Title Page
Dedication
1: The Small Room
2: The Sky Below the Ground
3: Groggles and Ninns
4: At the Bridge
5: The Vanishing Tower
6: Home Must Wait
7: The Forbidden City
8: Prisoners!
9: Into Thin Air!
10: The World Under the Stairs
The Adventure Continues …
Also Available
Copyright
Eric Hinkle ran past his mother on his way through the kitchen. He was heading to the back door.
“Neal and I are going to play soccer in the yard,” he said. “Julie’s coming, too. Gotta go.”
“Stop.” His mother blocked the door. “Didn’t you forget something, Eric?”
She held out her hand.
She was holding empty garbage bags.
Eric looked at his mother. He looked at the garbage bags. All of a sudden, he remembered.
“Oh, no! I forgot about the basement!”
Knock, knock.
Eric sighed. He pulled the door open. Neal Kroger stepped into the kitchen. Neal lived at the end of Eric’s street. He was Eric’s best friend.
“Hey, what’s up?” Neal asked.
“I have to clean the basement,” Eric grumbled.
Mrs. Hinkle gave Eric the garbage bags. “You know your father wants to start remodeling the basement soon. This was supposed to be your special job.”
Neal made a face at Eric. “That doesn’t sound like much fun.”
“According to my dad, it’s not supposed to be fun,” Eric replied. “It’s supposed to be done.”
“Give it two hours,” Mrs. Hinkle said. She pointed to the clock. It was two o’clock.
“Two whole hours?” Eric headed for the basement door.
“Hey, I’ll help,” said Neal. “We’ll be sort of a team. Maybe we’ll find some cool stuff.”
Eric smiled. Neal is a true friend, he thought. He’ll even help clean up junk. “Okay. Come on.”
Eric flicked on the light. The two boys tramped down to the basement.
On the right side of the stairs was the playroom. It had paneling on the walls, bookcases, a toy chest, a big sofa, and even a television.
“This looks pretty clean,” Neal said, peeking in. “If my basement was like this, I’d live down here.”
Eric liked the playroom, too. It was a great place to hang out on rainy days.
“The playroom isn’t the problem,” Eric said. “Look over here.” He stepped into the other side of the basement. The room on the left side of the stairs. The side his father was going to remodel.
“What a mess!” Neal said, looking around.
On one wall was a tool bench filled with jars of nails, nuts, and bolts. On another wall were cabinets lined with canned food. An old washer and drier sat against a third wall.
And everywhere in between was junk.
In piles. In bunches. In cartons. In boxes.
There was even a dusty old chair sitting in the middle of the floor.
“We’d better get started,” Eric muttered.
Neal slumped into the old chair. “We? Did I say I would help?”
Eric stared at his friend. “You said we were a team.”
“I’ll be the coach,” Neal said with a smile.
Tap, tap!
A face appeared at the basement window.
“It’s Julie,” said Eric. He waved. “Come in.”
Julie Rubin had been friends with Eric and Neal ever since they got stuck in a tree together in kindergarten. Since then, they’d been in all the same classes. They even went to the same summer camp.
“Hi,” Julie said as she raced down the stairs. She held a soccer ball under her arm.
“I thought we were going to play,” she said, checking her watch. “It’s only two o’clock.”
Eric dragged a big toy box out from under the stairs. “Sorry, I’ve got to clean all this stuff up.”
“And I’m coaching,” Neal said. “Ball, please?”
Julie passed the ball to Neal and looked around. “It looks like a big job. I’ll help.”
“How about a little game first?” Neal said. He stood up and bounced the ball once. Then he swung his foot hard. “Heads up, everybody!”
“Wait!” Eric yelled, ducking behind the box.
Too late. The ball was already in the air. It bounced off the tool bench and smacked Neal right in the face. “Ow! My nose!”
“Serves you right!” said Julie.
The ball bounced off the washing machine and rolled into the shadows by the stairs.
