The Fire Within (The Last Dragon Chro) by Chris D'Lacey Read Free Book Online Page B

soon.”
    Liz’s voice rang out from the foot of the stairs: “Lucy, come on, get yourself ready. I want to be out by one.”
    “I’m not going, Mom. David said he’d help me look for Conker.”
    “Lucy?”
David pulled her toward him. “We’re supposed to be keeping this quiet, remember?” He clenched his fists and looked over the banister. “Erm, she was so upset last night that I said I’d … well … y’know.”
    Liz gave him a green-eyed Pennykettle stare. “I don’t know which of you is worse: her for twisting you around her little finger or you for being weaker than the average jellyfish. All right, she can stay. But you’re responsible for her. If I come back and find her shoes and jeans caked in mud, you’re the one who has to wash them, agreed?”
    “Agreed,” David groaned, and turned his eyes to the attic.
    With the sun streaming in through a dusty skylight, it didn’t take long to spot the hutch. It was over in a corner by a couple of cases, with some wallpaper samples and an old roll of carpet. David made his wayacross the joists, teetering slightly at every step. Lucy, who’d been banned from entering the attic on the grounds that she’d get her jeans dirty, watched from the top of the landing ladder.
    “Is it OK?” she asked, as David crouched down to examine the hutch.
    “Perfect,” he said, dragging it toward him. “Soon we’ll — Ooh, what’s that?”
    “What?” said Lucy, coughing into her fist.
    “Light,” said David. “Coming in from somewhere. Hang on a sec.” He crossed two joists and moved the roll of carpet. A beam of light skimmed the floor of the attic. “There’s a hole in the brickwork,” David reported, leaning forward for a closer look. “And … oh, gosh.” His words faded into silence. Lodged in the rafters, close to the hole, was what looked at first like an old bird’s nest. But it was bigger than a nest, and rounder, too. No bird had made that. It was a squirrel’s drey.
    “Can I see?” begged Lucy, when David told her.
    “No,” he said firmly. “You stay there. It looksabandoned anyway.” He crouched lower and squinted out of the hole. “Hah, I can see the sycamore tree. That must be how the squirrel got in; it climbed up the tree, then hopped into the roof. Clever. I bet it’s really cozy in —
waargh!”
    “Hhh!” squealed Lucy, gripping the ladder as David unexpectedly tumbled backward. A cloud of dust puffed into the air as he landed with a thump that made the ceiling shake.
    “Are you all right?” Lucy cried.
    “Yes,” said David, getting to his feet. He dusted down his clothing and picked up the hutch. “I saw a bird outside. A crow, I think. It landed on a branch while I was looking through the hole. Its eye sort of filled the space. It was dark and beady; made me jump, that’s all.” He licked a finger and tried to rub a mark off his sweatshirt. “It probably nests around here. I found a crow’s feather in the garden once, and — oh, what was that?” He broke off and stared at the attic floor.
    “What’s the matter?” asked Lucy.
    “I heard a fluttering sound downstairs. I think there’s something in the Dragons’ Den.”
    “I’ll see,” said Lucy, hurrying down the ladder.
    “Lucy, wait.” David clambered down after her. “It sounded like a small bird — a sparrow or something. It’s probably best to let me have a look. Here, take this.” He handed her the hutch. Then he was past her and into the den.
    He peered around the shelves of green-eyed dragons, at Guinevere resting on her stand, at the stained-glass ornament dangling in the window. Nothing remotely birdlike moved. “That’s odd,” he said. “I’m sure I heard something.” He moved closer to the shelves. Lucy dashed in front of him.
    “I know!” she exclaimed. “It
was
a sparrow. They shake around in the gutter sometimes. Mom says they have a bath in the dust.”
    David walked to the window and craned his neck upward. “Hmm. Might