They walked in silence for a while, the only sound the quiet crunch of their steps on seashell-studded stone. Lanterns swayed on the balconies of the palace ahead, casting soft golden glows across the carved stone.
Phoenix glanced sideways at him. “You’ve changed, you know.”
He looked over at her, eyebrows raised. “Yeah?”
She nodded. “You… seem different. Stronger. Like the Zohar I always knew you’d become.”
His cheeks flushed. “You really think so?”
“I do.”
A shadow passed over Zohar’s features, and she saw the doubt flicker in his eyes again.
“Don’t lose that, Zohar,” she said gently. “Whatever else happens, remember who you are becoming. That’s what matters. Not just the mistakes or the fear… but the choice to keep going.”
“When did you get so smart?” he teased.
Phoenix laughed and knocked into him.
She looked up at the soaring towers of the palace gleaming under the moonlight—and then at Zohar. He wasn’t quite a boy anymore.
And for the first time since falling through the portal, she didn’t feel broken or lost.
Hope filled her instead.
Phoenix squeezed his hand. “You know, we’re the Dragonlings: we do stupid things, go on marvelous adventures, but we always stick together. If we had never come here, I wouldn’t have known who or what I was meant to be.”
Zohar frowned down at her. “What do you mean? You’re Phoenix. Who else could you be?”
Phoenix gave him a crooked smile. “You know those superheroes Aunt Cara likes to tell us about?”
“Yeah, what about them?”
“Well, I might have a little bit in common with them,” Phoenix said, threading her arm through his as they turned toward the glowing palace.
Zohar released a long sigh. “We may need those superpowers to help us find the others. I hope the rest of the gang are okay.”
Phoenix squeezed his arm. “Me too. I have to believe they are.” She shook her head and snorted out a rueful laugh. “I don’t know where Jabir, Amber, and Jade may have landed, but they were having a good time in spite of the portal going cockeyed.”
Zohar chuckled. “Well, I hope wherever Alice and Adaline landed, they are happy. I know Alice really wanted to see mermaids. She’s going to be so jealous that I got to meet them instead.”
“Let’s hope that she doesn’t land on the Isle of the Monsters. That would really freak her out,” Phoenix murmured as they continued toward the palace.
“Yeah. I think the only other place she might like is the Isle of Magic.”
Phoenix chuckled. “She might actually be bored there.”
“Yeah. A whole different world across the universe and she lands where she can do the same things they can? What are the odds?” he replied with a laugh.
“Hey, guys! Mom made pizza for dinner!” Dolph called.
“Thank you, Goddess! I’m starving!” Zohar groaned as his dragon growled with delight. Grinning, he grabbed Phoenix’s hand and pulled her behind him, their laughter trailing down the path like starlight on waves.
Chapter Eighteen
“Yuck! Yuck! This is so gross! Get off of me already!” Alice shrieked as another nearly invisible spider web snapped across her face like a sticky net made of living silk.
She stumbled back, flailing and muttering dire threats under her breath. “Oh no. Nope. I’m done. I am so done. This is Bálint or Jabir’s thing. Not mine. If one of those creepy little things touches me, I swear I’ll set the entire forest on fire!”
