CHAPTER
EIGHTEEN
THE GUM IN CLAY’S MOUTH
When the sun dipped low in the sky and the first few twinkling stars were visible, Satya stood in the control tower, watching the seconds tick away on her wristwatch. She’d managed to finagle quite a distraction: After making sure that all the doors and windows in the nursery were closed so that the little dragons couldn’t escape, she’d released them from their cages. At this very moment, Hero was flying through the nursery, wreaking havoc and taunting the dragons, who would be trying to get to the open coolers full of prime red meat. Every security guard at the Keep would be called in, as would her father.
Satya scanned the clearing again and again, but to no avail. She’d been standing in the tower for almost thirty minutes without seeing any sign of Clay or Cass—or of a dragon. But a plan was a plan, and at 8:25 on the nose, Satya took a deep breath and turned the key in the dome’s master lock. She pointed her finger at the big red button, then pressed down without allowing herself another second of hesitation.
The dome died with a strange electric hiss, as if it were deflating. Satya hadn’t noticed how pervasive the sound of the dome had been until it was gone. Suddenly, the sounds of dusk—the buzzing of insects, the cooing of hunting birds, and the whispering flaps of bats’ wings—seemed as loud as fireworks.
Come on, Clay, she thought. Come on. The seconds on her watch ticked on and on, but still there was no sign of a large winged creature escaping with two puny humans on its back—not in the dark jungle depths, not in the starry night sky.
Thirty seconds…
Forty-five seconds…
A minute.
The time Satya had promised had come and gone. Her heart sank. Clay must have failed to mount a dragon; she only hoped he had survived the attempt.
Just as Satya’s finger hovered over the button, preparing to turn the dome back on, a large figure flew into the night sky, its blue-black body a shifting shadow in the dark. Bluebeard. Satya’s heart lifted—Clay! He made it!—until the dragon opened its mouth and…
Unlike the other times Satya had seen a dragon roar, this roar was accompanied by a blinding streak of fire. Her jaw dropped almost as fast as her stomach. Clay had been right; dragons could breathe fire after all. As if that wasn’t terrifying enough, the white-hot exhalation lit up the night long enough for Satya to be sure of two things: Bluebeard was loose, and there was nobody on the dragon’s back.
“Oh no.”
As she watched, aghast, Bluebeard slowed and started circling above like some monstrous bird of prey.
Shaking with fear and adrenaline, Satya tapped the dome button, about to turn the power back on, but then she realized Bluebeard was already well outside the boundary. If she turned the dome on now, it would actually repel the dragon, rather than keeping Bluebeard enclosed.
“Oh no. Oh no. Oh no.”
Bluebeard was soon joined by the two other dragons. They circled one another, looking as though they were discussing their plan of attack. Or at least two of them looked that way. Rover was doing cartwheels in midair, like a frolicking puppy who happened to have wings and to be the size of a whale.
Suddenly, Bluebeard’s head spun in Satya’s direction. The dragon was too far away for her to really see its face; nonetheless, Bluebeard seemed to her to be looking through the dusky night, right into her eyes.
Then, with a single stroke of wings, Bluebeard was off like a shot—diving straight toward the tower.
At the same second, the hatch door flung open with a bang, and Satya screamed. She spun around and saw Clay, his feet still on the ladder, sticking his head through the hatch.
“C’mon!” he shouted, breathing heavily. “We’ve gotta run!”
Clay grabbed Satya’s hand and dragged her toward the hatch. “There’s no time to climb down. Slide, like this—”
He grasped the side of the ladder and started sliding down as if it were a fireman’s pole. She followed close behind.
“Faster!”
They were descending quickly, but not quickly enough. Bluebeard was closing in. In a second they would be within range of the dragon’s breath. Another second and they would be within range of the dragon’s teeth.
They were still a dozen feet off the ground, but Satya and Clay looked at each other, both thinking the same thing:
“JUMP!!!” “JUMP!!!”
With not a moment to spare, they dropped to the ground and rolled in the dirt. Scrambling to get away, they looked back just before Bluebeard unleashed a fireball at the tower. The dragon hung in the air, blasting the tower again and again, until the scaffolding buckled and the structure burned to the ground. Then, just as quickly as the dragon had turned on Satya, it was off—in the direction of the castle.
“Well,” Clay wheezed, “I guess the dome is down for good. And now the collars on the dragons are useless.”
“Actually, there’s a backup,” Satya said, panting. “But it’ll take them a while to boot it up.”
“Where’s Cass?” asked Clay.
“I was going to ask you the same thing.”
“You think she’s still with Schrödinger?”
“Unless the dragons got her.”
“Or the Midnight Sun…”
Clay and Satya sprinted along the dark path to the castle and tents. In the distance, they could hear the sounds of crackling flames and people shouting, and above it all, the roars of dragons. Clay hoped that Cass and Schrödinger were somewhere safe. In hindsight, splitting up had been a very bad idea.
