Page 85 of The Princess of Portals

“Leave it be, Savannah,” she begged me. “The past needs to stay in the past. If you start digging, you won’t like what you find.”

Ok, that made me curious, but I couldn’t let myself get distracted by whatever weird stuff my subconscious was worrying about. I had a Quest to complete.

“Bye, Mom. See you soon.”

I kept walking. The field of flowers faded away. The sounds of battle faded in. I was back in front of the red door. It swung open before me. I ran up the stairs, making my way up to the roof of the Monolith. Footsteps echoed below me. The agents had finally decided I was a threat.

One of them was a teleporter. I saw his outline forming in front of me. He was mid-teleport. I had to move fast. I cast a spell, coating the ground with ice as I slid. I ducked left, skidded past the agent, and came to a stop at the center of the roof terrace. The agent spun around and sprinted toward me, the ice melting beneath his boots.

“Too late,” I told him.

I opened the Remembrance Orb. Warm golden light poured out of it. A song poured out of it too, melodic and beautiful, like mermaids singing. The strands of the spell wove together, encasing me in a sphere of light. The air grew heavy, saturated with magic. Pressure built up inside of the spell, like a balloon filled to the bursting point. The agent watched the sphere, his eyes growing wide.

“Now,” I said.

A moment of stillness preceded the explosion, then energy—beautiful, powerful energy—shot out of the orb. The golden veil around me burst, drenching the Monolith.

I went back down the stairs. Down below, the battle was over. The agents were no longer fighting Scorpio. The Monolith was quiet. We’d won. I saw it in the agents’ eyes. They’d woken up. Nash untied Capricorn. Antares helped Scorpio to his feet.

Capricorn set her arms criss-cross over her chest and bowed her head to me. “Thank you, Savannah. You did it. You returned the Lost Spirits’ memories to them. They are their true selves again.”

“I’m happy it worked out for everyone…”

I stopped. Everyone wasn’t here. Kato and Conner were missing. They’d never met up with us again. Where could they be? They should have been here by now.

CHAPTER 6

WRECKAGE

Ihopped on the magic elevator, taking it all the way to the bottom of the Monolith. From there, I ran. I ran and I ran and I ran, retracing my steps all the way back to where I’d last seen Conner and Kato. I spotted the room Capricorn had directed them to earlier. I’d expected a meeting room or some other small room. What I found was a cafeteria.

Or at least what was left of a cafeteria. The damage was extensive. Toppled chairs were everywhere. Tables lay in pieces on the floor. Many of the large, glossy marble floor tiles were cracked. The windows were cracked too. So were most of the glass display cases in front of the serving kitchen. And a metal fuse box on the wall. I didn’t even know those could crack.

Plates were shattered. Cups were broken. Cutlery was scattered everywhere. The menu board dangled precariously from one steel cable, groaning as it swung slowly from side to side.

Kato and Conner were leaning against a refrigerator that was, miraculously, still standing. I hurried over to them.

“What happened here?” I asked them.

They both stared at me, their eyes wide. They looked so confused.

“He found us.”

“He? He who?” And then I realized what Kato was talking about. “The Masked Metamorph. Where is he?”

“Gone,” Kato told me.

“We fought him off,” Conner said. “Then he left.”

I breathed a sigh of relief.

Kato blinked, rubbing his head.

“Are you hurt?” I asked him.

“No.”

He was sure acting like he’d hit his head. They both were. But at least the black lines on Kato’s skin had faded. Conner must have managed to heal him before the Masked Metamorph had attacked them.