B0075M2D1U EBOK (17 page)

“
Why would Da Vinci write that something resembles a worm?” Anya wondered out loud, “Maybe he was describing the dragon? Some dragons are very snake-like.”

“
I don’t know. It’s all Greek to me!” Jeremy quipped, with a stupid smirk on his face.

I rolled my eyes, “Not funny, Jeremy.”

He huffed, “I was just trying to lighten the mood.”

I sat there, contemplating what Brennan had said. “No, no. That doesn’t seem right. You also said it means bindweed? As in, ‘
resembles bindweed
’?” I tried to contain the sound of hopefulness in my voice, but I felt like I was really onto something here.

Brennan looked up at me and nodded. I continued, “Well, that sounds like he’s describing a plant! Doesn’t it?” I could barely contain my excitement. “We can Google it!” I jumped up from the floor and raced over to the laptop that was sitting on the desk in the corner. Everyone else crowded around the small screen as I quickly started typing. Several things came up in the search, but one word in particular stood out to me…the word “Ipomoea.”

I had seen it somewhere before… or I had heard the word before. I just couldn’t place where. Think Ruby! Think! Okay, it has to be referring to a plant. Plants often have Greek names and I’ve heard hundreds of them while working in the garden with my mother. “I’ve got it!” I screamed as I jumped up from the computer. Everyone was startled at my sudden movement, and they all looked up at me expectantly.

“
It’s a Moon Flower!” I shouted in triumph.

“
Are you sure?” Jeremy skeptically asked.

“
Yes! Absolutely, yes. I just helped my mom transplant a whole bunch of ‘em last Sunday. My Aunt Sue had them delivered to us. I remember my mom referring to the Moon Flowers as the Ipomoea. I knew the word was familiar to me. I just had to figure out why it was familiar.”

Brennan and Anya looked very anxious now, and Anya asked, “So, you’re sure this is the plant? And you have them in your garden?” I nodded my head wildly. “Yes! And if we leave now, I can show you. Brennan, you said you saw sketches of some of the flowers in the notebook that the Counsel had, right?”

“
Yes.”

“
So, do you think you’ll be able to tell if these are the right ones?”

“
I think so.”

“
Then let’s get the hell outta here! We have a dragon to catch!” I practically shouted as I ran for the door, with Jeremy, Anya and Brennan close at my heels.

Chapter 22

We ran into my backyard, huffing and puffing and practically falling down from exhaustion. Jeremy collapsed over his knees, wheezing, “Okay. (Whew) I. Gotta. (Whew) Stop. It’s a good thing we drove here or I’d really be tired.”

“
You need some cardio,” I scolded Jeremy. “We only ran back here from the car. Geesh. Good thing Anya drove us over here or we’d be calling an ambulance for your sorry-outta-shape ass.” I grabbed Brennan’s hand and took him over to the Moon Plants, which were now opening and in full bloom. “Are these them?”

Brennan excitedly nodded, “Yes! That’s it!”

“
Okay, so we have the plant. Now how do we figure out what we do with it?” I asked, looking at Anya and Brennan. It was already nearing 5:30. The Sleeping Spell would only last for maybe two more hours, if we were lucky. We still had to figure out the spell and get back to the island to Sirrush’s nest.

“
I don’t know…”Anya said, looking worried again. “Does anyone in this town speak Italian?”

My eyes lit up and I smiled wide, “YES.” I announced, “I know someone who speaks Italian. Nick’s dad, Mr. Martino!”

“
Then let’s get over there!” Jeremy said, “We’ve got like, two hours till old Cyrus wakes up.”

“
Sirrush,” Brennan corrected.

Jeremy rolled his eyes at him, “Whatev. C’mon!” We hopped in Anya’s car and headed for Martino’s Pizza. Lucky for us, the dinner rush should be in full swing, so Mr. Martino would definitely be there tonight. I just hoped he would be able to help.

