Escape from Jabar-loo
Page 6
“This isn’t normal,” said Julie, stepping over the stream of smoke and opening the closet door. “It’s magic. It means something.”
They switched on the light and entered the closet, careful not to step into the smoke moving across the floor. They closed the door behind them and turned off the light.
At once — whoosh! — the floor beneath them vanished and a long staircase appeared in its place. The usually bright steps were dulled by the smoke pouring up them.
“This is bad, people,” said Neal. “Let’s get down through the clouds as fast as we can.”
But no sooner had they descended through the pink clouds than they froze in terror.
Ashes whirled everywhere. Through a storm of smoke, they saw Droon’s pink-walled capital, Jaffa City — its towers, its fountains, the fabulous palace itself — completely swallowed by flames.
“No, no, no!” cried Eric.
A dark force of thousands of beasts, each bearing a blazing torch, circled about the city, laying siege to the walls.
“The torches in my dream!” gasped Julie.
Amid the torches were two tall spouts of green flame. They were twin fires from the horns of the bull-headed Emperor Ko!
All at once, they heard the distant cries of many people. Running toward the children, waving his wooden staff in excitement, was the wizard Galen, his blue cloak flying.
Behind him, Queen Relna, King Zello, Princess Keeah, and Max the spider troll were leading the entire population of Jaffa City up the stairs to safety.
“The worst has happened!” Max shouted to the children. “Fire! Destruction! From sea to sea — our beloved Droon is ablaze!”
Suddenly, the magnificent royal capital of Droon exploded in flames, then quaked and crashed to the ground.
Text copyright © 2007 by Tony Abbott.
Illustrations copyright © 2007 by Scholastic Inc.
All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc.
SCHOLASTIC, LITTLE APPLE, and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.
First printing, June 2007
Cover art by Tim Jessell
e-ISBN 978-0-545-41843-0
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