Dragonbreath #8 Read online

  Danny managed to haul the salamander girl up onto the ledge at the end of the stairs. She knelt on the stone and gripped it tightly with the squishy pads of her fingers.

  “Intruders!” yelled the Big Eddy monster from behind them. The clomp of hooves sounded like jackhammers and thunder.

  “There’s nowhere else to go,” said Danny grimly, looking to either side. “I think we’ll have to jump.”

  “Remember? It’s all a dream! Great-Granddad said!”

  “He also said not to jump off any cliffs!”

  “Not unless we absolutely have to,” agreed Danny. He pointed up the stairs. “And I’m pretty sure we absolutely have to!”

  The monster burst into view. Big Eddy’s face was not improved by adding horns and a shaggy mane. It looked very upset.

  “Outsiders in the dreamlands!” it roared. It lowered its head and charged down the remaining stairs.

  Suki looked at Danny, looked at the monster, looked behind her, said to no one in particular, “Look, Wendell’s cute, but I’m not sure if he’s worth all this.”

  Danny grabbed the baku and hurried to the cliff edge. “C’mon! Let’s go!”

  “I can’t do it! It’s a cliff!” She looked wildly between the approaching monster and the clouds below. “You go! I’ll—I’ll figure something out—”

  “Suki!”

  The monster grabbed the edges of the door frame and skidded to a halt. Danny could hear it breathing in great whuffling gasps as it stared at them.

  “We’re trying to help!” said Suki.

  The Big Eddy monster took a threatening step forward.

  The baku grabbed Suki’s tail and began tugging her toward the cliff, making worried noises.

  “Suki . . .” said Danny.

  The salamander folded her arms tightly around her chest. “I really don’t like cliffs,” she said grimly. “I’m scared, okay?”

  Inspiration struck Danny like lightning.

  The monster took another step forward, clenching its fists, but Danny didn’t get time to appreciate this, because Suki had just punched him in the shoulder. For a girl, she had a pretty impressive punch.

  She whirled around and threw herself into empty space. The baku, who was still clinging to her tail, let out a whoop and went over as well.

  A monster-sized fist was coming at Danny’s head. Danny ducked under it, wished briefly that he was allowed to breathe fire—he’d always wanted to set Big Eddy on fire, but grown-ups frowned on that sort of thing—gave the creature a kick in the shins instead, and flung himself after Suki and into the abyss.

  Falling off the cliff was surprisingly peaceful.

  Sure, Danny’s stomach appeared to have been left somewhere back with the monster, but the fall apparently went on forever. He could even control which way he was falling by tilting his shoulders and using his tail as a rudder. It was kind of like swimming in the air.

  He could see Suki and the baku ahead of him. There was a cloud coming up—they vanished into it—and then it was all around him, cold and wet and damp—and then they were through. There hadn’t been very much to it at all.

  “So that’s what a cloud feels like!” shouted Danny. “I thought it’d be more . . . I dunno . . . cottony!”

  “I’m not talking to you!” Suki yelled back.

  Danny rolled his eyes. Would she rather have gotten stomped by a monster from Wendell’s nightmares?

  Still, at least she’d actually jumped. If it had been Wendell himself, Danny would have had to throw him off the cliff.

  Presumably they’d hit the bottom at some point, but that seemed like a long ways away. They’d been falling for several minutes now. Apparently cliffs were a lot taller in people’s heads. The baku had fallen asleep again.

  Another cloud went past them. Danny found that by tucking his arms in tight against his body, he could fall faster. He zipped downward until he was nearly even with Suki and the baku.

  The wasp-shaped cloud loomed under them. It was off to one side, and they had to angle themselves to fall toward it. Danny started to worry that they might miss it completely, but after a minute he realized that the cloud was much bigger than he thought. It was the size of a mountain at least.

  “Do you hear that?” yelled Suki, who had apparently forgotten that she wasn’t talking to him.

  “Yeah!”

  Danny could hear it just fine.

