"Zing, stop that!" a voice cried from the darkness.
A light flared. Gasping in pain, Zann dropped to the floor.
Zing flew around his head, whistling irritably.
"Sorry about that." Saffa hurried forward and touched Zann's arm, instantly healing the burns.
"He's been a little excitable ever since we brought him down here."
"Sorry you got burned, Zann." Teplo's assistant, Fala, stepped into view behind Saffa.
"We zapped your dragon here as soon as we realized you kids had disappeared."
"That's okay. I'm used to getting burned." Zann scratched Zing on the head.
Then he looked up. His friends were peering down anxiously.
"It's okay!" he called. "I'm fine."
Once the others were inside, Fala closed the hatch with a snap of her fingers.
"I'm glad you're here," Saffa told the kids.
She chuckled as Zing snuggled up to Darb. "I think Zing's glad too."
"Thanks." Zann eyed Teplo's sniffer goose, which had just waddled into sight. "Teplo sent us."
"Are the prisoners okay?" Fala asked.
"They seem to be," Gliss said. "My uncle is with them now too."
"Oh dear." Saffa shook her head.
"It seems as if anyone who was close to Boz or Zann's parents is being taken into custody.
Fala and I were afraid we'd be next on the list. That's why we went into hiding.
I'm just glad my husband is traveling far from First City right now."
"Is Venna in the dungeon?" Fala asked.
"No, we didn't see her there," Perda replied.
"Good." Saffa paced around the small room. "Let's hope it stays that way."
"She said she had an alibi for the time when the relics went missing," Zann said.
Saffa nodded. "That may be true. But this situation seems to be about more than the missing relics."
"What do you mean?" Darb asked.
"Who's ordering the guards to take all those prisoners?"
"We have no idea," Fala said. "That's what troubles us the most."
"We might know," Gliss blurted out.
"I hope we're wrong. But we need to tell you something."
"What is it?" Saffa asked.
The kids explained what had happened with Morb.
"Uh-oh," Fala muttered. "This is bad."
"Do you think Morb could be imprisoning Reds again?" Gliss asked.
"I doubt it," Saffa said. "Reds were already being imprisoned before Morb escaped from you."
She started pacing again. "But he's no doubt up to something."
"Yes." Fala sounded grim. "And Magica is extremely weak right now with all the political turmoil.
If Morb shows up, he'll have a good chance of carrying out his evil plans—whatever they are."
"He probably wants to take over Magica again," Perda said.
Gliss shuddered. "Or destroy it!"
Saffa hardly seemed to hear them.
"We need to find out if he's back in Magica yet."
She snapped her fingers, and the Directory appeared. "Morb!" she said.
The Directory showed Morb's page. It hadn't been updated since Wyssa had taken him away several months earlier.
"Hmm." Fala scanned the entry. "That's good. But we shouldn't be too happy.
Morb might have tampered with his entry somehow."
"That sounds like something he'd do," Perda said.
"Maybe he put a Disguising spell on himself so the Directory didn't recognize him when he returned to Magica.
Or maybe he put a spell on the Directory itself, so it couldn't update his entry.
A Dousing spell might work for that."
"If we don't trust the Directory, how can we find out if Morb is here?" Zann said.
"Let's do a Tracking spell." Saffa glanced at Fala.
"Do we have access to anything Morb owned?"
Fala nodded. After digging through a drawer for a moment, she pulled out a ring with a glowing stone.
"What's that?" Zann asked.
"It's from another world. After Morb's first defeat, the Magic Masters searched his lair.
Teplo found this and decided to keep it as a souvenir."
"Perfect," Saffa said. "We can use it as our focusing object."
"Oh, I've read about this kind of Tracking spell!" Perda looked excited.
"If you have an object that belongs to someone, you can use it to draw you toward that person."
"I thought using magic to track other people was illegal." Gliss sounded worried.
"It is," Saffa said. "But this is more important than any law."
Zann nodded. "If Morb is back in Magica, we need to know. Let's do it!"
He and his friends watched while Saffa and Fala prepared the spell, creating a mixture of powders and liquids.
"That looks like one of Wyssa's potions," Perda whispered to Zann.
Soon the potion was ready. Saffa carefully dipped the ring in it.
"Now the ring will pull us toward its owner," Saffa told the kids. "In this case, Morb."
Fala snapped her fingers; the hatch popped open.
Saffa glanced at the kids. "You kids should stay here. It'll be safer."
"No way!" Zann said. "We were the ones who released Morb."
"By accident," Gliss mumbled.
Zann nodded. "By accident. But we still want to help find him."
"And stop him!" Perda added.
Saffa eyed them for a moment and then nodded.
"All right. But let's leave the dragon and the goose here. They'll only attract attention."
"Sorry, little buddy," Zann said as Zing tried to follow them. "You need to stay here."
Once outside, the group walked along, following the pull of the ring.
The object led them out of Teplo's neighborhood, across the river, and along several winding streets. Soon they were in Wormwood.
Fala looked around. "Maybe Morb is here trying to procure some magic items from the locals."
But the ring didn't lead toward any of the huts.
Instead it pulled them straight to the Wormwood wormhole!