A/N: I'm uploading this chapter quick because of the hold-up caused by Fanfiction.net's cruddy computer network...

***Tom, Alex, Phi, and Devic's View***

Phi sat waiting with anticipation for Trycos to come back it had almost been thirty minutes, or half a day and she was curious, if not a little frightened, about what was going to happen next. The guy was totally erratic and she had no clue what they were here for, except that he wanted them there, which was a very strange answer.

Alex smiled nervously at her and took her hand into his, trying to reassure her, and himself, that nothing was going to happen. Tom had zoned out long ago and was staring unblinkingly at the wall behind Phi and Devic, although used to long periods of silence, was beginning to get extremely bored and was tracing the design on the floor rug with his fingers on the ground.

Devic sighed. There was something about this room that made things seem extra boring. Maybe because of the time difference and the fact that the last five minutes that he spent on the ground was actually two hours in the real world. He flopped back onto the overstuffed couch and began to pick at a loose thread that was poking out along the seam.

Finally, the wooden door opened again and, just as he had said he would, Trycos stepped into the room. Alex's squeeze on Phi's hand became tighter and Tom seemed to snap out of his daze. He stepped jauntily over to them and rocked back in forth on his heels, "So, have you thought about your predicament yet?"

Tom's gaze hardened, "As a matter of fact, I did..."

"And?" Trycos's eyebrow rose as if to emphasis his curiosity.

"We won't be part of your little game Trycos. You can go pick up some other toys to play with..."

Phi, Alex, and Devic whipped their heads around to stare at Tom. This wasn't what they had planned on doing! What was he thinking?

An almost gleeful smirk appeared on Trycos's face and he said in mock sympathy, "Then I'm afraid I will have to convince you otherwise..."

A strange milky haze washed over the stone walls and the door, then it swept over the ceiling and the floor. It looked for all the world as if the two couches, the rug, and the five of them were hovering in a vast, empty space of nothingness.

The four of them were awestruck for a moment at what had just happened, then quickly turned back to Trycos as he began to speak again, "You see, I have the power to control what you see, hear, smell, taste, and even feel. In this room, I can make your nightmares and deepest fears become reality or your biggest dreams come true. I have the power here and you are indeed only toys for me to play with."

Tom tried to look calm, but Phi heard a slight shaking in his voice, "There is no way that you could possibly do all that. You're bluffing."

"Oh, am I?" A psychotic grin appeared on Trycos's face and he lowered his eyes, as if concentrating.

The four spun around and desperately began looking for anything out of the ordinary that Trycos could be thinking of conjuring up, but only Phi noticed it at first. Maybe that is because it happened to her.

A small, tickling sensation ran through her body. At first she thought it was only a shiver, but then the feeling became more intense around her middle. Suddenly, her muscles seemed to contract and a sting shot through her. She doubled over in pain on the couch and Alex called out to the others and slid over to her, a worried expression on his face.

Phi felt the temperature in her body began to rise and the pain grew and spread from her stomach to her chest. She broke out into a cold sweat and fell on her knees to the ground. Alex tried to lunge forward, but found that he couldn't move; neither could Tom and Devic.

Trycos's grin became wider as Phi struggled inwardly, trying to ward of the white hot pain that was beginning to spread up her neck into her head, trying to convince herself that none of it was real. She gasped for breath but found that the air couldn't reach her lungs. Slowly, she collapsed into a heap on the rug, and the rest of them watched on helplessly as she struggled hopelessly for a last breath and finally stopped moving altogether and grew still.

Tears fell from Tom's eyes. How could he have let this happen to Phi, his baby sister? Next to him, Devic stared horrified at Phi's body, not quite believing that one of his best friends was dead. Alex lunged forward again, and finding that he was finally able to move, jumped out of the seat and landed next to Phi.

He turned her over carefully, not caring that Trycos was watching on, and lifted her head up with his hand, "God no...it's not true. Please God, say it's not true..." Tom put his head in his hands, Devic began to whisper a prayer under his breath, and Alex pressed Phi close to him, stroking her back with his free hand, "...You can't be dead..."

Trycos laughed and a huge surge of hatred raged up into Alex's chest, "You fools! Of course it isn't real!"

Phi's eyes snapped open and she gasped for air. Tom seemed to collapse in his seat with relief and Devic sighed happily. Alex grasped Phi even tighter and carefully lifted her onto the couch again, looking overjoyed but extremely pissed off at the same time, which is not an easy thing to do. He gave Trycos a deathly glare and released Phi so she could shakily return to a sitting position. The man laughed again, "You four are so easily fooled! The only one who didn't believe Phiona was dying was Phiona! You all are going to be much more fun to play with than I thought! But really, you boys should have realized it first thing. I was playing off your fears! Can you believe that all three of you had a fear of Phi here getting hurt? It was just too good of an opportunity to pass up..."

Phi's face finally returned to its normal color, "But...but I died! I felt myself die!"

Trycos circled behind the couches and the white began to fade and disappear and the room returned to its normal self again too, "You thought you were dying. In fact, you stopped believing it was a trick after I stopped you from breathing. After that, it was easy to pretend that you were indeed deceased."

The man spun on his heal, began walking towards the door, but stopped as his hand was on the handle, "Next time I come, I'll have to dig a little deeper. Oh! Never mind! I just thought of a great game..."

He turned the handle, stepped outside, and slammed the door behind him.

