Although the first day traveling along the southern path was uneventful enough, the calmness couldn't last. The next morning the trees that lined the path were growing larger and larger and becoming closer and closer together, until finally the group was trekking through an impenetrable forest.

"Well, this is just great," Xekrai complained around midday, although it was hard to say exactly what time it was, as the trees were blocking out the sun. "Whose idea was it to go this way again?"

"Yours," said Saetwo and about five others.

"That's ridiculous. I don't make mistakes."

"Well, it's not so bad," Saetwo remarked, glancing around at the scenery that surrounded them from all sides. "Just so long as nothing dangerous lives in here."

No sooner had she spoken those words, however, than a clump of bushes behind the group began to tremble and shake and a low moan escaped from within them. Everyone whipped around and stared in fright.

"Way to jinx us, Saetwo," Conneda hissed.

"Ohhhh-uhhhh," groaned the bushes.

"Maybe it's harmless," Saetwo murmured as she and the others slowly moved backward.

"And maybe it wants to suck out our brains," Xekrai shot back. "Care to take a chance?"

The moaning was getting louder.

"On the count of three, we jump in and attack it," Xekrai whispered. "Everybody got it?"

The others nodded.

"One. . . two – "

The monster came staggering out of the bushes.

"I found you guys! I can't believe I – OW!!" He was cut off as a large rock hit him in the head.

"Conneda, you idiot!" Saetwo exclaimed to the perpetrator. "It's Uloobu!"

"I knew that," Conneda said quickly.

"What is he doing here?" Xekrai asked, looking none too happy.

Saetwo rushed over to where Uloobu was sprawled on the forest floor. "Uloobu, is that really you?" she asked. "Are you okay? We didn't know who you were!"

But Uloobu didn't look offended at all. "I actually found all of you!" he cheered as he jumped back into the air. "I thought I'd never catch up!"

"Why were you moaning?"

"I'm tired! I haven't gotten any sleep since I've been following you guys!"

"You've been following – ? Uloobu, did you come here all by yourself?"

"Oh, no. I came here with another group. But I left them back at Shelter Rock because. . . well, they didn't want me."

"What makes you think we want you?" said Xekrai. Several of the others nodded in firm agreement, while an equal amount gave Xekrai an annoyed look.

"Cut him some slack, Xekrai," said somebody. "We can't just not let him come with us."

"Please, Xekrai?" said Uloobu. "I had to leave the other group because of your dumb sister."

"Tyscene's here?" Xekrai looked genuinely surprised. "Wow, I didn't think she'd be smart enough to know how to get on the boat."

"Well, she's here. She and the other guys went north. Oh! And so did Echae."

The effect on Saetwo was instantaneous. "You saw Echae?!" she cried. "Is he okay? Is he mad at me? What did he say?"

"Geez, relax, Saetwo. He's fine. But he's with the other group now. They went the other way."

Saetwo looked completely crestfallen. After a moment of silence she glanced imploringly at Xekrai.

"There's no chance we could. . . you know. . . backtrack and go the other way?"

"Get a life, Saetwo. We're not wasting a whole day just so you can go beg Echae's forgiveness."

"But we don't know if the two paths ever meet up! We might never see the other guys again!"

"Never seeing Echae or my sister again? Hmm. . . I think I'll live. Now let's go."

Xekrai seemed to have forgotten about Uloobu, so as the group set off through the forest again, the latter quietly fell in to the back of the line and received no objection.

"I'm glad you're here, Uloobu," Saetwo reassured him. And it was the truth. She had no idea why – maybe it was just from knowing that Echae was all right – but having Uloobu with her was making her surprisingly happy.

-----

As the seemingly endless afternoon wore on, the journey began to take its toll on the group. Everyone was becoming tired and churlish, even Uloobu, who had never lashed out at anyone before. The path continued to wind aimlessly through the forest, and there was no sign they would be exiting it anytime soon.

Saetwo had been drowsily flying along when suddenly she jerked to a stop.

"Did you guys hear something?"

Everyone else stopped and listened cautiously.

"Like what?" asked Touli.

"I could've sworn I heard. . . laughing."

"I heard it too," Uloobu whimpered.

Everyone stood silently, but for a long moment there was nothing. Saetwo was about to dismiss it as a figment of her imagination when, out of nowhere, she heard it again. It was definitely someone laughing, and not kindly. And it was from close by.

The Zoombinis instictively huddled together.

