"What's the matter, Reg?" his father, Edmund, asked, nudging the young Lupe with his elbow. "Electing a new mayor to replace Thumburt will put Neovia back on track!"

"I know, I know," Reginald replied, watching the Meerca strut back and forth. There was something he didn't like about the Meerca, who called himself Mayor Flangick. He couldn't bring himself to trust the Meerca's toothy smile that didn't really seem like a smile at all or his small, glittering eyes. "Maybe I'll like him more when he tells us what his plans for the town are."

The Meerca raised his paws to silence the crowd and continued, "I propose that we help Neovia to reclaim its place in Neopia. We need to break free of the Haunted Woods, with its haunted castles, dilapidated fairground, and rag-tag gypsy camp. If the rest of the Haunted Woods won't fall in step behind us and reform, we must separate ourselves from them. We Neovians are civilised folk!"

The crowd roared once more, Edmund included. Reginald glared at his father. "Neovia has always been a small town, Father. We have a good life -- why go looking for trouble?"

Before Edmund could reply, Flangick started talking once more. "Our citizens shouldn't have to fear walking through the forest at night! That's why my first step in making our town a safer place will be to drive out the rabble that infests our woods! As of today, anyone who can capture Sophie the Swamp Witch so that she can be brought to justice will be rewarded!"

Reginald's eyes widened as the townsfolk shouted their support for the new mayor. "No," he whispered. "Not Sophie..."

"Down with the Swamp Witch!" someone shouted.

"Justice! Justice for Neovia! End Sophie's reign of terror!" another echoed.

He was about to turn to his father so they could figure out what to do when he heard the Skeith grunt, "About time they held that witch accountable for her deeds."

Reginald reeled like he'd been struck in the face at the sound of Edmund's muttering. "Father! You can't be serious! It's Sophie... she's your daughter!"

Edmund turned on his son, outrage burning in the depths of his eyes. "How dare you suggest that soulless spell caster is my daughter?!"

Before Edmund had a chance to continue, the voice of Mayor Flangick cut through Reginald's growing despair and horror like a knife. "Good citizens of Neovia! The time to act is now! We can't grasp the better future -- the tomorrow that is rightfully ours -- unless we act today! Hurry! Let's free ourselves from the chains of our past suffering and the dismal woods that surround us! We can conquer this forest! We can have that bright future! But first... first, my fellow citizens, we must rid ourselves of the Swamp Witch!"

A roar of support erupted from the crowd, Edmund screaming frantically for justice right along with them. For a moment Reginald just stared, his jaw going lax... it seemed so easy, so right for him to start cheering along with his fellow townsfolk. After all Flangick seemed to know what he was talking about... who was Sophie anyway? What had she ever done for Neovians?

She only saved the whole town from despair and disaster, he answered himself and the relaxed foggy feeling suddenly dispersed. She only saved the family she loved from eternal suffering.

The more he thought of his beloved sister, the more his disgust with Flangick and aversion to the whole situation hardened into something palpable. It seemed out of the question that for a moment he had thought of joining the mob in its soon-to-be destructive rampage.

Reginald stared at the grinning Meerca; Flangick's smile radiated out over the crowd with unnatural luminosity and a chill crawled down the Lupe's spine. Something was very, very wrong here... how could everyone forget what Sophie had done for them? She had freed them all from a terrible curse... and Edmund... now that was even more troubling. How had he forgotten that the Ixi was his daughter?

It chilled the Lupe to the bone to consider that he too had almost fallen under whatever rapturous spell the Meerca had cast over everyone. As he stared at Flangick, the Meerca turned toward him and locked gazes with the Lupe. It seemed for a moment like the whole world froze as they stared each other down.

Reginald did not like what he saw in those eyes. They were like black pools of corrupt malevolence that invaded his every thought; it felt as if Slorgs were creeping through his fur as he stared back. Finally he had to look away, his eyes instead focusing on the ground.

