"Who's Mother?" Perda asked.
"Come with us." The oldest girl blew at Zann and Darb.
Zann felt his feet lifting off the ground.
He struggled against the spell, but it was no use.
"You can't do this!" Gliss protested. "It's kidnapping!"
The girls giggled. "Come, cute dragon!" a younger girl cooed at Zing, who bounded along happily.
"You'd better stop or else!" Perda warned.
"We must show Mother," the oldest girl said calmly.
"Halt!" Perda cried, rubbing her hands together.
Zann watched magic energy zip toward him and Darb.
The tallest girl puffed out a breath.
Bang! Perda's spell exploded and fizzled out.
"Whoa." Perda sounded impressed. "How'd you do that?"
"Come," the oldest girl said. "Let's find Mother."
The girls walked away, with the boys floating beside them.
"We shouldn't let them out of sight," Gliss told Perda.
Zann felt powerless as he drifted through the forest.
Finally the whole group stopped at the base of an enormous tree.
"Here we are," a girl said. "Home."
She blew toward the ground and floated upward. So did her friends.
Zann felt himself rise beside them, as Darb rose helplessly too. Zing flew along.
"Wait!" Perda cried. "What about us?"
"We'd better levitate." Gliss sounded nervous.
"How high do you think they're going?"
"We'll bring you," the oldest girl said. "With your permission."
Perda looked uncertain. "Um, okay. You have our permission."
Soon Perda and Gliss were floating too. Perda ended up beside Zann.
"Are you okay?" she asked.
He couldn't answer. He couldn't even nod his head.
They floated up to a large, elaborate house built into the treetops. The girls led the way inside.
"Mother!" the youngest cried. "Look what we found!"
A woman looked up. She had green hair and skin like the girls, but her face was wrinkled and wise.
"Ah, visitors," she said. "Have my girls immobilized you? My deepest apologies."
She puffed out a breath, and Zann felt the spell dissipate.
"Be careful, Mother!" a girl said. "They were trying to escape."
Mother smiled. "Sit down, girls, and listen quietly while I talk with our visitors.
This will be a learning opportunity for you."
The girls sat down, watching with wide, curious eyes.
"One thing they should do is learn not to immobilize people," Zann grumbled.
Mother chuckled. "Please forgive my girls. They've never left Zon, so they've never seen a male before. There are none here."
"What about you?" Perda asked. "You don't seem surprised to see boys."
"I traveled to many other worlds in my youth," Mother explained.
"Can we keep them?" one of the girls asked. "I've always wanted a pet!"
Mother smiled. "That wouldn't be right," she explained gently. "Boys are people too."
"Oh!" The girl looked disappointed. "If you say so, Mother."
Zann wanted to get away from these strange females.
"We refuse to be held prisoner!" he declared, trying to sound tough.
"You're not prisoners," Mother said. "You're free to leave at any time."
"Good." Zann stomped toward the door. "Come on, guys."
"Wait," Gliss said. "Mother seems to—to know things. Maybe she can help us."
Zann hesitated. He still wanted to leave this place, but he realized Gliss was right.
Mother seemed wise, and it was obvious that the people in this world had very strong magic.
"Please stay," Mother urged. "At least for a little while.
My girls rarely get the opportunity to learn from strangers."
"Yes," a girl said. "We'd love to hear about your world."
"All right." Zann sat down. "We come from Magica, and we're looking for my parents . . ."
With help from his friends, he told the whole story.
". . . So we're checking every world with blue skies that we see," Zann finished. "That's how we landed here."
Mother laughed heartily. "Oh, I'm sorry to laugh!" she exclaimed.
"But there are more worlds out there than you can possibly imagine.
Many of them—perhaps most—have blue skies.
You could get lucky and find World X on your next try.
Or you could spend the rest of your lives searching in vain."
Zann frowned. "We have to try!"
Mother smiled sympathetically.
"I admire your spirit. Perhaps I can help.
Do you have anything that belongs to the people you're seeking?"
Zann pulled out his message stone. "This came from my parents."
"Good." Mother leaned closer, blowing on the stone.
"There. Now it should lead you straight to its rightful owners."
"Really?" Zann said. "It'll take us to my parents?"
"The spell never fails." Mother sounded confident.
She turned to the girls. "Say good-bye to our visitors, girls. They must continue their quest."
"Do they have to go?" a girl cried. "We want to hear more stories!"
"Maybe another time," Perda said.
Darb peered out a window. "How do we get down?
And how will we find the wormhole?"
"I can help with that too." Mother blew the door open. "Ready?"
Zann and his friends nodded. "Come on, Zing," said Zann.
Zing seemed reluctant to leave his new friends.
But after more pats and kisses from the girls, he finally came to Zann.
"Farewell and good luck." Mother blew at them.
This time Zann didn't feel trapped by the spell.
Mother's breath carried them gently but swiftly to the ground, through the forest, and finally to the wormhole.
"Wow, that was weird," Perda said as they landed.
"Yeah," Zann said. "But it worked out for the best, didn't it?"
He reached into his pocket and touched his message stone.
Would Mother's spell really lead him to his parents?
Zann and his friends re-shackled themselves and then jumped through the wormhole.
Zann gasped as the message stone suddenly yanked him forward.
"It's working!" he cried.