When Marina regained her bearings, she found herself on what felt like a cold marble floor. There was no sound to be heard-not even birds singing, or cars going by on the street. She groped for her cane, and found it lying nearby. Then a little girl's voice spoke to her.

"Morgan, this will go much more smoothly if she can see us."

The blind girl suddenly sensed a hand passing in front of her face-followed by an explosion of light.

She rubbed her eyes in disbelief. "I can...see?"

There wasn't much to see. Emptiness seemed to extend in all directions. The sky was dark blue and featureless. It clearly wasn't Earth as she remembered it.

Then, in front of her, four figures materialized. The shortest of them was Pickles the Pomeranian. "Welcome to Spiritus Mundi," she said with a wicked sneer. "I hope you enjoy your stay. With any luck it will be brief."

"Who are you?" asked Marina.

"I am the ruler of this domain. My subjects call me Dread Sovereign Lord, but you may refer to me as Pickles. And these three are my counselors."

One of the counselors was an ageless-looking, wavy-haired woman wearing skins and a breastplate. "I am known by many names, but in your books of legend I am called Morgan le Fay."

Another of the counselors was a well-groomed man wearing a Victorian-era suit. "Professor James Moriarty, at your service," he said, bowing.

The last of the counselors was a tall, emaciated man wearing a long robe and a hood.

"And here is a man who needs no introduction," said Pickles. "You, of all people, should recognize him."

And she recognized him indeed. "Lord Moldywart!"

"The very same," said the robed figure.

"I must be dreaming," said Marina. "You're all fictional characters. And I shouldn't be able to see."

"You became fictional as well, when you entered our universe," said Pickles. "Your laws of physics don't apply here. The only limit is imagination. My imagination."

"What do you want with me?"

"Nothing. I'm only trying to ensure the cooperation of your friend Prunella."

"If these are your counselors," said Marina, glaring at the trio, "then you must be planning something evil."

Pickles laughed. "Your simplistic notions of good and evil amuse me. I'll have you know that I invited Sherlock Holmes, Merlin, and Professor Dumbledork to assist me, but they declined. I can't imagine why."

"What did you say this place is called?"

"Spiritus Mundi. Everything you imagine in the real world comes to life here. That's why you're holding a conversation with fictional characters."

"But all I see is empty space," said Marina, looking in all directions.

"You see what I allow you to see," said Pickles. "Would you like to see more?"

"Yes."

Pickles snapped her fingers. Suddenly there appeared, on all sides of Marina, a gigantic horde—every villain, fiend, and monster ever fabricated by the imagination. She gasped in horror.

"I didn't want to show you everything at once," said Pickles, "lest it should overwhelm your newfound sense of sight."

"I changed my mind," Marina begged. "Make them go away!"

Pickles snapped her fingers again, and the hosts of evil vanished.

"You say you're not evil," said Marina. "Then how do you explain this?"

"Heroes and villains have a hard time working together for some reason. So I had to pick a side."

"What do you want with Prunella?"

"I want her to keep the portal open through Halloween. If she does, then I'll release you. Otherwise, you can kiss your cute little bunny tail goodbye!"


"Pickles let me talk to Marina," recounted Prunella to D.W. and Nadine. "She told me that Spiritus Mundi is a place where everything we imagine becomes reality."

"You mean Mary Moo Cow is there?" asked D.W. excitedly.

"Yeah," said Nadine, "but I don't think she'll be coming through the portal on Halloween."

"There's no telling what kinds of evil exist in Spiritus Mundi," said Prunella fearfully. "If they manage to cross over into our world, we're all doomed!"

"Then what do we do?" D.W. wondered.

"We need to think of a plan. Some way to get Marina back. And we've got only two days, or else we'll have to say goodbye to her forever. Nadine, do you know what time Pickles is planning to invade on Halloween?"

"No."

"That means we only have until midnight on Halloween morning."

"We need a plan!" Nadine urged. "Think, girls!"

They thought for a few minutes, and then D.W.'s face lit up.

"I have an idea!"

