By: Leaya Chen

“Hailey! Sit here!” someone shouts across the aisle.

I turn to see Kiki, my friend, waving wildly at me. I slide into the seat beside her, we chat, and in no time, the bus screeches to a stop in front of our school.

One thing about our school is that lately, kids have been going missing. They disappear at school, and no one can find them. So far, ten kids have gone missing. I see their faces, marked ‘MISSING,’ on newspapers. Everybody is looking for them, but none have shown up. Everyone has been freaked out, and this morning most students are not here, too scared to come to school, since our classmate Melissa disappeared yesterday. As we wait outside the English class door for the teacher, I spot a crack on the wall I’m certain wasn’t there before.

“Is that new?” Kiki says when I show her the crack during lunch period. “I’ve never seen that there!”
“Do you think it has something to do with the missing people?” I say.

“Let’s find out!” Kiki exclaims.

She tries to pry it open, and it opens a little. I help her, and soon it is big enough for one of us to go through, so I go through, followed by Kiki. After endlessly crawling through a passage, I finally spot a beam of light in front of us. As we emerge from the dark passage, blinking from the sudden brightness, we find ourselves in a place unlike any we’ve seen before.

Chapter Two- The Island

We both gasp. The hallway behind us vanished. Blue waves lap our feet, and now we wear dresses of white fabric embroidered with delicate blue flowers. It’s a beautiful island with lush trees. The air is filled with the sweet scent of tropical flowers, carried by gentle ocean breezes. Crystal-clear waters surround the island, shimmering in shades of blue and green. Palm trees sway gently in the breeze. Birds chirp. Coves and beaches dot the coastline. The sound of waves crashing against the shore creates a soothing melody.

“Hey, are those people?” Kiki says.

She points to a group of people a few hundred feet away from us. We can’t see their faces, though, so we go toward them. As we walk closer, we see t elderly men and women speaking to each other in low voices. They quiet down, and it’s silent when we stop in front of them. We feel like ants as they stare at us. Finally, a woman speaks. She seems like the boss of the other people.

“Who are you, and what is your business here?” She rumbles.

I muster up the courage to speak. “Um, I’m Hailey, and that’s Kiki. We’re looking for our friends who disappeared from school a few days ago.”

“Ahh… I see.” She says, her voice softening. “I am Agatha, the Guardian of the Sea Pig Reef. I saw some kids come here earlier, but if you wanna see them, you’ll have to face three trials. If you get hurt or are in danger, we will send you back to your school since you are not fit to stay here. Good luck!”

Everything goes dark.

Chapter Three- The First Trial

We’re in an open cave with a forest outside. I see a sleeping dragon next to us. Kiki is asleep beside me, and I shake her until she wakes up. Kiki’s eyes widen.

What’s that? Kiki mouths and points to a roll of parchment and a key next to my leg.

I grab the paper and show it to Kiki.

Welcome to Trial One

“Your task is to steal the chest the dragon is guarding. Then, slay the dragon. You will be transported to Trial Two, where Melissa is, she has the paper for Trial Two. Good luck!”

I guess that’s from Agatha, I whisper.

The sleeping dragon is curled around the chest, which makes it a lot harder.

I tiptoe to the dragon and stretch out my hands to grab the treasure chest, careful not to touch the dragon. But as I back away from the dragon with the chest, it moves its tail a tiny bit, and I step on it! I freeze, and the dragon snorts a little, but it doesn’t wake up. Phew!

Balancing the heavy chest on my arms, I go back to Kiki and place it on the floor, careful not to make any noise.

I unlock the chest, and our jaws drop. The chest is filled with jewels and gold coins. On the very top, there lies two silver swords. We clip the sword to our pants. As we are about to leave, the dragon stands up and stretches. We freeze in terror.

“Uh oh,” I say slowly.

The dragon’s eyes narrow when it sees us with the opened chest, and it snarls.

“Run!” Kiki screams, and we dash out of the cave into the forest as fast as we can.

We are slower than the dragon, and soon it closes in on us.

“We have to fight it!” I yell, and we both stop and grab our swords.

The angry dragon glides to a stop beforeus, smoke streaming out of its nose. It charges, and we dodge. We fight and fight for what seems like hours, nobody winning nor losing, and soon, all three of us get tired. The dragon’s eyes flash, and it charges at me. I freeze, unprepared, but Kiki yanks me out of the way just in time. The dragon slammed into a tree behind me, knocking itself unconscious. Then, everything turns black.

