The Three Furies (Erec Rex) (20 page)

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be over."

"Do I have to wait until night to practice? I'm not sure I can go back to sleep now."

"No. Ask the Serving Tray for a sleeping potion, one that will let you dream."

Erec asked, and a glass of steaming red liquid appeared on the tray.

The Hermit produced a sand dollar, a starfish, and a smooth stone. "Feel these. Remember that they are near you. When you sleep, you will have each of these objects at your command. Use them." He took the glass off the tray, handed it to Erec, and put the tray alongside the odd assortment of items. "Think of these before and during your sleep. Keep your hand near them.

"Before you drink, remember when you once were near the Awen of Knowledge. It made you forget everything you ever knew. You had to repeat to yourself again and again what you had to do, or you would have been lost."

Erec's hand touched the empty vial, shaped like a small boar, that still hung around his neck. It was a souvenir from his experience with the five Awen. Five tiny colored balls had been attached to it--four were now left. He had used one of them to save Bethany and Pi from Baskania. When he had used that little ball that was from the Awen of Sight, everyone around him was blinded while he could see better than normal. He wondered if the other balls from the Awen of Knowledge, Beauty, Creation, and Harmony would have the same effect.

"This will feel the same, at first, as when you were near the Awen of Knowledge. You must say to yourself, again and again as you fall asleep, that you will change your dreams. Think about your usual nightmare. How would you end it differently?"

The red liquid burned his throat when he drank it. How would he change his usual nightmare? With the objects the Hermit put down next to him, somehow? He laid his head on a pile of sand and

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picked up the starfish. What could a starfish do? Maybe it could be a weapon, a throwing star. Maybe a star in the sky. Maybe the sand dollar could be a silver dollar, or a plate. . . .

The room became hazy. He felt sleep pulling him in.
Change your dreams. Change your dreams.
He kept the chant going in his head as he went under.

The Hermit laughed and laughed. Erec wondered why, then saw that he was sinking in quicksand. . . .

He was flying. He was a dragon, flying with Little Erec. They soared above the mountains of Otherness, over the great dragon reserves of Nemea. Clouds whizzed past his face as he spiraled toward the sun. . . .

Change your dreams . . . change your dreams . . .

Everything was dark. He was alone, cold, and very small. It was night and Erec did not know where he was. A big leafy bush looked like a good hiding place. There might be big dogs around, or scary monsters. He better hide there.

The world seemed huge, and he felt as tiny as one of the leaves on the bush. Nobody wanted him. His father had ditched him on the streets.

After he was hidden, huddled into a ball, he heard a deep voice cut through the blackness. "There's the child, you moron." His bitter voice sounded familiar. It was his father's boss--Baskania, looming tall over him in his dark cape. He had found Erec under the bush. Baskania grabbed his father by the collar. "You're a useless idiot. The one thing I asked you to do, you botched. Can't you even babysit a child?"

His father stammered, "Sorry. I--I didn't think it was important. This kid's useless. Believe me."

Baskania slowly lowered his open palm toward the ground. As he did, Erec's father fell to his knees, crumpled in the dirt.
"I'll
determine what's useless and what's not. This child very well might serve me in some way. Think who the mother was--only the best of King Piter's AdviSeers."

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A voice was echoing in the distance. "Change your dreams. Change your dreams."

Something rough was in his hand. He looked down. One of the branches of the bush had broken off. Spokes radiated from it like a star. Erec pictured it changing, and it became metal. It was a studded silver throwing star.

He eyed Baskania. This man was his enemy. He was insulting his father. Erec's hand was small, but he made it grow enough to hold the weapon firmly. Not sure how to use it, Erec held a blade between his finger and thumb, then threw it level like a Frisbee. It sailed through the air toward Baskania. When the metal hit him, Baskania exploded in a burst of white smoke.

Erec looked at his own hands, elated. They were growing, aging. Soon they looked like his own almost-fourteen-year-old hands. He had done it. Something was different now. Good. He had conquered a bad thing, put himself in control of it.

A realization hit him. This wasn't real. It was a dream.

