Hallow Slow, The Labyrinth of Fire

[MCG8]

I put up a pole and nobody said no so I'm going to go ahead! I'll post one chapter a day!


CHAPTER ONE
Returning
Melody Carter was walking back from an ordinary day at school. Nothing in Woodmore, British Columbia ever changed much. The wind tossed her caramel brown hair that she usually wore in a braid, around her face. Her light blue eyes sparkled in the late autumn day sun. She passed by the row of plain houses with a bare tree on the small front yard of each house. She walked past the last dull house on that sluggish street, then turned into her own subdivision which was just as boring and plain.
Melody walked into the driveway of the fourth house of the ten on her street. Despite having pretty much every house being the exact same size, shape and colour in her area, the Carters’ house was very different. For starters, it was the largest house. Housing five bedrooms including the master bedroom, a reasonably sized basement, three bathrooms, a living room for formal family gatherings, a living room for informal family gatherings, a kitchen, a dining room and an attic all crammed into three floors, not including the basement. Melody was the only one out of the nine members of her family who got her own room.
When she got past the chaos of the first floor, she charged upstairs to her room, the smallest of the five bedrooms, which also connected to the attic. She flung her backpack on her bed and flopped down into her desk chair to start on her homework. After ten minutes of staring blankly at the sheet of paper she was supposed to be using to write an essay, she turned around and touched the crystal on her bedside table that she had gotten from Hallow Slow. She turned away from her homework to pick up the crystal. Suddenly it started to glow very brightly. She tossed it away from her because not only was it becoming very bright but it was also becoming very hot. Abruptly, it stoped glowing, but she only had a moment to wonder “whats going on?” when a portal opened. She was too excited to notice the sound of her bedroom door opening. Melody also neglected to notice that a figure was entering her room. Nothing but the portal had her attention anymore. Not thinking of what would happen when her parents found her missing, she jumped into the portal.
After Melody went through the portal, her younger brother, Oliver who was thirteen and only two years younger than Melody, saw his older sister go through a weird black oval thing with little glittering colours embedded in the sides of it. It looked like it could go on forever. Suddenly it started to close so Oliver dove through it trying to find out what sister was up to.

[MCG8]

Chapter Two
Returned

When Melody landed on the other side, rather painfully falling on her knees, she grinned. She was back in Hallow Slow but the place she had landed in looked much more different then when she had first come here. It appeared to be abandoned and in disrepair, with dead plants and broken trees everywhere,.
She didn’t have enough time to worry about it, however, as about ten seconds later, enough time for her to stand up, she felt something heavy land right on top of her. “Ow!” Melody exclaimed. More because she was surprised than because she was actually hurt. Then to her further surprise, the thing that had landed on her back spoke. “Um… Hi Mel.” Melody rolled over, seeing to her bafflement that a gangly boy with chestnut brown hair, brown eyes and light skin was looking at her with a sheepish grin. She didn’t speak to him at first, just glared. Oliver stood up and brushed dirt off his jeans and black hoodie, his new favourite items of clothing to wear. When they were both standing up straight, Oliver was just a bit taller than his sister, he was growing and showed no signs of stopping any time soon. Finally Melody spoke, “Oliver what are you doing here?!” It came out a bit harsher then she intended but she got her point across. “A portal appeared in your bedroom and I saw you go through. I thought it wouldn’t be dangerous if I went through since you did, so I followed you!” He grinned, then added, “Mom and Dad aren’t going to be very happy when they find out you’ve been going to weird places. By the way, where are we?”
Before Melody could answer, they heard beating of large wings and a voice that only Melody recognized, “Melody! You have returned!” Then, before either of them could blink, the girl dismounted a large winged animal and launched at Melody, giving her a rib cracking hug. While Melody and this odd girl with purple hair and a pointy metal skirt embraced, Oliver looked at the creature the girl had been riding and fell over in surprise! Standing a bit taller then a one storey building loomed a large black dragon. The scales seemed to be absorbing all the light around it. Oliver screamed, alerting the purple haired girl of his presence. She looked at him then she said casually, “Don’t be scared. Smoke won’t hurt you.” Then she realized she didn’t know him and added, “Who are you?” Oliver mumbled, “My name is Oliver Carter.” The bouncy girl replied, “Very nice to meet you, Oliver! My name is Graceilaohanda. Melody, I’m guessing she is your sister, calls me Grace.”
Suddenly she turned more pale then she already was. Fear coming into her light green eyes that were usually full of joy. Briskly she jumped onto her dragon and exclaimed, “Quick, we must leave this area now.” She extended her hand down to help them climb up. Melody climbed up first then Oliver, then they sat there for a moment, but only a moment. The dragon took off. Flying was a sensation that neither of them had experienced before. It was both exhilarating and terrifying at the same time. Yet that only lasted a moment before they took a steep dive and appeared to be about to crash into the hard earth, but when Oliver closed his eyes bracing for impact, nothing happened. He opened his eyes a crack and noticed that they were in a long tunnel with just enough room for the dragon to spread his wings to fly. After a few minutes of flying in the tunnel they entered a room as large as a soccer field. The dragon swooped down and landed neatly on the hard dirt floor. The walls were made out of strong wood planks, but this wood looked different then any wood either of them had seen. “What kind of wood is this?” Melody asked curiously. “It’s sleek wood. Very difficult to burn, which is why it is perfect for building.” Grace spoke a few words to a tall elf with black pants and an earthy green shirt with a little flower symbol stitched onto it. “Oliver you can stay here with Jakoeleba.” Grace bowed her head to the tall elf and he bowed back. Then she and Melody started climbing the narrow spiral staircase that was in the far corner of the room.

[MCG8]

Chapter Three
Kitchen
Grace led Melody up the smooth stairs. She paused, looking down at her brother staring at the sleek black dragon.
“Jake can look after him.”
“Jake?”
“Thats the easier pronunciation.”
When they finally made it up the spiral staircase, which was a much longer flight of stairs then she was anticipating, they walked in the direction of the throne room. “How is Queen Marigold?” Melody asked as they passed the throne room. Grace’s face fell. “The Encumous attacked again and killed the queen.” “Oh. I didn’t know, I’m sorry.” Melody and Grace walked in silence for a while. “Since my mother died, the land hasn’t been safe.” Melody just nodded. They walked into the kitchen, which wasn’t too far from the throne room. Larger than any kitchen Melody had seen, it was full of elves here, there and everywhere doing various things. Smoke smelling of the most delightful things was magically swirling around. There were girls cutting vegetables, boys decorating cakes and a rather plump elf stirring a large pot and occasionally adding spices and other things to it. “Good afternoon my dear princess. What may I get you?” The cook asked, who’s name Melody later learned to be Elenagoodwill, Elena for short. “Hello, me and my friend are just passing through for a quick bite to eat.” They both asked for some soup and the cheerful lady gladly scooped a large ladle into two bowls for each of them.” To Melody’s surprise, the soup had some weird spongey things floating in it, which tasted quite a bit like dried kelp, except for the fact that it was wet and soggy. After Melody managed to choke down some soup trying to be polite, they left in the direction of Grace’s bedroom. Melody started wondering what her brother was up to. Images of poking a dragon and then being burned to a crisp made her start to worry.