They found the rest of the wizards waiting on the perfectly paved black street. Nitara waltzed down the golden stairs and when her feet touched the blue-tiled walkway, she spun in a circle, laughing.

"This is the entrance to our apartment?" she asked as she spun.

At the top of the stairs, Justin and Niraj stood watching the dazzling girl.

"Yes, it's my brother's imagining of India," Justin replied. Their hand tucked into their robe pocket and touched the wooden Jack-in-the-box.

"We really are royalty," said Niraj, and he waltzed down the golden steps, following his sister.

Justin looked back at the golden door bordered by peacock feather tiles. They recalled the frightened wizard who had stepped through that door. They had been afraid of the unknown and afraid of who they were. Now? They were Justin, a wizard who wasn't afraid to open doors and step through. Turning away, they broke into a jog to catch up to the others who were gazing around at all the strange houses.

"Those lead to other wizards?" Bastian asked as Justin approached.

"Yes," Justin replied.

"Children who could be in danger like we were."

Justin did not respond. They were the only person who could open those doors. Had they been gone too long? As if reading their mind, Nitara ran towards a large six-story decaying home to the right of the cactus garden home. The house appeared to be sinking. Even the faded blue front door stood several inches below the ground.

"Nitara," said Justin, "I don't know if we can trust Naldo. He lied about my brother."

Nitara nodded. "But we also can't wait any longer."

Justin agreed. Closing their eyes, the mighty wizard commanded the door to open. Upon their touch, the door swung in.

Justin took a step directly into a golden bathtub. Looking behind them, they realized the door was part of the bathtub and part of the wall. He stepped out of the bathtub onto a black marble floor.

"Hello?" Justin called out.

"Ciao?" a voice called slowly back.

"Cool!" said Niraj, stepping into the bathtub.

"Okay," said Justin, turning back to the rest of the group. "I think everyone else should stay outside, let's not overwhelm the kid."

Bastian nodded and grabbed Itai's hand, pulling him away from the door before he could enter.

Looking back into the room, Justin saw the face of a tall boy peek around the corner of the doorway opposite them. The boy's eyes locked onto Justin's, and he screamed and disappeared.

"It's okay!" said Justin, and they walked slowly from the bathroom into one of the coolest rooms they had ever seen.

Instead of curtains, hundreds of Christmas lights hung from a four-poster bed, blinking at random. Everywhere Justin looked, there seemed to be a scene from a book or movie playing out in real-time. A massive Lego King Kong hung from a Lego tower, looming over an entire city made of Legos. In the other corner, toy fish and seaweed made of cloth hung from the wall, giving off the feeling of being underwater. In the far corner stood a massive wood barn that Justin could crawl into. A Lego velociraptor taller than Justin stood outside the barn protecting it.

"Hello?" Justin called out again.

"Awesome," Niraj whispered as he and Nitara stepped into the room.

"We aren't here to hurt you," soothed Justin. "We want to help. I think you might be a wizard like we are. Do you have a special ability? I can open doors to places that are on the other side of the world. Nitara can fly and Niraj..."

A loud crash cut them off. They looked over to see Niraj standing in the middle of the Lego city, the tower with King Kong now a thousand pieces on the floor.

"Niraj, don't touch that!" Nitara shouted, catching Niraj standing motionless with his pointer finger stuck out and his eyes wide.

"Well, besides being a major klutz," Justin continued, "he can hold his breath underwater and even become water."

"Sometimes," Niraj added.

A cough echoed from the toy barn. Justin stepped closer.

"There are adults who want to take your magic for themselves."

The velociraptor blinked, and Justin did a double take. Did they actually see the Lego velociraptor blink? The velociraptor moved its head and lunged forward, biting at Justin with Lego teeth.

"Stay back!" roared the toy creature in a gruff, masculine American voice.

Justin backed away to Nitara's side. Niraj ran from the Lego city to join them.

"You will not take away our magic!" said the velociraptor as it whipped its tail back and forth.

A sigh came from the barn. "They will not take our magic. They already have their own magic like the boy said," said a feminine American voice with a country twang.

Justin's heart clenched at the sound of the word boy. But they did not have time to examine the feeling as the voice changed languages. "Niccolo, va tutto bene, possiamo uscire."

The velociraptor growled in a very non-velociraptor way and took a wobbly step closer to Justin, Nitara, and Niraj. In unison, they all took a step back. The door to the barn opened and the face, who had peeked into the bathroom, peered out.

He was definitely older than Justin. Blotchy pimples covered his forehead and cheeks. He crawled out of the barn and stood. At least 6 feet tall, with gangly legs and arms, Justin gazed up to look into his eyes. In one hand, the boy held onto the stick portion of a black tattered stick horse. The horse head had seen better days. The reigns were broken on one side, dangling from the mouth, and one horse ear no longer stayed up.

The stick horse moved its mouth. Next to Justin, Nitara jumped.

"Um hello," said the horse in that feminine country voice, "this boy is Niccolo. He doesn't speak much English, but I do. Legolas, back away. You have frightened the children enough."

The Lego velociraptor grumbled and the Lego pieces rearranged themselves until a gray-suited race car driver in a gray race car helmet stood before them. The visor was down and they could not see its face. The race car driver pointed at Justin. "One wrong move and I can eat you."

"No, no, he can't," said the horse.

"How?" asked Nitara.

Niccolo raised a hand, waved, and smiled, revealing braces.

"Magic," he said.

"Niccolo can make inanimate objects come to life," said the horse. "When he was only five, he made me come to life. I am Thunderbolt, by the way."

"Justin," said Justin, raising their hand.

"Nitara," said Nitara, also raising her hand.

