In the second half of the book, the brunt of Ombra’s evil hits Stonehaven. Each of these deeds of evil are little tests for Bentley to see how strong he really is. At this point in the book, I feel that both Bentley and Ombra are scared of the other. However, Bentley has the side of Dr. Kreistein who explains to Bentley how he must act and when he is being silly. He also tries to find Bentley’s greatest fear which is what Ombra will use to fight him.

People in town start to change. Charley Feavy, the owner of a run-down hotel, was told by Ombra to kill Bentley. This shows how Ombra was afraid of Bentley and worried about fighting him himself. Ombra was also worried about the doctor. Whenever Ombra got Bentley into a frenzy, the doctor would find a way to calm him down. Not only did Ombra try to kill Bentley, but he also wanted the doctor killed. The doctor was not an easily tricked person however.

Bentley finds the stone that all other heroes carried. This meant that he would fight Ombra soon. Ombra knew that the stone was important and he controlled the mind of the house maid to take the stone out to the forest. There she was killed and the stone taken away.

In Bentley’s search for the stone, it showed how courageous he was. A search was put out for him, but he kept running to the place where he knew the stone was at. Even after Charlie Feavy had tried to kill him, Bentley kept on searching. When he was tired and exhausted, Bentley almost lost hope. Ombra began tempting him again. Bentley began talking to his mother who was in heaven. He gained enough courage to overcome his fears and went to get the stone.

After Bentley finally apprehended the stone he was ready to fight Ombra. Ombra had used every trick he knew against Bentley and he knew that the time had come to fight Bentley.

When the moment of truth came, Bentley knew that whatever Ombra looked like would be his worst fear. Ombra took the form of Bentley, but not Bentley the child, Bentley the adult. Bentley was afraid of growing up. Ombra explained to Bentley that everything he dreamed about wouldn’t come true and that it was all just in a child’s mind. Bentley almost lost hope looking at the person who he would be. But then Bentley saw his cabin angel and everything he had learned from Dr. Kreistein and his own courage came to him. In a last effort Bentley threw the stone at Ombra and killed him.

This book showed how Bentley, an ordinary boy, could take on a power so great that it could start every evil thing in the world. Through out the book, Bentley learns to cope with his fears and in the end defeats the evil with his courage.