Chapter Three

"I must have taken a wrong turn . . ."

B. Bunny

Skeeve

I expected to fall flat on my face after the long trip through the hole, but I just basically . . . well, appeared. The place did look a bit like Perv with the tall buildings, but the people (I was relieved to see) looked like me. No face altering this time. Where I had appeared was a back alley, behind what smelled like a bakery. It was a perfect mark of how jaded I had become that I didn't want to immediately explore and find out more about this dimension. Later, I would realize it would have been a very good idea to do some reconnaissance on my own, ditching Garkin, but I'm getting ahead of myself again.

"So, Garkin, where do we go? What do I have to worry about here?" I looked for force lines while I talked and almost got bowled over by the sheer amount here. "Garkin! This place is . . . full to the brim. I could hold up a disguise illusion, fly, and shoot a hundred feather missiles, all at the same time."

"Yep, it's amazing, isn't it?"

"Will the natives cause me a lot of problems? I mean with this at their disposal . . ."

"Don't worry about it, turnip head. Most aren't even aware of magic. A lot of the people only use it without knowledge, doing a lot of things, sometimes just sawing ladies in half or pulling white rabbits out of hats. Harmless stuff, really. I should know. I was one of those guys, you see, a long time ago. I didn't even realize I was using force lines, until I fell into the same hole you just came through."

"Wait . . ." I was having trouble getting a handle on this. I had never thought that Garkin had a life before. "This is your home?"

"We need to move on, now," Garkin said, suddenly looking nervous. "Let's walk, and when you see a big, rumbling thing, jump on it, and disguise that piece of paper on the ground like a big blue and white thing with these words on it."

He wiggled his fingers, and on the ground, in the dust (it wasn't too clean in this alley), words appeared: Bus Pass. I did as he asked and walked around the corner. Sure enough a . . . agh!

"What is that?" I asked, hiding behind a convenient bench, on my knees.

"It's a bus. Get on it. Don't worry; it's not as scary once you're riding. Go on! Before it drives away!"

Summoning my failing courage (that thing was larger than Gleep!), I ran towards it and vaulted up the steps, brandishing my disguised piece of paper, and the man inside barely acknowledged it. Then I was sitting, panting from the fear, and holding onto the seat with clawed hands as it roared on. "How can they not know magic but have this thing?" I asked Garkin, who appeared calm, peering over someone's shoulder and looking at a square thing with a bunch of newsprint on it.

"I didn't say they couldn't get in touch with it sometimes. The best inventors and scientists use magic, without paying attention. Anyway, there are more things than what you're doing now, my boy. There are flying things, similar to this, amazing colored lights, and moving rooms that carry you to the top of a building and back down again."

It sounded amazing . . . but I had a funny feeling in my stomach, and I tried to ignore it. It was just . . . why did it seem like Garkin was trying to sell me on it? I decided to bring Garkin back to why we were here at all. After all, I wasn't planning on staying. "Where is Aahz's cure?"

Garkin glared at me but then sighed. "Only one thing on your mind, huh? Fine. We're on our way to it, but it will require breaking and entering into a very important place, okay?"

Great, this sounded like the whole fiasco with that ugly trophy and Tanda wanting to get it for Aahz's birthday present all over again, but that had turned out okay . . . mostly. I didn't want to break into anywhere, but it was for Aahz. How many times had he risked life and limb for me? A wild image suddenly hit me of him almost getting killed to save "me" at the Big Game, and I knew, then and there, I would do absolutely anything to help him—anything. "Where do I have to break into?"

"That big building right there. It's surrounded by that fence."

I looked at where he was pointing. It didn't seem that dangerous. All it'd take was a simple levitation spell, and then I'd be over the fence. After that, it would be simple. I wondered why it was painted white.

The bus stopped, and a whole lot of people got out, seeming to come for the sole reason of staring at this house, while I decided the front door was a little too well seen, so I walked around the back. The place was huge, and I could tell they really didn't want people in, as I could see some of the force lines conglomerating around things that seemed to watch my movement.

"Cameras," Garkin said. "All you have to do is make your illusion spell again, but show you walking off, and cast it at every camera around, got me?"

I did so, once again marveling on how much I could do. When that was done, I flew right over the fence, after covering myself with another disguise spell to make me look like just air—invisible, I should say. My sense was yelling at me, but I ignored it again. There just seemed to be something wrong here. Like . . . why hadn't Garkin told me what the cure exactly was, and why did it to take me breaking into an important place like this, and why hadn't he said he had come from this place in the beginning? It seemed an awful lot like a . . . trap, of some sort or the other. "Uh, Garkin, I . . ."

"Quiet, that window right there. Open it with your levitation. Inside, that's where the cure will be. Imagine the look on Aahz's face when he can fly again, when he can travel without the aid of mechanical gadgets."

I could imagine that pretty good, so I forgot my worries and pushed open the window.

Everything went crazy—red flashing everywhere, and a dozen or more guards came running, holding up weapons (I assumed they were anyway), and yelling at me. I decided to retreat, and maybe come back another day, but suddenly I fell to the floor, force fields gone, and no matter how many times I reached out, I felt nothing, saw nothing, except Garkin's ghost smiling evilly at me.

"I'm blocking you, Skeeve. Sorry about this, but you'll understand someday."

Rough hands grabbed me and started pulling me down the hall, demanding what I was doing there. Lucky enough, I could understand their language, but I remained quiet, because I didn't know what was going on. All I did know was that I was in deep trouble.