Amity supported herself and Luz with her magic and flew away; beneath them the entire amusement park completely shattered into an immense mass of tentacles, legs and sharp claws that grabbed the kids who had now completely transformed into donkeys and dragged them who knows where. It was such a terrifying sight that neither of them had the courage to look, although they could no longer cover their ears since they no longer had their hands, and could therefore hear the desperate screams of their peers; the sound made them want to cry, and the terrifying laughter that occasionally rang across the island made their skin crawl. "It's horrible" Amity whispered. "What kind of monster could have done all this and laugh while it happened?"

But Luz didn't answer her right away; her eyes were wide and she was shaking significantly more than usual. She recognized that laugh, she recognized it very well; she had heard it before and couldn't forget it, it was engraved in her memory for eternity. She was so scared that she was almost catatonic.

Amity flew towards the edge of the island taking Luz with her, but as soon as she was a few centimeters from the sea a strange force grabbed her and slammed her and her girlfriend back to the ground, although not hard enough to hurt them. She tried to fly away twice more, but no matter how hard she tried she couldn't get beyond the coast. "It's like I'm bound here... like something has tied me to this island" she murmured, her voice shaking. "Luz… I don't think we can leave"

The puppet (or rather, the wooden donkey) desperately tried to calm down, because she felt she was really one step away from hyperventilating. That horrible laugh kept ringing in her ears, but it couldn't be what she thought… she had to be wrong. She absolutely had to be wrong. She prayed hard that this was the case. "Let's try to think... about one problem at a time" she murmured, trying to gather courage. "Why did we turn into donkeys to begin with, and why can't even you bring us back to normal?"

Amity bit her lip. "Luz... my mother, when she was teaching me the ways of dark magic... she told me about something similar" she told her. "I'm afraid it's... a contract"

Luz froze. "A contract? You mean... a dark magic contract?" she whispered. "But... we didn't make any deal..."

"I'm afraid we did when we agreed to come here... or maybe when we stayed here... I don't know" Amity answered her. "My mother taught me that if a being with dark magic was powerful enough, then it could create a contract implicitly. You know what people say... if you don't study and only think about having fun you become a donkey. I believe that by acting in this way, we accepted this contract, even if no one told us". She let out a loud snort through her nostrils. "But I don't understand how this is possible... my mother told me that such a thing could only be done by an entity that is on a completely different level than any mortal. It should have to be an entity with a power similar to that of a god, if not greater… Luz?"

Amity realized that the puppet's legs were shaking so much that she was forced to sit up and then lie down on her stomach. "A power similar to that of a god..." she whispered in total terror as what she was already thinking found further confirmation. "No... no, no, no...!"

"Luz! What's going on?" Amity asked her worriedly. Certainly the situation they found themselves in was terrifying enough to panic anyone, but she was sure that the puppet's reaction was due to something else.

Luz just raised her head and looked at Amity with trembling eyes. "I know that laugh" she said in a strangled voice. "I heard it before… it was when… when…!"

"LUZ!"

The puppet's words were stopped by a familiar voice; the two girls turned towards a point between the rocks and saw King running towards them out of breath, followed by Ghost who seemed as scared as them. "I heard her voice! Can you tell me where she is?" he exclaimed as soon as he was next to the two donkeys.

Luz blushed a little, feeling embarrassed to be seen like that by the young Titan, but still she said: "It's me, King"

The young Titan's eyes widened. "LUZ!?" he shouted in shock. "What happened to you!? So you are..." and he noticed the tuft of purple hair on the other donkey's head. "... Amity!?"

Amity nodded. She was feeling pretty ashamed too, but shame was certainly the least of their problems right now. Ghost jumped onto her back and rubbed worriedly against her. "Mistress, what happened to you? Why don't you transform me again?"

"I can't!" Amity admitted. "I already tried, I think someone made us make a contract! I can't break it!"

"There's no way you can!?" King exclaimed; he looked decidedly more terrified than usual.

Amity shook her head. "As far as I know, a contract can only be broken with the help of another contract"

King froze on the spot, but then he shook his head vehemently. "Okay... okay, we'll think about getting you back to normal later. Now we have to get out of here! Girls, this place is not an island!". His eyes trembled so much they looked like they were made of jelly. "We're on Belos' back!"

Both Amity and Luz froze for nearly ten straight seconds; and then the puppet rested her whole body completely on the ground, including her head and tail, and began to stammer: "No... no, not again! Not that monster again!"

"Are you sure?" Amity asked King and Ghost hoping to get a denial. If she had been terrified before, now she was scared to death.

