The four girls each tried their hardest to get back to the first library. They each did something different when they found it no use. Naomi thought of Blake and explored the library a little more. Elisay tried to sort it out and figured that the only thing to do was to read some of the books and figure out if she could find a map or some information on the castle. Daphne knelt down to pray. Ianthe put herself in a half-lotus position and meditated until she heard a faint voice like someone yelling her name. Then she heard the feadóg stáin and knew it was Aubrey. She pulled out hers that she'd kept hidden from everyone else inside the side pocket on her cargoes. He would rescue her, she thought. Then the voice became faint along with the feadóg stáin screeches.
     In the room Naomi was in she found a crinkled piece of paper that said this:
     The hidden treasure I will find if it takes me eternal time. Possible clues: I. A stitch in time takes nine. II. Follow the painting's view. III. Somewhere over the border exists the end of the rainbow.
     After much searching Elisay found a book entitled The Castle. It was a book with maps, diagrams, and words in runes. Elisay couldn't read it but decided it might come in handy and kept it with her.
     Daphne found a cute children's story and wanted to share it with the others so she held on to it.
     Ianthe put away her feadóg stáin claiming she was hearing voices and saw something shiny out of the corner of her eyes. She walked over to it and found a sword. She decided what a nice present it would be for Aubrey. She couldn't wait to get back.
     Elisay was still looking through the book cases when suddenly she found herself in the room with Daphne.
     "Boy am I glad to see you!" said Elisay. "But where are the others?" she questioned.
     "I don't know. Somehow while I was looking for you I found myself here!" she said.
     "Well the same thing happened to me. Every time it happened-" Elisay stopped. "Duh! It's like in the movies. Every time I was transported it was right after I picked up a book, but it didn't come out all the way. That must mean we are just on the other side of the bookcase! One of these books must trigger it! Search for the book Daphne!" Elisay exclaimed excitedly. It took them a long time, but Daphne finally found the right book and they both ended up in the original library they had entered. This time though there was no Naomi or Ianthe.
     In unison Elisay and Daphne both hollered, "Ianthe… Naomi!"
     Two voices from differed directions answered, "I'm right here!"
     "They must be on the other side of these bookcases. Elisay pointed in the two directions from which the sounds came. Elisay and Daphne explained what had probably happened and what to do. First Ianthe appeared. Then they heard Naomi's voice, "Guys, I've tried every book on this entire shelf twice and not a one works!"
     "Well, you must have gotten to this side somehow," said Elisay searching for a book. She gestured for Ianthe and Daphne to help her. "At least if you're stuck it won't be alone because we're coming over to your side!" said Elisay.
     Soon they were all on the same side searching for a way out. They tried every book on every bookcase in that entire room, searched for doors, trapdoors, and any other way out they could think of.
     "I don't like to say this," started Daphne, "but I'm afraid we're going to have to EGAD it."
     "Here goes nothing," said Naomi holding the harmonica to her mouth.

     The five men all searched their minds for some clue as to what to do but no one could.
     "Well, we can't bloody well staund here," declared Daivi. "we gotta do somethin'." No one flinched.
     "Shouldn't we at least hide ourselves in case guards come?" suggested Piyteur. Still no one moved. They were all stunned and clueless in an unknown castle area.
     This time it was Blake that spoke, "Should we split up?"
     Just at that instant Maik disappeared. He was nowhere to be seen.
     "Where did he go?" asked Daivi.
     "Well, wherever he is, he's not here and that's never good," said Piyteur.
     "Let's just do what Blake said, split up," suggested Myki. "Piyteur and Blake go to the right and Daivi an' me will go left."
     They started heading in their directions when Daivi said, "Oh guys, be careful. Don't get caught, and uh… see ya." They split off having no idea what they were headed for. (The castle, silly! But I guess that's not wot you meant.)

     The girls smiled as Maik came into view. "We need your help," said Elisay.
     "I don't seem to be very good with supplying ideas today, but shoot."
     Ianthe held up her hand put in the shape of a gun and faced towards Maik. Daphne shot her an evil glance while Naomi explained the situation to Maik. He asked if they had tried DAGE but they hadn't even thought of that. So Naomi tossed the harmonica to Daphne and she tried just about every combination of notes on that harmonica including DAGE. None of them worked. Ianthe then pulled out her feadóg stáin and set it on the floor beside her. They all assumed it was from Aubrey and so Daphne threw her a glance. Naomi looked suspicious.
     "I think it's neat," said Elisay, picking it up, slowly turning it, and letting the light make the metal part of it sparkle. Then Naomi and Daphne threw her an exasperated look until Elisay said, "Well… I do!" and handed it back to Ianthe. Then unexpectedly to Elisay, Naomi slapped her with the crinkled paper. It stung Elisay, but she just rubbed her shoulder slightly and let it slide. They all pulled out their findings and began to share.

