Yoyo walked forward with cautious steps, not sharing the same excitement found in James' voice. He didn’t understand Tena’s willingness to take a detour, either. So what if they had found Ezrazeit?

This wasn’t Maribel’s house nor the goal of Cutter's Gate. In fact, they were straying far from the trail of the singing stones, toward a castle that filled him with dread.

Black iron spikes lined the top of the stone walls. Glistening veins ran like tears to the base. The leaning white towers threatened collapse at any moment and the shadowed arches howled warnings to keep out. Even the trees seemed to bend away from the structure, as if nature rejected its presence. Something truly terrible lived within this place of metal and stone. He was convinced.

Tena's hand upon his back startled him. "What’s wrong, Yoyo? Are you feeling sick?”

“I’m fine,” he said quickly, hesitant to voice his concern.

The answer was half true, anyway. He felt physically fine despite all the travel. Their encounter with the stirge didn't leave him with any new injuries and the bad cut on his lip had mostly healed. Compared to James, he was good. Contrasted with Harley, he was perfect.

"Will Harley be okay?" he mumbled.

Tena's immediate expression was one of concern, but she tried to hide it with a smile. Then she spoke optimistically, "I think she'll be okay with some special medicine. Hopefully we’ll find it at Ezrazeit, and who knows, maybe this rest will perk her up before too long. Just stay close.”

Clutching the hammer that was useless away from the trail, Yoyo followed behind Tena. He considered giving it back to Harley but his sister didn’t appear to be in any shape to hold it. She was bent forward on Chocolate’s back, her chest leaning against the goat’s shaggy brown fur, and she had her head down and her eyes closed. It was a big difference from only a day before.

He wondered how she became so sick. After all, less than twelve hours ago she was strong on her feet and waving a flaming stick against the stirge. Did she get hurt by the stirge and he hadn't noticed?

The only injury he knew about was the wound on her hand, and as gross as it looked, a cut couldn't cause a fever. He didn't think so at least. This illness seemed to be far worse.

In any case, he believed Tena was being honest with him. Medicine would make his sister feel better. The reassurance sounded exactly like what his Mom would say, and he trusted Tena one hundred percent. If only he didn't feel so scared about where the potential medicine was located…

"Come on, Yoyo! I'll race you to the front gate of Ezrazeit!" said James, trotting back to rejoin the group. "What's the matter, don't you want to run ahead and explore this place with me? There's probably knights and magicians that live here!"

"No," Yoyo said with a sour look. Even if there were knights and magicians, he wasn't sure he wanted to meet them. They'd probably ask him a bunch of questions. He was content to be last.

James shrugged, then ran ahead by himself, his excitement seemingly as big as the castle. Meanwhile, Tena continued at the same pace she had before, guiding Chocolate and steadying Harley. She hummed as she walked, the melody pleasant and uplifting. Occasionally she looked over her shoulder and smiled.

Yoyo didn’t smile back, choosing to keep the same sour expression. He wasn’t about to run away or do anything silly—so why did she keep checking on him? He ran his fingers across the silver chain of the necklace that remained safely within his pocket. It was the best distraction against the feeling of dread that increased with each step forward.

As they went, the terrain of forest and gentle hills became alive with birds, and the closer they came to the castle, the more birds seemed to gather and fly overhead. There were red cardinals and blue jays, brown woodpeckers and gray finches. A few larger birds flew overhead that were unlike the others, their feathers vibrant like colorful rainbows. Strangely enough, no other animals roamed the area, nor was there anyone at the castle gate to greet them when they arrived.

Under a wide archway of cobblestone, two wooden doors appearing as ancient as the stone itself formed the entrance. Hundreds of metal rivets fastened makeshift reinforcement onto the wood, though the doors were completely closed with no gaps to look through. The ground in front was well-packed dirt and leafy ferns grew tall on each side, creating a curated yet wild appearance.

James stood in front of the gate, the satchel laying in the dirt, his face wearing a look of confusion. "I keep knocking but there’s no answer. How can no one be home in a big place like this?"

“Did you try saying hello?” asked Tena. “A proper greeting is a good place to start.”

“I tried that already,” said James, crouching low and running his hands over the textured wood. “Maybe we’re supposed to let ourselves in. Help me find the handle.”

Tena walked forward to help but Yoyo kicked the dirt. Going along with them was one thing, actively participating was another. He wondered if Harley would have sided with him or them on the merits of entering the castle. Perhaps he was the only one who had a bad feeling about it. Regardless, he folded his arms to wait, grumbling to himself while hoping they’d soon be on their way.

“Who are you?”

The question came without a person to accompany it, carrying an authoritative tone that demanded an answer.

Yoyo looked behind him. No one was there. He searched left and right, then looked up—also nothing. An uneasiness settled in. It felt like someone was messing with them.

