"What's so funny, youse?" Artie asked.

But they couldn't tell him. "We better stay here with you, then." Erec coughed his chuckles away. "Thanks, Artie."

"I wish I knew where the Hermit was." Erec munched a slice of pepperoni pizza. "Maybe he could make sense of things."

Bethany ate an egg sandwich with ketchup, hot off the Serving Tray. "He's never around during your quests, though, so I guess that means this is probably your quest. To set that bee-hind free."

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Erec ordered up a cloud cream sundae. "Yeah, the only problem is, it doesn't want to go free. It's Artie's best friend. You heard him."

Bethany agreed. "And, the hind is protecting Artie and his son from that dangerous manticore thing that lives here."

"I guess Baskania has no clue what the bee-hind is," Erec said. "Good thing the Hermit knew about it."

"He got it right away. I guess that's why he and the Fates were laughing so hard. They knew what it would sound like." Bethany smiled at the memory.

"I still don't get why I have to set it free, though, if it doesn't want to go anywhere."

Bethany popped a chocolate truffle into her mouth. "Maybe Artie's son, Kyron, will help us understand."

A rock in front of Erec's feet started growing larger before him, swirls of green and yellow spinning through it. "Look," he said, edging away from it. But when two tiny eyes popped out and looked up at him on long stalks, he immediately knew what it was. His name was written on the side of the snail's shell. "Someone sent me snail mail. I wonder if it's Tina." He picked up the creature and slid a piece of paper out.

But the letter wasn't pink or frilly, scented or covered with hearts. No, not from Tina, he decided. He opened it up.

Hey Erec, You probably hate me now. I can't say I blame you, I'd hate me too. But I really didn't do anything. I hope you believe me. I would never betray you like that.

I just want you to know that I'm going into hiding so nobody can use me to track you down. I guess if Rosco can read my mind he'll know where I am. But I won't try to come after you again. It's my fault that Baskania found you at the Oracle. I know that now.

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I've decided that I have a quest too. I'm going to find Rosco, and when he's not expecting it I'm going to pay him back for everything he's done to me, including killing my father. I can't even live a normal life now because of him. I know it will be hard to do because he can read my thoughts. So I'm still working it all out.

I hope you can write me back, but I understand if you can't trust me. If you do write, please don't say where you are or tell me anything you don't want Rosco and Baskania to know.

Your friend (believe it or not), Oscar Erec's heart sank. Poor Oscar. He could not imagine how terrible he must feel.

Bethany said, "Let's write him back. We have to tell him to stop planning his revenge on Rosco. He's just going to get hurt. He should move on and try to forget about it."

"Move on?" Erec asked. "How can he move on? He's living in hiding now. His dad is dead. I'd feel the same way if I were him."

"Erec! Things won't get any better for Oscar if he goes on some manhunt for Rosco. It's just dumb."

"I don't know," Erec said. "Maybe they would get better for him. If he got Rosco off his back he'd at least have a life again. He wouldn't be connected to Baskania, have someone reading his mind all the time."

"Got Rosco off his back?" Bethany crossed her arms. "How would that ever happen? He'd have to kill him, probably. You think that is okay?"

"Rosco killing Oscar's dad was not okay," Erec said. "Rosco ruining Oscar's life, tying him to Baskania, and trying to get us killed was not okay. Oscar is just trying to get free from this prison he's in. I hope he doesn't have to kill Rosco to do that."

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"You hope?" Bethany shook her head. "This whole thing is ridiculous. Oscar can't get caught up in this. It will ruin his life."

"That's already happened. What does he have now? What's left of his life?"

"Just because he can't be friends with us anymore doesn't mean he has no life," Bethany said. "He can go do anything else."

"And know that whatever it is, the man who killed his father will know where he is going and what he is thinking at all times. And anything he does might help Baskania, who wants to destroy life as we know it."

They walked on rocks by the stream until they both felt better. "Are you going to write him back?" Bethany asked.

"I don't know," Erec said. "I need to find out if the snails are traceable. If Oscar gets one from us, Rosco will know it. He'll take the snail from Oscar in a second and figure out where we sent it from." He thought about it. "I wish I could write him back, but I can't take that risk. What if Baskania showed up here in a few minutes? That's the way it happens."

"It just seems so mean not to answer him." Bethany's back straightened. "I have an idea! We can get in the Port-O-Door and send his snail from somewhere else! That'll throw them off track."

"Awesome!" Erec grinned. "I know the perfect place to send Balor and Baskania next."

They found some paper in Artie's house, and Erec wrote: Dear Oscar, I want you to know you are still my friend, even though I can't talk to you. I don't blame you for how you feel about Rosco, but Bethany made me promise to say that you should forget about him and move on. Whatever you do, we are both behind you.

I think we are making progress with our third quest. I can't tell you 162 162about it in detail, but it is very dangerous. Let's just say we have to go inside somewhere and spend the night next to a terrible creature, and hope it gives us something after.