Ghost nodded. "The whole island is nothing but his enormous body, and that mountain over there is his head and his crumpled front legs. And the whole park where you were is built with his tentacles and other parts of his body"

"NO!" Luz screamed as she began to roll on the ground; her eyes were so wide they looked like they were about to pop out of their sockets. King quickly ran to her side and hugged her neck, and Amity also tried to touch her with her muzzle, but that wasn't enough to calm her. "WE ARE DEAD! WE ARE ALL DEAD! WHY!? WHY DOES THAT MONSTER HAVE TO KEEP TORMENTING ME!? WHY CAN'T HE LEAVE ME ALONE!?"

"Luz, breathe!" Amity shouted at her, desperately trying to calm her down, but then she suddenly froze and her eyes widened in surprise. "Luz..."

"WHY DID I COME HERE!?" Luz continued to scream. "WHY DIDN'T I STAY HOME!? OH, KING, YOU WERE RIGHT! WE SHOULD HAVE STAYED, NOT LEFT! THAT GUY HAD DEFINITELY SOMETHING SUSPICIOUS! STUPID, STUPID PUPPET!"

"Luz!"

"I'M SORRY, KING! WE SHOULD HAVE LEFT IMMEDIATELY! I SHOULD HAVE LISTEN TO YOU! WE SHOULDN'T HAVE STAYED HERE...!"

"Luz, your hand!"

The puppet froze and opened her eyes wide, and shook her head a little to clear away the tears that were blocking her view, and then she looked at the spot that Amity, King, and Ghost were pointing to; this was how she realized that what had become her right front paw had once again transformed into the hand of a puppet. "W-What? But... how is that possible?"

King took her hand and checked it almost as if he were a doctor. "Luz... the transformation is... regressing!" he exclaimed. "You're going back to being a puppet!"

"I can see that for myself! But... why?" Luz asked as she waved her hand in front of her; she was able to move her fingers again as if it were in all respects a real hand. "What's changed? And why is this not happening to Amity too?"

Her girlfriend walked in front of her and looked at her carefully, and then she said: "Luz... don't ask me how this is possible, but... it's as if your body is counteracting the dark power that turned you into a donkey"

"EEEEEH!?" Luz was so stunned and confused that she even forgot she was afraid. "But that's not possible! Amity, you said it yourself that the only way to get rid of a dark magic contract is through another contract!"

"Well, maybe I'm wrong and it's not a contract!" Amity replied, but she didn't seem to have much faith in that assumption. "Or… somehow, your body even manages to counteract the effect of the dark magic of the contract… or at least slow it down and hinder it"

"That does not make sense!" Luz protested. "I have no magical powers! I'm just a puppet! How can I counter the power of the most powerful dark magic of all, cast by Belos himself to boot!?"

"Well... maybe you're more than just a puppet! Maybe there's something about you that we don't know!" King told her. "I mean, you managed to partially wake up from Grometheus' nightmare without facing your fear first, so maybe something in you counteracts the dark magic!"

"What?" Luz exclaimed. "What are you saying? I thought you and the Collector woke me up!"

"No, no, we didn't do it!" King corrected her. "The Collector just restarted your heart after it stopped. You woke up on your own!"

Luz turned purple. "And it didn't occur to you to tell me!?"

"I didn't think it was revealing! If you allow me, at that moment my mind was focused on something completely different!" King answered her. "But in any case... Luz, if every time you are in contact with dark magic you can fight its effect, perhaps there really is something in you that counteracts it!"

Luz bit her lip. She was more confused than ever, and if she added to that the somewhat frightened state of mind she was in, she felt more disoriented than ever. "Well... inside me there is Eda's light magic... but it is impossible that it can counteract Grometheus' power or even that of Belos!"

"Well, maybe it's not just that! Maybe there's something that makes you special!" King told her. "Can't you think of anything that...?"

"NO, I DON'T KNOW, OKAY!?" Luz screamed in utter exasperation. "I don't know what the problem is, okay? I don't know why I'm transforming back, I don't know why I'm fighting Belos' dark power, I don't know shit! So stop asking me questions! Right now I just want to get out of here!"

Silence fell between them, broken only by the deep breaths of Luz who was panting from the effort; she felt as if her heart was about to burst. It took her a moment to realize what she had just said. "Sorry... it wasn't my intention..."

"No, Luz, you're right" Amity interrupted her. "Sorry. We shouldn't pester you with questions that you don't know how to answer"

"Yeah. Sorry, I misbehaved" King told her mortified.

Luz was somewhat comforted by those words. "Well... apology accepted. And... I'm sorry I yelled" she told them.

