* * *
The sound echoed throughout the entire mill yard, reaching Pete and Natalie in Jack’s office. Pete clenched his fists, feeling a lurch in the pit of his stomach. “What are they doing to him?”
“They’re trying to figure out what he is and where he came from,” Natalie said.
“He came from the woods,” Pete said, “just like me. Why can’t they just let us go?”
Natalie shook her head. “Because they’re grown-ups.”
There were tears in Pete’s eyes. “What if he dies? We can tell them…?”
“They won’t listen,” Natalie said bitterly. “We’re just kids and they think they know better. They think they know how the whole world works and there’s nothing we can do. Unless…”
Natalie’s eyes flashed with an idea. She looked out the window.
“What if we rescued Elliot?”
Sirens suddenly blared through the afternoon air. Gavin glared at Jack. “Are you kidding me? You called the sheriff?”
“What did you expect me to do, Gavin?” Jack asked. “Keep it a secret?”
Gavin didn’t answer; instead he stomped out of the warehouse angrily. Jack and Grace followed, closing the large doors behind them. By that time, the warehouse was surrounded by deputies and mill workers.
“Come to take a gander, Sheriff?” Gavin asked, smiling at both officers.
“Lots of crazy rumors flying around, Gavin,” Sheriff Dentler answered. “What is it that’s so big I had to see it for myself?”
Gavin held up a finger for emphasis. “Let me just say one thing first. What I’m about to show you…it belongs to me. I caught it fair and square, so whatever anyone tells you…” Gavin shot Grace a look. “It’s mine.”
During Gavin’s rant, Grace was the only one to notice a sprinkle of sawdust drift down from the roof of the warehouse. She looked up…just in time to see something—or someone—disappear into the building.
* * *
Pete and Natalie climbed into the ventilation shaft, moving carefully on their hands and knees. It was a precarious path, but it seemed like it would hold. When they reached the rafters of the warehouse, they carefully climbed a steel ladder to the ground.
Pete gasped, taking in the horrible sight of his friend chained to the truck. He rushed over to the dragon.
“I’m sorry,” Pete said, patting Elliot’s fur gently. “We’re gonna get you out of here.”
Elliot let out a small purr, trying to lift his head to see his friend better. Pete continued to murmur to him in a soothing voice as he examined the chains that held the dragon down. He climbed onto the truck and pulled at them, finding enough slack to start pushing them free from the dragon.
Natalie moved to help him, but the sound of voices outside grabbed her attention. She tiptoed across the warehouse to the large closed doors. Her dad, Gavin, and the loggers were right outside. And it sounded like the police had arrived, too. Thinking fast, she slid a heavy crossbar into place across the door, locking it from the inside.
The voices got louder. Suddenly, the doors shook. Gavin started banging against them.
“Um, Pete?” Natalie called, trying to hold the crossbar in place.
Pete pulled the last chain off the dragon and eyed the large skylight above. It looked just about big enough for Elliot to fit through.
“Elliot, can you fly?” Pete asked his friend.
Elliot tried to stand, but he was too weak. His injured wing hung limply at his side.
Pete looked over at Natalie and the wooden doors. They were shaking violently—the adults were going to force their way in.
Pete and Natalie would have to think of another mode of escape…and quick.
“Hey!” Gavin yelled from outside the door. “Who’s in there? Open up!”
Gavin flagged over some of the loggers, and soon they were pulling and prying at the doors with heavy tools. It took only a few minutes before the wooden crossbar started to break. It splintered and the door burst open. Gavin, the police, and all the loggers piled into the warehouse. What they saw made them gasp.
The flatbed was empty. The dragon was gone!
The sheriff frowned. “I don’t see anything,” he said.
“He was here!” Gavin exclaimed. “He was right here!”
“What was?” the sheriff asked.
“The…the dragon! Tell him, Jack!” Gavin sputtered.
“Dragon?” The sheriff was starting to sound annoyed. “Fellas, you dragged me all the way out here for this?”
Gavin shook his head. “It got out! Come on—we’ve gotta catch it before it gets too far!”