After she had shared her idea with the other girls, they hurried to Prunella's house and sat down in front of the astral portal.

"Spiritus Mundi," Prunella intoned.

The interior of the portal started to glow red, and waves of light rose from it.. Pickles rose out of the portal and floats in midair, as she had done before.

"Nadine, you traitor!" she growled. "How dare you show your face!"

"I'm the one you really want," said the squirrel girl fearlessly. "Let Marina go and take me instead."

Prunella and D.W. looked at Nadine in horror while Pickles considered her proposal.

"It's a trick," she decided.

"No tricks," Nadine promised.

"I don't trust you."

"I don't trust you either."

"All right," said Pickles, "if you're serious about this, then come through the portal and surrender yourself to me. Then maybe, just maybe, I'll let Marina go."

"Don't do it, Nadine!" cried D.W.

"It's a trap!" Prunella warned.

"It's the only way," said Nadine with a tone of resignation.

She stepped into the portal and started to sink through the waves of light as Pickles watches from above. Once Nadine had disappeared from view, the evil pom smiled and descended into the portal after her.

"Now, D.W.!" said Prunella, and the aardvark girl pressed her fingers against her temples and started to concentrate hard.

A moment later, Marina came flying through the portal and landed on the floor. Then her cane flew out and landed on the other side of the room.

"Marina!" Prunella exclaimed. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah," said the rabbit girl, picking herself up. "But I'm blind again."

D.W., meanwhile, continued to concentrate.

In Spiritus Mundi, Pickles and her counselors surrounded Nadine. "You let her go," said the little girl. "Maybe there's hope for you."

"Keeping real people here consumes resources," Pickles explained.

"What should we do with her?" asked Morgan le Fay.

"Torture her until she begs for death," replied Pickles, "and then torture her some more."

As Lord Moldywart pointed his deadly wand at the terrified Nadine, there was a sudden flash of light, and a tricycle appeared next to the girl.

Only this was no ordinary tricycle. It was a radioactive Play-Doh-powered time tricycle!

"Way to go, D.W.!" said Nadine with a smile.

Before Pickles and the three counselors could stop her, Nadine jumped on the tricycle, adjusted the control to go backwards in time, and started to pedal. A few seconds later she and the tricycle disappeared.

"Curses!" snarled Pickles.

Floating invisibly in the air, Nadine watched in awe as events transpired in reverse time below her. "More some her torture then and death for begs she until her torture," she heard Pickles say.

Suddenly a portal opened nearby, and both Marina and her cane rapidly descended through it. Seeing a chance for escape, Nadine steered the tricycle toward the portal and pedaled wildly. She passed through just before it closed.

Now in the real world again, she saw Prunella and D.W. below her, gazing at the astral portal. By the time she realized that the tricycle was still moving at considerable speed, she had already phased through the wall of Prunella's house.

"How do I stop this thing?" she wondered as the tricycle carried her over one city block after another.

Nadine pushed a button on the console, and the tricycle started to spin around. As she struggled to hold on, she watched the sun and moon flash through the sky in an alternating sequence-going from west to east. "I'm still going backwards!" she exclaimed.

Dazed and disoriented, she managed to push another button on the console, and everything went black...

She opened her eyes. She was lying on a bare wooden floor, the time tricycle overturned by her side. Picking herself up, she easily recognized the place as D.W.'s room. The clock read 2 a.m.

Awaked by the noise, D.W. sat up in her bed, yawned, and rubbed her eyes. It occurred to Nadine that something was different about this D.W.—she was younger and smaller.

D.W. gasped when she saw the strange little blond girl in her room. "Who are you?" she asked.

"I'm not really here," said Nadine. "You're imagining me."

"Okay," said D.W., satisfied with the explanation. "My name's D.W."

"I'm Nadine."

"Will you be my friend?"

"Sure."

The D.W. of the past hopped out of her bed, overjoyed at having her own imaginary friend. "What is that thing?" she asked, pointing at the tricycle.

"It's a time tricycle," said Nadine as she turned it over. "Some day I'll let you ride it."

