A soft, warm heat enveloped us, and it was matched by the glowing, cozy feeling of the luxurious interior. Paneled wood and richly framed artwork covered the walls, and lush carpet supported our feet below. In front of us was a large room, bigger than any room in my own house, much less a flying aircraft.

  Plush, leather couches and fancy high-backed chairs filled the room, with low tables scattered here and there. There was enough furniture to seat all of my cousins, and I had to look back through the open door to reassure myself that I didn't just step through some new kind of magic portal other than the Blackness. It seemed impossible that I was in the lap of luxury, inside an airplane.

  We took it all in rather quickly and then noticed that we were not alone.

  The man claiming to be my archenemy was sitting alone in a chair in the corner, his cane leaning against his knee, arms folded in his lap.

  Custer Bleak. Raspy. Leader of the Shadow Ka.

  It was almost indiscernible, but my heart skipped a beat when I realized that the man did indeed look like the Raspy I had met on several unfortunate occasions. He looked fifty or sixty years older, but I realized that it was him. He had looked old before. Now he looked really old.

  But it was him.

  He was sitting like a forlorn rest home occupant, awaiting his lonely death. He did not speak, but only stared with his cataract-laced eyes.

  “We've come, just like you asked,” I said. I took a breath, waiting for his reply. When I received none, I summoned the courage from deep within.

  “Surely you know I've received three of the Four Gifts. You know there is nothing you can do to me. Why have you called us here? Why would you try and trick us by offering help for my dad—when it's you and your monsters that caused it in the first place?”

  Nothing.

  “WHY!” A sudden urge to blast him with the Ice filled me, and he still hadn't even said anything.

  A wracking cough exploded from his wrinkled mouth, and it went on for several seconds before he settled and went still. Then, after an eternity, he spoke.

  “It matters not to me if you have received one, two, three, or all of them, boy. You must know by now that the Fourth Gift is the only one that will matter in the end. It is the only one that can make a difference. So spare me your brave rantings.”

  His malicious words cleared the last cobwebs of uncertainty from the air, and there was no longer any doubt that Raspy sat before us.

  “I don't get it,” said Joseph. “What purpose could this possibly serve, this whole charade of luring us here, to another one of your fancy lairs?”

  “I have reined in my true self for a time,” he said. “I pulled my better existence inside until I was in a more manageable position to speak with you. You people cannot understand the exultant joy of being one with the Ka—or the pain and sacrifice of doing what I am doing. All just to speak with you.”

  “Stop the mumbo-jumbo, please,” Joseph said, not trying to hide his disdain for the crusty old buzzard.

  “Wise up, Joseph.” The man spat his words, revealing his evil nature and increasing my alarm. “Do not think I have forgotten your deeds in this tale. If it were not for your cowardice, you could have had a life far beyond your meager and dull imagination.”

  Raspy stood, with a sudden change in his demeanor—faint but certain. A new strength filled him, and the cane dropped to the floor with a dull thud, no longer needed.

  “Now listen to me, and no more petty word games. Jimmy, you have gone too far, and it is time to stop. I am prepared to make a deal with you, once, and then we will never speak again. There will be no bickering, no negotiation, no added terms. I will say this once, and you will give me your answer. Then you will leave my plane.”

  A heavy knot formed in my throat. Raspy's words filled me with a fear I had not felt in quite some time. It was not the fear of death or pain, but the fear of ultimate defeat and loss of all hope.

  “What is the deal?” I asked, hanging on the silence that bridged the gap between my question and his reply.

  “You must bring me the Red Disk, and I will save your father.”

  My blank stare was enough to show him I had no idea what he was talking about.

  “You will bring me your father,” he continued, “and you must bring him right away for it to work. Then follow the instructions given to you by the Givers. You do not know this, but you will obtain a relic called the Red Disk. It is the key to finding the Dream Warden, a title you have no doubt heard by now.”

  I nodded.

