No amount of threatening revving would intimidate Callis and his crew into making way for the ice cream van.

“I have to say I’m impressed. I didn’t think you’d actually pull it off,” called Callis. He took a step closer to the van. “That mayor of yours is even more incompetent than I’d reckoned.”

Alex walked around to the front of the van, glad that Zoey, Anil and Bridget went with him. “Mayor Parch hired you. You’re supposed to be working for him.”

“That’s what the most honourable lord bonehead believes,” said Callis. “I needed him to let me build the Station so I could pump enough toxin into the water. I’ve been chasing that there beastie my whole life! My ancestor – Brineblood, you people call him – had the right idea. Why keep haring around the world when he could trap it somewhere it loves? The same place he loved before that dragon destroyed it.”

Alex’s heart jolted inside his chest. “Brineblood was one of the ancient people who lived here?”

Callis barked a laugh. “It was my ancestor who stole the egg! Imagine hatching your own Water Dragon, raising and taming it to use its power in whatever way you tell it. He could have ruled the world.”

Behind him, the Water Dragon gave a fluting, anguished cry. It had heard every word of Callis’s story.

“If he had the egg, why did he need to go after the dragon?”

“He lost it!” Callis snarled. “The egg was never seen again after his home was destroyed. So he had no choice but to go after the dragon itself. Now I’m going to finish what he started.”

It was clear that Callis didn’t understand the dragon’s power. It was a raw, elemental force that could never be tamed. Not by him, and not by Alex.

“You’re no different to Brineblood,” Alex spat. “You’re making the same mistakes.”

“My only mistake was trusting the idiots in this wretched little town!” Callis called back. “The promise of an auction and a big payday got your mayor onside. Everything was going to plan until that buffoon decided to stash the dragon in an aquarium on top of a hill instead of inside the Station like I told him. As you know, it doesn’t make for an easy heist. So why not let whichever fool coughed up the most cash go to the trouble of getting it out of there before I take it for myself? At least that way I pocket the money too.”

Alex clenched his fists. “We got there before you.”

Callis barked out a laugh that skipped across the water. “You think you can go around asking for blueprints and sneak onto my ship without me doing some investigating of my own? I got wind of your little plan. I figured on the off chance you succeeded, I could steal the beast from you just the same as anybody else. I suppose I should thank you for doing all the hard work.” The smile fell from his face. “Now hand it over without any trouble and I’ll let you all go. That’s only fair.”

Alex wanted to scream. They had come so far. They were right beside the bay. They couldn’t give up now.

“It’ll die if it doesn’t return to the water,” he said. “It has to keep the oceans safe!”

Callis shifted the harpoon gun from one shoulder to the other. “I’ve spent my whole life on the waves. I don’t want the beast as another trophy or as the star attraction in some amusement park. Only I know what it can really do. I want to harness its powers to put a stop to disasters all over the world.”

“You’re lying.”

“Oil spills! Ice caps melting! Coral reefs bleaching and dying! That beast has the power to fix any of them! I have the resources to take it where it’s needed most and make sure every scrap of damage is made right.”

Alex looked to the others gathered around him. While they remained steely-faced, he could sense uncertainty creeping up on them.

“You promise you want to help?”

“Of course!” Callis eyed the Water Dragon hungrily. “Assuming people pay me enough, of course.”

Alex felt his blood run cold. “You’re going to rent the Water Dragon out to fix the damage people are doing to the ocean?”

“People will pay a pretty penny to make sure they don’t have to actually make any changes to how they live,” Callis growled. “The beast can give them that.”

Anger boiled through Alex’s veins. “And anybody who can’t afford to pay just has to watch the ocean die around them and suffer the consequences?”

Callis smiled. “That’s just the way of the world, kid.”

“It doesn’t have to be.”

Casually, Callis lifted the harpoon gun from his shoulder and lightly tested his finger against its barbed tip.

“I’ve hunted the most dangerous creatures this planet has to offer. You see this scar?” He touched the point of the harpoon to the damaged skin on his arm. “I pulled a shark over twenty-foot long out of the deep. It broke loose on deck. Tore the skin and muscle away like lasagne. It still ended up on my wall with all the rest.” Callis lifted his eyes to meet Alex’s hard stare. “Your beast there is out of power after that stunt at the park. You really think you stand a chance against me without it?”

