The Coiled Viper

  Title Page

  Dedication

  1: A Matter of Time

  2: Glemf?

  3: Battle on the Beach

  4: Play It Again, Neal!

  5: Beyond the Veil

  6: City of Tents

  7: A Face from Far Away

  8: Hidden … and Waiting

  9: The Moon Medallion

  10: Sunrise

  The Adventure Continues …

  Also Available

  Copyright

  “How much time do we have?” asked Eric Hinkle as he wheeled his bicycle to the front of the public library.

  Julie Rubin hopped off her bike and raced up the steps. “Two hours. Neal’s supposed to get us a worktable.” She pushed through the doors.

  Eric paused on the steps. The three friends were meeting at the library to work on school projects. They each had to create a family tree and write a report on a distant ancestor.

  Eric looked out over the busy center of their little town. He smiled to himself. People were shopping, strolling, and walking their dogs.

  The town had a pizza place, a movie theater, and a skate park. It was everything a town should be.

  And soon it would be even better.

  He looked up at the banner over Main Street:

  NEW CHILDREN’S LIBRARY

  GRAND OPENING PARTY AT NOON TODAY

  “More books!” he cheered as he went in.

  To the left of the main room were the glass doors of the new children’s wing — two floors of books, computers, videos, and reading areas.

  “Hey, guys,” said Neal Kroger, dumping a pile of books on a nearby table. “Now, don’t get me wrong. I love the library. My mom even runs the place. And making a family tree sounds fun. But I’m not a real fan of weekend homework.”

  Julie laughed. “It’s our own fault. After our last big adventure you know where, we totally fell asleep in class. And missed the assignment!”

  Eric smiled again.

  You know where was as different from their town as any two places could possibly be.

  You know where was the world of Droon, the very secret and very mysterious land Eric and his friends had discovered under his house.

  It all started when a magical rainbow-colored staircase appeared in a small closet in Eric’s basement. At the bottom of those stairs lay a land of mystery and adventure. And awesome friends.

  Princess Keeah was a junior wizard and one of their best friends. Galen Longbeard was a master wizard of great age and power. Max was a funny orange-haired spider troll. Together, they all helped keep Droon free from the clutches of a very wicked and very powerful sorcerer. A sorcerer with fins behind his ears and a V-shaped scar on his head. A sorcerer named Lord Sparr.

  The kids had helped change Droon’s destiny. But Droon had changed them, too.

  For one thing, Eric had gained his own wizard powers. And ever since Julie was scratched by a wingwolf, she had been able to fly. Sometimes, she could even change shape.

  “Speaking of you know where,” said Eric as he pulled a notebook from his backpack, “I keep remembering what Keeah said once. That our two worlds are tied closely together.”

  “That’s for sure,” said Julie. “Especially now that Sparr is actually here in our world.”

  Eric shivered. Sparr was in the Upper World.

  In his quest for a mysterious object called the Coiled Viper, the sorcerer discovered a long-forgotten second stairway between Droon and the Upper World. It was called the Dark Stair.

  “Sparr may be here,” said Neal, “but he’s not exactly now, if you know what I mean.”

  This was true, too. Blasting his way up the Dark Stair in a storm of red lightning, Sparr discovered to his astonishment that the stair led not to the present but to the past.

  The year 1470, to be exact.

  Sparr tried to use a time portal to travel to the present, where he knew the Viper lay hidden. But the portal collapsed.

  Sparr was trapped in the past.

  Julie set a yellow pad on the table and pulled two pencils from the pocket of her shorts. “I’m glad Sparr is stuck far back in time. Can you imagine if he actually came here? I mean — yikes!”

  Eric breathed in deeply.

  That was exactly what Sparr wanted to do.

  When Keeah was four years old, she and a witch named Demither secretly climbed the rainbow stairs to Eric’s house. Together, they flew out from his attic and hid something in his town.

  It didn’t take a wizard to guess that what they hid and what Sparr was looking for were the same thing.

  The Coiled Viper.

  But that wasn’t the only problem. A nasty spirit named Om had once made a prophecy to Eric.

