We looked down at little Stumbler. She was in the gully and we stood on a flat rock just above her. A jump of a few feet, that was all.

Her wings flapped. She strained. I could feel the tension coming off her. It was like I could read her mind. She reminded me of Casey, that time he got his head caught between the railings of the front porch. He knew he’d done something stupid and was so upset at himself that he made it harder for me to help him.

Stumbler breathed a weak stream of fire. Maybe because she was saving her strength, or because she was young and small. Whatever, it barely got past her snout. If the big black dragon was a flamethrower, Stumbler was more like a barbecue lighter.

“I’ll go down there,” I said to Izzy. “See if she remembers me—I look just like Freddie. Meanwhile, you and Dad jump onto her back. It’s not far. I’ll release her foot so she can fly, then I’ll jump on myself.”

Izzy nodded, but Dad wore that puzzled expression I was getting used to.

“No one rides a dragon,” he said. “No one ever has.”

“We’re going to,” said Izzy.

“No.”

His calm started to get to me.

“Do you want to die—to be taken by the dragon?” I said. “Do you want all of us to be taken?”

“It’s not our decision.”

“Yes it is!”

Dad blinked and took a step back. He wasn’t used to me yelling at him. I guess Freddie never did.

I didn’t care.

“There’s lots we can’t control,” I said. “Bad things happen. Accidents, luck, whatever—these things are not our decision. But we can decide what we do about the bad luck, about the accidents. We can’t stop the dragon coming after us. But we can decide to get away.”

“No one escapes.”

“We can try. You can always try.”

Silence. I saw a flash of fire way overhead. Had the big dragon seen us? Was she coming for us?

“Fred’s right, Dad,” said Izzy. “We came a long way to save you, Daddy, and we’re going to do it.”

“Let me get down there first,” I said. “Then you jump.”

I jumped into the gully and faced the little dragon. I remembered Freddie’s approach. I talked to her.

“Hi there,” I said. “Remember me? We met in the park a few weeks ago. You were stuck. I helped you then. I can help you now. Your leg’s caught again, eh?”

The dragon blinked. Her eyes had the same diamond pupils as the big dragon’s. I walked toward her slowly, trying for that calm that gives confidence. Doctor calm. A step. Another.

I kept my voice conversational. “Okay, Izzy. Now.”

I didn’t see her jump. I was watching the dragon. Stumbler gave a start and flapped her wings.

“Good girl,” I told her. “Good for you, Stumbler. You on, Izzy?”

I tried to pitch my voice the same way, but I couldn’t disguise the extra urgency.

“Yeah,” she said, and then, louder, “Come on, Daddy. Jump. I’ll catch you.”

I looked up. There was Izzy with her hands out, and there was Dad above her, shaking his head.

“No.”

—

Wow. I had not seen this crisis coming. I didn’t know what to do. I tried to keep the dragon calm.

“Hey, girl,” I said. I was almost close enough to touch her now. Her body was low to the ground—I hoped I wouldn’t have to crawl under her to free her leg.

My next step I hit my foot against something metallic. The hubcap I’d brought back from the car to show Dad. It must have rolled down here. I bent to pick it up. I don’t know why—it was something to hold.

I could feel Stumbler’s frustration and fear. Just like Casey with his head stuck. He’d almost pulled his ears off, trying to get free. Stumbler wanted to fly away so bad she could taste it.

“What are you doing?” called Dad. “Stop that! I don’t—”

I looked up quickly. Izzy—my amazing sister—was not going to leave Dad behind. She’d leaped back onto the ledge beside Dad. Now she pushed him! That’s right—pushed him into space. Dad landed on the dragon’s back and clung instinctively to the nearer wing. Izzy jumped after him.

I almost cheered.

Stumbler startled again, lifting herself right off the ground—except for the one trapped leg. She flapped like a hurricane, then came down again. My sister and dad hung on tight.

Stumbler turned her attention to me. Again, she reminded me of Casey. When I’d reached to help him out of the railing, he’d snapped at me. Same thing happened now. I was trying to help Stumbler get free, but this isn’t like that story about the lion. She breathed her fire right at me—a pretty good shot too. I threw up my arm as a reflex. The hubcap acted like a shield, deflecting the flame.

“Easy!” I said to her. “Easy, girl.”

I dropped the hubcap, which was now amazingly hot. How did those knights fight dragons without cooking themselves?

Remember the swing pole that bounced and stuck in the ground? I ran over and pulled it out. When Stumbler had raised herself up, I saw that her weak left forefoot was caught in one end of the swing set, and the other end was wedged into a crack on the gully floor. That’s how she was trapped.

I held the pole under my arm and poked at Stumbler’s foot. On my second try I got the metal brace out of the hole in the ground, the way you get stuff out from between your teeth with a toothpick. The little dragon took a shuffle step and sensed she was free.

“Good girl!” I said to her, and then in the same tone, “Get ready, Izzy.”

I thought I’d have a minute while Stumbler tried to pick up the swing set. Wasn’t she supposed to drop that in the volcano? But she was so desperate to take off that she ignored the swings. Carrying Dad and Izzy, she needed a couple of hops and some mighty flapping, and then she was off the ground. Without me.

“FRED!”

I had never—have never—heard my sister’s voice sound like that. I hope I never hear it again.

I ran after the dragon and jumped as high as I could, higher than I’d ever gone playing basketball. If I’d been jumping at my house, I’d have got up to my bedroom window. I was behind Stumbler and on her left side. I felt a thwack on the side of my head—the kind of sudden blow that makes you see stars. She’d lashed me with her tail. I reached out without thinking and locked my hands around one of the triangular spiky things that stuck up. I shinnied around like her tail was a tree branch. Now I was sitting up, riding it where it joined her body. I faced forward. Dad was right there, hanging onto Izzy, staring back at me with his mouth open.

I reached out with one hand. He grabbed it and pulled me forward onto the dragon’s back.

“Thanks, Dad,” I said.

I grabbed hold of one wing where it popped out of her shoulder. Izzy and Dad were sharing the other one. My head rang like a bell.

“That was close,” Izzy said.

Dad looked from one to the other of us.

“Who are you guys?” he asked.