Journey to the Volcano Palace Read online

  Title Page

  Dedication

  1: Dreams

  2: Sands of Time

  3: The Oasis at Noon

  4: Into Sparr’s Realm

  5: Smoke and Mirrors

  6: Meeting the Witch

  7: The Fierce Beast

  8: Sparr’s Secret?

  9: Fountain of Danger

  10: The Door Home

  The Adventure Continues …

  Also Available

  Copyright

  Eric Hinkle couldn’t breathe.

  The air around him was dark and smoky and hot. The evil sorcerer Lord Sparr was after him, chasing him down a long, dark tunnel.

  “Now that you know my secret,” Sparr shouted, “you will never be able to leave!”

  “I don’t know any secret!” Eric pleaded. “Let me go! Let me out of Droon!”

  “NEVER!” was Sparr’s only word.

  The sorcerer’s eyes were filled with anger. The weird fins behind his ears were purple and shiny. He was getting closer. Closer!

  The tunnel ahead of Eric split in two.

  Go right! said a voice in his head.

  “Oh, man!” Eric swallowed hard. He had always had a problem with right and left. He looked at his hands. Which was right? It took him a second to decide. “This way!” he said.

  He charged ahead into one of the tunnels.

  No! said the voice in his head. The right one!

  “Ha! Now I have you!” Sparr shrieked as Eric ran up against a solid wall. “My secret is safe!”

  “Help!” Eric cried. “I’m trapped!”

  Sparr lunged.

  Eric leaped out of the way.

  Thud!

  “Ouch!” Eric groaned.

  He opened his eyes. He was in his room. He was half on the floor, half still in bed, wound up tight in his bedsheet. He looked like a mummy.

  “Whoa!” he said. “What a nightmare.”

  The door opened. His mother stood in the doorway. “Eric, what was that noise?”

  “Uh, I guess I fell out of bed,” Eric said, unwinding himself from his sheet. “But I’m okay.”

  Mrs. Hinkle helped him up. “By the way, Eric. Where is Droon?”

  Eric nearly fell to the floor again. “Huh?”

  “You were talking in your sleep,” his mother said. “Something about a place called Droon.”

  Eric gulped. He blinked. His mouth opened to answer, but nothing came out.

  Droon was a secret. No one was supposed to know about the incredible world he and his friends had found under his basement stairs.

  Galen the wizard had made them promise not to tell anyone.

  The problem was, ever since his first time in Droon, Eric couldn’t think of anything else.

  Now he was even dreaming about it.

  And Princess Keeah had told them that when you dreamed about Droon, it meant you would go back.

  “Uh, Droon is a place we, uh … made up,” Eric said. “Neal and Julie and I.”

  He hated to lie. But until he and his friends found out more about Droon — and about the evil Sparr — it wasn’t safe for people to know.

  “Sounds secret,” his mother said. “By the way, your friends called. They’re coming over.”

  Eric dressed quickly. He had to tell Neal and Julie about his dream right away.

  He got to the backyard in time to see a small, scruffy dog chasing Neal across the lawn.

  Grrr! The dog kept biting Neal’s feet.

  “Stop it, Snorky!” Neal tossed a biscuit across the yard. The dog bounced after it. “Hey, Eric.”

  “I’m glad you’re here,” Eric said. “It happened. I had a weird dream about Droon —”

  “Not me.” Neal shook his head. “I was so tired teaching Snorky to fetch, I fell asleep before I hit the pillow. Actually, I fell asleep on my floor.”

  “I woke up on the floor!” Eric said. “It was weird. It felt like someone from Droon was sending the dream to me.”

  At that moment, Julie came into the yard.

  Eric ran over to her. “Julie, something strange is going on —”

  “First, let me tell you about my dream,” Julie said. “I was in Droon —”

  “Me, too!” Eric gasped. “Sparr was chasing me because I knew his big secret. But I forget what the secret was.”

  “Hmm.” Julie bit her lip. She always did that when she was trying to figure something out. “I was at a pool of water. I was really thirsty and I wanted to take a drink, but something creeped me out. I forget what it was, but it was very yucky.”

