Secret of Pearl Egg

By Kasey Lee
 Table of Content

Chapter 1 Grayloon --------------------------- 1

Chapter 2 Arrival ------------------------------ 4

Chapter 3 Dranimals ------------------------- 14

Chapter 4 Escape ---------------------------- 29

Chapter 5 Arg Fell to the Trap ------------- 42

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 Chapter 1
Grayloon

It’s summer again. Emily was really excited

because she was invited to Grayloon by her cousin
Kasia. Emily had never been there before. She heard
her parents talking about the place all the time. They
used to live there. Until now Emily still remembered
many beautiful stories her mother told her.

In her mom’s stories, Grayloon was a place that

had a lot of mountains and caves, trees and plants.
The mountains were tall, skinny, and pointy like the
tips of human fingers. Deep into the mountain there
were many caves. Inside the caves, it was as dark as
the night sky when there’s no moon. There were

3
rocks in different shapes. Some looked like animals,
some looked like vegetables. One looked like a magic
mirror. The legend had it that the mirror could scare
monsters away. A river flowed around the mountains.
Green grass filled the riverbank. The river was as
clear as crystal. Standing by the river tiny blue and
brown fish could be seen swimming gracefully in the
water. There was a big tree on the riverbank. The
villagers called it grandfather tree. It took ten people
extending their arms to surround the tree. Near the
grandfather tree there was a village. They used wood
to build the houses and leaves to make the roof tiles.
Some of the trees in the village could grow candy!
The villagers collected the candies and sold them in
the grandfather tree festival.

Standing in the riverbank something glowing

could be seen on the top of the tallest mountain.
That’s the Pearl Egg. It kept the villagers safe.

4
Grandfather Tree

5
 Chapter 2
Arrival

Emily said goodbye to her parents at the horse

wagon station. Emily waved to her parents, “Bye
mom, bye dad!” “Bye Emily, take care!” Emily’s
mom and dad waved back. The wagon took off and
headed for Grayloon. When Emily’s wagon stopped
near the riverbank, she got off and Kasia greeted her
with a broad smile on her face. “Hi Emily, nice to see
you. I was looking forward to today.” Emily hugged
Kasia tightly, “I missed you! Thanks for inviting me
over.” Kasia took Emily’s luggage and led her
towards the river, “This way, we’ll take the bamboo
boat to the village.” “Bamboo boat!” Emily
exclaimed. “That’s cool. Can I row the boat?”

6
“Sure.” Kasia handed her the pole. They rowed the
boat together and it took off down the river.

When they got to Kasia’s house, they saw

Kasia’s parents Iza and Ticka who smiled at them.
“Hi, Uncle Ticka and Auntie Iza.” Emily said. “Nice
to see you.” Iza, Kasia’s mom extended her arms and
hugged Emily. Emily noticed Ticka’s serious look in
his eyes, “What’s the matter Uncle Ticka?”
“Nothing.” Ticka shook his head, “It’s just that
Tompy’s chickens were killed last night and I’ve been
thinking who did it.” “Oh, whoever did it must be
really bad.” Emily said.

“SUPPER TIME!” Iza entered the dining room

holding two hot dishes. Emily sniffed the air.
“Smells good, I can’t wait to eat. I’m starving.” They
all sat down at the dinning table and picked up their
forks. Emily looked at something black and gooey.
“What’s that?” “They are snails.” Kasia replied.
“Tastes good, try it.” Emily took one, closed her eyes
and put one in her mouth. “Yummy! I have never

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tasted anything so delicious.” After dinner, the girls
got to watch a movie before they were sent to bed.

The next day Emily was awoken by a noise

outside the window. She opened the curtains to see
what the matter was. A person was screaming, “My
brother has changed into stone!!!” A group of people
surrounded the person. “What do you mean your
brother has changed into stone?” inquired somebody.
The person began to tell the story.

“One night my brother disappeared. I was very

worried. Nobody knew where he was. The next day
I went to the mountain to search for my brother.
Half way to the hill, I saw my brother standing there.
I was excited. I called him loudly. But he did not
move. So I ran over to pat him on the shoulder. ‘Hey,
brother. Where have you been?’ I talked to him. He
still did not move. I put my hand on his face. It felt
like a rock. My brother had become a stone!”
Nobody believed him. “It can’t be true,” somebody

8
said. “Follow me. I will show you.” That villager
replied.

Kasia whispered to Emily, “The man shouting

outside is Tompy. He and his brother live in a house
on the foot of the mountain.” Emily nudged Kasia.
“Let’s follow them.” Kasia protested, “No, mom will
never let us go,” “Well, just say we’re going to get
ice cream,” whispered Emily. After a few moments
they were ready to go. Kasia shouted over her
shoulder, “Mom, we’re going to the market!” “Okay,
come back soon.”

They ran out of the house and followed the

crowd. After a few turns in the mountain path the
crowd began to slow down. Things started to change.
The place was all black like a wildfire just burned
through the whole forest. The trees didn’t have a
single leave. Then they saw it, a stone statue. Kasia
opened her mouth but no words came out. She had
never seen such a terrible sight. Kasia became
transfix as if she became a stone herself. Emily

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patted Kasia on the shoulder and got no response.
Emily waved her hand in front of Kasia’s eyes.
“Anybody home?” Kasia woke up suddenly “What?”
“Are you scared?” asked Emily. “Yes, look at those
terrible stone eyes. They really chilled me out,”
admitted Kasia. “Hey, there’s something on the top
of his head,” someone shouted. Tompy reached out
and grabbed the piece of paper. He looked at the
piece of paper, “Hey, it’s a note!” he shouted. I’ll
read it out loud. The note says ‘If you don’t show me
the path to the Pearl Egg, I’ll turn you all into stone
statues just like him. ---- Arg, your lord’.” Everybody
started talking all at once.

