Splash!
As Zann had hoped, he landed in the middle of the river near the palace, with Morb and the Mask still shackled to him.
"No!" Morb cried. "I can't—" A wave washed over his head.
Zann yanked him up. "What's the matter?" he said. "Can't swim?"
Morb glared. Then panic filled his eyes as he began to sink again. "Save me!"
Zann pulled the villain up out of the water.
"I'll rescue you, but only if you unshackle yourself from the Mask."
Anger burned in Morb's eyes.
But as more water splashed over his face, he looked nervous.
"How do I know I can trust you?"
"You don't know that," Zann said.
"But what choice do you have?
I'll let us both drown before I let you steal all the magic from Magica."
Morb glared at him again.
But when another wave washed over him, he whimpered and then snapped his fingers.
The magic shackles fell away.
Zann hesitated for a second, letting one last ripple of strong, wonderful energy run through him.
Then he unshackled himself from the Mask too.
The relic drifted away with the current.
Zann winced as the Mask smashed against a rock and broke into a dozen pieces.
The current swept them away.
"Help me!" Morb gurgled. "You promised!"
Zann dragged Morb out of the current to the shallows.
Then he rubbed the fingers of his free hand together to create energy for a Swelling spell, to make his voice louder.
"Help!" he called to the people in the palace square nearby.
"I need the palace guards over here!"
"Why don't we zap to the university instead of walking?" Gliss said.
Zann grinned at her. "I want to walk," he said.
"I never really got a chance to show you guys around First City before everything happened."
"True." Perda laughed. "This has been the craziest visit ever!"
Zann had to agree.
It was hard to believe that life was nearly back to normal less than two days after Morb's defeat.
Just hours after Morb's capture, the king and queen had reappeared and explained why they'd quit so abruptly.
Laddno had kidnapped one of the queen's young nephews and threatened to toss him into the vortex if the king and queen didn't step down.
Still, Zann couldn't help feeling sad.
Gliss' uncle Gar was planning to zap Gliss, Perda, and Darb back to Swamp Bottom the next day.
When would he see his friends again?
"It was fun watching Queen Venna's inauguration yesterday," Gliss said.
Perda nodded. "I'm glad they figured out that Laddno tampered with the vote toads."
"He never could have done it without Morb's help," Darb said.
Even though the king and queen had returned to the palace, they'd decided to retire.
They promised to do everything they could to support Queen Venna.
Gliss took Darb's hand.
"I think Venna will make a good queen.
For one thing, she's promising to meet with the leaders of the Void Rights groups."
"Not Laddno," Perda said. "The real leaders."
"We're here," Zann said as they reached the entrance to the university campus.
"Are you sure you want to see this?"
Perda nodded. "I want to see for myself that he can't get free."
Gliss and Darb nodded too.
At one end of the campus, there was an enormous, clear cube.
A small island sat in the middle of it, surrounded by deep water.
The island contained a chair, a table, a cot—and Morb.
He sat slumped in the chair, looking miserable.
The prison cube had been Teplo's idea.
It was laced with spells—some that provided Morb with food and other basic necessities,
and some that ensured that he couldn't break out or communicate with anyone.
"If he tries anything evil, we'll know right away," Zann said.
"Let's go. My parents are expecting us at the lab."
"Why do they want us to come to the lab, anyway?" Gliss said as they walked.
"Maybe they need our help cataloging the relics, now that Mari isn't around anymore," Perda said.
Zann felt sorry for Mari, who'd gone into hiding along with most of her family.
Queen Venna had sentenced Laddno to a year of hard labor on the slopes of Mount Mystery.
"I'm glad all the relics were recovered," Perda said.
"Boz says they even managed to fish all the pieces of the Mask of Zanta out of the river."
"I wonder what they'll do with the relics now," Gliss said.
When they stepped into the lab, there was a burst of lights and music.
"Surprise!" many voices cried.
Zann grinned. The place was packed.
His parents and Boz were there, along with Teplo, Fala, Gliss' uncle, and many other people.
Even Maff was there.
"We wanted to throw your friends a going-away party," Nax explained.
"And also a thank-you party for saving Magica."
"Again!" Fala added.
"Thanks," Zann said. "You didn't have to do this."
"Sure we did. And there's more. These are for you."
His mother handed each of the kids a silver twig with a crystal on the end.
"Are these from Atmo?" Zann asked.
His father grinned. "It's our latest invention."
"Wyssa helped us before she left Magica," Asta said.
"They're called zap accelerators," Boz said.
"They'll allow you to travel between First City and Swamp Bottom with a single zap.
Now you kids can visit each other whenever you like!"
Zann was so stunned that he couldn't speak for a second.
The past couple of weeks had been strange and often scary.
But this was the best happy ending—and surprise extra birthday gift—that he could ever have hoped for!
"Wow, thanks!" he exclaimed at last.
His heart swelled with good feelings. "Now let's party!"