Sparr’s eyes flashed bright red. The scar on his forehead deepened and looked almost fresh, just as it had when the Golden Wasp stung him.

“I have the Viper,” he shouted. “I have the Wasp. No one can stop me from taking the Red Eye of Dawn, too!”

The gleaming jewel rose out of the broken earth and into the air over the square, shooting off bolts of red lightning.

“You want everything!” shouted Eric. “Then — take this. Keeah!”

Together, Eric and Keeah sent a powerful blast of wizard light at Sparr, their silver and blue sparks mingling in a giant bolt.

Kla-bammmm! The force of it blew the sorcerer to the ground.

Eric! Om whispered, and the jewel’s flame leaped. Eric —

“Don’t even start with me, gem boy!” Eric snarled. In a flash, he grabbed the duke’s iron glove from Neal. Leaping up, he closed it around the blazing jewel.

Beams of light shot through the glove’s iron fingers.

“No!” cried Sparr, staggering to his feet. “It’s mine!”

“Everyone — let’s go!” cried Keeah.

The kids shot into a narrow alley, heading for the wall. The Ninns charged, squeezing into the alley after them. The dog-faced guards barked loudly, then followed, waving their black nets. The children rushed up one street after another.

“They’re closing in on us!” shouted Max.

“I have an idea,” said Julie. “Neal, let’s get rid of our stuff!”

She pulled off her tall pink shoes, while Neal clutched the Droon globe. At the count of three, they threw them at the first line of charging Ninns.

“Arghh!” Four red warriors tripped on the globe, while two others fell over the shoes. The troop of dog-headed guards couldn’t stop in time.

“Ooomph! Eeee! Ahhh! Woo-oof!”

The Ninns and guards tumbled across the narrow alley.

“Yahoo! Traffic jam!” hooted Neal.

“Sparr is still coming!” cried Max. “Oh, I wish Galen were here!”

They raced around a corner into another street.

“Yikes!” said Eric. “Dead end. We’re trapped. Sparr will find us.”

“There’s Hoja!” said Keeah.

The genie was at the end of the tiny street, licking what looked like mustard from his fingers and leaning on an urn of Parthnoop.

Everyone rushed to him.

“Hoja!” said Neal. “Why aren’t you moving? Is that mustard? I mean, never mind! In a second we’ll be trapped in Ut and thrown in a dungeon with no windows and be stuck there for a hundred years! With no food at all!”

The sound of Sparr’s yelling grew louder.

Hoja twisted his turban slightly. “Yes, well, I just remembered what else these urns are good for,” he said.

Hoisting himself up, he hopped inside one of them.

“Ahem! Urn of Parthnoop, please fly!”

The urn lifted up from the street with Hoja standing in it. “Now, unless you want to be, well, what Neal said, I suggest you pick a pot and hop in!”

The kids jumped into the urns and politely asked them to fly. Whoosh! All the urns of Parthnoop suddenly lifted from the ground just as a very angry group of Ninns and guards charged into the alley.

With a quick wave from Hoja — voo-oo-oom! — the urns shot up toward the purple walls of the city.

“Ya-HOO!” yelled Julie. “We are out of here!”

As they roared over the streets, Duke Snorfo came running from the Museum of Magic.

“Ah, yes,” said Hoja, “that spell is over now.”

“Get back here!” cried the duke, shaking a soft, pink fist at Neal.

“Sorry!” said Neal, turning his urn. “Ut’s not big enough for both of us. You can have it. Bye!”

Dumpella poked her head out of a little window in the palace and waved. “Bye!”

Julie waved back. Then she noticed the Ninns mounting a group of groggles. “Uh-oh. Our problems aren’t over yet!”

The air filled with the sound of groggles flapping noisily. In the midst of the flying lizards flew a great black one. On its back was Sparr himself.

Kaww! Kaww! the groggles called, darkening the air.

“They’re gaining on us!” said Eric, still clutching the jewel in his glove. “Oh, my gosh. Look there. Galen. Galen!”

Looping their urns up over the streets, the friends caught a glimpse of the old wizard. He was standing on the very top of the city wall. A moment later, he vanished.

“Oh, dear, dear!” said Max. The urns lifted again and the Saladian Plains stretched out before them once more.

Sunset was coming fast, and still the groggles flapped closer.

“I have an idea,” said Keeah. “Pah-koom-la!”

Instantly, the dunes whirled up from below, sending a dozen spinning funnels of sand high into the air.

Kroooo! the flying lizards howled. Then they coughed. Finally, they began to drop.