  It was the same whole-hive-of-angry-wasps buzzing he’d heard in Wendell’s bedroom.

  It was coming from the cloud.

  “That’s a really bad sound!” said Suki.

  “I told you it was!”

  It got louder as they fell toward the cloud. It seemed to crawl in Danny’s ears and around his rib cage and vibrate inside his bones. His teeth were buzzing in his jaw as if a dentist were drilling on them.

  The baku had woken up and was clutching its head.

  “We must be close!” yelled Danny.

  “Assuming we don’t just fall right through the cloud!”

  “We’re about to find out!”

  Suki started to explain to him about wasp anatomy and its lack of relation to popular music, shouting to make herself heard over the buzzing, but about then they fell into the giant wasp cloud and things started to get a little strange.

  Danny realized that he wasn’t falling anymore.

  It wasn’t as if he’d landed on something. There wasn’t a shock of impact. He’d been falling through a cold white expanse, with that horrible buzzing roaring in his ears, and then he just wasn’t falling anymore.

  Actually, he seemed to be sitting on something.

  Something moving.

  Something alive.

  Something with bones that were poking him in uncomfortable places. It wasn’t as bad as riding a jackalope last summer had been, but it was still awfully bony.

  Was he riding a horse? He couldn’t see his hand in front of his face. All he could see was the white fog of the cloud.

  The creature under him made a sound like no horse had ever made—a shriek like tearing metal that cut through the buzzing—and then the cloud fell away—or they broke out of it—and—

  “Oh, dude,” said Danny.

  He was riding a Night Mare.

  Its back was bony and slicked with sweat. He could feel its ribs sticking out against his legs. He grabbed for the mare’s whipping mane and held on. The creature was running through the clouds, which had pulled back into a soggy white tunnel. Its hooves sunk into the cloud like mud and pulled out again with soft sucking sounds. Danny twisted his head to look behind him and saw that they were leaving a trail of glowing hoofprints.

  He also saw Suki, which was an enormous relief. She was clinging grimly to the back of a second Night Mare.

  “Where are they taking us?” she called. Her mount let out another screaming metal whinny and seemed to snicker.

  “I don’t know!” yelled Danny. “Where’s the baku?” If they’d lost the dream-eater, the whole trip was useless . . . although arguably, any trip where he got to ride an actual Night Mare had a lot to recommend it. Still, he didn’t want Wendell to go insane. That would be bad. And someone was bound to notice eventually.

  Suki pointed over his shoulder.

  Danny turned back and saw the baku.

  The little creature was riding the biggest Night Mare of all, and for once it didn’t look sleepy. It clung to the mare’s mane and slapped the horse’s bony flank with its tail.

  “Whoa,” said Danny.

  The tunnel split into two branches, and the baku’s Night Mare tried to veer into the left-hand one. The baku yanked its mane around and pointed it toward the right-hand tunnel.

  Danny wasn’t sure if he w
as going to be able to haul his own steed’s head around—riding without a saddle or bridle was not a lot of fun, particularly if you were a boy and the horse had a spine that appeared to be made out of coat hangers—but his Night Mare clung close to the heels of the first one. When he looked back, Suki was still following.

  “I think the baku’s leading them!” he shouted.

  Suki nodded. “And the buzzing’s getting louder!”

  Twice more the tunnel split, and twice more the baku drove the lead Night Mare into the tunnel of the baku’s choosing. Both times the buzzing got louder.

  Danny couldn’t hear anything anymore. If Suki yelled to him, he missed it.

  The Night Mares clearly didn’t like the buzzing at all, but they were herd animals and were intent on following their leader. Danny’s steed had its ears flat back against its skull and kept shaking its head.

  Danny knew just how it felt.

  The tunnel split into three passages. Two led left and right, deeper into the white cloud, but the center one was dark and narrow. It looked like a mouth. The buzzing that came out of it was so loud that Danny thought he’d be rattled right off the mare’s back.

