Dream Thief (The Secrets of Droon #17)

  Title Page

  Dedication

  1: Droon Dreams

  2: Wake-up Call

  3: The Cave in the Cliff

  4: Trouble in Paradise

  5: Over the Sea of Trees

  6: On the Last Bridge

  7: The Silent Stones Speak

  8: The Everything King?

  9: Battle in the Branches

  10: Faraway

  The Adventure Continues …

  Also Available

  Copyright

  Clank! Plong! Eric Hinkle swung his curved fighting stick at the five-headed, seven-armed beast in the nasty dark dungeon.

  “Grrrroooo!” the creature snarled. In six huge hands it swung six giant clubs. In the seventh hand, it held … Princess Keeah!

  “Help!” she screamed. “Save me, Eric!”

  “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of this!” said Eric calmly. With one swift jerk of his stick, he forced the beast back and pulled Keeah to safety.

  “My hero!” she cried.

  “Thanks, but we’re not out of the castle yet.” Taking off at a run, Eric whisked Keeah through a series of dark hallways, leaped across a burning bridge, and swung on a chain across a pit of serpents.

  “The gate is bolted!” cried Keeah, her golden hair flying as they raced to escape.

  “No problem,” he said. “Watch this —”

  Even jumping down stairs three at a time, with the princess on his arm, Eric sent a perfect stream of blue sparks from his fingertips.

  Zzzing! The gate flew apart, and they were suddenly free, outside under a pink sky with wispy purple clouds. All around them crowds of people were calling out, “Hooray, Eric! You did it. Three cheers for the greatest hero ever!”

  And that was the moment when something in Eric’s mind reminded him that he was sleeping.

  “It’s a dream,” he mumbled to himself, turning over on his side. “It’s only a dream….”

  It was a dream. Eric knew he was at home in his bed, fast asleep. But he also knew where he was in the dream. It could only be one place.

  The land of Droon.

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

  It was a land of enchantment and awesome adventure. It was filled with strange places and creatures — some good, others not so good.

  Right now, Eric was dreaming about one of the good ones.

  “You saved me, Eric. Thank you,” said Keeah, smiling at him. She was one of his best friends in Droon and a young wizard herself.

  In the crowd nearby were Keeah’s parents, Queen Relna and King Zello. Next to them stood Galen, the greatest of all wizards, his white beard trailing to his waist, his old hands waving to Eric.

  “Cool!” Eric said to himself, searching the crowd. “Everybody came. Well, not everybody. I’m glad stinky old Sparr isn’t here!”

  Lord Sparr was the wicked ruler of Droon’s Dark Lands and an evil sorcerer of great power.

  Sparr was in the Upper World now — Eric’s world — lost sometime in the last five hundred years. A sorceress named Salamandra had taken his place in Droon. Jabbo, a plump little dragon who baked pies for her, had come to Droon, too.

  “Hooray for Eric the wizard!” people shouted.

  Eric smiled at that. Ever since a blast of Keeah’s magic zapped him, his fingertips sparked with blue light, and he could see visions of things that hadn’t happened yet.

  “Yoo-hoo, Eric! You go, dear!”

  “Huh?” He turned, surprised to see his mother cheering from the crowd. His father was there, too, and even his grandparents.

  “Cool dream,” he said, waving back.

  Whoosh! A golden door opened in front of Eric, and he entered a room filled with light.

  From the light came a voice. Eric … enter!

  It was a woman’s voice, soft and musical. It spoke in a whisper … far away … and quiet.

  Eric, come in. You are … one of us!

  He had heard those words before. Lord Sparr had once said to Galen that Eric was “one of us.” Since then, the kids had learned that Galen had two brothers. One of them was Urik, a great wizard and wandmaker.

  The other was Sparr himself.

  All three were the sons of a good and powerful wizard queen named Zara. Long ago, Zara had been kidnapped from the Upper World and brought to Droon.

  Strangely, it always gave Eric a mysterious ache to speak her name.

  But how Eric was “one of them,” no one knew.

  Now, as he neared the light, it seemed as if a hand, thin and white, was reaching out to him.

