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Remember when you ordered Excalibur to take you to the Font a few weeks back?”
    â€œSure,” Artie said as dejection began to settle around him like a fog.
    â€œDid it take you right to it?”
    â€œNo . . .”
    â€œRight. Listen, my boy, even if you could get into the Castel, there’s no guarantee you would be anywhere near Excalibur. What if you transported into a trap? What if you landed in Morgaine’s bedroom? You could materialize inside a wall, or in midair over the moat! I’m sorry, Artie, but we can’t risk it. However . . .”
    Artie looked up eagerly. “Yes?”
    â€œIf we could find out where Excalibur is being kept, then your idea may be quite effective. What we need, then, is—”
    â€œA spy!” Artie yelped.
    â€œPrecisely. But where to get one?” Merlin thought for a few moments and then snapped his fingers. “I’ve got it. Thumb and Tiberius were planning on meeting Lord Lot, the leader of the fairy kingdom of Leagon, to request the service of Shallot le Fey and her fairy blade, The Anguish. While they are there, they will also ask him for a spy. Fairies hate Morgaine and her minions, so Lot should be eager to help. Plus, Leagonese spies are the absolute best.”
    â€œGreat!” Artie said. “Sounds like a plan.” And before Merlin could say anything else, Artie bolted back to his room.
    Â 
    They were finally set.
    Kynder, Merlin, Lance, Thumb, Bedevere, Artie, and Kay circled up in the game room, where all this craziness had started. Lance carried Erik, who was still fast asleep, over his shoulder like a wounded soldier.
    Before going to the court-in-exile, they were stopping at the Library to drop off Kynder and Merlin. The wizard would help Kynder get set up so he could find out more about the identity of the person who wielded the Peace Sword (and also look into why Excalibur wanted Merlin iced—but that was a secret). Then Merlin would leave and go to a secret location he called The Bunker, which was where the wizard had learned much of his magic back in the day. He told them it contained no end of arcana and scrolls and ancient magical instruments—more even than what he had managed to gather in the fantastical basement of the Invisible Tower. It was from this location that Merlin would do his part to disrupt the lordess of Fenland.
    Artie readied the pommel but before he could open the moongate, Merlin said, “Wait! I have some things to hand out.” Merlin rummaged through his magical bag and pulled out three flat objects, each the size of a thin magazine.
    â€œAre those iPads?” Kay asked.
    â€œThey are! Jailbreaked too!” Merlin said proudly, and then he mused, “Fascinating contraptions. I’ve kept one for myself, of course.” He gave the others to Artie, Kynder, and Bedevere. “Since my escape, Mr. Thumb has been working on a port of the Otherworld game and several very special apps.”
    â€œSo, what, you want us to play Otherworld while we’re in the Otherworld?” Kay asked. “Isn’t that, like . . . redundant?”
    Erik rattled out a loud snore. Lance shifted him on his shoulder.
    â€œI don’t expect you to play it, although I wouldn’t stop you if you wanted to during your downtime,” Merlin said jovially. “But it’s the apps that are important. There are atlases of both sides, and also an app with loads of information about each of the Seven Swords.”
    â€œAnd,” Thumb added proudly, “I’ve modified the tablets to link up with the Otherworld’s cellular network. So we’ll be able to video-chat!”
    Bedevere shook his head in wonderment. Kay said, “Far out.”
    As they put them away, Thumb clapped and said, “Well, lads, what do you think? Master Artie, shall we?”
    â€œYeah, Tom, we shall.” Artie stepped into the middle of the circle. Kay