At the sight of the trolls, Zann grabbed Zing and zapped away.
He landed near Wormwood, which reminded him of Wyssa.
They needed to find her; she might be the only person who was powerful enough to stop Morb.
There was a flash as Perda, Darb, and Gliss zapped into view.
"Good!" Zann said. "I didn't know if you guys would get out of there."
He looked around. "Where's Mari?"
Perda shook her head. "She zapped out on her own.
I barely had time to grab Darb and Gliss before zapping out of the lab."
"How'd you find me so fast?" Zann asked.
Perda grinned. "I learned a new spell."
"Is it some sort of Tracking spell?" Zann was intrigued.
"It's called a Uniting spell," Perda said.
"I read about it in a book about magic from other worlds.
The spell can only be used to find someone who wants to be found."
"Can you use the spell to find Wyssa?" Zann asked.
Perda shrugged. "I can try."
She rubbed her hands against her forehead and closed her eyes.
Then she muttered a few words that Zann couldn't hear.
Perda opened her eyes and looked around. "Sorry, it's not working."
"I guess Wyssa doesn't want to be found," Darb said.
Zann sighed. "We need to find her."
Gliss glanced around.
"We're pretty close to Wormwood. Maybe someone there has seen her."
"Let's go," Zann said.
When they arrived at Wormwood, a familiar voice called out.
"Don't bother walking any farther!" It was Hap.
Zann stopped. "Why not?"
"You can't get in." Hap waved a hand toward the collection of huts.
"Someone put a spell over the whole place.
I can't even get in to check on my valuables!"
"Why would someone put a spell over Wormwood?" Perda asked.
"I don't know," Hap grumbled.
Zann took another step forward. He couldn't see any sort of Shield.
Suddenly his leg became stuck.
"Hey!" Zann cried. It felt as if he'd stepped into a wall of gooey glowberry pudding.
"What's wrong?" Perda rushed forward and then stopped.
"Ack! I'm stuck too!"
"Pull us out!" Zann called to Gliss and Darb.
"Don't come too close though."
"I warned you," Hap said once Zann and Perda were freed.
Zann rubbed his leg, which still felt sticky.
"What a weird spell."
"I already sent a message moth to Laddno to alert him." Hap chuckled.
"He'll be our king soon. He might as well get to work now, right?"
"Do you really think he'll win the election?" Zann asked.
Hap shrugged. "I don't know.
But I hear he's going to bring in extra magic energy.
Soon we'll all have enough magic to create our own palaces!"
"Is Laddno really telling people that?" Gliss asked. "I doubt it's true."
"Never mind." Zann tugged on her arm. "Let's go."
It was starting to get dark, so the kids returned to Teplo's place.
Fala was waiting for them.
"Good news," she said. "Many people think Venna will win the vote easily tomorrow."
Gliss smiled. "Once Venna is queen, she's sure to release the prisoners."
"And then she can help us figure out what to do about Morb," Perda said.
"Right," Fala said. "Now let's all get some rest, and we'll deal with everything else tomorrow."
The next day the kids came out of the hatch and found a large, multicolored toad waiting for them.
"Vote! Vote!" it croaked loudly.
"We know," Zann said with a smile.
He touched the toad on the head, and his fingers tingled.
A second later the toad spit out a voting ballot with Zann's name on it.
Zann picked it up and magically inscribed "Venna" on it.
Then he tossed it to the toad, which caught it on its long tongue and gulped it down.
One by one, Zann's friends and Fala cast their votes the same way.
Vote toads had been in charge of elections ever since Zann could remember.
Up and down the street, he could see other people voting through other toads.
Once every vote in Magica had been swallowed, the toads would gather in the palace square to present the results.
"What should we do for the rest of the day?" Gliss said as the toad hopped off in search of more voters.
Perda shrugged. "Let's look for Wyssa again."
They spent the next few hours wandering around the city.
Vote toads were everywhere, and so were voters.
Everyone seemed excited that the election was here at last.
Eventually the kids wandered past the palace square.
There were no trolls in sight at the moment.
Only one vote toad was there, accepting votes from several palace workers.
Then the door opened and Laddno hurried out, flanked by a pair of trolls.
"I'd like to vote, please!" he announced loudly, pushing past a woman who was about to touch the toad.
The toad croaked, casting a wary eye toward the trolls.
Laddno patted the toad on the head.
He wrote on his ballot in large, glowing letters.
Then he tossed it back to the toad, which gulped it quickly.
"Thank you!" Laddno glanced around at the palace workers as if he expected applause.
When nobody said anything, he frowned and went back into the palace.
The trolls remained in the square.
"Let's get out of here," Zann whispered.
"We haven't found Wyssa, so let's go to Venna's campaign headquarters to hear the election results."
Later they waited with Fala, Venna, Maff, and various other adults.
Finally a glowing image of a vote toad appeared in the sky.
The toad's tongue flicked out, inscribing a number beside a picture of Venna and another number beside a picture of Laddno.
A gasp went up from the crowd. Laddno had won!