Belicia - The ship of magic

The Beast

"Cathy, Michael, were are we going?". Emilys young voice sounded through the dim forest. They were running in between the trees, trying their hardest not to trip and fall over the tree's roots. "Come on Em, your are running too slow. We will never make it in time if you don't speed up". Cathy's child voice were affected by the fact that she were running. Even though it was starting to get dark, could you still see the outlines of three kids running further and deeper into the forest. Michael's many curls bounced up and down, resulting in them getting in his face. Cathy stopped her running, and not long after did Michael and Emily catch up to her. They had reached the end of the forest, and stood now on top of a high cliff. They were overlooking the ocean, that stretched from the bottom of the cliff to what looked like the end of the world. 

"We almost missed it, you two are lucky that we made it in time for the sunset, or I would have been mad." Cathy said with a strict tone, looking annoyed at Emily.

"Oh relax Cathy, if we missed it could we just have come back tomorrow." Was Michael's response. He didn't like it when Cathy was being bossy or mean towards Emily.

The tree of them turned so they were facing the sunset. Golden stripes formed on the surface of the ocean. It looked like it was from a dream, how beautiful it was.

Emily was starting to get nervous. The sun would be gone soon and when that happens it would be completely dark, and they would be standing alone deep in a dark forest. 

"Cathy, did you bring the flashlights?" Emily tried to hide her nervousness, she didn't want the others to think that she was scared. She knew Cathy would tease her, and probably scare her on purpose. 

Cathy pulled up two flashlights from the little backpack she had carried.  "I only have two, so we have to share." She passed one of them on to Michael.

Emily had started to patter. The ground was muddy because of rain, and she was getting it on her pants. You could hear rattle from some bushes further away. "Did you hear that?" Emily's voice sounded panicky. "Can we go back now? I wanna go home." She continued.   
"I didn't hear anything, and it's probably just a bunny or something." Cathy tried to sound brave, but she wanted to come home as well.

They started going back from were they came from. Michael led the way. They were walking instead of running as before, they thought it would be safer seeing that it was dark now.  They hadn't even walked for less than a minute, before a loud deep roar sounded close by them. Cathy let out an eerie scream and began to run.

A big hairy creature came running through the bushes. It was wider than a bear and taller than a big horse. It had fangs as big as an adult man's hands. Emily started running in between the trees, adrenaline was pumping through her veins. Branches and bushes scratched her body and tore her clothes. She fell over and hit her head. When she got back up, she tried listening, to see if the beast was close by. She couldn't her it anymore, but a boy's young scream fill her with terror. She had to finde Michael and help him. 

She ran in the direction of the scream, a dumb decision maybe, but all she had in mind was that she had left Michael in the lurch. Her chestnut coloured hair was waving in the air while she ran. Not far away did she see the outline of a boy's lifeless body. As she got closer she could see the blood glistening in the weak light of the moon. Michael's warm brown skin was covered in blood. A few meters away a big hair dead body lay, the beast that had ceased them had been killed.

Two voices was coming towards were Michael and the beast are lying. Emily had a feeling that it would be best to hide, so she hurried over to some bushes. Emily couldn't see anything, but the voices of an older girl and boy were coming closer.

"See, I told you I could take it down with one hand." The boy's voices was filled with pride.

"That was risky and dumb, don't do it again. You can't be reckless when we are on missions. We have a job to do, remember!?" The girl was angry.

"Oh relax, it's dead isn't it. You just can't admit that... " The boy cut himself of when he saw Michael's body laying completely still. 

The girl looked to see what had him shut up. "Oh no, please don't say his dead. We seriously do not need a dead twelve year old right now." She sounded stressed.

"Well go check, also what is a child doing out alone in a dark forest?" The boy looked at the girl encouraging her to go take Michael's pulse.

Emily peeked from her hiding spot behind the bushes. She saw the girl checking whether or not Michael was alive. She looked relieved, Michael must be alive.

"He is barely breathing, but alive. We can't leave him here, if we do he will die." The girl looked at the boy with a strict look. "Come pick him up, we are taking him home with us. I will take care of the Amarok." The girl continued.

The boy went to pick Michael up. "I don't think that this is a great idea."

The girl searched for something in the leather bag that was hanging over her shoulder. She pulled up what looked like a drawing on a piece of paper. She held the drawing in one hand, and with the other she took the big paw of the beast and steered it towards the drawing. The paw started to disappear into the drawing, and the rest of the beast's body followed. The only trace of the beast ever being here was the bleeding Michael. The girl had found some matchs and began to burn the drawing.

"Okay, let's go home." The girl pulled yet another drawing up from her bag, this time she put it on the ground. The boy with Michael over his shoulder took the girl's hand. The girl steeped onto the drawing and started to sink into the drawing, the boy and Michael followed right after. They had disappeared.

Emily hurried up and ran to were they had stood just seconds before. The drawing was still on the ground. She picked it up. It pictured four giant wooden ships sailing in the sea. It looked like they were bigger than any cruise ship. 

Police sirens sounded in the background, they were coming closer. Emily hid the drawing under her jacket and began to run out of the forest in the direction of the sirens.