Underworlds #1: The Battle Begins by Tony Abbott

Author:Tony Abbott [Abbott, Tony]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Scholastic Books
Published: 2012-04-01T06:00:00+00:00

I FIGURED THAT THE EFFECTS OF THE LYRE WOULD eventually fade, and people would go back to normal again, so I kept plucking the strings until my mom drove down the street and I couldn’t see her anymore.

“That lyre is some kind of magic weapon,” Jon said.

“I’m totally going to invent us some super earplugs,” Sydney added.

I turned to them. I had a vague idea of what we were about to do, and it seemed completely crazy and probably dangerous. “You realize this is all nuts, right? The Underworlds. The lunch ladies. The weirdo big wolf. The magic lyre. This whole mythological thing.”

“Like we’ve been eating crazy pudding,” said Jon.

“Except we don’t really have a choice,” said Sydney.

“Exactly,” I said. “Just so we’re all on the same page about it.”

The school was unlocked, which wasn’t strange. What was strange was that the instant we stepped inside, the public address system crackled.

“Owen Brown, report to the office!”

“Why is the office still open?” asked Jon. “And how does anyone know we’re here?”

When we got to the main office, we found the secretary standing at the door with her coat on, ready to leave.

“Here,” she said, dropping something into my palm.

“The penny!” I said, peering down at it. “You found Mags’s penny with blue Lincoln hair!”

The secretary smiled. “Under the principal’s desk. The collection can is in the safe for the night and won’t be out again until the morning. If you want, you can bring this back then.” She switched off the office lights, shooed us into the hall, and left the building with a wave.

“Nice little moment,” said Sydney. “But we have an Underworld to get to.”

“And a Dana to save,” said Jon.

I tucked the penny into my pocket. “Let’s go.”

We entered the maze of hallways toward the back of the school. The lyre glowed eerily under the ceiling lights. Our footsteps echoed off the walls. There was a smell, too. Not coffee from the teachers’ lounge. Not mashed potatoes from the cafeteria. Not cleaning fluid from the janitor’s closet. It was the same thing I had smelled when Dana disappeared.

“Smoke,” I said under my breath.

We took the stairs carefully and quietly, but I couldn’t stop the panic in my chest. Was there really an entrance to the Underworlds below our school? Would the lyre help us get into it? And out of it? Was any of this real?

“It’s locked,” said Sydney when we got to the boiler room door. “No way can I open this with my tool kit.”

“Maybe the lyre can do it,” said Jon. “Orpheus charmed rocks and dead stuff, too.”

“I’m not Orpheus,” I said, feeling unworthy of the ancient magical instrument in my hands.

But I tried it, anyway. For a reason I can’t explain, my fingers went right to the two highest pitched of the seven strings. I plucked them one after another, making a simple two-note melody. Even before the notes faded, the door began to quiver like the surface of a pond. It turned gray, then silver, then white.

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