“I didn’t realize he was your dad, but I still shouldn’t have said what I said. Imitating him and everything.”
“It was pretty rude,” said Nory.
“I like to make people laugh, that’s all. And I don’t want people laughing at me, because I’m so short, so sometimes I … well, I shouldn’t have. I’m sorry.”
“Yeah, I guess so. Apology accepted.”
Tip crouched down. “Is that your whelp? Can I pet it?”
“Sure,” said Nory. “Go ahead.”
Tip scratched Roarie’s tiny head. Nory half expected him to scold her, to tell her she had to tell Mo about the whelp.
He didn’t. He rose to his feet and said, “What Dr. Horace did, making the walls invisible and stuff—that was excellent. And he does care about the school. I can tell.”
Someone cleared his throat. It was Andres, wearing his brickpack. “We’re almost ready to leave,” he told Nory. “You have to say good-bye to Roarie. Ms. Starr says so.”
“Ms. Starr knows about Roarie?” Nory had kept the baby dragon hidden so well!
“Um, everybody knows about Roarie,” said Tip. “All the fifth graders, anyway.”
“Marigold really, really cannot keep a secret,” Andres said.
Nory smiled. It was true.
“We didn’t tell the dragonologists, though. Or the Sage teachers.” Andres bent down and patted Roarie. “It’s got to be hard to say good-bye. She’s something.”
Nory’s eyes started to tear up. “It is hard. She just—she thinks I’m her mom! She doesn’t have a mom!”
“She can still go live with the Tangerines,” said Andres.
Nory started crying for real. She picked up Roarie and cuddled the Blurper. “I don’t know if I can say good-bye!”
“I’ll come with you,” said Andres. “Come on. It’s time.”
Nory confessed to Mo about Roarie.
It was very, very awkward.
Mo wasn’t mean about it, but she was not at all happy that Nory had kept a rare Blurper in her hoodie and allowed it to eat spaghetti.
But when Nory told Mo that she suspected her dritten was actually a Blurper-kitten, Mo got an excited glint in her eye. “Really?” Mo asked. “Can I see?”
Nory nodded. She scrunched up body and fluxed into a kitten. Then she felt her wings sprout. She shot into the air, Roarie close behind her.
After two minutes, Mo waved them back down.
Nory popped back into girl form.
“Wow,” Mo said, nodding. “Yes, your dritten definitely has Blurper characteristics. I wish I had known that you flux into a dritten earlier in your trip so I could have observed you. Perhaps you could return to our reserve in the future?”
“I’d love to,” said Nory.
Mo confirmed that Roarie could indeed live with the tangerines. She drove them to the bridge overlooking Rock Garden Creek, the place where they’d flung the cantaloupes their first morning.
They walked onto the bridge with Nory carrying Roarie. They looked over at the mother with her two younger Tangerines, super gigantic, rolling around like puppies, all three of them. They didn’t need anyone. They didn’t look like they wanted anyone, either. Especially not a tiny Blurper.
Andres shielded his eyes with his hand. “Look at Ernesto!” he said, pointing. “All by himself, just like the other day.”
Nory saw the dragon Andres was talking about. She hadn’t noticed him last time, even though he was bigger than two elephants, because of how he tucked himself into a shallow cave made of rocks.
“He has no family,” said Andres. He sucked in a breath and turned to Mo. “Hey, could Ernesto take care of Roarie? Instead of the mama Tangerine?”
“That’s not a bad idea,” she told Andres. “In fact, it’s a fine idea, and certainly worth a try.”
“Roarie?” Nory said. She gazed into the whelp’s lollipop eyes. “I have to go, and you have to stay here.”
“Blurp?” Roarie trilled.
“You belong here with the other dragons. I belong back at Dunwiddle—that’s my school—with other kids. And my aunt Margo. You couldn’t live there. You’re not a pet, even if you do love me a whole huge amount.” She felt a bit weepy. “I have to say good-bye,” Nory said firmly. “I’m doing what’s best for you, so that you can be the best Roarie possible.”
She hugged Roarie tight, then gave her to Mo. The dragonologist nodded and flew down into the rock garden with Roarie in her arms.
Nory and Andres held very still as they watched Mo set Roarie gently next to Ernesto.
Ernesto sniffed the tiny whelp, then lumbered to his feet and backed away. Roarie tilted her head and made a curious trilling sound. “Blurp?”
Ernesto watched her warily.
One of the young Tangerines ran by, followed by the other. The vibrations caused by their enormous bodies knocked Roarie off balance.
“Blurp!” she whimpered, sprawling. “Buh-luurp!”
Ernesto shook his enormous head at the young Tangerines. He made a low, gravelly sound and took two gentle steps toward Roarie. He bent down and sniffed her.
She sniffed him back.
Then Ernesto flopped onto his side, showing her his dragon tummy. Mo hovered over them. “That’s a sign of trust and friendship,” she called to Nory and Andres.
Roarie flapped into the air and flew a few feet to settle in next to Ernesto. She curled herself into a small ball and tucked herself in next to his neck, safe and protected from the rowdy Tangerine family.
“She’s going to be just fine,” Mo said as she flew back to Andres and Nory on the bridge. “They’ll be good for each other, those two.”
“I hope so,” said Nory, gazing at Roarie down in the rock garden. “Could I please have a minute by myself?”
“Andres and I will head to the jeep,” said Mo. “We need to get back soon, though.”
