by Nancy Krulik
“I’ll defeat it!” Princess Pulverizer said, leaping to her feet.
“H-h-how?” Lucas stammered nervously. “You don’t have any weapons.”
“Sure I do.” The princess bent her arms to show off her muscles. “These!”
Lucas and Dribble did not seem particularly impressed.
But that wasn’t stopping Princess Pulverizer. “Watch out, monster! You are no match for me,” she shouted.
Princess Pulverizer looked up into the tree. But she didn’t see a monster. She didn’t see anything other than the usual branches, leaves, and blossoms.
Hmmm . . . Maybe the monster was hiding.
The princess leaped into the air and grabbed a tree branch. She pulled herself up and began climbing, searching for a monster hidden in the leaves.
But there was no monster anywhere.
Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, Princess Pulverizer noticed a black, white, and yellow hairy creature creeping and crawling on a branch.
Wait a minute.
Hairy?
Creeping?
Crawling?
Oh brother. Lucas hadn’t seen a monster at all. He’d seen a caterpillar.
Princess Pulverizer wasn’t surprised that Lucas was afraid of an insect. Lucas was afraid of everything.
The princess let the little caterpillar crawl onto her finger. She tucked him in her pocket and slid down to the ground.
Princess Pulverizer walked over to her friends and dangled the tiny creature in front of Lucas’s nose. “Is this your monster?”
Lucas shuddered. “Get that away from me!” he cried out.
Princess Pulverizer laughed.
Dribble looked from the caterpillar to Lucas and back again. He clenched his dragon lips together tightly, trying not to laugh. But he couldn’t help himself.
“Ha-ha-ha-ha . . .” SNORT! Dribble laughed so hard, the ground shook beneath him.
“This isn’t a monster,” Princess Pulverizer told Lucas. “It’s a caterpillar.” She placed the stunned insect back on a low-hanging tree branch.
Lucas turned red with embarrassment. “I really hate things that creep and crawl,” he said timidly.
“Aaaachoooo!” Suddenly, Dribble let out a loud, powerful sneeze.
“Gesundheit,” Lucas said. “Are you getting a cold?”
The dragon shook his head. “It’s those apple blossoms. I’m allergic. Aaachoooo!”
That last sneeze was so strong, it blew Lucas over. He fell backward onto the ground.
“Sorry,” Dribble apologized as Lucas scrambled back to his feet.
“It’s okay,” Lucas assured him.
The dragon looked down at the two grilled cheese sandwiches his friends had dropped. “What a waste of cheese,” he said. “It’s too bad you guys didn’t finish them. Gouda grilled cheese is my specialty.”
“I’m sorry,” Lucas apologized. “But it’s not a total waste. The ants seem to be enjoying them.”
“I’m sorry, too,” Princess Pulverizer grumbled. “I’m sorry I couldn’t save you from a creepy-crawly, hairy monster. Because that would have been a good deed.”
“A very good deed indeed,” Lucas agreed.
To be continued . . .
Author & Illustrator
Nancy Krulik is the author of more than two hundred books for children and young adults, including three New York Times Best Sellers. She is the creator of several successful book series for children, including Katie Kazoo, Switcheroo; How I Survived Middle School; George Brown, Class Clown; and Magic Bone. Visit Nancy at realnancykrulik.com.
Ben Balistreri has been working for more than twenty years in the animation industry. He’s won an Emmy Award for his character designs and has been nominated for nine Annie Awards, winning once. His art can be seen in Tangled: The Series, How to Train Your Dragon, and many more.
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