Eleazar Goodenough
and the Mystery of the Scrying Inkwell
by Jerry Grimes
Chapter 7 - Wind Revelation
"Poor little guy," said Jolly.
"I'll get him a drink of water to calm him down."
"Maybe Carmen has something in that food
bag of hers," said Eleazar as they watched the dragon
eagerly slurping up the water Jolly brought him.
"Good idea!" said Jolly, and he raced
down the hallway, returning with Carmen and a left over bit of
sandwich.
"You have your own pet dragon!"
exclaimed Carmen, using her finger to pet him on the head as he
snapped off bits of her sandwich, tossed them into the air and
then cooked them with his fire breath as they floated down to his
mouth.
"Be careful!" warned Eleazar. "We
don't want anything to catch on fire."
"What's his name?" asked Carmen.
"I don't know," said Eleazar.
"Perhaps you'd better ask him."
"Ask a dragon his name?" said Jolly.
"Yes, most dragons know their own
names," said Eleazar. "At least I seem to remember that
they do."
"You're the wizard," said Jolly.
"What's your name little feller?"
The dragon responded with "Hareek!"
"Hareek?" asked Carmen, to which the
dragon began nodding his head.
"Amazing!" said Jolly. "Can he
say anything else?"
"Probably not," said Eleazar.
"But saying his own name is quite a wonderful thing. Now you
can call him whenever you need him and he will come to you."
"When would I ever need help from a dragon
this small?" laughed Jolly.
"Size isn't everything," said Eleazar,
"As we both know."
"I guess you're right," said Jolly,
"seeing as how you are I are the smallest wizards at the
Castle. A tiny dragon could come in handy as a friend."
"He already has helped us once, with those
mean boys on the train. I think maybe that's why the eagle was
chasing him. Someone wants to get revenge on the dragon for
helping us."
"Then whoever that mean person is,"
said Carmen, "I'll bet he wants to get revenge on Professor
Spellbinder for the same reason!"
"You've solved it!" said Eleazar.
"That's what the two clues mean! The clues weren't showing
us who did it, but what the thief's motive was for stealing the
Inkwell."
"Shouldn't we tell Professor Spellbinder
about this?" asked Jolly.
"I think he already knows," said
Eleazar, indicating with his eyes to clue Jolly to turn around
and look behind him.
"Dragon's breath, Professor!"
exclaimed Jolly, when he saw Professor Spellbinder standing
directly behind him. "You can really sneak up on a
person!"
"Sorry, Jolly," said Professor
Spellbinder. "Don't you know that a wizard's name is a very
powerful spell? You fellows... and lady..." he bowed
gracefully towards Carmen, "were using my name, so naturally
I got nosy. What's this about a clue?"
So Jolly and Eleazar told Professor Spellbinder
about seeing his image in the ink blot on the castle roof just
under the smashed inkwell.
"So you'd better watch out,
Professor," warned Jolly. "We just rescued Hareek from
an eagle that was chasing him."
When the little dragon heard his name, he flew
up and landed on Jolly's shoulder, receiving a kindly pat from
Professor Spellbinder as he landed.
"They don't call me Spellbinder for
nothing," said the Professor. "Let me see if I can put
a trace on this curse that's supposed to be coming for me, and
find out who is behind all this mischief."
Professor Spellbinder pulled a wand from his
sleeve and used it to draw a circle on the floor. "Better
stand back," he warned the three children.
Inside the circle, clouds of smoke began to
billow and swirl as if starting a hurricane, although the
children could feel no wind. The center of the cloud opened up
and they stared into a pitch black circle.
"Professor Goodenough," said Professor
Spellbinder, "I think I may need some help with this one. Do
you remember the spell?"
"Yes," said Eleazar, "but you can
call me Eleazar or E.G. like Jolly does."
"Well, since we're amongst friends, I'm
called Phineas... but only inside this room you understand,"
said Professor Spellbinder, looking at Carmen and Jolly over the
top of his glasses. "Now, E.G., let's see if we can part
this mist and see who we have to worry about."
Both professors circled their wands around the
swirling clouds, Eleazar going clockwise and Phineas going
counter-clockwise. The clouds billowed and swirled faster and
faster, but still the center was pitch-black.
"Hareek!" shouted Phineas.
The little dragon knew what was wanted of him
and he flew from Jolly's shoulder towards the spinning cloud
whirlpool. Suddenly he darted into the center of the circle and
vanished.
"Don't let it close!" warned Phineas
as the clouds shimmered and began to squeeze together.
"What will happen to Hareek?" asked
Carmen.
"He could die," said Eleazar. "We
mustn't let that happen."
"Let's get him back here," said
Phineas, struggling with his wand against the spinning clouds.
"All of you who are his friends, call his name!"
"Hareek!" they all shouted at once.
Suddenly, from the center of the clouds, out
popped the little dragon with a piece of cloth in his mouth. He
flew away from the cloudy whirlpool just as it pinched up and
vanished with a POP!
"Thank goodness you're safe, Hareek!"
said Jolly as the dragon resumed its perch on his shoulder.
"What's that you brought back?" Jolly took the cloth
and the dragon released its grip on it to let him have it. Jolly
handed the cloth to Professor Spellbinder.
"It means nothing to me," said
Phineas. "What do you think, E.G.?"
"I think Hareek just took another chunk out
of our thief," said Eleazar. "Someone around here is
feeling a bit of a draft at the moment."
Just then there was a noise of students in the
hall outside. Jolly opened the door to the hall and looked out to
see what it was all about. "There's some students gathered
around the boy's rest room down at the end of the hall,"
Jolly said. "They're all excited about something, but I
don't know what." He went out to get closer and see if
someone would tell him what all the fuss was about. When he came
back, Jolly reported: "Darcy Thurmond the Third went racing
from his room screaming and yelling and holding onto his behind.
He's locked himself in the boys' bathroom."
Carmen, Eleazar and Phineas looked at Jolly in
amazement. "Darcy Thurmond the Third?" they said in
unison.
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