Nory’s teardrops splashed onto the wooden railing. They were the good type of tears. She knew she was doing the right thing. “You’ll make a new life for yourself,” she said to Roarie. “You’ll learn dragon stuff, ’cause you’re a dragon, and you’ll get taken care of by somebody who’s going to be really, really good at it, I can tell. And I’ll come back and visit. This summer, maybe.”
Ernesto’s dragon tail was thumping the way a dog’s tail thumped when the dog was happy.
Nory felt the air pressure change. She smelled coffee and sandalwood aftershave. Her father shimmered into view.
“Ms. Starr said you were up here,” he said. “I wanted to say good-bye.”
“Tell Hawthorn I miss him roasting marshmallows for me by hand,” said Nory. “Tell Dalia I miss how she makes me laugh.”
“I will. I know they’ll be thrilled to hear of our unplanned reunion.” He looked thoughtful. “Your teacher, Ms. Starr, gave me an earful just now about parenting. All I asked was where I might find you, not what child-rearing books I should read. She is full of opinions and ideas, isn’t she?”
Nory nodded.
“I suppose the same could be said of me,” Father said.
Nory nodded again.
Father ran his hand over his neatly trimmed hair. “I heard what you said just now, to the whelp.”
Nory held still. Had he also seen her crying?
“Your observations were smart,” he said. “And … you’re making a new life for yourself as well. You’re learning skills to deal with your upside-down magic, because like it or not, that’s the magic you have.”
“I’m happy with my upside-down magic,” Nory told him. “I wouldn’t trade it.”
Father smiled and awkwardly patted her back.
On the bus, Nory took a seat next to Andres, who held his brickpack in his lap.
“Guess what I have?” he said.
“What?”
“Gummy unicorns. I found a whole bag of them at the bottom of my suitcase. My dad must have packed them.”
“Zamboozle!”
Andres popped the bag ope
n, and Nory took two. The cherry gummies were sticky, but she put them both in her mouth anyway.
After some fussing from Ms. Starr and Nurse Riley, and some grumbling from the bus driver because everyone was taking so long, the door finally hissed shut. The engine started and the blue bus chugged down the driveway. Sebastian opened his window and let the sun bounce off his spiffy new aviator goggles. Nory leaned across Andres and opened their window. She stuck her hand out and waved.
“Bye, Father!” she cried. “Bye, Anemone and Fred! Bye, Mitali! Bye, Dr. Nubbly! Bye, Mo! Bye, Roarie and Ernesto, even though I know you can’t hear me! Good-bye, good-bye!”
When Nory could no longer see Dragon Haven at all, she shut the window. She stared straight ahead. Then she looked around, taking in the world around her.
The day was bright. Willa was laughing with Marigold. There were a lot of unicorn gummies to share.
Ms. Starr started singing “This Land Is Your Land,” and Nurse Riley joined in.
Pretty soon everybody joined in. Even Bax.
The sun shone through the window, and Nory closed her eyes and let it warm her cheeks. She felt warm inside, too.
Also sadder, happier, wiser, friendlier, dirtier—
—and ready to be heading home.
Thank you with a double backflip and sparkly eyes to our editor, David Levithan. The people at Scholastic Press are numerous and magical: Lauren Donovan, Antonio Gonzalez, Maya Marlette, Lisa Bourne, Tracy Van Straaten, Rachel Feld, Sue Flynn, Lizette Serrano, Melissa Schirmer, Emily Heddleson, and Robin Hoffman—as well as a multitude of Flickers who make themselves invisible but whose work we appreciate nonetheless. Gratitude and gummy unicorns to our agents, Laura Dail, Elizabeth Kaplan, and Barry Goldblatt. Spicy cheese zingers for Bob, for all your salty support. Love and lemon drops to our husbands and kiddos (Anabelle, Chloe, Hazel, Alisha, Mirabelle, Maya, Ivy, Jamie and Al). And finally, a never-ending supply of Dragon Ball Soda for every single kid (and old-head) who reads our upside-down books. YOU make them possible!
SARAH MLYNOWSKI is the author of many books for tweens, teens, and adults, including the New York Times bestselling Whatever After series, the Magic in Manhattan series, and Gimme a Call. She is also the co-creator of the traveling middle-grade book festival OMGBookfest. Sarah would like to be a Flicker so she could make the mess in her room invisible. Visit her online at www.sarahm.com.
LAUREN MYRACLE is the New York Times bestselling author of many books for young readers, including The Winnie Years series, The Flower Power series, and The Life of Ty series. The Forgetting Spell is the most recent book in her Wishing Day trilogy. She would like to be a Fuzzy so she could talk to unicorns and feed them berries. You can find Lauren online at www.laurenmyracle.com.
EMILY JENKINS is the author of many chapter books including Brave Red, Smart Frog, the Toys trilogy (which begins with Toys Go Out), and the Invisible Inkling series. Her picture books include Toys Meet Snow, Princessland, and A Greyhound, a Groundhog. She would like to be a Flare and work as a pastry chef. Visit Emily at www.emilyjenkins.com.
Copyright © 2018 by Sarah Mlynowski, Lauren Myracle, and Emily Jenkins
All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Press, an imprint of Scholastic Inc., Publishers since 1920. SCHOLASTIC, SCHOLASTIC PRESS, and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.
The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available
First edition, February 2018
Cover art by Jennifer Taylor, © 2018 by Scholastic Inc.
Cover design by Elizabeth B. Parisi & Mary Claire Cruz
e-ISBN 978-1-338-11117-0
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to Scholastic Inc., Attention: Permissions Department, 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.
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