“Who does he think he is?”

“Shhh. Don’t let his henchmen hear you.”

“Arg has spies everywhere.”

“Hey, he wants the gem, why don’t we give it

to him.”

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 “He wants to rule us! With the Pearl Egg he
will have unstoppable power.”

11
12
 In the middle of all he fusses, Emily still could
speak calmly, “Who is Arg?” “He is the evilest
creature on the planet,” Kasia responded. “He knows
magic. My parents are very scared of him. They just

13
don’t tell me those horrible stories. You don’t know
how much we’ve been through with Arg. Our great
harvest of candies was stolen by Arg. I spent a lot of
work on helping mom grow the candies. Let’s go
home before mom found out we came to see the
stone man.” Kasia kept a strait face. But Emily
could see the hatred boiling in her eyes. Emily said
reluctantly, “Okay, but I want to learn more about this
evil Arg.”

At dinnertime, Iza prepared tomatoes and fruit

salad. To welcome Emily’s visit, Ticka caught fish
and roasted them. Iza put grandfather tree candies all
around it. “That looks yummy,” Emily said pointing
to the candy, “but what was it?” “It’s grandfather tree
candy,” Iza replied. “We collected them last year.”
“Oh, that was the candy Kasia was talking about.”
Kasia gave her a warning glance, but Emily didn’t
notice. She started eating. Emily took a big bite. “I
wonder who Arg is,” She said suddenly. Hearing the
name both Iza and Ticka looked up with worry eyes.

14
“You kids shouldn’t know this kind of thing,” Iza
said. “Please,” Emily pleaded. Iza and Ticka
glanced at each other. Finally Ticka broke the
silence, “I will tell you who Arg is if you kids
promise to stay away from that evil Arg.” Both
Emily and Kasia said yes eagerly.

After dinner, the girls helped clean up the table.

Iza brought up some tea. Then they sat around the
table. Ticka took a sip of his tea and began the story.

“Arg was a villager of Grayloon. One day he

disappeared. Someone saw him taking a boat and
went down stream. He did not return until ten years
later. After he came back strange things happened.
Animals in Tompy’s farm disappeared one by one
everyday. Somebody saw a lot of chicken feather and
chicken bones scattered around Arg’s house. One
day in the market somebody accidentally bumped
into Arg, that night his house was on fire. The
villagers suspected that Arg was the person behind all
these. A few villagers went to confront Arg. After

15
listening to the villagers’ questions, Arg laughed, “Ha
ha ha ha… what do you think?” The villagers did not
know what to say. Arg went on, “If all these are true,
you know I have super power. Do you guys want to
join me? I will rule Grayloon.” Everybody said no.
Mopo wanted to hit Arg, but before he could reach
him Arg raised his hand and pointed at Mopo. Arg
mumbled, “Peepee poopoo gola gola.” A light
flashed from his finger and Mopo was turned to
stone. The villagers were stunned. Everybody went
away except Slim and Scrutyia, the twins. They beg
to be Arg’s servants. From then on, they robbed the
villagers as they wished and people were afraid of
them. However the villagers were still protected by
the Pearl Egg’s force. As long as the villagers stayed
in the mountain close to the Pearl Egg, Arg could not
reach them. Now Arg wanted to get the Pearl Egg so
that he could rule Grayloon. Now you know how
evil he is. Stay away from him.”

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17
 Chapter 3
Dranimals

The next day, Kasia and Emily were playing in

Kasia’s room. They opened a box. Inside, there was a
beautiful, glistening red gem that had a little flame
glowing inside it. “Wow, it’s so beautiful. Where did
you get it?” Emily asked. “I got it in Mt.Gemileen.
One time I went into the mountain with my dad. We
found this red gem in a cave. Do you want to go to
the cave? Maybe we can find more gems.” “Sure!”
said Emily. “Let’s go.” They scooted out the door.
Kasia yelled, “Mom, we are going to Mt. Gemileen.”
Iza was cooking and there was smoke all around the

18
kitchen. “Watch out for trouble, and come back
soon.”

Kasia and Emily went up the path to the

mountain. After a while, the path became narrow and
steep. Along the path, there were tall trees and
bushes. Water stream flowed down the mountain.
Sometimes they had to climb up rocks to cross the
streams. Emily was exhausted. “Have we got there
yet?” “We are almost there,” panted Kasia. “Look up
the hill. Can you see that big tree? The cave is
behind it.” They kept up the pace and finally reached
the big tree. Emily looked around, “Where is the
cave? I only see bushes and vines.” Kasia started
walking towards the vines. “Follow me.” She got out
her pocketknife and cut two bamboo sticks. She
handed one to Emily. Kasia used the bamboo stick to
push the vine aside. Emily followed suit. Then they
went into a dark cave. Emily yelled, “Kasia, where
are you. I cannot see anything.” Kasia answered
calmly, “Just wait for your eyes to adjust.” After a

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few second, Emily saw Kasia under the dim light
from cave entrance. Emily looked around. She
moved farther into the cave. It was even darker here.
Suddenly Emily saw a spark. “What’s that?” Emily
asked. “What was what?” Kasia asked, puzzled.
Emily pointed to the corner, “Over there.” Kasia was
puzzled, “There is nothing there.” Emily watched for
a few seconds. “Well, I thought it was something
there. Maybe my eyes were playing tricks on me.
Let’s go.” They walked further into the cave. “Look.
What is that spark?” This time it was Kasia asking.
Emily saw that too. “Yes. That is the same thing I
saw.” The spark disappeared once more. “Let’s hide
over there and see if something is coming out,” Kasia
suggested. “Good idea,” Emily agreed. They hid
behind a big rock and watched. A few minutes later,
they saw a spark. Then three more sparks appeared.
The sparks began to bounce each other and jumped
around. They gave out squishy noises like gee gee
goo goo. Boom! A cloud of smoke came out. After