  Take the gift!

  Eric opened his own hand. “A prize? For me?”

  The one who strikes the wolf at noon, shall earn a secret wish in Droon….

  “You mean me? Is it noon now? What secret wish? Excuse me, but who exactly are you?”

  But the voice was suddenly muffled, and the great golden hall around him began to fade.

  “Wait! My prize, my dream!” Eric felt himself falling backward away from the hand. “Hey!”

  All of a sudden — kkkk-foom! — the light flashed and went out completely. The hand was gone, the light was gone, the room was gone.

  The air around him now smelled damp, and there was water … drip … drip … dripping … somewhere behind him.

  “Um, I think I liked my first dream better.”

  He was in a room made of strange, silvery stone, lit by a sort of smoky light from above. And there, huddled in a shaft of that light, was a dragon.

  But it was not the usual sort of dragon. This one was short and chubby and wore an apron smudged with purple and red stains.

  Fruit stains.

  Eric blinked. “Jabbo? … The pie maker?”

  It was Jabbo, the strange little dragon who baked pies for the wicked Princess Salamandra.

  “What are you doing in my dream?” asked Eric. “It was going so well, too. I was a big hero. I was going to get a prize —”

  But Jabbo wasn’t paying any attention. The dragon was murmuring softly to himself. “Well, now, look at this. Jabbo stares at the thing … and it stares right back!”

  Eric edged into the smoky light. “What do you have there? What’s staring back at you?”

  Jabbo held up a small shiny object.

  A blue flame seemed to flicker deep inside it.

  Eric gasped. He had seen the object before.

  It was a small gem called the Eye of the Viper. It was one of two identical gems that belonged to Lord Sparr. Jabbo had gotten hold of one just before he escaped from the Upper World into Droon.

  The dragon suddenly stood up. “Jabbo has decided. He doesn’t want to bake pies anymore! Not when he can have such … power! With this pretty jewel, Jabbo can rule over Droon!”

  Eric drew in a short breath. “Wait, no. Jabbo, I think that jewel is way too powerful for you. Too powerful for any of us. It can make your mind go a little nutty. Especially if Sparr still has the other one!”

  Eric had had the jewel for a short time himself, and it had played tricks with his mind. “I think we need to give it to Galen —”

  “These words,” said Jabbo, holding the gem to the gray light. “I wonder what they mean.”

  “Jabbo, let’s go find a nice kitchen for you to bake some pies in —”

  “Cha-go … Hakoth-Mal … kala-na-drem … esh-kee-tah….”

  “Okay,” said Eric. “Stop with the baby talk and give me the jewel —”

  Jabbo made a sudden gasping noise. Trembling, he pointed behind Eric.

  Eric’s blood turned cold. “Uh … I’m not going to like what I see when I
turn around, am I?”

  Jabbo shook his head. “I don’t think so.”

  “Man, I really liked my first dream better —”

  There was a sudden fluttering sound from the shadows — flit-t-t-t!

  “Wh-wh-wh-who’s there?” asked Eric, turning.

  He gasped when he saw it. It was a warrior in rust-red armor, standing upright like a man, but with the head of a wolf. Growing from its back were two black wings.

  “Correction,” said Eric. “You’re not a who. You’re a what! And what exactly are you?”

  “He came from the jewel!” said Jabbo, suddenly delighted. “See! With the gem, Jabbo commands great warriors!”

  “Uh-huh, well, command him to go away.”

  “Jabbo doesn’t know the words for that.”

  “Try more baby talk!” said Eric.

  Klish-ang! Gleaming claws shot out from the creature’s hands. The beast flashed them across the air — shwee-shwee!

  Eric backed up. “Okay, put those things away before someone gets hurt. Someone like me!”

  Fwip! Its wings flicked once, and the armored creature sprang across the floor.

  “Come on now!” Eric cried, glancing around for a place to hide, but finding none. “It’s only a dream, right? I’m asleep. I’m dreaming. I can’t get hurt in a dream, can I? Can I?”

  Fwip! The creature sprang closer.

