The Dragon in the Driveway (7 page)

“This isn’t so scary,” said Daisy. There was just enough space for all three of them to stand in a small square room where old wooden shelves lined three of the walls. The shelves were crowded with ancient mason jars full of tomatoes and peaches and green beans and other things impossible to recognize in the dim light.

“It’s the farmer’s old root cellar,” said Daisy as she turned in a slow circle.

“Yep,” Jesse agreed, feeling a tug of disappointment.

“I don’t know about you guys, but this doesn’t seem very magical to me,” Daisy said. “It’s just old and musty and cold. Let’s go back up, where it’s warm and sunny.”

“I guess,” Jesse said with a sigh.

“NO!” cried Emmy, with such ferocity that the cousins gaped at her. Her pale green belly heaved. Her tail whipped back and forth.

“Whoa,” said Jesse. He knew the signs: Emmy was about to fly into one of her tantrums.

“I want to stay!” Emmy said fiercely, her body quaking.

“Emerald,” Jesse said in a low, stern voice. He
made calming motions with his hands. “Look. You can’t stay down here. We’ve already seen all there is to see, and besides, it’s probably not safe. And don’t even
think
about eating the stuff in these jars.”

Emmy backed up. “I have to stay.”

The shelves behind her rattled as she bumped against them. The next lash of her tail swept all the mason jars off the bottom two shelves. They thudded to the dirt floor and rolled every which way underfoot.

“Watch out for exploding jars!” Daisy said, grabbing her head. “The stuff inside might have gone bad.”

But Jesse couldn’t worry about that now. “Emmy, please come back up with us.”

“I WILL STAY!” she thundered, taking another step backward. Her hind legs began to slip and slide on the jars. She tumbled into the shelves behind her. With a wrenching, wood-splintering crash, they gave way. A shower of dirt sifted down from above.

“The sky is falling!” shouted Emmy.

Daisy screamed and covered her head. “We’re all going to be buried alive!”

When the dirt shower tapered off, the cousins and Emmy looked around. The wall of shelves
behind Emmy was gone. Beyond the shelves was an open space, extending into a tunnel. The tunnel, framed by ancient timbers, was no wider than a doorway and just high enough to fit Emmy, with very little room to spare.

“This isn’t just a root cellar,” Daisy said. “It’s the entrance to the old mine.”

“I know!” said Jesse.

“Let’s go in the old mine, Clementine!” Emmy sang.

“Oh, my darlin’, I’m right behind you!” said Jesse.

“Are you guys
nuts
?!” Daisy exploded.

Jesse and Emmy stared at Daisy, both looking a little hurt.

“You guys don’t understand,” Daisy said. “You didn’t grow up here. Every kid in this town has been told, since we were practically born, to stay away from the old mines. They’re very dangerous places. If Poppy knew we had dug up an old mine … he’d be so mad at us….” She shivered.

Jesse was silent for a few seconds. Then he said, “Do you think he’d still feel that way if he knew we were going into the mine … with a dragon?”

Just over Jesse’s shoulder, Emmy nodded her head vigorously in support of his argument.

Daisy sighed.

“And that the hole into the mine was dug with a magic shovel?” Jesse said with a sly grin.

“Listen to Jesse Tiger, Daisy Flower,” said Emmy.

Daisy folded her arms across her chest and scowled at them.

“And that we are battling against a man who wants to suck all the magic out of the world and make it his?” Jesse added.

“All right!” Daisy held up both hands in surrender. “You two wait right here while I go back to the barn and get the backpack. I’m pretty sure there’s a flashlight in it. If I’m going to do this crazy thing, I want to at least be able to see where I’m going.”

Jesse and Emmy fairly hummed with excitement while they stood at the entrance to the mine and waited for Daisy to come back. She returned a few minutes later with the backpack. While she was gone, she had tied a purple bandanna around her head. Jesse stared at it questioningly.

“Bats,” she explained. “Aren’t old mines always filled with bats?”

Jesse shrugged. “I wouldn’t know. This is my first time.”

Daisy set the backpack down, zipped it open,
and poked around inside. “One of the energy bars is squished,” she said.

