The Dragon In The Sock Drawer Part 5

"Ah!" said Professor Andersson, stroking his beard. "Most interesting! This is the first instance of actual limestone ingestion I have come across. I suspect that your dragon ate limestone because 67.limestone contains calcium. Your dragon is a hatch-ling. Hatchlings need large doses of calcium to fuel their initial growth spurt. Feed her foods high in calcium, such as cheese, eggsh.e.l.ls, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, kale, spinach, Brussels sprouts, and dark-leaf lettuce."

"Great!" said Daisy. "She can have my cabbage and Brussels sprouts any old day of the week!"

The cursor blinked. "What else should we ask?" Jesse wondered. Now that he was in the presence of an actual dragon expert, his mind was blank.

"Wait." Daisy squeezed her eyes shut to help her remember. "Ask him about some of the stuff in his book. h.o.a.rding, masking, flaming. That kind of stuff."

Jesse turned to the screen and clicked the mouse again. "What is h.o.a.rding?" he asked.

The professor's bushy beard barely concealed a smile as he said, "First Kilimanjaro, then Everest, eh?"

"What's that that supposed to mean?" Jesse asked. supposed to mean?" Jesse asked.

Daisy thought for a second. "I think it means hold your horses," she said.

Professor Andersson said, "Let's take one thing at a time, shall we? For now, all that is necessary for you to know is that daily fresh air and exercise are necessary for the development of healthy bones.

68.Keeping a dragon is a considerable responsibility. Do not take it lightly." Do not take it lightly. Do not take it lightly.

The cousins turned and searched each other's faces. Where had they heard those words before? Suddenly the entire screen flashed red. The picture of the dragon and the old man vanished. Filling the s.p.a.ce now, in large throbbing purple letters, were the words "BEWARE THE DRAGON SLAYER!!!!!"

Then the computer made an odd grinding noise and went blank. A dull message box appeared: "Computer cannot view this page at present. Check with your server or try again."

"Hey!" Jesse said, pounding the table. "What's the big idea?"

"Try to get back in," said Daisy.

Jesse rapidly keyed in www.foundadragon.org.

Maddeningly, the same message appeared: "Where did he go?" Jesse wanted to know. "We need him to tell us about the Dragon Slayer! I mean, how can we protect Emmy if we don't know more?"

"We'll try again later," Daisy said. "I'm starved, aren't you? Let's go to the Dell and have our picnic. Emmy can have the sh.e.l.ls of our hard-boiled eggs. Plan?"

69."Plan," said Jesse. He logged off with a discouraged sigh, then they headed down to the kitchen to make lunch.

There was a dense patch of laurel bushes at the top of the rise that separated the backyard from the old cow pasture and barn they called the Dell. Jesse and Daisy had to drop to their knees and crawl through a tunnel in the laurels. Just when their knees started to scream, they arrived at the other end of the tunnel and stood up.

The Dell lay before them like a big bowl lined with clover and wildflowers, a rocky brook running through it like a crack. On one side there was the mountain. The Native Americans who had once lived in the area called it the Old Mother because, at certain times of the day, the side of the craggy mountain looked like the face of an old woman, with a waterfall running down it like tears. Behind the big red dairy barn lay the Deep Woods, so-called because they were too dense and dark for the cousins to venture into beyond a few steps. On top of the barn's patched roof was a weather vane of a horse going whichever way the wind blew him.

Emmy struggled out of Jesse's hood and perched on his shoulder. She looked here and 70.there, her pale green throat throbbing like a frog's. She scrabbled her p.r.i.c.kly way down Jesse's arm and jumped to the ground. She flung out her forepaws.

"Ma. Ma?" she cried, looking up at the mountain.

"Ma. Ma?" she cried, looking across the pasture to the Deep Woods.

"Ma. Ma?" she cried, looking down at the big red barn. Then she turned her eyes first on Jesse, then on Daisy, and bleated, "Em. Meee. Want. Ma. Ma!"

Jesse and Daisy looked at each other helplessly. What could they say? They had no idea where Emmy's mother was. One thing was fairly certain. Emmy's mother had been dead since The Time Before, whenever that was. But there was no way they could tell Emmy that, not when she was such a baby.

Emmy took off down the hill, making whooping sounds.

The cousins ran after her, but the little dragon kept the lead, her head bob-bob-bobbing above the tops of the clover as she cried, "Ma. Ma! Ma. Ma! Want. Ma. Ma!"

She hopped across the cow pasture and 71.darted through a narrow gap in the barn door. Jesse and Daisy shoved aside the heavy sliding door. Emmy was standing in the middle of the barn with her head raised, having a bawling fit that shook the rafters. "Want. Ma. Ma! NOW!!!!" she repeated in an ear-piercing, heartbreaking wail.

"Can't you do something?" Daisy said, covering her ears and yelling at Jesse over the din. "Pick her up and comfort her!"

Jesse pulled the purple kneesock out of his sweatshirt pouch and put it over his hand. Then he went over and picked up the squalling baby dragon, hoping he could help.

"Hush, Emmy. Hush," he crooned to her, and snuggled her, as much as snuggling a wailing baby dragon was possible. "Jesse has you."

