Seawater.
“Say good-bye to your friends,” she said.
My hands glowed brighter and brighter. Jagged red sparks scattered and hissed on the floor. “I’ll save my friends,” I whispered.
“Save yourself instead,” she said, holding her hand out to me. “Poolah … no … mem —”
I heard more calls from below.
“Mumble all you want,” I said. “You can’t tempt me!”
Snatching my Wizardbook, I grabbed a rock from the floor and shot it at the wall next to her.
“What —!” Neffu fired at the noise. Blam!
I dived to the stairs and out of the room.
“Get back here!” she cried.
“Yell all you want — I’m outta here!” Feeling my way, I rushed into the passages ahead — down, down, down. The stones were damp and slippery beneath my feet.
But I knew where I was going.
If Neffu’s palace was the opposite of Jaffa City, her room — my room! — wouldn’t be at the top of the palace. It would be buried at the bottom.
It would be like a dungeon!
Neffu said that’s where she was born.
That’s where it all began.
And that’s where it would have to end.
One more hallway, then quickly down the wet steps to her room. I rushed through the door and stopped.
My heart swelled. The floor of the room was a pool as dark as the walls. It smelled of the ocean.
I hoped the waters in this dark palace connected with all the others in Droon. I spoke the name of the only one who could help me.
One second … two seconds …
The surface of the pool splashed and a mass of green hair rose from the water.
A face appeared from the depths of the pool.
She had answered my call.
“Demither!”
The serpent witch arched up to the ceiling of the small room.
Her tail slapped up from the pool, swished through the air once, then slithered under the water again.
“Keeah,” said Demither.
Her voice echoed sharply against the stones. Her lips were black, her skin paler than ever.
I was afraid of her, but I knew I had to speak.
“Long ago,” I said, “you shared your dark powers with me. Why?”
She stared at me with deep eyes. “To fight Sparr. You needed them then —”
“Those powers are taking over now.”
The Sea Witch nodded. “I did not know it, but Neffu was born that day. As your wizard magic has grown, the dark magic I gave you has also. And with it, she has grown. While you slept, she told you words, charms, spells….”
“She made me let Sparr into our city!” I said.
The witch’s head moved from side to side like a snake watching me. “Neffu wants to take you over. Then you’ll truly be a witch, as Sparr wants.”
“I won’t let it happen to me,” I said.
“You won’t let it?” cried Demither. “I was a wizard like your mother — it happened to me!”
Her shiny skin flashed in the light, making the room glow green.
It was then that I saw a black medal nearly hidden by the scales on her neck.
Carved deeply on the medal was a shape I knew. A triangle pointing down, sharp horns curving up from the upper angles, and a lightning bolt driving straight down the middle.
It was an ancient symbol, from the earliest language of Droon.
It was a name.
Sparr.
Demither twisted and writhed in the pool, knowing I had seen the amulet. “It would take more power than you have to remove this curse!” she said. “I am Sparr’s servant. I turned away from my family, from you, from everything —”
Booom-ooom! Neffu was blasting in the halls, yelling, coming closer.
“Keeah, listen!” said Demither, her eyes flashing. “I answered your call for a reason. One day, sorcerers and wizards will meet in a great struggle.”
I shuddered. “I hoped it would never happen —”
“It will. And when that day comes, Sparr will call on me, even against my will, to help him.”
My heart pounded. I couldn’t take my eyes off the black medal.
Demither’s eyes grew large. A red glow seemed to burst from them, then she looked away. “Do not let Neffu win! One becomes a droomar, but one chooses to be a witch. The dark powers are strong, but remember — until she becomes real, Neffu is magic, just magic. Nothing more!”
With that, she dived under the surface of the pool.
“Demither, wait!” I shouted.
Her tail slid away under the water.
I stared at the pool. She was gone.
“Demither,” I whispered, “if I ever get the chance, I will set you free!”
Suddenly, the room lit up with a red glow.
Neffu ran in, breathing hard. “So, you found my little room. Not bad, huh? But I think I’m ready for a change. A new room in Jaffa City. In the palace. Like your room, perhaps?”
But I had already decided.
“Sorry, Neffy,” I said. “I think living here has made you a bit wacky. Dark powers and all.”
“Dark powers?” she said. “Do you want to see what dark powers can do? Take a look!”
She murmured under her breath, “Pleth-ku … mala … tengo … hoo …”
All of a sudden, the damp air swirled with moving shapes. I saw wheels creaking and thousands of pilka hooves thundering toward us from a hazy distance.
“Is this some kind of vision?” I asked.
“I want you to see what could be ours!”
Then came chariots. I saw dozens of green groggles harnessed to golden cars, Ninn warriors inside, grunting and cheering. They raced right through the room and vanished.
Next came rivers of gold. They seemed to flow around the room’s dark walls, then fade away.
“All this will be ours for the asking!” she said.
A sudden blare of trumpets sounded, and I saw myself enthroned in the courtyard of Jaffa City, surrounded by Ninns blurting out a song.
Keeah here! Keeah there!
She’s our princess everywhere!