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the smoke cleared, four little creatures appeared.
They flew around. Kasia and Emily were stunned.
For a while they did not know what to do. All the
sudden, a flame burst out from one of the creatures.
It almost burned Emily. She squished over to Kasia’s
side. Kasia lost balance and fell on the ground with a
small bump. The creatures hovered for a while,
suspicious. Then they disappeared on the sound of
bump. Kasia and Emily came out from their hiding
place. “Where did they go?” asked Kasia. Emily
answered frowning. “I don’t know. Who are these
things? Did you see them before?” Kasia shook her
head. “I have no idea. Never heard of them before.”
Emily said hopefully, “Do you think we can get them
out again?” Kasia sighed. “I wish. But I don’t know
how. Maybe we can ask my dad. He might know
some stories.” Emily said enthusiastically, “Let’s go
home and ask him now.” They forgot all about the
gems and ran down the mountain.

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 Once Kasia and Emily reached the door of the
house, Kasia yelled “Dad, where are you?” Iza came
out from the kitchen. “Dad is not home yet. You
girls found any gems in the cave?” “Oh, we totally
forgot about the gems.” Kasia exclaimed. Iza
puzzled, “How can you forget? Isn’t it the reason
you went to the cave?” Kasia answered, “Yes. But
we saw some strange creatures. One of them can
blow out flames. We almost got burned. We were so
excited that we forgot about the gems. Mom, do you
know what those things are?” Iza was really worried,
“What are you talking about? Nobody can blow
flames except Arg. Did you run into Arg? Oh my
god.”

“I told you girls to stay away from Arg. What

did you do?” Ticka said, entering the house. Kasia
turned around surprised, “Oh dad, we went to the
cave to find gems and we saw some strange
creatures. They made sparks. They flew. One of
them can blow fire. That one almost got us burnt.

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Have you heard anything about them before?” Ticka
thought for a minute, “Hmm, my grandma told me
legends about Dranimals. According to the legend,
Dranimals live in the caves. They can fly. They can
blow fire and water. They can turn water into ice.
But nobody actually saw them. Maybe you girls just
discovered the Dranimals.” Emily said, “Wow. Are
they good creatures?” Ticka explained, “According
to the legends, the Dranimals protected Grayloon
from evils. Maybe we can ask them to help us fight
the evil Arg.” Kasia said excitedly, “Emily and I will
go find them.” Iza said, “You girls must be careful. I
will pack some snacks for your trip.”

The next morning Kasia and Emily left the

house in the morning. It was not a typical morning.
The street was quieter than usual. There was nobody
in the path to the mountain. The only sounds were
birds from the forest and the girls’ footsteps on the
mountain path. “Do you think we can see them today
in the cave?” Kasia asked. “I hope so. We should do

23
the exact same thing we did yesterday. If we are
lucky, we’ll probably see them.” Emily answered.

Emily and Kasia reached the hilltop. They

entered the cave cautiously. The cave was dark.
Emily and Kasia walked around and could not see
any sparkling. Kasia said disappointedly, “The
Dranimals are gone.” “Let’s go deeper into the
cave,” suggested Emily. They walked slowly into the
deeper part of the cave. Emily crashed into a wall,
“Ouch! It’s a dead end.” They touched the wall
trying to find a path. Kasia said, “Come over here.
There is a crack in the wall. Do you think there is a
path over the crack?” Emily said excitedly, “Let me
see.” They knelt down and pressed their face against
the crack trying to see through. “Look, sparkling!”
Emily whispered excitedly. She tried to squeeze
through but Kasia grabbed her by the shirt. “You’ll
scare them away.” she warned Emily. “What should
we do?” asked Emily. “Maybe we can give them
something they like.” suggested Kasia. She fished

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through her pockets and found several grandfather
tree candies left over from breakfast. Kasia threw
one candy over the crack. They landed in a few steps
away from the crack. All the sudden, the sparkling
disappeared. Emily whispered, “Oh jeez, you scared
them away.” Kasia put her finger on her lip,
“Shhh…” Suddenly the candy floated in mid air and
it disappeared. “What happened?” Emily asked.
“Let’s go over to take a look.” She squeezed one leg
into the crack and managed to pull herself through.
Kasia asked nervously “What do you see?” Emily
said, “Wow, there is a big room here. Come over.”
Kasia followed Emily through the crack. When her
sneakers touched the other end she saw a great stone
hall opened right in front of her.

Kasia got out more candies and put them on her

palm and extended her arm. “Come Dranimals,
there’s more candy.” she called. Something brushed
on her hand and a grandfather tree candy
disappeared. Suddenly, four creatures appeared.

25
They were the size of a reindeer. They stood on their
hind legs, studying if the girls were going to harm
them. Emily extended her arm and tried to pet the
white one. All the Dranimals flapped their wings and
flew around the room. Kasia hurried out more
candies. She called out, “We like to be your friends.
Here are more candies. Please come down.” She put
the candies on the ground. One of the Dranimals,
which was blue with white stripes, flew near the
candies. It approached the candies cautiously. She
snapped the candies with her front hands and gobbled
them up. The others watched and followed suit. The
blue and white one approached Kasia and nudged
Kasia’s hands with its head. Kasia patted its head
gently. The creature gave out a whistle. The other
three approached Emily and touched her with their
heads. The dranimal, which was red with yellow
stripes, flapped her wings and jumped onto Emily’s
shoulders. Emily almost toppled. Suddenly she felt
she was lifted into the air. She looked up and saw the

26
red dranimal was flying and gripping to her
shoulders. She was flying with the dranimal. Kasia
yelled, “Put my friend down!” The blue one knelt
down and motioned Kasia to climb on her back.
Kasia hesitated, but eventually she climbed onto the
Dranimals back. The dranimal lifted off the ground
into the air. Kasia felt so wonderful that she
screamed with joy.

