The Case of the Vanished Sea Dragon by Gareth P. Jones Page A

that told the truth about dragonkind.
    â€˜I don’t think so. He just thinks it’s a stupid book for kids.’
    â€˜Tell me about the security.’
    Holly recounted everything Mr Buchanan had told her about the building and how she had got in with Archie’s help.
    Dirk thought for a moment. ‘We’ll need a distraction,’ he said.
    â€˜Archie could help again,’ suggested Holly.
    â€˜No, the security guard might recognise him. Besides, I don’t want any more humans knowing about me. We need someone he won’t recognise, someone we can trust,’ said Dirk, looking at her with a knowing wink.
    â€˜I’ll make the call,’ replied Holly, understanding instantly what that wink meant. ‘What time?’
    Dirk looked up at Holly’s wall clock. He scratched his head uncertainly.
    â€˜Here, try this,’ said Holly, showing him her watch.
    He read the time: 19:01.
    â€˜Hey, digital,’ said Dirk, smiling. ‘How far’s the lab?’
    â€˜It’s about half an hour on the bus.’
    â€˜Tell him we need the distraction at a quarter to eight.’
    Holly nodded and stepped out to make a phone call. As he waited, Dirk checked out her room. He had never been in it before. Everything was brightly coloured and all very Holly. On her desk were bits of paper with pencil-drawn pictures. He picked one up and recognised it as himself. He pulled open a drawer and saw the Shade-Hugger claw that they had discovered on their last case together. Dirk had forgotten all about it. She must have held on to it. It was against Dragonlore to let a human have any evidence of dragon existence, but if anyone could be trusted with it, it was Holly.
    When she came back in, he said, ‘I’m sorry I never returned your call.’
    â€˜That’s OK,’ she said. ‘You’re here now.’
    â€˜Won’t your parents come and check on you?’
    â€˜No. My dad’s out and his wife has a friend coming round, so she’ll spend all evening drinking wine and smoking cigarettes in the garden.’
    â€˜Let’s go, then.’
    Across the road, Mrs Baxter was watching Mr Winter from number forty-five, who was having a very intimate conversation with a young blonde woman in a short skirt who certainly wasn’t his wife. Taking down a full description of the woman, Mrs Baxter completely failed to notice the dragon slipping out of Holly Bigsby’s bedroom window, dropping his tail down, hoisting the girl on to his back and disappearing across the rooftops.

Chapter Nineteen

    With Holly’s arms clung tightly around his neck, Dirk scampered across the row of residential roofs, expertly negotiating every aerial or satellite dish in his way, stepping on chimneys to gain extra height, flying from street to street, over gardens and backyards, before coming to a halt on a rooftop by the high street.
    â€˜There’s a bus coming,’ said Holly.
    â€˜Quick, blend with me,’ ordered Dirk, turning roof-coloured.
    Holly focused on what it would feel like to be Dirk’s back blended with the roof tiles and vanished from sight just as the bus stopped next to them. Shesaw that its top deck was level with the roof where they were hiding.
    The bus indicated right and pulled out.
    â€˜That’s the problem with buses,’ said Dirk. ‘The top decks are ideal places for dragon-spotting.’
    â€˜So how do we avoid being seen?’ asked Holly.
    â€˜We do what everyone else does,’ he replied. ‘We catch it. Hold tight.’
    Dirk leapt off the roof, spread his wings and landed gently on top of the moving bus, gripping tightly with his claws.
    Through the upstairs window of his house overlooking the high street, an overweight advertising executive was trying out the new running machine his wife had bought him, when he noticed a dragon with a girl on its back landing on top of a passing bus. He stopped the running