The Basque Dragon

by Adam Gidwitz

  “Not really. But I guess it’ll be better if we face it together.”

  Uchenna threw her arm around his shoulders. “See? That’s what I’m talking about.”

  Elliot sighed.

  * * *

  They descended the stairs, found the second staircase, and descended that one, too. They walked along a dark and narrow hallway with a filthy, rough cement floor. Uchenna began to sing a song with very little melody.

  “Elliot and Uchenna

  walking in the spooky basement.

  Hopefully, no weirdos

  jump out from the dark and kill them.”

  Elliot shuddered. “Can’t you make up something happier?”

  “That was in the style of Lou Reed. He said to write about real life,” Uchenna replied. But she decided to hum the rest of the song instead of inventing more lyrics.

  Finally, they came to a door with a sign that said: JANITORIAL SUPPLIES. Except someone had partially covered it with a handwritten nameplate that read:

  Uchenna knocked. Instantly, they heard the sound of dead bolts being thrown—click, clack, clunk, kerchunk, kerplunk. Five heavy-duty locks. For the social studies department? The door slowly swung open, revealing the tall man with the tattered suit and the threatening eyes.

  “Children! ¡Fantástico!” exclaimed the professor, as if he were surprised it was them and not some mortal enemy of his. “Please come in. We have much to discuss.”

  They entered a room that wasn’t much bigger than the inside of a large car. Three walls were lined with floor-to-ceiling shelves that bent under the weight of an enormous collection of books. At first glance, the fourth wall appeared to be covered with the world’s weirdest wallpaper. But it wasn’t wallpaper—it was charts and maps, thumbtacked on top of one another in a crazy patchwork and crammed with handwritten notes and drawings. Against that wall was a cramped desk piled high with notebooks, tabloid newspapers, and fast-food-meal toys. The place looked like it had been hit by a hurricane and then a tornado and then a pack of rabid raccoons. Even so, the children got the sense that it was governed by some strange organizational system known only to the professor.

  Professor Fauna closed the door behind them and locked the five dead bolts. The sound of each one made Elliot wince. “Thank you both for coming. As new members of the Unicorn Rescue Society, I will be training you to—”

  Just then, a blur of blue and red shot out from behind the only chair and collided with Elliot’s head. Elliot screamed and tumbled backward.

  He writhed against a wall of books, his face being attacked by a strange creature with soft blue fur and bright red wings.

  “It’s only Jersey!” Uchenna said. The young Jersey Devil was now clinging to Elliot’s face, his tiny claws hooked on to Elliot’s skin.

  “Ow! Ow! Get it off!” Elliot cried.

  “I think he missed you,” Uchenna observed.

  “I appreciate the sentiment, but he’s still digging his talons into my face!”

  Uchenna took the Jersey Devil under his forelegs and moved him to her lap. She stroked the thick fur that covered his bony head. He began to purr.

  “Fascinating,” the professor said. “All day he has been sleeping under that chair. Never could I rouse him. I thought perhaps he had some laziness disorder.”

  The Jersey Devil raised his head and growled at the professor.

  “But perhaps he just missed you! Anywhat, I have received a message from a member of the Unicorn Rescue Society. I need your help.”

  Uchenna sat up in her chair. Jersey sat up in Uchenna’s lap. But Elliot crossed his arms, narrowed his eyes, and said, “Professor, we’re not going to help you until you answer some questions. Uchenna and I feel very uncomfortable hanging out with a teacher in the basement after school, and not telling our parents about it. Not to mention breaking into the Schmoke brothers’ home! Speaking of which, tell us how you know them in the first pl—”

  “NO!” Professor Fauna shouted.

  Elliot and Uchenna stepped back, stunned.

  The professor cleared his throat. “I mean . . . not now. Time is of the essence! A herensuge is missing!”

  “A what?”

  “A HAIR-en-SOO-gai! The dragon of the Basque Country!”

