by Tony Abbott
Julie shook her head. “Those guys are not from around here. Pesh? That’s not even a word —”
“And those aren’t even guys,” said Neal. “Look!”
A green tail flicked up behind one of the hooded figures as it tossed a dark ball into the air. The ball rose high, then made a sudden crackling noise.
An instant later, a sleek flying lizard appeared in the sky over them. It had several sets of wings along its back and many legs beneath it. It coiled in the air and made a loud hissing sound.
“This is not supposed to happen,” said Neal.
Eric shook his head. “It’s because of the wand. I shouldn’t have used it.”
A moment later — poomf! — the lizard was gone. The hooded creatures were gone. The children stood alone in Julie’s front yard.
Julie turned. “Guys, I think we’d better —”
“I think so, too!” said Neal.
The three friends dashed across the street to Eric’s house. Bursting into the kitchen, they found — blam! clonk! slam! — the kitchen cabinets banging open and shut, and the pots and pans clanging and clattering off the shelves.
Neal dodged a flying saucepan. “Yikes! Things are sure getting turvy-topsy around here!”
“Don’t you mean topsy-turvy?” asked Julie.
Neal laughed. “Sure, on a normal day!”
“Gang, let’s go!” said Eric. “Now!”
In a flash, they were down the basement stairs and heading straight for the closet underneath.
Opening the closet door, Julie switched on the ceiling light, and the kids piled in. Eric closed the door and turned off the light. Click.
The closet went dark, then — whoosh! — a staircase stood curving down from the house, shimmering in every color of the rainbow.
“The wand created these stairs ages ago,” said Eric. “I shouldn’t have used it.”
Julie turned to him. “We all wanted to use it. So, okay, Pinky barked and we saw a flying lizard. I’m still glad you used it to keep me here.”
“That was the easy part,” he replied. “The hard part will be fixing things —”
Clang! Blam! Pans were still flying upstairs.
“And cleaning up!” said Neal. “Let’s go!”
Sticking close together, the three friends descended the stairs. Just as the rainbow light began to fade, they spotted a yellow circle of light.
It was the outline of a small round door. “Should we knock?” asked Neal.
“Let’s be careful and just peek in,” said Julie.
Eric stepped off the stairs and quietly opened the door. Beyond it was a room cheerily decorated with a small bed and pink walls. “Hey, it looks like Keeah’s room in Jaffa City —”
Suddenly, the far door burst open and Princess Keeah dashed in, bolting the door behind her. Her golden hair was a mess, her clothes torn and dirty, her eyes wild.
“Keeah?” said Eric. “Is everything okay?”
She whirled around. “No! Here they come!”
Julie blinked. “Here who come —”
“The marmets!”
Blam! The far door blasted open and a horde of furry little orange creatures leaped in. They were squealing and yelping and shouting and crying a single word.
“CHEEEEEEESE!”
Text copyright © 2002 by Robert T. Abbott
Illustrations copyright © 2002 by Scholastic Inc.
All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc.
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First Scholastic printing, May 2002
Cover art by Tim Jessell
e-ISBN 978-0-545-41828-7
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