Or was it? He was a dragon again, soaring away. Someone was shooting at him from Alypium, below. He dodged the bullets. "Change your dream" chimed in the distance. He had things to protect himself. He could use them. What did he have? A star. A circle. The circle was a shield. He wore it over his chest, deflecting all of the bullets.

Erec was unstoppable. Nothing could touch him now. He was more alive than ever. What else did he have? A shiny metal tray. It was his flying carpet. He rested on it, sailing through the breeze. . . .

A splash on his face jolted him and he opened his eyes. How long had he been asleep? The sun was setting outside the cave. Ugh. He had wasted an entire day.

He wiped off his face and saw the Hermit holding an empty teacup. "I see the caffeine has woken you up."

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Erec sat up groggily. "I don't think that's how caffeine works."

"If you say so." The Hermit studied his cup, frowning. "Looks like it worked to me."

"I did it," Erec announced happily. "I changed my dreams like you said." It felt great to have controlled what happened in his sleep. He remembered exploding Baskania with a throwing star and flying on a shining tray. No longer would he have to live with that awful nightmare. From now on he would change it every time. "Is that all I'll have to do when I'm stuck in the Nightmare Realm? Just change my dream and leave?"

"Not so simple. You will have to practice controlling your dreams here, so when you go there, you'll have a fighting chance. Here it's just a dream. There you'll be living it. Very different."

Erec yawned. "I just don't want to waste all this time sleeping. I have things to do."

"You'll have to get used to it. You'll be asleep the whole time you're with the Nightmare King."

It was hard to imagine what the Hermit was describing. He would be asleep, yet living in his dreams in reality? He was tired now, and even though he had slept all day he found his eyes closing. It must have been a strong sleeping potion.

"Find a few things to put in your hammock next to you before you sleep. You should practice changing your dreams more."

Erec put his MagicLight next to him, along with a cookie in a napkin that he produced from his Serving Tray, and a few silver coins. He touched them all as he fell asleep, thinking all the while:
Change your dreams. Change your dreams.

The morning sun's rays stretched into the small cave, waking Erec. He remembered his dreams much better than usual, because he had been somewhat awake during them. He had used the money that he

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had put next to him to pay for Bethany's return home. He had eaten the cookie, and it had made him invincible. The napkin was a paper map that showed him the way to King Augeas. And he had used the MagicLight to shine his way through dark tunnels and find his way home.

His usual nightmare had returned as well. But this time Erec had turned into a dragon and breathed fire on Baskania, turning him into a starfish.

The Hermit was meditating in a lotus position on the floor. He opened one eye at Erec, then closed it again. "All right. Time to get ready, then." The Hermit rose on one foot, the other still crossed in the air. One of his eyes stayed closed.

"Are we going to meet King Augeas?"

"I think you are forgetting something." The Hermit was talking out of only one side of his mouth, as if the entire other half of his body was still meditating.

"What?"

"Your father asked me to be your magic tutor as well as watch over you during your quests. Remember that?"

"Yes," Erec said, perking up. He had hoped that he might finally learn some magic from the Hermit at some point.

"Well, it's time for a lesson."

"Now?"

"'No time better than the present,' I always say. Or was that, 'Nothing is better than a present'? I forget." The Hermit slapped the side of his face with the closed eye. It opened and he set that foot down.

"Can this wait until I get back?"

"Not if you want to come back."

"But I don't even have my remote control."

The Hermit tossed something into the air, and Erec caught a

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remote control. "Thanks." It was the one that Rosco Kroc had given him a long time ago. "How did you get this?"

"I found it for you. What can you do with it?"

"Barely anything," Erec admitted. "If I put it on level one and really concentrate, I can move small objects. If I say the word . . . what was it . . . ?"

"Phero?" The Hermit chuckled. "Lame crutches, these words. Just as this remote is. Your friend Oscar can do magic without words or remote controls." The Hermit tapped the remote control lightly. "First I'll teach you the secret of using the remote, what the words do. Then we'll forget all about them and concentrate on the magic inside you."

