3.

Nowar slept in. If he'd dreamed during the night, he couldn't remember it. Teddy still seemed to be smiling secretly at him. Yawning and stretching, rubbing the sleepy out of his eyes, Nowar went downstairs for breakfast.

His Mommy had already gotten on the bus to go to work, and his Daddy was making his lunch. "Make me an extra sandwich please," Nowar said, "I might be extra hungry this afternoon." While his Daddy was packing the lunchbox, Nowar slipped a few extra items into his backpack; a flashlight, a pen and notebook, and a length of string, because he had read before that string is always an useful thing to have with you on an adventure.

Nowar surprised his Daddy by getting dressed right away, shoes and all. They got out the door without any fuss, and Nowar kissed his Daddy goodbye just as the school bus pulled up.

On the bus, Nowar sat next to his friend Aya, who let him play Atom Smashers on her cell phone. Even so, the bus ride seemed to last forever.

In the playground, the secret cave was still there, mostly obscured by fallen leaves and a fern. It was the first thing Nowar checked when he got to Budsurry school that morning: had the whole thing just been in his imagination, a story he'd made up that just seemed real? It had not. The cave was real, hewn from living stone, and cool air blew out the entrance onto Nowar's face.

Shouldering his backpack, lunch tucked inside, Nowar went in. It took a little squirming, especially with the bulky pack on his back, but he fit! He looked around. A steep stone stairway plunged down, as far as Nowar could see, which wasn't very far. It might go ten feet down, it might go all the way to the center of the earth. Nowar swallowed hard, adjusted the straps of his pack, and started to climb down.