by RH Disney
It was strange how normal everything seemed, Silvermist thought, when somewhere out there Kyto might be on the loose. She dabbed her damp brow with a petal kerchief. If there was one room in the Home Tree that made her uncomfortable, it was the kitchen. Too many fires. Unfortunately, she was stuck. She filled a thimble bucket from a nearby rain barrel, then went to stand again by the door.
Dulcie the baking-talent fairy was showing Necia around. “Cups go here, barrels of butter go there,” Dulcie said. She marched through the kitchen, pointing out baskets full of rose-petal napkins, cabinets full of seashell plates, and rows of open shelves piled high with pots and pans. Necia was doing her best to keep up. But it was clear to Silvermist that the fire fairy wasn’t pleased.
“Since Queen Clarion wants you to help, it will be your job to light the kitchen fires,” Dulcie continued. “Oh, and you’ll need one of these.” She tossed Necia an apron.
Necia unfolded it and made a face. When she looked up, her eyes met Silvermist’s.
Silvermist gave her a wry little smile. She’d meant it to be friendly. She knew how bossy Dulcie could be in the kitchen. But Necia scowled and looked away.
Does she know why I’m here? Silvermist wondered. Did Queen Clarion tell her?
“What time do we get started?” Necia asked, turning back to Dulcie.
Dulcie looked at Necia like she’d asked the most obvious question in the world. “At dawn, of course. I’ve got rolls and scones and cakes to make, all before breakfast.”
“But that’s so early!” Necia whined.
Dulcie leveled her eyes at Necia. “All the fairies in Pixie Hollow have a job to do.”
“But I’m not a cooking talent,” Necia said. “I’m a fire talent. Remember?”
Dulcie sighed. “Then let’s put that talent of yours to use. The fire under those chestnut roasts needs to be stoked. See how it’s gone down?”
Dulcie reached for some twigs to add to the fire. But Necia beat her to it. With a wave of her hand, the fire under the chestnuts flared up in a whoosh of roaring flames. The sparrow man who had been turning them sprang back with a cry.
“My roasts!” Dulcie wailed.
The chestnuts were now blackened cinders. Dulcie threw up her hands in exasperation. “Necia, I said stoke the fire. Not incinerate our dinner!”
“I just thought they would cook faster if the flames were bigger,” Necia said. “I’d fly backward.”
But Silvermist noticed the sly smile twitching at the corners of the fire fairy’s mouth. She had a feeling Necia wasn’t sorry at all. In fact, she was sure that Necia had burned the roasts on purpose.
After the fire by the mill, things in Pixie Hollow had returned to normal, more or less. The fairies had gone back to picking fruit and measuring dust and making flowers bloom. And yet, Kate thought as she sat with her friends in the meadow, there was a feeling of tension in the air. It was as if the fire had cast a shadow over everything.
Her friends noticed it, too. “Maybe we should go home,” Lainey suggested. “We can come back for another visit tomorrow.”
“No!” Kate blurted. It came out louder than she’d meant. But Kate was sure they couldn’t wait until tomorrow. Fawn had already gone to Queen Clarion with news of the dragon tracks. Who knew what steps the queen would take? By tomorrow, their chance could be gone.
“I mean, I’ve got a better idea,” she added, lowering her voice. “I want to get a look at that dragon.”
She’d barely gotten the words out before Mia was shaking her head. “Oh no, Kate. No way. You heard what Fawn said about Kyto. It’s too dangerous.”
“We’ll be careful. We’ll take fairy dust so we can fly away fast. And we won’t get too close,” Kate replied. “I’ve thought it all out. We won’t do anything too risky.”
“We don’t even know where the dragon is,” Lainey pointed out.
“We’ll look for the rock at Torth Mountain where he was chained,” Kate said. “If he’s there, well, he’ll be chained up, so we know it’s safe. And if he isn’t—no harm done.”
“And what if we meet him on the way?” Mia asked.
“If Kyto really is loose, we won’t be any safer in Pixie Hollow,” Kate replied. “At least, if what Fawn says is true.”
There was a moment of silence. “Come on,” Kate said. “This is the only chance we’ll ever have to see a real dragon. Aren’t you even a little bit curious?”