  “When I have the Disk, your father will be returned to you, free forever from the Ka that grows within him, even now. You will bring me the Red Disk. I will save your father. Decide. Now.”

  “Forget it,” Joseph said. “Forget it, Jimmy. Might as well call up the devil himself and make a deal. It'd be better than dealing with this thug. Come on.” He grabbed my elbow and pulled me toward the door.

  “Decide. NOW!” Raspy screamed, losing all remnants of the voice that had created the name I knew him by. “This is your last chance!”

  “Blast him and be done with it, Jimmy,” Joseph was furious. “Come on. Put an end to him once and for all.”

  The sea of emotion and thoughts within my head were in a tailspin, but I mentally slammed a door, and filled myself with calm. There was no time to think, no time to pick the pros and cons apart. I reached within, to the center of whatever it is that provides guidance and intuition, and I made my decision.

  “We will return in one hour,” I said.

  “With my dad.” Without another word, I turned to leave, Joseph joining me—under protest. A sickly, demonic laugh trailed us all the way down the stairs, and only ceased when the taxi doors shut and we drove away.

  I had the sickest feeling that I had just traded the world for my dad.

  The next two hours were impossibly difficult. Joseph railed on me the whole drive back to the hotel, and then everyone else joined him when we reunited. Of course, Mom was the worst, almost delirious in her refusal to let me take Dad to Raspy. Weeping uncontrollably, she collapsed on him, holding him, swearing she would never let him go.

  “Please, everyone, you must trust me!” Desperation fortified my voice. I reached down and grabbed Mom by the hand. “I can only use the Anything three more times, so if there is a way to heal Dad without using it, I mean to figure it out. If worse comes to worst, in the end, I will use it to save him. Trust me. How can it be any better to leave him here, developing more and more each day into … that.” I pointed down at his moist, gray skin, cobwebs of black covering him everywhere, the budding wings tilting him to one side at an awkward angle.

  Discussion ensued; argument and debate heated the room. But in the end, I won.

  And so I ended up in the back of a taxi, sitting next to a huddled mass hidden under a blanket, ready to deliver my own dad to the worst person I had ever known.

  Our taxi driver said nothing about hamburgers or Britney Spears.

  If I had thought it difficult walking up the portable staircase before, it was right near impossible dragging a two hundred pound man-beast up them. I held his legs and Joseph grabbed under his arms. We grunted and sweated and groaned, and thumped Dad's poor shadowy head on the steps more than once. Just before we were ready to call it quits and roll him back down the flight of stairs, we realized we were at the top.

  Custer Bleak, otherwise known as Raspy, sat in the same chair, in the same corner.

  “Put him on the couch.” He had gained back his calm and old-manliness since we'd left, and I wondered how long before he let himself turn back into a full-fledged Shadow Ka.

  We flopped Dad onto the soft leather, and then took a moment to catch our breath.

  “You have to give us some collateral—something that will ensure your end of the bargain,” Joseph said.

  “I give you nothing,” Raspy said, his wrinkled grin revealing yellowish green teeth.

  “I promise you this, Raspy,” I said, “If you fail to save my Dad, our whole world may lose in the end, but you will not be there to enjoy the victory.”

  His harrowing, cackling laugh echoed off the wooden walls. “Why do you insist on using that name with me boy? Call me Custer Bleak, First Servant to the Stompers, and may you never forget it.” He pointed a gnarled finger to the door. “Now be gone, and don't return until I see the Red Disk in your hands.”

  Disgusted, we turned to leave.

  “One more thing,” Raspy said. “Do not make the mistake of thinking I will order my Ka to leave you alone on your quest. They will still hunt you and do everything in their power to stop you. If they succeed, I win. If they fail, and you obtain the Disk and return, I win. Pretty good odds, don't you think?”

  With no response, I ran down the stairs, not wanting to be in his presence for one more second. We got in the taxi and left.

