A/N: Hey, Renx here!
Shoutout to Fuzzycat408 for letting me take inspiration from them!
Hope you enjoy!
Holly's POV
"I think I should be in charge", Nettle said as Sundew spread the map on a tree stump in the middle of the village.
The rain had finally stopped, so the stumo was still damp, but the map was drawn on a water-proof leaf.
Dang, where's a GPS when you need one?
"Ha", Sundew said to Nettle. "No."
"But I'm the oldest", Nettle said. "So I have the most expriencein the jungle, and I've been training for a dangerous mission my whole life and I'm a natural leader."
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand on top of all that, you're really nice. Yeah, if I were an adult, I'd totally trust you", Holly said sarcastically.
"Oh wait . . . okay, I guess I kind of am an adult. And no, I don't trust you."
Nettle growled.
"Nope", Sundew said. "Outvoted, one to five."
"How do you know?", Nettle cried. "You didn't even ask them! They might vote for me."
"Nope", Willow said.
"No thanks", Cricket said.
"Nah", Holly said.
"Uh, no thanks", Mandrake said.
"Meebo bope!", Bumblebee chimed in.
"Whoops, six to one", Sundew said. "Maybe she is smarter than she looks."
She held out her talon, and Bumblebee wacked delightly.
"MANDRAKE", Nettle snarrled. "Why are you letting her do this to me?"
Mandrake winced.
"She's going to anyway, right? How could I do anything?"
"And", Holly muttered, "why should he? It's not like you've been a git to him his whole life."
"What?', Nettle said.
Holly looked away and pretended to whistle.
Sundew turned to Willow.
"What's the farthest you've been on the map?', she asked.
Willow pointed to a clusted of squiggly lines Northeast of the village.
"The manchineel grooves. I once went too close to them while out hunting, and my dad letured me for like a week."
"This map reeeeeally doesn't have a lot of detail", Holly commented.
She was begining to wish she had more than her backpack and the glow-toad Mandrake had given her; she didn't feel confident enough for those bombadier beetles, but now she almost wished she'd packed a few.
"Almost none of us have gone past the manchineels", Willow said. "They're scary death trees."
"I've read about them, but, I've never seen one", Cricket said, pushing up her glasses.
She could hardly keep still.
Holy felt that way too; she'd long been know for her ADHD twitches.
"Don't even think about it", Sundew said to Cricket. "No time for research today, Miss Brainy. We'll go around them."
Sundew rolled up the leaf and looked at the trees.
Sapwings were hopping from tree to tree, shouting suggestions to each other, gathering together in groups to whisper before splitting up again. Some of them stopped, and stared at Cricket and Bumblebee.
"Find something helpful to do!", Sundew yelled at a nearby Leafwing. He jumped, and scampered away like a startled squirrel.
"Do you have to be so terrifying?", Willow asked.
"It's my speacial skill. And he was asking for it."
"Was he?", Willow asked.
"Please keep being the only dragon I'm not angry with right now", Sundew said.
"Come on, everyone, let's go. Willow, you lead the way since you're the most familiar with this part of the jungle."
Willow paused for a moment, then headed into the trees with a nod to Sundew.
Holly and Sundew followed, with Cricket and Mandrake close behind.
"I'm familiar with this part of the jungle too", Nettle complained. "I've been scouting in sapwing territory since before Mandrake hatched. I know every tree that grows in this area."
"Meh, meh, meh, meh, meh", Bumblebee said in a hillariously simiar tone of voice.
Holly sickered and turned around to catch Mandrake's eyes. He was trying (and failing) not to laugh.
"EXCUSE me", Nettle said, "why are we bringing a DRAGONET with us? A Hivewing dragonet, no less? Oh, is it because we're hoping something will eat her? Good idea, a snack for the dragon-traps."
"Hey could you shut you're trap, Nettle?", Holly said.
"The werewolves will hear you."
"The what?", Nettle asked.
"She's saying you'd be a great snack for the dragon-traps", Sundew said.
"Hmm, you know what? No, you'd make them sick."
"MANDRAKE!", Nettle yelled again. "If you don't stand up to her now, she's going to walk all over you when you're married!"
"Wow, I have no what that feels like", Mandrake said under his breath.
They walk and climbed and wacked their way through the undergrowth for a long time, mostly in silence besides Nettle's complaining, Bumblebee chirping about things, and Willow's warning about what to avoid.
