The closest Shadow Ka was only forty feet away, sitting atop a pyramid, with its highest point still below where I stood. It made no movement that indicated it even noticed my existence. It was there, making typical movements of a living creature, breathing, shifting every once in a while—but it didn't even so much as glance in my direction.

  I waved my arms back and forth. No reaction. I almost yelled out, just to see what would happen, but stopped short. Why push it?

  I took several steps down, careful not to slip on the wet stone. I looked back at the Shadow Ka and then at the others. They were ignoring me completely.

  Then it clicked.

  Maybe, just maybe, the Shield was far more powerful than I could have even dreamed. It repelled bullets, it repelled snow, it repelled exploding helicopters. And in the most bizarre of circumstances, when it was truly needed to protect me, perhaps it repelled something even more fascinating. Sight. Vision. The ability of others to see me.

  Yes, it made sense. I had even wished it in my mind.

  The Shield was making me invisible.

  Encouraged and confident, I continued to make my way down the narrow steps. A few seconds later, I slipped.

  Before I could grab anything with my hands, I was off the stairway completely, sliding down the steep, slick pyramid. Thirty of forty feet later, I came to a junction with another structure, and changed directions, now sliding down the crevice created by the joining of the two pyramids. Soon, another turn, and then another.

  With the Shield protecting me, it was nothing but fun—the greatest water slide ever created.

  I slipped and slid down several more turns before I finally reached the bottom, which ended at the edge of a vast plane of the same glowing material, stretching out before me to infinity, flat as a perfectly sliced piece of cheese.

  I stood and looked back up at the towering maze of pyramids. High in the distance I could just make out some Shadow Ka, resting and waiting. They had no idea I was here.

  I looked to the left and right and saw that the pyramids went on in both directions seemingly without end, but they all came to a stop along a straight line, leading to the flat plane. It was like a busy beachside, countless condos and tourist traps lined up, facing an ocean of purple.

  I turned and faced the vast emptiness, my clothes sopping wet. The deluge continued, and for the first time, I saw lightning and heard thunder. The storm appeared to be worse out there, and the lightning illuminated the sky to such a degree that I could see the cloud formations. They were swirling around a single point, like a miniature hurricane—like it was a living, breathing entity.

  A deafening crack of thunder erupted from the central point, and a thick, blinding streak of lightning bolted down and smashed into the ground, seeming to linger for several seconds. Then it was gone. I continued to stare in that direction.

  The next series of flashes revealed something where the blistering lightning bolt had struck—something that had not been there before. It was impossible to tell exactly, but the glimpse of billowing white material, flowing in the wind and rain, had to be my signal.

  I began walking toward it. Then I ran.

  I didn't need to look at my watch to know that time was disappearing with a ruthless sense of indifference.

  As I drew nearer, the image of the Lady of the Storm solidified and took shape, despite the drenching rain that did its best to obscure my vision. Parts of her long dress flowed ten or twenty feet from her body, dancing in the wind. But the rain did not touch her.

  Her hair was long and red, cascading strips of velvet reaching her back and beyond. It was not the typical auburn or orange of usual red hair—hers was the color of blood. Her face was pale and gentle, with eyes bluer than the clearest sky. If I had been a little older, I might've asked her to marry me right on the spot.

  I pulled to a halt about twenty feet in front of her and then walked with careful steps the rest of the way. A bubble of protection from the storm surrounded her, and I walked through it. Not only did the torrent of water end in an instant, but the sounds of the raging storm dissolved away as well. The sudden lack of rain made me wonder why the Shield had not been acting like an umbrella for me all that time, and I figured it had been doing me no harm—unlike the bitter snow and cold of the frozen world I'd visited my first time to the Blackness.

  I stopped just a few steps short of the Lady, and waited for her to speak. Every instinct told me that she had expected me for some time now, and was ready to deliver whatever I needed.

