Digby realized that he had been more then a little lucky to escape from Samantha’s attack upon them. He had witnessed the terrible injury visited upon his aerial adversary, and knew that it would only strengthen her fearsome resolve.
Godel continued to sail through the misty clouds. Digby could see not three feet ahead of himself. After a time, the stormy winds and obscuring clouds dissipated.
He found himself back in familiar terrain. The well-known hedge-maze stretched out into infinity as he gazed across the expanse of Nibiru. He searched for some sign of detective Gardner, but he was nowhere to be found. Godel began a slow arc downwards for better look at his homeland. He spied in the distance several figures 269
moving quickly through the winding verdant pathways. He motioned to his winged companion who immediately set off in pursuit. The gryphon continued to make ground on the group below. In a flash Digby was directly above what appeared to be two separate groups. At the front was a large light brown stallion with a young girl and boy riding atop. Very close behind was a frightening foursome of crimson coloured riders. Digby sized up the situation quickly. “Godel…you see them down there? That’s Hillary out front, and the evil riders behind. Do you think that you could stop them somehow?” Godel looked up and nodded. The powerful beast sliced downward towards the red hued pursuers. With his razor sharp talons he easily picked off the first rider and flung him into the air. He then in rapid succession viciously attacked the remaining riders in similar fashion. Soon the horrible posse had been decimated. The horses ceased their galloping and merely ambled about in disarray. Wallace had watched the entire episode from the back of Dante. Hillary had been far too focused on moving forward through the maze in order to find its singular centre-point. Dante slowed his gallop as Wallace relayed the events. Soon the mighty steed had come to halt. Hillary and Wallace jumped down just as Godel and Dante landed on the ground nearby. Hillary ran immediately over to her red-haired friend. “Oh Digby…I knew that I could count on you…with a little help from your friend there. Wasn’t he at the ball I attended?” Dante stepped forward to reintroduce the two. “You do then recall Godel from the 270
dance, Hillary? I believe he had waltzed with your friend Rapunzel.” Hillary nodded her assent. “Of course…I hope that she is well. I haven’t seen her in quite some time.” Godel assured her that in fact Rapunzel was well. The gathering of friends huddled together to discuss strategy. Hillary realized that fate had lately smiled upon her, with the seeming destruction of the crimson riders. She was well aware however, that her most daunting battle with Samantha lay ahead.
Charles suddenly stepped back in disbelief. “He stared at the image of Carolyn. Her body was ever so slightly opaque.” Good Lord Carol, what’s happened to you? Is this some kind of weird magic? I hope this has nothing to do with your mother.” Carolyn attempted to alleviate his fears and anger. “I’ve been in this state for quite some time…and no, it is not Annie’s fault. It’s such a long story, and I don’t know what you’ve learned thus far. Suffice it to say that there is a girl out there…or here, that looks just like Hillary…only its not Hillary at all. She's like an evil twin. Her name is Samantha. She has been the cause of all this confusion and trouble. I can’t pretend that I completely understand it all…but she’s trying to kill us…and replace Hillary in the real world. We must stop her at all costs.” Charles nodded toward their forgotten companion Rodney. “Carol, I think you must remember Mr. Boggs?” The polite woman bowed slightly and returned a quizzical smile. “Mr. Boggs, I see that you are yourself again. You were 271
in bad shape last time we met.” The middle-aged man grinned. “It has been quite a ride, that is for certain. So is it safe to say then Mrs. Penrose, that you are in fact not yourself?” The exhausted woman considered her answer. “Please call me Carolyn. I think with all that we’ve been through, we’re old friends by now.
