The Dragon in the Sea (10 page)

“Jesse Tiger, you gave it away!” Emmy protested. “But you’re right. Someone slipped my old man a Donald.”

“Don’t you mean a Mickey?” said Daisy.

“Right! And who else could that someone be but St. George? Like most dragons, my mother knew about the healing power of herbs, so she waited until dark and then flew down to the Deep Woods to find the berries she needed to wake up my dad.

“She had just found the berries, when from up in the trees, a large net came crashing down over her head. Scary pale men with torches surrounded her. One of them, a man with long golden hair and frightening eyes, poked at her through the netting
with a cane. The head of the cane was a dragon covered in crystals.

“Mom knew who she was up against, as all dragonkind know when we come face to face with our natural enemy. It was St. George the Dragon Slayer!

“My mother begged for her life. Then she made a big mistake. Hoping to soften his heart, she told him that she was expecting a baby.”

“Didn’t she know that St. George has no heart?” Jesse said bitterly.

“I guess you could say she was a babe in the Deep Woods. Anyway, St. George could not have been happier,” said Emmy. “He had hit the jackpot: getting two dragons for the price of one. St. George put my poor mom in a cage. That night, in a nest of straw, my mother laid three eggs.”

“Three eggs?”
Jesse echoed, sitting bolt upright.

“Three eggs. That’s what she told me and she ought to know,” said Emmy. “Meanwhile, back on the mountain, my father woke up from his long sleep with one ultra-supersonic doozy of a headache. He couldn’t find my mother anywhere. Outside the cave, the dryads were waiting for him with more bad news. They had witnessed what had gone down in the Deep Woods, and they told him that my mother was being held captive in a cage.

“The next part is too sad to tell, but, trust me, my dad fell asleep that night, after crying a brook.”

“I think it’s a river,” said Jesse.

“An ocean is probably more like it,” Daisy said. “Poor Obsidian!”

“It was the first time the two of them had ever been apart and my father took it hard. That night, Obsidian had a dream. In his dream, the Old Woman herself, Mother of the Mountain, came to him. She gave him the recipe for a spell that would help him save Leandra. The Old Woman said, ‘Once you cast the spell, know that only a magic greater than it, and either of you, will be able to reverse it.’

“When he woke up, my father gathered the ingredients for the spell. He made a fire and tossed the ingredients into it, one by one. The fire crackled and popped and shot out a bolt of lightning that lifted my dad high into the air and then smashed him against the side of the mountain. He was knocked out cold. Again.

“My poor old dad woke up the next morning with an even worse headache than the one he had the day before and a humungous thirst. He staggered to the brook and leaned over to dip his snout into the water. The sight of his reflection in the water blew him away. This was no dragon staring
back at him. This was a man with broad shoulders, dark silvery hair, and black eyes.”

“Whoa!” said Jesse. “You mean the spell turned your father into a human being?”

“That’s right, Jesse Tiger. He was looking at pink skin instead of silver scales, fingers instead of talons, and what had happened to his long beautiful tail? No offense, but he was totally bummed. He fell to his knees and sobbed his brand-new human heart out.

“But the Mother of the Mountain came to him again. She said, ‘Don’t fret. In your man form, you will be better able to rescue Leandra.’

“So Obsidian got a grip and dunked his head into the icy-cold brook.”

Emmy sighed and settled into silence.

“Then what happened?” Daisy asked.

“Well,” Emmy said, “then my dad sneaked through the woods, found the cage, and unlocked it. When he saw the eggs, he fell to his knees and wept. At first, my mom didn’t understand who this man was who was kneeling before the nest of eggs, weeping. When he told her that he was Obsidian, she didn’t believe him at first. Then he told her about the Old Mother giving him the ingredients for the spell that would turn him into a human so he could rescue her. And when he told her that only
a magic greater than it, and either of them, would be able to reverse the magic and turn him back into a dragon, it was my mother’s turn to cry. Would their babies ever see the handsome dragon that had once been Obsidian? They were both sobbing fit to bust when St. George jumped out of the bushes.

