Enchanted High Book I
Chapter Sixteen: The Sand Monster

He was falling into the everlasting darkness of the pit. His eyes seemed to automatically close; wind, ice cold wind, ripped at his eyelids. His arms and legs flailed, waving frantically to grasp at something solid, but all he could grip was the meaningless air. His organs thrashed about; his lungs was being vacuumed of oxygen. When he landed with a thud on what could’ve only been solid ground, a cloud of smoke erupted from underneath him.

For a minute he lay there motionless, eyes shut, not wanting to replace out whether he was dead. His back hurt; his head pounded, his heart hammered against his flesh and bone.

Then he heard a sound. A desperate, lethal scratching sound. As if someone was attempting to escape from the great, rocky walls of the canyon.

Gently opening his eyes, he forced his muscles to move against their will, lifting himself to a stand. He felt weak, his body was limp. But he reminded himself of the painful situation he was in. Get to that mountain, get to that mountain ... something very precious to him was there, trapped and hurt – and in danger.

He limped towards the scratching sound; it grew louder, more agonizing. He moved towards it, using his ears as a guide; forcing his eyes to stay open, but they kept shutting, sticking together, and blocking his vision. He stood still, concentrating at the image forming in his retina. A few blinks, and a blurry image of a giant lizard formed.

The lizard had spun around within a fraction of a second, staring at him with yellow reptile eyes. Quickly it started to advance on him, tail swishing behind dangerously, nostrils prepared to burn the flesh off of him. Its giant claws rattled the ground, as it made its way to the boy.

As suddenly as it began moving, it halted, inches away from the boy, its nostrils flared, its breath a lethal gas.

The boy, terrified of the dragon’s intentions, looked into the dragon’s beady eye, and saw fear. Then, without even thinking, he held out a shaking hand in front of him – in attempt to train it.

At first, the dragon began to growl and opened its mouth wide – the boy glimpsed his second tongue – teeth about to chop off his hand any second –

James bolted up from his sleeping bag with a fright. Millions of noises burst to his ear instantly. Somewhere in the distance, there was a howl; and much more closer to him, was the sound of June’s light breathing. It was dark; the faint moonlight lit the side of the tent and James was half expecting to see a shadow leap at him any moment.

He felt himself, his sweaty body, his bed, and looked around. June was beside him in a separate sleeping bag, her eyes closed, strands of her hair covering her face; James resisted the temptation to swipe them gently behind her ear. Dominic was snoring on the other side, his mouth wide open, drooling; and Nicole next to him, her head submerged underneath the blanket. James gulped and then let out a deep breath. It was just a nightmare.

But then – there was the scratching sound that he thought he had dreamt, as real as daylight, coming from just outside the tent. His heart began thumping faster; this wasn’t part of his dream; he was awake, wide awake. Gazing at the others once again, James saw that they hadn’t yet noticed this strange sound.

So, silently walking out of his sleeping bag, he crept along the edge of the tent to the flap, and peered outside.

It was a frighteningly dark night. The desert was bare, as usual, and still; no wind. With the stars and moon as the only source of light, it made it challenging for James to spot where the sound was coming from. The scratching had gotten louder, yes, but it had developed a rumble, like a giant’s stomach growling. And then, as if there was an earthquake, the sand beneath him began to form small waves, like river water being blown in the wind.

But soon, very soon, that wind became a typhoon, and it began to blow the sand in rough spirals that began at the center of the valley.

‘James!’

Nicole was the first to wake up. She had burst out of her sleeping bag within seconds, and she stared at the spirals of sand, growing thicker and larger with every moment wasted, with fear.

The ground shook, and their tent, which was so poorly arranged by Dominic even though it was electronic, fell into heap on top of them. James fidgeted through the white material for the others, calling out their names through the great sounds of wind and the recent roaring sound, when at last; he grabbed hold of someone’s arm; soft and thin and smooth; June.

‘June!’ He yelled.

Her eyes were barely open; tons of sand blew around, threatening to bury them alive, to blind them. They had to get out; if this was a sandstorm, then they could be part of another sand hill in a matter of minutes.

James yelled over the roar of wind. ‘Try to replace an exit!’ He saw June nod, and they began walking, feeling around with their arms.

Suddenly, there was nothing to feel besides the cool air of the night.

‘June! James!’

It was Nicole’s voice for sure, somewhere off to their right. Another sound joined her shrieks and June was forced to open her eyes to sneak a peek.

Right behind them was a monster, gigantic and unfriendly, made entirely out of the sand which still spiraled to form parts of its legs and hands and face. Its teeth were bared and its eyes were hollow sockets; its mouth swallowed the sand like a hungry animal after waking from hibernation.

June’s first instinct was to run. And she did so. Grabbing James’s arm, she ran towards Nicole and Dominic, who had unfolded the hovercraft and were waiting for them. June ducked out of the way as their tent, which was caught into the winds of the sand monster, flew inches above her head.

‘Get in!’ cried Dominic. He hopped into the driver’s seat and slammed the accelerator, just as June and James locked their doors shut. But the winds were so strong, that it sucked the hovercrafts strength so that they could move only a few paces at a time.

