Daphne woke up in the middle of the night, cold in her thin T-shirt and jeans. She shivered and drew her legs closer to her. She sat up and squinted, trying to get her sticky contacts to focus. She'd fallen asleep in them, she realized, and gave herself a mental scolding. Her case was right in her pocket. Then she looked over at the sleeping Piyteur and did a double take. Elisay was back! Daphne smiled. But it was cold. Daphne shivered again and curled herself up into a tight ball. There weren't many blankets; just the five from before, occupied by Daivi, Myki, Naomi, Aubrey (with Ianthe under one corner), and Maik. Daphne looked over at Elisay and Piyteur, wondering when they had gotten back together. She scratched under a pigtail and thought over the trip so far. Daphne remembered her message from the lake creature: "You also will be tested. You know more than you think." Whatever could it mean? Her thoughts strayed to home again. She hoped time was different here-how would she explain this to her family otherwise? She thought of her friends not on the Applebus, and school, and home. She allowed her thoughts to stray to Bryan once more. A wave of something like loneliness washed over her. She had missed Elisay and worried about her so much while she was gone. Now she was back… but look at her and Piyteur! Were all of them attached now but her? (Not Myki, Daivi, or Maik… ) What would she do now, if Elisay was to stick to Piyteur the way the other two couples did? She would be alone--loveless. But what did she want? Did she want love, too? What would it have been like if Bryan had come? What did Daphne want? She realized that what she wanted was for everything to be normal again. Did she want to go back to where she'd come from? To go home? Maybe…
     The tension within Daphne became too great, and in spite of her efforts her eyes welled up and over. Elisay… Ianthe… Naomi, all wrapped in their affections, and she all alone. And it was so cold. She let the tears fall but didn't make any noise.
     Suddenly she felt a blanket being laid gently on her shoulders. She tensed, and hastily wiped her eyes. It was Maik, green wool hat askew. "You wanna talk?" he asked softly, laying a hand lightly on her shoulder.
     "I--I--just--I--" began Daphne, trying to get a hold of herself. She pulled the blanket around her quaking frame. "I guess I got sort of scared and lonely, fear of the unknown."
     "Ah. Lost your spirit of adventure a little?"
     "I'm not so sure I'll ever get it back," said Daphne. "Do you think we'll ever get back to reality? Or are we stuck here forever?"
     "Ah don't know," said Maik. "Is that all you wanted to say?"
     Daphne buried her face in the blanket. It was already warm, having been so from Maik sleeping on it before. "Well, no. I--well--I--it's hard to explain. It's like, what now? All my friends are--are--oh, I don't know. Focused on other things, and I don't know now whether I'll be a--oh, I don't know--whether they'll want me there anymore."
     "Ah'm sure they will," replied Maik. "Love is good, but it isn't friendship. Don't worry. They need you. They're just takin' advantage of circumstances. Think of it: All of us, just us. No one to stop us from most things we want to do. No peer pressure, no parental concern. They're together now because not only do they want to be, but here they can be. It's hard to explain, but…"
     "No, I get it. Thanks," said Daphne, taking a final swipe at her eyes.
     "However," returned Maik, "Ah think we need a change of scenery. How do you think they'd take it if they woke up and found themselves someplace else?"
     Daphne grinned. "I don't know. Feel like finding out?"
     "Sounds good to me. "Ah'll turn the engine on as quietly as Ah can, we'll press a button, and…" They smiled mischievously.
     The ignition of the Applebus was completed quickly and relatively quietly. It was dark, so Daphne felt around until she felt a long rectangular bar. She pressed it, and the usual psychedelia took place. When it cleared, the Applebus lurched forward before coming to a stop. Myki opened his eyes, groggy and a bit queasy. "Wh--? Is it daytime? Hey, what's that?"
     Through the windshield of the Applebus could be seen a large stone castle. It was a rainy gray morning, and water droplets were quickly obscuring the view. Maik flicked on the wipers. The others began to awaken. Before long there was a clamor for explanation. What was the castle, and why were they there? Daphne and Maik explained (leaving out their conversation).
     "Partners in crime," said Myki. He raised his eyebrows at Maik, looked at Daphne, and then back to Maik. Myki raised his eyebrows just a bit higher, crinkling his forehead. Maik shook his head slightly in a negative gesture. [I meant to explain that later: That's Myki asking Maik if there's something between them, Maik--for the time being--denying it.] Daphne, meanwhile, had gone over and thrown her arms around Elisay, reprimanding, "Don't ever do that again! I wasn't sure you'd come back, and whatever would I do then?"
     Elisay opened her mouth to reply when Daivi broke in. "Yeah, good to see you again, Elisay. We all missed you. But, hey now that we've found this place, who's going to check it out? I hope you don't mind, but I'm still exhausted. I wanna go back to sleep."
     "I think," said Elisay, "that since we meant to have a time just for Daphne, Naomi, Ianthe, and me last night, we should all go in the castle first, just the four of us. Is that okay?"
     "I don't know," said Maik, concerned.
     "Just us?" asked Ianthe, visibly disappointed. (Then smiling at her pun. Monkees album…)
     "I think it's a good idea," said Naomi. "If we get in any trouble, we'll blow Maik's harmonica and retrieve him. Can we have it?"
     Maik looked at Daphne and realized that it would mean a lot to her. Already she had brightened at the idea. He tossed Naomi his harmonica. "Take care of it," he said. "And take care of yourselves."
     The four left the Applebus and stood a minute, looking at the castle. "It looks deserted," said Ianthe.
     "Yeah," agreed Daphne. "We could probably get in through that drawbridge there."
     They started off toward the castle. But no sooner had they gotten to the drawbridge than they heard, "Hey! He-e-ey! Somebody get me out of here! Hey! Somebody help me! He-e-ey!"
     Daphne froze, along with the others. She turned pale. "Elisay," she said hesitantly, "do you know who that is?" She began to speak under her breath. "Oh, no, no, no, no! Not here, not now…."
     But Elisay nodded gravely. "Yeah. It's Bryan."
     (Note to all others: It was never my intention--or my wish--for Bryan to join the Applebus clan.)
     "Your test, maybe?" Ianthe asked Daphne.
     "I don't care whether it is or not. We've gotta save him!" She replied determinedly, but all the while shivered internally. What if they killed him? Even if they didn't, what would happen if they ever got back to the real world? Would he be there? Would he remember this? Would he realize she liked him? Well, she thought, we've got to save him first.
     She opened her mouth to yell back, but stopped herself. "We've got to stay quiet," she told everyone. "We'll have to sneak in there, find him, free him, and get the heck back out of there. To quote a movie [Spaceballs], "it's extremely dangerous...plus, I don't know how the heck we're gonna do it". But, to quote various movies, plus a rendition or two of 'Superheroes' on Whose Line, I'm gonna need your help. Well, really, I'm paraphrasing that, instead of quoting it, but…"
     "Okay, we get it!" said Naomi, wisely cutting Daphne off. "Let's go!"
     Daphne looked up as they walked to the entrance, trying to see Bryan. She didn't. Instead, out came another, "Somebody get me out of here! Hey-y-y-y!" Then… a loud groan and a loud clang.
     Daphne couldn't take anymore of it. "Give me the harmonica, Naomi! Just let me blow one note, one! Just so he knows!"
     "Shh!" hissed Elisay. "Someone'll hear you!" She seemed to sense Daphne's next move, and clapped her hand over her friend's mouth before Daphne could shout to him. Daphne nearly began crying again, but exhaled and pressed her lips together resolutely. (inhale… exhale… inhale… )
     "Okay," she said. "Here we go."
     They were just about to walk across the open drawbridge when Ianthe stopped them. She whispered, "Wait, guys. Since Bryan's yellin' for help, he must be in trouble. An' if he's in trouble, then we'd probably be in trouble, too, if we just walked in there. There's probably some other way in. We need a plan. I'm moderate in my knowledge of castle layout logic. 'Course, Aubrey knows more about it than I do…" she hinted.
     "NOO!!" The others chorused. Naomi continued, "Not unless they all come back. Period."