     Meanwhile, Aubrey was dragged up to an old jail and put in a cell. The jail house looked when you first entered like endless bars. That's basically what it was. The division of cells was also with bars. Aubrey was thrown into a cell with a wooden bench. He figured that was his bed. As the two men walked away, one of the men said, "Oh, you know as well as I do that the master doesn't like trespassers," and the rest of the conversation faded. Aubrey looked around observing that there was someone peering at him through the bars. He had reddish hair and what seemed to be green eyes. However, it was so dark it was hard to tell.
     "My name is Bryan," said the boy.
     "Pleased to meet you. I'm Aubrey. Wanna see me feadóg stáin?"
     "What?!" Bryan questioned, puzzled. Being as smart as he was it bothered him that he didn't know what one was.
     "No, this!" Aubrey held it to his mouth and played a few notes. "A feadóg stáin is an Irish whistle."
     "Oh," Bryan said, still unsure. "Where are you from?"
     "New York." Aubrey answered, still entertained by his 'Irish whistle'.
     "Really? So am I?"
     "Well… how'd you get here?" Aubrey asked. He was now interested in the conversation.
     "Through the TV. Isn't that how you came here?" he asked.
     "No. I came here…" Aubrey's voice trailed off. "Well… it's a long story, but the shortest version is the after-school bus took me here."
     "Well, I've got plenty of time, how about the long version?" he asked hopefully.
     "I'm a bit tired. In the morning I'll tell you. This way you'll have something to look forward to tomorrow," he said cheerfully. Bryan was disappointed, but didn't want to pursue it anymore so he dropped it and prepared himself for bed.

     Everyone in the library had shared their findings except Naomi. She pulled out the crinkled paper that she'd banged Elisay with earlier. She shared the clues. Everyone thought about them. Then Daphne had an idea.
     "Hey!" she said excitably. "There's a painting and the man is looking that direction." Daphne pointed as she spoke.
     "Yeah, so?" said Elisay still not getting it.
     "The clue!" said Maik, jumping in. "Follow the paintin's view. Do you suppose that's how we get out?" he asked.
     "Ooohhhh…" said Elisay, dragging out the word. "Now I get it!" She smiled at Daphne. They both had a gleam in their eye and knew exactly what the other was thinking.

     "I think we're lost," said Daivi. He and Myki had tried to find their way down a corridor, but it had branched off into other corridors. They had chosen their path arbitrarily, and had just reached a dead end.
     "Well, let's turn around, then," said Myki. They wandered around for a while longer. "You'd think we'd come across something that looks familiar."
     "Hey, what's that?" asked Daivi, pointing to a room in the distance. "Have we seen that before?"
     "No, but what does it matter? Let's check it out."
     They stepped into the room. For about two and a half seconds, it was a plain box-shaped room with bare white walls. Suddenly it was filled with things of all kinds. A door, a window, a tower, a clock, food, drink, and a pretty English girl all materialized before their eyes. "Hallo," said the girl with an English accent. She smiled at Daivi. Daivi smiled back.
     Before Myki had time to be amazed or anything else, Daivi had attempted to take the girl's hands and cried out, "Hey! She's not real!" He stuck his hand through her head. She remained there, still smiling. "No fair!" Daivi protested. "She's beautiful! The girl of my dreams, almost! She said hello, and I…"
     "And you rushed forward, madly in love, as usual," said Myki.
     "But she's not real!"
     "Well, chill, man. Why don't we try that door over there? It looks like it leads to the outside. Maybe we'll find the others."
     Just then, Maik, Blake, Piyteur, and the girls appeared. "Hey!" cried Myki. He rushed toward them. "Where've you been?" He watched as Blake and Naomi embraced.
     Suddenly Daivi ran to Piyteur and tried to push him over. His hands went right through the blond-headed hippie. "Myki, they're not real, eithah! The door, the window, the girl, the othahs… look! There's Big Ben, the clock from England!"
     "What's going on?" Myki asked, confused.
     "Don't you see? Somehow this box read our thoughts--all the things we wanted--and made holograms of 'em or somethin'. We wanted a door, they gave us a door. We wanted the othahs, they gave us the othahs. But they're not real."
     "You wanted to see Big Ben?" asked Myki, still a bit bewildered.
     "England, Myk! I was thinking about England for a bit!"
     "Ah," said Myki. "So none of this is anything real."
     "No. Just figments of our imaginations. The girl and the food aren't here. And we don't even know where the others are."
     "Oh," said Myki. They began to walk toward the door they came through. Suddenly Myki snapped his fingers. "I've had a Maik moment!" he said. "This place projects your desires, right?"
     "Yeah.
     "So all we have to do is think really hard and want to know where the others are, and it'll show us, right?"
     "It's worth a shot!"
     They stopped and squeezed their eyes shut, trying to clear their minds. Daivi put his hands to his temples. Where are they? he thought, and Myki thought the same.
     They opened their eyes and beheld another series of holograms. One showed Aubrey in a cell, staring off into space. One showed Piyteur and Blake, hiding from a guard. One showed the girls and Maik, looking at the walls and trying to find the way out.
     "There they are!" said Myki.
     "But where are they there? We still don't know how to get to them," pointed out Daivi.
     "But look! Blake and Piyteur are almost in trouble! We gotta go look for them!" said Myki. He ran for the exit, Daivi at his heels.
     As they ran, Myki had a thought. "Hey!" he puffed. "Do you… d'you think that was my test?"
     "W-what'd the creature tell you?" breathed Daivi.
     "Something like, 'Don’t be troubled by secret thoughts, they are bothersome'," he replied. (Not quite verbatim, but close.)
     "I don't know," Daivi responded. "Maybe."
     They skidded around a corner and found themselves looking at a guard, who had his back to them.
     "Uh-oh," said Myki in a whisper.

 

Chapter Notes

     More in the castle...