“Wheeee!”

“Woo-hoo!”

“Aaargh!”

In the Spongy Void, a vine-like string of hairs flopped through the ceiling hatch and thickened into the shape of a roller-coaster. Two bony figures and a chunky Bab Sharkey statue whooshed into the Void on a hairy carriage. They sailed off the track and landed on the spongy floor in a tangled heap.

The Beard Coaster retracted onto Scaler’s chin.

“That was so fun,” honked a delighted Prong. “Bab, you should have turned the Beard into a roller-coaster the first time we visited the Void! Much softer than that corridor full of pots.”

“Whoa, Bab,” said Scaler, gazing at the painted faces. “Check the awesome street art.”

But Bab wasn’t listening. His boggling eyes were fixed on the creature already in there – a creature with a patchy black body and a pointy head with a striped scarf draped around it.

Cainus stared at them in horror. “There you are!” he snarled. “And you and you! But . . . my wardrobe . . .”

“Good golly,” Prong cried. There was something very wrong with the Void. It certainly hadn’t calmed down since Bab left – the entire room was now wobbling like jelly. The floor was much spongier than before. It sloshed gently underfoot, making it tricky to stand upright.

Richard spluttered in astonishment at the talking jackal. “You haven’t met any human friends, Bab, by any chance?”

Bab ground his stone teeth so hard he could taste the paint flakes. “That jackal is no friend, Dad,” he said quietly. Richard glared at the jackal.

“Cainus!” honked Prong. “I never expected you to come and rescue Bab! Er . . . why are you holding a brick over your butt?”

Wrapped in Cainus’s tail was the facebrick he’d chipped out of the wall in the Tomb of the Jackals. He clutched it tightly behind him so Bab couldn’t see it properly.

“It seems the wretched boy was not quite absorbed, Your Majesty,” he said to the facebrick. “But he has turned into a sort of statue. Is that good enough? Can we please leave now?”

The smooth grey brick was making a muffled screaming sound.

Scaler gave a slow, sarcastic clap. “Well done, mutt. Your beloved mistress is getting a fantastic view right now . . . of your butt!”

“Careful now, Scaler,” Bab whispered, placing himself between her and Cainus.

Cainus spoke to the brick in a jittery voice. “My queen? Are you there?”

He was met with more smothered screams. He quickly adjusted his tail, whipping the facebrick around, and the Unpharaoh’s face appeared on it, gagging.

Bab choked as he saw his Afterworld enemy.

“Did you not hear me yelling at you all this time, Cainus!?” the sorceress screeched. “You’ve been holding the facebrick the wrong w–” But the Unpharaoh’s fury melted away when her scarlet eyes locked onto Bab’s stone ones.

“Bab Sshhharkey,” she hissed. “My, my, don’t you look stony faced? It appears the Void has had a most unexpected effect on you, HOO-HAACCHH!”

She placed a twiggy finger against one nostril and fired a tiny waterball at Bab. It sizzled out of the facebrick, but Cainus was trembling so much her aim was off.

“Good job, Cainus,” Bab said. “I see you made your first ever friend, in the form of a brick. Such people skills!”

“Cainus,” the Unpharaoh croaked, “cast him into the Void wall. Then find the Beard and my genius plan shall be complete!”

Bab was surprised to hear his dad sing out.

“Whatever your plan,” Richard said coolly, “you’ll be sorry you messed with my son. And I know you didn’t build this Void, so you’re not a genius. You’re just mooching off your sister’s clever idea!”

Bab swelled with pride. His dad didn’t seem to fear Cainus or the Unpharaoh at all. He just glared at the facebrick, furious, while the evil queen sneered back at him.

“You’re the wretched father,” she croaked. “I sensed you might have fallen in here some years ago. You’re an even clumsier fool than your son. Have you told him the truth about my sister?”

“I’ve seen the truth,” Bab snarled. “And I’m not impressed with how you treated her. I wish she was still around so she could watch me defeat you.”

The Unpharaoh chuckled like a chittering bat. “How little truth you know, then. Cainus! Cast him into the wall!”

Cainus turned the facebrick so he could speak directly to his mistress. “Er, how does one go about casting a boy into a wall, Your Highness? Perhaps you’d best do it yourself, being the expert caster and all?”

“I’m just a head, you idiot,” she spat. “I can’t throw people into walls. Turn me back around to face the Void!”

Cainus mistakenly turned the brick to face his butt again.

“Garrghh, not that void!” howled the Unpharaoh.

“Hey Bab,” Scaler whispered, “remember how you worried the Beard might go to Cainus? I don’t see that happening any time this century.”

BRRRR-LURRG!

The shifting floor of the chamber gave a mighty heave and everyone staggered sideways. Great lumps of floor rose up and plopped back down again. It sounded like a hungry stomach. Bab heard the people in the walls wailing as their surfaces warped and stretched.

“The Void, it’s damaged,” whispered Bab. “Something’s wrong.”

“It’s you and me, Bab,” Richard said. “When the Beard pulled us out, the Void’s structure became seriously dodgy. Pardon my French.”

Bab shoved away a thick, spongy tentacle that was wrapping around his waist. “It must be desperate for life forces,” he cried. “It’s trying to take us back!”