Holly spotted Mandrake chatting with Cricket about poisonous bugs as they walked through a clearing.
Smiling, Holly caught up to them and trotted at Mandrake's side.
"Er, hi", he said, avoiding her eyes,
He walked away, and joined Willow and Sundew up at the front.
Holly's somach fell.
Oh no.
What did I do this time?
"I'm not as good as Blue at reading other dragons' emotions, but, I think he's still in a state of shock", Cricket said. "I mean, he thought he knew you his whole life, and now he knows you're not really a dragon. I would be devasted too, if it were me."
"Yeah", Holly sighed. "Wait, how did you-"
"I maybe overheard your conversation", she admitted sheepishly.
Holly expected her to drown her with questions, but she didn't. She glaced at Mandrake.
"Just give him some time", Cricket said.
Nattle was in a ramble about how she would have found a better route by now, when they came to a slanted slope, riddled with roots and prickly bushes.
A thick layer of sap and leaves made it difficult to stay upright.
Now up at the front of the group, Holly grabbed the closest branch that wasn't covered in sap and reached out with one talon to help the others.
"You know what", Holly said as Cricket slipped and held onto her arm, "you can go ahead and ask me all the questions flying around your head; it will infuriate Nettle."
"Oh REALLY", Nettle spat. "You were always annoying, Holly, but I should have seen this coming. You and Man-drAAAAAAAAAAAAAAke!" She broke off in a shriek as she misstepped, lost balance, and fell downhill.
Holly shoved Cricket out of the way as Nettle whooshed past, plowing a path in the leaves as she went.
Willow tried to catch Nettle, but she was sliding too fast.
"Wait, come back and tell us about how you're the smartest dragon in the jungle!", Sundew yelled to her.
Nettled shouted something about murding Sundew, then vanished over the edge of the hill.
It was difficult, but they finally managed to look over the edge.
"It's not that far", Cricket said, "but I can't see Nettle anwhere."
"I'm sure she'll be fine", Sundew said lightly.
"What if she fell into a pound and drowned?", Willow said.
"Get me out of here!", Nettle's voice bellowed.
"That doesn't sound like drowning", Holly said.
Her necklace swung back and forth as she haltingly spread her wings, and gently floated down the edge of the hill to the bank.
The mud was black and slimy, squelching as she landed, nearly squashing a bored looking frog that hopped away with a frightened Glop!
Sharp roots stabbed and pricked her feet as she moved closer to the water.
From here, anyone could tell what had happened to Nettle; there was large cluster of pitcher plants at the bottom of the hill. They were huge, slimy green and pink sacks with huge mouths at the top.
Holly barely keept herself from puking.
Then she realized what might be inside: a decomposing body.
Then she felt even more sick.
"GET ME OUT OF HERE!", Nettle yelled.
One of the plants wobbled as Nettle shook it from the inside.
"Whoa", Cricket breathed. "She's suck in there? Why doesn't she just climb out?"
"Meemomorp", Bumblebee agreed.
"They have slimy insides that make it impossible", Willow said.
"The hairs along the rim also prick and irritate the skin."
"If we don't get her out soon, she'll either drown or be digested by the acid pool at the bottom", Mandrake said.
"Which would be bad", he added to himself.
"I wish Blue were here", Cricket whispered.
"I don't think setting it on fire would help much", Holly remarked.
"Oh - I meant to make me feel better", Cricket said.
"We need to cut her out", Sundew said. "Willow, Holly, and I will start with our claws; Cricket and Mandrake, look for anything sharper."
They had to walk through the forest of pitcher plants to reach Nettle's.
Holly didn't have leafspeak, but the pitcher plants definitely had smug vibes, especially the one Nettle was stuck in.
Willow and Sundew stabbed their claws into the side of the plant, sending small viberations echoing through the roots.
Holly joined in, digging grooves into the plant with every scratch. They carved a square into the side of the pitcher, hofully big enough for Nettle to crawl through. But the walls were covered in slim, making their claws sting and stick together.
"This is like that moment your mom giving you piles and piles of homework and no matter how much you study, you can't- your- your- progress is slow", Holly panted.
She was pretty sure the other two had no idea what she was talking about.
What made it even more difficult, was Nettle screaming bloody murder the enitre time.
"Here", Cricket said, panting. She leaned inbetween two pitcher plants, and handed them a wickedly shap thistle.
