The Frights of Fiji, Sunayna Prasad [best thriller books to read .txt] 📗

from it, Alyssa heard Isabelle and Mathias call her. Had they killed the snake?

Nope. The snake popped out of the water and breathed ash into Alyssa’s face. She coughed and turned around, speeding up her crawl to swim faster.

“Alyssa, get over here!” bellowed Mathias.

Alyssa turned to where he and Isabelle stood on the shore and then went around the snake by going underwater and swimming away from it. She increased the speed of her kicking feet and the crawling of her arms. She felt the rocks with her hands under the water as she huffed. A flying movement from above her caught her attention. She saw a mouse and metallic frond coming to the water. The absence of water plopping hinted to her that the snake had eaten the creature.

Now that Alyssa reached an area with less depth, she placed her feet at the bottom and stood up. Turning to the snake, she saw it floating on its back and the remaining ash drifting away into the air. She coughed and panted. She struggled to walk with her aching, biting-cold legs, But the looks on Isabelle’s and Mathias’s faces made her want to punish herself.

“I . . . I’m sorry.”

“What you did was very dangerous, Alyssa,” Isabelle said. “You really could have been killed.”

“I know,” she said.

“We had to fly all the way here in the tube just to save you,” Isabelle added. “It would’ve been a lot easier to feed the snake a mouse back on the beach and get it over with.”

“I said I was sorry,” said Alyssa. “But I told you that I had a bad fear of snakes.”

“We understand that,” said Mathias. “But you’re going to have to learn to control yourself.”

Alyssa sighed. “Okay.”

“Now let’s go back to set up the tent,” said Isabelle.

Her tube had been parked by a tree at the shore’s edge. The three strode over to it and hopped inside.

 

 

10

 

Last night Isabelle and Mathias had told Alyssa that no spell or potion could fight people’s fears. Alyssa had considered how she could control her actions next time something threatening came. But Simon had checked his tablet last night and had revealed that Master Beau had hooked up zero creatures to his computer. Alyssa hoped that Simon would check again today, though.

She had just finished her morning routine in the bathroom and had dressed herself in khaki short shorts and a blue T-shirt. Simon howled with laughter from the bedroom, so Alyssa opened the door. Simon watched a slapstick comedy video on his Wizdreams laptop, a type of Microchant computer.

“Simon?” Alyssa asked.

“Yes?” Simon closed his video.

“Can we see what Master Beau is doing now?”

“Sure. Why don’t you get Mathias and Isabelle too?”

Alyssa walked into the kitchen, where Isabelle and Mathias used their wands to make breakfast.

“Simon wants you guys,” Alyssa said.

“What for?” asked Isabelle.

“To see what Master Beau is doing.”

“Why don’t you ask him to bring his tablet here?” asked Mathias.

“Okay.” Alyssa turned to the bedroom. “Simon, do you mind bringing your tablet here?”

“Not at all.” Simon held his device and flew out of the bedroom.

Alyssa ate her milk and cereal and observed Simon. He pressed a spy icon, which Alyssa assumed was the tracking app. She watched him do everything to get the video of what Master Beau did now. He sat with David in his office.

“Thank you for showing me the online article about the technique for making magical connections with people’s genes,” said Master Beau. “I had no idea that royal purple granite and curly black grass had that much magic to turn a complicated task into a simple one.”

“You’re never too old to learn,” said David. “Another thing you need to know is that the other children you make connections with must be close to the girl’s age.”

“How close?”

“No more than two years. So while a fourteen-year-old kid would be eligible, a nine-year-old wouldn’t.”

“Where can I find them?”

“The website I read this on didn’t say that. I’ll have to hack into another one to find out. In the meantime, I’ll go find and tranquilize another magical creature for your computer.”

“Make sure it’s big and vicious so that Alyssa can’t defeat it.”

Everyone gasped as Simon closed his app.

“Let’s get ready to go now,” said Isabelle. “I have everything we need.”

“What are we going to do?” asked Alyssa.

“Destroy the computer,” said Isabelle.

Alyssa followed Isabelle, Mathias, and Simon to the closet. Isabelle opened her closet and pulled out two plastic bottles. One had a potion that looked like Coke or Pepsi with its fizziness and dark color. The other one looked like apple cider with a light caramel-brown color.

“Are those potions sweet?” Alyssa asked.

“The Normalla potion, which is the light brown one, is a little bit, but the Impersonaide potion is sour,” said Isabelle.

“Did you think they looked like apple cider and soda?” asked Mathias.

Alyssa nodded. “What do they do?”

“The Impersonaide potion turns you into someone else,” said Isabelle.

Alyssa grimaced. “How?”

“You’ll see,” said Isabelle.

“What about the Normalla potion?” asked Alyssa.

“It undoes the Impersonaide potion’s effects,” replied Isabelle.

Alyssa nodded but gritted her teeth.

“I’m going to get the supplies.” Isabelle turned back to the closet and leaned down. She gathered rubbing sticks, paper cups, sheer ponchos, and a small bag.

Everyone walked out of the tent, and then Isabelle shrank it back into its small object form.

“Mathias, you take Simon,” said Isabelle. “I’ll take Alyssa.”

