by: Annie Song

We all stared at the two dragonflies. It was impossible! At least that’s what it felt like. I look first at one, then the other. Then, I said something that I’m not proud of. “You’re kidding me.” That’s what I said. I’m lucky that King Thornswood was a forgiving king.
“I’m not kidding,” he said with a chuckle.
Flyingleaf looked around. “This is no time to joke brother. We need to-“
Thornswood held up a leg. “We need to take our time. They probably want to know why we are here.” He turned to us. “Well, you know my story so I won’t have to tell that. Well, S’more was right. I was that drop of potion. Flyingleaf here joined me at my will. I went in dreams to tell kings what to do. Some listen while others didn’t. I was also a ghost, walking around and watching everything. I knew the truth while everyone else was looking. Someone had to say the thing that told the magic to let me free. Many have found me but failed to say the words. S’more did the trick. I’m proud of you S’more.”
S’more grinned at the king’s words. “We need a plan!” Red shouted. Then she glanced at the king. “I’m sorry,” she spluttered. “But I’m really worried that Raven’s planning something and we need to do something!”
“The dust bunny is right,” Flyingleaf agreed. “We need to plan.”
We gave in and thought. We couldn’t think of anything. “How about this.” We turned towards the speaker who was Thornswood. “I can lead a group to the marsh to find some other dragonflies. They could help us and I think I should lead them anyway. The others could stay here and think of a prank and hopefully do it.”
There was silence. “You’re saying we should split up?” Red stared at the dragonfly. “I’m not letting any of my family go on that mission. I have to keep an eye on them. I’m not going to let anyone else from our family be separated from us! No one!” She challenged everyone with a glare to object.
“Anyone else want to object?” Thornswood asked, his face starting to have doubt in his plan.
No one responded. “I didn’t mean to object to your plan king,” Red stammered. “I just don’t want any dust bunnies to go.”
“Well in that case, then we’ll do the plan, right?” the king asked. Everyone replied with yes. “You don’t have to treat me like a king you know,” Thornswood told us.
“That’s good to know,” Ever said. As I looked closer, I realized that he had been sweating nervously.
We decided that the party of travelers would be made of Thornswood, Flyingleaf, S’more, Cracker, and the barn cat. That’s right, the cat. They needed transportation to the marsh and back.
While we were making plans, suddenly someone asked loudly, “Why are we sending a group to the marsh anyway?” I looked around and saw that it was Eve who spoke, paws crossed. “I think it’s a waste of time and effort. Thornswood can reunite his kingdom later, but defeating Raven I think is more important.”
There was silence as everyone pondered this. “I got it!” I was startled by the noise and realized Nut had shouted. “On the mission, they could collect food too. There might be siege. We need to keep our strength up. We can’t look for food all the time now that there are plans to be made. Collect buttercups. We need things to drink. Water doesn’t work for us but also get stuff for yourselves. Red can tell you what get. Sounds good?”
That settled everything. They talked to the cat who was called Milkweed who agreed with the plan. In the morning they started off. Since I wasn’t there, I’ll let Cracker tell.

