by Tony Abbott
Neal grumbled, “There’s that word again.”
Blam! Zzzz! Plink!
Strange noises were coming from a small hut at the edge of the forest just outside the city.
Eric, Julie, and Neal rushed to join Keeah at the tiny door. It creaked as they opened it. Errrch!
Inside the hut, they found a short man whose friendly smile, thick glasses, and very large ears they had seen before.
It was Droon’s master inventor, Friddle.
He bowed to them. “Welcome, all of you!”
As tall as Galen’s tower was, the inventor’s workshop was long and low. It was filled from wall to wall with odd devices and contraptions.
Neal’s eyes lit up, and he began touching everything. “This is the awesomest cool stuff!”
“The ultimate workshop,” Eric agreed.
“Friddle, we’re on a mission,” said Keeah. “We need to get to the coast of Mintar.”
“Oh, dear!” said the inventor, running his hands through his fuzzy green hair. “To Witch Demither’s underwater realm, eh? You’ll need something to get you down to her secret palace.”
“And back up again, right?” asked Julie.
“Most definitely,” said Friddle.
“What’s this thing?” Eric asked, pointing to a thick belt with several compartments on it.
“Ah, I call it my sea belt,” the inventor said. “The green button helps you dive. The yellow button brings you to the surface — Neal?”
From the worktable, Neal had picked up a pair of big round glasses. “Wow! These make everything magically blurry. What are they?”
Friddle frowned. “My extra pair of glasses! Now pay attention, please. Each of you must take a sea belt. But whatever you do, don’t touch the red button on the belt.”
“Why not?” asked Neal, picking up a belt and tapping lightly on the red button.
“Never mind!” said Friddle sharply. “It’s not perfected yet, so don’t try it. Now follow me!”
Whoosh! Icy wet wind blew into the workshop as Friddle opened the tiny back door.
Outside the hut stood a large bulky shape covered completely by a huge brown cloth.
“What’s under there?” asked Keeah.
“Oh, wait till you see!” said Friddle, tugging the cloth until it billowed to the ground.
He beamed. “I present … my Flying Flapper!”
What sat before them was a plane. But it was unlike any plane the kids had seen before.
Two thin, rounded wings were attached to each side of a long skinny frame. Five cushioned seats were set inside from front to back. And a big wooden propeller stuck out of the flat nose.
Julie jumped with excitement. “It looks just like a big bug. It reminds me of a dragonfly!”
Friddle giggled at Julie. “What a marvelous name! Dragonfly it is. It flies by yip-yip power!”
He tapped a round cage at the front of the plane. In the box were two large balls of blue fur.
Keeah peered closer at the fur balls. “Yip-yips? Why do you call them —”
“Yip! Yip!” cried the creatures loudly. “Yip!”
The princess laughed. “Never mind.”
The moment the blue fur balls awoke, they began running in their cage. When they did, the propeller on the plane’s front began to turn.
Friddle climbed into the pilot’s seat. “Hop aboard the Dragonfly, adventurers!”
The four friends piled in, Friddle pulled levers and pushed buttons, and — yip-yip-yip! — the plane shot forward.
It bounced roughly along the ground as the double sets of wings flapped wildly. The instant they lifted off, the storm spun dark air around the plane. Swirling mist covered everything.
“The storm is fierce,” said Friddle nervously. “I can’t see where we are! What’s ahead?”
“I see something,” said Neal. “It’s … it’s … yikes! A tree! A big one! We’re going to hit it!”
Suddenly, a blast of red light shot from Keeah’s hands and the tree burst into flames and crashed straight to the ground.
The plane cleared it easily.
“Oh, dear!” Keeah cried. Instantly, she muttered words under her breath. A spiral of blue light swept over the fallen tree and set it upright again, its leaves greener than before.
“I’m so sorry!” she said. “Oh, what would my mother think of me having such powers!”
