Chapter 6 Emma takes a flight

"JEREMY"

"JEREMY"

"JEMMMMMMMMMMMM"


Emma was shouting. Loudly. Very loudly. And of course he wasn't replying. Enjoying himself as usual she thought to herself. But then very quickly changed her attention away from her brother and back to her problem.

And what a problem. There she was pinned up against a wall. Nowhere to go; unable to move. And there in front of her, right in front of her, right up against her nose was the DRAGON.

The squashed dragon. The squashed red dragon. It had looked so cute when she saw it first. Sitting on a pillar in the main square. It didn't look as though it was doing any harm or that it might do any harm. Just sitting still.

Emma couldn't resist herself. She went up to the squashed red dragon. She had to stand on tip-toe to come face to face with the dragon. She looked it squarely in the eyes. She looked very hard into its eyes. How brave she felt she was.. it's only a make believe dragon she said to herself; only a statue, you see them in every town, some sort of history and legend. Nothing real of course.

"Bleeergh" she went, "Bleeeurrrgh"

She scrunched her face up.. just like the squashed dragons.

"Bleurrrrrrrgh" she went again, staring at the dragons eyes. You can't scare me, she said to herself.

"Oh, yes I CAN"

"Who said that?" Emma fell down and looked around. No-one to be seen. Absolutely no-one. The square and the park in the distance were totally empty.

"Oh, yes I can!"

Emma spun round so fast she carried on spinning after she meant to stop. Everything went dizzy, her head didn't seem connected to her body and she felt herself falling over. She staggered, or at least she thought she staggered. Her brain wasn't in gear.

"Now see how I can scare you".

It was the cold breath on her face that woke her up. She stopped spinning, her legs froze, her brain stood still and her eyes opened.. all in one quick second.

And then they shut even faster.

Her fingers clenched tight. She could hear her heart in her ears .. very loudly.

"Are you scared?"

She opened one eye. Slowly. A little bit only.

Right in front of her. Very right in front of her. Only millimetres away from her face was the face of the squashed dragon. It's breath was cold, very cold. It's eyes were looking at her without blinking.

She couldn't move. She felt behind her.. It was a hard wall. She was pinned up against it. The dragon's arms were either side of her. She was trapped.

It was then that she called for Jeremy. She didn't know why. She knew he wasn't there. She also knew that even if he was he would be useless. But she still called.

"No good calling for him" the dragon said, coldly. "He's not here is he? He can't help you He's with my friend lovely Anna"

"What? " Emma frowned, "How do you know who I'm calling and who is lovely Anna?"

"I now everything about you and your Jeremy. I've been watching you since you dropped in here with your magic mobile"

He knows about that, thought Emma, he's been watching me. Naaah, he's just a lump of metal. But he's talking? To me? And he knows about the magic mobile??? I'm dreaming.

She wasn't dreaming because suddenly she was twenty metres in the air, flying , or rather being carried by the dragon, who wasn't squashed now, and she was looking down on water.

I can't fly she thought. Metal dragons can't fly she thought. "I am flying" she said.

"No, I'm flying" said the dragon, "you're riding"

"Where are we going?" Emma said. She was getting used to this flying, sorry, riding. She had passed the castle, past the football stadium and was over the harbour. She could see a blue police box down there. Now it had gone. She looked again but it wasn't there and something whooshed past her but she didn't see anything.

"Are you still scared?" the dragon asked.

"No, yes, yes, no" Emma stuttered. She was scared. She was flying, she was on a dragon, the dragon was talking to her, the dragon knew about her, she didn't know where they were going, the dragon was talking about a lovely girl who was with Jeremy. Of course she was scared.

"No, I'm not scared at all" she said firmly.

The dragon chuckled. Emma nearly fell off. When dragons chuckle everything moves a lot.

"Sorry"

"Don't mention it" said Emma from her lofty perch. "Where are we going?"

"To see lovely Anna" he said, mysteriously.

Chapter 5 Jeremy finds a friend


"Em"

"Em"

No reply.

Of course not. Jeremy whispered Em's name so quietly even he couldn't hear it and he said it. Or at least he thought he had said it.

He did not want to make a sound. Not a single sound, even his breathing sounded too loud. His heart was pounding.

The dragon had not moved. Jeremy was looking at it very, very, carefully.

He was sure he had seen it blink.

He was almost really scared. Almost because he was not moving and to be scared you need to move.

Move. Like run. Fast. Away.

But Jeremy stood still.

And then jumped two metres straight into the air.