  Uchenna and Elliot were momentarily stupefied. Finally, Uchenna stammered, “Isn’t the Basque Country in Europe?”

  “Right! That’s why we have no time to lose!”

  Elliot said, “You want us to go to Europe now?”

  “Of course!”

  “To rescue a dragon?”

  “¡Mala palabra! Why are you suddenly so stupid? It is like your brains are moving through jars of honey! Yes! We must go to Europe, to rescue a dragon, now!”

  The kids spoke at exactly the same time.

  Elliot said, “Absolutely not.”

  And Uchenna said, “Awesome.”

  CHAPTER SIX

  “This morning,” the professor told them, as he hurried through the corridors of the school’s sub-basement, Elliot and Uchenna straining to keep up, with Jersey’s head poking out of Uchenna’s backpack, “I was contacted by an old friend. His name is Mitxel Mendizabal.” It sounded like MEE-chel men-DIZ-uh-bahl. “Mitxel is a member of the Unicorn Rescue Society living in Bizkaia, in the Basque Country.”

  “Bizkaia,” said Elliot. “That’s where the Basque people won the freedom to live under the foruak, their traditional laws, from the king of Spain.”

  The professor missed a step, and half turning to Elliot, said, “You have already made much progress in the book I gave you!”

  “Yeah, but why did you leave it on my doorstep? And how did you know where I live?” Elliot asked.

  Professor Fauna waved his hand dismissively. “It doesn’t matter.”

  “It matters to me,” Elliot objected.

  But Uchenna was suddenly feeling cheated. “Why did you give Elliot the book, and not me?”

  The professor said, “Do you make a habit of memorizing entire books in a single day?”

  “No, but—”

  “Besides, I have something else for you. It is in my airplane. Now, vámonos!”

  “You have a plane?” Elliot practically shouted as the professor climbed a small staircase to a door marked EMERGENCY EXIT ONLY. DO NOT OPEN. ALARM WILL SOUND.

  “Of course! I keep it in the faculty parking lot for just such occasions.” He pushed the door open. No alarm went off.

  They emerged into the bright light of the fall afternoon. The parking lot was crowded with the cars of teachers and custodians, lunch ladies and secretaries.

  And then they spotted it. Occupying the three parking spaces between Principal Kowalski’s sea-foam green hatchback and Miss Vole’s motorcycle was an airplane. It wasn’t a big plane—it had a single propeller on its nose and a cabin that looked about half the size of Professor Fauna’s office. The top of the plane was pale blue, and its underbelly was white, and both top and bottom were scarred with years of rust and dents.

  The professor unlocked the plane’s door, then boosted Elliot and Uchenna up into the cockpit, pulling himself in behind them.

  “Buckle up, children,” he warned. “The takeoff can be somewhat bumpy.”

  “This plane can fly across the Atlantic Ocean?” Uchenna asked.

  “Of course! She is very reliable. I call her the Phoenix. As you may know, the phoenix is a mythical creature that dies in a burst of fire and then rises again from its own ashes. This plane is very much like that. Many times has it crashed. But always I can get it working again!”

  “I don’t want to do this,” Elliot said. “I don’t want to do this. I don’t want to do this.”

  But Professor Fauna had already started up the plane. He locked the doors.

  “Buckle up!” the professor cried over the roar of the propeller. Elli
ot and Uchenna grabbed the seat belts. Jersey scampered from Uchenna’s bag onto her lap. She gripped him to her chest.

  The plane lurched forward. Elliot dug his fingers into the armrests of his seat. Professor Fauna guided the plane to the driveway of the faculty parking lot. He began to pick up speed. Faster and faster they went, the little Phoenix rumbling on its three wheels. They were rapidly approaching the end of the driveway, which led out onto a busy street.

  “Good gracious, good gracious, good gracious,” Elliot whimpered. Uchenna grabbed his hand.

  Just before reaching the intersection, the professor yanked back on the control stick. The plane’s nose rose, and the Phoenix shot up in the air, narrowly avoiding the traffic whizzing by below. The force of the lift-off pressed them all against the backs of their seats, and pushed Jersey flat against Uchenna. They were climbing.

