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“And now we move on to the sad story of an acting career that crashed and burned before it even got off the ground,” Lucy said.

“This sad story features Otis, I assume,” Gabriel said.

Otis chortled at the sound of his name and waved his sparkly dust bunny.

“Yep,” Lucy said. “I have to accept some of the blame. I’m a failure as a dust bunny manager and as a wrangler.”

“What went wrong?” Gabriel asked.

“All Otis had to do for his screen test was carry a box of Ollie’s House of Pizza across the stage and give it to Veronica,” Lucy said. “Otis was very enthusiastic when he saw the box. But things got off to a bad start,because the pizza box was empty. The director explained the box was just a prop. Otis didn’t buy that story.”

“You can’t just offer a dust bunny an empty pizza box,” Veronica explained.

“What did Otis do?” Aiden asked.

“He growled, dropped the pizza box, stomped up and down on it a few times, and began to look annoyed,” Lucy said. “Never a good sign with a dust bunny. Everyone knows that by the time you see the teeth, it’s too late. There was panic on the set.”

“I was able to distract him with my handcuffs,” Veronica said, “but he was in no mood to deal with the director and the crew after that.”

“So the dust bunny is out of the picture?” Aiden asked.

“Well, yes and no,” Lucy said. “Otis started playing with Veronica’s handcuffs. The camera crew was able to get a lot of footage of him fluffed up, dashing around the stage and generally looking adorable while he tried to handcuff stuff. The director thinks he can work the scenes into the finished picture. They’ll use fake dust bunnies or computer-generated animation for the scenes where the actual videos won’t work.”

“Which brings us to another bit of news that falls into the ironic category,” Veronica said. “Guess who will supply the film company with the fake dust bunnies, get product placement, and also be licensed to sell dust bunny merch linked to the movie?”

“Storm Zone Adventure Tours?” Gabriel said.

Veronica uttered her smoky laugh. “Right first time.”

“We were told my former boss, Mr. Luxton, signed the contract first thing this morning,” Lucy said. “I’m sure he’s delighted. His tour business will boom when the movie comes out.”

Excitement lit Aiden’s eyes. “The beauty of this movie deal is that it will take the Guild’s image to a whole new level, Mr. Jones. It’s bound tostimulate tourism, which is the keystone to the local economy. Everyone in Illusion Town will benefit.”

“It wasn’t quite what I had in mind,” Gabriel said. “But I think you’re right. It will probably work.” He switched his attention back to Lucy and Veronica. “Where are you headed now?”

“Ollie’s House of Pizza,” Lucy said. “I told Otis that if he refrained from biting the director I would get him a real pizza.”

Chapter Forty-Six

Runner and a couple other members of the Dark Zone Delivery Service team brought their gleaming black bikes to a halt in front of the entrance to the Dead City. Runner stepped through the gate and whistled. Otis and several dust bunnies appeared immediately.

Runner and the team began unloading the pizzas. There was much gleeful chortling.

“Here you go, guys,” Runner said. “Fresh out of the oven. Cheese and olive, courtesy of the Illusion Town Guild.”

Ollie’s had recently ordered new boxes to update the restaurant’s image and take advantage of the windfall of publicity. The label readollie’s house of pizza. all four food groups in each delicious bite. featured in the movieguild boss.

Otis and his friends seized the pizza boxes, chortled thanks to the delivery team, and raced off into the Dead City to enjoy the feast. Laterthere would be games of hide-and-seek, followed by exchanges of interesting crystals and some hunting in the Rainforest.

The night was balmy, the desert sky was studded with stars, and the radiant ruins provided access to the endless mysteries of the Underworld. There were plenty of adventures ahead and an apparently endless supply of pizza. Life was good.