‘Where is this thing even taking us?’ said Charlotte, glaring at Billy. ‘Did Spark share that piece of information with you?’
‘There wasn’t time!’ yelled Billy. ‘Would you rather we’d been captured in that electric net? Got blasted, if we were lucky? But most likely have our life force sucked out and used for dark magic?’
Charlotte turned away with a huff.
Billy looked back at the dark, glimmering lake behind them, his teeth chattering from the cold, and hoped he’d made the right decision.
Watch Out
The children could still hear the distant roar of dragons as the plate of ice landed on the far side of the lake shore and turned to water, setting them free.
‘We have to find a way to get to them!’ said Charlotte, running back to the edge of the lake. ‘What direction were they going in?’
‘I don’t know, but they are in pain,’ said Ling-Fei, wincing. ‘I can feel it.’
‘Me too,’ said Billy. He reached out through the bond to Spark. He could feel the tether between them stretching more with every passing second. And, while that meant that he felt less of her fear and pain, now he was feeling the emptiness that came from being separated.
‘We have to go to the red dome! That must be where Dimitrius is taking them,’ said Charlotte.
‘Oh, so we’ll just waltz into the red dome, the hub of dark magic, and say, “Hello, we’d like you to release our dragons, please,”’ said Dylan. ‘We can’t do that!’
‘You’ll never persuade them with that attitude, power or no power!’ snapped Charlotte. ‘We can’t give up on them!’ Her face was bright red and she looked as if she was about to cry.
Ling-Fei went up and stroked her back. ‘We will come up with something, Charlotte. I know we will.’
‘Nobody is giving up on our dragons,’ said Billy, trying to stay calm. ‘But this is bigger than them. It’s up to us to stop the Dragon of Death from returning.’
Charlotte sniffed loudly. ‘You’re right,’ she said. ‘This is all just… so much more intense than I thought it would be. I’m sorry for shouting at you, Dylan.’ She glanced over at Billy. ‘You too. I know you were trying to help.’
Billy nodded and patted her shoulder. ‘I get it,’ he said.
‘Yeah, don’t worry about it,’ said Dylan. ‘Anyway, I’ve got three sisters. I’m used to being shouted at. I want to be reunited with our dragons as much as you do.’
‘I know,’ said Charlotte. Then she looked up at Ling-Fei. ‘How is your arm, Ling-Fei?’
Ling-Fei swung her arm in a circle a few times. ‘It feels better,’ she replied. ‘Whatever Buttons did really helped.’ She moved next to Charlotte again. ‘I know how you feel. It’s awful being separated.’
Charlotte ran her hands through her hair a few times and took a couple of deep breaths. She turned towards them, putting her back to the lake. ‘We need to stay calm. The first thing we should do is figure out which direction the red—’
‘Charlotte,’ Billy said, looking over her shoulder, eyes narrowed at the lake behind her.
‘Billy, don’t interrupt me,’ said Charlotte, holding up her hand. ‘I’m making a plan – you aren’t the only one who can come up with plans, you know—’
‘Charlotte, watch out!’ yelled Billy, lunging forward.
A giant sea crab the size of a small car emerged from the lake, grabbed Charlotte’s ankle with its claw and hoisted her upside down in the air.
‘No!’ yelled Billy, running after the crab as it turned to go back into the water. He reached it just before it submerged completely and grabbed hold of one of its back legs. Dylan and Ling-Fei were right behind him and grabbed on too.
‘PULL!’ Billy yelled.
‘I’m trying!’ said Dylan.
‘Hang on, Charlotte!’ yelled Ling-Fei.
Billy pulled as hard as he could, but the crab was stronger. It went deeper and deeper into the lake, till the water rose above Billy’s waist and the only sign of Charlotte was a wild thrashing below the surface and rapidly rising bubbles.
Billy felt as if he had a hole in his stomach. He tried to stay calm. He had to stay calm. If he panicked, they’d lose Charlotte for sure. But terror crept in with every second Charlotte was below the water. ‘Pull harder!’ he shouted, but it was no use. They were losing more ground and the water was almost at his shoulders. Ling-Fei took a deep breath as she went under, then burst back up.
‘I had to let go! I’m sorry!’ she cried.
Dylan went under next, and came up spluttering, clutching his glasses to his face. He dived back down, trying to grab the crab’s leg, but couldn’t get a grip on it.
Billy fought hard. He held on and felt himself being pulled all the way under, when suddenly the thrashing stopped.
The crab kicked with a jolt of energy and sprang out of Billy’s grasp.
‘CHARLOTTE!’ yelled Billy.
The crab was gone, and so was Charlotte.
The Dead Forest
The water went still, and Billy went numb.
He stumbled back until he could stand, trying to comprehend what had just happened.
‘You should get out of there, Billy,’ said Dylan. ‘There’s nothing we can do. She’s gone.’ His voice cracked.
Billy stared at the surface of the lake, desperately scanning it for any sign of Charlotte. This couldn’t be it. She couldn’t be gone. Not Charlotte. He felt his heart in his throat. They’d come all this way. They were supposed to look out for each other. Although he had only known Charlotte for a few days, he felt so connected to her already. They should have been able to save her.
‘Billy,’ Dylan said again, tugging on his arm. ‘We have to get out of here.’
The water in front of them began to churn.
‘BILLY, COME ON!’ shouted Dylan. ‘Ling-Fei, quick, let’s get back to shore!’
Suddenly, a mass of wet
