Dragon Keepers #3: The Dragon in the Library Read Free

tall, beautiful woman with flowing red hair and high black boots held a long switch in her hand. She looked more like a lion tamer than a dog trainer. The camera closed in on a Doberman pinscher. It lunged at the camera, saliva dripping from its jaws. Then the camera pulled back to Sadie Huffington, who stood over the big dog, snapping the switch smartly against her boot. The ferocious-looking Doberman sank to the floor and whimpered. She snapped the switch again and the dog rolled over onto its back and practically mewed like a kitten.
    "How'd she do that?" Daisy asked.
    "Just look him dead in the eye and never let your steady gaze waver," said Sadie Huffington into the camera, as if in direct reply to Daisy. "It's easy!" She smiled. Her lipstick was gleaming red, her teeth were large and white, and her eyes were an
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    eerie yellowish green. "So long as they know who's Top Dog!"
    "Hmm," said Daisy as an ad for flea powder came on.
    "It's the patented Top Dog Ten-Yard Stare that does it," Uncle Joe said. "Too bad I didn't have one of those to keep you and your big brothers in line, eh?" He grinned.
    "Oh, Poppy!" Daisy said with a roll of her eyes.
    "All set," Jesse said as he rinsed out the blender jar and set it to drain on the rack.
    "See you later," Daisy told her father.
    "What about lunch?" he called after them.
    "Too hot to eat," Daisy said over her shoulder.
    "I know what you mean," her father said.
    Daisy opened the garage door and Jesse made a dramatic entrance. "Ta-da!" he said, holding the tall frosted glass up high. He had garnished it with a sprig of mint and had even stuck two straws in it. He carried the glass over to Emmy and held it to her lips. The cousins watched as Emmy opened her bright pink mouth, fastened her lips around the straw, and nearly emptied the glass in one long, noisy slurp.
    "Ptoooie!" Emmy spat out the smoothie--and both straws, too--all over the garage floor.
    Daisy and Jesse looked down at themselves.
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    They were spattered with smelly green goo. It was just like the first day of Emmy's life, when they had tried to feed her all sorts of food from the refrigerator and she had spat everything out. It had been cute then. It was not cute now.
    "I'll get the mop," Daisy said. "You get the hose, Jess."
    "You hate me," Emmy said in a dull voice when they had finished hosing down themselves and the garage floor.
    "We don't hate you," Daisy said between clenched teeth. "We just wish we knew what was the matter with you."
    "Does anything hurt?" Jesse asked.
    "Yes," Emmy said with a firm little nod.
    "What hurts?" Daisy asked eagerly.
    Emmy was silent.
    "I know," said Jesse with a mirthless smile. "Something , right?"
    Emmy nodded.
    "I've got a great idea," said Daisy under her breath to Jesse. "Let's ask the professor."
    "Plan," said Jesse.
    After locking Emmy in with her book, they went back into the house and upstairs. They changed out of their wet clothes and met in Jesse's bedroom. Jesse switched on his computer and
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    logged on to www.foundadragon.org . Daisy pulled up a chair next to Jesse as the face of their white-haired dragon consultant appeared on the screen.
    Since Professor Andersson had upgraded his site only a couple of weeks before, it was like watching him on a two-way color TV. Wherever his studio was, he looked cool and calm in his crisp white shirt, dapper red bow tie, and dark suit. Maybe it was as hot where he was as it was in Goldmine City, because he had trimmed his long white beard into a spiffy goatee.
    "Greetings!" Professor Andersson said, hailing them with upraised arms. "I was hoping you two would come calling today. There's a matter of grave importance I need to discuss with you."
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    Chapter 2 CHAPTER TWO MR. GOOGLE GOOFS
    "There's a matter of grave importance we need to discuss with you, too," said Jesse.
    Daisy got right down to it. "Emmy's been just terrible lately," she said.
    The professor looked mildly amused. "I wonder
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    if one of you would be so good