Neffu laughed. “You like?” She laughed again, and her face became as hard and cruel as Sparr’s face. And from behind her ears, beginning to sprout and grow, came burning red fins.
“It’s time!” she snarled. “Any last words?”
That’s when it came to me.
Words.
Galen always says power comes from words.
I closed my eyes, and words filled my head, thousands of them. But of all of them, one word sounded the loudest.
From the moment I heard it, I knew it was a word of great magic and power. But it wasn’t strange-sounding or from an ancient language.
It was a common word.
An everyday word.
A word I heard all the time.
And in my mind, I heard only one voice speaking it. My own.
I breathed in and opened my eyes.
All of a sudden, the dark room seemed to go still. And for an instant, I saw … everything.
The sights and sounds of Neffu’s magic visions were gone. Flooding my ears instead was the murmur of a million voices.
And a million hearts beating all over Droon.
On the wall in front of me, I saw a bead of water trickle down the stones as if it were a diamond, leaving a thin silver trail behind it.
I heard the whisper of the tattered black banners above and of the green and silver cloths hanging at home in Jaffa City.
The air itself seemed not dim and damp but tingling and alive with thousands of points of sparkling light.
It was beautiful!
And I knew what it was.
The Elfin Sight!
That’s when I knew I could defeat Neffu.
“So, are you ready?” she asked coldly.
I looked at the witch. “In a second,” I said.
Then I leaned ove
r the pool and twisted my belt in the reflection, first one way, then another.
“There. Perfect.”
“What was that all about?” Neffu asked.
“My father always says you should straighten your tunic before battle.”
“Battle?” Her face turned hard. The fins behind her ears turned black. “So, you’re not joining me?”
“It’s the red tunic,” I said. “It’s not really my color.”
BLAMMM! I sent a blast at her feet — a bright blue blast of wizard sparks. It sent her back to the wall.
“I’ll get you —” she howled. “You — you!”
“Now you sound like a Ninn!” I snapped. “No offense to the Ninns! Oh, and since you like words so much — snippity-ippity-plum-jumm!”
Instantly, the vision of a chariot roared into the room. Ninns urged the groggles to go faster.
“You’re nothing but magic?” I said. “Well, here’s your magic ride!”
With one more blast — whoom! — I sent her into the passing chariot. “Bye now!”
“I’ll come back!” she screamed. “I’ll barge into that pink room of yours and I’ll — ohhhh!”
Just before she went speeding away, I yanked the gold crown from her head. An instant later, the chariot drove straight through the ceiling and was gone. When the vision faded, the crown fell through my fingers, nothing more than dust.
“I figured,” I said. “Just magic.”
The rock rumbled again.
I dashed back into the hall and shot up the stairs. “Eric! Max! Ortha! Julie!”
My friends shouted back from somewhere above me. More stairs, more halls. The rock began to crumble. “I’m coming!”
“Keeah —” called Eric.
BLAMMM! I blasted the wall in front of me.
All my friends came tumbling out. And from across the room, a furry little shape ran to me.
Max leaped into my arms. “Oh, my princess!”
I hugged him tight. “Max! I’m so sorry for blasting you out to sea!”
“But no!” he chirped. “You sent me away from Jaffa City for a reason. If you hadn’t, I never would have been able to scuttle the Ninn boats. They never would have chased me here. It all led me back to you! Now that is true wizardry!”
Boom! Krrrackkkk! Thunnnk! The giant rock quaked all around us.
“With Neffu gone,” I said, “her palace is crumbling.”
“We’d better get out of here!” said Neal.
The ceiling began to fall in giant chunks.
“Booby trap!” yelled Julie.
“Bumpalump booby trap!” shouted Batamogi.
Huge pieces of ceiling shattered on every side. Neffu’s home was crumbling around us. The Bumpalump was cracking apart.
“The ugly palace is coming down!” cried Twee. “We’ll be squished!”
Whammm! A wall tumbled down at our feet.
Suddenly, Julie pointed to a hole breaking open in the floor. “Daylight. A way out —”
We rushed toward the light, but two walls were sliding together in front of it.
“We won’t make it!” cried Batamogi.
“I can!” said Neal. He ran, then dropped to the floor, his wet clothes helping him slide between the closing walls. He stopped in the gap and jammed a stone between the walls.
“I hate being wet,” he crowed, “but the slippery thing works for me! Everyone out of here — fast!”
We jumped between the walls and down through the floor, where we found another rock slide. Daylight glinted below.
“Here we go again!” I cried.
Whooosh! Down and around and up and down we flew. In passage after passage, we twisted and tumbled, thrown together and split apart.
“Wheeee!” Khan shouted, bumping Twee into Woot and Max into Batamogi.
Finally — whoomp! whoomp! — we flew out of the stone and tumbled away from the quaking Bumpalump.
A gang of Ninns were also running away from the crumbling rock. “Get away!” they yelled. “Keeah not lead us!”
We rolled to safety while more and more rocks tumbled down around us. After what seemed like a long time, the quaking stopped. The dust cleared.
And we stared.
“Oh, my goodness,” Ortha whispered.
Julie gasped. “Um … whoa.”
“Pretty much me, too,” said Eric.
