The Search for Truth (15 page)

But when he took a step forward, the scene from the windows changed. It moved forward as well. This was something new. Erec realized that if he stepped to the right or left, the image he saw shifted to the right or left as well. Soon Erec was walking all around the small room, turning his eyes left and right. He found he could walk clear around the exploding castle.

The noise was nearly deafening. Shattered window glass and crystal from chandeliers sprayed through the air. Plush furniture fragments jutted from under piles of stone. He strode farther, noticing that the dark room he walked in changed shape so that he didn't run into a wall. Around a corner he saw the six huge stone statues of monsters standing in front of the castle. He had never paid much attention to them before, but now he noticed that one of them was a Cyclops. Cracks raced through the stone statues like hot rod spider webs, making the stone unstable. The statues began to move as if they had come to life, but they were falling apart.

Then Erec heard a familiar voice. He turned to see Balor Stain, holding a bronze whistle on a chain around his neck. Balor's eyes were wild with glee. “Check it out,” he said, smirking.

Behind him stood Damon Stain, goofy gray stocking cap covering his bone head, and white, fleecy Dollick Stain. Seeing the three poorly made clones of Baskania made Erec shudder. So they were the ones behind this? Of course. Their gleeful expressions gave him no doubt. But why was Balor holding that whistle? Had he used it somehow to help him destroy the castle?

Balor liked to blow things up. He had nearly killed Bethany and a few other kids when he exploded the Under Mine during King Pluto's contest last summer. And he had a reason for wanting to blow up the castle, too. He hated King Piter, and he wanted to clear the way for him and his brothers to be kings.

Erec seethed with anger. He had to stop Balor. Who knew how many people would be hurt or killed otherwise? If only he had a way to see further back with his dragon eyes. If he could follow Balor back in time, before the castle exploded, he could figure out how to stop him.

 

When Erec opened his eyes to the bright daylight, he was exhausted. Bethany was doing math calculations nearby for relaxation, and he
was too tired to even call out to her. But while he rested, an idea perched in his mind, lightly at first, then soon digging its claws in. He knew a way he could find out more about the bee-hind.

He dragged himself up and walked back to the stables. The bee-hind looked up at him innocently. Even though the bees were not bothering Erec, their loud buzzing and swarming made him antsy.

Erec wanted to view the bee-hind through his dragon eyes. Maybe that would give him a clue, especially since the hind might be connected to a problem with the Substance. He knew two ways to bring his dragon eyes out, but going into the dark room in his mind would only show him the future. So he used the other method, the same way he made them come out for the dragon call.

Erec focused on the love inside of him. His love for the world, his friends, his family, Aoquesth, and even himself. As he closed his eyes and concentrated, his eyes turned around in his head. He had gotten much better at controlling them.

But something was wrong. He could not see anything at all through his dragon eyes. Everything was white. As he stared harder, he saw it was a kind of lumpy white, with shaded bits here and there. But the hind and the barn were nowhere in sight. Erec could not even see himself.

He relaxed, and when his regular eyes came back out, everything looked normal again. But it didn't make sense. What was wrong with him? Had his dragon eyes lost their vision?

Bethany was lying on her stomach under a tree munching a peach, still doing math problems. She looked perfectly content. Erec plopped down by her side. “I can't see with my dragon eyes anymore.” He told her what had happened.

“Why don't you try it again, out here?” she suggested.

That seemed like a good idea. Erec concentrated again and felt his eyes moving in his head. When he opened them this time, the air
was full of huge chunks of white. He could see only bits of Bethany, bits of the sky and the trees around him. When he turned away from the house and the barn, he could see more.

He realized he was looking at the Substance. There was more of it than he had ever seen, jutting in huge columns and trunks like a giant maze in the air. He turned back toward the barn, and everything around it was white.

Erec broke his focus and let his eyes drift back to normal. “Bethany,” he said. “This isn't good. That bee-hind is messing with the Substance like crazy. A ton of it is collecting around the hind. I think the reason I couldn't see in there is because the barn is totally stuffed with it.”

