This is a first draft of Chapter 9 of The Unicorn Guide, the fourth book in the 11 Quests series. Books 4, 5 and 6 tell a new story, so you can read The Unicorn Guide even if you haven’t yet read the first three books. Since this is a first draft, if you spot any errors please let me know! I’d be happy to find out in email and fix it. Feel free to send along any other comments you may have. Make sure you read Chapter 1 first!
Chapter 9
Accident on the Amazon
Two girls were standing on the deck of the boat, leaning against the railing and squealing with delight at everything they saw. They looked about the same age and could have passed for sisters, though they were actually cousins. One had shoulder-length black hair, the other very short brown hair. Both had skin that was much paler than any Tumi had ever seen.
Both girls wore white, short-sleeved shirts that each had a painting of a river with a monkey’s head painted over the top. The girl with the longer black hair wore a bright pink skirt that matched some of the flowers in the Amazon. The other girl had dark blue pants on that looked quite uncomfortable. Tumi was surprised that he understood the words that were printed on the shirt, because he didn’t know how to read in any language, let alone the language of these people. The shirts said, “Monkey Chief Amazon Cruises”.
The boat got close enough that Tumi could hear the girls on the deck talking.
“Hey, Carla,” the girl with the short brown hair said excitedly, pointing into the rainforest. “I saw a monkey there!”
The other girl looked off into the woods. “I don’t see it, Andrea,” she said. “Are you sure?”
The girl called Andrea said, “Yes, I’m sure! I’ll get a picture of it before it runs away.”
She put the black rectangular device to her eyes and then the boat lurched as its side scraped that of the ferry boat used by the worker men.
“My camera!” Andrea exclaimed as she leaned far over the railing to try to catch it. The boat was still shuddering as its length rubbed the ferry boat and the shaking was enough to push Andrea over the side and into the river.
“Andrea!” yelled Carla. “Someone help! Andrea has fallen overboard!”
The boat was finally freed from its dance with the ferry boat and it started moving swiftly along the river again. Adults on the boat were yelling at each other and telling the boat’s captain to stop.
To Tumi, it appeared that Andrea knew how to swim, because she was keeping her head above water and trying to swim to the boat, which was still moving rapidly downriver from her. But, her attention was so focused on the boat that she hadn’t noticed the alligator-like caiman that was poised to slide into the river and pursue the girl.
“Esmeralda! Look!” Tumi exclaimed. “That caiman is going to get her!”
Esmeralda’s eyes followed Tumi’s pointing finger. Without a word, she started running toward the caiman. In the meantime, Tumi ran toward the water, jumped in and started swimming toward Andrea.
All eyes on the boat were focused on Andrea as she struggled to catch up with the boat, which had started slowing but not quickly enough. They saw a boy come swimming swiftly over from the side, beckon to Andrea and then lead her back to the side. They stepped up out of the river and into the trees, but rather than waiting at the side of the river for the boat to come back for Andrea, the two of them walked deeper into the cover of the trees.
While all of that was happening, only Carla had looked away from Andrea long enough to see a unicorn come running out of the trees and into the water just along the edge of the river. She saw the seven foot long green caiman heading toward the water on its stubby legs. The animal quickly stopped, whipped around and ran back into the forest as soon as it saw that its path was blocked by the horn of a unicorn.
“Mom! Dad!” Carla said. “Did you see that?”
“Of course we did,” Carla’s mother replied. “Everyone on this boat saw that boy lead Andrea away and into the rainforest. The captain is working on getting the boat back there so that we can search for her.”
“No, not that,” Carla said. She had to stop herself from asking “Didn’t you see the unicorn?”, because she knew how that would sound to the others. “I saw something that looked like an alligator. It was about to head into the water. I think that boy just saved Andrea!”
“I didn’t know that they have alligators here,” Carla’s father said. “Are you sure that’s what you saw?”
“We don’t have alligators, senhor,” said their tour guide. “We have caiman. They are similar creatures. Very fierce.”
“Oh! That must be why they went into the woods,” Andrea’s mother said. Her brow was wrinkled with worry. “They were running away from the caiman. I hope we get to her soon.”
“Do not worry, senhorita,” the guide replied. “The captain will have us there in one minute time.”
The guide had a relaxed attitude toward time and it really took about five minutes before the boat had pulled in close to the banks of the river. Andrea’s mother was fretting the whole time and pacing back and forth along the side of the boat nearest Andrea. The guide led the concerned passengers down the stairs and pushed the button that slid the gangplank out to the shore.
“Please, senhors and senhoritas, allow me to lead the way,” the guide said. “There are dangerous creatures in the rainforest and it will be best if I go first and keep an eye out.”
“Not when my Andrea is out there!” Andrea’s mother exclaimed. She pushed her way past the guide and ran down the gangplank. The guide quickly tried to catch up, wanting to make sure that nothing would happen to one of their passengers. Andrea’s father was right on his heels, followed by Carla’s father.
“Mom!” Carla whispered urgently to her mother.
“What is it, Carla love?” she asked.
“I think Andrea will be fine. I think she’s got a Quest!”
“A Quest? What makes you think that?”
“The caiman was chased away by a unicorn. I saw it!” In her excitement, Carla’s voice had risen a bit more than she intended. Other passengers looked her way, but they didn’t seem to think much of what they had heard and went back to staring into the woods to see what was going on.
“A unicorn?” Carla’s mother looked thoughtful. When she was eleven years old, she had had a Quest of her own. Carla had her own 11 Quest just a few weeks before their trip to the Amazon. It certainly was possible that Andrea was about to embark on her own Quest.
“All right,” Carla’s mother said after a few seconds of silence. “I’ll have a talk with my sister if she comes back without finding Andrea. I’m sure that the thought of this all just being a Quest will calm her down.”
The four adults who had gone off in search of Andrea and the mysterious jungle boy searched along the edge of the river. Every time they considered going deeper into the forest, something or other along the river’s edge would attract their attention and keep them from venturing in. They were being turned away by the Lost Jungle’s border, but they just didn’t know it.
An hour passed that way and the guide finally convinced the others that Andrea would be safe with the boy, because the boy would know the jungle. He also convinced them that they would not want to be in the jungle after dark. It was easy to convince them of that point, because the shadows were getting longer and Andrea’s mother first mistook a vine for a snake and then mistook a snake for a vine. Fortunately, the guide stopped her before she grabbed on to the snake to help her get through the thick foliage.
Back on the boat, the guide tried to be reassuring. “The boy will take care of her, senhorita, senhor,” he said. “Do not worry. We will stay in this place for the night, and look again in the morning.”
Andrea’s mother did not seem convinced. Carla’s mother chose that moment to lead her away for a private conversation.
Continue reading with Chapter 10