“Nooo!” yelled Sparr, as his groggle dipped back to earth. “The Red Eye of Dawn is mine! My jewel! The battle is not over, Eric Hinkle!”

“Too bad the groggles don’t care!” shouted Julie.

In a mess of wings and tails, the flying lizards crashed and bumped one another. Finally, they veered away, turning to the Dark Lands.

“Yes!” cried Hoja. “And now to earth.” He waved his arms, and the urns dropped into the sand — thud-thud-thud!

“It’s time,” said Keeah. “Follow me.”

The small band raced behind the princess’s airplane just as the sun dipped behind the western mountains.

Suddenly, the great purple walls of Ut seemed to move as if they were alive. The shapes and turns and angles of the city began to shiver.

“It’s happening,” said Julie.

A moment later — pfffffft! — the walls became smoke once again. The air grew thick and hazy, and the entire city — all its buildings, creatures, people, everything — went sweeping off the sands and back into the bottle.

Sloooorp! The city was gone.

All that remained were a last few wisps of smoke. Soon even they were gone.

Keeah grabbed the bottle from where it lay tilted in the sand and quickly slapped the cork back in it. “And that’s that!” she said.

Before them, the dune was only a mound of sand, with almost nothing to show that a giant purple city had stood there moments before.

Almost nothing.

In the sand, where the highest purple wall had stood, was a slender trail of footprints.

Max rushed to it, got on his knees, and counted. “Two sets of footprints!” he said.

“Anusa,” said Eric. He told Hoja what he and Keeah had seen of the mysterious genie.

“So!” said Hoja. “He found Anusa. She lured him away with her.”

“Look here,” said Max, pointing at the ground. “As if wings blew down on the grains of sand, the footprints vanish at this point! My Galen … he’s … gone.”

Keeah shook her head. “He’s on an adventure. It’s like Quill wrote. Fly me up, you flying dove. Fair as the moon, the one I love. Galen lost Anusa long ago, but he found her again.”

“He said he would come back,” said Eric.

Max looked up at the darkening sky. The first stars began to appear. He quivered, then he smiled. “He will be back. Stronger than ever. With lots to tell. I know he will. We must be ready for him!”

“We will be,” said Keeah. She put her arm around the spider troll, hugging him tight.

Eric looked in the iron glove. The many-faceted crimson jewel lay in his palm, silent for now. “The Red Eye of Dawn doesn’t seem so fierce now,” he said. “And neither does Sparr.”

The only sign of the sorcerer was the black trail of groggles streaking toward the Dark Lands in the distance.

“He’s got two Powers, but not the third,” said Julie.

“Yeah, I’d say we scored a three-pointer today,” said Neal.

Together, Keeah and Max took the jewel and glove from Eric and dropped them in a small box on the Dragonfly.

Eric remembered Sparr’s last words.

The battle is not over.

He turned the words over in his head.

“The battle isn’t over,” he said aloud. “But I think that’s why we’re here. To protect what we love. To help win that battle.”

“And we shall do it,” said Hoja. “All of you go where you must. My mission was to find the genie Anusa. She’s not in Ut anymore, but I still have that mission. Perhaps I shall find Galen in the bargain. Good-bye, then!”

“Good luck!” chirped Max.

The genie followed the footprints in the sand. When he got to where they ended, he wiggled his turban and faded away like a scent in the air.

“Our time to go, too,” said Julie. She pointed to the rainbow stairs glistening on the crest of a nearby hill.

Everyone piled into the plane. Taking the wheel, Keeah zoomed it right up to the hill. The bottom step of the staircase seemed to float in midair as the plane pulled alongside it.

Keeah smiled at her friends. “Until next time. I know I won’t have to wait very long!”

Eric nodded. “We’ll be here in a flash.”

“I’ve got only one thing to add,” said Neal with a laugh. “Plicky-wicky-frum-thrum!”

The kids hugged, then Eric, Neal, and Julie jumped to the stairs.

Looking once more at the great Saladian Plains, empty and quiet as before, they raced up the stairs to Eric’s house.

At the top, Julie closed the door on Droon, then turned to Neal. “After watching you play the duke today, I don’t think I’ll ever look at you the same way.”

“I think that could be a good thing,” Neal said with a grin. “But the best part is that we stopped Sparr, got the Red Eye of Dawn, played dress-up, and flew in magical urns, all before breakfast!”

Eric laughed as he charged up to the kitchen with his friends. “It’s like I said this morning: Today is going to be a great day!”