The Moon Scroll (The Secrets of Droon #15) Read online

  Title Page

  Dedication

  1: Pictures and Words

  2: Out of the Mouths of Lizards

  3: The Brightness of Shadows

  4: Words and Pictures

  5: Under the Big Turban

  6: Lost in the Lost Palace

  7: One of Them

  8: The Goblin Chase

  9: Tomb of Ko, Tears of Sparr

  10: The Gift

  The Adventure Continues …

  Also Available

  Copyright

  “And here’s you, the first time you smiled!”

  Eric Hinkle was squeezed tight between his parents on his living room couch, looking at pictures. Pictures of himself. As a baby.

  “Such a cute smile,” said his mother.

  “Mom, please,” he said.

  Eric wasn’t exactly smiling now. He was trying to understand something that happened the last time he was in Droon.

  Droon was the secret world he and his friends Julie and Neal had discovered one day beneath his basement.

  It was a land of wondrous magic, a realm of danger and mystery and excitement. Together, the three friends had gone there many times.

  But on their last adventure, Lord Sparr, the wickedest sorcerer in all of Droon, had told Galen Longbeard, the greatest wizard who ever lived, that Eric was … “one of us.”

  One of … us!

  Galen, Eric, and Sparr!

  “What does it mean to be one of … us?” Eric mumbled under his breath.

  “It means you’ve got the Hinkle nose!” said his father, pointing to a picture of Eric at six months old, his tiny face dripping with drool.

  “Such a cute nose,” said his mother.

  Eric laughed. After all, it was true. He did have the family nose. He was certainly a Hinkle.

  But he was something else, too. He had been something else for several weeks. Something even his parents didn’t know about.

  Eric was a wizard.

  Yes, a wizard! With powers!

  Ever since he was struck by a blast of magic from Princess Keeah — one of his best Droon friends — Eric had been able to do things. He could move stuff just by pointing at it. He could shoot blue light from his fingers. He could even send thoughts into his friends’ minds.

  But even though his powers made him different, Eric, Julie, and Neal were closer than ever.

  He smiled when he thought about how much fun they had in Droon. Galen had even said that their adventures together were just beginning.

  This was a good thing, especially since Galen was off chasing Sparr through the ancient evil underworld known as Goll. Now Keeah would need the three of them more than ever.

  The bad part was that they could only get back to Droon if they dreamed about it or if Keeah sent them a secret backward message. And so far, there were no dreams and no messages.

  Mr. Hinkle jumped up suddenly. “Forget this little photo album …”

  “Great,” said Eric. “Can I go now — ?”

  “Let’s get the big album!” his father finished.

  “What?” said Eric. “More pictures?”

  “More cuteness!” said Mrs. Hinkle delightedly. “Eric, don’t you dare run away.”

  Mr. and Mrs. Hinkle rushed from the room.

  Eric sighed. “I’m trapped now … unless …”

  He wondered whether he could speak silent thoughts to his friends from a distance.

  Julie, Neal, if you can hear me, come over now.

  Just then — dingdong! — the doorbell rang.

  “Whoa,” said Eric, bouncing happily up from the couch. “It worked. I love these powers. No more baby pictures. I did it. I really did it!”

  Eric ran through the kitchen to the side door. But even before he could turn the knob, the door burst open and Julie stomped in.

  She was nearly in tears.

  “What’s wrong?” asked Eric.

  “Let’s go to you-know-where right now,” Julie said. “Come on. Let’s go —”

  “Did you have a dream?” Eric asked.

  Julie flicked away a tear. “A nightmare,” she said. “Only not about Droon. Look!”

  She pulled Eric out the door and pointed across the street to her house. A man was on her front lawn pounding a sign into the ground.

  In bright red letters, the sign read:

  FOR SALE

  Eric was stunned. “Wait, you’re … moving?”

  “My dad got a new job,” said Julie, a tear rolling down her cheek. “He starts next week. We have to move closer to it.”

  “But … but … Julie … you … can’t!” Eric protested. You and Neal are my best friends. You know the real me! And Galen said our adventures were just beginning. You can’t go away!”

