Page 91 of The Princess of Portals

The girls went to Ainsley, then they all shared a big group hug. They jumped up and down, chanting over and over again, “The Elves are the best! Better than all the rest! The Elves are the best! Better than all the rest!”

They nearly ran into Kato on his way to the front. “As Knight Commander of the Polymages, I am pleased to welcome Savannah into our Tribe.”

Everyone stared at me. The silence was deafening. Then some people started clapping, mostly my friends and a few other people I’d managed not to annoy in the past three weeks.

Conner was standing slightly off to the side of Kato, at the edge of the crowd. I positioned myself between him and Kato.

“Red.”

“My dress is blue,” I teased him.

He chuckled. “You’ll always be Red to me.”

Conner and Kato each took one of my hands, and thus united, we lifted our linked arms over our heads. This time, the crowd broke into applause. I grinned. I guess they’d noticed what I had. Conner and Kato appeared to be back to their old selves.

“Looking good, gentlemen,” I told them.

The boys were dressed in identical tuxedos with white bowties.

“Naturally.” Conner flicked his hair aside.

“So you guys are all right?”

“Of course,” Conner replied. “Why wouldn’t we be?”

That’s when I noticed it. My heart sank. “You’re still holding that weird ball.”

It had changed color since I’d last seen it, but it was the same squishy, glowing ball.

“It’s no longer orange,” I said. “It’s yellow now, teetering on the border of green. Like it’s counting down to something ominous.”

Conner tossed the ball to Kato, who caught it.

“Ominous countdowns generally go in the other direction, Seven: green to red.”

But I couldn’t shake the feeling that something terrible was about to happen.

“Elliot, Sara, Tari, and Cyrus: you’re with me.”

The named Apprentices joined Nala. They were the Castle’s newest Sorcerers.

Next, it was Jareth’s turn. The other Metamorphs cheered him on with very manly hoots and chest thumps.

“Joining the coolest Tribe of all are Dante⁠—”

Thump-thump-hoot.

“Rhett.”

Thump-thump-hoot.

“Zoe.”

Thump-thump-hoot.

Boom.

Wait, what? Boom?