  “Hello, young Jimmy,” she said, her voice crisp and pure, like the trickling runoff from the North Georgia mountains after a downpour. “Welcome to the Storm World, where things are very different from yours.”

  It was the understatement of the day, but I just nodded.

  “You have obtained the Three Gifts, and seek the Fourth, am I right?”

  “Yes,” I said.

  “You must know by now that I do not have this Gift for you, yes?”

  My heart sunk a little, because I'd hoped that maybe this time it would be easy. But everything I had been told should have led me to believe that the Lady was only going to give me direction on how to find the final Gift.

  “Right,” I said.

  “The final door you must open is not like the others, Jimmy. But it is a door nonetheless.” Her eyes dropped, and she paused, as if in deep thought. I scratched my head trying to make sense of her last sentence.

  “I give unto you the Red Disk.” She reached into the folds of her flowing gown and brought out a flat circular disk, about the width of a typical Frisbee, an inch thick, and as red as the fiery hair flowing off of the Lady's head. She held it out, and I accepted her odd gift to me.

  It was heavier than it looked, and very solid, like a piece of hard granite. I flipped it over and scanned both sides, but there was no break in its design. Red all over, with no blemishes, bumps, or lines. Smooth and cool to the touch.

  Red Disk was as good a name as any, albeit unimaginative. I placed it in my backpack, and strapped it on a little tighter, just to be safe.

  She continued her instructions.

  “You cannot obtain the Fourth Gift until you have found the Dream Warden, who will then reveal it unto you. You cannot find the Dream Warden without the Red Disk, so I have done my part in giving it to you. But then, here is the difficult part.”

  Her face grew somber, and I didn't like that one bit.

  “It is difficult to understand the Disk, for there is only one way to know how to use it.”

  “Only one?”

  “Yes. The one called Erifani Tup.”

  “Erifanawho?” I asked.

  “Erifani Tup. It is an unusual name, to be sure. But you must find and understand it, and you will then see the Disk.”

  “How do I find this guy … Erifani?”

  “This is the difficult part.” She paused. “You must use the Red Disk to find Erifani Tup. And you must find Erifani Tup in order to use the Red Disk. It is quite the conundrum, don't you think?”

  Every computer chip in my skinny brain was trying to tell me I'd just gone insane.

  “I … what … what?” I must've sounded like a complete idiot.

  “Jimmy, your time is almost gone. I will tell you once more, and you must not forget. To find Erifani Tup, you must use the Red Disk. To use the Red Disk you must find Erifani Tup. You can do this, I know you can. The Dream Warden will then be revealed to you, and the Fourth Gift will be yours. Now, go.”

  “But—”

  “Go. Come to me again, when it is all over. I will show you the Storm World, and you will never forget.”

  “But—”

  “GO!”

  Tingling prickles skittered all over my skin, which should have been a warning, but I was still lost trying to understand the Lady of the Storm's riddles. So I didn't notice the massive bolt of lightning until it was on top of us.

  The world disintegrated into a million pieces of light and fire.

  The blast of pure energy seemed to warp the fabric of reality, and its intense repercussions against the Shield knocked every ounce of breath from my lungs. I catapulted into the air with no sense of direction or understanding of what was happening. Tendrils of jagged electricity trailed behind me like ribbons on a kite, and before any part of my brain began to comprehend where I was going, I slammed into the side of a large pyramid.

  Because of the great speed caused by the lightning, and the upward tilt of the pyramid, the Shield did not rebound me back toward the flat purple plain, but instead skipped me like a rock on a stream up the side of the pyramid. With no pain, only confusion, I bounded up the rain-drenched sides of the glowing edifice, until it merged with another one, and then another. With all the grace of a pinball, I bounced this way and that, ever upward, my momentum declining just slightly every time the protective bubble of the Shield hit purple stone.

  Once I slowed to the point where I could think clearly, and since each bounce took just a little more time, I made an almost unsettling conclusion. The Lady of the Storm had driven the building-sized lightning at me with an extraordinary amount of calculation. She knew that my time was short, and understood the law of whatever physics governed this place to such a degree that the force of her conjuring was pushing me straight toward the gateway back into the Blackness.

