"Does it remember anything?" Erec asked. "Will the old me remember what the new me did after I leave?"

"No, the old you will have no idea. It will feel like a bit of amnesia, I'm afraid. That's why it is only recommended to use the Time Bender once. More times might cause a problem. Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Definitely." Erec gulped. He had his doubts, though. "Could I get stuck there?"

"That should not happen. Unless, of course, somebody keeps you from coming back to this room again. You have to get back here to return." The ghost stretched what looked like an arm, and the machine lowered so it was flat on the ground.

That put a time limit on his visit, for sure. Best to get this over with before he got too nervous. He pulled the handle on the glass front door of the Time Bender, climbed in, lay down, and shut the door over him. Three red dials hung against the side of the machine near his shoulder.

This was it, he thought. His chance to fix everything. If he succeeded, Aoquesth would be alive and well when he stepped out again. Not only that, but everything would be better. Everything.

Erec was not going back to the battle where Aoquesth had died. He wanted the Time Bender to take him back much further. Back before he ever had left Alypium, before he had his memory removed. He would find Olwen Cullwich and get the Twrch Trwyth. And while he was there, he would learn who his father and birth mother were.

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And he would do one other thing too, which would change everything. If he was successful, Aoquesth would be alive again.

Erec had to think before he turned the top dial to a date. He was born on April 18, almost fourteen years ago. He could not remember anything before he was four years old, so that was probably the time his memory had been removed. But his mother had told him he was the wrong age for a long time, and it was hard to remember being that young anyway, so he couldn't be exact.

He needed to choose a date before the castle was turned on its side. That way he'd be able to get out of the catacombs and back in again when he was ready to leave. In the fall, King Piter had said the castle had been on its side for almost ten years. So Erec would go back a little while before then. That timing seemed perfect.

Erec wound the three dials--one each for the year, month, and day--to bring him back ten years and five months. It would be August 18, when Erec was three years and four months old.

When the last dial stopped on the number 18, the front of the glass clouded. A whirl of dust and specks blew by from right to left outside of the glass, making the box feel like the inside of a tornado. His arms twitched, aching. Then his whole body shook, twisted, flailed in the machine. Everything hurt. He felt dizzy, filled with strange sensations, a gurgling in his stomach that rose up to his throat.

His head tingled, but when he reached up, to where his head should have been, to rub it, it wasn't there. Instead his hands were on his shoulders. He had to stretch much higher to touch his head, which seemed to have grown enormous. Maybe that was what all the itching, stretching, and pinching was from. His body was getting distorted.

For a moment he panicked. What if something had gone wrong?

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He remembered how awful he had looked holding the Awen of Beauty. What if this journey disfigured him permanently?

He took a breath, telling himself to relax. No matter how bad he was now, he assured himself that it would get fixed one way or another. He looked down at his hands and arms. They were small and spindly. In fact, his whole body was small and spindly, except for his stomach, which stuck out a bit, and his enormous head.

The glass front of the Novikov Time Bender cleared, and he could see the room and the golden ghost through it. Had it worked? Was he right back where he'd started, only deformed now? With some difficulty, Erec pushed the glass door open and sat up.

Homer gathered above him in the air like a golden storm cloud with facial features. "You made it, Erec. Good for you. How are you feeling?"

"I made it?" Erec's voice sounded high, and his words came slowly, like his mouth was stuffed with cotton balls. It was hard to even form the words, as if his mouth had its own ideas of what to do. "Am I back ten years?"

"You are," Homer said. "You might find it interesting to look in a mirror when you get a chance. There are plenty up in the west wing."

Erec was very interested, but he dreaded the idea too. He might see what he looked like before June, his adoptive mother, had changed his looks--if he wasn't too deformed now to tell. He'd never even seen a picture of himself at this age. It would be unnerving.

"Thank you," he garbled. It sounded like his mouth was ultraslow and full of food. At least his mind was moving at the normal speed.