"Will this help me save Bethany?" Erec asked, impatient.

"It may . . . or it may not. But I am your tutor now. So let me tute you. You'll never know when you'll be glad you were tuted." He pretended to play a trumpet for a moment, then burst out laughing. "Toot, toot."

"Ooh-kay . . ." Erec grinned despite himself. He had been dying to learn magic, and had no luck with his old tutor, Pimster Peebles. Maybe now he'd actually learn something. Magic tricks could only help him with whatever obstacles lay ahead.

"First, learn a word or two.
Phero
means to move something. Make it more specific. Aeiro levitates, lifts things upward. Anastrepho turns them upside down. Simple. You set your remote on level one. That's the easiest level. See what you can do."

Erec pressed the button in the lower right corner of his remote control until it read 1. He pointed it at the starfish lying on the sand and pushed the glowing green button on the device. "Phero." The starfish budged a little as if a wind had blown it. Erec was disappointed that it had not moved more.

"Now, picture where you want it to go, and try it again."

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Erec imagined the starfish sailing into his lap and pressed again. "Phero." The creature whizzed through the air and dropped straight onto his legs as if the Hermit had tossed it. "Wow. That was easy."

"Very easy for you. Not always for others. You're very absorbent, like a good paper towel." The Hermit giggled. "That means the Substance fills you up easily. Lets you use it. That is why you can do magic and others cannot. The more absorbent you are, the easier it is for you to do.

"You have seen the Substance with your dragon eyes. You know how beautiful it is. The reason it is so perfect, so glorious, is the magic that runs through it. Think back to when you looked at it closely, so close that you cut a hole in it with your own eyes. It was molecules, atoms, neutrinos. It was stars, galaxies, universes. The same Substance that fills you up fills all of these things. Every molecule is a universe to its particles. Every person is a star, pulling people in with their gravity. You can feel that more than most, because you are open to it.

"A remote control takes any magic that people have inside and concentrates it so that even the weakest can use the Substance. It takes no thought, no effort. You don't need it. Use it just for a tool, so it can teach you how to do magic without it. Turn it up to level two and try moving the starfish again."

Erec pushed the button to read 2. This time when he said "Phero" and pressed the green button, the starfish shot into his stomach so hard it hurt.

"Now try to make it happen slower. Same thing."

"Phero." The starfish moved just as fast onto his legs. "Ow."

"Concentrate. Slow."

Erec pictured the starfish moving in slow motion. He focused on the thought as he pushed the button and said, "Phero." This time it lifted into the air and gradually spun toward him, dropping onto his lap. "It worked!"

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"You can do more things when you turn it up to level three. That is the level that can teach you how to move on. That is where you will start to feel it."

Erec pushed the small button to read 3, then tapped the large glowing green one. "Phero." He willed the starfish to spin slowly up toward the roof of the cave, make a figure eight, then drift back down to the floor. Doing it was as easy as wanting it to happen. All it took was a little imagination.

"Did you feel it? Feel where the power is coming from inside you when you do it? Think this time."

Erec tried another command. "Anastrepho." He pushed the green button and the starfish plopped hard onto its back.

"That was a weak command. Be specific. Use your mind's eye."

"Anastrepho." Erec concentrated and this time the starfish floated up gracefully and turned in the air, just as Erec wanted it to. He could tell that the remote was pulling his power from deep within him. It felt like its source came up through his heart into his head--like it was his very will itself, running through a spot deep inside his mind where his ideas came from.

"Can you feel it? Pay attention."

Erec had felt it. But the magic was not what he had imagined it would be like. It was more a part of his imagination than a command. He had to try it again.

He pushed the green button. "Phero." The starfish lifted into the air, first one side rising higher and then the other, until it settled delicately upon the Hermit's bald head. Interesting. Erec felt a definite pull when he was doing it. A concentration of his energies. The remote control brought the power out of him easily, but he could tell that the feeling was what he must imitate in order to do magic on his own.

"Bravo!" The Hermit clapped his hands. "You can do the simple things that any little baby can do. Very good!"