“I’ll go,” Lainey said. “I guess I am sort of curious. It’s a dragon, after all!”
“Excellent!” Kate beamed. “Mia?”
Mia pressed her lips into a tight line and cut her eyes at Gabby. Kate knew what she was trying to say. We can’t take Gabby to look for a dragon. She’s too little!
“What?” Gabby said loudly. “Why are you looking at me like that? I want to go. I’m not afraid of any old dragon.”
Kate grinned and folded her arms. “Well, Mia?”
“Oh, all right,” Mia said with a sigh. “I’ll go, only because I don’t want Gabby to go without me. But I mean it, Kate. We’re not taking any chances. The second we catch even a glimpse of the dragon, we’re out of there.”
“No problem,” Kate said. “We won’t stay long. I promise.”
Kate leaped off a rock and landed in the high grass of the meadow. Then she did a forward somersault, came up on one knee, and drew her pretend sword. “Take that, dragon!”
Lainey and Gabby, flying a few feet above Kate’s head, laughed out loud. Mia, bringing up the rear, made a face and landed next to Kate.
“Shouldn’t we be there by now?” Mia asked. “It feels like we’ve been flying for hours.”
When they’d started out from Pixie Hollow, Torth Mountain hadn’t looked that far away. They could see it looming in the distance, the tallest peak in Never Land. But though the mountain seemed to get bigger as they flew toward it, it never seemed to get closer.
“Wait,” Lainey said, cocking her head. “What’s that sound?”
Kate stood still and listened. There was a sound, like leaves blowing in the breeze or…water! “It must be the Wough River!”
Kate took a running start, pushed off the ground, and sailed into the air. Her friends followed. After a few minutes of flying, they came over a rise. Below them, a wide, rushing river stretched for miles. Not far beyond it were jagged cliffs and the rocky base of Torth Mountain.
“We’re almost there!” she cried.
Mia, Lainey, and Gabby followed Kate’s finger with their eyes. Torth Mountain stretched high into the sky. Near the top, it narrowed to a snowy peak.
“The mountain is huge!” Mia said. “Kyto’s rock could be anywhere.”
“Fawn said Kyto was chained to a rock at the base of the mountain,” Kate said. “So that’s where we should start looking.”
As they continued flying, Kate noticed that the ground below her changed from soft, high grasses to sandy pebbles, then to terra-cotta-colored clay and large boulders. Soon they could fly no farther. A vertical wall of rock stood before them.
Kate floated gently to the ground. “I guess we’ve reached the base?”
Gabby and Lainey nodded. They didn’t seem as enthusiastic as they had before. Mia pushed her hair out of her eyes and looked around nervously.
“All right, Kyto,” Kate murmured anxiously to herself. “Where are you hiding?”
As they continued on foot, the sky began to darken. She looked up and saw that a cloud had drifted in front of the sun. A chilly breeze suddenly whipped past her. She shivered and covered her arms.
“Maybe we should turn back,” Mia said.
“But we’ve come all this way!” Kate replied. “We can’t give up now.”
They walked on, weaving between scattered boulders. As they walked, Kate gradually became aware of a foul odor.
Lainey stopped and wrinkled her nose. “What’s that smell?”
Gabby and Mia covered their noses, too. “It stinks like rotten eggs!” Mia said.
Putting her finger to her lips, Kate motioned her friends forward. Ahead was a rocky outcropping. The girls crept toward it. As quietly as they could, they scrambled up the steep rocks.
Mia was the first to reach the top. She gasped, then clapped a hand over her mouth. Kate came up next and peered down. What she saw made her skin break out in prickles.
Below them, the dragon was stretched out on the ground. His body, covered in blue-green scales, was nearly as big as an elephant’s, but his long neck and tail made him seem much bigger. His veiny purple wings were folded across his back. He had a narrow, bony head and cruel eyes. A puff of white smoke issued from each nostril.
Kate gagged and her eyes watered—the awful smell was coming from him.
The dragon shifted slightly, and Kate heard the clink of metal. She spotted the thick silver chain fastened to a collar around his neck. The opposite end had been driven into a giant boulder.