He thought the problem through more. “I'll bet that's what the bee-hind uses to trap the manticore. He must be catching it in a net of Substance.” He could also see why his quest was to free that thing. “Maybe this is the reason the bees are vanishing, and why bees are attracted to the hind. Maybe this is why Upper Earth is going to lose its Substance and die.”

Bethany's eyes widened. “Do you think this is the whole problem with the Substance that King Piter has been trying to solve? Why the Substance is upset, why we all feel the sadness when we first go into the Kingdoms of the Keepers? It's all getting messed up by the bee-hind being here?”

Erec bit his lip. The idea was too immense to think about.

 

Erec and Bethany were tasting as many pie slices as they could dream up from the Serving Tray while they watched the many-armed people in the rice paddies. From their movements, it looked like farming was an art form for them, more than work.

“I don't think I can do it,” Erec said, falling onto his back on the grass. “I can't do this to Artie and Kyron.”

“I know,” Bethany said softly, looking down at him. “I don't think you have much choice, though. What will happen to Upper Earth if that bee-hind stays chained up here?”

“It's not exactly chained up,” he said. “It got out really easily last night when the manticore came by the house.” Erec felt his stomach churn when he thought of the rows of teeth that creature had. “The bee-hind is already free to go. That's the thing. It wants to stay here. I don't know how I could make it leave, anyway.”

“Maybe if you found out what Artie did to catch it?”

Erec closed his eyes. “Maybe. But I don't want to know. Even if I found out, I couldn't do it. I can't let Artie and Kyron get eaten by that manticore. Or have to stay up, running and fighting it, every night of their life.” He sighed. “I bet old Artie couldn't even fight it off anymore, after that spell Baskania knocked him out with. The bee-hind is the only thing that can help them.” He squinted at her. “You didn't see that manticore.”

Bethany plopped on her back next to him. “I know. It's just…there is the rest of the whole world to think of too, you know.”

Erec knew, but he did not want to think about it.

 

That night, Kyron returned with a wild boar slung over his shoulder. They ate from the Serving Tray, which let Kyron save the boar for trade when he went across the boundary into the Upper Earth city of Chiang Mai, Thailand. While Artie was cleaning up, Erec and Bethany sat with Kyron in front of the fire.

“How old were you when you moved here?” Bethany asked.

“I was nine.” Kyron stared into the dancing flames.

Erec felt awful thinking of Kyron as a little boy, spending every night fighting off a terrible monster. Now Erec was supposed to make that happen again, for the rest of Kyron's life? He wanted to ask about Kyron's mother, but he had a bad feeling she might have
been lost to the manticore, and he couldn't take finding that out.

So he tried to change the subject. “I hear you hunt dragons. Why do you do that? They're such beautiful creatures.”

Kyron shrugged. “Everything's beautiful. They come in at a great price.”

Erec didn't understand. “But they're smart, too. You shouldn't kill them—”

Bethany shot Erec a look and steered the subject right back again. “So how did your dad figure out that the bee-hind could help him?” she asked.

“He was really smart,” Kyron said. “He knew a lot about animals.”

Artie had walked into the room and was bouncing on his toes with a grin. “Yup, I knew lots and lots.”

“All right, Dad.” Kyron grinned. “You're still not so bad.”

“And lots,” Artie added, pointing.

“What did he do to make the bee-hind his friend?” Bethany asked Kyron.

Don't tell us, Erec thought. I don't want to know.

Kyron shrugged. “I don't remember. Complicated stuff, I think.”

Artie bounced on his toes with pride. “I remember,” he said. “It was easy. I was just the only one who could figures it out. I was so smarts. I had to tell it what the things were that I felt bad about. Like what I did to Balthazar Ugry.” Tears filled his eyes thinking about it. “And what happened to the queen and her three babies because of what I did.” He sniffed and wiped his cheeks. “So when you tell my bee-hind what youse feel bad about, it becomes your friend and will do what you want.”

Kyron put his face into his hands. “Oh, Dad! You're not supposed to tell anybody about that.” He got up and put his arm around his father to cheer him up. Then he looked at Erec. “Please don't repeat
to anyone what you heard. If this gets out and someone takes that hind from us, we're dead.”

Erec's face dropped. Now he had to make an impossible decision. “Kyron, is there anything that can kill the manticore?”

