Benjamin tossed and turned in bed, unable to sleep. He went through all of the usual routines to prepare for a night of dreaming about dinosaurs. He counted the number of action figures in his room. One hundred and forty-seven. He studied the skeletons of his favorite dinosaur, the Tyrannosaurus rex. And, he even replayed his dreams from the previous five nights in his head. But, nothing happened.
16 | 17 |He stood up from the bed and looked at it accusingly. There must be something wrong with it. Benjamin kicked the mattress on the side as he would kick his computer when it started to make peculiar noises. The bed did not move and the kick did not seem to fix his problem.
18 | 19 |From his backpack, he retrieved an empty journal that Mr. Marchetta, his elementary school teacher, had given his class to record their dreams for one week. It was the same type of journal that he was given to record the foods he ate during a week, the birds he saw during a week, and the number of times Jupiter, Benjamin's golden retriever, jumped into the ground floor family swimming pool from the second floor balcony. Six times. Jupiter jumped six times. Benjamin was convinced that Mr. Marchetta had billions of these empty journals in his classroom closets.
20 | 21 |He paced back and forth in his bedroom. He turned on his computer and set the volume low enough so that the noise would not wake his parents. He navigated the Internet until he found Jurassic Superheroes episodes, a popular television series in which a group of good dinosaurs destroy Professor Undutois' plans to destroy the world. Professor Undutois was the worst kind of villain, in Benjamin's mind, because he was smart and mean. That combination made Benjamin very uncomfortable. He liked a particular episode in which buildings fell down, dinosaurs tumbled everywhere, and cars exploded. Benjamin's mother hated it. Benjamin, however, loved it. He tapped play and watched the scenes unfold, wishing he could join the dinosaurs in their quest to stop evil.
22 | 23 |The dinosaurs were flying in an airplane when they saw a newsflash that Professor Undutois was going to decimate a large metropolis by blasting it with a gigantic blue laser. One of the dinosaurs knew that it would take at least fifteen minutes until Professor Undutois could start his evil plan. They needed to land the plane immediately and find the terrible man's location before it was too late for all of the innocent people living in the millions of apartments clustered together like a concrete beehive.
24 | 25 |Benjamin watched the dinosaurs ride their motorcycles between cars and trucks along a crowded highway, their eyes focused on an evil vehicle in the distance. Suddenly, the back door of the trailer opened and Professor Undutois began throwing rocks. They dodged left and right and Benjamin's heart, which normally began racing during this scene, stayed very, very steady. He had seen the dinosaurs destroy Professor Undutois' plans thousands of times and he knew their lines, strategies, and characters as well as he knew himself. As the dinosaurs steered closer to Professor Undutois, Benjamin's eyelids began to close and his memory took over.
26 | 27 |The dinosaurs drove next to Professor Undutois' trailer. They forced the evil villain to brake suddenly and turn sharply off the highway into the European streets below. Benjamin and the dinosaurs chased after him, Benjamin leading the way on a green bicycle. He passed old coffee shops with women drinking espresso and dodged pedestrians carrying baguettes and swerved around taxis transporting people on these Parisian streets while keeping his eye on Professor Undutois in the distance. Benjamin knew exactly where his nemesis had stationed his laser; it was positioned at the top of the Eiffel Tower.
28 | 29 |Benjamin stopped chasing Professor Undutois and instead started racing toward the large metal structure in the middle of Paris. The Eiffel Tower was only a quarter mile away as darkness suddenly overcame the city, sending Benjamin's heart into a fast pace. Professor Undutois was nearly at the destination and Benjamin thought, for a moment, that he would not be able to stop him from doing harm. As soon as he started to doubt himself, he realized that if he did not stop Professor Undutois, no one would. He took a deep breath and tried to find courage. As thunder and lightning overwhelmed Paris, Benjamin ran to the Eiffel Tower and began to ascend to the top.
30 | 31 |But then, Professor Undutois came down from the Eiffel Tower and ran away as fast as he could, his arms flailing as he screamed loudly. Benjamin stood confused because his dreams never ended this way. Professor Undutois was never scared or worried. He was always confident and mean. He was running away from something, Benjamin realized.
32 | 33 |When Benjamin looked to the top of the Eiffel Tower, he saw a gigantic figure that bellowed so loudly that Benjamin could feel the growl pulse through his tiny body. It was the scariest creature Benjamin had ever seen.
34 | 35 |“Benjamin, it's time to wake up,” Mrs. Buckingham said as she opened Benjamin's door on her way downstairs to the kitchen.
36 | 37 |Benjamin woke up and stared at his computer. He knew something was wrong with how he woke up. He pinched himself and rubbed his eyes over and over to make sure that he was indeed awake. He was but he didn't feel awake.
38 | 39 |In all of the dreams he ever had, there was never an evil villain other than Professor Undutois. What could be more evil than Professor Undutois, Benjamin wondered. Is there something more evil out there?
40 | 41 |“Benjamin!” Mrs. Buckingham yelled from the kitchen.
42 | 43 |Benjamin ran downstairs and pondered what had just happened over French toast. Mr. Buckingham held the newspaper with a headline DREAMS HAVE ALL BUT DISAPPEARED IN PENNSYLVANIA. Benjamin saw it and wondered if he had lost the ability to dream. If last night foretold the future, Benjamin would never dream again. On his way to school, he continued to think about the monster. He wondered if there was something in one of the Jurassic Superheroes episodes that he was misremembering. He knew them completely, though, so it was just not possible.
44 | 45 |“On Tuesday, I dreamed that I was at dinner with my parents when my brother spilled lasagna. It was going to fall on our dog but I saved her just in time,” one of Benjamin's classmates said in front of everyone. The classroom was sparsely decorated and dimly lit. Each of his classmates was reading from their dream journals and Benjamin was beginning to think that he might be teased if everyone knew that he had just awoken from a nightmare.
46 | 47 |“Howard,” Mr. Marchetta read from a list on his desk. “You're next. Please read your dreams to the class.”
48 | 49 |Howard Horne, a large child who behaved like a bully, walked to the front of the class with his journal, smirking at Benjamin along the way. He cleared his throat loudly. Benjamin rolled his eyes, wishing Howard would embarrass himself in front of everyone. Instead, Howard started to detail dreams that everyone in the class thought were exciting and thrilling.
50 | 51 |“I was a gladiator Wednesday night and there was a dragon that had invaded our school,” Howard said as he clenched the journal with one hand and pointed to his classmates with the other. “The dragon was here to destroy us. It was going to destroy all of us. It blew fire everywhere and the school started to burn. This wasn't so bad but I was not going to let the dragon destroy our houses. And, the baseball field. I ran after it and then I destroyed the dragon using my gladiator shield and gladiator sword.”
52 | 53 |The class applauded and Benjamin shrunk into his seat so that he did not draw attention to himself. He wanted to fit in. The last thing he wanted was to be different from everyone else. He could not dream like Howard.
54 | 55 |“Benjamin, you're next,” Mr. Marchetta said as Howard Horne walked to his seat.
56 | 57 |Benjamin gulped. His dreams were not nearly as courageous and none of the characters in his dreams were people who he knew in real life. They were his friends, he believed, but they were, indeed, dinosaurs.
58 | 59 |“Benjamin, come on,” Mr. Marchetta said because Benjamin had not yet moved.
60 | 61 |He walked to the front of the class with his journal in his left hand and a worried state in his mind. And just like when he was losing confidence that he might not be able to stop Professor Undutois, he took one big breath to stop his worries.
62 | 63 |“The other day I dreamed that I was with a group of dinosaurs in Honolulu. The evil villain Professor Undutois was going to start a volcano that would destroy the entire island. I led the dinosaurs up the volcano and found Professor Undutois and his evil machine. I went up to him and said—”
64 | 65 |“That's an episode!” Howard Horne yelled from the back of the class.
66 | 67 |“Howard, quiet,” Mr. Marchetta interjected.
68 | 69 |“That's not a dream!” Howard said with a laugh. “That's the tenth episode of Jurassic Superheroes and we're too old to be watching that anymore. Jurassic Superheroes is for little kids, Benjamin. You should go down the hall and tell it to the kindergarten students. But they probably won't be impressed because you can't even dream your own dreams! You steal from television shows!”
70 | 71 |The entire class started to laugh as Benjamin's face turned red. It was an episode of that popular television series but it also happened to be his dream. He didn't know what to do next so he continued to stare into his journal in hope that time would move much faster than it was. He had lost any confidence that the deep breath had given him. And, he did not know how to get it back. All he knew was that he didn't want to be there.
72 | 73 |“Benjamin, you can continue,” Mr. Marchetta said.
74 | 75 |“I don't think I should,” Benjamin said nervously.
76 | 77 |“OK,” Mr. Marchetta said. “But, that will mean you still have to complete your assignment. You can't disguise television episodes as your dreams. If you don't have a dream, just say that you didn't have a dream. Don't lie about it.”
78 | 79 |“I didn't lie,” Benjamin said quietly.
80 | 81 |“I bet I've already seen all of your dreams on television,” Howard said over the laughter of all the other kids in the classroom. “I bet I know the endings too!”
82 | 83 |Benjamin stared out the window into the parking lot for the remainder of the day. He didn't know why school needed to be so difficult. Why was it so hard to make friends?
84 | 85 |For dinner, Mr. Buckingham made waffles topped with fruit because it was his favorite meal and because he had decided that the family did not consume enough waffles. Benjamin did not have any complaints but he was distracted by everything he had gone through that day. He had dreamed a nightmare and then lived through one in the classroom.
86 | 87 |“We had to read through our dream journal at school today,” Benjamin began, slowly.
88 | 89 |“That's great,” Mrs. Buckingham responded as she set the table. “How did it go?”
90 | 91 |“Not good.”
92 | 93 |“Why not?” Mr. Buckingham said as he continued to make waffles.
94 | 95 |“None of my dreams are creative. I'm not creative. My dreams aren't dreams.”
96 | 97 |“Sure they are. You told me all about those dinosaur dreams,” his dad continued. “And, frankly, I don't know how anyone would think that they weren't creative. It takes a lot of creativity to imagine a stegosaurus navigating a sailboat.”
98 | 99 |“Well, it's just that they aren't my dreams. They're all from Jurassic Superheroes.”
100 | 101 |“Are you watching that episode I told you not to watch?” his mother asked as she handed him a napkin.
102 | 103 |“No, but all my dreams star me and I go around with the dinosaurs stopping Professor Undutois.”
104 | 105 |“Those are great dreams!” his dad continued while making more waffles.
106 | 107 |“I think we have enough waffles,” Mrs. Buckingham whispered.
108 | 109 |“Ten more?” he asked quickly. “Did you know that I haven't had a dream in months. I couldn't tell you the last dream I've had. I'd love to have a dream where I am parading around with dinosaurs solving crimes. I feel like most people these days can't dream. There was a time when everyone had dreams and now it's all gone. You should be thrilled to have dreams.”
110 | 111 |“But, all the other kids in school have dreams that are much different than mine. I want my dreams to be like their dreams.”
112 | 113 |“Different is good. You should be glad you're different. One day, you might regret that.”
114 | 115 |“I'm thinking about throwing away the dinosaur posters in my room,” Benjamin said to his parents.
116 | 117 |Mr. Buckingham put down the waffle maker and Mrs. Buckingham stopped setting the table. They were surprised with Benjamin. He had not thought about it for very long but he had decided that by getting rid of the dinosaurs in his room, he would begin to have different dreams.
118 | 119 |“How about this,” Mr. Buckingham continued slowly. “You keep all the dinosaur stuff in your room for a month. If you don't have a creative dream in a month, we'll redesign your room to something else. Maybe sports? Cars?” Mr. Buckingham paused and looked at Mrs. Buckingham briefly. “Girls?”
120 | 121 |Mrs. Buckingham rolled her eyes at Benjamin's dad.
122 | 123 |“I think you've had a bad day,” she said. “But the great thing about having a bad day is that the next day is always better. ”
124 | 125 |“Who wants some waffles?” Mr. Buckingham asked with four enormous plates of waffles topped with very little fruit.
126 | 127 |The television was playing in the family room and an emergency alert appeared at the bottom of a news television show: IN THIS ECONOMY, WE CAN NO LONGER DREAM... Great, Benjamin thought. Nightmares are everywhere.
128 | 129 | 130 |Benjamin couldn't see anything. He didn't know what was ahead of him, what was behind him, what was beside him, or what was above him. There was darkness everywhere.
16 | 17 |He didn't want to move, in case one step to his left led him to a five thousand foot fall off a mountain with rocks and trees and other sharp things. If he took one step forward, he might step onto some old wooden platform that could give way to him falling six thousand feet into an ancient gold mining shaft. If he took one step backwards, he might get his foot tangled into a rope that had been placed to catch large animals like dinosaurs and suddenly he would be pulled seven thousand feet into the air, dangling from some magnificent tree. He leaned a little to the left and then decided that taking a step to the left would be just as bad. If he took a step to the left, as opposed to the right, he might step into the opening of a gigantic volcano eight thousand feet tall, his tiny body flailing and falling into the erupting lava below.
18 | 19 |He worried that if he jumped, the land on which he currently stood might suddenly disappear. Benjamin realized that he was worrying too much. He was losing control of his thoughts, as everything he imagined was bad. Benjamin sat on the ground and wished that his mind would wander into the many glorious things that might await him when the darkness faded. But, he couldn't. He didn't like being alone in darkness, he thought.
20 | 21 |And then, something touched him. He felt it fly by his back as quickly as a bat or bird. If it was just a bird, that would be fine because Benjamin had seen many birds before. But if it was a bat, Benjamin would be more concerned. He had never seen one before. He would rather see something he knew than something he didn't know.
22 | 23 |It touched him again. This time, he felt the creature across his left shoulder. Benjamin cowered down lower to the ground.
24 | 25 |And then, it touched him twice, this time on both the left and right shoulders. Benjamin kept still and hoped that he could be invisible in the darkness.
26 | 27 |At that point, it continued. More and more, Benjamin felt the annoying bird-bat thing hitting him. Whatever it was could see in the dark, he thought.
28 | 29 |Benjamin began to flail his arms in front of him to ward off the flying thing.
30 | 31 |“Away! Away, demon bird!” Benjamin yelled at whatever it was that was bothering him.
32 | 33 |But then, Benjamin could see in the dark, too. At a distance of about thirty feet away, a tiny candle suddenly lit to reveal that there was no volcano, mountain, mineshaft, or dinosaur traps around him. There was only flat, safe ground so Benjamin jumped to his feet and ran to the light. He examined it and saw that it was on top of a wooden pole.
34 | 35 |Without thinking about who turned the light on, he grabbed the torch and slowly illuminated everything around him.
36 | 37 |“Ugh. Shadows!” Benjamin said with far less excitement.
38 | 39 |Shadows of various sizes were moving at high speeds all around him. They looked like creatures with two, three, four, eight, and eleven limbs.
40 | 41 |“Monsters!” Benjamin yelled.
42 | 43 |As if it heard him, another light flickered on to his left. Benjamin ran to it and noticed that it, too, was on a wooden stake. He did not see anyone or anything around that could have turned it on. He only saw more shadows.
44 | 45 |“Go away, dinosaurs! Snark, help me!” Benjamin yelled.
46 | 47 |Dozens of candles suddenly flickered on, as if Snark was listening to his request for help. They revealed a path through the darkness. Without concern for the shadows and bird-bats, Benjamin ran through the path as fast as he could. He passed nearly fifteen candles when the dark environment changed completely. Everywhere, without warning, was light. And for the first time, Benjamin saw where he was.
48 | 49 |He was standing at the entrance to a large stadium with tens of thousands of people in the stands cheering and screaming. The audience surrounded a circular ground covered with sandy dirt that felt hot under the blue sky and unforgiving sun. In the middle of this arena stood a gladiator, with a shield the size of his body and a sword twice as long. He pounded the sword into his shield and screamed back at the crowd. The crowd screamed back at the gladiator.
50 | 51 |“Today!” the gladiator beckoned. “We will no longer be afraid!”
52 | 53 |Benjamin was immediately afraid. The candles that he followed fell to the ground. He was standing in the middle of the gladiator's arena.
54 | 55 |The audience of thousands jumped as the gladiator gestured every direction, including a momentary glance directly at Benjamin. Benjamin slowly walked backwards and hid behind a door from which he could observe without being seen.
56 | 57 |The gladiator ran around the arena waving a blue, yellow, and orange flag three stories high. The crowd loved every moment of it. Many threw flowers upon the ground. Many waved signs with pictures of the gladiator on them. Others whistled loudly.
58 | 59 |As the gladiator returned to the center of the stadium, thunder broke out in the distance. The gladiator looked in the direction of the noise and raised both his shield and sword into the air. The crowd erupted in excitement for reasons Benjamin did not understand.
60 | 61 |Thunder clapped again, closer to the arena. The gladiator yelled back and the audience erupted again.
62 | 63 |Thunder clapped once more and Benjamin realized it was not thunder at all. It was a monstrous, skinny red dragon breathing fire into the bright blue sky. When it landed on the ground, everything shook like it would during an earthquake.
64 | 65 |The heroic gladiator grabbed the dragon by its tail and swung it around and around. He ran to the beast's head and wrapped the dragon's jaw with thick rope, preventing it from doing any harm to anyone. The audience loved every moment of it.
66 | 67 |“This is our land!” the gladiator yelled as he directed the dragon to fly away.
68 | 69 |Benjamin's eyes were wide and his jaw was low. He did not know where he was but if there were dinosaurs, gladiators, and dragons, he decided that he made the correct decision to skip school that day.
70 | 71 |As he leaned forward to try to get a better view of the gladiator flying the dragon around the arena, something brushed his shoulders again. But this time, Benjamin was pulled backwards by something he couldn't see.
72 | 73 |“Welcome!” a grandfatherly man with a friendly smile and gentle eyes yelled to Benjamin in a large stately room. “My name is King Bernard Zwirn! You had a very close call there! Who are you? Where are you from? I'm so glad you started walking toward those candles. That gladiator would've squashed you. Or even worse, you would have been eaten by that dragon!”
16 | 17 |King Bernard Zwirn held his heavy belly and let out a loud, echoing chuckle. It was such a warm, full laugh that it made Benjamin smile. Benjamin felt relaxed in front of this gentle, grandfatherly man.
18 | 19 |“My name is Benjamin Buckingham. Where am I?” Benjamin asked.
20 | 21 |“You, Benjamin, are in Castle Ehtahl and I am King Bernard Zwirn.”
22 | 23 |The king stretched his arms as wide as he could. Everything around him looked beautiful and grand. There were stately statues and ornate paintings and healthy plants throughout this castle's hall.
24 | 25 |“You are the first visitor we've ever had from the outside,” King Bernard Zwirn continued.
26 | 27 |“Outside?” Benjamin asked.
28 | 29 |“Yes! No one from where you're from has ever been here. We take great pride in our secrecy and our secret location. It's a wonder you found us at all. But now that you're here, I'd like to offer you a key to the castle.”