  Grrr! Snorky ran back across the lawn. He fastened his teeth on the toe of Neal’s right sneaker.

  “Let go of my shoe!” Neal cried. “Wait a second…. I remember now. I had a scary dream, too! I forget most of it, except …”

  “Except for what?” Julie asked.

  Neal shrugged. “I remember it was about my feet. I was in Droon, and my feet hurt.”

  Snorky leaped suddenly for Neal’s left shoe.

  “Heel!” Neal snapped, shaking his foot.

  “Well, he’s eating your heel,” Julie said.

  “Maybe he’s learning!” Neal tossed another biscuit, and Snorky ran for it. “Let’s get inside.”

  The three kids jumped up the back steps into Eric’s kitchen and headed for the basement.

  “Droon is full of secrets,” said Julie. “Secrets we need answers to. We need to go back.”

  Neal frowned. “But what if all of our dreams come true? I mean, my dream was pretty weird.”

  “There’s only one way to find out,” said Eric.

  They tramped down the stairs into the basement. It was messy. It was beyond messy. Eric knew he’d have to clean it one of these days.

  Cleaning all the old toys and junk out of the basement was his special project. Neal and Julie had said they would help.

  When we get back, Eric thought.

  He pulled open the little door under the stairs. They entered a small, empty room.

  They closed the door. They all held their breath as Eric switched off the light.

  Whoosh! The floor vanished beneath them.

  In its place was a long flight of stairs. The steps shimmered in the light from below.

  The light from the land of Droon.

  “Yes! We are going back,” Eric whispered. “I wonder where the stairs will lead us this time.”

  “Or if it’s day or night in Droon,” said Neal.

  “Let’s stop talking and find out,” said Julie.

  The three friends stepped slowly down the stairs. The air was hushed and cool. And the sky below them turned deep blue and sparkled like a million jewels.

  A giant moon cast golden light on the stairs.

  “Nighttime,” Eric whispered.

  Before they knew it, the three friends were in Droon once again.

  A wide sea of sand stretched away as far as the eye could see. Sand hills — dunes — rolled and dipped all the way to the horizon.

  “Wow!” Neal said. “This is my first desert.”

  The moonbeams made the dunes glitter with golden light.

  “This is awesome,” Julie said. “Droon is beautiful at night.”

  Eric breathed in the cool air. “Let’s climb over that dune,” he said, pointing to one of the high, curving hills of sand. “For a look.”

  They stepped down from the bottom step.

  The sand was warm.

  They climbed to the top of the dune and peered over.

  Not far away was a striped tent. Shaggy, six-legged beasts stood outside. The kids remembered them from their first time in Droon. The beasts were called pilkas.

  “Somebody’s camping,” Neal whispere
d.

  Eric noticed a strange purple flag flying over the tent. “Careful,” he said. “You never know what you might find.”

  “We don’t have much choice,” said Julie, pointing behind them. “The stairs are fading.”

  The three friends watched as the rainbow-colored steps vanished in the sky.

  “I hope we find them again later,” Neal said. “Wherever they are.”

  Slowly, they approached the tent. A large flap hung down over an opening.

  “Let’s peek in,” Julie whispered.

  Suddenly, a voice spoke from inside the tent. “Come in!”

  Julie held her breath and pulled up the flap.

  The three friends looked inside.

  Their friend Princess Keeah was sitting on a rug spread out over the sand. She was dressed in a light blue tunic. In her long blonde hair she wore a golden crown.

  Next to her sat the old wizard, Galen Longbeard, and his assistant, Max.

  Lining the inside of the tent were piles of extra-plump purple-colored pillows.

  “Welcome back!” Keeah said, laughing when she saw the kids.

  “We’ve all been waiting for you!” Max chirped happily. Max was a spider troll. He had eight legs and could spin sticky webs and climb up walls. But his face was pudgy like a troll’s, and his bright orange hair sprouted straight up.

  Eric smiled as he and his friends entered the tent. “How did you know we were coming?”