After a while, the Dranimals stopped and put

the girls down with great care. Kasia patted the blue
and white dranimal on the head and said, “My dad
said that you have great super powers. Can you show
us what super powers you have?” The Dranimals
led the girls out of the cave.

Walking out from the cave they saw trees were

filling out the valley below them. A big green lake
lied in the far distance. The blue and white dranimal
faced the lake and opened its mouth. All of a
sudden, water flew up from the lake into the
dranimal’s mouth. Emily exclaimed, “Look! The

27
water in the lake is almost gone.” Kasia looked at the
dranimal stunned, “Where is the water? Are they all
in your belly?” The blue and white dranimal nodded
its head and opened its mouth again. This time the
water shot out from the dranimal’s mouth and
sprouted down into the lake like a rainbow bridge.
The white dranimal blew cold air to the water
rainbow. The water turned into ice immediately. The
red dranimal stepped on the ice bridge and slid down.
Kasia and Emily saw the red dranimal sliding down
like a fireball and landed on surface of the lake.
“Wow, that’s cool,” exclaimed Emily. The blue and
white dranimal motioned the girls to step up to the
bridge. Emily stepped onto the bridge, uncertain of
what would happen. Suddenly she felt like she was
flying down. She screamed and shut her eyes tightly
closed. The wind blew heavily onto her face. She
kept on saying, “I won’t die, I won’t die, I won’t…”
Thump. She landed on the lake with a “thump”. She
heard another bump and saw Kasia beside her. They

28
tried to stand up but slid down again. That’s when
they noticed they were sitting on ice. The red
dranimal slid over to the girls and invited them to
climb on its back. After the girls settled on the
dranimal’s back, it took off. A minute later, the
dranimal put the girls on the shore. The girls looked
up and saw the ice bridge still in the air. Kasia asked,
“How do you get the water back into the lake?” The
red dranimal raised it head and blew fire towards the
ice bridge. The ice melted in the air and rained
down heavily. A strong wind from the cave in the
mountaintop blew the rain down to the lake. The
rumbling rain lasted for a few minutes. After the
heavy rain stopped, the lake was filled with water
again. It was calm and peaceful, like nothing had
happened before.

Kasia turned around and asked the Dranimals,

“How do we bring you home? You are so big.” The
Dranimals flew back into the cave with Kasia and
Emily running after them. Once in the cave, the

29
Dranimals shrunk back into the size of an ant and
jumped back into their gems, which Emily and Kasia
picked up and placed into their pockets.

“Great, now we can bring them back home!” Kasia

said.

30
 Chapter 4
Escape

Kasia and Emily brought the Dranimals

home. They were eager to show mom and dad
their new friends. Running down the hill to the
house, Kasia yelled “Mom, Dad, I want to show
you something cool.” Iza came out immediately.
“What’s the matter, honey?” Emily handed her
aunt Iza a gem, “Look at what we found.” Iza
picked up the gem and studied it. The gem was as
big as an egg and as blue as the sky. She held it to
the sun and peered inside. She saw a small
creature inside the gem. “What is that?” she
questioned. “We named it Wateria,” Kasia replied
proudly. Iza puzzled, “Wateria? What is that?”

31
Emily answered, “It is our new dranimal friend.
Look at these gems too. The red one is Fira. The
diamond one is Windia. The pearl one is Icia.”
Iza studied the gems one by one carefully. “Where
did you find them?” Kasia answered, “The cave
at Mt. Gemileen. Wateria can shoot water. Fira
can blow flames. Windia can make tornados. And
last but not least, Icia can freeze anything.”
“That’s nice, but can you show me the Dranimals
in their actual size?” Iza asked, “That’s what we
were thinking,” Kasia replied. Emily and Kasia
whispered something into the gem but the
Dranimals refused to come out. Kasia and Emily
were puzzled. They thought for a moment. Kasia
asked Iza, “Mom, do you still have any chocolate
left over from last Halloween?” “Sure honey.
There may be some in the kitchen. But why?” Iza
asked. Before Iza knew it, the girls blew into the
kitchen like a tornado and swept up all the

32
candies. They brought all the candies out and
placed them in front of the gems, but the
Dranimals still refused to come out. The girls
were again puzzled. A light bulb went off in
Emily’s head, “I know! We have to give them
Grandfather Tree candies!” Immediately, two
tornados formed and this time the tornadoes were
heading for Kasia’s room. Once the girls got
the candy, they ran back and dropped it in front of
the gems. Iza’s mouth dropped open. “Wow.” She
stared at the Dranimals stunned, and said “We
have to show your dad when he comes home.”

After dinner, Ticka watched all the tricks the

Dranimals showed him. Everybody could tell he
was impressed. Kasia shook her dad’s arm,
“Daddy, do you think these Dranimals can help us
fight Arg?” “Maybe.” Her dad answered, “But
you girls must not go alone.” Iza rose up from her
chair, “Girls, it is time for bed.” Kasia asked,

33
“Can the Dranimals sleep with us?” Iza
answered, “Of course, honey.” The girls took the
crystal eggs with them to their room. Soon after
they closed the door, the kids fought over which
dranimal to sleep with. Emily settled down with
Fira and Icia. Wateria and Windia slept in Kasia's
bed.

Downstairs Iza and Ticka sipped tea and

chatted in the living room. After the noise from
the kids room died down, Iza asked, “Are you
sure we should let the Dranimals stay?” Ticka
replied, “I can see from their eyes that they are
harmless to the girls. In fact, I think they can
protect the girls when they are in danger.”

