“And all under your stairs,” Neal added.
Eric didn’t answer. He looked into the forest where he had last seen Keeah. He hoped she was safe. But something told him she wasn’t.
“I think she’s in danger,” he said quietly.
“So are we,” Julie added.
“Let’s find this Galen guy,” Neal said. “The sooner we do, the sooner we get home. There’s a path this way. Come on.”
Neal started running along the path.
He rushed into a clearing.
And he bumped his nose on something that wasn’t there.
“Oww!” Neal whined, cupping his hands over his face. Then he stared at the empty space in front of him. “Wait. I bumped into … nothing?”
Eric stood next to Neal and put his hands out. “No, there’s something here. Something hard.”
“Hard?” Neal grumbled. “Tell me about it.”
“It’s over here, too,” Julie said as she walked to the other side of the clearing.
Eric went around the other way. “It’s round. It must be some kind of — whoa!”
As the three of them stood there, a giant tower shimmered into view. A wooden tower. In fact, it was a tree. But when they touched it, the bark was as hard as stone.
“Hmm,” Julie said, biting her lip. “This tree has petrified. It turned to stone because it’s so old. We learned about petrified trees at camp.”
“I don’t remember that,” said Neal.
“You were too busy eating snacks,” Julie said.
“All that hiking made me hungry,” Neal said.
“Guys!” Eric interrupted. “Can you please —”
“Who dares approach the tower of Galen Longbeard!” cried a voice above them.
They all looked up and gasped.
Crawling slowly down the side of the tower was a large spider with eight long arms and legs. Only it wasn’t an ordinary spider. It had a big, round face with large eyes and a pug nose.
And bright orange hair.
Neal nudged Julie. “I sure don’t remember anything like him at camp,” he whispered.
“You aren’t Ninns!” the creature squeaked.
“Uh, that’s true,” Julie said. “Very true.”
“In fact, the Ninns are after us,” Eric said. “And we have a message from Princess Keeah.”
“From the princess?” said the spider. “Then come inside quickly!”
Ploink! A door-sized section of the stony bark swung open.
“I’m Max, a spider troll,” he said, jumping into the tree ahead of them. “We must go to the top!”
The three friends piled into the tree.
Together, they crawled up a winding passage and into a large, round room.
The room was cluttered beyond belief.
“Looks like your basement, Eric,” Neal said.
Old leather books were stacked up everywhere. Hundreds of tiny colored bottles were collecting dust on deep wooden shelves. A big, ancient mirror leaned against one wall.
And in the center of everything stood a man.
He was tall and thin and very old. He wore a long blue robe and a high cone-shaped hat. His white beard hung down to his belt.
“Behold!” cried Max. “Galen Longbeard, first wizard of Droon! He’s more than five hundred years old.”
The old man coughed. “Yes, well, welcome to my tower,” he said. Then he stroked his beard. “By the way, did anyone see Leep on the way up? Leep is my pilka.”
“Uh, what’s a pilka, sir?” Julie asked.
Galen cleared his throat. “Well, it’s a … it has a … it goes like …” He waved his arms about, trying to describe the lost thing. “Oh, never mind. Leep will turn up somewhere. Now, what brings three Upper Worlders to my tower?”
Eric told Galen what had happened in the forest.
“Here is Keeah’s message.” Eric handed the paper to Galen. “It doesn’t make sense to us.”
The wizard frowned. “Nor to me. Hmm …”
“I was thinking,” Julie said, looking at the message again. “Maybe it’s code. So if the Ninns captured us, they wouldn’t understand it.”
Galen laughed. “Princess Keeah knows that the Ninns are quite simple. Brains like walnuts. You might even say they are backward.”
“Backward?” Neal said. “That’s it! I bet Keeah’s message is written backward. My sister tries that all the time. But she can’t trick me!”
Neal scribbled out the message again, reversing the order of the letters from front to back.
“So …” he said. “ ‘Thginot Dekcatta Eb Lliw Frodnefroz’ becomes ‘Zorfendorf Will Be Attacked Tonight.’ Does that make sense?”
