It looked like a slower version of his cloudy thoughts, a movie 311.

playing backward. But this time he could control it. He let it rewind until they were somewhere else, then he let go and watched.

The room sparkled with the light of a hundred candles. Their glittering reflections bounced off of the golden statues, urns, and antiques that artfully filled the room. Balor, Damon, and Dollick Stain looked nervous. Dollick was licking the white, wooly fur on his shoulder until Balor slapped his head. "Cut it out, lamb chop."

Tall, spindly President Washington Inkle stood nearby, anxiously biting his lips. The scabs around his mouth were worse than usual. Only a few strands of gray were left on his bald head, and he looked bent and shaky, like a noodle in the wind.

Behind a huge desk sat Thanatos Baskania. The circle of eyes rimming his face glanced disconcertingly in all directions. He leaned back in his velvet chair. His nose suddenly flattened, caving in. Skin grew over his mouth until his lower face became a flat plane. Then deep craters appeared in it, covering his cheeks, making his jaws wider, and eyes began to emerge from each pit. Soon his face was covered with eyes, looking everywhere, seeing things that were happening far away.

Baskania's hands jumped, and he clasped a small silver ball. It was in the form of an eye, with a coal center showing through a hole that was the pupil. The eyes on his face melted back into his flesh, leaving him with a sea of holes like a piece of swiss cheese. His skin stretched over them, swallowing them, and his nose and mouth erupted.

The Stain boys and President Inkle, unhappy witnesses to this morphing, jumped when a wild howl erupted from Baskania's throat. In a moment, Rosco Kroc appeared, scaly and green with a snoutlike face. He wiped his mouth, shaken from his own response howl which he had let loose before he appeared.

"You have news for me, Rosco?" Baskania tilted his head.

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Rosco nodded. "Oscar found out. It's time. Now. Time for the Castle Alypium to come down." He rubbed his hands together.

"Well done." Baskania sounded delighted. "This is so much sooner than I expected. Such luck! What a wonderful surprise. I can always count on you, Rosco. Will you be attending the festivities?"

Rosco shook his head. "I've seen enough, Prince of Shadows. If I may take my leave." He bowed low. After Baskania thanked him, Rosco disappeared.

Baskania smiled at his triplet clones. "You hear that, boys? Run along and enjoy. I'll see you at the castle--that is, what's left of it."

The thick oak doors parted before Balor, Damon, and Dollick, and they ran through the Green House, across the streets of Alypium to the castle. Balor laughed and pointed. "Look," he said. "It's crumbling."

The castle had begun to crash down. A massive spire trembled, then tipped, falling through a roof.

Balor's face lit with delight. "I love it! Hey, I know, guys," he turned to his brothers. "Just the thing to help this along." He picked up his bronze whistle and blew it.

Suddenly, swarms of bronze wraiths flew through the air.

Erec pulled down the shades to stop the picture. What had Oscar found out? So the whole castle crumbling could be stopped by keeping Oscar from learning something? He would have to send Oscar a snail mail and warn him to keep his distance. Maybe that would take care of it.

There was something else he needed to see, though. Erec steadied himself and opened the shades on the windows one more time. People were running wild, screaming. He stepped away, then turned to see himself holding the scepter. How had he gotten it? Maybe it held another clue.

He closed his eyes. Push it back. More, into the past. He felt like 313.

he was wrestling time itself. He gritted his teeth, concentrating, until the movie began to rewind. Slowly but steadily he forced it back until he was somewhere else. Then he relaxed to watch.

He was in the castle now, in the throne room.

"Erec, no!" King Piter was reaching to him, upset.

Erec held the king's scepter in his hand. Its power surged through him, making him invincible, perfect.

"Put it down, Erec," the king pleaded. "Give it back to me, son."

"Son"! How dare he call Erec that now? Now that he wanted something from him.

But Erec did not want to give the scepter back. It was taken care of. The king would get it back one of these days. It was time for Erec to enjoy it. He could make better use of it now. It was his turn, finally. And he would use it as he wished. He let the buzz of electricity take over his mind, washing away all other feelings.

The king pointed a finger. Erec knew he was working magic on him. Or trying to. But not this time. Erec was the strong one now. He tipped his scepter and the king disappeared. Give him a nice little visit with the druids in Avalon, Erec thought.

He strolled outside to the castle gardens, enjoying the immense electric energy of the scepter. Crackles snapped in some bushes behind him. When he turned he saw a flash of red hair, then heard footsteps running away. Oscar again! What was he doing here?

In a few minutes he heard a noise. Loud cracks and crashes echoed and the ground began to shake. He turned to see the Castle Alypium caving in before his eyes. He tilted the scepter and told it to clear everyone out from the castle so nobody would get hurt. Its power surges rocked him, dazed him.

He stood, gripped by fear and surges of power from the scepter, and watched the Castle Alypium fall apart.