"Ack, careful! You nearly killed Willow!", Sundew said.
"Not that nearly. Thank you, Cricket, this is perfect."
Taking the spike, Willow stabbed it to the pitcher like a spear.
It went straight through one of the lines they'd carved.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME?!", Nettle cried in a shrill voice.
"No, we're trying to save you, you nerfherder!", Holly yelled.
Okay, so maybe they should have warned her first, but still.
"Ugh, it's so cramped in here", Nettle complained. "And things are stabbing me, my tail REALLY hurts, and . . . . . "
"WILL you PLEASE SHUT UP", Holly cried.
Willow had been dragging the thorn along the outline of the square, and suddenly, the whole peice fell off and out came Nettle, covered in sicky pink goo and smelling like she'd just surrived a Sarlack pit.
"Ewww", Bumblebee said, which pretty much summed up the scene for Holly.
"Took you long enough!", Nettle yelped, trying to stand up.
"You're welcome!", Mandrake called from the other side of the pitcher plants.
"I don't BELIEVE this!"
Nettle stomped past Willow, Sundew and Holly, shoving the pitcher plants out of the way, and marching to the edge of the lake.
Nettle scooped off some of the slim, revealing her sickly-green scales underneath.
"Are you all right?", Cricket asked.
"As if YOU care!", Nettle snapped. "Nobody talk to me!"
"Should we-", Holly said to Mandrake.
"Just don't say anything to her", Mandrake whispered. "She might just shut up."
Sundew held up the map and squinted at it; the sun was high, but only a few rays escaped through the leaves and branches.
"It looks like we have to go across this lake to avoid the Manchineels", Holly said, looking at the map.
"Nettle, while your over there, why don't you put your nose under the water and see if a Bladderwort tries to eat it?"
"I'll fed you, Sundew, and your little striped monster to the Bladderworts!", Nettle snarled.
"Ta-daaaaaaa!", Bumblebee said, spreading her wings.
Holly smirked.
"Deal with it."
Nettle blinked but kept scowling.
"Somebody please get me some pixalated shades."
"Look", Willow said. "There are plants floating just below the surrface. Waterwheels."
"Yeesh", Mandrake shuddered.
Even Nettle took a step back.
"Waterwheels?", Cricket asked.
"Aquaic dragon-traps", Willow said. "They drag you under, where you drown, and then they eat you."
"Oooooooo", Bumblebee said.
"No, Bumble", Cricket said. "More like 'Ack, scary plants, run!' But it is incredible! Plants that drown dragons!"
"Glade you're so interested", Nettle said coldly. "How about your tribe tries living in a habitat where everything's deadly?"
Sundew nudged the deflated looking Cricket.
"I bet you're dying to ask about the Manchineels", she said.
"I've been restraining myself", Cricket said.
"You can see them over there", Sundew said, pointing.
"If you eat the fruit, you'd go insane and it would kill you. If you sat under one, if sap dripped on you, you'd die. Oh, and they're also covered in wicked thorns."
Holly whistled.
"Like I said", Willow chimed in. "Scary death trees."
She looked up.
"I think we'll be able to fly across as long as we're careful, go one at a time, and watch out for the Dragon-traps-trumpet flowers, and Roridulas."
"Roridulas?", Cricket asked
"Do you know anything?", Nettle scourned.
"Stop, Nettle", Willow said sternly.
"Think of them like, scary death bushes. If you touch them, you're stuck there until assassin bugs come to eat you."
Holly gulped.
Why had she been chosen?
Cobralilly would have been a much better choice. Not even zombies would be able to scare that dragon.
Unfortunately, Holly wasn't Cobralilly, and if a zombie apocalypse happened, Holly would be the first to be eatten. Sundew would probably be the one to save the world.
"Urm, I'm not sure why Belladonna made me go along", Mandrake said.
At least I'm not the only one a little bit daunted.
"She wanted you to keep an eye on Sundew", Nettle said sharply.
"Gross!", Sundew said. "No one needs to keep any eyes on me!"
"Sundew, stop, we have more important things to worry about", Willow said.
"I'll fly across first", Willow went on, "to see if the path is safe."
"No, I'll go first!", Nettle snapped.
Willow shrugged.
"Sure. Go ahead. I don't have a problem with that."
"That's right!", Nettle mumbled.
She shook off the last bits of the slim and took off.