“I’ll eat that one,” Jesse volunteered cheerfully.

“And this cabbage head is starting to stink,” said Daisy, wrinkling her nose.

“Stinky cabbage is my favorite!” Emmy said.

Daisy continued to rummage. “We also have the jar of magic earthworms Miss Alodie gave us, plus one big ball of string. How useful.”

“Are you kidding?” Jesse said. “The string will be perfect!”

“For what?” Daisy asked.

“To leave a trail of string behind us. If the tunnel branches out into more tunnels, we’ll be able to find our way back out.”

“You hope,” said Daisy.

Jesse forged ahead optimistically. “Look, Daze, what’s the worst thing that can happen to us?”

“We run into St. George and his band of vicious hobgoblins?” Daisy said grouchily.

“St. George’s onions,” Emmy said with a sage nod of her head.

“Minions,” Daisy corrected with a reluctant smile. Finally, she found the flashlight. She shook it, rattling the battery in the cylinder, and then switched it on. “When was the last time we
changed the batteries?” she asked Jesse.

“Last week,” Jesse replied. “So that means we’re all set to go.”

“Almost,” said Daisy. She pulled the dog leash out of the backpack. “Emmy, you’re going to have to wear this while we’re in the mine.”

“Not that old stinker,” said Emmy, rearing back. “Not me. Leashes are for
dogs.
Emmy is a
dragon princess
!”

Daisy said, “Sure. Fine. Have it your way, Your Majesty. No leash, no mine. It’s your choice. ’Cause we can’t have you gallivanting around loose down here in the dark.”

“But Daisy Flower has a very bright flashlight, so it will not be dark at all,” Emmy pointed out coyly.

“Nice try,” said Jesse.

Emmy pouted. “Oh, all right, I will wear the stinky thing,” she said, lowering her long blue-green neck so Daisy could attach the leash to the collar.

Emmy set off, straining at the leash. Jesse and Daisy followed, Jesse holding the other end of the leash and Daisy beaming the flashlight ahead into the old mine tunnel.

They hadn’t gotten very far when a deafening roar filled the air. The ground all around them began to rumble and shake. Up ahead, Emmy
immediately transformed, collapsing into a quivering, whimpering heap of sheepdog.

Daisy turned to Jesse, her eyes wide with fear. “What’s that?” she asked.

Over the noise, Jesse shouted, “It’s the earth-mover!”

CHAPTER SIX
THE SKY IS FALLING!

The roaring noise stopped. The sound of their nervous breathing filled the silence. Jesse looked ahead into the tunnel, then behind them into the root cellar. The sun shone down into the hole, leaving a warm buttery patch at the foot of the stairs like a
welcome mat. He signaled to the others to turn around and follow him back to the root cellar.

The three of them crowded into the patch of sunlight. Overhead, they heard a loud grinding of gears and brakes, then the earthmover’s heavy door opened and clunked shut. They waited in tense silence for a few more minutes.

Jesse put his mouth to Daisy’s ear and whispered, “Maybe he just parked it and went away.”

She put her mouth to his ear and said, “Maybe he’s waiting for us to come out so he can pounce on us and capture Emmy and …”
Drink Emmy’s blood.
Daisy didn’t want to say the last part aloud, not in front of Emmy.

But Jesse knew where she was going. He set his jaw. Very carefully and quietly, he climbed up the stairs and balanced himself on the door frame, straightening up just enough to see out over the edge of the hole. He didn’t see anything. He didn’t hear anything. He straightened up a little more.

The enormous orange earthmover stood right next to the barn, facing the Deep Woods, its front bumper mere feet from their hole. Jesse craned his neck. The cab seemed to be empty. He leaned down and signaled for Daisy and Emmy to join him.

“Look,” he whispered to the others. “He’s not in the cab. I don’t know where he is, but if we crawl
under
the earthmover, we can sneak back to the rear … and then cut over and run for home. Plan?”

Daisy nodded and whispered, “Take off her leash.”

Jesse unhitched the leash from Emmy’s collar. Daisy turned around so Jesse could unzip the backpack. She switched off the flashlight and handed it to him.