Charles, that woman you saw in the hospital was me…and it wasn’t. I’m not entirely clear how this crazy world works, but just as Hillary is split apart in two, my body also became severed. It has something to do with a positive and negative self…” Her husband stopped her explanation short. He wheeled around in the direction of a rumbling mob. “What in the name of God?” The three adults stood in terror as a howling gang of disfigured living mannequins came running towards them. Carolyn and Rodney instantly recognized the horrific threat. “No time to explain, Charles, run for it… that way!” They bolted down around a corner of the maze and continued at a furious pace. Mr. Boggs had difficulty keeping up with the pace. He began to fall back. The Penrose couple stopped for a moment. “Honey, we can’t just leave the man…he’s my friend.” Carolyn was well aware of the near fatal injury that awaited them if they failed to escape from the mob. Just as she looked back she and Charles watched as a large black whole seemed to open up in the pathway. It quickly consumed Rodney within. He let out a final howl as the blackness swallowed him up. The mutated mob continued their relentless pursuit.
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The couple had reached a dead end in the maze. They stood together in a close embrace and hoped for some miraculous saviour.
Detective Gardner finally recognized what was flying towards him. He was amazed to watch as a dozen vibrant and beautiful butterflies came gracefully sailing towards him. He watched in amazement at the dizzying array of bight pastel colours that filled the air around him. His body alighted upon a brilliant purple and red striped butterfly. He held on to the delicate creature for dear life.
Once again, he thought, his prayers had been answered. The clearly relieved man took a moment to enjoy the magnificent panoply of hues around him. The normally pragmatic man had difficulty accepting the truth of the situation in which he found himself. Yet it was a difficult thing to deny the reality of his senses. Still, he considered, this all could be a strange dream; and he might awaken at any moment and laugh. Nevertheless, he would certainly have quite a tale to tell his grandchildren some day, he thought to himself. He peered over the edge of the butterflies wings down at the maze. He searched for some sign of his son Wallace, or anybody.
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Samantha was unaccustomed to losing. The battle with Digby and Godel had cost her an eye and knocked her tumbling through the air from atop her black raven. Samantha knew that only the infinite power of the Thinker would be capable of healing her disfigured face. The Thinker, she had learned, resided within a blinding pure white light emanating form the centre-point of the maze. She had never seen it, but she had been told of its general whereabouts by the red riders. If she could reach the Thinker before Hillary, then she would have a clear advantage in defeating her, she reasoned. The ocular disfigurement had left her enraged beyond control. She vowed to not only replace Hillary in the real world, but in fact to obliterate her and her family altogether. The conniving young girl realized that her allies would be needed to stop her enemies. She immediately set off to find the crimson riders. They would know how to proceed, she realized. The furtive girl reached down in her pocket and pulled out her kangaroo toy. She place it upon the gravel pathway and prayed in her unique way. “Oh Tiamat, please make this kangaroo alive, so that he might help me in my quest to be real.” As before, the loyal marsupial Dagobert grew to a huge size. Samantha crawled into the rangy beast’s ample pouch and set off to hunt down her enemies.
Annie Koestler and Rupert finally reached the Boston hospital after many strange looks from those they had encountered on the way. Luckily they had met 274
no policemen. Annie carefully jumped down from the humpback animal to the snow covered ground below. She instructed Rupert to take the dromedary and wait out of sight beside the building. Annie calmly made her way into the hospital and down to the morgue. She spoke to an intern who summoned the physician, Dr.
Singh. The East Indian doctor greeted the elderly woman. He spoke with a slight accent. “I am so very sorry for your loss, Mrs. Koestler. We did all that was possible, and the police are looking for whomever it was that poisoned your daughter. I must say that this is a strange case indeed. I suppose you will want to see your daughter.” The kind doctor led her to a wall of units and pulled out a long metal bed. Carolyn’s cold body lay motionless on the shiny steel surface. Annie gazed down with interest. “Do you think that I could have some time alone with my daughter, doctor?” The man assented and left her alone with her daughter. The crafty woman immediately set about extracting Carolyn from the lifeless room. She was able to find a nurses uniform set down for laundry to pick up in a hamper, which she quickly donned. She rolled her daughter’s limp body onto a moveable stretcher and vacated the morgue room. Annie was fortunate to not encounter any resistance as she made her way with the stretcher through the halls of the hospital.
