The Search for Truth Read Free

surged through him. Good. He would get there soon and find Bethany. But where in Alypium was she? And how would he find her?
    Then a thought occurred to him. Maybe the Substance channel would take him straight to Bethany if he concentrated on her instead of a specific place.
    He thought about Bethany, saying her name in his head. Take me to Bethany Cleary. He thought about her tanned face, her dark, wavy hair. Then his head filled with the image he had seen of her in the future. Frozen against a wall. Ropes around her. Scared, helpless. About to die.
    Please, he begged the Substance, get me there fast.
    The memory of his cloudy thought haunted him. The man he hated more than anyone in the world was going to hurt Bethany. The one who had killed his dragon friend, Aoquesth. Erec pictured Baskania, seven eyes across his forehead, standing before Bethany, ready to torture and kill her because he thought she had the secret of the Final Magic.
    Erec felt a jerk, as if he suddenly had shifted direction. He was yanked sideways, then thrown into the light on a hard floor. When he looked up, the ring hanging in the air above him vanished.
    He dusted himself off, relieved. He was indoors. But this place did not look like the Castle Alypium. It wasn’t a shop, either. The room he was in was large. The air was thick and hard to breathe, but then again he always felt this way when he first arrived in the Kingdoms of the Keepers. He had to get used to it.
    A group of people stood nearby. They were all looking at him.
    But only one of them stepped forward and smiled—the one with seven eyes across his forehead.

CHAPTER TWO
The Ghost Surgeon
    T HICK CURTAINS HUNG around the stately atrium that was scattered with plush furniture. An ornate reception desk sat at the back of the room. People walking by stopped and stared at Erec, then noticed Baskania and rushed away.
    â€œWell,” Baskania said to Erec, “what a nice little present.” He laughed. “Two little presents, actually.” He tapped the empty space on his face where his own eye once had been. “Looks like I’ll get tofill this gap with your dragon eye sooner than I expected. And now I’ll have your other one to match it too.”
    Baskania pointed a finger at Erec. “Say good-bye to the world, boy. There’s no dragon to save you now.”
    Erec squeezed his eyes shut, waiting for a shock of pain, blackness, or something that told him his life was over.
    He cursed himself. Why did he mess up in the Substance Channel like that? His mother had told him to concentrate. All he had to do was think about Bethany or a place in Alypium. And instead he had let his mind wander to Baskania, of all people, which brought him here.
    He could not believe how badly he had messed up. Soon Bethany would tell Oscar her secret. And somehow, just three minutes later, Baskania would know, and Bethany would die.
    There was another problem too. Even bigger, if that was possible. Erec had been the only one competing with the nasty Stain triplets to become a new ruler of the Kingdoms of the Keepers. Three kids were to be crowned soon. For some reason Erec had been the only one chosen by King Piter’s scepter during the ceremony. That didn’t seem to matter to Baskania, though, nor to the Stain triplets who were competing with Erec for the throne. If Erec died now, they would take over, Baskania would become the emperor, and his madness and power would drive him to destroy the world.
    And it was all Erec’s fault.
    Surprised that he was still alive, Erec cracked his eyes open. Baskania frowned at his finger. “No,” Baskania murmured. “The dragon eyes. How careless of me.” He saw Erec staring with shock and confusion, and smiled. “I must be careful with your eyes so there will be no mistakes. I had two dragon babies before, but by the time I took their eyes out they were worthless. They had been dead too long. No, I’m not