Ch8-In the Red Dawn

CHAPTER EIGHT In the Red Dawn "Are you—are you okay?" Annie asked Jack. She was still holding the wand. Her pigtails blew in the bright wind. "Yeah, yeah, but what happened?" said Jack in a daze. He was freezing and out of breath. "Where are we?"

"I don't know," whispered Annie. Jack shielded his eyes from the brilliant light of the red dawn and looked around. Pink clouds floated through the air like piles of cotton candy. Through a gap in the clouds, he saw hills shrouded in black smoke below. Beneath the smoke, flames rose from the city of Edo. "I think we're on Mount Fuji," said Annie. "Mount Fuji?" said Jack. "That's crazy! Why are we here?" He stopped to catch his breath. He felt dizzy and light

headed. "Edo's burning! We should be there!" "Maybe the wand didn't understand," said Annie. "Maybe it was trying to save us by taking us far away from the fire." Suddenly a great mass of thick clouds piled up, ringing the mountaintop like a wall. The clouds swirled and whirled and tumbled. They changed color, from rose to gold to gray to white. "What's going on?" cried Jack. The head of a gigantic monster rose from the bubbling clouds! "AHHH!" Jack and Annie screamed. They grabbed each other and crouched

down on the rocky ledge. The monster had spiky eyebrows and long, curled whiskers. It had the horns of a deer, the forked tongue of a snake, and the fiery breath of a dragon. Through the swirling clouds, Jack and Annie could see the dragon's snake-like body curling through the clouds and down the mountainside. Its back was covered with shiny scales. Its spine had a row of shark-like fins. The dragon reached out its claws. They were like the claws of an eagle— only a thousand times bigger! The claws gripped the side of the mountain.

Jack made himself as small as he could. He covered his head. But Annie jumped to her feet. "I get it!" she cried. "I know what's happening! Thank you for coming!" "Annie, get down!" Jack shouted. "Jack, it's the Cloud Dragon!" said Annie. "The puppet show—remember? The wand sent her here!" "What? Why?" cried Jack. "She makes rain! Don't you remember? Rain!" cried Annie. "She commands the rain clouds!" The dragon lowered her giant head, stretching it over the mountain ledge.

Her scales glittered honey-gold in the dawn light. She was still, very still, as if she were waiting for something. "Come on! We have to climb on her back!" shouted Annie. "Why?" cried Jack. "We have to go with her!" said Annie. "The wand brought us to the dragon! Now it's up to us to show her what to do!" "Okay! Okay!" said Jack. Annie climbed onto the back of the Cloud Dragon. She sat between two of the dragon's shark-like fins. Jack climbed on behind her. He gripped the