Baskania snapped a finger and two large men appeared. They picked Rock and Ward off the floor, their knees still bent. "Time for you boys to donate to the cause," he snickered. The men carried Rock and Ward down the stairs and out the Stains' door.

Balor felt his hands shaking. Damon didn't get it yet, but Balor knew what Rock and Ward would be donating--an eye each that Baskania would add to his internal collection. He would use them to see through their remaining eyes and keep tabs on them, just like all of his others when he brought them to the surface of his face or arms.

"Don't worry," Baskania sneered. "I'm letting you three scared babies keep your eyes a little longer. I'll get them soon enough. For now you can content yourselves with the thought of your friends' eyes being ripped from their sockets...." He went on with a gruesome, detailed description, seeming to delight in the torture he was causing them.

The minute Baskania disappeared, Balor rushed to the bathroom to throw up.

"It is said," Rajiv shouted back from the front of the van, "that Swami Parvananda hasn't taken a bite to eat in over thirty years. He only has to drink water every few days."

"Wow," Bethany said. "That's hard to believe."

"But true," said Rajiv, pointing at the air. "Nobody knows how old he is. Maybe over one hundred. He sees everything. He just sits and meditates every day. He'll know why you were called to him."

Erec was getting used to Rajiv's accent. Last night he had slept well in the guest house. Sunita had served them things called poha and upma in the morning, made out of rice, vegetables, and chilies.

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They tasted good but were not Erec's idea of breakfast. So, after eating bits of them, he and Bethany conjured up banana chocolate-chip pancakes with Jam's Serving Tray.

The bumpy gravel-and-dirt path in Tadoba National Park soon turned into a small paved street. They drove awhile through the jungle, Rajiv's tranquilizer gun leaning next to him in case of an animal attack. On the way through the woods, Rajiv pointed out a sloth bear in the hills, a blue bull crossing a stream, and some white monkeys swinging in trees. They looked just like the ones that had stolen Erec's money. "Those are leaf monkeys," he said. "Harmless, simple creatures."

Erec sneered at them. "Harmless, simple, and rich."

As they turned off of the dirt road from the preserve, Rajiv pulled onto the left side of the street to Chandrapur. A car sped in their direction, whizzing by on their right. Bethany grabbed the bars that served as windows on the jeep and screamed.

Erec's heart pounded, but Rajiv stayed on the left side of the road. "What's wrong with you two?" Rajiv asked. "Never been in a car before?"

Bethany flushed. "Do you all drive on the wrong side of the road here?"

"No, we drive on the correct side of the road. I thought you did too, in England."

"We're from America," Erec said.

"America," Rajiv repeated, impressed. "You really did did get lost." get lost."

The road snaked through hills and woods and eventually grew more crowded. As they neared Chandrapur, they shared the road with buses packed with people, sitting on top and hanging off the sides.

The colors and smells of India seemed to permeate the landscape. Rajiv pointed out a Brahma cow milling around by the road. Big 112.

baskets of brightly colored spices in front of shops mixed their scents with a herd of goats and fumes from auto rickshaws, little open-air vehicles that served as taxis.

Rajiv swung off the main street onto a dirt road that led away from the city. After passing some houses and fields, they drove another half hour until they reached a barren hilly area. Rajiv stopped the truck.

"You must be quiet when you enter the Swami's cave," he explained.

"He lives in a cave?" Erec asked.

"Of course." Rajiv sighed impatiently. "He's a yogi master. A guru. He's given up the physical world and all earthly things. His time is spent in the higher realm. I think he can show you what you need."

Bethany's eyes twinkled. "Erec," she whispered. "The yogi is a medium! We need a medium to go to the Oracle with us. Maybe this Swami could do it."

Erec smiled. Why hadn't he thought of that? A medium was exactly what they needed. Now they were getting somewhere.

Rajiv continued. "There are rules. When you go in, you bow low so your head almost touches the floor. Then you must say 'Adesh, adesh.' It means, 'I will do as you command.' You must say this. Practice."

They practiced saying "Adesh, adesh" a few times. "Can we go in now?" Erec asked.

"Patience!" Rajiv commanded. "Now, the yogi might not notice you for a while. He may be deep in meditation. This yogi is known to enter meditation and stay there for a week at a time. So if he does not answer when you say 'Adesh, adesh,' just wait. If you have been called to him for a purpose, he will respond soon. But never, never approach and touch him if he is in a trance."

"Would something happen to him?" Bethany asked.

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"No," Rajiv said. "It's just rude. This is a man of the spirit, a man of great powers. Not somebody to offend. Just remember that."

