The Dragon in the Volcano by Kate Klimo Read Free Book Online Page B

“I realize this notion may be beyond your feeble Earthly Realm powers of perception, so I won’t pursue this any further for fear of making you feel less enlightened than you already do.”
    “Oh, no!” Jesse said. “I understand. What you’re saying is that Old Bub’s shoes are rusty iron. Rust, as a corrosive substance brought about by oxidation, is a lesser form of combustion. So you ‘heard,’ rather than saw, the rust coming toward you, right, Flamina?”
    Daisy cocked an eye at Jesse. Sometimes she was amazed at how much her cousin knew. Her father said it was because he was mostly home-schooled by his parents, two very smart doctors.
    Her Ladyship, however, seemed more angry than impressed. She flared up into several small, blazing yellow peaks. “That’s
Lady
Flamina to you, earthly upstart!”
    “
Lady
Flamina,” Jesse said, cringing.
    The fire fairy sighed and went back to orange and then to pale blue. “The Grand Beacon of Dragons and I have conferred, and we have ruled thatyou will be allowed to stay here for two Earthly Realm days, which are roughly equivalent to ours. Then you must leave. These are trying times in the Fiery Realm, and we can brook no interlopers.”
    Daisy opened her mouth to speak, but Jesse beat her to it. “Your Esteemed Royal Lady Beaconship—and Your Lordship, too, of course—we beg you to brook us a full three Earthly Realm days’ visit instead of two,” he said. “You see, Monday is Teachers’ Conference Day. That’s when all the teachers get together to talk about teaching methods and stuff and we don’t have to go to school, and besides, Daisy’s parents are away in Boston with Daisy’s big brother, my cousin Aaron, whose wife Sherie just had twins—which would make Daisy an aunt and me a second cousin for the second and third time—and Miss Alodie, the neighbor down the street who is taking care of us, understands that we are Keepers, and she pretty much said that she’d see us when she sees us, so—”
    “Desist with the dithering details!” Her Ladyship flared up as if someone had poured oil on her flame. She faced Lord Feldspar. The two exchanged hissing whispers. The fire fairy looked at the cousins at length and said, “Very well, the Beacons have revised their ruling. You may stay for three days or until you have exhausted your supplyof Fiery Elixir, whichever comes sooner. After that, you will leave or else die a horrible death.”
    “We’ll leave
and
take our dragon with us,” Daisy said, just to be sure everyone knew where they stood.
    The top of Her Ladyship’s head sharpened to a high, white-hot peak as she whispered: “Never!”
    “I beg your pardon?” Daisy said boldly.
    Lord Feldspar’s voice hit her like the blast from a furnace. “Emerald of Leandra is to remain here! She will stay and take her place in the Fiery Realm. This is the realm she has chosen and this is the realm she will inhabit until it is time for her to merge with the Great Flame!”
    Beside him, Jesse sensed Daisy pulling herself up tall. “We are her Keepers, and it is not your place, or hers, to make such life-changing decisions,” she said.
    Lady Flamina’s flame leaped up to twice the size of the massive dragon beside her. The room exploded in white light, out of which Lady Flamina’s voice came at them quick and cold and sharp as an ice pick: “Remove your upstart selves from our midst!”
    One moment, Emmy and Jasper, Jesse and Daisy were facing the throne. The next minute, they were all standing outside the closed door ofthe throne room. Their bodies gave off wisps of gray smoke. None of them could say how they had gotten there, but all of them felt as if they had been struck by lightning.
    “Let’s get out of here,” Jesse said in a stunned voice.
    Daisy wanted to march back into the throne room and give the Grand Beacons what for, but the others talked her out of it and, reluctantly, she followed them down the hall.
    Daisy fumed. “The nerve of