Alyssa limped along the beach, favouring an injured leg. She and the other girls were all painted ponies once more. Back in their own bodies again, the boys were sitting in the meadow. Steven lay stretched out on the ground, bruised and battered and feeling miserable. “I failed,” he said sadly.
“You tried your best,” Alexander said to him.
“This is all so awful,” Vanessa said to them. “We have to find some way to get at least one of you across the desert to Paximus.”
“It’s impossible,” Spencer said. “You saw what Guaryntis is like. He’s too big and powerful for us to fight him.”
“But I noticed something else,” Vanessa said. “He’s slow. He’s big, but just like a real cloud, he can’t change direction very fast. Maybe if you zig-zagged across the desert, he wouldn’t be able to grab all of you.”
“We tried that once,” Aaron said. “All seven of us tried to go in different directions. But he’s too big. He just unfolded those huge wings and scooped us all back together again like fish in a net.”
“But what if you spread out in a really long line first? Then maybe you’d be too far apart for him to reach.”
“We tried that, too,” Alexander said. “That was really scary.”
“Why?” Vanessa asked.
“Quick as a flash, Guaryntis shrank himself down from cloud size to ordinary dragon size. He’s terrifying that way. He can fly so fast, ten times quicker than we can run, and he can turn on a dime. He lashed his tail and knocked us down. And his claws are as hard as steel. When he grabs you, he squeezes all the breath right out of you. It feels like you’re going to die.”
“Anyway, the desert is too big,” Tristan said. “The dragon just picked us off one at a time and threw us back into the meadow. I was sore for a week. Alexander made it almost halfway to the forest, but by then the rest of us had been caught, and Guaryntis had plenty of time to head him off.”
“That’s when you should have zigged and zagged,” Vanessa told Alexander.
“I couldn’t avoid him,” he said. “I was too busy watching where I was going, so I wouldn’t fall in a groundhog hole and trip or something. I couldn’t keep an eye on him and run fast, too.”
They sat quietly for a while, staring out over the ocean. The girl ponies had wandered off into the hills for the night, and everything was hushed under the three strange moons. Even the waves were calm, no longer foaming up onto the beach.
“I’m beginning to get an idea,” Vanessa said at last.
“Tell us,” Steven said.
“Have you ever tried going together during the day? With the girls riding on your backs, I mean?”
“Why would we do that?” Alexander said. “We can’t run as fast that way. Besides, only one of us has to reach Paximus in order to break the spell for all of us.”
“I know,” Vanessa said. She furrowed her brow, deep in thought. “Tell me this. Can you understand what the girls are saying to you when you’re a pony, even though you can’t talk back?”
“Of course.”
“Good. Now, this afternoon, when we all went for a ride up to the end of the beach, Guaryntis didn’t pay any attention to us. But we were twice as near to the forest as we are here in the meadow.”
“I knew that,” Steven said. “That’s why I took a chance and made a run for it.”
“So if you do that again, maybe you’ll be close enough for one of you to make it all the way.”
“I don’t think so,” Alexander said. “Guaryntis would just go after whoever is in the lead, and get him first.”
“But what if…” Vanessa began. She paused and sat quietly for a few moments. “Listen, Alexander, you said you couldn’t avoid the dragon because you couldn’t see where he was, and still watch where you were going at the same time, right?”
“That’s the problem,” Alexander said.
“So what if I…” And she leaned forward and whispered in his ear.
Alexander sat up straight, and his eyes opened wide. “That just might work!” he said excitedly. Then he frowned. “But if it doesn’t, he’ll capture you, and you’ll have to stay here in Partequineus forever.”
“I know,” Vanessa said. “But it’s your only hope.” She stood up. “Listen, I have to go home now. I’ve been here for hours and hours.”
“Don’t worry,” Steven said. “You’ll arrive back at four o’clock, just like always. No one will know you’ve been gone.”
“But I’m already very tired. I’ll have to stay up with Mom until at least nine, or she’ll think something’s wrong with me.”
“Go ahead, then,” Alexander said.
“I’ll be back next Friday,” Vanessa said to him. “You tell everyone what our plan is. And when I get here, we’ll all take a nice, quiet ride down to the very end of the beach, just like we did today.”
“I hope it will work,” Alexander said.
“It has to,” Vanessa said. “Guaryntis has kept you prisoner long enough. You all deserve to go home.”
Vanessa took one step back.
“Don’t forget about us,” little Frank said.
“I won’t let you down,” she said. Two steps.
“You’re very brave,” Evan said.
“So are you.” And with the third step, Vanessa was once again standing by the edge of her bed, with the four o’clock sunshine streaming in through the window. Her pale blue tunic was the only proof that she had been away. She slipped it off and put on her school clothes again, and was on her way downstairs when her mother came in the door.
“Hello, sweetheart,” Vanessa’s Mom said cheerfully. “Anything exciting happen today?”
Vanessa smiled with secret pleasure. “Oh, you know,” she said. “Just the usual stuff.”