Read The Dragon in the Sea for Free Online

and Daisy and Emmy.
    “Jesse!” they called out in their hollow voices. “Daisy! Emmy!”
    “Okay, Keepers,” Emmy said, rapidly changing back into her dragon form, “let’s put those brand-new tails of yours to the test.”
    Keepers and dragon whipped around and fled. Emmy took the lead, streamlining her body and shooting through the water like a giant green torpedo. The cousins lagged behind. While they had gotten the knack of using their tails, they had no idea how to work up any speed. Meanwhile, it was as if someone had flipped a switch on the slow-moving zombies. They were going much faster and were rapidly advancing upon Jesse and Daisy, theirarms reaching out, their red eyes fixed on their quarry.
    “Yikes!” said Daisy. “If we could just latch on to Emmy’s tail, we could hitch a ride.”
    “Wait up, Emmy!” Jesse called.
    But Emmy, too far ahead to hear them, rocketed on into the great green yonder.

C HAPTER F OUR
THE EIGHTH SEA
    The fastest water zombie reached out and grabbed the tip of Daisy’s tail fin. She let out a shriek and zigzagged to shake him off, whipsawing her tail and catapulting herself through the water.
    “Whip your tail like this!” she called out to Jesse, demonstrating how.
    Jesse copied her and, in this way, the two of them pulled out well in front of the advancing army of zombies. They whipped along through the water like a pair of dolphins fleeing sharks.
    A dark green thicket loomed in the near distance. “Let’s lose them in the kelp!” Daisy shouted to Jesse.
    Jesse and Daisy dived into the kelp, the slimy tendrils trailing past them. Just as quickly, they were on the other side. Daisy dared to look over her shoulder.
    As if the switch had been thrown again, the zombies, now strewn with kelp, were once more moving in dreamy slow motion.
    “Keep going!” Jesse called out to Daisy. “Just in case they get a second wind.”
    They maintained a breakneck speed until they were almost even with Emmy.
    “Hold up a sec!” Daisy called out.
    Jesse and Emmy came to a halt and looked back. Daisy settled on a rock near a big orange sea fan. There were strands of kelp tangled in her hair. As she forked it out with her fingers, she looked back and saw not a single water zombie in sight. “I think we might have lost them!” she said.
    Emmy and Jesse swam back to join her.
    “Boy, is my tail tired,” Jesse said, settling on the rock next to Daisy. “That was way too close for comfort.”
    “Where to now?” Daisy asked.
    “Beats me,” Emmy said, peering around. “I forgot my undersea road map.”
    “I think it’s called a chart,” said Jesse.
    “I hate to say this, guys,” said Daisy, “but if the merman won the Battle of the Backpack, the egg is probably back there in that icky jungle. Don’t you think?”
    “Could be. But let’s take a good hard look around and make absolutely sure it’s not somewhere else before we go back there,” Jesse said.
    “Good idea,” said Emmy. “But searching for the Thunder Egg down here is like looking for a needle in a smokestack.”
    Jesse was too distracted to correct Emmy. Besides, in a way, she was right. Being under the ocean wasn’t like being on the land, where, on a clear day, you could see for miles. Poor visibility kept the undersea world from seeming too vast, but it also made it hard to figure out where you were and where you were headed, much less look for something small.
    Still, it was beautiful. If the Coral Junglereminded Jesse of the Deep Woods in winter, where they were now reminded him of the Dellbehind their house on a dew-soaked spring morning with the wildflowers all in bloom, except that the wildflowers were seaweed swaying gently in the current.
    Suddenly, something small and dark came scuttling from behind a cluster of pink seaweed.
    Daisy started, swiveling her tail out of its way. “What is that?”
    “Sand witch,” said Emmy.
    “So
that’s
what a sand witch looks like!” said Jesse.
    “It