"Zann! Stop!"
A sudden blast of energy grabbed Zann's body, flinging him back.
He landed hard on the ground, several yards from the wormhole.
When he looked up, the wormhole was spinning shut.
A moment later Boz was hauling him up by the arm. The old man's face was livid.
"What were you thinking?" Boz shouted, his long nose quivering with rage. "Have you gone mad, boy?"
"How did you—" Zann didn't get a chance to finish the question.
Boz snapped his fingers and zapped them both away.
They landed in Teplo's living room. "You got him in time!" Gliss cried. "Thank goodness!"
Zann ducked as Zing flew at him, blasting him with angry flames.
"Quit it," Zann muttered. Glancing around, he saw Perda, Darb, and Teplo staring at him. "What's going on?"
"Zing woke up and realized you were gone," Darb said.
"He freaked out and rushed to find me."
Zann scowled at the dragon. Then he realized what Darb had said.
"Wait," said Zann. "What do you mean, he rushed to find you? You were in the same room."
"Not exactly." Darb's face went red. "Um, I promised Gliss I'd meet her after midnight.
I guess I didn't notice you were gone when I woke up and sneaked out."
Zann looked at Gliss. She was blushing too.
"I had something important to tell him," she said. "I'm leaving First City tomorrow."
Zann just shrugged, thinking of what he'd overheard earlier.
He wasn't surprised that Gliss was leaving for Swamp Bottom tomorrow too.
Her parents and her uncle had been involved in the same meetings as Boz.
"Whatever you say," he said with a smirk.
"I think Darb would have figured out you'd left First City when he saw you in Swamp Bottom tomorrow with the rest of us."
"Huh?" Darb looked confused. "No, you don't understand.
Gliss isn't going back to Swamp Bottom.
She's going on an expedition to the Cave of the Unknown."
"What?" Zann whirled toward Gliss. "The Cave of the Unknown," he repeated.
"Are you serious? Why are you going there?"
The Cave of the Unknown was a remote and dangerous place.
Few people had seen it, and even fewer had survived to describe it.
Zann's parents were among those few. They had visited the Cave a couple of times, returning with many frightening stories about it.
Staring at the floor, Gliss shrugged. "My parents are making me go."
Zann hardly heard her. He was still thinking about all the stories he'd heard during his childhood.
"My parents said the Cave of the Unknown is huge and really spooky, with countless tunnels and chambers," he said.
"The whole place is littered with ancient relics and manuscripts from the Old Times and stuff."
"Yeah. Like the relics and texts Morb used to try to take over Magica," Perda said with a shudder.
"Exactly. That's why the Red Council decided it's time to seal the place off," Teplo put in.
"Until now they've relied on the Cave's reputation to keep people away.
But after Morb's recent adventures, they don't want anyone else coming along and trying the same thing.
The Council is sending an expedition to seal it off so the relics can't be removed."
Boz didn't seem to be paying much attention to the conversation.
His nose quivering wildly, he was still glaring at Zann.
Zann recognized that look. It meant his grandfather was thinking hard.
He was probably trying to come up with the perfect way to punish Zann for sneaking out tonight.
Boz spoke out at last. "Enough about the expedition.
We were discussing Zann's outrageous behavior."
Zann cringed. Then he looked over at Darb.
"So you saw I was missing and ran to tell Boz?" he asked.
"I never thought you were the type to tell on your friends."
"That's not what happened," Gliss said.
"When Darb and I realized you were missing, we checked with Perda.
She didn't know where you were, but she tried all your passwords and was eventually able to make your note appear."
"I can't believe you didn't tell me you were going, Zann," Perda added.
Her eyes flashed with anger, and her voice was cool and unfriendly.
Zann hated having her look at him that way.
He wished he could make her understand why he'd tried to go through the wormhole without telling his friends.
But he wasn't sure how to communicate that.
"Gliss came to us right away, thank goodness," Teplo said.
"Since we knew you wouldn't be able to reach the palace wormhole, Boz guessed you might try the one in Wormwood."
Zann glared at Gliss. "You ratted me out? I thought we were friends!"
"We are," Gliss said, looking hurt. "I was trying to help you."
"Help me?" Zann gritted his teeth, furious.
"I helped you to reunite with your parents, remember?
All you did tonight was stop me from doing the same thing!"
"No," Darb said. "She stopped you from disappearing forever."
"That's right, Zann." Boz sounded disapproving. He glanced at Teplo.
"I'm starting to think it's a mistake to let Zann come along when we leave tomorrow."
"You mean you might not take me back to Swamp Bottom?"
Zann rolled his eyes. That didn't sound like much of a punishment to him.
"Swamp Bottom? Who's going to Swamp Bottom?" Boz asked.
"We are," Zann said. "I heard you two talking about it earlier. You said we leave tomorrow afternoon."
"Yes, we do," Teplo said. "But not for Swamp Bottom.
Your grandfather and I are part of the expedition Gliss mentioned.
That means you're part of it too."
Boz nodded. "That's right, Zann. You're going to the Cave of the Unknown."