Let us know how things are going, and say hi to Jack for us.

Your friend, Erec (and Bethany) They walked down the hillside to the jackfruit tree where the Hermit had put the Port-O-Door, but they could not find it there.

"Looking for something?" a familiar voice asked. They glanced up to see the Hermit in the tree, swinging his feet and munching jackfruit.

"Hey," Erec called to him. "We need the Port-O-Door to send Oscar a snail mail back."

The Hermit swung down from the branch and held out his hand like a butler. "Hermit delivery, at your service. I'll take it in the Port-O-Door and send the snail from wherever you want. I moved it a few trees down."

Erec gave him the snail with the letter to Oscar. "Can you send this from the dragon reserve in Nemea? Maybe drop it in front of a dragon's cave?"

"With pleasure." The Hermit bowed.

"Hermit," Erec asked, "is snail mail traceable?"

"Completely." The Hermit grinned and disappeared.

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CHAPTER TWELVE

The Manticore.AS THE SUN set over the purple-shadowed mountains, a trumpetlike howl blasted through the still air. Artie rushed out to find them.

"Youse best get inside my house, lest you want to be eaten," he explained. "That noise is the manticore. It'll shred youse to pieces."

They followed him in. "What's the manticore like?" Bethany asked.

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"Terrible creature," Artie said. "It's a huge golden lion. But its tail is spiny and spiked, and its face looks almost human--except for its rows of sharp teeth it has, alls ready to eat yas up. Related to the sphinx, it is. It would shred yas as soon as look at yas."

Erec did not know a sphinx was a real creature, but after all he'd seen, it didn't surprise him. Artie went into the kitchen to fix dinner. Before long the door flew open and a young man walked inside. Kyron, Artie's son, stood over six foot three. His soft blue eyes and kind smile radiated through the room. He smoothed back his dark hair, regarding Bethany and Erec with wide eyes. "Visitors? And what brings you here?"

Erec was surprised. He had expected Kyron to be short and jolly like Artie, if not bald and goofy. But Kyron sounded as sharp as he looked.

"We're just...wandering in Otherness," Erec explained.

Kyron unstrapped his leather belt, and Erec saw a silver knife hanging in a holster. "Odd place to be wandering." He stared at Erec, waiting for a better explanation.

Erec could not think of one. Saying something like, "I'm here to set free your father's best friend, the bee-hind that's protecting the two of you," just didn't seem like a good idea. He looked at Bethany.

As usual, she came up with an excuse. "We're kind of hiding," she said. "There's a really nasty guy that's been looking for us. He almost caught us, but we escaped into a well. We have Instagills." She pointed at her hand.

Erec flashed her a thank-you glance, and Kyron walked over to inspect their Instagills. "Those are awesome," he said. "Who were you running from?"

"Some jerk called Baskania," Erec said. There didn't seem to be a reason not to tell the truth. Kyron had probably never heard of him anyway.

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But Kyron's face grew solemn. "Thanatos Baskania?" he asked angrily.

Bethany and Erec traded looks. What was going on?

Kyron explained. "Baskania ruined our lives. He's the reason we've been hiding out here since I was a kid." He sat down and leaned back into the couch. "He pretty much destroyed us. So I know what you're going through."

Bethany and Erec sat near Kyron. "What happened?" Bethany asked.

Kyron's fists clenched. "My father used to work for Baskania, a long time ago. I know it probably sounds bad to you, since you know what Baskania's like. But he had my dad fooled. Had a lot of people fooled--still does, I bet. But when my dad saw for himself what was going on, he decided to quit."

Erec immediately thought of Artie's glass eye. Well, that explained that. He had probably given an eye to Baskania. But Artie didn't seem like the evil-henchman type. Specifically, he didn't seem bright enough.

Kyron continued, "So one day, about ten years ago, Baskania called on my dad to lure Balthazar Ugry away from the Castle Alypium. Baskania said he had a surprise for Ugry. My father, you wouldn't know it now, but he was super smart. He could figure things out real fast. And it wasn't easy to devise a plan to get Ugry to leave the castle, either. Ugry was one of the AdviSeers for King Piter, and he watched the castle like a hawk."

Erec nodded, not inclined to talk about his own experience with Balthazar Ugry quite yet.

"So my dad came up with this elaborate plan to lure Ugry out of the castle," Kyron said. "And it worked, of course. But then--" He flung a hand in the air, burning at the memory. "He found out what Baskania's plan really was. He wanted to get Ugry out of the way so 166.

he could kill the royal triplets and the queen. I mean, Baskania didn't come right out and say it. But my dad was smart, like I said. And," he lowered his voice, even though his father was not in the room, "he never forgave himself for it. For what happened to Ugry. And for what happened to everyone at the castle, too."

Artie walked in, whistling. "Dinner's ready, youse peoples! Come and eat it gone!"