“The queen would be very proud,” said Friddle, pulling the plane up from the city. “For one thing, you are quite brave to make this journey!”
Keeah’s mother, Queen Relna, was one of Droon’s greatest wizards. But she was under a terrible spell, cursed to change into one animal after another. Most recently she was a dolphin.
Eric gazed at Keeah. He wondered if her mother had been tested as she was going to be. He wished he could tell her what Galen had said about the trial she was going to endure.
But maybe the wizard was right.
Keeah’s powers were very sensitive.
Besides, if someone did try to help her, they might only make things worse. No, the best thing was to stick close to her, as Neal had said.
Like cheese on a pizza.
For the next two hours the plane soared over Droon. Through the storm they spotted the frosty Ice Hills of Tarabat, the lush Bangledorn Forest, and the rolling deserts of Lumpland.
Suddenly Friddle slapped his hands together in glee. “Ah! Going into Demither’s mysterious realm! The danger! The excitement! The danger!”
“Um … you said danger twice,” said Neal.
“There’ll be plenty to spare!” said Friddle.
At that moment, they flew over the jagged cliffs of Mintar.
“My gosh,” Keeah murmured. “There it is!”
A black tower of wind and water roared up from the green sea, swirling the waves and spinning dark clouds all around it.
“The center of the storm!” said Friddle. “Now remember what I told you about your sea belts. I’ve brought some helmets for you, too. With them, you’ll be able to breathe and talk underwater. When I fly close, you jump out and dive into the water. If I am right, you will find Demither’s lair right under the hurricane!”
As they tightened their belts and donned their helmets, Neal laughed nervously. “I never expected to go skydiving in scuba gear. I hope everything works right.”
Eric was about to respond when he spotted something on the horizon. “What’s that?”
Darkness was spilling up over the edge of the sea, turning the waves from green to black.
“Holy cow,” said Julie, squinting. “It’s … ships. Hundreds and hundreds of ships. Black ones. And they’re coming this way.”
“Who would be crazy enough to be out in this hurricane?” asked Neal. “Besides us, I mean.”
“Whoever it is, you must hurry!” Friddle shouted. “The hurricane is growing stronger. My poor wings are being torn apart. And the yip-yips are getting tired. You must jump now!”
“Then let’s go!” said Keeah.
Climbing out onto the tail of the Dragonfly, the four friends held hands tightly.
The plane dipped into the swirling tower of wind and water.
The kids shut their eyes.
And they jumped.
“Ahhhh!”
They all screamed at the top of their lungs.
But their cries were lost in the winds spinning inside the hurricane. They hit the water hard.
Splash-splash-splash-splash!
“Try to stay together!” Eric cried out.
“Good luck!” shouted Neal. “Someone pulled the plug! We’re going down!”
And down they went, into the churning waters of the Serpent Sea. Bubbles rushed around them, and strong currents spun them faster and faster.
Pressing the green buttons on their belts steadied them. They drifted down quickly and soon hit the bottom. Thud-thud-thud-thud.
Far above them, the ocean’s surface swirled angrily from the hurricane. Down below, the water
was calmer. It rippled with soft green light.
Gangly plants quivered and waved at them.
“Is everyone okay?” Julie called. Her voice carried through the water to the other helmets.
Eric scrambled up next to Neal, a thin stream of bubbles floating up from his helmet. “All in one piece,” he said.
“Then let’s get going,” said Keeah. “We have to find Demither’s palace. And we don’t have much time —”
Rrrr! Just then the ground rumbled, red light flashed through the water, and the storm above spun even faster.
“Demither’s playing games,” said Julie.
“Well, she’d better not win!” said Neal, gulping loudly inside his helmet as they pressed on in search of Demither’s lair.
The first thing they came upon was the wreck of a giant ship. Seaweed sprouted from the deck. Fish swam in and out of the cracks in its hull.
“Many ships have met their doom in Demither’s waters,” said Keeah. “I’ll take a look.”
She swam away to the front of the ship.
