After a brief debate, Morton and the others agreed that they couldn’t just abandon the school and had to at least try to minimize the damage done by Derek’s hypnosis, but it took almost an hour for them to figure out a plan of action. This was largely because they were interrupted by barking dogs and the still rampant tornado on several occasions so they had to keep moving to different parts of the school. Despite this, they finally managed to lay out what Morton thought was a pretty good solution to the nightmare circus that Derek had created.

It was Morton who figured out that since Derek had already hypnotized everyone to forget everything the next morning, all they had to do was get everyone to stop causing mayhem and go home. And since they would all do exactly what Derek told them to do, and Derek would do exactly what Willow told him to do, then in theory Willow just had to tell Derek to tell everyone to go home with symptoms of a cold and go straight to bed. The next morning they’d all arrive at school with no clue as to what had happened.

In practice this seemingly simple plan was difficult to execute and took them several more hours. First they had to get Willow and several other students down from the ceiling, which involved tracking down the second Antigravity Laser Cannon and dragging one of those big blue gymnastic mattresses around to cushion everyone’s fall. Next Willow gave Derek very careful instructions, and Morton, James, and Robbie followed him around the school, cornering each student, confiscating their toys, and sending them home. They also set to work driving out the stray dogs and opening windows to clear the fog from the second floor as they worked their way along. (Things went a little more quickly after they managed to stop Nelly Stark from shooting the Tornado Spinning Top down the hallways.)

It was almost the end of the day by the time they’d emptied the school of students and at last turned to the teachers. Under Willow’s instruction Derek mechanically told the teachers to go home, one after another, until only a single teacher remained. It just so happened that the last teacher there was Mr. Noble.

“Wait!” Morton said, interrupting Willow before she could instruct Derek once more. He suddenly realized he had a golden opportunity — he could make Mr. Noble forget all about the difficult homework assignment he’d given him. That would certainly take a load off his shoulders, and right now he had more than his share of problems without having to worry about extra homework.

“What is it?” Willow asked, looking up at Morton patiently.

But Morton had second thoughts. Mr. Noble hadn’t really been unfair in giving him the assignment. He had been talking in class, after all, and he suddenly realized just how tempting it was to use magic for selfish purposes. He also realized that giving in to that temptation would make him no better than Derek … or even Mr. Brown.

“Never mind,” he said quickly. “Go ahead.”

Willow shrugged, and moments later Morton watched Mr. Noble pace out of the school with a determined focus, just as all the other teachers had done.

Finally there was nobody left except for Derek, and the school had an eerie, ghostly feeling. It reminded Morton of a Scare Scape story about a boy who had the power to make anybody who annoyed him vanish … which of course ended up being everybody, including his parents and siblings.

“Be sure to give Derek an extra dose of amnesia,” James said. “Make him forget all about that Antigravity Laser Cannon and getting stuck on the ceiling. Otherwise we’ll just have to go through this all over again.”

Willow did exactly as James suggested, and Derek simply turned away and sauntered out the door as if everything were completely normal.

“So, I guess that’s everybody,” James said. “We should get out of here too before the cleaners show up.”

“I suppose I should give you this,” Willow said, holding up the Mesmer Disk.

“Yeah, we should probably put it with the others,” Morton said.

“You promise you won’t hypnotize me,” Willow said, looking a little nervous.

“I promise,” Morton said with a warm smile. “But you have to make a promise too. You have to promise not to tell anyone what happened. Magic is a dangerous thing and we’re trying to stop it, not make it worse.”

Willow played thoughtfully with her long golden hair. “So, are you like some kind of secret anti-magic police?” she asked.

“Uh, yes, I suppose we are,” Morton said, feeling somehow pleased with that title, as if it satisfied something deep inside of him that he had never been fully aware of before.

“Can I join?” Willow asked. “That sounds like fun.”

Morton glanced at Robbie, who was frowning and shaking his head. “Maybe when you’re older,” Morton said. “I think it’s a bit too dangerous for you now.”

Willow sighed and handed over the disk. “I knew you’d say that,” she said, blinking rapidly and smiling up at Morton. “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow, then.”

