"Okay, dude!" Wendy called over her shoulder. "Hang on!" She sprinted, flapping her wings, trying to get airborne.

It jostled Jane so much she forgot to scream. Not so with Shelly. She hollered in delight into Jane's ear.

Just as the frightened yell began to bubble up in Jane, Wendy took a great leap, launching herself from the ground. Jane's stomach sank as Wendy pulled them ever upward, but her teeth stopped chattering as the vibration and bumping ended.

Their ascent was smooth and thrilling. Jane let out a hoot of excitement. "I'm flying!"

Her grip on the securing strap relaxed as she enjoyed the view. The wind whipped around her, but it didn't feel cold like she expected. Must be magic, she concluded, and she was a little proud of herself for the thought. Maybe I'm getting the hang of this.

"What do you think?" Shelly asked, grinning. "It's fun, right?"

"Yes! This is amazing!" Jane proclaimed. She whooped in delight as Wendy banked left, turning the head back the way they came as Shelly laughed. In the distance, Jane could see Archibald and Orson heading to meet them. Once they did, Wendy maneuvered again, taking up a position slightly behind and to Archibald's right.

They flew. And flew, and flew, then flew some more. The sun moved across the sky, scooting behind the occasional high fluffy cloud until it began to dip and turn the sky orange. When Wendy shouted to them that it was time to stop for the night, Jane was relieved; she had stopped enjoying the flight when sitting became uncomfortable. That seemed like hours ago.

"Oh, good! I'm hungry," Shelly whined. Jane felt much the same, but eating while flying would have been impossible with the wind.

When they began to descend, aiming for a small lake, Jane discovered a new fear: landing.

"Hang on!" Shelly warned.

Jane needed no encouragement to cling to the strap again. She braced her legs when Wendy dropped into the water, gliding across the surface to a stop. The swan's strong muscles paddled them toward the shore, and, once out of the lake, she shivered all over to shake the water off. Jane didn't even get wet. Magic!

They joined Archibald as Orson slid from his back.

"We need to set up camp and eat," Orson explained.

"Okay, what do I do?" Jane asked, looking around. They were on the edge of a forest of pine trees. "I can build a fire if you want."

Orson nodded. "Perfect!"

"We'll just excuse ourselves to the lake," Archibald said with a slight bow. He and Wendy headed for the water.

Jane went to the forest's edge and gathered wood for the fire with pinecones for kindling. She searched the bag for what she needed to light the fire and worked on it until there was a cheery, steady blaze.

Orson had pitched the tents for them, and soon, they were passing out food from the satchel. It wasn't hot, but it was easy.

"How long will it take us to get there?" Jane asked.

"I think three days," Orson said with a sigh. "It's a hard trip, even flying. A bit boring. I think we should have brought books to read."

Shelly perked up. "Oh! I have books. And I bet they'll change size so you can read them." She had Jane reach into the pouch and bring out several books. One was about a girl with a red cloak dealing with a big, bad wolf. Another was about a girl who fell asleep after eating a poisoned apple. Another was a story about a genie and a boy who released him. Orson chose the genie story, Jane the girl with the red cloak.

"What do you think the dragon's going to be like?" Jane asked in a quiet voice. "I'm scared."

"We'll be okay, Jane," Orson reassured her. "We're tiny in comparison to a dragon. Maybe it won't even notice us at all!"

Jane felt hopeful. "Do you think so?"

"Yes," Orson said.

"No," Shelly insisted. "Dragons have good hearing. As soon as we start shoving gold into the pouch, it'll hear."

Jane deflated. "Oh."

Shelly patted her ear. "Don't worry, Jane. These things have a way of working out. It's going to be fine."

"Okay," Jane replied, but she was still worried. "I guess we don't really have a choice."

Orson placed a hand on her shoulder. "We'll be careful. But, for right now, we should probably get some sleep. Dawn comes fast!"

Shelly and Jane slept in one of the tents while Orson took the other. It took a while for Jane to fall asleep; there were all kinds of odd noises in the night. Eventually, exhaustion overtook her, and she fell into a deep sleep.

🙚🜋🙙

Shelly stomped her foot. "Jane! Wake up!" The girl was sleeping soundly, and nothing seemed to wake her. Shelly seriously contemplated biting her ear but decided to flutter out and get Orson to wake her up.

The young girl finally came out of the tent, rubbing her eyes.

"It's about time!" Shelly teased. "Good morning, sleepyhead."

They ate breakfast, then Orson whistled for the swans who came gliding toward shore as soon as they heard the signal.

"Top of the morning to you!" Archibald said, cheerful.

