Page Twenty Two

"Cheers," Sir Reginald said, doing a little bow. "'n take this as a token o' my appreciation..."

He jumped, clipped his shiny shoes together, and the three found themselves whirling through time, space, and the stars to the entrance of the king's palace.

“I can go no ‘urther. ‘bye, ‘bye, m’friends, ‘n always keep me in yer hearts!”

Winn tearfully bade his gold coins goodbye as the little furry creature skipped merrily into the distance. Great. If he wanted his brother back, he was going to have to get rid of the curse himself. Cautiously, Winn and co. turned their attention to the great structure in front of them.

"Hmmm… there's something weird about these doors," Chester remarked, running her hands across the cool marble.

"This almost seeming to be of little pieces made,” said TIBADOR, who had been greatly neglected in the past pages.

"Yes." Winn took a step closer. "Almost as if the pieces were little bits of—“

"IT'S TEETH," Chester shrieked hysterically, "AND I TOUCHED IT. Oh god ohgod ohgodohgod--”

“Well, at least King Georgey’s very resourceful with his resources.” Winn tried to conjure a smile as he suppressed memories of those toothless, gingivitis-infected gums he had seen earlier. “How many gold coins do we have left?"

“One,” said Chester, wiping her hands on TIBADOR’s tail.

"Sldfjlsdkfjdlsdfksdlkfjf." Winn looked at the sad little nugget in the money pouch. Dammit, Chester. He sighed. "Okay, how are we going to get inside to meet the king?"

Chester flipped her hair, wrinkling her face gracefully. "What do you mean?"

TIBADOR reared his great head and nodded at the sign on the door.




"We must be finding another way."