Read Online The Dragon in the Driveway by Kate Klimo, John Shroades - Free Book Online Page A

around even though there really wasn’t very much to see. The tunnel was framed with wood that looked very old and alarmingly rotten in places. Long, hairy tree roots reached down through the ceiling. Daisy and Jesse had to duck to avoid getting tangled in them.
    “We’re under the Deep Woods now,” Jesse said with certainty.
    “At least we’re going in the right direction,” Daisy said brightly.
    “Yep,” said Jesse.
    Every so often, other tunnels branched out to either side, but the cousins stuck to what felt like the main tunnel. Without a compass, there was no real telling if they were going in the right direction or not.
    Daisy was the first to break a long silence. “Sure is dark down here,” she said.
    “Sure is,” said Jesse.
    “I don’t know about you, but I don’t think I’ve ever been in darkness quite this … deep.”
    “It’s pretty deep, all right.”
    Then they lapsed back into silence. Daisy did not want to say aloud the other thoughts that werestreaming through her brain. What if St. George had captured Emmy? What if this mine didn’t connect to the one St. George was working in? This area was honeycombed with old mines, but they didn’t necessarily all link up into one big network. What if the one way out of this place was now completely sealed?
    They plodded on, their mouths dry, but neither wanting to stop and drink, not with the darkness swarming just beyond the flashlight’s feeble beam like something alive.
    After a while, Daisy let out a yelp. There was a small thud, two bright flashes, and then a darkness that was so complete, it was as if they had both suddenly gone blind.
    “Daisy!” Jesse crept forward. “Where are you? What happened? Are you okay?”
    “I’m okay,” she said after a beat. Her voice came from farther away than he expected. “My hair got snagged in one of those tree roots and I … oh, Jess, I needed both hands to get my hair loose and I—I dropped the flashlight.”
    “Where?” Jesse asked.
    “Over here, I think,” she said.
    “Keep talking so I can find you,” Jesse said.
    Daisy prattled, “I hate my hair. My bandanna must have fallen off when we were running. If Iever get out of here, I’m going to shave it all off and—”
    “Got you!” Jesse said, fastening his hand around one slender wrist.
    She clutched at him. “Jesse, we have to stick together.”
    “Of course we do,” he said. He could tell she was so scared that there was no room for him to be. “Hold on to my belt loops in back,” he told her. “We’ll work our way up and down a ways. The flashlight’s got to be close by. I’m going to get on my hands and knees, so you have to come with me. Okay, Daze?”
    “Whatever you say,” she said shakily.
    He got down and groped around in the dirt, towing Daisy behind him.
    Daisy tapped him on the right arm and said, “Try over there!”
    Then, with a jolt, Jesse realized that they had lost something just as important as the flashlight: the ball of string. He must have let go of it when he heard Daisy cry out.
    “We lost the string, too, didn’t we?” Daisy said in a sad little voice. When Jesse didn’t answer, she wailed, “I knew it! It’s all my fault.”
    “No, it’s not,” he said.
    He lay back in the soft dirt and Daisy went withhim. She was sobbing. He wanted to open his mouth and bawl like a baby right along with her, but he told himself it would only make both of them feel worse.
    We should have stayed and waited
, he thought. Why had he led them into the old mine? It was the stupidest idea he’d ever had. Why had Daisy followed along? She knew better. Now no one would ever be able to find them. They were as good as buried alive. And, as if all that weren’t bad enough, Jesse had to pee.
    If this is a magical adventure, then I want my old life back.
    “I am so, so sorry,” Daisy said, letting out a huge shuddering yawn. She mumbled, “I should have put you in charge of the flashlight, and now it’s all my