Eric Hinkle shivered in his tiny hiding place.

His elbows were bent over his head; his legs were bunched up tightly beneath him.

He was all twisted and couldn’t move.

But that wasn’t the worst part.

Thump-thump! Footsteps were getting closer.

Someone was coming for him.

I am soooo trapped, he thought. I should probably just yell for help. I should!

But Eric didn’t yell for help.

He smiled instead.

I’m always in a tight spot like this! he thought. This is like every adventure I’ve ever been on. Every adventure in Droon, that is —

Droon!

That was the world of mystery and magic he and his best friends, Julie Rubin and Neal Kroger, had found one day under his basement stairs.

It was an amazing land of gleaming cities, castle-topped mountains, and serpent-filled seas.

Thump-thump … The footsteps slowed.

Whenever Eric thought about Droon, his heart swelled. He had made incredible friends there. On their first adventure, he had met Keeah, a young princess and wizard.

Keeah could blast violet sparks from her fingertips. She knew tons of magical spells, all taught to her by Galen Longbeard, the greatest wizard in Droon. Now that Galen was away on a long journey, her powers were growing stronger all by themselves.

Together with Keeah and her parents, King Zello and Queen Relna, and Max, a spunky spider troll, Eric, Julie, and Neal had helped keep most of Droon safe from the clutches of Lord Sparr.

Sparr! thought Eric. Wickedest of wicked sorcerers!

For ages, Sparr had tried to conquer Droon for himself. Now that he had collected his legendary Three Powers, there was almost nothing stopping him and his nasty Ninns from taking over.

Ungh! Eric tried to move his toes, but couldn’t.

Even though he and his friends loved the awesome adventures in Droon, Eric knew that long, long ago the Upper World had been filled with magic, too. At least it was, until a time-traveling thorn princess named Salamandra stole it and disappeared into Droon.

Now magic was almost gone from his world.

Eric smiled again.

Almost.

Zzzz! His hands blazed with sudden silver sparks, lighting up the small space.

“Cut it out, Eric, or our teacher will find us in this closet!”

Closet? Teacher?

Eric winced. So, okay, he wasn’t exactly on a big adventure in Droon right then. He was squished in the school supply closet with Julie.

But it was true about the sparks!

Eric could shoot bright silver beams from his fingertips anytime he wanted. And sometimes even when he didn’t.

“Sorry, Julie,” he whispered. “I’ve been sparking like crazy all day. That’s why I hid in here. My sparks went off in the hall just as a class was coming, and I didn’t want them to see me. I think something big is coming. I can feel it.”

“I can’t feel anything,” she said. “I’m so squished, I may never be able to fly again!”

Eric chuckled. That was true, too. On a recent adventure, Julie had gained the ability to fly. In fact, that was why she was in the closet with him. Only minutes earlier, she had fluttered up off the hallway floor by accident, and had ducked inside to hide.

“Hold on a little longer, Julie,” he urged. “It’s just about time for school to be over —”

The footsteps stopped just outside the door.

Eric’s fingers heated up. “Oh, no, please —”

The door whipped open, light flashed into the closet, and Eric tumbled out, scattering sparks everywhere. “Mrs. Michaels, we can explain!” he cried.

“It’s not Mrs. Michaels we have to worry about!” said their friend, Neal, standing there shaking like a leaf. “Take a look at who’s here!”

He pointed out the hall window at a silver object soaring over the school parking lot.

It was a flying ship. It had a giant dragon’s head on the front. And at its wheel was a green-skinned teenager with wild thorns for hair.

“The dragon ship!” said Julie. “Salamandra!”

“The one and only,” said Neal. “The last time we saw Miss Icky Hair, she was snitching magic all over Droon. Totally out of control!”

“She still needs driving lessons!” said Julie.

Whooom! The silver ship jerked toward the ground, then lurched up at the last second. A moment later they heard a crunch on the roof.

“Quick, let’s get up there!” said Eric.

The three friends dashed out the hall doors to the school yard.

“I’ll fly us up,” said Julie. Glancing both ways to make sure no one was watching, she took the boys’ hands and flew them all up to the roof.

The dragon ship teetered over the far edge.

At the wheel stood Salamandra, wobbling dizzily. Her cloak hung in tatters, her green skin looked pale, and her thorny hair was tangled in huge knots.

“Not bad!” she said. “For flying without a sail!”

