The Dragon in the Sea (18 page)

“Groovy guests go first,” he said with a gallant sweep of his sun-bronzed arm.

Emmy squeezed through the tiny door first with catlike agility. “Jesse Tiger,” she said from the other side, “you are going to dig these digs.”

Jesse stepped into the shack, holding his breath. Having already been on board the magical square-rigger, Jesse figured he was in for a real treat. But nothing he imagined could have prepared him for this.

He let out his breath in a long gasp of astonishment. A vast astrodome made of sea glass and coral, sparkling in the sunlight, rose up around him. High up near the ceiling, he saw the suggestion of other smaller, cozier rooms accessible by a series of rope
ladders. There were ropes to swing from and even trapezes. It would be like living in a giant, magical, seaside circus tent.

“I want a tour,” said Jesse, barely able to contain his excitement.

Emmy cleared her throat loudly.

Reef grinned. “Yeah, well, there’s a kinda, sorta more important matter we need to tend to first, don’t ya think?” he said.

Jesse blushed. “The egg!” How could he have forgotten the egg?

Reef clapped him on the back. “Chill out, dude. Seeing this house for the first time can rattle your rigging. But after the hatching,
if
I can get away, I’ll be happy to show you around. I’ve got an awesome computer setup in my room. And Daisy’s going to groove to the max on Corey’s seashell collection.”

“That ‘his’ and ‘hers’ cabin we stayed in on the
Dragon
was yours and Coral’s, wasn’t it?” Jesse asked.

“Yeah, Mom made it for us years before we were even born, but Corey and I haven’t actually seen it ourselves yet,” Reef said. “Maldew’s curse kept my mom out of the Eighth. But now that he’s gone, the curse is lifted and she can go back.”

“This way, dudes,” Emmy said, following Bill and Mitzi Driftwood down a long hallway that was
lined with brightly painted surfboards—long boards, short boards, wood and fiberglass, wildly painted with sharks and orchids and bolts of lightning.

“They’re in the Back Bay,” Reef explained. “We decided to have the hatching there so all our cousins from the Eighth could catch it. It’s gonna be a totally bodacious happening.”

It was like stepping inside a giant geode. The Back Bay was a big pool of azure water whose reflection shimmered and danced on the walls of a blue crystal grotto. The pool was teeming with selkies and kelpies and sea sprites and merfolk and phosphairies and all manner of undersea creatures. Jesse saw Star and Fluke and Yar among them, as well as Marino and Rock with all the other ex-guards of the Mermage. From the waist up, they looked like a team of lifeguards.

Yar, hailing Jesse, opened his mouth to say something but then seemed to think better of it and merely shook his head and pointed with his finny hand toward Coral and Daisy.

At first, Jesse didn’t recognize Daisy without her tail. The two girls, both dressed in jeans and sneakers and sweatshirts, were hunkered down on the shore of the pool with the backpack stretched out on the ground between them. On top of the backpack, the egg rocked quickly back and forth.

Except for the gentle lapping of the water against the shore, it was very nearly silent in the Back Bay, unless you knew what to listen for, and Jesse knew. It was a
creak-creak
sound, like the door to a magical realm being opened ever so slowly.

C
HAPTER
F
OURTEEN
GOLDEN OF LEANDRA

Jesse and Emmy, followed by the Driftwoods, hurried to join Coral and Daisy by the pool of the Back Bay. When Daisy saw them approach, she rose to her feet, stepped away from the egg, and let Reef take her place.

That was the moment when Jesse understood who the lucky Keepers of this hatching dragon were going to be: Coral and Reef.

Daisy took Jesse’s hand and squeezed hard. “It’s happening, Jess!” she whispered. “Our second hatching.”

“Their first one,” Jesse whispered back, nodding toward Coral and Reef.

Reef looked up at his parents, who stood next to Emmy, an unspoken question in his eyes. Mitzi nodded slowly and smiled her encouragement. Reef knelt next to Coral, who picked up the egg and held it in one hand. Reef joined his hand with hers, and together they cupped the Thunder Egg in a nest made of hands. Either the egg had cooled down some, Jesse figured, or the Driftwood kids had hands like catchers’ mitts.