Whoosh. Straight up. And his hair went straight up with him.

It was the hand on his shoulder.

A soft touch, perhaps just a tap. It was enough. Like a coiled watch spring Jeremy simply unwound and went up.

He came down.

"Sorry"

"Sorry?" said Jeremy, after he landed. "Sorry? is that all you can say??. You speak English?"

"Yes, sorry again" she said.

Jeremy calmed down and looked around. The dragon hadn't moved. The tap on the shoulder had been real and she was standing in front of him. Wrapped in a green coat, big boots, long scarf, red hair. Smiling and looking worried at the same time.

"Where am I" he said

"Lovely Ana" she said

"No, I asked where am I not who are you"

"Lubbly Ana" she said again.

"OK", he thought, not getting anywhere here, let's try another tack, "where are you from?"

"Mary Bor" she replied sweetly.

On no, he thought, first she was Ana and now Mary, what next? Change tack again might be the best bet.

"Is this a real dragon?"

As soon as he said it he knew it was a mistake. A big mistake. Big as in enormous.

Ana, or Mary, laughed. No, not just a little snigger, not a little embarrassed chuckle but a real laugh. Noisily. Her whole face, her whole body took part in the laugh.

Jeremy felt for his phone. Get me out of here! was his only thought. He could feel the redness of his face, boy, was he red. Get me out of here was his only thought. But he couldn't find the phone in his pockets.

"No" she said, wiping away the tears. She saw, through a fine mist, that he was embarrassed and hastily tried to re-assure him. "It's not real, it's just a statue on the bridge.. we call it dragon bridge. But is a good likeness isn't it?" she said proudly. "Did it scare you?"

"Yes, No" he said , hastily changing his mind. He was brave really. "I was only joking" he said, not entirely convincingly.

She smiled and Jeremy warmed up at once. "Shall we start again?" she said " My name is Teresa and this is Ljubljana.. I know it's difficult for the English to understand the word and who are you?"

"I'm Jeremy from London" Jeremy said, glad to be on firm foundations "and I'm a dragon hunting magic traveller and my sister is fighting a red dragon right now. She's squashed it."

Whoops, he thought, Should have stopped at the London bit. Might have overdone it with the dragons.

"Dragons" You fight dragons?"

Oh ho, thought Jeremy , here it comes, ridicule, more red faces (mine). Jeremy looked around for a whole to hide in. None around.

"Yes" he murmured, "I fight dragons". Of course he had not actually fought a dragon. In his dreams many times, and in his adventures with the magic passwords nut in real life.. not yet, not ever.

"Great" Ana, Mary or rather Teresa said.

"What?" exclaimed Jeremy

"I just love dragon hunters and I really need one soon." She was jumping up and down, smiling and hugging herself at the same time.

Jeremy could not believe what was happening.. she wanted a dragon slayer and thought nothing of meeting one on this cold darkish evening in a strange city (well strange to him at least). This was something he had to tell Emma the next time he saw her.

"Do you know the green dragons? " Teresa went on, "There are lots of them and they are really hard, really tough. At least that is what they want you to think but really they are wimps.. is that what you say?"

Jeremy nodded. He was not quite sure about these green dragons. Emma had a squashed dragon, that seemed OK but this was dragons.. lots of them.. and can you really have a wimpish dragon?

"The green dragons are not here at the moment. They have gone to the islands to get a tan ready for the autumn. Then they come back and scare the city. But now that i have found a real-life dragon slaying hero we can fight them together.. you will be here in the autumn won't you?"

"Of course", said Jeremy, rather relieved he would not have to fight tonight.. it was rather dark now and it is very difficult to fight dragons in the dark. (He had read that in a book).

"where are you going now? " asked Teresa, "would you like to come for a coffee?"

"OK" said Jeremy.

"Good" said Teresa, "we can go to a white place where polar bears live"

"What?!!!!" exclaimed Jeremy. From green dragons to polar bears.. who was this girl? And what happened to Mary Bor? He followed here into a white room.. all white.. walls, chairs, ceiling. And there in at the back was a secret room.. and Teresa was walking into it.

Chapter 4 Is it red or green?

"Em"

"Jem"

"Em!"

"JEM!!!"

"Em" "Jem"

"EM!!!"

Silence. Not a whisper. It was very, very quiet.

Jem looked around. Slowly. Eyes wide open.

There was no sign of Emma.

Emma was also looking around. She was also looking very slowly and here eyes were open even more than Jem's.

There was no sign of Jeremy.

"Where are you?"

