One more day to go! It's terrible! I haven't packed a thing yet, and I leave first thing tomorrow morning! I'm really trying, and I promise that I'll try as hard as I can to get this story done before tonite, even if that means uploading all the rest of the chapters at once, which I might have to end up doing anyway. So, there y'all have it!

chyp: I'm glad you thought it was stupendous! No one's ever used that word to describe my stuff! So you're the first! And that means a lot to me. Stupendous is such a nice word; people don't use it as much as they should, in my opinion. Oh well, enjoy your boy scout stuff and do a couple of good deeds for me!


James, John, and Wesley retreated to a small corner of the Council's chamber to discuss the situation. Surprisingly, Wesley had very little to say, although his opinions were clear through his expressions. Every now and then they would turn to look at the Council, to see if they might be spying on them, but the five members of the Council sat somewhat patiently, not bothering to listen, but having a telepathic conversation amongst themselves.

"There has to be another way for us to get Matt back without their help," James insisted.

"We've gone through this a million times," John asserted. "There's nothing else we can do by ourselves."

"Couldn't we write a spell or something to find Matt?" James asked.

"If this Sabo is as powerful as everybody makes him out to be," John explained, "then you and Wesley saying the spell wouldn't be enough to make it work. Whether or not you want to believe it, we're just going to have to work with them to make any progress."

"But I don't trust them," James said. "They're…they're evil!"

"What gave it away?" Wesley asked as he retreated back into silence.

"What do you think?" James asked, turning to his youngest brother.

"Me?" Wesley asked innocently. "I think…that…I'll stick with the majority."

"You have three seconds to choose," John said.

"Three seconds?" Wesley asked incredulously. "That's…"

"One," John counted.

"I don't…it's too…" Wesley stumbled.

"Two," John continued.

"Uh, I'll pick…" Wesley stammered on.

"Three," John finished as he and James glared at Wesley.

"Okay!" Wesley said. "Let's get it over with! And don't do that to me again."

Meanwhile, the Council were talking amongst themselves telepathically. They appeared to the three guests to be waiting patiently and unintrusively, but they were in fact plotting their own series of events.

"Of course not," Mastiphal thought to the others. "We will help them get their brother back so that they will have their full power of three. Then when we have accomplished our goal, we will kill them all."

"A perfect ending to a serendipitous situation," Andras added.


John, James, and Wesley had been falling for what seemed like hours through a vortex. They finally landed hard on their feet as they reached their destination. They looked around, but couldn't tell where they were from anything. Everywhere they looked, things had an eerie glow to them, not to mention that everything seemed to be the wrong color. It was as if everything had been changed to its opposite color, if that were even possible.

"Where did they send us?" Wesley asked. "This place is hurting my eyes."

"Wherever it is," James said, "it must be where Matt is. They wouldn't send us on a wild goose chase, not since they need us."

"Doesn't this place look familiar to y'all?" John asked.

"Should it?" Wesley asked. "It's all a weird negative color. I can't recognize anything. Even the floor is black-purpley."

"I have to agree," James added.

"James," John said, pointing, "isn't that your chemistry book on the table? And isn't that Wesley's psychology book and backpack? There's the picture of the three of y'all hanging on that wall."

"You mean…" Wesley began.

"No," James said in a long and drawn out manner. "This isn't…our house, is it?"

"I don't think that it's your real house," John suggested. "We might be in some parallel dimension or something."

"Do those exist?" Wesley asked.

"Do you need to ask?" James responded.

"Touché," Wesley replied. "So we're in our own house in some other dimension where everything is designed to make you blind…or crazy. Where's Matt?"

"He's gotta be here somewhere," James said.

"That means the demon might also be here," John warned, "so we better hurry and find him."

"He could be anywhere," James said. "It's a big house."

"Where would he be?" Wesley thought out loud. "If there's an evil being roaming around here, then maybe he's in the basement."

"But the demon could be in there, too," James countered.

"Only one way to find out," Wesley said as he took in a deep breath and crossed his fingers. "MATT!"

"Wesley!" James exclaimed. "What did you do that for? Do you want the demon to…"

"Homeboy?" came a muffled voice from below. "Can you hear me?"

"Any more questions," Wesley asked triumphantly as he led his brother and John towards the basement.

"Matt," James called, "we're on our way. Just stay put."

"I'm not going anywhere," Matthew replied. "But don't come down here. It's a trap. You won't be able to get back upstairs if you…"

But it was too late. Wesley had opened the basement door and began walking down the stairs with John and James. The minute they were all on the staircase, the steps suddenly became transparent and they tumbled to the floor. Matthew ran to help them up.

"It's about time," Matthew said. "Where have you been?"

"It's a long story," James said. "Where's the demon?"

"Sabo?" Matthew asked. "He's somewhere with the Book. I tried to keep it away from him as long as I could, but he's too strong."

"That's because the only way we can get rid of him is if we work together with the Council," Wesley said.

"WHAT?" Matthew asked.

"I know," James said.

"We have to hurry," John said. "If Sabo has the Book, he could be trying to find something in there that would resurrect the rest of his kind."

"But you said that anything that happened back then had been erased from our Book," James claimed.

"I know," John said, "but certain elements of both books were split and sort of hidden in both books to keep either side from causing another incident like that one."

"More good news," James said to himself.

"What are y'all talking about?" Matthew asked.

"We'll explain it on the way," John said. "Right now, we need to get the Book and get out of here."

"Well," Matthew suggested, "I can get the Book with a spell I made up, but the last time I tried it, it only worked for a few seconds before Sabo stole it back. Maybe if we all say it, it'll work long enough to get out of here."

"Worth a shot," James said. "We only have one shot at this. If we screw up, Sabo could wipe us all out."

"Okay," John said, pulling out a piece of paper. "Here's the spell to get us back to the Council. Y'all need to say this one as soon as we get the Book. I'll try to fight off Sabo in case something goes wrong."

"I'd knock on wood," Wesley said, "but I don't know what color it is."

"Alright," Matthew said, "repeat after me."

"The object that we hold in mind,
In our hands shall we now find.
Take it from our enemy,
With us is where it should rightfully be."


We remember how the spell played out last time Matthew said it. Will the power of the Complete be strong enough to pull the Book of Light from Sabo this time, or has Sabo proved once and for all that he is truly unstoppable?