1 A Spell Returns

CITY IN THE CLOUDS

CHAPTER One A Spell Returns School was over for the day. Eric Hinkle and his two best friends, Neal and Julie, climbed onto the bus home. "It's been two whole weeks since we've been to youknow-where," Julie whispered as they squeezed into a seat together. Eric smiled. Of course he knew where. Droon, the totally secret and magical world of adventure that they had found under his basement. "It's so strange," Eric said when the bus started up. "We have all these amazing new friends and we can't even talk

about them." "Enemies, too, don't forget," Neal added. That was true. Since their first adventure in Droon, they had met Galen Longbeard, an old and powerful wizard, and his spidery helper, Max. Khan, king of the pillow-shaped purple Lumpies, had helped them, too. But their special friend was Princess Keeah, a junior wizard who was trying to keep the wicked Lord Sparr and his red-faced Ninns from taking over her world. "I wonder what Keeah is up to," Eric said. "I'm itching to go back." "And I'm just itching!" Neal groaned, bending over suddenly to scratch his legs. "In fact, I've been doing weird stuff all day. Not to mention the tiny little voices I keep hearing…" That's when it happened. Pop! "Whoa!" Eric gasped, looking under the seat. "Look at that!" He pointed at Neal's sneaker. Neal bent down. His shoelaces stretched and broke, one after another. The toe burst open and something brown and shiny popped out. "Neal," said Julie, "what's with your sneaker? Is that the stuffing coming out?" Eric gasped. "No, that's his foot coming out!"

"That's not my foot," said Neal. "It looks like a bug… a bug…. Wait. That is my foot! I've got a bug foot! Oh, no! I'm a bug again!"

The other kids on the bus turned and laughed.

Julie dropped her backpack over Neal's shoe before anyone saw it. "Holy cow!" Eric whispered. "I know what's going on! Neal, brace yourself. It's back." Neal frowned. "What's back?" "The bug spell," he said. "What?" Neal moaned. "I thought that spell was over!" "It looks like it just came back," said Julie. On their last adventure in Droon, a magic spell had gone wrong and accidently Neal had been turned into a bug. A baby bug, with a hard brown shell, six legs, and feelers on his head that curled and twitched. And now it was happening again. Errr! The bus stopped, and the doors swung open. "There's only one place to go," Eric said, grabbing Neal and pulling him off the bus. "To my basement. Hurry. We need to go back to Droon." Together, they ran across the yard to Eric's house. "The spell's not finished somehow," Julie said, frowning. "But don't worry, Neal. Droon is the most magical place ever. We'll find the cure." "This is not going to last forever," Eric added. "Forever?" Neal squealed. "Yikes!" They hurried to the side door and opened it. Eric put his finger to his lips. "Nobody can see you like this, Neal." He