He nodded and led Simon to his flying tube. But a growl rumbled, and everybody stopped. The sound came from the bushes behind the palm trees. Alyssa turned to it and stared. The others gaped as well.

Iciness rushed through Alyssa’s veins and chilled them as pointy white ears drew nearer. The ears darkened into tan and turned parallel to the bush.

“Not a color-changing dingo,” mumbled Simon.

Alyssa unclenched her aching teeth and dropped her jaw. Her breaths quickened out of her mouth and dried it up. Her hands froze and shook, and the dingo growled again. Alyssa’s eyes focused on its every movement. It halted and turned to her and her mentors. Its snout stuck out and growled, exposing its foamy yellow teeth. It walked out of the hedges, showed its head, and trotted.

“Everybody, run!” Mathias hustled, leading the others away from the dingo.

Alyssa sprinted and screamed, drying out her mouth more. The wind, however, blew in the opposite direction. She pushed herself against it and turned around. The dingo galloped and barked.

Isabelle shrieked, and Alyssa and Mathias halted. The dingo stuck its nails into Isabelle’s leg. Mathias picked up a seashell and threw it at the creature. It pulled its nails out of Isabelle and looked at him. Isabelle lay motionless and produced no sounds.

Mathias turned around, but the dingo beat him and stabbed its nails into his leg. He fell forward and thumped onto the ground.

“Mathias!” Alyssa ran over to him and knelt down.

“Alyssa, save yourself!” exclaimed Simon. “I’ll send a signal to someone to save you!”

“Just me?” yelled Alyssa.

But Simon shut his eyes and floated in the air. The dingo jumped up and bit his foot.

“Ow!” yelled Simon.

“Simon!”

The dingo continued to bite Simon, and it used its mouth to slam him on the ground. A marble chip broke off Simon’s hair.

“No, no!” screeched Alyssa, tears filling her eyes. She knelt beside Simon, who lay with his eyes shut; he made no movements or sounds.

But a caw attracted Alyssa. She saw a creature the size of a horse. It had the head, wings, and front legs of a rainbow lorikeet. The back half of its body, however, had the tail and legs of a kangaroo. The creature scratched its front legs against the back of the dingo, which whimpered and howled. But the fight between both animals turned Alyssa away. The dingo’s sounds died out. Alyssa stood up and gazed at it as it lay dead. The birdlike creature turned to her.

“Thanks,” Alyssa muttered.

The creature walked toward her and she backed away. But she noticed a large tag on its front right leg where the following words were spelled out:

 

Do not fear me. I am here to help you. My name is Regulus. I am a marshakeet, which is half lorikeet and half kangaroo. I have been sent here by a dermaiden, half human and half dolphin, named Rosaline to save you.

Rosaline has sensed the message from a marble man named Simon that you were in danger.

 

“How did he do it that fast?”

 

Their signals can travel as fast as the speed of sound during danger. When Simon got knocked out, his signal traveled to Rosaline and then to me. I have the ability to appear and disappear at will.

 

“I see.”

 

Climb onto my back. I am going to take you to Dermand Island, about ten kilometers away from Yanowic. Dermaidens don’t like to travel to islands or lands populated by humans, so I have to take you to where Rosaline can meet you.

 

“What’s Rosaline going to do?”

 

She’s going to break the sleeping spell that the dingo has given Simon and the couple. When the dingo stabs or bites someone, that person falls asleep and can’t wake up for twenty-four hours. Only this magic seaweed called adormos seaweed, found near the reefs of Dermand, can break that spell.

 

Regulus leaned his head down, and his beak touched the ground.

Alyssa’s stomach compressed. While she didn’t fear heights on thrill rides at amusement parks, she disliked experiencing elevation without any safety precautions. She’d never even been able to jump off high dives at swimming pools because of how the boards had stood several feet above the ground, and she’d been on her own. Nevertheless, she climbed onto Regulus’s back and slid behind his neck. “Don’t fly too high.”

Regulus nodded. He picked up his front feet and dug them into the sand. Alyssa hugged his neck and bumped against his back as he sped up his legs. Regulus galloped into the water and it splashed onto Alyssa’s legs. His pace increased the rapidity of Alyssa’s posting up and down on his back. He flapped his wings, fanning Alyssa on the cheeks. His back legs pressed into the underwater sand. He lifted his front legs off the ground, and Alyssa inhaled. Then he tilted as his back legs kicked out the water.

      Regulus continued to flap as he flew farther away from the ground. Alyssa screamed as Regulus ascended until they were about a hundred feet above the water. But her noise didn’t seem to bother him. She yelped until her mouth dried out, and she coughed.

Just keep holding on, and you’ll be fine, she told herself.

Alyssa grabbed Regulus’s neck and breathed. Her muscles loosened. She smiled, thinking about Regulus like a roller coaster but without the hills or loops.

 

Minutes had passed, and Alyssa noticed an island. It looked like Yanowic with the palm trees on the large beach and the forest behind it. But there were no humans or any signs of civilization, and the island appeared smaller than Yanowic.

Regulus tilted his head forward. He glided toward the ocean and lowered. Alyssa thought of him like an airplane based on how he landed and slowed down. Regulus flapped as he approached the water near the shore. Alyssa stared down and noticed