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the stairs. It was open slightly.
    “My house has that, too,” Neal said. “There’s a cool little closet inside.”
    Eric remembered seeing that door a million times. But he had never been inside. “It must have been swung open when I pulled that box away.”
    “Well, I think the ball went in there,” Julie said. She swung the door open further. “Cool!”
    Inside was a small closet. The ceiling was the underside of the basement stairs. It slanted all the way to the floor at the back of the room.
    In the center sat the soccer ball.
    “This is great,” Eric said, peeking over Julie’s shoulder. “We can put some of the junk in here.”
    Julie stepped into the room and reached for the ball. “It’s an awesome secret hideout.”
    “Let me see!” Neal said. He jumped over to Eric, accidentally pushing him into the door.
    Blam! It slammed shut.
    A muffled scream came from inside the room.
    “Help!” cried Julie. “I’m falling!”
     

Two

The Sky Below the Ground
     
    Eric pulled the door open quickly.
    Julie was standing in the middle of the tiny room. She was staring at the floor beneath her feet. The ball was nowhere in sight.
    “Are you okay?” Eric asked.
    Julie pushed her way quickly out of the room. “The ball went down there!”
    Eric and Neal looked at the gray cement floor. Then they looked back at Julie.
    “There were steps,” Julie said. “And I almost fell all the way down!”
    “Steps?” said Neal. “Where the floor is?”
    Julie nodded. “And the soccer ball went bouncing down them. Then you opened the door, and the steps sort of…disappeared.”
    Eric and Neal entered the little room under the stairs. Then Julie stepped back in. They stood close together.
    “Maybe the ball whacked you in the head, Julie,” Neal said with a laugh. “You just thought there were stairs.”
    Eric looked down at the floor. There weren’t any steps anywhere. “Julie, I don’t think –”
    “I’m not making this up,” she said. “Wait. The door was closed. And it was dark at first. Maybe then…”
    “It’s pretty dark already,” Neal said. “Don’t close the door on us –”
    Slam! Julie did close the door on them.
    Neal grumbled. “Now it’s very dark.”
    Then, suddenly, it wasn’t.
    The floor began to shimmer beneath them, and a bright light glowed under their feet.
    Then – whoosh! – a stairway appeared out of nowhere. A set of steps, leading down. Leading away from the basement.
    Away from the house.
    “Whoa!” Eric said. “It looks like outside down there! Is this what you saw?”
    Julie nodded. “Told you.”
    The steps glowed a rainbow of colors.
    Julie peered over Eric’s shoulder. “Let’s go find the ball.”
    Neal reached for the door. “I don’t think so.”
    “Come on,” said Eric. He wasn’t sure why, but he felt as if they had to go. He stepped down to the next step. Then to the next, and the next. Already the air was brighter where he was. It was pink. And cool and fresh.
    “Neal. Julie. This is incredible,” Eric said. “We have to go down.”
    “I don’t think this is such a good idea,” Neal said.
    Julie laughed. She ran to catch up with Eric. “The air smells so sweet! Hurry up, Neal. We’re already ten steps ahead of you.”
    Just below them was a forest of tall trees. The stairs led all the way down to the treetops.
    “Unbelievable!” Eric whispered. “Do you think this is some kind of magic?”
    “There’s no such thing as magic,” Julie said, biting her lip. She always did that when she didn’t understand why things were happening. “But this place is beautiful. Strange, too. It’s sort of like a theme park.”

    Eric stopped. What he saw coming out of the pink mist was not from any theme park he’d ever been to. “Uh-oh,” he gasped.
    “What do you see?” Neal asked.
    Eric was frozen on the step, pointing into the mist. “Lizards, I think.”
    “In the trees?” Julie asked. “That’s normal.”
    “No,” Eric said.