While Zann, Perda, and Gliss were beginning to panic, Darb appeared calm.
"Don't worry," he said. "I think I can get us back to the wormhole."
"How?" Gliss cried. "We can't use magic!"
Darb smiled. "I can't ever use magic. I'm used to living without it. Give me a minute."
He squinted up toward the sun and then glanced around.
"What's he doing?" Perda whispered.
Zann shrugged. "Let's wait and see."
Darb looked up again. Then he closed his eyes and just stood there for a moment.
"Okay," he said at last. "I think it's this way."
Zann and the girls followed as Darb led the way.
After a moment Darb paused. He looked around and then closed his eyes again.
When he opened them, he made a turn and then walked some more.
"I think he's using his non-magical senses to try to find his way back to the wormhole," Zann told the others softly.
"That's right," Darb said.
"The sun was just above our left shoulders when we were walking up the hill, so now I'm trying to keep it just to our right."
Within minutes Zann spotted a slight shimmer in the air up ahead.
"The wormhole!" he shouted. "There it is!"
"Whew!" Gliss sounded relieved. "We're lucky you found it, Darb. Our landmarks are nowhere in sight!"
Zann nodded. The scenery looked very different than it had when they'd arrived.
But he didn't really care about that anymore.
"Let's get out of here," he said.
"Are you sure we've rested enough?" Gliss asked.
"No," Perda said. "But I agree with Zann. We need to get to Skellia and help Ello."
They shackled themselves together and dived into the wormhole.
Almost immediately Zann realized they should have rested for longer. He felt weak.
He and his friends careened wildly around.
"This is terrible!" Gliss shouted. "We have to find a place to rest."
"Just grab the first world we pass," Darb called out.
"No!" Perda cried. "What if we end up back in Fardark?"
"No way that's happening!" Zann declared. Fardark was a creepy world full of horrible creatures, like scatter beasts.
Perda was right—they couldn't risk landing somewhere like that. But they had to stop soon.
"Give me that," he blurted out. He grabbed the guidelink from Perda.
With the last of his energy, he focused on soothing, intelligent magic.
A second later he felt the device tugging him toward an upcoming wormhole.
Moments later they tumbled out into another world.
This one looked similar to Magica too. But it smelled completely different.
"Ugh!" Gliss held her nose. "It's Niffia!"
Zann grabbed his own nose. He'd recognize Niffia anywhere.
It was the stinkiest world he'd ever smelled!
"I wish we could try again." Perda glanced at the wormhole.
"But I think we'll have to make the best of it until we're rested."
"At least the people in this world are friendly." Darb pointed. "Look, here come some Niffians now."
The Niffians smiled brightly. "Welcome back, my young friends!" the leader said.
"We're so happy that you've chosen to return to our beautiful world."
Zann forced a smile. He'd stopped holding his nose when the Niffians had arrived.
"Thank you," he said. "We needed a nice place to rest and restore our energy."
"You've come to the right world," another Niffian said, beaming.
"Please come with us and share some food and drink."
The kids followed the Niffians to the nearest town.
As they ate, Zann and his friends told the Niffians about their adventures since their last visit to Niffia.
When Zann mentioned Wyssa, the Niffians looked more delighted than ever.
"Ah, Wyssa!" one of them cried. "How is our most esteemed friend?"
"We're not sure." Zann traded a look with his friends.
During their first visit to Niffia, they'd been surprised to find out how much the Niffians liked Wyssa.
She'd never seemed very friendly to Zann or the others.
"We haven't seen her since she left Magica with Morb," Perda said.
"Morb." One of the Niffians frowned slightly.
"Ah, yes. I believe that was the name of her, um, companion during her most recent visit."
Zann was surprised. "Wyssa brought Morb here?"
"Only briefly," another Niffian said. He and the others suddenly looked much more solemn than usual.
"She stopped only long enough to collect a bit of pupu leaf."
"Pupu leaf?" Perda echoed. "What's that for?"
The Niffians exchanged glances. "We didn't ask why she needed it," one said.
"However," another added, "the pupu is mostly used for spells involving immobilization."
Zann shuddered as he remembered Wyssa's threat to feed Morb to a scatter beast.
Was that why she'd needed the pupu? To immobilize him long enough for the fearsome creature to find him?
"So," the Niffian leader said. "Why are you four traveling through the vortex again?"
Zann told the Niffians about their current mission to find Skellia and help Ello.
"We'll fetch you some oogberry," one Niffian said, while another rushed off toward the forest.
"That's an important ingredient in searching spells."
"Just relax for now though." The Niffian leader smiled. "We'll take care of everything."
For the next hour, Zann did his best to rest and ignore the stink.
He and his friends were talking about Niffia when Zann's head exploded in pain. Clutching his forehead, he groaned.
"Zann!" Perda cried.
Zann hardly heard her. He fell to the floor, landing on the guidelink.
Ello's frightened face appeared in his mind.
"Help!" Ello wailed. "Please, hurry!"
Zann grabbed the guidelink. "We're coming!" he cried, even though he knew Ello couldn't hear him.
Or could he? Immediately Ello's face brightened.
"Hurry!" he said again, before fading away.