Bethany and Erec nodded. They headed toward a large hill with a path winding up its side. It led to a large gap in the stone.

"I will wait here," Rajiv said, looking up at the cave nervously. "It would not be proper for me to watch."

"It's okay if you want to come," Erec said. It looked like Rajiv was curious to see the yogi guru.

Rajiv bit his lip in thought. "No. It's not right for me to go. I'll wait by the truck."

Erec and Bethany climbed the path up the hill to the cave entrance. The small opening led into a wide, round cavern of white rock that was lit by the sunlight from outside. Another stream of light also shone into the small cavern from a side tunnel. When they peeked into that tunnel, they got a glimpse of an even larger room. Incandescent lights shone from inside. Erec glimpsed a figure, but then he darted away when he heard voices.

"Shh." He put a finger to his lips. "I think someone else is in there with him. Maybe we should wait."

Bethany leaned close to the doorway and tried to hear. "You're right. He's talking to someone. Listen."

Erec stepped closer. A thickly accented, sharp voice said, "You're dead now. I'll raise you."

He and Bethany looked at each other. "Did you hear that?" she whispered. "He's raising the dead. Like a seance."

Erec wasn't sure whether he wanted to go in and watch or get out of there right away. Then he heard the voice again.

"Oh, believe me. I have you," the voice said. "There won't be a stitch of you left when I'm done. You're fading out now. You're fading." The voice grew louder, shouting, "You're fading! I'll raise you now. I'll raise you!"

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"I have to peek. I've never seen a seance before!" Bethany grabbed Erec's hand and pulled him into the room.

On a red silk pillow sat a small man with a long white beard. A big white sheet was wrapped around him like a dress, and a small white sheet was folded on top of his head, looking like a cross between a turban and an unmade bed. Next to him sat a bag of potato chips and an open can of soda pop. He held a cell phone up to one ear and tapped a computer keyboard in front of him. Erec could see that he was playing poker online.

Swami Parvananda nodded at Erec and Bethany as if to say, Just a minute. Then he shouted into the phone, "You're fading again. I can't hear a thing. Did you say you folded? You didn't? I can't hear! Oh, well." He hung up the phone and looked at Erec and Bethany. "Always works when I'm losing. Can I help you?"

Bethany giggled, and Erec felt ridiculous for thinking the guru had been raising the dead, when he was just raising his friend at poker. The guru popped a few chips into his mouth. So much for him not having eaten in over thirty years, Erec thought. And for giving up earthly possessions, too. His laptop computer looked like the latest model.

"Um, don't you know know why I'm here?" Erec asked. why I'm here?" Erec asked.

"Erec!" Bethany shot him her "that's rude" look.

"Let me guess," Swami Parvananda's sharp voice intoned. "You're two rich kids from America who came here on a holiday and want to meet the mystic they heard lives in the cave. To get your fortunes read. Right?" He yawned.

"Uh...no." Erec crossed his arms. This guy didn't seem so special to him. Since when did living in a cave and wearing a sheet make you know things? This "mystic" didn't seem to know anything. "I guess you really can't help us," Erec said, "seeing as how you can't see what's under your own nose."

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Bethany drew back from Erec in shock. "I can't believe you said that."

Swami Parvananda pointed a thumb at Erec and said, "Anything can come out of the mouth of a monkey."

Erec wasn't sure why this guy upset him so much, but something about the guru made him angry. "We came all the way out here because you were supposed to be some great guru who knows everything. And here you are playing poker and eating potato chips."

"What would you prefer I was doing? Raising the dead?" His lips twitched like he was trying not to smile. As if he knew.

Erec and Bethany exchanged glances. Could the Swami have heard them talking? It seemed unlikely. "I'm sorry," Erec said. "I don't know why I said that. We came here to see if you could help us. We're kind of on a quest."

"I know now. Sit down." The little man gestured to some flat rocks near his pillow. "Do you know why you got angry with me?"

Erec and Bethany sat before him. Erec shook his head.

"It's because you recognized me. You saw that I should know you, too. And when I didn't see who you were right away, you were upset."

Erec nodded out of politeness. He had no idea what the guru was talking about, but he was starting to feel much better.

"You don't understand yet," Swami Parvananda continued. "You have something inside you, something different from most people. You know things, like me, about...about what do you think?"

"Magic?" The word was out of Erec's mouth before he realized it.

Swami Parvananda tilted his head in thought. "That's an interesting way to put it, but I suppose it's true. Magic. Our earth. What it's made of."