“Before what gets too far?” the sheriff asked. “Just tell me what I’m supposed to be looking for!”
“It’s a dragon! It looks like a dragon!” Gavin yelled.
Meanwhile, Grace was studying the flatbed. How had Elliot escaped? They had been right outside the warehouse and hadn’t heard anything.
Suddenly, she noticed a small movement on the far side of the warehouse. Grace waited until Gavin and the others had stormed back outside, still arguing. Then she moved around toward the back of the truck. She bent down to find Pete’s face staring out at her from behind one of the front tires.
Pete’s eyes shifted nervously. And that was when she noticed it. A faint shimmer above the flatbed, like a ripple in the air. Elliot hadn’t escaped at all. He was still right there, just camouflaged!
Grace looked back at Pete and gave him a wink. She wouldn’t let him down this time. Quietly, she headed outside to join the others and closed the large doors behind her.
Amidst the hubbub outside, Grace pulled Jack aside. “Jack! It’s still here! The dragon is still here! We’ve got to do something!”
Meanwhile, back inside the warehouse, the air shimmered and shifted. Elliot reappeared. He had done his best to stay completely invisible, and the effort had left him exhausted.
“How do we get him out of here?” Natalie asked Pete.
Pete eyed the truck. “Do you know how to drive?”
Natalie clambered up into the truck’s cab. “Sort of. But my dad’s truck doesn’t have this many handles.”
Suddenly, someone spoke behind the two children.
“Your feet can’t even reach the pedals. Scoot over.” It was Mr. Meacham. He must have stayed in the warehouse when everyone else had left!
Both children hesitated, uncertain.
“I don’t want to hurt your friend, kids,” Mr. Meacham promised. “I just want to help.”
Pete looked at Natalie, and she nodded. They could trust the old man. Within seconds, the two kids shifted over and Mr. Meacham climbed into the driver’s seat. He took the pocketknife he carried around—the one he liked to use to add dramatic flair to his stories—and jammed it into the ignition of the car. He turned it hard, starting the engine.
“Better buckle up,” Mr. Meacham said with a glint in his eye.
He slammed on the gas and the truck barreled through the wooden doors of the warehouse, obliterating them.
As the truck carrying the great green dragon burst out of the warehouse, the sheriff wheeled in surprise.
“That’s…that’s not…real…is it?” he stammered.
The truck barreled toward the gates of the mill yard. Everyone watched in shock as Mr. Meacham crashed it through the gates and drove at top speed into the forest. On the back of the fleeing vehicle was Elliot, clinging to the flatbed for dear life.
Gavin was the first to snap out of it. “Everyone after them!” he cried.
Thinking quickly, Grace snatched Gavin’s car keys out of his hand and tossed them into the nearby bushes. That would slow him down.
“Sorry about that!” she yelled over her shoulder as she and Jack raced for their pickup.
Gavin fumed. There was no way he was letting anyone steal his dragon! He found his keys and stormed after the others.
With that, the yard was full of engines revving and vehicles streaming out of the mill y
ard and into the forest in hot pursuit.
* * *
Mr. Meacham drove madly down the rough road, occasionally catching air. The mud flaps slapped loudly against the back bumper. On the bed of the truck, Elliot hung tight, a hint of his old color returning as the group made their daring escape. A cavalcade of smaller vehicles was gaining ground rapidly behind them. Jack’s pickup was in the lead, and Gavin’s was close behind.
Gavin’s vehicle suddenly surged ahead, passing Jack and Grace dangerously on the narrow dirt road. Several police cars and other emergency vehicles followed, their sirens blaring.
Pete looked out the back window to see Gavin’s car gaining on them.
“Faster!” Pete yelled.
“I’m working on it!” Mr. Meacham cried.
The truck rattled and shook. Mr. Meacham pushed down on the gas pedal, getting every bit of thrust the engine had left in it. With a burst of speed, they surged downhill toward a narrow bridge up ahead.
Pete looked back at his friend, who was nestled down, clinging to the flatbed. Elliot needed Pete to be brave, so he would be.
