The shattered remains of the house lay in pieces all around me. There was no sign of the lady, but I knew she wasn't real and had probably just disappeared. Wasting no time, I looked around for a lamp post. I knew of no other way to get around in the strange dreamscape of the Stompers.

I walked away from the rubble and back down the long driveway. Searching the land left and right revealed nothing but fields and trees, and soon it was too dark to see anyway. I reached the end of the drive where it intersected with a country road barely wider than the one I was on. A tall wooden post stood there with an electric light at its top, shining brightly.

I ran to it and touched it with both hands, but nothing happened. Disappointment filled me. It wasn't the right kind of light post, I reckoned.

I looked down the road both ways but saw nothing in either direction beyond the outer reaches of the light. I stood in a bubble of light surrounded by darkness, and had no idea what to do.

Talk about finding a needle in haystack. And to make matters worse, I had no idea how big the haystack was, or what the needle looked like. This was a mess.

The Power. There had to be a way to use the Power to help in the search.

I sat on the pavement and put my mind to work. It was almost scary to mess around with the Fourth Gift because of its unlimited capacity to do whatever I could conjure up. But then again, it had to have some limits. I tried making it just get rid of the Stompers altogether, but that didn't work. It seemed to only work when I could think of tangible, specific commands for it.

I tried another approach, telling it to bring the soul of the world to me.

Nothing.

Frustrated, I lay down on my back and looked at the sky. There were no stars and no moon—only clouds. Thoughts drifted in and out of my head, but nothing that was of any use. After a while, I started to drift away into sleep. I shook it off and stood up. Telling myself that I was already asleep and didn't need to waste time doing it here, I did some jumping jacks to wake myself up.

It was then that I noticed the large shadow standing at the edge of the light.

A shiver went down my spine, and then I almost fainted when the thing started walking toward me.

It came into the light, and just as it did, dozens of other shapes came into view behind it. They were all big, they were all black, and they all had wings.

Shadow Ka.

I couldn't believe it. I had been so sure that I was done with these guys for good, and yet here they were again, ready to torment me. Well, I didn't have time for it. I lifted my hand, ready to blow them to another country with the Power.

“Wait!” a voice screamed, a human voice. I dropped my hand.

From behind the first Ka a figure stepped forward, a man. When the light hit his face, I gasped out loud.

It was the man from under Mount Fuji—the guy who'd taken my offer and abandoned his Shadow Ka ways. Sato was his name. But I was at a complete loss to think how he could be there with me.

“How …” I didn't even finish the question, I was so confused.

“Let me explain,” he said, holding his hands up. “It's a long story. But first you need to know one thing.”

“What's that?” I asked.

“We're here to help you. All of us.”