Here There Be Teachers

"Don't you understand the assignment, Andy?" asked Mr. Mahoney, once they were alone, "You were told to draw a map of a real country, like Japan or Spain. There's no such place as--" he examined the print, "--Karthesia."

"There is!" Andy protested, face rubicund, "It's in the Atlantic, but it's got an invisible curtain around it!"

Mahoney frowned at the boy. He had never seemed the type to make waves.

The drawing--though it looked more like a painted parchment--was well-done, imaginitive. There were even sea monsters in the olive ocean. But this was History, not Art.

Mahoney grabbed the paper, but no sooner had he touched it than he'd fallen through it.

He fell into the ocean, cold but unharmed. He had company; a big, angry cloud blew him away, and a sea serpent, maw gaping, slithered his way. He screamed.

Just then, as if summoned from nowhere, a ship came into view. Arrows arced and pierced the monster. A crew of men in strange attire managed to hoist him onboard. There, they pointed their swords at him and furiously questioned him in a foreign tongue. Mahoney screamed once again as they drew nearer.

"All right! Karthesia is real! Please, help!"

A giant hand dipped down from the heavens and carried him upwards. He was now beside Andy again, though drenched and fatigued.

"Okay," he panted, "A+."