The Pyramid Under the Bed

Leo was supposed to be cleaning his room, but he was too busy practicing his baseball swing with an old sock ball. Whack! The sock sailed through the air and disappeared—straight through a shimmering patch behind his toy chest.

Curious, Leo crawled after it. He tumbled through the shimmering patch and landed on soft golden sand. Before him rose a magnificent pyramid, gleaming like amber under a purple sky. The air smelled like cinnamon and adventure.

"Greetings, young traveler," rumbled a voice like distant thunder. Leo looked up to see the Sphinx perched atop the pyramid. But she wasn't scary—she wore a baseball cap and held a mitt.

"I'm Sphinxie," she said with a grin. "Care to play? But first, you must solve my riddle."

Leo nodded bravely. "I'm ready!"

"What has a face but cannot speak, hands but cannot clap, and stands still yet travels everywhere?"

Leo thought hard. Then he pulled the coiled cable from his pocket—the charging cable from his tablet. "A clock! It has a face, hands, stays on the wall, and travels through time!"

"Correct!" Sphinxie cheered. She tossed him a real baseball. "Now, hit it into the pyramid's secret door!"

Leo wound up and swung—CRACK! The ball hit a hidden panel. The pyramid opened, revealing a chamber of floating crystals. But something shuffled toward them—a zombie!

Leo gasped, but Sphinxie laughed. "That's just Zommie. He's not scary—he's sleep-walking!"

Zommie the zombie rubbed his eyes. "Mmm... did someone say baseball?" He was friendly, with stitching that looked like a happy smile. "I've been napping for three thousand years."

They played baseball until the three suns began to set. Sphinxie gave Leo a golden baseball as a gift. "Visit anytime. Just swing your sock ball toward the wall!"

Leo tumbled back into his room, where everything looked exactly the same. But on his pillow sat a golden baseball, gleaming like magic. Sometimes, he discovered, the most wonderful adventures were hiding right behind the ordinary—and friends could be found in the most unexpected places, even if they looked a little different at first.

He smiled and placed his baseball on the shelf, right next to his toy pyramid. Who knew what magic tomorrow might bring?