her wings in excitement.
“No way!” Owen hugged the ogre
toenails against his chest. “I traded my
best belly button lint for these!”
“Give him the toenails!” Ella tried to
grab the jar away. “If you do, you can
have my dessert for a week!”
“Chocolate-covered caterpillars?”
Owen asked.
“Yes!” Ella said and tugged the jar.
“Make it three weeks!” Owen said and
tugged it back.
“Two weeks!”
“Deal!”
Owen yanked the jar of ogre toenails
from Ella and gave it to Orlock.
“Let’s make a rhubarb wand!” Owen
said.
8
ORLOCK THE
NOT-SO-EVIL WIZARD
Orlock proudly waved his new rhubarb
wand in the air!
“It worked! It worked! It worked!”
Orlock sang and danced. “I turned my
asparagus wand into a rhubarb wand!”
“Remember our deal! We gave you the
ogre toenails. You have to let us go! And
cure me!” Owen said.
“And you have to also stop being evil,”
Ella added.
Orlock stopped dancing. “Can I still be
evil on weekends?” he asked hopefully.
“Pleeease?”
“Mondays only,” Ella said. “Because
everybody already hates Mondays.”
“And holidays? You can’t expect me to
not be evil on Evil-mas—” Orlock said.
“Great! Evil on Evil-mas,” Owen cut in.
“Now please cure me before I—AH-CHOO!”
Too late!
BING!
BANG!
BONK!
Fire shot from Owen’s mouth like a rocket
ship blasting off. He bounced around the
dungeon like a soccer ball being kicked by
ten trolls, before rolling to a stop in front
of a jar filled with bat wings.
“You kept up your end of the deal, and
now it’s time for me to do my part.” Orlock
pointed his rhubarb wand at Owen. “Oh,
and if this turns you into a Prickle Pie
Toad, I’m sorry. I’m just not very good with
spells.”
“Wait!” Owen shouted.
But it was too late! Again!
SHOOM!
A magic glimmer shot from Orlock’s
rhubarb wand and surrounded Owen.
Owen closed he eyes tightly. The magic
sparkles went away, but he was not a
Prickle Pie Toad. He was still plain old
Owen.
“Give it a try,” Ella said and tickled
Owen’s nose.
Owen sneezed . . . but no fire came out!
“Hey! The spell worked!” a surprised
Orlock said.
Owen gave his sister a look of relief.
Ella smiled and gave her brother a quick
high five.
With Owen cured, the two dragons said
their good-byes to Orlock the Evil (on
Mondays and holidays only) Vegetable
Wizard.
But the journey home wasn’t as easy as
the journey to the Cave of Aaaaah! Doom!
9
LOST!
“We need to go left here,” Owen said
when they came to a fork in the path.
“No, we need to go right,” Ella countered.
Every time Ella said “go left,” Owen
thought they should go right. If Owen said
“up,” then Ella said “down.” If Ella said
“backward,” then Owen said “forward.” If
Owen said “peanut butter,” then Ella said
“jelly.”
But the bickering got even
worse when they spotted a
tiny glowing winged girl no
bigger than an ogre’s toe.
“Look! It’s the tree sprite we met
earlier!” Owen waved to her. “Hi, there!”
he called out.
“No, that’s a water sprite for sure!” Ella
replied.
“Tree sprite!”
“Water sprite!”
“Let’s go ask!” they both said at the
same time.
ZOOM!
They flew toward the sprite, who, seeing
two dragons flying toward her shouting
“tree sprite!” and “water sprite!” became
scared and flew away.
The chase was on!
Just as they were about to grab the
sprite, the two dragons crashed into each
other.
BAM!
They tumbled down a hill through a patch
of spider flowers and sticky slug weeds
until . . .
The twins fell into a cold lake of inky
black water.
“This is all your fault!” they both yelled
at each other at the same time.
But then Ella and Owen looked around
and realized something that was very not
good.
“Do you have any idea where we are?”
Owen asked.
“In a lake?” Ella replied.
“In a lake . . . and completely and totally
lost!” Owen replied.
“We’re not lost!” Ella said. “Home is . . .
that way! Or is it that way? Or . . .” Ella spun
in circles, looking in every direction. She
realized that they were indeed completely
and totally lost. “I hate it when you’re
right. . . .” she said with a sigh.
And Owen was right. They were more
lost than a dwarf without a beard. . . .
Uh-oh!
Read on for a sneak peek from the second book in the
Ella and Owen series, Attack of the Stinky Fish Monster!
1
ARE WE THERE YET?
“We are not lost!” Ella said
to her twin brother as they swam
through the water.
“Right,” Owen said. He gave his
sister a blank look. “We just fell down
a big hill, splashed into this lake, and
don’t know our way home.”
“You say that like it’s a bad thing,”
Ella replied. “Don’t worry. My dragon
sense will lead the way.”
“Dragon sense? Ha!” Owen
laughed.
“My dragon sense led us to
Osgood the ogre and also the Cave
of Aaaaah! Doom! and the wizard
Orlock Morlock, who cured your
cold,” Ella said proudly. “Just like I
promised.”
“You say that like it was a good
thing!” Owen said. “Your dragon
sense also got us into this mess
and—whoa!” Owen flipped his tail
out of the water. He looked behind
himself nervously. “Something swam
past me. Something BIG!”
“Don’t be sil—EEEEE!” Ella
screamed. “There is something in
the water!” She began bobbing up
and down.
“Maybe it’s a friendly fish,” Owen
said hopefully. “A big friendly fish
that wants to be friends because it’s
so friendly.”
Suddenly, a huge
SPLASH!
Black Water Slime Eel jumped out
from the water behind them. Its
mouth snapped open. Giant fangs
stuck ou
t like tusks. Its angry
scream sounded like an alarm. It
was coming right at them.
“FLY AWAY!” Ella and Owen cried
out at the same time.
Their dragon wings flapped as
fast as wings can flap. They flew
Ella
above the lake and—
BONK!
and Owen crashed into each other.
They fell back into
SPLASH!
the water. The slime eel’s back fin
rose from the water like a sword.
Its mouth opened, and it spit out the
bones of a smaller fish. Huge fangs
sparkled in the sun. Owen and Ella
dove out of the way. The eel swam
past, missing both of them.
“Grab the fin!” Ella yelled.
“No way!” Owen said. “That’s
crazy!”
Ella stretched her scaly arm and
grabbed the slime eel’s tail. “Follow
me!”
“I’m too far away!” Owen yelled.
“All I can grab is—” Owen grabbed
Ella’s tail.
The slime eel swam away fast,
pulling Ella through the water. Owen
hung on tightly.
“Stop tugging on my tail!” Ella
yelled back to her brother.
“I’m trying to save you!” Owen
shouted.
“That’s so nice of you, but this
is great! I’m a dragon cowgirl,” Ella
yelled. “Yippee-ki-yay!”
Then the slime eel lifted its tail
out of the water and snapped it like
a whip. Ella and Owen flew off the
eel and headed toward the shore.
“AAAAAH!” they screamed as
they sailed through the air.