"Niraj," said Niraj, and he mimicked the first two.

Niccolo smiled at each of them.

"When I was made," said Thunderbolt, "we thought it was a one-time deal. A miracle. We didn't realize it was Niccolo who had done it. Then he created Legolas a year ago, and we knew he had done it."

The Lego racecar driver raised a gray gloved Lego hand and waved. "Get it?" he asked.

"Get what?" asked Nitara.

The Lego man bent at the waist and sighed.

"My name? Lego... las... Legolas. It's funny."

"But you're not even an elf," said Justin.

"See, it's not funny Legolas," said Thunderbolt.

Legolas turned toward Niccolo and Thunderbolt. "They are children, they don't understand." He turned back to Justin. "Elf? No, you see in Spanish las is a plural of the. I am the Legos. I am made of Legos. See?"

Silence ensued, and then Niraj broke out into laughter.

"Thank God," said Legolas, "there is a smart one."

"So where are we?" asked Nitara.

"Venice," said Niccolo. Still holding onto Thunderbolt, he stepped over to a pair of thick red curtains and pulled them open.

"I don't think this is a good idea, Niccolo," said Thunderbolt.

Justin, Nitara, and Niraj approached the window.

"Whoa," they said in unison.

A wide canal spread out below them, with old grand buildings towering on each side. Water flowed slowly past below. The building they were in sat on some sort of bridge with water flowing beneath. A large wooden canoe-like boat appeared below with a man holding onto a large pole to push the boat along.

"Okay, I think that's enough. Chiudi le tende Niccolo," said Thunderbolt.

Niccolo pulled the curtains tightly shut.

"So how is it you and Legolas can speak better English than Niccolo?" Justin asked.

"It's how he imagined us," said Thunderbolt. "At five he was obsessed with the wild West and imagined I was an American wild horse who could talk. I had to learn Italian on my own. Those were some very confusing first years."

"He imagined me," said Legolas pointing at himself, "as a legendary American racecar driver. Lucky for me, I am made of Legos and don't have to keep my racecar driver shape. See?"

The Legos on Legolas's face rearranged themselves until the head of a gray dog appeared.

"Cool huh?" he said through a gray dog mouth. "Unfortunately, I am made only of gray, white, and black Legos, so it's a little restricting on the imagination."

"That's creepy," said Thunderbolt.

"I also speak very little Italian, as I've only been alive a year."

Legolas replaced the dog head with that of the racecar driver again.

"I'm sorry," said Justin, "but we are in a bit of a hurry. These adults that take children's magic, called trackers, could come here any minute. They could also steal other children we must try to save."

Niccolo nodded. "I have seen these adults."

"There has been a man sitting in a boat outside in the canal the past few days," said Thunderbolt.

Legolas transformed back into the velociraptor and growled, more like a dog than a dinosaur.

"And that greasy weasel man who works for the government and wanted to see your room has to be one too," he said.

Thunderbolt nodded. "He tried asking Niccolo strange questions about when he plays and then he wanted to watch Niccolo play. He may have seen Legolas move."

"May have?" asked Legolas, his dinosaur tail twitched back and forth, knocking a Lego bridge over behind him.

Niraj and Niccolo laughed and then smiled at one another.

"I had to sneeze," said Legolas, "we are not like those Toy Story toys. We can't become inanimate. We are alive."

"Where is this safe place?" asked Thunderbolt.

"It's in Cambria, California," replied Justin, "but just through a magic door in the bathroom. There is a castle that can keep unwanted people out. It was built to protect wizards."

A loud doorbell sound rang through the house. Niccolo jumped and ran to the door. On a small screen next to the door, he pressed a button and a video display appeared, showing a man standing at the front door.

"Oh, no!" gasped Thunderbolt. "That's him, the weasel man!"

The weasel man wore a trench coat and styled his long brown hair slicked back with grease. He looked at the camera with twitchy little eyes, and a pointed nose and chin. Then, the man opened the door and entered the house.

Legolas growled at the screen. "He can't just come in here! That door was locked!"

"Niccolo!" a man's voice called from downstairs.

Niccolo's eyes went wide, and he clutched Thunderbolt with both hands.

"Okay," said Thunderbolt, "we will come with you."

Niccolo nodded.

"You should leave a message for your parents," said Justin.

A frown crossed Niccolo's face.

"Si, Niccolo," said Thunderbolt, "a loro importa di te. Dovresti scrivere qualcosa."

Niccolo rolled his eyes and held out Thunderbolt to Legolas. Thunderbolt frowned.

"Do not hold me in your teeth."

Transforming back into a racecar driver, Legolas grabbed Thunderbolt and said, "I wouldn't dare, you would taste awful."

"You can't taste."

Niccolo hurriedly grabbed a pen and paper from a small school-type desk and wrote something that Justin could sort of understand, as they knew a little Spanish. It said something about hiding from his dad's boss. Will be safe, will contact when he can.

"Hide it somewhere the weasel man won't find," said Justin

Footsteps echoed outside the door.

Racing to the four-poster bed, Niccolo stuffed the paper underneath his pillow.

"Let's go!" said Nitara as she led everyone back into the bathroom.

Niccolo closed the door to the bathroom as the weasel man entered his room.

"Niccolo?" came the man's voice. "So che sei qui?"

They all scrambled through the door in the bathtub. Legolas and Thunderbolt came last. Legolas slipped getting into the tub, making a loud clinking noise. Justin watched as the man yanked open the bathroom door and stepped in. His mouth fell open as he saw a man made of Legos carrying a stick horse through a door made of half the wall and half the bathtub. The man's eyes locked on Justin.

"Tu chi sei?" asked the man.

"No one," Justin responded, and they slammed the door shut.