By Lilianna Maxwell

Philadelphia Science Fiction Society

2008 Young Writers Contest

First Place, Middle School Category

Meloce and Quintion collapsed onto a fluffy white cloud, exhausted. They were young members of the Cumulus Colonies and were not yet used to walking such long distances. But, tired or not, they had to keep searching. The Cloud King had sent them on a quest to find his missing daughter.

Suddenly, Quintion saw a small figure in the distance.

Could it be her?

Quintion took a deep breath and willed every last drop of her energy to flow to her legs. She leapt up and bounded from cloud to cloud, running so fast she seemed to be flying in a blur of white and blue. She could hear Meloce's shouts behind her to slow down, but she didn't stop until she was standing right in front of the tiny figure she had seen. It was little cloud girl of maybe seven years, with soft, blonde curls like Quintion's own.

"Who are you?" Meloce panted from behind them.

The little girl gave a royal, practiced smile and said rather flatly, "I am Calensia, Princess of the Cumulus Clan, Stratus and Cirrus Cities, and the Endless Sea."

Meloce sighed with relief. "Where have you been? The entire Clan is worried sick!"

"I ran away."

"Why?"

The princess smiled again, a real smile, but melancholy.

"I used to secretly visit a dragon named Oloni. We would go on wonderful, exciting adventures together, traveling all over the Skies. One day, the Dragon-Master found me playing with Oloni. His amber eyes grew dark and menacing; he threw a dragon-scale necklace around my neck and chanted strange words that made my blood flow cold and my bones creak just listening to them. Now, if I ever take off the necklace…"

Princess Calensia reached gingerly into her white robes and pulled out a gleaming dragon scale on a chain around her neck. She hesitated, then, without warning, ripped it off. Quintion's scream caught in her throat as Calensia's body filled with magnificent rainbow scales and two large bat wings. Snapping and popping, she grew quickly, her back lined with golden spikes.

Calensia had transformed into a 12-foot long, 6-foot tall dragon!

With a thundering roar of white-hot fire, Princess Calensia, the dragon, lifted her mighty wings and soared into the sky leaving Quintion and Meloce speechless in amazement.

By the time Meloce shouted, "Wait!" the Princess Dragon was already out of sight.

She frowned, "I still don't know why she ran away!"

Quintion answered softly, "She didn't want her father to know the truth."

"But her father might have been able to reverse the spell!" cried Meloce.

Quintion laughed.

"Don't you understand?" Quintion remembered the eager look on Calensia's face when she broke the necklace. "Calensia wanted to be a dragon."

The End