Dragon Keepers: The Dragon in the Library Part 13

The knights came around and stood in front of Jesse.

"Thanks, fellas," Jesse said, bringing the biscuits to his mouth. "Just what I needed! A snack break." The guards snorted and sniffed inside their helmets.

Jesse moved the biscuits back and forth an inch or two away from the two visors. Armor creaking, 166.

the knights' heads tracked the biscuits. Now holding a biscuit in each hand, Jesse moved a treat toward each visor and then quickly pulled it away. He did this until the dog-knights couldn't stand it a minute longer. They flipped open their visors and showed their human faces, their tongues hanging down to their chins.

Jesse picked the most eager-looking dog-man and stared into his eyes, never letting his gaze waver. When Jesse was sure he was Top Dog, he said in a sharp, firm voice, "Sit!"

Armor screeching, the knight lowered himself onto the black and white tiles, sitting down with a loud clank clank , never taking his eyes off the biscuit. , never taking his eyes off the biscuit.

Jesse said, "Beg!"

"That's mean," said Daisy.

"It's not," Jesse said with steely calm. "I'm just showing him who's Top Dog. It's necessary."

With more clanking, the knight got up onto his knees and placed his armored gloves together beneath his chin. His mouth fell open and his tongue hung out as he s...o...b..red and panted in antic.i.p.ation.

"Good dog!" Jesse said, and tossed him the biscuit. The dog-man caught it in his mouth and crunched it up, then fell over onto his back with a noisy clatter, his arms and legs sticking straight up in the air.

167.

Then Jesse went through the same routine with the second dog-knight. In short order, he had both of them on their backs, as meek and helpless as a pair of toppled tortoises.

"Sorry I can't stop and scratch your bellies, boys," Jesse told them.

"That was close," said Daisy. She turned and offered Jesse the backpack. "Better get out some more of those things. And snap them in half. There are an awful lot of dogs in this castle, and we need those biscuits to last."

Jesse took out the tin and started snapping the half moons into quarter moons while Daisy pored over the notebook. Jesse held on to a handful of biscuit bits and packed the tin away.

Daisy turned around and pointed. "Those twisty stairs?"

Jesse nodded at the spiral staircase made of wood that wound its way around a wide stone pillar in the center of the gallery.

"They lead to the big tower," Daisy told him.

A second later, two beefy German shepherds trotted down the stairs. Spotting the cousins, they launched themselves into the air and landed on the floor, heading for Jesse and Daisy at a dead run.

"Quick, Jess!" Daisy cried.

Jesse dropped down and skidded two dog 168.

biscuit bits along the tiled floor like hockey pucks. The shepherds slid to a halt, scarfed up the biscuits, then promptly rolled over onto their backs with their eight paws in the air and their two tongues lolling out of the sides of their mouths.

"I wonder how long the effects last," Daisy said.

"Let's hope long enough for us to free the professor," Jesse said. They grabbed the dogs' front paws and, as gently as they could, pulled the dogs across the floor and hid them beneath the stairs.

Then Daisy and Jesse started up the spiral staircase. The wood creaked beneath their feet. Moving to the inside of the stairs, the cousins hugged the center pillar and found a less creaky way up. As they edged around the last turn, they saw the door to the tower room standing ajar. They heard Sadie Huffington's laughter ring out harshly. They crept closer and dropped to their knees, poking their heads around the edge of the half-open door. Jesse's chin rested on the crown of Daisy's head.

Sadie Huffington stood before a full-length gilt-framed mirror, wearing her Balthazaar of Belvedere coat. One pale hand gripped the choke collar around Emmy's sheepdog neck. Ms. Huffington was saying, "It turns out I won't be needing your questionable services any longer, Lukas. Now that I 169.

can add this furry specimen to my canine collection."

The professor's voice said in reply, "You might be holding that dog, but she is certainly not in your collection."

Jesse scanned the room, searching for the professor, but couldn't make out where he was.

Ms. Huffington said with a cold laugh, "Finders keepers. I caught her in my trap and scooped her up. And how lucky for me that I did. Because, you see, I know who she belongs to, Lukas."

Sadie Huffington held up Emmy's purple Great Dane-sized collar, its gold locket swinging. "A golden locket on a dog collar. A most unusual canine accessory, even by my standards. The locket contains the photographs of two children. I have seen these two children, Lukas. They came to call on you after I had... persuaded persuaded you to join me here. They are the Dragon Keepers of Emerald of Leandra!" you to join me here. They are the Dragon Keepers of Emerald of Leandra!"