Chapter Four- The Second Trial

We wake up near a river. As we walk and explore along the river, we come across a bridge, and Melissa is on it, back faced to a huge troll swinging its big club, about to smash Melissa to pieces!

“We gotta go help her!” Kiki says and runs toward the bridge, closely followed by me.

The troll grabs for Melissa, and she steps back and trips. Kiki distracts the troll by stabbing it in the back with her sword, and it roars. While the troll’s attention is on Kiki, I pull Melissa back up.

“Stab it in on the count of three, two, one!” Melissa says breathlessly, and we both stab the troll in the back. It falls back, and Kiki shoves her sword into its nostrils, and it doesn’t move anymore.

“Ewww, why did I do that?” Kiki wrinkles her nose at the snot-covered sword and wipes it on the grass.
“Thanks, guys,” Melissa says, and hands me a piece of paper.

Welcome to Trial Two

“Your task is to rescue Maria, a fairy kidnapped by a troll. Kill the troll and find Maria inside its lair, who will teleport you to the final trial. Good luck!”

“That was the troll we just killed. Now we gotta find the fairy,” Melissa says. “I know where the troll’s home is. Come on!”

We follow Melissa to a cave ona rocky hill. It looks just like a monster home, with withered leaves, bones, twigs, and slimy blobs of who-knows-what on the floor. We search the place, and Kiki finds a small box under the bed. As she opens the box, Maria, the fairy flutters out, looking terribly shaken.

“Thank you for rescuing me!” Maria says. “Agatha told me to send you guys to the third trial, bye!”
Then everything goes dark, and we teleport to the third trial.

Chapter Five- The Final Trial

I wake up alone in a stone cell. I stand up and explore my little prison. There’s an open door and a paper.

Welcome to Trial Three

“You’ll be starting the final trial separately. Your task is to finish a maze. There will be monsters along the way. Defeat the monster, and an animal/animals will appear and will help you defeat the other monsters.

You may find your friends along the way, or not. In total, you and your friends must defeat and rescue twelve times. You must wait until all of your friends reach the finish, then you go to the island. Good luck!”
I go through the door. I’m surrounded by tall bushes that form pathways. I walk around, finding dead ends, until I find myself face-to-face with a giant hissing serpent.

I freeze, unprepared, and then coming to my senses, I grab my sword and thrust it at the snake. It crumbles to the ground. A dog appears in front of me.

I keep going, with the dog at my heels. I find some skeletons, and the dog rushes forward, barking madly, and soon, they are nothing but a pile of bones. A kitten appears.

As I reach down to pet them, I hear footsteps approaching behind me. I whirl around, ready to fight, but it’s just Melissa with a parrot on her shoulder.

“Have you found Kiki?” I ask.

“No, not yet.”

We venture forward, swords ready. We defeat a ghoul, which gives us a rabbit, a witch, which gives us a monkey; And a vampire, which gives us a hamster. Finally, we reach the finish, where Kiki is sitting with a hedgehog, cow, goat, red panda, and chick.

“What took you so long?” she asks playfully.

“Guys, we might have a problem. We have only eleven animals in total…” Melissa says.

“I think I know why,” Kiki says nervously, looking behind us.

We turn to see two gigantic werewolfs snarling at us. Everyone scatters, swords/ claws/ teeth/ wings/ horns ready. Chaos is everywhere, and we slash at the wolves every chance we get. After much effort, we give the final blow to the first werewolf. We go to the second, and since there are twice the amount of people and animals against the werewolf, in no time it takes its last breath. A fox leaps out of nowhere.
Everything goes dark.

“Polly wants crackers!” A parrot squawks in our ears.

I open my eyes, and we’re back on the island. All the other missing kids are there too. Finally, we’re back.

Chapter Six- Happy Ending

I settle on a beach chair with a cat on my lap and a dog beside the chair. Kiki and Melissa are in the chairs next to me. A shadow crosses my face, and I turn to see Agatha standing there.

“Are we gonna stay here forever?” Kiki asks.

“If you want to go back, I can send you, but you’ll never come here again. If you stay, you’ll become the new guardians and live here. I will erase all the memories of you in your world so no one worries.”

So, we stayed, and now we’re the Guardians! We work alongside Agatha and the other guardians of this island to ensure its safety. Some people are in the trials right now! And so, the Sea Pig Reef will be ruled by children filled with adventure, friendship, and the spirit of discovery, for generations to come.