"What could it be?" Uloobu asked in fear. Now there were multiple voices coming from all directions, all laughing sinisterly.

"They sound really nasty," Saetwo whispered. "They almost sound like – "

The forest exploded around them. At least that was how the Zoombinis perceived it, as the bushes surrounding them were ripped apart as a series of yellow blurs came bursting out of them. The Zoombinis all cried out at once as their attackers, cackling evilly all the while, surrounded them on all sides and created an impermeable circle.

"FLEENS!!" Saetwo screamed.

-----

No one in the group was old enough to have seen a Fleen before, but they had all heard the stories. Many years ago, the Fleens had lived together with the Zoombinis, and all of them together had run their successful trading business. However, the Fleens eventually became lazy and greedy, manipulating and cheating the Zoombinis, stealing their profits and nearly ruining their business. The Zoombinis had had no choice but to kick the Fleens off the island, and they had never been seen again. No one had ever figured out where they had gone. That question, of course, was now answered.

"What's this?" sneered one of them. "Zoombinis? On our island? We'll have to take care of this."

Now that she was seeing them for the first time, Saetwo realized that the Fleens were actually a lot like Zoombinis. Although they were much bigger, and lanky and yellow instead of round and blue, they too had no arms or mouth, and there were only a few variants among their hair, eyes, noses, and feet. The one who had just addressed them had two yellow braids under a viking helmet, a peach-colored nose, knee-high pink boots, and was glaring at them with not one, not two, but three eyes.

"Uh. . . we can explain," Xekrai stammered, and Saetwo thought it was the first time she had ever heard him completely without confidence.

"No need," growled a second Fleen. His head was covered by a red bandana and he had a dirty yellow nose. In place of his feet were the wheels from a tank, and it looked as though he had smeared mascara all over his eyes. "You're trespassing. That's all we need to know."

"But it was an accident!" Touli cried.

"Yeah," snickered a third Fleen, "and now you're about to have another accident."

Just as the Fleens were getting ready to inflict said accident on the helpless Zoombinis, a loud, clear voice rang out from behind them.

"What's going on here?!"

Every Fleen stopped what they were doing as terrified looks crossed their faces. The circle parted and, accompanied by the sound of an engine burning, a solitary figure flew up to them.

The Zoombinis were face to face with what must have been the most intimidating Fleen there had ever been. His hair was coiffed into a huge, purple, spiky mohawk, his eyes were hidden by a visor, his nose was dark gray, and his means of propulsion were two jetpak engines with flames blazing out of them whenever he moved.

"Zoombinis?" he remarked in incredulity. "Well, isn't this something. I must admit, when we sent those Bloats after you I didn't think you'd come here."

Saetwo's eyes bulged at the sound of that.

"That was you?!" Xekrai cried, completely furious. "Why you sick, twisted, underhanded – "

"Shaddup!" snapped one of the Fleens, giving him a powerful smack to the face. Xekrai had never fallen silent so quickly.

"They're feisty little ones," another one remarked to their apparent leader. "Whaddaya want we should do with 'em, Romelau?"

Saetwo hadn't thought she could receive a bigger shock, but here it was.

"Wait – you're Romelau?!" she exclaimed, her head reeling. "But – but I thought Romelau was a Bloat!"

"Well, then, you thought wrong, didn't you?" the leader of the Fleens replied. Even without a mouth, it was obvious there was a wicked grin on his face.

Saetwo had never been so confused, or so horrified. How could this be Romelau? The Romelau she knew had been on Zoombini Isle this whole time. He had nearly killed her –

And then she realized it. The only time she had actually heard Romelau's name being spoken was on board that ship, when the two Bloats had been talking about him – but they had never explicitly said who Romelau was. She had only assumed. . . .

"I'm so stupid," she muttered to herself.

"You're all pretty stupid, if you ask me," said Romelau – the actual one. "First you send us here, then we let those blockheads the Bloats know about your great little island, just to even the score out – and you get away from them by coming to the same place you sent us to?!"

"To be fair, our parents were the ones who got rid of you," Conneda offered weakly.

"And they didn't send you here! They had no idea where you went!" Saetwo added.

"Well, that doesn't really matter now. It's not every day a group of Zoombinis walks right into your hands, or lack thereof. Oh, revenge is sweet."

"Anyone got an idea?" Saetwo anxiously asked the others as the circle of Fleens closed in.

"I got a pretty good one," said Xekrai.

"What?"

"RUN!!"