30 | 31 |King Bernard Zwirn turned from Benjamin and ran down the hall like a rhinoceros running through a gorgeous, pristine setting. The pictures shook, the candles bounced, and the windows rattled. King Bernard Zwirn rummaged through dozens of chests at the end of the hall, throwing clothes and boxes and other ancient artifacts behind him as he desperately searched for the key.
32 | 33 |“It's in here somewhere!” he yelled to Benjamin as he turned a large trunk upside down and sorted through its contents.
34 | 35 |Benjamin knew his mother would not be happy with the manner in which King Bernard Zwirn was searching. The previously beautiful grand hall was becoming a messy large room. There were things everywhere and it would take several days to put everything back together.
36 | 37 |“Here,” King Bernard Zwirn said as he passed a small box to Benjamin. “You have a key to my castle.”
38 | 39 |The tiny silver box with a gold ribbon looked as extraordinary as anything else around him. Benjamin unwrapped it quickly, tossing the paper to the ground, and opened the lid.
40 | 41 |“It's a grasshopper!” Benjamin said.
42 | 43 |“A what?”
44 | 45 |“A grasshopper.”
46 | 47 |“Oh no, Benjamin,” King Bernard Zwirn chuckled again. “Grasshoppers are little insects. Keys open doors and they certainly aren't alive. They're quite different things, keys and grasshoppers!”
48 | 49 |“No, look, King Zwirn. It's a grasshopper,” Benjamin said as he offered the box back to King Bernard Zwirn.
50 | 51 |King Bernard Zwirn looked inside and saw that there was indeed a grasshopper living in the box.
52 | 53 |“The grasshopper ate the key!” King Bernard Zwirn yelled accusingly.
54 | 55 |“I don't think a grasshopper can eat at key,” Benjamin responded.
56 | 57 |“There was a key in here and now there is a grasshopper. That can only mean that the grasshopper ate the key,” King Bernard Zwirn said as he scolded the grasshopper. “There can be no other explanation!”
58 | 59 |“Was the key smaller than the grasshopper?” Benjamin asked.
60 | 61 |“It was a huge key. It was much larger than this grasshopper.”
62 | 63 |“Then, there's no way the grasshopper can eat the key.”
64 | 65 |“How do you know so much about grasshoppers?”
66 | 67 |“We have a lot of them in my backyard.”
68 | 69 |“You have grasshoppers in Ehtsetra?”
70 | 71 |“Ehtsetra?” Benjamin asked with a puzzled face.
72 | 73 |King Bernard Zwirn looked at the grasshopper and then leaned in to Benjamin, his face contorted in confusion. He looked around the room quickly, as if he was unsure if anyone was watching him.
74 | 75 |“Benjamin, you are a visitor to this castle?”
76 | 77 |“I am a visitor.”
78 | 79 |“From Ehtsetra?”
80 | 81 |“No.”
82 | 83 |“No?”
84 | 85 |“No.”
86 | 87 |“And if you are not from Ehtsetra, where may I ask are you from?”
88 | 89 |“Pennsylvania.”
90 | 91 |“I see,” King Bernard Zwirn said very, very slowly. He stepped away with incredibly long, drawn out strides. Benjamin could sense that the grasshopper was nervous because it had stopped gnawing on the side of the box. King Bernard Zwirn looked at Benjamin from the corner of his eye and continued to move further and further away. “If you'll excuse me, I have to—.”
92 | 93 |And with that, King Bernard Zwirn sprinted away with his arms waving over his head, his feet slipping on the blue carpet. Benjamin never heard an adult scream as loudly as King Bernard Zwirn did. The faces in the paintings appeared to squirm with discomfort over the dreadful noise.
94 | 95 |Benjamin sighed. If he was not being nice, he would expect people to run away from him screaming. But given the circumstances, Benjamin did not understand what he was doing wrong. What was so wrong about being from Pennsylvania? And, where was Ehtsetra?
96 | 97 |If he doesn't want to be friends with me, he thought to himself, I'll just explore on my own.
98 | 99 |There were more paintings of people on the walls than Benjamin could count. There was Sir Laborious Maximus who looked like an Italian painter with an absurdly long mustache. There was Queen Jebra Coolihan whose head was four times larger than the rest of her body. There was a dog named Woolfred Woofery who looked braver than all of the other people in the paintings. And then there was a tiny plaque for Aloysius Trenhaile but there was no painting. Instead, the words we don't talk about it were inscribed in the wall above his name. Benjamin found this intriguing but did not have more time to think about it because King Bernard Zwirn reappeared.
100 | 101 |A security guard who was as short as he was wide arrived with King Bernard Zwirn. He looked like a cube with tiny little feet and short red hair.
102 | 103 |“Noel, get the monster!”
104 | 105 |King Bernard Zwirn yelled. Benjamin realized that the king was referring to him, that he was the monster.
106 | 107 |Noel charged at Benjamin as if he was designed for this specific task. Benjamin did not move because he was not a monster and he also did not see Noel as a threat. The square man stood only three feet tall. But that did not deter King Bernard Zwirn's chants of encouragement. The king was convinced that Benjamin was a monster.
108 | 109 |“I am not a monster,” Benjamin yelled back.
110 | 111 |“That's something a monster would say!” Noel said as he leaped into the air and dove headfirst at Benjamin. Benjamin took one step to his left and Noel hit the carpet like a dice being tossed across the ground.
112 | 113 |“We do not welcome your kind here,” King Bernard Zwirn said.
114 | 115 |“My kind?” Benjamin asked with confusion.
116 | 117 |“Yes, dream makers do not interact with nightmares!” Noel screamed as he dove at Benjamin again, and hit the ground like a square bowling ball bouncing across the floor.
118 | 119 |“I'm not a monster or a nightmare!” Benjamin responded. He was agitated because the king would not believe him.
120 | 121 |“That's exactly what a nightmare would say,” King Bernard Zwirn said in response. “Come on, Noel. Get him this time. Really concentrate hard. Give it your all.”
122 | 123 |“He keeps moving,” Noel said as he gasped for air.
124 | 125 |“Then wait until he stops moving,” King Bernard Zwirn said to Noel.
126 | 127 |“But what if he moves again?”
128 | 129 |“Then, wait some more.”
130 | 131 |“I can hear you,” Benjamin said from the opposite side of the room with his hands on his hips.
132 | 133 |“Don't listen to us, monster,” King Bernard Zwirn replied.
134 | 135 |Benjamin thought hard about how he could escape this situation. If he ran away, he did not know where he would go. He could not confess to being a monster because Noel would inevitably try to hurt him. He decided that the only way to remedy this predicament would be to convince these two men that he was not a monster.
136 | 137 |“What do monsters do?” Benjamin asked.
138 | 139 |“Monsters cause nightmares. They terrorize people. You should know,” Noel said. “You are a monster!”
140 | 141 |“But, you're terrorizing me,” Benjamin replied. “So, you two must be the monsters.”
142 | 143 |King Bernard Zwirn stood tall and shifted his head slightly as he looked upon the young child.
144 | 145 |“We aren't the monsters,” King Bernard Zwirn said. “We aren't terrorizing you.”
146 | 147 |“You are most definitely terrorizing me.”
148 | 149 |“You are terrorizing us.”
150 | 151 |“I was not! I was admiring these paintings and then that block monster tried to tackle me.”
152 | 153 |“That block's name is Noel Jaffin,” Noel responded.
154 | 155 |“If monsters are creatures that terrorize other creatures, you are the monsters. I am not,” Benjamin said.
156 | 157 |Benjamin watched King Bernard Zwirn's expression change from cold and angry to warm and gentle. He began to breath more easily as he realized that he may have somehow convinced them.
158 | 159 |“Tell me, Benjamin,” King Bernard Zwirn said with his hands on his hips. “Where is this Pennsylvania you speak of?”
160 | 161 |Benjamin followed King Bernard Zwirn and Noel Jaffin through the ancient castle. He admired the green floor and yellow walls of a new hallway lined with windows on his left and plants on his right. He smelled flowers that reminded him of chocolates his parents would buy him in the spring.
16 | 17 |“So, where is Ehtsetra?” Benjamin asked.
18 | 19 |“We don't know exactly where they are located. And, we like it that way,” King Bernard Zwirn said with a smile.
20 | 21 |“Don't you like them?”
22 | 23 |“Oh, no. We really like people from Ehtsetra. We like them a lot. But it's for our mutual protection that we don't know where the other is.”
24 | 25 |“Protection?”
26 | 27 |“Benjamin,” King Bernard Zwirn said as they walked through another door to a hallway with white ceilings and blue walls with fish tanks on his left and stained glass windows on his right. The tropical fish swam throughout the enormous fish tank as if they were attempting to mirror the colorful glass display on their opposite side. “I need you to answer some questions from my advisors so that we can figure out how we can get you back to Pennsylvania.”
28 | 29 |“But, who do you need to be protected from? What is Ehtsetra scared of?”
30 | 31 |“Don't worry, Benjamin. You won't ever have to worry about this. You don't want to. I'll get you home before you know it.”
32 | 33 |Benjamin walked slowly because he was incredibly curious about what threatened King Bernard Zwirn. And, he didn't want to go back to Pennsylvania. Not now, at least. He did not want to leave without knowing where Snark went. There was more to see here than there was at school, he thought.
34 | 35 |“Benjamin?” King Bernard Zwirn said when he realized that Benjamin was not moving forward.
36 | 37 |As Benjamin looked at more of the paintings on the wall, he remembered one of the paintings that he saw earlier.
38 | 39 |“Why did it say we don't talk about it above Aloysius Trenhaile's name?” Benjamin asked.
40 | 41 |“Oh, that's an easy question,” King Bernard Zwirn answered. “Because we do not talk about it.”
42 | 43 |“But who is Aloysius?”
44 | 45 |“We don't talk about it.”
46 | 47 |“At all?”
48 | 49 |“At all.”
50 | 51 |“Does he live here?”
52 | 53 |“We don't talk about it.”
54 | 55 |“And people don't like him?”
56 | 57 |“We don't talk about it.”
58 | 59 |“Or he did something really bad?”
60 | 61 |“We don't talk about it.”
62 | 63 |“I have to find someone who can talk about it so that I know why we don't talk about it.”
64 | 65 |King Bernard Zwirn stopped walking. He closed his eyes just like Benjamin's mother did when Benjamin misbehaved. Noel Jaffin did not make eye contact with King Bernard Zwirn and Benjamin sensed that the stocky man was uncomfortable.
66 | 67 |“Benjamin, we do not talk about it!” King Bernard Zwirn snapped. “You cannot talk about something we do not talk about!”
68 | 69 |They proceeded to walk forward and Benjamin did not ask any more questions. And although he was even more curious about Aloysius Trenhaile, he did not want to disobey King Bernard Zwirn. Living with curiosity was better than being hated, Benjamin decided. And, he liked King Bernard Zwirn.
70 | 71 |As yet another door opened to yet another colorful room, a bright light blinded Benjamin. The circular room looked like the inside of a round monument, the walls made of marble and the ceiling holding a mural with clouds that appeared to move. It was not a large room and Benjamin felt that Noel Jaffin was occupying an unfair amount of it because of his size. There was one more unusual and unique feature. He was surrounded by twelve automatons, machines that looked like people seated at desks as if they were in a meeting.
72 | 73 |“The elders of Castle Ehtahl would like to ask you a few questions, Benjamin,” King Bernard Zwirn said as he walked to a cabinet hanging on the wall.
74 | 75 |“Are these machines?”
76 | 77 |“Benjamin! There are our elders! Don't insult them in front of them. Wait until you leave if you want to insult them.”
78 | 79 |“But, they aren't human.”
80 | 81 |“No, they're not. They are automatons.”
82 | 83 |“The elders of your castle are automatons?”
84 | 85 |“No. The elders of my castle are lazy. They've been replaced by automatons because they got bored of asking the same questions over and over.”
86 | 87 |King Bernard Zwirn placed a quarter into a slot in the cabinet and then pulled a gigantic lever from the cabinet to the floor. As he did so, sparks burst from each of the automatons and they all made rickety noises as their tin and copper pieces shifted back and forth. They did not look graceful or smooth because their movements were quite jerky and their exteriors rusty in several spots. Some of the automatons did not have complete control over their movements causing their arms, lips, or legs to move in a peculiar ballet of metal and electricity.
88 | 89 |“What is your name?” one of the automatons asked in a metallic, crisp voice.
90 | 91 |Benjamin turned to face the automaton that had a pen in its crooked fingers.
92 | 93 |“Benjamin Buckingham,” Benjamin responded.
94 | 95 |“What is your identification number?” another automaton asked from a different direction.
96 | 97 |“Override! Outsider questions,” King Bernard Zwirn said quickly. He gave Benjamin a nod of approval because Benjamin obviously did not have an identification number. The automatons shifted back and forth and jerked their limbs in various movements that together looked like they were synchronized.
98 | 99 |“Where are you from?” another automaton asked.
100 | 101 |“Pennsylvania.”
102 | 103 |“Where is Penn Syl Vannia?” another automaton asked with mispronunciation.
104 | 105 |“In the United States?”
106 | 107 |“OK. We found Pennsylvania,” another automaton answered. “Is your address 18104 Huckleberry Road?”
108 | 109 |“Yes,” Benjamin said with surprise. “How did you...”
110 | 111 |“Are you nine years old?”
112 | 113 |“Yes,” Benjamin replied with even more surprise.
114 | 115 |“What is your relationship with evil?” another automaton asked.
116 | 117 |“Evil?”
118 | 119 |“Yes, evil.”
120 | 121 |“I don't know. I'm not evil. Who is evil?”
122 | 123 |“We don't talk about it,” yet another automaton commented. “And how did you get here?”
124 | 125 |“King Bernard Zwirn took me here,” Benjamin responded.
126 | 127 |“Pause!” King Bernard Zwirn said as he raised the lever from the ground to the cabinet, powering down all of the automatons in the process. “We want to know how you came to Ehtahl? How did you wind up in the castle in the first place?”
128 | 129 |“Oh, that's easy—”
130 | 131 |“Wait for the automatons to return,” King Bernard Zwirn said as he powered the automatons to the jingle and jangle and clanking of metal parts.
132 | 133 |Benjamin relayed the story of how he got to where he was today. He mentioned running through an old city in his dream, waking up to find a dinosaur under his bed, following the dinosaur into an unknown land, and seeing a gladiator battle. If machines could look as surprised as King Bernard Zwirn and Noel Jaffin did, these automatons were as shocked by this outcome as anyone else. Benjamin took a deep breath after he finished.
134 | 135 |“Why are you really here?” an automaton asked.
136 | 137 |“I wanted to see where the dinosaur was going,” Benjamin said quietly.
138 | 139 |“Dinosaur?” King Bernard Zwirn asked.
140 | 141 |“Yes. The Tyrannosaurus rex from my dream.”
142 | 143 |King Bernard Zwirn groaned through his teeth and rolled his eyes.
144 | 145 |“Oh, Rodney.”
146 | 147 |“Rodney! He kept saying that name.”
148 | 149 |“Yes, Rodney Cohen,” King Bernard Zwirn said while shaking his head. “That guy gets us in so much trouble we're not going to be able to do what we do much longer.”
150 | 151 |“What do you do?”
152 | 153 |“I'll tell you all about it as we leave.”
154 | 155 |“Leave?”
156 | 157 |“Yes, Benjamin, we need to get you home.”
158 | 159 |“But, I don't want to go.”
160 | 161 |“It's not really your choice,” King Bernard Zwirn said. “Elders, when can Benjamin go back to Pennsylvania?”
162 | 163 |The automatons moved back and forth in a more rigid, uncontrolled fashion. They jerked from side to side and steam started pouring from their heads, sending a screeching sound into the air. Joints started to disconnect and pieces of robots starts to fall all over the ground.
164 | 165 |One automaton leaned forward and moved its jaw slowly.
166 | 167 |“The departure gateway closes in ten minutes at the train station. The next time the departure gateway opens is in one month.”
168 | 169 |“Ten minutes!” King Bernard Zwirn exclaimed. “Benjamin, we have to go!”
170 | 171 |“But where am I? What's threatening Castle Ehtahl?”
172 | 173 |“We have to run!”
174 | 175 |Benjamin and King Bernard Zwirn sprinted down one hallway, then another, and then another until Benjamin lost a sense of which direction he was going. Everything felt disorienting and confusing. The more he saw of this castle, the less he understood it.
16 | 17 |“We've got nine minutes to get you to the train station,” King Bernard Zwirn said in between breaths. “The elders said the next time the departure gateway opens is in a couple months. If you don't get through that portal, I don't know what we're going to do with you here.”
18 | 19 |“I could keep to myself. I'll just look around and see where all the dinosaurs live.”
20 | 21 |“Benjamin, you won't be able to live here because this place is much different than where you're from. This is, how should I say, a little bit like a magical manufacturing city.”
22 | 23 |“A magical manufacturing city?”
24 | 25 |“Yes, we make something here.”
26 | 27 |“Like bikes?”
28 | 29 |“Kind of like bikes,” King Bernard Zwirn said as he opened a door to the outside world. “It's a little bit more complicated than that.”
30 | 31 |“What do you make?”
32 | 33 |“Oh, my,” King Bernard Zwirn said as he glanced at his watch. “We're going to be late. We've got seven minutes.”
34 | 35 |Benjamin thought about stopping, so that King Bernard Zwirn had no choice but to let him live in Castle Ehtahl for a while. He knew King Bernard Zwirn would not be able to pull him to the train station. He was a large man but he looked like he had the strength of someone a quarter the size.
36 | 37 |“I'll sprint to the train station,” Benjamin said. “I'm a lot faster than you but in exchange, you have to tell me what you make here.”
38 | 39 |“Deal!” King Bernard Zwirn said quickly, his brow covered in sweat and his chest heaving back and forth like rough waves in the ocean. “We make dreams.”
40 | 41 |“You make dreams?”
42 | 43 |“Yes, we make dreams.”
44 | 45 |“What do you mean you make dreams?”
46 | 47 |King Bernard Zwirn removed a necklace and gave it to Benjamin. On the end, there was a small brass key that looked like it was much older than the king who wore it.
48 | 49 |“You have to use this key to get into the train station. You go straight towards that gigantic tower, then make a left and run along the river to a series of blue, yellow, and green buildings. The yellow building is the entrance to the train station and you'll need this key to get inside. On the last platform, you'll see the departure gateway that will send you home.”
50 | 51 |“But, I don't understand what you mean—” Benjamin began.
52 | 53 |“You have five minutes to run straight for that gigantic tower, then make a left and run along—” King Bernard Zwirn began repeating the directions again.
54 | 55 |“No, sorry,” Benjamin replied. “What do you mean you make dreams?”
56 | 57 |“We make dreams.”
58 | 59 |“You make dreams come true?”
