Artists’ renderings of fish of all sizes hung all over the walls, darting around on occasion to sit in other places. Perfect, huge seashells were strewn along the edges of the rooms, along with small piles of sand. Blue skies and rainbows lit the ceiling, fluffy white clouds moving through on occasion. The entire castle gave the impression of a movable piece of art.
But nothing was more impressive than the far end of the huge entry room. Instead of a wall, the massive atrium opened into a giant beach covered in sand and coral. Fish flickered through the air as if they were flying, and turtles cruised through the room without touching the bottom. Starfish crept around the sand on the floor.
There was an unusual blue tint to the atmosphere in the room, as if coloring had been sprayed into the air for effect.
Erec’s group slowly made their way toward the large opening. It was amazing. A squid wiggled into the space. Erec walked right up to the creature, and it looked him in the eye and puffed ink. The black stuff hung as if suspended feet above the floor, slowly spreading in curlicues into the space around it.
Nell, in particular, was captivated by the sea life. She stood quietly and watched, a smile spreading over her face. While everyone else pointed and talked, she gazed in rapt silence all around her.
“Why are the fish flying?” Zoey asked.
“I don’t know, honey,” June said, looking as amazed as everyone else.
Bethany asked a uniformed man who was rearranging rows of white rocks on the ground in patterns. “How come the fish are up in the air?”
The man chuckled. “They’re n’aint actually flying, missy. This here’s a sea room. Queen Posey put wat-air in here. It works both like water an’ air, so the fish can swim in it and you can breathe too. If you try to jump up, you’ll see you can swim, too.”
“Queen Posey did that with her scepter?” Bethany looked amazed.
“With a little help from the Secret of Ashona.” The man winked. Then he whispered, “None of us would be able to live here at all without the Secret. Not even the Queen and her scepter could keep it safe to live this far underwater all by herself.” He squinted at Bethany. “You all have family here. Can you keep the Secret?”
She nodded with wonder.
“This place is not just a set of watertight rooms, dearie. She’s a living, breathing organism. All of the parts of Ashona are connected into one gigantic creature. She lets the people live safely, and makes sure that we get what we need. And she responds to Queen Posey,
alone, as her ruler. The Secret of Ashona lies deep under the city, and she controls everything that happens here. We couldn’t live without her—she helps us with everything: oxygen, food, and water.”
“Why is she a secret?”
The man looked around furtively. “A lot of people know about her, so she’s not a secret, really, anymore. But how she works, well, that’s something that very few know.”
Bethany flapped her arms in the wat-air and lifted off the ground. “It works! Try it, Erec!”
Erec jumped up, out of curiosity. Slight pressure around his body kept him floating. In a moment, he, Bethany, and his siblings were flipping themselves around the wat-air in the room like dolphins, but breathing all the time. It reminded Erec of being a ghost.
Bethany laughed. “This is what it’s like to have Instagills! Now everyone can do it.”
“What are Instagills?” a sea horse asked, right by Erec’s ear.
His eyes flew open. “Did you talk to me?”
The sea horse looked around. “I don’t see anyone else having a conversation with me, big guy. So, you going to tell me what Instagills are? Is this some new device you humans are using to go into the water? Never happy where you are, are you people?”
Erec laughed, and pointed to the closed Instagills in his wrists. “Nah. Only me and my friend Bethany have these. They were gifts from Queen Posey.”
“Oh.” The sea horse darted around suddenly, excited. “I see, then. They must be something quite wonderful if they’re a gift from the queen. Quite wonderful, indeed.”
On the other side of the huge sea room was a clear barrier that looked into a busy coral reef. Erec put his hands against it, noticing that he could not pass through, although the fish were able to swim in and out with ease.
Trevor pointed to the entry room. “Just like the other side. We can go through there into the castle, but the fish can’t cross.”
June began to gather the kids. “Time to find King Piter, everyone.”
A servant was waiting for them when they crossed back into the huge entry room. “Are you ready to visit with the Queen, ma’am?”
June nodded. They walked through the busy area, servants scurrying about. It was just like it had been in King Piter’s castle—however, here they did an excellent job keeping the place tidy. People in shimmering aqua uniforms handed out sushi, scallop cups, and tuna sandwiches as they passed by.
