"Can you show us Morb's contraption?" Venna asked the queen.
"I'm not sure exactly where it is," the queen replied.
"But now I understand why Morb forced me to tell him where he could find the Magica wormholes.
We'll probably find the contraption near one of them."
"You know how to find the wormholes leading to Magica?" Perda asked.
"As the ruler of this world, I'm the only one who knows the location of every wormhole."
The tiny queen stretched proudly to her full height.
"I'm also the only one with the power to instantly summon every wormhole in Rood to me."
"Really?" Gliss exclaimed. "Can you do that now? Summon all the Magica wormholes?
Then Morb can't do whatever horrible thing he's planning to do!"
The queen smiled faintly. "I'm afraid it doesn't work that way.
I can't summon individual wormholes. Only all of them at once.
We would be overwhelmed by every wormhole to every world there is."
"Oh." Perda sounded disappointed. "Too bad."
Zann felt impatient. "Then how are we going to get to wherever Morb's new contraption is?"
"Follow me," said the queen.
She started down the hallway. Zann and the others followed.
"There are multiple wormholes to Magica," Zann said.
"How do you know which one Morb will be near?"
"There's only one Magica wormhole within the walls of this fortress," the queen replied.
"I expect that's the one Morb is planning to use."
As he ran, Zann felt something burning him.
At first he thought it was Zing flying too close.
Then he realized it was the message stone in his pocket. It was fiery hot.
"Hurry," he urged. "We must be almost there!"
"We are. It's just ahead." The queen led the way through an arch.
Zann followed, and then immediately skidded to a stop.
They were in a stone room with an enormous contraption in the middle.
Like Morb's previous machines, this one was hideous and made up of many different parts.
The first thing Zann noticed was two large, glowing horns sticking out of the top.
The second thing he noticed was his parents.
Their arms and legs were shackled together, and Morb was shoving them up against the terrible machine!
"Stop!" Zann shouted. "Mom, Dad—it's me!"
"Zann!" his mother cried.
"Zann?" Morb echoed with a scowl. He gestured to several trolls that were hanging around in the corner. "Grab them, you fools!"
Zann tried to duck away, but there was nowhere to run.
The trolls grabbed Zann and the others.
"Don't kill them," Morb ordered the trolls.
"Not just yet, anyway." He smirked at Wyssa.
"I didn't expect to see you again."
He widened his gaze to include all of them.
"Or any of you, for that matter.
But now that you're here, I hope you'll stick around and enjoy the show."
Zann heard Wyssa muttering under her breath. Morb heard it too.
"Let me guess," Morb sneered. "You're planning to try some powerful, little-known spell you've learned during your travels.
Don't bother—it's too late. My new pets have already latched onto their victims."
He waved a hand toward the contraption.
Tiny creatures, hundreds of them, were swarming out of a tank in the center of the contraption.
The creatures looked like small, brightly colored cave crawlers.
Zann gasped in horror as the small rodents scampered all over his parents.
"Memory mice!" Wyssa spat. "Of course! I should have guessed you'd use them."
"What are memory mice?" Darb asked.
"They feed on people's memories," Wyssa said.
"Their feeding has the side effect of creating very strong magical energy."
"They eat memories?" Gliss frowned. "How awful!"
"Not necessarily," said Wyssa. "In their home world, they're a beloved and valuable species.
They help people by deleting painful memories.
They also create much useful energy out of useless or unwanted memories."
Zann struggled to free himself from the troll holding him. "Mom, Dad!" he called.
"I'm afraid your parents can't answer you, boy," Morb said.
"They're busy right now—having all their memories devoured."
"Like anything," Wyssa went on, "memory mice can be used for evil."
She shot Morb a disgusted look. "Normally a person must invite the mice to latch on, and they only feed for a limited amount of time.
Morb must have overridden that instinct with some kind of spell."
"Clever, isn't it?" Morb smiled. "My Memory Machine can use any memories to summon the power it needs.
I could have used my Roodian servants.
Even trolls' feeble brains have enough memories to work."
He chuckled. "But I liked the irony of using Magica memories to destroy Magica.
Besides, I already had these two as my prisoners.
They were very useful in helping me find my way to Rood."
"Your only true talent is holding a grudge," Wyssa retorted.
"It's not Nax and Asta's fault you were born a Void."
Morb ignored her. "I'm glad you're here, Zann.
Perhaps you can be useful to me at last.
I've ordered the mice to drain your parents of all memories of Magica.
If that's not enough to fill the machine . . ."
He touched a large clear tube on one side, which was rapidly filling with glowing, sparking magic energy.
"Well, then perhaps I'll have to top it off with your memories."
"No!" Zann blurted out.
"Wait," Perda said. "What happens when the tube is full?"
"Why, then all I have to do is open this hatch," said Morb, smiling wickedly.
"The energy will get sucked through any wormhole within range.
As it happens, the only wormhole in this room leads directly into Wyssa's old home of Wormwood."
Venna looked nervous. "And then what happens?"
"Then the energy will explode," Morb said. "Blowing all of Magica to smithereens!"