The Secret of Ashona (52 page)

Trevor held the glass for a moment. “Am I going to live?”

Erec paused, thinking. “If I have anything to do with it.”

“Okay, then.” Trevor held up the glass and finished every last drop.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
A Terrible Gift

E
REC THOUGHT ABOUT
how to tell Baskania about Trevor. He was nervous. Rosco was right—if he was going to make this work, he had to be careful, and try to make himself look as good to Baskania as possible.

They waited outside the large carved oak doors to the Inner Sanctum of the Green House, until a blind servant opened the door. “He is ready for you now.”

Erec and Rosco walked inside. Baskania looked up expectantly, five eyes across his forehead.

Rosco grinned. “You’re gonna love this boy even more today than yesterday. He just doesn’t stop. As much as he used to be a thorn in our sides, now he’s making up for every minute. . . .”

Baskania perked up. “Yes? What is it, Erec? Are you ready to go see the Furies and get my scepter back?”

“Soon,” Erec said. “But I thought you’d like something else I found for you in the meantime.”

“Something more? You’re right, Rosco. This is interesting. What else?”

“Bethany Cleary’s brother.”

Baskania’s hands flattened on his desk, trembling. “You found him?”

“I searched through my new memory and I’m sure that I know who he is.”

“Wonderful! I can’t believe our luck with you lately! Where is the boy—do you know his name?”

“I know his name, where he is . . . and everything about him. And I’m happy to bring him here to you—unless you want to send your own people to do it. I thought it might be easier if I got him, so you could avoid King Piter and Queen Posey trying to fight you off.”

“King Piter and Queen Posey . . . so the boy is in Ashona, then? Do the king and queen know he’s there? Do they know who he is?”

“They all know. It’s Trevor Rex. I guess he used to be Trevor Cleary.”

Baskania’s mouth dropped open a little, and all of his eyes focused on Erec sharply. Erec was sure that Baskania was trying to read his mind. He couldn’t blame him—Erec was handing over his own brother and his girlfriend’s brother. It was probably more than the Shadow Prince could believe. But Erec had to make it all seem real.

“You mean your adopted brother, Trevor?” Baskania looked like he was about to drool from anticipation.

“That’s the one.” Erec laughed. “I can’t believe I’m actually telling this to you. I guess I really am on your side now.”

Baskania crossed his arms and leaned back in an almost fatherly manner. “That, Erec, is a great thing for both of us. We will help each other from now on. You and I will be like one together.” A slick smile spread across his face. “I think you are right. You should bring Trevor here yourself. We’ll keep it all quieter that way. I’ll send a few guards to wait outside of the Castle Ashona for you.” He held up a hand. “Not that I believe you’re going to try anything funny, like hiding him.”

“Why would I do that? If you want to send someone else, that’s fine with me. Maybe Rosco could do it.”

“No, not Rosco. I want
you
to bring him here. I think it would be a nice touch, actually.”

Erec felt like throwing up. Baskania wanted them to be “like one,” but was also ready to slaughter his baby brother—and Bethany’s. But he managed a smile and a nod. “When would you like me to go?”

“No time like the present.” He thought a moment. “But I’d like to show you something first. Come with me.” He held a hand up when Rosco started to follow. “Just Erec.”

Baskania led him down a short hallway to a door with no knob. He waved a hand in front of it and it opened with a groan. Then he waved Erec inside.

“This is where I keep some of my favorite treasures.” He looked around with appreciation. “Some of the finest items through the centuries are in this room.” He picked up a small silver tube resting on a shelf and looked at it fondly. “Take this little thing, for instance. It looks innocent enough, no? But would you believe it was the first method I ever used for inserting eyes into myself?”

Erec tried not to cringe as he thought about it.

“Maybe someday you, too, can have more eyes of your own. I
would say you would be perfect for that kind of responsibility, being in charge of groups of people. I won’t want to do this forever, you know.”

Was he talking about passing the evil-villain torch down to Erec now? Erec remained stock still and nodded.

“I was thinking . . . you have done wonders for me lately. In so many ways, as well. And going to Ashona to collect Trevor, well . . .” He looked around the room. “I’d like to give you something as a token. Maybe this.” He set the silver tube down. “Or anything that you like, with a few exceptions, of course. Here is a love magnet. The most powerful one on the planet.” He picked it up. “I have no need for it. You may find it fun.”

“What’s this?” Erec saw a small plastic flower that sat on a shelf.

“Nothing much. It’s an eternal water source—really only a token, because there’s not much use for it.” He tapped the center of the flower’s face and water sprayed into Erec’s face until he tapped it again.

Erec laughed and wiped his face off. “That could be fun too.”

“Here’s a good one.” Baskania pointed to a portrait on the wall. “This painting absorbs your aging process. Just reset it to your face, and all the years of your life will show up on the portrait’s face, leaving you eternally young. Nice, if you care about shallow things like that.”

That did not appeal to Erec at all. But something else caught his eye. For some reason he was drawn to it, even from across the room. Nothing about it seemed special—it looked like a kind of steel mousetrap. “What is this?” He pointed at it, afraid to touch.

“Ah, that is another good one. It’s a projectile magic launcher. It will send a spell anywhere—any kind of magic at all. I was planning to use it to destroy Tartarus when the Furies were there, after they agreed to my terms. It was easier to let them escape that way then by collecting all of those people for their souls.”

