Tank helped me to my feet Take it easy Henelle she said He’s just a little late Henelle glared at me with her one large eye A shiver ran down my scales The octoclops was student captain of our field-trip group She might be half cyclops and half octopus but she was all bossy pants to her classmates Late will get you killed in the Dark Depths she growled We’re not going to the Dark Depths I said We’re visiting the Glowshroom Glades remember The glades are on the farthest edge of the Shallows Henelle said with a sigh One wrong turn and you’re in the Dark Depths home to the deadliest monsters in Rockfall Mountain You would know all this if you read the field-trip information package I created for the class But I guess reading is a little too much to ask for some of us Henelle gave a final whip of her arms and stomped to the front of the bus I let my backpack fall to the bus floor It landed with a thud At the front the driver looked back at me through the rearview mirror The reflection of the 4
ogre’s stare cut into me like a hatchet and made me want to jump out the back door again Instead I slunk into my seat beside Tank You’re welcome by the way My best friend was focused on her phone She had taken off the back and was poking at the wires inside with a tiny spinning screwdriver thingy Tank was always poking at technology technology When you’re a troll tinkering with technology is what you do And Tank was the best tinkering-troll detective partner a sleuth like me could ask for Thank you for getting me scooped up and tossed onto the bus I grumbled I told you not to be late for school today It’s a long drive to the glades I wasn’t late I snapped The driver left early Hatchet-Eyes looked back at me again Had he heard me I lowered my voice What’s the deal with the driver Where’s Ms Yallo I thought she was taking us on this trip Ms Yallo is sick This guy said his name was Mr Ravel or something Anyway it doesn’t matter who drives us Tank’s ears wiggled For the next few days our classroom will be the majestic forests of illuminated illuminated fungi known as the Glowshroom Glades 5
You sound like a tourist brochure I said That’s because it is from a brochure She pulled a folded paper from the pocket of her tool belt and handed it to me The glades are the only place in Rockfall Mountain where you can find over three hundred varieties of glowshrooms Fascinating I yawned Spending the week in Principal Weaver’s office was sounding more exciting every second Wake me up when we get there A buzzing came from the front of the bus A blaze fairy the size of an ogre’s tooth flew up the aisle Fizz Marlow the fairy barked Now you’re in trouble Tank muttered and doubled her focus on her phone’s circuit board Miss Blinx Gravelmuck Elementary gym teacher and three-time Slick City weightlifting champion zipped closer Henelle tells me you were late Marlow she sneered I will not have any students go missing or get eaten on this trip That would create far too much paperwork This is your only warning Miss Blinx buzzed back to the front of the bus before I could think up one of my amazing comebacks It was probably for the best For the next few days 6
Miss Blinx was in charge She might be small enough to fit in a troll’s pocket but you did not want to make that fairy mad Near the middle of the bus Mr Mantle hovered above his seat flipping through the pages of a book He is my math teacher and he looks like a floating brain with a mustache and wispy tentacles for arms When your teacher is all brain and loves numbers you know you’re in trouble Mr Mantle and Miss Blinx were our chaperones for this field trip Our whole class had been planning it for months We had held bake sales and raffles to raise enough money and now we were on our way I wasn’t a huge fan of spending a week looking at glowshrooms but anything was better than looking at the walls of a classroom Beside me Tank quietly tinkered with her phone The other kids around us laughed and chatted excitedly excitedly bouncing in their seats with each bump in the road as the bus rolled through the outskirts of Slick City Outside the window my hometown whizzed by as the driver steered us deeper into Rockfall Mountain From mystery-loving goblins like me to fire-breathing dragons Rockfall Mountain was home to a vast underground underground world of scales tails fangs and fur 7