  Suddenly, Elliot realized he had been screaming. He closed his mouth. Uchenna was also making a great deal of noise. But she wasn’t screaming. She was whooping.

  “THIS IS AMAZING!” she shouted.

  The plane banked, and they could see the school, the trees, their houses, and even the smokestacks of the Schmoke Industries factory far below.

  “WOOO-HOOOO!” Uchenna cried.

  Elliot put his head between his knees.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  “Professor!” Elliot said, his head resting against the small window beside him, his face positively green as he stared out at the blue sky and, below them, the clouds. “My mom expects me home for dinner. A flight to Europe must take hours and hours! Then we’ll have to fly back. And, oh yeah, rescue a dragon while we’re there.”

  “Don’t worry, Elliot. The Basque Country is in a different time zone. We can go and be back in time for dinner.”

  “That’s not how time zones work, Professor.”

  “I’m pretty sure it is.”

  Uchenna nodded. “I think he’s right, Elliot.”

  Suddenly, the plane lurched in a gust of wind. Elliot closed his eyes and tried not to be sick.

  Uchenna turned to the professor. “So, you said you have something for me?”

  “Oh yes!” He turned away from the steering column and began digging behind his seat. With no one manning the controls, the plane took a sudden jag downward. Elliot screamed. Jersey was thrown into the air. Uchenna grabbed the steering yoke and pulled up. The plane leveled out. Professor Fauna reemerged as if nothing had happened, holding a camouflage backpack.

  “What’s that?” Uchenna asked.

  “It is a special Jersey Devil transporter!”

  “Where is Jersey, by the way?” Elliot asked.

  They looked up. Jersey was clinging to the ceiling, his little legs trembling.

  “He must not be used to flying!” the professor said.

  “He has wings, Professor,” Elliot replied. “I think he’s just not used to flying in a custom-made death trap.”

  Uchenna was examining the backpack. Tiny holes had been poked in the main compartment, and the two side compartments had been insulated.

  “Those are for his food,” the professor explained. “I made it last night.”

  “You made this?” Uchenna said. She was impressed.

  Jersey dropped down into Elliot’s lap. Elliot gazed out of the window. They were flying. To the Basque Country. In Europe. His mom and grandma were going to kill him.

  Elliot remembered that the professor hadn’t answered any of his questions before whisking them off to his frequently-crashes-but-always-works-again-somehow airplane. “Professor, can we talk about the Schmoke brothers now?”

  The plane jerked downward, and everyone was thrust forward against their seat belts.

  “Sorry!” said the professor. “Turbulence.”

  Elliot was pretty sure that Professor Fauna had made the plane do that intentionally. It was highly suspicious. He was about to ask about the Schmoke brothers again when Uchenna asked her own question:

  “When you say we’re supposed to rescue a dragon, what exactly do you mean?” Uchenna asked. “Like a giant fire-breathing lizard that sleeps on a huge pile of treasure? Because I definitely want to see one of those.”

  Professor Fauna sighed as he squinted at the endless stretch of blue before them. “Uchenna, do not be swayed by the video films you see on the television. Dragons are not all giant fire-breathers. Some are quite small. Some swim underwater. Some have cool, refreshing, frosty breath. Think about birds: There are eagles, there are chickens, and there are ostriches. All are very different, but all are birds. It is the same with dragons.”

  “So, what kind of dragon is a herensuge?” Uchenna said.

  “Well, in this specific case, you were correct,” the professor admitted. “The herensuge is exactly what you described.”

  Elliot groaned and began petting Jersey rather hard. He wasn’t sure whether he was trying to comfort the little Jersey Devil, or himself.

  Uchenna tapped Professor Fauna on his tweed-covered shoulder. “Can I try flying the plane?”

  “NO!” Elliot shouted.

  The professor smiled. “Perhaps another time.”

