The Three Furies (Erec Rex) (65 page)

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sister out there. My triplet sibs. I think I'm going to find them first before even coming close to doing another quest. Those things are awful! I mean, the Fates sent me to my death. Nobody was even sure I could be revived. If I hadn't found that amber bee . . ." He felt sick thinking about how close he came.

Spartacus shrugged. "Maybe the Fates did know you would have that bee. Or maybe they just thought it was worth the risk. You did save everyone on Earth, you know."

Erec had not thought about that since he had returned to life. He really had stopped the Furies from destroying the world . . . and from becoming Baskania's servants. The thought overwhelmed him, and he lay back onto the grass. Above him, white clouds floated through a too-blue sky, intricate branches with sparkling green leaves creating patterns in front of them. It was all okay now. His mother . . . Bethany . . . his siblings--he would even be able to enjoy it with them. And Spartacus too.

"I can still enjoy this, you know," Spartacus said, as if he could tell what Erec was thinking. It seemed an odd thing to say, though. He picked up another stone and skipped it across the stream.

"How could you not? Listen to that." Erec pointed at two bluebirds perched on a branch nearby. They shouted at each other in high-pitched, speedy twitters. One of them seemed to be saying, "Truly, truly, truly." But the other warbled musical chatter over his call.

Spartacus smiled at the birds. "You'll find those siblings of yours. I'm sure of it."

"I hope so. I'm going to look for my birth mother, too. Not that she could ever replace June. But I would like to get to know her again."

"Good luck with that."

"What about you? I guess you'll go back to your farm again? Was Artie helping you out there?"

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"He was. Before I left, Artie took over the morning feeding schedule. He's really good with animals, that guy." He pursed his lips. "We had a little bit of a surprise with Wolfboy when the full moon rose. Luckily Kyron still had some wolfsbane on him."

"Oops. Sorry." Erec cringed. "I forgot to tell you about that."

"Don't worry. Everything's fine. I will be going back to my farm, but I'm not sure how long I'll stay. I have some unfinished business. Too many things there now that I'm responsible for. It's a funny thing about me, when I take something on, I'm committed. Totally focused." He laughed. "I guess you can tell. But one of these days soon I'll be done."

Erec was confused. "Done? And then what? Is there something else you're going to do?"

Spartacus stared at him awhile, then said, "You have a caterpillar in your hair." He reached out to brush it off, but his hand stopped a few inches from Erec's head. Spartacus tried to get to the bug from different angles, then finally gave up. "That's funny. I had no problem shaking hands with Jack this morning. And Bethany gave me a kiss."

Both of them watched the brook race by, lost in their own thoughts. Everything was so peaceful. Erec wondered what the Furies were up to now, if they had talked to their sisters yet. It was nice knowing that they weren't locked away anymore.

"Are you going to forgive your father soon?"

Erec was surprised. He didn't remember talking to Spartacus about his dad. "I don't know. I guess it all ended up okay. And Bethany was right. He really thought he had it under control. It wasn't like he handed Bethany over to Baskania or anything."

Spartacus nodded. "I bet he felt even worse about her being captured than you did, if that's possible."

"So, what's that unfinished business on your farm? Just taking care of all the animals?"

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"And people. Do you know how many completely dependent people are living there now?"

Erec was confused.

Spartacus grinned. "And how many of them look like you?"

"Oh, yeah!" Erec had forgotten the hundreds of Erecs, Bethanys, and Baskanias they had left on the farm. "Are they getting into trouble? Are the Baskanias . . . evil?"

"Not really." He laughed. "They're all quite tame. But they've formed little camps, and they have no clue how to support themselves. I mean, they try to help out, but they get confused. What they have no problem doing, though, is idolizing you . . . or whoever it is that they look like. At first they managed to paint pictures of you and post them up on sticks to admire, some made little statues of you, Bethany, or Baskania. All they really want to do is follow you, you know, and imitate everything that you do."

"That sounds
awful
. I'll have to stay away from them. Unless ... do you think they'll find me?"