  You will find it … and give it to Sparr.

  Eric trembled to recall those words. He hoped they weren’t true. He hated the idea that he would ever help someone as evil as Sparr.

  “Hello, kids!” said a woman in a blue dress, coming to their table with a pile of newspapers. It was the librarian, Mrs. Kroger, Neal’s mother. “I have those newspapers you wanted, Julie. They’re very old, so please be careful.”

  “I will be. Thanks!” said Julie. “One of my ancestors was a reporter during the Civil War. I’m going to read her stories in these old papers.”

  “Family trees are full of interesting branches,” Mrs. Kroger said, heading back to her desk.

  “Interesting and sometimes strange,” Neal whispered. “My aunt races motorcycles. And Grandma Kroger makes art out of old junk!”

  Julie laughed. “Are you writing about them?”

  “Nope,” said Neal. “I’m going all the way back to 1620, to see if any of my ancestors came on the Mayflower, the boat the Pilgrims sailed to America.”

  “It’s called a ship, not a boat,” said Julie.

  Eric grinned. “Well, I lucked out. My mom said my great-great-great-grandfather helped the Wright brothers test their airplane in 1904. The library has an old silent movie of the flight.”

  “Librarians love silent movies,” said Neal with a chuckle.

  As Julie carefully turned the pages of one old newspaper and Neal cracked open a book about the Mayflower, Eric went to the video shelves.

  Families are pretty strange, he thought.

  Not only did the powerful sea witch Demither turn out to be Keeah’s aunt, but when the kids followed Sparr up the Dark Stair, they discovered that Galen and Sparr were brothers.

  Besides that, they were both born in the Upper World and had a third brother named Urik. Urik was a wizard who helped the kids, then took off after Sparr in the time portal. Urik was trapped somewhere in time, too.

  “Galen, Urik, and Sparr — brothers,” Eric said as he searched. “Who would believe it —”

  He stopped. There was a sudden jangle of bells and what sounded like a whisper.

  “Sparr-r-r-r!”

  Eric froze. He looked through the shelf. No one was there. Then he laughed. “Okay, too much thinking about Sparr!”

  He found the tape he was looking for, then headed to a video workstation across the room from where Neal and Julie were reading.

  He inserted the tape, forwarded to the part his mother had told him about, and pressed PLAY. The scratchy images of a silent film came on. The scene showed grassy sand dunes where a small crowd of people had gathered.

  In the center stood a flimsy airplane, with wings that looked as if they were made of paper.

  The propellers began to turn, and the plane moved along the ground. A man waving a white hat ran alongside the plane until a flash of light streaked across the film and the scene ended.

  “That was him!” said Eric. “Mom said my great-great-great-grandfather always wore a white hat! Cool. I’ve got to write about
him!”

  Suddenly, Neal jumped up from his table. “Holy freak-out! I hope I’m not related to him!”

  Mrs. Kroger frowned at him. “Neal, shhh.”

  Eric rushed over. “Neal, what is it?”

  Neal pointed to the open book on the table. In it was an old ink drawing of the Mayflower being tossed in a storm. On the deck, barely visible in the shadows, was the crouching figure of a man. He seemed normal, except for one thing.

  “Fins!” said Neal. “Look at him. He’s got fins behind his ears. You know who has fins behind his ears? Sparr has fins behind his ears.”

  “It can’t be,” said Eric, squinting at the book. “It’s just an old picture. Julie, take a look —”

  “Shhh, and listen to this!” she said, tapping her newspaper. “In 1863, in the middle of the Civil War, during a balloon flight, there’s suddenly a storm of — are you ready? — red lightning!”

  Neal’s eyes went wide. “Red lightning? You know who likes red lightning? Sparr does!”

  “No way,” said Eric. “We must all have Sparr on the brain. It doesn’t mean anything.”

  “Well, it’s freaking me out,” grumbled Neal.

  Eric shook his head. “Let’s just keep working.” He walked back over to his video station, rewound the tape, and pressed PLAY again.