“I’ll get it!” Julie jumped after the ball, then stopped. “Hey, what’s this?” She pointed to a door in the wall under the stairs. It was open slightly.
“My house has that, too,” Neal said. “There’s a cool little closet inside.”
Eric remembered seeing that door a million times. But he had never been inside. “It must have swung open when I pulled that box away.”
“Well, I think the ball went in there,” Julie said. She swung the door open further. “Cool!”
Inside was a small closet. The ceiling was the underside of the basement stairs. It slanted all the way to the floor at the back of the room.
In the center sat the soccer ball.
“This is great,” Eric said, peeking over Julie’s shoulder. “We can put some of the junk in here.”
Julie stepped into the room and reached for the ball. “It’s an awesome secret hideout.”
“Let me see!” Neal said. He jumped over to Eric, accidentally pushing him into the door.
Blam! It slammed shut.
A muffled scream came from inside the room.
“Help!” cried Julie. “I’m falling!”
Eric pulled the door open quickly.
Julie was standing in the middle of the tiny room. She was staring at the floor beneath her feet. The ball was nowhere in sight.
“Are you okay?” Eric asked.
Julie pushed her way quickly out of the room. “The ball went down there!”
Eric and Neal looked at the gray cement floor. Then they looked back at Julie.
“There were steps,” Julie said. “And I almost fell all the way down!”
“Steps?” said Neal. “Where the floor is?”
Julie nodded. “And the soccer ball went bouncing down them. Then you opened the door, and the steps sort of … disappeared.”
Eric and Neal entered the little room under the stairs. Then Julie stepped back in. They stood close together.
“Maybe the ball whacked you in the head, Julie,” Neal said with a laugh. “You just thought there were stairs.”
Eric looked down at the floor. There weren’t any steps anywhere. “Julie, I don’t think —”
“I’m not making this up,” she said. “Wait. The door was closed. And it was dark at first. Maybe then …”
“It’s pretty dark already,” Neal said. “Don’t close the door on us —”
Slam! Julie did close the door on them.
Neal grumbled. “Now it’s very dark.”
Then, suddenly, it wasn’t.
The floor began to shimmer beneath them, and a bright light glowed under their feet.
Then — whoosh! — a stairway appeared out of nowhere. A set of steps, leading down. Leading away from the basement.
Away from the house.
“Whoa!” Eric said. “It looks like outside down there! Is this what you saw?”
Julie nodded. “Told you.”
The steps glowed a rainbow of colors.
Julie peered over Eric’s shoulder. ??
?Let’s go find the ball.”
Neal reached for the door. “I don’t think so.”
“Come on,” said Eric. He wasn’t sure why, but he felt as if they had to go. He stepped down to the next step. Then to the next, and the next. Already the air was brighter where he was. It was pink. And cool and fresh.
“Neal. Julie. This is incredible,” Eric said. “We have to go down.”
“I don’t think this is such a good idea,” Neal said.
Julie laughed. She ran to catch up with Eric. “The air smells so sweet! Hurry up, Neal. We’re already ten steps ahead of you.”
Just below them was a forest of tall trees. The stairs led all the way down to the treetops.
“Unbelievable!” Eric whispered. “Do you think this is some kind of magic?”
“There’s no such thing as magic,” Julie said, biting her lip. She always did that when she didn’t understand why things were happening. “But this place is beautiful. Strange, too. It’s sort of like a theme park.”
Eric stopped. What he saw coming out of the pink mist was not from any theme park he’d ever been to. “Uh-oh,” he gasped.
“What do you see?” Neal asked.
Eric was frozen on the step, pointing into the mist. “Lizards, I think.”
“In the trees?” Julie asked. “That’s normal.”
“No,” Eric said. “Flying lizards. Big ones. With weird-looking red guys riding them …”
“That’s not so normal,” Neal said.
Thwang! A long, flaming arrow whistled past Eric’s ear.
