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

idea? You made my steady gaze waver."
    Daisy rolled her eyes. "So long as we're both awake, we might as well figure out a plan."
    "Okay," Jesse said, and he followed her obediently upstairs.
    It wasn't much of a plan, but like some of their successful plans in the past, it started with spying. After breakfast the next morning, they told Uncle Joe they were going up to Old Mine Lane to check out the old castle and its new owner.
    "Beware the patented Ten-Yard Stare," Uncle Joe said, his voice going all eerie. Then he added, "And no trespassing on private property, remember."
    "Don't worry, Poppy," said Daisy solemnly. "We're just checking it out. She won't even know we're there."
    "Oh, yes, she will!" Uncle Joe said with a wink. "Remember, she's a witch."
    "Right," said Jesse with a sickly smile. "We'll try to remember that."
    They took Emmy's breakfast out to the garage. While she worked her way through a bag of frozen cauliflower, Jesse and Daisy briefed her. They left out the part about the dragon-smiting, but they told
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    her everything else they had learned: about the missing professor and about Sadie Huffington's really being Princess Sadra, about her coming to Goldmine City looking for her boyfriend, St. George.
    Emmy listened in stony silence and then burst out: "That dame is bad news!"
    "Pretty much," said Jesse, wondering where Emmy had picked up a word like dame . Surely not in one of their library books.
    "I bet she's got the professor under lock and key," Emmy said. "We have to find him!"
    "We will," said Daisy.
    "And then spring him!" said Emmy.
    "First Kilimanjaro, then Everest," Jesse said, invoking one of the professor's favorite sayings, which meant "one step at a time."
    Daisy said, "In this case, Kilimanjaro is Sadie Huffington's castle on the other side of town. We're going to start by spying on her...which means it's leash time for Emmy."
    Emmy grumbled, "Why do I have to be the dumb dog all the time?"
    "Maybe because Daisy and I can't turn into dogs?" Jesse suggested.
    "But I hate being a dog. It itches!" Emmy said.
    "We can always give you some of Miss Alodie's
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    valerian tea," Daisy said, moving to get the thermos from the backpack.
    "Oh, very well!" Emmy said, and grumpy dragon masked into equally grumpy dog.
    Jesse attached the leash to her purple Great Dane collar. Then the cousins wheeled their bicycles out of the garage and Jesse set out, leading the way, with Daisy and Emmy bringing up the rear. They rode right down the center of Main Street because it was deserted. Everyone was indoors with their air-conditioners, and the little town hummed with the sound of the units turned up to high.
    Choosing the least steep streets, they gradually worked their way up into the foothills of Old Mother Mountain. At least that's what most of the townspeople called it. To Jesse and Daisy it was now the Hobhorn, in honor of their friend, Her Royal Lowness Queen Hap, ruler of the hobgoblins of the Hobhorn, whose kingdom lay inside the mountain.
    Old Mine Lane dead-ended a quarter of a mile from what had once been the entrance to the gold mine. They knew that the old castle sat smack at the end, not that either of them had ever seen it. It had been blocked off from outsiders by a high wall overgrown with bushes and vines since before they were born. The number of houses along the road
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    began to dwindle until there were just weed-choked vacant lots. The cousins finally arrived at the end of the road, where a brand-new plywood wall loomed at least fifteen feet high. It was the kind of wall you'd see at a city construction site, except this one didn't seem to have any peepholes for curious pedestrians to look through.
    The cousins parked their bikes and waded through the weeds over to the wall. A big new sign warned, NO TRESPASSING. GUARD DOGS ON PATROL.
    "Guarding the poor professor would be my bet," Daisy said.
    Emmy growled, baring her teeth, the fur along her spine standing up.
    "I know just how you feel,