The Final Quest
Red kicks my wet boots. “Get up,” she says, standing at the ready with a bow and arrow.
Geez. Why’s she being so bossy? She didn’t have to fight that thing. “I…just…need…five…minutes,” I say, taking deep breaths.
“Me too.” Hayley sits up slowly and shakes out her legs. I watch her skin go from almost translucent white back to an almost bronze color. “I’ve been in the water half my life and never seen anything like it.”
“Up! You passed two quests. The universe won’t like that. I bet you don’t have five minutes ’til the next one starts.” Red nocks an arrow into the bow.
“Listen, Red, she just fought off an eel,” Jocelyn says as she tears through a spell book with Kayla. “I highly doubt something else is going to jump out at us while we’re sitting on the beach. We need time to figure out how to get back out to the island with the key. We obviously can’t swim, and I assume there are magical protection charms that keep us from flying, like back on the cliff.”
Ollie sits up. “I am not going back in that water, and if something else is coming for us, I want to make it to that island first. Let’s give Blue a shot.” He whistles to the magic carpet. It races to his side and wiggles like a dog. “What’s the worst that can happen?” He slowly climbs onto the carpet.
“I’ll go with you.” Kayla flies on and sits beside him. “If something goes wrong, hopefully I can carry you away since you’re small.”
“Who are you calling small?” Ollie asks as Blue takes off like a shot. I watch in amazement as they easily zoom to the island and hover next to it. We all cheer.
“Quiet,” Red hisses. She looks around the shoreline suspiciously. The water is calm. The geese are quiet. The only thing out of the ordinary seems to be us. What’s she so worried about? Red drops my bow and arrow on me. She doesn’t take her eye off the rocky cliff. “Up. Now. Load your weapon!”
“What’s—” My words get caught in my throat when I hear the snarling. I look up and see a blur of brown fur race down the mountain. It’s moving faster than any carpet I’ve flown, quicker than any Pegasus or even that eel. Whatever it is, it’s headed straight toward us. Red begins firing arrows.
I motion to Maxine. “Toss me one of your necklaces.”
Maxine clutches her neck. “Why?”
“I need it to hold the key. Quick!” Maxine tosses me a chain, and I slip the key onto it, then put it around my neck for safekeeping. The snarling intensifies as I fumble with my bow. My quiver of arrows falls on the ground as Red fires again and again.
“Cobbler, help me!” Red yells.
“I’m trying!” I scramble to pick up all my arrows. I look up. The blur is getting closer.
“Don’t panic!” Ollie shouts. “We’ll send Blue back, and you can come over.” Kayla goes to dismount, and an electric shock sends her scrambling back onto the carpet. They try to bring Blue back to shore, but it won’t budge. “We’re stuck!”
“Plan B! Everyone into the water,” Hayley shouts. She dips a toe into the water and gets thrown backward.
“Great! New protection charms!” Jocelyn complains. “Something wants us stuck right here in this creature’s path.”
I fire at the thing and miss.
Jocelyn readies her fireballs. “I’ll stop it.” She conjures fireball after fireball, but each blast barely reaches the mountain before fizzling out. “For the love of Grimm, something is messing with my magic!”
“Don’t you see?” Red keeps her eye on the moving target. “If your third quest is brains, magic won’t help you. You have to outsmart this thing!”
The beast stops moving and lets out a menacing howl that I can feel in my bones.
“It’s a wolf!” Maxine says. “Red, you know how to beat those!”
“That’s no wolf,” Red says as we watch the thing pace on a ledge a few feet above us.
I can see it clearly from here. It’s about fifteen feet up. It’s longer than a wolf and bigger with long legs; shaggy, brown fur; a long neck; and a black snout. It has sharp rows of teeth that make me feel like I might pass out. I hold my bow shakily.
Jax appears at my side with a sword raised high. “That’s a bandersnatch.”
“Can’t be! They’re a myth,” Jocelyn says. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen her nervous.
“Like the golden goose?” Jax asks.
“Stop debating whether it’s real or not! It’s almost here!” Red shouts as the beast jumps from a low ledge and rushes down the beach. It’s only ten feet away now. We start to run in the opposite direction.
My mind is in a total panic. How do you outsmart a mythical creature that could swallow you in one gulp?
We reach the other end of the beach and find ourselves beside a rock wall leading up to the cliff we came down from. We’ve got nowhere to go. Jax tries to give me a foothold to climb up, but I keep slipping down. Ollie and Kayla are shouting something I can’t hear, and Peaches is quacking madly. I’m momentarily distracted. I watch the duck reach into Maxine’s bag and pull out a bright-red cape.
“Aren’t your new capes supposed to protect the wearer from harm?” Maxine asks.
“Those capes are just for show,” Red says as she fires arrow after arrow, but they do nothing to slow the beast down. At a loss for what else to do, I join Red and do the same.
“I thought I was good at tricks,” Jocelyn says as she flings fireballs that fizzle out.
Instead of trying to get away like the rest of us, Peaches waddles toward the bandersnatch. Suddenly, Wilson sticks his head out of my pocket, climbs down my arm, then jumps onto the sand and follows her.
“Peaches!” Maxine cries. She tries to go after the duck, but we hold her back.
“Wilson!” I yell. “What are you doing? You want to be its lunch?”
The bandersnatch is closing in. I can see its dark, beady eyes and its mangy fur. Saliva drips out of its mouth as it snarls and gnashes its teeth. Peaches and Wilson head straight toward it. The bandersnatch stops right in front of them and sizes them up for its next meal.
“How could you sell fake capes?” Maxine cries. “I thought this could help us!”
“Sometimes it doesn’t matter if something is real. You just have to believe it is,” Red shouts.
“That’s it,” I realize as the bandersnatch paces in front of Peaches and Wilson and does nothing. “We can’t show it we’re afraid. It hasn’t eaten those two yet because they’re not scared. If we can show we’re fearless, it will let us pass.”
The bandersnatch bares its teeth again, but Peaches holds firm.
I’m right. I have to be. Because if I’m wrong…
I take a step forward and Maxine gasps. Then I take another. Jocelyn and Jax fall in line beside me, and finally Hayley and Maxine join too. I can feel everyone shaking as we approach the beast. The bandersnatch eyes us curiously as it continues to growls menacingly. I stop next to Peaches and Wilson and try to control my breathing. The beast circles me, sniffing. Its breath is rancid and its snout is dangerously close to my throat, but I use all my willpower to keep from freaking out. On either side of me, I feel my friends do the same.
“Stay very still,” I whisper under my breath as the bandersnatch continues to growl. I wish I could close my eyes and will this moment to be over.
Jocelyn takes my hand, I take Jax’s, and we all form a chain. Peaches and Wilson slip between our feet. The bandersnatch growls again, and I try not to flinch as it paces down the row. It howls one more time, then runs down the beach, leaving a trail of dust behind.
I can’t believe it.
“It worked,” Jax says. We jump up and down.
Hayley hits me in the shoulder. “Look!”
A bridge has formed from the shore to the island. I see Ollie and Kayla finally hop off Blue and set foot on the shoreline.
Kayla motions to us. “Come on!”
I look at the others.
This is really happening. We’ve survived a bandersnatch, giants, sea creatures, and an impossible fall down a cliff face. That goose is ours.