All of a sudden, the egg stopped rocking. Then it started to vibrate, giving off a high-pitched sound, like a tuning fork. The sound grew louder and louder, then fainter, before falling silent. Then—just like that!—the Thunder Egg cracked open, exactly down the middle.

Carefully, Coral picked the two pieces of the geode away with her free hand. The geode had golden crystals inside.

Bill nudged Jesse and Daisy. Hesitantly, they
joined Reef and Coral. Coral handed one half each to Jesse and Daisy. But the cousins weren’t paying much attention to the geode. The baby dragon was all they saw.

The tiny dragon sitting in those cupped hands was the same golden color as the crystals of the egg that had held it for over a hundred years. Its eyes were huge and luminous and golden. Everyone in the Back Bay watched for a few moments in hushed silence, marveling at the creature’s miniature perfection.

“It’s a boy!” Emmy said, breaking the silence. “Everybody, please welcome Golden of Leandra! Son of Leandra and Obsidian. And Brother of Emerald.”

“Emmy-world!” said the tiny creature, cocking his little head at the big green dragon looming over him. Then he turned to look at Reef.

“Weef!” said the tiny dragon, holding out his arms.

“That’s right, little dude,” said Reef.

Next, he turned to Coral. “Cowal!”

“Awwww. His little voice is so cute!” said Coral.

“Fooooood!” said Golden.

“I wonder what we should feed him,” Reef said, looking to Jesse and Daisy.

Jesse and Daisy held up their hands.

“I’m pretty sure you’ll have to solve that mystery for yourselves,” said Daisy with a grin.

“Good luck,” said Jesse. “You’re going to love being Dragon Keepers.”

“I think this calls for a sea tea party, what?” said Yar to Fluke.

“I couldn’t agree more,” said Fluke.

“And you don’t feel too badly giving up the helm, do you?” Yar said.

“Not at all, Yar, dear,” said Fluke. “The helm has always belonged to Captain Belleweather. I’ve merely been holding it for her.”

“Thank you, Fluke,” said Mitzi.

“Topping, what?” said Yar, looking around. “I say, where did that girl go? Star! Where is she? Doesn’t she know it’s sea teatime!”

“Here I am, sir!” Star popped up out of the water, hoisting a giant seashell tray with dozens of teacups. With her usual pert efficiency, she began to pass out cups to the guests.

“Star?” Rock said.

With the cups rattling on her tray, Star slowly turned and looked at Rock.

“Rocky?” she said in a trembling voice. “You’re okay!”

“I’m more than okay, now that I see my little mermaid friend again,” said Rock.

A selkie relieved Star of the tray. She lunged and threw herself into Rock’s arms.

More full trays appeared after that, borne by sprites. Soon, there were hundreds of cups being passed around, from a thousand different tea sets filled with a vast variety of seaweeds.

“Oh, excellent!” said Yar. “We have dulce here, fresh from the Arctic currents. And
Laminaria japonica
from the pristine waters off Japan. We have Wakame and laver and Ma-kombu, too! We’ve got everything we need when it comes to seaweed. Oh, sea tea
does
bring out the poet in me!”

“Don’t I know it, dear?” said Fluke fondly.

“Do you have any sea tea from the Sargasso Sea?” Jesse asked. “We really liked that stuff, didn’t we, Emmy? Emmy?”

He looked around. Emmy wasn’t there. “Hey! Has anyone seen our dragon?” Jesse called out.

“She must have slipped out when no one was looking,” said Mitzi.

Jesse and Daisy left everyone to watch the newborn dragon toddling along the banks of the pool. They ran back down the long hallway lined with surfboards and burst out the front door of the shack.

The giant sea cucumber was now no more than a long green stain on the sand. Emmy stood in the shallow surf, staring out to sea.

“There you are!” said Daisy as she and Jesse went running to join her.

“Why did you leave so suddenly?” Jesse asked.

Emmy sighed shakily. “Go on, say it,” she said.

“Say what?” Jesse said. “And would you mind coming up on the beach? I don’t want to get my sneakers wet.”

When he realized what he had just said, he shook his head and laughed at himself. But the expression on their dragon’s face was no laughing matter. So he and Daisy waded into the surf, sneakers and all.

