Warren & Dragon Volcano Deluxe Read online

  VIKING

  An imprint of Penguin Random House LLC

  New York

  First published in the United States of America by Viking, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, 2019

  Text copyright © 2019 by Ariel Bernstein

  Illustrations copyright © 2019 by Mike Malbrough

  Penguin supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin to continue to publish books for every reader.

  Visit us online at penguinrandomhouse.com

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

  Ebook ISBN 9780451481030

  Version_1

  × × ×

  For Debi, the original Ellie—A.B.

  For Abe. May you get all the toys of your dreams. —M.M.

  × × ×

  CONTENTS

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  1

  The Meaning of Life

  2

  The Super Easy Plan

  3

  Ellie Makes a Decision

  4

  Distractions

  5

  Kaleb to the Rescue

  6

  Famous

  7

  Magic Trick

  8

  Cotton Cookies

  9

  Real Magic

  10

  Two Toys

  11

  Lava Magic

  About the Authors

  1

  The Meaning of Life

  I, Warren Reginald Nesbitt, at only seven years of age, have discovered the meaning of life. Okay, not of all life. But I’ve discovered the meaning of my life. Because the most amazing thing ever is staring me in the face right in the middle of Tony’s Tops Toy Store. The meaning of my life is that I have to have the Deluxe Volcano Building Set Supreme.

  Dragon, my pet dragon, has the same exact thought. “I need this more than I’ve ever needed anything in my whole entire existence,” he declares as he stands next to me, staring at the same box. Dragon’s lived a couple hundred years longer than me, so that’s saying something.

  The Deluxe Volcano Building Set Supreme is practically calling our names.

  “It says the lava can shoot up to three feet in the air,” I read from the bright orange and red box.

  Dragon wipes his mouth with a claw. “I think I’m drooling,” he says.

  I check my mouth. No drool yet.

  “Warren!” I hear my mom call. I twist my head to see her marching up the aisle. “So, have you found something?” she asks.

  Dragon points to the box. “Please, can we get it?” he asks her as he jumps up and down. “If you buy this for me, I promise to never cause the smoke detectors to go off again in the middle of the night. I promise to share it with Warren. Sometimes. Maybe. And I promise to not eat all the marshmallows as soon as you bring them home from the supermarket!”

  I notice that Dragon crosses his claws at that last promise. It doesn’t matter though. Mom just ignores Dragon, because she doesn’t understand that Dragon is real. No one but me hears Dragon talk or sees him move. They think he’s a stuffed animal.

  Now it’s my turn to point to the box holding the volcano building set. “Can I get this, Mom? Please?” I put on my best pleading face.

  “Warren, you’re supposed to be looking for a toy for Avik’s birthday,” she says, shaking her head.

  “Can I get Avik a toy and get this for me?” I ask.

  Mom shakes her head again. I wonder if she ever gets dizzy doing that.

  “Well, can we get the volcano building set for Avik?” I ask, already devising a plan to trade Avik the volcano building set for something else.

  Mom checks the price tag and grimaces. “It’s a little much,” she says. “Sorry, Warren. There are less expensive volcano building sets here.” Mom motions to a few other boxes underneath the deluxe version.

  I inspect the less expensive volcano building toys. “Mom, these volcanos only have lava fall out the side of the volcano. They don’t shoot up into the air,” I say.

  “Also, they don’t have the words ‘deluxe’ or ‘supreme’ on them,” Dragon adds.

  “How about we get him one of those slime kits?” Mom points to a display of different colored slime sets behind me.

  A slime kit actually seems like it’d be a pretty good birthday gift.

  “Okay,” I agree. But I’m not finished with the volcano building set yet. “How much is the deluxe one?” I ask.

  “About forty dollars after tax,” my mom replies.

  Dragon whistles. “That’s more than a year’s worth of claw manicures,” he says.

  I slump my shoulders in defeat. “I don’t have forty dollars,” I say.

  “How much money do you have saved?” my mom asks.

  I take a minute to add up my savings. There was the three dollars I got for my last tooth. But I had to give all three dollars to my twin sister, Ellie, when Dragon accidentally scorched her new shoelaces after he burped too close to her shoes. I also earned seven dollars for helping my dad rake the backyard. Until Dragon and I made a bet as to who could jump the highest into the pile, which splattered the leaves all over the yard. And then my dad made me give four dollars back.

  “I have three dollars,” I say.

  “Does that include the dollar bill that someone left too close to my snout when I burped this morning?” Dragon asks.

  I groan. “You have to stop burping,” I tell him.

  Dragon shrugs. “I can’t. Burping is who I am.”

  I turn back to my mom. “I have two dollars,” I tell her.

  I think my mom is about to shake her head again, but she just sighs. “You could always earn your allowance by doing your chores.”

  “How much do I get for chores?” I ask.

  “Two dollars a week,” she replies.

  I smack my hand against my forehead. Only two dollars a week? I’d need to do chores for . . . uh . . .