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Erec recognized this as the spot where he had originally seen himself. He shut the windows, left the room, and choked a sob.

Erec and Bethany sat on beanbag chairs in her mansion, the two Serving Trays before them. Jam had given Bethany his new one when she heard he was planning on throwing it out. "You never know," she said, "it may come in handy. If only I knew which one was the good one, I'd ask for a snack."

"Only one way to find out," Erec said. "Can I have a jelly doughnut?" he asked.

A sugared, jelly-filled doughnut appeared on one of the trays, and a black ball, oozing green slime and covered with worms, appeared on the other. "Ugh!" Bethany jumped back. "Get it away."

Erec picked up the tray by the edge and tossed the disgusting doughnut thing out a window, then wiped the tray clean with a paper towel. "Better put this one somewhere else." He handed it to Bethany, and she stashed it with the fake, programmable scepters and phony Lia Fail.

"Cheer up." Bethany handed him the doughnut, but he'd lost his appetite. "I'm sure you'll figure out a way to change things."

"I don't know, Bethany. The thing is, from what I can see in my future, I won't want to change things. It looks like I steal the scepter from King Piter, and it totally overcomes me, makes me power mad. It's my fault that the castle comes down. I send the king off to Avalon, Oscar catches wind that the king is gone and without his scepter, Baskania finds out, and it's all over."

"Yes, but you know all that now." Bethany poked her finger onto the silver Serving Tray. "That has to count for something. So you won't send King Piter away next time when it really happens."

Erec dropped his head into his hands. "I wish. But I could tell, 315.

when I was holding it, I wasn't thinking rationally. I was swept up by the scepter. Who knows if I'll really do it differently or not." Erec felt sick. Going into the dark room in his mind and seeing the scepter in his hands again and again was just making him want it more. Could that be why he finally lost it and stole the scepter from the king? Could this be a weird loop of fate, where something in the future happens only because he is looking into the future? Thinking made him feel worse. Maybe it was time he took a break from the small, dark room for a while.

Bethany pushed the platter away, no longer hungry. "Either way, Oscar is the key. Let's send him a letter. If we can make sure he stays away, then we might avoid the whole problem." She gave him a half smile. "Hey, I know what will happen now too. That has to help. I'll keep an eye out for Oscar and try to keep you away from King Piter's scepter."

They found paper and drafted a letter: Dear Oscar, What I am about to tell you is extremely important. You need to stay away from me. Something bad will happen if you see me. I know you've been really good about this, but you might accidentally run into me. So please change what you will do and make sure you don't follow me anywhere, or go where anyone at all could see you.

I hope this makes sense.

Your friend, Erec "Why didn't you tell him not to come to the castle?" Bethany asked.

"Then Baskania would know I'm in the castle now. I had to keep it vague." He thought a moment. "I guess we should send this snail 316.

from somewhere else so they don't know we're here. Want to come with me to the Port-O-Door?"

They studied the map of Otherness in the vestibule of the Port-O-Door. "This looks like a good spot." Erec pointed.

A grin broke out over Bethany's face. It was far away, an edge of Otherness that bordered with eastern Mongolia. It bore the name Cesspool Pits. She tapped that spot on the map, and when they heard a click, they opened the door.

Noxious stench filled the vestibule. This land in Otherness was aptly named. In front of them, a wasteland of oozing pits bubbled with grotesque shades of green and brown.

"Hurry!" Bethany held her nose, backing away. As Erec dropped the snail outside the door, its eyes swung toward him and shot him a dirty look before it sunk into the ground.

Cutie Pie, pink and fluffy as ever, bounded across the lawns of the castle and jumped in Bethany's lap by the fountains. Erec had never seen the pudgy cat running; she usually preferred to be carried. Bethany picked her up, amazed. "Cutie Pie?"

Cutie Pie rested a paw on her shoulder and cupped another in front of Bethany's ear. It had been a while since Erec had seen Cutie Pie telling her a secret. He wondered what it was about.

Bethany's jaw dropped, then a smirk lit her face. "How immature. You'd think they'd have something better to do." She put the cat down and said, "Sounds like the Stain boys are up to their usual tricks, picking on people. I don't know why this is so important to Cutie Pie, but she heard them talking about stealing pie and taking it with them to the Green House. Probably just the beginning of them strolling around, taking whatever they want from people." She shook her head.

Then a sly smile lit her face. "I can't stand to hear about them making everyone miserable. I've got an idea." She grinned. "Along 317.

the lines of writing letters to Oscar, and sending Team Dread on a wild goose chase. Maybe I'll make a pie and leave it out somewhere in Alypium for them. I can leave it near the Green House to make sure they get it."

"Make a pie?" Erec didn't understand. But then he remembered the new Serving Tray they got from the druids. "Think you can get that tray to make something that looks good on the outside?"

"Easy as pie." Bethany grinned.

