Chapter One - The Attic Adventure

CHAPTER ONE

The Attic Adventure

TOMMY WAS BORED.

Not just regular bored, like, legendary-level bored. The kind of bored where you stare at the ceiling so long, you start seeing faces in the popcorn texture. Rain drizzled outside the window, gray and slow like the world had hit the snooze button.

Mom was working. Dad was napping. And none of his usual distractions were working.

So, Tommy decided to do what all brilliant, semi-reckless kids eventually do: go exploring.

He grabbed a flashlight, snuck past the squeaky stair step (ninja-level skills), and tiptoed to the hallway closet. Inside, behind coats and forgotten tennis rackets, was the attic pull-down.

He tugged the cord. THUNK.

The wooden stairs creaked down like they hadn’t been touched in a century.

Tommy swallowed. Then he grinned.

Adventure mode: engaged.

The attic smelled like dust and old secrets. Shafts of stormy light filtered through the little window, casting everything in gold and shadows.

There were boxes. So many boxes. Labels like “Xmas 2008” and “Taxes? Maybe” and “Uncle Jerry’s Weird Invention Stuff” scribbled in Sharpie.

Tommy dug through a pile of tangled extension cords and Halloween decorations, looking for, well, he wasn’t sure. Treasure? A pirate map? A meteorite?

Instead, he found... a lamp.

But not just any lamp.

It was... ugly.

Like, super ugly.

It was one of those stubby old yard-sale lamps, shaped like a teapot and a spaceship had a weird baby. Beige and bronze, with a frilly lampshade half-crushed by a box of bowling shoes.

Tommy reached toward it.

The lamp flickered.

He pulled his hand back.

Lightning cracked outside. The attic rattled.

He laughed nervously, then grabbed the lamp anyway. “You’re coming with me, weird little guy.”

He found an outlet in the corner and plugged it in. The bulb inside the crooked shade buzzed faintly.

Then he found the switch.

It wasn’t a twist or a button, it was one of those little chains you pull. Like from an old cartoon.

Tommy took a deep breath.

And he pulled the chain.

Click.

Zap.