With a last glance at the new mayor and the roaring townsfolk, Reginald slipped away into the shadows. It was obvious now that there was nothing he could do here. There was more strange and sinister magic afoot, and the only one he could think of who could fix it was the one the whole town had just decided to persecute. He had to get to Sophie before they did, and not only did he have to warn her, he had to ask her to help him set things right...

He soon reached the shack and leaped up the short flight of stairs, landing on the porch.

He pounded on the door.

"Sophie!" he shouted, his voice slightly hoarse from breathing in the cool autumn air. "Sophie, open up!"

Sophie's response was anything but inviting as she called out from inside her shack.

"Go away, or I'll turn you into a stink beetle!"

Reginald moaned. "Sophie, it's me! Reginald! You know, your brother?"

There was a pause, then Sophie said, "Reggie?"

Reginald heard footsteps from inside the shack and shortly thereafter, the door opened.

Sophie took one look at Reginald's face and knew that somethings was wrong.

"What happened?"

"They elected a new mayor in town," Reginald panted. "His name's Flangick. He's a Meerca."

Sophie raised an eyebrow. "And you ran all the way from town just to tell me this?"

"No. I mean, yes. I mean-" Reginald seemed to be getting more agitated by the second.

Sophie sighed. "You might as well come inside," she said, opening the door and stepping to the side a little.

Reginald simply nodded as he followed Sophie into the shack.

Sophie went back to her cauldron and began stirring whatever brew it was she was concocting. "Now what's this about a new mayor?"

"He's really creepy," Reginald started. "He keeps talking about 'we need to break free of the Haunted Woods' and about how we Neovians are civilized folks."

Sophie snorted. "And just what's so bad about that?"

Reginald shifted uncomfortably in the chair he was sitting in.

When Reginald spoke again, his voice was soft and subdued. "He also said you should be captured and brought to justice..."

Sophie's response surprised Reginald. Sophie didn't even look up from her stirring, and even gave a few dry chuckles.

"What are they going to do, tie me to a chair and throw me down the well? And it's not like mother or father would let them, even if they tried."

Reginald stared at the table and swallowed hard. "Father's siding with the new mayor," he said softly.

Sophie looked stricken.

"You're lying," she said, her voice quavering, although it was lacking conviction. "Father would never..."

Her voice trailed off as they heard a sound from outside, the sound of a branch snapping underfoot.

Sophie's mouth was a thin line as she silently picked up her staff and walked towards the door.

"Sophie," Reginald cautioned.

But Sophie didn't listen. Her hand hesitated over the doorknob, and she took a deep breath to try and ease her nerves. Then, readying her staff, she yanked open the door, only to find...

"Blink?" asked Sophie, pulling back the curtain to reveal her Petpet Meowclops, his single eye staring up at his master. Knowing that he was safe, he jumped into her arms, purring with relief.

"Little fellow looks spooked," said Reginald, scratching the Petpet behind his ears. "There, there Blinky. What's wrong?"

The Meowclops gave Reginald a dirty look and meowed threateningly.

Sophie coughed. "Uh, it's 'Blink,' not 'Blinky.' He hates that." She held the creature in front of her and looked him dead in the eye. "Ok, Blink. What happened? Did you tick off Sidney again? How many times do I have to tell you? Scratchcards and scratching posts are two different things!"

"Sophie?" Reginald muttered. "I think I know what scared Blink..."

Sophie joined her brother at the window and peered out into the woods. The faint sounds of angry words could be heard through the trees as the twinkling lights of torches illuminated the darkness. The words grew louder and the lights grew brighter.

It was a mob; an angry, bloodthirsty mob led by none other than Oscar, the jealous Kougra who had been rivals with their brother, Bruno. The green Kougra snarled as held up his paw, bringing the mob to a halt.

"Get out here, Swamp Witch!" the Kougra roared. "We have you surrounded."

Reginald ran to the window on the other side and peered out. Oscar was right; the entire village of Neovia had come to capture Sophie!

"He's right! We're trapped!"

Sophie, however, wasn't listening. She shoved Blink into Reginald's paws and gripped her staff. "Stay here" was all she said before leaving the shack.

