Tiny Dragons 2: The Bear and Scepter Read Online Free

Alana's father lifted her up and she laid her head on his shoulder, and all was right with the world.
    They'd missed the last Father/Daughter Dance. He was already gone by then. Her mother took Alana and James out for pizza and ice cream and let them play in the arcade for an hour, trying to keep the evening fun and distracting. But it didn't change the fact that all the other little girls in her school were somewhere dancing with their fathers. It didn't change the fact that she didn't even know where hers was.
    And now, the next Father/Daughter Dance was coming up in just a few months, and it didn't look like she was going to attend that one either. James had offered to take her, which had been sweet of him, really, but Alana refused. She felt like accepting his offer was accepting that her dad wouldn't be home in time to take her, that by speaking about it, it was made more real.
    Her thoughts were broken up by the sound of her brother coming into the kitchen, drumming the countertop as he walked past, and stomping the plastic garbage can pedal down. "We have to make sure we keep all the trash away from the house, otherwise the bear will come looking for it. They told us at school today to try and tie down the lids."
    "Okay," Alana said, stroking Mister Six and continuing to look out the window to the backyard.
    "You okay, kiddo?" James said.
    "Yeah, I'm fine. Just bored. I want to go into the woods and look for…you know."
    "Well we can't. Everyone says we have to stay in our houses until they find the bear." He frowned at the sad look on his little sister's face, and he said, "Listen, kiddo. I don't think we're ever going to see your other friends again. They probably moved on, or changed mountains, or something."
    "No, they didn't," Alana shot back. "You're being dumb."
    Mrs. O'Neil came into the kitchen then, crossing between the children, and said, "Who's being dumb?"
    Alana and James looked at one another, and then she said, "James is. He says we can't go outside because he's scared of the stupid bear."
    Mrs. O'Neil poured out a half-drunk cup of coffee into the sink and said, "Well, actually, I agree with him. It's too dangerous right now. The bear is obviously not scared of humans or houses and comes right up to them."
    "What if he's nice, though?" Alana said.
    "He might be, but let's say he wanted to play with you. He's so big and strong and fast that he might grab you, thinking he's being playful, and wind up hurting you very badly. The sooner they catch him and relocate him, the better off it is for him. And everyone else, too," Mrs. O'Neil added. She looked through the kitchen window at the agents in the woods and said, "It shouldn't take long now. Those men seem to know what they're doing."
    Mister Six stalked across the kitchen floor toward the patio door, coming up beside Mrs. O'Neil's leg. He stroked against her calf with his long, soft body, and purred loudly. He stopped in front of the glass and pawed it several times until Mrs. O'Neil looked down and said, "What is it? You want to go out there?"
    She threw open the latch and the cat shot through the opening, a blur of gray across the patio that leapt and darted for the trees beyond the backyard. Alana let out a tiny cry and said, "Mom! What did you do that for?"
    "He needed to go out."
    "But what if the bear gets him? He might get hurt!"
    "Of course he won't, honey," Mother said. "Mister Six is quite capable of taking care of himself."
    "You can say that again," James grunted, trying not to smile.
    Alana balled up her fists in frustration. Obviously, the cat was no ordinary cat, they'd seen that when he helped them rescue Star, but that wasn't something she could tell Mother. It seemed a horrible idea to let a cat, no matter how smart, out into the woods against a gigantic bear with all its teeth and claws.
    "I saw two cats wrestle a rattlesnake online the other day," James added. They were so fast, the snake couldn't strike them. It was amazing. See,