Whether it was the sound of his voice or the sight of the kneesock that calmed her, Emmy stopped bawling. She snorted once, blowing dragon snot everywhere, then curled against Jesse's chest. He carried her back out into the sunlight.

Just outside the barn was an area enclosed by a crumbling stone wall, where the gra.s.s grew thick and soft. Jesse and Daisy called it the Heifer Yard, and it was their favorite picnic spot. "Would 72.Emmy like some food?" Daisy asked in a soft but eager voice. She began to unload the backpack. "Fooood!" cooed Emmy "Goooood," Daisy cooed back She quickly peeled the hard-boiled eggs and set tiny bits of sh.e.l.l on the ground.

Jesse sat cross-legged and held Emmy on his lap. He reached for a piece of sh.e.l.l and offered it to her. She took it in her claws and sniffed it. Then she nibbled. She sighed and hiccuped and said, "Gooood."

Jesse fed her one bit of sh.e.l.l after another, and she crunched them up as if they were potato chips. When Jesse felt it was safe to do so, he set Emmy down gently next to her eggsh.e.l.l chips and let her help herself.

Then he and Daisy tucked into their soggy tuna sandwiches, with one eye on Emmy, and drank the slightly warm lemonade out of the thermos. Jesse checked his wrist.w.a.tches. It was three o'clock in Goldmine City and one o'clock in the morning in Africa. He had been so excited this morning that he had not checked his e-mail. Life had gotten very busy all of a sudden.

The afternoon sun poured down on Jesse's shoulders like melted b.u.t.ter and made him feel drowsy. The cousins stretched out on the warm 73.green gra.s.s as Emmy finished off the last of her chips and then curled up between them. In no time at all, the three of them were asleep.

Jesse awoke with a startled gasp and sat up. He had been dreaming that he was watching a great cloud of dust whirling down the old lane that led to the barn. At the center of the dust cloud was the million-dollar car. It took him a good few seconds of sitting there and blinking at the empty lane to convince himself that the dream wasn't real. His skin p.r.i.c.kled with relief.

Daisy was still asleep, but Emmy was wide awake and standing on Daisy's chest, holding Daisy's gold locket in her forepaws. Emmy began cooing softly.

Daisy stirred at the sound, opened her eyes, and smiled sleepily.

"I think Emmy likes your locket," said Jesse.

"Like. Lock. Ket," the baby dragon agreed. "Like. A. Lot." Emmy held the locket and chanted, "Lock. Ket. Lock. Ket."

"That's my baby locket," Daisy said to Emmy. "It was my mother's when she was a little girl." Daisy opened the locket and showed Emmy the tiny photographs inside. Head c.o.c.ked, Emmy peered at the two miniature pictures.

74."See, this is my mother when she was a little girl, with her sheepdog, Fluffy. And this one here is my father holding a rock. My father always loved rocks, even when he was a little boy," Daisy said.

"Want. Lock. Ket," Emmy said, taking the locket back in her shiny green talons.

"Seems like she really, really wants it, Daze." Jesse paused thoughtfully. "Hey, do you think that's what Professor Andersson meant by h.o.a.rding ...in his book, I mean.''

Somewhat nervously, Daisy said, "Could I have my locket back please, Emmy?"

Emmy pressed it to her mouth, then held it out to Daisy.

"Lock. Ket. Back. Day. Zee."

"Thank you," said Daisy. She snapped the locket shut and tucked it back inside her T-shirt with a firm pat.

Emmy scrambled off Daisy and lit out across the Heifer Yard.

"Yikes!" yelled Daisy. "Where to now?"

Emmy disappeared into the barn. Jesse bounded to his feet and ran after her. Daisy was fast on his heels. They found Emmy perched on a long wooden shelf, examining the things in their Museum of Magic. They had been working on the collection since Jesse had arrived at Easter time, 75.and it included anything they felt might have magical powers.

Daisy pointed to the framed pressed flowers. "Some of them heal you, some of them hurt you. Others make you strong, or brave, or smart, or calm," she explained to Emmy. "That's what it says in my herbal. That's a book Miss Alodie gave me."

"Gar. Den. Gnome," said Emmy, nodding quickly.

"Right. We never eat eat the flowers, of course," Jesse explained. "But it's fun to think about the powers they possess in their petals and stems and roots." the flowers, of course," Jesse explained. "But it's fun to think about the powers they possess in their petals and stems and roots."

"Roooooots," crooned Emmy. Then she moved on to the skulls, which were Jesse's domain.

"We found these in the fields and in the Dee-Woods," he told her. "Some of them still had flesh on them and were kind of gross. So I boiled them in a pot in the Rock Shop. They're pretty clean now. The Native Americans--and some African tribes-- believed that the spirits of dead animals lived on in their skulls. We've got a calf, a mouse, a dog, a wildcat, and something else we haven't figured out yet."

Emmy moved to what Jesse and Daisy called the Magical Doork.n.o.b, made of bright green crystal. "That came from the door to a magical world," Daisy explained.