‘Go faster!’ Nicole ordered.

‘I can’t!’ said Dominic, desperately steering the hovercraft against the burst of wind.

June looked out the window and saw the sand monster, lifting its feet one at a time to take a step closer to them with success. He moved very slowly, but compared to the speed at which the hovercraft took them, he would reach them in no time.

June thought of a weakness ... Aunt Audrey had told her once about sand when wet, it turns into mud, but that would hardly be any help in this situation. What if Dominic was to burn the sand? Would it turn into glass and freeze in its tracks? It was definitely worth a try.

‘Dominic, burn it!’ June yelled at him. He took a moment to register the order. But in that moment the sand monster had let out a roar that shook their eardrums and the monster took another step closer to them, shaking sand and causing large bursts of it to bang against the windows of the hovercraft.

‘Alright! I’ll burn it!’ shrieked Dominic. ‘I need a platform to stand on; a solid one I won’t fall off!’

June’s mind raced. The monster took another jaw-rattling step. Another triumphant roar. Another moment of pressure.

‘Don’t worry; I have an idea,’ said Nicole; surprisingly, her tone was calm. She began to hastily search for something, then she grabbed a metal object from the backpack and held it tight as if to throttle it.

‘What are you doing?’ Dominic asked.

Nicole didn’t reply. She rolled down her window, allowing in a burst of sand which slammed into everyone’s face and forced them to shut their eyes, and let her hand, which held the object, out. As she did so, her eyes turned a misty grey-blue and the next second, through all the wind, roaring and sand, the object that Nicole held was now elongating into a flat disc, wide enough for someone to stand on. It was attached to Nicole’s skin, by means of metal strings that sprouted from her veins, and so when the wind blew, all it did was sway when her hand did.

June immediately got the idea. She gestured to Dominic. ‘You said you needed a platform.’

’What! I must walk on that! What if I get caught in the wind?′ cried Dominic. He was distracted for a moment, allowing the hovercraft to veer off slightly, but he readjusted his concentration and held the wheel firmly.

‘I can try to attach some of the metal to your clothing,’ Nicole explained; her eyes remained grey, her hair blew rapidly, but all her concentration was spotlighted onto the platform.

Dominic looked reluctant to have to do the job, but once he considered the situation they were in, he had no choice but to agree. ‘Okay! Someone grab the wheel!’

Without questioning, James hopped onto the driver’s seat, for a moment the hovercraft jerked sideways since there was no one driving but James immediately grabbed it and took control as Dominic practically flew out the window. But if it wasn’t for Nicole’s mind control on the metal, he wouldn’t have landed on the platform safely. The first thing the wind attacked was his clothes, and he struggled to stay put even with all the attachments.

June could see that Nicole was using all the energy that she had, and it was frightening to see that, when she closed her eyes, the grey light poured out through the skin of her eyelids.

Dominic began hurling balls of fire, great flaming torches that lit up their surroundings, looking like meteors through the darkness. As they landed on the sand monster, it created a deep crater; powerful enough to slow it down, and that simple gesture decreased the wind which allowed the hovercraft to race at the speed at which James commanded it to.

Dominic continued hurling the balls of fire and the hovercraft continued gaining speed, driving into the darkness of the desert.

Parts of the sand monster began to fall off, give up as it hardened and refused to be placed back as part of the monster. The monster soon realized that he was fighting a losing battle, and soon fell to the ground with a thud and a shake, but still, Dominic continued to aim the fireballs at it, showing no mercy till the very end.

‘You okay?’ June asked Nicole; her eyes were heavy as if she hadn’t slept for years, and the moment she let herself drowse off, she had fallen into a deep sleep. The same went for Dominic. As he returned into the hovercraft, he was too exhausted from conjuring and throwing fireballs for most of the night, that he too fell asleep. That left just June and James wide awake driving silently, apart for Dominic’s snoring.

‘Should I contact Charlie?’ June asked.

James looked at her through the review mirror. ‘I think so; tell him we had to flee.’

June and James had explained all the events to Charlie as they drove along the sand. Charlie didn’t take it very well, but when he calmed, he instructed them to stop to set up their tent and have a rest. That’s when they were forced to tell him that the tent was eaten away by the monster and he was furious. But he calmed again and they thought of a solution that didn’t seem too bright at first, but turned out to be brilliant. Charlie had used the signal of the lunchbox, the signal that he would use to send them food, but instead, they received another tent, folded up to look like a cell phone without a screen.

After setting up camp, they awoke Nicole and Dominic who opened their eyes just to walk into the tent and fall back to sleep.

But after the nights encounter, June and James lay awake, without the other knowing, attempting to fall asleep.

I looked up the meaning of ‘thug’ and this is what came up: noun : a violent person, especially a criminal. I replace it incredibly ironic that my boss decided to call me ‘thug’. I’m the complete opposite of a thug - what could she have possibly seen in me to call me a thug? I don’t know.

Love from all the fur on my back,

--THUG. (still doesn’t sound quite right.)