For a beat, he didn’t know what to do. Then he awkwardly patted her shoulder.
She then leaned against him and wrapped her arms around him. After a few more seconds, he wrapped his arms around her, too. “Tell me why you’re crying, Daisy.”
She shook her head, her curls having dried from the rain and bouncing everywhere.
As she continued to cry, his dragon spoke up.She probably feels responsible. You know how she often takes the blame for things.
Her former human teachers hadn’t been kind to her most of the time, telling Daisy that she was behind all the trouble in their classrooms. And because of her, the other students weren’t able to focus and learn anything.
Her mother had fought for her, of course. And had suggested some techniques to get Daisy to focus. But the teacher had said no one should get special treatment, and that if she couldn’t sit still and behave, maybe she should find a different school.
However, Freddie knew Mr. MacLeod and the other Stonefire teachers were different with Daisy. Sometimes she needed to take a break in the corner or in the hall, and then after a few minutes, she was fine. She rarely interrupted and was as good a student as everyone else. Better than Freddie most of the time, for sure.
His dragon spoke up again.Let her cry, and then maybe she’ll talk.
Freddie listened to his dragon, and once Daisy was mostly quiet again, he said, “I’ll get us out of here, Daisy, I vow it. So don’t worry about that.”
She lifted her head, and he hated the tears on her cheeks. He never wanted his best friend to be sad or upset.
Her voice was scratchy as she said, “You can’t promise that, Freddie. This place was here for years and years, and no one found it. If we can’t open that door, we’ll die.”
“Hmm. Well, I have this friend who always says that we need to think of the positive, when possible, to find a solution. I think we should listen to her.”
She smiled slightly. “I say that.”
“Yes, you do.” He hesitated before wiping the remaining tears from her face and said, “And now that your shock has worn off, take a look around the room, a good look, and what do you see?”
She glanced around. “A lot of boxes and junk.”
“Nope. I see possibilities. We have no idea what’s in those boxes, and there might just be something we can use to get out of here.”
What he didn’t add was that once the lantern’s battery ran out, as well as the one in her torch, they might be in some trouble.
But he refused to think about that right now.
He stepped back, and Daisy rubbed her eyes. “I wish I still had my phone, but I think I dropped it when we were trying to open the door. I don’t know if there’s service down here or not, but it probably would’ve made things easier.”
“When they built this place, there were no mobile phones. And there are no landline phones in here, either, I think. But there has to be some supplies to help with opening jammed doors. We’ll work together to sort through one shelf at a time, and that way we only need to use one light. That’ll make them last longer.”
She studied him for a beat before replying, “I don’t know what I’d do without you, Freddie. I probably would be crying in a ball if I were by myself.”
“No, because you wouldn’t have come here on your own. You may be impulsive, but you’re clever enough to know when you need some help. Well, most of the time, anyway.” He gestured toward the closest shelf. “Now, let’s get to work. I don’t know exactly what we need, but anything that looks like it could open the door, or undo it from the hinges, or pry it open. Stuff like that.”
And so they went to work.
Hours later,a loud banging noise jolted Daisy from sleep. She and Freddie had found some musty—but not moldy, thank goodness—blankets and, after a few hours of finding nothing to open the door, they’d decided to sleep for a while.
But they’d turned off the lantern to save the battery, and she blinked in the total darkness.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
Then there were some muffled sounds she couldn’t make out.
She shook Freddie. “Wake up, Freddie! I think someone’s outside the door! Hurry! We need to let them know we’re here.”
Fumbling, she found the lantern and turned it on. She closed her eyes and then blinked slowly. As soon as she could see without being blinded, Daisy jumped up and circled around in place until she spotted the wrench they’d found. It hadn’t helped to open the door, but it was metal and solid and would make noise, so she picked it up and raced to the door. She banged three times and waited. Freddie was at her side when someone banged back three times.
“Freddie, someone found us!”