Galen’s eyes flashed suddenly. “Zorfendorf Castle! Lord Sparr plans to attack it tonight. I must warn King Zello immediately!”
Before another word was spoken, a blue mist rose around the wizard. Sparks of light streaked through it. Then he mumbled strange sounds.
“Kolo … bembo … zoot!”
An instant later — zamm! He wasn’t there!
“Whoa!” Eric gasped. “Where did he —”
But — zamm! — Galen was already back. “I’ve just been to Jaffa City,” he said. “King Zello is sending his army to defend Zorfendorf Castle.”
“Mission accomplished!” Max chirped. “Sparr is stopped — for the moment.”
Galen turned to the children. He looked grim. “You have entered a troubled world, my young friends. Tell me, how did you come to be here?”
Julie told him how she found the steps in the little room in Eric’s basement.
Galen sighed deeply. “Ah, the enchanted staircase. I wondered when it would appear again.”
Eric blinked. “So you know about the stairs?”
The wizard walked slowly to a globe of Droon standing against the wall. Half of the globe was dark, half light. He stared at it for a long time.
“Ages ago, Lord Sparr created the Three Powers,” Galen said finally. “Objects of unimaginable might. Fearing he would use them to take over your world, I sealed the stairs that once joined our two realms.”
“I didn’t know we lived in a realm!” said Neal.
“Indeed you do,” Galen said. “But now I am old. My ancient spells grow weak. That is why the stairs are visible once again.”
“They faded after we came down,” Julie said.
Max chittered excitedly. “Keeah can help you find them. She has powers!”
Eric remembered how the princess cured his sprained ankle. “Is Keeah a wizard, too?”
Before Galen could answer, a buzzing sound came from across the room. Zzzzt!
Everyone turned to the old mirror. The rippled surface was flickering with a strange glow.
“A big-screen TV!” Neal joked. “How many channels do you get on this thing?”
“I use it to keep watch over Droon,” Galen said. He waved his hand, and a scene moved hazily across the surface of the glass. “Like me, this mirror is old. But with it I can see most of what happens.” The wizard’s eyes widened suddenly in fear. “Oh, dear!”
“What’s the matter?” Julie asked.
Galen pointed at the scene coming onto the mirror. It showed a vast black castle.
“Plud!” he gasped.
“Lord Sparr’s evil fortress!” Max chittered.
The mirror zoomed in on the fortress.
In the courtyard were two red Ninns. Between them was a girl, struggling to get free.
“It’s Keeah!” Eric cried. “The Ninns must have captured her in the woods.”
And now she was a prisoner of Lord Sparr!
“The forbidden city of Plud,” Max said. “The Ninns have taken Princess Keeah to Plud!”
Eric stared at the mirror. “She seems really afraid. What are we going to do?”
“We must go to her!” Galen said, pulling a large sword down from the wall. “Plud is an evil place. It is where Keeah’s mother, Queen Relna, fought her last battle against Sparr.”
Neal
shivered. “You mean, she’s dead?”
“She was never seen again,” Galen said as he slid the sword into his belt. “But that is not the worst of it. Sparr now seeks from Keeah the Red Eye of Dawn. It is one of the Three Powers I told you about. It is a jewel that commands the forces of nature.”
“Does Keeah have it?” Julie asked.
Galen grabbed a helmet from a shelf. “I do not know. Even Keeah doesn’t know. To stop Sparr from using the Powers for evil, I cast them to the winds and charmed them to change their shapes. No one knows what they have become.”
“But Sparr will stop at nothing to have them again!” Max chittered, scurrying toward the passage to the ground. “I fear for Keeah. Hurry!”
Zzzzt!
“Wait,” Julie said, turning back. “The mirror.”
The hazy glass showed a city of bright towers as light and sunny as Plud was dark. In the distance, a black cloud of groggles was descending.
“Sparr has tricked us!” Galen boomed. “His Ninns are attacking Jaffa City! Oh, I hope the princess can defend herself against Sparr until I return. I must go to Jaffa this instant.”
