Searching for Thanksgiving (Dragonlings of Valdier)

Chapter 19

19

“ W hat do you mean she told them to go ahead?” Cree repeated in a stunned voice.

Kelan crossed his arms and stared at Hope’s very irate father. “Trisha is following them. They are safe. They want to finish their quest.”

“They want to finish their quest,” Calo muttered. “She is okay with a bunch of little kids going across dangerous terrain where they are getting tossed over a waterfall, charged by woverbears, and Goddess knows what else?”

“Are you out of your minds?” Cree snapped.

Paul chuckled. “They survived it all and are doing great. You both should be very proud of Hope. I know I am of Morah.”

“We’ll meet up with Christoff. He knows the area better than anyone and can help,” Kelan added.

Cree’s fierce expression softened. “He is a good warrior.”

Calo looked at his twin. Kelan waited. He could tell they were having a silent conversation. He reached out and placed his hand on Cree’s arm.

“Trisha is with them. She said the kids are very passionate about helping Thanksgiving.”

Cree shook his head. “It was a story. Thanksgiving isn’t real.”

“It is to them,” Paul quietly interjected.

Cree looked at his brother, who reluctantly nodded before returning his attention to the group standing close by.

“We’ll meet with Christoff. If there is a hut—and someone lives there—he will know,” Cree reluctantly conceded.

“Let’s go!” Paul said.

A short time earlier:

“Are we there yet?” Leo asked.

“No,” Morah replied.

“Are we there yet?” he repeated.

“No,” she snapped.

Leo kicked at a stick in the narrow animal path they were following. Morah didn’t miss the way he grinned at James before he looked at her again. She waited.

“Are we there yet?”

She released a low growl of annoyance as the other kids snorted. She was about to reply when she saw the form of a hut between a gap in the trees. Her growl turned to a grin.

“Maybe.”

“Yay! We found it! We found Thanksgiving!” Sacha and Hope exclaimed together.

“I’ll race you!” Pearl said, already shifting into her cat and taking off at a run.

“Hey, no fair!” Leo cried out behind her before he shifted into his cat. “Come on, James.”

Morah hurried after the group. Excitement built inside her. They had done it! They had followed the map and found where Thanksgiving lived.

She crossed the small bridge over the stream and skirted the rock-walled garden. Sacha was already knocking on the door. The group’s excitement died a little when no one answered the door. James’s dragon was standing under the window while Leo, still in his cat form, stood on his back and peered through a window.

“I don’t think no ones home, Morah,” Hope said.

Leo jumped off of James’s back and shifted back into his two-legged form. He was shaking his head.

“It’s all dark.”

“It’s getting dark out here. Do you think Thanksgiving would mind if we went insides?” Sacha asked.

“I don’t thinks she would mind,” Pearl answered, twisting the knob. It opened under her hand. “See! She must not minds otherwise it would be locked.”

Before Morah could protest, the small group piled inside. She followed, looking around. The hut was smaller than she thought it would be, not much bigger than her bedroom back at the palace.

“James, lights a fire. It’s cold in here. Sacha, you searches upstairs,” she instructed.

“There she goes being bossy again,” Leo muttered.

Morah pointed a finger at Leo. “You and Pearl search around outside.”

“I don’t think she was gone very longs. There is still food on the table,” Hope observed.

“Can I eats it?” Leo asked with a hopeful expression.

“Outs, Leo!” Morah ordered.

“Bossy pants,” Leo muttered as he pulled open the door and he and Pearl exited.

“There’s only a bed ups here,” Sacha said from the staircase.

“What are we goings to do, Morah?” Hope inquired.

Morah thought about it for a minute before she placed the knapsack on the floor next to the door.

“We waits until morning. We can sleep inside on the floor like we do when we have sleepovers,” she said.

They turned when the door opened. Pearl entered, followed by Leo who was chewing on something. Morah groaned. She hoped he wasn’t eating any bad stuff.

“It’s a carrot. He got it out of the garden,” Pearl replied before she could ask.

“There’s no ones out there,” Leo mumbled around the carrot he was eating. “I think Thanksgiving might be lost.”