“Yes, see you tomorrow,” Morton said, although even as he said that, he wondered if he really would. With all the magical insanity that was surrounding them, he was starting to feel very pessimistic about the prospect of there even being a tomorrow.

Robbie and James seemed to have the same thought and the three of them stood in silence for a few seconds until James nudged Morton on the arm. “Come on,” he said. “Let’s get out of here.”

A few minutes later they were walking home in the crisp, cool sunshine, which at least brought some warmth to Morton’s mood.

“I’ll say one thing for Derek,” James said. “He’s not stupid. Although, he obviously doesn’t know anything about magic, which I guess makes Nolan our number one suspect again.”

Robbie sighed. “Yeah, but I still can’t imagine why Nolan would make all the Scare Scape toys magic. What does he gain from that?”

“Well, we have to find him and ask him,” Morton said, with an air of determination.

“In the meantime, let’s hope Melissa has learned something about the missing books. That should shed some light on this whole crazy mess,” James said as they plodded tiredly along the driveway toward the back porch.

As soon as the house came into view, Morton saw that several of the windows on the ground floor were open and a nasty-smelling smoke was billowing out.

“Oh no! What’s happened?” Robbie said in sudden panic.

Morton and James, however, remained calm. This was not the first time they’d witnessed such a scene.

“Don’t worry about it,” Morton said. “It’s probably just supper.”

Sure enough, when they entered the kitchen Dad was on his hands and knees in front of the oven, wafting acrid black smoke out into the room. The smell was so bad Morton could hardly breathe.

“What are you doing?” he said, holding his scarf over his nose.

“I don’t understand it,” Dad said, coughing and choking. “I haven’t even put anything in the oven yet!”

“Maybe you left the mitts in there again,” Morton suggested, remembering the last time Dad almost set fire to the kitchen.

“Not this time,” Dad said, holding up a very tattered pair of red polka-dotted mitts. “There must be something else in here that — aha!” Dad reached for a pair of metal tongs and pushed them into the smoky blackness of the oven. A moment later he pulled out what looked like a charred hairy potato, billowing with wretched smoke so dense that it stung Morton’s eyes.

“It’s one of those blasted rats!” Dad exclaimed, leaping to his feet and running for the door.

Morton, James, and Robbie jumped aside quickly as Dad pushed past them to throw the smoking carcass out onto the lawn.

“The blighters are getting into everything,” Dad went on, stomping on the smoldering lump. “I found one in the car this morning on my way home. It bit me on the ankle. I must say, it’s getting quite out of hand. Thank goodness they’re going to release the gas in the sewers tonight.”

“What?” Morton shrieked.

“You don’t sound too happy about that,” Dad said, still stomping.

Morton quickly changed his tone. “No, I mean, wow! That’s great news! Uh, what time tonight?”

“Midnight,” Dad said. “They want to do it when there’s nobody on the streets, for obvious reasons.”

“Let’s hope it works,” James said.

Dad finally stepped away from the smoldering carcass and looked back up at the house. A gray smog was still billowing out the door. “You better stay here while I go and open some more windows,” he said, and went back inside, immediately coughing and choking again.

Morton, Robbie, and James did as Dad asked and waited outside, standing well clear of the windows to avoid the smoke. Nobody said anything, and an odd tension seemed to hang in the air. Morton was sifting through a list of worries in his head when Jake’s old yellow car suddenly squeaked to a halt at the end of the driveway.

Jake jumped out and ran around to open the back door like a well-trained chauffeur, and both Wendy and Melissa climbed out and smiled politely at him. Morton noticed that this time there was no kiss. In fact, Melissa behaved as though Jake was nothing more than a kind stranger who had given them a ride.

As Jake drove away, Melissa and Wendy walked toward the house and both got a whiff of the smoke.

“What is that disgusting smell?” Melissa exclaimed.

“Never mind the smell,” James said. “We’ve had a bit of a rough day, and we’re really hoping that Jake told you who bought King’s library.”

“Oh?” Melissa said. “How rough?”

“Well, Derek hypnotized almost every kid in school and organized a riot, and Dad just told us they’re releasing the gas in the sewers tonight.”