  One more bounce, and I settled with a perfect landing on the flight of stairs along the edge of the pyramid that held the iron rings, only thirty steps or so from the base of the crystal rod. Shell-shocked, I looked down at my watch.

  Twenty minutes.

  The flood of rain continued from the dark sky, cascading in sheets down the smooth walls and stairs, rushing over my feet. I gathered my wits and pounded up the stairs, hating that I had to be so careful not to slip. One more joy ride down the water slide would seal my fate—there would never be time to make it back to the Ripping in that case.

  With ten steps left, I remembered the Shadow Ka. I looked over to the nearest peak. The Ka was gone. I looked at another. Gone. I looked all around, taking another step or two up the stairs. I could see no Ka anywhere.

  Then I noticed a black mass of something behind me—hard to see through the water, but definitely there. It was writhing, and shifting, and gathering, forming a pointed wedge, and a shiver of horror went up my spine.

  The Ka were forming a battering ram, made of their own bodies, to destroy the base of the iron rings. Although they could not see me, they were not stupid, and although my rare Gift had bought me precious time, the events down on the plain with the Lady had given me away.

  My heart pounding, I turned toward the crystal beam and looked up at the gateway that it supported. It was twenty feet above me. I looked back at the Shadow Ka. They were starting to move toward the gate.

  I threw my thoughts into the power of the Ice, and it worked faster than ever before. A solid ladder of the cold and hard substance of my Gift formed in an instant, perhaps aided by so much water in the air, going from my feet to the top of the portal leading back into the Blackness. Without the slightest hint of hesitation, I jumped on it and began to climb.

  Rung by slippery rung I flew up the ladder, reminded of the one I had built back at the Pointing Finger—although that had been my first try at the strange power, and hadn't looked nearly as professional.

  Halfway up, I looked over my shoulder at the Ka. They were now coming full speed, flying as one, gathered into a tight knot with a deathly pointed end of blackness at its head. I swiveled my head back around and climbed the remaining distance to the topmost iron ring, and jumped into the gateway.

  I was facing the coming onslaught of Ka, and they were on a straight course to destroy the crystal rod, shattering along with it my hopes of seeing anyone I loved ever again. They were almost there.

  I knew it would take a few seconds, like always, but it was maddening.

  Two seconds passed.

  Three.

  The Ka were getting closer and closer, screams now erupting from their writhing conglomerate in unison, deafening and shrill.

  Four seconds passed. Five. Come on, I thought. Come on, come on, come on!

  Six seconds. Nothing. Seven.

  The point of the Ka's battering ram made contact with the crystal rod.

  Eight seconds.

  It sliced into the glass, penetrating it with a sound like colliding glaciers.

  Nine seconds. I screamed it out loud this time: “COME ON!”

  The iron rings tilted and began to fall, the sounds of shattered glass below deadened by the torrential rain. In sickened horror I thought it was truly over.

  There was a flash of light, and the rain and terror ended.

  My hands gripped the iron rings on the Blackness side of the portal, and I coaxed myself into breathing as I looked at the comforting surroundings of mist, stone, and inky waters—a disturbing thought in and of itself. I jumped out of the gateway and kicked myself for remembering far too late that I probably could've stopped the Ka with the Ice somehow. So I wasn't so good under pressure—big deal, it had all worked out.

  My watch revealed that I had fifteen full minutes to get to the Ripping.

  Piece of cake—too easy.

  I stumbled across the jagged, torn up landing of the Storm World portal until I made it to the unblemished black marble of the pathway. Then I took off running with all the energy I could muster from within my exhausted skin-and-bones body.

  Halfway there, I looked at my watch again.

  Thirteen minutes.

