Page 6 of The Princess of Portals

“Except the cat,” Dante said, amused. “And you have more than just a little curiosity, Savannah. Just like a cat.”

That’s what our mother always said about me, that I was just like a cat: curious, independent, impulsive, and always getting myself into trouble. Well, I couldn’t change who I was. And I didn’t want to either.

“I actually like helping people, Dante. It’s wonderfully empowering. I love the feeling that I’ve changed someone’s life for the better.”

Dante managed to sigh and laugh at the same time. “You just can’t help yourself, Savi.”

“We all have our special talents, bro. Not everyone can spin a basketball on their finger.”

Dante chuckled again, then looked at the photograph I’d set on the table. We all looked at it. Yara’s father looked back at us. There was something very tense—and very tired—about his demeanor. The spark of panic in his eyes. The heavy slouch of his shoulders. The smear of dirt on his cheek. Either the photographer had caught Ren on a very bad day, or coming back from the dead wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.

“What happened to you?” I asked the man in the photograph. “And what are you doing here?”

“He appears to be shopping.” Dante indicated the canvas shopping bags slung over Ren’s shoulder.

“Yeah. But why here? Why come to Gaia?”

Dante shrugged. “You’d have to ask him.”

“I have to find him first. Somehow. I asked around the Magic Emporium. No one’s seen him.”

“Whoever took this photo saw him,” Ansel pointed out. “There are cameras everywhere in the Fortress.”

“Most of them belong to the Watchers,” Nevada said.

“Right,” said Ansel. “The Watchers’ cameras are everywhere. Surely, one of those cameras caught a glimpse of him. You could ask the Watchers to run his picture through their security system and see if anything pops up.”

It was a good plan, except for one tiny little thing.

“Yeah, so, I’m not very popular with the Watchers. I can’t just stroll up to the Black Obelisk and ask them to hand over their security camera footage.”

“Why ask at all?” Dante said. “Just do what you always do, Sav: break into the Black Obelisk.”

At that, everyone laughed.

I gave my brother a tight smile. “Very funny. But that simply isn’t an option, even if I wanted to risk it. The security at the Black Obelisk is tighter than ever before. I guess I broke into it one time too many. There are layers upon layers upon layers of security wrapped around the building. We’re talking both magical and mundane security. The General is highly paranoid, and I’m definitely on his blacklist. If I get caught…”

“Don’t sweat it. Ansel can break through any security system, no problem.” Dante gave Ansel a hardy pat on the shoulder. “Right, Ansel?”

“No chance.” Ansel folded his hands together, looking very serene for someone who’d just labeled my Quest completely hopeless. “Altair told me about the security on the Black Obelisk. Apparently, the General consulted Daykan, the most famous Alchemist in all the Many Realms, on its magical defenses. I can’t break through that. Daykan is a genius. His defenses are way out of my league. I doubt any of the Knights could break through them either.”

So where did that leave me? With a disappointed teenage girl still missing her father. That’s where.

“I heard what you’re trying to do, Savannah.”

Dutch joined us at our table. That elicited a frown from Ansel. The two of them had gotten off to a rough start, and Ansel didn’t much care for Dutch. I totally got it. My teammate came across as a brute, but if you dug deeper, there was something more there. I was still trying to figure out exactly what that something was.

“It’s very noble.”

Wait, did Dutch just pay me a compliment?

“Did you try talking to the vendors in the Magic Emporium?”

“Yes,” I said. “No one knows where he is.”

“You mean no one admitted to knowing where he is. That doesn’t mean no one knows where he is.”

I followed Dutch down that path of reasoning.