He reached the golden doorknob and walked into the catacombs of the castle. They looked exactly as they did when Erec had walked down them a few minutes ago--which was over ten years later--except they seemed much taller and wider now that he was small. He 325.

knew where he was going, but he took twice as long to get there with his little footsteps.

He found himself much more aware of the floor, as he was closer to it. He had never really worried about seeing rats or mice down here before, but now they would be much bigger compared to him, and the thought frightened him. In fact, anyone he ran into would seem huge and able to scoop him up and do anything to him. He was pretty defenseless, he realized.

Climbing the stairway into the west wing was tiring. Each step seemed immense. He opened the door and darted into a shadow behind a suit of armor. Maids and butlers scurried about, cleaning and carrying trays. People in suits and long black cloaks whizzed down the hallway. Erec could not believe how huge they were. He had to lean his head back to see who was walking nearby.

Then Erec froze. Balthazar Ugry was there, right in front of him. It took Erec a minute to be sure it was him. Ugry looked exactly the same, yet different, somehow. Less frightening. More normal. But Erec could not place why.

He waited for Ugry and a few other people to walk by. Then, when nobody was looking, he darted behind a statue and stole down the hallway. There were a lot of sitting rooms with mirrors. He just had to find one that was empty.

Erec pushed the door shut so nobody would see him. An ornate mirror hung on the wall over a row of molding that was just over his head. It looked like it was three feet off the floor, and he guessed he was just over three feet tall. But even when he stood on his toes, his eyes just missed the mirror.

He pushed a soft, cushioned chair against the wall and climbed onto it, which took a little doing as the seat was about as high as his chest. But when he stood and looked at himself, he jumped. A tiny 326.

child was staring back at him. A stranger. Curly blond hair tumbled around his face like a girl's. But his face didn't look girlish, at least. It was wide, with round, pink cheeks and a pointy chin. Only his blue eyes looked relatively unchanged.

Again he had to stretch his arms all the way up to reach over the top of his head. Now, looking in the mirror, he realized it was not because his head was abnormally big. It was his arms that were small. He looked pretty much in proportion--for a tiny kid, at least. His clothes looked funny on him, the same red tee shirt and jeans, but at least they fit. At least he had clothes.

So, he nodded into the mirror, this was what he had to deal with. Could be worse. It was actually to his benefit to be little like this. When he was done spying around in the castle, he would stroll into the agora and wait for some nice person to come help him. Maybe walk into a shop and ask for a policeman, say he was lost. It would seem perfectly natural that he had no clue where he lived and just called his parents Mom and Dad. He knew his own name, Erec Rex, and the police should be able to find out where he lived from that alone. Then, voila--he would take him safely where he needed to go. Then, voila--he would get to meet his father and birth mother.

A chill zipped through him. Out of habit, every time he thought about his father he remembered that terrible old dream, that awful memory of the father that had turned out not to be his. What would his real father be like? Aoquesth had said such great things about him. He hoped his father lived up to them. Either way, Erec could not wait to finally meet him.

And his birth mother, too. He had so many unanswered questions for her. Why would she leave him? What would happen to her? She might not know all the answers yet, of course. Those were things that would happen in her future. Maybe he could change them while he 327.

was here. Who knew? Maybe he could rearrange things so that he was never adopted to begin with.

Then he felt guilty for thinking that. June was a better mother than he could ever imagine. He wasn't sure what he would do when he met his parents, if he would try to change his fate or not. Maybe when he spent time with them, the answers would all become clear.

But first he had to make a decision. He needed to do three things on this journey. First, meet his parents and find out what had happened to them. Second, find Olwen Cullwich and get the Twrch Trwyth. And third, there was something he had to do at the castle that would change everything, save everyone, and bring Aoquesth back. But should he meet his parents first and then come back to the castle? Or should he do the other two things while he was here?

The door flew open with a bang. An old woman in a maid's uniform clattered in with her equipment. She took one glance at Erec and marched over to him with a fierce expression.

"Hi." Erec smiled. He was about to launch into an explanation, but the maid grabbed him by the waist and flung him over her shoulder.

