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Escape from Jabar-loo

Tony Abbott




  Title Page

  Dedication

  1: Three Heads Are Better

  2: Doing the Wave

  3: The Sound of Music

  4: Enchanted Land

  5: Mr. Duppy Makes a Deal

  6: Sing for the King!

  7: Beasts of Bronze

  8: Behind the Little Red Door

  9: Rat King

  10: Thorns

  The Adventure Continues …

  Also Available

  Copyright

  “Habba … habbza … snkk … snkk!”

  Eric Hinkle woke up with a start and blinked his eyes open. “Mom? Dad?”

  No one answered.

  Then he saw the poster of “Sandwiches of the World” on the wall, and he remembered he wasn’t in his own bedroom. He was sleeping at his friend Neal’s house.

  And Neal was snoring — snkk! — again.

  “Wake up, Noisy Nose,” said Eric. “I need to know if you dreamed about Droon last night.”

  Neal sat up in bed, then flopped back down. “Huh? Yeah. What? Snkk …”

  “Neal,” said Eric. “Your dreams. Droon!”

  Droon, of course, was the magical world Eric, Neal, and their friend Julie had discovered under Eric’s basement.

  It was a land of close friends, mysterious places, and dangerous enemies. It was a place of adventure and excitement.

  One of the best things about Droon was that Eric, Neal, and Julie had developed powers there.

  Magical powers!

  Eric sat up in his sleeping bag and gently flicked his fingers. Zzzt! He smiled as they sent off a tiny spray of silver sparks. He loved his magical abilities. He couldn’t ever imagine being without them. Besides being able to shoot sparks, he had visions. He could also create charms and read old languages. He was becoming as powerful as his friend Princess Keeah. Maybe even more powerful!

  His friend Julie could change her shape and had developed the ability to fly. She could also fly others around with her. Neal had recently been revealed as Zabilac, a time-traveling genie with quirky powers.

  All that was amazing and wonderful and fun. But there was another reason Eric couldn’t wait to return to Droon.

  “Neal,” he said. “Wake up!”

  His friend yawned loudly. “Dude, it’s tough to remember stuff when your brain won’t wake up until your stomach does.”

  “Well, wake up your stomach,” said Eric. “We need to get to Droon as soon as we can.”

  Looking out Neal’s window, he saw the sun slanting across his house two streets away. His heart beat faster when he saw the apple trees in his yard.

  Apples, he thought. They’re the reason I need to get back to Droon!

  In a recent vision, a strange figure had appeared to Eric. It was hidden in green mist and smelled of apples. Its voice — which he did not recognize — warned him that Droon’s wizards would face a mysterious challenge.

  Eric wasn’t sure, but he felt that because the figure had appeared only to him, it might have been a special message just for him. After all, apples were unknown in Droon, and he was the only one of his friends who had apple trees in his yard.

  What he did know was what Keeah had told them all. The green mist meant that the figure had just returned from Droon’s future.

  The future!

  Ever since then, Eric had tried to think of who besides genies could travel in time.

  Only one name came to mind.

  Salamandra, the Thorn Princess of Pesh.

  Eric shuddered when he remembered her. Salamandra was a mysterious princess from his world who traveled through time in her city of Pesh. When Pesh was sent back to the ancient world, Salamandra fled into Droon, where she had immediately begun making mischief.

  But no sooner had Eric thought of Salamandra than he dismissed the idea. The last time the kids had seen her, she was following Emperor Ko, the dreaded ruler of beasts. And Ko was all about the past, not the future.

  So who? he wondered. Who could it be?

  But if Eric didn’t know exactly who it might be, he was certain that the scent of apples meant something important.

  Something … special … just for him.

  If I go to Droon, I can find out! he thought.

  But going to Droon was tricky. There were only two ways to get there. If he, Neal, or Julie dreamed about Droon, it meant that Keeah or the wizard Galen was calling them.

  The other way to get there was if their magic soccer ball brought them a message.

  But Eric had not dreamed of Droon since their last visit there. And the soccer ball was locked safely inside his house.

  “So, Neal. What did you dream about?”

