AS THE GIANT RAT leaped over the ruins of the West Wall, the Lysors and Hexors were paralyzed with fear. Laura and Millie clung to each other, shaking. But then, they heard a sound from behind them—a roaring burp. The strong smell of fish filled their noses.
Millie gasped. “Is that—?”
They looked up and saw Hobbly Knobbly flying over the East Wall, clutching the reins of a Draguin. But this wasn’t the puny, waddling Draguin they had seen in the stables. It was a dragon-sized penguin that soared through the air with ease. The kind of Draguin that only the power of the Crystal Crown could have created when they flew over Hobbly Knobbly’s house.
“Hee-haw!” Donkeycorn brayed excitedly.
“Now, Draguin!” Hobbly Knobbly shouted, pulling back on the reins. The Draguin opened its beak and sprayed flames onto the ground in front of the rat, stopping it in its tracks.
The rat reared up on its back legs, baring its teeth at the Draguin. And then it charged.
The two creatures collided in a mess of black drool and fire. They crashed to the ground and rolled across the rubble of the fallen walls. As the massive beasts careened toward the Endless Well, the Lysors and Hexors retreated under the Food-Giving Tree.
Torian screwed up his face in anger. There was another flash from the Crystal Crown, and the rat grew larger. Stronger. It pinned down the Draguin, knocking Hobbly Knobbly off. The Draguin squirmed beneath the rat’s giant paws.
Hobbly Knobbly staggered over to Laura. “She’s running out of strength!” He shuddered. “She can’t make it much longer!”
The rat swiped its razor-sharp claws across the Draguin’s wing. The Draguin squawked in pain.
“We have to take down Torian!” Laura cried.
“How?” said Millie. “The Crystal Crown is powerful beyond the strongest mind!”
Laura looked at everyone huddled underneath the Food-Giving Tree, their green and violet locks glowing dimly. “Maybe it’s not more powerful than all of our minds working together!”
The Hexors and Lysors glanced at each other with uncertainty.
“Come on,” said Erika, taking Laura’s hand. “What are you all waiting for?!”
For the very first time since the forging of the Crystal Crown, the Lysors and the Hexors gathered together and joined hands. In between each Lysor was a Hexor, and in between each Hexor was a Lysor. In the crowd, Laura saw Reina, Millie, all of Millie’s family right down to baby Georgie, and even blockheaded Claude, standing with the Hexors. They were ready to fight together. Except for poor Quin, who still lay motionless at the base of the Food-Giving Tree. Hobbly Knobbly sat beside him, wiping the sweat from Quin’s forehead.
The Draguin kicked at the rat, trying to get free, but the rat sunk its teeth into the Draguin’s leg. The Draguin let out a cry of agony and tried to shoot fire out of her beak, but all that came out was a wisp of smoke.
“She needs fire!” Hobbly Knobbly called out.
“Together!” Laura commanded. “Now!”
The Lysors and the Hexors shouted, “Tier’e!”
The Draguin burped out a flame, but it was so tiny, it could barely light a candle.
“It’s not enough!” Millie cried.
Just then, Laura heard the hollow sound of heavy rocks rolling as Micah pushed himself out of the rubble of their home.
“Found it!” Micah shouted triumphantly.
He stumbled over to the Food-Giving Tree and knelt down next to Quin. He was holding a glass bottle of pale orange tonic. Laura recognized it. It was the same tonic her dad had refused to take for himself days earlier.
Micah looked to Laura. “Only a few drops left.” He dribbled the remaining liquid into Quin’s mouth. Quin gasped, and his eyes shot open. His face flushed with color. Laura’s heart almost burst with joy.
“It worked!” said Hobbly Knobbly, pulling Quin into a hug.
Laura ran to Quin and grabbed his hand. “We need you now more than ever. You too, Dad.”
Quin and Micah joined the others.
“Together!” Laura commanded again.
Torian pounded his fists on the edge of the tower. He shouted at the rat, “What are you waiting for? Kill that oversized penguin!”
The crown flashed. The rat grew to double the size of the Draguin. It opened its massive jaws, about to take the Draguin’s head clean off.
All at once, everyone shouted, “Tier’e!”
Even Donkeycorn let out a “Hee-haw!”
So many locks glowed green and violet that it was almost blinding. The Draguin opened its beak, and a blast of flames shot up like a river of fire, knocking the rat onto its back. The rat kicked its feet in the air, squeaking in fear.