“Tell us what’s bothering you, Emmy,” Daisy said gently.

“Golden is sooooo beautiful,” said Emmy.

“Yeah, he is,” Jesse said slowly.

“And his Keepers are going to have such a gnarly time of it with their baby dragon,” Emmy said.

“True,” said Jesse. “Just like we had a gnarly time of it with you. And we’re having a hyperfierce gnar-gnar time now that you’re all grown … well, almost all grown … at least, we hope nearly all grown,” he added lamely, looking up at her.

Emmy turned to gaze down at him, her eyes brightening. “You really mean that? Hyperfierce?”

“Ultra-supersonic hyperfierce gnar-gnar,” said
Jesse. “The bigger you get, the gnarlier our adventures become.”

“You’re sure?” said Emmy. She gathered the two of them up in her arms. “You’re the best Keepers a dragon ever had.”

“Next to Reef and Coral,” Daisy said.

“Next to Reef and Coral,” said Emmy. “I know my baby brother is in the grooviest of good hands.”

“Far out!” Jesse and Daisy said as Emmy set them down on the dry sand.

Just then, they heard the sound of a foghorn blowing, followed by a giant
whoosh
. They looked out to sea, and there, riding the waves just beyond the big rocks, was
The Golden Dragon
, sails unfurled and dripping, in all her square-rigged splendor.

Mitzi and Bill, followed by Coral and Reef, came piling out the door of the shack. Reef carried Golden. Jesse noticed that he was wearing the oven mitt to protect his hand from Golden’s needle-sharp talons, just as Jesse had once worn a purple kneesock. Coral carried the backpack by one strap.

“You’ll be wanting your backpack back,” said Coral, handing it to Jesse.

“Thanks,” said Jesse. He and Daisy took the two halves of the golden geode and tucked them into the side pouch. “These’ll make a great addition
to our Museum of Magic,” he said as he zipped up the pouch and slipped his arms through the straps.

“All right, lubbers,” said Captain Mitzi Belleweather-Driftwood. “It’s time for us to take our water dragon and set sail. The best place to rear a water dragon is at sea.”

Jesse’s shoulders sagged. “But I never got my tour of the sugar shack.”

“Next time,” Reef promised.

“Does that mean we’ll be seeing you again?” Daisy asked.

“Of course we will, silly,” said Emmy. “No one, not even her Keepers, can keep me away from my baby brother.”

“Chillax, dude. The sand witches will let us know the next time you visit Polly,” said Bill. “And we’ll drop anchor so you dudes and dudettes can visit us on board.
And
tour the sugar shack.”

“Solid,” Jesse said, and he did the super surfer handshake, first with Bill and then with Coral, the fist-bump, wiggety-waggety, chest-thump, slap-slap-snap routine that Jesse had been practicing in his mind since he was first introduced to it by Surfer Bill, the husband of Captain Mitzi, the Selkie Enchantress. He would have gone on to do the handshake with Reef, too, but Reef’s hands were otherwise occupied. And Jesse didn’t feel right
doing anything but giving Captain Belleweather a crisp salute.

“Come on, Keepers,” said Emmy. “I’ll fly you two back to the Inn of the Barking Seal. What do you want to bet Polly saved you some turkey?”

Jesse didn’t know how to tell Emmy that there was no way there would be enough cold turkey for her, too.

Emmy read his mind. “Chillax, little dude. No turkey for me. I have a date to dine on sushi at my club tonight.”

“Your club?” Jesse and Daisy chimed.

“Yeah, my seal club. Ever heard of seals? Those whiskery little critters that lie on the big rock and say
arf-arf-arf
all night and day? I’m going to try and see if I can get a word in edgewise.”

“Do us a favor, Em, and find out why they do that
arf
ing business all the time,” Daisy said.

“Aye, aye, skippers,” Emmy said, popping her wings. “Now, hop on board and it’s over the river and through the woods to Grandmother’s house we go.” She sighed and chuckled. “You have no idea how much I’ve been looking forward to saying that.”

Later that afternoon, Jesse sat at his grandmother’s ancient computer and pounded out a belated Thanksgiving greeting to his parents.