  This time as he watched the man in the hat, he couldn’t help noticing another man moving along the crowd behind the plane.

  Eric’s heart fluttered for a moment.

  Just before the film ended, the man turned to the camera. He had deep-set eyes, a sharp nose, and a pointed beard. He also had a mark on his forehead. It looked like a scar.

  A V-shaped scar.

  “No way! No way!”

  Eric hit the PAUSE button on the video player. His heart seemed to pause, too.

  He wanted to scream but couldn’t.

  Finally, he just pointed at the screen.

  “Guys, get over here! It’s him! It’s — Sparr!”

  Eric’s heart was thumping like a drum as he and his friends stared at the video monitor.

  “I don’t believe it,” whispered Julie.

  “Neither do I,” said Eric. “It’s crazy. But it’s all here in black and white. First, there’s a guy on a ship in 1620. He looks a little like Sparr, but maybe it’s just a bad picture. Then, in 1863, there’s a storm of red lightning, Sparr’s favorite kind. Finally, in 1904, there’s a guy with a V-shaped scar. No one has a scar like that —”

  “But it can’t be Sparr,” said Julie. “The time portal collapsed. Sparr was trapped in the past.”

  “Then what does this mean?” asked Neal.

  Eric breathed in deeply. “I think it means that Sparr isn’t trapped anymore. I think it means he’s traveling through time. From 1470 to 1620 to 1863 to 1904. Sparr’s getting closer. He’s coming here. For the Viper.”

  “Sparr-r-r-r!”

  Eric jumped. “That voice! I heard it earlier!”

  He looked up to see a green creature about a foot tall standing on the top bookshelf. It was dressed in a red cape trimmed with tiny bells.

  Eric’s mouth dropped open. “What —”

  The creature’s big yellow eyes bulged at him.

  “It’s — him!” it said. “I must — glemf! — tell the others!” With that, the creature sprang to the floor and tore away between the stacks.

  “Was that a frog?” asked Neal.

  “A frog that said ‘Sparr’?” asked Julie.

  Eric blinked. “It was a frog that said ‘Sparr.’ And it’s getting away! After it!”

  They raced between the stacks, past the new children’s room, and into the magazine area, where several patrons were reading quietly.

  “There it is!” said Neal, pointing up.

  Using its large webbed feet, the creature scampered straight up the wall. At the top, it turned, said “glemf,” then popped out a window.

  Julie started for the wall. “I’ll fly up —”

  “No!” said Eric. “We can’t give ourselves away. Let’s go outside.”

  They pushed open the doors just in time to see a little red cape zip under the library banner over Main Street.

  “It’s moving so fast, I don’t think anyone sees it,” said Julie.

  “Probably a good thing,” said Neal. “Uh-oh!”

  Beeeeep! A minivan screeched to a halt as the creature sprang in front of it, then to the curb.

  “Hey, keep your dog on a leash,” the driver called out. “Wait — is it a dog?”

  “Yes, sir!” said Eric. “Um … heel, boy!”

  But the creature didn’t heel. It leaped over a trash can and zigzagged among the shoppers on Main Street.

  “Time to split up,” said Julie. “I’ll fly over the supermarket and surprise it when it gets to the corner.” She checked to see if anyone was looking, then glided up from the ground.

  Eric nodded. “And if it puts up a fight, I’ll stop it with a spray of blue sparks!”

  Neal shrugged. “Since I don’t have any powers, I’ll just — run!” He cut straight across the town park, leaping over benches and sidestepping baby strollers.

  As Eric ran, he felt his hands get warm. He held them up and saw tiny blue sparks springing off his fingertips. “Yeah, I may need this.”

  “Eric! Neal!” Julie shouted from the supermarket roof. “It went between the pizza place and the cleaners. There’s no way out.”

  “I’m there!” said Neal, pouring on the speed.

  “Ha! We’ve got it!” Eric tore around the restaurant just as Julie fluttered to the ground.

  Neal was already in the alley, standing in the middle of three high brick walls, staring ahead.

  His mouth was open, his eyes were gaping.