Reginald watched in horror as Sophie stood her ground on the wooden bridge, facing the mob stone-faced. "Can I help you?" she asked coolly.

"We won't stand for your dark magic anymore, Witch," Oscar snarled. "This is your only chance to come peacefully or else we'll take you by force!" A few Neopets behind him held up chains and rope as proof that Oscar spoke the truth.

Sophie didn't move. "Tough choice," she replied sarcastically. "I'd go with you, but unfortunately I'm paralyzed with fear." Her staff glowed a ghoulish green as she took her battle stance. "Guess you'll have to come get me..."

"So be it!" cried Oscar, raising his paw. "GRAB THE WITCH!!!"

"Sophie!" Reginald bolted out of the shack to his sister's side, Blink tucked under his arm. "You mustn't!"

As it turned out, Sophie didn't have to fight the townsfolk. The woods were doing it for her. Just as the wave of Neovians were closing in, the ground shook beneath their charging feet. The mob stopped, looking around for the source. A terrible mistake. Roots shot up from the dirt, ensnaring every attacking Neopet. Their torches fell from their hands, the flames instantly snuffed out from the flying dirt. The screams of the townsfolk echoed into the night as they were dragged up into the branches, securing them tightly.

Reginald stared in horror as he saw the struggling Neopets. "Quick thinking..." he muttered to her.

The swamp witch, however, was just as surprised as he was. "I'm not doing this. She is."

"Who?"

Sophie gazed into the trees with a faraway look in her eyes as she whispered the name "Ilere..."

Ilere was indeed beautiful, her angular face an earthy brown framed by dark jade locks, but to say she was merely pretty wasn't an accurate description at all. Dressed in a long dark green cloak, she strode from the forest purposefullly, an air of power streaming from her very being. The strangled cries of the mob still caught in her spell were a testament to that, and their sobs made for a perfect chorus, tolling out songs about her hardened heart.

"Sophie," she hissed, drawing nearer with every step, "what is the meaning of this? Mobs? Neovians invading my forest? What in Neopia is going on?!"

Reginald felt like curling into a ball in the presence of Ilere, and Blink hissed nervously from his arms, but Sophie stood her ground, the Ixi's head held high. "I haven't an inkling what's going on either, Ilere, but my brother believes it has something to do with the new mayor."

Ilere turned her gaze to Reginald, her eyes blazing venom as she scowled at him. "Ah yes. Your dear brother. Well, Reggie, if you know what's going on, please share. Why are the Neovians invading my land, why are they calling for the arrest of your sister, and who is this new mayor?"

"He... his name is Flangick," Reginald stuttered, trying to tear his gaze from the faerie's gripping stare but failing horribly. "He... earlier he was making a speech about breaking Neovia away from the Haunted Woods. About... making the town safe--"

"By throwing me out?!" Ilere snarled angrily, the ground rumbling as she threw up her hands. Blink yelped, burying his head into Reginald's chest, and Sophie scowled.

"Easy now," she warned, switching her staff from hand to hand. "So this Mayor Flangick is getting everyone worked up somehow. Interesting. Some sort of magic, maybe?"

"I don't know," Reginald admitted sheepishly.

"Either way," Ilere bit sharply, "he must be stopped. Neovia is a town rooted in mystery and magic, and that's something not to be trifled with. Flangick obviously doesn't foresee the dreadful consequences of his actions."

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean, dear Lupe,' the faerie continued harshly, her eyes narrowed, "is that if he succeeds in rooting out all of the magic in Neovia: me, Sophie, the gypsies, et cetera, then the entire town will cease to exist as well..."

It was impossible to fathom. Neovia, his home, the town that had existed in the midst of the woods for centuries... gone? The concept was disturbing enough to send shivers down his spine.

"That's impossible! Neovia can't stop existing!"

Ilere laughed mirthlessly. "Why not?"

"It... it just can't!"

His hands contracted instinctively, and with a yelp, Blink leaped out of Reginald's paws and nimbly landed upon Sophie's shoulder, glaring balefully at the Lupe.