James and Tena hadn't even noticed—their attention entirely focused on opening the doors. Chocolate also appeared ignorant, her tongue plucking the leaves of a nearby fern and her temperament showing no interest in anything besides eating. Harley remained slumped with her eyes closed, though she appeared to be whispering something.

Yoyo couldn’t hear her, the sounds inaudible and her lips barely moving. Was she conscious or dreaming? Talking or breathing? Not able to tell, he turned back to the gate.

Suddenly the doors began to change. Like an illusion coming to life, all of the metal rivets morphed into beady little eyes. The gate became a monster with hundreds of creepy black pupils, an abomination of sight.

Once seen, it could not be unseen, and Yoyo backed up in a hurry without diverting his own gaze away. He didn’t get far—a strong grip took hold of his shoulders. He couldn’t move.

"Who are you?"

Just like before, the question seemingly came from nowhere. This time though, all the eyes stared directly at him. It was the gate demanding an answer.

Yoyo refused to respond. Firstly, out of fear. Secondly, he didn’t know how. Answering questions was hard enough when he wasn’t filled with dread—how was he going to engage in conversation with a monster?

Quickly the feeling of dread became overwhelming. He wanted to run as fast as his heart was racing. He wanted to scream out all the fear he felt within his bones. But he couldn't do either—the grip was holding him in a restrictive bind. All he could do was breathe and look forward at the gate. It was torture.

"It won’t budge," said James, pulling on one of the squirming eyes that extended further out than the others. "It’s completely stuck."

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"There might be a hidden lever or button that goes with it—like a mechanical release," said Tena, standing with her hands on her hips and leaning forward, her face inches away from the monster.

"Who are you?"

Neither James nor Tena reacted to the situation, their focus unchanged, and with Chocolate grazing and Harley unresponsive, Yoyo realized that he was the only one who could hear the question.

Get out of my head!

“You are the one who disturbed me.”

I never wanted to come here.

“Yet you carry the invitation to Ezrazeit.”

Stop it now, let me go!

“Who are you, little pest?”

I won’t say!

“Then begone.”

Yoyo regained movement as the bind around him loosened. Then unsteady on his feet, he collapsed onto his hands and knees. The dreadful feeling lessened. Finally, he could speak.

“Help me!” cried Yoyo.

James turned quickly and Tena gasped in shock. Together they rushed to his side.

“What happened, Yoyo?!” said James.

“The door!” he replied, pointing to it. “It’s a monster! See the eyes!”

Neither James or Tena reacted appropriately to the abomination in front of them. They remained calm and quiet. Didn’t they see the little black horrors with unnatural blinks and swollen eyelids? The freakish monster deserved a panicked response, yet they sat still, muted.

“Are you sure what you saw?” asked Tena.

James pat Yoyo on the back, then pulled upwards on his shirt. “Come on and stand up. If we all work together, maybe we can push the doors open.”

A rush of strong emotion ran through Yoyo. Sadness first—why didn’t they believe him? He wasn’t a liar. He never made things up. Then anger followed from their lack of belief—their lack of consideration for how he felt about coming here, and his anger continued to rise to extreme levels of which he had never felt. His thoughts were bubbling to the surface like a volcano about to erupt. He had a lot to say and for the first time in his life, he wasn't holding anything back.

“I am not helping you open that stupid gate! I am not! Do you hear me?! I am not! You two are so busy trying to enter this terrible place that you don’t even see the monster that stands in front of you! But I do! If it wasn’t to help Harley, I wouldn’t even have come along at all! So what if it’s a big castle?! So what if there’s magicians and knights inside?! This place is scary! The monster is scary! I don’t want to die!”

Yelling out everything he kept inside made Yoyo feel flush. He felt the blood rushing to his cheeks. He felt his body trembling from the sudden release of emotion. He felt the dopamine surging in his brain.

The feeling was amazing.

Not wanting the feeling to stop and still having more to say, he rose to his feet and directed his anger at the monster, “Who are you?! Who are you?! Answer me, now! Who are you?! How do you like it, huh?! It doesn’t feel good! Grabbing people you don’t know and forcing them to answer is wrong! It’s just wrong!”

Instinctively, he reached into his pocket and grabbed the pendant. Instant clarity entered his mind. The crystalline pendant was the invitation to Ezrazeit. He had been carrying it the whole time.

“Let it out, little pest. Who are you?”

I hate you—monster, I’m Johan Novak and I hate you!

Suddenly, the eyes of the monster morphed back into metal rivets. The makeshift reinforcement on the wooden doors began to shift like the unlocking of a complex mechanism. Wood pieces retreated into nested cavities until a child-sized entrance appeared in the left-most door.

