Nick and Jonathon stared at the big wooden door for a full minute before they decided to open it. Nick, who was thinking of Jamie, walked over and grabbed the door handle. He pulled, and much to his relief, it opened. He could see nothing but an endless expanse of carved stone hallway, lit only by torches. Nick dropped his bag and the rolled up carpet by the door and went in, followed by Jonathon.

“How are we going to find a single map in a place this big?” Jonathon asked hopelessly.

Nick was at a loss for words. He felt hopeless, but thoughts of Jamie made him go forward.

They each took a torch and started down the hallway. Many doors and staircases led off the hall.

“Where do we begin?” Jonathon asked.

“We should split up.” Nick said. “I’ll take the right side of the hall and you can have the left.”

Jonathon agreed. Nick turned to face a door marked ‘Treasure’. He opened the door and walked in. Nicks eyes bugged out. There were mountains of gold and silver, piles of diamonds and other precious stones and stacks of cash. Nick looked around, as if afraid that this was all too good to be true. Normally, Nick wasn’t a thief, but he reasoned Wesley would never miss it and probably didn’t need it, so he took some to help rescue the girl of his dreams. Nick put wads of cash in his right pocket and gold, silver and diamonds in his other; his jeans sagged terribly, almost ready to fall down. When his pockets were full to capacity, he moved on.

The next room was full of books; rare, first editions of great literary works. Some books were even in other languages. As Nick glanced over titles on the shelves, he couldn’t shake the feeling that he was being followed. He moved into the next room, which was full of artwork. Everything from great masterpieces to Mrs. Kibble’s second grade class art projects were all piled in there. Nick searched through the piles of school art projects, looking for some of his own artwork, when he found something else. It was a painting of a girl and a boy together, swinging side by side on a large swing, hanging from a tree branch. Nick looked closer and saw it was he and Jamie swinging. In the very bottom corner of the painting, Jamie’s name was delicately written. Nick’s eyes got teary seeing the picture. It made him even more determined to find Jamie. Nick was taken out of his trance when he saw something in the corner of his eye. He turned and saw a little dragon. A dragon?! It was the size of a cat with green scales. It had a spine made of little triangles running down its back and it walked on four legs with three sharp claws at the end of each one. It had luminescent green eyes, which now looked sad, like a puppy at the pound that wanted to go home with you. The little dragon rubbed up against Nick’s legs, making an odd purring noise, smoke coming from its nose. Nick was both scared and confused. He didn’t know if they were mean, but at the same time this one was so cute and sweet. The dragon looked up into Nick’s eyes and simply by looking at him, told Nick he wanted to go with him. Nick tucked Jamie’s painting into his shirt and picked the little dragon up. It started making the odd purring noise again.

“I’m going to name you Blaze.” Nick said. Blaze curled up in Nick’s arms and fell asleep.

Meanwhile, Jonathon wasn’t having much luck. At all. He was standing in the middle of a thin rope bridge, lava below him, a big, mean dragon flying above him and two wicked little creatures at each side of the bridge. The little creatures were only two feet tall and looked like miniature people. They were pale white, their skin stretched across their bones as if it were too small. The had evil looking red eyes that had a hungry look in them. They wore little loin cloths and were armed with sharp looking spears. And they were both cackling something about dinner. Jonathon gulped. He was doomed and he knew it. And all for some girl he’d only met once five years ago!

The two little people had begun to saw through the rope bridge, making funny sounds that sounded like ‘yum’ and ‘good food’ and ‘extra crispy’. The dragon circled over head, adding to the overwhelming feeling Jonathon was feeling.

Jonathon sucked in a lot of air and bellowed with all his might, “Nick! Get your rear in here and HELP ME!”

Nick heard Jonathon’s bellow and raced to Jonathon’s aid. Nick was startled at the sight of lava and two mini people and a…a big dragon. Nick gulped. His brain was racing. What was he supposed to do? Battle a dragon? Defeat the mini humans? The little creature on Nick’s side of the room stopped sawing through the bridge and charged at Nick. Jonathon took this opportunity and raced across the bridge to the safety of land, with the other little creature closely following. The little creature heading for Nick raised its spear towards Nick’s heart and right as it was about to hit its target, Nick dropped and rolled to the side. The little creature was running to fast to stop and it crashed in the wall with a splat. The creature pursuing Jonathon stopped dead in its tracks at the sight of his fallen friend. Nick and Jonathon dashed from the room, before the creature could gain some composure. Jonathon slammed the door shut and Nick pushed a marble statue in front of the door.

“Now we’ll never find the map!” Nick moaned. “That was the last unexplored room.” He whined.

“Not quite.” Jonathon said. “That was where the maps were; on the other side of the bridge. I was only able to grab one of the maps leading to a wizard before those things showed up. I just hope this wizard is a good one.”

Nick hugged Jonathon, until Jonathon pushed him off. “Get off man! That’s sick.”

Both boys ran out of the cave hallway and out onto the mountain, where a terrible seen met their eyes.