The others watched her, their eyes following her as she flew around the obstacles that hung over the lake.
"She made it!", Mandrake called to the others.
"I'll go next", Willow said.
After Willow went Mandrake, followed by Sundew.
"Okay", Cricket said, taking a deep breath. "I got this."
"Let me take Bumblebee", Holy said. "So far, with everthing I've tried, it's worked out."
"Howy!", Bumblebee cheered.
"All right", Cricket said finally. "Just be careful."
She handed her Bumblebee, and tied the sling around her neck and shoulders.
Bumblebee was lighter than Holly's expected.
She kept stabbing her with her horns and spiky bits.
It wasn't really uncomforable, though.
"All right, thanks, Cricket. You can go join the others now", Holly told her.
She watched Cricket fly over the lake, pausing every now and then to peer at plants and bugs as she went. After a close encounter with an acid-spraying, spatula-shaped beetle, she landed on the other side of the lake.
"Okay", Holly said to Bumblebee. "Our turn. Don't distract me, please."
"Uoooooo bee goood", Bumblebee told her sternly, patting Holly's face. "Donobby splamflamp."
"Okay then, let's go."
Holly took off, a bit wobbly as she adjusted the wight of the sling, and overcame her fear.
Up a little higher, over a group of dragon-traps, inbetween a loop of dangling snakes and a string of web.
Now she could see the others waiting for her; only a bit farther and this would be over.
Buzz.
Something whizzed past them.
Bumblebee suddenly jumped onto Holly's face.
"Beebuff! Beebuf!"
"Ahh! Bumble! Wha-AHH!"
Holly fell, unable to see anything.
Something sticky caught her, bringing her to a stop.
She was stuck in a sundew.
"Holly!", Mandrake yelled.
"Bumblebee, are you okay?", Holly asked, trying to stay calm.
"Yim", Bumblebee said in a small voice.
"Okay", Holly said. "Now, WHAT IN THE NAME OF CLEARSIGHT DID YOU DO THAT FOR?!"
"Beebuf", Bumblebee said in an even smaller voice.
"Please get off my face; I need to see what's going on."
Bumblebee scooted herself back into the sling and leaned away from the sundew.
Holly had fallen and landed on her back, her wings spread out.
Holly reached out with her free talon, broke off a thorn from a nearby weed, and tryed to poke the plant with it. Unfortunately, she couldn't see what she was doing, and accidently stabbed herself in the hip. At the moment, however, she didn't feel anything.
"Don't do that, Holly", Sundew warned. "It likes the taste of blood."
"Sundew", Holly called, "tell this thing that I'm going to beat the Hades out of it, and throw it into Tartarus!"
"I'm coming to get you!", Mandrake shouted.
"No, Mandrake!", Holly yelled back, "You'll just get stuck too. I need to figure this out."
Bebuff . . .
What if that actually meant something?
"Cricket, did you see anything before Bumblebee jumped on me?", she asked.
"You didn't see it?", Cricket asked. "There was a huge tsestse fly! It was bigger than Bumblebee!"
"Is it still there?"
"Yes, to your right, above your head!"
Holly carefully looked up and saw it; a fly almost as big as her face.
"Holy crap, Bumble, you were right", she said quietly.
Bumblebee gave her a face that she interpreted as, "I told you so, you bonehead".
Then, Holly got an idea.
"How do you attract a tsetse fly?', she asked.
"Attract? Are you crazy?', Nettle shouted.
"Maybe the smell of blood?", Willow suggested.
"Bright colors!", Cricket said. "Especially blue."
Now I know I should have packed more.
All right, I have my backpack, my headphones, my MP3 Player,and the glow-toad.
Yep, I really should have packed more.
Mandrake said that glow-toads create bright lights when threatened.
And in The Dragon Prince. . . .
"All right, Bumblebee, I need you to do something. Can you listen?"
"Yim", Bumblebee said in her most solemn voice.
"There's a pouch over my chest that I need you to get to for me. When you find it, hold it up so that I can see it. Got that?"
"Beemish", Bumblebee said.
She climbed out of the sling and crawled onto Holly's chest. Holly heard her singing quitely to herself:" Beemish, Howy, bump bump, sableday, beemish, Howy, bump bump, sableday. . . "
Finally, Bumblebee held up the push cantaining the glow-toad.
"Good. Inside you'll find a very grumpy amphibian."
