The Dragon in the Sea (3 page)

Bill offered an encouraging smile. “I always say that a piece of the beach is handy to have on you,” he said.

Daisy watched Jesse put his on over his head, and then, reluctantly, did the same with hers.

“Well, good luck,” said Mitzi. “You’d better run along home … before the fog rolls in.”

Jesse squinted up at the sky. It was bright blue and the sun was shining. “Right,” he said slowly. “Well, happy Thanksgiving.”

“They were
awesome
!” Jesse whispered as he and Daisy made their way back down the beach toward the zigzag stairs.

“They were
weird
,” Daisy said.

“Awesome,” Jesse said.

“Weird,” Daisy returned.

“Weirdly awesome,”
Jesse said, settling it.

“And, meanwhile,” Daisy added, “what fog?”

But no sooner had they rounded the point than a blanket of fog enveloped them that was so thick and cold and clammy, they had to grope their way along the shoreline.

“Holy moly!” said Daisy, who was walking closer to the water. “Give me your arm, Jess.”

“This is some serious zombie fog,” said Jesse.

Daisy drew closer to him. “Don’t
say
that. You’re giving me the heebie-jeebies.”

Suddenly, Jesse froze in his tracks.

“Don’t stop now.” Daisy tugged on his arm. “The stairs are just ahead … I hope.”

“Don’t you hear it?” Jesse said.

“Hear what?” Daisy said.

“The seals,” said Jesse. “They stopped barking.”

In the eerie quiet, they heard the water lapping. Or was it something moving steadily toward them through the water?

Daisy screamed, her nails digging into Jesse’s arm.

“What’s wrong?” he shouted.

“Jess, help!” she said, her voice desperate, her eyes wide. “Something’s
got
me!”

Jesse watched in horror as Daisy, arms reaching out to him, was dragged belly-down by the legs over
the sand and into the sea. Jesse splashed in after her, heedless of the freezing water, as she disappeared beneath the waves. Moments later, she bobbed back up, sputtering and gasping.

Then Jesse saw what had gotten Daisy.

C
HAPTER
T
WO
THE BATTLE OF THE BACKPACK

It looked like a giant sea horse, the color of green glass, with a black mane and a tail that curled over its back. Unlike a sea horse, it had tiny Tyrannosaurus rex—like arms that were grasping Daisy and dragging her farther out into the sea.

Daisy screamed as she went under and came up again, choking and spitting water. Jesse dived in and swam after her through the murky, churning water. No sooner had he caught up to her than a wave slapped him hard in the face. Rubbing the stinging salt from his eyes, he saw that there was a man in the water, too, who seemed to be trying to wrestle Daisy away from the sea horse.

Jesse was relieved to have a grown-up’s help—until he got a better look at the man: scraggly beard, greenish skin, red-rimmed bloodshot eyes. Jesse’s first thought was
Water zombie!
Then the man heaved up out of the water, and Jesse saw that, from the waist down, he had a fish’s tail.

Merman!
And the merman wasn’t trying to rescue Daisy. He was trying to get her away from the sea horse and capture her for himself!

Jesse flew at the merman and pummeled him with his fists. When that didn’t work, he tried to pry the merman’s fingers loose from Daisy’s arm. The merman’s fingernails were long and black.

“Jess!” Daisy gasped. She flung her free arm around Jesse’s neck and pulled him underwater with her. Jesse struggled back to the surface, pulling Daisy and the merman with him, just as the sea horse flicked its curly tail and came charging past him to butt the merman hard in the chest with its
head. The sea horse knocked loose the merman’s grip on Daisy; then it took Daisy’s arm and yanked her away from Jesse. The merman rebounded and grabbed Daisy’s other arm, pulling her in the opposite direction. Back and forth, the merman and the sea horse tugged Daisy. With each tug, Daisy got dunked. She sputtered and choked and whipped her head about. Jesse looked helplessly for a way to get between Daisy and her attackers, but there was too much splashing and thrashing going on. Then one enormous tug from the merman brought all three of them underwater.

Jesse dived down. The merman had seized hold of the backpack’s strap and begun to work it off Daisy’s shoulder. The sea horse grabbed the other strap. Just as Jesse’s air gave out, he realized,
It’s not Daisy they want. It’s the backpack!

He kicked up to the surface, sucked in a lungful of air, and then dived back down. Daisy had gone completely limp. It wasn’t hard for Jesse to pull her free of the straps, take her arm, and swim them both away from the skirmish and back toward the surface.

Jesse felt them being lifted by a surge of current. Up, up, up they went until their heads broke the surface of the water.

Jesse inhaled deeply. Daisy’s eyes were glazed
over. He wasn’t sure she was even aware her head was above the water again.

“Breathe, Daise!” he shouted at her, shaking her shoulders.

Jesse had just enough time to fill his lungs with air before the wave pulled them back under, spinning them head over heels, sending them tumbling and rolling like laundry in the heavy-duty rinse cycle.

No matter how rough it got, Jesse held on to Daisy. He stuck his free hand out to break the spinning motion. Tiny pebbles dug painfully into his palm. Half crawling, half dragging Daisy up onto the shore, he felt a wave of relief when he saw her raise her head and take a deep, shuddering breath. She lifted herself up onto her knees and threw up what looked like half the Pacific Ocean.

As he patted Daisy’s back, Jesse was vaguely aware that the fog had lifted, the sky was blue, and the seals were barking again.

Daisy stopped puking seawater long enough to peer up at him. “Backpack?” she croaked.

“We left it with the water zombie and the giant sea horse,” Jesse said, panting. “They’re probably still fighting over it. I wonder who will win? The merman was strong, but the sea horse was a pretty fierce head-butter.”