“All at once, the woods were crawling with miners armed with rifles and pickaxes. ‘Save the eggs!’ my mother told my father, giving him two of the three. She told him in a rush, ‘Hide one in the eagles’ aerie on our mountain and the other in our brook.’ She took charge of the third egg—which was me. My father ran off, leaving my mother to fend for herself.”

“That wasn’t very nice!” Jesse protested.

Emmy shrugged. “But sensible. In his human form, my dad was no match for a big-time bad guy like St. George.

“My mother took my egg and flew to the slopes of High Peak, where she hid it, moments before St. George hunted her down and slew her,” Emmy said.

Jesse and Daisy both sighed.

Then Daisy asked, “And your father?”

“He did what my mom asked him to do. I’m guessing, since this egg wound up in the sea, that this is the one he hid in the brook.”

They all stared at the Thunder Egg in a kind of mute wonderment.

Daisy broke the silence. “I don’t get it. How did the egg get all the way from the brook to the sea?”

“It’s just like Uncle Joe says,” Jesse answered. “Everything on Earth is connected to everything else: the brook runs into a stream, the stream runs into a river, the river runs down to the ocean.”

“According to Watery Realm legend,” Yar said, “the egg was first found at the turn of the old century on a sandbar near the mouth of the Rushing River.”

“There you go,” said Emmy.

“Okay, then what happened to your dad?” Daisy asked.

“Now
that
,” said Emmy with a crafty gleam in her eye, “is a story for another time.”

Just then, as if the tiny dragon inside had been listening to every word of the story, the Thunder Egg started, ever so faintly, to vibrate.

C
HAPTER
S
EVEN
A CASE OF THE HEEBIE-JEEBIES

While Emmy had been telling her story, the water outside the canopy had been turning a deeper, darker green.

“Who knew there was nighttime under the sea?” Daisy said.

“The same sun rises and sets over the sea,” Jesse said sleepily, “and it has set, for sure.”

“I’m pooped!” said Daisy.

“Well, it’s a good thing you’re on the poop deck, then, isn’t it, Daisy?” said Emmy with a chuckle.

“I’m too tired to laugh,” Jesse said. “Even my tail is tuckered out. In fact, I don’t think I have the strength to swim down to our cabin. Emmy, can’t I just curl up and sleep here with you and the egg?”

“Me too,” said Daisy. “We want to be here when the egg hatches.”

“It won’t hatch tonight,” said Emmy.

“How come you’re so sure?” Daisy asked.

It was Jesse who answered. “About twenty-four hours after Emmy’s egg started vibrating, it went
ka-blam
. So it will probably be the same with this one. Right, Em?”

Emmy replied with an openmouthed yawn, showing the bright pink inside of her mouth and unfurling her long, forked tongue.

The hammerhead shiver swam back into view.

“Will you be okay here without us?” Daisy asked Emmy, casting a wary look at the hammerheads.

“Don’t worry, Daise,” Emmy said. “They’re more scared of me than I am of them. Besides, we’re all here to protect the egg.”

“You needn’t worry yourselves,” said Fluke. “Yar and I will be here, too, keeping a vigilant watch.”

“Get ourselves a little practice being Keepers, eh what?” Yar said.

“Quite.” Fluke tapped a passing eel, and the loud
zzzzt
sound once again summoned Star the mer-maid. “Escort our guests to their cabin, will you, dear?” said Fluke.

“Yes, ma’am,” Star replied with a graceful little dip.

Jesse thought he detected a particularly sharp gleam in her eye.

Star waited while Daisy and Jesse gave Emmy a big hug.

“Sure you’ll be okay?” Daisy asked. She looked out into the surrounding waters, expecting an army of water zombies to be amassing. But she saw the more comforting sight of water sprites mounted on dolphins, circling the ship, their tasseled hands held aloft like the torches of night watchmen.

“Right as right can be,” said Emmy, gazing tenderly down upon the egg. “We’ll both be fine.”

Jesse leaned over and pressed his lips lightly to its bumpy surface. “Good night, sleep tight, don’t let the sea fleas bite.” He looked up at Daisy and Emmy. “The egg stopped vibrating. Do you think it’s asleep?”