“Not so friendly, either! They’re attacking us!”
Thwang! Another arrow flew at them.
Suddenly, flying lizards were everywhere. The riders on their backs were getting their bows ready for another shot.
“Run back up to my house!” Eric shouted.
“We can’t!” Julie said. “The steps are disappearing. Look!” She pointed. The stairs were fading into the mist. Vanishing into the pink sky.
“Oh, man!” Neal cried. “I knew this would happen!”
Thwang! A third flaming arrow shot by.
“Follow me to the bottom,” Eric yelled. “We can hide in the trees!” He rushed down, jumping two steps with every jump.
But the steps were disappearing under him.
“No!” he cried. He tumbled into the air.
“Ahhh!” Julie screamed.
Neal shouted, “Grab onto the —”
Eric didn’t hear the rest. He fell like a rock through the trees. Branches snapped and cracked around him.
“Umph!” Eric moaned when he finally hit the ground. He lay there, facing the sky. For a second he couldn’t remember where he was.
Then he saw the giant lizards circling lower.
Kaww! Kaww! They dived toward him.
“Holy cow!” Eric tried to crawl under a bush.
“Ouch! My ankle!” he groaned. He must have hurt it in the fall. He could hardly move.
The lizards swept even closer to the treetops. When they swooped, Eric saw the riders clearly. Their skin was as bright and shiny as red crayons!
“Oh, man, I must be dreaming!” he whispered to himself. “A really bad dream, too.”
“It’s bad,” said a voice. “But it’s no dream.”
Eric turned his head. “Who said that?”
“Shhh!” Suddenly the bushes before him began to move, and someone leaped out at him.
It was a girl! She was dressed in a blue tunic. A thick brown belt was wound around her waist.
Kaww! Kaww! The lizards swooped again.
The girl picked up a pebble. She threw it hard. It hit a distant tree with a loud smack.
“Over there!” cried a lizard rider, pointing to the tree. The lizards flew away.
“Whoa, cool move!” Eric looked into the girl’s green eyes. Her skin was as pale as a cloud. “But … who are you?”
“Keeah,” she said. “You must be from the Upper World. How did you get here?”
Eric blinked when he thought of how to tell her. “I … uh … sort of … fell.”
“You picked the worst place in all of Droon. Lord Sparr is very close. His red Ninns are everywhere, hunting for me on their flying groggles.”
“Lord Sparr?” Eric repeated. “Ninns? Groggles?”
“Did you hurt yourself?” The girl pressed her finger on Eric’s ankle.
“Ouch!” Eric grunted.
“It’s probably sprained.” Then the girl opened a small leather pouch on her wrist. She sprinkled some sparkly dust on Eric’s ankle. “Better?”
His leg began to tingle. He moved his foot.
“The pain’s gone. How did you do that?”
“Never mind,” the girl said. She began to scribble on a piece of paper. “You have to help me. Find Galen and tell him to send this message to my father, King Zello.”
“King?” Eric repeated. “You’re a princess?”
“There they are! Get them!” a voice cried out from above.
Fwap! Fwap! The lizards dived suddenly toward Keeah and Eric. They flapped to the ground and their red riders leaped off.
“The Ninns have spotted us!” Keeah cried. She pushed the wrinkled scrap of paper into Eric’s hand. “Lord Sparr is a wizard. He’s pure evil. He will stop at nothing to conquer Droon. Now, hurry. You’ll find Galen in his tower.”
“Tower?” said Eric. “I can’t find any tower. I’ve got to find my friends and get home!”
The girl looked into his eyes. “If you’re from the Upper World, you’ll need help getting home. If you do this for me, I promise to help you. Now, I’ll distract them while you go. Hurry!”
Without another word, Keeah leaped away swiftly, like a cat. The leaves fluttered above her, and Eric looked up. A strange white bird was gliding over the trees.
The bird seemed to be following her.