76.Then there was the Magical Milking Stool, the Magical Potion Bottle, and the Magical Horseshoes. "That stool is for sitting on during incantations," Jesse explained. "That blue bottle there once held potions, and those horseshoes ward off bad luck and keep you from getting struck by lightning. Then there's that stuff up there," he said, pointing to the rusty old farm tools hanging high on the barn wall. "We think that stuff might be magical, but it might just be old."

Emmy's attention was drawn to a crusty old metal ball about the size of a peach. She wrapped her arms around it and crooned.

"That," said Daisy, "is the Sorcerer's Sphere."

"See," Jesse explained to Emmy, "the man who once owned this farm wasn't just a farmer. He was a Magical Dairyman, a sorcerer. That's the sphere he used to cast his spells."

"His cows gave magical milk," said Daisy. "When you drank the milk, you had the power to fly."

"And talk to animals," Jesse said. "And breathe underwater," Daisy added. "At least we think so," said Jesse. Standing on her hind legs, Emmy rolled the Sorcerer's Sphere gently back and forth. Her pulse 77.fluttered in her throat. "Like!" she said. "Like. Lotsandlotsandlotsandlots."

"Here we go again," Daisy said. "She's definitely h.o.a.rding."

"Maybe not," said Jesse. "It's not like it's gold or anything." He stopped. Or is it? Could there he gold beneath the dirt and the rust? Or is it? Could there he gold beneath the dirt and the rust?

"We found it in the brook in the pasture," Daisy told Emmy.

"We figure it belonged to the farmer. Maybe it's a piece from one of his old machines," Jesse said.

Emmy shook her head quickly. "Not," she said.

"You mean it didn't come from a machine?" Jesse asked.

"This. Old," she said. "This. Oldoldoldoldoldoldoldold."

"It's real old," Jesse said, agreeing. "The farmer moved away ages ago ...before Daze and I were even born."

"Old!" Emmy insisted with a rapid shake of her head. "From. The. Time. Be. Fore!" Emmy insisted with a rapid shake of her head. "From. The. Time. Be. Fore!"

Jesse shot Daisy a look.

"Really?" Daisy asked. "So what is it, then?"

The dragon stood taller and looked around, as if searching the barn for the answer. Finally, she said, "I. For. Get," her eyes whirling.

78."That's a big help," said Daisy.

"Show. Em. Meee," Emmy urged. "Show. Em. Meee. Where. NOW!"

"Whoa," said Jesse. "Show Emmy where now what?" what?"

Emmy turned away from the Sorcerer's Sphere and launched herself off the shelf before either cousin could catch her. She lifted her arms, and the delicate web of skin beneath each arm was enough to float her to the floor like a miniature hang glider. Then she scampered out the barn door.

"Maybe she wants us to show her where we found the sphere," suggested Daisy.

When the cousins caught up with the dragon, they led her" toward the brook to the spot where moss grew on the bank like tufts on a green velvet quilt.

"It was here," said Daisy, pointing at the deepest part of the brook. At this time of year, the water came up to the cousins' chests. "We found it in August, when the water was, really low."

Jesse knelt down on the soft moss and dipped his hand into the water. He pulled it back. The brook, which flowed down from the Old Mother, was freezing. It wouldn't be warm enough to swim in until mid-August.

Emmy stood on the bright green moss and 79.stared into the silvery brook. After a while, she began to make a high humming noise, her throat throbbing wildly. She stopped, then teetered. The next thing they knew, Emmy had tumbled into the water headfirst with a SPLASH!

"Yikes!" screamed Daisy. "I can't see her. Can you?

Jesse tried to see beneath the surface, but the reflection of the sun on the water made that nearly impossible.

Daisy was already tearing off her sneakers and socks. She pulled her sweatshirt over her head and tossed it on the bank. Then she waded into the brook and, pinching her nose between her fingers, ducked under the water.

Seconds pa.s.sed and Jesse waited. What if Daisy and Emmy both drowned? Or, more likely, froze to death? He kicked off his sneakers, peeled off his socks, took a deep breath, and prepared to save them both. Just then Daisy stood up in the middle of the brook. Sputtering and coughing, she was holding Emmy high in one hand.

Daisy waded toward the bank and thrust Emmy at Jesse. "Wrap her in my sweatshirt. I have to g-g-g-go get this wet stuff off or I'm g-going to f-f-freeze to death. Plan?" Daisy didn't wait for an answer. She flapped off like a wet seal. (She and 80.Jesse each kept a set of clothes in the barn in an old wooden chest.) Jesse wrapped Emmy up in Daisy's dry sweatshirt. He held her and rubbed her briskly until her shivering eased.

"Land's. Sakes!" Emmy cried, sounding just like Miss Alodie.

"What happened, Emmy?" he said.

"Fear. For. Em. Meee ...," she said.

"Well, I was pretty scared, too," Jesse told her.

Daisy soon came back in dry clothes, rubbing her hair with a beach towel. "What frightened you?" she asked Emmy.

"See. Things!" Things!" said Emmy. said Emmy.

"What things?" asked Daisy, plopping down on the bank.

"Bad. Man!" Man!" said Emmy. said Emmy.

"What bad man?" said Daisy. "There was no bad man down there. All I saw was rocks and moss and you ...you poor thing."