“You’re right, that is a bad day,” Melissa said. “Even by our standards.”

“So?” James prodded.

Melissa sighed and looked at Wendy. “I’m not sure it’s good news,” she said. “But it turns out King’s creepy maybe-brother bought his entire collection.”

“Crooks!” Morton said. “Somehow that doesn’t surprise me.”

“We should set a watch outside the store,” Wendy suggested. “We could use the X-ray Specs to find out what he’s up to.”

“That could take days,” Morton said, “and we don’t have days. The rats are going to swarm the streets at midnight tonight!”

“Midnight!” Melissa said, as if she hated the very word. “Why does it always have to be midnight? What’s so great about midnight? Why can’t it just be half past ten?”

Morton had often wondered that himself. Just what was the fascination with midnight? Almost every issue of Scare Scape had a story where something happened at midnight, as if there was something magical about both hands of a clock lining up to the number twelve. In fact, even the special edition that he’d found in Nolan’s locker had a story called “The Midnight Door” in which …

At that very moment Morton had the overwhelming sensation that his brain had started spinning in his skull, and thoughts and memories started flashing around in his head like arcs of lightning. Visions of his encounter with Crooks raced before his eyes, and he suddenly remembered the fact that there had been a clock right above the velvet curtain and that the clock had been set to midnight….

“I think I know where King’s library is,” he said, his whole body going numb.

Everyone turned to face him expectantly, but he couldn’t think quite how to explain it, so he ran to grab Nolan’s tattered copy of King’s Gold from his bag in the mudroom.

“It’s easier if I just show you,” he said when he returned, and opened the issue to the story he’d noticed before but not bothered to reread. “The Midnight Door” told the (as always, tragic) tale of a fugitive who was hiding out in an abandoned train station where he found a painting of a door on the wall at the end of an alcove.

One night while hiding from the authorities, he discovered that whenever the station clock was set to midnight he could pass through the painting into the world beyond.

“I didn’t think about it until now,” Morton explained as the others pored over the comic, “but there was a clock over the velvet curtain and the first time I saw Crooks go behind it, it was set to twelve o’clock. I thought it was just broken, but now I think it must be magic. I think that might be where Crooks is hiding King’s books.”

James, who was now holding the comic, made an odd grimace. “I think you might be onto something,” he said. “Listen to this: King’s comments at the end of the story.”

And so you see, our tragic hero, like so many before him, was trapped by his own lack of knowledge. He did not understand that the power to bring a mere illustration to life is perhaps the purest, most coveted magic of all. For as I have said many times, magic is the act of opening the veil to another dimension — but where most magic is a mere pinprick to let a drop of another world seep through, this power to bring drawings to life is like opening a river. So it is with the power of the Parchments: with infinite creativity, comes infinite danger!

“The Book of Parchments again!” Melissa said. “How often does that show up in stories?”

“To be honest, almost never,” Morton said. “I only even remembered it because I’d reread the Snarf story just recently.”

“So if you’re right and Crooks has this secret curtain, then does that mean he’d also have to have The Book of Parchments to make it work?” Wendy asked.

“According to King,” Morton said. “But there’s only one way to find out for sure.”

Wendy frowned and looked down at Morton. “Are you suggesting we break into Crooks’s bookshop?”

“We don’t have any choice,” Morton said. “We have no other clues and the rats are going to swarm the streets tonight.”

“You know what I hate?” Melissa said, “I hate the fact that you’re right.”

“Are we sure about this?” Robbie said, licking his lips nervously. “Because this sounds like it could be very dangerous.”

“Dangerous and stupid,” James said, “but Morton’s right. We’ve run out of options.”

“Oh well,” Melissa said. “Just another fun Clay family outing. Bring lemonade and a sharp sword.”

Nobody laughed, and Morton could tell by the look on Melissa’s face that despite her flippant words, she too was afraid, and with good reason. He can’t have been the only one to consider the possibility that Crooks might not only be King’s brother but also the mysterious enemy King had written about in his diary. And if that was true, then Crooks would be far more dangerous than anything they’d encountered before.