“Nothing,” Kyron said.

“Not even a dragon?” A ray of hope lit in Erec. He could become a dragon, at least partly.

“Not even close. The manticore is a magical beast. It eats dragons all the time. Believe me, we've checked every option. My dad would have found something to kill it, if it was possible.”

A magical beast?

A crazy idea popped into Erec's head. It wasn't perfect, he knew, but there was one thing he just might try.

T
EARS DRIPPED DOWN
Bethany's cheeks when they walked to the stable the next morning. “We can't do this to them. You heard Kyron last night. It's just wrong. I don't care what happens to the rest of the world.”

Erec's eyes met hers. “But you do, Bethany. Think of all the Upper Earth kids out there who won't survive unless we fix the Substance. And all the animals.”

“So, what do we do then? Free the bee-hind and just take off? Leave poor Artie and Kyron to their fate, and try not to think what we've done to them every day for the rest of our lives?”

“No,” Erec said firmly. “You go ahead with the Hermit. I'm going to stay. I think I might be able to fix things for them.”

Bethany grabbed his shoulders. “No way, Erec. You're not dying because of this. You're just doing what you have to here because of your quest. Don't do something stupid because you feel guilty.”

He tried to ignore what she said. “I have to try something.”

“What? You heard Kyron. Manticores eat dragons. And you're not even a full-fledged dragon. You'd never stand a chance.”

Erec did not want to tell her his plan. He was afraid she would point out how crazy it was, and he didn't want to lose his nerve. So instead he approached the bee-hind's stall. It gazed up at him with its huge brown eyes. “Hind, I want to tell you some things I feel terrible about. First, I made a friend, Tina, feel really bad because I told her she looked ugly. I was holding the truth scroll, which made me tell the truth about what I thought. But I shouldn't have been thinking like that anyway. It was wrong, and it hurt her.

“And also, I've been too interested in making people like me. For a moment, before I decided to fight for the Hydras and Valkyries in Lerna, I considered going over to Baskania's side because I wanted the people of Alypium to think I was a hero.” He filled with shame when he saw Bethany looking at him. But his confession was too important to stop. Painful or not, this was his quest.

“And I'm about to do something really terrible because I think I have to. I'm about to risk the lives of two wonderful people who have been helping me. If it goes wrong, which it probably will, then I'll never forgive myself.”

The hind was staring at him now. Erec opened its stall, and it
walked over to him, rubbing its head against Erec's hand. The bees swarmed around both of them now, but they did not harm Erec.

Erec crouched down before he lost his nerve. “Bee-hind, I want you to go free. You're collecting a lot of the Substance around you. I want you to go wild again and spread the Substance around like it's supposed to be. Make it so all the honeybees come back and can live in Upper Earth again.”

The little deer rubbed its face against his hand one more time, then bounded out the door. Erec hung his head in shame, and Bethany sank to the floor in tears.

 

“Should we tell Artie?” Bethany asked. “I think he needs to get prepared.”

Something bothered Erec. He noticed that his Amulet of Virtues looked the same. No new segments were glowing. Hadn't he completed his quest? Was releasing the bee-hind the right thing to do? He sure hoped so.

“You go ahead and find the Hermit,” Erec said. “I'll meet you back at the castle. I'm going to wait and talk to Kyron tonight. The least I can do is tell him about this face—to-face.”

Bethany stopped in her tracks. “Oh, really? And how will you get to the castle if I've already left with the Hermit in the Port-O-Door?” She swung around and gave him a hard look. “You're not planning on coming back, are you?”

Erec said quietly, “If I find a way out of this, which I think I might, then I'll figure out how to get back.”

“You might never find your way back from here,” she said, getting upset. “This is crazy. I'm waiting for you. We're going together as soon as you're ready.”

There was no way Erec would let Bethany risk her life alongside him in what he planned to do that night. It was bad enough that
he had put Artie's and Kyron's lives on the line. But it was obvious she would not leave him there willingly. At least not on purpose. He would have to trick her into leaving, then.

“All right,” Erec said. “You can stay. But can you do me a favor? Just find the Hermit and tell him that he has to take something really valuable back to King Piter for me.” He pulled the Serving Tray out of his backpack. “Tell the Hermit I don't want King Piter's favorite thing to get damaged.”

