Land of Dragons

Contents Cover Title Page Dedication Chapter 1: Mercy Grove. Again. Chapter 2: How Does This Work, Exactly? Chapter 3: The Return of Albert Chapter 4: Agent Fox and Agent Dana Watch the Weather Chapter 5: A Change of Plan Chapter 6: Map Session Chapter 7: The Return of Sheldon Slack Chapter 8: Edward Tenbrook’s Diary Chapter 9: Slack the Hero? Chapter 10: Fox and Dana Search for Slack Chapter 11: Albert Holds a Grudge Chapter 12: The Starlight Chapter 13: In My Hands Chapter 14: No Big Deal Chapter 15: What Are the Chances? Chapter 16: Mom Meets Slack. Unexpectedly. Chapter 17: The Prophecy, Revisited Chapter 18: Midhurst Chapter 19: The Great Annual Dragon Festival Chapter 20: Fox and Dana Go to Midhurst Chapter 21: A Needle in a Haystack of Dragons Chapter 22: Dragon Tales Chapter 23: Fox and Dana Are on the Case Chapter 24: A Confession Chapter 25: Impossible! Chapter 26: Edward’s Story Chapter 27: Fox and Dana Do Some Spying Chapter 28: A Different Kind of Virtual Reality Chapter 29: Albert’s Quest Chapter 30: A Return to Lewiston Chapter 31: Crossing Dimensions Chapter 32: The Land of Dragons Chapter 33: Fox and Dana Get Separated Chapter 34: A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words Chapter 35: No Way Chapter 36: Into the Drink Chapter 37: Tunnels and Lairs Chapter 38: Vayne, King of the Dragons Chapter 39: Fox Caught Chapter 40: Escape Chapter 41: Dana Encounters the Unexpected Chapter 42: Home Chapter 43: The Unexpected Acknowledgments About the Author Copyright Guide Cover Start of Content Title Page Dedication Acknowledgments About the Author Copyright III V VI VII VIII 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 
 
 Secret of the Storm
 Land of Dragons
 Beth McMullen
 Author of the Mrs. Smith’s Spy School for Girls series
 
 
 
 
 
 FOR MAX AND KATIE.
 GO CHANGE THE WORLD.
 
 
 Chapter 1 MERCY GROVE. AGAIN.
 PLANS ARE ALWAYS PERFECT right at the beginning, before any action has been taken, before they encounter reality. For example, this morning, on the first day of Thanksgiving break, I was convinced I was fully capable of opening a rip, a kind of doorway to the dragon dimension. All I had to do was rub my hands together and produce the necessary golden mist, just like Albert did in this very spot, a mere seven days ago.
 Albert, in case you are wondering, is my kitten, who is actually a dragon, who came to our dimension to hide out from the vengeful dragon King Vayne, who wanted to kill him because he might be the marked dragon prophesized to end Vayne’s reign. Simple, right?
 The reason I need to generate the glitter, open the rip, and jump through is to rescue Albert. I mean, Albert gave me the means to make the glitter, and I know I can do it because I have done it before. But right now, when I really need the glitter to happen, nothing. Total fail. The only thing that happens is my palms get hot and sweaty from all the rubbing. No golden mist. No rip. No Albert.
 “This is not working,” I say. My mother, Miss Asher, and Joe watch me. This is partly their fault, as they helped with the rescue plan. I drop my arms to my sides.
 “You said you practiced,” Joe says, unable to hide his exasperation. Joe is my best friend. My best friend used to be Mia, but it turned out she wasn’t any sort of friend at all, and Joe is a way better friend. This does not mean we don’t annoy each other sometimes.
 “I did practice,” I shoot back.
 “Maybe the missing element is the weather,” he suggests, eyebrows furrowed in concentration. “Whenever Albert turned into a dragon, there was horrible weather. And when he opened the rip, it was like the storm of the century.”
 “It wasn’t that bad,” I counter.
 “It was pretty bad,” Joe replies.
 Okay. Fine. It was bad. But maybe I should add a few more details before this gets even more confusing. I found Albert the black kitten in a dumpster here in Lewiston (the most nowhere of all nowheresvilles, if you ask me) during an extreme weather event—think lightning, thunder, hail, wind, freezing rain, and mini tornadoes, all at the same time.
 And Albert was the best kitten! Cute, soft, funny, and curious, but he was also… strange. Odd things started