"Good morning, Archibald," Shelly said with a smile.

"Yo, dude. You sleep okay?" Wendy asked Jane when she yawned.

"She tossed and turned for a while," Shelly answered before Jane could.

Jane blushed. "There were lots of noises that kept me awake."

Orson chuckled and teased her, "Yeah, that big bear I saw...:

"A bear!" Jane gasped. "Surely there wasn't—"

Shelly laughed. "Don't worry, Jane. All the bears here are special. If they want in, they'll knock and ask politely."

Jane blinked, not knowing if they were kidding or not. "So... magical bears?"

"Yes! You're getting the hang of it!" Shelly clapped in excitement. About time! She giggled as a smile brightened Jane's face.

"Will I be able to meet a bear?" her friend asked.

"It's quite possible," Orson replied. "Many of them live at the base of the mountain."

"Oh! Yes! I want to meet one!" Jane insisted. Shelly spent the next few minutes answering Jane's questions about them as they waited for Archibald and Wendy to grow.

Securely on Jane's shoulder, Shelly sat and read her book as they flew. Jane did the same. They enjoyed the sun's warmth that wasn't too hot, but over time, the day became cloudy. By the time they stopped for lunch, landing in a slow, lazy river, it was threatening to rain with great dark clouds overhead.

Shelly's stomach flip-flopped at the thought of flying through a storm. They'd be protected from the rain, sure, but the wind and lightning could still pluck Wendy from the sky. She didn't want to upset Jane, though, so she kept her fear to herself.

Orson, however, ruined it by speaking up. "I'm concerned about the storm."

Shelly rolled her eyes. Idiot. "I had thought the same thing, but since there's little we can do about it, I had decided to keep my mouth shut." She glared at him.

He had the good sense to look sheepish.

Jane narrowed her eyes. "Why are we concerned about the storm? I thought we can't fall off, and we won't get wet."

Shelly nodded. "Yes, those points are true. But, that doesn't protect us from gusts of wind that can blow Wendy off course or lightning that can strike."

"Lightning!" Jane, wide-eyed, looked from one to another. "We can get struck by lightning?"

Orson gestured. "A very small chance. Almost none."

"What?" Archibald exclaimed, waddling over. "No, my boy, I've been struck fifteen times! Thrilling!"

"What?" Jane shouted, jumping to her feet. "Fifteen?" She began to pace.

Shelly glared at Orson. "This is why I didn't say anything, Duffus. Now she's all worked up about something that probably won't happen."

Orson sighed. "Jane, Archibald means fifteen times over thirty or more years. That's like once every two years. It probably won't happen."

Archibald interjected, "It's been three years! I'm overdue." He looked at each of them with one eye in the way birds do. "Maybe today is the day!"

Shelly rolled her eyes again when a frantic Jane whirled on him.

"Probably? Overdue?" Jane was frazzled.

Shelly looked at Orson with pleading eyes. She face-palmed at the next words that came out of his mouth.

"Jane," he urged, "calm down!"

Shelly had heard the phrase 'daggers from her eyes' before, but it was rare to see such a perfect example as what she saw on Jane's face.

"Now, look here, you—" Jane spat at him.

"Stop!" Shelly shouted, wanting to nip the argument in the bud. "This doesn't help. The real question is whether or not we want to fly in the rain?"

Wendy honked to get their attention. "It looks like a thunderstorm, dudes, but it's summertime. It will probably only storm for an hour or two. Why don't we swim upriver instead? It's not as good as flying, but it's better than just sitting around. Annnnd," she added dramatically, "if you're riding, you won't get wet!"

Shelly smiled. "That's brilliant! Yes! Let's do that!"

Jane was still staring at Orson, face red and hands clenched in anger.

Orson ducked his head in apology. "I'm sorry, Jane. I didn't mean to make you mad."

"Well, you did," Jane huffed.

"I see that. I only wanted to help," he explained.

"She was frightened, Orson. Next time, just say that you understand instead of ordering her to ignore how she feels," Shelly explained.

"Okay."

"Now," Shelly changed the subject. "I vote for swimming instead of flying. What do you two think?"

"I don't want to get struck by lightning!" Jane crossed her arms. "I vote for swimming."

Orson sighed, knowing he wouldn't be able to convince them otherwise. He gave in without a fight. "Yeah. It's slower, but we would still be making progress."

"Jolly good!" Archibald pronounced. "A tide-turner it is."

"Tide-turner?" Jane asked as she moved to climb back onto Wendy.

Shelly chuckled, settling into place on Jane's shoulder. "That's his odd way of saying 'party on the water.' It's a swan thing."