  “Don’t tell me you lost it?” asked Julie.

  “I didn’t lose it,” Neal said. “Well, not exactly. I mean, I saw where it went.”

  “Then let’s follow it,” said Eric.

  “We can’t,” said Neal. “It went there.”

  “There?” Julie looked where Neal was pointing. “What do you mean? There’s just air there.”

  “And that’s where it went!” said Neal. “I mean, I was really zooming. I was just about to grab its little red cape, when all of a sudden — slorp — it’s gone!”

  Julie squinted at Neal. “Slorp? That’s it?”

  He nodded. “Except for the music.”

  Eric felt chills trickle up the back of his neck. “Music? What kind of music?”

  “A weird little tune,” said Neal. “Played on some kind of flute or something. Then … slorp.”

  Eric looked around the alley again, then down Main Street at all the people and cars and shops. Ten minutes earlier it had looked so normal.

  “Something very weird is going on,” he said, taking a deep breath. “First, we find out that maybe Sparr is moving through time —”

  “Which is scary enough,” said Julie.

  Eric nodded. “Then this little green guy whispers about Sparr —”

  “And vanishes with a slorp,” added Neal.

  “It’s weird, all right,” said Julie. “I say we need help. The Galen and Keeah sort of help.”

  Eric smiled. “Then what are we waiting for?”

  Five minutes later, they were tramping down to Eric’s basement. Pulling aside two cartons, they entered the small closet, shut the door, switched off the light, and stood in the dark.

  But not for long.

  Whoosh! A rainbow-colored glow shone from beneath their feet, and they found themselves standing on the top step of a staircase circling down and away from Eric’s house.

  Below them was the hazy pink sky of Droon in the morning. As they stepped down, the mists began to clear, and they saw where they were.

  “I see a beach,” said Julie. “A small boat is moored in the water. Look, there’s Galen!”

  Below them, three figures were hurrying across the beach to a thick grove of trees. In the lead was a tal
l bearded man in a long blue robe. He pointed to a range of cliffs dotted with caves.

  “I see orange hair and lots of legs,” said Neal. “Max is there, too.”

  “And Keeah!” said Eric, waving at a girl wearing a blue tunic and a gold crown.

  But as the stairs faded and the kids ran to their friends, the waves crashed, and the surface of the sea burst open violently — ka-whoom!

  Everyone turned. A large red hull emerged from the waves and splashed toward the shore.

  Keeah stared at the water. “Oh, no!”

  “Our fears have come true,” said Galen.

  “It’s a boat!” said Neal.

  “More like a ship,” chirped Max.

  “A big red ship,” added Julie.

  “Boat, ship. It’s not the Mayflower!” said Neal.

  A moment later — fwing-ing-ing! — streaks of fire shot from the deck and across the beach.

  “Flaming arrows!” cried Eric. “It’s a big red ship full of big red Ninns! Everyone take cover!”

  Errrk! A hatch on the side of the ship opened, and dozens of Sparr’s red warriors plopped onto the sand. “We see you! We get you!” they cried.

  “To the caves!” said Galen, already starting to run. “Max, spin us a rope, if you please.”

  “At once, master!” Max’s eight furry legs blurred into action, weaving a stout rope of the finest spider silk. When they got to the cliff, he threw it up to the entrance of a large cave.

  “Up we go!” cheered the spider troll.

  When they reached the cave, Galen turned. “Keeah, how about something special for our charming friends down there?”

  “I don’t mind if I do!” said the princess. Smiling, she raised her hand, and a swirl of blue sparks streamed down to the trees below.

  Suddenly, the branches came alive, twisting and turning and grabbing the Ninns as they charged up the sand.

  “That should slow them down!” chirped Max.

  Galen turned to Eric and his friends. “Sparr’s warriors rarely sail this close to Jaffa City. They must know our secret.”

  “What secret?” asked Julie.

  “The reason we are here,” said Keeah. “We came to hide the Eye of the Viper in the cliffs.”

  While Galen stood guard like a mighty oak tree over the cave entrance, Max opened a pouch on his belt and removed a small box.