The next morning was a boiling July day.

Kasia and Emily got up early. They were eager to
play with the Dranimals. At the breakfast table,
Iza asked, “Where were your girls going today?”

34
Kasia answered, “We want to play in the river, can
we?” Iza said “Of course. I will get you some
bamboo rice for lunch. Do you like that?” The
girls answered together, “My favorite!” “Some
grandfather candies too, please.” Added Kasia.
“Sure honey,” Iza replied.

The girls headed to the riverbank. After

thirty minutes walk in the steaming hot weather
they finally reached the riverbank. They carefully
placed the gems in their hats they were wearing
and put the hats on the sandy beach. Emily
yelled, “GET INTO THE WATER!!” Splash! Both
girls jumped into the river. “I can finally get into
the water! Kasia said. They were racing and
chasing and mostly just floating and relaxing on
the surface of the river. Suddenly, Kasia saw two
men wearing dark clothes sneaking to the place
where they hid the eggs. “Someone’s trying to
steal our eggs,” Kasia called while she swam over

35
to the beach. By the time they reached the beach
one of the creepy dudes already stole one of the
gems. Emily yelled, “Stop right there that’s ours.”
One of the men glared at them with sharp brown
eyes. “Yours? Nothing is yours. All the good
stuff belongs to our lord.” He said in a nasty
voice. Kasia backed away. “Whoa, do you mean
Arg?” “Yes.” The man holding the gem said. He
added, “So hand over the gems.” “Never!” Emily
yelled angrily. “Never? You’ll see about that.”
One of them said. He turned around and started to
leave taking one of the gems with him. Suddenly,
the gem the dudes were holding started to shake
and Windia flew out. The bad guys looked at
each other and said, “Wow!” They desperately
tried to push the big dranimal back into the tiny
gem. This got Windia angry. It puffed up a bit
and the bad guys bounced off. One of them said,
“This creature is more powerful than we thought.

36
Let’s go get the boss and let him take care of these
things.” Kasia waved her hands. “Okay. Windia
give them a boost to help them run!” The guys
were puzzled and Kasia didn’t think anything
would happen at all. She meant it to be a joke.
But to the two men’s and her surprise, Windia
blew them all the way up the hill with a stream of
hot air and they landed hard on their butts in front
of Arg.

37
 Emily picked up all the gems and whispered,
“We have to go. Arg may be coming.” The kids
packed up their umbrella and put their gems in
their sacks. Suddenly, twenty creepy people
rolled out of the woods and surrounded them. Arg
stepped out from the middle of the group. “I heard
you didn’t give my men your gems. Now give the
gems to me.” “Nooooo!” The girls screamed. Arg
got angry. “No one dares to say no to me. Do
you want to be turn into stone?” Arg pointed his
finger at them. All of a sudden, a strong wind
blew out. It lifted up the sand on the beach. The
sky darkened and nobody could see a thing. After
ten minutes, the sky cleared and the girls
disappeared. “Where’d they go?” asked Arg.
“We don’t know Sir,” the followers replied.
“Don’t stand there gaping at me! Take action you
dung buckets!” Arg said angrily.

38
 When the kids reached home they patted the
Dranimals. “You did a great job Windia,” Kasia
remarked. When they got into the house Iza came
over and said, “Was it fun, sweethearts?” Kasia
answered right away, “Mom, we met Arg.” “He
was really mean,” Emily added. Iza clutched her
heart, “We must call dad right now.” Ticka heard
the call and came back immediately, “You girls
were lucky that you escaped from Arg.” “All the
thanks go to Windia,” Emily replied.

That night they ate in silent thinking about

the episode and went to bed earlier.

Back in the cave, Arg was furious. “Arhhh!

Those scrawny little kids will pay for being so
disrespectful!” Arg growled. “Snatcha!” He
called. “Here I am, master.” A man dressed all in
black ran in front of him and knelt down.

39
 “Prepare for departure,” Arg commanded, “I
will turn the whole village into stone.”

“But…”

“Do not question my command.”

The next morning, the whole Haspa family

and Emily woke up to a startling noise outside.
All of Arg’s men and Arg himself was standing
twelve yards away right on the horizon. All of the
villagers rushed out with worried faces.
“Beware,” Arg boomed, “I shall turn the whole
village into stone.” Everyone froze. They saw the
Arg raised up his hand and pointed at them.
Suddenly, they saw a beam of gray light coming
right towards the village. All the villagers started
to talk. The beam almost touched the village.
Everyone shut their eyes and prepared to be
turned into stone. After ten seconds, they opened
their eyes again. There was a force field around

40
them which covered the whole village. Icia made
it. Kasia turned to Icia, “I never knew you could
make ice shields. Icia nodded. Everyone was
greatly relieved. “Uh-oh,” Emily muttered, “here
comes trouble.” She pointed to the ice field. It
was turning into stone. Soon, the whole force
field became a huge upside down stone bowl.
Everyone stared upwards at the bowl they knew
that could not be removed. They also knew what
was coming next. They could be suffocated if they
did not manage to get out of the stone bowl. A
little mouse scurried underneath them and they
quickly looked down. “I know!” A man from the
village exclaimed. “What?” Everyone stared at
him. “We can get all our shovels and tools to…”

“To do what?” a short grandma asked, “To

camp outside?”

41
 “No, to dig a tunnel under ground and get
out of here.”

“Then how do we remove this huge stone

bowl?” someone asked in the crowd. The man
who had the brilliant idea was stumped. “We’ll
have to go get some diamonds and saw this thing
open.” Ticka interrupted, “But before we do that,
we have to get out of here so start moving.” All
raced back home to get their tools. They also
brought some flashlights because it was dark
under the big bowl. They started digging right
away.