60 | 61 |“No, this isn't Hollywood, Benjamin. We make real dreams. When you go to sleep at night and you have a dream, those dreams are manufactured here.”
62 | 63 |“Here?”
64 | 65 |“Yes, here. And if you stay here, your presence will throw off the balance of peace and we're not going to be able to produce dreams for very much longer.”
66 | 67 |“I don't understand. Peace? Who is threatening to hurt you?”
68 | 69 |“I don't expect you to know any of this,” King Bernard Zwirn said as he grabbed Benjamin by the shoulders. “You have to leave because if you don't, this castle and the dreams it creates might be destroyed by nightmares. You have to run. The less you know, the better. If you want to have dreams of dinosaurs again, you need to sprint as fast as you can.”
70 | 71 |Benjamin wanted to dream of dinosaurs again and immediately turned from King Bernard Zwirn and ran as fast as he could. Run for the gigantic tower, Benjamin thought to himself. It was impossible to miss the tower. As he got closer and closer to it, he noticed it had far more moving parts than he imagined. Each individual piece seemed to move independent of all of the other parts, as if it was the most complex watch ever created. He wanted to inspect the tower further but he also wanted to have more dreams so he ran through crowds to the bank of the river. As he turned left towards the yellow building, he slipped on the ground and the brass key fell from his grasp. Benjamin got to his knees and crawled five feet to it. He reached for the brass key and extended his fingers. But then, a heavy leather boot with rusty metal lining stepped on it. Benjamin tried to push the boot away but it would not budge. He looked up and saw a vile, awful face.
72 | 73 |“Hello,” the evil man said with a sly tone. His voice was not human and his eyes were wildly discolored. His arms twitched and every time he exhaled, a puff of smoke left his mouth.
74 | 75 |“You're standing on my key,” Benjamin exclaimed. “I have to get to the train station.”
76 | 77 |“Why do you have to go so soon?”
78 | 79 |“Who are you? Why are you stopping me?”
80 | 81 |“I'm dreadfully sorry. Where were my manners?” he said as he ground his boot further and further into the ground. “My name is Russell Fox.”
82 | 83 |“How do you know my name?”
84 | 85 |“Everyone here knows your name, Benjamin. You're quite the talk of the castle. Even Selma knows your name,” Russell Fox said with a smirk. “We've never had someone from outside the castle come to visit us. It's quite, how should I say, special.”
86 | 87 |“Who is Selma?”
88 | 89 |“Oh, just some girl.”
90 | 91 |“I was just leaving so if you would give me that key, please.”
92 | 93 |“But why? Wouldn't you like to stay and learn more about making dreams?”
94 | 95 |“King Bernard Zwirn said I have to or else I'll throw off the balance of dreams and nightmares.”
96 | 97 |Russell Fox shifted more of his weight onto the brass key.
98 | 99 |“He's always saying that, you know?” Russell Fox said with a curious grin. He wore a heavy leather trench coat and a dark hat that seemed too hot for such a warm day. Benjamin tried to push his boot again but Russell Fox resisted further.
100 | 101 |“You have to let me go!” Benjamin yelled at him.
102 | 103 |“Don't you want to stay?” Russell Fox asked again with an uncomfortably villainous tone.
104 | 105 |“Yes, I do,” Benjamin said.
106 | 107 |“Then, stay!” Russell Fox yelled. “I give you my permission.”
108 | 109 |“But, King Bernard Zwirn said—”
110 | 111 |“Oh, King Bernard Zwirn is always saying these things. He wants the castle all to himself and he doesn't want anyone to interfere. I bet he didn't show you any of the castle, did he?”
112 | 113 |“Well, no, he didn't. But, he seemed friendly enough and he told me that I needed to get home quickly.”
114 | 115 |“Of course he did. He wanted to get you out of the way so that he can make sure he can continue to manufacture dreams here. He doesn't want you to learn how they're made because that'll mean you could make your own dreams elsewhere. I think you should stay, Benjamin,” Russell Fox said.
116 | 117 |“I want to leave!” Benjamin yelled. He realized he wanted to leave Russell Fox more than Castle Ehtahl, but both things felt the same at that moment. “I'm going home.”
118 | 119 |Benjamin pushed one more time on Russell Fox's foot and the boot jerked away. The brass key looked delicate despite the heavy boot upon it. Benjamin grabbed the key and jumped to his feet.
120 | 121 |Yellow building, Benjamin thought to himself. He had to get to the yellow building.
122 | 123 |He ran past the blue building and then past the green building. At the yellow building, there was a keyhole in the middle of a large door that appeared to be the size of the brass key that Benjamin held. Benjamin jammed the key inside and was thrilled when he noticed it fit perfectly. He used the full weight of his tiny body to move the door open. Once there was enough room for him to squeeze inside, he found himself in the most beautiful, spacious, and grand train station he had ever seen. There were people drinking coffee from balcony seats looking down on train conductors walking along the platform amid women selling flowers and men shining shoes. There was room for dozens of trains to pull into the station and the roof was high enough that it felt like it was an enclosed stadium. The outside of the yellow building did not foretell at all what Benjamin saw in the inside. He felt as if he had wandered into a time when trains were the most important technology of an era. And among these train tracks, Benjamin saw one last train at gate number sixteen.
124 | 125 |He knew where he needed to go. A tall, circular light beamed from the end of the last train track. It was exactly the same color and brightness that he saw in his bedroom earlier. This was his way home. He had to jump through it.
126 | 127 |Benjamin knew it was inappropriate to be sprinting as quickly as he was through such a tranquil, beautiful setting but he also felt there was no other option to reaching the train in time. He was ten tracks away when he saw the light start to flicker, nine gates away when an explosion of white nearly blinded him, eight gates away when the departure gateway began to spin in a circle slowly, seven gates away when it started to spin faster, six gates away when the train began to create loud noises, five gates away when the train started to move forward, and four gates away when the train disappeared. The departure gateway closed.
128 | 129 |“No!” Benjamin heard a man scream from the entrance of the train station. “What are you doing here?” yelled King Bernard Zwirn. “You were supposed to go through that departure gateway!”
130 | 131 |“I tried,” Benjamin said between large breaths. “I ran as fast as I could but it left without me.”
132 | 133 |“You should have run faster,” King Bernard Zwirn said with an increasing amount of anxiety. “This isn't good, Benjamin. This isn't good at all.”
134 | 135 |“It won't open again?”
136 | 137 |“It'll open in one month. We have no reason to have the departure gateway open so frequently.”
138 | 139 |“I tried really hard to get to the train station on time,” Benjamin started to say, becoming a little scared and sad about the situation that he now found himself in. “I didn't try to miss it.”
140 | 141 |“It happens,” King Bernard Zwirn said. “It's fine. There's nothing we can do about it now.”
142 | 143 |“I was going to make it but then Russell Fox stepped on the brass ring and I couldn't get it quick enough and then he delayed me by at least two minutes.”
144 | 145 |King Bernard Zwirn stood from the bench and looked even more concerned than he had just been. The dogs next to him ran away and the bird on the clock took flight. The entire station went quiet and still.
146 | 147 |“What happened?” King Bernard Zwirn asked very slowly.
148 | 149 |“Russell Fox stepped on the brass key,” Benjamin responded very quietly.
150 | 151 |“How do you know Russell Fox? He prevented you from getting to the train station in time?”
152 | 153 |“He stood on the key.”
154 | 155 |“Did he say anything else to you?”
156 | 157 |Benjamin thought hard about this question and was worried that he was taking too long to respond. He did not know where he was and did not want to put himself in a situation where he felt in danger. He needed to quickly assess who could be his friends and protectors.
158 | 159 |“He said you wanted me to leave,” Benjamin said.
160 | 161 |“That's correct. I do want you to leave, for your own protection,” King Bernard Zwirn responded. “Did he say anything else?”
162 | 163 |The answer to these complicated questions did not come quick enough for Benjamin. He knew that King Bernard Zwirn knew that Benjamin was stalling.
164 | 165 |“He said you did not want anyone else to make dreams,” Benjamin said each word while trying to observe King Bernard Zwirn's response.
166 | 167 |“Russell Fox!” King Bernard Zwirn yelled into the air. “Benjamin, for the next month, you are not to talk to that man. You have to understand me. This is for your own protection. Russell Fox is not a good person these days. He was good, at one time, but those days are gone. This is a difficult time for Castle Ehtahl and I don't want you to get wrapped in the middle of it. I need you to obey my orders and I'll get you safely out of this castle in a month.”
168 | 169 |Benjamin swallowed hard and with his instincts felt that he had to trust King Bernard Zwirn more than he trusted Russell Fox. King Bernard Zwirn wanted Benjamin to leave and there was no harm in leaving. But, Russell Fox wanted Benjamin to stay and Benjamin did not know if there was harm in staying.
170 | 171 |“King Zwirn, can't I take the same departure gateway that Snark used to leave my house?” Benjamin asked quietly.
172 | 173 |“Sadly, it's easier to create gateways to come here than it is to create gateways to leave here,” King Bernard Zwirn said.
174 | 175 |“So what do I do now?”
176 | 177 |“Well, you did say that you wanted to live here.”
178 | 179 |“I did! Yes!”
180 | 181 |“So, you'll join a class tomorrow morning and our best teacher will look after you.”
182 | 183 |“Oh,” Benjamin said sullenly.
184 | 185 |King Bernard Zwirn could tell that Benjamin was not excited about what he said.
186 | 187 |“What's wrong, Benjamin?” King Bernard Zwirn asked.
188 | 189 |“Well,” Benjamin replied slowly. “It's just that I wanted to come here because I didn't want to go to school. And now, you're telling me that I'm going to have to go to school. I was hoping I wouldn't have to go to school at all.”
190 | 191 |King Bernard Zwirn chuckled softly and put his arm around Benjamin.
192 | 193 |“I see,” King Bernard Zwirn said. “I'm not sure what your school was like, Benjamin, but I promise you that this will be unlike any other school you have attended. Sometimes, really good people show us how to enjoy things that we wouldn't enjoy if there were really nasty people involved. So, if you trust me, I think you'll be surrounded by really good people at this school. Do you trust me?”
194 | 195 |Benjamin paused for a moment and compared Mr. Marchetta with King Bernard Zwirn. There was almost no comparison. Benjamin trusted King Bernard Zwirn completely.
196 | 197 |“OK, I'll go to the school. I trust you,” Benjamin said with a smile.
198 | 199 |“You've already seen a lot of the castle,” King Bernard Zwirn said as he and Benjamin walked passed the enormous dream machine. “But, I'd like to show you a little more. What's it like living in Pennsylvania, Benjamin?”
16 | 17 |“It's fine,” Benjamin said. “I've never lived anywhere else so I suppose it's the best place I've ever lived.”
18 | 19 |“I haven't lived anywhere else, either. So, I suppose this is the best place I've ever lived.”
20 | 21 |“How long have you been the king?”
22 | 23 |“For quite a few years, Benjamin. I'm rather old. I feel young, but I'm old. I've been king for quite some time. And as the years go by, I wonder how long I'll continue to be king.”
24 | 25 |“What do you mean? You don't want to be king?”
26 | 27 |“Oh, I'd love to be king forever, if I could. But, it's not up to me. There are some people, one of which you met the other day, who do not want me to be king. They want to be king. And one day, that might just happen. But so long as I'm alive, that won't be the case. I care too much about dreams, Benjamin. I think everyone should be able to dream.”
28 | 29 |“Can't everyone dream?”
30 | 31 |King Bernard Zwirn turned to Benjamin with a smile. Benjamin realized that the question was a little naïve.
32 | 33 |“You may find this hard to believe, but not everyone wants to dream. There are some people out there that want nightmares.”
34 | 35 |“They want nightmares instead of dreams?”
36 | 37 |“Yes, they want nightmares. It wasn't always this way. In the beginning of all of this, there was only one castle and there were only dreams. But now, there are many castles and not all of them make dreams. Some of them make nightmares.”
38 | 39 |“Where are these castles? The ones that make nightmares.”
40 | 41 |“They're outside the castle walls. And don't worry, Benjamin. We have a security fleet that works day and night to make sure that nightmares do not enter this castle. That, I can assure you. You won't have to worry about nightmares invading our dreams. I only wish we could make dreams forever.”
42 | 43 |“Miss Lindenmeyer told me that the dream machine is broken.”
44 | 45 |“It is, yes. I'm not exactly sure who did it but I have my suspicions. I think there's a part missing but I have no idea which one. A lot of our dreams have not been sent to sleeping people and I don't know why that is. Have you looked at this thing?” King Bernard Zwirn said as they rested on a bench near the gigantic tower. “I can't begin to tell you how many pieces are in there. My guess would be millions. But who knows? And if there's a piece missing, how can I know where it was supposed to be?”
46 | 47 |“But you need to make the dream machine work again. I want to continue dreaming.”
48 | 49 |“Of dinosaurs, right?”
50 | 51 |“Yes!” Benjamin said enthusiastically. “Do you know about my dreams?”
52 | 53 |“Your dreams are some of the most elaborate dreams that we produce. And, I know that you're a fan of Snark.”
54 | 55 |“Snark! That's who I followed to get here.”
56 | 57 |“I had a feeling. Rodney, I mean Snark, has a way of getting himself into trouble sometimes.”
58 | 59 |“But my last dream, King Zwirn. In my last dream, something horrible was chasing after me. I had never dreamed of it before. It wasn't in any of my previous dreams”
60 | 61 |King Bernard Zwirn paused and glanced at the ground. He put his hand on Benjamin's back and guided him away from the dream machine.
62 | 63 |“I know. And, I'm sorry you had to see that. We do our best to keep nightmares out of the dreams but it's getting harder and harder. Do you want to see where dreams are made?”
64 | 65 |“Definitely!” Benjamin said. He wanted to see where all the dinosaurs lived.
66 | 67 |“You'll understand a little more in a bit but I need you to wear this vest. It's small but it's going to let everyone know that you're with me. If anyone asks who you are or what you're doing, you just tell them that you're my friend.”
68 | 69 |Benjamin accepted the vest from King Bernard Zwirn and stared at it for a moment. No one had ever said something like that to him before. He thought he had friends in the past but was always unsure. King Bernard Zwirn made it clear that he wanted to be Benjamin's friend. And with that, Benjamin felt a wave of happiness overwhelm his body.
70 | 71 |Benjamin and King Bernard Zwirn left for an ancient red building immediately next to the dream machine. As they passed people, King Bernard Zwirn said hello to each one and greeted them by their names. Benjamin couldn't believe this man knew so many different names. He seemed like he could have a conversation with anyone. And, everyone seemed to like him.
72 | 73 |“This is production building two hundred and eighty eight,” King Bernard Zwirn said as they walked down a brightly lit hallway with hundreds of white doors on both the left and right. The hallway extended so far that Benjamin could not see the door on the other side. It was also so bright that he had to cup his hands around his eyes to see.
74 | 75 |“Two hundred and eighty eight?” Benjamin asked. “How many production buildings are there?”
76 | 77 |King Bernard Zwirn stopped and looked to the ceiling as if he was counting them in the air.
78 | 79 |“I'm not sure,” he said with a chuckle. “They come and go but somewhere around six billion I think. How many people live in Pennsylvania?”
80 | 81 |“I'm not sure.”
82 | 83 |“You know, it's probably a number I should know but I don't. Let's just say there are a lot. There are a lot of people that live in Pennsylvania, right?”
84 | 85 |“Right.”
86 | 87 |“So, there are a lot of production studios.”
88 | 89 |“What is behind each of these doors?” Benjamin asked as he reached for a handle.
90 | 91 |King Bernard Zwirn pulled Benjamin back softly.
92 | 93 |“Just a moment,” he said gently. “I need to open the doors for you. Once I open the doors, you'll be able to see the dreams.”
94 | 95 |They continued walking down the hallway and by Benjamin's count, King Bernard Zwirn stopped in front of the twenty-ninth door on the right hand side. He placed his hand on the doorknob and then looked at Benjamin with a large smile. It was calming to Benjamin whose heart was racing with anticipation of what was behind this mysterious door.
96 | 97 |“This is where dreams are created,” he said as he opened the door and pushed Benjamin inside. King Bernard Zwirn held his fingers to his lips and gestured to Benjamin to remain silent. He immediately understood why he had to wear the orange vest because there were many other people wearing orange vests as well.
98 | 99 |Benjamin watched a large speedboat cruising as fast as it could through a river that raged through a metropolis. Buildings towered everywhere. A person sat in the driver's seat with a large smile, the wind throwing his hair back, and the sun bouncing light off his face. There were cameras capturing every angle. Cranes held lights and speakers above the stage. The speedboat roared as it switched gears and rocked back and forth as waves crashed into it. It went underneath bridges and passed sailboats and turned suddenly and headed the other direction. The metropolis looked like a metal forest that the speedboat moved through as quickly as it could. People in orange vests were moving the set as the man in the speedboat stood and then screamed with joy. Benjamin felt the joy the man must have been experiencing as everything here looked like so much fun. He wanted to ride a speedboat through a city.
100 | 101 |In the hallway, Benjamin couldn't contain his excitement.
102 | 103 |“That was amazing! That looked so cool!” Benjamin shouted as King Bernard Zwirn laughed. “But, how is that someone's dream? Those were actors.”
104 | 105 |“When we went through that door, we stepped inside someone's head, for a short moment. Someone out there far away from us is dreaming right now and he is dreaming of driving a speedboat through a city.”
106 | 107 |“But, I never saw cameras or lights or speakers or people wearing orange vests in my dreams.”
108 | 109 |“You don't see the cameras or lights or speakers or people wearing orange vests because no one dreams in orange. You don't see anything in orange in your dreams.”
110 | 111 |“Is that true?”
112 | 113 |King Bernard Zwirn grinned a little and ushered Benjamin down the hallway.
114 | 115 |“Well, I'm actually not sure, but it's been the case. To be honest, I think most people are so focused on their dreams that they don't notice any of the things happening around the dream. No one notices the lights and cameras and scene changes. We've gotten very good at producing them over the years. I'd like to say that our dreams are getting better and better.”
116 | 117 |They walked inside another dream and saw a ski slope higher than any building Benjamin had ever seen. At the very top stood a skier whose smile stretched wider than her face. All around her, people in orange suits carried lighting instruments and speakers as the woman bounced back and forth. Before she jumped down the slope, Benjamin thought that she saw him, that they had exchanged glances for one moment. She then moved down that hill as fast as that speedboat had moved through that river. Snow splattered and sprayed in all directions as she raced between trees, jumped over large rocks, and did flips in the air over sleeping brown bears. Benjamin could hear the calmness of the wind as well as the sound of her skis carving into the snow.
118 | 119 |King Bernard Zwirn took Benjamin into another production studio.
120 | 121 |Here, Benjamin awed at a propeller airplane dodging cloud after cloud. The old grandmother inside the plane laughed as she maneuvered it from side to side and then into a full loop. Benjamin noticed his smile was widening like the smiles of the people who were experiencing these dreams. In each of these production studios, adventures were being created in the form of a dream very much like his own dreams. Machines and people created everything before him. The clouds, the blue sky, the trees on the ground, the birds flying past the airplane, and the sun in the corner of the room.