Alex felt his legs shake underneath him. A shark would only attack like that if it was cornered and desperate. Fighting for its life.

Exactly like they were now.

He turned to the others gathered around him. “Get back into the van.”

All three ignored him, stubbornly standing their ground.

“Trust me,” Alex told them. “You’re going to want to get out of the way.”

Grudgingly, they shuffled backwards around the ice cream van and climbed inside the back doors.

“The Water Dragon isn’t the only one with power,” Alex said, turning back to face Callis.

Having the dragon at his back filled him with confidence. He lowered himself to his knees and flattened a hand against the seaweed that covered the jetty. Salt water welled between his fingers. Alex felt for the threads and this time found them easily. The dragon whispered encouragement in the back of his mind.

For Grandma, he thought.

The seaweed twitched under his hand. A long rope of it peeled away from the rotten wooden boards and slithered along the jetty. It lashed around the ankle of one of Callis’s crew and snatched him off his feet.

Tendrils of seaweed swished behind them, wrapping around chests and binding arms. Callis swung the harpoon to defend himself, slashing cords of the assailing weed, but a thick strand hooked around his ankle and lifted him into the air. As he dangled upside down there his eyes fixed on Alex in disbelief.

“It wasn’t just the dragon. It was you. You’re like me,” Callis said. “But…how can you wield our ancestors’ powers when I never could?”

“I’m nothing like you.” Alex clambered into the van. “Grandpa! Go!”

“We’re goin’ to have to talk about these powers of yours.” Grandpa reached up and set the chimes playing like a battle cry. “Hold on tight!”

The engine roared. The van shot towards the captive crew. The rushing headlights flared in Callis’s eyes. At the last moment, the seaweed hurled him and his henchmen flailing into the dirty water.

“He won’t let us get away so easy,” said Grandpa.

Alex looked past the dragon’s tail trailing from the open back doors and saw Callis already climbing out of the water.

“They don’t know this place like we do,” said Zoey. “There must be somewhere we can hide.”

“The cave!” said Anil. “There’s no way they could find us inside the old dragon tunnels.”

There didn’t seem to be any other choice. “We have to get ’em off our tail first,” said Grandpa.

As the van reached the edge of town, an engine roared on the road behind. Through the back doors, Alex saw Callis’s four-by-four rapidly gaining on them.

“We need to go faster!”

“An ice cream van is designed to be chased by children,” Grandpa called back. “This is top speed!”

Headlights blinded them as the filthy four-by-four growled close. One of his crew was behind the wheel, freeing a dripping Callis to lean out of the side window and aim his harpoon gun directly at them.

They turned onto the high street. Cobbles made the van bounce and sway. The brakes screeched as Grandpa brought them to a sudden halt.

“What are you—?”

The high street was packed with people. Strings of lights and stalls selling hot snacks lined the road.

“It’s the Water Dragon ceremony!” said Zoey.

Alex had been so preoccupied with the rescue that he had completely forgotten.

Most of the gathered crowd were locals. Everybody turned to look at the ice cream van nudging its way along the street, the Water Dragon’s tail trailing from the back doors.

“Look at that!” shouted Mr Ballister.

“I don’t believe it!” cried Mrs Bilge.

Alex held his breath and waited for the uproar. The dragon was real. Instead, everybody began to cheer, the crowd opening up to let the van pass.

“It’s the best model yet!”

“So realistic!”

Anil laughed. “They think it’s the model sea monster for the Brineblood chase!”

“Dad is going to be so disappointed,” said Zoey.

The crowd closed up again around the back of the van, cutting off Callis’s four-by-four. Alex threw the poacher a wave as he was forced to pull back.

One by one, the locals lifted up their Brineblood scarecrows and paraded them behind the ice cream van and the dragon trailing from it. Together they launched into the traditional ceremonial song.

“Old Brineblood sought to snag the sea
and crush it under heel.
He chased the monster, made it flee
and trapped it with his zeal!”

Everybody sang along at the tops of their voices, lifting their effigies in time with the rhythm, banging the beat on the sides of the van.

“The monster sheltered in the bay,
a haven of its own.
Rousing its powers for the fray
it gobbled Brineblood’s wicked bones!”

As they picked up speed, the procession turned into a chase. The song broke off as everybody ran after the van, hollering excitedly.

