Evelyn knew that if you listened really, really hard, you could hear the ocean singing! She put her ear to the ground and closed her eyes tight.
"What are you doing, Evelyn?" Lily the dog barked. Lily loved to lick Evelyn's face, and she especially loved to do it when Evelyn wasn't expecting it.
"Shh! I'm listening for the ocean. It's singing about a volcano!"
Evelyn loved the ocean, and she loved fish! Sometimes she wished she could dive down, down, down to the bottom and swim with all the silly fish.
"A volcano?" Lily tilted her head. "Volcanoes are loud and hot! Why would the ocean sing about a volcano?"
"Because this volcano is special," Evelyn whispered. "It's called Erupting Volcano, and it's full of...wait for it...dragons!"
Lily’s tail stopped wagging. “Dragons? Those sound scary!”
"They're not scary! They're actually very nice." Evelyn giggled. "And guess what? They love to play hide and seek!"
Evelyn grabbed Lily's paw. "Come on, let's go find this volcano!"
Evelyn knew that to get to Erupting Volcano, they had to follow the sunshine. So they walked and walked, until the sun was high above their heads. Suddenly, Evelyn stopped.
"Do you feel that Lily?" Evelyn asked.
"Feel what?" Lily said, sniffing at a butterfly.
"The ground! It's warm!"
Evelyn and Lily looked ahead. And there it was! Erupting Volcano! It was big and tall, and bright red lava flowed down its sides like melted candy.
"Wow!" Evelyn and Lily said together.
As they got closer, Evelyn felt a little bit scared. But she remembered what her mom always said - "When things get tough, just keep going!"
Evelyn took a deep breath and started climbing the volcano. It was hot and steamy, but she didn't give up.
"Come on, Lily!" Evelyn called. Lily, who was not a fan of heights, slowly followed behind.
Finally, they reached the top. And there, in the middle of the volcano's crater, was a dragon! It had emerald green scales, wings as big as a house, and a long, swirly tail. But the funniest thing about this dragon was that it was...giggling?
"Excuse me," Evelyn said politely. "Are you the dragon who loves to play hide and seek?"
The dragon stopped giggling and looked at Evelyn with big, surprised eyes. "Why yes! But how did you know?"
"The ocean told me!" Evelyn said. "It sings about everything!"
The dragon laughed, a sound like rumbling thunder. "That tickles! Well then, little one, are you ready to play?"
Evelyn and Lily spent the whole afternoon playing hide and seek with the giggly dragon. Evelyn even learned that the dragon wasn't scary at all, he was just a little shy! They all laughed and played until the sun began to set.
As they walked back home, Lily, who was very tired from all the excitement, leaned against Evelyn's leg.
"You know," Lily said with a yawn, "that was actually kind of fun for a scary volcano."
Evelyn giggled, "See, I told you! Sometimes the things that seem scary turn out to be the best adventures. You just have to be brave and keep going!"
And with the sound of the ocean singing in her ears, Evelyn knew this wasn't the last adventure she would have. After all, there were a lot of songs left to be sung!
