The Case of the Vanished Sea Dragon by Gareth P. Jones

to like the stuff,’ said Shute taking another ladleful, pouring it into a flask and taking a swig. After reappearing from the cloud of steam in a fit of giggles, he said, ‘All I know is that no Sky Dragon has been down here for a long time.’
    â€˜Thanks for your help,’ said Dirk.
    â€˜No problem,’ said Shute. ‘Here, take one if you like.’ He held up a flask with a top on.
    â€˜No thanks,’ said Dirk, his mouth still burning.
    Alba grabbed the flask and said, ‘I will take it as a souvenir. Thank you.’
    â€˜Keep up the good work,’ said Dirk, turning away.
    â€˜Hey, thanks, dragon,’ said Shute. ‘It’s been a blast talking to you. Good luck finding that Sky Dragon.’
    â€˜I told you he was peculiar in the head,’ said Alba, as they left.
    â€˜None of this makes sense,’ said Dirk. He was beginning to feel frustrated.
    â€˜If only we knew more about the Sky Dragons,’ said Alba.
    Dirk looked at Alba. ‘Great rats of Grimsby!’ he exclaimed. ‘That’s it.’
    â€˜What is what?’ she replied.
    He didn’t answer. He couldn’t believe he hadn’tthought of it earlier. The book,
Dragonlore
. Ivor Klingerflim had written an entire chapter on Sky Dragons. He felt behind his wing but it wasn’t there. He must have left it in his office, which meant one thing. He was going back to London.

Chapter Sixteen

    Holly slipped behind the security man’s large legs, through the doorway and pushed herself against the inside wall, turning the same colour white.
    The security guard pulled the door shut and walked down the corridor.
    Once he had gone round a corner, Holly reappeared and made her way cautiously in the opposite direction. She didn’t know what her plan was, but she had to do something. She knew her dad wasn’t a bad person. He wouldn’t want to hurt anyone but she wondered whether he sometimes mixed up right and wrong.
    She felt something brush against her leg and lookeddown to see a tabby cat.
    â€˜Hello,’ she said, bending down, but the cat ignored her and continued walking down the corridor.
    Holly followed it, walking past a window that looked into a room full of cages with mice, cats and other animals inside. A door on the far side of the room opened and a young woman in a lab coat entered. She carried a plastic container with air holes in the top. Holly blended her head with the window, turning as transparent as the glass. The lab worker placed the container on the counter and opened one of the cages. A white mouse walked out of the cage into the container. The woman shut the cage door, picked up the container and left the room.
    Holly continued down the corridor, ever prepared to stop, freeze and blend if necessary.
    The cat passed a stairwell on the left then stepped through a cat flap in a door on the right. Holly stopped outside the door and looked through a pane of glass into a small room. The cat was sitting in a basket in the corner. By its side were two bowls, one of milk, another of cat food. The cat must have been very well fed, because it didn’t seem at all interested in either bowl. Willow would have greedily emptied both bowls no matter how much she had already eaten.
    Holly tried the door handle, half expecting it to be locked, but, to her surprise, the door opened. She entered the room, bent down and stroked the tabby. The cat made no response. It didn’t purr or tilt its head so she could scratch it behind the ear, like Willow did. Nor did it flinch or move away. In fact, it showed no sign of noticing, let alone enjoying the attention.
    Holly examined the collar around the cat’s neck. It was metallic and reminded her of her dad’s watch strap. She twisted it round and saw on the underside the letters G and S, formed into a circle: the Global Sands logo.
    Behind her she heard an electronic whirring, a noise she recognised immediately. The