Standard Disclaimers Apply: I do not own the Stephanie Plum world, nor the characters that are indigenous to it. I do, however, lay claim to those characters introduced to it, such as those found in this story.

This is a new story idea I came up with this afternoon. I thought I'd give it a whirl and see if anyone liked it. If I get ten reviews I'll continue it.

King in his Own Lunchbox

Prologue

Mama always told me that the key to telling a good story was to start with a fire breathing dragon and go from there. So here I was, back up against the basement wall with a dragon breathing puffs of smoke in my face. Don't believe me? Just check the security footage. Dad keeps every inch of the building monitored, night and day, day and night, no matter how unused the area is. Personally, I think he could have put a little more effort into the basement area. I mean, seriously! How do you not notice a giant fire breathing dragon lurking amongst the stacks of boxes? And they called themselves security experts.

The dragon let out another warm breath, surrounding me with a dense smoke. It was so close that I could have reached out and touched its green scaled nose had I not been completely paralysed with fear. I tried not to breathe too deeply to avoid having a coughing fit that would potentially trigger the dragon into action and who knew what would happen then? Probably, he would tear me limb from limb so fast I wouldn't have a chance to scream. And then I would never see my tenth birthday! It was definitely better to try not to inhale the smoke. I might live longer.

Without thinking, I let out a small whimper and the dragon laughed, moving a little closer so it could stare its big amber eyes into my brown ones. He searched their depths for a moment before lumbering off to his nest in the bowls of the basement. The moment he was out of sight I ran to the door that led to the stair well and didn't stop until I'd reached the fifth floor panting and huffing for air.

"Liam!" Uncle Hal exclaimed. "Where have you been? Your mother's been looking everywhere for you!"

"I got trapped by the dragon in the basement!" I told him excitedly. "It was just like Cooper said! Massive with green scales and amber eyes! And it breathes fire!" I was hopping from one foot to the other while I explained about how I'd been backed against the wall and couldn't get away and I had to hold my breath. He laughed and ruffled my hair before pushing me in the direction of Dad's office where Cooper was waiting for me.

Cooper is my brother. He's like a sixteen or something, so he's a bazillion years older than me, and has a tonne of homework all the time, but he still lets me hang out with him sometimes. If I'm really quiet while he's working on his homework he'll tell me stories, like the ones Mama likes to tell but with more violence. My favourite one is about a knight in shining armour that gets his head chopped off but continues searching for the damsel in distress so he can save her. He ruins the lady's dress with all the blood that's pouring out of his neck, but the lady doesn't mind.

The moment he saw me, Cooper smiled and held out his hand for me to take before leading me into Dad's office. "I found Liam," he announced, dragging me into the room and lifting me up to sit on the edge of Dad's desk. "Don't move," he told me. "The floor is made of lava."

Shocked, I looked down to find that he was right. The floor was covered in red hot, molten lava. "Don't stand in it, Cooper!" I cried. "You'll burn up!"

He let out a chuckle. "Don't you worry about me," he said. "I've got my special sneakers on."

Of course! How could I forget Cooper's special sneakers? If he didn't have those sneakers he would have died ages ago. They saved him from the lava floor that crops up at random intervals. They made him run faster and walk quieter and so much more. I longed so much for a pair of special sneakers for myself so I could be cool like Cooper, but Mama said I had to earn them. Only great heroes could have special shoes, she'd said, which is why Dad and Cooper both had special sneakers and one day if I was good enough I'd get them too.

"Cooper," Dad said, looking up from his computer and frowning over his reading glasses at Cooper. "Have you been smoking?"

"Course not," he replied, crinkling his brow. "Why would I do something as stupid as that?"

"Don't lie to me, Cooper. I can smell the smoke clinging to your clothes."

I turned around on the desk so that I could see Dad more easily. He removed his glasses and set them aside to lock eyes with Cooper. It was Dad's scary face, the one he used to stare down my uncles and scare away the boogermen from the closet at night. No one could lie to the scary face, not even Cooper and his special sneakers. Not even Mama, and I can't tell you how many times Mama's tried. I don't think she understood the power of the scary face.

After a while, Cooper took a step closer to Dad, around the desk, and held out his arm. "I swear, Dad, I haven't been smoking. I know better than that."

Dad was about to react when I remember the dragon breathing on me. "It was the dragon!" I shouted. "Coop hasn't been smoking! The dragon was breathing on me! It's me you can smell, Dad!" Just then Mama entered the room dressed her super tall shoes. "Get off the floor, Mama!" I warned. "The floor is made of lava! You'll die!"

In response she leaned down and tapped the side of her ankle three times and a light glow emitted from the bottom of her shoes. She'd just activated the heat shield. It would last about an hour if it needed to, but that was rarely the case. "Phew," she said, whipping her forehead with the back of her hand. "That was a close one. Thanks for warning me, Liam."

"I'm just glad you didn't go any further," I told her. "It gets deeper closer to Dad's desk. Even with your high shoes your feet would have been incinerated."

"Are we all ready to go?" she asked, looking between Coop and Dad as she smoothed down her dress. Sundays we always go to Grandma and Grandpa's house for dinner. It's really fun, 'cause it means I get to play with the old griffoness that lived in their living room. She was white all over and was kind a crazy, but lots of fun. She like to pluck at my hair and lick it into place, which never worked real well, because it stood up at odd angles no matter what anyone did to it. Mama liked to call it my happy hair, because it only lay flat when I wasn't happy.

As we all piled into Dad's motorised flying pirate ship, Mama sniffed the air. I sniffed it too, smelling the salt from the sea far below us and smiled appreciatively. Dad's pirate ship always had the best smelling air. Mama leaned closer to me and sniffed again while Cooper made sure I was strapped in properly – nobody wanted to fall from a flying pirate ship, least of all me. "Liam why do you smell like smoke?" Mama asked.

"I got trapped by a dragon today!" I told her as Dad set sail for Grandma's house in the woods. "He was right up close to me. I could have touched him, but I was afraid to move. I'm not as brave as Cooper. He wouldn't have been afraid to touch the dragon, would you Coop?"

"Course not, kiddo," Cooper assured me. "I'd have stuck my head in his mouth if I got the opportunity. No dragon can hurt me."

"See?" I said. "Coop is fearless!"

Mama sent a smile to Cooper and me before turning back to Dad at the helm. "You've got to talk to the new guys about smoking in the building," she said to Dad. "Especially in front of Liam. It's not good for him."

"Any sign of the skeletal devil horses yet, Liam?" Cooper asked me, leaning across the space between us to look over my side of the ship.

"Nope," I informed him. "Nothing yet. Hand me my telescope." He placed the long seeing tube in my hand and I quickly used it to scan the horizon. In the distance I could just make out the tell tale red and blue flash of a sky shark hovering next to a flying row boat. "The poor guy didn't stand a chance," I lamented, shaking my head.

"What's that, Liam?" Dad asked over his shoulder. "Did you spot something?"

"Sky sharks, Dad," I said. "Sky sharks caught the old row boat from down the street."

"Poor bugger," Dad sighed before returning to conversation with Mama. I didn't know what they were talking about but I think it might have been related to dragon extermination.

"How much further to Grandma's house," I asked Coop.

"Not far now, kiddo. We just passed the massive tree marker."

So, like I said, ten reviews and I'll continue. Let me know what you think.