  It raised its terrible claws.

  Eric buried his head in his arms. “Nooooooo!”

  Shwee! Shwee!

  “Nooooooo!” Eric was still screaming when a hand suddenly grabbed his shoulder.

  “Hey, pal, wake up. It’s me —”

  Eric pulled his face from his hands and his eyes popped open. He found himself staring into the smiling face of his best friend Neal.

  “Huh? What? Neal? Where am I?”

  “In your bed, dreaming,” said his friend with a grin. “And from the silly noises you were making, it sounded like a bad one.”

  Eric blinked. The room was gray. “But it’s so early. What are you doing here?”

  “I had a weird Droon dream and rushed right over,” he said. “Your folks let us in.”

  “Us?” asked Eric.

  “I’m here, too,” said the voice of his other best friend, Julie, stepping into the room.

  Eric sat up in bed. The birds were chirping noisily outside. It was clearly morning.

  “You had dreams, too?” asked Eric. “Tell me.”

  “Mine started out the absolute coolest,” said Julie. “I was training pilkas on this beautiful white beach in Droon, when — boom! Jabbo is there. Only he’s not into making pies anymore. He’s talking about taking over!”

  “Jabbo busted up my dream, too,” said Neal. “I was just about to split a huge gizzleberry cake with Max — it was big! — when Jabbo stomps the cake to mush. He said it was undercooked!”

  Eric stared at his friends. “This is so incredible. Jabbo interrupted my dream, too. I was busy rescuing Keeah from a monster. Crowds were cheering all over the place. It seemed so real. Then a voice starts speaking to me —”

  “A voice? What did it say?” asked Julie.

  “Something about the stuff I need to do in Droon —”

  “That sounds fairly important,” said Neal. “All I was trying to do was eat a cake.”

  “But that all vanished when Jabbo appeared,” Eric went on. “He had the Eye of the Viper. He spoke some weird words and the next thing I know this crazy wolf dude is coming after me. Luckily, you woke me up.”

  Julie chuckled. “Eric, you can’t get hurt in your dreams. At least, I don’t think you can.”

  “Well, it seemed pretty real,” said Eric. “In the first part I was getting a prize for saving Keeah.”

  “A prize?” Julie laughed. “Is that what you have in your hand?”

  “Huh?” Eric held up his hand. It was clenched tightly in a fist. He opened it and gasped.

  There, sitting in his palm, was a smooth round stone. Even in the dim room, it shone like silver.

  Eric nearly fell out of bed. “Whoa! Where did this … I mean, how did I … I mean … whoa! This is the coolest, most amazing thing ever!”

  Neal’s eyes bugged out. “No wonder your dream seemed real. You even got a souvenir!”

  “It looks magical,” said Julie. “Does it have special powers now that you’re a wizard?”

  “I don’t know.” Eric turned the stone over and saw for the first time that there was a symbol carved into the stone. He had seen that symbol once before. It was from the old Droon language.

  It was his name.

  “Okay, this is important,” said Julie, throwing up the shade and letting the morning light into the room. “Jabbo took over each of our dreams. Eric, you even woke up with stuff. Dreams are one of the ways we know to go to Droon. I think someone is telling us to get to Droon right away.”

  “Someone,” said Eric, remembering the strange, faraway voice in his dream. “But who?”

  Neal smiled. “Maybe we’ll find out. Let’s roll!”

  While Neal and Julie waited in the hall, Eric scrambled into his clothes. He looked again at the silvery stone, then smiled to himself, remembering the crowds cheering for him. “Me. A hero. Cool.” He slipped the stone into his pocket.

  Two minutes later, the three friends bounded down to the kitchen, where Mr. Hinkle was mixing batter in a big bowl.

  “Hey, kids,” he said, “just in time for waffles!”

  Neal sniffed deeply, then sighed. “Sorry, Mr. H. You know I’m always ready to put in my order, even when I’m not hungry, but we have to go downstairs for a sec.”

  That was one of the great things about going to Droon. No matter how long the kids were there, no time went by in the Upper World.

