“Right,” said Neal. “Who’d ever scratch him behind the ears? I mean … eewww!”
Who? Eric knew who. Zara, Queen of Light. She loved Sparr. She was Sparr’s mother.
“Ko was like a father to me —” said Sparr.
A father? thought Eric. What about your mother? She was good. She was the Queen of Light!
Eric finally realized why Sparr had cried that day in the Tower of Memory. He was remembering his mother. Even grown up, Sparr still bore the painful memory of the day she left him here alone. The day Zara died and he was left with Ko.
All alone, with no one but evil Ko.
It had all come together for Eric. The wall carvings of the boy at his mother’s bedside. The radiant Queen of Light.
The pool of tears.
“Ko told me that others would try to stop my quest,” said the boy sorcerer.
“What quest?” asked Keeah. “To rule Droon?”
“For starters,” he replied. “And I think I’ll start now.”
His fingers sparking with red light, Sparr raised his hands.
Blam! A pillar exploded and fell to the floor.
Blam! Another pillar toppled and struck the nearby wall. A glimmer of sunlight burst into the chamber.
Eric moved toward the crack in the wall, but kept staring at the cold, dark eyes of young Sparr, flashing so angrily in the sunlight.
Thinking of the Queen of Light, Eric felt his own eyes sting. He felt tears welling up in them, and his throat getting tight.
But what was the Queen of Light to him?
Zara was just a dusty ancient name and a symbol like a lightning bolt. And yet, Eric knew, to speak her name even once would sting as deeply for him as for Sparr himself.
Why?
What did he and Sparr have in common?
They were like day and night, weren’t they?
Weren’t they?
Blam! Blam! Another pillar fell and more sunlight slanted through the cracked wall.
The young sorcerer closed in on them, his power seeming to grow with each step he took toward the black stone box of Ko.
But Eric knew he could stop him.
He had to do it.
And he did.
He whispered the name. “Zara!”
The name seemed to echo around the stones.
Sparr stopped moving.
When the word formed on his lips, it hurt Eric deeply, as if a lightning bolt itself had struck him.
But just as Eric staggered, so did Sparr.
The sorcerer fell to his knees, his face in his hands.
Tssss! A tear hissed where it struck the floor. And the floor quaked.
“Let’s get out of here!” cried Max. “Now!”
Keeah helped pull Eric out of the chamber as the others pushed their way through the cracked wall and into the shimmering light of day.
And the great lost palace of Ko and all the ghosts in it quaked and quivered and toppled down on itself, buried even deeper under mountains of sand and rock, lost to the past once more.
Gasping for air, the six friends leaped from the crumbling ruins and out into the hot desert sun.
“We’re out!” Neal cried, clambering across the sand. “And we’re away from that creepy ghost.”
They were out. And it felt good to breathe real air again. Fresh, warm desert air, wafting across the rolling hills and dunes of Droon.
“What happened in there?” said Keeah, falling exhausted to the sand.
Eric looked at her. He saw in her face the same wonder and amazement that he felt.
“I’m not sure,” he said. “But I think we learned something deep about Lord Sparr, something we didn’t know —”
“I know something!” said Nelag suddenly. “The sun is over the hills and so are the Ninns!”
“You’ve got to be kidding,” Julie groaned.
But Nelag wasn’t kidding. Hundreds of Ninns were pouring into the valley, turning the hillside red with their bright, crayon-colored skin.
“And I thought we had done all our running for one day!” said Neal. “Come on, everyone, let’s make tracks!”
“Wait a moment,” said Max. “The Ninns are all pointing at Eric for some reason.”
Eric turned. The vast hordes of red warriors were jumping and pointing at him. “Why me?”
“Because they think that stick you’ve got is the wand,” said Keeah.
Eric looked down. Stuck in his sneaker laces was the old stick from Ko’s tomb. “I must have dragged this with me on the way out. Too bad it’s not Urik’s wand. I’d conjure up an army of our own!” Then he flung the stick over his shoulder and yelled to the Ninns, “It’s just a stick!”