“Met their doom?” said Neal. “I’m really getting to not like that word —”
“Neal, don’t freak out,” said Eric. “It’s scary, sure. But we need to help Keeah. She’s the one on trial, remember. So let’s stick together.”
“Together, huh?” said Neal. “Where’s Julie?”
Eric looked around. Julie was nowhere to be found. “Julie —”
“Oh!” came a cry from behind them.
They spun around to see Julie disappearing into the ship, a long tentacle coiled around her.
“Something’s got her!” cried Neal.
They swam over as fast as they could. Inside the wreck Julie was cornered by a long snakey creature with fins all over its head. Two eyes burned fiercely on either side of a red snout.
It let Julie go when Eric and Neal barged in.
All of a sudden, bubbles spurted from Julie’s air tube. She was laughing inside her helmet.
Then she swatted the monster’s red nose.
“Eerrgh!” The creature let out a loud cry, then slithered away into the shadows.
Neal gasped. “Whoa! That was either the bravest thing in the world or the dumbest! That was one ugly sea monster!”
Julie laughed again. “That was no sea monster. It was Galen! Did you see that fake red nose? Max said to bop Galen if we saw him. So I did!”
“Yeah, but are you sure it was —” Eric began.
Kkkk-kkk! Light flashed again, sending strong shock waves through the ship.
An instant later, Keeah was there. “I found something you have to see,” she said. “Hurry!”
They followed Keeah over a range of hills jutting up from the ocean floor.
Then they saw it.
A giant dome of rippling green glass.
It spread for miles across the ocean floor.
“It sure is big,” said Julie.
Inside the dome were giant sea caves, buildings made of red coral and blue stone, and long, curving bridges of shiny white shells.
“I think we found Demither’s lair,” said Eric.
“No,” said Neal, “it just found us!”
The water sizzled with electricity, and suddenly sea creatures appeared on every side of them.
They looked like sharks except that they had many legs and two sharp tails curling up behind them. Moving swiftly, the creatures coiled a chain of spiky seaweed around the children.
“We’re trapped,” said Julie. “Should we fight?”
Keeah’s fingers lit up with red sparks. Then she shook her head. “We could. But maybe we want to be captured. If these are Demither’s guards, they could lead us to her.”
Eric was relieved not to fight the creatures.
“Keeah’s right,” he said. “The sooner we find Demither, the sooner we get out of here and back on dry land.”
“I like that idea,” said Neal.
The princess put down her hands.
As she did, a pair of giant rocks nearby split open to reveal a dark watery cave. The creatures’ noises made it clear what the children should do.
“I guess we go in the cave,” said Keeah.
“I guess we do,” said Eric.
The creatures tugged on the chain of seaweed, and the children entered the cave. The walls inside were carved here and there with scenes of a terrible sea serpent attacking ships.
“They call Demither the serpent queen,” Julie mumbled. “Now I see why. She rules this place.”
Neal nodded. “The first time we saw her, she was a sort of mermaid. The next time she was a serpent. I sure hope she’s being her mermaid self today, because her serpent self scares me!”
The twin-tailed creatures led them through the cave and into the green dome itself.
The kids swam up into a pool and stepped out onto a stone plaza. The floor around them was inlaid with rich green and blue tiles and golden stones. Looking up, Eric saw the hurricane still whirling fiercely above them.
“We can take off our helmets here,” said Keeah. “There’s air.”
The kids removed their helmets and hooked them to their belts.
From inside, the dome looked like a big glass bowl turned upside down. In its center stood a palace of emerald-green glass. Five stone towers surrounded the palace, their tops made of spiraling shells.
In every free spot, lush seaweed gardens grew wildly. Pools and fountains bubbled everywhere. And instead of streets, blue-water canals meandered slowly toward the central palace.
The sea creatures ushered the kids across the square and into the green palace. Inside was a throne room unlike any other that they had seen.
