"Are you-are you okay?" Annie asked Jack. She wasstill holding the wand. Her pigtails blew in the brightwind.
"Yeah, yeah, but what happened?" said Jack in adaze. He was freezing and out of breath. "Where arewe?""I don't know," whispered Annie.
Jack shielded his eyes from the brilliant light of thered dawn and looked around. Pink clouds floatedthrough the air like piles of cotton candy. Through agap in the clouds, he saw hills89shrouded in black smoke below. Beneath the smoke,flames rose from the city of Edo.
"I think we're on Mount Fuji," said Annie.
"Mount Fuji?" said Jack. "That's crazy! Why are wehere?"He stopped to catch his breath. He felt dizzy andlight-headed. "Edo's burning! We should bethere!""Maybe the wand didn't understand," said Annie.
"Maybe it was trying to save us by taking us far awayfrom the fire."Suddenly a great mass of thick clouds piled up,ringing the mountaintop like a wall. The cloudsswirled and whirled and tumbled. They changedcolor, from rose to gold to gray to white.
"What's going on?" cried Jack.
The head of a gigantic monster rose from thebubbling clouds!
"AHHH!" Jack and Annie screamed. They grabbedeach other and crouched down on the rocky ledge.
90The monster had spiky eyebrows and long, curledwhiskers. It had the horns of a deer, the forked tongueof a snake, and the fiery breath of a dragon. Throughthe swirling clouds, Jack and Annie could see thedragon's snake-like body curling through the cloudsand down the mountainside. Its back was coveredwith shiny scales. Its spine had a row of shark-likefins.
The dragon reached out its claws. They were likethe claws of an eagle-only a thousand times bigger!
The claws gripped the side of the mountain.
Jack made himself as small as he could. He coveredhis head. But Annie jumped to her feet. "I get it!" shecried. "I know what's happening! Thank you forcoming!""Annie, get down!" Jack shouted.
"Jack, it's the Cloud Dragon!" said Annie. "Thepuppet show-remember? The wand sent her here!""What? Why?" cried Jack.
91"She makes rain! Don't you remember? Rain!" criedAnnie.
"She commands the rain clouds!"The dragon lowered her giant head, stretching itover the mountain ledge. Her scales glittered honey-gold in the dawn light. She was still, very still, as ifshe were waiting for something.
"Come on! We have to climb on her back!" shoutedAnnie.
"Why?" cried Jack.
"We have to go with her!" said Annie. "The wandbrought us to the dragon! Now it's up to us to showher what to do!""Okay! Okay!" said Jack.
Annie climbed onto the back of the Cloud Dragon.
She sat between two of the dragon's shark-like fins.
Jack climbed on behind her. He gripped the fin infront of him as if he were holding on to the horn of asaddle.
"Fly over the fire!" yelled Annie. "Make rain!""Lots of it!" shouted Jack.
The Cloud Dragon slid off the mountain ledge.
92Jack trembled with cold as the monster slitheredthrough the freezing sea of clouds, like a snakethrough the grass.
Above Edo, Jack looked down. Billowing blacksmoke and red flames shot into the dawn sky. "Now! Rain now!" Jack said.
The Cloud Dragon reared back her head. Greatblack clouds flowed from her mouth. The cloudsspread across the sky. There was a crack of thunderand a flash of lightning. Then rain began to pourdown on the city.
The dragon twisted her head this way and that.
More clouds blew from her mouth, and more rain fellon the burning city of Edo.
As the dragon slithered through the sky, breathingout mountains of storm clouds, rain fell on the flatlands of the rice fields, on the Imperial Garden, thesamurai castles, the fish market, and the Great Bridge.
Rain fell on the floating world of inns and stages,teahouses, temples, and farms.
Rain fell on the lumberyard and the pine forest andthe canals.
Slowly the rain washed away all the smoke andflames. Even after the fires of Edo no longer flickered,the Cloud Dragon breathed more black clouds, andthe rain kept falling, falling steadily, soaking thegardens and fields, filling the shallow rivers anddried-up ponds.
"The fire's out!" Jack shouted.
"Take us to Basho's!" Annie yelled to the dragon.
The Cloud Dragon twisted her giant body. She slidthrough the dark clouds. Then she reared up-untilJack and Annie couldn't hold on any longer and theywere falling backward, somersaulting through the air!
SPLASH! SPLASH!
Jack sank to the bottom of the river. He flailed hisarms and struggled to the surface. His head95bobbed up-he spewed out water and gasped for air.
He had lost his glasses. He dove back down andgrabbed them from the river bottom, then swam backto the surface. Treading water, he wiped his glasses,then put them on.
"Hi!" Annie yelled. She was holding the wand inthe air, above the water.
"Hi!" Jack yelled back.
Jack and Annie swam toward the bank of the river.
They swam until their feet could touch bottom. Thenthey dragged themselves out of the water andcollapsed on the muddy bank.
They had lost their socks and sandals. Their silkkimonos clung to their bodies. Dripping wet, theygasped for breath and looked up at the sky.
Big drops of rain splashed on their faces. There wasno sign of the Cloud Dragon. But the cool rain keptfalling, bathing the floating world of Edo. |