“Wait,” said Eric, turning to his friends. “Keeah helped me in the forest. And she was going to get us home. Now she’s in trouble. I mean, we have to help her.”
“How can we get to Plud?” Julie asked Galen.
“Hey!” Neal yelled suddenly. He jerked back, tumbling over a stack of books and hitting the floor with a thud. “Something just licked me!”
“Leep?” cried Max. He sprang up and landed in midair. “The pilka! I’m sitting on her!”
Galen quickly pulled at the air under Max. As he did, a silken fabric seemed to collect in his hands. And a creature took shape in the room.
It was an animal the size of a horse. But with long white fur. And six legs. And a friendly face.
It looked like a shaggy camel.
“Pilkas are quite friendly,” said Max. “And quite fast! Leep seems to like you, Master Neal.”
Hrrrr! The creature whinnied loudly. She plodded to the passage door and turned her head back, as if beckoning the children to follow.
Eric looked around at his friends.
“We’re running out of time,” Julie said.
Neal nodded. “Plus, we’re a team, right?”
Eric felt his heart begin to race. “I guess we’re going to Plud!”
“Take Leep at once,” Galen told Eric and his friends as they stood outside the tower. “And take this invisible cloak. It may come in handy.”
“And take me!” Max twittered. “I may come in handy, too. Besides, I know the way to Plud.”
Galen smiled. “Good luck, my young friends, and remember what I am about to tell you. Droon is a secret to your world. When you return home, tell no one about us. Also, you must not take anything from Droon with you, nor leave anything from the Upper World behind.”
“Why?” Eric asked.
“For every object left here, a thing from Droon will appear in your world,” the wizard replied.
“And it may not be a good thing!” Max added.
Neal blinked. “You mean like … a Ninn?”
“Or worse,” Galen said. “Now I must go to Jaffa City and you to Plud. Be careful!”
Then, without another word — zamm! — Galen Longbeard, first wizard of Droon, vanished.
And his tower vanished with him.
Hrrr! The shaggy pilka whinnied.
“Well, what are we waiting for?” said Eric.
With the three children on her back and Max sitting on her head, Leep galloped out of the forest. She rode across open meadows while the pink sky darkened into late afternoon. It grew colder as the light faded.
A shape moved across the sky above them.
“Groggles?” said Julie.
Neal looked up. “No,” he said. “A falcon. A white one. I think I saw it before, too. I remember falcons from our zoo trip last year.”
Eric watched the bird soar away. “This one was in the forest when we first saw Sparr.”
Hrrr! Leep whinnied sharply and slowed her gallop.
“Hush now,” Max whispered. “We are close.”
He pulled the reins, and the pilka plodded up a low hill to a jagged ridge.
The high black walls of a large city loomed before them. The sky was thick with clouds. The air smelled of smoke.
“Let me guess,” Neal said. “This is Plud.”
The three riders slid to the ground in a grove of trees. Max jumped down with Leep’s cloak. “Don’t forget this. Invisibility might be useful.”
“So would a magic key,” Julie said. “Those walls are super high. How do we get in?”
Rrrr! The ground began to rumble.
“A car?” Eric whispered. “Yes, Sparr’s car! The gates will open for him. He’s our way in!”
Ooga! Sparr’s car roared loudly up the road.
Hrrr! The pilka reared, spooking at the sound.
“Leep, wait!” Max shouted. But the animal broke away from him. He scurried down the hill after her. “Leep! Leep!”
“Come back, Max,” Julie said. “We need you!”
The car roared by. The gates of Plud opened.
“We’re losing our chance,” Eric hissed. “Come on!” He grabbed Neal and Julie.
The three of them dashed in after the yellow car. They jumped behind a low wall just as — chong! — the huge black gates closed.
Sparr’s car screeched to a stop in a courtyard. A group of Ninns raced out to greet their master.
“The princess is in the main tower,” one said.
Without a word, Sparr stomped into the fortress. The Ninn guards marched in after him.
“Okay,” Eric whispered. “Let’s go. Quietly.”