"Put me down." The words came out slow. He realized that he sounded like a three-year-old, despite his best efforts. The maid was marching him somewhere and did not seem to care one bit what he said. "Let me go. I'm going home." The words took too long and came out squeaky. The maid rounded a corner. Erec began to struggle, throwing himself around so she would lose her balance. But no matter how much he kicked and flailed, she was stronger and did not come close to dropping him.

Deeper into the west wing, Erec got nervous. Where was she taking him? They wouldn't punish a little kid for being here illegally, would they? Maybe she was going to find someone to take him home. That would work for him. He relaxed and waited.

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The maid opened a door to a vast playroom and set him down. Toy shelves were everywhere, with massive toys on them. It took him a moment to remember that the toys were not massive; it was just that he was small. "I found this one in a parlor, way down by the hall of armor," the maid grunted, annoyed.

A young blond woman rushed to Erec and fell to her knees before him. "I was looking for you, sweetie! Where did you go, Prince Poo-Poo Head?"

Erec felt dizzy. What was this? Someone had been looking for him? And who was Prince Poo-Poo Head? It did not sound like a compliment. There must be some mistake. He looked around the room. Two other kids who looked about his size were playing nearby, both with blond curls like his. A girl was coloring in a book on a rug, with boxes of crayons and markers spread around her, and a boy was running around the room with his arms out, pretending he was flying.

The boy spotted him and ran right into him, knocking him over. Erec's shoulder hit the wood floor, which hurt, and the boy's shoe smashed into his face. "Crash!" the boy shouted. "Crash Prince Poo-Poo Head." Then he ran away, looking over his shoulder as if he expected Erec to chase after him.

Erec dusted himself off and looked at the woman. "I'm not Prince Poo-Poo Head," he managed to get out, slowly.

Before he could clarify further, the woman sat him on her knee. "You're not?" her voice sung. "You don't want to be Prince Poo-Poo Head anymore? Okay, then." She bounced him up and down. "Who will we be today?"

Erec pointed at himself. "I'm Erec Rex."

"I know, silly." She kissed his cheek. "Of course you are. So you don't want to be called Prince Poo-Poo Head, then? You just want me to call you Erec now?"

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Erec nodded. How did she know him? He looked at the other two kids in the room, confused. "Who are you?"

"I'm Clio. You know me, silly. I was just sick last week. It hasn't been that long."

The boy ran toward him, head bent, as if to knock him over again. "Prince Poo-Poo Head," he growled as if he fancied himself a train engine.

Erec stepped behind Clio just in time and let the boy sail by. He said to her, "I want to go home."

She looked at him curiously. "This is your home, silly. Are you playing a game?"

Something was wrong. This was not his home. This was the castle. And those other two kids...

They looked like him.

No. Erec shook his head. Erec shook his head.

"What's wrong, sweetie? You look funny. Are you feeling okay?" Clio put a hand on his head.

Erec could not answer. This was impossible. He was here, in the castle, with--and looking just like--two other kids who also lived here. They looked like...Erec couldn't think the word.

But he had to. They looked like triplets.

Erec bit his lip. Clio hugged him and said, "Oh, sweetie. You look scared. I think something upset you when you got lost. Were you frightened out there?"

Erec nodded, just to get her to lay off a minute. He had to absorb all this information. He pointed at the little girl. "Is that my sister?"

"Yes," Clio said, "and that's your brother." She pointed to the boy. "And you are Erec, and I am Clio. Very good."

"We are triplets?"

Even though the word sounded garbled, like his mouth was full of food, Clio was impressed. "Very good! You are triplets.

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That's the right word! You got it." She mussed his soft curls, proud of him.

Erec sat in disbelief, and she pulled him onto her giant lap. He was one of the triplets? But he thought that was impossible. The triplets would be...no, they would be his age. He'd just found out that he was a year older than he'd thought he was.

Maybe this wasn't real, he thought. Maybe this was just a dream. He looked up at Clio. "Pinch me," he said, although it sounded more like "Pitch me."