  By the time I reached the gaping hole leading to my sweet land of Earth, I still had eleven minutes. A swelling of pride and joy filled me as I remembered the Red Disk sitting in my backpack four inches from my heart. Having been set to a daunting task in an impossibly short period of time, I had done it with minutes to spare.

  Of course, considering my luck, I should've known better than to think such things.

  It was not over.

  I stepped through the Ripping and my breath was knocked out of me when I made the transition from moist, warm air to sub-zero frigidity. The glare of the sun against the endless snow of the North Pole snapped my eyes shut, and I put my hand over them until they could begin to adjust. My drenched clothes hardened into ice.

  When I could manage a squint or two, I saw Hood to my right, shivering uncontrollably, the Bender Ring on the ground by his side.

  “I did it, Hood!” I yelled, and walked over to him.

  I expected a pat on the back or some other subtle hint from the wordless wonder, but instead he grabbed my arm and pointed frantically to the east. I followed his direction.

  A lone Shadow Ka was flying straight toward us.

  It was still a few seconds from reaching us, but I could see that the evolution of our enemy was close to complete. The skin was almost purely black now, and its arms and legs no longer resembled any aspect of humanity. Its massive wings flapped with a vengeance as it flew at us, and its familiar cry of death rocked the air.

  “Why is it alone?” I asked.

  Hood shrugged his shoulders, but then halted and pointed again.

  It was not alone after all—it was just the leader. Behind it, a cloud of hundreds of other Ka followed in a tight pack. Their eruptive cries became audible now, as if by seeing them, we'd made them real.

  “Well, whatever, let's get out of here,” I said.

  Hood made no argument. He bent over, grabbed the Bender Ring, and moved closer to me so we could travel back to my family.

  But we had underestimated the speed of the flying Ka. In a sudden terror we saw that there wasn't enough time to even raise the Ring to where it needed to be. On instinct, I grabbed Hood's arm to protect him with my Shield.

  The Ka swooped down, straight for me, screaming again and again. It reached out its shadowy talons, intent on grabbing me or ripping me in half. But how could it possibly be stupid enough to think it could get past the Shield? For good measure, I shot a ball of Ice right at its face when it got to within ten feet.

  The Ice disintegrated inches before the Ka. I hurried another shot—the Ka now only five feet away. It didn't touch the beast, disappearing in a poof of mist.

  “What—” was all I got out.

  To my terrified surprise, the Ka's talons ignored the Shield and closed around my shirt and gripped me into its clutches. Hood, ignored, fell to the ground in confusion. Pulling me to its chest with a vicious squeeze, the Ka flew through the Ripping of the Black Curtain.

  I was right back in the Blackness.

  My Gifts had failed.

  The next moments were a blur of movement, color, and fear. The brightness and snow evaporated into the darkness, and then the familiar images of the Blackness formed around us. The Ka was crushing my body, and it took every effort to keep breathing. After bursting through the opening of the Rip, the Ka banked hard to the left and flew out over the silvery water of the sea. It pulled to a stop twenty feet from the marble path and hovered in place with a rhythmic beating of its wings.

  The hundreds of chasing Shadow Ka had also entered the otherworldly realm, and were swarming around us, gathering to devour me. The Ice. The Shield. What had happened? Why had they failed? An eating dread consumed me, and the thought of what kind of death was about to come my way was sickening and unbearable. A writhing cyclone of shadow spun around us. The lone Ka holding me was turning in place, scanning his brothers who surrounded us, communicating with its lightless eyes, readying for my final doom.

  The Ka, now almost fully transformed from human to dragon-like beast, with barely any tattered human clothes remaining, swiveled its head down to look at me. Its eyes were the darkness of deep space, but there was an odd shift in them that made me suspect it had some feeling in its black heart. Shattered by the loss of my Gifts, I hung in its arms without struggling, too confused and scared to attempt an escape. The Ka's stare lingered, and then it screamed its furious roar. The pain of it pierced my ears, and I closed my eyes, knowing it was really going to end—after all the wasted efforts to save my own world.