Five Hours Later

***

We climbed across the snow covered rocks, slipping on ice, and occasionally tripping over fallen branches making this trip through the forest seem to take forever. All at once huge blast knocked us 10 feet away from our trail without warning. Looking back we could see a column of smoke from the blast.

“Dad!” I hissed as I saw what it was. He jerked his head in my direction with a look as if to say ‘what NOW?’!

“No. Sudden. Moves. Or we will be dead faster than we can blink”. I never took my eyes off of it… It was called the Crystal Snow Specter according to the Dreka although a more accurate name would be… the Ice Dragon!

Before I knew it Dad grabbed a camera to photograph it making sound which awoken the beast. As Dad snapped another picture the beast rose it’s head and… Dad was gone in an instant!

“Dad!” I screamed. I couldn’t believe it. The dragon from the Dreka had just eaten my dad. All of a sudden I heard the shutter from the camera click. And again I was in disbelief, Dad was taking pictures inside the dragon’s mouth. The dragon raised it’s head spewing him back out unscathed. A moment later the Ice Dragon came my direction only to nose me as gently as a new puppy. I giggle at how soft it was. In that moment I knew that this creature was kind and caring. In the Dreka book it had said whoever owned the book was the rider and life-long friend of this dragon. I believe it 100% and nothing could change that!

A great scraping sound drove me from my thoughts as the dragon was eating the rocky shore! Could this day get any weirder? The dragon saw us staring at it with fascination. It’s tail came sweeping up under us to gently set my dad and me on it’s back. It was armored in ice harder than diamond but somehow covered with the softest and warmest snow you have ever felt. Granted the air around us was still freezing cold and I couldn’t help but to shiver. The dragon noticed as I wrapped my arms around myself for warmth and twisted his head around to look at me. His breath was like a warm furnace and I found I was no longer cold. I looked at Dad and saw from his expression that the same thing happened to him.

Hoping to be lifted into the air soaring among the clouds we were instead offered a way off as the specter lifted a leg motioning us to climb down back to the safety of the snowy ground we came from. Than the dragon stretched its wings and took off toward the sun that should have been setting but was instead rising into a new dawn.

Two Months Later

***

“Any ideas on where to go for spring break?” My dad inquired.

“Let’s go to the North Shore” I replied, exchanging a significant look with him. He knew what that meant.

“Actually, I think that would be a good idea”. He gave me a look that said ‘I’ll prove that old book is fantasy’. I had already told him I don’t believe that book either but it would just be cool to see the setting of the it. Why would I believe that book anyway?

“Daaaaaaad!”

“What?”

“You know I don’t believe that book!”

“I know that”.

***

Another Two Weeks Pass

***

The North Shore was cold and covered in snow. We went to our favorite spots. Hiking along the trail when something moved just out of our line of sight. Suddenly a snow bank seemed to hit us off the trail. The snow blinded me as I was covered from head to toe with the cold, white powder. Shivering I sat up and most of the snow fell off allowing me to see once again. Dad was already standing and looking around like he was hallucinating. I was about to find out why

“What is it, Dad?”

“I just thought a snow bank came up and knocked us off the path” He slowly murmured in disbelief.

“Me too” Agreeing with his uncertain answer.

We looked around for any evidence to explain what just happened.

“We’re too far away from the path, I’m not exactly sure where we are”. He said with a puzzled look.

“I think I may know where we are!” I exclaimed.

“Where?”

“The Northernmost Shore of lake Superior”. He looked to where my finger was pointing and through the trees we could see the snow glittering on a large, frozen lake which appeared to be more like an ocean than a lake.

Dad whistled and said: “How did we end up here, we were miles from here!”

“The only thing that would make sense is if we were knocked out and kidnapped. Why would they just leave us here though? Thankfully we woke up before we froze”.

“I don’t know, but let’s start going back because it’s going to be a long hike and it will be dark before too long”. I groaned and stood up once again.

“Dad, what if they come after us again?” I asked, afraid that there would be nothing we could do.

“We’ll stay away from paths and try to stay where we have cover or stay where they can’t sneak up on us again”.

“If we have cover, so do they. If we stay where they will be in the open, we’ll be in the open too”. Dad shrugged and we started our journey of what felt like a million steps.

***