Missing in Venice

Missing in Venice

By: Amanda Bradley

Dytanue scanned his driveway for any signs of life. Nothing moved. He cautiously made his way up to the house, and after quietly opening the door, he bolted in. Turning, he pressed his back to the door, and slid slowly down to the floor. Then, noise erupted in the hallway. The sound of his mother’s high-heeled shoes on the tile floor made him stiffen and he prepared to run, but it was too late.
“Danue,” a high-pitched voice called, “you’re home!”
He sighed, and silently accepted defeat. Running his fingers through his dark hair, he turned to meet her.
“Hello Mother.”
“How was school?” she asked. When he shrugged his shoulders, she frowned slightly. “Well, I know what will make you feel better. Do you remember that I met with my book club today?”
“I remember.”
“Well Margaret told me that her son Brent simply adored this book, so I asked if she would loan it to me.”
“Thank you Mother,” he said as she handed him the book. He hurried up the stairs and into his room.
When the door was closed he let out an exasperated sigh and flung himself onto the bed. He hated book club days. His mother always brought something home for him. He gazed at the white book cover. It was plain except for the gold outlining of a young girl with a raven on her outstretched fist. There was no title.
“Why does she always do this to me?” he mused aloud. “She knows that I hate to read.” He sighed. “Well, maybe I should be more understanding. Dad was her book buddy when he was home.”
Danue reached for the picture on his nightstand. His father’s smiling face stared back at him. He looked happy even though he was getting ready to go off to some distant land, wearing the crisp uniform of a soldier. It would be some time before Danue would see that smiling face again. Deciding that he would attempt to make his mother happy, he picked up the book and began to read.
As he turned the pages, his eyelids drooped lower and lower. It was not that the book wasn’t interesting, for it was filled with a mesmerizing tale that even Danue found enthralling. Just as he was getting to the part about the mage, Aurora, granting the wish of young Princess Hivashti, he grew so tired that he could no longer keep his eyes open. His long dark lashes closed, hiding his sparkling green eyes from view.

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Bam! Danue sat up with a start. He gazed around the room, and found a tall woman dressed all in white standing before him. Her white-blond hair was dancing as if there were a slight breeze. Looking up into her pale face, he saw that her deep blue eyes were studying him closely.
“What is your name boy?” Her voice echoed like thunder on the plains. When he didn’t reply, she repeated the question.
“My name is Dytanue,” he said when he recovered from the shock. “Who are you, and what are you doing in my room?!”
“Dytanue,” the woman said, ignoring his questions, “an interesting name.”
“My mother named me after the hero in her favorite book,” he said with a grimace.
“Ah, I see,” she said with a smile. “I am Aurora, the mage of Calithia. You, Dytanue, have been chosen for a quest. You must rescue Hivashti, my princess, from Venice. For complicated reasons, I am unable to transport myself there, or I would attend to the matter personally.”
“Wait a minute! You are from my book?! How can anyone from a book come to the real world?!” Then his face grew serious. “My mother must have sent you as a joke. Tell her it isn’t funny.”
“There is no joke,” Aurora said, a spark of anger in her eyes. “A local village woman was once walking around her yard and a great beam of light shot from the ground. It was a portal to your world. Vashti is very curious, and is always getting herself into trouble. This time she’d gone too far. Her latest prank was dressing like a boy, and sneaking into a wizard’s academy, just because one of their friends threw down the gauntlet. The headmaster had her brought to his office. When he threatened to tell her parents, she took off running, and with the guards chasing after her, I suppose she just got too close to the beam. She was pulled into it, and she can’t get back in to our world without this necklace.”
Aurora handed him a necklace with a blue pendant. A black raven was engraved into it, and Danue now noticed that Aurora was wearing one herself.
“Now,” she continued, “Since you are no mage, the headmaster constructed this for you.” She handed him a wand. “Use this to take you to Venice.”
“So…I’m supposed to use a “wandy thing” to rescue your princess…A princess who got to our world by getting too close to a beam, because she was being chased by wizard guards.” Danue couldn’t keep the sarcasm from his voice.
“You are correct,” Aurora said. Then she added, “use the “wandy thing” carefully. Much trouble will be avoided if you do.”
“Right…well I’m going back to bed now,” he said, flopping down on his mattress.
“Good luck Dytanue,” she said sadly. “And be careful.” Then she disappeared, leaving behind a cloud of smoke.
Danue rolled over on his bed, once again feeling suddenly very tired. “My dreams just keep getting weirder,” he mumbled.