The faerie's white-green eyes gleamed. "I have heard that you love your books, Reginald. Is it possible that you know so little of magic? Your town was founded by magic, upon the roots of magic. And magic will forever twine through it. It was why Krawley was drawn here in the first place, and why the Spirit of Slumber answered Thumburt's plea. If magic ceases to support the foundations of Neovia, it will fall into chaos and then ruin, and it will lie in dereliction until even the memory of it is forever lost."

Reginald shook his head wildly, trying to blot out the faerie's poisonous words. Ilere had to be lying. It couldn't be true...

Sophie frowned, speaking up for the first time in a while.

"I think you're wrong, Ilere."

Two sets of eyes -- and one single eye -- locked on her face; Ilere's were infuriated, Reginald's were hopeful, and Blink's was impassive.

"You think you know more of the forest's roots than --"

"No," Sophie snapped, her staff sparking with annoyance. "I'm not an idiot, Ilere. What I mean is, I think you're wrong about Flangick. I think he knows exactly what he's doing."

Ilere's eyes flickered. "Of course," she muttered.

"What do you mean?" Reginald was puzzled and appalled, and also slightly annoyed at being out of the loop. "Why would he want to destroy Neovia?"

Sophie shifted slightly. "I think he's working for..."

"For no one but himself," finished Sophie dryly. "Flangick, Ilere. Think about it. Don't you see it?"

The earth faerie's blank gaze was her answer.

"Unscramble it," said Sophie.

Ilere's glowing eyes were cast earthward as she thought. Reginald scratched his head. "Flan... kig? Nalkic? Er..."

"Silence," said Ilere suddenly. "I see it."

With a flick of her wrist, the earth faerie formed the word "Flangick" in glowing leaves on the ground. Another quick movement on her part and the letters had moved to form the word "flacking."

"Flacking?" said Reginald. "What's that?"

"It means to promote someone," answered Sophie.

"And that someone is...?"

"Who else would offer a conundrum like this?"

"Thade," hissed Ilere. "Eliv Thade."

"Exactly," said Sophie. "So the next question is, why?"

"I think," said Ilere, whose wafer-thin wings were trembling in anger, "I shall go ask him myself." Hanging unspoken at the end of that statement was the implication that Thade would be very sorry indeed for having the presumption to lay a finger on her forest.

"That won't be necessary," said a voice.

Reginald, Sophie, and Ilere turned to find Flangick watching them malevolently from a short distance.

"You see," said Flangick, and even as he spoke, he was suddenly no longer Flangick, "I'm right here."

Whatever magic spell that had covered the Kacheek's ghastly appearance with that of a chubby Meerca was stripped away, and the group was facing the spectre of a long-dead tormented soul.

"Now," he said, his single red eye glistening maliciously, "how about we play a little game of wits?"

"We have to get out of here," said Sophie in a low voice, and she held up her brightly shining staff. "Now..."

"Come back here!" Thade shrieked at them furiously. "We haven't even started playing our fun little game yet!"

But the vision of Thade was fading fast, his snarl giving way to a sight that Reginald found equally frightening. He could now see old decaying stonework, weathered parapets, and old glass windows that were misted with age and yawning wide like the mouth of a predator in the darkness.

Sophie had brought them to Eliv Thade's mansion.

With one last hiss, Blink leapt from Reginald's arms and stalked off into the woods, pointedly going in a direction that was completely opposite the disturbing manor. The Lupe looked at his sister with concern as she watched her Meowclops excuse himself from the situation.

"He'll be fine," Sophie said to nobody in particular, "or at least safer than he would be with us. Is something wrong, Ilere?"

The earth faerie was looking none too pleased as she glared at the Swamp Witch dispassionately. "You did not have to transport me!" she hissed, cold fury radiating in her eyes.

"Oh well, excuse me then," Sophie said quietly, her own eyes shimmering with sarcasm. "I'm sure you had enough power to deal with whatever Thade was going to throw at you. After all I bet earth faeries have lots of power over the undead."

