Cao Nyut leaped back from Bun’s pointed blade.

“Bun, snap out of it!”

The boy’s momentum carried him past his target. For his part, Cao Nyut stood back, wanting only to dodge his friend’s attacks. The pachyderm was much bigger than his companion. He didn’t want to hurt the boy.

Bun staggered, stepping hard to slow his momentum. He pivoted, swinging his blade around as he faced Cao Nyut.

“I’ll kill you, Thermock,” said the boy. “Liar, shapeshifter.” Again, he lunged in with his blade. Cao Nyut batted the blade away with his forearm, but not before Bun’s blade drew a line of blood in his skin.

The wound was superficial, but the sight of his own blood galvanized the pachyderm.

Above them, the bodiless head kept on laughing. Around them, the Mute Ones tightened their chain.

Cao Nyut cried out a peal of frustration. He balled his hands into fists, squeezing them so hard that they shook. Instantly, they crackled with yellow electricity. Lightning streaks puttered around his knuckles.

“Yes,” said May, grinning. “Stop the troublesome child.”

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“Shining Yellow Blast of Cynicism,” Cao Nyut issued, “engulf !” The ball of crackling light around his fists exploded. The wave of destruction blew out, flattening the Playground of Shandapidoor.

May screamed. The violent press of wind plucked her head from her shoulders by the neck like the bulk of a flower by the stem. The bones of the Mute Ones disintegrated in the blast, their empty robes rocketing out into the darkness like pierced balloons. The eyes of the decapitated head exploded. Blind and screaming, it spiraled up and out into the darkness of Shandapidoor.

Bun and Cao Nyut were left gasping at each other. When they caught their breath, they exchanged a grin.

At last, Cao Nyut said, “I still don’t know why my Shining Yellow Blast of Cynicism doesn’t affect you.”

“I think I know,” said Bun, “it’s because I’m so optimistic. It makes me immune. But something just now…about that fight…about the paranoia that May screwed into my mind back there…it made me feel a little less innocent than before. I don’t like it, Cao Nyut.”

“I know how you feel,” said Cao Nyut.

“I know you do. Come on, let’s find Thermock. We’re getting closer to her every moment. I can feel it. If we find her, we might be able to wrest your naivete, which she has wrongfully stolen from your soul, back from her.”

So, in search of Thermock, Bun and Cao Nyut journeyed further on, past the playground, and into the deeper darkness of Shandapidoor.

The duo felt ready for anything, but it wasn’t long before another unexpected encounter took them by surprise.