THIRTEEN

That night I had a bad dream.

Or should I say a horrible freaky nightmare. You know, where everything that’s happening seems so real. Where your heart slams and crashes around like a trapped animal and threatens to burst through your chest. Where you try to call out for your mum but the only thing that comes out of your mouth is a skinny grey rat that gives you the evil eye then scuttles away to its hole.

Anyway…this dream started where I was cantering along on Shakespeare and we were both smelling the flowers and enjoying the sunshine. Everything was perfect—until we came across Professor Goodenough’s egg shed. For no reason at all, Shakespeare snorted in fright then took off in one of his huge sky-scraper leaps.

At the height of the jump, I looked down. It was totally weird. I could see through the roof of the shed to where all the professor’s eggs had suddenly sprouted wings. And there was Pedro, yapping like a squeaky wheel and having a great time running around on his cotton-reel legs playing chasy with the flying eggs.

Suddenly, from who-knows-where, this gigantic egg appeared. It split open with a bang and out stepped a baby dinosaur. Thick leathery wings. Fire hiccupping from its mouth. Smell like a rubbish bin. Then—in the time it took for Pedro to blink in surprise—the creature ballooned to the size of an elephant.

“Don’t touch Pedro, you great bully!” I screamed.

But it was too late. Like a giant vacuum cleaner, the dinosaur sucked the little dog down its throat.

My pulse racing and bucking in fear, I watched the monster lick his bloated lips and ever so slowly turn bloodshot eyes and dribbling grin toward me.

“Go Shakespeare!” I yelled flapping my legs on his sides.

Once again—I was too late.

I could hear Pedro’s frantic yapping as the dinosaur opened his mouth wide and sucked Shakespeare and me inside. The little dog wouldn’t stop yapping. He was racing up and down, banging into the dinosaur’s ribs and head-butting his liver…

And that’s when I woke up.

Not on my bed, but thrashing around on the floor, sheets twisted around both legs, pillow damp with sweat.

After untangling the sheets, I decided the nightmare must mean Pedro was in danger. Perhaps the professor was using him in some weird experiment. Perhaps he’d replaced the dog’s injured leg with a robotic one. Whatever…it was time to pay the professor another visit.

However, before I could check up on Pedro, I had my lesson with Noah to get through.

Strangely, this morning’s lesson went well. Noah kept giving me the thumbs up sign. Even yelled ‘Great!’ and ‘Good!’ a couple of times which almost made me fall off my horse in surprise. I guess his good mood had something to do with Kate lifting the ban on his riding after I’d managed to stay on Shakespeare over the water jump.

As soon as the lesson finished I went hunting for Jack. No way was I going anywhere near the egg-shed by myself. I needed my No.1 assistant to help scare away the nightmare.

But Jack had gone for a ride to Gawler River with his new mate, Tim Mathers.

Okay, my No. 2 assistant would have to come with me.

I found Tayla in our room putting the finishing touches to a hat she was making for Angel. She’d cut two holes in an old straw hat for the pony’s ears, added ribbon and plastic daisies to the crown, then glued purple sprinkles around the brim.

I dug up my sweetest smile and sat on the bed beside her. “That’s way cool,” I gushed. “Angel will love it.”

“You don’t think it’s too over the top for her do you?”

“Nah. The purple sprinkle stuff will definitely bring out the color of her eyes.” I widened my smile and cracked my fingers—then changed the subject. “You know how little Pedro hurt his leg?”

Tayla’s look was wary. “Pedro? The professor’s dog?”

“Yeah. Poor little guy.”

“What about him?”

“I think he might be in trouble.”

“And?”

“I need to go see if he’s okay.” I grabbed her hand. “Please, Tay, come with me.”

Tayla pulled away and jumped off the bed so quickly, I had to hold onto the headboard to stop from bouncing onto the floor.

“No way! I’m not going anywhere near that crazy old man. And don’t try talking me into it, Chiana. Nothing you say will change my mind.”

