Dragon Keepers #3: The Dragon in the Library Read Online Free PDF

switched off the computer.
    "How bad was it?" Daisy asked, lifting her head, her face pale and her blue eyes filled with worry.
    Jesse nodded. "He pierced the dragon beneath the wing with a sharp spear...where the dragon didn't have any scales. Then he found this humongous treasure in the dragon's cave and Prince George and his princess lived happily ever after in Uffington Castle."
    "So are you thinking what I'm thinking, Jess?" Daisy asked.
    Jesse nodded quickly. "Sadie. Sadra," he said.
    "Uffington. Huffington," Daisy said.
    "Princess Sadra and Sadie Huffington are the same person," they said together.
    Before they could take their thinking any
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    further, Uncle Joe called up to them from the kitchen. "Dinnertime, you guys! Come and get it!"
    They had skipped lunch. Up until a few minutes ago, Jesse's stomach had been growling, but now he wasn't the least bit hungry. "I don't think I can eat," he said.
    "Me neither, but we've got to," Daisy said. "St. George's girlfriend has probably kidnapped the professor, and we're the only ones who can save him. We need our strength."
    "We need more than that," Jesse said. "We need a plan ."
    Uncle Joe had made a pasta salad for dinner. It wasn't the cousins' favorite meal, but they shoveled it dutifully into their mouths.
    Aunt Maggie, who had been in her air-conditioned advertising office all day, was cool and chipper. "You kids look a little careworn. Is something wrong?"
    The cousins shook their heads.
    "It's the heat," said Uncle Joe.
    The cousins nodded.
    "I keep telling you," said Aunt Maggie, "you should go to the town pool."
    "Too crowded," said Daisy.
    "No dogs allowed," said Jesse.
    "Tomorrow we're taking Emmy to the Dell to
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    dunk her in the brook," said Daisy.
    "Poor thing," Aunt Maggie said. "I wish you'd let me give her a nice, cool summer haircut."
    Both cousins set down their forks with a bang and said "NO!" loudly and firmly.
    Aunt Maggie laughed and shrugged. "Have it your way, but honestly, you two, she'd be much happier if you'd let me take the shears to her. The fur will grow back by winter, you know."
    Daisy tried to keep her voice level as she said, "I've seen how sheared sheepdogs look, Mom. They look naked and defenseless--and--and--and--"
    "Completely undignified," Jesse finished for her.
    "Well," said Aunt Maggie, trying hard not to smile, "we can't have an undignified sheepdog running around the place, can we? And speaking of dogs, we've got ourselves a new celebrity in town."
    Uncle Joe, Jesse, and Daisy all perked up and asked, "Who?"
    Aunt Maggie grinned. "That gorgeous redhead who trains dogs on TV," she said. "How about that? Little old Goldmine City has bagged itself a hot celeb."
    Daisy flicked a glance at Jesse. "You mean Sadie Huffington?"
    Aunt Maggie nodded brightly.
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    Meanwhile, Jesse and Daisy were furiously banging each other's knees beneath the table.
    Aunt Maggie took a long sip of iced tea, then said, "She even bought a house. A castle, in fact. Up on Old Mine Lane. You know the one, Joe? Built by the mining company during the Gold Rush. It's been vacant and walled-up for years."
    "Well, what do you know?" Uncle Joe said with a wide grin. "Before they put up that big wall around it, we kids used to mess around up there. We played a game. It was called Storm the Castle."
    Daisy slept fitfully that night, thinking of snake-eyed Sadie Huffington just across town from them. When she finally got out of bed and went into Jesse's room to see if he was awake, too, she saw that his bed was empty. It didn't take her long to find him in the kitchen, watching a rerun of Top Dog with the sound down, his nose not three inches away from the small screen.
    Daisy waved her hands between Jesse and the TV. "Are you okay, Jess?"
    "Sure," said Jesse, not taking his eyes off Sadie Huffington. "I'm studying her technique. Just look 'em dead in the eye and never let your steady gaze waver."
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    Daisy switched off the TV.
    Jesse blinked. "What's the big