In between moving logs, Elliot was doing his second-favorite activity: hunting his own wiggling tail. Elliot was obsessed with trying to catch his tail. And though the great green dragon was sly and crafty, every time he pounced, his tail managed to zip away just before he could catch it. This night was no different.
Elliot jumped to the left. A near miss! He jumped again. His tail flicked just out of reach. Oh, so close! The dragon leaped a third time….
Pete looked up. Elliot was jumping right next to the trap he had just rigged. The dragon was about to spring it!
“Look out!” Pete cried. But it was too late. With one big pounce, Elliot leaped directly through the trip wire. Down came the log, swinging perfectly from its suspension point in the canopy of the forest. The dragon dove out of the way in the nick of time, turning back to growl at the log like an angry dog.
Pete laughed so hard he clutched his stomach. Well, at least they knew the trap worked.
Just then, the sky started to rumble and darken. The telltale smell of rain wafted through the forest. With a quick and concentrated effort, Pete and Elliot reset the trap and then took refuge in Elliot’s cave underneath.
Pete grabbed a few sticks and some kindling. He started setting up a warm campfire in the center of the cavern. As the rain started to pitter-patter outside, Elliot pawed at the dirt floor, turning around a few times before finding the perfect spot to settle.
Pete sat down also and snuggled against Elliot’s warm fur. The fire glowed brightly, giving off a comforting heat throughout the entire cavern. It was so nice and cozy. This was always one of Pete’s favorite times of day. Just him and Elliot, safe and happy and together.
Pete picked up a familiar storybook from the ground nearby—the same book he had been reading the night he arrived in the forest. He flipped through the pages of the tattered, berry-juice-stained book. Then he picked up a slightly burned stick and started to draw on one of the pages. The ashes marked the paper with dense, chalky lines. The entire book was covered in similar markings—made with ash and mud and juice.
Elliot shifted, looking curiously over Pete’s shoulder as the boy worked. Pete pointed to an image in the book—a picture of a car.
“Pete. Elliot. Vrooooom…” he said.
Pete turned the book upside down. “And then everything’s…” He flipped the book over and over, mimicking the way his family’s car had flipped in the accident. He had told this story to Elliot many times before, and he knew the motions by heart.
“And Pete and Elliot go down and down…”
Pete dropped the book. It’s impact on the ground caused Elliot to flinch.
“…and then they’re all alone,” Pete finished.
Elliot moaned in response. He hated that part of the story. Pete patted him reassuringly.
“Don’t worry,” he said. “Someday I’ll be big like you and we’ll find our own family.”
Elliot nudged Pete and made the soft purring noise deep in his chest. That meant he agreed. Pete looked at the page the book had landed on, an image of a little lost puppy at night, under a moon and three yellow stars. The picture was missing something, Pete felt.
With his burnt stick in hand, Pete scraped lines and letters around the biggest star: N, S, W, E. The simple star on the page had been transformed into the inside of the magical disk. Almost without thinking, Pete slipped his hand into his pocket and took out the treasure he had stolen. Even as he spun it around in his hand, the little red needle continued to point in only one direction.
Pete looked in that direction—north. “I wonder where that lady came from,” he whispered. Elliot responded with only a soft growl.
Yawning, Pete snuggled in. “Don’t worry. I won’t let her hurt you.”
Elliot yawned back. Nestled together safe and sound by the glowing fire, the boy and the dragon were soon fast asleep.
Whirrrrrrrr.
It was a bright and shining morning. The birds were chirping. Sunlight streamed into Pete and Elliot’s cave. But there was a strange noise outside. A different noise. One that definitely didn’t belong in the forest.
Whirrrrrrrrrrrrr.
Pete jerked awake. He tapped Elliot’s arm, but the dragon barely opened one eye. Instead, Elliot shifted and went back to sleep.
The strange mechanical noise filled the cave again. The chirping birds took off loudly, angry at the disturbance.