“No!” Daisy shouted. She stood up and looked out to sea. “I’m going in after it.”

Jesse grabbed her hand as she struggled toward the water. It sparkled in the sunlight, looking as blue and calm and inviting as a picture postcard, but Jesse knew better. That sea had almost drowned them both. “Let it go, Daisy.”

Daisy’s hand felt like it had been sitting in a meat locker. She was trembling all over as she crumpled onto the sand. “We lost it, Jess,” she sobbed. “We lost the Thunder Egg!”

Jesse plopped down next to her, only realizing now that this was true. Daisy wept and shivered. Jesse wanted to give her a bandanna to dry her tears but the bandanna was in the backpack.

“I’m sorry about the backpack and the Thunder Egg,” he said through numb lips. “But I’m
not
sorry you didn’t drown.”

Daisy rubbed her eyes with the backs of her hands. “I was pretty sure I was a goner,” she said. “Until I saw you, and then I knew everything was going to be okay. Thanks for coming in after me. I know how much you hate cold water.”

Jesse blushed. “I had to.” He could tell she was feeling better, so he said, “Ready to head back up? I think we need to tell the professor what just happened.”

Daisy perked up. “The professor! Of course! He’ll have some ideas.”

Jesse was too happy to see his cousin’s spirits restored to say what he was thinking:
Only if Polly’s computer is working
.

When they got back up to the house, they each took a hot shower and quickly changed into dry clothes, then met up at the captain’s desk in the Salon.

Jesse switched on the computer but nothing happened. The little light was on, but the screen wouldn’t come up. He tried unplugging the computer and plugging it in again. The screen remained stubbornly blank. He tried moving the mouse around and clicking it. He was ready to start pounding the keys with both fists when he heard Polly’s voice.

“I have a sledgehammer you can borrow if you think it’d do the trick.” She was standing in the doorway. “A little late in the year to be swimming, wouldn’t you say?”

“How did you know?” Jesse asked.

“Seaweed in the shower drains,” Polly said, holding up a long green tendril.

Daisy stood with her arm on Jesse’s shoulder. “We fell in,” she said.

Polly’s eyes narrowed. “Is that so? Well now,
must have been mighty cold. Your lips are still blue.”

Daisy nodded. She was chilled to the bone and light-headed, and her ears rang as if she were still underwater.

“Your computer isn’t working,” Jesse said to Polly.

“So it seems,” Polly said. “But the fireplace is, and I think you two could use a hot fire a whole lot more than a cold computer screen. Go get some wood from the pile.”

They went outside to the big stack of driftwood on the deck and returned with arms loaded.

Polly knelt on the hearth and got the fire going. She rose, dusting off her hands. “I’ll be in the Galley whomping up dinner. Sit here and warm up,” she said, indicating the big easy chair right next to the hearth.

Jesse and Daisy wedged themselves into the chair and watched the flames leap up the chimney. Gradually, the heat of the fire baked the chill out of their bones.

Daisy sighed. The fire reminded her of the Fiery Realm, which reminded her of Emmy and how much she missed their dragon.

Jesse sighed. “I miss her, too,” he said.

Jesse and Daisy were staring drowsily into the flames when an image appeared in the fire.
It was the Fire Fairies they had met in the Fiery Realm
. Spark had a head that came to an orange point like the flame on a birthday candle. Flicker flickered, white one moment and blue the next. Fiero was smaller than the other two and round.

Jesse leaned forward and whispered, “Hey, you guys! Are we glad to see you!”

Spark’s head went from orange to red, Flicker flickered faster, and Fiero turned even rounder and rosier to show his pleasure.

“We need to get an urgent message to Emmy,” Jesse said.

Spark nodded his pointy head.

“Tell her we need her,” Jesse said. “Tell her it’s an ultrasonic, super-duper emergency.”

The fire roared up the chimney. When it settled back down, the Fire Fairies were gone.

“I hope they find her fast,” Daisy said.

Jesse nodded.

Moments later, there was a tapping on the windowpane. Emmy stood outside on the deck. She had a white napkin the size of a tablecloth tied around her neck, and a worried look on her face. They tore outside.

“Emerald of Leandra, reporting for duty,” said Emmy. “What’s the ultrasonic, super-duper emergency, cousins?”

Before Jesse and Daisy could answer, Emmy’s big green eyes homed in on Daisy. “What happened to you?” she said. “You look more like a seaweed than a Daisy Flower. And, Jesse, you look
messy
.”

“Daisy got dragged into the ocean by a couple of sea creatures,” Jesse said. “She almost drowned. I went in after her.”

“Jesse saved me,” Daisy added. “Except that we had to sacrifice the backpack.”

Emmy batted this away with a talon. “Daisy’s more valuable than any backpack.”

“Except that there was a Thunder Egg in the backpack, Em!” Daisy wailed.

“Daisy found it in a tide pool on the beach,” Jesse said, patting Daisy’s shoulder. “It looked just like yours, only with golden specks instead of purple, and Daisy says it hummed.”

Emmy tore off her giant napkin. “Why didn’t you say so? Come on, Keepers. Let’s go get it back.”

“It’s not that easy,” Jesse said.

“We need a plan,” said Daisy.

“Plan?” said Emmy. “I’ll tell you the plan. We dive into the sea, find the thieving suckers who took our Thunder Egg, and take it back. End of story.”

“Except for, you know, the danger of
drowning
?” Jesse said in a quiet voice.

“Really?” Emmy said. “You two? You’re great swimmers.”

“There’s a big difference between swimming in the town pool and swimming in the sea,” Jesse said. “And we just felt it, big-time.”