Chapter 77

Jeremy’s POV

I was so nervous about these creatures. I have never seen them before or heard of them. How was I suppose to know if I was in danger from them? But watching Emerald pet them made me want to give it a shot. She was being braver than I have seen her which made me only admire her so much more. It made me respect her that much more. I decided to pet the purple one first just like Emerald and surprisingly Pixie still didn’t move. She stayed perfectly still.

When her dad explained about the soul mate bond and how they could feel the bond of each other’s souls. I was glad to know that I wasn’t going to be eaten today by one of these Nightmare creatures.

“What is the pink one’s name? Do you remember?” I asked her as I saw her slowly make her way to that one.

“This one is Bubblegum.” She said matter of factly.

“You sure?” I asked.

“Yes. Very.” She said.

“Cute names.” I said.

“If it was up to Emerald as a child they would all have names. She named most of the younger ones that have been born. The older ones like this one here in the middle, it does not have a name. They listen to the names that she picked out though. I guess I have just never thought about naming them before Emerald had come up with the idea. As a guy it never had occurred to me to name each of them.” Dad explained.

“Where is your original one?” I asked her dad.

“Most likely in its cave. Once they get older I noticed their flying time lessens and lessens. So I try not to call on him too often now. I notice it just takes a lot out of him. I try to call him at least once or twice a week just to visit and love on him some but sometimes I feel bad because I know being older it takes a lot out of him.” Her dad explained.

“Oh.” I said, “I feel bad knowing they get older and can’t fly for that long. Why don’t you have him live here with you on the island?”

“Unfortunately being a creature and not god. I could not make them live forever. As for living on the island with me it had never occurred to me. I can call him over in a little while and see what he thinks about that.” He explained.

“Oh.” I repeated.

Emerald asked her dad, “Can I fly one?”

My head whipped around to look at her as if she was crazy. “Are you crazy?”

“No, I used to as a kid. Why not now?” Asked Emerald.

I stared at her in utter shock. Her mom looked freaked out, her dad smiled and grinned like he was proud and I stood there shocked.

“Go ahead. They will not allow you to fall and I trust them 100 percent.” Her dad actually encouraged the idea.

“Yippee! How do I climb on?” She asked all excited.

“You just climb on right behind her mane. And make sure to hold on tight to her mine so you have something to hold on to.” Her dad said.

“You don’t have reins or ropes or anything that she can hold on to?” I asked. Worry laced my voice. I know that her dad knows that they are safe but I didn’t and that scared me. If she fell from that high up I don’t know what I would do. I never saw her on anything high up before and that includes a roller coaster so it worried me to no end.

“No but like I said as long as she holds on tight and acts confident she will be fine. The creatures know better than to ever allow her to get hurt.” Her dad said.

I looked over to see Emerald who was already climbing up the creatures front leg. She was gripping onto the scales and Bubblegum never moved. She stayed perfectly still.

I made a quick decision as I looked at Pixie. I mean I had to go with her because I was not about to let her go off by herself.

I took a breath to steady myself and started to climb up the same way on Pixies front leg.

She looked at me with her big purple eye but other than that stayed perfectly still. I climbed up onto her back and sat against the main and gripped it.

Her dad spoke, “Now Pixie, Bubblegum, be very careful. You are carrying precious cargo. I want you to make one round flying around the island at a slow pace and come right back. Is that understood?”

The Nightmares nodded their heads making the mane and everything move. But they did nod in agreement so they understood what he had said.

I tried my best to smile at Emerald who looked so happy with excitement.

Her dad nodded.

Suddenly Emeralds took off into the sky but not fast like I thought it would. It rose very slowly almost like an elevator. Once it was at a good distance above us, it paused and was waiting patiently. Pixie, my creature, rose slowly also. It rose next to Bubblegum and waited patiently. It wasn’t so bad considering they went slow. I wasn’t scared of heights at all. So for me this was a breeze. I could tell now that I was staring at Emerald that she looked a little green and nervous. I really hope she didn’t barf. She was holding tightly to the mane and almost leaning against it like she was afraid to look down.

“Emerald! Are you okay?!” I asked.

“Yep! Never better!” She yelled back but I knew she was lying. Even though the creatures were still hovering. I think they could tell she was nervous.

“Emerald! I think they are waiting for you to feel good!” I called over.

“Oh!” She yelled.

She tried to sit up and sat up a little more confidently. Braving her scare of heights and trying something new.

Suddenly her creature went so slowly almost at a glide. Even though her big majestic, colorful pink wings made a huge whooshing sound through the air, Bubblegum slowly glided. Then mine followed behind her. So the creatures she had told me were one of her nightmares were real creatures but were pets. They were actually very calm beasts.

I actually had a lot of fun now knowing that there was no harm to come to me or Emerald. I was okay with that. I actually had a great time on the beasts back. Emerald started to get more confident I noticed now that she knew that Bubblegum was taking it extremely slow.

They went around the whole island and seeing the island so dark that you couldn’t see anything at all, just the darkness, then to see the one bright sunshine place that was his home in the middle it was odd. It was like the one ray of sunshine on the Hellion island. It was actually creepy looking. It definitely looked like the island of death.

After their trip around the island the creatures slowly, ever so slowly lowered themselves back to the ground in the backyard. He dad went over and rubbed each of their snouts after seeing that we were indeed left unharmed.

Emerald climbed off but was a little woozy and still green so I hurried to her. “Maybe we should head back home. Take a load off and relax.”

She nodded as she gripped my hand in a death grip. “It was fun though.”

“It was. It was a lot of fun. I think after a few more times you will be a pro. Right now though, I think we need to go home and rest. I don’t even want you practicing tonight.” I said.

“Okay.” She said weakly.

We walked over slowly so we could say goodbye. Now that I knew how to get here we could visit anytime and leave at anytime.

“Dad, mom, we are going to go for today. I want to come back obviously but right now I need to rest. I don’t think I was as used to flying Bubblegum and Pixie as I was like back in the day.” She said still holding my hand.

“I understand. You come back anytime you want to. I hope you feel better, Emmy.” Said her dad and hugged her tightly.

Her mom stood there awkwardly. “I hope you feel better Emerald. I’m scared of heights but you were a lot braver than I was.”

“Thank you.” Emerald said and still shook her hand and then cuddled to me.

“Close your eyes.” I whispered in her ear.

She was already sick to her stomach and I didn’t trust her to keep her eyes open for the teleportation and then throw up. So I had her close her eyes so she wouldn’t feel so sick. She hugged me tightly around the waist.