Bethany eyed the tray. “I didn't know this was King Piter's. I thought Jam gave it to you.”

“Now you know.”

Bethany was suspicious. “What's so important about this tray, anyway? Are you just trying to get rid of me? I'm not leaving you out here alone to face that thing. If you risk your life, you're risking mine, too. So maybe you'll want to just rethink your plan.”

Erec smiled, then gave her a hug. He hoped it would not be his last one. “Just do this one thing for me. You can come back when you're done, okay?”

She grabbed the tray and went down the dirt path to find the Hermit. Erec sighed with relief. The Hermit would appear when he was needed, as usual. And when Bethany gave him the message—to bring back King Piter's favorite thing to him safely—the Hermit would understand and take Bethany.

He felt sad but resigned as he walked back to Artie's house. If only another segment had lit up on his amulet then he'd know he had done the right thing. But, as it was, at least he would defend Artie and Kyron to his death.

 

Erec lay on his stomach in the hot sun, focusing on a blade of grass in the middle of a circle of sticks he had pounded into the ground. He had just marked the grass leaf with a tiny dot. He knew what he had
to do would not be easy. The last time he had tried this, Aoquesth had helped him. And it had been so hard, so overwhelming, that Erec ended up with a white streak in his hair from doing it. But it was the only hope he had.

He thought awhile about Aoquesth. The dragon had given his life for him. Erec would have died in the battle in Lerna. So it was only right that Erec risk his life to make things right for Artie and Kyron. Maybe he would make it. But, either way, he didn't want to think about that very much.

He focused intently on the dot on the grass blade. He brought his dragon eyes forward, as Aoquesth had taught him, by concentrating on love. Love for the world, the Substance, the bee-hind, and Bethany. Thinking about Bethany did the trick this time. He might never see her again. His eyes turned, and everything became green. Thick ropes of Substance hung in the air, but they looked normal now. Now that the bee-hind had left, the huge white clumps of Substance had dispersed.

He kept concentrating on the dot. He had to really see it. He had to know, personally, every thread of Substance in and around that spot.

At first nothing happened. He stared harder, squinting. It still just looked like a dot. How had he done it before? He tried to remember.

Then he could hear Aoquesth's voice, as if he were standing right next to him. “Love, Erec.” That was all it took. Through his dragon eyes he poured out every drop of love that made up his life. He knew it might be over soon too, which made it all the more powerful.

And what he saw, what the Substance did for him, was unspeakably beautiful. It showed itself, unfolded, blossomed so that every hidden fragment within that spot became its own artwork, its own poem. This time Erec could see why the Substance carried magic. It was because
the Substance
was
magic. And it was love. Love, magic, and life wove together interchangeably into this one tiny spot before his eyes. Layers upon layers of magic unfolded before him until he was overwhelmed by the infinity present within each tiny space in the world.

He knew what he had to do. He asked the Substance to change for him. To separate, to make a hole. Tear itself for him so that he could try to save two people he cared about. So that he could right his wrong. He knew it was not as good a reason as the last time he had asked the Substance to do this. That time he had been saving the last baby dragons in the world from Baskania. Now he was saving two friends.

But he asked with every ounce of his heart. And he could feel it say yes.

He pushed with his vision, moving threads, clearing space. Every white bead of Substance had to be moved away from the center of the dot. Then the gap needed to be bigger. Much bigger.

Erec had no idea how much time went by. But while he was changing the Substance, making a rift in it, he saw and felt each of the fragments that hung before him. And he heard them cry when the rip was made.

Every time he did something to help, it seemed another thing got hurt.

Finally, he collapsed on the ground, finished. He made a note where the tear in the Substance was, and then blackness overcame him.

 

It was getting dark when Kyron shook him on the shoulder. “Are you crazy, sleeping out here? It'll be dark soon. You better get inside before the manticore comes.”

Erec staggered to his feet. He followed Kyron in, dreading what he would have to tell him.

But he was stunned to find Bethany sitting on the couch, a
solemn look on her face. “What are you doing here?” Anger surged through him. “Didn't the Hermit take you away?”

