Part 3 I woke up to the sound of screaming. “THE FLOWERS, THERE GONE!” Avery wailed. We looked at the spot they used to be in. “They must only grow at night,” I reasoned. Alecia nodded. “So all we can do right now is walk to the spot we saw earlier and when the moonlight lets them bloom we can pick them,” Alecia said. Avery nodded, and we started to make our way deeper into the dark mystical cave of wonder. I felt Alecia shiver in the cold. I slipped the sweater onto her shoulders, and she looked at me gratefully. I gazed at the dark, cold cave and shivered in fear. As we ventured into the cave, I was constantly hearing sounds, such as gems scraping together. Alecia and Avery could also hear it, and we went to investigate the sound once we were close enough. “I FOUND SOMETHING!” Avery called. Alecia and I rushed to see what she was talking about. There were three butterflies flying around, causing the noise. The blue butterfly flew to Alecia, the pink one flew to Avery, and the purple one flew to me. Suddenly, we started to float in the air, and the butterflies told us what happened to the flowers: flashing images and playing sounds in our brains. “The flowers only bloom every windstorm,” the butterflies told us. “The petals have a healing power so many people go to find one, but most do not return. The only people to have ever returned were Queen Jade, Jewelia and Luna. and of course you three. Sadly, most of the flowers have died, but six remain. We will bring you to the spot where the five remaining flowers thrive.” We floated deeper into the cave and found a patch of the flowers. We picked all six of the flowers, and the butterflies flew us back to the outside of the cave. “You three have Jewel Moon blood inside of you,” the butterflies said, and with that they disappeared. “Wait? What do you mean we have Jewel Moon blood?” Alecia shrieked. At the same time Avery shouted, “Wait come back!” I looked at the spot where the butterflies once flew. “Let’s go back to the palace,” I said. Alecia and Avery nodded. We packed up all of our stuff and made our way back to the palace. I took out the map slate, and it was pretty useful. There was a dot on the map labeled “You” and the route back to the palace was highlighted in white. We followed the map as best as we could but found ourselves even farther away from the Palace than before. “Oh, no,” Avery whimpered. I looked at the map. There were no longer images on it, just words. “To get back there is a track, but beware of the scare you will face on the back,” I read ominously. “Huh?” Alecia said. “Well the first part most likely means that there is a path leading back to the palace, but there are some sort of guardians protecting the path and there is something scary we will have to face on the way,” Avery reasoned. Suddenly the map showed a path heading straight to the palace. “Ouch!” I said. “BEES!” I screamed, and stared at my swollen finger. “No, these are Swools,” Alecia explained. “Their bite makes the limb that they bite swell up to twice its size.” “Well, that’s the terror the riddle was talking about,” Avery noted, “RUN!” We ran as fast as our legs would move. Suddenly, the Swools stopped and the map flashed with a new riddle, “If you ever want to return, find what lays, eat the answer. I am white, I am round, I hatch, into something found, I can be eaten too, what am I?” I read. “I am white, I am round, I hatch, into something found, I can be eaten too, what am I?” Alecia was whispering under her breath. Alecia thought for a long time. Avery and I were also thinking. “White, can be eaten, hatches into something, round…” I was muttering. “An egg!” Alecia announced, “and the thing that lays must be an animal that lays eggs and we need to eat one of those eggs to see the next clue!” “Awesome!” Avery congratulated. I grinned. The map changed images, and now there was a path to what seemed like a lake or river. We followed the path all the way to a huge river made of liquid Aquamarine. On the sandy shore was a single swan, protecting its eggs, but next to the swan was a different looking egg; the different egg had a ruby embedded on the top. Just looking at it, we knew that the egg had the clue inside of it. “We need to get to that egg,” Avery said. “Yes, but how?” I asked frustratedly, it seemed as if we had to do a million things to get home. “Two of us need to distract the swan while the other one goes and retrieves the egg,” Alecia explained. “Avery and I will distract the swan while Arya gets the egg.” Avery and I nodded. Operation “Get the Egg” was a go.
Part 4 Final Part Very loudly, Avery and Alecia advanced on the nest. The swan noticed and flew after them, Avery and Alecia ran as fast as they could, and the swan chased after them. “Get the egg!” Avery shouted at me. I nodded and ran to the nest. I took the ruby topped egg. I removed the ruby, and to my surprise, inside of the egg was a clear liquid instead of a clue. Not knowing what else to do, I drank the liquid. My mind clouded over, and I took out the map. I ran and found Avery and Alecia sitting under a bush. “Did you get the egg? Alecia asked. I nodded and took out the map. “Crystal clear this should be, to get out you must find a crystal that will pout, to the gang it will shout, find a gem on the 4th tree, and out you will find yourself to be,” I read. “Ummmm,” Avery started. “That’s not crystal clear.” “Crystal clear this should be, to get out you must find a crystal that will pout, to the gang it will shout, find a gem on the 4th tree, and out you will find yourself to be,” I mumbled. Alecia stomped around angrily. “I got it!” I announced. “We must go to the four seasons tree! The gem we need must be there! Sadly, the tree is protected by something called the gang.” The map changed into a path leading to the tree. Tired, we decided to just sleep for the night and solve all this gang nonsense tomorrow. In the morning, we packed up all our stuff and headed to the four seasons tree. “Ummm,” Alecia said. I looked ahead, and five wolves advanced on us. “I think we found the gang,” Avery whispered. We ran. Alecia and Avery ran to the right, and I ran to the left. The wolves ran after Avery and Alecia, so I quickly turned around and headed for the tree. I climbed and climbed and climbed the four seasons tree until I reached the top. I found a glistening moonstone. I climbed to the spot where the moonstone was, shivering from the snow. I reached for it and the moonstone flew to my hands. “Who do you want to bring to the palace?” the stone spoke in my mind. “Alecia, Avery, and me,” I said. Suddenly the moonstone glowed brightly, and in a flash, I was teleported back to the palace. I found Avery and Alecia chatting with Jewelia and Luna, when they saw me they invited me over. “We gave Luna a flower and she fed it to Jewelia,” Avery explained, I nodded. “And it seems to me you met the great protector,” Jewelia said. “Oh! The swan!” I exclaimed, “But how do you know that wasn't an ordinary swan?” “Because there is only one swan on the Jewel Moon, but thanks to you three we have information about the great protector, like she has eggs!” Jewelia explained excitedly. When we went to our parents, my mom yelled, “Family Hug!” and we all hugged, even Jewelia and Luna. Then Queen Jade walked in, “I have organized a dinner dedicated to the three who saved my youngest daughter.” Jewelia grinned at me. During the dinner, we ate delicious food, and the room was filled with laughter and delight. Jewelia, Luna, Avery, Alecia, and I were playing a card game called actime. There is a deck of cards with actions on them, such as drink a glass of water or do hopscotch. When we drew a card, we had ten seconds to do the actions. If we succeeded, then we could claim a point, but if we did not, nothing happened. We were all laughing at the amusing actions we had to do, and somehow, we all ended up laughing on the floor. I smiled and said, “You know, maybe we don’t need to go back to earth after all.”
