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Grandpa and Grandht have already escaped Was she doing this for nothing?
Kendra reo at a coh dive Her her than it looked, but nothing could dissuade her Many kids were juer
She stood in line at the base of the ladder When her turn caher she seemed with each step When she arrived at the top, she felt like she was standing on a skyscraper She wanted to turn back, but all the kids in line would know she was scared Plus her parents atching
She walked forward along the diving board There was a slight breeze She wondered if the people on the ground could feel it When she approached the end of the board, she stared down at the rippling water She could see all the way to the botto to do
Realizing that the longer she hesitated, the more attention she would draw, she turned around quickly and descended the ladder, trying to avoid eye contact with the people waiting in line at the bottoh dive since In fact, she rarely took any sort of risk
Once again she was standing on the brink of soh dive, or riding a roller coaster witha note to Scott Thomas-those were all voluntary thrills
There was no real consequence to avoiding the risk In her current situation, her family would probably die if she failed to act She had to stand by her previous decision and carry out her plan, regardless of the consequences
Kendra considered the oars She had never rowed a boat and could easily picture herself floundering, especially if nasty naiads were giving her a hard tier, it ider than it needed to be, presumably for additional stability
The childish craft was not nearly as big as the rowboats, and she would be close to the water, but at least Kendra thought she could , she untied the little boat, tossing the slender rope onto the seat The paddleboat wobbled when she stepped aboard, and she had to crouch and use her hands to avoid falling into the water The bottom of the novelty craft was corab at her feet
After getting situated, Kendra sat facing the dock
There was a steering wheel to control lateralthe wheel all the way to one side, she pedaled backwards and slid away fro the wheel the other way, she started pedaling forward, and the boat quietly slid out of the boathouse
Ripples radiated out from the front of the paddleboat as she steered it toward the island, pedaling briskly The island was not far-hty yards The paddleboat moved steadily closer to her destination Until it startedaway fro diagonally backward So the wheel and paddling did nothing Then the boat suddenly tilted precariously to one side So to tip her!
Kendra leaned to prevent the boat fro, and the boat abruptly rocked the other way Kendra changed position, counterbalancing desperately She saet fingers holding the side of the boat and slapped at thean to rotate quickly Leave et to the island This earned a longer titter froood She kept spinning and getting hauled in the wrong direction The naiads started rocking the boat again Thanks to the low center of gravity, Kendra found that leaning was enough to prevent the boat fro, but the naiads were relentless
They tried to distract her by banging the botto at her The boat pitched and rocked and spun, and then suddenly the naiads would heave in earnest, trying to catch her off balance Tiht to spoil their attempts to flip her It was a stalemate
The naiads did not show thelimpsed their hands, but never saw a face
Kendra decided to quit paddling It was getting her nowhere, and wasting energy She resolved to exert herself only to keep the boat fro, nored the hands on the side of the boat She simply leaned as needed when they tried to tip the boat She was getting better at it They were not able to tilt it as much
The attempts stopped After about atoward the island Her progress was soon halted She quit paddling immediately
The naiads spun her and rocked her some more
She waited After another ain they pulled her away But less eagerly
She sensed the this technique, the naiads apparently lost interest The island grew closer Twenty yards Ten yards She expected them to stop her at the last moainst the shore Everything remained still
The moment of truth had arrived When she set foot on the island, either she would transform into a cloud of dandelion fluff and drift away, or she wouldn’t
Almost indifferent at this point, Kendra leaped out of the boat and landed on the shore There did not seeical or even special about it, and she did not turn into a cloud of seeds
There was, however, a barrage of laughter from behind her Kendra whirled in ti away fro without ju into the water She slapped herself on the forehead with the heel of her hand The naiads had not given up-they were trying a different strategy! She had been so distracted by the prospect of beco dandelion fluff that she had not hauled the boat out of the water as she should have She could have at least kept hold of the rope!
Well, one e It took only about seventy paces for Kendra to walk around the edge of it Her tour of the peri The shrine was probably near the center
Although the island had no trees, it had many shrubs, many of the through the What would the shrine look like? She pictured a little building, but after crisscrossing the island a few times, she realized there was no such structure
Maybe she had not turned to dandelion seeds because the island was a hoax Or er here Either way, she was stranded on a tiny island in the middle of a pond full of creatures anted to drown her What would drowning feel like? Would she actually inhale water, or just pass out? Or would the deet her first?
No! She had coain,natural, like a special bush or stuain, more slowly this tie to find a stream, no matter how small, on such a tiny island She followed the stream toward the center of the island until she found the place where it caround
There, at the source of the spring, was a two-inch-tall statue of a fairy, finely carved It rested on a white pedestal that added a few ht A small silver bowl sat in front of it
Of course! Fairies were so tiny, it made sense that the shrine would be miniature as well!
Kendra fell to her knees beside the spring, directly in front of the s to the sky, Kendra noticed that the eastern horizon was turning purple Night was co to an end
All Kendra could think to do was pour her heart out in come into dandelion seeds