Eric Hinkle looked down into the fiery volcano and knew he was falling too fast.

“We’re supposed to be flying,” he said. “You said you would fly us down here.”

“I know that,” said his friend Julie Rubin, clutching him tightly by the hand and trying to slow down.

“But we’re not flying,” yelled Eric, starting to feel the volcano’s heat. “We’re falling!”

“I know that, too!” said Julie.

Eric and Julie, along with their friends Neal Kroger; Princess Keeah; King Zello; Queen Relna; Khan, the king of the Lumpies; and Max, the spider troll, had just jumped through an opening in Calibaz, the strange shadowland next to Eric’s town in the Upper World. They were descending into the magical world of Droon, where Julie had agreed to fly them.

“Are we going to crash?” cried Khan, holding on to Relna and Keeah for dear life. “Because it feels like we’re going to crash!”

“Not if I can help it!” said Max, busily spinning a web of spider silk.

Eric really hoped they wouldn’t crash.

Just minutes before, he had found the mysterious Pearl Sea, a part of Queen Zara’s awesome Moon Medallion. From the Pearl Sea they had learned that their long-lost wizard friend Galen was trapped on the far side of Droon’s moon.

Eric and his friends were all determined to rescue the great wizard.

If only they survived their fall.

“Are you even trying to slow down?” asked Neal.

“I am!” said Julie, struggling. “But I’ve never flown so many people before!”

“We’re in the Dark Lands,” said Relna. “Remember that your powers may turn against you. Maybe we can help. Keeah—”

Together, Relna and her daughter aimed their fingertips at the ground, showering the air with sparks in an effort to slow their fall.

Right, thought Eric as they began to tumble even faster. There’s the whole power thing.

Since he, Julie, and Neal had found a magic staircase in Eric’s basement that led them to Droon, powers had come to them, too. For instance, Julie had gained the ability to fly, which she was usually really good at. And even though Neal didn’t seem to have any powers, he had been transformed into several different creatures, including a bug and a goblin.

Best of all, Eric himself was becoming a major wizard. He could shoot silver sparks from his fingertips. He had visions of the future, and he could read weird old languages without even trying. He even suspected that the strange Sword of Zara he found in Calibaz was magically keeping him safe.

But the oddest thing was finding the mysterious and wonderful Pearl Sea in his house. His own house!

Eric couldn’t understand that at all.

In fact, he hardly understood any of it.

Why me? he thought. I mean, really! Why me?

But looking down, he realized he never would understand, unless they slowed down very soon.

“Eric, we need your help!” cried Keeah, her long blond hair flying across her face. “Blast the air. Try to slow our fall —”

But when he added his own sparks to hers, the friends only seemed to fall faster.

“Noooooo!” he screamed.

All of a sudden — flooop! — a vast wispy canopy of spider silk billowed above them, slowing them immediately. In an instant, the eight friends were drifting gently to the ground.

“So much for wizard tricks!” said Max. “Good old spider silk comes to the rescue!”

“Thank you, Max,” said King Zello as they floated softly to the base of the great volcano.

The children shivered to remember the first time they had seen the eerie black mountain called Kano. It had long been the palace of the once very powerful — and very evil — sorcerer known as Lord Sparr.

Recently, however, Sparr had been transformed into a boy, and he was helping the kids battle two even worse enemies — Emperor Ko, ruler of the beasts, and the wicked moon dragon Gethwing. In fact, Sparr was with the beasts right then, secretly hoping to defeat their armies from within.

Like the sorcerer’s other former lairs left behind when he became young, the volcano palace lay deep in Droon’s Dark Lands, surrounded by thousands of square miles of black earth, charred trees, smoky air, and evil.

“The Dark Lands always remind me of Calibaz and the hoobahs who live there,” said Neal, gazing back up toward the cloudy world they had just come from.

Everyone remembered the froglike hoobahs. A legend said that they were doomed to wander the shadowland until a hero led them into the light. “Someday,” Neal added, “their dream will come true.”

“Yes, and our dream to find Galen can only come true if we hide,” said Max, pointing with one of his eight legs. “Look who’s coming!”

Eeee! Eeee! Three snakelike beasts with wings of fire soared over the distant black hills and swooped quickly toward them.

“Wingsnakes,” said Relna. “Probably spies for Emperor Ko. Everyone, hide. In the volcano!”

“In the volcano?” said Neal. “Oh, man!”

The eight friends scrambled over broken rocks to an entrance at the base of the fiery mountain. They dived in just before the wingsnakes were close enough to see them.

The walls inside the volcano were charred black. Plumes of smoke rose into clouds that were lit with flickering flames and the glow of molten lava. Beyond the smoke, the children could make out ominous dark passages twisting deep into the mountain.

“Very nice place,” grumbled Khan.

Kano had always been home to the Ninns, Sparr’s former army of large red warriors. But looking around, the friends saw bent and broken Ninn weapons strewn across the volcano floor, along with cracked pots and the remains of hastily abandoned cooking fires.

Zello shared a look with Relna. “Perhaps the Ninns were forced to leave. Maybe the beasts took over and live here now.”

Eeee! Eeee! The wingsnakes called to one another, circling the volcano.

Neal groaned as they all moved away from the entrance. “I knew this was a bad idea. We’re trapped in here.”

“Trapped, but not caught yet,” said Julie.

Khan frowned suddenly. “Don’t speak too soon,” he whispered. “Look there —”

As an odd-shaped shadow slid along the wall, they realized that something else was inside the volcano, moving in one of the passages. Lit from behind by the flames, the thing — whatever it was — drew closer, and its shadow grew larger until it dwarfed the friends.

King Zello raised his club. Eric drew the Sword of Zara from his belt and held it aloft.

“Point your fingers, Mom,” said Keeah as she and Relna aimed at the silhouette of a big head moving across the wall.

“Please make it go away,” whispered Neal.

A second head moved next to the first.

“Please make them go away!” said Neal.

“Maybe there are a hundred of them!” cried Julie.

Eric’s sword quivered in his hands. “All in all,” he said, “I think I’d rather be falling —”

Then came an inhuman wail and a sudden rush of feet, and the beasts charged into the cave.