  “I can see the future!” Keeah said.

  Julie gasped. “You can?”

  “Keeah,” said Galen sternly, “you must respect your real magic powers. You should not invent others you don’t have … yet.”

  The princess made a face. “I’m sorry.” She turned to the three friends. “Actually, I can’t see the future. I just dreamed about all of you, and I guessed you were on your way.”

  Eric shot looks at Julie and Neal. “We had dreams, too. But we didn’t understand them.”

  “In Droon, wizards — and sorcerers — can use dreams as messengers,” Galen said. “Sometimes they foretell what will happen. We may understand more at dawn, when we begin —”

  Neal tugged a purple pillow over to the rug.

  “Hey!” the pillow snarled. “You pinched me! I was having the nicest nap, too!”

  Neal jumped up. “Whoa … sorry!” He looked around. “Wait, did that pillow just talk to me?”

  Max chirped in laughter. “That’s a Lumpy!”

  Neal made a face. “Lumpy or not, in the Upper World, pillows don’t talk!”

  Keeah smiled. “Max means it’s not a pillow you sat on. It’s a Lumpy. A purple Lumpy!”

  It was then that the kids noticed small round faces on the chubby pillows. Their cheeks bulged, and their noses were like purple tennis balls.

  One of the creatures stood up, stretched, and yawned. It had short, fat arms and squat legs.

  “I am Khan,” he said. “King of the purple Lumpies of Lumpland. Just over the last dune on your left. We Lumpies are the best desert trackers in Droon. We sniff out trouble.” He paused to sniff the air. “Danger is everywhere!”

  “Uh … pleased to meet you!” Eric said.

  Galen rose, wrapping his long blue robe around him. “Now, come outside. We must talk about tomorrow.”

  The air outside the tent was cool and sweet.

  “It sure is peaceful here,” Julie said.

  “It wasn’t yesterday,” Keeah told them. “That’s the reason we’re here.”

  “What happened?” Eric asked.

  “Lord Sparr,” Khan said, shaking his purple fist in the air. “He nearly destroyed one of our villages with his red jewel. Luckily, the terrible flame burned his hand, and he fled.”

  Eric remembered the red jewel. It was called the Red Eye of Dawn. The sorcerer Sparr had stolen it from Keeah and was planning to use it to take over Droon.

  “The Eye of Dawn commands the forces of nature,” Galen said. “Fire, wind, wave, and sky. It is very powerful. Yesterday, Droon was lucky. Tomorrow, we may not be.”

  Keeah pointed across the desert. “We think Sparr fled to his secret palace. It’s in a hidden land called Kano.”

  Galen turned grim. “A terrible place, dangerous and deadly. Sparr will not expect us to go.”

  Neal nodded. “We’d be dumb to do that.”

  “And because he doesn’t expect it,” Keeah added, “that’s exactly what we’ll do!”

  The three kids were silent.

  Eric blinked. “Dangerous and deadly?”

  Khan nodded. “And the Lumpies shall lead you right to it!”

  “We must find the Eye before Sparr uses it again,” Galen said. “Droon itself is at stake.”

  “Are you in?” Keeah asked.

  Eric looked at Julie, then at Neal. He knew they were just as afraid as he was.

  “I guess we’re in,” Julie said.

  “Get the maps,” Neal said. “I’d like to see exactly where we’re going.”

  Max chuckled. “Maps will be of no help! Lord Sparr lives in a volcano!”

  Moments later, the sun began to rise over the distant dunes.

  “It’s time!” Keeah said.

  They all climbed to the rim of a tall, curving sand dune. Galen pointed to the sandy plains where the sun was rising.

  “The door to Kano lies in the East,” the wizard said. “According to a legend, it can be seen where it is not.”

  Eric nodded slowly. “Okay. Got it. Great. Um … could you say that again?”

  “It’s a riddle,” Max said, scurrying back and forth in the sand. “No one knows exactly where Sparr’s palace is.”

  Julie began biting her lip again. “Then how are we going to find the door to Kano?”