Batamogi gulped. “The Bumpalump — is not the Bumpalump!”
The enormous stone was no longer a mass of jagged rock. It was now a giant head, looking east toward the Dark Lands.
“It’s like what Thum told us,” said Eric. “Droon’s future lies in the one with the biggest head.”
“And that’s the biggest head ever,” said Julie. “Keeah, it’s you. The face is you!”
It was me. My face. My eyes. My hair and crown.
And no fins growing behind the ears.
My heart soared to see the stone sculpture.
“It’s a sign,” said Ortha.
“A sign?” said Neal, looking up at the head. “It’s nice and everything, but I think we just fell out of the nose!”
Plop-plop! Neal’s two sneakers came down from the nose and struck him on the head.
“Things are looking up,” he mumbled.
“Speaking of looking up,” gasped Batamogi. “Look there — haggons!”
We turned to see the three hag sisters circling overhead. “Keeeeeeaahhh!” they shrieked.
I raised my hands in the air. Blue sparks sprinkled from them.
“Attack-k-k-k-k!” the haggons howled.
“Guys,” I said, “I think they figured out I’m not their leader anymore. This time they will attack.”
“But maybe we can choose the place,” said Batamogi. He turned to Julie. “Can you take us back to our village right now?”
Julie’s eyes sparkled. “I think I can!” she said. “Everybody grab hold of one another. Keeah, Ortha, you take my hands. Here we gooooo!”
We held hands tightly — all ten of us — and Julie lifted into the air. Together we flew up and soared back to the village.
The haggons flapped noisily behind us, shrieking and snarling at my bright blue sparks.
“So,” the first one said, grinding her two teeth together. “Keeah is our enemy again?”
“She always was a goody-goody,” snarled the second. “And we are the baddy-baddies!”
“Plus, I never did like blue!” the third one howled. “Are you ready to attack, sisters?”
They began to circle the little village.
“Should we use our magic?” asked Eric.
“Maybe there’s a better idea.” I looked over at the dust wheel. “Batamogi?”
“Just what I was thinking,” he said. “Oobja!”
“Dive, sisters — dive,” shrieked the haggons.
Batamogi and everyone from the village raced to the big wooden wheel in the square.
“Now!” he said. They pulled the lever hard.
Whrr-whrr-whrr! The wheel turned faster and faster, and more and more dust whirled around until — whoosh! — a funnel shot up at the haggons.
Dust spun in their faces, and they sneezed — aaaa-chooo! — over and over again. The force of the sneezes threw them to the ground. They sat up sneezing even more.
Finally, the largest one grunted. “This is just too hard. Come, sisters. Let’s go back to the Dark Lands. Sparr is on his own!”
The three hag dragons flew up over the dust hills, sneezed some more, and were gone.
“May Droon be with you!” I called.
The Oobja cheered loudly. And my friends joined in, too.
I looked around. Everyone was with me. Three friends from the Upper World. Three from the Bangledorn Forest. My trusted spider troll friend. The leader of the Lumpies. The Oobja king and all his people.
My heart lifted as if it had wings.
“To Jaffa City!” I cried.
Using my mother’s words again, I waved my hands, and together
we flew back across Droon in a tube of spinning blue light.
We raced over the ground, passing the great Rivertangle, the deserts of Lumpland, the giant Bangledorn Forest.
“My beautiful Droon is almost safe,” I whispered.
“Thanks to you,” said Eric, smiling.
But I knew that the most dangerous part of the journey was still to come.
We would have to face Lord Sparr himself.
By the time we got in sight of the city walls, there were only a few minutes left before the halting spell ended. Soon the city would be alive again.
Whoosh! We soared over the palace and into the courtyard. It had been nearly twelve hours since that morning. Already, the sun was setting over the western sea. The ocean’s dark waves flashed gold in the last of the light.
“It’s nearly time,” said Julie.
We charged into the palace together.
We raced right to the throne room.
I stopped. My parents were still trapped in their crystal box, their eyes closed in sleep.
“Soon,” I said.
In the center of the room, Sparr stood silent, a gloating smile fixed on his face.
“Children, hide behind the banner,” said Max. “I’ll climb to the rafters. Khan, would you care to come?”
“And us, too!” said Twee.
“Certainly,” said the Lumpy king.
All together, Khan, Max, and the three Bangledorn monkeys climbed to the ceiling.
I took my place, stepping up to Lord Sparr.
As he moved behind the curtain with Neal, Julie, and Batamogi, Eric turned to me. “This is your moment, Keeah. Good luck.”
I smiled. “Thanks.”
The room went silent.
Three seconds … two seconds …
Then I heard the soft scratch of the sorcerer’s cloak moving over the stones.
It was time.
Whooosh! The spell ended. Everything came alive at once.
My heart trembled as I saw Sparr move.
He noticed me instantly, narrowing his gaze. “You stopped everything.”
Closing my eyes for a moment, I sensed Max and Ortha scampering across the ceiling, as stealthy as mice.
I heard my father’s slow breathing in the crystal box, my mother’s heart beating in her sleep. I felt Eric, Julie, and Neal waiting behind the curtain.