  Bang-bang-bang. The man finished pounding the sign into the ground.

  Julie turned away. “Tell that to him.”

  “This is crazy,” said Eric. “There must be some magic to make this go away.”

  “It would have to be super magic to change things now. I mean, my dad got a new job!”

  Eric nodded. “Keeah will know what to do. I’ll call Neal. We can’t go to Droon until Keeah sends for us, and we need to be all together.”

  “Together for maybe the last time,” said Julie. She slumped into the kitchen and sat down.

  “Don’t say that,” said Eric. “We’ll find a way.”

  But really, Eric had no clue what that way was. He hoped Keeah could whip up some magic to keep Julie here. Whatever it took, they had to do it.

  Just as he reached for the phone, Neal came bounding through the back door.

  “Eric, I heard your voice in my head and came right over,” said Neal. “I was in my room reading a magazine about this mummy they found in a crusty old tomb in a big old box. Mummies are so cool. Except I’d probably sneeze all over them because of the dust and … hey, why are you guys so bummed out? Is it because of the mummy?”

  Julie shook her head. “No, it’s because of the two little words on the sign in my front yard.”

  Neal stepped to the door and looked out. He blinked, then he frowned. “By two little words, do you mean … Ylkciuq Emoc?”

  “What?” said Julie. She jumped over to the doorway and stared at the sign in her yard.

  “Oh, my gosh!” she gasped. “Eric! Look!”

  The three friends piled out the door and stared at the FOR SALE sign. Only the sign no longer said FOR SALE. The letters had changed their shapes.

  They now spelled out two other words.

  “Ylkciuq Emoc,” said Eric. “That’s backward. Holy cow, it’s a backward message from Keeah!”

  Neal rubbed his forehead. “Let me see … Ylkciuq Emoc … means … uh … come quickly!”

  “Oh, my gosh!” said Julie. “Maybe Keeah heard about me moving away.”

  “You’re moving away?” said Neal. “Oh, man. Why am I always the last to know? Julie, you’ve got to stay. Maybe Keeah can help —”

  “My idea exactly,” said Eric.

  “So let’s get to Droon now!” said Julie.

  They jumped back into the house just as Eric’s parents walked into the kitchen.

  “Julie, we just saw the FOR SALE sign,” said Mrs. Hinkle. “We think of you as one of the family. We didn’t know you were moving.”

  “She won’t if we can help it,” said Eric. “And we’ll be working on our plan, um … downstairs, in the basement. See you later, okay —”

  “But I found videos of you being born,” said Mr. Hinkle. He held up a box and blew a puff of dust off of it. “I was going to make popcorn.”

  Neal froze. “Popcorn? With salt? And butter?”
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  “Neal,” said Julie. “The basement? Our plan? Remember?”

  “Oh, right,” said Neal. “The plan. Sorry Mr. H. But you could save some popcorn for me —”

  Eric and Julie flung open the basement door and pulled Neal in with them.

  “See you later, Mom and Dad!” Eric said.

  The three friends jumped downstairs. Instantly, they began dragging cartons away from a small closet under the basement stairs.

  “Don’t worry, Julie,” said Eric when the door was clear. “We’ll find a way for you to stay.”

  “And Keeah will help,” Neal added. “I’m sure we can do it, if we put our heads together.”

  Julie looked at her friends. She dried her eyes and smiled. “What would I do without you guys?”

  “Let’s hope we never find out,” said Eric. He opened the small door and everyone piled in.

  “Are we ready?” he asked.

  Julie nodded. “I sure am.”

  Neal grinned. “Let me think. Keeah needs us. We need Keeah. What are we waiting for?”

  Laughing, Eric shut the closet door and switched off the light dangling from the ceiling.

  Instantly, the room went dark.

  A moment later — whoosh! — the gray cement floor vanished. In its place was the top step of a shimmering rainbow staircase.

  The staircase curved down and away from Eric’s basement and into the land of Droon.

