Owlgirl

by Regan Thompson

“Who are you?”

  “I-I’m Owlgirl. And I’m here to save The Medallion,” For one moment, she actually looked fearful. Then I realized she was mocking me. She yawned, and bounded down from her throne, flicking her tail, and creeping closer.

  “Aw, how cute, another little hero. A chosen one, too,” She added, glancing briefly at my glowing blue talons. “Another attempt to steal my medallion?” She stretched lazily.

  “Steal it back.” I corrected, glaring back at her.

  “Oh, fine. I’ll fight you. But you know I’ve already won.” I prepared to battle who I would soon find was the Queen of the Moonbeasts.

  Chapter Twelve

  Sapphire lunged at me. My legs didn’t want to work. I would have been flattened like a pancake had Crash not shoved me out of the way. Sapphire lost her footing and skidded into the wall opposite from her chair. Amber lay, forgotten in the corner, no longer pinned under Alpha Saphire’s talons. She glanced back at Sport, and she took off toward the entrance, rocketing through the air. Muscles rippling, the moonbeast clawed at Amber who was high out of reach. Sapphire was distracted. This was my chance. I ran out of the doorway, and gathered as many eggshells as they could carry. I trotted back through the doorway, just in time to see the Moonbeast soaring after Amber. I could feel the waves of air billowing out from under Saphire’s enormous wings against my face and knew that the Moonbeast would catch up to Amber any minute. I dropped all of the silver eggshells except for a tiny fragment. This I tossed gently into the air, and batted it with my wing. It sailed through the air and landed precisely on Sapphire’s tail. The second the eggshell hit Saphire’s fur, the eggshell morphed into a tiny blue flicker of flame. Sapphire shrieked. The blue flame only grew larger, spreading along Alpha Sapphire’s whole tail. I hurled another eggshell at her. This was good! But this time she dodged out of the way, growling. Alpha Sapphire lashed her tail to put out the flames, succeeding. Her once plume like tail had blackened to ash. Sapphire lay her paw on her tail and swept off a layer of dust. Then she sprang to her feet and charged. She pounced, but I was not as quick to get out of her way. She slashed dagger like ominous talons across the silver feathers on my back. She was so close to me now I could smell the spicy burnt fragrance of the inferno that had once fed on her tail. Pain rocketed up and down my torso. Amber lept up and scratched Saphire’s head, hard.

  “Get away from her!” she screamed. I could tell she was trying to distract Alpha Sapphire and maybe draw blood, but her thick, silver fur shielded her from Amber’s talons. Instead, Alpha Sapphire just swatted Amber away with her elephant sized wings as if Amber were a fly. This was the end. I shut my eyes as tightly as I could and my whole body tensed. My feathers stuck out at stray angles, bristling. Alpha Sapphire's eyes, golden like topaz, penetrated right through me, despising every single square inch of me. Tears were streaming hysterically down my pearly heart shaped face and I had my wings cupped to my body, wrapped around me as tightly as possible. I remembered those words from my eggshell. I was their only hope, their last strand of faith. I was letting every single owl in existence down. I thought of every owlet in the sun, with their bright, shining eyes, how they might never get to see the world until they were older. That was what I was fighting for, and I had failed. Words flashed through my mind. Our only hope. Gone. Dead.

  Chapter Thirteen

  I surrendered my claws in front of my face. Little did I realize that my talons still held the same ominous neon blue bioluminescence. My talons did that whenever I got close to the color silver, such as the color of a Moonbeast’s fur. Bright sky colored light echoed across Sapphire’s face. She released her grip on me and fell back collapsing in a heap. Sport took a few steps forward and poked the moonbeast gingerly.

  “Is it dead?” he asked in a velvety whisper. The weakened Moonbeast’s golden eyes suddenly snapped open, gleaming with malice. Her giant wings unfurled as Sapphire lashed out, huge talons swiping wildly in every direction. I backed away, flinching. Sapphire landed with a loud thud. With a smirk, she pressed one paw to a cobalt colored crystal embedded in the center of The Medallion.

  “I have power too, you know,” Her booming voice echoed around the room. A blinding flash of light filled the room, but not before an ominous whisper rung in my ears, “Take us to another dimension..”

  Chapter Fourteen

  I was surrounded by blinding, golden, light. I couldn’t see my feet. Or my wings, or my torso for that matter. Where was I? I wish it wasn’t so bright in here, I thought. Then, I heard a voice. My voice.

  “I wish it wasn’t so bright in here,” it grumbled. The voice faded into an everlasting echo. Then, as if switching a light, all was dark and silent. The answer came to me in a flash. I was inside of my mind. Sport, Crash, Amber, Sapphire…

  Where were they?

