Page 51 of With the Potion in the Courtyard

Yet, her answer doesn’t explain how the rest of us got here.

"Could one of us be a realm jumper too?" I wondered aloud. It was the only thing that made sense given how we ended up here. We weren't exactly your typical Doodle material, after all.

"Maybe," Jaylyn said. "But now that I'm not under his spell anymore, I think I can use what he taught me. We could go home."

"Really?" Jessie asked, her voice a mix of skepticism and desperation.

Jaylyn nodded. "I really think we could. We need to find a quiet place to do it."

"Home sounds perfect right about now," Robbie said, running a hand through his silvering hair.

"Let's focus on getting out first, and if we find a quiet place, we can stop there," I said firmly. We needed to keep moving. But the flicker of hope in Jaylyn's eyes was contagious, and I felt it too, the possibility of going back to our world, to everythingfamiliar and safe.

We didn't waste any time. "The cricket men will catch on soon," I glanced at the chaotic scatter of Zorand's minions. "They'll figure out their bird-brained leader is gone for good."

"Then we should hit the artifact room before we leave," Jessie said, her voice tinged with an excitement that felt oddly out of place. "We can load ourselves down now that we don’t have to worry about fighting the Lizard Wizard. It's not really stealing if it's from a bad guy, right? Plus, it might be a quiet enough place for Jaylyn to realm jump."

"Right," Robbie said, and we all nodded.

"Let's be quick about it," I added.

As we moved through the corridors toward the artifact room, dodging the last of the fleeing cricket men, I remembered something that had been nagging at me. Turning to Jaylyn, I asked, "Why did you write my name in the courtyard?"

"Your name?" she asked with a frown.

"That's how we got pulled into all of this, because you wrote my name in the courtyard and then disappeared."

Jaylyn halted, her big brown eyes widened, and she shook her head. "I never wrote your name."

"Then why, " But before I could finish, Jessie let out an uneasy chuckle.

"I saw your name there," Jaylyn brushed a stray lock of hair behind her ear. "I was curious, trying to figure out why it was there. Next thing I knew, I tripped over something and poof, I ended up in this world."

"Tripped? Just like that?" I said, but Jaylyn only nodded, her expression as puzzled as mine felt.

"Let's keep moving," Jessie broke the brief silence that followed. We continued, the weight of unanswered questions heavy in the air between us.

"Jessie, hold up," I said, pausing in the middle of the chaotic hallway. The last of the cricket men scuttled past us, their spindly legs clicking against the floor. "Jaylyn, if you didn't mean to come here, why were you holding a potion that's supposed to enhance world hopping?"

She halted and gave me a blank look. "Whatare you talking about?"

"Back when we found you," Jessie prodded, her voice tinged with confusion.

Jaylyn glanced at Robbie, who was busy watching our backs, making sure no more cricket men were coming our way. She then leaned in close, lowering her voice as though she was sharing a secret meant only for us. "That potion I had. It wasn't for world hopping." Her cheeks turned a shade pinker. "I brewed it in the potions classroom, in secret. Didn't exactly want everyone knowing I needed help... um, going to the bathroom."

"Constipation?" I said before I could stop myself and couldn't help but let out an incredulous snort. Who would've thought?

"Exactly," Jaylyn whispered, looking relieved someone else understood.

"Wait a second," I said, putting together the pieces. "But I thought godmothers were selected randomly. How do you have a family potion for anything if it's all random?"

"That's the thing," Jaylyn said, straightening up. "Most of the time it's random, sure. But there are a few families where being a godmother, or godfather,runs in the blood. My family is one of those. Men and women, doesn't matter. We’ve all got the knack."

"Talk about keeping it in the family," I said, still struggling to wrap my head around the notion. Everything I knew about how this magical system worked was getting tossed on its head.

"Let's get moving," Robbie nodded toward the artifact room. "We can figure out the family tree later."

"Right," I said, motioning for them to follow. There was still plenty to uncover, but for now, we had bigger fish to fry, or, in this case, artifacts to snag.