-----

It was only by taking the Fleens completely by surprise that the Zoombinis managed to burst out of the circle and get away. Naturally, though, at the word from Romelau every Fleen present took off after them.

For what felt like forever the entire group fled through the forest, the Fleens always in hot pursuit as they bellowed threats at the top of their lungs. Several times a Zoombini tripped and barely managed to evade being captured, and poor Uloobu was lagging behind as always, flying around erratically as he attempted to keep up.

"We have to hide!" Saetwo shouted to Xekrai when they had finally gained some ground. "We can't outrun them for much longer!"

"Fine! Everybody get behind these bushes!"

Obediently, all sixteen Zoombinis threw themselves behind a massive clump of bushes that was large enough to obscure them all from view. All of them lay panting, not daring to speak, listening for a sign that the Fleens were coming. But there was nothing.

"Somebody go see what's going on," Xekrai whispered after a moment.

Taking it upon herself, Saetwo very slowly rose up and peered over the top of the bushes.

The Fleens were all gathered about twenty feet away, waiting for them. Most of them were standing on one of the ledges of a large knoll, but Romelau and two others were perched on top of an adjacent tree branch.

"Come on out, little Zoombinis," Romelau sang. "You can't get away."

Saetwo ducked back down. "We're in trouble," she concluded.

"Well, that does it," Xekrai declared. "I'm not gonna sit back here hiding until they get us. I have a bone to pick with these guys."

"Xekrai, don't!" several people whispered, but he ignored them all and stepped out of the bushes to face the Fleens.

"Come and get me, Romelau!" he shouted. "My dad's dead because of you!"

The Zoombinis peered out from behind the bushes to see what would happen. The Fleens laughed amongst themselves, and not Romelau, but the Fleen standing next to him, leapt off the tree branch and charged at Xekrai.

"Woah! Hey! Get away from me!" Xekrai cried as the Fleen chased him around and around the tree. Just as it looked like he would be caught, he got away by scrambling up the trunk and safely onto a branch opposite the one the Fleens were standing on. Unfortunately, his pursuer parked herself directly underneath him, effectively trapping Xekrai in the tree.

"What do you want with me?!" he shouted down at her. "Is your boss too scared to take me on?"

"We have to help him!" Uloobu fretted from behind the bush. "Saetwo, how many of them are there?"

Saetwo did a quick count. "Sixteen," she replied grimly. "One for each of us."

"We can't all go out there," said Conneda. "I can handle this."

No sooner had he rolled out into the open than another Fleen eyed him sinisterly and jumped off the hill.

"AAAAAAAHHHH!!!" Conneda screamed as the Fleen chased him up the tree, right next to Xekrai.

"Nice going, genius," Xekrai grumbled.

"Why is only one going after them at a time?" Uloobu wondered.

"I don't know," said Saetwo. "But Uloobu, look!" She nudged him and gestured at something hanging from the branch that the Fleens were standing on.

"There's a beehive on that tree branch! If we can just get the other Fleens to jump off of it, it might shake it up and the bees will come out! Then we can get away!"

"But we'll have to figure out which Fleen wants each one of us."

As Uloobu spoke, Saetwo was staring intently at all the different Fleens, then looking back at the Zoombinis behind her. All the while she was thinking back to the Allergic Cliffs and the Cave Guards. After a moment her eyes lit up.

"And I think I know how."

She called up Touli and two other Zoombinis. "You guys all need to go out there."

All three of them looked horrified. "What? Why us?!" Touli protested.

"You'll see. I promise, I know what I'm doing. Just go out there, please? You'll be safe once you make it to the tree."

The three of them glanced uneasily at each other, but finally Touli broke the ice.

"Okay, but only because you usually figure this stuff out, Saetwo. If anyone else asked us I wouldn't do it."

She ever so cautiously bounced out from the bushes and gestured for the others to follow.

All at once, three Fleens started laughing maniacally and jumped down, each one targeting a different Zoombini. Two of them leapt off the hill, but the one chasing after Touli jumped off the tree branch. As he did, the branch, as well as the beehive, shook dangerously.

For several chaotic moments all six of them were scampering madly around the tree, but before long all three Zoombinis were safely cowering on the opposite branch.

"Saetwo, what was that all about?!" Uloobu exclaimed.

"Have a look, Uloobu. What do Touli and the other guys all have in common?"

"They all have green noses?"

"Right. They're the only ones who have green noses. Now look at the Fleens. What do they have in common?"

