The seventh episode of the Children of the Red King series moves the main plot forward an inch amidst yet more scheming and attempted murder by the increasingly powerful supporters of evil Count Harken. Charlie passes repeatedly into a painting that transports him (once with a snake that renders him invisible) into the dismal land of Badlock; by the end he has done a good deed for a grieving giant but left friend and pivotal character Billy Raven in the oily Count's clutches