The wind whistled through the trees, bending and snapping the twigs. The sky was starting to turn purple. Goosebumps prickled my skin and crept along my spine like a centipede. Where was my brother? I couldn’t see him anywhere.
“Austin! Austin, where are you?” The wind roared, blowing my words away. I called Austin’s name again, but he didn’t answer. My mouth went dry, and something clenched in my stomach. I might not like him, but I didn’t want him to get hurt.
Thunder crashed over my head! ZING! A bolt of lightning struck the zoo’s water tower. Leaves, papers and twigs danced in the air. Colors bloomed in the graying sky, splashing it with green and blue and yellow patches. Dirt blew into my eyes. I put my hand up to keep twigs from hitting my face. A gust of wind slammed into my chest, pushing me backwards. I grabbed the rail near the outdoor section of the Komodo pen and hung on.
The wind tipped over one of the gift shop carts. Stuffed tigers and elephants rolled across the sidewalk. Stuffed pandas and monkeys caught on the bushes. A plastic possum hung from a tree branch. Or was it real? A large elephant balloon soared past me and landed on the Aviary.
The woman who ran the hot dog stand was trying to save her food. Hot dogs and buns slid out of her arms. Ketchup and mustard bottles tumbled to the ground and rolled around, streaking the pavement with yellow and red. A big zoo map crashed to the ground, but the sound was lost in the roar of the wind. Everywhere around me, people were screaming and crying out for help.
Things were falling out of the sky. A sharp twig hit me in the face. I wanted to push it away, but I didn’t dare let go of the rail. Something cracked over my head. A tree limb landed next to me, brushing leaves and branches against my arms.
Where was my brother? I hoped he was inside a building. He could get hurt out here. I couldn’t wait any longer. Somehow, I had to get to him. I let go of the rail and dropped to the ground.
“Austin! Austin, where are you?” The wind was so loud I couldn’t hear my own voice. Trees bent and swayed. A bird fell out of the sky and landed next to me. I staggered to my feet and grabbed the rail again.
“Help! Luke! Help me!” My brother’s voice screamed with the wind. I looked around, but I couldn’t see him. Where was he? Squinting, I scanned the area again.
Then I saw him! Austin was in front of the grizzly bear cage, holding the rail with both hands. His legs were straight out behind him, twisting in the wind. One of his shoes was gone. He was having a hard time holding on. I had to reach him before the wind blew him away.
The Komodo was now in his outdoor pen. He paced as he moved his head from side to side, flicking his yellow forked tongue. Hand over hand, I moved along the rail surrounding the Komodo’s glass enclosure. The bear cage was just across the lane. When I reached the end of the rail, I’d let go. Then I’d run across the lane and rescue my brother.
The green and yellow sky closed in around me. It bloomed pink and purple then all the colors of the rainbow. The colors began to spin like a rainbow tornado. My body whipped around in the wind, and it took all my strength to hang onto the rail. Austin wasn’t as strong as I was. What would happen to him? I had to help him, fast.
The colors in the sky became shapes. They blurred and danced in the air, like something out of a nightmare. A silver cloud stretched into the shape of a huge lizard. The lizard’s eyes gleamed like yellow moons. Its yellow forked tongue sent bolts of lightning across the sky. The lightning crashed and burrowed into the ground. The lizard followed the lightning and melted into a puddle next to me.
The puddle turned brown and began to bubble. It grew into the shape of a huge brown bear. The bear exploded into the sky. It pawed the darkness, shaping the air into a Silverback gorilla and then into a small red snake. In seconds they melted into a gray mist.
Everything sizzled and popped. It was like being in a giant frying pan. Animals snorted and growled. People screamed and cried. I heard Austin scream again. Fear stabbed my heart. I tried to run toward the screams, but my legs wouldn’t move.
An inky fog oozed over the zoo. The sizzling stopped. The air grew lighter. I took a deep breath and sucked fresh air into my lungs. The inky black faded away, and I could see again.
I must have fallen, because the ground was damp and cold under my face. I tried to stand, but my body flopped like a wet mattress. There was something strange on the ground in front of me. It looked like a dead rabbit.
“Austin! Where are you?” He didn’t answer. I couldn’t see him anywhere.
My heart thudded against my ribs. I was so scared I could hardly breathe. I was three years older and thirty pounds heavier than Austin. The terrible wind had knocked me to the ground. What had it done to Austin? Maybe it blew him into the hippo pond. Maybe it took him over a moat and into the lion enclosure. The zoo was full of dangerous animals. If the wind blew Austin into one of their spaces, he’d be in big trouble. I had to find him, fast.
First, I had to figure out where I was. Nothing looked familiar. I tried to think. When the storm started, I was just outside the Reptile House. I’d been looking at the outside section of the Komodo’s glass pen. Now I was inside the Reptile House, but it didn’t look the same. The doors and windows were high and out of my reach. So were the snake and frog aquariums. It was like being in one of those fun houses at the fair.
Beneath me the cement was cold and damp. It smelled bad, like pee and poop and rotten rabbit guts. The Komodo stared at me, flicking its forked yellow tongue. It paced behind the glass, moving its head from side to side. It seemed worried.
The front door was about twenty yards away. When I moved towards the door, I bumped into a wall of glass. I turned around to go the other way and bumped into another glass wall. Whichever way I went, my nose hit glass. Glass was all around me, like a huge aquarium. Something was very, very wrong.
Maybe I hit my head when I fell. Did I have a concussion? I raised my hand to feel for a lump. I could see the Komodo’s reflection in the glass. It raised one of its front claws and touched its head. I put my hand down and kicked out a foot. The Komodo put down its front claw and stuck out a back one. I moved in closer, and so did the Komodo. We were eye to eye with the wall of glass between us.
Then I looked down at my hands. I couldn’t believe what I saw! They were gray and covered with scales, like a Komodo’s claws. I twisted to see the rest of my body. I had a tail! A huge, gray, scaly tail! I couldn’t believe it. I wasn’t looking at the Komodo—I was looking at my own reflection in the glass. I wasn’t a boy anymore. Somehow I’d turned into a Komodo dragon!
This couldn’t be real. I must have a serious head injury. Maybe I was in the hospital. Or maybe this was a nightmare. That was it. This was just a bad dream. Soon I’d wake up in my own bed. Austin would be in his bed, too. We’d get up and have breakfast. Then we’d go to school. Austin would go to the sixth-grade classroom and I’d go to the eighth-grade. I wouldn’t care if he got better grades than I did. I just wanted him to be safe.
I tried to wake up. I closed my eyes and opened them again. All I could see was concrete and a dead rabbit. Glass surrounded me. I squeezed my eyes as tight as I could. I opened them again and looked around. Nothing had changed. I was still a Komodo dragon, and everything around me was strange.
I stretched my legs and tried to move. Slowly, I started forward, scraping my belly on the concrete. Pushing up from my legs, I tried to move again. It was like dragging a mattress. I was much heavier now. My legs—all four of them—were short.
I tried to think. What happened to me? How had I become a Komodo dragon? I’d read about werewolves, people that became wolves when the moon was full. In Greek legends, people who were cursed sometimes turned into animals. Was that what happened to me? Was I dreaming? Was I injured and unconscious? That would be better than being a Komodo dragon.
Worst of all, I worried about Austin. The last time I saw him, he was