  “It’s so beautiful,” whispered Julie. “I hope I can always come back —”

  “You will,” said Eric firmly. “I promise.”

  As they descended, a cool breeze coiled up the stairs. The sun was nearly gone. The air over Droon was turning purple, and the first stars were beginning to dot the sky around them.

  Neal tapped Eric’s shoulder. “I see something down below. Cliffs and rocks and stuff.”

  “They’re called mountains,” said Julie.

  A range of low, jagged mountains zigzagged below the curving stairs. Between the two highest peaks a narrow pass snaked through the hills like a road.

  “I don’t see anyone yet,” said Eric, trying to peer into the pass. “Let’s keep going.”

  A blast of chill air swept up from the hills.

  Then, just as they neared the bottom of the stairs — thwang! — a flaming arrow struck the railing next to Eric’s shoulder.

  “Ambush!” cried Neal.

  “I see chubby red cheeks and shiny black armor,” said Eric. “That means — Ninns!”

  “Back up the stairs!” said Julie.

  “We can’t go back,” said Neal. “The stairs are fading! Prepare to fall — ahhh!”

  The staircase faded, and the children tumbled and slid and rolled down the sloping hills to the bottom of the pass.

  “There they are!” one of the Ninns yelled.

  Instantly, the red-faced warriors loaded more flaming arrows into their bows.

  They took aim at the children.

  And they fired.

  Thwang-thwang-thwang!

  “Everybody down!” cried Eric.

  The kids flattened to the ground as — plank! plonk! plunk! — the arrows whizzed past them and struck the rocky walls behind their heads.

  “Spah!” said Neal. “I think I just ate dirt!”

  “Would you rather be target practice for Ninns?” asked Julie, scrambling into the shadows.

  Plonk! Another arrow struck the ground near Eric. “I don’t think they’re practicing!”

  He scanned for a place to hide, but the cliffs rose too steeply on both sides of the pass.

  There was nowhere to go.

  “How about flicking your fingers at them,” said Neal. “Use your powers —”

  Giving a terrible shout, the Ninns charged.

  Eric aimed his fingers and spoke a word he had learned. “Septum … conda … ro!”

  Zzzz! A beam of blue light shot from his fingertips. But the Ninns were ready. They huddled together and raised their shiny shields.

  Zzz-zzz-bloing! The blast of light struck the shields, bounced off, and shot back at the kids.

  Blam! The rocks above them exploded into a shower of pebbles and stone dust.

  “That didn’t work!” said Neal. “A-a-a-choo!”

  The Ninns laughed nastily, then loaded their bows, and took aim once more. But before they could shoot their arrows, the pass echoed with the sound of galloping hooves.

  Wumpeta-wumpeta!

  “It sounds like pilkas,” said Julie. “I hope!”

  Startled, the Ninns swung around. From the far end of the pass came a man riding a shaggy, six-legged pilka. He held a flaming torch that cast wild shadows on the cliffs.

  The man wore a helmet topped with horns.

  “It’s Keeah’s father, King Zello!” shouted Eric.

  The king of Droon charged at full speed. In his free hand, he swung a mighty wooden club.

  “Yee-haw!” the king cried out. “Out of my way, you nasty Ninns!”

  Behind him raced two more pilkas. On the first was the radiant and powerful Relna, Queen of Droon. On the second was Princess Keeah herself, her golden hair flying back in the wind.

  The three pilkas burst right through the squad of Ninns and galloped straight for the kids.

  “Grab on!” Keeah yelled.

  As the three riders swept by, the children leaped up onto the backs of their pilkas.

  “Just like a rodeo!” said Eric as he swung up behind King Zello. “Ya-hoo!”

  The trio of riders thundered to the end of the pass, then turned their pilkas around swiftly.

  “Now, we fight!” said Relna.

  “Us, too?” asked Neal. “But I haven’t eaten —”

  “No, you have a more important task!” said King Zello. “Besides, I need the exercise!”

  Laughing, the king jumped from his saddle and launched into battle with the Ninns.

  Wump! Whack! Zello swung his club around in a complete circle, and half a dozen Ninns staggered back, tumbling over one another.