The throne itself was a giant scallop shell. Its top was open and curved over a silvery pool.
On each side of the throne were urns blazing with green flames that leaped and fell when the children entered.
The sea beasts removed the chain binding the kids, then slid over to the pool and waited by it.
“Nice place for a not-nice person,” Julie whispered. “I wonder what she’ll do with us.”
Suddenly there was a splash in the pool and something slithered out onto the throne.
It had the head and arms of a woman, but the scaly tail of a fish. She might have looked like a mermaid, except for her rough face and cold expression.
“It’s her!” Eric whispered.
It was her. The sea witch. Demither.
“So … you have come to my world,” the witch said in a raspy voice. “I knew my hurricane would attract your attention.”
Eric was sure he’d heard that voice before.
In the dream that was more than a dream.
In Demither’s hand was a long staff with an iron claw at its head. In the grip of the claw was a bright crimson stone.
“The Red Eye of Dawn,” said Demither, thrusting the staff into a holder by her throne.
At those words, a bolt of sizzling flame burst from the red jewel and crackled over their heads.
“Yes!” said the witch. “The Red Eye of Dawn is alive — and it is angry!”
Keeah stepped toward the witch’s throne. She narrowed her eyes and spoke.
“Demither, you must stop this storm. We will take the Red Eye of Dawn if we have to —”
“Take the jewel,” said the witch softly. “I only wish you could….”
Keeah blinked. “Uh … excuse me?”
The witch raised her sunken eyes to the children. She looked different from the last time they’d seen her. She had once seemed very powerful. But now her skin, usually sea green in color, looked almost yellow. Her lips were thin and pale.
“She seems … sick,” whispered Eric.
“The Red Eye of Dawn has done this to me,” Demither said. “It will do it to you, too.”
Keeah glanced at her friends, then back at the witch. “What do you mean?”
In the pale light of the green fire, Demither began. “Sparr created this red jewel. I stole it, hopi
ng to gain more power. Ha! Only then did I discover the evil spirit who dwells in the Eye. A spirit more terrifying than I ever imagined.”
The children looked at one another.
Keeah said nothing.
“What kind of spirit?” Julie asked finally.
“His name is Om,” said the witch. “Lord Sparr conjured him long ago to destroy whoever possesses the jewel. Even now, Om is draining my power from me. And the Eye grows stronger.”
Neal nudged Julie. “It’s true,” he said softly. “She doesn’t look too good.”
The jewel pulsed slowly with light.
“See,” said the witch. “Even in his sleep, Om listens to his evil master … Sparr.”
“But Sparr vanished,” said Eric. “We heard he almost died. No one has seen him for months.”
That was true. The sorcerer had been hurt by another of his terrible creations, the Golden Wasp. After that, he had simply disappeared.
“When the Wasp attacked him, Sparr was changed, perhaps forever,” the witch replied, drawing slow breaths. “Not even I know what he looks like now. But he is alive. And he is coming for the Eye.”
“Let me guess,” said Julie. “He wants the Eye so he can try to take over Droon again.”
The witch nodded slowly. “That is why I have used my magic to conjure the Doom Gate.”
Neal squeaked. “Is doom, like, everybody’s favorite word? What’s a Doom Gate, anyway?”
“An enchanted prison,” said Demither. “Once the Eye is sealed inside it, it can never again be used for evil.”
“Evil?” Keeah snapped. “You’re a fine one to talk. For all we know, this is a trap that you and Sparr set to capture us!”
Demither narrowed her eyes at the princess. “You do not know me!” she snarled. “It was I who shared my power with you. It was I who stole the Eye from Sparr, stopping his plans to conquer Droon. Yes, and it was I who told you your mother was alive!”
“Then why didn’t you stop Sparr from cursing her?” Keeah said, her fingertips sparking.
“Keeah!” said Eric. “Your powers —”
“Because!” said the witch. “Sparr did not curse your mother — I did!”
Keeah gasped sharply and staggered back.