“There!” one Ninn yelled. “The princess!”
The red creatures broke branches and tore at leaves to get to Keeah. But she only ran faster.
“I don’t believe any of this!” Eric said. He scrambled up from the ground and dashed down a narrow path after the princess. A stone bridge lay ahead of him. Maybe if he got there before the Ninns he could somehow help Keeah escape.
He had to try.
Eric raced toward the bridge.
“Get him!” cried a voice.
A hand came from nowhere.
It grabbed Eric.
It pulled him to the ground!
“Umph!” Eric rolled over and over until he stopped under the bridge. He looked up.
He couldn’t believe his eyes.
“Neal! Julie! I thought I’d lost you — mmmf!”
Neal put his hand over Eric’s mouth.
“Shhh!” Julie pointed to the top of the bridge. “Those ugly red guys are up there.”
Eric nodded. Neal pulled his hand away.
Eric started speaking as quickly and as softly as he could. He told Neal and Julie what had happened to him.
“We’re in someplace called Droon,” he whispered. “I met a princess named Keeah. She gave me a message for her father, King Zello.”
Neal glanced at the paper in Eric’s hand, then gave him a strange look. “Uh-huh. Sure.”
“The red guys are called Ninns,” Eric continued. “We have to see what they’re up to. Give me a boost!”
Neal grumbled but put out his hands so Eric could hoist himself up. A moment later, Julie was next to Eric. Together they peeked over the top of the bridge.
“Uh-oh,” Julie whispered.
On the bridge were at least a dozen Ninns.
Up close, their red faces were puffy and fat. Their slitty eyes were set close together. Their chins were pointed. So were their ears.
On each hand were six clawed fingers.
“Lord Sparr will be angry!” one Ninn snarled.
“The girl’s too quick!” snapped another. “And my groggle’s too slow.” He nodded at his lizard.
Ooga! Ooga! A sound like a horn blasted through the forest. Then the ground rumbled.
“Is that a car?” Neal whispered from below.
“Uh … sort of,” Julie answered.
But it wasn’t like any car they had ever seen. It was long and yellow and had a bubble on top.
It bounced down the road on eight fat tires.
When it screeched to a stop in front of the Ninns, a tall man stepped out. He was different from the others, Eric thought. He wasn’t a Ninn.
His skin wasn’t red, or pale like Keeah’s.
He was human … pretty much. Well, except for two purple fins sticking up behind his ears.
“Where is the girl?” he snarled. His long black coat dragged heavily across the ground.
The Ninns trembled. One looked up. “The others helped her escape, Lord Sparr,” he said.
Lord Sparr’s eyes flashed in anger. And the fins behind his ears suddenly grew darker.
“Did you see that?” Julie whispered.
“He’s some kind of wizard,” Eric whispered back. “Princess Keeah said he was pure evil.”
“How many others?” Sparr demanded.
Another Ninn held up his claw. He lowered three of his six fingers. “Three, my lord.”
“Scour the forest! Burn it down if you must, but find the girl! Find her friends, too!” Lord Sparr turned and stormed back to his yellow car.
Ooga! Ooga! the horn blasted. The engine roared. The car tore away loudly down the road, leaving a cloud of thick blue smoke behind it.
Fwap! Fwap! The sound of flapping groggle wings filled the forest. A moment later, Eric and his friends were alone at the bridge.
“Lord Sparr is definitely bad news,” Julie said. “And those ear fins are very weird.”
“This whole place is weird, if you ask me,” Neal said. “How do we get out of here?”
Eric frowned. “Keeah said to find somebody named Galen who lives in a tower. If we do, she promised to help us get home. And Galen is also supposed to send this message to her father.”
Eric unfolded the wrinkled paper Keeah had given him. In thin blue ink, it read,
Eric scratched his head. “Well, this doesn’t make any sense.”
Julie laughed. “No kidding! I mean, flying lizards, bubble cars, a guy with fins on his head?”