  “Maybe I’ll be suspended in this time and moment forever,” mused my mind voice. I glared at the unseen walls of my prison. I would get out of here. I HAD to. Suddenly, Sport, Amber, Crash and Sapphire all materialized in front of me. I both cried for joy and shrieked at the same time. They were all alive, but...different colors.

  “Yeah, I know. We’re all different colors,” groaned Crash who was a vibrant neon raspberry color. “I’m red. Sport’s blue. Sapphire’s purple. But Amber’s still orange! IT’S NOT FAIR!”

  “You’re even worse, by the way,” sneered Sapphire. We all whirled around to face her. I hadn’t noticed it before but beyond my mind was a huge eggplant purple and black island, and it was scattered with fellow Moonbeasts and owl’s skulls. Only now, she wasn’t just a moonbeast. Now, she was a typhoon of fangs, talons, and fear. “Face us when you’re ready, Ms. Invisibility,” snarled Sapphire, confidently tucking her bushy, silver tail over her paws. “ and welcome… to MY HOUSE.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  “This isn’t good,” Amber fretted, turning in anxious circles. Sport tried to comfort her by assuring her that everything was alright.

  “Don’t worry, we’ll get through this. I have an---”

  “I HAVE AN IDEA!!!” Crash boasted, dramatically flaring his vast, shadowy wings. “FIRST WE’LL--”

  “Stop interrupting!” said Amber. “We need to--”

  “EVERYBODY STOP!” I screamed at the top of my lungs. They all stared at me.

  “We’ll never get through this if we don’t wield the power of creativity.” I paused to look at their surprised faces. “we are in my mind,” I continued. “So we can only defeat Sapphire with our imaginations. So battle them with the dreams only you can see,” I said, looking each and every one of them straight in the eye. “Now get out there and FIGHT!” I yelled. Sport waved his wings, and a bridge of glowing blue flowers emerged from where we were standing, stretching all the way to the alpha of the Moonbeasts’ island. In the split second before we crossed the bridge, Sport took one last glance at me before he ran off to battle Alpha Sapphire. He didn’t have to say anything. His eyes said, “I believe in you,” and that was exactly what we needed to do. Believe in ourselves.

  Chapter Sixteen

  When we had finally reached the island, I surveyed the area.

  “So,” Sapphire said, smirking coldly. “You decided to come to the party.” I shot her a twin glare, and all the Moonbeasts behind her gave us one back in return. “CHARGE!” she shouted. Her voice made my bones rattle with fear. The Moonbeasts all ran at my friends, who were lost without my guidance. Moonbeasts were everywhere, slicing, clawing, even clamping their jaws down as hard as they could, aiming for our hearts. It was chaos.

  “Fight back!” I screamed. Then that’s when everything seemed to freeze. A moment of realization. Of truth. For a split second, I was worried I would be frozen, suspended in this time and moment forever. Then, my friends all fought back. Crash shot me a big grin as he sent little crimson tornados flying, battling the Moonbeasts as if they had a life of their own. Amber threw flaming orange fireballs at the Moonbeasts. In the chaos of it all, I leaped onto Alpha Sapphire’s n
eck and grabbed The Medallion, but she was too furious to notice. I scrambled back to my place beside Sport, only to realize that he was dead.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Somehow, deep within I knew this would work. I felt the battle come to a final point. A climax. An end. I slowly placed the treasured artifact around Sport’s neck. This time, instead of the blue crystal in the center of The Medallion flickering a dull gray, it glowed a brilliant, blinding, gold light, and then, all was silent.

  I opened my eyes to find myself standing on the same golden tile, the same portal that brought me to the rainforest. Had it all been a dream? I glanced down to find the answer hanging around my neck. The once blue sapphire in the center stood a stubborn gold color. I looked around. Sport, Crash, and Amber were still there, still alive, thankfully. Just then, two muscular horned owls burst out of the tunnels, and Cooper was by their side!

  “That’s them! The egg bandits!” Cooper screamed. They all soared toward us, but stopped shortly, and… bowed?

  “Master of The Medallion,” one of the guards uttered solemnly.

  “Thank you for retrieving The Medallion,” Cooper whispered. “Queen Owlgirl.” He added. Wow. Once my friends called me Owlgirl, but now the whole world does.

  About the Author (written by her Father)

  Regan is currently a 6th grader at Highland public schools in Libertyville, Illinois, USA. She is voracious reader, constantly reading, almost annoyingly so. Her vocabulary is truly amazing. She loves all animals and bugs though we don’t let her have any in the house with the exception of her fish and frogs. She has one brother named River, who can be irritating at times but loves to play with her and blossoms her imagination with his energy and creativity.