I spent much of the morning sleeping. No much happened this day. I rode the horse for a while and flew with my shiny, new dragon a little. I knew I was going to die of boredom! Oh the pain of it!! Just about nightfall, we came upon something the Bigs called a jungle. There were a lot of strange noises, and I didn’t see any plants I recognized. I didn’t go too far from the Bigs. I couldn’t protect them if they strayed too far. Luckily, they amused themselves by cutting down a tree. Silly Bigs.

The next day we continued traveling. I started finding fruits everywhere. I didn’t recognize any of them, but I very good at finding food and cooking. I didn’t want to starve in this Hell… and I didn’t want my Pets to starve either. I started putting the food in the pack on the horse. I ran out of room quickly so I started filling up the bright crystal armor. The Big called Rayne wasn’t using it. He didn’t like that! He cleaned out a pack and gave it to me. I couldn’t believe it!! It wasn’t even my birthday! I thanked him and put the pack in the crystal armor. He didn’t like that either. He must like the sparkly crystal too!

Rayne hung the pack on the horse, moved the fruit I’d collected into it, and made it clear I could only use that pack but it was mine. Okay, I guess. He did just give me a lovely pack, and I really liked the pack. The things we do for our Pets.

That afternoon, we made it to a Big city called Old Phoenix. They wouldn’t let us come in… well, they wouldn’t let my shiny, new dragon come in. I like that the Bigs were afraid.

I decided to sneak in. I became invisible and went to a place the Bigs called a “market.” There were a lot of farmers there. I found someone with lots of peanuts already packaged up ready to go. I tried taking one, but the BIGS started to panic. They took the bag back and started screaming. I move on and found a Big with jerky. I took a bag and went back to our group. I became visible and got ready to start eating and maybe to cook a little.

Rayne was very interested in the jerky and asked where I got it from. I told him I got it from the Jerky Farmer. He got very mad, and I didn’t understand. He asked me again “Where?” So I pointed to the group of people and told him firmly, “The jerky farmer.” Maybe it’s not enough food for him. Rayne told me to take him back. He can’t see me when I’m invisible so I had to stay visible. It made me nervous being visible around that many Bigs… It made me very nervous.

Rayne walked up to the peanut farmer first. He was packing up, and no one was around him. Rayne pulled out a black, funny-looking wand. The peanut farmer took it and waived it. He immediately became a little happier. He even gave me bag of peanuts!! Next, we went over to the jerky farmer. Rayne gave him the black, funny-looking wand, and he became happy too. I must learn this black magic!

We went back to our camp, and I pulled out my pots and pans. I sang and cooked chocolate-covered peanuts! I was able to make four servings. It was really good, but no one wanted to try any of my food. The dragon tried to make me feel better, and he gave me a garnet as big as me. It’s my very own pretty!

I was having fun a lot of fun. So was the dragon. I found out he likes to call himself Saruman. It’s a good name for a dragon. He was skipping and dancing around. Rayne decided to play too and grabbed the stick in Saruman’s mouth. Saruman doesn’t know his own strength; he threw Rayne on the ground. He tried to make up for it and licked Rayne. That just tore Rayne’s clothing off and hurt him a bit. I used my wand of healing twice on him to help him stop bleeding. Rayne wasn’t happy. He isn’t happy much. I need to do something to try to make him happier.

Rayne wanted to wait for someone he called a techno-wizard. He promised to teach me his black magic if we went to with him. The next morning we went to the market. There were more than twice the people as there were the night before. I became invisible and hid in Rayne’s hair. Everyone kept calling him “Sir Winslow.” He didn’t like that. Nymphadora found us a little later. Everyone called her “Erin.” She didn’t seem to mind so much – but I don’t think she understood. She’s not that bright… but I still like her.

We got in line to eat breakfast. A man came up to Rayne, saying something about an evil man in town. Rayne decided to go talk with him. He pointed out the evil man. Rayne looked over, and everyone looked too. All eyes were on Rayne. A bunch of Bigs came by and started gathering the other Bigs and saying it was time for them to get to work. The area emptied of people in minutes.

The techno-wizard still hadn’t shown up yet. Someone came up to Rayne and told him the techno-wizard was waiting out of town. He’d had a run-in with the dragon. The party wasn’t coming any closer until Saruman moved. Rayne went out and talked to him. Saruman flew back to our camp, and we went back to Old Phoenix to wait.

Two boys were busy around the tent we were told to meet him. The techno-wizard came a few minutes later. He was loud and direct. I liked him right away. He stopped and pointed a big thing at me. When he pointed it at me, it screamed! I liked him a less. The wizard wanted to see me. Rayne said I should become visible so I did. The techno-wizard was pleasantly surprised. He gave me two shinies! One was clear quartz and one was blue! He told me I was pretty too! I liked him again!!

Rayne talked to the techno-wizard. I didn’t pay much attention; I was busy with my shinies. Then Rayne asked the techno-wizard about buying one of the black, funny looking wands for me. Rayne gave the techno-wizard my giant garnet so the wizard would put magic on my wand. Rayne later explained that I could exchange the magic on the wand for things Bigs owned.

When we got back to camp, Rayne said he wanted to leave the pretty, crystal armor with the wizard to find out how it worked. I told him “No.” I tried to tell him it wasn’t a good idea, but he didn’t want to listen. If he had, I would have told him I could do that for him. But he didn’t.

I sat on the crystal chest piece and concentrated really hard. When I do, I can figure out how things work. I figured out that all the pieces could work separately but are stronger when they’re put together. I tried to figure out more, but someone bumped me. I moved to the helmet since Rayne was complaining he didn’t know what it did and couldn’t get it to work. It took a while, but I figured out he needed to concentrate to make it work. If it was all connected together he could just concentrate on the chest piece and make the rest work. I also figured out if he concentrated he could see invisible. It took a lot out of me. That was about all I could do that day. When I opened my eyes, the rest of the armor was gone, and the techno-wizard was there. I tried to tell Rayne what I’d learned, but he wasn’t listening to me. The next thing I knew, all of the pretty, crystal armor was gone.

Saruman did say something that scared the techno-wizard. We decided to go back to the wizard to find out what he knew. He was a little surprised to see us. He gave me another shiny! It was a pretty yellow gem. I gave him magic from my stick, and it make him really happy. I mastered that quickly!

The techno-wizard went on to explain something about people wanting to kill Voldan, the man who made sure the dragon was born. It was boring, Big-stuff. My yellow gem sparkled different colors depending on I held it!

Rayne took me shopping. I bought some Big clothing to replace the clothing the dragon licked off Rayne. And I bought a needle and some different colored threads to decorate the clothing with.

When we got back to the camp, I preserved all the food we collected in the jungle and made wine out of the juice. I took a little of the juice and painted pretty flowers all over the back of Hunter’s armor. Today was a busy day!