“Hello,” he said. “Nice to meet you properly at last. I’m a boy, by the way.”
“Hi.” Kit felt shy all of a sudden. She was used to the dragon being a defenceless baby, with no words. But this dreaming dragon looked so much more alert and alive. And he could talk, obviously.
“How did he learn to talk?” Josh whispered.
“Those stories you were reading him weren’t just to entertain him,” said Faith. “You were also teaching him to speak.”
“So everything I know, I learned from books they read me?” said the dragon. He frowned. “That explains why I don’t know any jokes. You need to read me some more funny books.”
“There are MANY books in your future,” said Branwen, who was standing just behind him with the rest of the council. “Welcome, friend. We wanted to give you a proper waking party. Unfortunately, your own librarian can’t be here, due to being an evil traitor who betrayed us all and ran away.”
“That’s OK,” said the dragon. He looked to Kit, Josh and Alita. “I have plenty of librarians to look after me.”
The three children grinned. “Does that mean we get to run the school library now?” asked Josh.
“Not in the slightest,” said Branwen. “You may be miraculous and unexplained wizards, but that’s a job for a trained professional.”
“Kit hopes you don’t send an evil one this time,” said the dragon.
Kit gave the dragon a look. “I think we need to chat about you not saying my thoughts out loud around important people.”
“Sorry,” said the dragon. But he looked like he was laughing.
Luckily, so was Branwen. “It’s a fair criticism. Apparently our vetting has got a little slack recently. Whoever becomes your next school librarian will, I promise, not be plotting to overthrow the council and unleash a plague of evil ghost rats from the dawn of time. Or any other kind of plague. Any applications from people promising to unleash plagues will go right in the bin.”
Behind them, Kit heard the sound of large feet on the pebbles of the beach.
“It’s time,” said Branwen.
Kit and the others swung round to see who was coming.
“Draca! Draig!” said Alita. “And Dogon!” The little dog dragon was flapping around above Draca’s and Draig’s heads.
“We came for the naming,” said Draca.
“Hello, little one. Are you ready to take a name?” asked Draig.
The little dragon nodded.
“I know that it’s traditional to call yourself by a name that means dragon, but I’d like to choose a different name. This is a time of change, isn’t it?”
“What name do you choose?” asked Branwen.
“I want a story name. So I’ll be Danny Fandango,” said the little dragon.
Alita and Josh almost squealed with excitement, but everyone else was looking very serious, so they covered their mouths with their hands.
“Sleep well then, Danny Fandango,” said Branwen. “May your waking dreams be rich and full of life and thought. May you be visited by good wizards and kind dragons.”
“How does it feel, being asleep?” Alita asked Danny.
Danny thought about this for a moment. “I actually feel more awake. Like the first bit of my life was a fog, but now I’m really me. I’m in the world I was meant for. I can be anything now. I can go anywhere.” The dragon looked around at Alita and Josh. “How does it feel being wizards?”
“I didn’t like it at first,” said Alita. “It scared me. But I’ve been thinking. Being a wizard means I can help protect dragons. And I love dragons. So maybe it’s worth being … a bit different than I used to be.”
“I just can’t wait to start training,” said Josh. “I hope Faith gives me lots of homework.”
“You know what I can’t wait to start doing,” said Kit.
“What?” asked Alita.
“Correcting Josh’s spells,” said Kit with a grin.
Josh sniffed. “What makes you think I’ll make mistakes?”
“Now I’m REALLY looking forward to it,” said Kit. “I might even keep a notebook with every single thing he gets wrong.”
“Yeah, but you’d probably give up after a page,” said Josh. “And fill the rest with doodles of bums.”
“Only the dragons are allowed to read my mind,” said Kit.
Eventually the party started to wind down. They said goodbye to Danny and the other dragons and returned to the waking world.
And then they said goodbye to the rest of the Wizards’ Council in the book wood beneath the school.
“A word of advice,” said Branwen to Kit. “Don’t relax too much. Just because one evil has been defeated, it doesn’t mean the world is safe. Evil is more like a game of whack-a-mole… Another always pops up once you’ve beaten the first one. Threats to the dragons and the world happen all the time. More than you ever hear about. So stay alert. Now, I think I might use that lovely garden book to go back home. Prop it up for me, would you, someone?”
When the ancient wizards were gone, Kit, Josh and Alita looked at Faith. “Shall we start training now then?” said Josh. “Since there’s all that evil out there waiting?”
“Evil can wait a night,” said Faith. “But I’ll see all three of you in the library after school tomorrow?”
They nodded. They were ready. All three of them.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The world is strange and dark at the moment. Thank you to all the people who make it lighter. Karen Lawler, first and foremost. You are the only person to see out a pandemic with. 10/10 would recommend as an apocalypse companion. So, like Michael Sheen, your name comes first. My Lightbringer.
Thanks to my parents, for frequently dog-sitting Dogon.
Thanks as ever to Tom and all at Nosy Crow and thanks to Polly Nolan for bringing these books about in the first place. Thanks to my readers, Ammara and Samantha, who help me see beyond my own nose. Extra thanks to Az, my extra eyes. You rock.
Thank you to Davide for what I think is his finest work yet - and the rainbow wristband. You make me want to buy all of Kit’s outfits! I love how you’ve brought the action and magic to life. And you captured Ben’s hair so perfectly.
Thanks to the Girls, for all your cheerleading and welcome distractions.
Thanks to Team Swag. I couldn’t ask for a better secret society. I am in awe of all of you.
Thanks to my Toots. Is black hole. Spaship.
Lastly, thanks to Shannon, James and the rest of the Ladybirds, because you’re awesome.
COPYRIGHT
First published in the UK in 2021 by Nosy Crow Ltd
The Crow’s Nest, 14 Baden Place
Crosby Row, London, SE1 1YW, UK
www.nosycrow.com
ISBN: 978 1 78800 632 3
eISBN: 978 1 78800 633 0
Nosy Crow and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Nosy Crow Ltd
Text copyright © Louie Stowell, 2021
Cover and inside illustration copyright © Davide Ortu, 2021
The right of Louie Stowell and Davide Ortu to be identified as the author and illustrator of this work respectively has been asserted.
All rights reserved
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, hired out or otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of Nosy Crow Ltd.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Printed and bound in Great Britain by Clays Ltd, Elcograf S.p.A.
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
nk you for reading books on Archive.
The Wizard in the Woods Page 10