“We’ll only stay for five minutes. Come on Tayla. It’s important. I really need to check on little Pedro.”

Tayla backed away as though I’d suddenly come down with rabies. “Watch my lips, Cha. N. O. You’d have to tie me up and drag me all the way to get me to come with you.”

She must have sensed I was considering her suggestion because she dropped onto the bed as though her legs wouldn’t hold her up any more.

“Come on, Tayla,” I persisted before deciding to change tactics. After all, I was desperate. “You owe me one.”

“Owe you? What for?”

“If my mum and Ken hadn’t gone on their honeymoon, where would you be right now?’

“Huh?” Tayla’s eyes seemed to glaze over in confusion.

“You’d be at home. Bored out of your brain. That’s where you’d be. Probably listening to your latest CD for the seven hundredth time.”

Tayla twisted Angel’s straw hat until one of the daisies fell off onto the floor.

“Instead of that,’ I continued, giving her my best hurt-friend look. “You’ve spent these holidays riding the sweetest pony at Treehaven.”

Ahaa…hit a nerve there.

“I’m right, aren’t I?” I continued relentlessly. “Admit it. So the least you can do in return is come with me while I take some black jellybeans to poor little Pedro and make sure he’s okay. Five minutes of your time. That’s not too much to ask of a friend, is it?”

“But—”

“And as for being afraid of the professor—why, he’s just a sweet old man who’s setting up a sanctuary for orphaned animals.”

“Er…well…”

Mission accomplished.

However, ten minutes later, when Tayla sighted the rolls of razor wire and realized I expected her to wriggle underneath, I had an even bigger battle on my hands.

“Me? Wriggle under there? You’ve got to be kidding,” she said eyeballing me in disbelief. “Isn’t there a bell or a buzzer or something we can ring?”

“Look, it’s easy,” I said throwing myself flat on the ground. “Just pretend you’re a snake.”

“I’m scared of snakes!”

“Okay, a river flowing under a bridge.”

Honestly, Tayla could be such hard work.

By the time we’d ‘flowed’ under the fence Barnaby had wandered over to nose in my pocket for carrots.

“Meet my new friend, Barnaby,” I said, introducing the bull to a bug-eyed Tayla. “And Barnaby, this is my best friend in the whole world, Tayla.”

Barnaby smiled and drooled and munched his way through the carrot he’d found in my pocket. That is, after spitting out my mobile which he’d grabbed by mistake.

Tayla choked. “Holy catfish! Who sharpened the points on that bull’s horns?”

“Barnaby’s okay,” I said. “As long as you feed him carrots and never ever run.”

As we came closer, I could see the Professor’s sprawling old house with the veranda running along the front. Scarred wooden posts, overflowing with dark green ferns, stood each side of the veranda steps.

“Is that the professor?” whispered Tayla grabbing my arm. “That old man with the gross beard arguing with a young guy near the shed?”

“Yes, that’s him,” I whispered back. Don’t know why we bothered whispering because both men were arguing so loudly they wouldn’t have heard us if we’d driven up in a tractor.

“We have to get that egg. Today. Before it is too late,” the professor shouted.

“That’s impossible. It’s too dangerous, Gramps.”

Gramps?

I tugged Tayla behind some bushes for cover. There was something familiar about the man in faded jeans and leather jacket. I’d seen him somewhere before. But where?

“Tayla,” I said. “Does that young guy look familiar to you?”

She didn’t answer. Just stared at me, eyes dark and fearful, breath coming in short quick gulps. And then she nodded.

“Well…who is it?”

When she spoke, her voice sounded croaky, hard to get out. “I-It’s the greasy-haired guy who bumped into you at the museum—just before the dinosaur egg disappeared.”

This time it was my turn to stare and gulp.

Oh…My…God! Of course!

And the greasy-haired guy had just called the professor Gramps!