"You're a nerd, Mr. Mayor?" asked Dash, perplexed. "But that's for poor people!"
"I hardly think those things are mutually exclusive," replied Vlad. "At least, not when it comes to yours truly."
"What?"
"He says he's both," said Sam slowly, as if to a child.
"Oh."
"But my nerdiness is not the point! We need to get this item and we can go home. Hopefully with a way to defeat Undergrowth and Vortex."
. * . * .
"Will you two cut it out?" Tucker was not about to get in the middle of a girl fight, but he really needed them to work together.
"Tell her that!" they both said, pointing their fingers at one another. Valerie and Paulina used to be friends. This fact did not stop them from laying into each other with all the vehement, shallow spite and fight that they could muster.
Tucker just wanted to get what Vlad suggested and get out. Hopefully, he didn't tear out his hair by the end of it.
. * . * .
Amorpho swung his cane in a high arc over his head. It crashed down onto the little piece of plastic with a resounding crack.
From the wreckage of the tiny chess rook, a very tired ghost boy fell.
He saw Amorpho and heaved a great sigh of relief.
. * . * .
She could not steal what she desired, for it was magic and she was not strong enough to take it without permission.
The gold would, for a time longer, remain out of her dead hands.
. * . * .
Wes worried.
Jazz had collapsed, pale and shaky. The wound on her hand was oozey and grotesque. It made Wes stomach turn.
He could not bring her into the books. When he puppeteered her body to open a book, she did not appear in the book's world. When he used it and placed her hand on the pages, she remained in the Doorless Room.
Wes worried.
He asked Byrnhilda what to do. She did not know any medical actions besides alcohol and sleep. He asked the townspeople of Faust; they told him they knew not what ailed her. They could give no other advice but to bring her to them. He could not.
The other books were a bust likewise. The first, the one with the cliff and the sea, titled Cliff He Saw, held nothing but the cliff, the sea, and the house. He found no people and no help.
The next, Meadows: An Empty World of Green, held only green, just as its title proclaimed.
The third, How to Play Chess, contained but one woman; any questions asked of her not related to chess were answered thus: "I'm sorry, that's not chess." Without fail.
The fourth, PIDGEON, held only a giant pigeon. Wes nearly wet himself in fright the first time he beheld it. It did not help him.
The fifth, The Pumpkin Lord Doesn't Like You, was full of people drastically different to Faust in all but one front: They did not know how to help him help Jazz.
The sixth, Seekers of the Lost Koste, was the book Jazz had visited while they fought. The two people Wes found upon entering it knew Jazz when he asked. They were dismayed to hear of her predicament, but frustratingly (to all parties involved) they could not help.
He took to pacing. When he could pace no more, he sat on the floor beside Jazz's unconscious body. When he could sit no more, he lay. When he could lay no more, he slept.
. * . * .
He dreamt of Danny once again. Gone was the moon. Now Danny was in the presence of a duck. A duck which floated without the use of its wings. And which was talking.
"You must get to the Ghost King's Keep and stop it from being ransacked!" said the duck.
"Who's ransacking it?" Danny was looking tired but rather well for someone who had previously been crushed by the sky of a maniacal smiling moon, all things considered.
Wes tried to speak, for he was not aware he was dreaming. No sound came from him. He tried to run forward and get Danny's attention, but he was sluggish and slow as if he were made of some heavy metal and also submerged in honey.
. * . * .
Vlad led the children from the Keep of Pariah Dark as they hurtled from it.
"Mr. Masters! I thought you said this would be easy!" yelled Dash.
"I said the first part would be!"
"Shut up and run!" ordered Sam.
The Fright Knight was hot on their heels. "Stop in the name of the Ghost King! I demand you return the Crown of Fire or else His Majesty will smite you!"
"Vlad, I hope you know what you're doing!" shouted Sam over the voice of the Fright Knight.
"Of course I do!"
. * . * .
"Valerie, I could really use some cover fire!" yelled Tucker.
"I'm kinda busy here!" Valerie returned. She was shooting at a horde of Skulker's prey, who were advancing.
"Now, my beasts! Bring them to me!" commanded Skulker, raising the Crystal Ball Staff menacingly forward.
"Poor person, with the tiny computers! He has the stick thingy!" said Paulina.
"My name's Tucker! And I know." He was typing furiously on his PDA. "Apparently, Skulker's upgraded his security since last time I fought him!"
"Well, hack faster!" Val ordered. "These beast ghosts aren't getting any easier to deal with!"
"I think we can help!"
"Danny!"