CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Suddenly, a huge stone crashed to the ground, right beside the three members of the Unicorn Rescue Society.

“We must leave this cave,” said Professor Fauna. “Now.”

“But we can’t leave the herensuge family!” objected Elliot. “We’ve got to get them back to Mitxel! What if the Schmokes come back with guards and guns? Or the cave crushes the whole dragon family? Then, all of this would have been for naught!”

“I don’t know what ‘for naught’ means, but I agree,” said Uchenna. “We should lead them out of here!”

“But how?” Professor Fauna had picked up Jersey’s backpack and extracted another fish. “There are very few left! Not nearly enough for an entire family of herensuge.”

Elliot grabbed the fish. “We don’t need the entire family to follow us! We just need to lure one! One of the babies!” He ran toward Jersey, who was still tussling with the young herensuge. For one instant, Elliot thought, I am running toward eight dragons who are wrestling and blowing fire at one another. And then he decided to stop thinking, because he was pretty sure that if he thought about it too much, he would faint. Instead, he said, “Here, Jersey! Here, boy!”

Jersey looked up. The horse-size baby dragon that Jersey was playing with cuffed the little Jersey Devil so hard he went rolling across the ground. But Jersey stood up on his four little legs, unfazed, and click-clacked over to the fish Elliot held out. The baby herensuge saw where Jersey was going and began to follow the fish, too. Elliot started to walk backward, leading the baby dragon and the Jersey Devil, toward the tunnel that led up to the library.

“Not that way!” Uchenna said. “We can’t lead the dragons right back to the Schmokes and their guards. Follow me!” She made her way toward the hole in the cavern wall that the herensuge family had made. “There must be a whole network of caves down here,” she said. “Maybe there’s a way out.” She and the professor led the way, and Elliot followed behind, holding up the fish. Jersey and the baby herensuge followed Elliot. Soon the entire herensuge family had fallen in line. It was as if, now that they were together, they didn’t want to be separated again.

“This is the craziest thing I have ever seen,” Elliot murmured.

Uchenna led them deeper and deeper, following the twisting path of the ancient cave. The atmosphere became gloomier and thicker. Their footsteps barely echoed now in the darkness. Sometimes a baby dragon got too close to Elliot, and he tossed them the fish in his hand.

“We better find a way out of here soon,” Elliot said. “I’m running out of fish.”

“If we go very much deeper, children,” said Professor Fauna, “I fear we will run out of air.”

Jersey watched another fish sail over his head and into the mouth of a baby dragon. He whined. Then, his whine became more energetic, more curious. Suddenly, he scurried ahead of Uchenna and then up a steep incline.

There was a crack in the cave wall, not quite as big as the little Jersey Devil, and the last rays of sunset were filtering in from the other side.

“Good job, Jersey!” said Uchenna. “I don’t think we can fit through there, but that’s a good sign. Keep looking for openings, little guy!”

“The sooner the better,” said Elliot. “If I run out of fish and these herensuge are still hungry, they might try to eat something—or someone—else.” He tossed a fish into the daddy herensuge’s mouth, then reached into his bag for another. He groped around for a moment before turning the bag upside down. It was empty.

Uchenna looked at Elliot, holding the empty bag. She looked at the eight dragons, shuffling down the dark cave after her, their leathery wings beating with each step, their tiny dragon eyes glowing. She looked up at the crack in the cave wall.

“Professor,” she said, “you have a watch, right?”

“Of course!” he said. He held up his wrist, showing off his unicorn watch with the sparkly band.

“Give it to me,” she said.

“No! I won this watch in a very difficult game in an arcade!”

Uchenna raised an eyebrow.

“Of course. Sorry. Here it is.” The professor took off the watch and handed it to her. Uchenna started waving the watch back and forth in front of a baby herensuge’s face. The glitter on the watchband caught a beam of sunlight. The herensuge was enchanted. It forgot all about fish.

Eyes fixed on the glitter, the baby dragon took a shuffling step toward Uchenna. Then another. Uchenna took a step backward, only to find herself up against the cave wall.

Before the baby dragon could take another step, Uchenna drew the watch back behind her head and extended her other arm like she was about to throw a football, and then hurled the watch at the hole in the wall. It clattered through, disappearing into the evening.

“Whoa!” said Elliot. “What a throw!”

The baby dragon went bounding up the incline after the watch. It scrabbled at the opening, trying to get through.

“Come on,” Uchenna murmured. “You can do it.”

The baby dragon tried to scrape the rocks away, but she made very little progress. Uchenna turned away, her shoulders folding in on themselves. “That was my best idea,” she said. “Now we’ll never—”

BOOM!

The mother herensuge—Mr. Mendizabal’s herensuge—crashed through the tiny stone crack after the watch. Suddenly, there was a giant hole in the stone wall. The dragons all clambered up after the mother and went flapping up into the beautiful Basque mountain evening. Even in the distance, they could see Professor Fauna’s watch sparkling as it dangled from the mother herensuge’s talon.

Professor Fauna, Elliot, and Uchenna climbed up the stone face into the dying daylight. They turned their heads upward, watching the dragons gain altitude and make the formation of a V, like geese flying home after a long winter. The dragon family was heading in the direction of Mr. Mendizabal’s house.

Jersey climbed up on Uchenna’s shoulders. Elliot beamed at her. “That,” he said, “was awesome.”

Uchenna smiled. “Let me know if you ever want lessons on throwing like a girl.”

“Uchenna,” said the professor. “I am very impressed. But,” he added, “I really did like that watch.”