“A Gatemaster is often hated, though not usually before a neophyte enters. I have created something special just for you, little pest. Enter Ezrazeit. Oraculum is waiting.”

All the emotion ran out of him, Yoyo collapsed down into the dirt and allowed himself to rest as he calmed down. The dreadful feeling was gone. Instead, he felt stronger, more powerful—confident. He had said everything he needed to, and with his outlook improved, he noticed the appearance of the castle had also changed. The black iron spikes were no longer spikes, but simply metal decoration. The quartz veins sparkled brightly in the sun. Above him, the front towers no longer leaned but stood straight and magnificent.

He didn’t understand it. Did his feelings affect how the castle appeared? Was this place playing tricks within his own mind? Was he crazy and this visual change had nothing to do with Ezrazeit?

Thinking about it carefully, he realized a key difference between him and the others was that he carried the crystal pendant necklace. Perhaps that was why the gate only spoke to him. He considered if the gate actually had hundreds of eyes or if the appearance changed depending on the person. One thing was certain—the pendant was linked to this place, somehow or someway.

“Hey, Yoyo?” asked James, crouching low beside him. “I didn’t know you yell like that…”

Sitting back on his heels, Yoyo smiled. “I didn’t either.”

“That was awesome!” said James, laughing as the words came out.

“Feeling better, then?” asked Tena. She had a hand extended to help him up and her worried look was replaced with kind eyes. “Sorry—we should have asked you before deciding to take this detour. Sometimes I forget that you have an opinion, too!”

Yoyo nodded, appreciating her apology.

“So all we had to do was yell at the doors, huh?” said James, his attention refocused on the gate. “Good thing it’s a big door, otherwise the entrance might be even smaller than the Borten’s house.”

“Borten?” asked Tena.

“He’s a gnome,” replied James. “Do you think Chocolate will fit through that opening?”

“Maybe not,” said Tena. “Why don’t you and Yoyo peek your head in first and see what’s there? Well, only if you want to, Yoyo. I didn’t mean to make the decision for you.”

Through the opening was a room cloaked in the darkest of shadows, a jet black domain merged with stone. Remembering what the gatemaster said, Yoyo held James back from entering. “Wait. I think that entrance is only for me. I’m not sure what will happen if you enter, but I don’t trust it.”

“What do you mean?” asked James.

“The gate talks, but only to those who carry the necklace,” said Yoyo. Removing it from his pocket, the pendant pulsated red instead of its normal blue. “Look! Something isn’t right. You try it.”

James took the necklace with his left hand as the pendant continued to pulsate red. His eyebrows raised high on his head, though no words left his mouth, it was obvious he saw something strange. The pendant changed to a pulsating purple color. Then just like before, the makeshift reinforcement on the doors began to shift as if unlocking the mechanism. Wood pieces retreated into nested cavities until another child-sized opening formed in the right-most door.

“Now there are two entry-ways,” said Tena, her face perplexed. “Which is the right one?”

Suspecting neither opening was the correct entrance due to the purple color of the pendant, Yoyo wondered if James had seen the same thing he had, or if the gate had asked the same question. Without prompting, he soon learned the answer.

“Don’t go in,” said James, his tone serious. “I don’t know what we’ll find inside that opening but I’m certain it won’t be anything good. The gate looks like a guillotine—it asked me how I wanted to die.”

“How you wanted to die!” shrieked Tena. “What did you say?”

“The truth!” exclaimed James. “Sort-of. I said I wanted to die like a hero. It told me my wish had come true and that Oraculum is waiting. I don’t trust it. Why don’t you try, Tena?”

Stepping forward to take the pendant into her hands, Tena didn’t say a peep as her face contorted with horror. It looked like she wanted to run. Yet she stood in place, clenching her jaw as the pendant changed to a pulsating yellow color. The makeshift reinforcement on the doors began to shift again, the mechanism opening a third opening in the top of the left door. Shaking, Tena dropped the pendant onto the ground.

“What did you see?” asked James.

Appearing as if she might faint, Tena braced herself on the stone until her legs found their strength. “I saw Maibben,” she said with a quiver. “Perhaps this was the reason my father never stopped here. This place is a poison for the mind.”

“Now, now. Let’s not be too hasty in our assessment. After all, a poison can be a medicine in the right dose.”

This was a new voice, one less authoritative and demanding than the gate, and speaking in a high pitched tone that was pleasing to the ears. The reinforcement of the doors began to shift rapidly to close up the three openings, then with a slow, drawn-out creak, the doors opened exactly as one would expect. Out walked a cat-like figure that stood upright on its two hind legs. It had orange fur with long, white whiskers and wore a cerulean robe that dangled just below its waist.

“Sorry it took me so long to get down here. The front gate is ridiculously far from the administration offices, and the intercom appears to be broken within your pendant. Didn’t you hear anything I said?”