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"You guys are gallivanting around when I told you not to," he said, waggling his finger at them. "But I had a hunch you'd count the barn as home turf, and I was right! I'm afraid I've brought you a little company Your favorite herpetopterist is here," he finished with a wink.

Then St. George's big head poked up through the hole and the rest of him followed, black as a hea.r.s.e in a dust storm. His eyegla.s.ses flashed in the loft's semidarkness as he paced about, the tails of his coat trailing across the wooden planks. He stopped suddenly and whirled upon them.

"You thieves!" thieves!" he said. he said.

Jesse felt Daisy tense up beside him, but Jesse was tired of St. George's accusations. "We are not! She's not your lizard," he said. "And we're sick of hearing you say that. She's ours, and you're the one who stole her from us."

"Really?" said Uncle Joe, sounding somewhat surprised.

"Really!" said Daisy.

"Then you do do have her!" said St. George. "Of course you do! You've had her all along!" Uncle Joe's eyebrows went up. "We do have her!" said St. George. "Of course you do! You've had her all along!" Uncle Joe's eyebrows went up. "We do not," not," said Daisy quickly. "She's not here," Jesse said, feeling bolder by said Daisy quickly. "She's not here," Jesse said, feeling bolder by 151.

the second. "She's not here because you scared her away. You scared her away because you're a bad, bad bad man." man."

Without taking his eyes off the cousins, St. George said to Uncle Joe, "Your children are rather adept storytellers." His eyes, behind the round disks of his gla.s.ses, looked empty.

Uncle Joe looked from Daisy and Jesse to St. George. He didn't know who to believe.

"I have an idea," said St. George with a bland smile. "Let's produce the lizard, and then we'll resolve the issue of its ownership."

"That sounds fair to me," said Uncle Joe.

"Poppy!" Daisy protested.

St. George stalked around the loft, peering into the dark corners. Then he backed up and stumbled over the Magic Milking Stool. "Get this thing out of my way!" he growled. He picked it up and flung it carelessly aside. Jesse watched the milking stool go sailing high into the air and marveled at St. George's strength as the stool crashed clean through the side of the barn and out into the Heifer Yard.

"Hey! Watch it!" said Uncle Joe. "This is a beautiful old barn, and it's not your property!"

St. George turned back to face him. "Nor is it 152.

yours, sir. And letting these mischievous brats use it as their playhouse is reprehensible, irresponsible, and, and, I might add, illegal." I might add, illegal."

"There's no call to get nasty," said Uncle Joe. "Let's just find the lizard, shall we, and get on with our day."

Daisy shook her head. Jesse sighed. He knew that his uncle meant well, but he wasn't being much of a help.

"She is here!" St. George shouted. "I know this because I can smell her! I would know that disgusting stink anywhere!"

"She does not stink!" Daisy said indignantly. Jesse gave her a swift, sharp elbow to the ribs.

"You should talk," Jesse said boldly. Dr. Dead-Rat Breath, Dr. Dead-Rat Breath, he added silently. he added silently.

St. George glared at Jesse as if he had heard his thoughts. "Get up," he told them.

Daisy looked to her father. "Do we have to do what he says, Poppy?"

"Can we please just get this over with?" said Uncle Joe.

The cousins sighed and looked at each other. They unlocked their hands, slowly got up, and stepped away from the makeshift haystack.

"Would you please a.s.sist me?" St. George asked Uncle Joe.

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"You know something, buddy?" said Uncle Joe, folding his arms across his chest. "You want to dig around in that dusty old hay, you can do it yourself."

Daisy and Jesse went to stand next to Uncle Joe. Uncle Joe put an arm around each cousin and drew them close. Daisy hid her face in her father's chest. Jesse clenched his fists and watched as St. George dug into the hay, picked it up by the armful, and heaved it aside.

