“Hurry!” Denise shouted as she ran ahead of the group into a giant hall of the castle. “This place is huge! There must be a hundred rooms to check.”

“Shut and seals the Portal . . .” Listro Q looked at his watch. “In thirty-eight minutes!”

“Thirty-eight minutes?” she cried. “Can we find him in time?”

“And free Nathan,” Listro Q added, “and return to Portal and escape through Portal all of us. Doubtful, is it.”

“But . . . we've got to try!” Denise insisted.

Samson began to chatter.

“Yes, I hear it,” Aristophenix answered.

“Hear what?” Denise demanded.

“Low hum,” Listro Q said, cocking his head to hear better.

Denise strained to listen. She heard it, too.

Samson chattered some more.

“Are you sure, ol' boy?” Aristophenix asked.

Samson gave a terse answer.

“What?” Denise demanded. “What's he saying?”

Aristophenix turned and explained,

From his studies, he has knowledge, that to me seems far-fetched, 'bout a room full of moaning, where Bobok's prisoners are kept.

“That could be their moaning!” Denise cried. “If Nathan's his prisoner, all we have to do is follow the hum!”

The theory seemed as reasonable as anything else in this place. Again everyone grew silent, straining to hear what direction the sound was coming from.

“Over there!” Denise said, pointing at a door to the left. She raced toward it. “Come on!”

The door hissed open and she dashed in, followed by the others.

Now, tracking a hum wasn't as easy as Denise had thought. Especially in a castle with a maze of twisting hallways-hallways that often came to a dead end for no apparent reason. More than once the group zigged when they should have zagged, and headed down a few stairways when they should have headed up. But after plenty of frustration and confusion, they somehow made it to the front of a huge, towering door — a door that slowly crept open as they approached.

Denise quickly entered, then slowed to a stop. She had never seen anything like it. Apparently, neither had the others. They were on the ground floor, at the base of some sort of energy cone. It stretched up and out, high above their heads. In here the discordant groans were deafening. They came from zombielike creatures that circled and floated by-each slowly fighting and scratching for the slightest scrap of food, clothes, or toys.

It took some searching, but Denise finally spotted him. “Nathan!”

On the far side of the energy field, several feet from the floor, he was floating. Like the others he seemed to be in some sort of trance. His sweater was already gone and he was slowly and mechanically fighting a strange triangular creature for what was left of his shirt.

“Nathan!” Aristophenix shouted. “Nathan, ol' buddy!”

The others joined in. “Nathan, can you hear us? Nathan! Nathan!”

But Nathan did not hear. Not a word.

“Well, hello there,” a voice called from above. Denise tilted back her head to see an ice-blue orb on a platform several stories above them. “Welcome to my little party.”

“Bobok,” Aristophenix whispered with a shudder.

Denise looked at him, then at Samson and Listro Q. All three seemed equally as frightened. But there was little time to waste on fear. She turned back to Nathan. He was drifting toward them. If she jumped high enough she might be able to reach him and drag him down.

She crouched, preparing to leap into the energy field.

“No!” Listro Q shouted, grabbing her arm. “Energy field, touch don't you!”

Denise turned to argue but was stopped cold by the look in his eyes. For whatever reason, Listro Q was deadly serious.

All right, fine, she wouldn't jump in. But there was nothing to stop her from getting as close to Nathan as possible and waking him by shouting. She broke free from Listro Q and moved to within inches of the field.

“Nathan!” she yelled. “Nathan, can you hear me?”

He continued drifting around, closer and closer, until they were nearly face-to-face.

“Nathan? Nathan!”

But Nathan gave no sign of recognition. Instead, he continued the slow mechanical fight over his shirt.

The voice above their heads broke into cold laughter. “Call all you want, my dear, he'll never hear you. He's mine now — doing what he's always wanted.”

Denise looked up at the creature. “I don't know what you are,” she shouted, “but I want him back, and I want him now!”

He gave another ominous laugh.