The Ninns charged, then stopped suddenly in their tracks.
“Why did they do that?” asked Max.
“Because of me!” said a voice behind them.
They turned and saw Hoja, his white robes flying. He was riding up over a dune on the back of an enormous beast. It was nine feet tall, had a woolly pink coat, a long furry trunk, and big feet.
“You see,” said Hoja. “I found my fluffems!”
He whistled brightly, and the ground thundered as the rest of his flock galloped over the crest of the dune, roaring and snorting loudly.
At the sight of them, the Ninns shrieked. Then they turned and made their own thundering noise, taking flight as quickly as they had come.
“Yahoo!” the children cheered.
Hoja grinned. “Glad to be of service. Now a little something to speed you home.”
The little man unwrapped his giant turban and threw out its length of blue cloth. It sparkled in the sunlight. Then, before their eyes it turned into a river, winding across the desert sands.
A small boat was floating lightly by one of its banks.
“By morning, Princess, you will be home, where your parents await your safe return.”
“But your turban,” said Keeah. “That river … it’s … it’s …”
“Galen’s cape?” said Hoja, his plump cheeks blushing. “Yes. It was I who chased the shadow goblin so many years ago. I am Hoja, Seventh Genie of the Dove. For twelve days and nights, I fought that terrible goblin. He overcame me by trickery, taking Urik’s wand into Ko’s palace.”
“Wicked thief!” said Neal.
“Wicked indeed!” said Hoja. “I have been waiting for five centuries for someone to find the wand. And now you have done it.”
The children looked at one another. They realized all over again that they had failed in their mission.
“But we didn’t find the wand,” said Eric.
“Maybe it’s lost forever,” said Keeah. “Maybe no one will ever find it. Not even Lord Sparr.”
Hoja frowned. “Lost? Oh, dear. Yet, somehow, I am free! Best not to complain. Perhaps it is as a wise man once said. Often, things worth the most are hidden by things worth the least.”
Nelag laughed. “But you said that.”
“Did I?” Hoja said with a chuckle. “Then it’s time for me to go think of new things to say! In fact, it’s time for everyone to go. Look.”
The rainbow stairs shimmered into view over a nearby dune. They seemed to shine more brilliantly than ever before.
“Until next time — good-bye!” said the genie. Then, tugging the reins of his fluffem, he whistled to his flock, and they all thundered off into the distance and vanished into the hazy air.
“Cool dude,” said Neal. “And the first genie I ever met. I like him.”
“He helped my master,” said Max.
“He was Galen’s friend,” said Keeah, opening the Moon Scroll one more time. “Maybe his first real friend. Listen to this:
‘Alone, I wandered, until I found a friend.
Then I knew I had a family. Then I was home.’ ”
“Which is where we must all go now,” said Max. “Good-bye, children. We’ll see you quite soon, I’m sure.”
Keeah hugged Julie. “You will come back,” she said. “I’ll keep
working on it.”
“Thanks,” said Julie.
Finally, Nelag turned to the kids and stuck out his foot. “Hello!” he said. “See you recently!”
Laughing, the three friends started up the staircase. They turned to wave at Keeah, Max, and Nelag once more before entering a layer of wispy clouds.
As they neared the top, Neal laughed. “Hey, Eric, you’re dragging that stick again!”
Eric looked down and saw the broken stick from Ko’s tomb tucked into his sneaker again.
“This thing just won’t get lost!” he said. “Stick, go home!” With that, he tossed it through the clouds to the desert below.
“Too bad we didn’t find the wand,” said Julie.
Eric nodded. “I hoped it would help us. But I’m still not going to let you just move away. The three of us, we’re too much of a family.”
“Us, a family?” Julie looked at Eric. “That’s like what Galen said in the Scroll. I guess your friends are sort of your family.”
Neal nodded. “Absolutely. Besides, I’d miss you too much if you left. Also your mom’s blueberry pancakes. They’re awesome.”
Julie smiled. “No, you guys are awesome.”
She opened the closet door, and they all piled back into Eric’s basement.