  Neal sighed. “Mostly peanut butter,” he said. “But there were meatballs, too. And celery. That’s almost like health food, isn’t it?”

  Eric rolled his eyes. “Meatballs? Peanut butter? Neal, you’re weird.”

  “Thanks,” he said. “It’s what makes me special.”

  Eric frowned when he heard the word special. He flopped back into his sleeping bag. “Well, we need to go back. So much is happening.”

  “No kidding,” Neal agreed. “We have to rescue Keeah’s parents, for one thing.”

  Eric was startled to realize that he had nearly forgotten about that. “Of course! That’s what I mean. We have to get them home safely.”

  Keeah’s parents, King Zello and Queen Relna, along with the whole royal navy, had recently been shipwrecked by storms in a mysterious and distant land called Jabar-Loo. At the end of their last visit to Droon, Keeah had been preparing to go there in search of them.

  Eric got up. “Maybe Julie had a dream —”

  Suddenly, Neal clamped his hand on Eric’s mouth. “Shh! I hear footsteps.”

  Reaching under his pillow, Neal pulled out a small square of blue cloth. He gave it a snap. Floop! The cloth unfolded itself into an object the size of an umbrella.

  It was his genie turban.

  Neal crept across the floor and tilted his head, as if the turban were helping him hear. “It’s too early for Mom to be awake…. It must be …”

  Eric froze. “Holy cow … what?”

  “A thief!” said Neal. “It is a thief! My genie ears tell me. He’s stealing something round … flat …”

  “What could it be?” asked Eric.

  “MY PANCAKES!” Neal shouted.

  Eric blinked. “What?”

  “Dad is stealing my pancakes!” cried Neal. He stuffed his turban into his pajama top and tore down the stairs, screaming, “Stop, thief!”

  Eric stared at the open door for a second, then sighed. “Some adventure. Some mystery. Meatballs. Pancakes.”

  He gazed through the window at the apple trees, which were now turning gold in the morning sunlight.

  “So who would come only to me and tell me stuff?” he asked himself. “And was there more they wanted to tell me?”

  A moment later, Neal was back in the room, licking an empty plate, his turban low on his brow. “I was totally right. Dad ate all my pancakes. Luckily, I used my genie powers, went into the past, and saved them. I saved yours, too.”

  Eric looked at the empty plate. “You saved mine? Then where are they?”

  Neal licked syrup from his fingers. “I got hungry on the way upstairs.”

  “Neal —!” cried Eric.

  “But guess what,” his friend said. “When I let Snorky out, I found this on the back step.”

  He lifted his turban, and the magic soccer ball dropped into his hand.

  “What?” said Eric. “That ball was locked in my basement.” He took the ball and examined it closely. “But there’s no message —”

  All of a sudden — whammm! — the soccer ball flew out of hi
s hands and smacked him hard on the forehead.

  “Whoa, direct hit!” Neal said, laughing. Then he blinked. “Eric, that ball totally put letters on your head. They spell … anso …”

  Eric stared at him. “The ball always spells things backward. So anso means … osna. But letters printed on my head are probably backward anyway so it really is anso.”

  “What’s anso?” asked Neal.

  Eric shrugged. “I never heard of anso —”

  Just then, the ball smacked Neal in the head. Twice.

  Eric nearly fell down laughing.

  “Double direct hit!” he said. “The letters on your head say … asis. So that’s … asis … anso. It still doesn’t make sense —”

  Suddenly — boing! — the ball flew like a rocket out the open window.

  Neal jumped. “Holy cow. I bet it’s going to hit Julie’s head now! I have to see this!”

  The boys dressed in seconds, then ran out of Neal’s house and across his backyard to the corner. Pausing to make sure no traffic was coming, they dashed across the street to Julie’s house and rang the bell.

  Julie opened the door, holding her head. “You guys will never believe —”

  “Kh,” said Neal.

  Julie frowned. “Excuse me?”

  “Your forehead says kh!” said Neal.

  “The ball hit us, too,” said Eric. “We think there’s a message spelled out on our foreheads. Come to my house, quick!”

  Five minutes later, the three friends were crowded in Eric’s bathroom, staring at their faces in the mirror.

