The Pendant

Chapter 5

I took off down the hall, Alex lagging behind. My shoes squeaked across the shiny floor. I raced past bulletin boards, papers fluttering. Past closed doors to classrooms, the library, a computer lab and caught a glimpse of red hair in the cafeteria. I slid past the entrance and fell onto the hard surface, hitting my funny bone. Alex said nothing, his face showed only concern for Danary. He slowed before the open doors and suddenly looked very unimpressed.

I heaved myself of the floor, rubbed my elbow and came to see what was the matter.

"Ah, therz you are! Where werz you?"

I heard the voice before I saw saw her. I stood beside Alex and peered inside.

There were many clean white tables and empty counters, where they served food. The ground is tiled in a tan coloured triangular pattern. Ceiling fans spin casting little breeze on a warm summer day. Danary, in her neon green zip-up sweater stood trembling, because there before her was a tree.

I rubbed my eyes. No it wasn't a tree. It looked more like a woman, instead of branches she had bark-like limbs. Her hair was made of stringy dark green leaves which rustled like it was dried and brittle. The face was dark brown with the texture of bark, knots and lines crossing everywhere. Her eyes are huge and dark that matched her eyebrows- thick and shaped like a shooting star. She had no lips, just a slit under the nose. She wore a light brown tunic with white silk for sleeves scrunched up before her wrist, making it look slightly puffy. The 'tree' wore black leggings that reached below the knee and shoes that looked like were rawhide tied around her feet with string.

"I assume you have thez Pendant?"

The tree looked at Alex expectantly.

Danary was still in shock. "You-You.....are-"

The tree, looking annoyed but with a slight smile did not turn to Danary. She rolled her eyes and answered exasperatedly,"Yez, I am a Dryad. From thez forest of Marrinide."

"From the Hamadryads family oak and popular tree deal. The only sassy and in your face Dryad to exist ,cause they're all so shy. Yeah, skip the introduction. I've got the Pendant, questions about a creature called the master, a crazy teacher, blah, blah, blah WILL YOU GIVE ME BACK MY DOG NOW?"

The dryad smiled and held out her hand."Give me thez Pendant, and we'll begin thez journey to Merlin. Dime is waiting there."

Alex dug into his jean pocket, pulled out the necklace and tossed it into the Dryads awaiting hands. She examined it curiously, then unlatched the chain and put it on. The ruby clashed with her green and brown colours. Satisfied, she held her head high and stormed past us bumping into our shoulders. Danary looked troubled and said she needed to sit down. She walked further into the cafeteria and perched on the gleaming white countertop, legs swinging restlessly.

"And that was?" I asked Alex, who looked deep in thought, staring at the ground.

"It's none of your business." He croaked. "You're not the messenger. Merlin wouldn't want you to know about us." And with that he followed the strange Dryad, leaving me with Danary.