  Back at the hotel, there was no helping the somber mood—the overwhelming gloom caused by recent events. Little was said, and every attempt at levity failed miserably. We retired for the evening in our respective rooms, thinking that our dreams could never be as bad as real life.

  The next morning was dull and gray, no help at all to our dreary dispositions. We met for breakfast in the hotel restaurant and then reconvened in Mom's room, the bed strangely empty without my comatose Dad lying there, becoming.

  “Now all we have to do is figure out where the stupid Northless Point is located,” I said. “And how in the world I'm going to find the Lady and the Red Disk and the Dream Warden and whatever the heck else in fifty-six minutes.”

  It was obvious that everyone had grilled their brains thinking about the mysterious clue while we'd been gone, but silence was my only answer. It lingered like a bad neighbor for several minutes.

  Then Mom broke the spell: “Piece of cake.”

  “What?” I asked. “You think I can do everything I'm supposed to in fifty-six minutes?”

  “No, no, that's not what I meant. I'm talking about the Giver's riddle—about the Northless Point. I think I beat Tanaka to the punch.” She smiled. We all remembered Tanaka's insistence that he would be the one to figure it out. But the look in Mom's eyes said it all—she would be the one to claim victory in his absence.

  “I know where it is.”

  “Are you sure?” Joseph asked.

  She looked around the table at us.

  “Well?” a few of us asked with impatience.

  “Well,” she said, “think about it. What does your first instinct tell you when you hear of a place where there is ‘no north’?”

  I thought about it again, not for the first time. Then: “It makes me think it's way in the south, so far south that you can't even remember that there ever was a north.”

  “Yeah,” Rusty said, “I was thinking that, too.”

  “Well, good thing we're not relying on you two, then,” Mom said, surprising us all with her sarcasm. “The only place in the world where there is no north, is way up north!”

  “Huh?” Rusty said.

  “Right,” she continued. “If you go as far north as you can, then you can't go north anymore. So north ceases to exist.”

  We all stared at her, and then right before she said it, it clicked in my own brain.

  “The North Pole.”

  After further discussion, we all agreed. It was just hard to accept at first because it seemed like it should be more difficult to figure out. But it made complete sense. If you stood on the North Pole, the only direction you can go is south. So no matter which way you pointed, there would be no north.

  “Well,” Miyoko said, “that was the easy part compared to actually getting there. Even if we were trained and had all the needed equipment, how in the world would we get there in time?”

  The hum of the hotel's heater was her only answer.

  “Well,” I said, “we need to get a plane or something …”

  “Jimmy, you don't just run to the airport and tell them you'd like a ride to the North Pole—we would need to hire experts who travel in that terrain for research or something.”

  She was right. I had worried so much about figuring out where the Northless Point was located, I didn't even think about the impossibility of getting there. Such a remote place was not easy to get to. What could we possibly do? A dark cloud frustration and helplessness began to creep back over our little group.

  The feeling did not last long.

  Hood, who had not said a word since we'd made it back from our meeting in town, slowly stood, drawing our attention. He threw his Bender Ring onto the bed. It spoke for itself.

  Of course. The Bender Ring. Hood had the ability to travel anywhere in the world with a drop of his magical red hula-hoop. It was instantaneous, albeit a very mind numbing experience—I would never forget my one trip using it.

  And it looked like I'd be doing it again.

  Rusty questioned why we hadn't used the Bender Ring for other things, like getting to the Tower of Air. It was a good question, with an easy answer. For one thing, we'd wanted to stay together as a group up until now, and the ring could only transport two people at the most. But more important, Hood could only use the Ring if he knew an exact destination. We never really knew exactly where the Tower was located, just a general idea, so it never would have worked for that.

  But you can't get a more exact location than the North Pole. It's one spot, and one spot only.

  But just to be safe, Hood wanted to test it out. We grabbed a map of the world that was hanging on the wall of the hotel room, and pinpointed on the map the location of the North Pole. Hood indicated that was enough to make the Bender Ring function. We followed him outside into the open air behind the hotel, making sure no strangers were around, and watched as he performed his trick.