  Standing first in one order, then another, and turning the letters around once more, they finally deciphered the ball’s message.

  Khan’s oasis

  “Khan’s oasis in Lumpland!” said Julie. “We’re being called to Droon!”

  “To rescue Keeah’s parents,” said Neal.

  And learn more about my vision! thought Eric.

  The three friends rushed down the basement stairs, cleared some boxes away from a door under the stairs, and entered a tiny closet.

  The moment they switched off the ceiling light — whoosh! — the cement floor vanished, and in its place appeared the top step of a long, curving staircase. The staircase to Droon.

  Julie leaned down, trying to see beyond the clouds below. “The air is sweet. I’d know that smell anywhere. It’s the desert.”

  One by one, the three friends ran down the stairs. Passing through the clouds, they saw vast seas of sand sparkling in the pink air of dawn. Near the bottom of the stairs stood a ring of tall dunes surrounded by palm trees.

  “I do like a door-to-door staircase,” said Neal. “This is Khan’s oasis, all right. Keeah must be in there. Let’s hike over the dunes.”

  But no sooner had they begun to climb the sand than — whoomf! — Neal fell to the ground as if his legs were pulled out from under him. “Hey!”

  Not a second later, Julie was facedown in the sand. “Who did that —?”

  Before he could run, Eric, too, fell to the ground in a tangled heap. “Stop —!”

  Over and over the three friends tumbled, all the way down to the bottom of the dune!

  “Hel-lel-lelllppp!” cried Neal.

  “Oh, please hush,” hissed a tiny voice when they had all stopped rolling.

  Looking up, they beheld a purple creature the size and shape of a sofa pillow. He had a crown on his head and tassels dangling from his shoulders. His hands were perched on his pillowy hips, and he was chuckling at them.

  “Khan!” said Julie. “That was you?”

  Khan was the king of the purple Lumpies of Lumpland and the kids’ longtime friend. He adjusted his crown and straightened his tassels. “And not a moment too soon, either.”

  “But Keeah called us here,” said Neal. “Why did you tackle us?”

  “Simple, my friends,” he said. “It was not Keeah who called you, but I. And if you follow me, I’ll show you why!”

  Khan led the children step by step up the side of the giant dune. Peeping carefully over the top, they spied a pool of blue water. Princess Keeah stood in a small boat at its center. Her long blond hair was tied in braids, her hands were folded, and her eyes were shut tight.

  “What is she doing?” Julie whispered. “She looks as if she’s in a trance.”

  “Nearly,” said the Lumpy king. “Keeah is in the middle of a very tricky charm. If you disturb her, you’ll spoil it —”

  “Like Daddy did,” said a tiny voice.

  “Twice!” said another tiny voice.

  Two smaller pillows, one with pink tassels, the other with blue, scrambled out from behind a palm tree, giggling. They were followed by a third, larger Lumpy, wearing a crown like Khan’s.

  The king glared at the two smaller pillows, then smiled. “Meet my children, Sasha and Lena. And Mrs. Khan, of course, my queen.”

  The friends bowed to the Lumpy queen, and she to them. “Keeah is conjuring a very difficult charm to help find her parents,” she said. “She hasn’t had much luck so far —”

  All of a sudden, the water in the pool began to churn wildly.

  “Yes!” Keeah called out. “It’s coming!”

  But no sooner had the princess spoken than the water stopped and went still again.

  “Oh, pooh! This isn’t working at all!” Keeah said. When she saw her friends, she waved and paddled quickly to shore.

  “Thank you for coming!” she said. “Only a very tricky spell will take us to my parents. But without Galen, I can’t get it right.”

  “Where is he?” asked Eric.

  Keeah shared a serious look with the Lumpy king. “Things have changed since we last saw you.”

  “Tell us everything,” said Julie.

  Keeah led them all to the Khans’ purple tent on the far side of the oasis.

  “We know that my parents were marooned in the distant land of Jabar-Loo,” she said as they entered the tent. “Galen sent his messenger Flink to help them, but Flink never found them. Galen guessed something was wrong, so he and Max went at once.”

