Chapter 3

    In front of me was a world like no other. Danny called it BOES but it was nowhere near being a building. There were trees everywhere. In the distance were a couple mountains. There were so many plants, trees, flowers, lakes, ponds, and hills that it could almost be described as a fairy world. I almost thought it was a fairy world from seeing a bunch of pretty mermaids in the ponds, gigantic fire breathing dragons in the sky, naiads, centaurs, and many more mythological animals that I can’t name. There were even real animals, like elephants and cats, cheetahs, horses, dogs, birds, lions, snakes, and more. The valley was also filled with people. They weren’t afraid of any of the animals. Probably every kind of creature on earth filled the valley. In the middle of it all, was a humongous, blue castle.
“WHAT IN THE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” I screamed as I gawked at a sparkling pink unicorn passing by.
“Welcome to the BOES!” Danny said cheerfully.
“MORE LIKE A FAIRYTALE WONDERLAND!!” I practically screamed at the top of my lungs.
Mrs. Brown laughed and led us down a rock road to the palace. It would probably take us hours to get to the castle.
“The castle is so far away! It’ll take us forever to walk there!” I said sighing as I stared at pack of centaurs practicing their archery.
“No, we can ride.” Danny smiled suspiciously.
“Ride? Ride what exactly?”
“Me!” Danny said laughing. She suddenly fell onto her hands and she changed into a massive brown bear. Instead of wearing clothing her bear body was covered in shaggy brown fur. Her hands grew talons and her nose grew longer to become a bear’s snout.
I screamed. Literally, screamed so loud that every single creature around us stopped to look at me. This was WAY too much for one day. MY BEST FRIEND IS A BEAR! You would be panicking right?
“Don’t freak out Janie sheesh!” Danny said as she stared around us like she was embarrassed. How could she be embarrassed? She just shape shifted in PUBLIC!
“You can speak in……..bear…….from……” I asked.
“DUH! I’m not full bear you know! Now hop onto my back.”
“Ha, like you can carry me! Your mom would never approve, wait where is Mrs. Brown?” I suddenly became scared. I didn’t want to be in a valley with dragons if Mrs. Brown wasn’t going to be here.
“Up here darling!” She said. I looked up above me, and there to my amazement, was a small blue feathered bird with a yellow beak flying in circles.
“Uh………………Mrs. Brown………………..are you a bluebird?” I asked with edge in my voice. My best friend was an eagle.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!
“Yes, Janie calm down. I am may be a small tiny blue bird at the moment but just go! Now hop onto Danny, she is the fastest mount for you at the moment now hurry up! Your test starts in 10 minutes!”
I sighed. This was the worst day of my life. I jumped onto what I’m guessing was my best friend. I couldn’t believe she had kept this weird talent from me.
Suddenly, Danny burst down the road with me barely keeping hold of her back. The rushing winds zipped through my long hair making me unstable.
“HOW ARE YOU GOING SO FAST?!?!” I tried to yell out to Danny through the winds.
“I’m A BEAR YOU IDIOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
“THANKS!!!!!!!!!!!” I cried out sarcastically. My feelings were hurt, hurt bad. Tears rolled down my face. How dare she call me an idiot!!! She lied to me for all the years we had known each other!!!!!!!!!
Riding down the path we passed millions of different creatures and people. The people walked freely through the animals like they weren’t afraid of them. My favorite creatures were the giant silver dragons that breathed ice. What was weird was I saw one girl a bit older than me jump off a rock and immediately she was a huge brown stallion. Or how I saw an old man turn into a seal by the water. How could they do that?
Once we finally reached the gargantuan castle I immediately hopped off Danny. I didn’t want to be anywhere near her.
“Don’t leave me Janie!” Danny called after my trudging feet.
“Oh why!!??? Because you lied to me all these years and never told me you were a bear girl thing!!!”
“It’s not a bear girl I am a bear shapeshifter you weirdo!!!”
“Me a weirdo? Ha you’re the one who’s a bear!!”
“Shut up!!!”
“You!!” I stomped over to Danny and slapped her furry brown muzzle.
“Teach you right!!! Danny growled and stared at me in the eye. I didn’t care anymore. She lied.
As we were about to pounce on each other a tall man in an orange Chinese robe placed his hand between us. He was bald with squinty Chinese eyes.
