Page 78 of The Princess of Portals

“I know, Savannah, and I agree with you. We agree with you.” Capricorn’s gaze flickered to Scorpio for a moment, then back to me. “That’s why the other spirits punished us. Portia returned our memories to us. Now we want to do the same for the others. The Lost Spirits.”

“The Zodiac Order…its agents are the Lost Spirits?”

Capricorn nodded. “The agents and their handlers. We are going to free the others, but we need your help to do it.”

“How will you return their memories?” I asked. “With the same spell you used on the Apprentices?”

“Yes, but in a modified form. Freeing them one by one will take too long. We’re going to hit them all at once, using this.”

Capricorn pulled a smooth metal ball out of thin air. It was about the size of a mango and very, very powerful. I could sense the power pulsing from it. It felt like I was standing before the sun itself. I wanted to grab that power, but I feared that if I did, it would burn me alive.

“This is a Remembrance Orb,” Capricorn said. “It has the power to return the Lost Spirits’ memories to them.”

“I’ve heard of Remembrance Orbs.” Conner extended his hand toward the ball and wiggled his fingers, like he was testing the air. Magic sparked, and he withdrew his hand. “They are very rare. Where did you get it?”

“From Portia.” Capricorn waved her hand, and the ball disappeared. “The spell contained within the Remembrance Orb is many thousand times more powerful than the memory spell we used on the Apprentices. Right now, the orb is containing the spell, muting its power.”

The magic I felt from the orb was muted? I shuddered to imagine what it would feel like when it got free.

“We need to bring the Remembrance Orb to the top of the Monolith, and there we will open it, releasing the memory spell within,” Capricorn said. “The magic will pour down the building like a waterfall, permeating every wall, floor, and ceiling.”

It sounded like they had it all figured out, which raised the question…

“Why do you need us?”

“We need your help to get into the Monolith. The Directors of the Zodiac Order know we have our memories back. We are no longer welcome there, and we’re no match for the combined magical might of the entire Zodiac Order.”

“What makes you think that the three of us will tip the scales of power?”

“Not the three of you,” Capricorn told me. “Just you, Savannah.”

“Just me? I am supposed to tip the scales of power?”

Scorpio gave me a cool, assessing look. “I don’t believe it. Portia does.”

“When she gave us the Remembrance Orb, she told us that was as much as she could do without drawing the greater spirits’ attention,” said Capricorn. “They are watching Portia very closely. She can’t help us any further, but she told us that you can.”

“How?”

Capricorn shook her head. “I don’t know, but I trust Portia.”

Yeah, after what she’d done for me, I guess I trusted Portia too. I only hoped that trust wouldn’t come back to bite me.

I drew in a deep breath. “Ok. When do we leave?”

“Immediately.”

CHAPTER 3

THE MONOLITH

Iused to think that there wasn’t a bigger, more intimidating building in all the universe than the Black Obelisk. I’d been so very wrong. Smooth, white, and impossibly tall, the Monolith jutted up from the magic-scorched plains like an enormous stone tablet. It was a beautiful, terrible, magnificent monstrosity, a testament to the spirits’ power.

“I don’t see any doors or windows,” I said. “How are we supposed to get in?”

“The doors and windows blend into the structure. There are buttons on the walls to open them,” Capricorn told me.

“If we can get to those buttons. Look.”