7 Chapter 7

7 Was it Willa's imagination, or was the river even grayer now than before? It felt colder, too. The chill seeped into Willa, filling her with doubt.

"I don't think I can do this," she whispered to herself. As she spoke, she felt something beside her, radiating warmth and light. "Of course you can!" "Delphina!" Willa cried. "You're here!" "As if I'd let you do this alone," chattered the silver dolphin in her funny squeaky voice. "There are all kinds of weird creatures in this river. Whistling prawns, blinking strobe fish. Oh, and don't get too close to the scissor fish. They are very snippy."

Willa wrapped a wing around the dolphin and squeezed. "I'm so glad you're here," she said. The quest suddenly felt a whole lot less scary. Together, Willa and Delphina dove down, down, down into the water. It must have been the deepest river in the world! The deeper they went, the darker the water became. But Delphina's silvery skin glowed, creating a warm cocoon of light.

All the same, Willa could only see a tail's length in any direction. Things kept brushing against her. But that was the least of Willa's problems. The real issue was that she had no idea what she was looking for! "Did the Tree Queen give you any hints at all?" asked Delphina. "She just said it came from somewhere deep, and that it was invisible," replied Willa. "But everything down here is invisible." Even worse, Willa wasn't sure the ingredient was in the river at all. It might be in a deep hole somewhere. Willa felt her worries swell. Collecting something, when she had no idea what it was or where it was, felt … impossible. They were so deep now that Willa could see the long, leafy weeds growing on the bottom of the river, rippling back and forth. "Watch out!" called Delphina suddenly. But it was too late. Willa crashed into a large fish swimming toward them. "Oh, I'm sorry—"

she said, but the fish snapped its sharp silver teeth at her and swished off. "A scissor fish!" said Delphina, swimming over. "Are you okay?" "I'm fine," said Willa, but as she spoke, she felt something tumble out of her bag. The magic apple! "There's a huge hole in your bag," groaned Delphina. "That scissor fish must have cut it as it went by." There wasn't a moment to lose. If the magic apple fell into the river weeds, it would be very difficult to find in the dark. Willa pressed her wings against her side and swooped after the apple. Just as it was about to disappear into the weeds, she scooped it up with her wing. Yes! "Good work, Willa!" cheered Delphina. "Now, let's get away from here. It's creepy." Willa was about to agree when something brushed against her paw. Just a strand of river weed, Willa told herself, swimming back to

Delphina. But then another weed pressed against her. Looking down, Willa saw a dark tendril reach up and wind itself around her leg. Hang on, weeds didn't do that! Her heart pounded. So many mistakes. The Tree Queen will be disappointed in you, whispered the Shadow Sprites.