Daisy marched to the refrigerator and flung open the door while Jesse wiped his face. She tapped her foot. "Let's see what else we have." She pulled out leftover rice and beans. "She probably won't eat anything that's bad for her. We're just going to have to keep trying until we find something that works."

Jesse offered the rice and beans to Emmy.

"Blaaaaat!"

Jesse picked beans and rice grains off his face. Then they tried some cranberry sauce. "Guuuuuunk!"

Jesse fished a cranberry out of his ear. "Marshmallow fluff?" Daisy proposed.

43."Plooooook!"

Bits of marshmallow flew into Jesse's eyebrows and hair.

"No more sticky stuff, okay?" Jesse said. Pickles.

Emmy spat pickle bits everywhere. Mayonnaise.

"Hold the mayo!" Jesse shouted one second too late.

Emmy spewed chunks of salami, bologna, and tuna fish.

"You know what?" Jesse shouted over Emmy's hungry howls. "I'm thinking we need to buy some lizard kibble!"

"What's lizard kibble?" Daisy shouted back. She had lined up ketchup, peanut b.u.t.ter, relish, and chutney. She spun off lids and scooped up spoonfuls for Jesse to feed Emmy.

"Mealworms or live crickets!" Jesse shouted. He raised his arm and cowered as a storm of ketchup, peanut b.u.t.ter, relish, and chutney pelted him. It was like the world's biggest food fight, only it was completely one-sided and very very unfair. unfair.

"What makes you think she'll like worms and crickets better than this stuff?" Daisy said, tossing Jesse a dish towel.

Jesse threw the towel over his head and wiped 44.his face and hair. Then he swabbed off the table, the chair, and the floor. "She's got to eat something. something. She'll starve. Look at her!" he said. She'll starve. Look at her!" he said.

The little dragon lay in a, mess of food. She was panting.

"Maybe we should go online and find out what to feed her," said Daisy.

Jesse sighed. "I guess it's worth a try."

"We have to clean up first. You clean in here and keep an eye on her. I'll Vacuum upstairs. Plan?" said Daisy.

"Plan," said Jesse.

45.[Image: Dragon.]

CHAPTER FOUR

THE CARE AND FEEDING OF A DRAGON.

Jesse took Emmy to the sink and washed her off. She splashed about in the water and held out her long pink tongue to catch the droplets.

"You're thirsty!" Jesse said. He dried her off, then poured her a bowl of water. "Water," Jesse said, setting both bowl and dragon in the center of the table. "Drink."

46."Wa. Ter. Goooood," Emmy said, and began to lap it up. She lifted her head up and let the water dribble down her throat. Then she set to lapping again.

"Drink up," Jesse told her, "and don't move don't move from this spot." from this spot."

"Em. Meee. Drink," she gurgled.

Keeping one eye on her, Jesse put everything back in the refrigerator and tackled the mess in the room. The kitchen was almost back in apple-pie order when he noticed a rather large splat of relish on the ceiling.

He sighed, then climbed onto the kitchen counter and went at it. When the spot was finally gone, he climbed down and leaned against the counter. He couldn't remember when he had worked so hard. And they still had a hungry baby dragon to feed! Jesse looked around. The bowl of water was empty, but Emmy was nowhere in sight.

Jesse heard Daisy switch off the vacuum cleaner upstairs. "Daze!" he called out. "Is Emmy up there with you?"

Daisy came pounding down the stairs and tore down the hall. "What do you mean? Where is she? Where did she go?"

"Look!" Jesse pointed to wet claw prints on the clean floor.

47.The cousins followed the tracks down the hall and into the living room, where the aroma of hot chili peppers told them they were getting warmer. They heard a faint crunching sound coming from the wall of bookshelves. In front of the books, the shelves were packed with boxes of rocks, all carefully labeled.

Emmy was crouching in a box marked LIMESTONE , munching away at a small rock. "Mmmmm. Gooooood," she said when she saw them. Her voice had gone all gruff and gravelly.

"Uh-oh," said Daisy.

Jesse regarded Emmy glumly. "Well, that's just dandy!" he said. Now he had something new to worry about. How could eating a rock be good for a baby anything? anything? Even if rocks were good for baby dragons, she didn't have any teeth to grind them up with. She might choke! And even if she didn't choke to death, what was Uncle Joe going to say about the missing limestone? Even if rocks were good for baby dragons, she didn't have any teeth to grind them up with. She might choke! And even if she didn't choke to death, what was Uncle Joe going to say about the missing limestone?

Daisy said, "Emmy, that's Poppy's limestone rock specimen."

"Em. Meee. Like. Rrrockkk!" she said. The word "rock" seemed to be packing a few extra r's and k's. k's.

Daisy shrugged. "At least there's plenty more where that came from. And I can't say my mom is 48.going to mind the slight reduction in the rock population around here."

Emmy swallowed, smacked her lips, and burped. A puff of stone dust floated out of her mouth like a smoke ring.

With the baby dragon's hunger pangs quelled for the time being, Jesse and Daisy parked her in the sock drawer and went online to see what they could discover about the care and feeding of their dragon.

"Google 'dragons,'" said Daisy. "Googledragonsgoogledragonsgoogle," Emmy babbled from the sock drawer.

"That's what we're doing, Em," Jesse a.s.sured her.

Then he groaned. Googling "dragons" got him 36,100,000 hits. He scrolled through the first few screens. Half of the listings seemed to be about the game Dungeons and Dragons. Dungeons and Dragons. Other sites had to do with dragon legends, art, tattoos, and movies. Other sites had to do with dragon legends, art, tattoos, and movies.

"Not helpful," Jesse said, frowning at the screen. "We need to narrow this down."

"Try 'dragon food,'" food,'" said Daisy. said Daisy.