Hi! I’m Cracker. So, in the morning Flyingleaf woke me up. He wasn’t too bad. I had been sleeping with the cat in his straw den in the loft of the barn. S’more was beside me, still napping. I let him sleep. The sunlight made the barn look like a magical mice palace instead of a filthy barn. I was sure the dust bunnies and Skyler were still sleeping. I saw that Thornswood was trying to wake the huge cat. I have a bad history with cats so I didn’t like getting to close to the huge beast. I woke up S’more, murmuring to the old mouse. He had taken care of me for pretty much my whole life so now I took care of him.
We started to get on Milkweed’s ‘bag’. Skyler had fastened a bag on Milkweed. We could ride in the pockets while store food in the main inside. I was in a front pocket with S’more. It was bumpy as Milkweed walked forward. We jerked around as the cat climbed down from the loft. When we burst from the barn, the sunlight made everything sparkle. I even felt brighter as we progressed though the meadow.
After about 30 minutes of hard travelling, we stopped and took a break. We were half-way to the marsh at that time. S’more, Flyingleaf, and I went to find food. Milkweed laid down and took break while talking to Thornswood. We collected berries, grass, and weeds. We also found nuts for us mice. We bottled up water from a brook and tried to find any source of milk but no luck. We headed back to our camp to check on Milkweed and the king. They were fine.
As we packed our finds in the bag, it felt like something or someone was watching us. We had only walked for about 5 minutes when a blur leapt from the tall grass. Instinctively, I dived down into the pocket but I remembered that Milkweed would need help. There was a snarl and the bag fell. It wasn’t a smooth landing and we tumbled out.
I looked up and gasped when I saw a huge and bright fox battling with Milkweed. I compared the two and realized the fox was much bigger than the cat. I thought for an idea or plan. Then, I got it. “Thornswood! Flyingleaf!” I shouted. Before they could reply, I shouted,” Find help! Now! S’more, stay with the bag!” Then I jumped under Milkweed. The fox sprang and knocked Milkweed over, which nearly crushed me into sushi. I looked to see that Milkweed was pinned down by the fox. I climbed on the fox and bit his ear. That’s right, a little mouse bit the ear of a fox.
The fox howled and stumbled back. Milkweed stood up and pounced on the fox, hissing. She scratched the fox and the fox bit Milkweed. I was full of despair. What could I do now? Right then, there was a buzzing of wings.
I turned around and saw 2 other dragonflies with Thornswood and Flyingleaf. They were coming with pointed sticks. A golden dragonfly sped forward and jabbed the fox. It growled and turned to attack but Milkweed leapt on his back and bit on the ear again. The fox threw Milkweed of easily and stood over her. He meant to bite the death bite but a silver dragonfly with great strength, pushed the stick at the fox, leaving a bloody mark.
It made the fox bite the shoulder. The cat made a noise that could shatter glass. The fox sprang away, frightened by the noise.
We put Milkweed’s barely alive body on the bag. As Thornswood, S’more, the golden dragonfly and I tugged the bag to their camp, Flyingleaf and the silver dragonfly took care of the cat.
While we pulled, the unknown helpers introduced themselves. The golden one was named Goldenacorn {the girl} and the other was named Silverfrost {the boy}. They lived together with no children. We told them about our big problem. When we finished, we came to a clearing. It was beside a brook and on the other side there was a pile of rocks.
“Where’s your home?” I asked.
“There,” Goldenacorn pointed to the rocks. She sped towards them and moved one. It reveled the inside. It was very comfy, with herbs and food. Milkweed was taken inside. I turned away. I might seem hard most of the time, but my eyes would get moist when I saw wounds.
“How is she?” I asked. I had started to like the cat and now it was dying! This couldn’t be!
“I’m not going to die,” Milkweed whispered. “I’m sure I won’t. Have faith.” She stop breathing for a moment and started to hang her head.
I flung myself on the cat. “Don’t die!” I cried. “I already have had my mother and father get taken away and my grandfather died just because of me. I’ve had too much death in my life without dying myself. Don’t die on me!” I loved life. Who wouldn’t? I hated to see it go. I felt the cat stir slightly. “
“You saved my life against the fox,” I heard Milkweed say. “You saved mine again.”

We stayed for about 2 days. We gathered food and even milk. We met a bear who was friends with Goldenacorn. Her cubs had been killed so she had left over milk. She gave it all to us. The pair of dragonflies decided to come and join the fight. Being a very brave and strong cat, Milkweed recovered enough to carry us back to the attic. It took us longer though and luckily, we didn’t bump into any foxes.
When we got back to the attic, we all leapt down from the bag. Skyler, Red, Eve, Nut, and Rover waited for us. They greeted us with news that they were putting a prank on Raven. They didn’t tell us the plan because it was supposed to be a surprise.
As we showed them the contents of the bag and the newcomers. After that, we started to put the food and herbs in the right places when all of a sudden-
“GUYS! HELP!” I turned to see Pip, Ever, Jump and Spring running towards us.
“What?” asked Red. “Did it work?”
“Yes and no!” Jump said. “The plan worked except-“
“DIZ IS MISSING!” Pip screamed.