‘And we’ll have each other,’ said Ling-Fei, coming closer.
‘Yeah,’ added Charlotte. ‘And, if anything tries to get us, I’ll pummel it with my fists.’ She shook her clenched fist in the air for emphasis.
Dylan let out a small laugh and managed to smile at his friends. ‘All right then,’ he said, looking at their dragons.
Xing cleared her throat. ‘Whenever you are ready, warriors.’
‘We believe in you,’ added Buttons.
Everyone grew silent as the children approached the wall that wasn’t a wall. Billy steeled his nerves. He took a big step towards it, waiting to see if he’d be zapped by the lightning. He counted to three. Nothing happened. He looked at Charlotte, Dylan and Ling-Fei and gave them an encouraging nod. They could do this. He took another step forward, more sure of himself this time, and then another. The others followed until they were standing so close to the wall that the swirling purple fog licked at their faces. Billy reached his hands out on either side of him. ‘Are we ready?’
‘Ready,’ said Charlotte.
‘Ready,’ said Ling-Fei.
‘Let’s do this,’ said Dylan.
They joined hands and stepped into the fog together, leaving their dragons behind.
Walking through the fog felt no different from walking through a thick morning mist. They emerged into another dark cavern, one with a faint purple glow. As Billy’s eyes adjusted, he saw thin purple veins climbing the walls like ivy, twitching as if blood coursed through them. Dark clouds carpeted the floor.
‘What do we do now?’ whispered Dylan.
Billy scanned their surroundings. He couldn’t see any other passages – just this one, large cavern. They were trapped.
Before Billy had time to respond, a shape rose out of the storm and purple lightning flashed across the cavern.
Something resembling a tiger emerged, its body made of the same thick black fog and laced with bright purple veins that flowed to a massive heart beating in the centre of its chest. It studied the four children and seemed to smile. ‘Well, well, well. We meet again, tiny humans. I see you’ve dressed for the occasion this time.’ It threw its head back and let out a bark of laughter that sounded like a thunder strike.
The children pulled closer together. Billy stared hard at the purple tiger. There was something familiar about it. ‘Are you the tiger that chased us?’
‘Very good!’ exclaimed the tiger. ‘Why, yes, indeed. It is me! They say a tiger never changes its stripes, yet here I am. Orange yesterday and purple today. You can call me Victor. I picked the name myself. Oh, what a joy that was – so many options! Now if you’d come last week you would have had to call me Diana. So boring, being tied to just one name, don’t you think? I like to switch it up. Those hopeless dragons of yours on the other hand really take the whole naming thing seriously, but that’s another conversation.’
The tiger blew out a cloud of smoke that churned around in the air until it formed a huge floating throne. Then it hopped up into the chair before placing a crown made of lightning on its head.
‘I think we were zapped by lightning and now we’re dead,’ said Dylan, his eyes gigantic. ‘This can’t be happening.’
‘Do you want me to pinch you again?’ said Charlotte. ‘Focus! Now is not the time to fall apart!’
‘It’s strange,’ said Ling-Fei, addressing the tiger. ‘I sense you are both alive and… not alive. How can this be?’
‘Clever girl,’ said the tiger. ‘I am the Keeper of the Curse.’ His voice deepened and boomed:
‘Four dragons trapped far from view,
Waiting for four hearts – loyal, strong, brave and true.
Four hearts to match their own,
To open this mountain made of stone.’
The tiger returned to its normal voice. ‘As you see, there’s nothing in the curse about you four going into the Dragon Realm. Just opening the mountain.’
‘Opening the mountain on both sides, surely,’ said Billy.
‘It doesn’t specify that. And, as the Keeper of the Curse, I’m the one who decides what means what. I didn’t fry you alive when you came through the wall as I would have done to your four dragons, which was very kind of me, you must agree. Now the only way to get through into the other realm is to beat me, and I’m afraid four children against an almighty tiger gifted with the powers of the Great One have no chance.’ Victor licked its lips.
Billy felt his lungs constrict. Stay calm, he told himself. He felt a tug on the thread that connected him to Spark. She was telling him to stay calm too.
Then he remembered their powers. ‘Dylan,’ he whispered. ‘Do the thing. Your thing!’
Dylan nodded and raised his voice. ‘What an honour it is to meet you properly, Victor. A wonderful place you have here. I love what you’ve done with the lighting, really sets the mood. Now, I’m sure this is all just one big misunderstanding. Perhaps you could bend the rules just this once and let us through to the Dragon Realm?’
The tiger let out another deep, cackling roar. ‘Oh, what a funny boy you are! Your ignorance and tenacity are impressive in equal measure. Your pitiful persuasions and charms won’t work on me. But that was a half-decent try. You’ve come a long way since we last met. Quite the runner, you were.’
Billy sensed a change in the air just before the tiger unhinged its jaw and released a tidal wave of electricity towards them. ‘Watch out!’ he shouted, jerking his friends to the side before the wave reached them. ‘We’re going to have to fight.’ An idea struck Billy. ‘I’ll do my best to distract the tiger, and you guys figure out what its weaknesses are.’ He felt braver than he ever had, and he wasn’t sure if it was because of his new powers or because he was with his friends, but in that moment he wasn’t