“I’m Tiachi. Like the Chinese art. We were expecting you.” He said while bowing down to Danny and I. Danny immediately shifted back into a human and gave me the evil eye while following him.
While walking down a long glowing corridor Danny pinched my arm. While I mumbled in pain Danny whispered through her teeth, “Serves you right for slapping me!”
“Where are we going?” I asked trying to change the subject.
“We are going to go test you. They will explain.” Danny rolled her eyes and ran up to walk side by side with Tiachi.
The halls of the castle that we walked through were pure crystal wals. The windows that shown light through made them shimmer and gleam. The floor was pure white with a long green rug stretching all the way to a gigantic grand door at the end of the hall. Paintings of different creatures filled the room. The creatures were more than your normal zoo animals.
As we approached the door I finally noticed there was no doorknob. “How are we going to get in?” I asked impatiently.
Tiachi rolled his eyes and answered, “Don’t ask questions.” I sighed and started to turn back. But something stopped me, Danny’s hand on my shoulder.
“Wait…” She whispered with a small smile on her face. Watch. I turned around. Tiachi clapped his hands together and bowed down. Then he jumped up and moved his hands to the sides just like Mrs. Brown had. And to finish off his funny dance move a gust of fast air swirled around the room opening the door.
“WHO ARE YOU PEOPLE?!?!?!” I asked extremely frustrated.
“I’ll explain don’t ask questions!!”
Ugh. Stupid baldie.
Beyond the door it was the same before, crystal walls and ceiling along with a blue rug on the white floor. I tried to leave again but they pulled me back. Inside the room were ten different people, Four girls, four boys, a cat, and a dog. Four of the people sat in a group on the left side of the room. On the wall behind them was a grand green flag with an orange leaf. The other four people sat on the right side with a blue flag. In the center of it was a diamond. And in the middle of the room stood the cat and the dog with no flag but a painting of a lion and a wolf.
“Janie, welcome to the ten elders. They rule the BOES, and each of them are experts on a certain kind of element or animal.”
“Yea…I don’t get any of this.”
A girl of about 70 in a black dress got up. “I will explain. But first I will introduce myself. I am Matilda, the master of the walking creatures. The creatures that walk with two or four feet. I am a black stallion.”
“Haha….no you’re a lady Matilda.” I laughed.
“Actually, I’m a lady….and a black stallion. Immediately she turned and instead of an old woman there was a grand horse with a smooth black pelt. A white diamond was on her head as well. “I told you!” She said.
Great. An old lady is a horse. A talking horse.
She turned back and sat down again in her chair on the side with the leaf flag.
“so….you said you would explain this to me?” I said while tapping my foot.
“Oh haha yes I did!!” She smiled. “Since the beginning of time, people have learned how to live. WE used to communicate with animals and we saw them as equals. We all spoke English, we all lived together, and the world was great. But many humans began to see the animals as creatures, not equals. Over time the animals were just creatures we used for labor, and wee used them as slaves. But some people believed that animals were still equals and they helped the animals. But when the people declared a war against the animals, the people who followed the creatures didn’t know which side to join. So a man named Nephi asked the first wolf, a powerful creature that could control the ice and snow, to give him the power to shape shift into a wolf. Then he could act like he was on the human’s side and then fight on the animal’s side as a wolf. Many of the good people who still loved animals did the same becoming all manner of creatures creating a new race in our world, shape shifters.”
“Huh?”
“May I continue?”
“Yes….”
“Okay, so in the end the humans won and the animals lost the way to speak English and forgot that humans used to be their friends. But the animal shape shifters still did, they were half human, half animal. They ten passed on their powers to their children but soon they no longer had to teach the power. Children were born with it. We created the BOES for those animal shape shifters. So they could learn their powers. But you see, some animals were elemental, like a dragon for example. It was a giant lizard that controlled fire. A wolf was as well. It could control ice, the most powerful element. It has properties unlike any other. Then there became people who couldn’t shape shift, but could only control an element. That’s why there are three groups in this room.”
“Huh?”
“This flag-“ Matilda pointed at the leaf flag, “represents the people who can only shape shift. The diamond flag stands for the people who can only control an element. And the painting is for the people who can control an element AND can shape shift. Like your friend here, Danny.”
I looked at Danny. She smiled.
“Danny can shape shift into a bear. And she can control plants. Her mother can become a blue bird AND she can control air. And now we will test you to see who you are.”

I couldn’t believe this.