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enough, there was no castle visible where the last one had been. It had faded out after she had left it. The illusion was moving from site to site—or from sight to sight—so as always to appear before her, leading her in the wrong direction. She had caught it by surprise by backtracking suddenly, but all that accomplished was the proof of its nature. She had to get rid of it before she could spot the real castle.
    But how could a person abolish an illusion? That was like removing something that wasn’t there.
    Irene concentrated her thought. Obviously she couldn’t eradicate the nonexistent; there had to be another way to deal with this. It was no use to get rid of the illusions after she saw them; she needed to stop new ones from forming so that she could find the real castle.
    She snapped her fingers. Suppose she stopped the illusion literally? By fixing it in place so it could no longer move ahead of her?
    She brought out a new seed, then guided the tiring bird-plant back to the location of the third phantom castle. It was still there, because she had not yet passed all the way out of sight of it. Evidently the illusion remained in place as long as someone was watching it; it would have very little effect if that were not the case. Imagine an illusion that disappeared while being watched; it would very rapidly lose its credibility! “Grow!” she directed the seed and flipped it out.
    The seed landed and bounced and sprouted into a black-eyed pea. The black eyes focused on the castle, for such plants were always watching things. The illusion castle would be intently watched for weeks, until the pea grew old and withered and its vision failed.
    She flew on. If this worked, the illusion would be pinned in place because it was still being watched. It would not be able to move to new locations to bother her.
    In moments she experienced the dismay of defeat. There was the castle in front of her again! She had another black-eyed-pea seed, but what was the use of planting it if her ploy wasn’t working? Meanwhile, the bird-of-paradise plant was failing rapidly, unable to remain aloft much longer. It was really designed to be pretty rather than strong. It dropped toward the phantom ramparts.
    Crash! They collided with a wall. The bird spun down, shedding more feather-leaves. Irene barely righted herself in time to land on her feet. This illusion had teeth! Now she was without her steed and could not look for the—
    She clonked her head with the heel of her hand, as if to knock out the dottle. This was no illusion! This was the real castle! The pea ploy had worked. She didn’t have to search for Humfrey any more.
    She tucked herself together and walked around the bank inside the moat, toward the front gate. Soon she would be able to rescue Ivy!
    As she walked, she fished in her bag for another seed. She had located the castle, no thanks to the illusion, but she would surely need—
    There was a loud, booming squawk. An enormous shape lifted from an alcove in the castle wall, spreading wings that seemed to block half the light of the sun. It was a truly monstrous bird.
    Irene’s fingers, questing in the bag, closed convulsively on a seed. She was so surprised that she made no other motion. She just stood there, seed pinched between thumb and finger, watching that gargantuan bird.
    The bird swooped down, extended a foot, and grasped her in its claws, lifting her from the ground. She wasn’t hurt, for the claws were like heavy metal bars that confined her in a cagelike embrace, rather than squeezing her. She found herself aloft again, and not by her own choosing.
    Finally she acted. She threw the seed down. “Grow!” she cried. But she didn’t even know which seed it was.
    This was a roc, the largest of all birds! What was it doing with her? Rocs normally did not prey on human beings; they required larger morsels to sustain them, like dragons or Mundane elephants.
    The roc, having attained an awesome elevation in seconds,