He threw me out the front door and I tumbled down the steps as the doors closed behind me. I heard a girl giggling from behind the tiger statue and for a moment I thought it was Inola come back to help me, but it was only the cat girl who had given me directions earlier.

"What do you want?" I asked tears coming to my eyes and my coughs starting up again.

"I thought the judge might refuse, so I followed you to see," she said with a sly smile.

"Why are you so happy?" I asked marching down the steps.

"Personally, I hate dogs and agree with everything the judge is doing."

"Then you're evil," I spat.

"You shouldn't call people names like that especially when they want to help you."

"Wait you want to help me get Seth back?"

"For a price of course," she said gesturing to the bag of gold Inola had given me a hungry look in her yellow eyes.

"How much do you want?" I asked pulling it off my belt.

"Fifteen pieces, no twenty," she said greedily.

I only had about fifty pieces and I needed this money to get a horse. But I had no other choice Seth could be killed any moment and I didn't know where else to turn.

"Fine you can have twenty pieces, but I'll pay you after I get Seth back," I said, and she frowned.

"How do I know you're not going to run off with the dog and refuse to pay me?" she asked her tail slowly waving back and forth.

"Fine, you can have five coins now and the rest after I get Seth back," I said pulling out five coins.

"I want fifteen now," she said mischievously.

"Fine," I agreed giving her the coins and praying she didn't just pocket them and run off.

"No one knows exactly where they take the dogs, but I know how you can find out."

"How?"

"Take these," she said handing me two bottles of potion "the yellow one will turn you into a dog for four hours and the red one is a sleeping powder, you have to find a way to get some on the executioner and if you do that you should be fine," she told me, and I thanked her.

"Hurry and take the potion the cart is about to leave," she said ducking behind the tiger statue.

I put my glasses in my pocket then unscrewed the cap from the bottle and drank it, it tasted like warm honey running down my throat, then suddenly everything began to hurt. I fell onto my knees as blonde fur sprouted from my entire body and my mouth grew into a long snout with a black dog nose at the end. My shirt tore and claws broke out from my hands and feet which transformed into paws. I was still able to stand on two feet and looked more like a blonde werewolf then a dog. I got down on my hands and knees and began barking, walking around the court on my hands and knees making as much noise as I could. I sounded like a real dog with loud and proud barks.

"That is one ugly dog," the dog catcher said to the officer as they walked out of the court room. shielding his eyes with his paw.

I stood my ground and growled my entire throat rumbling it felt great and filled me with adrenaline, the best part was I didn't feel the need to cough. The dog catcher pulled a small dart gun from his pocket and shot me in the arm with a tiny blow dart. As soon as the tip of the dart touched my skin I fell over and passed out.

.  .  .

I woke up in the back of a prison car full of dogs all barking and whining I understood what they were saying like it was a second language.

"Help me," they yelled.

"Get me out of here."

"I'm innocent."

I recognized one of the voices as Seth's.

"You'll regret this if you don't let me go, I have friends in very high places, my girlfriend is a witch she'll curse you all, she'll turn you into frogs, she'll give you all skin cancer," Seth threatened even though he and his girlfriend broke up and the fact that she turned him into a dog, probably meant she would never help him out.

I sat up and saw Seth sticking his head in between the bars next to a bunch of other dogs, we were traveling through the caverns surrounded by thousands of blue and purple crystals, it looked exactly like the cavern where I met Seth, but we were miles from there. There was only one dog not jumping around and freaking out pleading to be let go and that was a grey wolf I instantly recognized as Ahiga, his front and back paws were chained together with iron hand cuffs, and he was made to wear a muzzle.

"Hello Bailey," he said with a wicked smile his eyes lighting up.

"How did you know it was me?" I asked crawling past the other dogs to get closer to Seth.

"Dogs often rely on scent to identify people, very clever disguise though I bet you plan on saving Seth?" he explained but I ignored him.

"Bailey," Seth shouted excitedly after he noticed I was in the cage with him, he pounced on me and knocked me onto the ground licking my face excitedly.

"What are you doing here please don't tell me you ran into a witch."

I sat back up wiping my face off with the back of my fury paw.