The professor replied blandly, "You persuaded persuaded me of nothing. I came here of my own free will." me of nothing. I came here of my own free will."

Tapping the top of Daisy's head, Jesse pointed to the mirror.

Light from a small iron chandelier made it difficult at first for Daisy to see into the mirror. Then she nodded vigorously when she finally saw that in 170.

place of where Ms. Huffington's reflection was the professor. The professor was literally in the mirror in the mirror . The poor professor! He was a prisoner times two: trapped in the tower and trapped inside the mirror! . The poor professor! He was a prisoner times two: trapped in the tower and trapped inside the mirror!

"I intend to force their dog to lead me to them," Sadie Huffington said.

The professor chuckled. "Oh, that remains to be seen."

"You question me? I, who have dominion over all canine kind! Already she kneels before me and heels and begs and does my bidding. She'll lead me to the children. The children will lead me to their dragon. And when I have my way with the dragon, she will lead me to my consort."

The professor laughed out loud. "You are neglecting one crucial detail. The dragon doesn't know know where your precious George is...any more than I do," he said. where your precious George is...any more than I do," he said.

Sadie Huffington's knuckles whitened as she twisted Emmy's collar. "Of course she knows. She's a dragon," Huffington said. "She knows all."

"I keep telling you, my dear, but you seem disinclined to heed me: Emerald knows very little Emerald knows very little . She's a useless hatchling. Her magic is latent--years and years away from being active." . She's a useless hatchling. Her magic is latent--years and years away from being active."

Emmy began to whine as Ms. Huffington's hold on her collar tightened. "I have heard differently,"

171.

she said. "I tell you, by moonrise, I will have the dragon in iron chains and my prince by my side. We will make our kingdom here, in this little hamlet in the shadow of the mountain. From here our power will grow and flourish."

"Perhaps," said the professor coolly. "But then again, perhaps not."

Jerking Emmy's collar so hard that she let out a yowl, Sadie Huffington quickly whirled away from the mirror and the cousins scooted into the shadows behind the door. Ms. Huffington stormed out of the tower room and stalked down the stairs, dragging a whimpering Emmy behind her.

Jesse grabbed the back of Daisy's shirt and kept her from leaping out into the open. They waited until they were sure that Ms. Huffington wasn't coming back. Then they tumbled out from behind the door and went to huddle before the mirror.

"Hey, Professor!" they whispered, waving to him.

The professor whispered back, "h.e.l.lo! There you are! I knew I saw you peeping out from behind that door. At first I thought it might have been a pair of errant little palace Pekingese, but I should have known that it was my brave Dragon Keepers! I knew you'd find a way inside the castle!" His smile, beneath his new spiky little beard, was warm and 172.

kind, not at all like the sneaky, mean version they had met in the maze.

Daisy couldn't resist telling him in a loud whisper, "Emmy got her wings!"

"You don't say!" the professor whispered back, looking truly impressed. "Miracles continue to abound in this dragon of yours. It explains all that snapdragon moodiness."

Jesse and Daisy both nodded intently.

"Does Sadie really believe Emmy's a dog?" Jesse asked, still whispering.

"She does, indeed, my boy! Emmy's masking spell is one of the most powerful I have ever encountered," said the professor. "We must use this to our advantage. One of the few we can claim at the moment."

Jesse rummaged around in the backpack. "We have this, too," he said, holding up the Toilet Gla.s.s to the mirror.

"Ah! Very good!" the professor said approvingly. "I see you have also found your way into the Scriptorium!"

The cousins nodded enthusiastically. Jesse wanted to tell him all about the elf hole and Willum Wink and Balthazaar, but he knew this was wasn't the time or the place.

The professor said, "Sadie Huffington would 173.

love nothing better than to reclaim this little bauble. The one thing our princess loves above all else is her face, in a mirror, and preferably one that lies."

"Does this mirror lie?" Daisy asked. Then she remembered her amazingly beautiful reflection. It had been too good to be true. "I guess you're right," she said, disappointment tugging at her. "Some trick."

"You may offer it up to her," said the professor. "But only here, in this room, standing before me. Am I understood?"

"I guess," Jesse said slowly. "But why?"

"Magical triangulation," the professor said.

"Right. Okay," the cousins muttered together, neither of them having the slightest idea what it meant, but sensing its importance.

"So should we stay here with you and wait until she comes back?" Daisy asked.

