The Dragon in the Sea by Kate Klimo

watch.”
    “Get ourselves a little practice being Keepers, eh what?” Yar said.
    “Quite.” Fluke tapped a passing eel, and the loud
zzzzt
sound once again summoned Star the mer-maid. “Escort our guests to their cabin, will you, dear?” said Fluke.
    “Yes, ma’am,” Star replied with a graceful little dip.
    Jesse thought he detected a particularly sharp gleam in her eye.
    Star waited while Daisy and Jesse gave Emmy a big hug.
    “Sure you’ll be okay?” Daisy asked. She looked out into the surrounding waters, expecting an army of water zombies to be amassing. But she saw the more comforting sight of water sprites mounted on dolphins, circling the ship, their tasseled hands held aloft like the torches of night watchmen.
    “Right as right can be,” said Emmy, gazing tenderly down upon the egg. “We’ll both be fine.”
    Jesse leaned over and pressed his lips lightly to its bumpy surface. “Good night, sleep tight, don’t let the sea fleas bite.” He looked up at Daisy and Emmy. “The egg stopped vibrating. Do you think it’s asleep?”
    “Wee thing’s got the right idea, in my humble opinion,” said Yar.
    Holding an illuminated conch shell aloft, Star led the way toward the amidships hatch.
    “Do you think Fluke and Yar will be the new dragon’s Keepers?” Daisy asked.
    “Ra
ther
,” said Jesse, twisting an imaginary set of whiskers and giving a Yarish
snort-snort
.
    Daisy giggled, then said, “Seriously?”
    “I don’t know,” said Jesse. He gave Daisy a searching look. “You aren’t actually thinking that
we’d
be its Keepers, are you?”
    “Well …,” Daisy said, drawing the word out as they swam after Star down the hatch. It was like descending into a deep, dark well. “Actually, I kind of, sort of, really was thinking that.”
    “Really?” Jesse said.
    “Well, I did find the egg,” Daisy said.
    “No offense, Daise, but it seems like everybody and his uncle has found this egg at least once over the past century,” Jesse said.
    “What you say is true,” said Star, pausing ahead of them. “My mother found it once. And I had a cousin who came across it when she was playing horseshoe crab croquet in Half Moon Bay.”
    “But I was the one who found it this close to hatching,” Daisy said. “And think of it, Jesse. Rememberhow cute Emmy was when she was a teeny-tiny little thing?”
    “She was adorable,” Jesse said. He remembered being in the kitchen trying desperately to find something to feed the demanding newborn dragon. He had had to wear one of Daisy’s purple kneesocks on his hand to protect himself from Emmy’s needle-sharp talons. “She was also a handful.”
    “But it would be different now. We’re experienced Keepers. Besides, Emmy could help us. And wouldn’t it be nice for Emmy to be a big sister?” Daisy said in a dreamy voice.
    “She’ll be a big sister whether we’re the Keepers or not,” Jesse pointed out. “And, honestly? I think Emmy’s all the dragon we need.”
    “You’re probably right,” Daisy said, heaving a bubbly sigh.
    They were swimming down the lower hallway, which was much brighter than above deck. In addition to the glowing seashell sconces on the bulkheads, the portals were lined with electric eels, blinking as brightly as the neon lights in Times Square.
    “Does this place stay open all night?” Jesse asked Star.
    “Night is the best time to cruise the portals,” Star said.
    Jesse and Daisy looked down the long, endless hallway and saw merfolk and water sprites, kelpies and selkies darting in and out of doors.
    “It’s something to do when you’re stuck on board this tub,” Star said.
    “What’s your favorite portal?” Daisy asked the mer-maid.
    Star spun around and swam up close to Jesse and Daisy. “None of them,” she confessed in a whisper. “It’s the Earthly Realm that flitters
my
fins.”
    “Really?” said Jesse.
    Star brought her face up close to Jesse’s and Daisy’s. “Don’t tell Fluke and