Then she heard another sound—a slow scraping, like a knife being sharpened. Kyto was raking his talons against a rock, drumming them like fingers. The sound made Kate’s hair stand on end.
Kyto was nothing like what she’d imagined. He was no fairy-tale dragon. He was horrifyingly real.
A sharp tug on Kate’s shirt made her jump. She whirled around, but it was only Gabby.
“I don’t like this,” Gabby whispered. “Can we go?” She looked as frightened as Kate felt.
Kate nodded. For once, she’d had all the adventure she needed.
But as she turned to leave, a glimmer of light caught her eye. Kate paused. She had been so distracted by the dragon’s terrible appearance, she hadn’t noticed the pile of gold coins at his feet. Looking closer, she noticed the neat piles of strange and precious things—an ornate silver cup, rubies, ropes of pearls, books with moldering leather covers, marble statues, strangely colored feathers, and things Kate couldn’t even begin to identify.
“Kyto’s treasure hoard!” she whispered under her breath.
She leaned forward for a better view. As she did, a small pebble dislodged from beneath her hand. It went bouncing down the side of the rocks and rolled to a stop only inches away from the dragon.
Kate froze in horror.
Kyto’s head slithered up from the ground. In a voice like a nest of snakes, he rasped, “Come out, you.”
Kate glanced at her friends, who looked just as petrified. What should they do? Kate wasn’t sure they could make a run for it. Her knees seemed to have gone weak.
At that moment, she heard the flutter of wings. Another voice, this one high and bell-like, said, “Kyto.”
Kate peeked around the rock again. Two fairies were hovering above the dragon, just out of his reach. She recognized them right away—Myka, a scout talent, and Spring, a messenger. What were they doing?
The fairies didn’t seem to have noticed Kate and her friends. They were looking right at Kyto. Kate signaled to her friends to be quiet. She had a feeling the fairies wouldn’t like them being there.
When Kyto saw the fairies, his eyes narrowed. “Ah, two preciousss fairies from Pixie Hollow. To what do I owe the pleasssure?” As he spoke, a little trail of white smoke escaped his lips.
“Queen Clarion sent us,” Myka said.
“To sssend her regardsss?” There was a rumble like distant thunder as Kyto chuckled at his own joke. “No, I sssuppossse not.”
“We thought you might have…” Spring trailed off.
“Essscaped?” Kyto said, finishing her sentence. “No. I’m ssstill here, as you can sssee.” He tapped the long silver chain lying in the dirt.
Myka nodded. Then she turned to Spring and said something in a low voice. Kate caught the word tracks.
So that’s it, she thought. Fawn told Queen Clarion about the tracks. The queen must have sent them to make sure Kyto was still chained up.
And he was. Fawn had been wrong about the dragon tracks after all.
Kyto was watching the fairies through slitted eyes. Even though they were talking quietly, Kate had the sense he was listening to every word.
“Ssso you’ve ssseen her,” the dragon hissed suddenly. “And now you’ve come to me for help.”
The fairies looked at him. “What do you mean?” Spring asked sharply. “Seen who?”
Kyto took a step toward her. “The new dragon.”
Kate looked at her friends and mouthed the words A new dragon? Mia’s and Lainey’s eyes grew wide. Gabby covered her mouth with her hands.
“Yesss, another dragon,” Kyto repeated. He took two more steps closer to the fairies. He was straining at the end of his chain now. “I’ve driven her away once, but she’ll come back. She’sss after my hoard. I can’t fight her off, chained up like thisss. But if you let me go, I could crissssp her!”
There was something in Kyto’s slithery voice that Kate didn’t trust. It’s a trick! she silently yelled to the fairies. Don’t listen to him! The idea of Kyto on the loose made her break into a cold sweat.
Spring and Myka seemed unimpressed, however. “A new dragon on Never Land?” Myka asked. “Strange that this is the first we’ve heard of it.”
Spring regarded Kyto. “I think you’d say anything to get us to undo the chain.”
Kyto suddenly lunged at them, snapping his needle-like teeth. “Release me!” he roared. Spring and Myka darted back, barely dodging the stream of fire that shot from his mouth.
