TOM AND ELENNA RAN TO THE WINDOW, BUT it was too small to climb through. Outside, the villagers were crowding around, laughing. Nesta rolled up her sleeve and waved her scarred arm in front of Tom and Elenna.

“Gooseberries!” she cried. “Were you really such fools as to believe that? The three-tailed Beast gave me this wound, and I’m proud of it!”

“You won’t defeat this Beast!” Owen added, rolling up his own sleeve to show a long scratch from elbow to wrist.

Tom glanced at Elenna. Her eyes were wide with alarm. “Three tails?” she whispered. “What Beast are they talking about?”

Gathering around Nesta, Raymond and the other villagers were showing off their own scratches from the Beast.

“That’s what was wrong!” Tom exclaimed, punching at the windowsill in frustration. “I knew there was something. The whole village has been changed!”

One by one, the villagers began to move off, turning their backs and leaving Tom and Elenna in their prison. A man grabbed Storm’s bridle and tried to lead him away. The black stallion reared up, his forehooves striking the air as he let out a furious neigh. Silver darted forward, nipping at the man’s heels. With a roar of rage, he let go of the bridle. Storm turned and fled down the street in a thunder of hooves, with Silver racing alongside, back toward the tunnels.

“Silver! Silver!” Elenna cried out.

“It’s all right.” Tom put a hand on her shoulder. “They’ll wait for us in the woods. They’d never leave us, but they have more sense than to stay with these evil villagers.”

Elenna nodded, though she still looked upset. “At least we don’t have to worry about them,” she said.

“We need to find out what’s going on,” Tom decided. “I still have one last power from the golden armor. I can use my magical sight from the golden helmet to look for some clues.”

He dragged a wooden box over to the window and scrambled up onto it to give himself the best possible view. The Beast must have left some traces when he visited the village, he told himself as he peered down the street. There might be something to help me track him down.

He let his magical gaze travel down the street, examining the shops and houses.

“What can you see?” Elenna asked anxiously.

“Nothing yet,” Tom replied. “I don’t think — No, wait! What’s that?”

He fixed his gaze on a spot beyond the last houses of the village, where the cobbled street gave way to a path of beaten earth. In the earth were huge paw prints leading back toward the tunnels.

Tom felt the blood drain from his face as he turned to Elenna. “Paw prints,” he murmured hoarsely. “Huge, like a massive cat’s.”

Elenna frowned. “I don’t understand.”

“Don’t you see?” Tom jumped down from the box and stood next to her, pointing out the window. Inwardly, he cursed himself for not piecing the evidence together sooner. “The villagers of Stonewin would never usually behave like this. Nesta said that a Beast with three tails made the claw mark on her arm. And all the others have claw marks, too.”

“And there are giant paw prints on the ground!” Elenna exclaimed, suddenly grasping what Tom meant.

“Yes. The Beast that made the marks is the last Ghost Beast. Stealth has attacked the village!”

Elenna nodded slowly. “So that is his evil magic — to turn good people bad!”

Tom looked out the window again, up to the slopes of the volcano. “Do you remember what Malvel said after we defeated Blaze the Ice Dragon? He promised that our next Quest would see evil come home to roost.”

“And he really meant it!” Elenna clenched her fists.

“He’s kept his promise,” Tom agreed. He felt sick with worry for his friends in the city, and for the family he had left behind in Errinel. “Malvel is inflicting the worst thing he possibly could on Avantia. He’s trying to turn everyone evil!”

“We’ve got to get out of here,” Elenna said.

“And there’s no time to waste.” Tom strode back to the door and wrenched the handle again. “Stealth is in the city. What if he has already turned King Hugo and Wizard Aduro evil?”

The lock wouldn’t give way to his desperate tugging. Elenna took an arrow out of her quiver and pulled the head off the shaft.

“Maybe I can force the lock,” she said as she poked the arrow’s point into the keyhole.

Tom watched her for a moment, but she wasn’t having any success. The arrowhead was too big to get far enough inside the lock, and the point kept slipping out.

Forcing back panic, Tom began grabbing things from the shelves, tossing aside rolls of linen, jars of nails, and bags of wheat as he searched for something that would help him open the door. Looking at all the useless supplies, his frustration boiled over.

“There’s nothing here that will help!”

Elenna straightened up, brushing a lock of hair out of her eyes. “It’s no good,” she announced.

Tom glanced around frantically. Panic tingled in his belly. He forced himself to take a deep breath. He had to stay calm. There must be some way out of here, he told himself. And I’m going to find it!