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Shallot, I’m from Pennsylvania, and I think we’re going to be prisoners here together. Wherever this place is.”
    Qwon dropped her staff to her side. Shallot did the same.
    Shallot took a few cautious steps and asked, “Are you also here because of the prophecy?”
    Qwon frowned. “Prophecy?”
    â€œFrom The Fairy Book of Pretelling . The one about the sword,” Shallot explained. “The one about Excalibur. The one about Arthur and Merlin Ambrosius.”
    Qwon said weakly, “You mean the one about Artie Kingfisher?” As she said the words, she couldn’t help but feel like they were the beginning of a bad joke.
    Shallot stepped forward. She held out her hand palm down, in some unknown gesture of greeting, and said in her lovely voice, “Yes. The one about Artie Kingfisher.”

5 - HOW ERIK ERIKSSEN IS KIDNAPPED AND TAKEN TO THE OTHERWORLD
    The morning after the Kingfishers were told about the next phase of their adventures, Erik Erikssen showed up at their house complaining of a headache, saying, “I don’t know why, but I just had to come over to your guys’ house.”
    Merlin hadn’t given advance warning about the spell he used to call Erik, and to her revulsion, Kay was the one who answered the door—in her nightgown. Thankfully, Erik was so out of it that he didn’t seem to notice. He pushed by Kay, made for the living room, and dropped onto the sofa. Before Kay could get a word out, Merlin floated into the room and asked Kay to fetch a glass of warm water. She did. Merlin poured some powder into it and stirred the mixture with a finger. Then he gave the glass to Erik and with a velvety tone said, “I suggest you drink this, my boy.”
    Erik drank. No sooner had he handed the glass back to Merlin than he fell completely asleep.
    â€œKnock him out to take him to the Otherworld,” Kay observed. “I like it.”
    â€œYes,” Merlin said. “Erik should see the Otherworld before he’s told about it. He’ll be more easily convinced that way, I think.”
    Kay narrowed her eyes, nodded, and then bounded off to her room to get ready.
    That morning the Kingfisher house buzzed with anticipation. Lance made sure his bow and arrows were in top shape. Kynder packed a large duffel bag with his Arthurian research and another with clothing. Bedevere sharpened his claymore and checked his armor. Kay packed the infinite backpack and made sure they had some warm clothes.
    At eleven in the morning Artie was in his room looking over the stuff he’d laid out on his bed: Excalibur’s empty scabbard, a pile of headlamps, and his trusty dagger, Carnwennan. He twirled Excalibur’s pommel in his hand. And that was when it came to him!
    He ran downstairs and found Merlin in the kitchen eating a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich.
    â€œMerlin! I’ve got it!”
    Merlin swallowed hard and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “What’s that?” he asked.
    â€œI know how we can get Excalibur! And rescue Qwon at the same time!”
    Merlin tilted his head and asked, “How’s that, my boy?”
    â€œWe just go there!” Artie exclaimed, holding out the pommel.
    Merlin put down his sandwich and looked at it seriously. “You know, I never had a P-B-and-J before breaking out of the tower. It’s so simple, yet so scrumptious!”
    â€œMerlin, did you hear me? It’d be like a special ops raid or whatever—drop in behind enemy lines, get what we need, and get out. It’s perfect!”
    Merlin gave Artie a forlorn look. “Yes, it sounds perfect. And it is true that the pommel can take you anywhere. But you first have to know where you’re going, Artie, or at least have a very good mental picture of it. You can transport to the Library now, for instance, or your court-in-exile, or even Tiberius’s hidden cave—but only because you know those places.