  Mrs. Hinkle blinked. “Neal passing up breakfast? We must be dreaming!”

  Eric laughed. “Something like that, Mom.”

  He wished he could stop and tell his parents how cool it was to see them in his dream. How special they were. But he wasn’t sure the words would come out right. Plus, Droon was a secret.

  Besides, Julie was already tugging him to the basement door. “Come on. Time is wasting.”

  “Be right back!” Eric yelled over his shoulder as his friends hustled him down to the basement. Together they pulled aside the boxes that hid a small closet under the stairs. Neal opened the door and switched on the light.

  Eric patted the stone in his pocket. “I think I was about to learn something very important in my dream. I sort of feel as if I’ve been robbed.”

  “And Jabbo did the robbing,” said Julie. “He robbed all of us of some very cool dreams. Keeah and Galen need to know. Pronto.”

  “Plus, I never even got a bite of that cake,” said Neal. “Talk about nightmares!”

  With a laugh, everyone piled into the small room. Eric closed the door behind them. Julie turned off the light.

  Click. The room went dark.

  A moment later — whoosh! — the gray floor vanished beneath them. In its place stood the top step of a shimmering staircase. It spiraled down and away from the house.

  Neal grinned. “Other people just have dirt and rocks under their houses, Eric. I hope you know how lucky you are.”

  Eric’s heart raced. “Believe me, I know.”

  Step by step, the three friends descended the stairs, passing into a layer of wispy purple clouds. Eric remembered the clouds from his dream.

  “Maybe it’ll come true,” he whispered.

  Farther down, a fine pink mist surrounded them. The air was fresh and cool.

  “It smells like morning,” said Julie.

  When they neared the bottom, a gentle breeze wafted over them, clearing the mist. Before them lay a hill of high grass waving in the breeze. Behind was a range of white cliffs and a sparkling blue sea. They stepped onto the ground.

  As always, the staircase faded. It would return when it was time to leave Droon.

  “Nice view from
up here,” said Eric, looking out over the cliffs.

  “Um … not so nice from this angle,” said Neal, backing up into Eric and Julie.

  They turned. The tall grass in front of them was moving, but not back and forth in the breeze anymore. The grass was moving toward them.

  Ssssss! it hissed.

  “That grass is not grass,” said Neal, trembling. “It’s snakes! Millions of them. I don’t like snakes!”

  “But they’re so cute,” said Julie. “Maybe they’re friendly —”

  Whoomf! A short burst of green fire shot from the mouth of each snake.

  “Fire-breathing snakes are not cute,” said Neal. “Or friendly!”

  With every wiggle toward the children, the snakes hissed, breathed out a puff of sharp green flame, and chanted a single word.

  “Jabbo!”

  Sssss! “Jabbo!” Sssss!

  “You don’t suppose this is how snakes say hello in Droon, do you?” asked Julie, backing up.

  Neal shook his head. “No. I’m pretty sure this is how they say good-bye. They’re pushing us toward the cliffs!”

  Eric quickly raised his hands as they scrambled to the edge of the cliff. “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of this.”

  “Yeah, blast them!” said Neal. “You’re the wizard hero and all that!”

  “But don’t hurt them,” said Julie. “They’re still kind of cute. Deadly, maybe, but still cute!”

  “Caro-baro-moo!” said Eric, using words that popped into his head.

  Zzzzt! A bolt of blue light shot from his fingertips and blasted the ground at their feet.

  “Yikes!” cried Eric. “My aim was lots better in my dream!”

  Just as the snakes gathered for another charge — zzz-whoosh! — a white mist streaked over them.

  The snakes raised their tiny heads into the mist. “Jabbo?” they said. Then they plopped to the ground in little heaps and fell asleep — snzz.

  The kids looked down. Their feet were teetering on the very edge of the cliff.

  “That was really close!” said Neal.

  “That was really me!” said a voice at their side. The kids looked over to see a spiral of blue light sparking and fizzing in the air. The light faded and out popped Princess Keeah herself. Her golden crown glinted in the sun, and her fingers still sizzled with white sparks.