10 A Ship Reborn

CHAPTER Ten A Ship Reborn Kaww! Kaww! The entire army of Ninns streaked across the sky after Lord Sparr. The whole island rumbled and shook. Giant cracks split the rocks along the cliff. "Let's get out of here!" Neal yelled, stumbling across the ground to his friends. Eric gasped when he saw his friend. "Hey, Neal, you're back!" "What's wrong with my back?" Neal said.

"It's normal!" Julie said. "You're Neal again! Not a bug! The Eye must have blasted you back to your regular you!" "I always did like me!" Neal said. "Let's go!" Rrrrr! The ground rumbled again and again. "This way!" Galen urged. "The island is crumbling into the sea! Swiftly now!" The six friends ran as quickly as they could down the white cliffs. They pounded through the tangled jungle. Rocks slid and crashed all around them. Trees fell in their path. Finally, they reached the shore. Krrrk! The giant white cliff above them began to split. "We need a ship!" Keeah said. Galen frowned. "We need something to start us off. Something to build a ship with." Eric's eyes went wide. "I know!" He ran across the beach. There, hidden in the rocks, were the wooden planks and torn sail from the old ship. "Can we use these?" he asked breathlessly. "Yes!" said Keeah. Quickly, they assembled as much of the old ship as they could find. Together Galen and Keeah spoke fantastic words over them. Suddenly, magically, the broken planks became hundreds of planks. Torn bits of sail furled upward into red-and-

yellow squares of cloth. The Jaffa Wind, more beautiful than ever, rose up before them. "Hurry aboard," Max pleaded. The moment they piled on, the giant sails filled with wind, and the ship began to slide over the water. KRRRK! A large crack tore open the cliff face, sending huge rocks tumbling to the sea below. "Just in time!" Eric said. The beach and the jungle were swept away by the crashing waves. A moment later, the towering mountain itself fell into the sea. The mysterious island vanished. As if it had never existed. The ship sped magically over the waves. Leaning against the side, Eric let out a long breath. "Sparr lost today," he said. Keeah smiled. "Yes. For now, he doesn't have the Red Eye of Dawn. Now my father and I can search for my mother." "What will Sparr do next?" Neal asked. Galen glanced across the water. "Demither is heading north," he said, "to the coast of Mintar where she became what she became. Sparr will follow her there. But that is a story for another day. Look…"

The sun peered through the dark clouds and shone over the sea. It was a new day. "And look at that," Neal said. "A city!" They all ran to the upper deck. Rising in the distance were the silvery towers of an enormous city. Sunlight glimmered on the harbor and on the many colorful boats sailing into it. "Jaffa City," Keeah exclaimed. "The capital of Droon. Home." "We're home, too," Julie said. "There are the stairs." She pointed off the left side of the ship. The magic stairs were hovering over the calm waves. A few minutes later, Neal, Julie, and Eric stepped from the ship onto the bottom stair. "I have no words to thank you," Keeah said, "except to say—come back soon!" "Droon needs such good friends as you," Galen said with a smile. Eric smiled, too. "As long as the magic keeps working, we'll keep coming." Julie hugged Keeah. "You can count on it." "Farewell, Master Neal," said Max. "It was fun not being the smallest one, for a change." Neal put his fingers to his forehead and wiggled twice. "That means—see you soon!"

The three children waved and raced up the stairs to the basement above them. They turned to look one last time at Keeah's ship as it sped over the sparkling sea to Jaffa City.

Then Eric flicked on the light.