Pete glanced back at the snoring dragon. He knew from experience that it was impossible to wake Elliot up if he didn’t want to be woken. So Pete scampered outside alone, curious to see what was causing such a commotion. Outside the safety and warmth of the cave, Pete scurried across the forest, closer and closer to the strange sounds. As he did so, new noises drifted to his ears. The whining buzz of a chainsaw. A man yelling, “Timberrr!” And a sharp cracking that rang through the entire forest.
Pete reached the top of a hill, taking in the sight of the source of all that noise. And what he saw made him gasp.
Down at the bottom of the hill were more yellow vehicles—big flatbeds rolling through the forest. And men—a crew of loggers, ten or so total—all wearing identical orange hard hats. It was more people than Pete could remember ever seeing at one time, and the boy felt a strange combination of nervousness and excitement. And fear. He didn’t know what exactly the machines were. But he could tell that they were cutting down trees and hauling them away. And that made Pete feel afraid.
But before he could respond to any of those warring emotions, something else caught his eye: the trees had all been marked with red paint, angry slashes down the side of each trunk.
* * *
Gavin Magary stood on the stump of a fallen tree. He smoothed his jet-black hair and took a swig of his ginger ale. A hunting rifle was slung over his shoulder. It shifted, glinting in the sunlight. Just as Gavin was about to adjust it, he snapped to attention. There was a faint rustle in the distance. Squinting, he searched the trees until he found it—a deer grazing many yards away.
Gavin carefully set down his soda and slid the hunting rifle off his shoulder. Bringing the scope up to his eye, he focused on the animal. Of course, the deer wasn’t dangerous. But Gavin was a hunter, and he had a perfect shot. He focused his gaze, tensed his trigger finger, and—
“This is out of line, Jack!”
Gavin turned toward the sound, letting out a long, exasperated sigh. Unsurprisingly, the voice belonged to Grace, the park ranger and girlfriend of his brother, Jack, who was in fact marching right alongside her.
Grace continued yelling. “Gavin knows he’s not supposed to be cutting this deep! How’d he even cut this road out here?”
Jack gently pulled Grace aside, attempting to turn the conversation in a more calm direction. “Grace…please…let me handle this—”
“You don’t handle it,” Grace interrupted. “That’s the problem! If I don’t do anything there won’t be any forest left for either of us!”
“I know, I know…he made a mistake—”
“What’s that?” Gavin shouted toward the couple. If they were talking about him, he might as well get a word in.
Jack just kept talking, ignoring his brother. “But all I’m asking is that you take two steps to the left and look at things from my perspective here.”
“I bend over backward to see things from your perspective every single day!” Grace retorted. “Why won’t you ever take a stand for what I care about? I thought we were in this together!”
Gavin clicked his tongue. It looked like everything was business as usual. He turned his attention from the bickering couple back to the tree line. The deer was gone. Figured.
* * *
Meanwhile, Pete was still watching from the top of the hill. He listened to the adults arguing. But their voices were muffled by distance, and he couldn’t really hear what they were saying. A moment later, his attention drifted to a nearby truck.
The passenger door opened abruptly, catching Pete by surprise. There was another pe
rson inside, a young girl about Pete’s age.
“Hey!” the girl called out to the man arguing with the woman. “I have to get to school!”
Looking over his shoulder, the man yelled back to the little girl. “Just give me one more minute, sweetheart….”
Pete was now thoroughly enthralled. It was so interesting the way those people interacted with each other, so different from the way the animals communicated.
Down below, the little girl kicked at the dirt with her toe. Pete watched as she started to wander around the open logging area, meandering from stump to stump. Suddenly, she spotted a red bird overhead on a tree branch. She followed it with her eyes as it darted up and flew deeper into the forest. Pete was watching the girl intently…when he realized she was staring directly at him.
A startled expression crossed the girl’s face.
Pete had been spotted!