  “Sparr sent us to hunt the children!” one Ninn shouted. “You can’t stop us —”

  “We can try!” said the queen as she leveled a stream of blue light at him and his squad of Ninns. They went flying into a heap.

  Turning to Keeah, the queen said, “Now go. Your father and I will hold the pass as long as we can. Sparr has sent armies of Ninns across Droon to find you. So you haven’t much time!”

  “Ninns are looking for us?” said Julie. “But we just got here. What have we done?”

  “It’s what Sparr thinks you’re going to do that he doesn’t like,” said Keeah, a smile on her lips. “Now, come on!”

  Eric and Neal jumped off of the king’s and queen’s pilkas, and leaped onto the back of Keeah’s pilka with Julie. They rode like the wind through the pass.

  “Max is meeting us nearby,” Keeah said, spurring her pilka swiftly onward until the sounds of fighting died away. “He has a message from the Guardians.”

  “The Guardians from the flying city?” said Julie. “I remember them. They’re nice. They keep watch over the Tower of Memory.”

  Everyone remembered them. Especially Eric.

  He had one of the strangest experiences of his life in the Guardians’ Tower of Memory.

  “Galen wants us to find something called the Moon Scroll,” said Keeah. “Only the Guardians know what the Scroll is and where it’s hidden.”

  At the sight of a flickering torch ahead, the princess slowed her pilka. Moments later, Max, the friendly eight-legged spider troll, dangled down from the rocks by a silken thread.

  “Welcome, children!” he chittered, his voice quivering with excitement and fear. “I heard the fighting. Are you all right?”

  “For the moment,” said Keeah. She jumped down from her saddle. “Do you have the box?”

  Max nodded. He looked both ways, then pulled a small silver chest from a pouch on his waist. He opened it carefully.

  Looking inside, the children g
asped.

  In the chest were two miniature creatures. They looked like lizards, standing on their hind legs and wearing shiny green robes. One of them wore a tiny pair of wire-rimmed glasses.

  They were bathed in a bright green glow.

  “The Guardians!” said Neal. “Bodo and Vasa! How did you get so … small?”

  “Do not be alarmed,” said Bodo, adjusting his spectacles. “We are actually far from here in our flying city, guarding the Tower of Memory. These are merely images of ourselves —”

  “Never mind us,” Vasa interrupted. “Listen closely. You know that Galen has followed Lord Sparr into the depths of Goll. He is trying to foil the sorcerer’s latest dark and secret plan.”

  Bodo nodded. “But you must help, too. The wizard has asked that you find the Moon Scroll.”

  “We’re not really sure what it is,” said Keeah.

  “The Scroll,” said Vasa, “is Galen’s poem of early Droon, and one of its oldest histories. The Scroll is extremely valuable. In it, you will learn many secrets about Droon’s past.”

  “Sounds mysterious,” said Julie.

  Droon’s past was full of mysteries and secrets.

  Eric recalled how he was trapped in the Tower of Memory once and saw Sparr reading the history of Droon engraved on the Tower’s walls.

  It was then that Sparr did the weirdest thing.

  He began to cry.

  Eric could still hear the hissing sound of the sorcerer’s tears striking the floor.

  “Are you saying that Sparr wants the Moon Scroll, too?” asked Eric.

  “Not the Scroll itself,” said Bodo, “but what the Scroll will lead you to. It leads to —”

  “The wand of Urik,” said Vasa.

  “I was about to tell them!” said Bodo, frowning over his spectacles at his fellow Guardian. “Urik’s wand is an object known to possess deep and wonderful magic for good. Galen believes only the wand will stop Sparr from achieving his dark goals.”

  “It can create wonders from nothing at all,” said Vasa. “It contains more powerful magic than most wizards can do themselves.”

  “More powerful?” said Julie, glancing at Eric.

  They were thinking the same thing.

  Could this wand keep Julie from moving?

  “Alas,” Vasa went on. “Sparr has sent many of his Ninns to find Urik’s wand first.”