"Do you mean the Substance?" Erec was eager to learn how much this mystic knew about magic. Maybe he could help them after all.

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"I don't know what is 'substance.' I think you are talking about prana. In the East they call it 'Chi It's the energy that runs through the universe, that lets us all live. It flows through channels called the--"

"Aitherplanes," Erec blurted out.

"I was going to say the 'Nadis,' but maybe they are the same thing." The guru pursed his lips in thought. "Yes. I believe so."

"Have you noticed," Erec leaned forward, "that there is a problem lately with the...prana? Something's wrong with it?"

"Namaste," Swami Parvananda said. He pressed his palms together, fingers up, in front of his chest and bowed his head to Erec. "You are truly a seer, my friend."

"So you noticed it too?" Erec was amazed. "The Substance--I mean the prana--is leaking away, getting messed up?"

"I have, my friend. In fact, I was just chatting with my friend Swami Rictananda about it on a discussion board." He nodded toward his computer.

"Online?" Bethany asked. "Do mystics chat online now?"

"Why not?" the Swami said. "Easier than making a pilgrimage."

"Why do you think it's happening?" Erec asked. "What can we do? Upper Earth is going to die."

"Upper Earth?" The Swami wrinkled his nose in confusion. "Do you mean the north, or up in the mountains?"

"No, I just mean Earth."

Swami Parvananda sighed. "I wish I knew. We have all been meditating about it." He frowned at Erec. "I have a very funny feeling right now. If you don't mind, I'd like to do a palm reading for you." He looked at Bethany. "Maybe both of you."

They nodded, excited. A reading by a real psychic!

First Bethany sat close to Swami Parvananda. He took her palm and traced some lines on it with his finger. Then he held his hand 117.

over hers, not touching it, and closed his eyes. They sat there for a while.

Erec could see the Swami's eyes darting back and forth behind his closed lids. He wondered what the man was seeing. It felt good to watch someone else seeing things that nobody else could. So he was not the only one. Unfortunately, he could not control it like the Swami could. The things Erec saw with his cloudy thoughts descended on him on their own.

Soon Swami Parvananda opened his eyes. He held Bethany's hand and placed his other palm on top of it. Tears were in his eyes. "Never have I been so privileged." He bowed his head. "You, my dear, have the gift of sight. You don't know it yet. But someday you will be able to read into the future. It might have to do with math. And you have the heart to do the right thing with it when you do. My girl, you have made good choices so far with your friends and what to believe. Stick with your choices, even when your friends change their minds." He patted her hand, then nodded to Erec.

Erec and Bethany switched seats. When Swami Parvananda took his hand, Erec could feel a surge of energy through his skin. It was as if the Swami was electrified. He looked at Erec's palm, tracing the lines on it in deep concentration. Then he held his hand over Erec's and closed his eyes.

Images jumped through Erec's head as he sat. Growing up with June and his five adopted siblings. His old recurrent nightmare about his father, and then finding out from the Memory Mogul that the dream was really somebody else's memory. Meeting and then losing Aoquesth. His anger at his mother and then at King Piter for keeping things from him. Learning from an inquizzle that his birth mother was still alive.

And then cloudy thoughts. Dragon eyes. Turning into a dragon.

As he watched the mystic's eyes dart beneath his closed lids, 118.

Erec was sure he was seeing these same things. And then his mind went blank, just when he got the feeling that this man was seeing into his future.

Soon Swami Parvananda's eyes opened. He took Erec's hand in his. "My son." He looked both sad and kind. "It is you. You are the one."

Erec knew what he meant, but he needed to hear it. "The one to do what?"

The Swami nodded. "To fix the prana. Your Substance. If anyone can do it, it can only be you."

They sat quietly. The Swami was right. Erec wondered if he had known that all along, somehow. Or maybe just since he'd had both dragon eyes. They let him know things, deep down, that he wasn't even conscious of.

"Will I be able to do it? Will I fix the Substance?" Erec asked finally.

"Will you be able to?" Swami Parvananda said. "Yes. Will you? I don't know. I can see what's in you, but I can't see how you will use it. I can tell you it will not be easy."

Erec understood that. Somehow he knew it would be very, very difficult. It would go against his every fiber. He wondered, himself, what he would do.

"You have more powers than anyone I've heard of," the guru said. "They come from your eyes and that chain." He pointed at the Amulet of Virtues hanging around Erec's neck. "But you cannot control them yet. You must learn how, fast. If you let them go wild now, you may go wild."

Erec thought of how wild he had felt when he was a dragon, fighting the crocodile.