Chapter 1

Tanya opened her eyes. This night, it was impossible to sleep. So she stopped trying. She opened her window and a gust of wonderful cool air came into her stuffy room. She looked out the window at the summer sky. She saw a shape moving in the distance. Was it moving toward her? Yes it was moving……toward her! Tanya almost screamed! I’ll go back to bed and find it was all a dream, Tanya thought, and went back to bed.

 When Tanya woke up (It was still night) the first thing she saw was the face of a horse, it’s not very nice to look at a horse's face when you first wake up, even if it is very beautiful like this one. The funny thing is that this was not just a horse, it was a pegasus!

“Hello,” he said (Now Tanya was more surprised than ever!) “Can I escort you to the palace?” Tanya was confused “What palace?”  The pegasus was now outraged “What palace is all you say? It’s only the proudest palace in all of Teralaya! Her majesty insisted you go and see her!” Tanya was stunned but also excited, it was her dream to fly. (If they were going to.)

“Who is her royal majesty?” Tanya asked when she got all her breath back “It’s sort of confusing,” started the pegasus “There are two queens and one king,  Ember,  Nippy, and Burn, they founded the country not too long ago, about five years ago to be precise. Miss Nippy said there is great danger ahead and you are needed.”

Now Tanya was bursting to ask him more questions but something told her not to. The horse seemed so tense and in a rush. "Now we must get off, her royal majesty is waiting!”

Tanya was very excited! She was almost at the point of gullibility, she could now expect anything to happen when crazy things have happened already! 

Flying on a pegasus’s back is almost like tubing, on water and snow. Very fast, fun, tiring, and scary. Wind was rushing past Tanya, it was hard to think that she was actually flying! She saw the shapes in the clouds which, since the sun was dawning, were purple and pink. Then, with a mighty dive, they landed.

Two dogs greeted her at the gate of a huge castle, surrounded by a wide prairie. “Hello, Miss! Queen Nippy is waiting for you!” So she walked through the golden gate, there was a camera right by it. “What is your name?” a woman’s (Or at least a female.) voice said from the camera, “ Tanya Rain Filinda.” answered Tanya. “Come in,” said the female voice.

The castle was really not the lonely and old castle you would see in most story books. But the ones with silver and gold and with walls that shone. An old man pushed the shiny handle of the big castle door and it swung open. The old man led Tanya in the halls of the castle, where she noticed all the pictures on the walls. In the first picture there was a kitten and a dragon that seemed to be talking to each other.

The second picture was quite different from the first one. There was a phoenix with the cat and the dragon and the background changed entirely. A wide blue sea stretched out around the whole picture and in the middle there was a big island. The following picture was of them captured in a town of……….. what were those? Tanya looked at the pictures as they passed from room to room. 

She finally got to a bedroom with a fireplace, a dresser and a bed for cats. There was a cat standing on the cat bed. “Morning” said the cat, and Tanya saw that she was not unfriendly. “I’ve been waiting for you,” the cat continued in a sort of a purr.“Please help us. We were trying to find this talking blue bird that had been lost for years. She was a great friend who has helped us. We were going to send another search party. Then Aqua saw you on your vacation when she was pretending to be a fish. She reported it to me.” then, seeing Tanya’s puzzled expression, said “Aqua is a mermaid, and don’t worry, we don’t spy on people

“Why would you want to see me?”asked Tanya “You don’t know!? Tanya you’re a- Oh I can’t say it, sorry.” But now Tanya was urging to hear what she was going to say. Still, with the sad face that cat had, she could not ask. “I almost forgot!”remembered the cat “How did I forget! There will be people that won’t want you to do this, so be careful. Don’t go just now, stay a couple nights. I bet it has been really surprising for you.”

Nippy was right. Tanya was very surprised. All the way from seeing a pegasus's face when she woke up she had been very surprised. Still, she liked it, even the pegasus’s face when she woke up. Though, it still was going to be hard. Tanya knew what she was doing was no easy job, but she was protected.