Bethany crossed her arms. “I'm not stupid, Erec. I understood that coded message you wanted me to send to the Hermit. So I didn't even try to find him. I said I'd be here with you, so here I am.”

Erec paced, furious that despite his plans she was now in danger. “But it doesn't help—you being here,” he spat out. “It makes it worse. Just…go. Run.”

Kyron thought that was curious advice. “I don't know what's going on with you two, but she better not run anywhere now. It's getting dark out.”

Erec picked up a pillow and threw it at her. “Great. Now you'll probably die too. That really makes things better.”

Bethany hugged her arms, managing to look both scared and rejected. “I'm supposed to help you with your quest. Whatever happens. You might need me.”

It didn't make sense to argue now. They were running out of time. Erec turned to Kyron. “Listen, your bee-hind is gone. The manticore is going to burst in here tonight. But I have a plan—”

“What?”
Kyron ran out the door, then reappeared in a minute, frantic. “Where is it? What did you do with it?” He clenched his fists, panicked.

“I had to let it go.” At that moment Erec realized that Kyron might kill him before the manticore did. “It was all me, my choice. Bethany had nothing to do with it,” he added quickly.

Kyron picked Erec up and threw him roughly against a wall. His voice was choked with tears. “Why did we trust you? My dad will never survive this time. He doesn't have the wits.”

Artie walked into the room. “What's going on with youse boys?”

Nobody had the heart to answer him.

“You're gonna die.” Kyron picked Erec up by his shirt and shoved him into a wall.

“Look.” Erec's voice was clear and firm, ignoring the sting of pain. “I had to do it. It was messing up all the Substance in the whole world by being stuck here. People and all of Upper Earth were going to die.”

With a snort, Kyron shoved Erec away and walked to the window. His voice was hard. “We don't have long. I'm taking my dad up a tree. That'll confuse the thing for a while, at least. I'd suggest you two come up with a plan.”

“I already have a plan,” Erec said. “But it's risky. And I need your help.”

Kyron glared at him, but Erec came over to the window. Looking out with him, he started whispering.

 

Erec and Kyron waited at the window. Erec had taken his Sneakers off because they would interfere with what he needed to do.

Bethany threw her arms around Erec's neck and buried her face in his shoulder. “Don't go out there.”

“It's our only chance.”

“Oh!” A woman's voice echoed through the room. Erec recognized his mother's voice. She was checking on him with her glasses. “Is that Bethany hugging you?” she asked, knowing full well that it was.

“Um, yeah. It's not what you think. I mean, she was upset, but she's okay. I'm kinda busy now.” Bethany stepped away. Erec did not want to frighten his mother, tell her that he was about to risk his life and may never see her again. But he did add, “Mom, I love you.”

“Aww. That's sweet, honey. I love you, too. I'll talk to you later, then. Didn't mean to bother you.”

“It's okay, Mom. Bye.”

Bethany sniffed and stepped back with Artie, who was bewildered
but at least quiet. Then Erec heard a trumpetlike howl and saw a swish of a spiked tail.

He ran outside, shouting. “Hungry, manticore? Want some dinner?”

The winter night was chilly, but Erec barely felt it. A low growl sounded nearby. He could hear something scratching the ground. Hopefully the manticore would not know that the bee-hind was gone, so it wouldn't head straight for the house.

“C'mon, kitty, kitty.” Erec kicked some dirt, running into the lawn. “Here, ugly kitty. Come and get me.”

The manticore appeared between some shrubs. It eyed Erec, drool seeping from between its teeth.

Erec backed toward the circle of sticks he had pounded into the ground, marking the hole he'd made in the Substance. A small jackfruit lay by his feet. He slung it at the creature but missed.

The manticore darted its eyes back and forth between Erec and the house, as if deciding which to attack first. Erec threw a stick at it, which grazed its shoulder, then he backed away. Flaring its nostrils, the beast rocked back then pounced toward Erec. It was over him in a flash, faster than he had expected.

Erec stumbled back toward the hole he had made in the Substance. Just as the manticore's claws sank into him, he toppled backward. Grabbing the manticore's mane, he fell into the hole.