The World in the Basement

By Bernice Picard

Searching for his missing sister, Peggy, Virgil goes down the basement steps and discovers a door he's never seen before.  Opening it, Virgil finds himself in in the  land of HeRe.  The Sword of Substance has been stolen and the ruler  of HeRe is fading into nothingness, along with his sister.  To save Peggy,  Virgil will have to save the land of HeRe.  But can he do it in time?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bernice Picard
• Release date: Sep 13, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386334217

Book preview

Dedication

To Ray and Hank -

You are sorely missed.

CHAPTER ONE

The Forbidden Room

On Monday morning Virgil woke up with a Groan. He didn’t know it of course. Groans are not visible in our world.

Virgil’s Groan, a particularly grumpy one, was pacing up and down, back and forth, and round and round. He was wringing his hands and shaking his head and groaning loudly all the while. He was very, very worried.

Virgil turned off the alarm clock. He dragged himself out of bed and washed the sleep from his eyes. Sighing heavily, he searched under the bed for a missing shoe, and glumly plopped down on his bed and stared at his feet. It was the first day of summer camp and he absolutely dreaded the idea of going. Other kids hated the first day of school. With Virgil, it was summer camp he’d like to avoid.

Finally, knowing he couldn’t put it off any longer, he pulled on his t-shirt and pants. Reluctantly, he trudged down the hall to get his sister.

Peggy! he called through the closed door. Peggy, hurry up. We’ll be late. No answer. Now what? he mumbled. He knocked again. Nothing. He opened the door and scanned the room. Empty, bed made. He stepped in.

Darn! he exclaimed. So that’s where his model glue had gone. Scrunched up and sitting on the top of Peggy’s scrapbooks were his last two tubes, the ones he’d been saving for the space station project.

What WAS her problem? He’d told her a gazillion times that model glue was no good for scrap booking, but she just wouldn’t listen. He shook his head. He’d have to find a better hiding place. He couldn’t get any more. He’d spent his allowance for the month.

He gave the desk an angry slap, hitting a piece of paper which promptly stuck to his palm. He couldn’t shake it off. He pulled it off with his other hand but then it stuck to his fingers.

Darn that Peggy! Where was she, anyway? Was she hiding? Virgil looked behind the door. He checked her closet carefully. She loved to jump out and scare him. He hated it. He even peeked under the bed, but no Peggy. She must have beaten him to breakfast.

Oh my. Oh my, said Groan This is just terrible.

Virgil hurried down the stairs, all the while trying to shake off the paper from his hand. His mom was alone in the kitchen.

What kind of cereal would you like this...Virgil what are you doing? asked his mother.

Virgil was standing by the chair vigorously shaking his hand trying to loosen the paper. It simply wouldn’t come off.

I went to get Peggy and leaned on her desk. She’s taken my last two tubes of model glue and used them for her scrapbooking...again. Now, I’ve got this paper stuck to my hand and I can’t get it unstuck, Virgil explained and complained at the same time.

Unstuck? echoed his mother. Is there such a word? She smiled at him.

I don’t know, said Virgil, still shaking his hand. He sat down. I guess I have to look that one up, huh?

I guess you do, agreed his mother, but not right away. First, you’ve got to get unstuck and then eat and get to the bus.

Virgil’s mother took another piece of paper from the tablet by the phone, folded it and pulled the paper from Virgil’s fingers without getting her own fingers gluey. Now wash your hands and eat.

Virgil wolfed down his breakfast, picked up his lunch, and headed for the bus stop.

Have a good time, Virgil, his mother called.

Sure, he replied. Yeh, sure, he mumbled to himself. How could he have a good time at summer camp. Dodgeball, baseball, volleyball: he wasn’t good at any of that stuff. And the arts and crafts they did on rainy days was boring. He HATED summer camp. And with the bees and flies and gnats, his allergy to poison ivy, and always being picked last for any kind of team, he figured summer camp hated him right back.