Clio understood him anyway. "Now, why would I do that, Prince Poo-Poo Head--I mean Erec? I wouldn't hurt you."

Erec slapped his own chubby cheeks until she stopped him. He certainly felt it. Did that mean he was really awake?

"Now stop that," Clio said. "I don't like to see you hurt yourself, sweets."

Erec looked at her. If this was not a dream, if he was really one of the royal triplets, he wanted proof. "I want my mom." The words came slow. He wanted to say, "I want to see my mom," but it would have been much more effort. Anyway, nobody expected him to speak well, the way he looked.

"Your mother is busy," Clio said. "But I'll see what I can do."

She went to the door and called for someone. Another woman appeared and they spoke awhile. She heard Clio say, "I have no idea how he got out. I was watching them the whole time, I promise. I asked a few people to search for him. Could you let everyone know he's okay?" She looked at Erec. "He wants his mom now. Normally I wouldn't interrupt her, but he seems pretty upset."

The woman disappeared and Clio sat down again with Erec. "Would you like a story?" She reached for a book.

"No, thanks." There was no way he was going to sit through a baby book now.

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"That was so polite," Clio gushed.

Erec walked around the room, surveying its contents and avoiding the other boy's wild attempts to knock him down. His brother's brother's attempts. He stared at the boy awhile in shock. He had a brother and a sister. Strangely, the girl looked familiar, which did not make sense. His memory of this time had been removed. But the more he looked her over, the less sure he was. Nobody he knew really resembled her at all. attempts. He stared at the boy awhile in shock. He had a brother and a sister. Strangely, the girl looked familiar, which did not make sense. His memory of this time had been removed. But the more he looked her over, the less sure he was. Nobody he knew really resembled her at all.

He waited, hoping his birth mother would come in soon. He would finally get to meet her. So, she was the queen?

And his father was King Piter? That thought made him angry. It couldn't be. Surely, after all the time they had spent together, if King Piter were Erec's father, he would have said something by now.

What was it that the king had told him? Something like, "I'm "I'm not ready for you to know who your father is yet." That was real nice. He didn't feel like dealing with a son. Gotta love it. not ready for you to know who your father is yet." That was real nice. He didn't feel like dealing with a son. Gotta love it.

The door opened and a woman walked inside and looked around. "Erec? There you are." She swept brown hair back from her face, crouched down, arms spread wide to catch him when he ran to her.

But Erec just stared at her, bewildered. He knew exactly who this was. He could not believe he was seeing her here, now, at the castle. It was June, his adoptive mother, but she looked so young. June had said she used to work at the castle. He had forgotten. Was she she his real mother? Was she the queen? Had nobody been straight with him? his real mother? Was she the queen? Had nobody been straight with him?

"You're right," June said to Clio. "He's not his normal self." She tilted her head. "You okay, Prince Poo-Poo Head?"

"He wants to be called Erec now," Clio whispered.

Erec walked closer to his mother, torn between wanting a hug, some comfort and safety amid all his disturbing thoughts, and wanting to throw something at her for lying to him all those years. "Mom?"

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June flushed. "Did you hear that?" she asked Clio. "He called me Mom. Poor thing's all mixed up. He's never done that before."

She sat on the floor. "Come here, Erec."

Erec walked to her, now completely confused. He let June put him on her lap. "I know you've had a bad afternoon. You got lost, didn't you? We asked for your mother to come see you, and she said she would be here soon." She hugged Erec, and the hug felt better than any he could remember. "It's okay, okay..." She rocked him back and forth. "You're safe now."

With June's big arms around him he finally relaxed. But, to his horror, the stress of learning that he was one of the royal triplets, the stress of going back in time, and the stress he had been through with the Awen and the manticore caught up with him. He choked, and then tears streamed down his cheeks. This was horrifying! He didn't cry like this anymore, in front of everyone.

Of course, June didn't think twice about it. She just kept rocking and patting him, which made it worse. Erec's tension poured out along with more tears. He buried his face in her shirt in shame. Maybe it was this stupid baby body that made crying so easy. Whatever it was, he didn't like it.

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