against a wall, and followed. After the first few seconds, we heard nothing. Like the dumb kids we were, we followed. Sara and I had our belongings, luckily. I remember stepping into the doorway and seeing a large bird, and then I saw nothing.

I came to very slowly. The first thing I heard was a loud, grumbling snore, and I felt something stir. It took me several moments to realize where I was: a dark, pleasantly cool cavern, maybe sixty feet tall and longer than a football field, the floor of which was littered with small rocks and dirt. Sunlight streamed through the opening, a dim glow that caught my eye, and I saw that the cave twisted around, a little like a maze. My backpack lay on the cavern floor beside me. I got slowly up, ignoring a pounding headache, and staggered around until I saw the cave entrance. The huge hole in the cave provided a great view, but to my horror I saw that there was no way down. There was steep rock on every side, and the only thing that protruded from the mountain was a wide overhang above me, which might provide a shelf for birds.

I heard a crackling sound behind me, and whirled around, nearly colliding with Kim.

"Holy cow!" I yelped, and tripped on a stone. I fell backward onto the ground. "You scared me!"

"Shush!" whispered Kim, and she made a Shh! motion with her hand to her mouth. "We’re not alone in here!"

"What, are the others awake too?" I asked as I got up, nearly giddy with fright and oblivious to her warnings. "Where are they?"

"Not them!" she said, wringing her hands frantically as she looked over my shoulder. "That!"