Chapter 23

We rushed into Martino’s Pizza and I spotted Mr. Martino in his usual spot behind the counter, making pizzas and shouting orders. Oh great. I just realized I had forgotten to put shoes on. Oh well. Hopefully they wouldn’t call me out on that “No Shoes, No Service” thing… Just my luck, Nick was there too, pulling some pies out of the oven. He’s probably going to think I’m some kind of backwoods gypsy, running around barefoot. Okay, maybe not. But I still felt weird. I leaned over the counter and shouted to get their attention, “Hey! Nick!” He turned and smiled, “Hey Ruby! You guys eatin’ here tonight?” he asked as he walked over to us, wiping his hands on the front of his apron. I couldn’t help it, I blushed. I gave him a shy smile and looked down for a second in a lame attempt to hide the color burning in my cheeks. He just made me feel so giddy all the time.

“
Actually,” Brennan spoke up, “We’re not here to eat, or to flirt. We’re here to talk to your father for a minute, if we could.” Nick looked at Brennan as Anya chimed in, “Yes, we actually just need his help reading something that’s written in Italian.”

“
Oh,” Nick said seemingly unbothered by Brennan’s abrupt rudeness, “Sure, he can probably help with that, hang on a sec,” he gave us all a quick smile and walked over to his dad. We anxiously stood at the counter, as Nick’s dad came over to greet us.

“
Nico tells me you have something you need me to read for you?” he looked at us with kind, shining eyes under his thick, black eyebrows as he too, wiped his hands on his pizza-stained, flour-covered white apron.

Anya nodded and Brennan placed the aging piece of parchment on the counter in front of him. Mr. Martino pulled a pair of reading glasses out from his shirt pocket and leaned over to rest his elbows on the counter as he looked closely at the page from Da Vinci’s journal.

“
Ah ah ahhhhh…this is very old,” he observed as he scanned the page.

“
Yes,” Anya nodded, “Can you read it?”

“
Ohhh, yes, yes, yes… I can make most of this out. Would you like me to write it all down for you? It’s very strange though. Is it from a storybook or something?” He looked up at Anya and Brennan, curiosity in his eyes.

“
Oh yes! Something like that,” Anya nodded brightly, “It’s something we found in my great-great-great-grandmother’s things…I think it was from an old fairytale. We’d like to translate it for my Father.” She looked over at me and winked. I noticed that Anya didn’t lie in her explanation to Mr. Martino. See? Those fairies are crafty. Her answer seemed to satisfy Mr. Martino, as he nodded and smiled while he pulled out a spiral bound notepad and pen from underneath the counter. “I don’t know if I can make it all out,” he said as he wrote quickly, translating the words, “But I will get the gist of it down for you.”

“
That’ll be fine,” Brennan answered as Jeremy and I leaned heavily on the counter, nervously tapping our fingers. It felt like we were all holding our breath in anticipation.

A few minutes later Mr. Martino put the pen down, tore the page out of the notebook and handed it to us, “There you go,” he announced, seeming satisfied that he was able to complete the task for us.

I gushed, “Thanks, Mr. Martino! Thank you so much!” I leaned forward and surprised him with a quick hug. He laughed and smiled, patting me on the back, “Sure, sure. Anytime!” Brennan grabbed the paper off the counter and everyone else yelled a quick “Thanks,” as we turned and waved. Nick smiled and watched us rush out the door as Mr. Martino stood at the counter and yelled, “Come back for pizza later!”

Once we got outside we gathered around Brennan and looked at what was translated for us. Here’s what it said:

“
Well, that definitely looks like a fairy spell,” I said as I read the piece of paper. Anya and Brennan nodded. “C’mon guys! Let’s go send a dragon outta this world!” Jeremy cheered, just a little too excitedly as he pumped his fists into the air like he was a superhero or something… That kid really needed to dial it down a notch. I think he must have forgotten that he was screaming like a little girl at our last encounter with said dragon. He must be having another one of his Harry Potter fantasy moments.

“
Wait,” I said, “First we have to go back to my house and get the Moon Flowers, remember? And,” as I glanced down at my dusty, dirty feet, “I need to grab another pair of shoes.”

“
Oh. Right,” Jeremy looked down and made a face at my dirty feet. He seemed a little deflated that he didn’t get to charge off to slay the dragon just yet. We piled back into Anya’s car and sped back to my house to gather some plants.

“
How much should we take?” I asked as we started clipping off flowers and gathering them in our arms.

Brennan shrugged, “I don’t know, but I’d rather have too many than not enough. Better to be prepared for anything.”

