by Tony Abbott
The stone was black and sprinkled with silver ore in some places, veined with blue and violet streaks in others.
Earlier that morning, as I changed back into my adult form, Eric Hinkle had risked his own life to give me the stone.
“The young wizard gave me this,” I said to Kem.
“And I wish it were a life preserver,” my dog replied, glancing back over his shoulder with one head. “Gethwing’s coming even faster now —”
“My history of four hundred years of evil has nearly erased the image of this stone from my mind, and yet … I have seen it before, haven’t I? Once, long ago, when I was young …”
“Try thinking about right now!” cried Kem. “There’s a storm dead ahead! Fly north! Or south! Or anywhere else —Sparr!”
I stared into a broadening funnel of black wind swirling up from the sea not five miles in front of us. It grew more monstrous by the second. Grinning to myself, I kicked the Wasp for more speed. “Yes, yes, faster!”
“Sparr, don’t even think about it —”
“Kem, don’t be such a puppy!” I said. “If we can fly through the storm, perhaps we can lose our enemies!”
“If? Perhaps?” yelped Kem. “Lose our lives, you mean! Sparr, you’re not going to fly into that storm. You absolutely are not —”
“And — here — we — go!”
Digging the Wasp sharply with my heels, I aimed us toward the storm and — whoom! — we crashed straight into its wall of black wind. The Wasp faltered. We began to fall.
“Uh-oh,” I said. “Wrong move —”
Howling a terrifying laugh, Gethwing dived toward us, his wingsnakes close behind.
“Get us out of here!” I cried. But the storm winds drew us right to them, battering us from every direction. The Wasp couldn’t pull away. All of a sudden, a bolt of silver light sliced through the storm and cut across the air in front of us.
“Veer away, Wasp!” I yelled, yanking up on the golden reins. “Fly!” The buzzing beast tried to pull away from the bolt of light but could not. The light descended over us like a falling sword.
“Ahh!” I screamed as the bolt struck my forehead, knocking me from the Wasp’s back.
I fell … fell … fell … toward the heaving black sea. Kem plummeted into the water first. I dropped right behind him. The sea was as hard as iron when I struck its surface.
The Viper broke off my belt.
I tried to reach it but couldn’t. The cold water hissed and boiled around it, and the blazing golden crown vanished into a spinning funnel of darkness. It was gone.
Flailing in the freezing water, I reached for Kem, but he fell deeper and deeper below me, and everything turned as black as night.
My head burned. My body twisted in pain, then went limp. My lungs filled with icy water.
I sank.
Darkness closed over me.
I drowned.
Text copyright © 2005 by Robert T. Abbott.
Illustrations copyright © 2005 by Scholastic Inc.
All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc.
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First printing, July 2005
Cover art by Tim Jessell
e-ISBN 978-0-545-41860-7
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