The professor shook his head. "She'll not be returning to this room any time soon. Let us say that she has exhausted her use of me. Her immediate plans lie elsewhere. The next time she returns will be to smash this mirror to kingdom come and destroy me."

"No!" Jesse and Daisy cried out, springing toward the mirror and pressing their palms to it.

174.

"Shh," said the professor, finger to his lips. "The sentries will hear you. If you'll put your eye to the squint hole there, you'll see for yourselves."

It took Daisy a moment to remember what a squint hole was: a long vertical slit in a castle wall through which people of old used to look to see their enemies approaching.

Daisy and Jesse snuck over to the squint hole. Daisy put her eye to the bottom of the slit. Their current enemies, two enormous, s.h.a.ggy black guard dogs, paced the ramparts just outside. She stood aside to let Jesse have a look. Jesse's eye widened. He turned back to her. "Tibetan mastiffs, all right," he whispered, swallowing hard.

They scuttled back to the mirror.

"It was not my intention to make you more fearful. Merely appropriately cautious," said the professor. "You have everything you need to fend off those brutes--as well as all the others. Now you must find a way to trick Sadie Huffington into coming back here. Clever Keepers like you should have no problem with that."

The cousins sat back on their heels. "That means we need a new plan," Jesse said out of the corner of his mouth, just the way he would have had they been in front of the computer.

Daisy nodded. Rescuing the professor wasn't 175.

going to be quite as simple as they had imagined.

The professor continued. "Might I suggest that your first priority be to liberate Emerald? I fear that inhumane collar will inevitably goad her into making a most untimely unmasking. Look there." He pointed behind them.

Daisy and Jesse turned and looked over their shoulders to a mosaic on the tower wall. It showed a unicorn being la.s.soed by a gleeful blond knight on a white steed. (St. George, again!) again!) The unicorn had a fat pearl embedded in the middle of its forehead. The unicorn had a fat pearl embedded in the middle of its forehead.

"If you'll press the pearl in that n.o.ble creature's head...," the professor said.

"What will happen?" Daisy asked, turning back to the mirror. But the professor was no longer there. All they saw were their own reflections--a couple of puzzled, slightly grubby-looking kids--staring back at them.

"It's nice to know that even when he's a prisoner, he can still come and go like that," Jesse said sourly.

"Typical," Daisy said with a snort. She got up and sneaked over to the unicorn mosaic, careful to keep her head below the level of the squint hole. Reaching up, she pressed the pearl. A panel swung open with a soft creak.

176.

CHAPTER TEN

THE BEWITCHED HAMBURGER.

Jesse and Daisy leaned through the pa.s.sageway and looked in. Shafts of sunlight shone through a series of squint holes, lighting the way down a set of 177.

curving stairs. When the wall panel began to swing shut, the cousins jumped into the secret pa.s.sageway. There was nothing for them to do now but go wherever the stairs led them.

Jesse stopped at a squint hole partway down and peered out. The courtyard below was empty. He had a clear view beyond the walls out to the lilac trees, where their bikes were stashed near the cul-de-sac. A couple of older boys were skateboarding in a lazy circle. Those young men were going about their normal, everyday lives while in the castle, witches and Dragon Keepers were waging a battle to the death. Jesse shivered. Stop being so dramatic Stop being so dramatic , he told himself. , he told himself. It won't help It won't help . .

"Come on!" Daisy whispered, tugging at his hand. Jesse nodded and tore himself away from the view.

When they got to the bottom of the stairs, a life-size metal statue of a peac.o.c.k stood in their path. A sapphire was set in the eye of its center-most tail feather.

Daisy looked to Jesse and raised one eyebrow. He shrugged, so she pushed the blue stone. A second panel swung open before them. The cousins stepped through and found their noses pressed to the back side of a vast, rather dusty tapestry.

178.

"We're back in the throne room," Jesse whispered in Daisy's ear. She nodded.

They linked hands and edged along the wall behind the tapestry until the toe of Jesse's sneaker stuck out from behind the frayed corner. Jesse knelt down and peered out. Now it was Daisy's chin digging into the crown of Jesse's head.

At least fifty dogs of all shapes and sizes but mostly big--and nearly as many hefty dog-men--milled about in a throng before the receiving platform, growling and panting and sniffing each other's b.u.t.ts. Sadie Huffington sat high on St. George's throne. With one hand, she grasped Emmy by the choke collar. With the other, she whipped her switch in the air to signal silence. Emmy didn't move, even as Ms. Huffington clipped the tip of one of her ears. The dogs below abruptly pointed their muzzles toward the Top Dog and sat on their haunches.