The Dragon in the Driveway by Kate Klimo, John Shroades Page A

they are growing in a safe place, beneath one of the two free trees.”
    “So Miss Alodie’s protective spell is covering them,” Jesse said.
    “Exactly!” replied Daisy. “It makes complete sense when you think about it. These two look good. Let’s step away from the fern patch and see what happens.”
    Jesse went back to the path, but he couldn’t see Daisy. “Are you still in the fern patch?” he called out.
    She laughed in his ear. “I’m right next to you! Funny, I don’t
feel
invisible.” The next moment, shewas visible and two large ferns floated to the ground between them. “Can you see me now?” she asked.
    “Wow!” Jesse said.
    “As long as I hold the ferns, you can’t see me,” said Daisy.
    “Cool,” Jesse said. “My turn.”
    “Try it with just one fern,” Daisy said.
    Jesse bent and picked up a fern. He could tell by the look in Daisy’s eyes that she could no longer see him. He sneaked around and stood behind Daisy, tapping her on the shoulder. She whirled to face him. He dropped the fern, grinning. “We can each hold a fern, sneak down into the cavern and steal the Golden Pickax. St. George won’t know what hit him,” said Jesse.
    “That’s what I call a
plan
!” said Daisy.
    They did a quick happy prospector’s dance before choosing two fresh ferns and continuing down the path toward the clearing in the Deep Woods.
    On the way, Daisy noticed that Jesse kept getting in her way and jostling her. She kept stepping on his toe. “We’re going to need to stay close together when we use these,” she said as they walked.
    “Of course,” said Jesse.
    “I mean, really close. We’ll have to hold hands,” said Daisy.
    “Really?” said Jesse. “How come?”
    “Because otherwise we won’t know where the other one is,” she said. “If we hold hands, at least we can
feel
each other’s presence. Get it?”
    “Of course!” said Jesse. He took Daisy’s hand, just to practice. It felt funny, like being a little kid again. “We shouldn’t talk or make any kind of noise, either,” he said. “The ferns might make us invisible, but they won’t hide our sound.”
    “Good thinking,” said Daisy as they came to the edge of the clearing.
    They stopped and stared. The clearing was empty. There were no St. George, no hobgoblins, no machinery. Not a single tool lay anywhere about. Even the high mountain of dirt had disappeared. For a minute, Jesse was afraid that St. George had gone and removed all traces of himself, as he had from the college. Then he saw a large, dark rectangular patch in the middle of the clearing. Jesse led Daisy toward it. With their invisible hands locked and their ferns held tight, Jesse and Daisy stood and looked down into the hole.
    The wooden ramp they had walked up earlier that morning was still there. They both took bigdeep breaths and tiptoed down it into the underground cavern.
    Halfway down the ramp, they stopped. They could see St. George. He was lounging on the hobgoblin queen’s throne, holding the Golden Pickax. But it didn’t look very golden. It looked crusted with dirt and rust. St. George was rubbing the pickax briskly with something that looked like a scrubbing brush. The Slayer paused and lifted the pickax to examine it. The very tip of one prong was now bright gold. St. George lowered the pickax and went to work again.
    Jesse felt Daisy tugging him slowly but steadily backward, up the ramp and into the clearing, where she stopped and laid down her fern. He did the same. “Okay,” she said. “So we didn’t plan for him to be actually
holding
the pickax. I say we go back down, get up super-close to him, and the minute he lays down that pickax,
whammo
! We grab it and take off—”
    “Through the tunnel to Her Royal Lowness,” Jesse said. “But what if he doesn’t take a break? Did you see that thing? It’s filthy! He could be cleaning it for hours! And what if one of us burps or sneezes or something while we’re waiting around?