Each time St. George dug into the hay, Jesse flinched. It was just a matter of time before he found Emmy. It was just a matter of time before it was all over for all of them. He remembered Professor Andersson's words-- doom, doom, for both Emmy and the world--and shivered. for both Emmy and the world--and shivered.

Suddenly the entire stack started shifting from side to side, as if it had come alive. Hay began to fly every which way. St. George staggered backward. The air was full of flying straw and the smell of red-hot chili peppers.

Bit by bit, the hay storm settled.

There, standing in the middle of the fallen hay, was a large and very s.h.a.ggy white sheepdog. Her long pink tongue lolled out of her mouth. Her stubby white tail thumped on the floor of the hayloft. She jumped on top of St. George and knocked him backward, onto the floor. She started 154.

licking him so hard, she knocked the gla.s.ses off his face.

Jesse hoped no one--except Daisy--would notice that her long pink tongue was forked.

"Fluffy?" Uncle Joe shouted, as if he couldn't believe his eyes, either--but for different reasons altogether. Uncle Joe shouted, as if he couldn't believe his eyes, either--but for different reasons altogether.

"Get it off me," St. George whined. "I hate dogs!"

"'Hate' is such a strong word," said Jesse, trying very hard not to smile.

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[Image: Jesse, Emmy and Daisy.]

CHAPTER ELEVEN

OUTDOOR DOG.

Two days later, Aunt Maggie came back from Paris. She stepped out of the cab and started for the door, then stopped short on the walk. Jesse and Daisy and Emmy were gathered on the front step, waiting for her. Emmy was in her sheepdog disguise, and Jesse and Daisy held their breath as Aunt Maggie stared. Then Aunt Maggie dropped her bags and 156.

ran up the walk toward them. She threw her arms around the dog, burying her face in its thick snow-white fur.

Jesse caught Daisy's eye. It was still hard for them to believe that Emmy could mask herself so completely that she even felt even felt like a sheepdog. like a sheepdog.

"She's adorable!" Aunt Maggie said. "Where did you get her?"

"From Miss Alodie," the cousins replied in unison.

Then Jesse and Daisy went on to tell her the same fib they had told Uncle Joe in the hayloft the other day. It was as if the lie had settled and taken root in both their brains at the same time. It was Miss Alodie, they said. Miss Alodie had given them the sheepdog. Wasn't that sweet of Miss Alodie?

After all the odd things that had happened in the last week, Uncle Joe wasn't sure he believed them. So Uncle Joe had called up Miss Alodie right away. And the funny thing was, the same fib seemed to have found its way into Miss Alodie's brain. Only bigger and better.

Miss Alodie said that her niece was leaving the farm where she had. lived all her life to go away to college. Of course, no dogs were allowed at the niece's college. The niece had left the dog with 157.

Aunt Alodie, but she was afraid that it would dig up her beautiful flower beds. So she was very happy when Daisy and Jesse came along and offered to take the dog off her hands.

"And she'll stay in the garage," said Jesse, winking at Daisy, "so the house can stay in apple-pie order."

"Oh, she doesn't have to stay in the garage," said Aunt Maggie. "She's welcome to stay in the house."

"Oh, no!" said Daisy. "She really likes the garage!"

Emmy did like the garage. "Very nice cave," she had told them.

"On the farm, she stayed outside," Jesse explained to Aunt Maggie. "She's what they call an outdoor dog. You know, like La.s.sie. She gets nervous inside. And we wouldn't want any accidents to happen in there."

Aunt Maggie hugged Emmy and said, "Okay, then. Why not? We've certainly never used it for cars. And what is this around her neck?"

"Those are my purple kneesocks tied together to make a collar," Daisy told her. "She really likes my socks."

"This dog needs a proper collar," said Aunt 158.

Maggie. "And a leash, too. You'll need to walk her. And keep her tied up when you're not around. If she ran away or got hit by a car--" She bit her lip and shut her eyes.