They finished the tunnel by noon. Most of

them were covered with dirt and sweat. But they
were happy that they finally finished. They crept
up a mountain and started finding diamonds right
away. After they gathered enough, they went
back and had a jewelry storeowner shape them

42
into saws for them. All the men, holding their
new diamond saws, went out and started working.

They finally finished right when the sun was

setting. Arg saw the stone bowl crash to the
ground and stopped laughing. “What happened?”
he asked. “I think they broke the stone shield,
master.” One of his men said. Arg thought for a
second and told his men to pack up and went back
into the cave where they came from. He was
going to plan for an evil attack.

That night, while they were having dinner,

Kasia asked, “Daddy I think we can use our
Dranimals to fight Arg.” “That’s a good idea
Kasia. But how are we going to do that?” “I
don’t know. But, Emily and I will figure out a
plan.” Kasia and Emily rushed upstairs. Iza and
Ticka sat down in the living room, trying to think
of a plan. When the girls came back Kasia said,

43
“We finally figured out a plan.” Kasia whispered
something into her dad’s ear and her dad nodded
with approval.

44
 Chapter 5
Arg Fell to the Trap

The next morning was a sunny day perfect

for outdoor picnic. However nobody cared about
doing that because they were busy preparing for
the battle with Arg. At first, Ticka called the other
villagers to help him build a very strong iron cage
that had all sorts of traps in it. Then Ticka
remembered something Kasia said. He told the
other villagers the thing he remembered.
“Everybody, we have to get a rounded jade to
pretend to be the Pearl Egg. They hid the iron
cage in the bottom of the lake. Building the cage
was so hard that it took them a whole day to
finish. After they finished Ticka told Kasia, “We

45
are ready, you can lead Arg over now.” Kasia and
Emily took off. They found one of Arg’s
followers looking for them. Emily and Kasia hid
behind a tree. When he came near, Emily walked
up to him pretending to be very scared. She
whispered, “The whole village is really scared of
Arg. We know the path to the Pearl Egg. If Arg
promises not to hurt the villagers anymore we will
lead him to the gem. We will be here tomorrow at
dawn.” Then the girls took off. The follower ran
back to Arg’s nasty cave and told Arg the news
“Master, I found the girls but I didn’t catch them
because…” Arg slapped him before he could
finish the sentence. “You idiot. You let them slip
away again.” “No, no, no. They are afraid of
you, master. They promised to take you to the
great treasure.” “What treasure?” Arg said
impatiently. “The Pearl Egg. Master.”

46
 That night, at dinner Kasia told her dad she
met one of Arg’s followers. “Did he try to hurt
you?” Iza asked. “Nope.” Emily answered, “We
just told them we can take them to the Pearl Egg.
We ran away before he even tried to catch us.”
“Good” Iza breathed a sigh of relief. “We’re
supposed to meet them at Evergreen Forest at
dawn.” Kasia informed them. Ticka told Kasia
and Emily, “Tomorrow when you meet with Arg,
I’ll take some villagers and follow you. Don’t
worry. Everything will be fine.” That night Iza
couldn’t fall asleep. She prayed, “Please protect
my girls.”

The next morning Emily woke up early. She

shook Kasia and said, “Time to wake up.” The
girls dressed and put their gems into their pant
pockets. When they went downstairs, Iza already
had everything prepared. After the girls ate
breakfast, Iza put a good luck charm around each

47
girl’s neck. “I hope you girls will be all right.”
said Iza. “We’ll be alright, don’t worry about it
mom.” Kasia went over and gave her mom a big
hug.

The street was more quiet than usual. The

sky was filled with heavy clouds and it looked
like it was going to rain. The girls were followed
by Ticka and some of the villagers. When the
girls got to Evergreen Forest they saw nobody
there. Kasia whispered to Emily, “Looks like Arg
is not here yet.” Suddenly, a voice behind them in
the forest boomed, “Little girls, where is the Pearl
Egg?” Startled by the weird voice, the girls
jumped. They turned slowly to the voice and saw
Arg. Arg came out from the woods followed by
two of his men. Facing Arg, Emily said calmly,
“If you want the Pearl Egg, you have to promise.”
“Promise what?” “Promise not to hurt any of the
villagers anymore.” Secretly Arg thought to

48
himself, “If I have the Pearl Egg, I will be the
king. Promise or not, I rule them.” Arg said
impatiently, “I promise.” Kasia and Emily didn’t
believe one single word Arg said. But they
pretended to.

After a long walk in the mountains the party

finally reached the top of Mt.Gemileen. They
walked to the edge of the mountain. Everybody
looked down. The green Lake Samalitaly lay at
the foot of the mountain like a huge jade. Kasia
pointed down, “The entrance of the secret path to
Pearl Egg is right there in a cave at the bottom of
the lake. If you want the Pearl Egg you have to
go down into the water.” “How do you get down
there?” Arg asked. “This way,” Emily replied,
“There is a crystal slide.” Arg followed the girls
and they walked around the mountain. They all
saw the crystal slide. It was so pretty. One of
Arg's unfortunate followers tried to take a little

49
chip of the bridge. The results were getting burnt
by one of Arg’s fire blasts. Arg looked down at
the slide again. He was a bit suspicious, “You go
first he said as he pushed Emily forward. “Okay,”
Emily said, “Since you are such a scaredy-cat.”
Before Emily stepped on the crystal slide, she
blew out a loud whistle. The dranimal hiding in
the water got into position. Emily waved at
Kasia, “See you later.” and she slid down the
slide. She sort of looked liked a rainbow ball
sliding down. SPLASH! The dranimal caught
Emily when she dived into the water and pushed
her to the surface of the water. Emily’s head
popped up. She waved at Kasia and Arg. Now
that Arg knew that it was safe his eyes sparkled
with glee. “I’m going down!” he shouted as he
ran towards the bridge, “The Pearl Egg is mine!”
Arg stepped on the ice slide and, before he could
stop himself, slipped and fell down.