They slipped into the fortress. The hallways were as narrow and dark as the streets outside. Ninn footsteps echoed loudly on the stone floors.
Julie stopped. “Wait. Do we have a plan?”
Eric peered into the dark. “There are some steps ahead. If we sneak up to the main tower, maybe we can get to Keeah before Sparr does.”
Neal nodded. “And get back out, too. Right?”
“Of course,” Eric said.
“Sounds good,” said Julie. “Lead on.”
They tiptoed up the long stairway. After what seemed like hundreds of steps they reached the top of the main tower. At the end of a short hallway was a door. Two big Ninns in black armor guarded it.
“Do we have to … fight them?” Neal whispered, out of breath.
Eric shook his head. “No. Now we use some magic.” He pulled Galen’s cloak over himself.
“I like it,” Julie said. “Poof, you’re gone!”
“Hide in the shadows,” Eric said. Then, completely invisible, he slipped down the hall.
He jabbed one of the guards in the shoulder.
“Stop that!” the Ninn yelled. He swatted the other Ninn in the arm.
“I didn’t do anything!” the second Ninn cried. He whacked the other on his shiny black helmet.
“I’ll get you for that!” the first Ninn yelled.
“Not if I get you first!” the other growled, butting the first one on the head and chasing him right past the kids and down the stairs!
A moment later, the hallway was clear.
“Great job!” Julie said as Eric pulled off the cloak and looped it around his belt.
“I’ll stand guard outside,” Neal said. “You two go in and get the princess.”
Eric and Julie unbolted the door and pushed it open. They entered a small, dark room.
Princess Keeah was sitting on the floor. She looked up and jumped. “The boy in the woods!”
Eric grinned. “We’ve come to rescue you!”
Keeah smiled. “I knew someone would come.” Then her smile faded. “But if we’re going to get out of here at all, we need to hurry!”
As quickly as she had run through the forest, Keeah scampered from the room and down the hallway. E
ric, Julie, and Neal followed her.
“Sparr thinks I have the Red Eye of Dawn,” Keeah whispered. “With it, he plans to conquer all of Droon!”
“And so I shall, Princess Keeah!”
The four children froze in the dark hall.
Out of the shadows stepped Lord Sparr.
Clomp! Clomp! The children were marched to a room at the top of another tower. A dozen Ninn warriors in shiny black armor surrounded them.
Clang! The iron door was bolted shut.
They were prisoners.
Lord Sparr paced back and forth before a thick blue curtain that covered one of the walls.
“Princess Keeah,” he began. “You and your friends spoiled my plans to attack Zorfendorf Castle. And Galen discovered my little raid on Jaffa City. No matter. Having you as a prisoner is far more valuable. Besides, you have something that belongs to me.”
The princess backed away. “Let us go, Sparr. My father is on his way here right now.”
Sparr laughed. “Neither your father nor your mother will ever see you again.”
“My mother died,” Keeah said. “And my —”
The sorcerer smirked. “Your mother is —” Then he stopped. His eyes flashed. “That leather pouch on your wrist …”
“What?” Keeah said.
Sparr grabbed the pouch from Keeah.
“My mother gave me that!” she cried, trying to take it back.
But Sparr held it high. His fins turned inky black. He began to shake. “O jewel, if it be you, show me now your shape so true!”
At once, the pouch began to shrink in Sparr’s palm. It shriveled to the size of a small egg.
Then it turned very smooth.
Then it turned red.
It began to glow.
“No …” Keeah gasped. “No … no!”
Sparr howled. “The Red Eye of Dawn! You had it all along! Now I have it. The First Power is mine once again!”
“Give it back to her, you smelly fish head!” Eric yelled. He rushed at Sparr, but one of the Ninns grabbed him and pushed him roughly into Julie and Neal. Then the sorcerer spoke words that made their blood turn to ice.
“I … know … you … three….”
“What?” Julie said. “How could you —”
“You are from the Upper World. You have found the stairs. My stairs.” Sparr pointed at Eric. “They are … in your house!”