"Where are you?"

Emma looked again. He was nowhere to be seen.

Jeremy looked as well. She was not there.

"You've done it again!" he said to himself. "She will shout at me again and I'll look silly. Well I'm not having that; it was an easy mistake to make".

He gently stood up. The fast trip wasn't too bad. He remembered the chair and now looked around him. Not too strange; a bridge, a market and yes there it was! It had worked again! he was excited and totally forgot about Emma.

Emma had already forgotten about Jeremy. She was already looking around. Big buildings, lots of grass and yes, there it was right in front of her. It had worked again!

Only now she had to find her absent minded brother who could never do things right.

But this time he was ahead of her. He knew the second password.. yes the second even more secret password. He looked over his shoulder and then over the other one and hid his hands and used the second password.

"Where are you?? Emma shouted as soon as she heard her ear stud tingle.

"Right in front of the dragon" said Jem. He thought it better not to admit to having made the earlier mistake.

"No, you're not" said Emma. She too overlooked his mistake, thinking she was right. He was not in front of her dragon. (But she quickly checked just to make sure).

"I've got a big green dragon here" said Jem, looking up to the big green dragon which was not moving but still looked rather dangerous.

"Green??? It's red" said Emma. "And a little squashed"

"Let me have a look" asked Jem. He was getting rather worried as he could not see Emma anywhere. She could be hiding but he had looked behind the tree, over the road.. indeed everywhere. But she was not there, that was for sure. Red? Rubbish, he said to himself, it's green to me.

"OK, here it is ..."

"That's not my dragon!!" yelled Jeremy. "That's red and it's, it's like sort of squashed"

"That's what I told you" said Emma, "Now stop playing the fool and come out where I can see you. I know you are around here somewhere"

"Of course I'm around here, I'm here!" said Jeremy, still looking at the big green dragon and the rather squashed red dragon. two dragons in one day was too much, two too many really. It was getting slightly dark and he knew that dragons did strange things when it got dark. There were not very many people around at the moment. They were all wrapped up in big thick coats, with their heads buried in their necks under big hats. They were not looking at him. They were certainly not looking at the dragon. They were hurrying home.

Jeremy started to think he should be hurrying home. The street lights were starting to shine brightly.

"Well?" said Emma. "If you are here, then where is here if I can't see it or you? Where is your big green dragon?" she said with a smooth smile to her voice. It was sunny and bright and her dragon was still squashed.

"I'm here" said Jeremy but quietly now. It was dark and he did not want to disturb the dragon. maybe he thought if I shared it with Emma it would go away, or he would go away.

"Here's my dragon" he whispered.

and as he sent it he saw the dragon's eye move.

Just a little.

Chapter Three The journey starts

"Jem"

"Jem"

Now this was quite unusual, thought Emma. Jem doesn't ever sleep, even when he is snoring. He sleeps so lightly that the merest whisper normally wakes him. But not this time. Emma wondered if she should be worried. Perhaps he really is sound asleep and lost in deep slumbers and has drifted away. Then she decided to think in small, calculated, steps.

What had we, had he, been doing, before we, he, had fallen asleep? She thought hard and realised she had totally forgotten what they had been doing in the afternoon. Must have been at school, she thought.

Only one thing left to do now...

"JEREMY" she yelled at the top of her voice.

"Of course it is" said a deaf Jeremy, his ears still ringing from this sudden blast. "Are you practising to be an alarm clock?"

Emma was both relieved and deafened as her shout had surprised even herself; lucky there was no-one else in the room and the TV was on loud downstairs.

"Come on" she said as she jumped off the bed and onto the chair she had put in the middle of the room. "We're off on an adventure!"

"OK" said the still sleepy Jeremy. He fell out of bed, onto the floor and crawled over the second chair in the middle of the room. He was still asleep and this little journey took rather a long time. Eventually he sat up in the chair, looked at his sister and said, brightly,

"Where are we going this time?"

"Dragon-land"

"Where?"

"Dragon-land" said Emma, for the second time.

"Where" said Jeremy, also for the second time and this time with a little tremor in his voice.

"Oh never mind" said Emma, wanting to get on with it. " Set your phone"

Jeremy, during his slow crawl into the chair had wondered why the chair was bumpy. He sat on one side and felt the bump: it was his mobile.

Emma and Jeremy looked around the room, they both checked that the door was closed and the curtains drawn very tightly. This was their secret and no-one was to know. They pointed their mobiles at each other and really concentrated. This was the tricky bit and they knew they had to think just of two things.