122 | 123 |“Which one is next?” Benjamin asked with excitement as he jumped from side to side.
124 | 125 |“I have to direct some more dreams so we need to go to the control center,” King Bernard Zwirn said.
126 | 127 |“There's a control center?”
128 | 129 |“Dreaming is actually quite organized.”
130 | 131 |They walked from ancient building to ancient building. And as Benjamin passed each door, he listened to the sounds of excitement and happiness being made in a dream studio on the other side. He didn't know how it was possible but he didn't care. He knew that all of the other kids from home would be jealous of what he was experiencing.
132 | 133 |Benjamin and King Bernard Zwirn ascended dozens of staircases up a tall, brick tower. The king was in very good shape, Benjamin thought, because the stairs were exhausting. As they climbed higher, Benjamin looked out small windows to see more of the castle. He could see the train station and the river and the dream machine. He could even see the school and dormitory. When Benjamin saw the large walls that guarded the castle, he realized that he was very far away from home. And under normal circumstances, this would have bothered him tremendously. But, he knew King Bernard Zwirn would be able to get him home eventually. He wondered what was on the other side of the walls.
134 | 135 |King Bernard Zwirn stepped into a circular room at the top of this tower. Inside, there were many people chatting and yelling orders back and forth. There were television screens everywhere. And underneath these television screens were windows that revealed an amazing view of the castle below. From here, Benjamin could see into all of the dream studios. There were more than he could ever have imagined.
136 | 137 |“This is the control tower,” King Bernard Zwirn said as he opened his arms like he did the first day Benjamin met him. “It's almost ten o'clock in Los Angeles so it's just about time for some dreaming.”
138 | 139 |Benjamin sat in an empty chair and marveled over all of the people moving about. It looked like they were preparing for a space shuttle launch.
140 | 141 |“Ready everyone?” King Bernard Zwirn said to a room full of happy men and women who cheered their king on. “We're going live in five, four, three, two.”
142 | 143 |Benjamin would normally have been at home. He would have been the recipient of one of these dreams. But instead, he was observing them.
144 | 145 |“One,” King Bernard Zwirn said. And at that moment, everyone was silent.
146 | 147 |Benjamin never thought about how many people dreamed at the same time. He just hadn't realized how many other dreams happened at the same time as his dreams. He could see into all of the dreams on the screens and in the production studios below.
16 | 17 |He also realized that some people have simpler dreams than others. There was a screen in front of him with a man standing on a bridge looking down upon water lilies. There were no explosions or high-speed chases or dangerous situations. It was just water lilies and a bridge. And to the right of this screen, there was a woman looking at an owl, watermelon, pineapple, and coconut on a yellow table. Further along, there was a young child looking at a man carrying a gigantic basket of flowers on his back. Benjamin expected dreams to be adventurous. He did not realize that dreams don't necessarily have to be what he thought were adventurous.
18 | 19 |There were car chases.
20 | 21 |And base-jumping.
22 | 23 |And throwing fire.
24 | 25 |And people chasing animals.
26 | 27 |And animals chasing people.
28 | 29 |And flying. Lots of flying
30 | 31 |And dinosaurs.
32 | 33 |Snark! Benjamin thought as he saw his friend in screen eighteen thousand, one hundred and four. It was him. It was definitely Snark.
34 | 35 |“That's him!” Benjamin yelled to King Bernard Zwirn.
36 | 37 |King Bernard Zwirn stood and offered suggestions for making the dreams better. He pointed every which direction and simultaneously seemed to be talking to more people than Benjamin had ever known in his entire life. He spoke commands with such confidence and poise that he did not seem to sweat at all. Benjamin knew that if he was in charge, his heart would race and his mind would be overwhelmed with thoughts. King Bernard Zwirn, however, acted like he had been doing this his entire life.
38 | 39 |“Who?” King Bernard Zwirn asked.
40 | 41 |“Snark! That's him!” Benjamin said. “That's the dinosaur from my dream, the one who took me here.”
42 | 43 |“Expand one eight one zero four, please,” King Bernard Zwirn said warmly.
44 | 45 |The small screen expanded to fill nearly a quarter of the entire room. It was definitely him, Benjamin thought. He looked at King Bernard Zwirn who had a look of confusion on his face.
46 | 47 |“Why is Rodney Cohen working?” King Bernard asked gently to some people in the room.
48 | 49 |Benjamin did not know to whom King Bernard Zwrin was speaking but he could hear the brief sounds of someone responding back to him.
50 | 51 |“I told him that he needed to take a break. He was overworked. Benjamin wouldn't be here if he just got more rest. Rodney works too hard,” King Bernard Zwirn said gently to anyone who would listen.
52 | 53 |“Who is Rodney?” Benjamin asked softly and curiously.
54 | 55 |“Rodney is person who plays the dinosaur in your dreams,” King Bernard Zwirn said. “But do realize that this doesn't change your dream. Your dreams are with dinosaurs. They're merely acted by people and Rodney is one of them. He's a workaholic.”
56 | 57 |“Can I meet him?”
58 | 59 |“Rodney?”
60 | 61 |“Snark?”
62 | 63 |“Well, that's the thing, Benjamin. You'd meet Rodney Cohen here but you'd meet Snark in your dreams.”
64 | 65 |“I'd still like to meet Rodney.”
66 | 67 |“OK, I'll set up a meeting for the two of you.”
68 | 69 |King Bernard Zwirn's fingers tapped the desk in front of him. He muttered to himself a couple times and then he let out a short sigh. Benjamin noticed that King Bernard Zwirn's eyes did not move away from Snark.
70 | 71 |“I need to check on something in that dream,” he said slowly. “I'll be back in fifteen minutes. You can hang out here and watch the screens until I come back.”
72 | 73 |Benjamin didn't know why King Bernard Zwirn was being secretive. It was obvious that he was going to the dream that had Snark in it. But, Benjamin didn't know why. He didn't know if Snark was in trouble for having led Benjamin into Castle Ehtahl. All Benjamin knew was that he had not seen King Bernard Zwirn that serious before.
74 | 75 |“Sure,” Benjamin said. “I can wait here. But, can I come along with you?”
76 | 77 |“I think you'll have a lot more fun if you stay here,” King Bernard Zwirn said. “Look at all these dreams! And besides, I'll only be gone for a few minutes.”
78 | 79 |Although Benjamin did not know exactly what was happening, the dreams were so interesting to him because he could see into the minds of people sleeping throughout the world. There was a person chasing a lion. An older woman was standing in front of a classroom. A young man was riding a motorcycle in a desert. The screen which had been showing Snark flickered and went dark.
80 | 81 |“Where did Snark go?” Benjamin asked the people working behind him.
82 | 83 |“Over there,” someone said from the back.
84 | 85 |“Over where?” Benjamin answered with his hands at his side.
86 | 87 |“Near the staircase on the right,” the same voice shouted back among all the other shouts.
88 | 89 |Benjamin walked to the staircase, which was just next to the last column of screens. King Bernard Zwirn would be back soon enough, Benjamin thought, and he could not wait to ask him many questions about Snark. He wanted to know everything.
90 | 91 |A hand gently rested on Benjamin's left shoulder and he was thrilled to realize that King Bernard Zwirn was back. His first question, he decided, was to ask where Snark and all of the dinosaurs went after the dreams were done. But when Benjamin turned around, he saw quickly that the hand did not belong to King Bernard Zwirn. It belonged to Russell Fox, the man who prevented Benjamin from reaching the train station. And standing behind Russell Fox was a sinister looking man wearing all black and smoking a long pipe.
92 | 93 |“Hi, Benjamin,” the man said in a menacing voice.
94 | 95 |Benjamin turned to run toward all of the workers but Russell Fox grabbed his shoulder and made a sign with his finger that Benjamin had better be quiet.
96 | 97 |“Don't run, Benjamin. I'm here to watch the dreams, with you. Do any of them interest you?”
98 | 99 |“Who are you?”
100 | 101 |“Quiet, Benjamin. We have to watch the dreams.”
102 | 103 |“I want you to leave me alone.”
104 | 105 |“I will. I will. But, not right now.”
106 | 107 |Benjamin did not want to speak with this man. He wanted King Bernard Zwirn to return as soon as possible. He strained his neck to look for the king but he couldn't find him.
108 | 109 |“Benjamin, my name is Thalia Nachamie and I am, how should you say, very interested in you. You see, the king and I have a bit of a disagreement as to how dreams should be made in Castle Ehtahl. It'll be resolved in no time, don't you worry about that. I'll get my way. I always do. But first, I have a question or two for you,” Thalia said. “What kind of child leaves their home to go to someplace unknown? Did you not know what you were getting yourself into? Did you not know what would be on the other side? Tell me, Benjamin, why are you here?”
110 | 111 |Benjamin paused and looked back and forth for someone who could help him. No one seemed to be looking in his direction. They were all preoccupied with the dreams on the screens.
112 | 113 |“Silent, aren't we?” Russell Fox said. And at that moment, Benjamin watched the man's eyes transition from a dark brown to a bright orange and then back to brown. He breathed slowly and arched his head. Benjamin sensed he was not normal.
114 | 115 |“I'd like you to leave me alone,” Benjamin said sternly. He was scared because he was defenseless against two people who made him feel very uncomfortable.
116 | 117 |“I'll leave you alone, Benjamin,” Thalia Nachamie said. “But if you don't have a good reason for why you came here, I'm left to assume that you came here for something. And, you're not willing to tell me what that something is.”
118 | 119 |“I came here for adventure,” Benjamin said quickly as he tried to wrestle his arm away from Russell Fox.
120 | 121 |“Adventure?” Thalia Nachamie echoed with a laugh. “Why of course. You'll find adventure here. But you're after something more, aren't you?”
122 | 123 |Benjamin got one hand loose and started to move away but Thalia grabbed his neck with a strength that Benjamin had never felt before.
124 | 125 |“Now, now,” Thalia Nachamie said. “I'm just going to warn you once, Benjamin. There is no room for someone like you here. We don't take kindly to people who want to change the way we do things. I know what you're trying to do. I know what you want”
126 | 127 |“I'm not trying to change anything! I don't know what you're talking about!” Benjamin yelled.
128 | 129 |“Stop being so childish,” Thalia Nachamie said as he released Benjamin to the ground. “But do realize, I have my eye on you and I don't take kindly to people who aren't honest with me. You had better stay out of my business, Benjamin.”
130 | 131 |Thalia Nachamie and Russell Fox stared angrily at Benjamin as they walked into the hallway and disappeared. Benjamin could still feel the tight grip from Thalia Nachamie. He didn't know what they were talking about. Why did they think he was trying to change something? Why were they so suspicious of him?
132 | 133 |“Benjamin,” King Bernard Zwirn said as he reentered the room. “Are you OK?”
134 | 135 |“Russell Fox was here and he—” Benjamin started to say. But as he began to speak, a loud noise erupted from one of the screens and several employees stood and pointed in the direction. King Bernard Zwirn jumped up and began issuing new commands.
136 | 137 |“Isolate it!” he yelled. “Isolate eight five zero!”
138 | 139 |“It's spreading,” a worker yelled.
140 | 141 |“Shut it down,” the king responded.
142 | 143 |“Are you sure?” someone yelled back.
144 | 145 |“Yes, shut it down,” King Bernard Zwirn said quickly.
146 | 147 |Benjamin looked at screen eight five zero. There was chaos. A man was hitting everyone in the scene and causing violence everywhere. He was acting ruthless and without concern for anyone's safety. And then, a gigantic monster entered the studio and began wrecking havoc upon everything.
148 | 149 |“Something is wrong,” King Bernard Zwirn whispered to himself but in a voice loud enough for Benjamin to hear. “We've never seen a nightmare as strong as a nightmare like that.”
150 | 151 |“Nightmare?” Benjamin asked.
152 | 153 |“That was a nightmare,” King Bernard Zwirn said when he realized Benjamin was listening. “And, I fear it was the strongest nightmare I've ever seen. I'll keep you safe, Benjamin. Don't worry. I won't let those nightmares get you.”
154 | 155 |“Psst,” Benjamin heard a nearby voice. “You awake?”
16 | 17 |The voice belonged to none other than Ralph Eden, who Benjamin had become accustomed to knowing as the other boy in the dormitory who did not sleep at night. Ralph frequently used his flashlight to read books that were prohibited on school grounds. The only books the students were allowed to read during their personal time were books that had been written with incredible creativity and imagination. Books that downplayed excitement and fun were prohibited. They were the equivalent of poisoning the brain, King Bernard Zwirn told them. They belonged to the nightmares.
18 | 19 |“Yes,” Benjamin said without moving. “I'm usually awake.”
20 | 21 |“Why don't you sleep?” Ralph asked.
22 | 23 |“I don't know how to sleep here,” Benjamin replied. As the words left his mouth, he realized this was true. When he was home, he could easily prepare himself to sleep by imagining his favorite dreams. But here, he was forgetting them and was unable to prepare himself to sleep. He couldn't save the world from Professor Undutois.
24 | 25 |“It takes a while to get used to not being able to dream,” Ralph said.
26 | 27 |“Not being able to dream?” Benjamin rolled to his side and stared into further darkness. “You can't dream?”
28 | 29 |“I could months ago but I haven't had a dream since the dream machine stopped working. My dreams were amazing. I was conquering land after land and building bigger and bigger castles.”
30 | 31 |“What happened? When did you stop dreaming?” Benjamin asked.
32 | 33 |“I didn't choose to stop dreaming. When our dream machine broke and we learned we only had a limited supply of dreams left, everyone in the castle had to give up their dreams.”
34 | 35 |“You gave up dreaming?”
36 | 37 |“Yep. And, that's why you can't dream either,” Ralph said. “There's no more dreaming here. No more dreams until the machine is fixed. King Zwirn has been searching for whoever broke it for months. He still can't find the nightmare responsible for ruining everything.”
38 | 39 |“So, why don't you just fix the machine?”
40 | 41 |Ralph laughed and Steven Wazen on the other side of the dormitory shushed to tell him to be quiet. Steven could sleep as well as all the other students in the room.
42 | 43 |“We can't just fix the machine,” Ralph said. “If we could fix it, don't you think we would have fixed it?”
44 | 45 |“Yes, I guess. I would hope that would be the case.”
46 | 47 |“Right. We can't fix it because it's broken and there's a piece missing.”
48 | 49 |Benjamin knew the appropriate question to ask next but decided to let silence handle the conversation because he did not want to be seen as dumb.
50 | 51 |“So, your next question,” Ralph continued. “Must be why don't we just make another piece.”
52 | 53 |“Yes,” Benjamin answered.
54 | 55 |“And the answer to that question is that the dream machine has over one hundred thousand pieces. We do not know which piece is missing, at least that's what the parents in town tell us.”
56 | 57 |“You don't believe them?”
58 | 59 |“It's not that I don't believe them. But, if this machine has been here for centuries, surely someone must have written down all of the pieces.”
60 | 61 |“Maybe there is a blueprint for how to make another one,” Benjamin suggested without really knowing what he was saying.
62 | 63 |“There is,” Ralph replied quickly. “But, Aloysius has it.”
64 | 65 |“Aloysius!” Benjamin said loudly. Steven Wazen on the other end of the room shushed more loudly than he had earlier. Benjamin lowered his voice and in tandem, tried to lower his enthusiasm for learning more. “Who is Aloysius?”
66 | 67 |“We don't talk about it,” Ralph said between his teeth.
68 | 69 |“Everyone keeps saying that,” Benjamin said. “But, I don't understand why.”
70 | 71 |“If you knew why, you would understand why we don't talk about it.”
72 | 73 |Benjamin rolled onto his back and continued to stare into the darkness. He thought about Aloysius Trenhaile over and over and over. Without any details to create him in his mind, he tried to imagine what a person would look like that everyone else would not want to talk about. The only person that came to mind was Howard Horne. And, Benjamin decided, not thinking about anything was much better than thinking about Howard Horne.
74 | 75 |Footsteps slowly made their way closer and closer to Benjamin's bed until a figure stood at the end.
76 | 77 |“You guys have to be quiet,” Steven Wazen said with disgust. “Just because you can't sleep, doesn't mean we can't.”
78 | 79 |“Sorry,” Benjamin said quickly. “We'll be quiet.”
80 | 81 |“Were you dreaming?” Ralph asked with a smirk.
82 | 83 |“I was dreaming of dreaming,” Steven replied with a laugh.
84 | 85 |As Steven returned to his bunk, Benjamin closed his eyes and decided that although he was happy not being at school, he wanted to be able to dream. He decided he would ask King Bernard Zwirn how he could help fix the dream machine in the morning. Maybe, Benjamin thought, he learned something from his father making repairs to their house.
86 | 87 |The lights in the dormitory flickered on and off until they stayed on. Benjamin looked at the large clock on the wall and noticed that it was four o'clock in the morning. It was two and a half hours earlier than they normally woke up. The lights never turned on before it was time to start the day.
88 | 89 |All of the boys sat on their beds and looked at the clock with even more worry than Benjamin had. They glanced at each other and every one of them had an identical curl in the brow, mirroring each other's confusion.
90 | 91 |“Have to wake up!” a brash voice yelled at the end of the dormitory. “Have to wake up now!”
92 | 93 |Benjamin saw Noel Jaffin standing in the doorway with heavy armor covering his body. He looked like a heavy, metal cube. And although the sight of a metal cube person was rather funny, Benjamin was a little unnerved that everyone else was unnerved. Noel Jaffin did not wake up the boys. That was Miss Lindenmeyer's responsibility. And when Miss Lindenmeyer woke up the boys, she did not appear dressed in armor. Noel Jaffin was not prepared for a day of learning. He was prepared for battle.
94 | 95 |“Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!” he said as he pounded his short legs back and forth into the ground.
96 | 97 |Slowly, boy by boy arose and changed.
98 | 99 |“Hurry!” Noel Jaffin yelled to the young children. “This is not a drill!”
100 | 101 |“A drill?” Benjamin said aloud.
102 | 103 |“We were told a day like this might happen,” Ralph said with a tiny feeling of exhaustion. “I guess today is that day.”
104 | 105 |“What might happen?” Benjamin said. “What's going on?”
106 | 107 |“Just follow orders,” Ralph replied. “And, you probably will be fine.”
108 | 109 |The boys lined up and Noel Jaffin checked their names on a sheet of paper on a clipboard as they passed him. Noel Jaffin had to stretch his neck backwards in order to see which child was which. As usual, Benjamin was last.
110 | 111 |“I've decided that I'd like to help King Bernard Zwirn,” Benjamin said as if Noel could somehow make this a reality.
112 | 113 |“You're not going to help King Bernard Zwirn,” Noel Jaffin said quickly.
114 | 115 |“But, I'd like to speak with King Bernard Zwirn about the dream machine,” Benjamin continued.