He quickly turned and dashed back into the woods.
“Hey, wait! Don’t go!” she yelled after him.
Natalie Magary didn’t wait for any of the adults to take notice. Instead she ran after the strange-looking boy as fast as she could.
The voices of the grown-ups grew more and more distant. The boy was just ahead of Natalie. She had a feeling he was purposely running slow so she could keep up with him.
“What are you doing out here?” she yelled after him. “Are you lost?”
The boy didn’t respond. Instead, he showed off a bit by jumping over logs and swinging from low branches on his way through the ever thickening woods. Natalie tried hard to follow the boy’s movements and did an okay job of it…mostly.
Then he was gone. Natalie whirled around, not sure how she had lost track of the boy.
“Hello…?” she called out hesitantly.
A sudden snap above her caused her to jump. The forest boy was climbing into the trees, practically camouflaged by the leaves and branches.
“How’d you get up there?” she asked. There was no response.
Natalie grabbed the lowest branch and started to haul herself up, too. Pete stopped, looking down at her curiously. But as soon as their eyes made contact, he climbed even higher before resting on a sturdy branch.
Slowly, Natalie reached the branch where the boy was perched. She clung tightly to the trunk of the tree. It wasn’t really that high up, but still…it was high enough. The boy, on the other hand, kicked his legs casually, seemingly unconcerned and unafraid.
“What’s your name?” Natalie asked, out of breath.
Instead of answering, the boy jumped upward, grabbing another branch. With one quick and practiced motion, he pulled himself up even higher.
Natalie groaned. “Oh, come on. Slow down!”
Despite the irritation in her voice, Natalie was excited—so she kept climbing.
The pair continued the chase, farther and farther up the tree. Natalie’s palms grew clammy. They were up very high now. But she wasn’t going to let that stop her.
“You’re pretty good at this,” Natalie managed between breaths. “Do your parents know you’re out here?”
The boy tilted his head, appearing confused by the question.
“Are you all alone?” Natalie continued.
That one seemed easier to answer. He shook his head vehemently.
“Elliot.”
“Elliot?” Natalie frowned, confused.
“Elliot,” Pete repeated.
Natalie took a deep breath, still clinging tightly to the tree.
“Where’s Elliot?” she asked.
The boy responded by pointing out in the distance.
Suddenly, a gust of wind blew, rustling Natalie’s clothes and hair. Unfortunately, she made the mistake of looking down….
“Whoa,” Natalie said.
Her heart began to race. “I should probably get down….”
With a careful step, Natalie attempted to reverse the climb that had taken her so high. But the combination of nerves and fear and the loss of the adrenaline she had felt while chasing the young boy all made the return trip far more difficult.
She immediately began to slip, both feet skidding down the tree trunk. Then she was dangling, holding on to a branch with one hand. One of her shoes slipped off and fell for a terrifying amount of time before reaching the ground.
And then, with a scream, she lost her grip entirely.
Pete acted on instinct, lunging forward and grabbing Natalie by the arm. It was a precarious position for both of them. Pete was awkwardly balanced, holding on to Natalie. And he saw that Natalie’s feet couldn’t quite reach a tree limb….
Mustering all his strength, Pete planted his own feet on the branch below for leverage as he hauled the young girl upward. It would have worked if the branch had been just a little bit stronger.
With a sharp snap the branch broke, and both Pete and Natalie lost all support. They plummeted, Natalie screaming all the way, until—
Pete miraculously landed feetfirst on a sturdy bough! He grabbed hold of Natalie’s arm as she sped past him. She jerked to a stop, her weight pulling at Pete. But the young boy managed to keep his footing on the branch.
Now Natalie was dangling from Pete’s hand as he gripped a branch above for balance. “Don’t let go!” she yelled, afraid to look down.
Pete tried, but his hand was slippery and Natalie was just too heavy. She slid out of his grip.
“No!” Natalie screamed as she fell again.