Erec walked through the castle gardens, recreating his vision of the future in his mind. It was painful to think about. His worst nightmare was coming true, watching himself giving in to the scepter and ruining everything. This was why he hadn't wanted to do the quests to begin with. He never should have even started them.

The sun felt good on his back. He didn't want to look at the castle anymore or even be near it. The pressure was awful. So he walked past the maze and into the woods. After a while, he found the trickling brook where he had sat a long time ago, upset when he had first found out what the people of Alypium thought of him.

He thought he'd had problems then, but he'd had no idea what problems were. Big deal if people didn't like him. At least he wasn't about to destroy everything because he was too weak. He sat and threw sticks and pebbles into the water. The Hermit believed that Erec could take care of the castle problem. The Hermit also thought Erec would be able to find the Twrch Trwyth and do the fourth quest that the Fates had given him. Too bad the Hermit was goofy. Why had he ever listened to him?

Erec went over what he had seen in his head. He had stolen King Piter's scepter from him and used it against him, sending the king to Avalon. He had then walked into the castle gardens, all pleased with himself and power mad. Then he'd spotted Oscar running away.

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A few minutes later the castle had started to collapse, and Erec had used his scepter to rescue whoever was inside of it.

Baskania had found out it was time for the castle to come down because of Oscar. Erec had seen that for himself. And Balor, Dollick, and Damon had run to watch, and Balor had called on the bronze ghosts to help.

Erec hung his head. All he could do was hope Oscar wouldn't show up after he got the letter. That and try his best to...What? His best not to do every single thing he saw himself doing? Not to steal the scepter. Not to send the king to Avalon. Not to run outside. To go somewhere different so Oscar wouldn't see him?

He hoped he could and would do all of these things. The only problem was that he knew how he would feel and what would be going on in his head when he had the scepter, and none of it was rational. It was like hoping he would do the right thing when he knew he'd be insane.

When it became too painful to think about, he turned his thoughts to the fourth quest. At least he and his friends had done some good there. Even though he supposed the Awen would return to their original spots in a few weeks, Erec and his friends were giving the druids a real break, as well as the others whom the Awen had affected.

If there was just a way to keep the Awen from returning. He had to hook them to the Twrch Trwyth, but that was impossible. Erec wondered if maybe Olwen Cullwich had known where the thing was hidden before Baskania had torn him apart. What a brave man, if he had, keeping the secret hidden through all that.

Erec shuddered, remembering Olwen's demise. He missed Aoquesth. Maybe if Aoquesth were here he would have an answer to the problem. He knew so much.

Aoquesth. A thought popped into Erec's head. He had wondered, a while back, if there was a way to change things. If only he could go 319.

back and save Aoquesth, if he could figure out how to relive the battle in Otherness that was his second quest. He had almost forgotten the Novikov Time Bender in the castle basement. Maybe he could use it to change the past so Aoquesth could be alive now.

Water tumbled over the stones in the brook, spurting tiny fountains into the air. Erec stared at it, frozen.

Aoquesth. Time Bender. Olwen Cullwich. It all clicked.

Erec stood and ran to the catacombs under the castle. That was the answer. He was going back in time.

320.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

The Novikov Time Bender.HOMER, THE GOLDEN ghost, hovered in the air before the Novikov Time Bender. He seemed to be smiling, although his features were hard to make out. "Welcome back, Erec Rex."

"Thanks." Erec hesitated. He didn't want to say anything to ruin his chances. "I would like to use the Novikov Time Bender, please. It's really important."

"I know you do," the ghost said, fluttering in the air. "And I know why."

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"So...it's okay?"

"Your motivations are the best, Erec, no matter what your results may be. That is all that matters. Steering the future is up to you, not me, as long as you are driven by your heart."

Erec looked at the machine with apprehension. It did not help that it looked like a gold coffin with a glass front. "Can I see through it when I'm inside?"

"Yes, until you turn the dials. Then you will see only where you are in time. I can watch over you through the glass. Or when I look in the viewer." He pointed at a small television screen extending from the side of the Time Bender. "There I can see what is happening where you have gone."

"So you'll see on the screen what I'm doing, and through this glass case you'll just see me lying there?"

"Yes."

Going into the past seemed too easy. Erec had expected some resistance. "Will you let anyone know that I went?"

"Not if you don't want me to."

He heard his voice crack, and he realized he was afraid of going. "Do I need to take anything with me?"

"You won't be able to," the ghost said. "That was a problem with the first prototype. People went back naked because they could not take clothing with them. This new model will give you a version of what you are wearing now, made to fit you at any age you pick."

"And when I go back, will I know everything I know now?"

"You will. Except your body will look the same as it was at that time, of course."

Erec then asked a question that really bothered him. "What happens to the other version of me that was there then? What if I run into it?"

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"That's the beauty of the Time Bender," the ghost said. "You can't run into yourself. You go into your body at that time. So there will be no other version of you there. Whatever you do when you go back will be all that you do then. Your old self evaporates from your body a while, then returns when you leave."