Felicity clutched Kitty, and began to whimper, but Kitty pulled away. Felicity stared, incredulously at her friend. Even she had to be frightened. But instead of staying still, Kitty snatched her binoculars out of her bag, threw them at Felicity, and mumbled something about: “Just in case she was going to be eaten,” before hurrying into the clutter of pine trees. Felicity sighed. Was her friend ever going to learn? Felicity’s eyes widened when she heard a shocked squeal from where Kitty had disappeared! This shrill sound had been too high-pitched for Kitty’s ordinary voice. It was her screech of terror. Ignoring the whining wind and the rustling bushes, Felicity sprang through the trees like a jack in the box. Kitty was kneeling in the snow, peering at a tiny, limp figure, completely motionless. ‘What is it?’ asked Felicity, trying to hide the rising panic in her voice. 

Kitty exchanged her troubled look. ‘It’s a cat,’ she whimpered.  

Felicity let out a sigh of relief.  

Kitty scowled at her. ‘But it’s got wings.’ 

Felicity let out a high-pitched laugh. ‘Cats don’t have wings!’ she cackled, unconvincingly.  

‘See it for yourself,’ said Kitty. She bent down and scooped a small, golden, tortoiseshell bundle up in her arms, and turned around. 

Felicity gasped. There, in Kitty’s arms, lay a crumpled ball of fur. The cat, whose golden, patterned pelt glowed in the moonlight, pointed her whiskers forward, as though battling in her sleep. Kitty gasped. ‘She’s alive! I want to call her Hatty.’ 

Felicity glared. ‘I am unsure about this. You cannot keep a stray furball which is injured beyond repair on a broken skyship!’ 

‘The skyship can be fixed, there is just a hole in the deck which can be patched up!’ argued Kitty. 

Felicity considered this. ‘Well, you have to look after it!’ she muttered, gazing, scornfully at Hatty, who was mewing and rolling, her forepaws swiping at her twisted, blood-stained wings.  

‘Look at her beautiful wings! She looks like a little angel! Her wings are gorgeous! They are big, feathery and white!’ 

This was all Felicity could hear as she trudged back to the remaining crew. Kitty, obviously, wasn’t planning on getting rid of little Hatty any time, soon.  

* 

Captain Benji was not impressed about recruiting this injured kitten, but Kitty had insisted and begged until he gave in.  

‘We can’t keep it. It’ll just be a burden! What use is it?’ yelled Captain Benji. 

Kitty scowled. ‘She is no burden! She’s got wings! She’s special!’ argued Kitty. 

Eventually, Kitty had won. Now, Felicity was scrubbing Hatty’s cuts in a stone sink. Hatty was purring and bunting the brush, making it rather difficult. 

‘Keep still, Hatty!’ wailed Felicity, becoming exasperated. 

Kitty rushed over to defend her winged kitten. ‘She’s enjoying it! Don’t you know that when cats purr, it means that they’re happy?!’ 

Felicity scowled at her friend and hauled Hatty out of the sink. She swaddled her in a towel and handed her to Kitty, Hatty purring all the while. Felicity couldn’t help feeling that her and Kitty’s friendship was parting over this ridiculous rag of fur. She glared across at Hatty who was purring on Kitty’s lap, kneading her and bunting her chest. 

Hatty was officially a new crew member. 

You’ve probably been on an airship, where the balloon squeaks, ominously, threatening to burst, but the breeze rocks the ship from side to side, like the rhythm of your heart, and you relax, letting all your worries get carried away with the rays of sunshine.  

Remember how the flame that lit the balloon crackled and smouldered in the glass tank, licking the glass, and the calm vibration of the engine tickling your toes, causing you to press them closer to the floor in excitement.  

   I bet you’ve enjoyed stumbling across the patchwork balloon, wearing a prominent pair of flying goggles and gripping a parachute for safety. 

     But you could have been on a skyship when the ship tilts sideways and everyone skids across the floor, drinks topple off trays and everyone gasps. When the driver falls asleep steering, and the ship zooms of course into a thunder cloud. Thunder shakes the ship and lightening punctures holes in the side. Or when the breeze whips the drizzle into your windswept face, starting to rage about the airship polluting the beautiful, crystal clear sky, and starts swirling and howling, and your muscles tense apprehensively. 

You probably won’t believe this, but some say that the reason the airship can fly, is because the ice dragon nests in the circular balloon, turning it impenetrable with his dark magic. According to history, in 1,000 years’ time, the dragon will finish nesting, and burst through the balloon.

Hail bombarded at Felicity’s face like cannon fire. She shielded her eyes, ducking under the shelter of the balloon, but the sleet and rain was chucked in after her. 

It had been a sunny day, but it had turned to mist, then drizzle, and now this! If she ever went into space, she would fix, whatever fortune told the weather. 

Why had captain Benji ever trusted that goblin? They would probably be in bed right now if it wasn’t for him. She really didn’t want to hate him, but she had to! He may have been kind, he may have been gentle, but he was most certainly not smart. 

