"Wow," Zann blurted out as the faint voice and the pain finally disappeared.
"That was the weirdest Share I've ever had."
He was worried about Boz and the other Reds back at his house.
What if something had happened after he'd left?
Zann grabbed Zing and zapped back to his family's dining room.
His father smiled brightly at him. "You're back, Zann."
"Yep." Zann glanced around, relieved to see that everyone seemed to be okay. "Is everything all right here?"
"Of course." Teplo reached for the puckerberry pudding.
"Except that we're running out of dessert."
Most of the other adults chuckled. But Boz stared at Zann.
"What's the matter, my boy?" he asked.
"You look as agitated as a panic bug."
"Something strange just happened," Zann said. He told the adults about the Red Share.
"That is odd," Saffa said when Zann finished.
"If the Share didn't come from any of us, it must have come from another Red whom you know."
Boz stood up and rubbed his fingers together.
"We should check around. Just in case."
"Don't worry, though, Zann," Nax said. "The close presence of so many powerful relics could be causing this.
Their energy has been interfering with all magic energy, especially for Reds, who are more sensitive to magic."
Zann nodded slowly. He wanted to believe his father was right.
But he couldn't help remembering how desperate that faint voice had sounded.
That night Zann had trouble falling asleep.
He stared at the ceiling, still thinking about that weird Red Share.
Who was trying to contact him? Boz and the others had checked with most of the Reds they knew, and so far everyone was fine.
Tap! Tap!
Zann sat up when he heard a light rapping on his window.
A spy fly fluttered outside. Zann was confused.
Spy flies usually stayed hidden while spying.
But this one was trying to get his attention.
After hesitating a moment, Zann opened the window.
He gasped as the spy fly dived straight into his ear.
"What's going on?" Zann thought. "I didn't summon a spy fly."
Suddenly an image filled his mind, and in it he saw his three best friends!
"Hi, Zann!" Perda waved, looking pleased with herself.
"If this works, you should be seeing all of us right now."
Gliss grinned. "Yes, Perda is still trying to invent new kinds of magic. Like tinkering with spy flies."
Zann could hardly believe it. Seeing his friends was great!
"Hi, guys," he murmured, even though he knew they couldn't hear him.
Suddenly he felt more homesick than ever.
His friends chatted for a while, filling him in on all the news around Swamp Bottom.
They even mentioned that Jev had moved away, though none of them knew where he'd gone.
"I know where he is," Zann thought with a sick feeling.
But he didn't think about Jev for long.
He was more interested in listening to his friends.
"Okay, we should send the fly off now," Darb said at last.
Gliss nodded. "We haven't figured out how to get there for your birthday yet."
"But we'll definitely be there," Perda added.
"Even if we have to take a wormhole to First City!"
"I'm sure that won't be necessary," Gliss said with a shudder.
"Although Perda has been studying up on the vortex lately!"
Zann felt alarmed. Perda was bold enough to do something crazy like jump into a wormhole.
He'd been the same way once. But he had a healthy respect for the vortex these days.
The spy fly wiggled out of Zann's ear.
Zann didn't know how to get it to spy on him and return to the three kids, though he planned to ask Perda.
So he summoned a message moth and inscribed a quick note to his friends.
Then he fell asleep, thinking about good old Swamp Bottom.
Zap.
Zann landed across the street from the Academy the next morning. Several people raced toward him.
"Red!" one shouted, sounding angry. "We don't want your kind here."
Zann realized he'd landed in the middle of yet another protest.
"Leave me alone!" Zann exclaimed. "I'm leaving."
He snapped his fingers to zap across the street and into the school.
But instead he landed on his rear end right in front of the door.
"Drat," he muttered, remembering that the Academy had a special kind of Shield spell over it.
The Shield was there to prevent kids from zapping in or out during the day.
Zann's old school in Swamp Bottom was a lot smaller, so it didn't need that kind of spell.
Grumbling, he opened the door and hurried inside. He almost crashed into Mari.
"Hi, Zann!" She greeted him with a smile. "Did you just get here?"
"Yes," Zann said. "I ran into another protest outside."
"I saw that too." Mari didn't sound very interested.
"Hey, did your parents say anything about my offer to volunteer at their lab? I really want to do it."
"They didn't say anything to me," Zann said. "I can remind them if you want.
They're so busy these days that they might have forgotten."
"Could you? That would be great!" Mari said. "Thanks, Zann."
Zann didn't answer. He'd just spotted another familiar face.
"What's he doing here?" he said, annoyed.
Mari followed his gaze. "You mean Jev? He just enrolled here."
"Great," Zann said with a sigh. "That's just great."
That afternoon Zann couldn't wait to escape from school.
Jev had been in all of Zann's classes.
Zann was already tired of his old enemy's sneers and dirty looks.
He hurried outside and took a deep breath.
He rubbed his fingers together to create magic friction.
But before he could zap away, he noticed a message moth flapping toward him.
The message was from his friends.
Zann smiled. "My friends are coming!"