When Jesse had finished tucking everything away and zipping up the backpack, he turned to Emmy and said, “Listen to me. This is very important.”

Dog-form Emmy, panting, gave him her complete attention.

“Follow us. As soon as we get to the back end of the big orange machine, you run for it. But don’t run until I tell you to. I’ll hold up one finger, then two fingers. On the third finger, I want you to run as fast as you can. Head for the laurel bushes. Don’t stop for anything, and don’t look back. Wait for us there. I think you can. I think you can.” He smiled encouragingly at Emmy, who let out two barely audible yips to show that she thought she could.

“Good girl,” he whispered. Both cousins hugged the dog and pressed their faces into her fur, which smelled of damp dirt and a hint of hot chili peppers.

“We’ll be right behind you,” said Jesse.

Jesse eased himself up and out of the hole. He crawled over to the front bumper of the monstrous machine and then waited while the other two slithered up after him. Together they slipped under the machine. Jesse and Daisy ducked to avoid bumping their heads on the network of brand-new shiny ducts and pipes that ran down the center of the earthmover’s giant underbelly. In a crouch they ran past enormous black treaded wheels. There were so many wheels that Jesse lost count by the time they reached the rear bumper and cleared it. There they stopped. Hands on knees, the cousins struggled to catch their breath. They were winded, as much from nerves as exertion. Emmy stood between them on her haunches, panting. Her eyes were on Jesse as she waited for the signal to run. Jesse crept over to the side of the earthmover and peered along the length of the vehicle. The coast looked clear.

Jesse held up one finger. Emmy’s ears pricked up. Jesse held two fingers in front of him. Emmy stood and got ready. But as Jesse was about to raise the third finger, the earthmover’s engine fired up, blasting them with boiling-hot diesel fumes.

“Run for it!”
Jesse screamed.

Emmy exploded across the pasture and up the hill. Jesse and Daisy took off after her, but Jesse’s
shoelace got tangled in something. He sprawled face-first into a fat thistle plant. Jesse turned over, his face stinging with nettles and his head reeling. For a minute, he didn’t even know where he was. Daisy tugged at his arm and pointed frantically at something. And then, as his senses returned, he saw the earthmover about to back over him. Its backing-up signal beeped ominously. Jesse rolled aside just in time to avoid being crushed beneath the giant rear wheels.

The earthmover continued to move in reverse until its massive body completely blocked their escape route.

“This way!” Daisy screamed. She took off toward the Deep Woods, the backpack slamming against her shoulder blades as she ran. Jesse scrambled to his feet and headed after her across the pasture. The earthmover was right behind them. It wasn’t moving quickly, but fast enough for them to feel the massive metal scooper on the front bumper nipping at their heels. If one of them were to trip and fall, St. George would either scoop them up or run right over them.

As Jesse gaped at the dark wall of trees looming up before him, he had a sudden vision of St. George rolling into the Deep Woods, the earth-mover leveling acres of trees as it churned after
them. Jesse caught up with Daisy and pulled her off to the side. He dragged her, stumbling and staggering, around to the back end of the earthmover, where he shouted over the motor’s thunder, “The door in the earth!”

Gasping for breath, with the sweat streaming down her face, Daisy nodded.

They took advantage of the time St. George needed to turn the earthmover around to rush back toward the barn. First Jesse and then Daisy leaped into the hole, bumped down the steps, and landed on their behinds on the root cellar floor.

“Safe!” screamed Daisy.

A great dark shadow loomed overhead, blocking out the sky. Jesse lunged for the backpack and unzipped it. He tossed the flashlight to Daisy and pulled out the ball of string. Quickly, he tied one end of the string to a stanchion of the canning shelves, just as dirt began pouring down on their heads.

He looked around frantically for Daisy, but she was already waiting for him at the entrance to the mine tunnel, beaming her flashlight like a beacon. He reached her and spun around. They both watched as a cascade of rocks and earth poured into the root cellar, flowing toward the tunnel.

Emmy’s voice, like a golden bell, rang in Jesse’s
head:
The sky is falling! Run, Chicken Little! Run!