Tales of Pluto: Sparks Flying

Chapter 7: The Journal

"Guys! Hurry up! We're going to miss the rock rain!", Sparks shouted, as he flew across the sky like a superhero. 

Sparks was overjoyed, and flying through the air with the biggest and most excited smile in all of Pluto. He couldn't wait for what was coming next. 

Rock rain. He couldn't believe that he and his friends were going to see it!

He was so excited for the rock rain. Rock rain on Pluto was like a meteor shower for humans. On Pluto, rock rain happens only happens once every five years! Humans have thirty a year, but Pluto is different. 

"We're coming Sparks! I'm so excited! I've never seen rock rain before! I don't even know what it is!", Pineapple yelled. She was just as excited as Sparks. No one had seen rock rain before. 

"Yeah, we're...coming...", Sunmaker tried between sharp short breaths. They did want to see the rock rain, but they were just too puffed out to go on. 

They would prefer wolfhounds to flying any day. Sunmaker loved wolfhounds, but their parents disliked them, so they tried to go look for one in forests. 

Sparks grinned, as they were almost there. He was very happy all his friends decided to come with him. They flew across the sky, faster and faster. 

But suddenly, giant grey specks of rock had started falling from the sky a few hundred metres away. They wouldn't get to the cliff edge in time. 

The grey specks stopped falling, and Sparks' last smile fell too. They had missed the rock rain. Five years, they would have to wait. Pineapple let out a small sob, and Nightflyer gasped. Sunmaker gasped with her. 

A few hours later, the group was all huddled in one room in Sparks' cave. They were cold, and hugging each other for warmth. But most of all, they were sad. 

The rock rain was the main reason Sparks asked them to come over. Hours ago, Sparks was hoping that they were sitting at the edge of the cliff, watching a rare and beautiful with his friends. 

Instead, he was huddled in his cave, waiting for the storms to be over. 

Everyone was there, except Nightflyer, who was exploring Sparks' cave, wanting find something they could talk about. She strolled around all the rooms, picking up all different objects, and paintings, for something interesting. 

She loved puzzles, but at that time, she just wanted to find something interesting to show the others. 

So far, she had found nothing. She sighed, and leaned against the cave wall, wishing the storm would stop so that they could go outside. 

Suddenly, the wall caved in, and Nightflyer fell to the floor! She had found a secret compartment! 

She pushed herself up with her talons, brushed herself off, and looked into the small hole in the wall. She was expecting treasure, or at least something valuable! But instead, it was a book? 

She grabbed it by the spine, and brought it into the room where her friends were huddled up.

"Nightsky? What's that?", Pineapple asked. Nightsky was her nickname, and Pineapple only used it when she was curious about something, or worried about her. 

"Well, I was looking for something in your house I could show you guys, and I leaned on this cave wall, and...", she explained. She was usually quite shy, but around her friends, and alone with her friends, she could talk for hours. 

Her complete opposite was Pineapple, who could talk to anyone, anywhere, at anytime. 

She finished talking and asked Sparks what it was.

"Nightflyer, if I had to be completely honest with you... I have no idea what on Pluto that is!", Sparks exclaimed. He was intrigued by the mystery, and pushed the others forelegs out of the way. He got up quickly, and snatched the book from Nightflyer's talons. 

He sat down, and everyone quickly moved to position themselves around him to solve the mystery of the book.

The cover had no title, which was usually the case for the books on Pluto. They didn't know what to call it, so they just left the cover blank. 

He ran his claws over the dusty cover, and looked at the appearance of it.

There was a lot of dust and dirt on it, and it was a misty green, which made Sparks think it was even more mysterious.

He ran his claws down the spine. It was a little bumpy and rough, simply showing that maybe the book was taken to a lot of places. 

He blew the dust of the cover, and slowly opened it up. The first page simply said this:

Nighthunter's journal of secrets. Keep out!

It was Nighthunter's old journal! They all gasped, and leaned in more, for the secrets that the book held. 

Sparks turned the page, and the first entry was one sentence long. It read: 

The island is dying, and I am running!

The group all wondered what it meant, and kept reading. 

All of the entries were only one or two sentence long, but they told everyone so much. One of them was: 

The first rule of the dark dragons is no betraying the tribe, but I can't hold it in much longer. I have to leave.

Nature dragons are scared of me, but I am scared of myself!

The world is falling. I can't run away from this, because I am always being pulled back to her.

This nature dragon means the world to me, and I will do anything and everything to keep this.

They kept reading the entries, until they came across a day that they recognised. A day that was painted. A day that was in Sparks' house right now. 

The beach of snow was like a blanket, and I was like a timid, tiny, dragonet.  They're coming for me. Sometimes dead is better.

Sparks and Pineapple gasped. They knew exactly which day that was. Sparks closed the book aggressively, and sprinted into the cave cooking room. 

He then grabbed the painting of Coco and Nighthunter at the snowy beach scene, and ran back into the room. 

Why was Nighthunter scared?

Why were some dragons looking for him?

And what does the painting have to do with anything?!

Sparks and his friends had a mystery to solve!

✨

I was gagged, and I couldn't see a thing. The world was dark, and I don't know what to do! I thought of my friends. Coco, Firejaws, and Leafbringer. I thought of my name. The dark dragons would probably make me forget it, so I thought of it more and more, even as I knew that wouldn't do anything. Goose. Goose. Goose. Goose. The darkness disappeared, and more darkness came into my vision, but not as dark, that I could see a little. Coco would save me. She always does. Right?