     Meanwhile, back at the Applebus… (meanwhile, back at the ranch…)
     Most of the men sat in various places in the Applebus, for it was misty out after the rain. They looked extremely bored. Of course, Aubrey, ever the deconformist [Isn't it nonconformist? Well, I guess he's not conforming to that term.], sat out in the mist, so they left the door open for him. All of a sudden, music came from out where he sat on the green, green grass that resembled that of the Emerald Isle.
     "What is that?" asked Myki, poking his head out the open door.
     Aubrey stopped playing. He held out a metal rod with a green mouthpiece. "A feadóg stáin," (pronounced fad-ohg stawn).
     "What?!"
     "An Irish tin whistle."
     "Oh." Aubrey put the feadóg stáin back to his lips and commenced playing. He stopped.
     "Hey guys?" he asked.
     "Wot, Aubrey?" replied Daivi.
     "Do you think they're okay?"
     "Aubrey, they're probably fahne," answered Maik.
     "Do you think we should check on them?"
     There was a brief pause. Then all six got up and vacated the premises of the bus, making their way towards the castle.

     There was thunder heard (in Daffodil's case: seen) in the distance. As all six emerged into the castle. None of them knew where they were going. Then Maik said, "How ever will we find them? This is one BIG castle and we have no clue where they are." Aubrey had a sly smiley sort of grin on his face similar to Ianthe's smile when she has an idea. (Or thinks about a certain somebody!)
     "Hey guys," he whispered for fear of people/things lurking around. "Do you think since Maik's ordinary harmonica turned into a transporter my feadóg stáin might do something special?" All five of them smiled ready for action.

     The girls walked right into a room that looked like a library. Elisay started to pick out a book and found herself on another room. It looked exactly the same only mirror- image. The other three were still observing the library.
     "Hey Elisay, this looks-" Daphne started she didn’t finish her sentence in search for Elisay. "Uh… Houston?"
     "Yeah?" Ianthe exclaimed cheerfully.
     "We have a problem," Daphne stated. "Elisay is missing."
     "Search, everyone!" Naomi ordered. Soon they all found themselves on the other side(s) of the bookcases. Unfortunately they weren't connected. So each of them was by themselves and the harmonica didn't do much good with only one person.

     "Here goes," Aubrey said. He then blew the notes D-A-G-E like the harmonica. Everyone waited… and nothing happened! Then he remembered. Ianthe had a feadóg stáin too! Perhaps if he played something to do with her they would be united. He tried B-B for 22. And still nothing happened. Without thinking he played high G as loud as he could. They heard footsteps and everyone hid in near bushes except for Aubrey.
     He yelled, "Ianthe, Ianthe, Ianthe!" and played high G on his feadóg stáin. Suddenly six men dressed in red uniforms with black crisscrossed suspenders and fuzzy hats dragged him away still yelling and playing. When the guards had left, Blake, Daivi, Maik, Piyteur and Myki met in the walkway again. All eyes turned to Maik. Desperate thoughts ran through Maik's head. And the other four didn't like the look on Maik's face. He had always taken charge in situations like this. Only this time Maik had no plan.

     

Chapter Notes

     In the Castle...