In the present day the situation was getting tense, as Pickles had reappeared in the portal, fuming mad. "So you thought you could rescue Nadine with your little time toy. Well, I don't see her anywhere. She must still be on my side of the portal!"

D.W. closed her eyes and clenched her fists. "Come ON, Nadine!"

"You've only forced me to accelerate my plans," said Pickles, rising higher into the air. "Army of Spiritus Mundi...ATTACK!"

Not only the astral portal, but the entire room began to tremble.

Realizing that time had run out, Prunella leaped to her feet, grabbed one of the planks in the portal's wooden frame, and yanked it upward with all her might. The candles scattered and went out. The waves of light dissipated. The trembling ceased.

"NOOOOO..." shrieked Pickles as her body dissolved into mist.

Her heart pounding, Prunella grabbed a hammer from the top of her dresser and started to pry the nails from the wooden frame.

"Oh, I hope Nadine made it!" said D.W.

As if in response to her wish, Nadine and the time tricycle materialized with a popping sound and ran directly into the wall with a loud crash.

The squirrel girl tumbled to the floor and put her hands over her head. "Ooowww..."

"Nadine!" gushed D.W. "I've never been so happy to see you!"

Nadine pulled herself painfully to her feet. "I'm not riding that thing again until I get a pilot's license," she declared.


Later that day, Prunella invited some friends over to look at the time tricycle that Nadine had retrieved from Spiritus Mundi. The gathered throng included Marina, D.W., Nadine, Bonnie, Toru, Arthur, Alan, Francine, and Muffy.

"I don't believe you," Francine said to Prunella. "There's no such thing as a real time machine."

"If you don't believe it, try it out and see for yourself."

"I'd look funny. Besides, I'll bet this is some kind of Halloween prank."

"All these stories about time travel and other dimensions are, like, totally entertaining, but I'm hungry," said Bonnie. "Where are the Halloween snacks?"

"Doesn't anybody want to ride it?" asked Prunella.

The other kids hesitated.

"I'll ride it," Alan offered. "If for no other reason, to debunk your theory."

"Go for it, Alan!" cheered D.W.

"What time period do you want to visit?" asked Prunella as Alan mounted the tricycle.

"Why not go forward to our high school graduation?" suggested Arthur.

"And bring back some hot stock tips while you're at it," said Muffy.

Alan perused the controls. "Hmm. This digital readout must tell me the current date and time. And this keypad is choosing a time to visit."

"Just start pedaling already," said Nadine.

"No, no," said Alan. "I need to be scientific about this. Now, our high school graduation will be in approximately eight years, eight months, and two weeks." He pushed some buttons on the console. "Okay, that should do it."

"I'm just waiting for green ink to start squirting all over you," joked Francine.

"Well, here goes nothing," said Alan.

"And here comes nothing," Bonnie added.

Alan started pedaling, and the environs of Prunella's house vanished before his eyes.

The next thing he knew, he was hovering high above Elwood City. The sun was in the center of the sky. He looked around and beheld that there was more traffic in the neighborhood than before, and the cars were more futuristic in style.

"I suppose I should try the high school," he thought.

He steered the tricycle in what he guessed was the direction of the high school, and started pedaling. As he sailed over the city, however, he heard a teenage boy's voice calling out to him. He knew immediately whom the voice belonged to.

"Hey, alien! Land here!"

Alan looked down, and sure enough, 18-year-old versions of Buster, Arthur, and Francine are gazing back up at him. He pointed the tricycle toward the ground and started to descend.

"Wait, that's not an alien," exclaimed Francine. "It's Alan Powers!"

"But he's a little boy," said Arthur.

"Then he was telling the truth about having traveled in time," Buster observed.

"Hey, guys," Alan greeted them as he floated onto the pavement.

"Good to see you, Alan from the past," said Arthur.

"I can't believe this thing really works," Alan marveled.

Teenage Arthur, Francine, and Buster invited Alan and his tricycle to Arthur's house, where they offered to fill him in on the events of the past nine years. Fourteen-year-old D.W. and ten-year-old Kate were also present.