Suddenly, Gavin’s truck seemed to kick into a higher gear. His engine roared and he swerved up ahead of them, cutting off the semi. But instead of stopping, Gavin continued speeding toward the bridge. At the last possible moment, he slammed on his brakes, fishtailing to a halt and blocking the road ahead.
“Ahhh!” Pete and Natalie screamed as they barreled toward his truck.
Just then, Gavin climbed out of the vehicle, waving at them to stop.
“That fool’s out of his mind!” Mr. Meacham cried. He had no choice; he couldn’t run over Gavin. He slammed on the brakes. But the wheels locked up, and the truck’s momentum kept it sliding forward at breakneck speed.
“No! Do something!” Natalie cried as the truck bore down on her uncle.
“I’m trying!” yelled Mr. Meacham.
But there was nowhere for the truck to go—nowhere but straight across the bridge. And Mr. Meacham realized that if he kept trying to stop the vehicle, they would just crash right off the side into the deep ravine below.
So instead, Mr. Meacham did the only thing he really could do. He slammed on the gas and leaned on the horn, barreling straight toward Gavin.
“He’s…he’s not that crazy…” Gavin muttered uncertainly, lifting up a hand, as if that would stop the enormous vehicle.
It didn’t. At the very last second, Gavin leaped out of the way. The large logging truck smashed through the smaller vehicle in a hail of sparks, sending Gavin’s crumpled truck through the guardrail and down into the ravine.
Mr. Meacham kept his foot on the gas and they sailed across the bridge and closer to the tree line.
“Almost there!” Pete yelled.
But the truck was done. Something in the engine had given way from the impact, and steam was billowing out from under the hood. The engine sputtered, and the giant vehicle wheezed to a halt.
Jack slowed his truck as they neared the debris from Gavin’s destroyed vehicle. From the embankment, Gavin tried to flag him down. But Jack wasn’t going to stop. Assured that his brother was okay, Jack moved past the wreckage and sped up, ignoring Gavin’s angry shouts.
On the other side of the bridge, he could see Elliot, Mr. Meacham, and the children standing on the road.
“There they are!” Jack yelled to Grace.
But Grace’s attention wasn’t on the kids. It was on Elliot. The dragon was moving, rising up onto his hind legs. Elliot stared at the long chain of cars behind Jack and Grace and then, with a gentle nudge, pushed Pete and Natalie behind him protectively.
“Wait…” said Grace.
A deep, booming rumble sounded from Elliot’s chest. Even from across the bridge, Jack and Grace could see the dragon’s eyes turn fierce. He drew in a deep breath. Suddenly, he opened his jaws wide, and a massive jet of flame exploded forth. Elliot was breathing fire! The flame swept across the length of the bridge, all the way toward the last of the convoy of cars.
Jack slammed on the brakes too late, driving straight into the wall of fire. Behind him and Grace, the massive lineup of vehicles screeched to an abrupt halt—most of them driving directly into each other with a series of loud crashes.
From the embankment, Gavin’s face turned pale as he watched his brother’s truck engulfed in flames.
“Jack…” he whispered in horror.
Without hesitation, Gavin sprinted past the pile of cars and straight toward the fire.
Pete was screaming. “Elliot, stop! Don’t hurt them!”
But Elliot couldn’t hear him above his own roaring. He was convinced that the people were a threat to Pete, Natalie, and Mr. Meacham. And he wasn’t going to let anything hurt them! The dragon continued to breathe a jet of white-hot fire down the length of the bridge. Natalie could barely speak. “My dad…” she said, staring at the blaze.
Finally, Elliot stopped. He looked down at the children to make sure they were safe. But their faces—they looked ashen. Why were they upset? Elliot looked back and forth between the children and the bridge, trying to understand.
With the fire extinguished, the smoke began to clear, revealing a huge gap where the wood of the bridge had been burned away. And right on the precipice of the deep, misty ravine was Jack’s truck. The front wheels were melted, hanging over open air; the front axle was supported only by charred, crumbling wood. With just one wrong movement, the vehicle would plummet into the deep gorge.
