Dream Thief by Tony Abbott

Author:Tony Abbott
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Published: 2015-11-27T05:00:00+00:00

The sun’s light was choked by a thick brown haze as the eight friends entered the Dark Lands.

Splog! Kloosh! Plurp!

Tree roots stretched like fingers out over the swamp, making their passage across the water slow and dangerous.

“Steady there!” said Max as they squashed across the surface of the water.

“I can’t even see two steps ahead,” said Eric.

“I can’t breathe!” said Neal. “The air is as thick as a blanket on my nose. A stinky blanket!”

Julie tried to wave away the heavy air. “From a beautiful green forest to this? Very yucky.”

“Quite right,” said Ortha. “If nothing else, this shows you the power of evil —”

Eeeeee! A piercing, eerie sound came from somewhere in the smoky air above.

“Okay, I’m scared,” said Neal. “That wingy dude is officially creeping me out.”

Eric swatted the smoky air. “Creepy or not, I can’t wait to see him again … and get my stone back.”

“We’ll find your stone,” said Keeah. “I have a feeling we’ll see that creature again very soon.”

“When we do,” said Julie, “you’ll grab your dream stone. And boot that wolf out of here.”

Eric smiled at his friends. “Thanks, guys.”

But he wondered if it would really be that easy. If Jabbo kept growing in power, thanks to Sparr’s gem, maybe the little pie maker and the wingwolf really could conquer Droon.

One hour, two hours, they slogged their way across the black swamp. Finally, it gave way to hard, dry land once more. And in the middle of the barren wood, the forest was strangely green again.

Ortha looked up. The sky was still dark, the air brown and thick. “Something, not the land and the rain and the sun, keeps these trees growing — oh!”

A sudden wind wafted across them.

And there, just beyond a bank of twisted underbrush was what looked like a wall of giant stones, now tumbled to the ground.

Twee tugged the sleeve of Keeah’s tunic and looked up at her, his eyes huge with wonder.

“Princess,” he whispered. “I think we have found it. The lost temple of the old legends!”

Climbing over the stones, the small band came into a large clearing. There, they saw the remains of once-tall towers, now no more than crumbled stones, ruined walls, fallen balconies, and stairs that circled high, leading nowhere.

But most remarkable of all was that even in the smoky light, the stones, broken and crumbled as they were, shone like silver.

Eric shivered. “This is where I saw Jabbo in my dream. And this is where my stone came from.”

Ortha cast her eyes solemnly around. “Time has not been kind to this place.”

“It is old,” said Max softly. “So old, it doesn’t even appear on Galen’s map.”

As they passed deeper into the ruins they spied the great central tower of the temple in the distance. Of all the buildings, it alone seemed unhurt by time. Layer upon layer of silvery stone pushed it skyward.

Behind it grew a giant tree, thicker than any other in the forest. Its upper limbs were lost in the fog above.

“It must have taken thousands of people to build this place,” said Julie.

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