Dragon Keepers #1: The Dragon in the Sock Drawer (3 page)

Jesse woke up drenched in sweat. He went to the window. The million-dollar car was gone. Why hadn't he thought to tell Daisy about it? Or, better yet, brought her over to the window and shown it to her while it was still there? With a sudden gasp, he ran to the sock drawer and yanked it open.

The thunder egg
was
still there, nestled in its place between the tube socks and Daisy's purple kneesocks. Just to be safe, he took the thunder egg back to bed with him. He fell asleep with it pressed warmly against his cheek.

CHAPTER THREE

THE BIG BANG

The next morning was beautiful, as fresh and crisp as clean laundry snapping on the line. It was a great day for going to the Dell.

Jesse got out of bed and went to the window. No million-dollar car. He laid the thunder egg back in the sock drawer, got dressed, washed his face, and strapped on his watches.

Downstairs, Aunt Maggie was kissing Uncle Joe good-bye. Then she kissed Daisy. Jesse got to the bottom of the stairs just in time for his kiss.

“Take care of that thunder egg,” Aunt Maggie said. She hugged him extra hard, twice. “One from me and one from your mom,” she whispered in his ear.

“Safe trip, Aunt Maggie,” he said.

She smiled and smoothed his shaggy hair.

Outside, a car horn honked.

Aunt Maggie looked around one last time. She liked leaving everything in apple-pie order. “Don't forget to change your socks,” she told them. “Brush your hair when you get up, and eat at the table. No reading while you eat. No eating over the sink. Keep everything in apple-pie order.”

“We will!” they all told her as they followed her out. “Have a great time. See you Friday!”

“And brush your teeth,” Aunt Maggie added as she got into the airport cab.

They stood in the driveway and waved until the cab was out of sight.

Then Jesse, Daisy, and Uncle Joe turned around, went back inside, and ate their cereal standing over the sink. It's not that they hadn't heard Aunt Maggie loud and clear. But how else, they all agreed, were they going to keep the house in apple-pie order?

After breakfast, Uncle Joe said he was headed for the Rock Shop. “So where are you two guys gallivanting off to today?” he asked.

“We're going to hang out here, then go to the Dell,” Daisy told him.

“Well, have fun,” he said. “I'll see you at dinnertime.” It was normal for Uncle Joe to spend an entire summer day in the Rock Shop, especially when he had a new project to work on.

The moment Uncle Joe was out the back door, Daisy said, “Get the thunder egg. Where do you want to start?”

Jesse gave her a puzzled look. Then last night's business about the key to the magic doorway came back to him. “I guess the closet in my room?”

She nodded. “Good plan.”

Daisy followed Jesse into his room. He took the thunder egg out of the sock drawer. Daisy solemnly marched over to the closet and pulled open the door with a flourish.

Jesse knew just what to do. With one hand, he shoved aside the thicket of hockey sticks and lacrosse sticks and baseball bats, clearing a path to the wall at the back of the closet. “Should I close my eyes?” he asked Daisy.

“I would,” she said.

Jesse closed his eyes, held the thunder egg in front of him, and took baby steps into the closet. He did his best to imagine the back wall melting away into trees and the clutter on the floor turning to pine needles and dirt, just as the wardrobe had dissolved for Lucy.
Bump!
The thunder egg hit the back of the closet. He lowered the rock slowly. “Uh—I don't think it's working.”

“Are you sure you're
believing
hard enough?” she asked over his shoulder.

“Very, very hard,” Jesse said to the wall.

Daisy backed out of the closet, hauling Jesse after her, and spun him around to face her. “What went wrong?” she asked.

He looked down at the thunder egg. It remained stonily silent. Jesse knew just how it felt. “I'm not sure…,” he said.

Daisy knitted her brow. “Well, please try a little harder next time.”

After that, Jesse and Daisy walked into every closet in the house, with the same results. They saved Aunt Maggie's vast walk-in closet for last.

