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"Merciful morels!" Sorrel climbed off Firedrake’s back and sank up to her chest in creepers "How are we ever supposed to find anything in this jungle?" She looked around uneasily

"By starting to look for it," said Firedrake,on, wait a minute!" Sorrel clutched his tail "It’s all very well for you! You’re not up to your chin in all these leaves Although," she said, taking an experimental bite out of one, "they taste delicious Absolutely yuain?" asked Firedrake, turning around

"No, no," said Sorrel dise onleaf after leaf off the plants and stuffing them into her backpack "These leaves are very, very tasty"

Ben put Twigleg on his shoulder and grinned

"Co his tail back and forth "You can stock up on provisions once we’ve found the djinn"

He turned and went on Ben followed, and the two of the the trees

"I call that reallybehind them "As if that djinn couldn’t wait another five ht Does he want er that I fall off his back?"

Firedrake wasthe river The farther they went, the narrower the ravine becaon’s way An untidy tangle of roots stuck up in the air, but its tall trunk rested on a couple of large boulders in the riverbed, so that it was lying like a bridge across the water

"Wait adown on Firedrake’s tail, climbed up on the trunk of the fallen tree, and cla to the opposite bank "There, a the red flowers!"

Firedrake took a step into the water and stretched his neck

Yes, there it was A large gray car overgroith creepers and covered with fallen flower petals Lizards basked on its hood in the sun

Benthe tree trunk and juh the shalloater with Sorrel and Twigleg and then waited on the bank with them Ben pushed the creepers aside and peered cautiously into the car A large lizard sitting on the front seat hissed at hih the sideBen jumped back in alarlass in the s," said Ben quietly "Just as the professor told us"

Cautiously he put his head in through the caragain There was no trace of the lizard now, although two snakes were coiled up on the backseat Ben tightened his lips, put his hand through the , and pressed the horn Then he rapidlyThe lizards shot off the hot rowth

All was silent again

Warily Ben stepped back The professor had told them to wait seventeen paces away from the car Ben counted his footsteps One … two … three … four … Seventeen paces were a lot On purpose, he did not e After the seventeenth, he sat down on a rock and waited while Firedrake lay down behind hi sat on the dragon’s paws They all stared at the car as if spellbound

Asif didn’t keep theed sher Ben had to crane his neck to look up at the vast spiral The drifting wispsaround one another faster and faster until the gigantic pillar of sht sky and so large that its shadow darkened the entire ravine Asif’s thousand eyes, sht as jewels, sparkled all over his skin, his shoulders, his arms, and his fat belly

Ben retreated until he felt Firedrake’s scales behind hion’s back Only Firedrake did not azed up at the djinn

"Well, well! Look at this, then!" The djinn bent over thees in them shone above their heads, and as he spoke Asif’s breath blew like the hot desert wind from one end of the ravine to the other