He was talking to Ollie and his other henchman, Jasper. Caught off guard, they stood there, and the color drained from their faces.

"What are you waiting for?" Fairfield growled. "Go!"

Ollie and Jasper must have found Mr. Fairfield even scarier than Rufus, because now they started edging toward Martin and Audrey-who took a step back, even closer to their restive companion. Rufus leered at the slowly approaching men.

Mr. Tinker was looking angry, worried, and strangely torn, all at once. "Ben, this is nuts."

"When I want your opinion, Gordon, I'll ask for it," said Mr. Fairfield, still swinging the gun back and forth, looking for an opening.

Mrs. Tinker was scowling. "Ben Fairfield, who do you think-" She cut off and let out a gasp as Rufus made a lunge at Ollie, almost taking off his hand. Amid a swell of screams and alarmed whoops from the crowd, Ollie stepped back and looked over at Ben Fairfield imploringly.

Ben let out an exasperated breath and just kept holding the gun barrel straight out in front of him. "Martin," he growled, "I'm not going to ask you again. You and your friend need to move your b.u.t.ts away from there now."

That was the first time Martin could remember Mr. Fairfield calling him by his real name-almost as though he was an actual, thinking person, not just Gordon Tinker's little kid. This caught him off guard. The rational part of his brain was telling him he should do what Mr. Fairfield said-act like a reasonable person. But another part of his brain-the angry, defiant part-was calling out pretty loudly too, and he wasn't so sure he could ignore those calls. He exchanged a glance with Audrey, and, energized by their unspoken bond of solidarity, they turned their flinty gazes back to Mr. Fairfield, standing firm.

"Gordon," said Ben Fairfield without batting an eye, "tell your kid to step away from there, and we can put an end to this."

Martin's dad stood there without saying anything. He shifted his feet and cleared his throat.

"Gordon?" said Ben Fairfield in a menacing drone.

Mr. Tinker pursed his lips and looked at the ground. The anger was gone from his eyes now, and he appeared more troubled and distant than anything else.

Martin wasn't sure if he was purposely ignoring Ben or what. For the first time ever, he got the sense that his dad might actually tell Ben Fairfield to take a hike.

Finally, Mr. Tinker looked back up and spoke in a quiet, almost resigned tone of voice. "Come on, Marty. Let's go."

Martin's heart sank. He felt angry, disappointed, and resentful all at once. "Why should I listen to you?"

"Look, the deed is done. It's time for you to accept it. Come away from there, before somebody really gets hurt."

All Martin's emotions were welling up to the surface. He looked at his father, jaw muscles tight, holding back the tears that were desperately trying to break through. "You never take my side, not ever! You think I don't measure up because I'm not like you. Well, maybe I don't want to be like you. And if you don't like that...well, tough cookies!"

He felt like he was standing outside himself, watching as some alien being took over his body and started saying things the real Martin never would. He braced for what he knew would come next-his dad blowing a gasket, and turning a very unpleasant scene into maybe a very scary one.

But it didn't happen. Mr. Tinker just stood there, gaping at Martin as though he were some mysterious stranger instead of his own son.

Mr. Fairfield's expression didn't change one bit. "All right, Martin, you made your point. Now step...away...from the beast."

Martin turned his angry gaze to Mr. Fairfield and spoke with the authority of an army general. "He's not a beast. His name is Rufus. I found his egg, and I raised him, and he's my friend. And the only way you're getting him is over my dead body."

"Mine too!" Audrey shouted.

Mr. Fairfield seemed about to say something, but then a bold kid named Ryan Lund darted out of the cla.s.s group. "Hey!" Sheriff Grimes snapped, to no effect: Ryan ran right over and stood next to Martin and Audrey. "Yeah, mine too!" He showed no fear at all of Rufus-who tensed up for a second, but then, apparently sensing that Ryan was more friend than foe, turned away.

Now Kaitlin Mallory broke away from the group and ran over next to Ryan. "Mine too!"

What happened next left everybody over the age of twelve all but speechless. First it was Jared Muller, then Emily Sprowl. Then Mia Costello. One by one, the seventh graders sprang past the policemen and ran over to stand with the others in front of Rufus. "Me too!" "Same here!" "Mine too!" they shouted, one after the other, as they parked themselves in Ben Fairfield's line of fire. Soon the whole cla.s.s was on its way over to join the group.

Sheriff Grimes and his deputies tried to stop them. "Hey!...Hold it there.... No, you kids are going inside, you understand?" They managed to catch a few of them, but it wasn't nearly enough to stop the wave of young bodies surging past them. Finally, a bewildered-looking Donald Grimes was the only one left standing where the rest of the cla.s.s had just been.

The sheriff's face was scarlet. "All right," he bellowed, "when I say three, you will all step away from there and go inside the building. One- Donnie! What are you doing?" He looked totally aghast as his own son slipped around him and headed over to join the others.