“Let
me
try this time,” said Daisy. She took the thunder egg from Jesse and went into the closet. When she reached the back of it, she gave the wall an impatient kick with her sneaker. Then she sighed. “Okay, so it's not a key,” she said. “It's just a talking rock.” She spun around and put the thunder egg back into Jesse's hand. “And I'm sorry I'm so grumpy. It's just so darned
disappointing
! It's enough to make me cry.”

Jesse went to his bedroom and opened his sock drawer. “Sorry to put you through all that,” he said to the thunder egg, placing it back in the drawer. The rock still didn't say anything. Jesse was beginning to wonder if it was ever going to speak again. But he was fond of it, all the same.

He went down to the kitchen and found Daisy already at work preparing their picnic lunch for the Dell. She was making fresh lemonade. Her expression was fierce as she bore down on the electric juicer. Jesse whistled softly as he grabbed a can of tuna fish, opened it, and got some mayonnaise from the refrigerator. He kept whistling as he mixed the tuna salad and spread it on the bread. He slapped the tops on the sandwiches, sliced each in half, and wrapped them in waxed paper. Whistling still, he packed them, along with two hard-boiled eggs, in their single backpack, which they shared, taking turns carrying it wherever they went.

“Quiet!”
Daisy snapped at him.

He was about to say,
Gee, can't a person even whistle
—but then he heard it, too.

It was a rattling sound—a very faint but very distinct rattling sound. Jesse and Daisy stared at each other, mouths open. Jesse's eyes went to the ceiling. The sound was growing louder. It was coming from upstairs.

The cousins headed for the stairs. By the time they reached the foot of the staircase, the rattling had turned into a rumbling. It shook the family photographs on the wall. From where they were standing, Jesse could tell that the noise was coming from the front of the house. In fact, it was coming from his bedroom.

They started up the stairs, gripping the vibrating railing. The sound was thunderous now.

At the top of the stairs, they turned to see that the doorknob of Jesse's room was jiggling. That's when the look on Daisy's face switched from excitement to fear.

Jesse bravely crept over and put his hand on the doorknob, but he pulled it back. “It's hot!” he shouted over the din, rubbing his fingers on the seat of his pants. Now he was scared, too. If the house blew up, it would be his fault. Talk about getting things out of apple-pie order! Aunt Maggie would send him packing, for sure.

“This is ridiculous,” said Daisy, squaring her shoulders. Then she went to the laundry cupboard and took out a washcloth. She wrapped it around the doorknob and turned it. The knob clicked, then—

KABLAM-WHOOSH!!!

The bedroom door blew outward, knocking both cousins onto their backsides. The air was filled with green-and-gold dust and the powerful smell of hot chili peppers.

Jesse and Daisy scrambled to their feet and ran into the room, coughing and waving away the dust. The sock drawer was on the floor. Socks were everywhere, and pieces of beautiful green and gold crystals sparkled among them.

In the middle of everything, something that looked like a lizard was standing on its hind legs and peering around. It was no bigger than a newborn kitten. Its bottom half was stout and covered with shiny scales. They were green (or blue, depending on how you moved your head), with the rainbow sheen of oil on a puddle. Sprouting from its shoulder blades were two dark green bumps, not so much wings as the
idea
of wings. Two long dark green ridges ran down its back and along its pointed tail. Its head looked like a sea horse's, only broader.

Jesse knew very well what he was looking at. But he didn't want to say it. So instead, he said, “Whoa!”

“Holy moly!” Daisy laughed uneasily. She added, “It's a good thing my mom just left.” Then she pointed to the creature and said, “Oh, look! Poor thing!”

The lizard had gotten tangled up in one of Daisy's purple kneesocks and was wiggling and shaking to try to free itself.

“Shouldn't we help it?” Daisy asked.

Jesse had the same urge. But he realized that even though it was a tiny thing, he was a little afraid of it. “It's beautiful!” said Jesse. He wasn't sure that was the right word.

“Yes, it is,” Daisy said softly. “So beautiful.”

You know when you're in a pet shop and some animal, usually of the warm and fuzzy variety, looks at you and you just know you could be friends for life? That's the way Jesse felt when he looked at the creature. Only
Jesse
was the one who was warm and fuzzy—and the lizard creature was the one doing the shopping!