* * *
Thunk! Natalie’s cry had barely escaped her lips before she landed with a soft thud. As it turned out, the ground had been only a few feet below. She hadn’t realized how close she was to landing when Pete caught her. She was safe.
Natalie sat upright in a daze, patting at herself to make 100 percent sure she was still alive.
The strange forest boy dropped down from the branch he had been standing on, shrugging silently as he did so. Then he caught sight of Natalie’s knee; it had been scraped in the fall. He reached out to touch it, but Natalie flinched.
“Don’t!” Natalie said. “I’m hurt….”
The boy looked at her curiously and instead used his outstretched hand to wipe a tiny tear from the corner of Natalie’s eye. She hadn’t even realized she was crying.
“How old are you?” she asked.
The boy thought hard for a moment. It didn’t seem like he knew the answer.
“Fffive…?” he replied with an uncertain shrug.
Natalie raised an eyebrow. “You’re pretty big for a five-year-old.”
The boy shrugged again. Natalie decided to try a different angle. “You never told me your name.”
This time the boy answered quickly and confidently. “Pete!” he said, pointing his thumb at himself.
“You look like a Pete,” Natalie said. “My name’s—”
“Natalie!” someone cried from not far away. It was Natalie’s father, Jack. He was rushing toward them in a panic. Grace and the rest of the logging crew followed him.
“Natalie!” Jack said. “My god—you can’t run off like that! You could get hurt or—” He looked at her dirty hands and ripped jeans. “What happened to you?”
“I fell out of a tree,” Natalie replied calmly.
Alarm crossed Jack’s face. “What were you doing in a tree?”
“Following him.” Natalie pointed behind her.
Jack stopped short. He and the rest of the adults turned, noticing Pete for the first time. As soon as the people had crashed through the trees, Pete had moved to the edge of the small clearing. Now the workers all stared at him in surprise. His tattered clothes and matted hair indicated he had been lost in the forest for a very long time.
“Pete,” Natalie whispered. “His name is Pete.”
“Pete?” Grace stepped forward. The boy backed away and hid behind a fallen trunk.
“Wait, wait,” Grace said softly. “Hold on a second….”
Pete didn’t answer. It was clear he wanted to run. But he was also fascinated by Grace
. Taking advantage of the boy’s momentary hesitation, Grace stepped closer.
“Where did you come from? Where are your parents? Your family?”
Pete frowned. He didn’t know what to say.
“I don’t think he knows…” Natalie began.
Suddenly, as Pete shifted behind the tree, Grace noticed something glinting on the boy’s neck.
“Hey,” Grace said, recognizing her compass. “Where did you get that…?”
That was enough for Pete. He turned and bolted—right into Gavin. The burly logger grabbed him by the shoulders.
“Whoa there, little buddy,” said Gavin. “Where are you going so fast?”
“ELLIOT!” Pete yelled as loudly as he could.
Pete squirmed away, climbing up Gavin’s large body and springing off him to a nearby tree.
“Don’t hurt him!” Natalie yelled.
“I’m not gonna—” Gavin responded, reaching out quickly to grab at Pete’s legs. “Come here, kid!”
Gavin tugged on Pete’s ankle and pulled the young boy backward, harder than he intended.
Pete toppled, arms flailing. Unbalanced, he hit the ground headfirst.
For the second time in his life, everything went dark.
Elliot stretched, waking up late in the morning. He had slept well. Very well.
And then the furry dragon realized that Pete was nowhere to be seen.
He checked the tree fort. No Pete.
He checked the river. No Pete.
He looked over at one of their favorite climbing stones. No Pete.
Where could he be?
Elliot pawed the ground, upset. Then he lifted his head and howled loudly, calling for his missing friend.
But there was no answer.
“Come on, Jack.” Gavin’s voice was tinged with frustration. “Give me a little credit at least.”
Pete's Dragon Junior Novel Page 3