Balance Keepers #1: The Fires of Calderon Read Online Free Page A

all, Albert remained outside and peered in. It was darker inside than it was outside, like looking into a bottomless well.
    “Hello?” Albert called into the tree house. His voice echoed back to him, a ripple of sound. He poked his head in just the slightest bit, and called again. “Is anyone there?”
    Albert heard something rushing up behind him, and fearing for his life, he ducked inside and slammed the door shut. His breath came in waves as he realized just how dark it was inside the tree, and then things turned considerably worse—something was moving next to his leg.
    The thing chasing me was fast enough to get in here, too, he thought, his heart skipping a beat. But then he heard the soft pant of a dog, and reaching down, felt the familiar silky fur.
    “Farnsworth!” Albert knelt down in the pitch-black and gave the dog a good scratch. “You scared me half to death. If this relationship is going to work, you need to stop running away. Understand?”
    Albert kept scratching under Farnsworth’s chin, which helped him feel a little less afraid and a lot less alone. He resolved to go back outside and walk home by the light of the moon. Enough was enough. He could find his way back if he set his mind to it. Albert reached up with one hand—he didn’t want to stop scratching Farnsworth—which was when he realized there was no door handle where there should have been one.
    “Uh-oh,” Albert said. “This is bad. Really bad.”
    He felt all around the door, but it was no use. It was a door with no handle on the inside, a door made for trapping someone. He turned back to Farnsworth and started scratching him behind the ears, hoping beyond all hope that the dog wouldn’t run off again, and that was when Albert screamed for the first time on his adventure. Farnsworth’s bright blue eyes had begun to glow like a Bunsen burner. It was like they were heating up, sending a soft glow of blue light into Albert’s face. Albert tried to back away, but there really wasn’t anywhere to go—the now-bright light confirmed it—there was no door handle to be found.
    Albert slowly turned around to face Farnsworth, careful not to make any sudden movements.
    “Okay, little doggy . . . That fruitcake must have messed up your wiring, huh?” He bent down slowly, got up the courage to scratch the dog behind the ears again, and when nothing else unusual happened, ran his hand back and forth in front of Farnsworth’s eyes.
    “Okay, blue light coming from dog’s eyes—no big deal, Albert, no big deal.”
    If he was being honest with himself, a dog with glowing eyes was actually pretty cool. But Albert was also stringing together a series of thoughts that led to a terrible conclusion. What if his dad hadn’t really sent the letter and the map? What if the dog was sent by a witch or a warlock or a forest troll? Obviously the dog wasn’t normal. Maybe the dog was sent by a witch to find the new kid in town and lure him into the woods. Albert had made every mistake in the book. He’d followed a dog into the wild, hadn’t left any instructions about where he’d gone, entered a tree, and closed the door behind him.
    Albert looked down at Farnsworth, not sure he could trust the dog as much as he once did. The lights in his eyes were still bright, but they had dimmed a little.
    “Looks like your light’s going out,” Albert said. He scratched behind Farnsworth’s ear and his blue eyes brightened like a dimmer switch being turned. The dog turned around, sending beams of blue light down a corridor that ended at a wall of dirt and roots. Albert saw for the first time that he really was inside of a tree. There were twisting, turning roots shooting every which way down the middle of a tunnel that led to the wall.
    “Whoa,” Albert said.
    Farnsworth ran down the tunnel, hopping and ducking as he went, and arrived at the far end, staring back at Albert. It was like looking into two Tonka truck headlights, and the headlights were