Read Dragon Keepers #3: The Dragon in the Library for Free Online Page B

sound of cicadas. It was a hot sound, like live electricity. He knew they needed to pick themselves up and
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    figure out how to find the professor, but it was too hot to move and almost too hot to think. "I wonder if Ms. Mindy has any idea those dogs she's looking for are all on the other side of that plywood wall."
    "There's no way she could know," Daisy said. "And we can't tell her, either. For all we know, Sadie Huffington can turn people into dogs just like she turns dogs into people."
    "I wonder what kind of dog I'd be," Jesse mused.
    "A mutt, probably," Daisy said.
    "Good," Jesse said. "Give me a mutt any day over one of those nervous Nelly breeds."
    "How can you say that?" Daisy said. "Emmy's a breed, and she's no Nelly."
    Emmy woofed.
    "Emmy's a dragon , you dork," Jesse said.
    "Oh, right," Daisy said, laughing.
    Jesse said, "Do you think one of those dogs could be the professor? What kind of dog would she turn him into, I wonder. She called him a hound dog, but I'm thinking he'd be one of those nifty little terriers, you know, like in Higglety Pigglety Pop!"
    "I think he's a prisoner in the donjon," she said.
    Jesse sat up quickly and looked at Daisy. Her face was bright pink from the heat and she was
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    chewing on a long blade of grass. "What makes you so sure?" he asked.
    "Just before you guys let go of me? I saw these two giant black dogs patrolling the ramparts just outside the big tower. I swear, they were the biggest, scariest dogs I've ever seen. Their tongues were dark blue and their teeth were...I don't even like to think of those teeth. Those vicious dogs have a job to do--and that's guarding the very important prisoner in the tower. I'm sure of it."
    Jesse nodded. "They sounded big, like maybe Tibetan mastiffs. I wouldn't want to tangle with one of those, let alone two. Well, if they're guarding the professor, then we need to find a way around them."
    "But how?" Daisy said. "We can't leave him there much longer! Who knows what she has planned for him."
    Jesse sat there in the buzzing weeds and thought hard. "I've got it!" he said after a moment. "We go to the library and look for a book about the historic homes of Goldmine City. The castle is bound to be in it. Maybe it'll have floor plans and we can find a way to get into the tower without passing the mastiffs."
    "Brilliant!" said Daisy, scrambling to her feet. "Let's go."
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    Emmy leaped up, too, and yipped with enthusiasm.
    They retrieved their bikes and took off, the cool breeze drying their sweaty backs as they coasted downhill into town. Parking in the rack in front of the library, they climbed up the wide stone steps. Daisy knelt to fasten Emmy's leash to the Chicken Box while Jesse grabbed ahold of one of the big brass door handles and pulled. The door didn't budge. It was locked. He tried the other door. That one was locked, too. He cupped his hands to the glass and peered into the library. The lights were off. "It's closed!" he said with a groan. "In the middle of a weekday! How could they do this to us? Why?"
    Daisy pointed to the handwritten note taped to the door.
    Temporarily closed. Preparing for the Pets Allowed Party. See you at six!
    "Right. Forgot all about that," said Jesse.
    Daisy vibrated with impatience. "Where are you, Mr. Stenson?" She turned to Jesse. "Do you think he's in the back room? I bet if we knock real hard, he'll come. I'm sure he'll let us in to get a book. He's got to. I mean, we have special privileges.
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    This is an emergency. How could he say no?"
    With Jesse and Daisy pounding on the door and Emmy throwing herself against it, they managed to kick up quite a ruckus. But no one came. Finally, they quit banging and leaned their hot foreheads against the cool glass. Suddenly, Daisy straightened and cried out, "Jess, look! Somebody's in there. See? Over there, by the dinky water fountain?"
    Next to the low water fountain, the one for the littlest kids, Jesse saw someone a good deal smaller and odder-looking than a