"Well actually me and Inola did run into a witch, but I turned myself into a dog on purpose to rescue you."

"That's nice of you Bailey but how exactly do you plan on doing that?" Seth asked then the cart came to a sudden halt, and we all went flying forward.

Several cats dressed in black wearing protective gear came to the back of the prison cart and hooked collars around our necks. My leash was held by the same guard that was holding Seth's and Ahiga's then he led us through a crystal door carved into the cavern wall. 

The room inside was huge the walls made from black rocks and lined with dozens of metal cages, in the middle of the room sat a large open pit of fire warming the room up to a stuffy hundred degrees. A humongous brown cat with white patches sat in the back of the room. He was the largest animal I had ever seen he was way bigger than a school bus, he was the size of a whole school. He barley fit in the room his huge pot belly sticking out ten feet in front of him, his huge tail curled around the whole room as thick as a sewer pipe. The cat in black locked me, Seth and Ahiga in one large cage then left the room.

"Well well, what do we have here?" he asked with a smile a long pink cat tongue licking a circle around his fuzzy lips.

There were dogs in almost every cage all barking and whining the noise filled the air like a strange sad music. I noticed a mirror on the wall opposite of the cat exactly like the judge's mirror in the court room except it was ten times larger and worked like a security camera looking right into the empty court room.

"You look yummy," the cat said happily opening one of the little cages and grabbing a Dalmatian with red spots in his large soft paw.

He held the dog up to his face watching it bark and growl he waved his tail happily and played with the dog a bit letting it run around his huge hands and nip at his fingers.

"What a cute little thing," he said then he picked it up by its tail like it was a rat and held it over his mouth, he opened his mouth and dropped the dog in chewing his meal then swallowing.

"Who's next?" he asked a satisfied grin on his face. 

All the dogs began freaking out.

"We have to get out of here," Seth said bashing his head into the bars of the cage in an effort to break them open, after that didn't work, he tried forcing himself in between the bars.

"It's no use," Ahiga said rolling his eyes, he didn't seem to care whether or not he was eaten he just sat there calmly watching the other dogs terrified reactions.

"Don't worry Seth, I have a plan," I told him awkwardly petting his head with my half-paw half-hand thingy.

"Hey chubby!" I shouted at the large cat as he swallowed a golden retriever and coughed up a small golden hair ball.

"Perhaps you would like to be next?" he asked with a cruel smile licking his lips.

"You could never eat me, I'm way too big I'd get stuck in your tiny throat," I exclaimed, and he reached for my cage door, using his long sharp cat claws to unlock it.

"I could eat you in one gulp," he bragged, he opened the door and grabbed me in his giant fist his soft and fluffy fingers curling around me.

Seth tried biting the cat's hand, but he just shook him off locking him back in the cage with Ahiga. He brought me towards his mouth, and I gripped the open bottle of sleeping powder tightly in my hand, he pinched my tail and held me by it. It hurt like crazy like someone was holding me by my hair. I was worried my brand-new tail was going to be pulled right off. I quickly dropped the open bottle in the cat's mouth, and he dropped me in after it.

I landed on his giant tongue, covered in hundreds of baseball sized taste buds and tilted back like a death slide leading straight to his throat. There were dozens of teeth all around me like giant white icicles in an artic cave sharp and deadly. The whole place stunk like death and wet dog. There were bits of dog fur stuck in between his teeth giant teeth, I almost threw up. He began trying to chew me. I started panicking clawing at his tongue trying not to let myself slide to his throat. Suddenly his head fell forward and I slid l out of his giant mouth and landed on his furry pot belly like it was a trampoline.

Drops of saliva landed on me like huge drops of rain and I looked up to see that the cat had fallen asleep with his mouth slightly open, a small stream of drool pouring out, he was snoring as loud as a fire alarm. 

All the dogs began cheering and I ran to free them. I unlocked Seth's cage, and he instantly ran to help free the others. I looked to Ahiga who was sitting bored in the corner, I left the door open for him and prayed that he could get out even though his arms and legs were cuffed together then hurried to free the other dogs. Me and Seth released all the other dogs, and everyone ran for the door. 

