But someone else knew. A sleek, smooth, brown-and-purple-polka-dotted sea monster had been circling the volcano network on a continuous loop on a mission from Sky, who’d sent her in search of this very group to guide them to the right volcano. But Isobel the sea monster wasn’t expecting them to be dragging one of the horrid, deadly eels with them. She nearly passed them by in her hurry to get away from it, but she knew these humans were important—maybe even more important than her fear of eels. Isobel guided herself toward the front of the team near the twins, as far from the eel as she could get. Thisbe caught sight of her and, with a joyous look on her face, alerted Fifer and Seth, indicating they should all follow the sea monster. Isobel took the lead, steering the group away from several portals until finally aiming for one very specifically.

Oh, please, let this be home, thought Thisbe.

Oh, please, let my mother be okay, thought Seth, struggling even more to breathe now that he was in the shallow pod.

Oh, please, let this strange monster thing get me out of this mess, thought Fifer.

As they followed Isobel, Fifer felt in her gut that this time she wasn’t making a mistake like she’d done before. With confidence, the leaders aimed for a bright, fiery ring and went through it, exploding out and flying through the air. And then they landed in the familiar clear, cool waters of their own world. They were home.

But they were still in a mess of trouble.

As soon as Talon and Simber emerged from the top of the volcano, the two began flapping their wings, holding a strong grip on the giant eel, straining to keep the thing out of the water so they could control it better.

Carina dangled by the fishing line a short distance from the eel’s mouth. But now that she could breathe, she came to her senses and tried to untangle herself. Frustrated and getting nowhere, she grabbed hold of the line and concentrated, then whispered, “Dissipate.”

The magical fishing line vanished into thin air. Carina dropped to the water below. Talon and Simber forced the eel back into the volcano’s gaping maw, hoping to contain it at least momentarily while they collected their team.

As they attempted to do so, the volcano spat out one last round of passengers—the huge flock of Fifer’s falcons, who had immediately plunged after their leader. They dragged the torn hammock with them. Red and purple feathers flew everywhere. The birds appeared bedraggled but unhurt.

Simber dodged the squawking blast and loosened his grip. Sensing it, the eel yanked free of its captors and dropped hard onto the side of the volcano, then bounced into the water and slithered away, nursing its wounds.

At long last, everyone had made it to the land of the seven islands. Battered but alive.