Lucy loved to listen to her father tell her bedtime stories. He would weave fantastic tales about faraway lands, princesses, monsters, Indians, knights in shining armor, and her favorite, dragons. These stories always seemed to have an unearthly reality when told. He would sit on the edge of her bed every night and weave a tale, telling her a story as if it was a vivid memory or dream, not a story made up on the spot.

One night, when Lucy was 13, she had a fight with her father.  She said she wished he would never tell her another story for as long as he lived. Lucy felt terrible after that, and went to apologize to her father.

“I’m sorry that I yelled at you and said those mean things.” At this he smiled softly.

“It’s alright Lucy.” She asked him to tell a story and he consented. He started the story, but this one wasn’t like the others.  You see, woven into this tale was truth, and a bit of magic.  This tale was about a man who, many years ago, had been trapped in a magical land. Lucy’s father told about how this man tried to get back to his daughter, how he had to answer a sphinx’s riddle, capture a baby dragon and outsmart a giant. Lucy loved this story, for it was one she had never heard before.

“What happens next?” She asked her father eagerly. He leaned in to answer, but a strange voice answered for him.

“We don’t know. The story doesn’t have an ending.” Lucy squealed and leapt back. The voice came from her mirror. It was an old mirror, with strange symbols carved into the dark wood. Her father said it belonged to her great aunt from Ireland.

            Lucy slowly approached the mirror. There was a man standing there, and this man looked much like her father. He was tall, with short dark brown hair and brown eyes. The only difference was that he had many scars and wasn’t clean shaven. His clothes looked like something out of a fairy tale.  And how in the world had he gotten into her mirror?

“Who are you?” Lucy asked. The man answered that he was her father. “You can’t be! My father’s right here.” She gestured to her father sitting on the bed.

“Don’t let him fool you. He’s not who you think he is.” With that, the image of the man started to fade.

“Wait! Come back!” Lucy cried. She lunged at the mirror and fell into it.

“Lucy!” her father yelled, and ran after her. Lucy sprinted through darkness after the man, then she tripped and sprawled out on the ground. She put her hands on the grass covered ground and stood up. She was in a beautiful green meadow.

“Magic,” She breathed.

            Lucy heard a sound ahead of her and saw the man who claimed to be her father. He sat under a tree, its branches rustling in the soft breeze. He looked up.

“Ah, Lucy, you followed me. That wasn’t a very good idea. The creatures and people here don’t welcome strangers.” Lucy whipped her head around as her dad came crashing through the tall grass after her. The man under the tree stood up.

“Mathew, it has been so long since I have seen you.” Mathew? That wasn’t her dad’s name! “How is the mortal world? Was it to your satisfaction?” The man under the tree said in a mocking tone, almost as if he were poking fun at her dad. Lucy spoke.

“Who are you?” She pointed at the man claiming to be her father. “And who are you?” She pointed at her dad.

“Lucy, I told you. I’m your real father.” She turned to her dad, and he chuckled and said, “Well, you got me. Silly little Lucy, who thought I, the evil wizard Mathew Moroak, was her father.” He paused, still mocking her. Then he pointed at the other man and said, “This man is your real father, just like he said.” Lucy gasped. How could this man not be her father? The wizard continued.

“You see, a long time ago, before you were born, I was banished to this alternate world for studying dark magic. Your father couldn’t stand seeing his brother practicing evil, but instead of killing me like he should have, he banished me to this place where my dark ways were embraced. I ruled here, but it wasn’t enough.” He stopped, and then Lucy’s real father spoke.

“Moroak escaped here, and came to our mortal world. He sought out my family and then banished me here. He said he was punishing me for originally banishing him. He wanted to raise you and make you his daughter, his heir. I told him it wouldn’t work; you had a pure heart that could not be touched by evil. He didn’t listen, and went about teaching you the history of dark magic in the form of bedtime stories. I watched you at night, always wishing you would remember me. One day I found I could speak through the mirror, so I spoke to you, and now here you are.” He stopped.

“What’s your name?” Lucy asked. He sighed. “Maybe if you tell me your name, I’ll remember you.”

“Adam.” That one name sent a wave of memories flooding Lucy’s mind. She remembered Adam holding her the day she was born, remembered his soft hands as he taught her how to walk, how he would sing her to sleep. She remembered how the evil Wizard had escaped and taken her parents, and cast a spell on them, and how they had disappeared. She gasped, and threw her arms around her father.

Moroak laughed. “What a touching scene. Too bad it has to end so soon…” He clapped his hands and a giant came crashing through the woods. It scooped up Lucy and walked off with her. Adam turned to Moroak.

“Bring back my daughter!” He shouted.

“Yes, well, I’m afraid I can’t do that. You see, you have to complete three- what shall we call them-tasks? Yes, tasks, if you want to ever see your daughter again. Your first task, you will perform now.” Moroak clapped his hands quickly and a creature slunk out of the dark woods and sat down in front of Adam. She was very tall, about the size of a young tree. She had the body of a lioness and the head of a human, with great white wings on her back. She stretched lazily, and yawned, her enormous wings gleaming in the sunlight as she folded them across her back.

“A Sphinx, such a beautiful creature, is she not?” The sphinx rolled her large amber eyes and spoke.