Ilere hesitated for a moment; the hard look she gave Sophie sent a chill down Reginald's spine. "Nothing would have happened to me... but what you say has some truth to it. Alone I cannot bind Thade... for he is not of the living."

Reginald looked at the faerie in shock; he had always believed her to be an all-powerful denizen of the Haunted Woods. "What do you mean? You can't bind him?"

"I said I could not bind him alone," Ilere said with disdain. "Since dear Sophie has decided to take us to this wretched place, though, I'm going to assume she at least has some semblance of a plan?" Her gaze shifted back to the Ixi expectantly.

"As a matter of fact, I do have a plan," Sophie said as she looked around the façade of the dilapidated house. "Eliv Thade went mad years ago. He died in that madness, and has wreaked havoc and misery ever since. What drove him to that point?"

"A puzzle... he couldn't solve a puzzle," Reginald whispered; he knew that story well, it had always been one of the tales that had frightened him the most as a child.

"Ahhhh... I think I see... but what that puzzle was, I believe that now it only exists in the mind of that tormented soul," Ilere said, her eyes going distant in thought. "How do we trap him with a puzzle if the only one that thwarted him is lost to dust and time?"

"That is a problem..." Sophie trailed off grimly.

Reginald looked at the Ixi and the faerie, at just as much of a loss of how to solve the problem as they were. Then suddenly an idea hit him. "What if it wasn't really a puzzle at all? What if it only looked like one?"

"Reggie, you're brilliant," Sophie exclaimed. "We can set up something that appears to be a puzzle but is in truth a trap. Thade is so desperately obsessed with solving everything he won't know the difference."

"How exactly do we go about doing that?" Ilere asked dryly. "I know this is his domain so Thade will come, but how do we set up this trap before he does?"

"It's so simple!" Sophie said excitedly, her face lighting up as the solution came to her. "All we have to do is..."

"You mean, throw together a bunch of nonsense words?" asked Reginald.

"Something like that, yes!"

Ilere rolled her bright, perfect eyes. "That may not be as easy as you think," she observed. "A word can hide in an anagram the same way an anagram can hide a word. Magic can dwell in towns... towns can dwell in magic. How can you ensure that Eliv Thade will not find some meaning, some weakness, in this nonsense-puzzle you propose? Even one letter can have meaning. Even initials can symbolise something."

"That's what I mean," said Sophie impatiently. "Flangick bound the citizens of Neovia with their thoughts. They saw meanings that weren't there, so they enslaved themselves to those meanings. We can do the same with Eliv Thade. If we make him see meaning where there isn't any... if we make a bogus puzzle... he will be bound by his own mind."

"Ilere has a point, though," said Reginald worriedly, stirring uneasily under the gaze of Eliv Thade's portrait. "We might make a real puzzle by accident. We might awaken powers we don't know of... and then things will be worse."

The mansion whispered in the dimness, as though quietly echoing his concerns. Somewhere in unseen corners, books were shuffling, pages turning, concealing worlds and worlds of dangerous mysteries.

A clock ticked.

"Well, we can't just do nothing," the Swamp Witch spoke defiantly. "Time is running out. If we don't try, Neovia will be lost."

"But how -- where -- do we start?" asked Reginald.

Ilere stiffened suddenly. "The woods," she said. "The woods are moving. There are trees being uprooted, burned... by an angry mob. Magic is seeping away as we speak!"

"So we've got to act!" growled Sophie. "Reggie, go get me a Skeletal Bush. I'm going to try to make a bogus spell, a meaningless anagram."

Wordless with terror, the Lupe turned, rushed out of the mansion, and into the tangled undergrowth. Something whirled into his arms. It was the Meowclops. Startled, Reginald looked at Blink, and realised that the little Petpet had brought him a message, a crucial key to the solution...

Editor's Note: How do you want the story to end? Tell us!