The cats in black came rushing in but they couldn't catch us all at once, so we made it past them with ease running through the caverns like happy dogs in a field of tall grass, we ran to the end where we found a ramp leading up to the back of the courthouse. We ran out of the courthouse and into the streets. Everyone started panicking when they saw the army of illegal dogs and went running back to their houses.

My whole body started hurting once again and my fur began disappearing. My claws disappeared back into my paws which turned back into hands and feet. My snout shrunk back into a normal face and my ears turned back into rubbery human ones. I could no longer growl, or bark and I began coughing once more.

"Let's get out of here," Seth said excitedly jumping around in circles his tongue flapping around it was like he was trying to lick the sunlight.

"Oo yummy, this must be my lucky day," he cheered sniffing a half eaten hot dog discarded on the ground near a trash can.

"Don't eat that!" I screamed grabbing him and pulling his head away from the hotdog.

I wanted to get Seth out of the village as soon as possible but I still had to pay that cat girl, I didn't know her name either so I couldn't leave the rest of her money with anyone else. Since I couldn't find her, I decided to make it up to her later and went to buy a horse from the market. The money Inola gave me wasn't enough to buy a horse so I had to settle with the only transportation I could afford. A dirty little mule with buck teeth who loved to make irritating sounds. He barley walked faster then I walked but at least I wouldn't be tired.

"Your sister is going to be so proud when she sees you riding up to her on your donkey with your inhaler held high in the air," Seth joked from alongside me, he was just jealous because I got to ride on something, and he had to walk.

"What do you think happened to Ahiga?" I asked curiously "I'm starting to regret not unlocking his handcuffs, but he might've tried to kill me."

"Don't feel bad, he was old anyway he probably only had a year left, two tops, by the way where is that annoying elf girl?" Seth asked looking around as if he expected Inola to be following us.

"You don't like Inola?" I asked confused, Seth had saved her life I thought he would have to really like her to do something like that.

"She irritates me."

Inola was a little rude, but she was also really cool I felt my face blush and Seth started chuckling.

"You like her," he teased.

"I do not!" I demanded I was much too young to like girls.

"Bailey and Inola sitting in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"

"Shut up!"

.  .  .

We left Meow town and entered a forest full of little gray rocks, something about the rocks was familiar but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. The lady at the market said we would get to the castle quickest if we headed through the forest so that's what we were doing. We entered a part of the forest where the trees had all been burned down and there was nothing left but some little black stumps charred from the flames of the fire.

"There must have been a big fire," I said the air was filled with the smell of burned wood and there weren't any living trees for miles.

The donkey I was riding on suddenly stopped moving and began freaking out he threw his legs up in the air and knocked me off his back then went running like the wind back towards Meow town.

"Hey," I screamed pulling myself off the ground my back incredibly sore from landing on the rocks, I should be glad I didn't get a concussion.

Seth started laughing so hard he fell on the ground.

I went chasing after the donkey as he ran in circles around the charred trees. I would've lost him had he not tripped over one of the stumps. I caught a hold of his leash and began trying to calm him down. Through my heavy coughing. He was really scared like he had seen a ghost or something. I began petting his nose and telling him everything was okay.

"I wonder what spooked him?" Seth asked sniffing the air, as I got back on the donkey's saddle.

"Whoa there is something funny in the air do you smell that?"

"Seth I can't smell anything that's not three feet from my face," I joked sniffing around and smelling nothing but burnt forest.

"What does it smell like?"

"I'm not sure," Seth mumbled "I don't think I've ever smelled it before, maybe a snake?"

We continued walking through the charred forest Seth smelling the air. And the donkey which I decided to call Butch was still pretty jumpy. The sun started setting so we made camp for the night in the middle of the road to avoid sleeping on rocks. I tied Butch to a half burned tree trunk and gave him some water then me and Seth sat around a small fire fueled off of charred bark.

"I just noticed something funny?" Seth said curling next to me "If the ground is made entirely out of rocks and there's no grass then how did the fire spread across the trees?"

I looked around the forest the trees were kind of far apart and the rocks weren't burned.