Felicity wrestled her way to the side of the ship, the violent wind almost sweeping her off her feet. 

Her jaw dropped. Kitty, her best friend, was scrambling up a long rope, leading to the top of the balloon. This was the sort of thing her adventurous friend liked to do. Felicity breathed out. At least this wasn’t as bad as the time Kitty had decided that she was going to climb the precipitous peak of Mount Everest.  

Kitty spotted her gawking, and began waving, cheerily, binoculars swinging from around her neck. Then, she began mouthing like a goldfish, attempting to speak to Felicity, but her shout was whipped away with the breeze and she looked as though she was chatting over a computer, on mute. Felicity raised her ginger eyebrows and began balancing, precariously, along the edge of the deck. There were a series of gasps as she edged ever closer to Kitty. Now, her voice was getting clearer, but she was facing the other way, peering through her binoculars whilst yelling. 

‘Kitty!’ howled Felicity.  

Kitty swivelled around, lowering her binoculars from her brown eyes, slowly. 

‘Say again,’ rasped Felicity. 

‘Dragons!’ wailed Kitty. ‘They are heading this way with spy goblins and werecats!’ 

Felicity, gazed, incredulously at her friend. If she thought that there were dragons heading towards the skyship, then she would have to think again. 

‘I think you’re getting a bit dizzy!’ she howled over the groaning wind. ‘Because the dragons know that we are on a mission to kill them, therefore they wouldn’t be heading straight for us!’  

Kitty looked wild, and Felicity realised that she had to believe her.  

Felicity spun around to warn the rest of the crew, but it was too late. 

Out of the blue, (well, the grey,) a pack of flaming fire dragons shot from a sizzling bolt of lightning, serpentine bodies writhing like whips. The one at the front whirled onto the upper deck, soaring through the sky like a midnight black lightning bolt with wings and flaming yellow eyes. 

It landed surprisingly silently, due to its tremendous size, but its pungent breath was enough to make anyone pass out. The other dragons followed, all incredible in size like the first, but not quite as large.  

Captain Benji yanked at a leaver with such force that there was a loud cracking sound, and the ship began to plummet. The dragons flailed, chucking their tails out behind them and looping through the sky, smashing into the balloon. They began to yelp, gnashing their teeth, angrily, but the ship tipped downward into a nose-dive, and the dragons swirled off into the storm, leaving a trail of white-hot fire behind them. Felicity exchanged a glance with Kitty and they both dashed to the side of the ship. As the last fire dragon was blown out of sight, Felicity spotted a small, red-haired girl, clutched in its talons. This was their five-year-old friend, Lily, and they had failed to save her. She looked barely alive, and they had to follow! Felicity began eying up a leap, but the skyship was plunged, dramatically, into a dense, gloomy forest. . . 

A pair of skyhopper shoes,

flashing and glowing like

two mirror balls, to jump

Over the moon.

An electric shock,

Writhing in a bottle,

To chuck at enemies

Like a boomerang.

A warm, fluffy cat,

To purr and lie on my lap,

And keep me company.

A box of curled up wishes,

To pull out whenever necessary.

The Northern lights,

Lapping at the insides

Of a jar, like the waves,

To bring good luck when the

Werekittens are attacking.

A rock from the biggest

Black hole ever,

to smoulder 

the space dragon.

A supply of helium,

To fill up the balloon

On top of the ship

And to disguise my voice.

I would take a

Tempestuous storm,

Stored in my bag,

Like a child, not wanting

To leave the soft play.

The turbulent breeze ready

To cause destruction.

A glittering pot, with

 diverse types

Of savoury food and water

 whenever I open it.

A book of good ideas,

To work out how to

Fix the ship.

A basket of magical

Photographs,

To find out mysterious clues.

A pair of stomatopod vision

Night goggles, to spot

Anything, even microscopic

Objects.

Space Dragon

The eyes are flaming balls of white-hot rage,

Writhing, desperately in the scaly

Sockets, yearning to escape the body and radiate

Evil on everything, like the sun.

The skin is smooth and firm,

Flashing, instantly to the colour

Of whatever is behind it,

Like the skin of a sly octopus.

The jaws are long and pointed,

Extremely threatening,

Spitting out fumes of smoke

As hot as the sun’s surface,

Like a long snouted Doberman.

The teeth are prominent and ominous,

Poking in all directions and yellow with grime,

Embedding themselves in the upper lip,

Causing blood to dribble down them,

Like snapped aerials.

The tongue is forked

and pale blue,

Speckled with white patterns,

Like the snow.

The scales are neat

and curved, smooth as the calm

Surface of the deep blue sea,

Like oddly shaped dinner plates.

The spine is long and stiff,

Spikes rising, stealthily

From the twisted line,

Like a shark’s teeth.

The wings are wide and muscular,

Spread out, gracefully,

Wider than a spiralling staircase,

Beating heavily, sending turbulent storms

To scatter across the world,

For the hope that it would bring a curse,

Like a malevolent spirit of the dead.