Later, after Julie and Neal had gone home, Eric went to his room. On his bed, his parents had left the big photo album, open to a page with pictures of him and Julie and Neal.
In one, they were all climbing a tree together. Neal’s face was smeared with peanut butter. Julie was crossing her eyes and had leaves stuck in her hair. Eric was hanging upside down from a branch.
They were four years old.
“Oh, man,” he said, his eyes stinging as they had before. He and Julie and Neal had done a lot together. They had known one another forever.
“She can’t go away,” he said. “She’s family. She’s one of us. This can’t happen….”
He picked up the album and sat down on the bed. “Hey!” He sprang back up again. There was something sharp under his blanket. He rolled it back and there on the bedsheet lay a stick. The same stick he had thrown away three times.
He gasped. “What are you doing here? I already threw you away! Three whole times!”
Eric stepped over to his wastebasket. He was about to throw the stick in, when it began to tingle in his hand. As he watched, the stick straightened and turned blue, then red, and finally gold.
Eric shivered. “Oh, no … it can’t be …”
Finally, a purple flower pushed itself out of the far end of the stick. The petals began to glow.
“The wand of Urik!” he whispered.
Even as he trembled holding it, Eric felt the power of the wand running through him.
“We did find it,” he murmured. “And I kept trying to throw you away — I can’t believe it. This is amazing. It’s awesome. We actually did it. We found the wand!”
Eric suddenly remembered everything that Galen had done with the wand. But more than that, it was this wand — this same wand! — that created the rainbow staircase itself!
He stared at it. “Your magic can do anything!”
Without thinking twice, Eric ran downstairs.
He flung open his front door.
Clutching the wand firmly in his hand, he marched right across the street.
To Julie’s house.
“I’m going to use it. I can’t use it. Yes I will! No I won’t. Here I go. I better not. I’m using it!”
“I definitely agree.”
Eric Hinkle and Neal Kroger were pacing back and forth across their friend Julie Rubin’s front yard. A large FOR SALE sign was sticking out of the lawn next to them. Julie’s father had gotten a new job and Julie was moving away — that very day.
But it wasn’t the sign that the two boys were talking about. It was the object in Eric’s hand. It had a narrow golden shaft about a foot long with a glowing purple flower at its tip. It was a magical object called the Wand of Urik.
And it came from Droon.
“I still can’t believe you found the wand,” said Neal, wanting to touch the wand but not daring to. “It was lost in Droon forever and here you go and find it just like that!”
Droon was the strange and mysterious world Eric and his friends had discovered under his basement. Since the first time they had descended the rainbow-colored stairs, Droon had filled their lives with wonder, adventure, and danger.
And friends, too. That was the best part.
Their closest friend in Droon was a young wizard named Princess Keeah.
Together with Galen Longbeard, the old first wizard of Droon, and Max, his spider troll helper, and many other friendly folks, Eric, Neal, and Julie had helped the princess keep Droon free from the clutches of a wicked sorcerer named Lord Sparr.
Right now, Sparr was riding a huge fiery snake through the old underworld of Goll. Galen was following Sparr, trying to stop the sorcerer’s latest evil plan. Whatever that was.
“The wand really found me,” said Eric, stopping to stare at the wand. “It was disguised as an old stick. I can’t believe I kept throwing it away, but it kept finding me again!”
Neal peered closely at the wand’s bright flower. “Probably because you’re sort of a wizard.”
Eric smiled at that. He was sort of a wizard.
Ever since he had been struck by a blast of Princess Keeah’s magic, he had been able to do strange things.
He could make powerful blue light shoot from his fingertips. He could speak to his friends just using his thoughts. And he had visions of things that hadn’t happened yet.
Eric looked at Julie’s front door. It was open.
“Maybe I’m supposed to have the wand,” he said. “Just to keep Julie from moving away. Maybe that’s why it followed me, you know?”
“But Keeah said magic is tricky,” Neal said. “So maybe we shouldn’t —”
Just then — rmmm! — a large moving van rumbled down the street toward Julie’s house.