He could see even before he reached the corner that Peggy was not there

Darn, he thought. She isn’t here. And I bet I know just where she went. She’s got to be in the sanctuary.

I knew it, whispered the Groan. Trouble first thing in the morning. I knew it.

Virgil didn’t want anyone to see him going back to the house. He needed to be careful. Virgil waited until he saw his mother in an upstairs window before dashing across yards and slinking behind sheds and shrubs to reach the back door. Hiding his lunch under the steps, he discovered that Peggy’s was there, too. He wasn’t surprised. It only meant he was right; Peggy had snuck down to the sanctuary.

Virgil opened the back door quite carefully and slipped inside. He tiptoed through the pantry to the basement door. Not daring to switch on the basement light, he crept down the stairs slowly. Twice the steps creaked. Both times he stopped, sure he would hear his mother’s voice, but he did not.

It was not until he was firmly on the basement floor that he began to get frightened. He and Peggy were not allowed in Dad’s sanctuary. Oh, what trouble he would be in if he got caught! And it was very dark without the lights. But not dark enough, he thought.

This is definitely not a good way to start a Monday morning, complained the Groan. You know perfectly well that your father does not want you children in this area of the house by yourselves and you are never to go through the sanctuary door. I cannot be responsible if you are going to be so disobedient and reckless.

Virgil stretched out a trembling hand and grasped the doorknob. Secretly, he hoped Peggy had locked the door behind her. But he was out of luck; the door swung open with ease. Virgil stood in the cellar at the top of the sanctuary steps, trying his darnedest to gather courage.

I am not afraid, he told himself firmly. I am not scared.

Well, I am, moaned the Groan.

The only light in the basement came through the three tiny windows at the tops of the walls. Virgil squinted, peering down the steps. It was dark and shadowy where he was standing but the sanctuary at the bottom of the steps seemed to be pitch black. Virgil could see only the first two steps. It would have been safe enough to use a light here, but he had none and he couldn’t find the switch at the head of the stairs.

He had been in the wine cellar before his father had converted it. It’s only five steps down, he told himself.

He groped for the wall with one hand, the railing with the other, and for the steps with his toes. The wooden handrail he found was unfamiliar. He remembered his father putting in one made of metal.

This is not a good sign, Virgil. We need to go back, the Groan whispered in Virgil’s ear.

Virgil stopped. Maybe this isn’t such a good idea, he thought. But he had come this far. He would go on, at least a little further. He held on tightly to the rail, each foot feeling for the firmness of the step below before he put his weight on it.

Standing on the last of the five steps, Virgil noticed the air was getting warmer.

Heat rises, said Virgil, remembering something from his science class at school. This makes no sense. Shouldn’t it be cooler? He shook his head in dismay.

Of course, it doesn’t. Now can we go back? asked the Groan.

Virgil stepped down to what ought to have been the floor and discovered the fifth step was not the last. There was another, then another. Maybe he was wrong about how many steps there had been.

Wondering just how far down the steps continued, Virgil took a penny from his pocket and dropped it over the handrail, listening for it to strike the floor.

It did not.

Virgil sat down, burying his face in his hands. He had been so sure there were only five steps down. Okay, maybe six or seven or even eight. But there were too many. Way too many.

He was quite sure by now that Peggy had found the same set of steps he had, but where was she? Why hadn’t she turned on the light? So far, things were not going well. This could certainly turn out to be an adventure and any adventure that had anything to do with his sister meant they were headed for trouble.

Where could she be? Maybe if he called?

Peggy! Peggy! he called in a loud whisper. The sound echoed from the walls and came back in a hollow, ghostly voice ‘Peggeee, Peggeee’.

Virgil shuddered.

Oh my frazzled nerves! Go back Virgil. Go back and get your mother.

I should go back, Virgil said aloud. This is too weird. I should go and get Mom.

Yes, yes. Go get your Mother, whispered the Groan urgently.

But when he really thought of going back to get