8 The Dream Team

CHAPTER 8

The Dream Team Glub! Glub! Glurp! The swamps of Bogburp bubbled with stench and steam. Clara pinched her nose. "It smells like rotten eggs!" Lucas nodded. "That's why it's the perfect barrier to the Dream Portal," he said. The prince took a deep breath and held it the rest of the way across Bogburp. When the land turned

back to meadows, the two friends breathed normally again. "Lucas, look up ahead," Clara cried. "It's that swirling blue-and-pink mist we saw in our dreams!" Lucas steered toward the mist and saw a circle of glittering black stones—just like they had read about in the fairy tale. "It's the rock formation!" he said. But Clara wasn't looking at the ground. She was looking up in the sky. "It's Ruskin!" she called out. The dragon was in a nosedive, flying headfirst into the mist. "We have to go after him!" Lucas said.

Clara nodded as Lucas aimed the dragon-flyer toward the mist at the heart of the rock formation and squeezed her eyes tight. They had entered the Dream Portal. Instead of seeing another world, Lucas woke up in his own bed with Ruskin nestled by his feet. The prince scratched his head.

Okay, what's going on? he thought. Was I dreaming again? Then he heard a knock on his door.

"Prince Lucas?" It was Sherman, the prince's personal attendant. "Your presence is required in the great hall." Lucas hopped out of bed. "Be right there!" The prince ran to his closet. Hanging on the back of the door was a scarlet suit of armor—the same color as Ruskin. It had a note pinned to it. Lucas, This is your BIG day. To be the part, you must dress the part. Love,