MapMaker by Lisa Moore Ramée

Author:Lisa Moore Ramée
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2022-08-24T00:00:00+00:00

Swallowed by a Volcano

“We have to get it from them!” Walt yelled, running after the bazzards and waving his hands like they were seagulls stealing his lunch.

“Come back!” Fenn shouted. “We’ll go after them.”

Walt ran back to Heckett, and he, Van, and Dylan all jumped onto the dragon’s back. She made little yippy noises like she was excited to start the chase, and once everyone was settled, Heckett lifted straight up from the ground.

Fenn hollered over his shoulder, “Hold on!”

Heckett turned sharply and they streaked across the sky.

In the distance was a large gray shape that looked like a dirty cloud, and it took Walt a moment to realize it was the swarm—no, what had Fenn called it? It was the volt of bazzards.

“There!” Walt cried, pointing over Fenn’s shoulder and almost sliding right off Heckett. He quickly regained his grip.

“We see them,” Fenn said, and bent low again on Heckett, but Heckett had seen the volt too and was already adjusting in order to follow the bazzards.

Looming in front of them was the massive Mount Yoray. Walt got a bad feeling, and just as he feared, the volt dove right into the mouth of the volcano.

Fenn looked back at Walt, and Walt gave a nervous quick nod.

“Okay, then,” Fenn said and turned around, urging Heckett on.

At the lip of the volcano, Heckett didn’t even pause. She whipped right down into the darkness.

The smell was overwhelming. Rotten eggs and something acidic like vinegar. It was dark except for a faint glow of rocks embedded in the walls. The sound of the bazzards’ wings and squawks echoed and grew, surrounding them in a thick cloud of noise.

And as they went lower and lower, Walt started to think his decision to have a volcano in Djaruba might have been a big mistake. Especially since he didn’t actually know all that much about volcanos. How often did they erupt? And just how far down could they go?

He got his answer almost immediately, when Heckett landed hard on a narrow shelf. She dug her talons into the edge, and Walt’s breath sank to his ankles as rocks crumbled off the side and plummeted down into darkness. His hands were sweaty, and it didn’t seem like there was anything keeping him from sliding right off Heckett’s back.

“It’s gotten too narrow for her wings,” Fenn shouted over the noise of the bazzards. “I mean, I could have her dive, but we might never get back up again.”

“Definitely don’t have her dive,” Walt said.

Bazzards flew up and down and around them, almost like they were teasing them. They called out to each other in shrieks and whistles.

“Can anyone see the one that got the traveling machine?” Dylan yelled.

“There! There!” Van shouted, pointing up.

Walt scanned the air, thick with the large white creatures, and finally found the bazzard Van was pointing at. It was settled on a small outcrop and tossing the machine up in the air and opening its mouth, as if it was food it wanted to swallow.

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