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Uchenna stared out the plane’s front window. They’d been flying for what seemed like forever, and most of the flight had been over clouds and flat blue ocean.

  Elliot had put Jersey into the new backpack, where the little creature had promptly turned invisible and fallen asleep. Elliot then opened The Country of Basque. He kept finding interesting information in it that he would relay to Uchenna and the professor.

  “Did you know that the Basque language—Euskara—is totally unique? For example, if you know French, Spanish is pretty easy to learn, because they’re related. Or if you know Chinese, you can read some Japanese characters, because they’re related, too. But Euskara is one of the only languages in the world that has no relatives!”

  “It is a strange but beautiful language,” the professor replied. “I knew some Basque people in my home country of Peru and tried to learn their tongue. It was quite challenging.”

  “Their language is a really important part of what it means to be Basque,” Elliot went on. “In fact, the Euskara word for a Basque person is Euskaldun, which means ‘someone who speaks Euskara.’”

  “I want to learn their language!” Uchenna replied. “Then I could be an awesome mountain warrior like them.”

  “I think most of them are shepherds now,” Elliot said. “Or have normal jobs in cities.” But Uchenna had stopped listening. She was banging out a beat on her knees.

  “Fearsome warriors in an ancient LAND

  Against invaders they would always STAND

  What they SPEAK

  Is so UNIQUE

  Their words are key to their MYSTIQUE!”

  “That was inspired by Run-DMC,” she informed Elliot and the professor.

  “Who?” Professor Fauna said.

  Just then, on the edge of the horizon, where the endless blue ocean met the endless blue sky, Uchenna spotted something. A thin strip of green that was growing by the second. “Professor!” she shouted. “I see land!”

  Elliot gazed down in disbelief. “I can’t believe we made it to Europe.”

  “And safely, too!” Uchenna added.

  Elliot shushed her. “Don’t jinx it. We’re not on the ground yet.”

  “Indeed,” Professor Fauna agreed. “I usually crash on the landings.”

  They flew over the coast, following a river inland toward the high green mountains. Straddling the river was a city. There were a few tall skyscrapers, but most buildings were fairly low to the ground and had bright red tile roofs. The riverfront was clogged with factories and warehouses.

  “That is the city of Bilbao,” Professor Fauna told them. “It is one of the most important cities in the Basque Country. They manufac
ture many things there. It is where our contact, Mitxel Mendizabal, is from. His family owns one of those factories.”

  “Is this where we’re meeting him?” asked Uchenna.

  “No,” said the professor. “Mitxel long ago left the family business, and now he lives in the mountains, where he can keep a closer eye on the herensuge.”

  Fauna guided the plane above smaller villages and valleys, toward a range of tall mountains. The plane headed straight for the tallest of the peaks and then angled toward the flat wooded area below its rocky cliffs.

  Gazing out the side window, Elliot said, “Professor, I don’t see a runway down there.”

  “Right. This is why landings are so hard.”

  Elliot closed his eyes and gripped Jersey to his chest.

  “Wait!” Uchenna cried. “There’s a field! Land there!”

  “Yes! I will try! But as I said, the Phoenix usually doesn’t land so much as crash.”

  Elliot curled up into a ball in his seat. Uchenna noticed that the dials on the dashboard were spinning wildly. “Professor—”

  “Not now!” he snapped. The plane was losing altitude quickly. Uchenna’s ears felt like someone was shoving cotton into them. “¡Palabrota! These controls are useless!” Just then, the plane’s nose dipped straight down.

  Elliot started to scream. So did Uchenna.

  “Hold on!” the professor shouted. “We will crash now!”

  CHAPTER NINE

  The plane spun as it plummeted toward the earth.

  Elliot gripped Jersey with all his might and cursed himself for getting into an airplane with a grown man who believes in unicorns. Without even getting a permission slip from his mom. Of course he was going to die now.

  Uchenna was studying the dials and controls, frantically trying to figure out how to pull the plane out of its tailspin.