“Wee thing’s got the right idea, in my humble opinion,” said Yar.

Holding an illuminated conch shell aloft, Star led the way toward the amidships hatch.

“Do you think Fluke and Yar will be the new dragon’s Keepers?” Daisy asked.

“Ra
ther
,” said Jesse, twisting an imaginary set of whiskers and giving a Yarish
snort-snort
.

Daisy giggled, then said, “Seriously?”

“I don’t know,” said Jesse. He gave Daisy a searching look. “You aren’t actually thinking that
we’d
be its Keepers, are you?”

“Well …,” Daisy said, drawing the word out as they swam after Star down the hatch. It was like descending into a deep, dark well. “Actually, I kind of, sort of, really was thinking that.”

“Really?” Jesse said.

“Well, I did find the egg,” Daisy said.

“No offense, Daise, but it seems like everybody and his uncle has found this egg at least once over the past century,” Jesse said.

“What you say is true,” said Star, pausing ahead of them. “My mother found it once. And I had a cousin who came across it when she was playing horseshoe crab croquet in Half Moon Bay.”

“But I was the one who found it this close to hatching,” Daisy said. “And think of it, Jesse. Remember
how cute Emmy was when she was a teeny-tiny little thing?”

“She was adorable,” Jesse said. He remembered being in the kitchen trying desperately to find something to feed the demanding newborn dragon. He had had to wear one of Daisy’s purple kneesocks on his hand to protect himself from Emmy’s needle-sharp talons. “She was also a handful.”

“But it would be different now. We’re experienced Keepers. Besides, Emmy could help us. And wouldn’t it be nice for Emmy to be a big sister?” Daisy said in a dreamy voice.

“She’ll be a big sister whether we’re the Keepers or not,” Jesse pointed out. “And, honestly? I think Emmy’s all the dragon we need.”

“You’re probably right,” Daisy said, heaving a bubbly sigh.

They were swimming down the lower hallway, which was much brighter than above deck. In addition to the glowing seashell sconces on the bulkheads, the portals were lined with electric eels, blinking as brightly as the neon lights in Times Square.

“Does this place stay open all night?” Jesse asked Star.

“Night is the best time to cruise the portals,” Star said.

Jesse and Daisy looked down the long, endless hallway and saw merfolk and water sprites, kelpies and selkies darting in and out of doors.

“It’s something to do when you’re stuck on board this tub,” Star said.

“What’s your favorite portal?” Daisy asked the mer-maid.

Star spun around and swam up close to Jesse and Daisy. “None of them,” she confessed in a whisper. “It’s the Earthly Realm that flitters
my
fins.”

“Really?” said Jesse.

Star brought her face up close to Jesse’s and Daisy’s. “Don’t tell Fluke and Yar—they think it’s dangerous to leave the vessel—but I go out all the time … when I’m off duty, mind you.”

“You go out? Really? Where?” Jesse asked.

“I go up top,” she said with an impish twinkle in her eye.

“Up top?” Jesse and Daisy echoed.

“You know. To the surface, where you’re from,” she said. “I’ve even made friends with a boy and girl. We ride the surf together. They do it on boards but I just use my tail. It’s totally radical and gnarly, dude!”

Jesse and Daisy shared a look of surprise. “Reef and Coral!” they exclaimed.

“You know my boy and girl?” Star asked. “Oh, I do think they are the nicest children anyone ever could meet. I get sad when their parents call them in. I would so love to follow them up onto the beach, but without legs, I can’t. Tell me,” she asked wistfully, “what’s it like to have legs? Is it better than having a tail?”

Jesse thought of how it felt to run and jump and kick his heels. He thought of his one full day with a fish’s tail. Legs or tails? A tail was great but it narrowed your options. When you had legs, you could be on the land
and
swim in the water. With a tail you were stuck forever in the water. He remembered how helpless he had felt on the beach in front of the Driftwoods’ shack this afternoon and suddenly found himself feeling a little sorry for Star. So he shrugged and said, “Legs are okay, I guess. But tails are more fun.”