All of it had been a very bad idea.
The path wound around the laboratory building, which miraculously was still standing. They rounded the corner, approaching the bridge that separated the lab from the castle. Both Clay and Satya stopped in their tracks at a loud crash.
The AUTHORIZED VISITORS ONLY sign that marked the entrance to the Keep hadn’t escaped the dragon’s wrath. It had collapsed onto the bridge in a heap of burning rubble, blocking the path entirely. Clay was about to suggest that they walk under the bridge and take their chances wading through the shallow river, when he caught sight of a long green twitching tail. Snowflake was crouched beneath the bridge and, judging by the tail, was a little agitated.
“Great,” said Clay under his breath.
Then came an ominous vibration in the ground beneath them.
“Don’t look now, but there’s somebody behind us,” Satya whispered.
Clay gulped and glanced over his shoulder. Rover was approaching on foot, the dragon’s plodding steps rumbling the ground.
“Which way?” Satya asked.
Clay tried to think quickly. They couldn’t cross over the bridge because of the burning sign, nor could they run under it because of the dragon lurking there like an oversized troll. But they had to cross somehow, and soon, or else be trampled by the even bigger dragon that was approaching from behind.
What to do? The simplest thing would be to push the burning sign aside, but it was too big and the flames too hot.
Wait—the exploding gum! All he had to do was chew, throw the wad at the wreckage on the bridge, and two seconds later—kablam!—the way would be cleared for them. Unless the whole bridge collapsed. In which case, Snowflake would be forced to flee.
Anyway, it was worth a try.
Clay unwrapped the gum and stuck it in his mouth.
“Is now really the time to worry about fresh breath?” Satya asked, looking at him askance. Then her eyes widened like she’d just had an epiphany.
Clay pointed at his mouth and started to pantomime an explanation. If he stopped chewing, the gum would blow up right between his incisors.
Satya stopped him, grabbing his hands. “Wait—I think I know what you’re going to say,” she said. Her dark eyes were big and round. There was no hint of her usual sarcasm.
Clay struggled to remember to keep chewing.
“We’re toast, right?” She squeezed his hand “And this is really cheesy, but… well, I don’t want to die before I ever get to kiss anyone.” Lifting herself up on tiptoe, Satya leaned in to give Clay a kiss.
Clay nearly choked on the gum. Of course, he was no expert in kissing, but he knew enough to know that chewing while a person is trying to kiss you is rude at best, and mortifying at worst. Especially when it’s that person’s very first kiss ever. And, to be honest, your very first kiss, as well. But he couldn’t stop chewing or they’d both be blown to smithereens!
“Clay!” Satya pulled her head back and wiped her hand across her mouth. “What are you doing? Stop chewing already!”
Shaking his head vehemently, Clay put his hands on her shoulders and pushed her back.
“Jeez!” exclaimed Satya, insulted. “Sorry, forget I ever—”
Clay took the wad of gum out of his mouth and threw it on the flaming wreckage of the sign.
“Get down!” He pulled Satya to the ground by the arm, and they crouched with their backs to the bridge.
“Three… two… one…” he whispered.
The explosion scattered the flaming pieces of the wooden sign, clearing a narrow path across the bridge.
Behind them, Rover roared and took off into the air.
Beneath the bridge, falling debris conked Snowflake between the eyes. The dragon swung woozily back and forth in the riverbed.
Satya looked at Clay in amazement. “Who are you—James Bond?”
Clay smiled. “Funny, that’s just what I said to Pablo when he gave me that gum.”
“Who?”
“Never mind—time to run!”
Clay jumped to his feet, dragging Satya after him. They bolted across the bridge, not daring to look back. Or below.
As Clay and Satya ran down the path toward the tents and the castle, they could see security guards sprinting back and forth in the distance. Air horns blasted around them.
Suddenly, Satya grabbed Clay’s wrist and pulled him behind a shrub.
“What is it?” Clay whispered, hoping he was going to have another chance to kiss her, though questioning the timing.
Satya pointed. Approaching one of the tents, without much stealth, was Rover. The dragon had taken off when they blew up the bridge, but hadn’t gone far. And now it had set its sights on something—or someone—in one of the tents.
Satya and Clay watched in horror as Rover lifted a claw and sliced through the tent like it was a soft cheese, revealing the sight of a scraggly gray-haired man standing at the ready, a ten-gallon hat firmly affixed to his head.
With a cry of “Yeehawww!,” Schrödinger launched himself at Rover, grabbing the dragon’s tail with all his strength.
And yet, as remarkable as it was to see an old cowboy attempt to ride a giant dragon, something inside the tent drew Clay’s attention away from the spectacle. There, behind Schrödinger’s desk, Cass was crouching low, trying her best to avoid becoming the dragon’s next meal.