 Then she thought about her mother and father. Did they miss her? Did they think she was sleeping? Nippy seemed to know what she was thinking, “Time is different in our world. Only when we want it to though.” That calmed Tanya down a little bit.

“Speaking of time, what time is it?” asked Tanya “5:00 in the morning.” “Do you have am and pm in your world?” “What’s that?” “Never mind,”

Chapter 2

In the morning, Tanya got dressed to meet Burn and Ember. She had noticed that Nippy was the same kitten in the pictures, but older. She walked through the hallways with Nippy. Tanya had memorized where the library was, the kitchen, and the gym. It was so exciting to find different places like the movie theatre, pool, and even places that are not even in this world! Very soon they came to a big room with a bed of rocks, a hot water spring, and a fireplace. It was very hot there. On the bed of rocks was an older version of the dragon in the pictures. “Hello,” said the dragon in a deep voice which told Tanya that he was quite tired. “Are you the one that Nippy asked for?” “Yes, I am.” answered Tanya. “Good, I need to talk to you.”

The dragon kept on talking, “My name is Burn,” Then he revealed a map from underneath the spring, “You’re here.” he said pointing to a big castle on the map “I think you should travel up north and go up to here, if you don’t find her when you reach there then come back to us.”  He gave her a big compass. “You can stay here one more night, then be on your way. We will also send Lightning to help you.” “Whose Lightning?” “He’s the one who helped you get to the palace.” said Burn with a fit of deep laughter. "Also," he added, "if you are passing the river, you should ask my brother for a ride. He's a river serpent."

The rest of the day Tanya tried to saver as much as she could. Then it was time to visit the last person. As Nippy opened the door a flowery smell drifted through. It felt so much like a dream in that room. Not the welcoming feeling of Nippy or the strong feeling of Burn but a dreamy feeling. There were many flowers in that room, as well as a cloud bed. And on that bed was a phoenix, a little older than the pictures.

“Good morning!” said the phoenix and Tanya recognised the voice from the camera “It’s me,” Tanya said “What’s your name?” “Ember,” she said. It was a very quiet conversation. “Are you guys the people from the pictures?”asked Tanya “Yes, we did lots of adventures, those are just the first.” Tanya was very amazed at this information she asked Ember to tell her more, they finally made conversation.  

The rest of the day Tanya tried to saver as much as she could. Then it was time to visit the last person. As Nippy opened the door a flowery smell drifted through. It felt so much like a dream in that room. Not the welcoming feeling of Nippy, or the strong feeling of Burn, but a dreamy feeling. There were many flowers in that room, as well as a cloud bed. And on that bed was a phoenix, a little older than the pictures.

“Good morning!” said the phoenix and Tanya recognized the voice from the camera "I guess you already know my name.” Tanya said “What’s your name?” “Ember,” she said. It was a very quiet conversation. “Are you guys the people from the pictures?” asked Tanya “Yes, we did lots of adventures, those are just the first.” Tanya was very amazed at this information. She asked Ember to tell her more, and they finally made conversation.  

Tanya walked to the deck of the castle with Thunder the pegasus. Nippy, Burn, and Ember were all waving goodbye to them, they were trying to find the lost crow. “If you find her then come back south to us. Remember to only go north.” said Burn. Then they finally went out. 

It was hard saying goodbye, and Tanya almost cried. She felt the soft breeze as she flew on Thunder’s back. Instead of happiness, the breeze felt sad and lonely. She, of course, was not alone, but it sure felt like it. A few hours later Tanya asked a question, “Thunder,” Tanya said in a more quiet voice than she would have liked, “when are we going to land?” “Just wait a few moments miss, and we’ll be there.” so Tanya waited and waited but it actually did not take a few moments, it took an hour. The rain started to pour and Tanya was soaked to the bone. Then the thunder came, not the pegasus but the real thunder.