50
“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!” he screamed. Arg
went down the slide like a pig. SPLASH!! He
slid into water. BANG! The cage’s door closed
tightly behind him. Inside, Arg turned around and
tried to kick open the door. Suddenly, several
bamboo arrows came shooting at him from the top
of the cage. “Jeez, I must have kicked the
trigger.” Arg thought, “These arrows are a piece
of cake.” He used his finger like a knife and broke
the arrows. All the arrows were broken and fell
to the ground. Arg was very proud. “Ho! Do you
dumb people think you could lock me in with this
stupid cage?! I’ll blast it with one attack!” Right
after he finished his sentence, Arg spiraled
around. “Fire dance!” He yelled. But only a puff
of smoke came out from his palm. Arg’s eyes
grew big. He stared at his palm, “What the…?”
Then he remembered he was in the water, he also
remembered that he was out of breath. “mmph!”

51
Arg squirmed around. The villagers lifted Arg up
a little bit so he could breathe. Arg came up
gasping for air. When he’s done doing that, he
glared at Kasia and Emily who had just came out
from the water. “You cheaters!” He spat, “I
should have known that you were doing some
kind of trick! I will turn you into stone!” Arg
pointed his index finger at the girls. When the
villagers saw him doing that they quickly dropped
him into the water again. Arg’s curse hit a fish in
the water instead of the girls. The fish froze and
sank to the bottom of the lake. Inside the cage,
Arg desperately tried to get out because he could
not breathe again. “Pull me up please,” Arg
pleaded. The more he talked the more air he
wasted. “No way,” one of the villagers said, “If
we pull you up you’ll turn us into stone.” “N-no I-
I w-won’t. I-I pr-promise,” Arg managed to
squeeze out crooked words. Up on top Ticka told

52
all the villagers and the dranimals, “Be careful,
it’s likely that Arg will do that spell again.”
Ticka’s prediction was exactly right. Arg did that
spell again. Windia saw it coming. She blew
strong winds and made Arg’s cage spin like a top.
Arg tried to aim at Ticka but the curse hit a rock
instead, breaking it in pieces. The villagers
quickly dropped Arg down in the water again.
“How can we prevent him from killing us?” A
villager asked. Icia gently tapped on Kasia’s
shoulder. Kasia turned around and looked at Icia.
“I know,” She shouted, “We tell Icia to freeze Arg
up! Will you freeze him, Icia?” Icia nodded and
flew up. There was a sudden coldness. The cage
and water around it froze. “Hmm…” Kasia
wondered, “It’s so heavy. How do we pull it up,
it’s a big chunk of ice?” This time Fira tapped
Emily’s shoulder. Emily turned around, “Right,
Fira can melt the frozen water surrounding the

53
cage. Will you melt it Fira?” Fira nodded and
used her firepower like a laser and melted the ice
around the cage, careful not to melt the ice in the
cage. The villagers pulled Arg up. Fira melted the
ice around Arg’s head so he could speak. “Now
you know what it feels like to be turned into
stone!” Emily scowled. Arg returned an angry
look and said, “Do you think you can make me
change my mind about ruling Grayloon? Stupid!”
“If you don’t change your mind and free the
people you turned to stone, then we’re going to
leave you here,” Kasia said as she started to walk
away. All the villagers looked at Arg and started
to leave. “I don’t care if you freeze me all year!”
Arg screamed after them. Suddenly, someone
said, “What happens when the ice melt?” Kasia
turned around, “Right. Daddy, is Arg going to get
away?” A farmer called Thropple said, “My cows
in the farm are all huddling together, I guess they

54
are predicting cold weather.” “Great,” Ticka said,
“We can go and sleep for the night. Bye Arg.”

That night, the Haspa family and Emily

were eating dinner at the round table. “We got Arg
all frozen up in that cage,” Emily started as she
chewed on her rice filled bamboo shoot. “We’re
going to freeze him all night until he can’t take it
anymore,” Kasia continued, “Tomorrow we’re
going to pay him a visit.” After they devoured all
their food, Ticka washed the dishes. Iza read the
long mail she got from her friend and the girls
cleaned the floor. After that they went to sleep.

The next day the girls woke up early. They

went straight to the master bedroom. Kasia
knocked on the door until his dad said in a sleepy
voice, “(yawn) Come in.” Kasia opened the door
and pounced on her dad. “Get up daddy,” She
said as she shook him, “We have to see Arg.” A

55
sleepy dad came out of the blankets, followed by
a sleepy mom. “What are you girls doing?” Iza
asked, “You girls should be sleeping.” “I told
you, we have to go see Arg,” Kasia replied. Ticka
rubbed his eyes, “Oh right,” he exclaimed, “We’ll
go right after breakfast.” After going to the
bathroom, everybody waited impatiently for Iza to
cook breakfast. “Come on mom, hurry up! I want
to go see Arg!” Kasia shouted. “Yeah, the sun is
rising fast, the ice may melt.” Emily said. “Okay
girls, help me place the dishes on the table,” Iza
commanded, “Hey, Ticka, will you lend me a
hand?” “Coming right up,” Kasia replied as she
pushed her dad forward. Because Iza and Ticka
only had five minutes to cook, everybody had a
lousy breakfast. After they changed into their
everyday clothes, Emily told everyone, “I think
we should give Arg something to eat, we don’t
want him to starve to death.” “Okay,” Iza agreed,

56
“We could give him the granola tree bars that you
and Kasia don’t like.” “That’s a great idea.” Kasia
remarked. Ticka stepped into the middle, “I hate
to break your conversation but I think I should get
some villagers, just in case.” Everyone agreed.
While Ticka went to get some villagers, Kasia and
Emily grew impatient again. Fortunately, the
villagers arrived fast. They set out for the lake.