"Sorry, Dad," said Donald-being careful not to get too close to Rufus. "Sometimes you gotta go with the flow." Rufus, clearly recognizing him, shot a glower his way and growled. "Yeesh," Donald rasped, cringing, and took one more step away.

The sheriff just stood there with his mouth hanging open. Mr. Fairfield rolled his eyes, and the rest of the men looked lost. n.o.body seemed to know what to do next-including Martin.

He glanced over at the school building, where Mrs. Sanders, Princ.i.p.al Clayborne, and some other teachers were struggling to keep a mob of kids from the other cla.s.ses from pouring onto the field. This could get out of control, he thought.

Suddenly, there were three quick thunks that startled Rufus, and he reared back, letting out a piercing ROAR that echoed halfway across town. It made everybody flinch, and the kids around him shuffled and murmured nervously.

"Shhh, okay, okay," said Martin, placing a calming hand on the big creature's side.

The sound, he realized, was car doors slamming. Everybody looked over to see three people working their way through the small crowd that was starting to gather outside the gate at the far side of the field, held there by a lone deputy. At first Martin had no idea who they were, but when he noticed Audrey's face light up, he recognized one of them.

"Mr. Eckhart!" she called.

Martin had pretty much forgotten about him ever since their downtown scramble. But here he was, accompanied by a tall, thin woman with thick gla.s.ses and an older gentleman who looked very distinguished in his charcoal-gray business suit.

Mr. Eckhart exchanged a few words with the officer, who allowed the three of them to pa.s.s through.

"Sweet Mother McGreevy!" said the tall woman breathlessly as they approached. "Am I dreaming?"

"Will you look at that!" said the man in the suit. "You weren't lying, Peter. Well done!"

"Thanks," said Mr. Eckhart. "I think."

"This is beyond everything in all the history of...everything!" the thin woman said. "And those kids! Shouldn't you be afraid?"

The schoolkids shrugged and mumbled, as though they hadn't really thought about it that much.

"I never thought I'd live to see it," the older man said. "Peter, you have made an amazing, amazing find."

"Not me, actually," said Mr. Eckhart. "Those two." He pointed to Audrey and Martin. Martin felt as though a beam of light were shooting straight from that finger to his chest, and it tingled through his body.

"Uh, excuse me," Ben Fairfield chimed in gruffly. "Who are you people?"

Mr. Eckhart gave an embarra.s.sed smile. "Oh, sorry. You're Mr. Fairfield from the Trout Palace, aren't you?"

Ben nodded.

"I'm Peter Eckhart, the kids' science teacher. This is-"

"Ohhh. So you're Eckhart."

"Um...yes?" He looked a bit lost for a moment. "Guess my reputation precedes me. Anyway, this is Dr. Sydney Mahler, chairman of the zoology department at the U."

Dr. Mahler reached her hand out to Mr. Fairfield, but never took her eyes off Rufus. "Pleasure."

"Brantford Eliot, university president," said the older man, also shaking Ben's hand. "Looks to me like you folks have been having a bit of an adventure here."

"You got that right," said Sheriff Grimes sharply, as if hoping to remind everyone who was the official authority on the scene.

"Well, I can't say I blame you," said Dr. Eliot, beaming. "This is absolutely extraordinary!"

Dr. Mahler was still awed by the sight of Rufus surrounded by all those seventh graders. "Why isn't somebody getting eaten?"

"That's what I'd like to know," said the sheriff brusquely.

Martin's cla.s.smates laughed. "He's not really that dangerous," said Audrey. Martin threw her a vaguely doubtful look. "I mean usually," she said. "If you treat him well."

Dr. Mahler edged her way over and stood among the kids, daring to gently touch Rufus's coa.r.s.e skin. Martin was about to tell her that wasn't such a great idea, but Rufus was quite a bit calmer now, and didn't seem to mind.

"Sorry it took me so long to get back here, guys," Mr. Eckhart said to Martin and Audrey. "There was a bit of convincing to do."

"How did you find us?" Martin said.

"Not too hard. Just followed the crowd. I hope I'm not too late."

Martin wasn't quite sure how to answer that. "Well..." Knowing his dad would be chiming in at any time, he looked over at him with a sullen frown.

Mr. Eckhart saw the look and stepped over to Martin's parents.

"Mr. and Mrs. Tinker, I presume?"

"That's right," said Mr. Tinker flatly.

"Guess you're the ones to talk to," said Mr. Eckhart with an awkward chuckle. "Um...well, here's the thing. I talked this whole business over...I mean we talked it over, Syd and I-uh, Dr. Mahler-we discussed it with Dr. Eliot and, um...well, the whole board of regents, actually-"

"Oh, let me do it," said Dr. Eliot, stepping in front of him. "Sir, you're the current custodian of that magnificent creature, is that right?"

