CHAPTER FIFTEEN

The sun began to sink behind the mountains as they returned to the baserri. Elliot and Uchenna were exhausted and nervous. Of all the people who might have kidnapped the herensuge, why did it have to be the Schmoke brothers? Professor Fauna had been very quiet since the discovery of the Schmoke insignia on the flashlight. He wrung his big hands in his lap. Mitxel was drinking a bitter cider called sagardoa, lost in thought.

Jersey had fallen asleep under the table.

“I don’t understand,” Elliot was saying. “Why would the Schmoke brothers be here?”

“Who knows?” Professor Fauna said, throwing his hands in the air.

“Schmoke,” said Mitxel. “I know this name. They are the men whom my brother, Íñigo, partnered with in his latest business deal: SMP—Schmoke-Mendizabal Pharmaceuticals.”

“Pharmaceuticals? Like medicine? Okay,” said Elliot, “so why would they want to steal a dragon?”

“That’s obvious,” Uchenna replied. “First, dragons are awesome. Second, if they make medicine, they probably want the dragon’s spit. Right?”

“Oh yeah.” Elliot nodded. “Good point.”

“But, Mr. Mendizabal,” said Uchenna, “do you think your brother would help them steal the dragon? Would he sell out your family like that?”

Mr. Mendizabal sighed. “My brother and I do not put our eyeballs together on everything.”

“What?” said Elliot.

“I think he means ‘see eye to eye,’” said Uchenna.

“Right,” said the Euskaldun. “We do not see each other’s eyes. He believes in globalization, in the whole world becoming one through trade and money and businesses. To me, this sounds like an Old MacDonald on every corner. Íñigo thinks bringing world culture to Euskal Herria will mean better medicines and technologies. I think it means our children will stop playing our traditional games like jai alai and only play YouPads instead. This would be very sad, I think.”

“YouPads?”

“Whatever they are called. We fought so bitterly over this that, in the end, we could agree on nothing. We were forced to divide the family’s inheritance. He took the businesses, and he has done very well with them. I care for the herensuge, and I did very well with that, too—until . . .” Mr. Mendizabal’s head drooped.

“So, could he have told the Schmoke brothers about the dragon?” Uchenna asked.

“My brother is many things,” Mr. Mendizabal said, “but he is not a traitor to the family. To reveal the existence of the herensuge to people as untrustworthy as the Schmoke brothers would be unthinkable.”

Professor Fauna suddenly shifted in his chair.

“It would be a treachery beyond belief.”

The professor sighed sharply.

“A betrayal more terrible than anything I can imagine.”

The professor yanked on his beard so hard some hair came out in his hand. “¡Palabrota!” the professor muttered. “Ow.”

Elliot turned his attention to Professor Fauna. He was acting even stranger than usual.

Meanwhile, Mr. Mendizabal went on, “We swore an oath of secrecy to our father: that we would never reveal the secret of the herensuge to anyone outside of her circle of protectors. No matter how much money was at stake, Íñigo would not breathe a word of her existence to anyone.”

“Well, the Schmoke brothers found out about her somehow,” said Uchenna.

Suddenly, the professor was shouting. “Why are you looking at me?” His eyebrows jagged like thunderbolts.

“I . . . I wasn’t . . . ,” Uchenna stammered.

“Stop wasting time with these questions!” Professor Fauna barked. He stood up. Uchenna and Elliot stared, openmouthed. “Mitxel, do you know where the Schmoke brothers’ operations are in the Basque Country?”

“Of course! Íñigo and the Schmoke brothers are building a new complex in these very mountains.”

“You will take us there!” Professor Fauna said, pointing a finger at Mitxel. “Now!” Without another word, he stormed out of the house.

Elliot and Uchenna watched him go.

“It seems,” said Elliot slowly, “that the professor is hiding something.”

And Uchenna replied, “Uh, you think?”