Perhaps that was what they should do with the puzzle: instead of making it a convoluted thing, to entangle Eliv's mind, give it a single, obvious answer. An answer so clear and obvious, Eliv Thade simply would not believe that it could really be the answer! The villain would be forever trapped trying to solve a puzzle he had already solved!

Silently thanking the Meowclops for the insight, Reginald went to fetch the Skeletal Bush Sophie had asked for.

"Here, I have the bush," Reginald panted as he hurried back to the mansion. Blink had disappeared once more into the underbrush as soon as the Lupe had started heading back toward Eliv's mansion.

"About time!" Sophie snapped, taking it. "Now for the bogus spell..."

"Wait. I had a thought..." Reginald quickly explained his idea of creating not a nonsense anagram, but an anagram ridiculously easy.

"That's got to be the dumbest idea I ever heard... but maybe just crazy enough to work." Sophie looked thoughtful. "Hmm, yes... I think I know just the thing..."

"He approaches," Ilere hissed. "I can feel his presence drawing near. Perform your spell, witch, and quickly."

"Fine, fine..." Sophie waved her hands, and an emerald aura surrounded both her gloved hands and the leafy branch "hand" of the Skeletal Bush. The bush levitated off the ground, forming itself into a pointing hand, and began to write on the ground in sparkling green letters:

CIGAM

Just as the last letter appeared in place, Eliv Thade appeared, his red eyes glowing with malice.

"You dare disturb my abode!" cried the spectral Kacheek. "You shall pay... with your lives!"

"C'mon now," said Sophie, a wicked smile spreading across her face. "I thought you wanted to play a game. Anagrams are just your style, I'm told." She gestured at the ground where the letters softly glowed.

Eliv's eyes followed the gesture. "Yesss..." he said.

Reginald could hear his heart thumping hard. Would it work? Suddenly, his plan seemed much less clever than it had when he'd suggested it.

"C-I-G-A-M," read the Kacheek. "That's so easy it's an insult to a master of letters such as I. It's just 'magic' backwards..."

Reginald's heart sank. They had failed. The magic would fade from the Haunted Woods, and Neovia would fade in turn.

But then Eliv looked doubtfully up at Sophie. "But surely you knew that," he said. "You would know that such a puzzle would be all too simple... it is a trick. I can tell. There is some other meaning hidden behind the first, and I'll find it!"

The Kacheek looked back down, studying the anagram intently and muttering to himself. "IC GAM? A GIMC?"

Ilere blinked slowly. "The destruction slows. The mob's anger is flowing away, replaced by uncertainty."

Reginald shot another glimpse at Eliv Thade. He was too absorbed in the anagram to notice the faerie's words.

"They stop," Ilere continued. "No further damage is being done... what has been done already will take time to heal, but it is not irreversible." She nodded. "It is time to go."

This time it was the earth faerie who performed the teleportation spell, sending herself and the two Neopets back to Sophie's hut.

"Hey!" cried Sophie. "You didn't have to--"

Ilere looked at Sophie coldly, stopping the Ixi's words short. "We are now even. And now I must take my leave. There is damage to my forest that I must repair. Farewell."

With that, Ilere faded back into the darkness of the forest.

"You should head back home now, Reginald," said Sophie. "You'll have to explain what happened to all those villagers."

"Yeah." He paused. "It was nice seeing you again, Sophie."

"You too." Sophie nodded. "Maybe I'll come visit you sometime, but for now I have to find Blink... Goodbye."

And so Reginald set off for home, to explain the cause of all the turmoil that had wracked Neovia so recently.

As the Lupe walked back through the forest, his thoughts kept slipping back to a certain villain who was sitting back in his mansion, still puzzling over his anagram...

Eliv Thade had never wanted the magic of the Woods to fade; after all, he was a part of the magic!

But he was too well-known. No traveller had entered his domain for all too long, and no new riddles had presented themselves to him.

Simply put, he had grown bored. So he decided to set a plot into motion that would force those who would protect the Haunted Woods into action. They had not disappointed him.

For now he had a new puzzle to solve.

As he continued to rearrange the letters in his mind, Eliv smiled.

The End