The Case of the Vanishing Dragon Lantern

“Did you see it?!” Eddy whispered, his eyes wide as moons.

Anna tugged her scarf tighter around her neck and squinted at the empty lantern post in front of the village bakery. “Nope. Not again.”

Every night, just after midnight, the glowing dragon lantern lit up the sleepy village of Tanjung Tokong like a firefly wrapped in silk. But every morning, it vanished without a trace. And no one could figure out how—or why.

“This time,” Eddy said, adjusting his detective cap (a gift from his daddy who once solved a mystery involving missing rainbow socks), “we will catch the thief!”

Anna grinned. She wasn’t just Eddy’s best friend; she was also the smartest kid in school when it came to riddles and puzzles. If anyone could crack this mystery, it was their duo.

That night, they waited behind the bakery, bundled in blankets and armed with notebooks, flashlights, and a thermos of hot chocolate. The clock tower chimed twelve. Ding. Dong. Ding. Dong.

Suddenly, a soft golden glow filled the square—then vanished.

“Now!” Anna whispered.

They scrambled into the street. No footprints. No shadows. Just silence.

But something caught Anna’s eye: a tiny shimmer on the ground. She picked it up—a scale, glittering like moonlight on water.

Eddy gasped. “A dragon scale?”

But dragons didn’t live in Tanjung Tokong. At least, not anymore.

Over the next few nights, the clues piled up: a trail of sparkly dust leading to the old willow tree, a faint hum that sounded like hummingbird wings, and a whisper of wings too big for any bird.

One by one, their friends joined the hunt.

Lily X brought her sketchbook and drew what the dragon might look like—long, silver, with eyes like stars.

Bell brought snacks. Important for long stakeouts.

Emma had a knack for listening and swore she heard someone singing near the riverbank.

Hyuga, quiet but clever, noticed the pattern: the lantern always disappeared on nights with a full moon.

Pye, who loved mysteries more than cake (and he really loved cake), helped decode an ancient map hidden in the town library.

And then there was Alexis—who claimed she could talk to animals. Though no one believed her until she asked a squirrel if it had seen anything strange and the squirrel nodded.

“It says there’s a cave behind the waterfall,” Alexis told them, wide-eyed. “That’s where the light comes from.”

The team followed the squirrel’s directions, sneaking past the misty waterfall and into a hidden cave. Inside, the walls shimmered with crystals, and in the center, curled around a glowing lantern, was a tiny dragon—no bigger than a puppy—with shimmering silver scales and eyes full of wonder.

“You’re… real?” Eddy whispered.

The dragon blinked and chirped softly.

Anna stepped forward. “You took the lantern because you were lonely, didn’t you?”

The dragon nuzzled the lantern gently.

“We can help,” Lily N offered, pulling out a small lantern of her own. “We’ll make sure you have light—and friends.”

From that night on, the dragon stayed in the village, perched on the lantern post with two lanterns now glowing side by side—one made by the villagers, and one returned by its little guardian.

And the detective duo? They became local legends.