Eric’s hands sparked again. “How did you get here, Salamandra? Why are you even here?”

“Yeah,” said Julie. “You already stole the magic out of our world. What more do you want?”

The thorn princess took a breath. “The dragon ship flew me from Droon’s past to the future and back again. The ship flew so fast, it made my head spin —”

Neal laughed. “It tangled your hair, too!”

“My hair is tangled,” she snapped, “because of what I saw! Sparr in a huge palace … the Golden Wasp at his side … the Coiled Viper, too! I saw a black tower in the shape of a horn, all shiny and new, and blue fog streaking the sky. I heard strange, eerie howling —”

“Salamandra!” said Julie. “We’ve always been enemies. Why are you telling us this stuff?”

Salamandra flipped her thorny hair over her shoulders, her eyes flashing bright yellow. Eric thought she seemed very afraid.

“A new magic is rising in Droon. I’m sure of it,” she said. “A kind of supermagic. Sparr wants it. A lot. I do, too —”

Neal made a face. “You don’t need more magic, Salamandra. You need a comb!”

“I came to warn you!” she snarled. “If you don’t want to get hurt, stay out of Droon!”

Eric trembled. “Sorry. We can’t do that.”

She flashed a smile. “Then put on your oven mitts, Droonlings, because things are heating up. Once I snitch the flag of Droon from Jaffa City as a sail for my ship, I’ll fly anywhere I want…. ohhhhh!”

With an unexpected jerk, she fell to the ship’s deck.

Kkkkkk! A ring of orange flame crackled open in the sky. Then the dragon ship spun up off the roof and into the flame. It vanished in an instant.

Eric’s heart raced. “I knew it. Sparr with all of his Three Powers. Blue fog. Weird sounds. Something big is happening!”

“If Salamandra plans to steal the royal flag, we need to warn Keeah now!” said Julie.

Fifteen minutes later, the three friends jumped off their school bus and rushed across Eric’s yard to his house. They tossed their backpacks on the kitchen table, hurried down to the basement, and piled into a small closet under the stairs.

Julie closed the door behind them.

Neal reached to the ceiling light. He switched it off.

Whoosh! The floor disappeared. It became the top step of a rainbow-colored staircase, curving down and away from Eric’s house.

All the way to Droon.

“This is always the absolute coolest thing,” said Neal.

“I love it, too,” agreed Julie. “Let’s get moving.”

One by one, the friends descended the stairs. They passed through feathery pink clouds and out over the deserted streets of a large city. The air was misty with the dew of early morning. A great gold-domed palace shone in the distance.

“Jaffa City,” said Eric. Then he paused. “Listen. Salamandra tried to scare us so that we wouldn’t come here. Well, she couldn’t do that. But if she was right about what’s going on, we need to be ready for anything —”

All of a sudden — wumpeta-wumpeta! — the sound of galloping hooves filled the morning air.

“Ho! Bring torches there!” a voice shouted below. “Quickly now!”

Julie gasped. “It’s King Zello. Hurry to the bottom!”

They rushed down the stairs and onto a cobblestone street, just as the bearded king of Droon raced toward them on a shaggy, six-legged pilka. Behind him rode his wife, Queen Relna.

Trailing them both was Max, a flurry of paws and orange hair, unrolling a tattered scroll. “I know it’s in this scroll somewhere! Dear Galen, where is it? Oh, children, you’ve come —”

“We had to,” Eric blurted out. “Salamandra came to us —”

“Salamandra!” boomed Zello. “Not two minutes ago, she burst from a hole in the sky and stole our flag! But right now we have a bigger problem — we must stop her!”

A tiny girl in a blue dress and blond pigtails dashed down the far alley, giggling wildly.

Neal stopped. “You want to stop her? She looks like she’s three years old. Why not just tell her it’s nap time?”

“Because in six seconds, she’ll climb to the top of the city wall,” boomed Zello.

“And in nine seconds,” said Max, still unrolling the scroll, “she’ll trip on the steps and fall!”

At exactly that moment, the girl leaped up a narrow set of stairs aside the great city wall.

“How did you know that?” asked Julie.

“All this has happened before!” said Relna, jumping from her pilka. “We know everything that little girl will do. That little girl … is Keeah!”

“What?” said Eric. “But that’s impossible —”

A sudden a cry came from the stairs.

Everyone turned to see the little girl tumble backward.

She fell straight toward the ground.