Eric shuddered. “That’s it. I can’t let Julie move away. I’m doing it!”
Feeling the power of the wand surge through him, Eric marched up to Julie’s front door.
Piles of boxes were stacked up just inside the door. Julie’s father was removing paintings from the walls and stacking them on the sofa.
Holding the wand behind his back, Eric pulled open the screen door and walked in.
“Hi, Mr. Rubin,” said Eric. “Is Julie around?”
“Hi, Eric, Neal,” said Mr. Rubin with a sigh. “Forgive the mess. We have so much … stuff. Julie! Your friends are here!” He smiled at the kids, then carried the paintings out of the room.
A moment later, Julie came downstairs carrying a big carton full of toys. Her cat, Pinky, was nestled right in the middle of them. Eric could see that Julie’s eyes were red. She’d been crying.
“Hi, guys,” she said. “I have so many baby toys I haven’t seen for years. They make me remember all kinds of stuff.”
Eric checked to see that they were alone, then, grinning, he brought the wand around for Julie to see. The flower at its tip was glowing brightly.
Julie stared at it. “Oh, my gosh. Is that —”
“Yes!” Neal blurted out. “The Wand of Urik! It followed Eric up from Droon! Now we have it!”
Julie’s eyes widened. “Do you think it could … No, Keeah warned us … I mean, that wand created the rainbow stairs! It’s got too much power to fool with. Shouldn’t we bring it back?”
“We’ll bring it back,” said Eric. “Definitely. Just as soon as we do — this!”
Julie drew a breath. “Are you sure about this?”
“Pretty sure!” said Neal, stepping back. “At least, I think so….”
With a quick flourish, Eric waved the wand over his head. Remembering the riddles Galen had spoken when he used the wand, he said, “Staying is good. Julie is good. Julie is staying!”
Suddenly, the wand flooded the room wit
h quivering purple light that threw Eric sharply backward. “Whoa! That’s power!” he said.
An instant later, the light faded and the room went back to normal.
“That was cool,” said Neal, helping Eric up.
Julie looked around. “Okay, now what —”
Brrrng! The phone rang loudly in the kitchen. The kids could hear Mr. Rubin pick it up.
“Hello? Yes, it is. What? Really? But I thought … Yes. Are you sure? Okay. Tomorrow. Yes!”
He hung up the phone, then came into the living room and removed his glasses.
“Dad, what is it?” asked Julie.
“It’s the most amazing thing,” he said. “My old company offered me an even better job. I’m … I’m going to take it. Julie, we’re not moving!”
Her mouth dropped open. “Dad, is this true? I mean, are you kidding? I mean — yay!”
“Yay is right!” Mr. Rubin exclaimed. “I’ve got to go tell your mother! Honey —”
He rushed from the room.
With a huge grin, Eric slid the wand into his belt and folded his arms. “Yes, yes. Applause won’t be necessary. Nice, but not necessary —”
Julie began jumping up and down. “Thank you, Eric! This is so great! It’s greater than great! It’s unbelievable! This is awesome! Pinky!”
Julie scooped her cat into her arms and twirled around. “Pinky, we’re not leaving! Oh, Pinky, isn’t this great?”
“Woof!” said the cat.
Julie stopped twirling. “Pinky … ?”
“Woof! Woooof!” The cat leaped from her arms and shot behind a stack of packing boxes.
Neal squinted at the cat. “Has Pinky been eating dog food by mistake?”
“Uh-oh….” Eric stared at the wand in his belt. The gleaming flower at its tip dulled for a second. Then one of the purple petals shriveled and fell, vanishing before it hit the carpet.
He looked up. Neither Julie nor Neal had seen it.
Eric trembled suddenly. “Um … I think we’d better get to Droon right away —”
He headed to the door, then stopped short, his friends bumping into him from behind.
“Holy cow,” said Neal. “Who are they?” The moving van was nowhere in sight. Instead, a procession of figures in long, hooded cloaks was marching slowly up the street. They kept chanting, “Om — yee — Pesh! Peshhhhh!”