Page 98 of The Princess of Portals

The Masquerade Ball. The Masked Metamorph again, except now he was called Erador.

“He came for Kato and Conner,” I said. “They went with him. They chose to go with him.”

“Because they’re from another world.”

“Yes, and now that they have their memories back, they went home.” I sighed. “We set off on this Quest to help the Lost Spirits find themselves, and we’ve done that, but in the process, we lost Conner and Kato.”

“Savannah—”

“At least I helped Capricorn and Scorpio. I owed them one, you know, for helping me rescue Kylie and the others. Thanks to what we did, the Many Realms are a safer place now.”

“But even so, you wish none of this had ever happened.”

“No, I can’t wish that.”

Nevada’s eyes were full of sympathy. I didn’t deserve any of it. Yes, a part of me wished none of this had happened. I hated that part of myself.

“It’s ok to feel whatever it is you’re feeling, Savannah. We are all only human, after all.”

“No,” I told her. “We’re Knights. We’re supposed to be something more. Something nobler. Something better. I did the right thing, and I lost something because of it. That’s just how things go sometimes. That’s what it means to be a Knight. We all have to make sacrifices for the greater good. And it’s not that bad, you know. It’s not like anything really terrible happened to Kato and Conner. They didn’t die. They just went home.”

“And now you don’t get to see them anymore.” Nevada wrapped her arm around me.

I dropped my head to her shoulder. “Yeah, I don’t get to see them anymore.”

“How did they end up here on Gaia with missing memories?”

“I don’t know exactly. They said it had something to do with me, whatever that’s supposed to mean. They became Knights two years before they even met me, so how could all of this be about me?”

“I bet that weird Metamorph knows,” Nevada said.

“Yeah, I bet he does, but there’s no way he’ll tell me. Kato and Conner looked like they wanted to tell me, but he cut them off. I don’t like him. He was watching them for days here, you know. He must have followed us to the Monolith, realized what we were doing, and decided that was the perfect way to bring back their memories.”

“And then they returned to the League of Destiny,” Nevada said.

“And then they returned to the League of Destiny,” I agreed. “Great name, isn’t it? Doesn’t sound evil or ominous or anything.”

“Maybe Kato and Conner will come back to Gaia someday.”

“I wouldn’t count on it. For them, Gaia was just a mission. They remember who they really are now, and they are not coming back. They’ll live happily ever after on Rise, working for the creepy League of Destiny.”

“Rise?”

“Their home realm. The place where they belong.”

“They belong here, Savannah.”

I shook my head. “Not anymore. They’ve gone back to their old lives. They don’t care about us anymore, Nevada.”

“I’m sure that’s not true,” she said gently.

I wiped my wet cheeks. “It doesn’t matter. They’re gone, and we need to accept it. That’s all there is to it.”

“The votes have been cast and counted.”

Skye’s announcement drew me out of my pit of self-pity.

“The Knights of Gaia have voted in favor of autonomy. From this day forward, we will make our own destiny.”