Zann crashed hard into the ground. "Ow!" he yelped. He opened his eyes and rubbed his knee, which had slammed into a rock. He, his friends, and Wyssa were in a forest clearing.
"Where are we?" Perda asked.
"I think we're near Wormwood," Darb said. He glanced toward Wyssa.
The old woman snapped her fingers and zapped out of sight.
"Hey!" Gliss cried.
"Where did she go?" Zann asked.
"Maybe she'll come back," Perda said.
They waited for a few minutes to see if Wyssa would return. After several minutes passed by, they decided to give up, and walked the short distance into town.
When they got there, they saw election ads everywhere. Magical posters floated above almost every street corner. Words and images flashed on and off. Automatons marched around, squawking out names and slogans.
"Vote Venna!"
"Laddno for king!"
Zann glanced up and saw Laddno's name written in the sky in glowing letters.
"This is crazy," he commented.
"It sure is." Gliss gasped and pointed at another ad. "Look—the election is tomorrow!"
"Tomorrow?" Zann said. "We must have lost even more time traveling back and forth to the Far Frontier than we realized."
"We'd better get to Teplo's house and see what's going on," Perda said. "I hope Fala is still free. She could help us get word to Venna about Morb."
Zann nodded. "I hope so. Maybe it's good that the election is tomorrow. As soon as it's over, Venna can focus on stopping Morb's evil plans."
"Whatever those plans are," Darb added. "We still don't know what his new contraption is supposed to do."
Gliss shivered. "I'm sure it's something bad. Come on, let's zap."
They zapped to Teplo's neighborhood. Shouts rang out from a park nearby.
"There's another Void Rights rally going on," Gliss said.
"Is Laddno there?" Perda asked. "Maybe we should try to warn him about Morb. He should be able to get word to Venna and the others at the palace."
They stepped closer. Gliss levitated to get a better look over the crowd. "I don't see Laddno," she reported. "Hey, I think that's Jev's father speaking now!"
"Is Jev there too?" Darb asked.
"Uh-huh." Gliss quickly lowered herself to the ground. "We should leave before Jev sees us."
"Wait." Zann had just spotted his friend Mari standing near the back of the crowd. He sent his voice toward her with a Sound-shifting spell. "It's Zann. Meet me behind the crooked tree on the corner."
"Why do you want her to come meet us?" Perda asked as Zann led the way to the spot he'd mentioned.
"She can probably tell us about anything important that happened while we were away," Zann said. "What if the prisoners got released or something? Now that we're back, we should find out what to expect."
Moments later Mari arrived. She looked happy to see everyone. "I was wondering what happened to you guys," she said. "I haven't seen you in days."
"We, uh, were out of town," Zann said.
"Out of town?" Mari sounded surprised.
"Yeah." Perda shot a warning look at the others. "Um, we just wanted to stay out of sight for a while. We were afraid Zann might get locked up because his parents are under suspicion."
Zann was a little surprised that Perda didn't want to tell Mari why they'd really left town. Maybe she thought it would take too long to explain. After all, they might not have much time to stop Morb. His contraption had appeared to be almost finished. And it probably wouldn't take Morb long to repair any damage the nomads had done to it.
"Oh, right, that makes sense," Mari said, shooting Zann a sympathetic smile. "I don't blame you for hiding out in Swamp Bottom for a while. Anyway, you've missed a lot. People are really going crazy over this election."
"We saw all the ads and automatons," Gliss said. "I've never seen so many!"
Mari nodded. "Like I said, people are going crazy these days. I just hope I can continue keeping the remaining relics safe until the election is over tomorrow," she said. "Venna helped me put a Security spell on your parents' lab, just in case."
"Good," Perda said with a laugh. "Now you can say the future queen helped you create a spell."
"Maybe." Mari shrugged. "Actually, most people think Laddno is going to win."
"Laddno?" Zann said. "I can't believe—"
"Hey!" a new voice interrupted.
It was the young man from Wormwood—the one who'd loaned Darb the boat. He hurried toward them, looking annoyed.
"Where's my boat?" the young man demanded. "You were supposed to bring it back!"
"Uh-oh," Zann muttered. They definitely didn't have time to try to explain that they'd left the boat behind in another world. "Let's get out of here. Zap!"
Splash!
"Ugh!" Perda cried. "Zann, why do you always zap us into water?"
"Never mind." Gliss stepped out of the shallows of the river where they'd landed. She snapped her fingers to dry her clothes. "Look, we're near the palace. Let's see if we can sneak in and see our families."
"Good idea," Zann said. "I want to make sure my parents and Boz are okay."
Zann and Gliss conjured large hats to hide their red hair. Then all four kids crept around the corner until they could see into the palace square.
"Zann, are you sure this is a good idea?" Darb whispered.
"Everyone is distracted by the election right now," Zann whispered back. "This might be our best chance to . . ."
His voice trailed off, and he gasped. Several trolls had just stepped out of the palace!