Eric jumped. The pile of rags in the corner rolled, stretched wide, then stood upright.

Before them stood a man. A very short man. He wore tattered pants that billowed like sails and a stained yellow robe. He had a scruffy beard and a shiny, bald head. His eyes blinked once, twice, three times at the light.

“Welcome. I am Hoja, Seventh Genie of the … Wait a second — I know you!”

The genie smiled broadly as Keeah, Eric, and Max started jumping up and down.

“Hoja!” cried Keeah. “Oh, my gosh! Yes, it’s us. I can’t believe we found you!”

“It was you who wrote that message!” chirped Max. “We came to Ut to rescue you!”

“Yes, I wrote the note!” said Hoja. “Yes, you found me. Now all we need is for someone to find you. Because, my friends, we’re trapped!”

Everyone stopped jumping.

Eric grumbled. “Right. We’re trapped. But you’re a genie, right? You’re the Seventh Genie of the Dove. Can’t we just fly out of here?”

Hoja smiled sadly. “We should just fly out of here. But I would have already done that if I could. Do you notice anything missing? Besides a door, that is?”

Keeah gasped. “Your hat!”

Hoja nodded. “When I was captured, Duke Snorfo took my very large and excellent turban away from me. I used to go anywhere. I could even walk through walls. Now watch this —”

Hoja marched toward the wall. Wham!

He smashed right into it and rubbed his nose. “I was sent here to find a genie named Anusa who got stuck in Ut a hundred years before me. Then, look what happened. I myself get stuck … oh!”

The floor swayed suddenly and began to rumble. It lasted for a few seconds, then stopped.

“What was that?” asked Eric.

Hoja shrugged. “Just one of Ut’s fun little problems. The rumbling keeps getting louder, but it can’t shake down these walls!”

“Maybe Quill can tell us the way out,” said Keeah. She pulled the pen and paper from her belt. The feather pen shook once, then scribbled.

Max read from the paper and snorted. “‘The flower that booms’? Our magical friend can’t spell. It should be ‘the flower that blooms.’ Besides, we already found the blue flower in the square. Quill?”

But the pen had already begun snoring.

“Great time for a nap,” said Eric. “We’re locked up. Half our people are lost who knows where. The earth is quaking. There’s a crazy duke in charge. And Ut is just waiting to go slurping back into a bottle for a hundred years!”

“It doesn’t look good,” said Hoja. “But a wise man once said, ‘If you’re trapped — dig down!’”

“Sorry, Hoja, you were the one who said that,” said Keeah. “And we already tried it.”

“Oh,” he said. “Well, that didn’t work, did it? Still, genies are usually quite clever. We ought to be, we live forever.”

“Really?” asked Max. “You live forever?”

Hoja nodded. “I’m the Seventh Genie of the Dove, but the first six are still around somewhere — or sometime. When we get old, we get very old. Then we are called on a journey. Then we get reborn! It’s quite nice, actually. Doesn’t do a bit of good now, though!”

As the ground shook again, Eric dropped to the floor with a thud. When he did, he saw deep marks scratched into the stones. “What’s all this?”

The genie sighed. “A map of Droon. I doodled it from memory. There’s not that much to do in here.”

Eric stared at the shapes of the valleys, mountains, and seas. He ran his fingers from the wide Saladian Plains, where they were now, all the way across the world to the Serpent Sea, where he had gotten his powers.

“Powers,” he mumbled. “I wish I could —”

Plumf! Something fell on the stones next to his foot. He looked at it.

It was a pickle.

Eric swallowed. “Um … who dropped a pickle? I mean, who even has a pickle?”

“Excuse me,” said a distant voice. “If some food fell down there, can you brush it off and toss it back up?”

Everyone looked up. There was a face in the tiny window above them.

Hoja hissed. “It’s Duke Snorfo. Hide —”

“Hide?” snapped Max. “We’re already in a dungeon!”

It was that same face as before.

A face they knew.

But when Eric stared at it, he saw the mouth move. It was chomping up and down.

On a sandwich.

Eric began to smile. “That’s not Duke Snorfo. It’s Neal! The real Neal! Hey! It’s us! Neal! Help!”

Their friend jumped as he grinned down at them. “No wonder you guys weren’t around when I looked for you. Hey, you found Hoja!” He pulled on the window bars. “These are thick, but somebody gave me a pet pilka and a rope. We’ll have you out of there in no time. Just bring my pickle!”

Tying one end of a stout rope to the bars, Neal fastened the other around his pilka’s back. Then he gave the pilka a pat.

Hrrrr! It whinnied, then — krrrr-ploing! — it pulled the thick iron bars right off the window. Then Neal dangled the rope down into the dungeon.

Within two minutes, the pilka had pulled Keeah, Eric, Hoja, and Max up and out into the sunny street. Scruffing the pilka’s nose, Neal gave it a pat and let it go. “Thanks for the help, pal!”

“This is so awesome!” said Keeah, hugging Neal.

“No kidding,” said Neal. “I thought I’d lost you forever. And where are Julie and Galen?”

“You almost did lose us,” said Max pulling everyone into the shadows. “As for Julie and Galen, you’ll never believe it!”

“First of all,” said Eric, “Galen took off after some kind of pale ghosty person all in white. And there are rumblings and quakings —”

“But that’s not the worst part,” chirped Max.

“The duke of Ut looks exactly like you!” said Hoja.

Neal dropped his sandwich. “Like me? No wonder people gave me free food — they must have thought I was him!”

“Plus, he rules with an iron fist,” said Keeah.

“So he’s tough, is he?” asked Neal, picking up his sandwich again.

Hoja laughed. “No, the duke really has a metal glove he likes to bang on things. He yells a lot, too.”

“But that’s not the worst part, either,” said Max, dusting off Neal’s pickle and giving it to him.

“Julie looks exactly like his sister,” said Eric. “In fact, he dragged her off to his palace!”

“That’s the worst part,” said Max. “Once the duke realizes it’s not her, she’ll be in big trouble. Not to mention that we only have a few hours left before — pfft! — Ut goes back into the bottle.”

Neal nodded as he crunched into the pickle. “We have to save Julie. And find Galen. That’s all there is to it.”

“And that’s the best part!” said Hoja. “The duke took my turban to his Museum of Magic. When I have it back, I’ll be all genie again. And I have a feeling we’ll need as much magic as we’ve got to make this crazy mixed-up day come out right!”

“Sounds like a plan,” said Keeah, looking up at the sky. “We’d better hurry. It’s already afternoon.”

“To the Museum of Magic,” cried Max, following Hoja down the shadowy street.

“Don’t forget me,” said Neal, finishing his pickle. “I can probably get us in for free!”