Kyto flapped his wings, rising a few feet off the ground. He let out a horrible, screeching roar and shot another flame in their direction.
“Flame all you want, Kyto,” Spring called. “We won’t set you free.”
The fight seemed to go out of Kyto. He turned and crept heavily back to his shiny piles, curling himself around them. “Then go away and leave me alone!” he snarled.
The girls heard a whir of wings. Myka and Spring were gone without saying good-bye. Kate was ready to go, too. Together the girls began climbing down from the rock.
Kate had just reached the bottom, when she heard Kyto’s voice again, softer this time.
“Don’t worry,” he whispered. “I’ll protect you.”
Who was he talking to? Kate peeked around the rocks. Kyto was nosing among the items in his hoard, murmuring. He was talking to his treasure!
“Pssst. Kate! Let’s go!” Lainey whispered behind her. Mia and Gabby were already moving away.
At that moment, Kyto looked up. His eyes locked onto Kate’s.
With a gasp, Kate sprang away from the rock and raced after her friends.
For a long time, no one said anything. Kate’s insides felt like jelly, as if Kyto had looked right through her and turned them to mush. They had reached the Wough River by the time she found her voice again.
“Well, that was fun.” She laughed nervously.
“Yeah, a real treat,” Mia said.
“But what are they going to do about the new dragon?” Gabby whispered. “Will the fairies catch that one, too?”
“There isn’t another dragon,” Kate said. She gave Gabby a comforting squeeze. “Kyto was playing a trick.”
“How do you know for sure?” Lainey asked.
“You heard Spring. Kyto would say anything to get free.” Kate thought of the dragon’s awful eyes, and the shrewd way he’d watched the fairies. “He just looks like a liar.”
“But what about the tracks we found?” Mia asked.
“We don’t know for sure they were dragon tracks,” Kate pointed out. “Fawn never saw them. She jumped to a conclusion.”
Lainey’s forehead furrowed. “That doesn’t sound like Fawn.”
“I’m glad there’s no more dragons,” Gabby said. “I don’t want to see another dragon ever again.”
“Me neither,” Kate said. She reached into her pocket for more fairy dust. “Come on. Let’s go home.”
“Unchain me!” Kyto roared.
> Kate ran as fast as her legs would carry her, but she could feel the heat from the dragon’s breath on her back. She could smell his awful stench. With every step, he was gaining on her. Any second, he would reach out and—
“Ahhh!” Kate sat up in her bed with a start. Daylight was streaming through the window blinds. Her soccer ball sat in the corner. Yesterday’s clothes were tossed over the back of her chair. She breathed a sigh of relief. She was in her own bed, in her own room, at home.
It was only a dream, she told herself.
Kate threw off her quilt and climbed out of bed. She put on yesterday’s jeans and a clean T-shirt, shoved her feet into her slippers, and went downstairs.
In the kitchen, her mother was standing at the counter with a cup of coffee in one hand and a half-eaten piece of toast in the other. She was dressed in nice pants and a sweater.
“Oh, good. You’re up,” she said when Kate sat down at the table. “I have a volunteer meeting this morning.” Her mom was on a bunch of different committees. Kate could never keep track of them all.
Kate’s mother took a closer look at her. “Are you feeling okay?”
“Yes,” Kate mumbled. The feeling of the Kyto dream still clung to her. She gave a little shiver, as if to shake it off, and reached for a carton of juice. “I’m fine. I’ll probably go over to Mia’s house after breakfast.”
On Saturdays, Kate and her friends usually spent the whole day in Never Land. But today she was in no hurry to get there. The image of Kyto lingered in her mind.
Her mom nodded. “That’s fine. Dad’s out running errands. He’ll be home soon, but leave a note if you go to Mia’s before he gets back, okay?”
Kate nodded. Her mother kissed the top of her head and headed out the door.
Kate poured herself a bowl of cereal, then went to the front door to look for the newspaper. She hoped reading the comics would make her forget about dragons for a while.
As she took the paper off the stoop, she noticed the Johnsons’ house. The porch swing was gone. So were the curtains in the windows. The house had a blank, empty look. The only colorful things that remained were the flowering azalea bush—and the big SOLD sign on the front lawn.
