Zann smiled at the girl from school.
"Thanks for getting rid of that reporter," he said. "I'm Zann."
"I know." She smiled. "Everyone at the Academy knows who you are. I'm Mari."
"Nice to meet you. Do you live around here?" Zann asked.
Mari shook her head. "I live in Treeview."
Treeview was a wealthy neighborhood on the southern edge of the city.
"Do you live near here?" Mari asked.
"No. But my parents' lab is right there." Zann pointed across the street.
Mari's eyes widened. "I've heard about them!
Are they really working with all the ancient magical relics Morb found in the Cave of the Unknown?"
She sounded impressed. "Like the Dragontamer's Charm, and the Mask of Zanta? That must be fascinating!"
"Yeah." Zann shrugged. "Do you want to come in and meet them?"
"Yes!" Mari exclaimed. "I'm super interested in that kind of work.
I want to be a researcher someday."
Zann felt another pang of homesickness. Perda was interested in research too.
She was always investigating other worlds and new forms of magic.
He led Mari into the lab, with Zing following.
His parents were both bent over their work when Zann entered.
Zann felt happy every time he saw them.
They'd been lost in the vortex for four years, and he still could hardly believe they were really back.
"Zann!" His mother, Asta, spotted him first. "How was school today?"
"Fine." Zann waved toward Mari. "This is Mari. She goes to the Academy too."
"Hello, Mari." Nax, Zann's father, strode over to shake hands.
"Any friend of Zann's is a friend of ours."
"It's an honor to meet you both," Mari said.
"I've heard a lot about your work."
"It keeps us busy." Zann's mother chuckled.
"Would you like a tour of the lab?"
"I'd love it!" Mari eagerly followed Asta into the next room.
Zann stuck his hand in his pocket.
"What do you have there, son?" his father asked.
"A message moth from my friends back home."
Zann shot his father a sheepish look. "I mean, from Swamp Bottom."
His father patted his shoulder. "It's okay, Zann.
You lived there for over four years. I'm sure you miss it."
"Only a little," Zann said quickly. "It's a pretty boring place. But I do miss my friends."
He pulled out the moth and scanned the message on its wing.
"Are they coming to the party?" his father asked.
Zann's birthday was in a couple of weeks.
His parents had suggested a party to celebrate, and Zann had invited the gang from Swamp Bottom.
"They're not sure yet." Zann sighed and released the moth, which flew out the window.
"Gliss' parents don't want her to ride a dragon this far.
And they're not sure if they'll be able to take time off to zap her and the others here."
"Hmm." Nax scratched his chin. "Well, maybe they'll work something out."
Zann hoped so. First City was far from Swamp Bottom—much too far for his friends to zap here on their own.
Before Zann could say anything else, Mari rushed back in.
"I just saw the Mask of Zanta!" she cried, her eyes sparkling.
"This is the most incredible day of my life!"
Asta followed her, smiling. "Mari volunteered to help us catalog the relics," she told her husband.
"I'd love to help!" Mari said. "The teachers at school say I'm very precise.
I promise I won't make any mistakes."
"That's very nice of you," Nax told her.
"We might take you up on that, Mari."
Clunk!
Everyone jumped as a device crashed to the floor.
It had a dial and a small hose.
Zing quickly snatched the device up in his mouth.
"Zing!" Asta grabbed the device from the dragon. "You naughty beast."
"What is that thing?" Zann asked.
"It's called an infusinator." His mother set the device back on the shelf.
"It's a new invention we're working on."
She shook a finger at Zing. "And it's not edible!"
"You have so many interesting things here."
Mari peered at another item. "What's this?"
"The guidelink? Zann's father invented that one," Asta said.
"We think it might allow people to navigate the vortex more easily."
Nax grinned. "Yes, but don't get too excited yet. We're still working out the kinks."
"What does it do?" Zann asked, thinking back to how difficult it had been to travel through the vortex.
"It does several things," Nax said. "So far it seems best at locating and locking onto sources of magic power."
"That way, travelers can recover their magical energy faster," Asta said.
"It also helps them avoid worlds with weak or no magic."
Zann shuddered, remembering the time he and his friends had almost been trapped on a world with no magic.
"That's amazing," Mari said. But this time she sounded a little nervous as well as impressed.
Zann wasn't surprised. Most people had never even seen a wormhole up close, let alone traveled through the vortex.
"The vortex isn't that scary," he told her.
"It's actually pretty cool. We visited this one world where—"
He stopped as another message moth fluttered in and flew over to Mari.
"Oh," she said, scanning the wing. "Sorry, I have to get home to watch my little cousins.
Thank you for showing me the lab."
She smiled at Zann and his parents. "See you at school, Zann."
As soon as she was gone, Nax grinned. "I'm glad you're making friends, Zann.
Especially with such a smart and pretty girl!"
Asta was grinning too.
Zann scowled. "Very funny, Dad," he muttered.
"I'm taking Zing to the park for a while."
He grabbed the dragon and zapped away before his parents could tease him anymore.