"Do you expect me to believe that this is Alan Powers from nine years in the past?" said Kate incredulously.

"He's as cute as Alan," D.W. remarked.

"I don't believe in this time travel rubbish," Kate groused. "It's a scientific impossibility."

"And talking to dogs isn't?" D.W. chided her.

"Well, Alan," Francine began, "the first thing we should tell you is...Arthur and I are getting married!"

"Fantastic!" exclaimed Alan.

"That's right," said Arthur. "Three more months. Then we're on our way to college."

"What will you study?"

"I have a piano performance scholarship, and Francine has a women's football scholarship."

"Women's football? Times have really changed."

"I'll bet you want to know what happened to you," said Buster while eating out of a bucket of ice cream.

"What did happen to me?"

"You graduated last year. You skipped fourth grade. Now you're at Stanford on a minority scholarship."

"Stanford? Wow! What am I studying? Please say astrophysics!"

"Art history."

"D'oh!"

"As for me, ever since they found a cure for asthma, I've been inspired to become a doctor. And my grades are good enough that I can go to med school."

"Lucky for you. What about the other kids?"

"Muffy moved to Crown City," said Francine. "She's a fashion model now."

"And Binky's going to study chemistry," said Arthur, "but his real ambition is to become a pro wrestler."

"Van's graduating too," said Buster. "There were a few times we thought we would lose him, but he's still going strong."

"Fern's going to Hollywood," said Francine. "Jean Stiles is a big star now, and she says she can get Fern into pictures."

"Beat moved back to England," said Arthur. "She's going to attend Oxford. She wants to be prime minister some day."

The kids fell silent for a moment.

"Do you want to tell him about Sue Ellen?" Arthur asked Francine somberly.

"Oh, right," said Francine. "Five years ago doctors found a cure for AIDS. But it was a little too late for Sue Ellen."

"You mean..." Alan's heart began to sink.

"We think she picked it up at a hospital in Africa," said Arthur.

"Omigosh," Alan mourned. "I can't go back to the past with news like that."

"As I recall," said Buster, "when you came back you wouldn't tell us anything."

"I wouldn't?"

"You were afraid of interfering with the flow of time, or something like that," said Francine. "Plus, we didn't really believe that you traveled in time anyway."

"I did warn Sue Ellen, didn't I?" Alan wondered.

"If you did, it didn't make any difference," Arthur observed.

"It was really sad," Buster recalled. "Mr. Armstrong gave up his job after that. Became a professor. They had a few more kids. They're still here."

"What about Prunella?" asked Alan, trying to change the subject.

"She gave up the whole fortune-telling thing in fifth grade," said Francine. "Said she didn't want to make contact with any more evil forces, or something to that effect. She graduated last year, and now she and Rubella have opened a restaurant."

"Their chicken pot pie is out of this world," said Buster.

"Wait a minute, Buster," said Alan. "I thought you moved to Chicago."

"We did. We stayed there for about a year, and Dad didn't like the job, so we moved back."

"Do you want to stick around and meet everyone?" Arthur asked Alan. "There's a party at George's tonight."

"What's George up to?"

"His neck in scholarships!"

"He's got the best grades of any of us," said Francine.

"Sure, I'd love to come," said Alan.

Nine-year-old Alan stayed at Arthur's house for a few days, meeting most of his old friends. He talked a lot with Kate about science. Eventually he decided that the time had come to return to his own time.

In front of Arthur's house, the whole 18-year-old gang waved goodbye to Alan as he prepared to travel back to the past.

Then, just as he was about to start pedaling, he was overcome by curiosity.

He changed the console settings. Instead of instructing the tricycle to travel nine years into the past, he told it to go into the future. 802,701 years into the future, to be exact. His 18-year-old friends fondly watched him pedal and disappear.

He seemed to be stuck in the time vortex forever. Then, finally, the time tricycle slowed down and came to a stop.

He found himself in the middle of what appeared to be a crowded public square. Then he was suddenly surrounded...by the strangest creatures he had ever seen.

Humans.

(To be continued in Arthur Goes Fourth II)