  “That’s nineteen weeks of chores to earn the thirty-eight dollars you need to buy the volcano building set,” my mom says as though she can read my mind. “I’m going to pay for the slime kit now,” she says, and takes it to one of the cashiers.

  Dragon’s eyes look like they’re going to pop out of his head. “NINETEEN WEEKS?” he moans loudly. “I can’t wait that long! I need to see gushing, red, molten, hot lava now.”

  “We need to find another way to get money besides just doing chores,” I say.

  “Hmmm . . . !” Dragon ponders. His eyes suddenly light up, and he runs over to the cashier where Mom is paying for the slime kit. “Excuse me, cashier person. You have a lot of money there. May I please have thirty-eight dollars? In return, I will bring you marshmallows tomorrow.”

  The cashier ignores Dragon as he hands Mom a receipt to sign.

  Dragon huffs. “How about burnt marshmallows?”

  The cashier still ignores Dragon.

  Dragon pouts as he walks back to me.

  “This money business is harder than it looks,” he says, and then gives me a funny look. “Hey. You get money for your teeth from the tooth fairy, right?”

  “Yeah,” I
say slowly. I have a feeling I won’t like where this is going.

  Dragon puts his snout right in my face as he opens my mouth with a claw. “You still have plenty of teeth in there, waiting to be traded for money! With a couple of good pulls, I can take them all out.”

  I push Dragon’s claw away and shut my mouth tightly. I shake my head as hard as I can.

  “Hmph,” Dragon snorts, and stomps his feet.

  “We can’t just ask people to give us money,” I tell Dragon. “We’re going to have to earn it somehow. We need ideas.”

  Dragon stops stomping and looks at me with a smirk on his face.

  “Oh, I can come up with ideas,” he declares.

  I cover my mouth with my hand in case he’s thinking of pulling more teeth again.

  “I can think of lots of ideas,” Dragon adds.

  That’s what I’m afraid of.

  2

  The Super Easy Plan

  After we get back home, Dragon and I have an emergency backyard meeting. I bring the marshmallows. He brings more marshmallows.

  I begin the meeting by pacing back and forth over newly fallen leaves. “The meeting of how to make lots of money has begun,” I declare.

  Dragon doesn’t reply because he’s stuffed fourteen marshmallows into his mouth at once.

  “We want a plan that’s original yet super easy,” I begin.

  Dragon gulps down the marshmallows and points to a pile of dirt on the ground.

  “You want to do something with dirt?” I ask.

  Dragon shakes his head. “Of course not,” he says. “First we’ll add water to make it mud. And sell the mud.”

  I sigh. “No one is going to pay for mud. Everyone can just go into their own backyard, scoop up some dirt, and add water.”

  “Yeah, but ours will be toasty,” Dragon counters, and blows a small huff of smoke onto the dirt.

  I scrunch my nose at the smell.

  “We need a new plan,” I say.

  “A plan for what?” a voice says. I know without looking that it’s Ellie.

  Ellie joins me and Dragon on the patio with her basketball and is bouncing it on the ground.

  “A plan for ways to make money,” I tell her.

  Ellie shrugs and shoots the ball into the basketball hoop set up at the end of our driveway. Dragon tries to catch the ball as it falls back down by putting his arms in a circle, but it goes right through. Ellie picks up the ball and bounces it again.

  “Just do your chores every week, save your allowance, and then you’ll have money,” she says.

  “If I’d known that I’d need money now, I would have started doing my chores months ago,” I say. I do not say I don’t even remember what my chores are.

  “I’m open!” Dragon shouts to Ellie with his arms extended. As usual, Ellie ignores him.

  “What do you need money so much for?” Ellie asks, and throws me the ball.

  I catch the ball before Dragon can get to it. I ignore Dragon and look at Ellie. “Uh, I need the money for something super important,” I tell her. Ellie raises her eyebrows like she doesn’t believe me.

  “What? It is super important,” I insist as I pass her the ball. Dragon tries to intercept but misses.

  “You need to buy a hundred bags of marshmallows or something?” Ellie says, and rolls her eyes. She turns away to shoot the ball again.

  “Oh, that’s not a bad idea!” Dragon says.

  “No,” I practically shout. “I need the money for . . .”

  “Charity,” Dragon says.

  “Charity,” I say before I realize what I’m saying.

  “Charity?” Ellie says, looking at me suspiciously. She’s bouncing the ball again but misses it as she’s momentarily distracted. Dragon lunges for the ball, dribbles it to the basket, shoots, and hits the rim.

  “That was almost in!” Dragon yelps, and gleefully does a jig. I am very grateful no one else can see him move at this moment.

  Ellie picks up the ball and shakes her head. “It must be windy today,” she says. “Are you really doing something for charity, Warren?”

  “Yes,” I say. I do not say that the charity is obviously me and Dragon.

  “Which one?” she asks, putting one hand on her hip and holding the ball with her other hand.

  “Um . . . a toy one.”