  But Galen was already walking back down the dune. “By finding the answer to the riddle!”

  “First things first,” Khan said. “Our journey of many miles begins with a single sniff!” He sniffed the air, then pointed. “East is that way!”

  Within moments, Khan and his Lumpies packed up the tent and supplies.

  “Into the East!” Max chirped.

  Hrrr! Galen’s shaggy pilka, Leep, whinnied in excitement as the kids piled onto her back.

  “We’re off!” cried Julie.

  They rode for hours over the hot dunes.

  Mile after mile, they saw nothing but burning white sand.

  “I think we’re lost,” Neal said, wiping his forehead. “I mean, I guess we’re in the East, but I don’t see any doors. All I see are two things. Sand, and more sand.”

  Eric pointed into the distance. “What’s that?”

  It looked like a shadow against the faraway dunes, a grove of trees waving in the breeze.

  “Is it a mirage?” Julie said. “You know, the imaginary things you see in the desert that aren’t really there?”

  “Imaginary,” Eric sighed. “Right now I’m imagining the town pool filled with cool water.”

  “You want water, you got it,” Neal said. “I’m gonna be a puddle in about three minutes.”

  “No, you won’t,” Keeah said. “That’s an oasis! We can rest there and get some real water!”

  They rode quickly and soon reached a group of tall palm trees sprouting up from the dunes.

  In the center was a pool of cool, blue water.

  Eric and his friends slid down from Leep and moved into the shade of the waving palm trees.

  “This isn’t the pool in my dream,” Julie said. “There’s nothing yucky about this.”

  “Good!” Neal exclaimed. “Because I’m way past thirsty.” He and Julie and Keeah went to the near side of the pool and began to drink.

  The Lumpies led the pilkas over. They all bent their heads to the water.

  “Drink up,” Khan said. “It may be many miles before we find water again.”

  Eric scrambled to an open spot on the side of the pool. He breathed in the sweet air under the trees, then bent down, cupping his hands together. The shimmering w
ater looked so refreshing.

  He stooped to take a big sip.

  He froze solid at what he saw.

  “What is it?” Keeah said, looking up.

  Eric stared into the pool. “My reflection —”

  Neal laughed. “Yeah, you look pretty grimy!”

  “We all do,” Julie added.

  “No, that’s not it,” Eric mumbled. In the surface of the pool he saw his face. Behind his head were the tops of the palm trees that he knew were waving in the wind behind him.

  And behind the palm trees … was an enormous gate! A gate made of black iron, towering up behind the palms.

  Eric whirled around and looked up.

  There was no gate behind the palm trees.

  He turned back to the pool. The gate was there, in the reflection, standing as huge and as plain as day!

  “An invisible gate!” he gasped. “Like the riddle says — it can be seen where it is not!”

  “What?” Neal said, slurping from his hands.

  “We’re here!” Eric cried. “I see it in the pool. The door to Kano. But it’s not in the pool. It’s there!” He pointed up behind him, beyond the palm trees. “The entrance to Kano is right there!”

  Galen rushed over. Max scurried across the sand. Keeah, Neal, and Julie ran to Eric.

  They all stared at the open air behind the palms, then at the pool.

  “It’s there, all right,” Keeah said. “But it’s still invisible. How do we get in?”

  “I have an idea.” Neal stooped to the pool and filled his hands with water. He hurried through the palm trees to where the gates would be.

  He tossed the water across the air.

  Sssss! The water struck something in midair and spilled down it.

  Suddenly, there it was! A patch of black iron!

  Julie tried it next.

  Sssss! More of the black gate appeared.

  Everyone joined in, even the Lumpies. They cupped their hands. They used buckets. They even filled their boots with water.

  Splish! Splosh! Splursh!

  Soon, the entire gate dripped into shape before them. It stood huge and glistening behind the tall palm trees of the oasis.

  Galen stood back in awe. “Behold! We have discovered the way to Sparr’s secret realm! This is the door to Kano!”

  The iron gate towered high above the dunes, casting its dark shadow over the oasis.