Pete’s eyes widened. “Elliot…” he pleaded. “You have to fly. You can save them.”
Elliot whined softly, uncertain. Those people had tried to hurt him and take Pete away. Why should he help them?
“I know,” Pete said, “but…not all people are bad. Most people are good. They just don’t understand that you can help them.”
With a creaking noise, the truck leaned a little farther over the edge of the ravine.
Elliot gently beat his wings, testing them. He winced as his damaged wing stung from the effort. Flying didn’t seem to be an option.
* * *
In the car, Grace blinked slowly. She’d hit her head against the dashboard when Jack had slammed on the brakes.
“Grace?” Jack asked. He felt the truck shift forward, his heart leaping into his throat. He threw the truck into reverse. But it was no use; the wheels had no traction.
“It’s okay…it’s okay…” he said. “We’ve just gotta keep still and…”
The truck shifted forward again slightly.
Jack’s heart was pounding. There was no way for him to get out. His door was already over the edge—if he tried to open it, they would fall. He looked over at Grace. “Can you get out?” he asked.
Grace looked at her door and shook her head. “I don’t think so. And I’m not going without you.”
Meanwhile, Gavin had reached the back of the truck. But it shifted a little farther and began to slide forward. Instinctively, the logger threw his hands on the bumper, trying to slow the truck’s movement. Jack and Grace both cried out in alarm.
“Get out!” Gavin yelled. “Get out of there!”
Jack turned and saw his brother through the back window. He suddenly realized there was another way out. Twisting around, he started to kick at the rear window. The glass shattered. He pushed Grace toward the opening, but it was too late—a horrible groan echoed as the metal and wood shifted and creaked. The truck tipped forward past the point of no return….
Grace grabbed Jack’s hand and squeezed it tight.
The truck slid toward the gorge, falling.
Jack and Grace screamed as the truck began toppling over the edge. But in a split second, the vehicle lurched to a stop.
They opened their eyes. They weren’t falling anymore. They weren’t moving at all.
They looked up through the front window. There was Elliot! He was standing on the opposite side of the gap in the bridge, holding the truck back from falling with one extended paw. The dragon looked
at Jack and Grace and smiled his dragon smile. He began slowly pushing the vehicle backward, away from the gorge and to safety…until…
The support beams of the bridge crumbled. The truck and the dragon both plummeted into the misty depths below, disappearing in the dark haze.
“NO!” cried Pete and Natalie.
On the other side, the mill workers and the police raced to the edge of the ravine. But there was nothing for anyone to see—only a deep pit and seemingly infinite mist at the bottom.
All was quiet.
Natalie’s eyes filled with fresh tears. So did Mr. Meacham’s.
“Oh, Grace…” Mr. Meacham whispered softly.
Pete stood at the edge of the broken bridge, staring into the empty void below. He refused to believe that his friends were gone.
“C’mon, Elliot,” he said to himself.
Pete knelt down at the edge of the abyss. Shock was starting to give way to fear and doubt. Elliot wasn’t coming back. The dragon…his friend…his family…
“ELLIOT!” Pete howled. His voice echoed from the boundless depths below. Mr. Meacham knelt next to him, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. Several police officers removed their hats and shook their heads sadly, while Gavin could only stare blankly downward in disbelief.
And then there was a noise.
Faint at first. Then louder and louder. A rhythmic thumping, like a heartbeat or…wings.
A vision of green rose from the mists in the ravine. It was Elliot, his wings beating harder than they ever had before! On his back were Grace and Jack, safe and sound!
Everyone cheered! Deputy Smalls stared across the gulf to the other side of the broken bridge as the dragon landed next to Pete. He saw Grace and Jack climbing down from the dragon’s back and rushing to hug their loved ones.
The deputy turned to the sheriff. This was certainly something they’d never handled before. “What do we do now, Sheriff?” he asked.
The sheriff shrugged. “Gonna need a new bridge, I guess.”
Pete's Dragon Junior Novel Page 7