***Outside, in the Palace***

Numair gathered Owen and Esmond up into a loose huddle after hours of working on how to find Alex, Tom, Phi, and Devic, "All right, I think that I may have discovered the type of spell that the kidnapper would have used to pass through a solid wall. I would have suggested at first that it was an illusion, but since you, Esmond, say you actually touched the wall, that doesn't seem very likely. However, I have found a way to make solid things permeable. It is not an easy spell mind you, in fact it took me several hours to prepare last night, but I think that I should be able to work with it now..."

The mage turned around to face the wall behind him and began to focus his Gift onto it while muttering what Esmond and Owen assumed was the spell incantation. Numair drew a symbol with his right hand onto the wall and there was a flash of light. He dropped his hands and looked very pleased with himself, "There we go! Go ahead you two, try to go through it..."

Esmond and Owen looked at each other, shrugged, and stepped towards the wall. Owen stuck out his arm and gasped as it passed right through the rocks. Esmond, stared at Owen's arm, or really, where Owen's arm should have been, then got up his courage and stepped all the way through. The knight passed through the wall and ended up in what looked like a cellar.

Numair and Owen soon joined him on the other side and Owen looked around, "We must be under the dinning hall!"

Numair cast a glance around, "Yes, I suppose we are. Well then, now that we know it works properly, let us go back and tell Alanna so we can leave and go find Tom, Alex, Phi, and Devic."

The two knights nodded and were about to follow Numair. As the mage walked quickly towards the wall, instead of going through it, he ran smack into it and fell to the ground. Owen helped him up while trying desperately to hide a smile and Esmond had to turn around. Numair stood up and looking slightly dazed said, "I guess the spell wore off! We'll have to go the long way then, come on!"

Numair rubbed his nose where it had hit the rocks and led the way up a flight of rickety wooden stairs to the kitchen, surprising several cooks as he pushed up the trap door that was at the top of the staircase, stepped out, and brushed his robes off. Owen and Esmond came next, grinning politely at the startled looks on the servants faces to see two knights and a black robe mage come out of their cellar and hurried out into the dinning hall, where the three of them got more strange stares.

In the dinning hall luckily no one seemed to notice them, probably because of all the bustle of suppertime activity and they slipped back out into the hallway without being questioned easily.

When they got outside the room Numair turned to the other two and in a business like manner said, "Now that we know it works, we should go find Lady Alanna and tell her that we are ready to go as soon as she and George can locate Tom, Alex, Phi, and Devic."'

Owen looked surprised, "You mean they know what happened to them?"

"Yes. After Alanna found George last night, he told her about a man who might have kidnapped them. She told me this morning, but she told me not to tell you two until I found a way to pass through solid objects."

An annoyed look flashed across Esmond's face about not being told but Owen seemed to somewhat understand the reason for all the secrecy.

The three headed down the main staircase and were about to step outside when someone called out to them from behind. Numair, Esmond, and Owen spun around to come face to face with a grinning Kel.

Esmond and Owen jogged over to greet her and soon they were engaged deep in conversation.

Kel gestured over to the locked double doors at the top of the staircase, "What is going on in there? Are they still trying to work out a treaty?"

Esmond nodded, "Yes, and they've been at it for days...Arguing and fighting into the late hours of the night. I think that Rauol is about ready to crack and choke one of the diplomats though, he looked pretty grumpy the last time I passed him in the hall..."

Owen turned to Kel, "And Dom isn't having such a swell time either. He would probably like to know that you are back and it would be an excellent excuse for him to take a break. When did you get back anyway?"

"Just a few minutes ago. In fact, Tobe is still putting Peachblossom and Hoshi away...By the way, where were you three going?"

"To look for Alanna to tell her that Numair is ready to find Tom, Alex, Phi, and Devic."

"What?!" A shocked expression appeared on Kel's face and her jaw seemed to drop, "The same Tom, Alex, and Phi that were here three years ago?! And Devic?! They're back?!? When...how...why are they missing?!"

Esmond cast a glance at Owen. He had forgotten that Kel hadn't been in the city for the past few months and probably had no idea what was going on. He took a deep breath and said, "They got here about a week ago because an immortal was in their dimension and they needed to get it back here so Numair re-opened the portal and they accidentally got pulled through along with the immortal. They have been disappearing one by one over the past three days, starting with Alex, then Tom, then Phi and Devic but they are hidden by some kind of magical spell and Numair has been working over the past two days on a way to get through it. He found a way and now we are going to go find Lady Alanna so we can go find them."

As Esmond spoke, Kel's eyes went from him to Owen to Numair, then back to him and her jaw seemed to drop even further, "Okay...I guess I missed a lot of action...Give me just a few minutes, I want to come with you, but I want to change first...I haven't washed these clothes for a month..."

Esmond and Owen took a small step away from her and realized that she was covered in filth and several layers of dirt and mud. They nodded and she jogged up the stairs.

Numair looked at them, "She better not take too much time to change, otherwise, it will be pitch black and freezing by the time we set out."

Owen turned to him and grinned, "Don't worry. One thing you learn about Kel is that she can be very fast when she wants to be..."

"Hmm...Still women are known for taking their time freshening up and Kel..."

He was interrupted by the second lady knight as she practically ran down the staircase, "All right, I am ready! Let's go!"

Owen gave Numair a ha-I-was-right look and they started down the cobblestone path and out towards the city.