116 | 117 |“You're not going to talk to King Bernard Zwirn about the dream machine,” Noel Jaffin said angrily.
118 | 119 |“OK, when can I talk with him?” Benjamin asked.
120 | 121 |“He's gone.”
122 | 123 |Benjamin stopped. All of the boys in the line stopped. It was worse news that any of them had thought they would hear.
124 | 125 |“What do you mean, gone?” Steven asked forcefully.
126 | 127 |“I mean that King Bernard Zwirn has been kidnapped. I am here to take you to your class. No more questions. Silence while we walk,” Noel Jaffin said as he marched to the front of the line.
128 | 129 |They marched at a slower pace from hallway to hallway in complete silence. But despite not being able to hear the thoughts of the other children, Benjamin could feel that something had gone so wrong that these otherwise happy and energetic children had suddenly become scared and concerned.
130 | 131 |As they made their way past the classroom, Noel Jaffin led them to another hallway decorated with paintings on all walls, ceilings, and even the floor. Benjamin stepped carefully from painting to painting of old men and women who lived in this castle before. And oddly, each expression on their face looked direr than the expressions he had noticed on their faces earlier.
132 | 133 |Noel reached a painting of a woman wrapped in a red flag on a white horse against a background of tan rocks that matched tan clouds. She pointed to the top left hand corner of the canvas. And that was where Noel Jaffin punched his fist through the canvas and pulled on a hidden lever, revealing an old circular staircase leading down below.
134 | 135 |Each of the boys filed one after the other while Noel Jaffin, again, checked their names against a piece of paper on a clipboard. Benjamin, again, was the last to depart but he decided this time that it was not in his best interest to ask Noel any other questions. Instead, he wondered how many other secret passageways existed in this castle. And, he wondered how many other secrets there were in general.
136 | 137 |As he stepped down each curved stair, he descended several floors below the ground. It was dark, lit only by candles on the walls, mounted against cold rocks that were moist from whatever rainwater had fallen below. After having turned six or seven times, Benjamin found himself at the opening of a massive, cavernous room that looked like it could hold thousands of people. There were people everywhere.
138 | 139 |In front of him, Miss Lindenmeyer stood with the girls from the class. As Miss Lindenmeyer welcomed the boys to join the girls, Selma Applebaum took a step forward. Benjamin knew, before she said anything, that she was the angriest of everyone in the room.
140 | 141 |“This is all Benjamin's fault!” she screamed.
142 | 143 |Benjamin felt his body freeze. His face had no color and his arms felt like cement. He had just been blamed for King Bernard Zwirn's disappearance. But worse than having been blamed, Benjamin couldn't believe something happened to King Bernard Zwirn.
16 | 17 |“If Benjamin wasn't here,” Selma Applebaum said sternly. “This would never have happened!”
18 | 19 |Miss Lindenmeyer restrained Selma and pushed her to the back of the room. Benjamin did not know where to look.
20 | 21 |“What did I do? Did something happen because I came here?” Benjamin muttered quietly to Miss Lindenmeyer.
22 | 23 |“It's not your fault, Benjamin,” Miss Lindenmeyer said as she cautiously pushed Benjamin towards the rest of the class. “You didn't understand what coming here meant. You didn't do anything wrong.”
24 | 25 |“Did King Bernard Zwirn disappear because of me?”
26 | 27 |“Of course not, Benjamin. This has nothing to do with you,” Miss Lindenmeyer said calmly.
28 | 29 |Benjamin looked around at the other students but none of them wanted to make eye contact. It was as if all of the kids around him thought that Benjamin would disappear if they did not see him.
30 | 31 |“Where is he?” Benjamin asked Miss Lindenmeyer.
32 | 33 |“I don't know, Benjamin,” Miss Lindenmeyer said. “You're going to be here for a little bit longer than I thought.”
34 | 35 |Benjamin began to panic. He felt like King Bernard Zwirn was a friend. And, that friend held the key to get him home. Benjamin wasn't eager to get home. But at that moment, he didn't know how it would be possible to leave without the king.
36 | 37 |As Benjamin stared off in the distance, Miss Lindenmeyer held her class as she had before. It was difficult for him to pay attention because there were people walking around and talking about what may happen next. The distractions were endless and Benjamin began to fear the worst.
38 | 39 |“Today, we're going to play with flight machines. We normally wouldn't but this space just so happens to have one of the tallest ceilings around, which makes it incredibly safe. No one is going to be flying to the moon,” Miss Lindenmeyer said.
40 | 41 |The students were happy about the idea of using flight machines. Benjamin did not know what they were but he was intrigued when Noel Jaffin wheeled a long rack of odd shaped devices to Miss Lindenmeyer. They looked like a combination of a motorcycle engine and a chair, each of them painted orange.
42 | 43 |“Thanks, Noel,” Miss Lindenmeyer said. “Now students, grab a flight machine. Make sure you get your correct size.”
44 | 45 |Benjamin watched all of the students pick their flight machines and when it was his turn to pick his, there was only one engine left. He was not sure if it was his size or not. So, he took it and hid behind the other students.
46 | 47 |“Oh, Benjamin,” Miss Lindenmeyer began to say with some caution.
48 | 49 |“Benjamin shouldn't be allowed to use the flight machines,” Selma said sternly to Miss Lindenmeyer, without addressing Benjamin himself.
50 | 51 |He took a step toward the rack to return the device.
52 | 53 |“It's fine,” Miss Lindenmeyer said quickly and abruptly. “Benjamin, watch Selma sit on her flight machine.”
54 | 55 |Selma was quite upset that she had suddenly been partnered with Benjamin. And Benjamin was quite concerned that his safety was being entrusted to someone who hated him. It was not a great partnership by any means.
56 | 57 |Benjamin watched Selma quickly settle into her flight machine and turn the ignition switch on. It made a louder noise than Benjamin expected. It sounded like a mechanical hummingbird would hum.
58 | 59 |“Selma, we're going to fly one at a time,” Miss Lindenmeyer said. “Because we don't want any more mid-air collisions, right Ryan?”
60 | 61 |Miss Lindenmeyer had the students line up in front of her. One by one, she inspected the flying machines to make sure that they were working properly. She did not want a disaster. Benjamin watched her inspect the machines like a mechanic had inspected his parents' cars at home. Then when Miss Lindenmeyer was finally satisfied that everything appeared to be in order, she went to the first student and nodded with approval.
62 | 63 |Steven Wazen flew into the air and his flying machine's engine churned a fine, soft buzz. It was not like the sound of a motorcycle or the sound of a locomotive. It was like the sound of a microwave and a kettle of boiling water. Benjamin watched Steven turn the flying machine to the left and then to the right and then to the left again. He flew fast, then slow, and then fast again. It looked almost graceful, Benjamin thought, as student after student flew into the air and around the room.
64 | 65 |To Benjamin, the entire ordeal, so far, was both exhilarating and frightening. This was actually some of the adventure that he was hoping to find. He wanted experiences that were different than his experiences at home and certainly, there were not many flying apparatuses at home. And yet when each student successfully landed, he became more and more scared as he realized it would next be his turn.
66 | 67 |“OK, Benjamin,” Miss Lindenmeyer said with the same confidence and enthusiasm she had said to all of the other students. “Let me show you how this works.”
68 | 69 |Miss Lindenmeyer sat on the flying machine, pressed an ignition button, and then slowly ascended into the air.
70 | 71 |“Once you get this high,” Miss Lindenmeyer shouted as she began to turn around in the air. “You lean forward to go forward. You lean backward to go backward. Left to go left and right to go right. It's actually quite easy.”
72 | 73 |“Is it magic?” Benjamin asked.
74 | 75 |“No!” Selma shouted from behind him. “This isn't magic. This is science. That's an engine. It's not some fantasy.”
76 | 77 |“Selma's right,” Miss Lindenmeyer said as she landed and then promptly adjusted her hair. “It's just science. We have a lot of machines here that you probably don't have in Pennsylvania. They help us create more vivid dreams.”
78 | 79 |Benjamin wanted to stall a little longer. He was not feeling as confident as the other students felt about flying one of these machines. Even if he was able to get the flying machine into the air, he would then be defenseless to all of the people on the ground that hated him. Certainly, someone would throw a rock or some fruit, he thought.
80 | 81 |“I don't think this is a good idea, Miss Lindenmeyer,” Selma protested as she flew into the air and coasted along the walls of the room.
82 | 83 |“It'll be fine, Benjamin,” Miss Lindenmeyer reassured him. “The machine does most of the work for you. Now, just have a seat. And, I have a remote that's going to control your flight.”
84 | 85 |She nudged Benjamin into position, tied his seatbelt tight, and then fastened his helmet. As soon as he looked like someone who would soon take flight, Miss Lindenmeyer hit the ignition button without warning Benjamin ahead of time. He felt a sudden jerk of the engine and a sudden beat of his heart. The machine raised Benjamin further and further into the air where Benjamin had a view of the sheer size of the room. Although he still felt more comfortable on the ground, flying was more fun than he expected.
86 | 87 |As Miss Lindenmeyer advised, he moved forward as he leaned forward. He moved backwards as he leaned backwards. The machine sensed his movements and handled everything for him.
88 | 89 |He even grew enough confidence that he relaxed his tight grip on the handlebars and looked to the students below. Selma Applebaum, along with the rest of the class, had their arms crossed in front of them.
90 | 91 |“OK, Benjamin,” Miss Lindenmeyer yelled. “I'm going to turn off the machine from my remote control. You'll descend in a second.”
92 | 93 |Miss Lindenmeyer inspected the remote and clicked a few times until the engine of the flying machine stopped. Benjamin waited to get back to the ground, entrusting his teacher to his safety. His teacher, though, looked at Benjamin with confusion and then looked back at her remote with more confusion.
94 | 95 |“It's off,” Miss Lindenmeyer said. “You should be descending.”
96 | 97 |Benjamin looked to the rest of the class who all looked confused. He was ascending further and further into the air.
98 | 99 |Miss Lindenmeyer became more worried. She ran for a closet on the near side of the room. Benjamin looked to see where she was going and the flying machine turned with him. He pointed the engine down and it started to go down. Maybe, he thought, the remote did not work in this dark hall.
100 | 101 |He watched his teacher return with a long rope. She turned one end of it into a lasso. The other students uncrossed their arms and now had their hands on their hips. Benjamin did not know what to make of their expressions other than something peculiar had happened.
102 | 103 |“Catch the rope when I toss it to you,” Miss Lindenmeyer yelled.
104 | 105 |She threw the lasso up in the air and Benjamin grabbed it when it was near. She pulled and pulled and pulled with all her strength and Benjamin descended to the ground. As soon as he placed his right foot on the ground, the flying machine jerked and fell suddenly to the floor.
106 | 107 |Benjamin saw that Miss Lindenmeyer was exhausted. And the students, they were perplexed.
108 | 109 |“OK, everyone,” Miss Lindenmeyer said as she continued along with her class. “Let's get lunch.”
110 | 111 |Everyone filed in a single line and started to march onward. As Benjamin passed Miss Lindenmeyer, she placed a hand on his chest so that he stopped walking forward. She looked from side to side as if she did not want anyone else to hear what she was about to say. Benjamin leaned forward so that he could hear her whispers.
112 | 113 |“You can't leave my side or view,” Miss Lindenmeyer whispered. “You're in a lot of danger.”
114 | 115 |Over the next week, everyone in class treated Benjamin differently. He noticed that Ryan Eden and Steven Wazen watched him as if they were hawks staring at a little mouse. Selma Applebaum refused to make eye contact with Benjamin. But, it was impossible to ignore a student who was able to fly a machine when it was not powered on.
16 | 17 |“That hasn't been done before,” said one student. “How did you do it?”
18 | 19 |“I don't know,” Benjamin said. “I just kept sitting.”
20 | 21 |“Can you do that with other machines?” another student asked.
22 | 23 |“I don't know,” Benjamin responded again. “I don't know what other machines exist.”
24 | 25 |“Are you related to King Bernard Zwirn?” another student asked.
26 | 27 |“No, I don't think so,” Benjamin answered.
28 | 29 |“That would be amazing if you were,” another student stated. “Imagine we have in our class a student who is a relative of the man who made all of the dream machines.”
30 | 31 |“King Bernard Zwirn made all of these machines?” Benjamin asked.
32 | 33 |“His dad did,” Selma said as she continued to look forward at the chalkboard while all of the other students continued to look at Benjamin. “But, he's gone. Only his sons are alive.”
34 | 35 |“Who are his sons?”
36 | 37 |“We don't talk about it,” everyone said in exhausted unison.
38 | 39 |“What's life like in Pennsylvania?” another student asked.
40 | 41 |“It's fun,” Benjamin said. “It's not too different than living here I suppose.”
42 | 43 |“Are there people everywhere?”
44 | 45 |“Yes.”
46 | 47 |“And lots of food?”
48 | 49 |“Yes.”
50 | 51 |“And people can do whatever they want.”
52 | 53 |“For the most part.”
54 | 55 |“And everyone has dreams?”
56 | 57 |“Well, not recently. There haven't been dreams lately at all. My dad hasn't had a dream in months,” Benjamin said.
58 | 59 |“Students,” Miss Lindenmeyer said as she entered the classroom wearing a raincoat. “We have to go to the general assembly area for an announcement. So I need you to line up in a single file and head outside. Raincoats on!”
60 | 61 |Student after student put on their coats and filed from the classroom outside into the unforgiving rain. There were people exiting every building, all headed in the same direction toward the gigantic dream machine. Benjamin wondered what all of these people did each day. He did not know what every person in Pennsylvania did and he imagined students felt the same way about Castle Ehtahl. There were tens of thousands of people of various ages and sizes and colors gathered in one big plaza. The dream machine hovered over them like a tree that had spiraled upward without casting a single branch.
62 | 63 |Benjamin followed Steven Wazen and noticed that Miss Lindenmeyer, who led the group of students, frequently turned around to make sure that she could see him. When they reached a spot in the plaza with enough space for the class, Miss Lindenmeyer positioned everyone in rows and then stood next to Benjamin.
64 | 65 |“You are not to leave my side,” Miss Lindenmeyer said.
66 | 67 |“What is happening?” Benjamin asked.
68 | 69 |“I'm not exactly sure,” Miss Lindenmeyer responded. “But, it's probably related to King Bernard Zwirn's disappearance.”
70 | 71 |“Does this happen often?”
72 | 73 |“No,” Selma replied. “King Bernard Zwirn liked talking to small groups of people rather than everyone at once.”
74 | 75 |“So, who is going to speak now?” Benjamin asked.
76 | 77 |Selma shrugged her shoulders as if she did not care. At the front of the plaza before the tens of thousands of people, there was a newly constructed green and blue stone building that towered as high as the dream machine. The building reminded Benjamin of cathedrals he had seen pictures of before. But, this building was much wider and much more detailed than any cathedral he had ever seen. At the very top, there was a balcony with a red flag hanging over the entrance.
78 | 79 |As rain poured down, projection screens were hastily opened throughout the plaza. Cameras turned on and focused themselves on the balcony. Lights flickered and flashed from all directions as soundchecks began to test the limits of the speaker system. A hush came over the crowd as Castle Ehtahl's anthem began to play. It was a song that reminded Benjamin of jazz songs his dad would play on the radio while working on the family car. The rhythm was quick and the song was inspiring, even though Benjamin knew none of the words.
80 | 81 |When the song ended, the lights dimmed and a roar spread across the crowd from the back to the front. Even Benjamin got caught up in the excitement of what was to come. He noticed, however, that Miss Lindenmeyer was not energized at all. Her eyes were glancing from left to right in a fast enough manner that suggested that she was looking for someone. Benjamin realized she was nervous and that made him nervous. He trusted Miss Lindenmeyer more than he trusted the crowd. And without King Bernard Zwirn, Benjamin looked to Miss Lindenmeyer for help.
82 | 83 |On the balcony, two guards who looked to be about the same size as Noel Jaffin removed the red flag. The crowd erupted in anticipation like Benjamin had seen at music concerts on television. Benjamin expected, for reasons he could not explain, to see something magical happen. Maybe, he thought, King Bernard Zwirn would return.
84 | 85 |A man did enter but it was not King Bernard Zwirn. It was Thalia Nachamie. And behind him, Russell Fox stood at attention.
86 | 87 |The crowd erupted in excitement and cheers and Benjamin was more confused. He did not see any reason to cheer for either of these people. Russell Fox and Thalia Nachamie were evil.
88 | 89 |“My fellow Ehtahlians,” Russell Fox projected into a microphone. “I present to you the interim king, Thalia Nachamie.”
90 | 91 |The crowd screamed and cheered. Miss Lindenmeyer did not flinch and Benjamin noticed that Selma Applebaum did not flinch as well. The other students in the class cheered as loud or louder than the people around them. And at that moment, Benjamin began to realize that everyone may have been cheering only because everyone was cheering and not because of the men who stood on the balcony.
92 | 93 |Thalia Nachamie glanced from side to side with his long face and his crooked nose. His dark black hair blended into his black clothes he wore and the black hat on his head. He looked like a large crow that wore pieces of leather rather than feathers.
94 | 95 |“Ladies and gentleman,” Thalia Nachamie's voice boomed across the plaza as the rain continued to pour down. “A great tragedy has come to our castle. Our very own Bernard Zwirn has been kidnapped. We do not know where he was taken and we do not know who has taken him. But, we will find him. And until we do, we will continue to do what we do best.”
96 | 97 |Cheers erupted throughout the crowd and Benjamin's face turned pale as he heard confirmation of all the rumors of the past week. King Bernard Zwirn was kidnapped. It was, he thought, one of the worst possible answers to where the king may have been.
98 | 99 |“We set a search party to look for Bernard Zwirn. We don't have many clues so if anyone knows what has happened, please contact me directly and I'll make sure to tell you whether your clue is valid or not. As you all know, if Bernard Zwirn is not found in another week, we will have to move on without him. We cannot wait around endlessly for his return. We don't have time. Our dream machine is running low.”
100 | 101 |Thunder cracked in the distance and the rain became fiercer. Miss Lindenmeyer placed a hand over Benjamin as her eyes continued to move back and forth. But then, her eyes stopped. Benjamin saw that she was looking to the left but he could not see what she had found.
102 | 103 |“If anyone has any questions at this time, please ask them now,” Thalia Nachamie projected to the audience.
104 | 105 |“Is there a chance anyone else could be kidnapped?” Russell Fox asked into a microphone behind Thalia Nachamie.
106 | 107 |“That's a great question,” Thalia Nachamie continued. “And there is a severe chance that every one of you could be kidnapped. So, it is important that you continue to do your jobs well and that you do not wander outside of this castle. If we cannot fix the dream machine, we will have to use another proposed solution. This proposed solution, as I told you last year, will make sure that you can make dreams and not be kidnapped.”