  “Oh!” Ellie says. She smiles nicely at me for some reason. “Like how people collect toys to send to kids in the hospital?”

  “Well . . . ”

  “I’m surprised,” Ellie continues. “That’s actually really generous. Especially for . . . you.”

  “Uh . . .” I’m not sure whether that was a compliment or not.

  “My teacher was telling us about this very thing yesterday,” Ellie says. “Last year for the holidays she helped her church raise money to buy a hundred new toys for kids in the hospital! I bet she’d be so happy to hear I’m going to raise the money to buy even more toys!” Ellie glances at me. “I mean . . . we’ll raise the money.”

  “We don’t really have to tell your teacher,” I begin.

  “Hi, Michael!” Ellie suddenly calls out. She waves to our next-door neighbor Michael. He’s on his swing set. His older brother, Jayden, is standing nearby talking on his phone.

  Michael’s not my best friend, because Dragon is my best friend. But he’s probably my best human friend. Even though Michael is in first grade and I’m in second, we get along really well.

  Michael stops swinging and comes running. “Hey! My moms are baking with Addie,” he says, referring to his younger sister.

  “Warren is trying to earn money to buy toys for kids in the hospital,” Ellie tells him.

  Michael widens his eyes. “Wow! Really? My cousin Kaleb is going to the hospital this weekend to have his tonsils taken out. I bet a new toy would make him feel better.”

  “I’m still open!” Dragon says, and stomps his foot.

  Michael turns to me and passes the ball. “How did you think up the idea?” he asks. “Did your parents tell you to? Do you know a kid in the hospital? I can’t believe you’re doing this, Warren.”

  “Why is everyone so surprised I’m doing something nice?” I say, forgetting for a moment that I’m not really doing something nice.

  Dragon looks at me. “It’s very nice of you to raise money for kids in the hospital,” he says, and punches my shoulder.

  I glare at Dragon.

  He ignores me and continues. “Of course, we’ll need to buy the volcano building set first, and then see how much money is left over for those sick kids. The only thing worse than a sick kid is a sick dragon. Because if I don’t get the volcano building set, I’ll be so upset I’ll throw up. Or I’ll wither away and die. Or both. I’ll throw up as I wither away and die.”

  Dragon can be a little dramatic sometimes.

  “Sorry,” Michael says with a shrug. “It’s really nice. Do you need help making money?”

  “Yes,” Dragon says. “We need lots of help. First, we need money. Second, we need ways to make more money. Third, we need marshmallows. Fourth, I need a nap because all this money talk is exhausting.”

  3

  Ellie Makes a Decision

  “I guess I can use help . . .” I say to Michael.

  “Maybe Kaleb can come help us too!” Michael says.

  “So, how should we raise money?” Ellie asks.

  “A car wash?” Michael suggests. “All you need is soap, water, and lots of people to bring their cars.”

  “Besides our parents, and your brother Jayden, who do we know who drives?” Ellie asks.

  Michael furrows his eyebrows. “That’s a good point. Most of Jayden’s friends don’t even have cars to drive.”

  Dragon licks his lips and twiddles his claws. “A bake sale?” I can already see he’s imagining eating
everything we bake before we can sell it. “Mmmm. Chocolate, marshmallows, chocolate marshmallows, mmmmmmm.” There’s no way he won’t mess up a bake sale.

  “Raking leaves?” Michael suggests. “I know my moms would pay us.”

  “I do need a good pile of leaves to jump into,” Dragon ponders as he looks around the backyard. “Several piles, if I’m being honest.”

  “I don’t think so,” I say, remembering what happened the last time Dragon and I tried raking leaves to earn money.

  “Then what?” Michael says.

  “A bake sale!” Dragon practically screams. I shake my head and try to think about something Dragon won’t mess up. Something he’s good at that he’ll actually be able to help us with. I don’t think we could get anyone to pay for training worms to become ninja warriors, even though Dragon is really good at that. And because of safety issues, fire breathing classes are probably out of the question. And dueling lessons. And building death-defying mazes.

  I try to think about what I’d pay money for. Something fun. Something memorable. Something . . . magical. “Let’s do a magic show!” I shout.

  Michael and Ellie look at me with their mouths open. I’m guessing it’s because I’ve never done a magic show before. But when you have a sidekick that no one else can see walking or talking, the possibilities are endless.

  “Nobody’s going to pay to see you pull your dragon doll out of a hat,” Ellie scoffs.

  “Did she just call me a doll?” Dragon says, and angrily puffs some smoke. He tries to take the ball from Ellie, but she passes it to Michael again too quickly.

  “They will too pay for it,” I protest. “We’ll make stuff disappear! Saw people in half!”

  “We can turn ten marshmallows into zero marshmallows,” Dragon offers.

  Ellie raises an eyebrow at me.

  “That sounds pretty fun,” Michael concedes as he dribbles in place. “I saw a magic show one day at camp and it was really cool. The magician made five balloons come out of a hat and I caught one! Can you do that trick? Can you do a trick with a basketball?”