a huge space in a few steps. The west wing was cool and quiet, full of luxurious pillows and intricate tapestries. "We better lie low," Erec said. "Jack and Oscar can't know we're back."

Bethany nodded. The Hermit walked with them to the west wing dining hall. When Jam saw them, he dropped the tray of food he was carrying on a table and rushed over. "Is young sir okay?" He bowed, dusting Erec off.

"Yeah. Good to be back, though. Hey, thanks for the Serving Tray."

He reached into his backpack to get it, but Jam held up a hand. "Not at all. Please keep it, young sir. You may need it again."

Erec put it back, thanking Jam. "It's like a traveling restaurant."

But Jam looked worried. "Are you sure you are safe here, young sir? Might Baskania pop in again for another surprise visit?"

"I don't know," Erec said. "I don't think he will, though. Probably the only reason he came into the castle before is that he knew, through Oscar, that I was here and King Piter was gone."

Bethany added, "Baskania probably thinks we're off in Otherness somewhere, doing a quest. He wouldn't know to look for us here now, unless Oscar saw us. So we have to make sure he doesn't."

"Is King Piter around?" Erec asked. He could not wait to tell him that he had fixed the problem with the Substance.

"I think he's in his throne room," Jam said.

Indeed, King Piter sat atop his huge throne at the far end of the immense room. His scepter lay in the groove that was made for it in the arm of the chair. Erec found it hard to keep from staring at the scepter as he came close.

Balthazar Ugry was kneeling before the king, speaking to him. Erec heard him say, "I hope you give this your full consideration, your highness. It is of the utmost importance that we contain him. Now." He glared at Erec, giving him an icy chill. Then he drifted away, leaving the king with a troubled look.

192.

Erec unlocked his gaze from the king's scepter and said, "We have great news. For the third quest, we had to find and set free the bee-hind in Otherness. It was locking up all the Substance there. So maybe the Substance problem is fixed now."

He waited for the king to jump up and celebrate. But the king just tilted his head. "I am aware. It was a great deed you did. And it will make the Substance more stable on Upper Earth, give them another ten years at least."

Only ten years? Erec could not believe it. "You mean it's not permanently fixed?"

"I'm afraid not." King Piter smiled sadly. "Don't be mistaken. What you did, freeing the hind, was extremely helpful. It gives us so much more time to solve the problem. If I can just figure out what the problem is. But we were in grave danger before. Thank you, Erec."

"Wait," Erec said. "If you knew about the bee-hind, why didn't you go free it?"

The king's hand touched his scepter, then pulled away. Erec found he was acutely aware of every movement the king made around it. "I didn't know about it until now, or I would have. Or at least I would have tried. I'm not sure I could have done as good a job as you did."

Erec noticed the king sounded resigned or defeated. He wondered why.

"Hermit," the king said, pursing his lips, "can I have a word?"

"Of course." The Hermit tilted his head. "You can have as many words as you like."

Erec appreciated that the Hermit was not afraid of the king at all. He never felt a need to treat him differently because of his station.

The king beckoned him closer. "In private, I mean."

"No need for that," the Hermit lilted. "We're all family here, right?"

Everybody eyed each other. Erec did not feel like family with anyone other than Bethany, and even she was not exactly the same 193.

as family. The king finally gave in. "All right, then. Balthazar warned me that there may be a problem soon with the castle. And he said Erec--" The king turned his attention to Erec.

"No problems," the Hermit said. "Erec will take care of it. He's already working on fixing it, aren't you, Erec?"

"I am," he agreed. "I've had visions about it with my dragon eyes. I'm going to figure out how to keep it from happening." He thought a moment. "But if you want to help me, you can."

The king laughed with relief. "No, you go ahead. It sounds like this is something entirely different than what I was worried about. Besides, you don't want me to take care of it. If I listened to Balthazar and took you away somewhere..." He shook his head. "If the Hermit says you will take care of it somehow, then I'll believe him." He looked relieved. "I didn't know you were aware of the problem."

The Hermit looked pleased. He spun around on one foot, then stopped like an oddly posed statue. "I remember what happened. Like it was yesterday." Then he winked at Erec. On the way out the door he whispered in Erec's ear, "I was the only one here who believed you."

Erec could only shake his head. What was the Hermit talking about now?

Wolfboy was so excited to see his master, he kept knocking Erec down faster than he could stand. Erec pulled his hooded sweatshirt far over his head, and he and Bethany walked their pets into the agora. They avoided Paisley Park, just in case Jack or Oscar were around. Oscar had said in his letter that he would stay in hiding, but it seemed best to play it safe. Anyway, they just wanted to get nectar fizz sodas and look at the magic shops.

Music pulsed up the street with the deep thump of bass drums. In the distance, the Alypium marching band approached. Seeing it 194.

made Erec shiver. It reminded him of the last time he had heard this marching band, when it had accompanied the Alypium army as it set out to fight against him and the Hydras and Valkyries in Otherness. And the time before that, when it had paraded through Alypium, riling everyone up to fight.