"They all have three eyes."

"Uloobu, there really is one for each of us! They're matched up with us by their features! Those guys are the only ones with three eyes, which means they must each go with somebody with a green nose! I knew one of those guys would get that Fleen off the tree branch."

"Great. Now we just have to worry about the big guy," Uloobu said with a gulp as he gazed up at Romelau, still perched high up on the branch and glaring down at them.

"Whatever you're planning, it won't work!" he shouted at them. "There's no getting away from us! We've waited too long for this!"

"So which one of us is Romelau going to go after?" Saetwo pondered.

"Uh. . . Saetwo?"

Saetwo turned to Uloobu to find he had gone deathly pale.

"Saetwo, only he and one other Fleen over there have his crazy purple mohawk. And you and I. . . we're the only two who've got propellers." He looked at her fearfully. "It's gonna be one of us."

Saetwo looked back out and, after a moment of studying, realized with a jolt that he was right.

"We can't both go out there," she said. "There's not enough room left on the branch for both of us."

"I'll go first," Uloobu offered with uncharacteristic bravery. "If Romelau doesn't go after me, we'll know who he does want."

"Uloobu, no! It's too dangerous!"

"I don't care. I'm doing it anyway." He started to fly out, then glanced back at her. "Good luck, Saetwo. I know you'll teach him a lesson."

He flew out of the bushes, and after a heart-pounding moment, one Fleen jumped down and leapt directly at him – but it wasn't Romelau.

Saetwo's heart sank. That meant Romelau, the feared leader of all the Fleens, was waiting just for her.

"Saetwo, you can't go out there!" someone whispered.

"He'll get you for sure!" someone else agreed. "You can't fit on the branch!"

"If my plan works, I won't need to get on the branch," she whispered back, her eyes never leaving the precariously hanging beehive.

She turned back to the others. "If he does get me, you guys need to get out of here as fast as you can. Don't worry about me. I'll be okay."

The group slowly nodded.

Saetwo turned around, pausing for one second longer, and took a deep breath. "Here goes nothing."

And she flew out into the open.

"There you are!" Romelau declared in triumph.

The events that followed happened almost too quickly for Saetwo to process. All she was fully aware of was Romelau dive-bombing her from atop the tree branch, flying directly at her, flames shrieking from his engines. She barely got out of the way in time, and for one frenzied second she flew blindly around the tree, not knowing what to do, hearing her friends' panicked shouts coming from all around, knowing that Romelau was right behind her –

Suddenly there was a buzzing sound. Everyone, Zoombini and Fleen alike, stopped what they were doing and turned to face the source of the noise.

The beehive was trembling violently, and from inside of it was a low, angry buzz that was getting louder by the second.

"RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!" Romelau screamed.

A swarm of bees came pouring out of the hive, causing a mass frenzy. The Fleens began running, rolling, or flying around in all directions, screaming as they were stung again and again. The six Zoombinis in the tree managed to get down and scamper back behind the bush just before the bees could get to them.

"Let's get out of here!" Xekrai cried out, and all the Zoombinis took off after him as fast as they could.

"You'll all pay for this!!" Romelau's thunderous roar came from behind them, although nearly drowned out by the droning of the bees and the cries of the other Fleens. "We'll be back! You can't get away! Revenge will be ours!!"

-----

A few minutes later, after they were too exhausted to run any farther, the Zoombinis slowly came to a stop in another part of the forest. For a few moments they stood in complete silence, glancing at one another. Then finally, all of them, even Xekrai, burst out laughing at the same time.

"I can't believe it!" said Conneda, absolutely cracking up. "I can't believe that just happened!"

"Saetwo and Uloobu did it!" Touli cheered. "They beat the Fleens! That'll teach them never to mess with us!"

"I must admit," Xekrai sighed, "you guys were pretty good."

"Really?" Saetwo said brightly. "So how about letting us be the leaders now?"

Any look of graciousness that Xekrai had instantly disappeared.

"What? Let you be leaders?! Over my dead body!! Like I'd even consider that for a second! I'm the only leader this group will ever have! And that is – "

"Hey, Xekrai," said Uloobu, "there's a bee behind you."

"What? No there's – OW!!"

For the next several minutes, all the Zoombinis stood back and watched as Xekrai ran around in circles, trying unsuccessfully to get away from the lone bee that was pursuing him. Saetwo laughed along with the others, feeling happier than she had in a long time.