The Dragon in the Sea Read Online Free PDF Page A

around your neck. Which one of you wants to wear the pipe?”
    Daisy’s mouth was full of breakfast sandwich, so Jesse shrugged and said, “I will.”
    Daisy swallowed and said, “But what’s it for?”
    “To pass commands to the crew when the noise of the sea drowns out the human voice. Should you happen to find yourself beset by perils, blow on it good and hard: one long burst, two short ones. Help, in some shape or form, is bound to come a-running. Now, get going before your dragon sets sail without you.”
    Polly held out her hands for their crumpled napkins as, with a soft
pop-pop
ping, Emmy’s wings unfurled on either side of her, purple on the underside, green on top.
    “Oh, well, say now!” Polly said, standing back to admire them. They weren’t a bird’s sort of wings, made up of feathers. They were most emphatically a dragon’s sort, as intricate as a Japanese parasol.“They’re pretty enough, but are they seaworthy?”
    “Don’t sweat it, Granny. I’m shipshape for sure!” Emmy said as Jesse and Daisy climbed onto the narrow bridge between her wings that provided just enough space for them to perch comfortably.
    “Anchors aweigh!” Polly called as Emmy swooped off the edge of the cliff and lit out over the silvery surf, the seals giving them an
arf-arf
send-off. Above the sound of the seals, they heard Polly’s voice as the wind snatched it away: “I’ll save you some turkey!”
    The air above the water was a good ten degrees colder, and Jesse regretted not wearing his winter coat. Then, when he realized that sooner or later they were going to wind up
in
the sea rather than
over
it, that gave him something new to fret about. Daisy didn’t look worried at all. Like a pale flag, her hair snapped behind her in the wind. She was grinning from ear to ear, or perhaps a more apt way to put it was
from gill to gill
.
    Emmy’s voice came to them on the rushing wind: “You Keepers have your seashell necklaces on?”
    “Yes!” the cousins hollered back at her.
    “Good,” Emmy said, “ ’cause when I see a good spot, I’m going to head on down.”
    “Aye, aye!” Daisy said.
    Jesse echoed this, with slightly less enthusiasm. He forced himself to look down. There was nothing below: not a fishing boat, not a seabird, not a fish fin, nothing but flat, gray water spreading out beneath them as far as he could see. Just when he was beginning to get used to the vastness of it, Emmy reared up slightly and began to head down.
    “Whoa, Nelly!” Daisy shouted, her eyes wide and delighted.
    “It’s going to be sooooo cold!” Jesse wailed. He had just enough time to shut his mouth before they hit the surface of the water with a loud
splat
.
    The impact threw Jesse and Daisy off Emmy’s back. Jesse plunged into the water, headfirst. The water fizzed around him like pale green soda. It was so cold it felt almost hot. He fought his way back to the surface.
    As far as he could tell, it was just him, all alone in the ice-cold sea. There was no sign of Emmy or Daisy. The shoreline was far away. He couldn’t even hear the seals
arf-arf
ing from here. The inn looked like a toy train chugging along the cliff, smoke trailing from its chimney.
    Suddenly, Daisy’s head popped up, as sleek as a blond otter. She was grinning more widely than ever.
    “Aw, come on, Jess! Don’t just bob around likea human cork! The whole point is to swim
underneath
the water. Follow me!”
    Jesse was just about to tell her to give a guy a chance to get used to the water when she dived back under, flipping a graceful, silvery-scaled fish tail in his face.
    “Wait for me!” he shouted, and taking a deep breath, dived under after her. He swam down, following the tip of Daisy’s tail and the bubbles she left in her wake. It wasn’t long before his lungs started to give out. When the natural urge to return to the surface for air became almost too strong to fight, he forced himself to continue following Daisy.
    Where are my gills?