She found an empty elevator and pushed the stretcher inside. She was nearly at the ground floor when an inquisitive nurse could not help but notice the incongruous age of the alleged nurse. She challenged the older woman about her identity.
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“Excuse me…do you work here?” Annie pretended not to hear the question as the doors to the elevator opened. She rushed and then ran down the corridor towards the exit. The nurse continued to pursue the woman. “You there…stop! Security!” She began to run after the older woman when a figure stopped her in the hallway.
The tiny green jacketed creature wore a buckled hat and a mischievous grin. The Leprechaun gazed up at the mystified nurse. “Now where are you going off to in such a hurry? You nearly ran me over just now.” The bewildered nurse had no ready response to the impish mythical figure. She simply stared in disbelief and completely lost sight of Annie departing the hospital. Annie did not dare look back and was quickly outside the doors of the huge building. She motioned to Rupert who was dutifully waiting her return. “Rupert, they’re right behind me. I’ll have to fend them off. Here, you take Carolyn’s body and find your way back to Nibiru.
Carolyn must be there. You will know the way. Just trust and believe in yourself, and you will be safe.” The young prince followed her instructions and leapt into action with great aplomb. He secured the limp woman’s cold body to the camel’s back and was off at a furious gallop.
Dante spoke first after listening to Digby’s account of the attack on the crimson riders. “I hope you all realize that we have not seen the last of them.
Samantha must be after us also. We must beat her to the vortex of the maze. Hurry!
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Everyone follow me!” Hillary and Wallace rapidly mounted the roan steed as Digby leapt onto his gryphon companion and shot into the air. Godel flew just over the top of Dante as the steed galloped down the pathway, turning this way and that.
“You two follow me from above, and watch for Samantha, she could be anywhere.”
Samantha was in pursuit of Dante and the rest. She was quite some way behind, but Dagobert the kangaroo moved through the maze with great alacrity and agility. She spied above several butterflies in formation above her. She knew that butterflies were never her allies and set about scattering them. She cast her eyes up in the direction of the beautiful, gliding creatures. She pulled from her dress pocket a green vial containing a bubbling green liquid. She opened the stopper and cast the green summoning potion into the air. “Dragon! Appear and rid the sky of the creatures above!” Instantly a huge, snarling green scaly beast appeared on the horizon, breathing deadly plumes of liquid fire. It rapidly descended upon the group of butterflies. Detective Gardner had no luck in finding Wallace or anyone else, as he scanned the ground from atop the butterfly. He heard the blasting sound of a belching furnace behind him. He looked back to see a fearsome long-tailed dragon bearing down quickly upon him. It was too late for him to avoid the attack.
A fiery burst of flames badly singed the butterfly beside him. They scattered to 277
avoid the deadly attack. Gabriel Gardner was again sent tumbling into the air as the dragon continued its relentless attack. The detective was only feet from the ground as the terrible dragon took a massive intake of air to finally incinerate the poor man. A gaping black hole suddenly materialized in the ground. It swallowed Gabriel whole as he had made contact with the earth. The dragon was powerless to do any more damage and broke of its relentless attack.
Annie Koestler watched as Rupert, with Carolyn’s body atop the camel shot away into the street. She had thrown away her nurses uniform and began walking from the hospital. A security team had been notified by staff that Carolyn’s body had gone missing. The nurse from the elevator had been no help in identifying the thieves. She seemed to have suffered a mental setback and was experiencing hallucinations, according to doctors that had examined her. A security officer finally noticed the large camel galloping away from the hospital. He quickly alerted a squad-car on duty. Rupert had acted properly in every way. He looked back from atop his camel ride and noticed a police car with sirens blaring headed in his direction. He was completely lost and unsure of himself within an unknown realm.
