The Rain Dragon Rescue Read online

  Pearl knelt on the carpet and opened the Pony Parade box. She’d hidden three very special pieces of paper inside: a certificate of merit in Sasquatch Catching, a certificate of merit in Curing Lake Monster Loneliness, and a certificate of merit in Rescuing a Rain Dragon. Each certificate was signed by Dr. Emerald Woo, a veterinarian for Imaginary creatures. Now that she’d been working as Dr. Woo’s apprentice, something as ordinary as a pony sounded boring. There were so many Imaginary creatures that could be kept in the alley!

  “Pearl, Ben’s here,” her mom, Susan Petal, called from the kitchen.

  “Okay. Coming!” As fast as she could, Pearl stuffed the certificates back in the box, then set the game on the shelf. She scrambled out of her pajamas and into her favorite clothes—a plain, well-worn T-shirt and a pair of shiny red basketball shorts. Then she pulled her blond hair into a ponytail and hurried to the kitchen.

  “Hi, Ben.”

  “Hi, Pearl.”

  Ben Silverstein was sitting at the table. Pearl had only known him for a week, but he’d become her very best friend in the whole world. After all, when two people travel together through interdimensional space, climb the face of a rain dragon, and seal up a hole in her head—not to mention stalk a sasquatch, save a dragon hatchling, and ride in a lake monster’s mouth—they can’t help but become best friends.

  “So nice to have you for breakfast,” Mrs. Petal told Ben. She was standing at the kitchen sink, rinsing the coffeepot. “How’s your grandfather?”

  “He’s fine,” Ben said, setting a napkin on his lap. “He’s doing some stuff at the senior center this morning.”

  “Your grandfather’s a very nice man.” Mrs. Petal was already wearing her work apron, with its embroidered slogan: YOU GET MORE AT THE DOLLAR STORE. She dried her hands on a dishtowel. “You kids eat as many pancakes as you like. I’ll be unpacking a shipment from China.” Then she walked down the stairs and disappeared into the store, which the Petal family owned and operated.

  Pearl sat down and grabbed two pancakes. She covered one with syrup, laid four strips of bacon across it, then covered the bacon with another pancake. Ben watched with wonder as she picked up her creation with both hands. “What?” she asked. “You’ve never made a pancake sandwich? It’s delicious.”

  He looked around, as if making sure no one would scold him for bad manners. Then, with a shrug, Ben set aside his fork and grabbed two pancakes. His sandwich had jam in the middle.

  “So, what kind of creatures do you think we’ll meet today?” Pearl asked. This had become one of her favorite questions.

  “Naw deeah,” Ben said, which was really “no idea,” but his mouth was stuffed.

  “I hope we meet a fairy. I really, really, REALLY want to meet one.” Pearl dipped her sandwich in more syrup. “What size do you think they are? Are they small like a housefly, or maybe big like a bat? Do you think they’re pretty? Do you think they can speak our language? Do you—”

  Her stream of questions came to a stop. She’d spied something on the table.

  Something that made her blood boil.

  2

  Pearl’s blood didn’t actually boil. That’s just a way of saying that she felt so angry she got hot all over.

  The morning newspaper lay neatly folded on the corner of the table. Staring right at her, from the front page, was Pearl’s archenemy, Victoria Mulberry.

  The black-and-white photo showed Victoria’s smiling face, her braces looking like railroad tracks. Thick glasses were perched on the end of her nose, and her frizzy hair was pressed beneath a baseball cap embroidered with the words WELCOME WAGON.

  It wasn’t unusual for Victoria to get her photo in the paper. She was always achieving one thing or another. She’d organized a search party when Mr. Mutt’s dog went missing. She’d picked up garbage in the park after the storm of the century. She’d even raised money to help the seniors buy pudding for pudding day. Those were nice things to do, but Pearl knew the truth: The real person behind those deeds was Victoria’s mother, Mrs. Mulberry, who’d made it her life’s work to get her daughter’s photo in the paper.

  Pearl dropped her pancake sandwich and reached across the table. With sticky fingers, she unfolded the newspaper and read the following article aloud.

  Local Girl Wins Award

  The International Welcome Wagon Society has announced that Victoria Mulberry, age 10, is to become the newest member of the Red Wagon Club.

  “This is a very important club,” Victoria’s mother, Martha Mulberry, said. “Only a few people are chosen each year. Victoria is a role model for kids everywhere.”

  When asked why she was a role model, Victoria replied, “I don’t know,” and went back to reading her book.

  “Victoria earned this honor because she gets straight A’s and she doesn’t get into trouble like a certain other girl in our town,” Mrs. Mulberry added.

  The ceremony will be held at 6 PM Friday at Town Hall. A representative from the International Welcome Wagon Society will award Victoria with a special crown that is worn only by Red Wagon Club members. The entire town is invited to watch the ceremony. Cookies and punch will be served.

  Pearl stared at the page. “ ‘She doesn’t get into trouble like a certain other girl,’ ” she repeated. “That’s so rude.”

  “She probably wasn’t talking about you,” Ben said. He drank some orange juice.

  “Of course she was talking about me.” Pearl had a reputation. She was the town troublemaker, and everyone knew it, even Ben.

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  Cover

  Title Page

  Welcome

  Dedication

  CHAPTER 1: Night Noise

  CHAPTER 2: Toaster Trouble

  CHAPTER 3: Turmoil at Town Hall

  CHAPTER 4: Stealing Time

  CHAPTER 5: Mouse Crackers

  CHAPTER 6: Doorknob Disaster

  CHAPTER 7: Pooper-Scoopers

  CHAPTER 8: The Hospital Roof

  CHAPTER 9: Dragon Food

  CHAPTER 10: Metalmouth

  CHAPTER 11: Goat Lady

  CHAPTER 12: The Portal

  CHAPTER 13: The Portal’s Pilot

  CHAPTER 14: The Land of Rain

  CHAPTER 15: Stranded

  CHAPTER 16: Metal Teeth

  CHAPTER 17: The Rain Dragon

  CHAPTER 18: Return of the Rain

  CHAPTER 19: Angry Villagers

  CHAPTER 20: Flea Bath

  Put Your Imagination to the Test

  Creature Connection

  Creature Connection

  Science Connection

  Creativity Connection

  Acknowledgments

  Also by Suzanne Selfors

  A Sneak Peek of The Order of the Unicorn

  Copyright

  Copyright

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  Text copyright © 2014 by Suzanne Selfors

  Illustrations copyright © 2014 by Dan Santat

  Text in excerpt from The Order of the Unicorn © 2014 by Suzanne Selfors

  Illustrations in excerpt from The Order of the Unicorn © 2014 by Dan Santat

  Cover art © 2014 by Dan Santat

  Cover design by Sasha Illingworth

  Cover © 2014 Hachette Book Group, Inc.

  All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher is unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.

  Little
, Brown and Company

  Hachette Book Group

  237 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10017

  lb-kids.com

  Little, Brown and Company is a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc.

  The Little, Brown name and logo are trademarks of Hachette Book Group, Inc.

  The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.

  First ebook edition: January 2014

  ISBN 978-0-316-22555-7

  E3