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Danue woke up and laughed. The dream about the white lady was too absurd. Then, he stopped mid-laugh. He felt something hard beside him in the bed. When he pulled the blankets back, he saw a long black cylinder with red markings. It was the wand.
The red lines were in a spider web pattern. The black was sharply contrasted by a white tip. “Wow,” he said. “It’s real. So I wasn’t dreaming.”
He turned and looked out the window. The sun was just beginning to rise over the treetops. Grabbing a piece of paper and a pen, he wrote a note to his mother explaining where he would be. The laughter he tried to contain finally got the best of him. Rereading the note, he could see how ridiculous this whole thing sounded. Danue grabbed the necklace, and shoved it into his pocket. Then he was ready to go.
As Danue reached for the wand, it sprang from the bed and landed in his palm. For a long while, he simply stared at it. Then, feeling extremely foolish, he razed the wand above his head.
“Take me to Venice,” he whispered. When he moved the wand in circles around his body, a blue trail spurted from the end. Suddenly, he felt a tingling sensation begin in his body. Then he found himself lying in the middle of a crowded street.
A group of girls passed him, chattering in Italian. One of them giggled and pointed in his direction. The smell of the sea hit his nostrils. He could see several canals running in different directions. Then it hit him. He had no idea where he was to start. How was he going to find Hivashti in this mess? He didn’t even know what she looked like!
Do not worry Dytanue, Aurora’s voice echoed in his head, you will know her when you see her. Follow your instinct. There is a reason you were chosen.
“Great, and now I have people talking in my head,” he mumbled. Suddenly, a large black bird swooped down to land in front of him. It was a raven, standing exactly as the one on the necklace pendant was.
“Ah,” the raven said, “So she sent me a child. I mean you no offence boy, but I was hoping for someone older. What is your age?”
Danue gaped at the bird. Finally, he managed to stammer “Fourteen.”
The raven regarded him with a sharp eye. “Hivashti is the same age. You’ll have to do. I am called Stormwing. Follow me, and I will lead you to Hivashti.”
Stormwing rose gracefully into the air. Danue had to run to keep up with him. They must have traveled through fifty alleyways when Stormwing descended and landed on a crate beside a small window on the side of a building. Danue got down on his knees, the damp earth wetting his jeans, and peered through into the room.
It was dim, and he could barely make out what the room contained. There, sitting on another crate, was a young girl. She was small, with hair of the darkest black, and dancing mischievous eyes. The robe she wore was the purist white that Danue had ever seen, and was trimmed in gold. She was beautiful.
“Hivashti,” he whispered.
“Yes,” Stormwing said. “That is Hivashti. I was with her when the beam pulled us into your world. We landed around the same place that you did. There was a group of thugs standing close by. When they saw Hivashti, with only me for protection, they grabbed her and brought her to the place you see now. I believe they think she is from one of the wealthy families in your world, and want ransom money. There are two men now guarding her.”
As these words were spoken, Danue saw two men shift slightly, slouching in opposite ends of the room. Both had guns, and enormous muscles sprouted from their shoulders.
“How are we supposed to get past them?” he asked, dreading the answer.
“Did Aurora not equip you with anything?!” Stormwing asked incredulously.
“Oh, right, the wand,” he said, slightly embarrassed. He pulled it from his black hoodie where he had stowed it for safekeeping. “I suppose we shouldn’t waste any time,” he said, walking around the edge of the building. They came to a solid oak door. With a flick from the wand, it slowly opened.
When Stormwing located the door leading to the forbidden room, Danue braced himself. Then, he pointed the wand toward the door, and blue sparks shot from the end, shattering it. For a moment nothing moved.
An explosion of movement from the far corner of the room caught Danue’s eye, and Stormwing flew towards the charging guard. Danue looked for the second.
A bullet whizzed by his head. Danue turned and aimed the wand at the other guard, who was now hurtling towards him. A bright blue bolt of energy hit the man in the chest. He fell down unconscious. Stormwing was flying in the other’s face, scratching at his eyes. Bloody marks covered the man’s arms where he had tried to block the sharp talons. Where was Hivashti?
A hand clamped over Danue’s mouth and he felt the prick of a knife at his neck. He froze, and was startled by the melodious and soft voice that he heard next.
“Who are you?” it said releasing the hand from his mouth. The knife was still in place.