He decided upon the only real method of escape that he had learned. He spied a huge green hedge just off the road. He quickly made directly for its centre. The camel and its two riders came nearer and nearer the looming greenery as the police 278
car grew closer. This time Rupert steeled himself for the upcoming test. He realized the he had failed the last time passing through the hedge by flinching at the last moment. This time he was resolved to be strong and unhesitating. The leaves of the hedge were inches away as he pushed the frightened beast forward. Finally they made contact with the hedge and were instantly transferred through the in-between place. Rupert and the camel emerged through the hedge onto the well-known gravel pathway.
The last thing he could recall was falling through an enormous hole that had suddenly manifested in the path. Rodney Boggs was now surrounded by a multitude of small multi-coloured balls. They looked to him like the sort of things one might see at a child’s amusement area. Upon further inspection, he realized that they were actually huge candy jaw-breakers. With some difficulty he could maneuver through the kaleidoscope of spheres. Not really expecting an answer, he called out to nobody in particular. “Hello? I don’t suppose there’s anybody else in this crazy place is there?” The middle-aged man was amazed to hear another man’s voice. “Hello…can you hear me?” It was the gruff but gentle voice of detective Gardner. He had fallen into the mysterious black hole and emerged, as Rodney had, within a panoply of candy children’s playroom balls. He laboriously made his way through the rainbow coloured sea in the direction of the voice he heard. Rodney 279
again called out loudly. “Hello…whomever, or whatever you are, I’m over here.” The exhausted man was no longer so worried about what strange manner of beast might be awaiting him. He had experienced more than enough excitement to last a lifetime. He too moved his body slowly through the multi-hued environment. After great effort spent, the two men finally met. The detective spoke first. “Well this is strange…but then again, not really as strange as the sort of day I’ve had.
Man…I’ve been chased by dragons, sharks…you name it…it has not been my day.
Then again…I still seem to be basically in one piece. Hey, I know you. You’re Rodney Boggs. Aren’t you supposed to be in a holding cell right now? Didn’t I arrest you in the disappearance of Hilary Penrose?” Mr. Boggs nodded and shrugged. “Listen detective, all I can tell you is that there is something weird going on. You must know that…I mean does any of this make any sense to you?
You have to know that I had nothing whatever to do with the disappearance of that girl Hillary.” Gabriel could not help but be sympathetic in light of recent impossible events. “I can’t say that I really understand any of this either. All I really recall clearly is reading this strange book, then all this weird stuff started happening. Anyway, if we’re going to do anything, we need to get out of here. I guess all we can do is keep searching for a way out.” 280
Carolyn and Charles watched in horror as the mutant mob of mannequins descended upon them. Charles bravely shielded his cowering wife as the first of the ghoulish entities came close. Suddenly a huge camel came bursting through the hedge-maze. Green leaves scattered everywhere around them. Atop the brown dromedary was a finely clothed young boy clenching a woman’s body. The mob was momentarily startled by the huge strong beast. Rupert immediately recognized the terrified woman upon the ground. He quickly sized up the situation and leapt into action. “You two, climb aboard, now!” He reached down with his arm to grab hold of Carolyn. Next Charles took his turn and was barely able to fit onto the great desert beast’s back. Rupert yelled down at the murderous, life-sucking horde. “Be gone, you monsters!” He kicked at the camel’s haunches and the group was off down the maze pathway, away from the howling mannequin horde.
Samantha continued down the pathways of the maze turning this way and that. She was searching for Hillary, but also watching for any sign of the crimson riders. At last she spied a fallen figure draped in a deep red cape leaning up against the hedge. She slowed her pace as she approached. The dark creature looked up from beneath the veiled cape with burning red eyes. “Samantha, you have found me at last. I have no idea what has become of the rest. The horses have scattered and are lost within the maze somewhere. We must act quickly if we are to prevent 281
Hillary’s escape from this place. All of our are carefully laid plans will be for not.