Mr. Tinker nodded.

Ben Fairfield lowered the tranquilizing gun. "Uh, actually-"

"Here's what we can propose," Dr. Eliot continued. "Our school has an academic exchange program with the University of Merida in Mexico. And they have a five-hundred-acre plot of virgin rain forest in the Yucatn Peninsula that they let us use for research. Zoology, botany, what have you. Long story short, we feel it would be a perfect situation to move His Majesty permanently to the preserve."

"The idea being," said Dr. Mahler, "to study him in the closest thing to his natural environment."

Mr. Fairfield jumped in. "Yeah, well, here's the thing. You're gonna have to-"

"Hold on just a minute, Ben," Mr. Tinker said. "Let's let the man talk, okay?"

Ben Fairfield looked dumbfounded. He wasn't used to being shushed.

"Yes, yes, I know," said Dr. Eliot. "No doubt you're concerned about remuneration. I completely understand. I wish I could say here's a check for gazillions. Unfortunately, the university charter doesn't allow outlays for this type of thing."

Mr. Tinker nodded slowly, giving no hint of what he was thinking. Even Martin couldn't get a read on it.

"Now, it's possible we can find a way to work around that," said Dr. Eliot, "but I can make no guarantees. That's the long and, I daresay, short of it."

Mr. Eckhart spoke up. "It would certainly be the most humane situation for...um..."

"Rufus," Martin and Audrey said at the same time.

Mr. and Mrs. Tinker remained silent. Martin kept staring at them, trying to figure out what they could possibly be thinking.

The silence was broken by Ben Fairfield's gravelly voice. "Yeah, this is all well and good, folks, but unfortunately you're talking to the wrong guy. These people have already made a financial arrangement with me for disposition of the beast. So, thanks for the thought, but no thanks. Right, Gordo?"

He tried to give a chummy grin to Martin's dad, though he had to really work at it. Mr. Tinker squirmed a bit, let out a long breath, and gave a nervous cough. "Uhhh..." Everybody was still looking at him, which certainly wasn't helping him think about it rationally.

Martin had never seen him so twitchy. Though he was still pretty angry, it occurred to him that it probably wasn't so easy being in his dad's shoes either.

Finally, Mr. Tinker spoke. "'Scuse us a sec."

He took Mrs. Tinker aside, and the two of them whispered back and forth. It went on for a good minute or so, until Mr. Fairfield's fake smile turned into an impatient glare. "Gordo."

Martin's dad looked at Ben sullenly, then turned to Dr. Eliot. "Your idea sounds okay, Professor," he said quietly. "The thing is, my wife and I aren't really in a position to give you an answer one way or the other. You're going to have to talk to the owner of the dinosaur."

Martin went rigid as his dad looked over at Ben Fairfield. "That's him right there."

Martin bit down hard, his fingernails digging into his palms, as the beginnings of a self-satisfied smirk appeared at the corners of Mr. Fairfield's mouth. But before it made it all the way to a smile, Mr. Tinker's left index finger went up in the air and snapped straight out-pointing directly at Martin.

In an instant, all the fire within Martin seemed to evaporate. Could this be? He felt the heavy knot in his throat loosen.

Audrey broke out in a huge smile, and so did most of their cla.s.smates. Some chuckled or whispered. A few applauded. Even Rufus seemed to perk up.

"Aha," said Dr. Eliot, turning his attention to Martin. "So that would be you, sir?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold the phone, here," Ben Fairfield interjected loudly. "Gordon, I believe your memory is failing you. We made a deal. You shook my hand, and you took my deposit. Remember?"

"Uh, yeah, about that," said Mr. Tinker. "I don't think so." He took Fairfield's check out of his shirt pocket and held it out to him. Ben took a step back as though it were on fire.

"What do you mean, you don't think so? A deal is a deal! Frank, you were there. Tell him!"

Sheriff Grimes seemed a bit surprised to be brought into it. "Uh, well...actually, Ben, I'm not sure exactly what the law says on that one. I think he has to actually cash it, or there has to be a written thing, or...I dunno. It's a civil deal. Not my domain, eh?"

Some of the seventh graders laughed at this, but Mr. Fairfield's face only got redder. "Don't be a moron, Tinker! I'm offering you a big fat revenue stream for life. You want to throw away millions?"

"Ben, if it wasn't for Martin, there'd be no dinosaur," Mr. Tinker said calmly. "I'd say we owe him a fair shake out of this, wouldn't you?"

"All right, all right! You wanna play hardball? I'll double the advance, plus the split on revenue."

Mr. Tinker said nothing.

"Fine!" Mr. Fairfield snapped. "We'll rejigger the split. Fifty-five you, forty-five me."

Martin's dad gave a tiny snicker and shook his head, as though finally getting a joke he had heard some time ago.