This experience was not much better. A magic carpet hovered in the air somewhere between the trombones and the cowbells. Around the carpet marchers held signs saying LONG LIVE KING BALOR; BALOR, DAMON, AND DOLLICK FOREVER; DAMON'S OUR SHAMAN; LET'S FROLIC WITH DOLLICK; and BALOR HAS VALOR. The crowds chanted, "King Stain, King Stain," again and again.

Sitting astride the carpet, waving regally at their fans with smug looks on their faces, were Balor, Damon, and Dollick Stain. Balor had some reddish scars on his face, and his arm was in a sling. As they rode closer, Erec saw that Balor kept lifting his sling, as if he were showing it off to the crowd.

"'Damon's our shaman'?" Erec looked at Bethany with disgust. "Do they know what they're saying?"

"Maybe compared to the brainiac who came up with those slogans, Damon might be a shaman."

"Doubtful." Erec pulled his hood farther over his face, then he pointed at the Stain brothers. "Look! Around their necks!" Amulets, just like his, sparkled on chains on each of the Stain boys' chests. Erec looked down at his own, then back at theirs. From where he stood they looked identical, except the Stains' were shinier.

He could not believe it. "Excuse me." He tapped the arm of a short-haired blond woman who was waving and clapping as the parade passed. "Could you tell me what's going on?"

The woman looked surprised. "You don't know? It's been publicized everywhere. All of the problems about who will be the next king have been solved." She was excited. "The Stain triplets won 195.

four quests already, so that Erec Rex kid just dropped out. He knew he couldn't compete. Now we only have to wait for them to finish the quests, and we'll get new kings! They say it won't take long."

Erec's jaw dropped. "Erec Rex dropped out of the race, did he?"

The woman bounced on her toes. "High time, too. He was really messing things up. For a while people worried the Fates might be getting old and confused."

Old and confused? Amazing. This woman had obviously never spoken to the young, bubbly-sounding and amazingly intuitive Fates. He clenched his jaw. "Didn't you all hear after that battle in Otherness that Erec Rex was on your side...our side? I thought he showed everyone the Archives of Alithea and--"

"The archives of what?" The woman looked confused. "I have no clue what you're talking about. I did hear there was a problem with Erec Rex at the Monster Bash in Otherness in the fall. He got on the side of the monsters or something."

Erec nearly choked. How could the people in Alypium not know what had happened in Otherness? The solders in the Alypium army knew. Why hadn't they told everyone that Erec was one of the good guys? Then he thought a moment. The army was under control of President Inkle. President Inkle was under Baskania's power.

"How does everyone know Erec Rex quit?" he asked. "And that Balor is winning?"

She shrugged. "It's all over the news. President Inkle announced it first. And King Pluto had a ceremony in Cliff Arena the other night. As soon as Balor recovered from his quest."

"Recovered?" Erec said, interested. "He was actually injured? What happened?"

The woman ran a hand through her short blond hair. "You don't know anything, do you? His last quest, number four, was to sneak into the cave of a real dragon in Nemea and spend the night with it!

196.

He did it, but he got real beat up. He was in Alypium Hospital for a while."

Erec smirked. So, Baskania and Balor had fallen for his trick. Balor had spent the night with a dragon after the Hermit sent Erec's snail mail to Oscar from Nemea, in front of a dragon cave. And now they were pretending it was a real quest.

"And those amulets they have?" Erec wrapped his jacket around him, making sure his own was hidden.

"Yeah." The woman nodded. "They each have an Amulet of Virtues. Pretty cool. Soon they'll get the scepters, too."

"You know," Erec said, crossing his arms, "the Stain triplets are Baskania's clones. They're faking their way through these quests." Bethany shot him a warning look, but he ignored her. "You know what would happen if those three got the scepters? They would give them to Baskania." For a moment he thought he saw a little steam escape with his breath, even though it was warm out. He hoped his dragon side wasn't going to make an appearance.

"And...?" The woman looked at him expectantly, like she saw nothing wrong with what he'd said.

Erec was about to continue when Bethany pulled him away. "What are you thinking? Do you want a mob after you again here?"

"No."

She was right. Arguing with one stranger here wouldn't change anything. They went to Cloud Nine, their favorite cloud-cream shop, and got extra large nectar fizz sodas.

Erec had mixed feelings about figuring out how to save the Castle Alypium from Balor's explosion. On one hand, he was proud that King Piter and the Hermit had put their confidence in him. But on the other, it worried him. What if he didn't figure it out? Would the king step in at the end and help him?

197.

The king had made that strange comment about sending him away somewhere. Had Ugry really suggested that? What was that about? It must have been a mistake somehow.

Erec racked his brain to remember what Ugry had been whispering to King Piter when they'd walked into the throne room. Then he remembered. He said, "It is of the utmost importance that we contain him." Contain who? Balor Stain? Surely he couldn't have been talking about Erec.

Well, Erec didn't want to let everyone down, so he decided to explore more in the future with his dragon eyes. He had to get to the bottom of this.