What has happened to your eye?” Samantha listened to the grave explanation, and provided her own update. “That meddlesome gryphon that Digby rides has done this to me. My raven has flown away, and I have only this my kangaroo Dagobert to transport me. The dark malevolent red entity considered her words. “I have a potion for you…a summoning potion. With it you may call upon the raven. I will ride this raven and track down these vile interlopers from above. You may be able to do more from down here. Follow your instincts and you will overtake them.
Now there is little time to waste. Here, take this summoning potion, you know how to use it.” Samantha accepted a green glass vial and did as she was instructed by her master. “Oh Tiamat, please return my raven to me, so that he might help me in my quest to become real.” As she spoke the incantation, she tossed the smoking green liquid into the air. Within moments she watched as a huge black as night bird alighted by her.
Hillary and Wallace continued at a fierce gallop down that gravel pathways of the mysterious maze. Dante knew the way to the temporal-spatial vortex and realized that they were beginning to get close. Now the way would become more treacherous, he considered. Godel and Digby continued their aerial reconnaissance over the Nibiru territory. Suddenly something caught Digby’s eye. “Godel, did you 282
see that?” Digby had seen a massive plume of flames shoot across the clear blue sky. The little fluffy clouds above suddenly opened up to a terrible sight. From a deep dive the horrific dragon had launched a sneak attack upon them. Godel was instantly aware of the attack and proceeded to initiate evasive maneuvers. He was far more agile and quick than the cumbersome flying lizard. With graceful and powerful sweeps of his wings, he easily evaded the thunderous beast's attacks.
Hillary and Dante watched the terrible assault from below. They were powerless to help. Hillary was heartbroken. “Dante, what can we do to help?” Wallace was also at a loss. He felt utterly useless. “Is there nothing we can do Hillary? That dragon is going to incinerate Digby! How can we possibly fight a fire-breathing dragon?
The loyal roan steed continued on his furious pace. “I know this is difficult, but Digby must fend for himself. We must reach the centre-point at all costs before Samantha does. Don’t you two worry, Godel is the finest flyer in all of Nibiru. He will not easily be defeated in the air.”
Detective Marion and Rodney were completely lost within their strange candy surroundings. Gabriel gamely continued to move forward, but really had no idea where he was going at all. A silence had descended upon the two men. Just then, detective Gardner heard a sound. It was a distant voice. “Rodney…did you hear that?” His fellow prisoner agreed that there definitely was the sound of a voice 283
coming from somewhere. “Yes…I heard that…it sounded like it was coming from the ground below you. The two men began to move toward the source of the sound. The voice became louder as they moved ever downward. Finally Mr.
Gardner was able to make out definite words. It was a woman’s voice calling his name out loudly. Still the two men pushed onward through the sea of colour.
“Rodney…I’ll be damned it that doesn’t sound like my wife. Now after all I’ve been through lately, I might be cracking up, but that really sounded like her.” Soon the detective was clearly able to discern the distinct voice of his wife.
“Gabe…you’ve been up here all morning…are you coming down any time today?” As Mr. Boggs slogged through the thick soup of jaw-breakers, he felt a slippery smooth liquid surface. As he pulled his hand back in shock, he watched as small, mercury beads of liquid dripped from his extended fingers. “Here…look Gabriel…this must be where the sound is coming from. The detective was directly beside him and also felt his way forward. He too felt the cool liquid as he reached forward. “I think you’re right. This must be the way out. I’ll go first. The large man proceeded to gently climb through the shimmering liquid pool of glass. Rodney followed close behind. The detective was amazed to watch the objects within his bedroom appear as he climbed from his dresser mirror onto its top. He fell down to the carpeted floor as a pile of candy jaw-breakers followed him through the mirror.
Rodney escaped in the same way. Soon the two flabbergasted men were standing 284
staring into the quixotic dresser mirror. For a time they said nothing. Finally the voice of Mr. Gardner’s wife was again heard. “Am I going to have to break this door down, or are you going to answer me?” Gabriel was clearly shaken by the upsetting recent events. “Uh….that’s okay honey….just give me a minute here….I’ll be right down.
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