The Hidden Stairs and the Magic Carpet (2 page)

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!”

Three
Groggles and Ninns

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!

Four
At the Bridge

“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 was 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 finds on his head?”

“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.”