Eustace

Dear Diary,

We've been in this rotten ship for days now. I'm patiently waiting until we reach a civilized country so I can contact the British Consul and get them to arrest this crew for kidnapping.

I really hate it here. As I stated in one of the previous entries, my cousins are most delusional. Even Susan, who had to date, been my favourite and most logical cousin, the only one I didn't hate, is convinced that she's the Queen of this world. And apparently, she is madly in love with King Caspian. I don't know how someone could fall in love with him, but she did. Meanwhile, everyone else is looking for lost lords and islands. The sea must be playing with their minds.

We have just returned from another stupid island yesterday, this one full of little, one-footed monsters called Dufflepuds. We also met a magician who claimed to be able to do real magic, and his daughter, who thinks she can see the future.

I just hope the next place we encounter is civilized; I must bring charges against my cousins.

I almost forgot to write about that beautiful girl, Devon. The poor girl is also delusional. I don't worry much about it, though. Soon enough she'll notice my handsomeness and forget all about Narnia.

I must cease to continue, it seems we have encountered another island.

I went to deck to see the island, hoping for signs of civilization. Instead, the island was a mess with tall mountains.

"Drinian, have our men stay on the ship. Susan, Lucy, Selene, Peter, Edmund, Pirate Boy, and, I hate to say it, but Devon has to come, too." Drinian nodded and went to tell the crew.

"So you've finally figured out that I'm better than that demon-eyed hag that calls herself a Queen?" Devon said, batting her eyelashes for effect. Susan's face glowed bright red, but I knew better than to think it was embarrassment. Caspian looked like he was putting all his energy into not strangling Devon: I'm proud of her.

"No, I just decided it would be better to have some more people who can handle a bow, even if they have one eighth of Susan's talent." He said, making Devon blush a deep red. He smiled triumphantly, which only made me hate him more. I narrowed my eyes at him, which only made him chuckle.

"Let's go then." Lucy said, probably unaware of the tension.

We went down into the island, hoping to find fresh game and some water. We walked for two hours; I had to ask for ten rests. The terrible thing was, these people are more interested in acting all strong and not in being safe and well-rested. Peter is at the lead and talking to Selene, Lucy, Edmund, and Pirate Boy are in the middle, and Susan is in the back, her bow ready to shoot animals, while talking to Caspian. Devon is at least being reasonable; she's telling everyone how tired she is and begging for rest. The awful thing is, no one is listening to her.

After those two hours of walking, Caspian declared:

"Nothing grows here, there are no animals, and all the rivers are dry. We must go back to the ship and notify the crew of these grave news." I was so angry, I'm sure I could have strangled Caspian for making us walk two hours!

Instead, I had a better idea.

I'd escape, hopefully finding some other civilization, or some animal, and also get some rest. When my cousins were too busy talking, I fled.

I had been walking for half an hour, taking consistent rests, when I saw something that glistened. I approached it and found a real gold ring! I decided to put it on, after all: finders, keepers!

I looked up and saw something much better than the ring: treasure! It was huge, full of gold coins and jewels. There were suits of armour and even some swords! There was a huge cave simply stuffed with treasure. On my way there, I tripped on something; I looked down and screamed, for I had tripped on a skeleton.

He must have been here a hundred years ago or so, because there wasn't any sign of danger here. I noticed a beautiful golden bangle he was wearing.

"You won't be needing that anymore." I said to him, even though he was dead.

Suddenly, I was rather tired. I realized I'd been walking for two hours and a half and hadn't eaten since breakfast. I decided to go into the cave and maybe get some sleep. After I checked for danger, I lay down in a pile of gold. My dreams were short, but always about me owning my own island with all that gold and having my cousins and Caspian be my slaves and Devon was my wife.

When I woke up, I noticed something was wrong. The bangle on my arm hurt incredibly and as I turned to look at it, I realized my arm was huge and red and was filled with scales. I looked down at my body. It was lizard-like, red, and scaly, only with two huge wings at the sides. I tried to scream, but fire came out of my mouth instead.

For some reason unknown to me, I was a dragon. I flapped my wings, trying them out, but I couldn't fly in the cave. I walked out on four legs, which felt rather strange and noticed something I hadn't seen before: a huge skeleton of a dragon. I was terribly afraid at this point: what if I stayed a dragon forever?

I decided to fly as fast as I could to the ship. Then I thought; what if they left me here? I used all my energy into going there as fast as I could, but I saw two little specks on the ground halfway to the beach. People! I swooped down behind them, hoping to throw one on my back when one that was Edmund turned around.

"Caspian, look out!" He said. Caspian had time to dive and avoid me, but I was too fast for Edmund. I put him on my back and it was when I heard him scream that I had no idea how to show it was me.

I tried to speak, but again, only fire came out of my mouth, and then I had an idea: I would use my fire to write on the stone!

I swooped downward and started writing, it was difficult, but when I was finished, Edmund said:

"Oh! You're Eustace?" I did my best to nod my head, and then I returned to the ship. There, Edmund explained about me being a dragon. He also said that he and Caspian had passed my cave and found a Lord's sword. They, too had seen the dead dragon, and as Ariane carefully removed the bangle from my arm, Peter said:

"Everyone knows a dragon's treasure is cursed!" I looked at him, trying to convey my message: I'm not from here, remember? "Well, anyone from here." He added. That night, there was a huge discussion about what they'd do with me. They finally decided to figure something out in the morning. I was crying because I didn't like being a dragon! And, I was worried they'd just leave me here to die! The mouse Reepicheep saw me and I just wanted him to go away, for surely he was just going to try to brag about something. Instead, he told me about his adventures, and then said something that made me feel warmer than I'd been in my life.

"Extraordinary things only happen to extraordinary people! Maybe it's a sign, that you've got an extraordinary destiny! Something greater than you could have imagined."