"Foooooood," Emmy crooned from the sock drawer.

That entry produced at least three million 49.listings, many for something called Bearded Dragon Medley.

"What's a bearded dragon?" Daisy wanted to know.

Jesse, who had owned many exotic pets in the far-off lands where he had lived, said, "A lizard native to Australia. But I don't see anything here about feeding a real live real live dragon." dragon."

"I know!" said Daisy, leaning over the back of his chair. "Try Googling The Time Before'!"

Jesse did just that and counted 1,480,000,000 responses that started with "the big bang" and went on to The Land Before Time. The Land Before Time. "It would take us five years to go through all these, and by then there would be a million more," he said. "It would take us five years to go through all these, and by then there would be a million more," he said.

Daisy sighed. "We'd better go to the library."

Jesse pointed to the sock drawer. "And are we taking her?" her?"

"You bet we are ...unless, of course, you came across any listings for dragon-sitters?" dragon-sitters?" Daisy said with a sly smile. Daisy said with a sly smile.

"I guess I could carry her in the pouch of my sweatshirt, like I did when she was inside the thunder egg," Jesse said. He switched off the computer and pulled on his hooded sweatshirt, thinking that it was a good thing early summers were cool.

50."Come on, Emmy," he said, putting Daisy's purple kneesock over his hand and reaching into the sock drawer.

"Where. Go?" said Emmy, scrabbling on board.

"We're taking a little trip," he told her.

"Lit. Tell. Trip. Where?" she wanted to know, her eyes swiveling as if in search of the "lit tell trip."

"To find out some stuff we need to know," he told her.

"Find. Some. Stuff?" she asked, her eyes still searching.

"Yeah ...about how to take care of you," he said.

Her eyes came to rest on him. "Jess. Eee. Tie. Ger. Gooooood. Dra. Gon. Kee. Per."

Jesse Tiger, Dragon Keeper! He liked the sound of that. "Aw, thanks, Emmy. Well, your Dragon Keeper says you have to stay under cover when we go out." He liked the sound of that. "Aw, thanks, Emmy. Well, your Dragon Keeper says you have to stay under cover when we go out."

"Why. For?" she asked.

"We need to hide you," Daisy said.

Emmy said, "Hide. Em. Meee. From. Bad. Man."

"No. There's no bad man." Flashing on the man in the million-dollar car, Jesse wondered. "At least I don't think think there is. But it's important that n.o.body sees you. So you have to ride in the pouch of my there is. But it's important that n.o.body sees you. So you have to ride in the pouch of my 51.sweatshirt," he told her, putting her gently in one side. Emmy quickly crawled out the other side, scratching Jesse with her talons. "Ouch!"

"Em. Meee. Not. Like!" she said, scrambling into his hand.

"No kidding," he said.

"Maybe she'd like to ride in your hood instead," said Daisy. She got the other purple kneesock and pulled it over her hand. Then she took Emmy and held her so they were nose to nose.

"Hey there, Emmy!" Daisy said, smiling.

"Hey. There. Day. Zee," Emmy said.

"I'm going to put you in the hood of Jesse's sweatshirt," she explained. 'You're going to be riding piggyback, and you have to try very hard not to scratch Jesse, okay?"

"Pig. Gee. Back. Oh. Kay. Day. Zee," she said.

Daisy put Emmy in Jesse's sweatshirt hood, which hung down his back. Jesse felt the slight weight of the dragon.

"Are you okay back there?" he asked her.

"Em. Me. Oh. Kay." - "Brilliant," said Jesse.

Daisy's house was only a short distance from downtown Goldmine City, where the library was. It was close enough to walk, but the cousins decided to 52.ride bikes there. Daisy had her own bike, and Jesse rode Noah's old blue ten-gear Schwinn racer.

When he leaned over the handlebars to pedal, Jesse felt Emmy creep up his back and perch on his shoulder.

Jesse and Daisy had agreed that if anyone saw Emmy, they would explain that she was a green basilisk from Costa Rica. They figured this would work because (a) she was nothing if not green, and (b) who in Goldmine City, other than Jesse, had ever even seen a green basilisk? It seemed as good a story as any. They only hoped no one would hear her talking.

"Like. Bike! Like. Bike! Like!" Emmy said as they set out.

"Bikes are nifty," Jesse agreed.

"Bikes. Niff. Tee!" she said. "Go. Jesse. Go."

"She sure likes to yak," said Daisy. For Emmy's sake, they pedaled as slowly as they could while still keeping their bikes upright. Emmy talked a mile a minute. Out of the corner of his eye, Jesse saw her head darting left and right.

"Fair. Eee?" Emmy asked Jesse.

Jesse flicked a look over his shoulder and saw that she was staring at the plaster figurine on a lawn. He grinned. "That's not a fairy. That's a statue. It's a garden gnome," he told her.

53.A few seconds later, Emmy said "Ca.s.s. Sell?" as they wheeled past a big new shingled house with a turret.

"No," Jesse said. "That's not a castle. It's a house."

Just then a car turned the corner up ahead and came down the street. It was the first moving car they had seen. Jesse said, "Car. We use them to get places quickly."

Nostrils flaring, Emmy said, "Smell. Like. Dragon. Piddle."

The vehicle was practically on top of them when Jesse realized that it was the million-dollar car from the night before. He braked hard. "Hide!" he whispered to Emmy. She went as still as a stone against his back. Jesse froze, too, as the car glided past. Moving only his eyes, he tried to look through the tinted windows, but he couldn't see anything.

Daisy came circling back. "What's up?" she said, braking in front of him.

Jesse turned his head to stare at the car. Then he turned back to face Daisy and was preparing to tell her about it when' their friend Miss Alodie called out to them from her garden on the corner up ahead. "Yoo-hoo! Cousins!"