Bumblebee gentally took out the creature out of the pouch and looked at him.
"All right", Holly said, "when the fly comes closer, I need you to hold him over your head, okay? Do it near my free hand, got it?"
Bumblebee whimpered.
"Hey, hey, it's okay", Holly said."We're going to be just fine. Probably. I hope. Now, hold up the glow-toad, yes, just like that. Get ready"
As Bumblebee held him above her, the glow-toad turned blue, just like Holly had hoped he would.
Fingers crossed!
The tsetse fly got closer . . . and closer. . . . and then. . . .
Bwap!
Holly snatched the fly out of the air, thrust it at the sundew, and scooping up Bumblebee and the glow-toad, she sprinted to the others and clasped, landing on her stomach.
"HA HA!", Bumblebee said, doing a victory dance, her wings shimmering in the sunshine.
"I sableday! Beemish! Yim, yim, yim!"
"I think you're confused about who did the saving", Holly said.
"Holly, that was amazing! Nice work!", Cricket said.
"Work?", Holly asked. "I didn't do really do that much: if it weren't for Sundew, I'd be a goner."
"That wasn't me", Sundew said with a grin. "I think you have Mandrake to thank."
Mandrake smiled sheepishly.
"What's that, Holly?", Willow asked.
"That's a glow-toad", Holly said. "Mandrake gave him to me. I don't have a name for him yet, though."
"Ooh, what about Grumpy? Mr. Grouch? Oh, I got it! Mr. Grumpydins!"
"No", Holly said laughing. "Actually, I think I've got it."
"What?"
"Bait. After King Esran's loyal pet."
"Okay, enough chitt-chat", Nettle said. "We need to get moving."
"I can take Bumblebee", Cricket offered.
Holly handed her the sling.
But as Holly sat up, a sharp pain hit her.
"Oh, damn it."
"What?', Mandrake asked, his face filled with worry.
"My hip", she groaned. She sat back down as Mandrake opened his pouches and took out some bandages.
"Is it bad? I don't want to look."
"Could be better, could be worse", Mandrake answered.
"On a scale of one-to-ten how bad is it?"
"I'd say it's about a seven point-"
"Arm ripped off?", Holly finished.
"You have the weirdest sense of humor", he commented.
"Why thank you."
When Mandrake was finished, Holly tried to stand up, but swayed, and sat back down again.
"Come on,she can take it, Mandrake! We need to keep moving!", Nattle bossed.
"No, she needs to rest first", Willow said. "We can afford an hour's break."
"That's all right, you guys can-"
"No, we're not leaving without you", Willow stopped her. "You need to lie down, and the rest of us are staying with you."
Nettle sat down with an impatient huff.
"You should get some sleep", Mandrake said. "There's no way of knowing when your next chance will be."
"Okay, okay, fine", Holly agreed. "Just don't let me over-sleep."
She lay down on a pile of leaves, and driffted off almost as soon as her eyelids fell.
In her dream, she was a normal teenager (or, at least as normal as she possibly could be), her messy, curly brown hair falling about her shoulders and into the small pockets of her hoodie.
She was at Barnes And Noble, standing infront of the fantasy bookshelf.
Hmm. I wonder where The Lord of the Rings is on this. The title starts with a T, so it would be with other books whose titles begin with T.
But she couldn't find a single section that was dedicated to T books.
It was when she happened to glance over at a cluster of J. K. Rowling's books that she realized that they were orgainized by the last names of the author, not the first word in their title.
Tolkein starts with T.
She walked over to the end of the line of books, where the lsle continued and conected to the shelf next to it.
Her eyes quickly spotted The Lord of the Rings, but her hand moved on its own.
Instead of grabbing one of the large, fully illustrated editions of the tilogy, she took a much smaller blood-red book on the left shelf.
The title of the book was written in large, bold letters: Darkstalker Legends.
Darkstalker . . .
"That's some mess you're in, kid", a voice behind her said.
Holly jumped, and the book fell to the carpet floor.
An old man was sitting on a chair, a comic book in his hand. His head was hidden beneath a STATS hat, but puffs of white hair stuck out from behind his ears. Even with his shades he was unmistakable.
"Stan Lee?", Holly gasped.
"But you're-"
"What dead?", Stan asked. "As long as my memeory's alive, I can never be truly dead; heros get remembered, but legends never die."
Holly stared at him for a moment.
