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Authors: Christopher Pike

BOOK: The Hidden Beast

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One of the power lines broke and fell on the dragon.

Slatron howled in agony.

Bryce fired again and again, in quick succession.

Two more sparkling lines landed on the dragon and she rolled onto her side in pain. Apparently her thick scaly hide was no protection from the massive current that was now pouring through its body. Sally's brilliant plan was working, but even though she had thought it up, Adam saw her turn away with tears in her eyes. The dragon flopped on her back and kicked her legs as if she were suffering from a seizure. Even Bryce dropped his rifle.

“I wish there had been another way,” he said. “But at least its over.”

Adam could not tear his eyes away from the horror. “Yeah,” he said sadly. “It's over.”

But Adam and Bryce were wrong.

A second dragon suddenly appeared in the sky. It swooped down toward Slatron and the crackling wires. It knocked the wires away from Slatron.
Adam and his friends briefly wondered if they were in for another fire fight, but then they saw that the new dragon was carrying Watch and Cindy and Leah on its back. Sally blinked in amazement.

“This is too weird,” she said. “Even for this town.”

The new dragon landed nearby and Cindy, Watch, and Leah climbed off his back and ran toward their friends. Harve went to attend to Slatron, who was already recovering from the electrical shock. Slatron rolled onto her belly and Harve brushed her with his wings. Cindy and Watch were laughing as they walked up. Even Leah was smiling, although she seemed embarrassed to face Bryce.

“I can see you guys have been busy,” Sally said.

Cindy gestured to the laser-assisted rifle and the downed electric wires.

“You don't look like you've been waiting around to be rescued,” Cindy said.

Sally shrugged. “All in a day's work. But tell us how you got here.”

“Harve brought us,” Cindy said simply.

“Harve?” Bryce said.

“That kid dragon,” Watch said, pointing. “He's pretty cool. He helped us catch up with Leah and then he bought the crystals back from her with his weekly allowance.”

Sally frowned. “His allowance? What did he give you, Leah?”

Now they knew why Leah was smiling.

She held out handful of beautiful diamonds.

“These,” she said.

Adam had to laugh. “I wish I had an inheritance like that.”

Leah shook her head. “This is no inheritance, and Harve didn't really buy the crystals from me. I gave them back when I heard how much they meant to his mother. I realized I was way off base taking them. I should never have taken them in the first place.” Leah pointed to Slatron and her son. The electrical wires had been pushed farther away. Mother and child seemed to be doing well. They looked over and waved their wide wings, and Slatron didn't even appear to be mad anymore. Leah continued, “Harve simply gave me
these gems as a favor when he heard I'd lost my father. He said he didn't want me poor and destitute.”

Sally stared at the gems hungrily. “That Harve sounds like a nice guy. Would he like to do each of us a favor?”

But the gang didn't let Sally talk to the young dragon.

They were too afraid of angering his mother again.

About the Author

Little is known about Christopher Pike, although he is supposed to be a strange man. It is rumored that he was born in New York but grew up in Los Angeles. He has been seen in Santa Barbara lately, so he probably lives there now. But no one really knows what he looks like, or how old he is. It is possible that he is not a real person, but an eccentric creature visiting from another world. When he is not writing, he sits and stares at the walls of his huge haunted house. A short, ugly troll wanders around him in the dark and whispers scary stories in his ear.

Christopher Pike is one of this planet's best-selling authors of young adult fiction.

Books by Christopher Pike

Spooksville #1: The Secret Path

Spooksville #2: The Howling Ghost

Spooksville #3: The Haunted Cave

Spooksville #4: Aliens in the Sky

Spooksville #5: The Cold People

Spooksville #6: The Witch's Revenge

Spooksville #7: The Dark Corner

Spooksville #8: The Little People

Spooksville #9: The Wishing Stone

Spooksville #10: The Wicked Cat

Spooksville #11: The Deadly Past

Spooksville #12: The Hidden Beast

Spooksville #13: Creature in the Teacher

Available from MINSTREL Books

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

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