Jesse looked at Daisy with raised eyebrows. He wasn't sure how well a collar and a leash and being tied up were going to go over with Emmy.

"Having a pet like this is a great responsibility, you know," said Aunt Maggie.

"We know," Jesse and Daisy chimed.

"One more thing, Mom," Daisy said. "Remember how you said that one day I could give my baby locket away to someone I really loved?"

"I remember," Aunt Maggie said, looking worried.

"Well," said Daisy, "I've found somebody I want to give it away to."

After a long pause, Aunt Maggie said, "Daisy, honey, is this some boy you've met? Because if it's a boy, I think you are way too young--"

"It's not a boy, Mom. It's a girl. It's Emmy. I want to give my baby locket to Emmy. I love Emmy more than anything in the world, and I want her to have it forever and ever."

Aunt Maggie gasped. "Oh, Daisy, how did you know?"

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"How did I know what, Mom?"

"That I put that baby locket on my own Fluffy's collar when I was a little girl, too."

That night, Jesse e-mailed his parents: Dear Mom and Dad, Daisy and I have a new pet. Guess what? She's a sheepdog. Just like Aunt Maggie's old dog Fluffy. Her name is Emmy. Short for Emerald. Don't ask why--it would take too long to explain. She's a great dog. She is so great, I might have to stay here longer than a year. Can we talk? I have a plan. Love, your son, Jesse 160.

161.

CAN JESSE AND DAISY KEEP THE EVIL.

ST. GEORGE AWAY FROM EMMY?.

DRAGON KEEPERS BOOK 2.

THE DRAGON IN THE DRIVEWAY.

Turn the page for a sneak peek at THE DRAGON IN THE DRIVEWAY.

Book #2 in the Dragon Keepers series.

Excerpt 2009 by Kate Klimo. Published by Random House Children's Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

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CHAPTER ONE AN ILL WIND.Dear Mom and Dad, It is still raining. The local weather guy says it's a record. Not as bad as India that time the Jeep floated away, but pretty bad. Our dog, Emmy, got tired of being cooped up in the garage. She got out 164.

and ran down the driveway into the street. Aunt Maggie went nuts! She made these poor guys come in the rain and put in an invisible fence. It's this underground wire that is supposed to keep the dog in the yard. One step over it and whammo, she really gets zapped. (Don't tell Aunt Maggie, but Emmy runs right over it anyway!]

Ten-year-old Jesse reread his e-mail. He hadn't included the information that the dog had turned back into a dragon for an instant the first time she was zapped, and that Mrs. Nosy-Britches, who lived across the street, was standing at her mailbox at the exact moment the zap happened.

"It's the oddest thing," Mrs. Nosy-Britches kept saying to anyone who would listen, "but I could swear I saw this very large lizard in the driveway across the street. If I didn't know better, I'd swear it was some sort of a dragon." dragon."

Jesse finished and sent the e-mail. He listened to the rain rattling on the roof and watched the slide show on the screen saver. The pictures were of him and his parents in some of the places where they had traveled and lived. Looking at it made him happy, if a little homesick for his parents and even the places: India, Africa, Costa Rica.... When he 165.

had first come to America to stay with his cousin Daisy, who was also ten, he had been so homesick that he had worn two wrist.w.a.tches, one showing the time in the U.S. and the other the time in Africa, where his parents were. These days he wore just the one watch showing American time, but when there wasn't quite enough to keep him busy, like now, he missed his parents.

Jesse was just shutting down the computer when he heard Daisy scream out his name. He leaped up, tore downstairs, slid down the hall in his socks, and collided with the kitchen table.

"What?" he said, panting. "What is it, Daze?" he said, panting. "What is it, Daze?"

Daisy was standing on a footstool gazing out the window over the sink. Her long white-blond hair was tucked behind her ears, which were pointy like an elf's and bright pink with excitement.

"Jess, look!" look!" she said, tapping the windowpane. she said, tapping the windowpane.