  The baku leaned low over the lead Night Mare’s neck. The dream horse tried to veer left, then right—actually bucked a few times—but the baku held tight. With a another metallic scream, it plunged into the dark tunnel.

  Danny flung himself as low on the Night Mare’s back as he could. The ceiling was so low that he could have put up a hand and touched it, and it didn’t look like a cloud anymore. For a moment, the glowing hoofprints were the only source of light in the darkness.

  Then the room opened up. A flare of green-gold light nearly blinded them. All three Night Mares let out a metallic scream, like a car being torn apart, and slid to a halt.

  Danny blinked away tears from the sudden light and saw the baku leap down from its mare. He didn’t get a chance to follow, because his own steed took that opportunity to buck violently and throw him off onto the ground. Danny let out a yelp, rolled, and came to rest on . . . something.

  It wasn’t stone. It wasn’t cloud. It wasn’t even bran waffle.

  It felt like wax.

  Another yelp and a thud told him that Suki was getting the same treatment. Danny lifted his head and saw that they were in an enormous chamber. The walls were covered in honeycomb.

  The baku, looking grim, was standing in front of him. Beyond the dream-eater perched a creature far more nightmarish than the Night Mares.

  The buzzing stopped.

  The Dream Wasp was the size of a house. Danny was no stranger to giant monsters—he’d met a few, and one had even been kind of friendly—but this one looked mean.

  Its stinger was as long as a car and tapered to a wickedly sharp point. Its jaws were serrated and meshed together like a bone zipper. Its forelegs looked like steak knives, assuming that by “steak” you meant “the entire cow.”

  “Eeep,” said Suki.

  Danny was very glad she’d said it, because that meant he didn’t have to.

  The whole room looked like the inside of a hive. Pillars of honeycomb rose haphazardly from floor to ceiling. The three Night Mares were trying to hide behind one.

  Gigantic wings fanned out behind the Dream Wasp. They were the source of the buzzing. While Danny watched, it gave them a shake, and a loud buzz ran briefly through the room.

  “Look!” whispered Suki, pointing. “Eggs!”

  “We’ve got to destroy them!” Danny whispered back. “If they hatch, Wendell will go crazy!”

  “Yeah, but we can’t let the baku fight that,” said Suki. “Look at it! It’s huge!”

  Danny gulped. The salamander was right. The baku looked tiny. Asking it to eat a dream the size of the Dream Wasp would be like Danny trying to eat a whale. There was just no way.

  The baku patted both of their hands, smiled, and turned away. Then it began to waddle toward the Dream Wasp.

  “Baku—” said Danny desperately. Suki put a hand to her mouth.

  The Dream Wasp spoke.

  “Eaterrrrrr offfff Dreamsszzzzzzzz,” it buzzed, in a whining voice that made Danny’s spine want to climb out of his body and go someplace less scary.

  The Night Mares stamped and shivered and tried to cram themselves behind the honeycomb pillar. Danny kind of wished he could join them, but Suki would never let him hear the end of it. Also, Wendell. Best friend. Insanity. Right.

  “You arrrre too ssssszzzzzmall,” buzzed the Dream Wasp. “I will desszzzzztroy you.”

  The baku continued to waddle forward. It did not look concerned. It looked more like it had just seen a comfortable place for a nap.

  “Is it just me,” whispered Suki, “or is the baku getting bigger? And its tail . . . ?”

  Danny squinted. For a second he wasn’t sure—the size of the room and the Wasp made it hard to tell—but then the baku started growing and there was no question.

  By the time the baku reached the Dream Wasp, it wasn’t little and cute anymore. Its tail was glowing like a neon sign. And it definitely didn’t look sleepy.

  “Whoa,” said Danny.

  “Thiszzzz dreamer iszzzzz not imporrrrtant,” sizzled the Wasp. “He iszzzz only a foolisssszzzzh child. Hissszzzz madnesszzzzz will taszzzzzte sssszzzweet. Leavvvvvve him to me.”

  “Hey!” yelled Suki. “That’s my boyfriend you’re talking about!”