108 | 109 |“Will the dream machine be fixed?” Russell Fox asked into the microphone again. Benjamin could see that Russell Fox was reading from a tiny sheet of paper.
110 | 111 |“That is again a great question,” Thalia Nachamie began. “We are missing a piece to the dream machine and we do not know what this piece is or where this piece is. It's possible that the dream machine has suffered damage beyond repair. But, we do not have any way of knowing whether we can fix it without having this piece returned to us. If you know the evil, villainous person who has stolen it, you must tell us immediately. We will not stand for evil in our castle.”
112 | 113 |“What will we do if we run out of resources to make dreams?” Russell Fox asked again, in the same tone and awkward reading style as the previous two questions.
114 | 115 |“Another great question,” Thalia Nachamie started. “We will not run out of resources to make dreams. If the dream machine fails, I will make sure we have the resources to make more dreams. You can count on that. I think that's it for questions. Have a great day everyone.”
116 | 117 |Thunder crashed and Benjamin was surprised that Thalia Nachamie ended his question and answer session because there were over a hundred hands raised throughout the plaza. Selma had her hand raised too and took it back down with disgust. Miss Lindenmeyer was still looking to her left and Benjamin noticed that she was trying to talk to someone by mouthing words and reading lips. He still could not see who she was speaking with.
118 | 119 |As the crowd started to depart in various directions, Miss Lindenmeyer ushered the students back to the school where she was met by another teacher Benjamin had not seen before. Benjamin started to walk into the school but then Miss Lindenmeyer grabbed his hand. He saw that Selma was watching everything that was about to transpire.
120 | 121 |“Quickly, Benjamin,” Miss Lindenmeyer said. “Come with me.”
122 | 123 |Miss Lindenmeyer and Benjamin ran back into the crowd, which made Benjamin quite nervous. He did not know who to believe and who to trust other than Miss Lindenmeyer. Any of these faces looking upon him could belong to the person who kidnapped King Bernard Zwirn. They zigged and zagged between one dark clothed body and another, getting wet from the rain along the way.
124 | 125 |Benjamin stopped. In the distance, he saw him.
126 | 127 |It was Snark. It was Rodney Cohen.
128 | 129 |“Miss Lindenmeyer!” Benjamin yelled. “That's the dinosaur that led me here!”
130 | 131 |Miss Lindenmeyer looked in the direction that Benjamin pointed. Rodney looked confused and concerned.
132 | 133 |“Rodney,” Miss Lindenmeyer said with a long sigh. “We have to run, Benjamin. I'm going to introduce you to Rodney Cohen now.”
134 | 135 |She grabbed his hand as a person would who was pulling an unwilling partner. Benjamin looked back over his right shoulder and watched Rodney walk toward them. His heart beat faster as he realized he would finally meet his favorite dinosaur. He didn't know what to say. He had waited for this moment his entire life. And, it was finally here.
136 | 137 |“Hey, there, um, Benjamin. Sorry, I, uh, kind of, you know, got you here, when, um, you know, the King's missing and all,” Rodney Cohen said exceptionally awkwardly. He kept rummaging through his hair like he knew he did something wrong. It was not, Benjamin thought, the welcome he had dreamed of.
138 | 139 |First of all, Rodney Cohen was a person and he wasn't wearing the Snark costume. And Benjamin realized that he didn't like Rodney Cohen as much as he liked Snark. Snark was confident and powerful and inspiring and adventurous. Rodney Cohen was awkward and goofy. Benjamin was speechless.
140 | 141 |“I know seeing me, you know, um, without the, uh, costume, er, the, uh, you know, I mean, what I'm trying to say is, that, well, I'd rather, you know, greet you as Snark, not, uh, well, not, um, not me,” Rodney Cohen said as he shifted his weight back and forth.
142 | 143 |Benjamin stared at Rodney Cohen and let out a long sigh.
144 | 145 |“Yes, I kind of wish you were Snark right now,” Benjamin said.
146 | 147 |Benjamin looked at Rodney Cohen as if he was a stranger. And, Miss Lindenmeyer appeared to recognize this because she interrupted the quite awkward conversation.
148 | 149 |“Rodney, there's something you need to know about Benjamin,” Miss Lindenmeyer said while making sure no one around her listened.
150 | 151 |“Oh, really? What is it?” Rodney said curiously.
152 | 153 |“We can't talk here,” Miss Lindenmeyer said as she glanced from side to side at the thousands of people walking among them. “Let's go to the school.”
154 | 155 |Benjamin wondered what was so special about him. He also wondered how someone so lanky and awkward like Rodney Cohen could be so confident and powerful as Snark. How was it that one person could be two different things? It seemed impossible to Benjamin. No one could be both.
156 | 157 |“Benjamin can fly on a flying machine without power,” Miss Lindenmeyer whispered to Rodney Cohen as they walked forward.
158 | 159 |Rodney quickly glanced at Benjamin and his confused face turned into excitement. He gave Benjamin a huge thumbs up and tried to give him a high-five before Miss Lindenmeyer pushed down his hand.
160 | 161 |“Not now, Rodney! I was teaching the class to fly on the flying machines,” Miss Lindenmeyer continued. “Benjamin went up as well and I controlled his flying machine from a remote control. When I turned it off and had Benjamin come back to the ground, he continued to fly around.”
162 | 163 |“Maybe the remote control was busted,” Rodney said.
164 | 165 |“It wasn't. I tested it again that evening.”
166 | 167 |“Maybe there were strong winds. I know I get in lots of trouble in strong winds. I can get stuck up there for hours even.”
168 | 169 |“We were indoors.”
170 | 171 |“Maybe he had a remote control of his own.”
172 | 173 |“Rodney, please. He didn't have a remote control of his own. I'm only telling you this, not because I want to, but because you brought Benjamin here and you're going to have to help me protect him. If Thalia Nachamie learns of this, Benjamin is going to be in incredible danger. Thalia Nachamie will either capture him or kill him.”
174 | 175 |Rodney examined Benjamin as they continued to walk. Benjamin was confused why this guy was going to help protect him. He looked like he was much older than Benjamin and not many more years older in maturity. But, Benjamin couldn't forget that Snark saved him during the nightmare he had. Maybe, Benjamin thought, Rodney could help him after all.
176 | 177 |“Sweet!” Rodney Cohen yelled. “I'll hide the little man.”
178 | 179 |“Good,” Miss Lindenmeyer said. “Do you know where King Bernard Zwirn is? By chance, did you have anything to do with it?”
180 | 181 |“No!” Rodney said as he waved his hands back and forth. “I love King Bernard Zwirn. I wouldn't do such a thing. I want him back. Unfortunately, it seems Aloysius Trenhaile doesn't like him.”
182 | 183 |“Aloysius?” Benjamin asked.
184 | 185 |“Oh sorry little dude, we don't talk about it” Rodney replied. “But, um, yeah Aloysius kidnapped him.”
186 | 187 |Ryan Eden and Steven Wazen waited for Benjamin to wake up in the dormitory before they began firing questions at him. They had been waiting for about thirty minutes, watching Benjamin sleep. Little did they know, however, that Benjamin was doing his best to sleep as long as he could. He realized that being awake was only causing him trouble and that sleeping would allow him to pass time more quickly. Ryan and Steven grew tired of waiting any further. They grabbed Benjamin's bed and began rocking it from side to side.
16 | 17 |Benjamin could not sleep through what was essentially a simulation of an awful boat ride. His eyes flew open and his body shifted forward as he signaled that he had had enough. But Ryan Eden and Steven Wazen had not noticed because they became more occupied with shaking the bed than waking up Benjamin.
18 | 19 |“What are you guys doing?” Benjamin asked as he rubbed his eyes.
20 | 21 |“You have to wake up,” Ryan Eden said.
22 | 23 |“I don't have to wake up,” Benjamin replied. “There's no school today.”
24 | 25 |“Well, you were going to have to wake up at some point,” Steven Wazen added with a snicker. “And besides, we've got some questions we want answers to.”
26 | 27 |“Everyone has questions for me,” Benjamin said as he found clothing to change into. “I don't want to answer any more questions.”
28 | 29 |Benjamin walked across the dormitory as Steven Wazen and Ryan Eden followed like two snakes stalking a prey. Benjamin felt unease about their presence because they obviously had questions that he did not want to answer. And even though he could not stand up to Russell Fox or Thalia Nachamie, he also knew he could not stand up to Steven Wazen or Ryan Eden.
30 | 31 |“Just one question, then,” Steven Wazen continued, unconcerned with Benjamin's request for silence. “Why is it that you want to be friends with dinosaurs?”
32 | 33 |Benjamin paused because that question was more unexpected than all of the questions that raced through his mind. But he wondered what Steven Wazen was getting at because Ryan Eden laughed uncontrollably behind him. He could answer this question, he decided, because he was not scared of what he would say.
34 | 35 |“We go on adventures together,” Benjamin said. “They are my friends.”
36 | 37 |“But, they're in your dreams,” Steven Wazen said. “They aren't real.”
38 | 39 |“I know they're in my dreams,” Benjamin replied. “And, I know they aren't real. But that doesn't stop me from dreaming.”
40 | 41 |“Right,” Steven Wazen said quickly. “We all know the story of how you got here. But you don't realize that you didn't see a dinosaur. You saw Rodney Cohen.”
42 | 43 |“I know Rodney,” Benjamin said quickly. “Miss Lindenmeyer introduced me and Rodney's been showing me what dreams he acts in.”
44 | 45 |“Oh, Benjamin. You don't know how much trouble you're in. Do you? You can't be that dumb?”
46 | 47 |Benjamin paused for a moment because he knew from his experience dealing with Howard Horne that there was no good answer to that question. If he responded that he was not dumb, he would not further his own cause. But if he responded that he knew the danger he was in, he would be lying. He wanted to know why he was in danger. He didn't understand but Steven Wazen was certainly not going to explain it to him. And so, Benjamin turned around in hopes that the question and the two boys would disappear.
48 | 49 |“Gentleman,” Noel Jaffin said as he entered the dormitory wearing less armor than before. Noel cleared his throat several times as if there was something lodged between his pumpkin body and his bowling ball head. “Benjamin, follow me.”
50 | 51 |“Where are you taking him?” Ryan Eden asked as he walked to Noel Jaffin.
52 | 53 |“That's none of your business, Ryan,” Noel said despite being nearly a foot shorter than the boy. “Benjamin, you are to follow me at once. Let's go.”
54 | 55 |“You're always escorting him. You're never escorting any of the other kids. It's not fair.”
56 | 57 |Noel shook his head in annoyance at Ryan Eden. Benjamin smiled inwardly as he passed the two boys and although he was not thrilled to see Noel Jaffin, he was thrilled to leave the dormitory. Whenever Noel Jaffin appeared, Benjamin knew that something had happened that was not very good. It was as if Noel Jaffin's arrival was a message alone that trouble was near.
58 | 59 |“Where are we going?” Benjamin asked Noel Jaffin.
60 | 61 |“We,” Noel Jaffin stated as he tried to lengthen his walking distance to match that of Benjamin's, “are not going anywhere. I am going home to watch the Naidefur games.”
62 | 63 |“The what?” Benjamin asked.
64 | 65 |“No time to explain. You are going to meet Miss Lindenmeyer and Rodney Cohen.”
66 | 67 |“But, there's no school today,” Benjamin protested.
68 | 69 |“You are a smart one,” Noel Jaffin said sarcastically. “But danger doesn't rest on the weekends and you've got a date with a lovely woman and, um, well, a dude.”
70 | 71 |“Fine, fine,” Benjamin said because he did not want to hear any more.
72 | 73 |Noel Jaffin escorted Benjamin through a series of buildings and hallways that Benjamin had become more accustomed to seeing. He knew that the guard was taking him to a production studio.
74 | 75 |“Noel, how do nightmares get in here?” Benjamin asked.
76 | 77 |“Oh I don't know,” Noel Jaffin grumbled through his mustache. “I suppose they come in here a lot like you came in here.”
78 | 79 |Benjamin thought about that answer for a second because only at that moment did he realize why he was confused earlier as a nightmare. If nightmares entered the way he entered, of course everyone would assume that he was one. It made sense.
80 | 81 |Noel reached his arm above his head and turned a doorknob. It was studio two thousand and two.
82 | 83 |“In you go,” Noel Jaffin said as he began to shuffle Benjamin forward.
84 | 85 |“Wait, Noel,” Benjamin said. “Aren't you going in too?”
86 | 87 |“Over here!” Miss Lindenmeyer yelled from the far side of the production studio. “Come over here.”
88 | 89 |“And, away we go,” Rodney Cohen shouted as he turned on a flying machine and soared into the air. “I never get tired of this!”
90 | 91 |He moved every which direction as Miss Lindenmeyer used another machine to create clouds. Miss Lindenmeyer then turned on a fan, which blew the clouds in the air so that Rodney could fly between them. Miss Lindenmeyer and Rodney were both laughing and Benjamin thought that it did look like fun.
92 | 93 |“Is this all fake?” Benjamin asked them.
94 | 95 |“What?” Miss Lindenmeyer asked. “What do you mean?”
96 | 97 |“Is this all fake? Are dreams not real?”
98 | 99 |“Well, Benjamin, I think you're in a state where you can answer that question as best as I can. What do you think?”
100 | 101 |“I don't know anymore,” Benjamin said distantly. “Well, that's not true. I'm pretty sure this is all fake.”
102 | 103 |“So, if it's all fake, why don't you just go home?”
104 | 105 |“I don't know how! King Bernard Zwirn has the key.”
106 | 107 |“It can't be all fake, right? We dream for a reason. We don't dream fake dreams. The dreams are real.”
108 | 109 |Benjamin thought that perhaps Miss Lindenmeyer had a point. If it was all fake, then dreaming would be pointless. And, he liked dreaming.
110 | 111 |Rodney landed the flying machine next to Benjamin and then promptly brushed off the dust from his jacket. Even though he looked nothing like Snark, there were some characteristics that Benjamin saw in both of these creatures. Rodney was actually adventurous.
112 | 113 |“It's been decades since I've used any of these old machines,” Rodney said. “I've been using newer models lately. It's fun to go back into time and try an old one again. These things have character, you know? They, um, don't work as well as the, uh, new ones. But they still work!”
114 | 115 |“Benjamin,” Miss Lindenmeyer began. “We asked Noel to bring you here because we want to show you how to use more of these devices. Rodney wants to see if you can fly again.”
116 | 117 |“You want me to fly?” Benjamin asked with concern. “I promise you that I don't know how to fly.”
118 | 119 |“Sure,” Rodney said. “And, I can't either. Fly, that is. But perhaps under the right circumstances, you might be able to do something else.”
120 | 121 |“With one of these machines?”
122 | 123 |“Yes, with one of these machines. You don't have to start with the flying engine. You could try any of them.”
124 | 125 |“This one,” Miss Lindenmeyer said, “is made for surfing a gigantic wave. You won't get wet at all but you'll be able to surf with ease.”
126 | 127 |The machine looked like a metal basket sewn together with copper, steel, and iron. Orange lights lined the outside and blinked in a fluid dance. It looked mechanical yet organic and heavy yet light. Like all the other machines that sat next to it, it looked like someone had spent years piecing each individual component together.
128 | 129 |“Hop on!” Rodney said with youthful enthusiasm.
130 | 131 |“I don't know,” Benjamin said. “I'm not sure I'm ready to use these machines.”
132 | 133 |“Oh, nonsense,” Miss Lindenmeyer said. “Once you start it up, you don't have to do anything. You just enjoy the ride.”
134 | 135 |Benjamin looked at the machine and wondered if it would hurt him or guide him. Rodney nudged Benjamin from behind but Benjamin did not move. Miss Lindenmeyer budged him and he still held his ground. He did not want to get involved with these machines. He didn't want to sit on something that looked like a torture device.
136 | 137 |But when both Rodney and Miss Lindenmeyer pushed Benjamin together, he fell forward into the arms of metal and lights. The machine enveloped him like a mechanical kangaroo would hold its baby. Without asking Benjamin, Rodney pushed hard on the ignition switch and Benjamin moved to an area of the production studio where the floor was beginning to separate down the middle. As the divide grew larger, waves of water passed across the floor. It was not, however, ideal for a boy who was pretty much scared of everything.
138 | 139 |The machine touched down on the water and Benjamin could not believe what was happening. He was surfing, albeit with a lot of help. But, he was actually surfing. This was something he did not imagine was possible. And more than that, he was having fun.
140 | 141 |He surfed for what felt like hours and then Miss Lindenmeyer told him to turn the machine off. It guided him back to Rodney and Miss Lindenmeyer who had their hands crossed and their smiles strewn from ear to ear. They looked as happy as Benjamin looked.
142 | 143 |“Can I try another?” Benjamin asked with curiosity.
144 | 145 |“Sure!” Rodney said. “That one will let you float in the air.”
146 | 147 |Benjamin ran to the machine that looked like a large mechanical crow with thousands of pieces. He turned it on and then started to float throughout the room. Miss Lindenmeyer sent clouds into the air and Benjamin felt like he was experiencing something much more enjoyable than dreams. He felt like he was experiencing something magical.
148 | 149 |“What is he doing up there!” Selma Applebaum yelled from the entrance of the production studio.
150 | 151 |She stamped her feet as she walked to Miss Lindenmeyer. Behind her, Ryan Eden and Steven Wazen marched with their arms folded and their eyes squinted. Benjamin fell from the sky upon seeing them and landed on a soft padding.
152 | 153 |“What are you three doing here?” Miss Lindenmeyer asked.
154 | 155 |“I want to know why he is allowed to use these machines and I am not,” Selma protested.
156 | 157 |“Selma, this is none of your business,” Rodney said. “You need to leave immediately.”
158 | 159 |“We told you Benjamin was being trained to be the top student in the class,” Ryan Eden said from behind Selma.
160 | 161 |“They don't want you to be the best anymore,” Steven Wazen said to Selma Applebaum.
162 | 163 |Benjamin did not know what to say because he did not know if that was Miss Lindenmeyer's intentions. He saw Rodney roll his eyes and then walk back to the machines. Selma must have seen him roll his eyes as well.
164 | 165 |“Oh stop it, Rodney,” Selma said.
166 | 167 |Benjamin looked at her and wondered how she knew Rodney. It was impossible to know everyone in the castle.
168 | 169 |“You always get so jealous,” Rodney said. “If dad was still around, you wouldn't barge in like that. What's your problem with Benjamin?”
170 | 171 |Selma didn't say anything. Tears swelled in her eyes. She turned around quickly and ran from the production studio. Ryan Eden and Steven Wazen did not waste any time and chased after her. Rodney and Miss Lindenmeyer simply sighed and gave expressions of disappointment.
172 | 173 |“You're Selma's brother?” Benjamin asked.
174 | 175 |“Not by choice!” Rodney replied.
176 | 177 |“Is it a choice?” Benjamin questioned.
178 | 179 |“Well, uh, no, but, um, I'm a lot older than she is and we don't always get along. She gets so jealous. She just wants to be the best and hates when someone else might be better than her,” Rodney explained.