“Hivashti! I have come to rescue you!” he said, realizing the owner of the voice. He was whirled around, and he found himself gazing into Hivashti’s unsettling violet eyes.
“Let us go then,” she said, and called to Stormwing. Stormwing flew from the guard to the children at an amazing speed. Danue sent another bolt of energy hurtling into the remaining man’s chest. As he toppled over, Hivashti grabbed his hand and pulled him from the room. They could hear reinforcements pounding down the stairs as they exited the building, and ran down the alleyway.
Never had Danue ran for so long. His lungs were burning when they finally reached a narrow canal. An enormous ship was nearing the waterway. Even with her mighty engines in reverse, the ocean liner was pulled further and further into the canal.
Danue was paying so much attention to the ship that he tripped over a rough place in the street. The wand flew from his hand, and landed with a loud, crack! Sparks shot form its end. Abruptly, the canal became much narrower. The ship’s bow crashed into the enclosing buildings, followed by a loud shriek that could be heard for miles around, as the ship attempted to free herself.
Danue lunged for the wand. His fingers closed around it, and he sent the magic into the canal. It returned to its normal size, and the ship’s engines finally were able to pull the liner back out of the canal. Danue turned to see Stormwing and Hivashti staring at him.
“Um…oops?” he said, embarrassed.
Hivashti laughed. It was a long beautiful laugh that sounded like music. “What is your name?” she asked.
“Dytanue.”
“Well then, I thank you Dytanue.”
He smiled. “You can call me Danue.”
She returned the smile. “Only if you will call me Vashti.”
Danue handed Vashti the necklace that Aurora had entrusted him with, and explained to her what it was for. She thanked him, and after studying it, slipped it into her pocket.
“You’re not going home?” he asked incredulously.
Stormwing groaned. “Not if I know Vashti.”
Hivashti sent him a mock glare. “Well, if all you knew of a world was imprisonment you would not want to leave until you had seen the good side of it either. I will go home soon Stormwing. But first,” she said taking Danue’s hand “Let us explore.”
Stormwing flew up to perch on Vashti’s shoulder. Hand in hand, Vashti and Danue crossed the Rialto Bridge. Vashti was enchanted by the beautiful sights of Italy, and amazed at how much Danue knew about the monuments and culture. They strolled through Venice, scarcely caring where they ended up until the sun slipped beyond the horizon.
“It is time to go Hivashti,” Stormwing announced.
“Not yet,” she replied, “There is one thing we have not done yet.” She led them to where a gondola was docked. Danue smiled and reached into his pocket. He found just enough Euros to pay the fare.
The three of them climbed into the boat, and Danue handed the money to the gondola’s operator. The man pushed off with his single oar, and began to bellow out a tune to the night sky. The opera echoed off of the surrounding structures that were clearly illuminated by the full moon. Danue was in the middle of explaining to Vashti that the keel of the boat was curved to the right, so that it could be steered with only one paddle, when she scooted closer to him. Suddenly, he found her lips pressed to his as she kissed him gently.
The boat came to a stop, and its passengers clambered off. As the boatman paddled away, Vashti turned to Danue.
“Thank you for rescuing me and showing me this interesting place Danue. This has been the most amazing day of my life.”
“Mine too,” he said softly.
Vashti put on the necklace and a beam of green light shot from the ground. “I will return to you someday Dytanue,” she whispered. Then, she kissed him on the cheek, and with Stormwing, headed for the light.
“Goodbye Hivashti,” he said sadly. Then, he twirled the wand around himself and shouted, “Take me home!”
He found himself on his front porch. After hiding the wand he turned to the door. When he opened it, he saw his mother standing there. She ran to him and embraced him happily.
“Danue, where have you been?!”
“You didn’t get my note?”
“No, I didn’t see one. Well, never mind, you’re home now, but where were you?”
“Oh, just out with some friends,” he replied.
“Well, next time, try and leave the note where I will find it.”
Danue hurried up to his room. The note was not on the desk, where he had left it. He could not find it anywhere.
Giving up, he went to his bed and picked up the book. Vashti and Stormwing’s figures were still on the cover, but now there was a title on the book. It said “Missing in Venice.”
Danue read until he had completely finished the book. It was the most exciting tale that he had ever read. He ran to the door, flung it open, and continued running until he came to his mother’s room.
She was lying in bed, with her nose in a book. She looked up when he neared the door.
“What’s wrong Danue?”
“Mom,” he said, out of breath, “Can you ask Brent if he has the sequel?”


THE END