"Stan, I'm not sure what I'm doing", she said.
"I want to go home, but, I also want to help my friends. What if I-I-"
She gulped, her face turning slightly pink.
"What if I die? My family might never know what happened to me."
It was a stupid question.
She was suposed to be the hero, right?
What kind of hero asks that? What kind of hero is afriad of dying?
"They will", Stan said again. "Heros get remembered, but legends never die."
Holly looked back at the bookshelf, then glanced blankly at story on the ground.
"How do you-?"
But Thanos might have snapped his fingers for all Holly knew, because when she turned again, the man was nowhere in sight.
"Okay", Holly muttered, picking up the book.
One of its pages fluttered onto her sneakers.
"Stan's right, you know", another voice said.
A woman with blond hair and glasses was looking Holly with a kind look in her eyes.
Her shirt said "Mom, mischief manager", which reminded Holly of something her mom might wear just to make Holly's grandmother look at her weird.
The lady held a small white dog in her arms, which snored softly.
Holly was possitive she'd seen her somewhere. . . .
"Who are you?", Holly asked after a second.
"I'm many things", the woman answered absentmindly. "Loving mother, bookworm, author and", she smiled, "dragonlover. Call me Bird."
Holly paused, sweaping up the fallen paper into her hands.
"Bird, I don't know why I was chosen for this", Holly said. "I'm just a bookworm- sorry, bookdragon, bookworms are overrated- with a bad temper and weird sense of humor. I'm nobody important."
"You don't your own strength", Bird said. "A memory is one of the strongest things in the world. You just need to harness it.
You are capable of amazing thigs, Holly.
Would I have chosen you if I didn't think so?"
"Wait, you chose me? What do you have to do with this?"
"Well, I was one of the people who chose you", Bird said.
"There were others."
"WHY would you choose me?", Holly almost cried.
"You could have chosen Sundew, or Cricket, or Tsunami, or anyone! Anybody would be a better choice than me!"
"No, they wouldn't", Bird said gently but firmly.
"Everyone has something to ofer. Sundew is brave. Tsunami is fearless. Cricket is smart. But some things only you can do.
You are important. There are reasons why you where chosen. It wasn't random chance."
Holly huffed and looked at the shelf again.
"I can't do what you want me to. I'm not the bold hero of this story. I'm terrified of a tsete fly, I hate snakes, dresses, and usually following rules. How can I possibly be the person you and everyone else need me to be?"
"You'll know when the time comes."
Holly breathed through her mouth and closed her eyes.
The page crummpled slightly as she clinched her fist.
"Oh, and that's my book by the way", Bird said.
Holly gazed at the novel in her hand, as though noticing it for the very first time.
She ran her fingers over the torn paper and stuck it at the very back of the book, and happened a glance at it's content.
About the author: Tui T. Sutherland
Below the caption was a photo of Bird, holding her small, white dog.
"Are you-", Holly began.
But Bird was gone.
Crap!
Why does that keep happening?
With a scoff, she put the book back on the shelf. And it must have pressed something in the back, bacause the shelf moved, revealing a hidden room lit only by candles and a fire place.
What?
Have I suddenly walked into a Nancy Drew book?
Maybe Holly was in the mood for doing things she probably wasn't supposed to, because she decided to do something really stupid: she stepped inside of the hidden chamber.
The room was filled with artifacts. Swords, strange looking orbs of light, and were those WANDS?
The walls were covered with paintings of people sleeping. Or were they pretending to sleep? They were snorring rather loudly, and Holly was pretty sure at least one of them peeked an eye open before closing it and resuming his snorring again.
In the middle of the room, there was a large desk, and behind the desk, was an ancient-looking man with a long white beard, stroking a red-orange bird.
He glanced up at Holly as she walked in, examaning her through his half-moon glasses, as though she was another artifact for him to investigate, one which he couldn't quite understand.
"Dumbledore?"
He smiled warmly.
"You've learned this isn't limited to the living, I see."
"Dumbledore-", Holly began.
"You forgot the profesor part, but go on", Dumbledore said with a smile.
"You always said love is stronger than death", Holy said.
"But, I'm not so sure about my relationship with Mandrake; I have to go back at some point. And besides, inter-species marriages don't exist in my world."
"They don't?", Dumbledore asked, as though he was hearing this for the first time.