Crack! A bolt of lightning just missed Tanya! “Thunder, how high are we?” “I don’t know, but the winds are so strong that it’ll be hard to land. But I'll try!” they were yelling over the storm. Tanya checked if they were going north, “Thunder! We’re going south!”

“Hold your compass straight!” boomed a loud and low voice that was definitely not Thunder’s. It took Tanya a long time to realize she was actually talking to the thunder! So she whispered to Thunder (The pegasus) “Can thunder talk in this world?” “Well of course I can talk! You can hear me right now!” “No, I mean thunder like in a storm.” Thunder just laughed “Why would you think that?” “No reason,” 

It was hard to sleep that night, there was so much to think about! Why had she heard the thunder but no one else heard it? Maybe she  was just dreaming, but she could hear it so clearly that it was very hard to think so. Tanya could just hear that deep voice saying those three words. Didn’t Nippy say something about her being the only ones whom they could trust? Wasn’t there something……….then she dozed off.

Tanya had not forgotten that voice when she woke up. Her brain was now fresh from the nap, and she could now think clearly. “Wait,” she thought out loud “Was that voice really thunder?” “Maybe there’s someone up there!” “No!” said the voice from the sky which startled her very much “I am the thunder!”

I AM THE THUNDER!

But down came a bird which had emerald wings and an aquamarine throat. As he talked with his booming voice Tanya almost laughed “You are definitely not thunder and why do you have such a booming voice, not to be rude, but you seem too small.” “I am definitely the thunder and I am a good talker.” It took all the strength in Tanya to keep herself from laughing! 

Then the bird (or thunder) asked Tanya a question, “Wait, are you human!?” Tanya couldn’t tell if he was angry or excited, so she said in a very quiet voice, “Yes,”  “Wow! So that was you in The Future With Humans or The Tales of a Human! Amazing! And we thought you guys were a myth! But now that I actually see you in person……..I just can’t believe it!”

Chapter 3

So the thunder offered to stay with Tanya, to keep an eye on things from above and Tanya accepted. It was a disappointment to see that there was no sign of the lost crow. Not that there were no crows, there were many crows, but not the certain crow Tanya was looking for, somehow Tanya could tell if it was the crow that she was looking for, and none of them seemed right. Tanya even asked the leader crow if there were any newcomers, but she said that she had not had any newcomers for the last ten years! 

Tanya might have chosen to go back to the castle and fail her mission, but she somehow knew that somewhere in the world, there was the lost blue crow.

They flew over the grasslands and found the river. Tanya wondered if she should ask the serpent for a ride. The decided to be daring. She said farewell to the Thunders. They said they would meet her at the end of the lake. Then, she called out "RIVER SERPENT!" The water started rippling, the started to get bigger, and bigger, and bigger! Finally, something green started to appear. Soon, a long scaly body appeared. "Yessss," it hissed "I  will take you across the rrrriverrr" Tanya didn't trust him, but she finally got up on his slippery body. She tried her best to hold on. They sailed at twice the speed of a motor boat and were at the last second  when Tanya lost her grip and slipped and fell into the water. She swam the last two yards. Still soaking, she met the Thunders laughing at her. Then they went back to the quest.

Tanya searched and searched, but there was no sign of that crow. “Thunder I think you should turn back to the castle.” Tanya suggested “Which Thunder?” the  thunder and Thunder asked at the same time, “Both of you,” Tanya answered. “I’d like to stay here, if you don’t mind.” answered Thunder.

“Then I will too,” chimed in thunder, so Tanya couldn’t back out. They were way past most crows now, even though they decided to keep going, they were quite hopeless, then, a swarm of bees charged into them! Talking bees! “Where’s the flowers?!” the bees yelled. Did they know it was too early in the spring? Thunder knew that Tanya was wondering “There are fairies who have special magic to bloom flowers all year long, I think they’re late. It’s the first time in centuries!”