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At my mom’s dejected expression and the way my father’s face drops, Aruan says, “But I’ll ask her.”

I look at him quickly.He’ll do that for me?

“Though I can’t promise anything,” he says.

Gratitude warms my heart.I know how much it will mean to my parents if he manages to convince his mother to let us see them again.

He stretches his arm along the back of the sofa and draws circles with a finger over my shoulder, a touch that’s meant to comfort me for the goodbyes I’m about to say.

The moment arrives too soon.Mom tries hard not to cry.Even Dad has to wipe something from his eye as he shakes Aruan’s hand—after explaining how the greeting is done on Earth—and makes Aruan swear again that he’ll take care of me.Mom is her usual selfless self, telling me that she’s happy for me.

The lights appear in the living room before I’m ready.Mom and Dad put their arms around one another’s waists, supporting each other as Aruan takes my hand and leads me to the portal.

I hang back, tears burning behind my eyes.I promised myself I wasn’t going to cry.Saying goodbye is hard enough for my parents.I don’t want to make this more difficult for them.

“It’s okay,” Mom says bravely, smiling through her tears.“We love you, honey.”

“I love you too.”I look between them.“I hope you’ll always remember that.”

Dad’s nod is jerky, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallows.

“Come, my sweet.”Aruan ushers me forward with a hand on my lower back.“It was a pleasure to meet you,” he says with a last tilt of his head.

My tears fall freely when we enter the portal.I burn every second of our visit into my memory so that I can revisit the time we spent together when I miss Mom and Dad too much.

The light disperses around us.Just before the vacuum sucks us in, another circle appears within our circle, the two spheres colliding.

Panic gets the better of me.What’s going on?Is the portal malfunctioning?

Next to me, Aruan tenses.

And then I see it, a form taking shape in front of us.

I blink.I must be mistaken.It’s impossible.But the Phaelix that materializes is very much real.His red eyes bulge as he notices us.He tries to backtrack, but it’s too late.Aruan has already locked his fingers around the wrist of the Phaelix, pulling the screaming lizard with us back to Zerra.

Chapter20

Aruan

The Phaelix kicks and claws as we arrive in my mother’s quarters.I’m holding Elsie’s hand on one side, and on the other, my fingers are locked in an iron grip around his thin, scaly wrist.

My mother, who sits on her dragon chair, gives a start.My father stands next to her.He takes a menacing step toward us, his dagger already pulled.

My mother’s knuckles turn white where she grips the armrests, her face pale with shock.“What in the name of the dragons…?You’ve come from Earth.Through my portal.”

The implication hangs thick in the air.A Phaelix somehow crossed paths with us in an open portal to Earth.

I confirm their wildest guess.“We ran into a visitor on our way back.”

My father bares his teeth.

“All right?”I ask Elsie.

I only let her go when she nods.

The Phaelix screams as I drag him to the center of the floor.

“What’s the meaning of this?”my father asks.