"Dragon-land"

and the very very secret password. They tapped the password number into their phones . pointed the phones at each other and went

"one"

"two"

"three"


" " (that was another very very secret bit)

and whoooooosh.

The chairs were empty

Chapter Two Jeremy loses something

"Em"

There was a long pause.

"Em"

Jeremy whispered softly. Not too softly, of course, as then his big sister wouldn't hear him. But there was still no movement. She was fast asleep.

"Em"

This time he stood on tip-toe by the bed and leant right across Emma and spoke right into her ear. Surely she must wake up now. Please. It's important.

"what?"

Emma had heard him the first time but was warm and comfortable and in the middle of a really dreamy dream. It could wait until the dream finished she thought. No it couldn't.

"I'm scared"

Oh no, not again, Emma thought. He had been "scared" the other night, had woken her up, made her all anxious (and in the middle of a really great dream) and all because some branches blowing in the wind had rattled against the window. She didn't get back to her dream and that annoyed her all the next day.

"What for this time" she said, with a little ring of irritation in her voice. "It's not the wind and the branches again is it?

"I've forgotten the password"

WHOOOSH. WHAM.

Emma sat up in bed. Really fast and 100% wide awake. Her eyes were wide open. She went pale. She forgot the dream. Her mouth was working so fast the words tumbled over each other.

" You what, when, why, oh no, how could you, think think think did you write it down oh no but you said you would remember what do we do now...."

So this is what a panic is like thought Jeremy but forgot that very quickly as Emma pulled him onto the bed and looked at him very very closely with eyes WIDE open. His eyes were tightly closed so he missed this extra special look.

Still with his eyes shut and scrunched up he sighed "I don't remember. It was with me when I went to sleep and then it went blank and now its gone. I want it back. I really want it back but I can't find it in my head."

Emma thought some very wicked thoughts about the inside of Jeremy's head but calmed down and said very slowly and very carefully

" calm down and slowly think. When was the last time you knew the password? What was the very last thing you were doing before you went to bed?"

" I was cleaning my teeth" Jeremy told a little white lie and went bright red so that was a red lie as he was really on his mobile texting his third best friend who Emma did not like one little bit. "and then I turned the lights off and it was gone."

Now it was Emma's turn to start to get worried. Without the password things would change; or rather things would stay the same and not change because with the password things changed.

"Let's try again. Open your eyes; breathe slowly, not that slowly, take a sip of this water. Not too fast. I'll count to nine and then you will remember. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight"

"HIIIIIIIIICup". Jeremy exploded with the loudest thunderclap he had ever heard. A gold medal hiccup. His head spun round, his back jumped up, his teeth crashed together.

"I remember" he yelled and jumped for joy, "I remember, I remember. it's ........"

"Sshhussh" said Emma, still picking herself up off the floor after the explosion. "Don't let anyone know... it's our secret. They are our adventures. It will soon be time to go on another one"

and that will be in the next chapter.

Chapter One Emma starts a story, with Jeremy

"Em"

"Em"

"EM"

Jeremy's calls became more strident and urgent.

Emma thought they were just becoming louder. They were irritating her. Just a little. About two of ten. Jeremy could reach ten out of ten sometimes. Even twelve, especially on Mondays.

"What??" she murmured, not losing concentration.

"What are you doing?"

"Something".

Not a helpful reply thought Jeremy. Why can't big sisters simply say the right thing, he thought, not for the first time that week, or indeed that day, or hour.

"What something are you doing?"

"I'm working on a very important project on the internet". Emma paused just before saying "on the internet" to make it sound very important and so important that Jeremy would simply shut up and stop pestering her.

It didn't work.

"Oh, OK, Are you in outlook or hotmail or word?" asked Jeremy who sometimes surprised everyone with his knowledge of the internet. He got very annoyed if parents and big sisters forgot he was the computer whizz kid in the house. They did that very often. It was so unfair.

"I'm setting up a blog" said Emma realising that it would be better to be honest and open and keep Jeremy happy, and quiet.

"what for?" asked Jeremy, who already had two blogs, a myspace and took his avatar into a Second Life most days.

"To write down my adventures" Emma replied. She saw her dreams of a wonderful space for adventures, for visits to strange places to meet interesting people who didn't have younger brothers who were really good on the internet being dashed by Jeremy's takeover.

"Can I come as well? I promise to be nice and quiet and to follow you!"

Emma thought for a while. Quite a long while. Just to annoy Jeremy. And then said "of course".

And this is their story.