“Get up!” Torian bellowed. The Crystal Crown flashed again, but its light was outshone by the locks of glowing hair. Violet and green swirled together into a brilliant amber, just like the color of the fox Laura had seen through the cracks in the wall. All of Hillview was illuminated with a power stronger than the Crystal Crown.
The rat staggered to its feet. No longer controlled by the crown, it fixed its eyes on Torian.
“It looks hungry,” Millie whispered.
“For something rotten,” said Laura.
The rat ran at Torian, who didn’t even have time to scream before it snatched him from the top of the tower in its black fangs. The Crystal Crown fell from Torian’s head. Then the rat scurried away, disappearing into the hills, taking Torian with it.
The Lysors and Hexors let go of one another’s hands. The Crystal Crown lay in the grass at the base of the tower. No one spoke. No one blinked. Laura could feel all eyes on her. Even the moons in the sky seemed to be looking down at her. She marched over to the crown and picked it up. She had only one use for its mighty power.
“Together, we are more powerful than any crown,” she said. For the first time, she placed the Crystal Crown on her head. And with a flash of light, the crown exploded into a trillion pieces that scattered across the entire world. “Whether this is your new home or your old home, Hillview belongs to all of us.”
The Hexors and the Lysors joyfully set to work rebuilding the town. And Laura was right. Working together, there was no limit to their powers. They brought the Never-Dark trees back to life. As the forest glowed violet and green, it was more dazzling than ever. They cleansed the water in the Clear Lake and refilled the Endless Well. They revived the Food-Giving Tree, and the Hexors’ mouths watered at the hundreds of fresh gray pears on the branches. The Hexors helped the Lysors repair their homes, while the Lysors helped the Hexors build new homes using the rubble from Hillview’s fallen walls.
Laura found Millie by the Endless Well, her brothers and sisters gathered at her feet.
“So then the troll started shaking the bridge like crazy! I thought we were going to fall to our deaths!” said Millie, gesturing dramatically.
“This is the best bedtime story ever!” said Horton.
Laura wrapped Millie up in a hug.
“You’re crushing my lungs!” Millie gasped.
Laura laughed and let go. “I couldn’t have done this without you.”
Millie smiled. “I told you gray pears were delicious.”
“Okay, I admit it. You were right.”
Millie looked to her siblings. “Did everyone hear that? I want it on the record!”
They looked around at the busy Hexors and Lysors.
“Everyone’s going to be hungry after all this hard work,” Millie said. Her eyes grew wide and she clapped her hands together. “I know! I’ll make a Thew for everyone! It’ll be the biggest Thew you’ve ever seen in your life!”
Millie’s brothers and sisters cheered, and they all ran off to collect as many gray pears as they could find.
Laura and Millie walked to the edge of the Never-Dark Forest, where Micah was wrapping a strand of green hair around the Draguin’s wing. Quin and Hobbly Knobbly looked on as the wound began to heal.
“Wow,” said Quin.
“Incredible!” said Hobbly Knobbly.
“Hee-haw!” said Donkeycorn, nuzzling the Draguin.
Laura and Millie put their arms around Quin.
“We’re so glad you’re okay!” Millie exclaimed.
“You risked your life for us. Again!” Laura beamed. “Thank you.”
Quin shrugged, blushing a little. “I just wish I could have seen Bloato’s face when you snatched the crown off his head.”
Laura grinned. “What are you going to do now?”
Quin cast his eyes to the ground. “I guess I’ll go home.”
“Out of the question!” Hobbly Knobbly bellowed. “You’ll live with me. Just because small mages don’t have families doesn’t mean we can’t make our own. Besides, I need someone to help me take care of the animals. That Crystal Crown made the Centaardvark grow to the size of a house! We’re going to have to feed it a lot of ants.”
Quin smiled wryly. “Have I told you about the nutritional benefits of the beetle butt?”
Reina ran over to Laura and Micah. “Look!” she said, pointing to their house. It was rebuilt. As good as new.
“It’s perfect,” said Laura.
“The best part about exploring is having a home to come back to,” said Reina.
As Laura walked toward her house hand in hand with her mom and dad, she realized that for the first time in her life, the unscratchable itch was gone. She’d had to leave her home in order to save it. But now it was the only place she wanted to be.