Traditionally, the ceremony ended with the model sea monster being taken to the beach so it could escape the evil clutches of the Brineblood mob into the bay. Instead, Grandpa steered up the hill towards the cliffs. The crowd came to a confused stop, blocking Callis into the high street.

The town fell away behind them. The Water Dragon lifted its head from the front passenger seat, nostrils flaring as if it could smell the closeness of the ocean. Alex lay a hand on its hard scales. They were so close to freedom, yet still so far.

As the land began to rise into the cliffs, they reached the broken headland. The collapsing church brewed in the darkness.

“Pull off here,” instructed Anil.

A swampy verge sloped down from the road towards the old graveyard that surrounded the church. Half the plots had tumbled into the sea, headstones and monuments overhanging the drop below.

“How do we get into the cave from up here?” asked Zoey.

“A tunnel comes out somewhere.” Anil tramped across the mud, scanning the graves, searching for a specific name. Many were old enough that the engravings had worn away. Moss blanketed the stones, the ground dipping where coffins had rotted and given way underneath.

Anil stopped in front of a gravestone fallen flat on the ground. Alex read the faded inscription.

He couldn’t help but laugh.

“Brineblood’s empty grave. That has to be a sign,” said Zoey. “Not sure if it’s good or bad though.”

Bridget was tasked with moving the gravestone away.

“You’re paying for my next manicure,” she grumbled.

A steep tunnel plunged down into the ground, far deeper than a grave, as pitch black inside as if it had been painted there. Anil peered into its depths uncertainly.

“There’s a problem.”

Alex sighed. “I feel like I’ve heard that a lot tonight.”

Anil pointed into the mouth of the tunnel. “The tide is high.”

Although it was impossible to see far into the tunnel, the sound of the sea gurgling somewhere below was clear for them all to hear. The rising tide was filling up the cliffs from inside.

“I’ve never been in this part at high tide. It’ll be rough – underwater most of the way,” said Anil. “It leads to the cavern I showed you before. We’ll be safe there, but it’s a long swim.”

Alex stumbled back. “I can’t.”

Zoey caught him by the shoulders. “I thought you weren’t scared any more?”

Discovering the Water Dragon and the truth of Grandma’s life had done so much to erode his fear of the ocean. Still, the thought of being swallowed, lost deep inside an underwater tunnel with no way out, made him want to run from the bay and never return.

Headlights flashed on the road behind them. Callis must have escaped the ceremony and resumed the chase. It wouldn’t take him long to track them down.

“I’ll use the van to draw him off,” said Grandpa. “You have to go fast.”

They unloaded the Water Dragon as gently as they could. The mouth of the tunnel was just wide enough for it to fit inside.

“Hide in the caves. He won’t find yer there,” said Grandpa, climbing back into the driver’s seat. “If yer try and get the dragon away now his men will catch you. In the mornin’ we can see exactly what we’re up against.” He held Alex’s eye. “You can do this. Look at everythin’ you’ve done already.”

Engine grumbling and chimes ringing loud across the cliff top, the van pulled back onto the road and sped away into the darkness. The other headlights were gaining fast.

Anil sat and dangled his legs into the hole. “I’ll lead the way. Bring the dragon behind me. And don’t get lost. You might never get out again.”

The tunnel was steep enough that as soon as he climbed inside he slid quickly out of sight. A few seconds later they heard the splash of him landing in the water below.

Bridget brought the Water Dragon to the mouth of the tunnel. Alex reached out to stroke its head. Its power was weak now, only a trickle, but Alex knew it could grow into a roaring river. That same strength could help him to do this.

“You’ll be right behind us,” said Bridget.

A rumble like a roll of thunder resounded inside the dragon as Bridget pushed it into the tunnel. She grabbed hold of its tail and let it pull her into the fall. The splash seconds later was so much louder.

Alex stared down into the hole. “I’m scared.”

“The water doesn’t want to hurt you any more. The dragon has proved that,” said Zoey. “You were scared about everything we had to do tonight. You did it anyway. You’re the bravest person I know.”

“What about you?”

“Obviously I’m super brave too.” She took his hand and he felt how it trembled. Behind them, the headlights had grown bright and close on the road, illuminating the broken walls of the church. “We go together, okay?”

They stepped to the brink of Brineblood’s grave. Its darkness lapped hungrily at their toes.

“Jump on the count of three,” Zoey said.

“Okay.”

“One—” Zoey counted, before she decided not to waste any more time and tipped them both headlong over the edge and down.