One moment Eric felt as if someone were dropping sandbags on him, and the next moment he felt as if he were the sandbag.

Thumpety-thumpety!

Finally, the rolling stopped.

“Heavy, these urns,” squeaked one of the Sultan’s urn men.

“Come on,” said another. “Let’s find out if the Sultan wants them here or on the Raven.”

“The Raven, right,” laughed another. “Caw! Caw! Boom!”

Several sets of feet padded down the hall.

“Feel … sea … sick …” groaned Max.

“Wait,” whispered Keeah. She and Julie popped their heads out of their urn and peeked around. “All right. It’s clear.”

“The Raven?” said Anusa, hopping out. “I don’t like the sound of that. Let’s find Galen and figure out what the Sultan is planning before it’s too late.”

Together the friends slipped down the hall and into a passage painted pink with purple polka dots and wavy yellow stripes.

“It’s awfully colorful,” whispered Julie.

“Yes, well, colorful or not,” said Max, “I don’t want any dark genie finding us here!”

Hoja paused. “Or will he find us, anyway?”

“What do you mean?” asked Keeah.

Anusa nodded. “I think Hoja means that because the Sultan is still a genie, he could have gone into the future to see what we’ll do, and he could be waiting for us.”

Eric looked down the next long hallway. “So you think we should do something totally unexpected?”

“I think,” said Anusa, “that perhaps we should be … invisible!”

Hoja smiled from ear to ear. “Invisible? Oh, just the thing to fool a time-traveling genie.”

Anusa pulled several tiny bottles from her turban, each containing what looked like a single drop of blue liquid.

“Swallow this, and you’ll be invisible for as long as you need to be,” said Anusa. “Cough three times and you’ll be visible again —”

“Too late!” squeaked a tiny voice suddenly. “The Sultan knew you would try to become invisible! So we arrived just before you did!”

Everyone turned to find the hallway filling with floating urns, each one crowded with a half-dozen turbaned riders.

“And now,” squeaked the chief rider, “I believe you are our prisoners —”

“Not yet!” cried Anusa, flying up to the ceiling. “Children, run! Hoja, dive at the riders, scatter them!”

While the two genies swooped swiftly at the urn riders, the children raced down the hall as quickly as they could.

“Here!” said Anusa, tossing the kids a bottle of blue liquid. Before anyone could catch it, a rider snapped out with his little whip, and the vial smashed on the floor — crash!

“Rooo!” Kem ran over, licked up the blue liquid, and — plink! — he vanished.

“Yay, Kem!” Julie yelled. “Run, boy, run!”

“Here’s another!” said Anusa, tossing a second bottle. Neal leaped high and caught it.

By now a dozen more urns zoomed into the hall. Half of them soared after Hoja and Anusa, trapping them against the ceiling, while the other urns jetted after the kids like little rockets. In a moment, they surrounded Keeah, Max, and Julie. But Eric and Neal blasted between two attackers and kept running.

The two boys zigzagged through the passages and all the way back to the front gate before they realized their friends had been captured. They finally stopped behind the giant urns they had hidden inside to enter the palace.

“Oh, man!” said Eric breathlessly, peeking back down the hall. “They captured our friends! All of them! Now what’ll we do?”

Neal looked out to see the riders sweep into the hall. He nudged Eric’s shoulder and held out the blue bottle. “There’s only one drop. Eric, you be invisible. I’ll hide behind you.”

Eric stared at his friend, then blinked. “Neal, if I’m invisible and you hide behind me, I’m pretty sure they’ll see you.”

As the riders floated closer and closer, Neal shook his head. “You’re a wizard.”

“I’ll be an invisible wizard!” said Eric.

“I heard that!” snarled a sudden voice.

Suddenly, there he was, hovering cross-legged amid the approaching urn riders — the dark genie, the evil Sultan himself.

He was dressed all in black, from his robes to his slippers. Instead of a gem, he wore a rough black stone in the center of his black turban. It was so dark that it seemed to draw light into it.

“Riders,” he snarled, “the two wizards are hiding behind those urns. Watch as I trap them!”

“One wizard and a Neal,” whispered Neal. “Take the potion, Eric. It’ll save us both!”

“I don’t think so, but okay!” said Eric. Just as he drank the potion, the Sultan zoomed up over the urns and hovered above them.

“What?” He looked behind the urns. He looked around the urns. He looked into the urns. He saw no one. “Where are they?” he bellowed.

“See?” said Neal, crouching behind his invisible friend. “He really can’t see me!”

Eric sighed. “But he can hear you! Run!”

The two friends shot off down the hall and were around the corner in a flash.

“You won’t get far!” boomed the angry Sultan, shaking his fists. “My tower is wizard-proof, so you’ll never free Galen!”

“Dun-dun-dunnn!” chanted the riders.

“Not only that, but my secret, bird-shaped rocket, which I call the Raven, is nearly ready to attack Jaffa City! Soon you shall not just be invisible, you shall be no more!”

“Dun-dun-dunnnnn!” said the riders.

“But first, I shall go back in time and help the evil beasts win their war against Droon!”

“DUNNNNNN!”

Moments later — whoosh! — the Sultan and his men flew down the hall and were gone.

Eric and Neal stopped running and stood side by side, trying to catch their breath.

“That Sultan is one crazy guy,” said Eric.

“But at least the two of us are free,” said Neal.

Eric frowned. “Two is a small team.”

“Well, yeah,” said Neal, stepping down the hall and peeking into a side passage. “But half of our team is an invisible wizard.”

“You’ve got a point,” said Eric, staring at his hand but not seeing it. “So let me get this straight. We need to find Galen —”

“That’s first,” said Neal, tapping a finger.

“Free all of our friends, and stop the Sultan from shooting off his weird rocket —”

“Which is shaped like a bird and called the Raven,” said Neal. “That’s two and three.”

“Find invisible Kem,” said Eric. “And finally drive Zara’s chariot back to Droon.”

Neal nodded, counting on his fingers. Then he frowned. “You forgot one.”

“I don’t think so,” said Eric.

“You didn’t say to duck,” said Neal.

“Why should we duck?” asked Eric.

“Because a bunch of urn riders with whips are flying straight for us?” said Neal. “I think we should duck or we’ll both have instant haircuts. Duck now. Eric — duck now!”

He pulled Eric to the floor as — voooom! — a troop of riders roared overhead, chanting the Sultan’s name. “Feffo — Feffo — Feffo — rello!”

After they were gone, Eric stood and dusted himself off. “Not liking Parthnoop so much right now. Come on.” He stepped past Neal and started down the hall.

“Right, except it’s this way,” said Neal, pointing to the side passage he had just noticed. “There are steps at the end of this hall. They probably lead up to the tower.”

Eric sighed. “I’m glad someone’s paying attention around here. Come on!”

Afraid for his friends but hoping he would soon find Galen, Eric led the way into the narrow passage and up the stairs, with Neal following swiftly behind him.