Free Dragon Keepers #1: The Dragon in the Sock Drawer by Kate Klimo, John Shroades Page B

she spat out a fine spray of eggshell.
    â€œEm. Mee. Not. Go!” she growled.
    â€œWe’re sorry, Emmy,” said Jesse, kneeling before her. His voice was tight. “We don’t have much choice.”
    â€œEm. Meee. Sad!” she keened, and keeled over into the sand.
    They took her up to Jesse’s room, where she curled into a tight little ball of scales. Jesse placed her gently in the sock drawer and stared at her glumly.
    Daisy came to stand beside him, blinking away tears. She almost never cried, but this was a losing battle. “We need to get in touch with Professor Andersson now,” she said.
    â€œNo!” said Jesse, thinking of the blazing eyes of their online advisor. “He’s going to be so mad at us!”
    â€œBut don’t we have to tell him?” Daisy asked.
    â€œNo. Yes. Maybe. I don’t know,” he said.
    â€œSome Dragon Keepers we turned out to be,” she said.
    Jesse nodded, staring down at Emmy, who was once more as silent as a thunder egg. “We’ve only had her, what? Not even two days? It feels like my whole life! And now we’re losing her.”
    Not long afterward, the doorbell rang, filling the house with the melody Uncle Joe had programmed it to play: “Rock of Ages.”
    â€œWhat if we just say no? What if we tell him, tough luck, he can’t have Emmy?” Jesse said in a panic.
    â€œI don’t think Poppy would let us do that,” Daisy said, wiping her nose on her sleeve. “This guy might be a giant fibber. But so are we. And we fibbed first.”
    â€œWhat if we hide her and say she ran away?” said Jesse.
    Daisy said, “Hasn’t fibbing gotten us into enough trouble already?”
    â€œGuys!” Uncle Joe called from downstairs. “Can you bring the lizard down?”
    Daisy heaved a huge sigh. “Let’s get this over with.”
    Jesse, nodding, reached into the sock drawer and took Emmy into his hands. She felt lifeless. He didn’t even need the purple kneesock, but Daisy stuffed it in her pocket anyway.
    They clomped down the stairs side by side, preparing themselves to hand over their baby dragon to a complete stranger. But Jesse froze when he saw who was standing in the front hall next to Uncle Joe.
    It was the man in the long black coat from High Peak. Uncle Joe had a polite smile plastered across his face. He said, “Guys, meet the man who’s lost his lizard. This is Dr. St. George.”

CHAPTER SEVEN
    FINDERS, CHEATERS
    Jesse’s first thought was that Dr. St. George didn’t
look
like a Dragon Slayer. He looked like a movie star. Jesse and his parents had once been bumped up to first class on a flight. A famous movie actor had been sitting across the aisle from them. Jesse couldn’t stop staring at him. In the movies, the star had looked tall and handsome. Up close, he was much shorter, and his head looked huge. He was still handsome, but he was almost
too
handsome.
    This man fascinated Jesse in much the same way. His big, handsome puppet head was covered with long, wavy hair the color of tarnished gold. Behind the round lenses of his wire-rim glasses, Dr. St. George’s eyes were so dark and shiny, they looked varnished.
    â€œMy prize!” Dr. St. George said in a voice that was deep and low and sweet to the ear. Jesse sneaked a look at Daisy, who was staring at the stranger with her jaw hanging open.
    â€œI’m glad the kids could help,” said Uncle Joe. “What is this lizard anyway, Dr. St. George? The guys here thought she was a green basilisk from Costa Rica.”
    â€œAn amateur might jump to such a conclusion,” Dr. St. George said. “But she is a
Mekosuchus inexpectatus
from the island of New Caledonia. She was found in the hold of a ship that put in from the South Seas. The captain brought her to me. He didn’t realize that it was the discovery of the century. You see, there hasn’t been