"They're not the type to wander around. Don't worry. I'll get them all settled, and I'm pretty sure I can teach them to do little bits to help run the farm. If Artie and Kyron still want to stay on and help, we can get all those folks squared away. Then I guess I'll be off."

"Off? Where are you going?"

Spartacus stared at him again. "You really don't know, do you?"

A strange thought crept into Erec's head, but he pushed it away. "No, I don't."

Spartacus picked up a rock as if to skim it on the water, but he just looked at it and put it down. "I didn't make it, Erec. They weren't able to bring me back."

Erec swung toward him in shock.
"What?"

"I think you know what I'm saying. Do you really want me to spell it all out for you?"

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"You . . . you're not . . ." This was why Spartacus could not touch him. "I . . ." This was why he knew what Erec was thinking, before he said anything.

Spartacus sighed. "Crossing the Waters of Oblivion did me in. I was fated, one way or another, from that."

Erec squeezed his eyes shut. He didn't want to hear this. "Baskania killed you. He used up your life for his own sick reasons, just so he could have more power." Suddenly he was sick with anger. Words churned in his throat, but they could not find their way out.

"It's not so bad, this." Spartacus studied his hand. "Doesn't feel like being alive. I will miss that. But there are some advantages."

"Are you a ghost?"

Spartacus shot him a mocking glance. "Don't tell me it's taken you this long to figure that out."

"But you look so . . . real. Perfectly alive. I thought maybe I was just dreaming this conversation. So . . . other people can see you too?"

"Sure. That's the way it is with ghosts. Nobody would know by looking at me unless I told them. Of course, I'll be open about it. But some other people aren't like that. They'll keep it a big secret, and try to make everyone think they're still alive. A few signs give them away though."

"Really?" Erec was curious. "Like what?"

"Not aging. Knowing or seeing more than one normally would. Oh, and not touching you, I guess." He laughed. "Is that some strange quirk you have?"

"Yeah. Ghosts can't touch me. I still can't get over that you . . . Why couldn't they bring you back?" He suddenly felt terrible. "I only had one of the amber bees. And they decided to use it on me instead of you. . . ."

"It wouldn't have worked on me. That tiny bit of life wouldn't have been enough to bring me back. You're the one with the dragon eyes, remember?"

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Erec nodded. He felt a deep loss, even though Spartacus sat at his side.

Then, as if on cue with Erec's feelings, Spartacus stood and drifted away, noiselessly, across the grass.

Erec wandered back and was finally able to say a proper hello to everyone. Griffin raised a saber in salute, frightening June and Zoey, who stood nearby, but not disturbing Kilroy in the least. "Where's Rosco?" Erec looked around. "Did he have to go back?"

Jack pointed a thumb toward the log cabin they were staying in. "He's inside. Rosco's been acting kinda weird. I think he feels bad that you went to Tartarus and . . . you know. Like he could have stopped you."

Erec wandered through the rooms of the cabin and found Rosco sitting on the floor in the corner of a bedroom. "Hey, are you okay?"

Rosco shrugged. "I've been better."

"You better not be feeling guilty for me going to Tartarus. I mean, there was nothing you could have done. All right?"

Rosco looked at Erec like he was crazy. "I know that. I don't feel guilty. Well, not about that, anyway. Which is good, because I feel guilty for pretty much everything else in my whole life." He sighed. "I don't know, Erec. I think all of this"--he waved around the room--". . . you know, it's all been too much for me. Maybe that time travel from all those years ago is catching up." He shrugged.

"You just tired out, then?"

He sighed. "Nah. I'm . . . Never mind. It's stupid."

"What? Like I've never done stupid things?"

"Well, this is a little embarrassing." Rosco rubbed his forehead. "I don't know . . ."

"Come on. We're friends, right? Just--out with it."

Rosco looked at him sheepishly. "My mind is going. I started

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seeing things, which is the first sign that you're losing your marbles. It happened when I was picking up your friends Kyron, Artie, and Griffin from Spartacus Kilroy's ranch." He laughed. "Those are some weird but cool friends you found. Anyway, I saw . . . well, something really strange. Nobody else even said anything about it, so it was definitely all in my head. Well, of course."

Erec started to smile. "You didn't happen to see me there, did you?"

