Page 50 of With the Potion in the Courtyard

"Jessie, do something unexpected," I said, struggling to keep my voice steady.

"Snakes. They hate snakes. Use the stone to create another illusion!" she said with a knowing glance. In a flash of light, we appeared as serpents slithering on the floor, our bodies long and our tongues flicking.

Zorand recoiled, his yellow eyes wide with fear. He stumbled back, dropping his staff and forgetting all about being scary. "No, not snakes," he said, his own snake-like quality lost in his panic.

"Chase him," Robbie said, and we did, sliding across the colored floor with an unnatural grace.

Zorand ran, his feet slipping on clay spots mixed in with the stone as he looked back at us in terror. He didn't see the hole, the one he'd conjured for us, until it was too late. With a shriek, he fell, plummeting into the depths of his own trap.

There was a moment of silence before we heard the dull thud and a sizzle. Poisoned spikes, hidden at the bottom, had done their job. Peering down, we saw Zorand's form disintegrate into smoke, the cloud dark and then vanishing like a bad dream fading withthe morning light.

"Is it over?" Jessie asked, her voice tentative as we returned to our human forms.

"Looks like it," Robbie said, his blue eyes scanning the room for any further threats.

I let out a breath I didn't realize I'd been holding. The shimmering cage around Jaylyn flickered and then disappeared, leaving her free but shaken.

"Let's get out of this place," I said, already feeling the weight of the day's events heavy on my shoulders. A new start awaited, one without Zorand's shadow looming over us.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

The blue shimmeringcage changed in an instant. The shimmering blue magic faded away, leaving nothing but a cage behind. A cage that didn’t even have a door on it. I guess the wizard was confident enough that his magic would keep his prisoner from escaping.

"Jaylyn," I said, relief flooding me as she rushed into my arms, her own shaking slightly.

"Thank you," she said, and I could hear the tears she was holding back.

"It’s okay. We’re just glad we found you."

She pulled back from me, tears streaking her dirt-stained face. "No, thank you. I never thought I’d seethe outside of that cage again. I never thought I’d see a person again. I was so scared. I didn’t think anyone was coming. I–"

"Guys, not to be the bad guy, but we don’t have time for thank-yous. We have to get out of here." Robbie glanced nervously around the chaos left behind after the scattering of cricket men and the remnants of Zorand's nightmare.

"Right," I said. "We've got to move."

And just like that, we turned our backs on the cage that had held our friend and ran, not knowing what lay ahead, but certain it had to be better than the horrors we were leaving behind. Now, we just had to get out of here and somehow find a way home. That would be easy. Right?

When we left the main room, we heard a terrible sound and looked behind us. The entire pathway to the throne crumbled and fell away, and then the ceiling began to fall too in huge chunks. Was the Lizard Wizard’s magic keeping this place together? We didn’t need to stay to find out.

As we kept running, Robbie was in the lead, scouting the area, his eyes darting from one hallway afteranother as parts of the ceiling fell here and there. "We need to move faster," he said, his voice low but urgent. "This place is falling apart without Zorand."

Jessie nodded, her curls bouncing as she took in the scene. The cricket men were in disarray, scurrying about in panic, their spindly legs clicking against the floor in a cacophony of confusion. It would've been comical if it weren't for the danger they still posed.

"Right, let's get out of here while they're distracted," Jessie gestured toward a corridor that seemed less chaotic.

"Lead the way," I said, and we started off at a brisk pace, our footsteps muffled by the rubbery ground of this crazy world. We moved through the chaos, unseen and unbothered by the minions who were too busy fearing an imaginary avian intruder to notice us.

The corridors were a blur of pastel colors as we made our escape. Every now and then, a stray cricket man would cross our path, but they paid us no mind, too caught up in their own frenzy to seeus sneaking past.

"Almost there," Robbie said as we turned a corner. The absurdity of the situation wasn't lost on me, a group of middle-aged Fairy Godmothers and a Sugar Daddy running from cricket men in a child's fantasy. But none of that mattered. Jaylyn was safe, and soon, we'd be back where we belonged.

We were a distance from the Lizard Wizard’s throne room when Jaylyn finally caught her breath enough to speak. "Zorand thought I was a realm jumper," she panted, glancing back over her shoulder as if worried he might still be listening. "He kept me in that cage while training me, trying to unlock... whatever he thought I had."

"Realm jumper?" I said, exchanging a look with Robbie and Jessie. "What’s that?"

"It’s a person who can jump between realms. It would explain why I went from our world to this one. Except, a realm jumper can jump between realms on purpose, instead of accidentally, when they’re properly trained."

Excitement filled me. If Jaylyn could jump between realms, she could get us all back home. I could be back, snuggled with my cats in a blanket, within the hour.