“To see your daughter once again, answer my riddle you must do. One incorrect guess could do you harm, and to her you’ll bid adieu. But answer my riddle correctly, and you say the right reply, your first task will be complete, and let you be shall I.”  She stopped talking, as if she were waiting for his reply. He hesitantly gave her his consent, his voice wavering and cracking. He knew the legend of the Sphinx. If you answered her riddle wrong, she would swallow you up in one gulp, but if you answered correctly, she wouldn’t harm you at all. The Sphinx licked her lips and began reciting the riddle.

“Good job human, you have answered my riddle correctly. You have completed your first task.” She crouched down, until she was eye level with Adam. “Good luck,” and with that she bound back into the woods. Moroak seemed slightly angry about Adam’s victory.

“Your next task is going to be a bit trickier. You are to capture a baby dragon, but you will have to get passed the mother first.” A large roar filled the air and a female dragon flew over Adam’s head and landed in front of him. She roared again, and a smaller roar reached his ears as well.  For there, cowering behind its mother’s legs, was a baby dragon. The mother was huge, even larger than the Sphinx. It was black, with immense black wings and long spikes that ran down her spine. She reared, flapped her wings and roared at Adam. The baby dragon was small, about the size of a smart car. It was pale blue with small gold wings and gold horns growing from the top of its head. It seemed to be smiling, as if this were just a game. Adam turned to Moroak. “What do I need to do?”

“Capture the baby without injuring it or the mother.” Moroak replied with a devilish grin. Adam opened his satchel and pulled out a braided rope. He set the satchel down and ran at the mother dragon, leaping onto her back. He found footholds and handholds in the scaly skin, and climbed easily up the neck. He wound the rope around the dragon’s snout, so she couldn’t bite him. He tied the rope and pushed off her neck, swinging around as if on a vine in the middle of the jungle. He unbuckled his other rope from his belt, and wound it around the mother dragon’s front paws. She twisted, attempting to break the rope, but it held fast. She sat down, defeated, and made a whimpering sound in the back of her throat. Adam jumped down and walked over to the baby. He pet its head affectionately, and slid the last remaining rope loosely around its neck. Adam walked over to the mother dragon that was lying on the ground, pulled out a knife, and sliced through the ropes that bound her paws and muzzle. She stood up and stretched. Adam looked at her, unblinking, and she nodded and spoke in a deep raspy voice.  “I trust you to take care of my baby. You may take him, but bring him back safely to me.”

“I will.” Adam said. He walked over to an angry Moroak.  The baby dragon blinked its yellow eyes and Moroak spoke, slightly afraid now.

“Your third and finally task will be at the stone tower. I hope you can make it.” Moroak spun around, wrapping his black cloak around himself, and vanished in a cloud of swirling black and purple smoke. Adam walked over to the mother dragon.

“Do you know how to get to the stone tower?” She nodded. “Can you take me there?” She nodded again, and picked up Adam in her clawed hand. She flapped her great wings and rose into the air, flying high over the valley. They flew for five minutes with the baby dragon dipping and soaring beside them. Adam had never felt so alive, so free. He felt like the king of the world as he was viewing the vast kingdom. The dragon banked and settled down in front of a stone tower. The tower was tall, as tall as the giant that had taken Lucy.

“Speak of the devil,” Adam murmured as the familiar rumble of the giant’s footsteps shook the very ground. Moroak appeared.

“Your third task it to outsmart Lurk.” The giant came into view, holding a still struggling Lucy in his hand. He placed her on top of the stone tower and turned to Adam.

“Me Lurk.” He said. A giant’s language was made up mostly of grunts and roars. “Good luck.” A devious looking Moroak said. Lurk lurched forward, attempting to catch Adam in his massive, filthy hands. The awkward beast had two very large feet, but not very good balance. Lurk had a huge nose, small eyes and gigantic ears. He wore nothing but a tattered jacket and a ragged pair of what appeared to be shorts, but it was hard to tell, because of all of the random things that hung from it- beads, pots, bones, dried herbs and other useless junk that giants loved to collect. Lurk swung at Adam again, still attempting to catch him, and Adam pulled out the rope he had used to catch the dragon. He weaved in and out of Lurk’s legs, too small to be caught by the awkward giant.

He ran around behind Lurk and yelled “Hey! Over here you giant buffoon!” Lurk twisted around, but his feet became tangled in the rope Adam had wrapped around his ankles. Lurk toppled backwards, right next to Moroak. Lurk snorted, out cold. Moroak turned to Adam, livid.

“Well baby brother, looks like you have outsmarted me once again! What do I get out of it? Nothing!” Adam approached his brother. “Moroak, my dear brother, because you have done wrong once again, I banish you once again, but this realm is nothing but a barren wasteland.” Adam waved his hand and Moroak’s image shimmered and vanished. The dragon carefully picked up Lucy from the top of the tower and placed her down next to Adam. The dragon then plucked a shimmery black scale from her body and handed it to Lucy.

“Never forget us, child.” The dragon and her baby flew away, and Adam hugged his daughter.

“Let’s go home.” He whispered, and blew a soft silver powder into Lucy’s face. Her eyelids grew heavy, and she fell into a dreamless slumber.

Lucy awoke lying on her bed with Adam sitting on the edge. “You must have been tired, because you fell asleep right as I started the story.” He chuckled and kissed her forehead. “Goodnight my Lucy Goose.” He turned out the light and left the room. Lucy stared at the celling, thinking of the adventure she had. Had it been real? She placed her hands under her pillow and felt something cold and hard. She turned on the light and pulled it out. There, in her hand, was a shimmering black scale, about the size of a saucer.