CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Uchenna!” Professor Fauna shouted. He had seen her lean forward and then go toppling headfirst out of sight. He ran to the edge of the darkness and stopped. Mr. Mendizabal came up behind him. “What is down there?” the professor demanded.

“I don’t know! This is her space. I don’t violate it!” Mr. Mendizabal replied.

Just then, the beam of a flashlight swept the darkness. Elliot stood beside the two men, raking the light back and forth.

“Where did you get a flashlight?” asked Professor Fauna.

“I found it with the rest of the herensuge’s trash,” Elliot said.

“Treasure!” Mr. Mendizabal corrected him.

“Do you see Uchenna? Uchenna?!?” Elliot’s cries echoed in the dark cave.

“You shine the light,” Mr. Mendizabal said. “I will climb down after her.”

“Mitxel, you can’t see a thing!” Professor Fauna objected. “You could fall to your death! Let’s get a rope.”

“Fall to his death?” Elliot repeated. “UCHENNA!”

Jersey came bounding up to them, stared into the darkness, and began to whine.

“That girl is my guest,” Mr. Mendizabal said. “She is in danger because I failed in my duty to protect the herensuge. I am getting her. Now.” And with that, Mr. Mendizabal pulled his beret down tight on his head, tied a piece of rope to a nearby rock, and began descending into the darkness. Elliot shined the light down from above, watching Mr. Mendizabal jam his shoes and fingers into crevices as he lowered himself farther and farther down.

“Can you see her?” Elliot called.

“I believe so! A little farther.”

At last, Mr. Mendizabal jumped from the rock face and landed on what sounded, to Elliot, like loose gravel. He could not see, because the beam of his flashlight was blocked by an outcropping of rock.

“I found her!” Mr. Mendizabal called.

“Hooray!” shouted Professor Fauna.

“She is not moving!” called Mr. Mendizabal. “American girl, wake up!”

“Her name is Uchenna!” Elliot cried. He turned on Professor Fauna. “We flew all the way to the Basque Country for him, and he doesn’t even bother to learn our names?” Elliot turned back to the darkness. “Oh, Uchenna, what have we done to you!?”

Suddenly, they heard a groan.

“She is not dead!” Mr. Mendizabal cried. “Hooray! She is not dead!”

Elliot leaped into the air and pumped his fist. Professor Fauna let loose a tremendous sigh of relief. Jersey squealed and seemed to accidentally perform a somersault, leaving him lying flat on his back.

“Wake up, American girl!” Mr. Mendizabal said again.

Elliot heard Uchenna say, “Who’s there?”

“It is Mitxel Mendizabal, your Basque friend!”

“Dad?”

“Close enough,” said the Euskaldun. He lifted Uchenna onto his shoulder and began scaling the rocks.

A few minutes later, Uchenna and Mr. Mendizabal were sitting on the cave floor, Mr. Mendizabal breathing heavily, Uchenna still in a daze. Jersey was licking her face.

Elliot pushed Jersey out of the way and got right in front of Uchenna. “Uchenna! Can you hear me?”

Her eyes looked like she was very far away. “Where am I?”

“You’re in a dragon’s cave, Uchenna! In the Basque Country!” He looked at the grown-ups. “Yeah, that’s not gonna make her any less confused.”

Uchenna, her voice sounding very far away, murmured, “Why do you have a flashlight?”

“This flashlight?” Elliot lifted the silver object. “Forget the flashlight, Uchenna, it doesn’t matter. You do know that you’re Uchenna, right? We never should have come here. What were we thinking? Oh, Uchenna!”

Uchenna shook her head, like she was trying to get water out of her ear. “I know who I am, Elliot. Get a grip. I just want to know where you got that flashlight.”

“She’s okay! She’s back!” Elliot cried. “Oh, hooray!”

“Elliot! The flashlight!”

“Forget the flashlight! Uchenna, you’re okay!”

“Elliot!”

“What? The flashlight? Fine! I found it in the cave. It’s one of the dragon’s shiny things. Who cares? You’re all right!”

Uchenna took the flashlight from Elliot. She turned it over. She pointed to a big S in a circle. “I’m asking because that’s the logo of Schmoke Industries.”

Elliot stared at the flashlight. Professor Fauna and Mr. Mendizabal leaned over.

“¡Mala palabra!” the professor cried. “Uchenna, you’re right! But . . . it cannot be!”

Elliot muttered, “It is.”

Jersey began to whine.

Uchenna looked up at Mr. Mendizabal. “I guess we know who your trespassers are.”