  “Being a spider troll, Max is quite good at finding people,” said Khan. “Take it from an expert tracker!”

  Keeah nodded. “But we’ve had no word from them, either.”

  Khan unrolled a map on the floor of the tent. “Jabar-Loo has ever been a land of mystery. It remains so. Look.”

  At the very eastern edges of Droon sat the western shore of a vast, featureless land. Its interior was dark and unmarked.

  “As you see, we know next to nothing about Jabar-Loo,” said Keeah. “Few explorers have ever been to its forest. But there are tales of strange enchantments.”

  The children looked at one another.

  “Enchantments?” said Julie.

  “You may remember that mischievous mask maker, Hob,” said Khan, shaking his head in disapproval. “Hob learned dark magic from the temples there!”

  Hob! thought Eric excitedly. The last time they had seen the little imp, he had run off with Salamandra’s magic staff.

  Could Salamandra be involved in this, after all? Eric wondered. Could she possibly be the one who appeared to me in my vision?

  Mrs. Khan hugged her children and placed her hands over their ears. “The old temples of Goll lie in ruins among the trees,” she whispered. “There are legends of giant rats crawling among the forest stones, and wild beasts, and shadows cast by nothing! Time itself is said to flow topsy-turvy in Jabar-Loo.”

  Neal straightened the turban on his head. “It sounds like whoever gets lost there needs our help. I’m ready!”

  “They say the forest is alive!” said Lena, wiggling out from her mother’s hug.

  “There’s black fog, too,” added Sasha. “And strange noises. And music —”

  “Children, hush,” Mrs. Khan scolded. “Your father is going there, you know!”

  The two smaller Lumpies looked at each other with astonishment, then turned to their father, their tiny chins quivering.

>   “Oh, now, little ones,” said Khan soothingly. “Come help Papa load Keeah’s boat!”

  While the Lumpies scampered out of the tent, Keeah continued her tale. “Before he left, Galen asked us to join him on the edge of Jabar-Loo. That’s where we’re going now.”

  Julie traced her fingers on the map. “We must be thousands of miles away!”

  Keeah winked and led everyone out of the tent. “That’s where my charm comes in. For the quickest way to Jabar-Loo is to conjure the same wave that marooned my parents there. Khan, is everything ready?”

  “Ready and waiting!” the king replied.

  “We even packed pretzels,” said Sasha.

  “Really? How many?” asked Neal. “No, wait. Don’t tell me. I like surprises.”

  Eric remembered his vision again. Maybe today would mean more than a simple rescue, after all. Maybe today would be special just for him. Flicking his fingers and watching their tips sizzle, he smiled. “I’ve got my supplies. Let’s do this.”

  Keeah tiptoed to the shore. She gazed at the center of the pond and spread out her arms, murmuring to herself.

  Mrs. Khan hugged her husband tightly. “Remember what they say, dear, and prove them wrong!”

  Neal gulped. “What do they say?”

  “Few travelers find Jabar-Loo,” she said. “Fewer enter. But almost none return!”

  Neal shuddered. “That’s what they say?”

  “They do, but pish, posh!” said Khan, tugging his corners nervously. “That’s about travelers. But we aren’t travelers!”

  “We’re not?” asked Julie.

  “No … we’re … rescuers,” said the little king. “That’s right. We’re rescuers, rescuing the king and queen of Droon!”

  “Yay, Daddy!” the two smaller Lumpies cried together. “The Hero of Lumpland!”

  A spray of water shot up from the center of the pond.

  “It’s working!” said Keeah. “The magic wave is coming! Everyone in the boat!”

  The five friends jumped into the boat and paddled to the center of the pond.

  Keeah gave one final shout — “Mah-toth-malempa, Jabar-Loo!” — and a giant wave erupted from the water. It shot up like an enormous fountain and hurled the tiny boat up through the air like a rocket.

  Whoooosh! It soared higher and farther and faster over Droon than the children had ever gone before. Below them passed the plains, mountains, and cities of Droon. Just when they saw a vast, dark forest in the distance, the wave fell back to earth, and the tiny boat began to fall.