When the lizard finally shook itself free of the sock, it flung out its forepaws and said, “Jesse!”

It was the same voice he had heard yesterday, but much clearer. Jesse thought that if gold could talk, it would sound like this voice: fresh and clear and rich and metallic.

“Jesse!” it cried again. Then it cocked its green head and set its bright eyes on Daisy. “Who?” it wanted to know.

“Her?” asked Jesse, pointing to his cousin. “That's Daisy.”

“Day. Zee,” it said, as if her name had two very distinct parts.

Daisy laughed. “That's right. You can talk!”

“Can. Talk,” it said. Then it said, “Who. Am. I?”

“You,” said Daisy, shooting a quick look at Jesse, “are a baby dragon. Right, Jess?”

Jesse nodded, grinning, happy that she had put his thoughts into words. “Right!”

“
Who.
Am. I?” the baby dragon repeated, each word coming out like a gold coin dropping into a cup. It kept looking from one cousin to the other, cocking its head, first to one side, then to the other. A green horn poked out between its eyes. A pulse throbbed in its pale green throat, and its underbelly gave off a glow like sunlight shining through spring leaves. Its tail switched back and forth impatiently.

“I think she wants us to give her a name,” said Jesse.

“How do you know it's a girl?” asked Daisy.

“Because Uncle Joe said it was and he speaks the secret language of rocks, and, I don't know…it
looks
like a girl, doesn't it?” he said.

“Sort of…I guess, now that you mention it. So what are we going to name her?” Daisy asked.

After some thought, Jesse said, “Let's call her Emerald.”

“Emerald!” said Daisy. “I like that!”

“Like. That,” said the baby dragon. “Em. Ma. World.”

The cousins laughed giddily. She was so cute, and eerie at the same time.

“How about Emmy for short?” said Jesse.

“Good idea,” said Daisy. “Because she's kind of short.”

The cousins laughed again.

“Jess. Eee. Day. Zee. Em. Meeeeeee!” the little dragon sang, bouncing up and down on her sturdy hind legs.

The cousins grinned happily.

“This is even better than a key!” said Daisy.

Jesse nodded. “
Way
better!”

“Where did you come from?” Daisy asked. “I mean…besides the thunder egg?”

The dragon looked at her and said, “From. The. Time. Be. Fore.”

Jesse felt a ripple of excitement run up his spine. “From the time before? The time before
what
?” he asked.

Emmy looked around, the pulse throbbing in her pale throat. “I. For. Get,” she said. Then she repeated, “From. The. Time. Be. Fore. I. For. Get. When.”

“When's the time before, do you think?” Jesse asked Daisy.

Daisy was flapping her hands, which she did only when she was very excited. “Maybe it isn't a magic
land
we've come upon. Maybe it's a magic
time,
” she said.

“Cool!” said Jesse.

“Em. Meee. Eat. NOW!” said the dragon.

The cousins came back to earth with a thud.

“Emmyeatemmyeatemmyeat NOW!” She was bouncing up and down like a small rubber toy. “Up! Up!! UP!!!”

“I think she wants you to pick her up,” said Daisy to Jesse.

“No kidding. How do you hold a baby dragon?” Jesse asked as he moved toward Emmy to do her bidding.

Daisy thought for a minute. “My guess is, very carefully,” she said.

“Ha-ha. Very funny,” said Jesse as he leaned down and held out his cupped hands. The dragon scrambled into them, her claws digging into him.

“Ouch!” he said. She felt like a ball of needles in his hands. He dumped Emmy back onto the carpet.

“Up!” Emmy said. “Em. Meee. Up!”

Daisy looked around. “Try this,” she said. She took her purple kneesock and put it over Jesse's hand.

Jesse picked up Emmy again. “Brilliant,” he said to Daisy.

Jesse started walking with tiny steps, holding the dragon stiffly in front of him. Daisy ran ahead, but not before shutting the door on the mess in Jesse's room. “We'll clean up later,” she said.

In the kitchen, Jesse sat down slowly and set Emmy carefully on the kitchen table. He propped his chin on the table so he could meet the little dragon eye to eye. “May we take your order?” he asked her.