The hallways that led away from the giant entry room were rounded and cozy, the walls rippling and the pathways curved instead of straight. It seemed that they had been walking forever before they entered a beautiful room. It was round, with a high domed ceiling, and walls that shifted between blues and greens. A large pool filled the center of the room, its border inlaid with giant pearls. Directly above it in the ceiling was carved a huge round skylight that was the same size as the pool, surrounded by a beautiful painted fresco of octopuses, stingrays, starfish, serpents, and eels. Dolphins leaped in and out of the water, playing with one another.
Erec had been here before. Last year, when he was doing contests in Alypium, Queen Posey brought him to this room with her scepter. The thought made him pine for his scepter for a moment. Where was it now? Floating around where no humans were, no doubt.
Queen Posey looked just as beautiful as Erec remembered her. Long, dark hair waved around her tired face. But she probably wasn’t tired—it was her Instagills, three dark lines under each of her eyes, which made her look that way. Silver fish scales adorned her shimmering dress, making it ripple with colors. She perched on a huge oyster-shell chair on a pedestal, as did King Piter.
“June! Erec! So good of you to come!” The queen stood. “Please, all of you, make yourselves comfortable.”
Jam darted to King Piter’s side and dusted him off, offering him snacks and a footrest that he had thought to pack.
The king smiled. “Ah, Jam. Nobody could replace you.” Then he strode over and put his arms around Bethany and Erec. “How are you two? It’s great to see you! Bethany, I’m glad you’re back. And you, too, kids.” He gave hugs to Trevor, Nell, and Zoey, then asked June hopefully, “Will you all stay awhile, I hope?”
June looked overwhelmed. She began to bow a few times to the king and queen, then stammered, “Y-yes, your majesty. We were . . . um, hoping to stay here for safety. You had said that would be okay—”
“Of course it’s okay,” King Piter boomed, grinning. “We’re all family here, right? So, Erec, tell me what’s been going on.”
It was good to hear strength in King Piter’s voice again. As long as he was near Queen Posey’s scepter, he could stay alive and well.
Erec told the king and queen everything that had happened to him. Both of their faces paled, as did June’s again, as he recounted his experiences as a spirit on his way to becoming a specter. The room remained quiet for a while.
Then the king laughed halfheartedly. “Well, thank goodness you’re all right now. I guess it’s a good thing that you did all of that. Even though you had to . . . die.” He choked on the word. “Well, it sounds like you’re done, at least. You’re on your way to becoming the next King of Alypium. I just wish that was finished and you didn’t have any more of those crazy quests to go through. I’m ready for you to have that scepter of yours safely under your control. Especially since Posey’s here is acting up now, for some strange reason.”
“What’s wrong with it?”
His sister, Posey, answered, “It’s not responding to me at all anymore. And I’m out of touch with the Secret of Ashona who is
underneath my kingdom and keeping us all safe in here. It’s very concerning.”
Erec immediately froze. “I think I know what’s going on. Baskania had sent me a letter telling me to hand my scepter over to the Green House. Of course I didn’t—but the letter said something about having your scepter soon as well. Baskania must have come up with a way to take it over.”
Posey frowned. “I can’t imagine how. It’s still here with me. But it’s true, I can’t do anything with it.”
King Piter said, “Maybe when Baskania was using Erec’s scepter—maybe he asked to control yours. I’m not sure that would even work, though. Well, at least the thing is still here and keeping both of us alive.” Erec knew the five-hundred-year-old king and queen would die without its power nearby. The king tried to hide his concern and gave Erec a smile. “And you have your soul back again. So you can take it easy now, right?”
“I have to find a way to free those souls that the Furies are keeping prisoner, Dad. It’s part of my quest—and it’s the right thing to do.”
Everyone looked uncomfortable. Erec knew that they all disapproved and were afraid for him. But at the same time, they had to realize that he owed his life to the Fates from this very quest that they gave him. Who was he to walk away now? On top of that, Erec knew something that they did not. There were horrible things that he would do in the future, including killing Trevor, terrorizing strangers, and giving Baskania his scepter and his dragon eyes. He had to do good things now to make up for all that. If the Fates wanted him to risk his life, maybe it was for a reason, to stop him from turning evil.