"Ugh." Rosco dropped his head into his hands. "I guess it's obvious that you, Bethany, and Baskania have been on my mind lately. So yeah, I did see you. But a lot of you. And them, too."

Erec was laughing now. He covered his mouth and hit the floor to stop himself, but it only poured out harder.

"That's right. Laugh at the weirdo. Story of my life."

"No," Erec spit out. "They were real. The versions of me, Bethany, and Baskania, I mean." He swallowed his chuckles and told Oscar the story.

"Wow, it must be nice to have a hundred followers who would do anything for you."

"Not at all. If they were here right now, all of them would be sitting against the wall and talking to you, saying just what I was saying after they heard it. It would be chaos."

"Yeah, chaos, I guess. But fun chaos. Well, maybe for a little while, anyway."

Erec thought that maybe Oscar was right. One of these days he would pay a visit to his look-alikes and see how they were getting on. "Want to go outside? My mom's grilling hamburgers."

"Yeah, sure. They say there is nothing like the stars at night in Smoolie."

Erec was not so sure about that. There was nothing like stars at night anywhere, he thought. Anywhere at all.

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* * *

Enjoying his fifth hamburger, Artie was listening to Kyron retell how they smuggled themselves into Baskania's fortress in Jakarta. He wandered over to Erec. "Can I have youse charm now? Youse said I could keep it when you were back again. It was a pretty one. Shiny, too."

A warm breeze blew the hair from Erec's face as he bit into a juicy hamburger, loaded with ketchup, tomato, and lettuce. The sun was just beginning to set. "What charm do you mean, Artie?"

"That one, hanging on the pretty ribbon there." He jabbed Erec's chest. "I likes ribbons, too."

Erec picked up the Doubler charm. It had really come in handy. But he had promised it to Artie, so he slipped it off his neck and handed it to him.

Bethany slipped close to them, carrying the Serving Tray and munching on a fresh chocolate chip cookie.

"That looks yummy." Artie watched Bethany take another bite of her cookie. "Can I have one?"

"Of course, Artie," she said. "Do you want it now, or after you're done with your hamburgers?"

Artie disregarded her question. "Can I have
two
cookies?"

"I don't see why not."

"Can I have
three
?"

"Of course!"

Artie leaned forward, eyes wild with excitement. "How many cookies can I eat?"

Bethany closed her eyes and did some rapid calculations. "Given your probable age, appetite, love of cookies, lifespan, waking hours in a day, and percentage of free time, I'd say that you could eat about one million, eight hundred and twenty-five thousand."

In a flash of hunger and anticipation, Artie whipped the contents

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in his hand through the air and into his open mouth, gulping, then reached for the tray in Bethany's hands.

Erec watched, stunned. Artie had no idea, he realized, that he had not finished his hamburger, which had now fallen to the floor. Instead he had gulped down the Doubler charm.

A wind whipped by, almost knocking Erec over with a loud swish. Everyone turned to see what was happening . . . but then it died down.

For a moment Erec thought the Doubler charm was activating. But there was no lightning bolt shot into the air.

Artie opened his mouth as if to speak, but instead he burped--and a flash of light erupted through his lips into the darkening air. "Excuse me." He covered his mouth, embarrassed.

"What was that?" Bethany asked Erec, stunned.

"He just swallowed the Doubler charm that Wandabelle gave me. You know, the one that takes any magic that has just been performed and makes it work on two other things. Like when Baskania made a hundred of you, and I used it to make a hundred of me and him, too?"

"How could I forget?" she said, lips twisted. "But no magic happened here."

Erec shrugged.

"If I may," Artie said. "I do think if that is how the Doubler charm works, that magic may indeed have been done."

Bethany and Erec looked at him in shock. It sounded like somebody else had infiltrated Artie's body and was speaking through him.

"You see," Artie continued, "my memory is perfectly intact, even after the charm has worked its spell. I remember the fantastic calculation you just performed about my eating"--he cleared his throat, obviously embarrassed--"cookies. My dear, are your math skills, by chance, magical?"

"I don't know. They
are
my inborn gift. . . ."