Bradley Wallace Murphy just turned thirteen, and he's not happy about it. He doesn't fit in at school, he's no good at sports, a bully torments him, he's a disappointment to his parents, and his only "friends" are fictional characters on a TV show c...
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CHAPTER 18
The Riddle
That night, Bradley Wallace dreamed of Whilly for the first time since the shooting. He saw the dragon, deathly pale and lifeless, sprawled lengthwise in some dark, insubstantial place, his breathing smooth and fire-less, but shallow and weak. He struggled to make out the dragon's location, but everything seemed hidden by a thick, fog-like blackness.
Then Whilly's faint entreaty entered his mind, *Bradley Wallace, why have you abandoned me?* and the desperate boy fought vainly to tell his friend that he hadn't forgotten him, that he was trying to find him, that he loved him. But no words came, no message was received. Then the image faded and he cried out in anguish.
But then a new face appeared before him, floating before his eyes.
Angharad!
"I haven't much time, Assistant Good Humor Man," she spoke hurriedly. "So listen carefully and don't interrupt me with foolish questions," adding snidely, "if that's possible for you."
Yes, he realized it was definitely her.
"Whilly is in desperate trouble and only you can save him. Those who have him don't understand what he is and even though they are trying to help him, he will die unless you arrive soon."
"No!" Bradley Wallace cried aloud fearfully. It couldn't be possible. "But I'm getting so much stronger every day! How can he be dying?"
"I told you not to ask foolish questions," she snapped, adding almost as an afterthought, "although that one wasn't too foolish. As Whilly grows weaker, you grow stronger. It's the nature of magic. You take from one thing to use on another. His powers and abilities are becoming part of you now. Everything that he is you are becoming. That's why you've been craving raw meat. But it's only temporary. Once he dies..."
She didn't finish the sentence, but Bradley Wallace already knew the rest.
If Whilly died, so would he.
"Where is he?"
"I don't know. All I can see are cages and this strange object."
She placed a hazy image in his mind of what appeared to be a plastic elephant with an extended, serrated trunk.
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