Zann peeked into Boz's room. He was hunched over his notebook, writing furiously.
"I wish he would go back to the lab," Zann told his friends.
Perda sighed. "We'll never save Ello if we're stuck here."
The kids listened to some music until Boz poked his head into the room.
"Keep it down in here. I'm trying to concentrate!"
"Sorry," Zann said. "Um, can we go for a walk?"
"All right," Boz said. "But don't be long.
I'll conjure us some lunch in an hour."
The four friends hurried outside.
Perda groaned. "We only have an hour," she said.
"That's not nearly enough time to save Ello."
Zann nodded. "So let's do something else for an hour," he said.
"Maybe Boz will decide we're safe on our own and then go to the lab after lunch."
Gliss looked at Darb. "That Void Rights meeting should be starting around now," she said.
"What if Mari was right, and there really are new ways for Voids to get magic?"
Darb stared at the ground. "That might be interesting," he mumbled.
Perda shrugged. "Let's check it out."
"Do you really think Gliss and I will be welcome there?" Zann pointed to his hair.
"I wish I knew how to do a Masking spell," Perda said.
"What's a Masking spell?" Zann asked.
"I read about it in an old book in the Swamp Bottom library," Perda said.
"The spell was discovered in another world.
It can make a person look exactly how he or she wants to look.
You two could get rid of your red hair."
"I'll just conjure a wig for myself," Gliss said.
Zann conjured a large hat.
The meeting had already started when Zann and his friends arrived. A large crowd filled the room.
Several people stood on the stage, including a young man with wild black hair.
Perda had noticed someone else. She elbowed Zann. "Look, there's Jev," she whispered.
Zann looked. Jev was standing near the stage with his parents.
"Now we'll demonstrate some of the Void magic we just told you about!" the young man with the black hair announced.
"Void magic," Gliss repeated softly. "I guess Mari knew what she was talking about."
Zann nodded and watched as the young man held up a wooden cane.
"This came from a world called Atmo," the man said.
"It allows someone to leap long distances."
"Atmo is the world my parents were talking about," Zann whispered to his friends.
"I wonder how these people got their hands on stuff from other worlds."
He watched as the young man used the cane to leap from one end of the room to the other.
The crowd gasped. After that the young man and his friends showed off some other items.
They had a canteen that stayed full no matter how much someone drank from it.
They displayed a shirt that could expand or contract to fit anyone of any size.
Two of the presenters held up a pile of rubbery fabric.
"This is a boat that comes to life without magic," one announced.
"I'm a Void, and even I can make it work. Watch!"
The Void pulled a little tab. The audience gasped again as the fabric expanded.
A minute later it had taken the form of a small boat.
"Wow!" someone cried. "How did you do that?"
The young man smiled. "Once Laddno is king, he'll explain everything.
He already vowed to share all this magic and more with everyone—including Voids."
Cheers rang out around the room. "Laddno will have control of all those relics from the Cave of the Unknown," the man continued.
"And he will share that immense power with everyone in Magica.
The Red Council will no longer be allowed to hoard the relics for its own purposes."
"That's not what the Red Council is doing," Zann muttered.
"Soon we'll have magic of our own!" an excited Void shouted. "Hooray for Laddno!"
"Hooray for Laddno!" several others cried.
Then a man raised his hand. "But I heard the Red Council is trying to destroy all the relics.
What if the members succeed before Laddno takes power?"
"No!" several people shouted.
"Maybe we should storm that lab right now!" someone yelled.
A few people cheered, though others looked troubled. Zann gulped.
Should he zap to the lab to warn his parents?
He started rubbing his fingers together just in case.
But the young man onstage raised both hands for attention.
"That might not be necessary," he said.
"Laddno is working on something big—something that could render the relics unnecessary."
Murmurs arose from all around the room.
Zann couldn't help feeling curious about Laddno's work himself.
The young man smiled at the crowd.
"Surely everyone here has heard the tales from the Old Times," he said. "Including stories about the Source?"
Zann blinked. The Source? That sounded familiar, but he couldn't quite remember what it was.
"The Source is where all of Magica gets its magic," the man said.
"It's where our world's native magical power comes from.
It's where that power is stored until you snap your fingers or rub your hands together to summon it."
"But I thought the Source was a myth," a woman called out.
The young man smiled. "I did too. But Laddno knew better.
He's sure he can find the Source and figure out how to control it.
That way he can share its power fairly." He clasped his hands together.
"Just think! Soon every Void in Magica will have as much access to magical energy as the most powerful Magic Masters!"
"Hooray for Laddno!" someone shouted again.
The room erupted with cheers and excitement.
Darb leaned closer to Zann. "Can we get out of here?" he whispered.
Zann nodded, already backing toward the door. "Exactly what I was thinking."