  “And that’s my best friend you’re— Wait, really?” Danny turned to Suki. “Ha! I knew it!”

  “Well, it’s long-distance,” muttered Suki. “I mean, it’s not really formal. But I mean . . . um . . . Look, can we talk about this later?”

  The baku grinned. Its previously stubby tusks were nearly as big as Danny.

  “Sssszzzztay away!” screamed the Dream Wasp, cowering back, and the baku pounced.

  The floor shook as the two collided. The Wasp slashed with its bladed forearms, but the baku’s hide was thick and knobbly, and it barely seemed to notice. The dream-eater bore the monster down to the floor, crushing the giant insect under its weight, while its glowing tail whipped wildly through the air.

  “Quick!” said Danny. “While it’s distracted! Squish the eggs!” He jumped into the pile. Eggs crunched under his feet.

  They ranged in size from grapefruit to bowling balls, and squishing them was really disgusting.

  Suki bit her lower lip and kept her eyes closed. Bits of wasp yolk splashed the bottom of her dress.

  “Ninjapants!” she muttered. “This is horrible. I would rather jump off ten cliffs. Oh god, this is disgusting. . . .”

  Danny was normally a fan of both gross things and wanton destruction, but he had to agree. He’d never leave rotten eggs in Big Eddy’s mailbox again. There were things squishing between his toes that he didn’t want to think about, particularly considering that wasps were bugs, and baby bugs were maggots or grubs or—

  No, he definitely didn’t want to think about it.

  “Uh-oh,” said Suki.

  Danny shot a glance over his shoulder at the fight, and gulped.

  The Dream Wasp was winning. One of its wings hung askew and it was missing a bladed leg, but it had knocked the baku down and was trying to stab the dream-eater with its stinger.

  “We have to help!” Suki cried.

  “I know!” Danny yelled back. What could he do? He couldn’t breathe fire! He looked around wildly for something to throw.

  There was only one thing at hand.

  Danny grabbed a softball-sized wasp egg, wound up, and pitched a line drive directly into the Dream Wasp’s eye.

  The egg splattered. The Wasp shrieked, whether in outrage or in pain, Danny couldn’t tell.

  Suki hurled three more eggs with the deadly accuracy that had earned h
er the respect of girls’ softball teams in two different countries.

  The baku rolled to its feet and shook itself.

  The Wasp, bizarrely, ignored it, screaming, “My egggsszzz! Egg-killlerzzzzz! I will sszzting you and ssszzzting you—!”

  “I think it’s mad,” said Danny.

  “Really?” asked Suki. “Whatever gave you that idea?”

  Danny saw that the creature, despite missing a leg, was pulling itself along the floor, sinking the great bladed legs deep into the honeycomb and dragging itself forward. Those terrible jaws seemed to fill Danny’s vision.

  The baku landed on the Wasp’s back with a sickening final crunch. Suki grabbed Danny’s arm and yanked him out of the way as the Dream Wasp convulsed, legs whipping. The dragon felt one whoosh an inch past his head.

  He decided that he forgave Suki for not talking to him when they were falling off the cliff earlier. He might not be able to die in Wendell’s dreams, but having a giant bladed wasp leg stuck in his head would not have been much fun.

  The Wasp’s legs moved like a wind-up toy running down. The baku’s tail glowed so brightly that it was hard to look at, then let out an enormous green flash.

  Danny sat up, blinking spots out of his vision.

  “I think it’s dead,” said Suki.

  “That was amazing,” said Danny.

  They rode the Night Mares out of the dreamlands. After watching the baku dispatch the Dream Wasp, the horses weren’t inclined to argue with the little creature. “They’re not bad,” said Suki. “They’re attracted to bad dreams, but they look a lot scarier than they are.” She patted hers on the neck. It whuffled.

  It was a short trip. Danny didn’t remember getting off the Night Mare, but a moment later he came out of the refrigerator door, tripped over a chair, and fell on the linoleum.