“Listen, you little ice ball!” she yelled. “If I ever get my hands on you, you're going to be —”

Suddenly the energy field flashed and sparkled brighter. Suddenly the groaning and moaning grew louder. And suddenly Listro Q's hand was upon Denise's shoulder.

“What did I do?” she protested. “I was just —”

“Hate of yours.” Listro Q motioned toward the energy field. “The more have you hate, the more has it energy- like the outside guards.”

“But . . . ,” Denise sputtered in frustration. “We have to do something!” She turned to the furry bear. “Aristophenix! What do we do?”

Aristophenix stared at her, blinking.

“Come on, you're supposed to be the leader! What do we do now?”

But he had no answer. There were no longer any pithy poems, no blustery proverbs. The only answer he had was in his eyes. And in those eyes she saw the look of hopelessness.

“Aristophenix?” she cried.

“I'm . . . sorry,” he said.

Not believing her ears, she turned to his partners. “Samson! Listro Q?”

Both stared hard at the ground.

“I don't believe this!” she yelled. “I don't —”

Suddenly Samson interrupted. He spoke only a few words before the other two joined in.

“Yes!” Listro Q shouted.

“Of course!” Aristophenix cried.

“What?” Denise demanded.

“Bloodstone, still have you?” Listro Q asked excitedly.

“What stone?”

The stone from the mountains, with which you signaled us first. It's a bit of a long shot, but it might break the curse.

“You mean Nathan's birthday gift — from your Blood Mountains?”

“Have it, still you?” Listro Q repeated.

“I think . . .” She began digging into her pockets. “Yeah, here it is.”

“Wonderful!” Listro Q exclaimed as she handed it to him.

Samson chattered again.

“Hope so, let's,” Listro Q answered as he carefully aimed the slightly longer portion of the stone in Nathan's direction.

“What's going on?” Denise demanded. She seemed to be asking that a lot lately, and didn't seem to be getting any answers.

Once Listro Q had the stone carefully positioned in his hands, he gave a nod and Aristophenix spoke to Samson.

Okay, ol' boy, let's give it a shot. It's all aimed and ready; let's see what you got.

Samson swooped down to the stone in Listro Q's hands. Hovering just a few inches above it, he began to buzz his wings harder and faster. And the harder he buzzed, the brighter the blue light in his tail glowed. Denise had always noticed it flickering when he spoke, but now it glowed brighter than ever. In fact, it was so bright that the light began to bounce and reflect inside the Bloodstone until the rock itself started to glow.

“More, lots need,” Listro Q urged.

Samson bore down harder. Louder and louder his wings buzzed. Brighter and brighter his tail glowed.

“Hurry!” Aristophenix shouted. “We haven't much time.”

Samson continued to work until finally, to Denise's amazement, a single beam of intense red light began extending from the stone.

“Attaboy, partner!” Aristophenix cheered. “Keep it up!”

High above, Bobok laughed maliciously. “Surely, you are not serious?”

No one bothered to answer.

Denise watched with fascination as Listro Q continued to carefully aim the pointed section of the Bloodstone toward Nathan. Slowly the red beam cut its way through the energy field toward the floating boy.

“That's it,” Aristophenix cried, “keep her a-comin'! Keep her a-comin'!”

The beam inched its way forward.

“Futile,” Bobok mocked them. “Your efforts are futile.”

And still the beam continued forward until it was just a few feet from Nathan's face. Then it began to sputter.

“More,” Listro Q shouted. “Need we more!”

“He's giving it all he's got,” Aristophenix cried.

As the beam continued to sputter it also slowed until its progress came to a stop altogether. It could push no farther ahead. It was as if it had hit a wall — a wall with Nathan just a few feet on the other side.

Bobok's laugh grew louder. “Fools . . . I warned you. Utter fools.”

The little bug bore down even harder — buzzing louder, trying to glow brighter. But it did no good.

“Reach him, can't we!” Listro Q shouted. “More, Samson!”

“It's no good!” Aristophenix called. “That's all he's got!”

