17-year-old Trisha Prowlinton sat in the school bus waiting for the bus to arrive at Drill's Farms. She had an Asian appearance and wore a sky-blue jacket with navy blue jeans She looked around at the other classmates and the bus driver. Everyone was suspicious to her. One person she had bad feelings about was the school bully, Glenda Breezers. She was also seventeen and had dark hair, wore jeans and a brown jacket, and had a purple bandanna. She had a typical cocky smile on her face but she was eyeing an African American girl named Rosita. Rosita Quenly was Trisha's best friend and she was ambidexterous so some kids were known to pick on her. She was known for her empathy of others. She was wearing a purple jacket and white jeans and was sitting next to her peculiar boyfriend, Stanley Welles Zekeman. He was an 18-year-old Caucasian male with medium brown hair, was wearing a forest green hoodie, black sweat pants, and wore a black beret. He was a nature artist turned surrealist artist and disappeared over the summer. He reappeared a month ago with a change of attitude. Trisha saw it through his artworks. He used to make paintings of nature such as meadows and gardens but now he had paintings of peculiar creatures and deformed people with agonized features in a wasteland. Rosita was Stanley's girlfriend and has been with him for a few weeks. For what it looked like to Trisha, she seemed to sympathize Stanley's depression. Stanley claimed he was facing his "dark night of the soul" but Trisha believed he was hiding something. He used to live with his parents until he ended up living at the farm they were going to. Farmer Johnathan Drills was a 34-year-old man with auburn hair and freckles on his face. He inherited the farm from his father who passed away four years ago. They arrived at the farm and were immediately dropped off. A woman appeared holding a clipboard. She had hair dyed a neon blue and peachy skin. Trisha approached her and noticed the glowing yellow eyes. Werewolves had those kinds of eyes. Trisha was a weretigress who was aware of the fact that the suspicious activity was going on in her school and something at Mr. Drills farm was a target to many creatures of myth and legend.
"Hello, everybody, I am Eva Nellie Carvoff and I'll be directing you while you gather produce for your school Halloween party." the disguised she-wolf said. "Alright, pumpkin patch picking is over here for group A. Apple picking for group B is to your left. Corn harvesting is over in the cornfield over there to your right and please don't damage anything because your parents won't be happy if they have to pay for wreckage done to the farm produce." Stanley and Rosita walked to the pumpkin patch--together--holding hands! Trisha felt the gut instinct to have them separated but she remembered her superiors would not be pleased if she blew the mission all because she let her emotions get to her. She was about to shrug it off until she spotted Glinda walking away from the orchard (where she was told to go) and walked towards the red barn. Glinda looked around her and slipped inside, closing the door behind her. Glinda was a bulley in school and she could have been committing some kind of petty crime.
"Think carefully, Trisha." she said to herself. She saw a flash of green light coming from the barn. "That settles it, green lights means I can interrogate her. She ran over to the barn and sneaked inside. She saw Glinda, armed with a warhammer, smashing a crate.
"Rats! It isn't here!" Glinda cursed. "Johnathan and Eva must have relocated it!" Trisha saw a rope nearby. Her hands crackled with white energy. The rope vanished and reappeared in her hands. She saw the rope was already tied like a lasso, so she swiftly roped the unsuspecting Glinda. "Hey, what gives?" Glinda shouted.
Trisha said, "In the name of the Pegasus Patrol, you are being sent for interragation!" Trisha said.
"Oh, I don't think so!" Glinda sneered. Her body got taller, her upper torso sprouting with dark brown feathers while her human feet became covered with black fur and feline. The anthropomorphized griffoness broke free of the rope with her strength. Trisha in response transformed into a anthropomorphized tigress. "So, you think a rookie like you can hold me?" the griffon cackled. "Let's see what our spectroits can do!"
"Let's not use our powers to get messy and handle this in a civilized fashion!" Trisha tried to reason.
Glinda's talon hands crackled with green energy. A crossbow appeared in her hands and she fired at Trisha. Using her white spectroit, she made the arrow vanish and appear embedded in the barn wall.
"What is going on in here?" Eva opened the door and spotted the mythical creatures. "So you are looking for the portal?" Eva growled as she transformed into a storm gray werewolf. She lunged at Glinda, because she was the one armed with a weapon. Quickly, she transformed the crossbow into a tase gun.
She pressed it against Eva who howled in pain. Glinda spread her winds from her back and flew to the ceiling and towards the window to the outside. Glinda cackled, "Better luck next time, Fleabag!" Glinda flew outside. Trisha didn't know whether to help Eva or not.
Eva stood up shakily and eyed Trisha. "Are you with her?"
"No, ma'ma, I am part of the Pegasus Patrol. I was sent to investigate here for suspicious behavior."
"Leave, and join your classmates. There is nothing here that you want. Glinda did not come for what she wanted, but I think she is not working alone."
"What is this portal of yours?" Trisha pressed on.
The werewolf shook her head. "It will take you to a place where psychopaths, narcs, and sociopaths rule the streets. Listen to me, do not go to Guardaria, if you want to see another sunrise!"
"You mean the Guardarian Empire of the constellation Draco?" Trisha asked.
"Yes, there is a portal that can take people there but Johnathan has hidden it when I gave it to him. It looks like a rose quartz crystal and there are five different ones that can take you to the five lands--the one Glinda and her crew are searching for will take you to the Wastelands. The four other lands include the Sublands, The Prison Cities, the Laboratories, and the Citadel where the Emperor Earnest lives. The Emperor is not a merciful man, he will do anything to stop the prophecy of the loss of his reign from happening."
"And why do you have the portal." Trisha asked.
"To make the prophecy happen. Johnathan Drills may be a human, but he is skilled in handling magical artifacts. You are not ready for this quest." Eva warned.
"I'll do what I can to stop Glinda." Trisha said.
"I won't prevent you from doing what you think is right but please consider the lives you might put in danger if you bring reinforcements." Eva said. She and Trisha turned back into humans to resume the fieldtrip.

End of Chapter