"Well, nooooo", Holly said slowly. "I mean, there are dogs mating with wolves and things like that, but dragons -unfortunately- don't exist in my world."
"You'll figure it out", he said.
"But how do you know?", Holly asked.
"How can you be so sure?"
"Because", he said with a small grin, "this is how Legends are made."
"But don't let me keep you", he said briskly. "There are other dreams you need to have."
His voice faded off as the study disappeared and everything went black.
The darkness enveloped her.
She braced herself for the shadow to lift, but it never did.
Instead, her feet slipped out from under her.
She yelped and landed on her knees after having fallen around thirty feet.
Her eyes had closed instinctively, and when she opened them again, it was still pitch black.
Well, more of navy blue than black, now that her eyes adjusted to the shade of the empty void.
"Ahh, there she is", a voice said.
It couldn't be Wasp; this voice was male and unfamiliar.
"Who are you?", she asked.
"Someone who needs your help."
A young man appearded out of the darkness.
He had long hair and dark skin and his eyes were a brown so dark, they shimmered like drops of onyx.
"My name is Cottonmouth", he said. "I'm trapped in a corpse and I need to get out.
My people need me. They are at war, and on the loosing side. But I can't do it on my own."
"How can I help?", Holly asked after a moment's hestation.
"You have abilities that can help me", he said evasively.
"But aren't you already out?", Holly asked, looking at him.
"Oh no, this is just a dream", Cottonmouth said.
"Then how do I know if any of this is real?"
"Well look back, Holly. What were you before? A human. What are you now? A dragon. I don't know for how it works, but my guess is that because you're from another world, it gave you new ablities. So-"
"It works kind of like it does for a demigods?", Holly asked. "Even though this is real, we are talking, but, neither of us is really here. Right?"
"Right."
"Wait, how did you know about that?", Holly asked.
"I have some, ahh, informants, if you will", he said.
Holly paused.
Why wouldn't he just tell her? Why hadn't Bird said anything about this king, ruler, or whatever he was? Wouldn't that have been include in the long list of things she had to do?
"What abilities are you talking about?", she asked.
Cottonmouth hesitated briefly.
"I need your memories", he said finally. "You'll still have them, but you can help me."
"How will you get them?", Holly asked.
"The Breath of evil is holding me captive. It's terrible, but, it alows me to, mm, do things I normally wouldn't be able to."
Holly was quite for a moment.
"Uhhh, sorry. I don't think so."
"What?"
"I don't think I should help you", Holly said as firmly as she could manage, which wasn't all that intimidating. "Something about this just doesn't feel right, you're being too evasive. I don't think I can trust you."
Cottonmouth's face changed almost completley. He no longer looked like a handsome young man; now he looked demonic, his face twisted with fire.
"Then terrible things will happen."
"Well, you're not in such a great position to make threats are you? You're trapped in a corpse, remember?"
Cottonmouth smiled a wicked smile, making him look even more demon-like.
"I have done horrific things. No one, dragon or not, is safe from me."
Images paced through her thoughts: Cricket being eatten alive by green fungus, Bumblebee going all white-eyes and strangling Sundew, Blue being pulled into a lake by a gaint squid-creature, but worst of all, she saw Mandrake ripping open his own stomack.
Holly sat up with a jerk and saw Mandrake standing over her.
"Oh Mandrake! I just had a horrible dream!"
He just stared.
"Mandrake?"
His eyes went aple and he buried his teeth into her.
"Are you sure you're all right?", Mandrake asked.
"Yes, Drake", Holly said.
"It was just a dream."
She stood up, leaning on Mandrake until she felt confident enough to stand on her own.
"This is where the map gets really unhelpful", Sundew said, pointing. "Like, what are these squiggles supposed to be?"
"They look like snakes", Holly said. "They're not. . . . right?"
"They do look like snakes", Willow said.
"Oh PLEASE", Nettle said, "I can kill snakes."
"Not that many", Mandrake said. "This whole area, from where we are to the Eye of the jungle is covered in these lines. And maybe they're just tiny rivers or something."
Holly squinted at the map.
"There are words here", Holly told the others, holding the map under a patch of sunlight.
"Tell me it says Tiny rivers", Mandrake said.
"Den of Vipers", Holly said slowly.
"The area from here to the Eye is called the Den of Vipers."
A/N: If you enjoyed, add a vote, comment, and share!
Wordcount: 4900
Renx out!