The sun was rising up, breaking the morning

fog. When they approached the lake, they saw
Windia flying towards them. Windia rubbed its
head on Emily’s shoulder. Emily embraced
Windia tightly. “Windia, I miss you. Did Arg
give you any trouble?” Emily asked. Windia
shook its head and motioned them to follow it to
the lake. They saw Arg dosing inside the ice
cube. He raised his head when he heard footsteps
coming. “Let me go!” he shouted, “Thanks to
you, I’m starving, and I have a cramp.” Kasia

57
said, “We brought you some granola tree bars.”
She put one to Arg’s mouth. Arg chewed up the
tree bars and swallowed them quickly. “Hmm, it
will be better if you bring me some chicken.”
Ticka said, “Arg, think about the people you turn
into stones. Aren’t they hungry? You hurt them
simply because they did not follow you.” Arg was
silent. “Arg, will you turn the stone villagers
back?” Emily asked. Arg did not answer. Emily
continued, “See, you are making everybody sad.
The village has become a land of sadness. Even if
you become the king of Grayloon, will you be
happy ruling a sad land?” Arg thought about it for
a moment. He realized he had no negotiating
power because he was locked up in an ice cube.
He wanted to get himself out of the trap first.
After he was out, he could then threaten everyone
with his evil power once again. Whoever was
disobedient would be turned into stone. He would

58
be in the position to rule them again. First, he had
to get out. So, he came up with an idea. He
pretended, “I promise not to rule Grayloon
anymore, will you let me go?” Ticka spoke up.
“Yes, but only if you don’t harm the villagers, or
steal their chickens. But, how can we trust you?
You always broke your promises.” “Don’t worry,”
Arg replied, “I can swear to the Pearl Egg that if I
do anything harmful, I’ll get iced up forever,”
thinking that all the villagers trusted the Pearl
Egg, though he did not think much of it himself.
“Okay,” the villagers said, “as long as you swear
to the Pearl Egg.”

Fira brew fire to the ice cube. The ices melt.

Arg got out of the cage, he laughed an evil
laughed and howled, “Do you think I would obey
you just like that? I have every right to rule you
all!” A brave villager stepped up and said, “I
don’t think you would do that because you

59
already swore to the Pearl Egg that you wouldn’t
hurt a single soul.” “Hhmppph! Why would I
believe in the Pearl Egg. Even if it is powerful, it
is not those making promise things. Now, I will
turn anyone who betrays me into stone. He will
be my example.” With a flick of his hand the air
surrounding him turned into a gray beam of light.
It touched the villager and he instantly turned into
stone. The other villagers backed off and Arg
broke into an evil grin, “See, the Pearl Egg cannot
help him! HaHa!” Right after he laughed, a
smooth silky rope of teal light flowed gracefully
towards Arg. It was help coming from the Pearl
Egg! When Arg noticed it, it was already too late.
“Aargh!” The silvery light had rapped around him
like a lasso. No matter how hard Arg struggled,
the rope held on tight. Even when Arg blasted it
with his firepower, the fire just dissolved in a puff
of smoke. For fire cannot withstand water,

60
especially water from the Pearl Egg. Arg, he
heard someone say, Arg! Then he knew what it
was, it was the spirit of the Pearl Egg speaking to
him. Arg, you are too wrapped up in your plans to
rule Grayloon that you betrayed the most
important rule in human life. Love. You only knew
about strength and revenge. You will never win
this way. Never. Arg didn’t know it, but he was
already at the top of the mountain. The huge
mountain cracked open and sucked the helpless
Arg into it. The crack closed just after the rope of
light escaped. The rope of light suddenly
dissolved into sparkling dust and rained down
upon the whole village of Grayloon, melting away
the stone curse that was put upon the unfortunate
people.

61
 The next day when the Haspa family and
Emily woke up, there was a loud cheering noise
outside. They peered out the window to see what
happened. The whole village was having a party,
welcoming back the people that used to be stone
figures. The Haspa family and Emily got dress
and raced down the street to join the noisy parade.

The parade turned into a huge outdoor party.

The villagers were dancing, laughing. Some
people even started showing off their talents. Like
Sir. Hotah showed off his famous grape juggling
trick and Mrs. Dilly showed the villagers how to
make candy cream pie. The whole village was
filled with joy. Everybody was so happy that they
did not need to be afraid of the evil Arg any more.

The summer quickly went by. Before they

knew it, it was time for Emily to go home. The
girls got up early. Iza helped Emily pack up. At

62
the breakfast table, everybody was eating silently.
Emily broke the silence, “Time goes by too fast. I
really wish I could stay longer.” “You can always
come back next summer.” Iza said, “And ask your
parents to come too.” “That’s what I was thinking
of too,” said Emily.

At the wagon station, the two girls hugged

together. Kasia handed Emily a box. “What is
it?” Emily asked. Kasia said, “Something for you.
I hope you like it.” Emily opened the box. It was
the blazing red gem she had always wanted. “I
love it. Thank you very much.”

The wagon finally came and Emily said

goodbye. Emily climbed onto the wagon and set
off clutching the red gem Kasia gave her. Kasia
waved to Emily until she disappeared over the
horizon.

63
The Author:

Kasey is a fourth grader from Francis Wyman School in

Burlington, MA. This is Kasey’s first book. Fascinated
by fantasy stories, Kasey started her writing a year ago
when she was eight. She traveled thousands of miles to
the beautiful city Guilin of China, where the scene of the
story is originated. The illustration in this book was
also created by Kasey.

64