Dan Elish - The Royal Order of Fighting Dragons

Other Books by Dan Elish

Childrens Fiction

The Great Squirrel Uprising

Jason and the Baseball Bear

Born Too Short: The Confessions of an Eighth-Grade Basket Case

The Attack of the Frozen Woodchucks

The School for the Insanely Gifted

The Worldwide Dessert Contest

By Jason Robert Brown and Dan Elish

For Adults

Nine Wives

The Misadventures of Justin Hearnfeld

The Royal Order of Fighting Dragons

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously.

Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Copyright 2018 Dan Elish

All rights reserved.

Cover Credit: Original Illustration by Sam Shearon

Interior Illustrations: Original artwork by Sam Shearon

www.mister-sam.com

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without written permission from the publisher, except where permitted by law.

ISBN: 978-1-944109-55-4

Published by Vesuvian Books

www.vesuvianbooks.com

For Andrea, Cassie and John

Table of Contents

With ten minutes left in sixth-grade social studies, Ike Hollingsberry heard the faint bring of the incoming text. Though students at the Branford School in New York City werent allowed to have their cell phones out in class, Ike wasnt able to resist glancing into his open knapsack to take a peek.

Click the link below to watch what happened to your father on the set of The Fighting Dragons.

Ike sighed. Really? At this point, the only thing to do was to try not to laugh. When would these psycho bloggers leave him alone? The TV studio had made it clear from day one the accident hadnt been filmed.

As his teacher, Mr. Donadio, paced the front of the classroom, holding forth on the meaning of the American Revolution, Ike slipped the phone into his lap.

763-372-4667

As expected, he didnt recognize the senders number. But Ike knew the typeanother lunatic with too much time on his hands and nothing better to do than speculate about how exactly his poor dad had died.

Ike?

He looked up with a start. A black belt in karate, Mr. Donadio had once tossed a dictionary across the room, narrowly missing the heads of two talking students. Ike shuddered. What if the dictionary was only a warm-up act? What if the class terrarium was next?

What do you think youre doing? the teacher went on. You know the rules on phones.

Im sorry, Ike stammered. It wont happen again.

He dropped the phone back in his knapsack.

Make sure that it doesnt, Mr. Donadio said. He smiled, perhaps a little too broadly. Lets see whether you know as much about the Revolutionary War as you do about social networking. What year was the Constitution signed?

Ike had done his readingand carefully, too. But every time he received one of those strange texts, IMs, or emails, it was hard to focus on anything else.

Well

His voice trailed off.

The answer was so close. He might have gotten it, too. But then he saw her, one aisle over. With stringy black hair and fingernails chewed down to their nubs, Elmira Hand held the dubious distinction of being the Branford sixth grades biggest fan of The Fighting Dragons. She loved to surprise Ike at inopportune moments with comments or observations about the show. A glimpse of her was enough to wipe all traces of the American Revolution clean out of his head. All he could think about was his dad.

After letting him squirm for a few moments, Mr. Donadio scanned the class. Who can help Ike out?

Hands shot up.

1787, a voice called.

Very good, the teacher said. Then he tapped Ikes desk.

Perhaps you can tell us who our countrys first president was?

Laughter flittered across the class. Even in his addled state, Ike knew that one.

George Washington, he muttered.

Impressive, Mr. Donadio said. Then to the class. Lets continue our discussion.

Ike tried desperately to follow the lesson. But how could he focus? It was maddening, actually. The mysterious text wouldnt shed any new light on his dads accident. Even so, his heart was racing.

Because there was always that small chance.

What if, after all these years, there really was a video? Wouldnt that be amazing? Only four at the time, Ike still remembered walking down Broadway with his mother the day after the tragedy and seeing the papers at the local newsstand. With a crowd of people pointing and talking, it hadnt taken long to figure out what the headlines read.

Childrens dragon-riding TV star Cameron Hollingsberry killed on set by fake insect.

Gigantic fake locust mauls TV actor in accidental death.

Star Hollingsberry slain by malfunctioning flying invertebrate.

Even seven years later, it was almost impossible to believe something so ridiculous had taken place. Had his father, a mild-mannered British actor on a kids TV show, really shown up for work one day only to be killed by a giant fake insect? Apparently so. What made it even crazier were reports that his dad had been engaged in a staged battle at the time, riding a fake dragon.

Hey, Ike.

Somehow while thinking about his father, class had ended. To his dismay, Elmira was leaning over from her desk.

Wanna grab lunch?

Lunch? he said haltingly.

Yeah. You and me.

He didnt want to be rude, but the last thing he needed now was to try and eat a Sloppy Joe while taking questions about his dad from the class weirdo. Gee, sorry, Elmira. I usually eat with Diego and Kashvi. In fact, Im meeting them outside right now. But hey, another time, okay?

Elmira objected, but Ike didnt wait. Grabbing his knapsack, he cut into the busy hallway.

As expected, Diego was already waiting, hair a mess, shirt untucked, and his belt missing a good half of the loopshis usual look.

Yo, he said.

Yo, Ike replied.

Ready to eat?

Absolutely, Ike said. But mind if I meet you there today?

Sure, Diego said. Where you going?

My locker for a second. Save that seat, okay?

Turning fast, Ike bumped smack into Kashvi.

Wherere you going? she asked.

Thats what I asked, Diego said, coming up from behind. Whats up, Ike?

Out of the corner of his eye, Ike saw Elmira slip by, looking him over. No doubt he needed to move this along.

Just my locker, guys, he said quickly. See you in two minutes. Promise.