  I had never seen this before, as I was in the middle of the Ring the only time I'd been around when it had been used. Hood stood a few feet from us, and held the Ring high above his head, holding it with two hands spread evenly apart. Then he let it go, the ring slipping from his hands and falling to the ground at his feet.

  As the Ring fell, Hood disappeared along its path. If you could have taken a picture when it was halfway down, you would have seen Hood's bottom half below the Ring, and nothing but air above it. When the Ring finally hit the ground, there was no noise, and the Ring itself disappeared. There was no smoke, no circular, flaming brand where his feet had been. There was nothing.

  When he returned just minutes later, the Ring appeared first, floating six feet in the air, parallel with the ground. Hood materialized as it fell—the opposite of what we'd seen earlier. His robe was covered in frosty ice particles, and we could tell he was shivering underneath.

  He knelt down and painted on the nearby sidewalk, even though I was pretty sure the owners of the hotel wouldn't appreciate it very much.

  “I MADE IT. THERE WAS EVEN A BIG STICK IN THE GROUND PROCLAIMING IT AS THE NORTH POLE. WE WILL BE READY WHEN THE TIME COMES.”

  We had only two days. There wasn't much I could do to prepare for my trip into the Blackness, because I had no idea what to expect. But Mom solving the riddle of the Northless Point had given us a much-needed boon, and everything seemed to switch in an instant from dark to light. There was a palpable feeling of big things to come, just on the horizon. We felt rejuvenated.

  The beginning of the end was near.

  There were things to get done, decisions to be made before the appointed time of the Ripping of the Black Curtain up at the North Pole. Rayna and Miyoko decided to go and find Geezer, who had been directed to gather the remaining members of the Alliance. Because we'd returned to the very port from which we had left, and because so much time had passed since our departure, it was troubling that there was no sign of Rayna's friends.

  Mom, Joseph, and Rusty would move to another hotel in the middle of the night, doing everything possible to keep their identity and location a secret, even though it appeared Raspy had an uncanny ability to know about our comings and goings. We were baffled how he had just happened to be waiting for us at the dock the day before. The Shadow Ka were watching, and it would be very nerve-wracking to leave my family again.

  But I had to.

  Hood and I would remain at the original hotel until we went north, as would Rayna and Miyoko until they left. We hoped that all the movement would cause some major confusion to the Ka if they were indeed nearby.

  In the early evening before the Big Day, Rayna and Miyoko prepared their things and readied to set out on their search for Geezer. Mom, Joseph, and Rusty had left the night before under cover of darkness, calling us every few hours to let us know they were okay. My good-bye to them had been difficult, but it was not enough to dampen the renewed encouragement we all felt. Our final piece of the plan was that as soon as Hood and I returned from the north, we would all rendezvous at the place where we had left our horses when we departed on the ocean voyage.

  I couldn't wait to see Baka again. I kept thinking to myself over and over that the next time I brushed down my horse, it would mean that I'd been to the Blackness and back. That I had been reunited with a healed Dad, and that we would all be back together again, ready to help the Givers in whatever way we could, even if I had lost my opportunity to obtain the Fourth Gift in order to save Dad.

  I just wished I could skip ahead twenty-four hours and have it all be over.

  I had a quick dinner with Rayna and Miyoko in the restaurant before they left, with little conversation. Our minds were on the tasks that lay ahead. When we'd given up on trying to build an appetite, Rayna said it was time for good-byes again.

  “Once again,” Rayna said, “we will scatter like we did when you fought the Bosu Zoku. Hopefully we will reunite under the same positive circumstances. Victory.”

  “Ah, it'll all work out just fine,” I said. Everyone knew I was trying a little too hard to be positive.

  “You keep telling yourself that,” said Miyoko. “Don't make me have to come and rescue you. I've got my own things to take care of, okay?”