"Maybe there used to be grass?" I said shrugging then I got into my sleeping bag.

"Then where did the rocks come from?" Seth asked sniffing around the grass.

"I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep too tired to care."

.  .  .

"Bailey wake up," Seth said in my ear pressing his wet nose to my cheek and shocking me awake.

"What is it?" I asked rubbing my tired eyes.

I left the campsite with Butch tied to the stump fast asleep making a funny snoring donkey sound. I followed Seth off the path and into the forest where we passed multiple burned stumps and large gray rocks. The sun was just starting to rise over the horizon. A terrible smell began filling the air and the further we went the stronger it got until it was almost unbearable. 

"Look down there," Seth told me standing over a large crater hidden behind the many rocks, I came up to the edge of the crater and peered inside.

The crater was lined with hundreds of human skeletons ripped and torn to pieces and in the middle of the skeleton kingdom sat the giant body of a dragon, it had a long thick lizard neck and no head. It was huge with red scales and giant wings. The body was decaying fast in the warm sun covered in trillions of little bugs having a thanksgiving sized feast. 

"I think I'm going to puke," I said pulling away from the sight and gagging.

I recognized the red scales and gray rocks from the photo my grandfather had of himself as a knight holding the dragon head, I couldn't believe how big it truly was like a double decker bus how on earth did my grandfather cut its head off, he must have been the bravest man alive, and the stupidest.

"Anyway, as I was a saying I think the source of the smell me and Butch were smelling isn't a decaying dragon I think it's a living one."

"Can you smell it now?"

"No, the body stinks too much, I couldn't smell a fish drying in the sun two feet from my nose," Seth complained, maybe I was confused but was Seth looking at the dragon like he wanted to eat it?

We packed up our campsite and I untied Butch then we went down the path as fast as a boy on a donkey and a dog could go.

.  .  .

The rocks soon turned to grass, and we came up on a sign that read 'the village of Luminari'. The village was huge like the New York city of this land. There were hundreds of thousands of houses and all the streets were made of fancy cobblestones with tall silver-colored streetlamps lining bustling streets. We sold Butch to a guy renting horses and asked him where we could find the queen's castle and he pointed us to the right. We followed his directions past parks and little shops, people selling things in the streets and children running wild and free. The village was made up of regular people, elves, witches, trolls, elves, ghosts, and other beings I hadn't met yet like angels the size of humans with feathery dove wings and goblins two feet tall with green skin and long pointy noses.

"I think I found the castle," Seth said, we were in the middle of the square and there was no castle in sight only small townhouses and a small cart with a cat person selling hotdogs, was it common knowledge that they were made from dogs?

"Where I don't see anything," I complained.

"Look up!" Seth said pointing his nose to the sky.

I craned my neck and saw a giant floating speck in the distance.

"Are you sure that's the castle?" I asked adjusting my glasses.

"Yep!" Seth nodded then we continued heading towards it.

We walked through the entire city then came upon a giant lake surrounded by green grass filled with beautiful white swans. A large gray castle was floating two hundred feet above the lake a giant crystal blue waterfall poured from the castle and fell through the air landing in the lake like a massive faucet on a bathtub.

"How do we get up there," I asked straining my eyes to see it better, shading them from the bright sun, it was so high up it looked like the sun was touching it.

"I have no idea it was designed for ghosts," Seth said shrugging.

"I know how you can get up?" A little red-haired boy around seven years old said from behind us, he had been sitting on the shore of the lake collecting a bag full of rocks.

"How?" Seth asked and the boy smiled.

"You're in luck usually the castle stays up in the sky but tomorrow it's going to come down and a bridge is going to connect to the shore."

"Really?" I asked I couldn't believe my luck.

"Yep, so all you have to do is a find a way to sneak inside."

"Why is the castle coming down?" Seth asked curiously.

"The prince is getting married, and every member of the high society is invited to join the wedding," he explained excitedly.

"That's nice who's the princess is she a ghost too?" I asked I always enjoyed weddings the large cakes, fun dancing and music made weddings fun.

"Apparently the queen kidnapped some girl from the human world and the prince fell in love with her."