Denise watched helplessly. She wasn't sure what the red beam could do, but she knew it was important for it to reach Nathan. Important, and by the look of Samson's exhaustion, impossible. Then suddenly, an idea struck her: if she could increase the power of evil by hating and being mean, then maybe, just maybe she could increase the power of good by loving and being kind. It was a long shot, she knew that, but it appeared to be the only shot they had.

“Attaboy,” she called to Samson. “Hang in there, fella, you're doing great!”

For a second Samson hesitated, shocked to hear Denise compliment anybody about anything.

“Keep it up, little guy! Come on, you can do it!”

But as she spoke, his determination seemed to grow. He bore down harder and his tail actually grew brighter. Not a lot, mind you, but right now every bit helped.

“That's it,” she cheered. “Samson, you're doing it!”

His buzz grew louder, his light grew brighter. And soon the rock was growing brighter. The beam resumed its progress, slowly moving toward Nathan.

“Attaboy,” Denise encouraged. “Way to go, Samson!”

The beam continued, inching closer and closer to Nathan — until at last it struck him squarely on the face.

“What are you doing?” Bobok shouted from above.

Life came back into Nathan's eyes. He gave his head a shake and looked around, trying to get his bearings.

“Nathan!” Denise shouted. “Nathan, over here!”

He turned and spotted her. He started to move, to try and free himself from the energy field, but he couldn't. His mind had been cleared, but he didn't have the strength to move his body. “Denny!” he called. “Denny, help me!”

“Nathan . . . listen to me! Listen very carefully!” It was Aristophenix. “We haven't much time. You have to break this power.”

Again Nathan struggled against the energy field, but it was just too strong. He couldn't break free.

“You have to stop fightin',” Aristophenix shouted. “You have to stop fightin' them creatures in there and start showin' them love!”

“You're crazy!” Nathan cried. “It's impossible! Not in here — I can't!”

“Yes, you can!” Aristophenix shouted back. “With the power of that light on you, you can do anything!”

“You don't understand! They'll tear me to pieces! I gotta fight!”

The light started to sputter.

“Much, too,” Listro Q cried to Aristophenix. “Can't last, Samson!”

Aristophenix nodded and shouted to Nathan more urgently. “You gotta show some love . . . trust me! Stop fightin' and show them love!”

But even as they spoke, the triangular creature Nathan had been fighting took advantage of his distraction.

With sharp jagged claws he ripped off another piece of Nathan's shirt, deeply cutting into his back.

“Augh!” Nathan screamed in agony. “See what happens?”

“Let him have it!” Aristophenix shouted.

“What?”

“Let him have your shirt! All of it!”

“I can't!” Nathan gasped. “You don't understand, I can't!” Samson was growing weaker by the second. The beam from the Bloodstone started to flicker.

Spotting it, Denise resumed her encouragements.

“You're doing good, Sammy. . . . You're doing real good.”

But the truth was, he wasn't doing good. Not anymore. The truth was, he was nearly exhausted.

Aristophenix continued calling to Nathan. “You can give it to him! Give that shirt to him! You gotta!”

“On come!” Listro Q shouted. “Hurry!”

“I . . . I . . .” Nathan's voice grew weaker. Not only weaker but flatter — sounding more and more like the dull monotone voices of the outside guards.

“Too bad,” Bobok laughed. “Your plans have failed. They will always fail in my kingdom.”

And then, at last it happened. Samson collapsed. He fell to the floor, panting, barely able to catch his breath. The light from his tail had gone out. The red beam from the Bloodstone vanished.

“Nathan!” Denise screamed.

But it was too late. Nathan had fallen back into the power of the menagerie. He was back in its trance.

Excerpted from The Portal, book one of the “Imager Chronicles” series by Bill Myers, and reprinted by permission of Tommy Nelson Publishers. Read chapter 12 of The Portal.

To read chapters 1 through 10 of The Portal click here.

	Q: What does an invisible cat drink? A: Evaporated milk. Desi P., 10, Idaho Clubhouse Jr. Click here to subscribe