Calling on Dragons Read Online Free Page A

in concentration. “The taste? Before. Definitely before. The leaves were a little sour and the stems didn’t crunch right.”
    It sounded as if some enchanted seeds had gotten mixed in with the clover, and Killer had eaten the sprouts. If Morwen was lucky, he wouldn’t have eaten all of them. A plant that increased one’s size would be a valuable addition to the garden, even if it only worked on rabbits. “I’d like to see this clover patch.”
    â€œWell . . .” Killer hesitated. “Do you have to bring
them?
I don’t like cats.”
    â€œI don’t think I’ll need everyone,” Morwen said. “Aunt Ophelia, Trouble, and Miss Eliza will be quite enough.”
    â€œWhy can’t I come?” Fiddlesticks trotted up to the gate and inspected the rabbit through the slits. “I didn’t get to chase Fatso, and I didn’t get to chase the rabbit. My, he’s big. And I didn’t get any fish.”
    â€œYou talk too much, that’s why,” Trouble told him.
    â€œPerhaps you should go tell Jasper what’s happened,” Miss Eliza put in.
    â€œRight,” said Fiddlesticks. “Maybe he’s caught a mouse while we’ve been out here talking to rabbits. Maybe he’ll share!” And he bounded off.
    â€œOptimist,” said Scorn, looking after him.
    â€œIf we are going to look at
vegetables,
” said Aunt Ophelia in tones that conveyed her poor opinion of the entire undertaking, “perhaps we should get it over with.”
    â€œAre you done for now, Morwen?” Jasmine asked. “Because if you are, I’m going back to the window before someone else grabs it.”
    â€œGo ahead,” Morwen told her. Immediately, Jasmine and Scorn took off at a dead run for the house. Morwen turned to the rabbit. “Now, about this clover patch . . .”
    Killer dropped to all fours, which brought his head nearly level with Morwen’s. He sniffed the air twice and cocked an ear to the right. “That way.” He started off, and Morwen and the three chosen cats followed.
    Â 
    After ten minutes, Morwen was wishing she had brought her broomstick. Killer set an extremely uneven pace, taking two or three long hops that would nearly carry him out of sight and then pausing to sniff the air and twitch his whiskers nervously. It would have been much easier to follow him by air, Morwen thought, but she did not say anything because it would only encourage the cats to complain. Trouble, in particular, was extremely put out at having to let a rabbit lead. To make up for it, he pretended to stalk Killer, slinking around trees like a gray shadow and muttering under his breath. Aunt Ophelia and Miss Eliza contented themselves with making malicious remarks. Fortunately, Killer was usually too far ahead to hear any of them.
    When they finally reached the clover patch, Morwen was nearly as cross as her cats. Killer did not seem to notice. He sat back on his haunches, waved proudly, and said, “Here we are!”
    â€œThis is it?” Trouble said, staring at an irregular mat of small green plants. It was no more than four feet across, and a third of the plants had been nipped neatly off, leaving only short, bare stems. “That’s
all?
”
    â€œIt’s much larger when I’m my normal size,” Killer said in an apologetic tone. “And it’s got much better flavor than the one by the little pond or the one by the currant bush. At least, it used to.”
    Morwen suppressed a sigh of irritation. As long as she’d come this far, she’d better have a look at the thing, even if it didn’t seem particularly promising. Pushing her glasses firmly into their proper position—they had slid down her nose a little on the walk—she knelt beside the clover patch.
    At first glance, nothing looked out of the ordinary. Trouble came up beside her and sniffed at the plants.