The king gave a quick shrug. “I can’t advise you to do that, Erec. Why don’t you leave things be as they are? Just forget about those souls. You are safe now, and that is what is important.”
The chair that King Piter had been sitting in suddenly toppled onto its side. Erec grinned. Only he could see that Spartacus was making a statement.
The King grew even paler. “I . . . I’m sorry, whoever is here. I know, other people count in this world besides my own son. It’s just that you have an important path.” He put a hand over his face. “I don’t know what to do.”
“You don’t have to do anything, Dad. I’ve already talked to the Fates about this. They said that I need to figure out what’s right and wrong by myself.” He looked around. “I thought it would help to get the Furies to leave their cave so I can sneak in when they aren’t there. Any ideas?”
Queen Posey smirked. “It’s not like they’re going to just up and leave those souls behind, are they?”
“Maybe we could make the room holding the souls come away on its own,” Bethany said. “It is alive, right?”
Erec nodded. “It is. I wonder if we could find a way to control it, make it think that we’re the Furies.”
The king shook his head. “You have to be careful. None of these ideas sounds possible, and I don’t know if there is a way at all.” He scratched his chin. “The Fates once gave me a pen that will write out answers to any question I ask. I save it for emergencies. Overusing it can make you dependent on it, like the scepter.” Erec knew what he meant immediately. “But I think that this qualifies.” His brow furrowed. “I hope I’m strong enough to use it now.” A glint surfaced in the king’s eye as he fished through his long, black robe. “It’s always with me. The Aitherpoint quill. Ah, yes. Here it is.”
The quill was a simple feather with its tip carved into a point. The feather was a glossy, deep, shiny black, with a red flourish on the end. The king cradled it in his hands. “Jam, do you have some paper I could use?”
Within a second, Jam had produced a pad from one of his vest pockets. “Of course, sire.”
“Thank you.” The king set his chair upright and sat back down. He set the pad in his lap and poised the pen over top of it. “Quill—my son, Erec, needs to set free three thousand souls who are held captive by Alecto, Tisiphone, and Megaera, the three Furies. How should he proceed?”
The pen broke free from the king’s hand and began to scribble on the paper furiously. The king strained to look at its writing around the moving quill. Suddenly, it dropped into his lap. The king gently placed it back in his pocket and read what was written:
“Erec Rex must pledge his services to his worst enemy. Only after he gives himself over completely will he find a way to set all three thousand souls free.”
A cold clammy feeling spread through Erec. This could not be. Serve Baskania? This might be the step in the wrong direction that would lead him to turn evil. In fact, he was sure that would happen. If he gave himself over to his worst enemy, he truly might do things like hand Trevor over to him, and give him his scepter and his eyes.
Only . . . Erec was confused. The Fates had never steered him wrong before. And the Aitherpoint Quill was a direct link to them. Erec had always listened to what they told him to do . . . but now he felt sure that he should not. Then again, a small voice inside of him asked, maybe
not
listening to the Fates now might be what would lead him to do those terrible things. How could he know what to do?
King Piter looked just as stunned. “This can’t be correct. No, Erec. I forbid you to do this. It would be more than just a personal sacrifice of yourself for all of those souls. If you give your services—and everything you have—to Baskania, our whole
world
would surely perish.” He dropped his head, hopeless, but then looked up. “This is not a command, remember. It is not a quest. It is just a solution offered
by the pen. There may be other solutions. Better ones.” He tried to sound confident, although Erec could tell that he was not convinced of his own words.
“Much better ones,” another voice added . . . and suddenly the Hermit was sitting in another of the oyster chairs next to the king. He wore a long black kimono with a red fan across the front, and a pair of bright pink boxer shorts on his head, splayed out to look like a jester’s cap. His legs were crossed, and he tapped his chin with mock seriousness. “Maybe you, yourself, have a better solution to give to Erec. I’m sure you would have done a finer job saving his soul as well.”