180 | 181 |“She's jealous of me?”
182 | 183 |“Yep! Listen, Benjamin,” Rodney said as he crouched down. “I'm really sorry about you learning about Snark and the dinosaurs. It was never my intention that you see me this way. I mean, look at me. I don't look courageous, confident, or brave. That's Snark. Snark is courageous, confident, and brave. I'm lanky, awkward, and different. So, I apologize and I need to help you out. It's probably the only thing I'll be able to do. And I'm not sure I can help you out other than to tell you that if you're to save yourself, you've got to dream. Actually, to save all of us, you've got to dream. Benjamin, you've got a gift.”
184 | 185 |“A gift?”
186 | 187 |“Yes, a gift.”
188 | 189 |“But anyone can use these machines,” Benjamin said as he looked at the thousands of machines spread across the floor.
190 | 191 |“That's correct,” Rodney said. “But, you are the only person we know who is able to use these machines while they are turned off.”
192 | 193 |“But, I turned them on before I used them.”
194 | 195 |“Nope,” Rodney said. “Every one of them was turned off. You can somehow fly on your own, surf on your own, and do whatever on your own. I don't know how you can do it. But, man, Benjamin, if someone finds you, you're going to be in so much trouble.”
196 | 197 |“Who? Who is going to find me?”
198 | 199 |“The person who broke the dream machine.”
200 | 201 |Benjamin felt a wave of worry surge through his body like a breeze blowing through a wind tunnel. He could not leave, he thought to himself, because he did not know where he would go. He knew where he was and that, he believed, was better than not knowing where he could be. Without anyone he trusted around him, he felt isolated, alone, and vulnerable. He felt feelings he knew from school, feelings that did not make him happy, feelings from which he wanted to flee.
16 | 17 |“Are you OK?” Noel Jaffin said.
18 | 19 |“I'm OK,” Benjamin answered.
20 | 21 |“You're pale white.”
22 | 23 |“Well, I suppose I am.”
24 | 25 |“Like white white.”
26 | 27 |“I get it.”
28 | 29 |“It's just that I've never seen someone so white and be OK. Are you sure you're OK? You look like you've seen a ghost.”
30 | 31 |Benjamin thought about all of the ghosts he had battled in his dreams with his dinosaur friends. He was never fearful of the ghosts. He never turned pale white or white white or confused or worried or scared. With his friends, he had all the confidence he needed to stand up to evil. But without any friends, he had nothing.
32 | 33 |“I'm going outside,” Benjamin stuttered.
34 | 35 |“Yup.”
36 | 37 |“Yup?”
38 | 39 |“Oh, yeah, no, sorry, I mean,” Noel said. “You'll probably be fine.”
40 | 41 |“I'll probably be fine?”
42 | 43 |“Well, what do you want me to say?”
44 | 45 |“I don't know! Lie to me!”
46 | 47 |“It'll probably be a wonderful experience.”
48 | 49 |“A wonderful experience? Are you insane?”
50 | 51 |“It might be!”
52 | 53 |“Or it might not!”
54 | 55 |“Well, if you have those expectations—”
56 | 57 |“Noel, can't you help me?”
58 | 59 |“I don't know what to do Benjamin. I can find Miss Lindenmeyer but you're about to be banished. There's really no time! I could—”
60 | 61 |He couldn't finish his sentence because Thalia Nachamie began to shout above everyone once again. He moved his head from side to side like a bird perched on top of a tree, staring at everyone below him like they were mice in a farm field. And all Benjamin could do was try to hide behind the other mice.
62 | 63 |“Benjamin Buckingham,” Thalia Nachamie walked to the castle doors. “You are hereby banished from this castle and you are never to return.”
64 | 65 |Thalia Nachamie emphasized what he said by thrusting his clenched fist forward and spitting after every word. Benjamin felt like he was being verbally and physically attacked. He could not imagine how he could escape.
66 | 67 |“Do you understand me?” Thalia Nachamie stared deep inside Benjamin's eyes.
68 | 69 |Benjamin nodded meekly. He wanted it to stop. He wanted to wake up in his bed and for all of this to end peacefully. He wanted to be rescued. He wanted Snark.
70 | 71 |“You shall never return!”
72 | 73 |“OK.”
74 | 75 |“You shall not be welcome back.”
76 | 77 |“OK.”
78 | 79 |“You shall live forever with nightmares.”
80 | 81 |“Nightmares?”
82 | 83 |“Leave! Now!”
84 | 85 |Thalia Nachamie turned to the guards standing behind him. Joel and Cole turned a steel wheel as quickly as their short bodies could turn something much larger than they. The wheel was nearly double their size and as one of the guards pulled, another was lifted up into the air.
86 | 87 |Joel and Cole opened the door nearly halfway when Thalia Nachamie motioned for them to stop. The guards were dripping in sweat and breathing like dogs that had chased tennis balls for hours. Thalia Nachamie had decided that there was enough room for Benjamin to exit.
88 | 89 |Then, all of the people in the plaza turned their heads and stared at Benjamin like sunflowers looking toward the sun. He had never had such attention in his life as he had at that moment. He was the most popular person in the castle and he felt like he was the least liked.
90 | 91 |“Be gone with you!” Thalia Nachamie yelled as he pushed Benjamin through the door. “Don't ever come back!”
92 | 93 |Behind him, the guards trampled on top of each other to close the door. Benjamin listened to the straining metal as it whined in pain. When it was finally closed, it let out a short thud.
94 | 95 |And then, Benjamin heard applause and cheering that sounded as loud as the noises he heard when that dragon was captured. The plaza of people erupted in happiness and excitement at the expense of Benjamin's feelings. This hurt his heart. He did not want to be hated. No one wanted to be hated. But Benjamin especially did not want to be hated.
96 | 97 |Maybe Noel was right, he thought. But as he looked at the area outside the castle, he did not know where to go. It was not as bright and lovely and beautiful as he had hoped. Instead, it was a desert as empty as a school in the middle of summer.
98 | 99 |There wasn't a living plant as far as Benjamin could see. There was no water and no sign of any animals. There was just dirt and cracks and the sound of the sun baking the earth.
100 | 101 |Benjamin was left to himself and his thoughts.
102 | 103 |“Incoming!” Benjamin heard a familiar male voice yell from behind the walls.
104 | 105 |Benjamin turned and watched something in the sky heading in his direction. When it hit the ground, he saw it was a backpack. He ran over to it and opened it up to find bottles of water. What would he do with so many arrows, he thought.
106 | 107 |“Again!” Benjamin heard the same male voice yell.
108 | 109 |In the sky, another object headed straight for Benjamin. He ducked away as quickly as he could. This object, he realized, was a book entitled A Guide To Plants Outside The Castle Not That You'll Ever Need This Because Everyone Stays In The Castle But If You Do Here's A Book For That, I Guess.
110 | 111 |Benjamin chuckled.
112 | 113 |And with that, he was on his own. He turned and walked into the desert as alone as a person could be. He took five steps and readied himself for whatever awaited him.
114 | 115 |“Thanks, Noel,” he whispered.
116 | 117 |Benjamin reached into the backpack for some water. The desert was unforgiving and not a place for relaxation. He returned the water bottle and upon doing so, realized that there was a piece of paper at the bottom of the bag. He took it out and saw that it was a crudely drawn map. In large letters in the lower right hand corner was the name Selma.
16 | 17 |The castle was in the center. To the north of the castle was a forest. To the south were the words don't go here! and to the east were the words you'll die here! and to the west were the words worse than the other two!
18 | 19 |Benjamin decided that he would walk to the forest but he didn't see a forest anywhere. He didn't know which direction he was walking any longer.
20 | 21 |As Benjamin pondered where to go, he heard a faint noise behind him. He squinted his eyes but could not see what was making the commotion. It sounded like an air conditioner getting louder and louder and louder. Benjamin squinted more and noticed a trail of dust being sent into the air by something moving quickly along the land.
22 | 23 |It was coming right at him.
24 | 25 |Benjamin picked up the backpack and ran as fast as he could away from it.
26 | 27 |The humming noise was getting louder and the trail of dust was getting closer. Benjamin ran faster but he could not run fast enough. The sound was beginning to take the shape of a siren like a police car racing down a highway. Something was going to run him over. Benjamin crouched to the ground and braced himself for impact.
28 | 29 |“North! North! North!” yelled a squirrel as tall as Benjamin's waist. “North! North! North! North!”
30 | 31 |Benjamin opened his left eye and saw the squirrel sprint off as dust and dirt flew into the air. He had never seen a squirrel move as fast as that squirrel had moved. He had never seen a squirrel that gigantic before. He also had never heard a squirrel speak.
32 | 33 |“Wait! Wait!” Benjamin yelled to it.
34 | 35 |“North! North! North! North!” the squirrel kept yelling in the distance.
36 | 37 |Benjamin ran in the same direction but could not maintain the same speed as the squirrel. It was as if the squirrel had an engine that could make it run ten times faster than it could naturally run. At least, Benjamin thought, he now knew where north was. He walked forward and hummed to himself along the way. He thought about how happy he was to not be in school and he thought about what Jupiter might be doing. And after a few hours of deep thinking, Benjamin saw the forest on the horizon.
38 | 39 |The forest seemed to be as wide as Benjamin could see. And on the edge of the desert, about a hundred feet from the start of the forest, was a wooden stand with a large sign at the top that read Information Desk. There was nothing else out here. He approached the stand and saw that there were maps, brochures, and even coupons for a variety of discounts.
40 | 41 |On top of the counter was a silver bell with a note that read: ring for assistance. Benjamin certainly needed assistance. So, he rang the bell.
42 | 43 |The leaves of the forest swayed as if a wide wind had swept across the land. The trunks of the trees moved back and forth while the foliage on the ground moved into the air.
44 | 45 |“Why hello there!” Benjamin heard a voice but he could not see the speaker.
46 | 47 |“Hello?” Benjamin asked.
48 | 49 |“Hello there! How are you?” the voice said again. It was loud enough to be a person but Benjamin could not see who was speaking.
50 | 51 |“Hello? How are you? Where are you?” Benjamin asked as he strained his head to look around and around.
52 | 53 |“I'm right here! How are you?”
54 | 55 |“I'm good. How are you? Right where?”
56 | 57 |“Here!”
58 | 59 |“Where is here?”
60 | 61 |“Here? This is the forest!”
62 | 63 |“No, where are you? Right now, where are you?”
64 | 65 |“Oh, I'm on the information desk. Welcome to the information desk! The information desk in the forest! I don't get many visitors but that does not mean I am not well trained in the art of customer service.”
66 | 67 |Benjamin looked at the desk and saw the smallest green caterpillar he had ever seen. It was so small that it was hardly visible. It was standing on its end and speaking to him through a loudspeaker.
68 | 69 |“You're a caterpillar!” Benjamin said in surprise.
70 | 71 |“You're a human!” the caterpillar responded in mock surprise.
72 | 73 |“You're the smallest caterpillar I've ever seen!”
74 | 75 |“You're the most observant person I've ever seen!”
76 | 77 |“And you can talk?” Benjamin asked.
78 | 79 |“And you can talk?” the caterpillar responded again.
80 | 81 |“Well, I've never heard a caterpillar talk before.”
82 | 83 |“Trust me, son. You're going to see some things you've never seen before out here.”
84 | 85 |“Out here? I'm sure of that.”
86 | 87 |“Yes, outside the castles.”
88 | 89 |“How many more castles are there?”
90 | 91 |“Oh, my. You can't be from here. You've got so many questions. Where are you from if you don't mind my asking?”
92 | 93 |“Pennsylvania,” Benjamin said quickly. The caterpillar's green face turned white and the leaves stopped swaying and the tree trunks stopped shaking. Everything had come to a standstill. “Why does everyone react this way when I say I'm from Pennsylvania.”
94 | 95 |“Sh! Sh!” the caterpillar yelled as it held its finger to its lips. “Don't be so loud!”
96 | 97 |“But—”
98 | 99 |“Listen just because you're from Pennsylvania doesn't mean you have to tell people you're from Pennsylvania.”
100 | 101 |“But—”
102 | 103 |“OK, so you're from Pennsylvania. What in the universe of dreams are you doing here?” the caterpillar had its hands on its hips and was tapping its right feet on the ground.
104 | 105 |“I am trying to leave. I'm trying to go back to Pennsylvania.”
106 | 107 |“Sh! Sh!” the caterpillar hushed Benjamin. “OK, OK. That makes sense. Why do you want to leave?”
108 | 109 |“Well, I don't want to leave. And, I can't really. You see a king was kidnapped along with my friend, Selma. And, I need to find them. If I find them, I'll get to go home. So, I want to go home but I need to find the king to do so.”
110 | 111 |“Yeesh, this is getting complicated. How did you ever get here in the first place?”
112 | 113 |Benjamin began to open his mouth to explain.
114 | 115 |“You know what?” the caterpillar quickly responded. “It's probably best if I don't know about it. What is your name?”
116 | 117 |“My name is Benjamin.”
118 | 119 |“Benjamin, it's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Myrna Delacourte. Now let me see here,” Myrna said as she rummaged through the brochures and informational papers properly organized in the information stand. “Forest. Forest. Forest. Going north. Things not to eat. Things to eat. Things best left untouched. Sorry, Benjamin. I don't have any information guides for getting to Pennsylvania.”
120 | 121 |“I don't need a guide for getting to Pennsylvania. I need a guide to leave here for Aloysius Trenhaile's castle.”
122 | 123 |Everything around Benjamin went silent. Myrna Delacourte's eyes were as large as the rest of her body. She dropped the brochures. It seemed, Benjamin thought, that people outside Castle Ehtahl spoke of Aloysius Trenhaile exactly as people inside the castle did.
124 | 125 |“Well,” Myrna responded with shock. “I hope you never say that name again. I don't think you want to go there. Here. Here. Here. Let me show you some wonderful brochures about the forest. This may not be the cleanest or the coolest or the hippest or the healthiest place but it is not the worst, either! What is that you have there? There! In your hand? What is that?”
126 | 127 |“Oh, it's a map.”
128 | 129 |“Let me see it.”
130 | 131 |“I'm sure your maps are better.”
132 | 133 |“Well, I love seeing other cartographers' works!”
134 | 135 |Myrna put on a pair of glasses and made disapproving facial expressions at the map.
136 | 137 |“Well,” Myrna said as she folded the map and returned it to Benjamin. “This is certainly drawn by someone who has been out here before. It doesn't have all of the details but it certainly has enough information to get you here, to me. You're lucky to have found this place to begin with. How did you know which way was north?”
138 | 139 |“A squirrel ran by screaming north! North!”
140 | 141 |“Oh, that noisy squirrel!” Myrna said between her teeth. “He's so loud.”
142 | 143 |“How is it that you and a squirrel can talk?”
144 | 145 |“How is it that you can talk?”
146 | 147 |“Someone taught me to speak, I suppose. My parents taught me.”
148 | 149 |“Well, some people taught us to speak, too.”
150 | 151 |“That's amazing! Who?”
152 | 153 |“So long as you don't say where you're from or where you're going again, I'll explain a little bit. Were you in a castle?”
154 | 155 |“Yes, Castle Ehtahl!”
156 | 157 |“Right, OK. So, there are these castles that make dreams. Castles for daydreams and castles for night dreams. But, there are also castles that make nightmares and really, really bad dreams. Castle walls that make dreams keep the nightmares outside and keep the dreams inside. You are in between castles. This is where things or people go when they aren't wanted.”
158 | 159 |“Not wanted?”
160 | 161 |“I'm going to presume that you did something that's led you to be kicked out of Castle Ehtahl. Otherwise, they would have sent you back to,” Myrna looked side-to-side and then whispered. “Pennsylvania. Perhaps, you're currently unwanted as well?”
162 | 163 |“Well, I didn't do anything but I was accused of doing something.”
164 | 165 |“OK, same thing. You're out here like the rest of us. All of us have either done something or been accused of doing something and now no one wants us. Or, sometimes, people just don't like us. It's hard being alone but we make do. So, we live out here.”
166 | 167 |“What did you do, Myrna?”
168 | 169 |Myrna stared Benjamin in the eyes, standing approximately three inches tall.
170 | 171 |“I killed a guy,” Myrna said sternly. “No, I'm kidding! I have to have fun out here. I don't get to see that many people. No, no, I ate an apple and apparently it was someone's very special apple and they were all like 'you ate our apple!' and I was like 'it was delicious' and now, here I am. It's not a bad life. I've got all these informational brochures ready to give to people who journey through.”
172 | 173 |Myrna Delacourte let out a long sigh as her chin rested on her hand. She looked longingly into the distance before she stopped when she noticed Benjamin was paying attention to her. Benjamin could see that Myrna did not want to be where she was. She was not as happy handing out informational brochures as she said she was. He knew she wanted to be back in whatever castle that had kicked her out.
174 | 175 |“So the space in between castles, that's the space for things in transition. We're not wanted by anyone. And, we haven't found anyone else who wants us yet.”
176 | 177 |“Maybe you could apologize?” Benjamin offered.
178 | 179 |“Apologize for eating the apple? Oh, Benjamin, if only it was that easy. I'm fine here. It's not so bad. I do miss my family but that's another thing and let's get you on your way.”
180 | 181 |“Your fam—”
182 | 183 |“So, the easiest way out of here is straight through that forest. After that, you're going to have to get back into a castle so that they can get you out of here. Since you're from,” Myrna leaned over and whispered, “Pennsylvania, that means you're going to have to find the person who welcomed you here in the first place.”
184 | 185 |“That's King Bernard Zwirn.”
186 | 187 |“OK, so you have to find King Bernard Zwirn and then he'll send you home.”
188 | 189 |“That's the king who is in Al—”
190 | 191 |“OK! OK! Say no more!”
192 | 193 |Myrna Delacourte stacked several maps and brochures together and handed them to Benjamin.
194 | 195 |“Would you like a coupon book for the shopping outlets on the west side of the forest? Actually, I'm just going to include it and that way you have it. Better have it and not need it, right?”
196 | 197 |“So, I need to go straight through the forest.”
198 | 199 |“Yes, go straight through the forest and then hang a left. You'll see signs and follow the maps. One more thing about the forest, though. You need to be aware that the trees grow and move so you need to grow and move with them. Don't get caught on your heels.”
200 | 201 |Benjamin waved goodbye to Myrna Delacourte and wondered how long Myrna had been alone by herself. He wondered how many times she dreamed of being with her family again. Benjamin paused, looked to the sky, and turned to leave the forest.
202 | 203 |“Myrna,” Benjamin said as he walked back the booth. “You said you don't get many visitors and so I was wondering if you could maybe close down the information booth for a little bit. Would you like to accompany me in my journey?”
204 | 205 |“Not be alone?”
206 | 207 |“You won't be alone!”
208 | 209 |“I'll bring more maps!”