“Why didn’t you use it then?”

“I didn’t have a magic source strong enough to blast through their cave, even with its help. In the past I’ve had tokens and totems that would have done the trick. But they’re hard to come upon, and I didn’t have any at the time. You can imagine, it would take something quite powerful to help the Furies out of their prison.”

Erec considered it a moment. “I’d like this, please. If that’s okay.”

Baskania picked it up, and put his hand on Erec’s head. “Take it. I doubt I’ll need it again, and if I do, I know where to find you. You might enjoy sending spells to places in Upper Earth from your home here in Alypium.”

Erec pocketed the contraption and thanked Baskania. As they walked back, he slid his hand in to touch it again. It felt right, somehow, as if he was meant to have it.

When they returned to Baskania’s office, he pressed a red button on his desk. A general popped into the room within a minute.

“Sir?” He stood at attention.

“Have two guards take Erec and Rosco here to the Castle Ashona. Erec will go in alone and come back out with a boy—Trevor Rex, or actually Trevor Cleary. Bring them back to me straightaway.”

“Yes, sir.” The general clicked his heels together and disappeared. Moments later, two guards led Erec and Rosco to the largest Port-O-Door that Erec had ever seen. It was one of a giant line of immense Port-O-Doors that filled a gigantic wall of the Green House. What was Baskania planning to send through these doors? Entire armies?

Moments later, they stood in the entryway that led into the Castle Ashona. Erec walked through the desk area and slowly made his way to the suite where his family was staying.

He thought for a moment about telling June what he was about to do. How in the world could he, though? She would never let him take Trevor there, even if Erec told her about his visions. June had her own ideas, and didn’t put enough stock in Erec’s visions to do
something that sounded that ridiculous. Erec wondered if she had even noticed that Trevor had forgotten everything he ever knew. He was so quiet he probably seemed like his normal self, especially if Bethany was helping him figure out his way around.

It took a while to find Bethany and Trevor. Finally someone pointed Erec to the wat-air beach attached to the side of the immense entry room. Erec watched quietly while they talked, looking at the fish flying through the strangely blue air and flickering back and forth through the wall that separated the room from the ocean. A starfish crept slowly up to Trevor’s shoe and put a tiny foot on him. Trevor smiled and picked the thing up, turning it over. Bethany pointed, teaching him something, Erec was sure.

Soon he could not stand waiting any longer. Watching them was too painful. “Hey, guys!” He gave Bethany a sad smile.

“Hi Erec. Hey, Trevor—do you remember Erec?”

Trevor shook his head.

“He’s your brother!”

“My brother?” Trevor looked interested. “And you’re my sister. So you’re her brother too?”

Erec laughed. “No, Trev. You’re Bethany’s real brother. You and I are adopted brothers. June adopted both of us a long time ago.”

“But Erec still loves you just as much as I do,” Bethany said.

Why did she have to go and say that? Erec could feel tears forming in his eyes again. This was already going to be the hardest thing he ever did. If anything happened to Trevor because of him, if he ended up losing his brother, he would never forgive himself.

Erec pulled Bethany aside to talk to her in private, out of Trevor’s earshot. “What are you going to tell June?”

“I guess I’ll just tell her the truth.” Bethany shrugged. “It will be too late for her to do anything about it.”

“She’ll kill you.”

“It won’t be as bad as what you two will be going through. I’ve been spending some great time with Trevor. He forgot all of his old ideas about patterns, but I can tell they’ll come back. I mean, he notices things that I never would. I bet in a few years he’ll be right back where he was before.”

Erec really hoped so. “I got something from Baskania that might help with the Furies.” He touched his pocket. “I have the feeling it’s what I needed to find there. It doesn’t look like much, but it can send magic from distances. I’m getting an idea about how I could use it to solve the problem of the Furies and the captured souls, but I’m not sure yet.”

“I’m crossing my fingers for you.” Then she whispered, “What about Trevor? Is there some way we can break him out after Baskania gets him?”

“I’ve been thinking about that, too. Try not to worry. Right now it’s important that I keep Baskania happy and off of my back. I don’t want him watching me too closely. Things might work out okay . . . but it’s going to take a lot of luck.”

“Are you going to tell him that Trevor forgot everything?”

“No. He’ll figure it out soon enough . . . or think that something has always been wrong with him.”

She nodded. “If you know too much about it, Baskania might think that you did it.”

Erec felt bad enough as it was, without thinking about what he really had done to his brother. But for now he had to keep playing the game and hope it all came out for the best. He patted the contraption in his pocket that would send magic all the way to Tartarus. Then he walked back to Trevor. “C’mon, kid. We gotta go somewhere awful. A man, Baskania, is going to look through your mind and see what you know. And I’m going to try and help you, okay?”

Trevor nodded. “Okay.” He took Erec’s hand.

When Erec arrived with the guards and Rosco back at the Green House, he tried to put his game face on. He could not risk looking suspicious by caring too much about his brother. Knowing how hard it would be to do, Erec ruffled Trevor’s hair. He didn’t want to say too much—Baskania would see anything Erec said now as he looked through Trevor’s memory. But he did risk a quick “I love you, kid. I always will.”

Then he whipped his hand from Trevor’s grasp and grabbed him by the wrist. “Let’s get this over with, you stupid kid.” He yanked his brother hard, making him trip as they walked through the luxuriously decorated Green House.