Chapter 8: The Mongoblin City of Durwood

Book Survivor Adventure Log

Voted off: Airborn

I followed the road for what seemed to be miles and miles. I came to a red spot on the ground. Was this blood? I stepped my foot gently on the innards of the circle and instantly, I was Airborn!

I flew over a giant brick wall and landed flat smack on my bottom. Around me were mountains that appeared to be made of books. A creature that had "Literarily Sound" written on its face came over and kicked me in the shin.

"Whose woods these are, I think I know.." said the creature. Why! That was a Robert Frost poem! It seemed that I had entered..Mongobling Territory! "Welcome good stranger," said the creature, "to the Mongoblin Capital of Durwood." I smiled. "I am your host, Renoir Dubois Sasquatch, but you can call me Randy."

Randy stood up and blew on his hand, making some dead paper fall off it. He picked it up off my nose and handed it to me. "This is a map of our city," he said. "If you could be so bold and follow me......." He stood up and began turning toward a giant clock tower.

I looked at it and saw each hand was made up of thousands of books. What a glorious clock. "What time is it,"I asked.

Randy giggled. "What time is it you ask, you stupid fool!" Randy began to laugh. "It is time to read!" Randy sat down and began to examine his arm, which had printed words on it. I looked around. If I wanted to fit in with the natives and discover where Lucy was, I should try to blend in. I sat down and began to read the sidewalk, which was peppered with pages from "The Sisterhood of Traveling Pants." I sat down and began to read about the adventures of a pair of pantaloons when a howl broke out among the street. A weirdly shaped creature began to run through the streets, scowling and throwing letters around.

"What is that?" I shouted.

"Oh!" screamed Randy. "That is a wordling!" He paused. "A wordling gives us new writing, and tries to convert outsiders to our race." The wordling stopped and looked at me.

"What if I don't want to become a mongoblin?" I asked.

Randy shrugged. "Run?"

I stood up and began to run through the streets. The wordling chased me and yelled various lines of poetry at me. I ducked into a shop. A woman who was wearing a wordy bonnet stood behind the counter.

"What do you sell here?" I asked.

She smiled and pointed to a bottle of ink. "Temporary bookmark tattoos for when you need a break from reading yourself." I nodded as if I understood. "But I havev a rare find, an extremely rare edition of a book! Do you want to see?" I nodded. What the heck? I had nothing to lose. I followed the woman up the stairs to a pedistal where a book was placed. I couldn't read the cover.

"Ya know, sweetie," said the woman. "I'm very good friends with the wordling, and he brings me any ....special finds." The woman began to laugh and laugh and her eyes fell out of her head and landed on the floor. At once, I realized, that this was the wordling. Sitting on the pedistal was a copy of Sleeping Beauty. Or at least that is what it appeared to be. But on closer examination, I saw that instead of Aurora, the princess of the main title, it was ...Lucy? Yes, sure enough, Lucy's image was on the cover. I squinted and saw that if I looked closely enough, she appeared to be..breathing?

"Oh yes," said the Wordling. "Your friend is alive and preserved inside this book. She was quite the catch. And I think you'll be even better..so if you could come closer to me, we'll make this easier on both of us..."

The Wordling grabbed me with its papery hands and began to squeeze. I glanced at Lucy, helpless. I felt my skin began to change....