Erec and Bethany pretended to eat the leathery meat in front of them, all the while thinking of what they could be ordering up from their Serving Tray. Erec felt bad for Kyron and Artie, stuck out here, hunted by Baskania. It didn't seem right not to share with them. He said, "You know, we have something that makes food for us. Would you like to see it?"

He took out the Serving Tray, and for the next hour the four of them dreamed up wild and delicious things to eat. Finally, after Erec finished a pancake filled with chocolate honey drops and topped with cinnamon cloud cream, chocolate sauce, honeycomb sprinkles, and spun-sugar birds, watermelon ice rimming the edge of his plate, he noticed everyone was looking a little sick.

"I think I overdid it," Bethany said, holding her stomach. Plates of half-eaten spaghetti, omelets, and desserts were spread around her.

While Artie was cleaning up, Erec asked Kyron to sit with them. A fire danced in the fireplace nearby. "You said your dad used to be really smart," Erec said. "What happened...I mean, what were you talking about?"

Kyron tensed up. "He was a genius. He was the only man to ever get an eye back from Baskania. Ever."

Erec was impressed. Kyron pointed up at a jar on the mantel with a round object floating inside. "Still has it."

Erec saw Bethany cringe. It didn't bother him, though. He'd had enough experience with eyes in jars that it seemed perfectly normal.

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Kyron said, "And nobody quits working for Baskania, either, and lives to tell about it. Dad wanted his eye back, and he got it. Tricked Baskania completely. Made him think he was making some improvement to it and would give it back to him. But once he got his eye back, we escaped Alypium. Dad thought we were home free...." He paused. Erec and Bethany waited. "Well, Baskania was furious. He set this manticore on us. It's like a lion monster. It always knows where we are, and it comes out every night. Howls like a trumpet. Don't know if you've heard it."

Both Erec and Bethany nodded to show they had.

"Dad knew the one thing that would ward off a manticore is a special kind of deer that's like the king of the bees. Called a bee-hind. There's only one in the world, and it was hard to find. We spent every day searching for it, on the run, and every night fighting off the manticore. I can't count the number of times we nearly died." He chuckled, picking up his silver blade. "At least I got good with a knife. Works well for me now."

A shiver ran through Erec when he remembered that Kyron was a trapper and dragon slayer.

"So we finally found the bee-hind, and we settled out here, in the wilds of Otherness. It was hard to find the right spot. Dad knew the manticore would follow us, and it would hunt whoever else was around if it couldn't get him. He didn't want to move to a place where it would hurt his new neighbors. So this area was perfect. The folks that live around here, the ones with all the arms and legs, aren't bothered by a manticore, that's for sure. They're amazing."

"They looked amazing," Bethany agreed. "I couldn't believe how beautiful and elegant they all were."

Kyron nodded. "Just don't talk to them, though. If you bother them, you're toast. But they're good neighbors. Stay out of our business. And the manticore is no match for them. So this worked 168.

out well." He hesitated. "Except for what happened to Dad. I guess Baskania must have known his manticore didn't find its prey. So he sent something else my dad's way."

Kyron scowled as he went on. "It was a death spell, and it had his name written on it, by magic, so it couldn't miss. But my dad was so smart he still managed to live. He dodged it first, then he grabbed a glass dish and held it in front of him. The spell still went through it and got him, but its magic was weakened by the glass. Dad got sick, really sick, but I nursed him back to health. He never was the same, though, after that."

They fell silent, listening to the crackling fire. It didn't seem fair, Erec thought. Artie had fought against Baskania when he found out what he was doing. He was smart and cared about others enough to find a spot out here where the manticore wouldn't hurt anyone else. And now Erec was supposed to take his bee-hind away? And let the manticore kill him? Well, he just wouldn't do it. That was that.

That night, Erec awoke to the sound of a loud trumpet. When it blared again, though, he could hear a whining gurgle at the end of its blast. It was the howl of the manticore, and it sounded close. He sat up in the sleeping bag Kyron had given him and walked to the window of Kyron's room.

The awful beast was pacing back and forth outside. It was built like a large lion, except for its odd, spiky tail. Its face, however, sent chills through him. Within its mane was a cross between the face of a lion and that of a brutish giant. Its big, wide forehead hung over its deep-set feline eyes. The most human feature was its broad, upturned nose, and under that was a wide red-lipped mouth set with rows and rows of sharp, pointy teeth.

It stopped pacing and turned to stare at Erec. Chills flooded 169.

down his back as the beast's bloodthirsty eyes bored into him. Its brow lowered, and then it blasted another trumpetlike howl.

Kyron sat up in his bed and glanced around. When he saw Erec, he sprang to his feet, then caught his breath. "Ugh, you scared me. Not used to seeing anyone in here."

"Did you hear that thing howl?" Erec asked.

Kyron rubbed his eyes, yawning. "I hear it howl every night of my life. I can usually sleep through it now, but it took a long time after we got the bee-hind before I learned to relax enough. Before that we just slept during the day, when we could, and fought and hid all night."