210 | 211 |As they all journeyed back to Castle Ehtahl, they retold stories of how they came to be together. King Bernard Zwirn listened as Myrna explained how she found Benjamin and how they were tricked by Barnaby. Barnaby and Chesterfield talked about Benjamin forgiving them and encouraging them to stand up to Aloysius Trenhaile. They talked about the glass castle and Benjamin defeating the nightmare. But most of the time, Myrna asked Selma questions about Benjamin.
16 | 17 |“You don't know if you had butterflies the first time you saw him?” Myrna repeated.
18 | 19 |“Myrna, when are you going to be a butterfly?” Benjamin asked.
20 | 21 |“Soon!” she said with excitement.
22 | 23 |When they returned to Castle Ehtahl's walls, Benjamin felt relief knowing that he had finally made it back. Selma and he were exhausted. Aloysius Trenhaile was still unconscious. Barnaby, Chesterfield, and Myrna were tired. But, King Bernard Zwirn seemed as energetic as possible.
24 | 25 |“Before we go inside,” Benjamin said. “You should probably know that Thalia Nachamie is in charge.”
26 | 27 |“Don't worry, Benjamin,” the king said. “I will clear up everything in the castle. Thalia Nachamie is not welcome in my castle. I'll get the missing piece of the dream machine back and turn it on.”
28 | 29 |“So,” Barnaby said slowly. Benjamin realized that the three animals didn't have anywhere to go. This was goodbye. They would continue to live outside the castle walls. “Should we....”
30 | 31 |“Oh!” King Bernard Zwirn said. “Where are my manners? You three aren't going anywhere. You're going to live in Castle Ehtahl.”
32 | 33 |“Really?” Myrna said with elation.
34 | 35 |“Yes, really. You should not be alone. You should be with us. I don't want you three feeling lonely any longer. You deserve to be treated very well after all that you've done for Benjamin and me,” King Bernard said firmly.
36 | 37 |“I don't know what to say but thank you!” Chesterfield said.
38 | 39 |King Bernard Zwirn turned and pounded on the castle wall as loudly as he could.
40 | 41 |“Who is it?” Noel Jaffin asked on the other end.
42 | 43 |“Noel, this is King Zwirn. Let me in.”
44 | 45 |“Ah, I've been hearing that all week. Everyone's pretending to be King Zwirn. I'm King Zwirn. You're King Zwirn. We're all King Zwirn.”
46 | 47 |“What? Noel, this is King Zwirn. Let me in this instant.”
48 | 49 |“Oh, right. And, I'm five feet tall and quite handsome.”
50 | 51 |Benjamin stepped forward and pounded on the door.
52 | 53 |“Noel, let us in!” Benjamin yelled as loudly as he could.
54 | 55 |There was a pause on the other end. Benjamin could hear feet shuffling around and then a ladder being rested against the door.
56 | 57 |“Benjamin? Is that you?” Noel Jaffin whispered quickly.
58 | 59 |“Oh, so you recognize Benjamin's voice but you don't recognize mine,” King Bernard Zwirn said as he rolled his eyes.
60 | 61 |“Sorry about that, King Zwirn,” Noel Jaffin said as the doors to the castle began to open. “We've been getting so many visitors who claim to be you. Some of them sounded nearly identical to you.”
62 | 63 |“None of them did,” Cole said.
64 | 65 |“Well, not exactly but they were certainly very close to how King Zwirn speaks,” Noel Jaffin defended himself.
66 | 67 |“None of them were close,” Joel said with a long sigh.
68 | 69 |“I didn't say exactly but I'm saying that they could have been mistaken for King Zwirn.”
70 | 71 |“Noel, you need to get your ears checked,” King Bernard Zwirn said as he reentered his castle.
72 | 73 |Benjamin followed behind and was so happy to be in a place that was closer to home. Selma walked at his side and Benjamin held her hand. He knew that she wanted to smile but that she was holding herself back. She was still trying to be tough.
74 | 75 |Myrna, Barnaby, and Chesterfield entered the castle and King Bernard Zwirn stood with a hand gesturing for them to stop. He waved for them to come closer and slowly nodded his head.
76 | 77 |“I can't let a huge chipmunk, a massive squirrel, and a tiny caterpillar roam my castle. Would you like to return to your original selves?” he asked with a smile.
78 | 79 |“Yes!” Chesterfield screamed.
80 | 81 |“It's been so long,” Barnaby said.
82 | 83 |“Yes, please,” Myrna replied.
84 | 85 |King Bernard Zwirn closed his eyes and waved his arms around the three animals. Dust swirled around them and tiny flashes of light burst into the air. Benjamin stared in disbelief, unsure what he was about to see. King Bernard Zwirn waved his hands again and then brought them to rest at his side. The lights stopped flashing and the dust settled to the ground. In front of Benjamin stood three children. Chesterfield was a boy two years younger than Benjamin wearing a brown coat and jeans. Myrna was a girl his age wearing a flowery dress and a big white hat. And, Barnaby was a boy four years older than Benjamin wearing a baseball hat, a white shirt, and khaki shorts. They all examined their new selves and hugged King Bernard Zwirn.
86 | 87 |“What just happened?” Benjamin asked with confusion.
88 | 89 |“What?” Myrna asked with the same amount of confusion.
90 | 91 |“Is he OK?” Chesterfield whispered to Barnaby.
92 | 93 |“I don't know. He looks like he's in shock,” Barnaby said.
94 | 95 |“You're people!” Benjamin said.
96 | 97 |All three of them laughed at once.
98 | 99 |“Of course we're people!” Myrna said with a smile.
100 | 101 |“You're not animals?”
102 | 103 |“Hey now! That's not nice,” Myrna said with a chuckle.
104 | 105 |“Myrna, you were a caterpillar!” Benjamin defended.
106 | 107 |“Was I?” she said with a laugh.
108 | 109 |“Barnaby, you were a squirrel!”
110 | 111 |“A squirrel?” Barnaby asked.
112 | 113 |“And, Chesterfield you were a chipmunk!”
114 | 115 |“Wow, really?” Chesterfield said.
116 | 117 |“Aloysius transformed them into animals,” King Bernard Zwirn said.
118 | 119 |“Why?” Benjamin asked.
120 | 121 |“It was a part of his nightmare scheme. Even I am not sure of his intentions,” King Bernard Zwirn answered.
122 | 123 |Noel Jaffin stumbled his way to King Bernard Zwirn's side. He was breathless as he tried to speak to the king.
124 | 125 |“Where have you been?” Noel blurted.
126 | 127 |“I was kidnapped, Noel,” King Bernard Zwirn said without looking at the sweaty guard. “But, now I'm back. And, I need to see Thalia Nachamie immediately.”
128 | 129 |“Why of course,” Noel said. “I'll go find him. But, what are we going to do with Benjamin?”
130 | 131 |King Bernard Zwirn stopped walking and turned his head slightly to the side.
132 | 133 |“What do you mean what are we going to do with Benjamin?”
134 | 135 |Benjamin saw that Noel was trying to keep the conversation between the king and himself. Noel moved closer to King Bernard Zwirn and stood on his toes to speak closer to the king's ear. King Bernard Zwirn didn't move so Noel tried to speak as quietly as possible, while watching Benjamin in the corner of his eye.
136 | 137 |“He's a convicted villain,” Noel whispered.
138 | 139 |“A convicted villain?” King Bernard Zwirn blurted.
140 | 141 |“Sh! He's right there,” Noel whispered in a panic.
142 | 143 |“What has he been convicted of?”
144 | 145 |“Stealing.”
146 | 147 |“What has he stolen?”
148 | 149 |“He stole the missing piece of the dream machine.”
150 | 151 |“So, the dream machine now works?”
152 | 153 |“Well, it could. It doesn't, though. After Benjamin left, Thalia Nachamie told us that since it had not been used in such a long period of time, it was impossible to figure out where the missing piece actually went.”
154 | 155 |“And Thalia Nachamie is the one who convicted Benjamin of stealing?”
156 | 157 |“Yes, of course.”
158 | 159 |“But, Benjamin didn't steal it.”
160 | 161 |“Well,” Noel said slowly as he looked away shyly from Benjamin. “If you say so.”
162 | 163 |“Noel, did anyone see Benjamin steal anything?”
164 | 165 |“No.”
166 | 167 |“And don't you think it is odd that Thalia Nachamie didn't fix the machine? He kicked Benjamin from the castle and then did nothing with the missing piece.”
168 | 169 |“Well, that's not exactly true.”
170 | 171 |“What isn't true?”
172 | 173 |“He fled the other day. He said something about nightmares being destroyed,” Noel started to speak more slowly.
174 | 175 |“They were,” King Bernard Zwirn said. “Thanks to Benjamin. I'm back in charge, Noel.”
176 | 177 |Noel Jaffin nodded his head and saluted Benjamin. He then ran back to Cole and Joel to help them close the castle door. Miss Lindenmeyer and Rodney Cohen came running from the castle's plaza. They hugged Benjamin and Selma as tightly as they could when they arrived.
178 | 179 |“We were so worried about you two,” Miss Lindenmeyer said. “I couldn't find you when Thalia Nachamie banished you from the castle. I looked everywhere.”
180 | 181 |“It's OK,” Benjamin said. “It all worked out.”
182 | 183 |“I'm so glad,” Miss Lindenmeyer said as she hugged him again. “Selma, I'm so glad you're well. I was so worried about you.”
184 | 185 |“I'm OK,” Selma said.
186 | 187 |“It's that imagination, kid,” Rodney said as he shuffled Benjamin's hair. “You have an amazing sense of creativity.”
188 | 189 |“Yes,” King Bernard Zwirn said as he knelt down to the young boy. “You've done an amazing thing, Benjamin. No one else would have been able to do what you've done. You've given us the chance to dream again. You've stayed here a lot longer than you would've expected. I'm sorry about that. But, I think you've learned some things about yourself along the way. And now that everything is restored, I can finally send you home, Benjamin.”
190 | 191 |Benjamin observed the smiling faces staring at him. He felt so comfortable and so warm amongst these people. He especially felt at ease with Selma, Myrna, Barnaby, and Chesterfield. They were his friends, he realized.
192 | 193 |“But,” Benjamin started to say. “I don't really want to leave anymore.”
194 | 195 |“You don't want to leave?” King Bernard Zwirn asked.
196 | 197 |“Benjamin,” Miss Lindenmeyer said. “You need to go back and take care of your parents. If we are going to continue to make dreams, we need people to dream. You have to dream.”
198 | 199 |Benjamin looked at the ground and wondered how he could go back home now. He had been through so much that had made him happier and braver than he was before. He was an entirely different person. He had friends. He was unafraid. He was comfortable. But, he thought of his parents. He knew he'd have to go home. His mother and father and Jupiter were probably worried. And, he missed them as well.
200 | 201 |“Benjamin, it has been a pleasure,” Barnaby said as he extended his hand. Benjamin shook it and then Barnaby walked further into the castle.
202 | 203 |“Thank you for everything,” Chesterfield said as he shook Benjamin's hand and then walked behind Barnaby.
204 | 205 |“Benjamin,” Myrna said and then she began to cry. “Benjamin, this is not supposed to be the way it ends. You're supposed to be in love forever. You're supposed to be my friend forever. You're supposed to talk to me about your love forever!”
206 | 207 |“Goodbye, Myrna,” Benjamin said. “I'm going to miss you.”
208 | 209 |Myrna cried again and then walked next to Barnaby and Chesterfield. She was a beautiful butterfly, Benjamin thought.
210 | 211 |“I didn't like you initially,” Selma said frankly.
212 | 213 |“I knew that.”
214 | 215 |“I really, really didn't like you.”
216 | 217 |“Yes, I know.”
218 | 219 |“But, you're not so bad.”
220 | 221 |“Thanks,” Benjamin said.
222 | 223 |Benjamin hugged her as hard as he could. He was hugging her so hard that he worried he had squeezed all of the air from her little body. He released her a little bit but when he felt Selma hug him back, he squeezed her again.
224 | 225 |“I'll miss you,” she said quietly.
226 | 227 |“I'll miss you, too,” he said.
228 | 229 |Mrs. Buckingham drove quickly through the neighborhood, careful not to run into any chipmunks and squirrels walking across the street. Her eyes were focused on the road like a racecar driver searching for a finish line. The news reporter on the radio was going on and on about the same story.
16 | 17 |“In a report issued last night, people everywhere are dreaming again,” the reporter said. “The dreams are back and people are more confident than ever. For more on this story, we're turning to field reporter Rebecca—”
18 | 19 |“I don't understand why every morning has to be like this,” she said to Benjamin who sat silently in the passenger seat. Benjamin bounced his head against his seat.
20 | 21 |“I didn't hear my alarm,” Benjamin said quickly.
22 | 23 |“You say that every morning,” Mrs. Buckingham said as she swerved around a group of chipmunks fighting over a nut. “And every morning I have to race through the neighborhood giving all the little critters along the way heart attacks.”
24 | 25 |“I can be late.”
26 | 27 |“You cannot be late.”
28 | 29 |“Sure, Billy comes in late almost every day.”
30 | 31 |“You aren't Billy. I don't even know who Billy is. Who's Billy?”
32 | 33 |Benjamin heard a pigeon scream as it narrowly missed being struck by their little car.
34 | 35 |“I'll make it up. No big deal.”
36 | 37 |“No big deal? Benjamin, we still have to talk about where you were. This is a big deal.”
38 | 39 |Mrs. Buckingham slammed on the brakes and stopped at a red light. Benjamin flew forward and nearly hit his head on the dashboard.
40 | 41 |“It's not like we learn anything at school anyways,” Benjamin said.
42 | 43 |Mrs. Buckingham stared at him with accusing eyes for about a minute. Benjamin didn't know why she didn't agree. He learned more in Castle Ehtahl than he had in all of his days in Mr. Marchetta's classroom.
44 | 45 |“Benjamin, I love you and sometimes you say the most ridiculous things. Where were you this morning, by the way? You were outside for almost an hour,” his mother said as she accelerated the car faster and faster.
46 | 47 |Benjamin smiled and wondered how much easier it would have been to get to Aloysius Trenhaile's castle if he had a car. He then wondered how much sooner he would have gotten home had he had roads to follow like the roads in his neighborhood. And then, he wondered how much further he could have traveled each day if there were lights scattered to illuminate his path. There were things everywhere along this race to school that made Benjamin wonder whether he could have endured less in his voyage.
48 | 49 |And at that moment when a squirrel jumped over the car to avoid Mrs. Buckingham's dash to the finish line, he knew that it would all be different. If he had things that could have made his journey easier, he would not have evolved from the boy who was scared of everything into the boy who was scared of a lot less. He gained a lot more of everything.
50 | 51 |“Bye, mom,” Benjamin said as he exited the car in front of the school.
52 | 53 |The school looked the same. Nothing had changed. It had a boring exterior. The grass was barely alive. Kids trampled over each other to get through the door before the bell rang. It was exactly as it was. There was nothing different.
54 | 55 |And, Benjamin was OK with that.
56 | 57 |Because for the first time in his life, he knew that he was different.
58 | 59 |And he was fine with being different.
60 | 61 |He sat in Mr. Marchetta's classroom as the teacher lectured about forests.
62 | 63 |“Forests have lots of animals in them. There are deer, birds, raccoons, and all sorts of animals. The only animal you don't find in a forest is people. We don't live in forests. We live in cities. Forests don't have toilets or grocery stores or movie theaters. You think it's funny but if you ever decide to spend some time in a forest, you'll learn it's not an enjoyable place. You're going to want to leave. Forests are the worst. They are scary and ruthless and dangerous. There's nothing fun about a forest. But if you find yourself in a forest, make sure to mark trees with a rock as you walk. That way, you'll know how to exit. You just search for the trees that you marked. And then, you'll be on your way out unless...”
64 | 65 |Benjamin stared out the window and watched a large billowing cloud move slowly along the blue canvas of the sky toward the golden sun resting above the buildings across the street. He saw Mr. Marchetta's fancy car parked outside the school. It was orange and looked like it would move much faster than his mother's car. He didn't like it. Part of the reason he didn't like it was because Mr. Marchetta owned it. But, the other part that he didn't like was that it looked out of place. He wanted to see a tree or a bush or a river or a volcano instead. Or, he wanted to see Myrna. Or King Bernard Zwirn. Or Miss Lindenmeyer. Or Barnaby. Or Chesterfield. Or Selma.
66 | 67 |But then, the landscape changed. Benjamin saw Snark appear from seemingly out of nowhere. Benjamin's heart raced and his eyes widened as he stretched his neck to see what Snark was going to do.
68 | 69 |The ground vibrated with each step Snark took, pounding the pavement and rattling the windows. Snark paused and turned his gigantic head. Benjamin knew Snark was looking directly at him. Snark's mouth opened slightly to reveal his teeth and Benjamin saw him pant lightly like a dog when it's happy.
70 | 71 |Benjamin grinned as well.
72 | 73 |Snark lifted his left leg high into the air and then slammed it down into Mr. Marchetta's car. It made the same sound as when Benjamin stepped on an empty soda can. And since Benjamin liked that sound so much, it was impossible for him to not stop laughing.
74 | 75 |Snark left as quickly as he arrived but not without waving to Benjamin.
76 | 77 |“Benjamin, why aren't you paying attention?” Mr. Marchetta asked with a stern, angry look.
78 | 79 |“Because he's lost,” Howard Horne snickered from the back. “Benjamin's lost in the forest.”
80 | 81 |The class, Howard Horne's audience, giggled in response. Mr. Marchetta started to laugh as well. Benjamin looked around and saw that he was the joke of everyone around him.
82 | 83 |But unlike weeks ago when Benjamin was bullied and felt like there was nothing outside of that classroom for him, he knew that there was a big world ready to welcome him. He didn't need bullies. He didn't need mean people. He knew where he belonged.
84 | 85 |“I'm not lost,” Benjamin said. “I know exactly who I am.”
86 | 87 |For Kristin Colarusso
16 | 17 |Did you finish the book? Wow! Really? That's Awesome! You're like a superhero right now! I wrote this book with one goal: get 100 kids to read it. If you happen to know someone who might enjoy this book, would you let that person know?
18 | 19 |Also, please email me at gregory.gershwin@gmail.com and let me know what you thought of the book.
20 | 21 |I graduated from Brown University with a degree in English Literature, worked for years at a large book publisher, and dreamed in New York City.
22 | 23 |Thank you to Adrian Moore for editing and Alicia Vergel de Dios for illustrating. Also, thank you to Dan Bergstein, Tim McCormick, Matthew Hooban, Charlie Sneath, Jessica Chen, Lindsey Weaver, Ned Rust, and Martina for reading various different drafts. And, thank you to Aaron Uhrmacher, George Abbott, Michael Lupo, Winnie Kwan, Shan Ma, Michael Anderson, Chinmay Bijwe, Scott Albrecht, and Kate Veronneau for general advice and support over the course of the project. And, my family.
24 | 25 |Copyright 2014
26 | 27 |