On his bed, in his quiet room in the west wing, Erec closed his eyes. He pictured himself walking into the small room, and then the two smaller, darker rooms within it. It was a peaceful feeling, and even though he wasn't sitting in the sun by a brook, he relaxed. The box on the table thrummed with warmth and energy. It held all of his secrets, if he could only unlock it. He readied himself for the onslaught of emotion and drew open the shades on the two windows.

There he was again, in the middle of the chaos. He was not even sure if all the fear that surged through him was his own or a collection of the panic that surrounded him. Again, he felt the same feeling of wild power. He moved his eyes around to change the view from his two windows, and walked through the room, directing his movement around the castle.

Balor Stain stood just where he had before, smirking and holding his bronze whistle. What had he done with it? If there were only a way to step back in time from here and find out.

He walked farther and saw the huge stone statues crumbling in front of the castle again, moving as if of their own accord. Everything appeared as it had before. Erec thought hard. There had to be a way to find out more. He turned back to the castle. Maybe he could go 198.

inside. The castle entrance had caved in but he was only there in spirit and could not be harmed.

He walked to the castle, closed his eyes, and continued straight, then looked around to see that he had, indeed, walked into what was left of the falling palace. Huge spires and walls crashed around him through the caved-in ceiling. Erec was surprised to see glowing sheets of bronze light whipping this way and that. As one of them drew close, he saw it had eyes that burned like red coals. The darting bronze figures whooped and hollered with glee as they helped with the destruction, spinning chunks of foundation and flooring through the air.

Bronze ghosts. The last time Erec had seen them was in the Under Mine, the last thing that Balor Stain had exploded. He at least was relieved that only broken glass and chunks of concrete, and no people, were visible through the dust clouds.

Discouraged, he walked back outside, then around to where he had started. That's when he got a shock.

Standing where he had originally started, he saw himself.

For a moment he thought it was a shadow demon that looked exactly like him. But he quickly realized that he was looking at himself in the future. That explained why this was the spot he started from each time he opened the shades. It was odd looking into his own face. His eyes looked glazed, staring at the castle falling down.

Then he saw what was in his hand. And why he had been feeling that mad rush of power.

He was holding a scepter.

Erec sat with Bethany in the castle gardens. "I'll be too late," he said. "I could see that I'll manage to get the scepter to stop Balor, but I must not get it in time."

"I wonder how you'll get the scepter," Bethany said. "I guess the more you learn now, then the next time things might be 199.

different. Maybe you will get there in time. The future is changeable, remember?"

"I know. I think that the reason I even have the scepter at all then is because of what I've found out so far. I bet it's because I'll figure out what to do. I just need to do it faster, I guess."

He was worried that the castle was still crashing down in his vision, but glad to see things were heading in the right direction. He'd have the scepter in his hands! "Maybe I could just fix the castle again after it gets crushed. Put everything back how it was." That was it! He relaxed. Things would be fine after all.

Then another feeling overtook him. Hunger for the scepter. And he'd have it! Even the little hints when he looked into the future of how it would feel in his hands, the power it would bring him, had been enough to make him crave it more. He wanted it. Needed it now. What amazing things he could do with it! No more Balor, Baskania, or anyone who had gotten in his way...

A cold wave of revulsion hit him. Look how it was affecting him already. He had to face reality. Holding the scepter again was the worst thing that could happen. He knew what the thing did to him. He would never let it go after that. This was exactly what he had been afraid of, why he had not wanted to compete to become king. And now it was going to happen soon! He would have have to find another way to stop Balor. No question. to find another way to stop Balor. No question.

A swirl of green and orange appeared in the dirt before them. As it grew larger, two stemlike eyes popped out and looked at him. It was a snail, and it bore his name.

Erec picked it up and pulled a letter out.

Erec, I can never even begin to express how sorry I am. I wish I had never written you before. This is all my fault. I said that I hoped you'd write back. 200 200If you are still alive (I hope), then please find it in your heart to forgive me.

I just didn't know. I thought if you wrote to me, but you did not say where you were, then nobody would find out. But right after I read your letter from Nemea, a group of sorcerers appeared and snatched it from me. And guess who was there? Rosco Kroc. My worst enemy. I can't believe he'd show his face after all he's done to me. Rosco grabbed the letter. He just pointed at me and tore it from my hands using magic. Then one of them put it through a tracer and they knew you were in Nemea, right in front of some dragon cave.

So it's my fault that Balor Stain even found out about that quest and won it. And when I heard you "dropped out" I figured I knew what happened. Every day I hope and pray you are at least alive. If you are captured somewhere, some day I will find you and set you free. If I ever learn that they killed you because of my stupidity than I will find whoever did it and get revenge for you.

I guess I don't need to stay in hiding anymore, to keep away from you. You won't be running into me by accident, wherever you are. But I may take cover a little longer until I figure out how to find and capture Rosco.

I guess I can't help you now, if you are alive. And please don't write back, for your safety. But I'll always be on your side.

Your friend, Oscar Erec read the letter twice. Poor Oscar. "I wish we could let him know we're okay. And that he still has to keep away from us."

A twinkle lit up in Bethany's eyes. "I think there's a way...."

201.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN