Phillip’s Quest, Book II: Above The Stars

Available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. This book is filled with exciting new adventures for the three friends after they arrive in a land of unbelievable beauty and unbearable cold! Follow them through the mountains of Llapismont in search of the Carnelian Sea! New perils and new pests try to stop their journey, and the old pests are still there, too! A new minion is added to the Red Witch’s arsenal of nasty creatures, and he is not pretty! Poor Razorsnoot may be on his last legs, if the new guy has anything to say about it.

You can read Chapter one of Phillip’s Quest, Book II: Above The Stars  right here on my website!

Chapter I: THROUGH THE MAGICAL VOID

Light beams flashed and pulsated around the three companions. Purple. Blue. The three travelers were lifted into the air and tumbled into a vortex, a vast swirling empty hole filled with a rainbow of bright colors and strange sounds. They were helpless and had no feeling in their hands or feet.

SNAAP!

A burst of crimson gas exploded into dazzling pink droplets that orbited and fluttered around the dinosaur and squirrel.

CRAACK!

One thunderous wave of green and gold shot the gnome above his companions and sent him toppling through the wormhole, end over end.

“Will this ever end?” screamed Edward the squirrel.

His feeble voice was snatched up and swallowed within the ocean of deafening vibrations. Faster they tumbled and faster the spiraling tunnel snaked and curled through the deep blues of space.

Beyond the veils of the winding vortex, Phillip could faintly make out the white sparkle of distant stars. He thrust his arms outwards, as if swimming in deep water, and began to kick. He carefully navigated back down towards his spinning friends.

Edward still desperately clung onto one of the cumbersome leather pouches of the dinosaur’s saddle. His body and tail stretched out like a flag. His eyes were as big as walnuts, and his little furry head was barely moving.

“I think I’m going to be sick!” cried the brontosaurs as she continued to spin in circles.

With calm, even strokes, Phillip swam closer to her.

“Use your tail to try to control your spinning!” he yelled at the top of his lungs. Bursts of blazing, yellow lights radiated all around them.

She looked up at him in a daze, blinking wildly.

“Use your tail!” he screamed again.

Stinky nodded and began to slowly move her large tail back and forth like the rudder of a great galleon navigating the high seas. Swirls of blue and purple gases churned in its massive wake. It was working!

The gnome reached out and grabbed one of the leather straps that dangled from the dinosaur’s harness. He pulled himself on top of her back and strapped himself safely into the saddle.

“Phillip!” cried Edward as a flock of bird-like orbs flapped past them. “What is this place? What is happening?”

“I don’t know! But look ahead there!” Phillip pointed.

Edward and Stinky jerked their heads around to look behind them and saw a far off light, cold and white, growing in the distance. Within a matter of seconds, the brightness had closed in around them. Their eyes could no longer focus.

“Hang on! We’re going through the light!” screamed the dinosaur. Edward retreated into the depths of the saddlebag, and Phillip clung to Stinky’s neck.

As the dazzling, cold light engulfed the travelers, an intensifying pressure built up around them. They vibrated and shook. The hairs on Phillip’s arms and neck stood on end, and the faint humming noise soon became a painful, overwhelming thunder.

BOOM! BOOM!

The intense light and blinding pressure instantly gave way to bitter cold and loud gusts of snow. They weren’t tumbling any longer—they were falling! Falling amidst a howling barrage of snow and wind. Phillip blinked his eyes as snowflake after snowflake pelted his vision.

“What is this?” screamed Stinky.

“A blizzard!” responded the gnome.

FLUMP!

The great dinosaur hit the snow-covered ground with a deep rumble and began to slide on her belly. Waves of fluffy snow burst up on either side. The force of the

crash had propelled Edward out of the saddlebag and shot him like an arrow through the churning, white sky.

“Edward!” yelled Phillip as he and the dinosaur came to rest against a grove of towering fir trees. Mounds of heavy snow fell from the shaking limbs, and the fragrant scent of pine needles filled the dense air.

“Stinky! Are you hurt?”

The dinosaur moaned as she slowly rose to her feet. “I don’t think so. What in the world is happening? Where are we?”

Phillip rubbed his eyes and shook off a layer of snow as he turned and peered out into the blustering landscape. A cloak of pure white blanketed the surrounding area. Blasts of frozen wind spun across the desolate plain and shrieked through the branches of the neighboring trees. The faint suggestion of mountaintops peeked up through the fog and clouds. “I don’t know,” responded the gnome, “but we need to find Edward quickly! Where did he fly off to?”

The gnome slowly realized that this was not another one of his dreams. He had indeed awakened from the sleep that Azur had put him in. As he shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts, he was stunned by what he saw around him.

Boots and britches, how in the world did this happen? thought Phillip. He had almost forgotten about Azur’s spell that transported them all to this land of ice and snow.

Stinky raised her head up above the treetops and gazed out into the unrelenting storm. Between gusts, she began to make out the impressions of a smaller crater and tiny paw prints that disappeared into the distance.

“This way!” she yelled.

The gnome had a hard time getting his wits about him. The picture over Azur’s fireplace! They were there, in Azur’s picture. Phillip didn’t remember the journey, but he knew where he was. Phillip again rubbed his eyes and looked around. He studied the landscape closely.

To find out what happens to Phillip, Edward, and Stinky in the world in Azur’s picture, pick up your copy of Phillip’s Quest, Book II: Above The Stars today!