Join Geth and Clover for their most perilous adventure yet!

Now that Geth and Clover have found Zale, Geth's long-lost brother, and escaped from Pencilbottom Castle, things should be looking up. But they aren't. The evil Payt is more furious than ever, and his quest to recapture the lithens and enslave all the dreams trapped in Zendor is wreaking destruction and chaos at every turn. Can Geth rally the last remaining forces to fight for their freedom, or will he succumb to Payt's voice along with the rest? Join your favorite characters for a gripping adventure that will keep you on the run!

The blackness cinched up its belt and forced the breath out of Geth and Clover like a pair of tight pants after a large dinner. Clover breathed out quickly through his small nose and then let air slowly seep back into his lungs. “It’s so dark,” he whispered. “I can barely breathe. Listen.” He breathed a few deep, labored breaths to prove his point.

“You’re fine,” Geth insisted. “Besides, dark has nothing to do with the oxygen levels.”

“Tell that to my lungs,” Clover argued.

Geth held his unconscious brother, Zale, in his arms like he was some sort of spineless bride. His brother was still unconscious from the hit Geth had administered when they left the castle minutes ago. Zale’s body was small and light, the years he had spent sitting alone in prison having left him with the physique of a bony rag doll. His long, black beard was one of the weightier parts of his body. Geth shifted Zale up over his right shoulder.

“Ouch!” Clover wailed. “Your brother’s limp arm slapped me.”

“Blame him when he comes to,” Geth said. “But for now, be quiet.”

“I didn’t ask to be hit,” Clover pointed out.

“Quiet,” Geth repeated. “There are things out here that can hit much harder than that.”

It was pitch-black, but even in the dark it was easy to see that Geth’s personality had become more intense than ever. Clover could hear the added strength in Geth’s words and the quick, passionate way that Geth spoke. Payt’s voice had fired up Geth’s brain, creating drive and fight in ways that even Ezra would have been impressed by.

“I was just saying that—”

“Quiet,” Geth ordered.

Geth and Clover had moved slowly through the gardens outside Pencilbottom Castle, feeling their way forward. Geth’s legs were scratched and marred from all the thornbushes and walls he had hit up against, but they were making decent time despite the dark.

“I still have a glow stone,” Clover reminded Geth. “We could use that to see where we’re going.”

“Not yet,” Geth whispered. “We need to get farther from the castle. There’s someone out here that I’d rather not see at the moment.”

“Who?” Clover asked.

“Shhh,” Geth begged.

They passed through the small wall in front of the castle heading down the cobblestone road. They were moving toward the vacant houses and shops Geth had helped set fire to the night before.

The small, empty town that surrounded Pencil-bottom Castle was called Finis. In the past it had housed hundreds, but as Payt had cruelly taken over the realm of Zendor and built a massive wall circling the town, beings had either fled or been turned into boors.

The air in Finis still smelled like smoke from the damage Geth and the Tangle had done. Geth bumped into a wooden post that had once been a streetlight. He moved around the pole, took two steps, and ran into the side of a stone wall. He lifted his arms and felt the bottom of an open window.

Geth inched his way along the side of the building.

“It smells burnt here,” Clover observed.

“Seriously,” Geth whispered, “it’s important that you keep quiet, now more than ever.”

“But it makes me hungry,” Clover added softly, slow as usual to heed instruction. “Not the being quiet part, the smoke part. Besides, who’s going to hear us, anyway? Nobody can see us, and that Payt guy probably thinks you were eaten by those smelly dogs.”

“I’m not keeping quiet for Payt’s sake,” Geth said. “I’m keeping quiet because I’d like to get Zale somewhere safe before we run into . . .”

Geth stopped talking and moving.

“Honestly,” Clover complained. “You have a real problem with finishing your sentences. I always have the courtesy to . . .”

Clover stopped speaking.

The sound of something moving toward them could be heard in the distance. They held their breath and opened their ears as wide as they could. Like a radio slowly being turned up, a low growl filled the air.

“What direction is that coming from?” Geth asked calmly.

“From behind you!” Clover said. “No, from in front! I can’t tell!”

Geth shifted Zale to his other shoulder and stood up as tall as he could. The low growl was now accompanied by a rhythmic click of feet stamping closer.

“Keep invisible,” Geth ordered Clover. “The last time I messed with this thing, it bested me. We’ll need one of us to remain free, so keep still and quiet.”

Geth stood stiffly as the noise grew louder—the Tangle was coming. There was no point in running because Geth couldn’t see two inches in front of himself.

The noise grew louder and louder until the sound of heavy hooves could be heard just to the right of them. The beast stomped and snorted, sending small flecks of spit onto Geth, Clover, and Zale.

The Tangle grunted and hollered. The beast threw its tail down and hammered at the stone road violently, making it sound like they were standing in the world’s darkest and most frightening destruction site.

The beast roared loudly and then moaned. Warm air from its massive lungs drifted around Geth’s head. Geth kept his place, not moving at all. There was a swishing sound and the noise of something moving away. After at least a minute there was still no sound. Clover couldn’t handle the silence any longer.

“What was—”

A massive roar ripped through the dark as the Tangle bellowed. The beast blew fire up into the sky and instantly lit up the scene. The Tangle had moved back, but it was still only a dozen feet away. Geth stood there with Zale over his left shoulder and an invisible sycophant on his right. Whereas most men and women might have simply passed out from fear, Geth smiled like it was Christmas and someone had just given him the gift of potential danger.

“We meet again,” Geth said lustily.

The Tangle blew fire to the left and lit up the top of the wooden streetlight. The fire gave the scene a sinister, flickering glow.

“I won’t be as kind as I was before,” Geth warned.

The Tangle stood in front of Geth. It was a good two feet taller than the lithen, with large, curved horns that grew from the sides of its head. Its big eyes shone with pupils the size and color of silver dollars. The creature’s nose and mouth jutted out, giving it a doglike snout. It had a bare chest and large arms that rippled with muscles the size of watermelons. Its massive legs were covered with fur, and it stood on two hooves as it slowly lifted its long, thick tail and swatted it down against the cobblestoned street. It looked like some sort of mythical ox-lizard-bear-dog.

As if the Tangle weren’t ugly enough, things were about to get even uglier.