“‘
Kay, you guys keep cutting. I’ll be right back. I need some shoes, and I’ll grab a bag for all this stuff,” I said as I jogged back to the house.

I ran upstairs, slipped on my red Converse shoes and grabbed one of my old backpacks. On my way back to meet the others, I grabbed an old flower pot and a medium-sized rock to grind the blooms down. I noticed a few small garden hand tools lying around so I shoved them into my backpack too. Hey, like Brennan said, it never hurts to be over-prepared. Last time we had a run-in with Sirrush, I was wishing for a weapon other than my shoes.

We jumped back into the car to head back over to Anya and Brennan’s boat. It was now almost 6:30…If we were lucky, we had until 7 or 7:30 before Sirrush woke up from Anya’s Sleeping Spell. I hoped this would work. Otherwise, we’d be fighting with one angry dragon. And I’m pretty sure things would get ugly.

Chapter 24

As we pulled up to the island, Brennan anchored the boat where he had before so we had to slowly wade through the muck-filled water again. But this time, I carried my backpack full of dragon-fighting supplies on my back. You could cut the tension with a knife. None of us were speaking. We quietly climbed out of the boat and lowered ourselves into the water. It was a warm, summer evening, and the humidity hung in the air. We moved quietly through the sludgy water, hearing only the sounds of our heavy breathing and the buzzing and chirps of the mosquitoes and katydids that swarmed the lake. The sky was hazy, but still bright, as the sun hadn’t begun to set yet. We were in the same positions as before, with Brennan in the lead, me right behind him, Jeremy behind me and Anya silently bringing up the rear. I felt like we were an elite team of Navy Seals on a top secret mission as we crouched down and made our way across the beach over to Sirrush. Thankfully, he was still passed out cold and hidden behind some fallen trees. Anya had strategically placed the huge limbs and branches to hide Sirrush from any passer-bys that might have noticed a huge, ugly dragon on the beach. She had also surrounded the small island with a Castoff Spell, which would deter people from trolling too close. The last thing we needed was some unsuspecting boaters deciding to picnic on the beach near a snoozing dragon!

We knelt down in the sand about ten feet away from the giant slumbering beast. I pulled out the Moon Flowers, flower pot and stone to start grinding up the petals. I mashed and mashed until the pretty white flowers were a pulverized mess. I looked over at Anya and Brennan and whispered, “Do you think this is enough?” They both nodded in unison. Jeremy, meanwhile, was crouching next to us and was staring at Sirrush in total concentration without blinking an eye. It was as if he was trying to make the dragon stay asleep with the power of his mind. I suddenly wished we had planned out this attack a little better. Who was supposed to shove this pulverized Moon Flower under Sirrush’s tongue? Anya and Brennan had to perform the spell together, so they couldn’t do it. That meant it was up to me and Jeremy…but I don’t think Jeremy is ready to shove his hand into a dragon’s mouth quite yet. Ready or not, he was going to have to help me out with this.

“
Pssst. Jer,” I whispered as I slightly waved and looked over at Jeremy. He finally drew his eyes away from the sleeping monster to look at me. “You have to help me. I’ll put the Moon Flower under his tongue, but you have to hold his jaw open for me to do it.” Jeremy’s eyes bugged out, and I could see him visibly start to shake. Anya grabbed him by the arms to calm him and looked directly into his terrified eyes. Whatever it was that Jeremy saw in her expression, worked. He settled down and gave a quick nod, resigned to the fact that he had to step up to the task at hand. Anya and Brennan crouched down together and held hands. Brennan gave me and Jeremy the silent go-ahead to move towards Sirrush. I pulled Jeremy along while I held the old flower pot filled with the mashed up Moon Flowers in my other hand. My heart started beating faster and faster, and I’m pretty sure I could actually hear Jeremy’s heart beating too. As we crept up to the dragon, my whole body shuddered and I couldn’t help but cringe in disgust. He smelled of rotten eggs and wet garbage. Gross. His brownish-green scales were both shiny and slimy and glistened in the lowering sun. I could see how muscular he was, laying there while he breathed deeply in and out, occasionally quietly snorting steam out of his huge moving nostrils. I was thankful that I couldn’t see his fiery-orange eyes up-close, because I’m pretty sure I would faint if those giant, reptilian-like eyelids snapped open.