Amity approached her and, unable to hug her, she simply rested her forehead on hers. "Luz... I know you're scared. I'm scared too, and what I'm feeling is definitely not what you're feeling in the slightest. Don't be ashamed of being tense. If you want to yell at us, do so" she told her in an encouraging voice, and then she also looked at Ghost and King: "Enough discussing about how Luz is getting back to normal, now the priority is to get out of here before Belos finds us"

"We could fly away" Ghost suggested.

"No, I've already tried. Something's keeping me stuck here. We can't fly off the island. And I'm sure we can't even swim away" Amity replied, and to test that theory she took a running start and threw herself off the cliff, but before she could touch the water she was immediately brought back to earth by the same force that prevented her from flying. "I believe something is binding us here. Maybe it's another contract... maybe by wishing to stay here forever we made that request real in our hearts, and Belos used it to bind us here forever"

"So we can't leave?" King asked worriedly.

"You and Ghost maybe yes. If the contract is what I imagine then you haven't fulfilled it, so you should be able to escape" Amity replied. "Maybe the best thing to do would be to hide while you two go get Eda and Lilith. By now they must have returned home with Hunter..."

King let out a snort through his nostrils. "Girl, first of all I'm not leaving you alone on the back of a giant monster who I bet only let you go to have fun chasing you, and who would only need to dive a little into the ocean to force you to come out into the open. And secondly... did you listen to what I said when I came to get you? It took us three days with Alador's airship to get here, and Hooty was there as an extra booster to boot! Bonesborough is at least three days away right now! Do you think you can last six days straight before we return with the two fairies? Assuming Belos doesn't decide to move again, of course!"

Amity and Luz had to agree that he was right. King's words reminded them of a detail: "It's true... where are my father and the others?" Amity asked.

King fell silent for a moment, then he confessed: "Belos... took the airship and threw it in his mouth"

Both girls froze. "What did he do...?" Luz stammered. "Did he... eat them?"

Hooty was aboard the airship, which meant he must have been swallowed as well. And then if she remembered correctly, King had told her that Katya, Amber and Derwin were also there. And Alador... Luz didn't like that man very much, but she never wanted him dead. And Amity staggered on her legs for a moment as if she were about to fall.

"I don't think he killed them!" King hastened to say. "If he wanted to do that he could have crushed the airship in a split second, and I wouldn't be here to talk to you now. And I didn't see him chew. I think he swallowed them whole and they're still alive right now. And then..."

King stopped, without continuing to say what was on his mind. Despite the fear and worry, Amity and Luz encouraged him to continue: "And then?"

King trembled and his fur bristled. "When we looked at his eye… he looked back at us. And there was… something in it… I don't even know how to describe it. It was a strange euphoria, typical of someone having a great time. He wasn't the least bit surprised to find us there, he was just on the verge of laughing. I think...". He swallowed loudly: "I think he already knew we had come here and he let us do it. It's like he is playing a strange game where we are his pawns"

Both girls shuddered at those words. King didn't seem to be joking at all. "But... why is he doing this?" Luz whispered.

King shook his head. "I don't know. Maybe this is some sort of sadistic show for him... or there's something else going on. What I know for sure is that whatever that monster has in mind is not something I want to find out"

Luz gritted her teeth. Yes, if Belos was involved in something, his actions certainly would not have led to anything good. That monster was the personification of evil par excellence; if he did something, he was surely planning unimaginable cruelty. "Okay… so what do we do?"

Amity let out a snort through her nostrils. "First, we must save our friends, who are currently in the clutches of that monster. Although I don't know how..."

"Hey! Watch out!"

Amity's words were cut off by a rather irritated neighbor coming from under their feet. And soon more arrived.

"I'm doing my best!"

"Well, be more careful! I can't pass!"

"You're smaller than me!"

"And you're blocking my view!"

It was only at that moment that Amity, Luz, King and Ghost realized that the ground was not exactly uniform: here and there there were strange little holes, similar to the pores of the skin. They were no wider than a pinhead and almost invisible to the naked eye, and from one of them came the two voices. After a few moments, two claws grabbed the end of the hole and widened it, letting a large crab pass through followed by a brown spider. "Ugh! We did it, we're out!" the latter exclaimed.

"Gus!?" Luz said as soon as she saw him.

The spider got back to his feet. "Luz, thank goodness, we've already found you! We have to get away from...". He stopped when he noticed the puppet's appearance. "Uh... let me guess: you already know that this is no ordinary island"


In case anyone is wondering how King and Ghost tracked down Luz and Amity, remember that Ghost senses Amity's location since she is his master