"Ow," Aunt Nogard said before collapsing.
A split second later, mom stepped through the portal I had created. Pulling me close to her, she asked Aunt Dragon, "Where's Shal?"
"That wasn't Shalimar or Wynn," I muttered.
Looking sharply at me, Aunt Dragon rushed over and lifted me off the floor by the front of my shirt. "WHAT?!"
"Put him down!" mom said, pulling me free from Aunt Dragon.
"Whatever they were," I said quietly, "they weren't Shalimar or Wynn."
Aunt Dragon began, "Do you know--"
"Fix Aunt Nogard first."
"I am not--"
"If Aunt Nogard dies, then I won't be able to read her mind and find out who has the girls," I replied.
Quickly healing Aunt Nogard, Aunt Dragon said, "There!"
"Get outta my head," Aunt Nogard muttered thickly.
"How did you know Shalimar and Wynn were going to explode?" I asked.
"I sensed the fire in them," Aunt Nogard replied, rising to her hands and knees. "Whoever sent them did a damned good job of duplicating Shalimar's inner red dragon to the point where I couldn't sense the diffrence. Wynn, on the other hand, just seemed off and it took me a few minutes to understand why."
"Do you know who has the girls?" mom asked.
"No," Aunt Nogard replied.
"If the three of you focus on the real Shalimar and Wynn," I said carefully, "then I may be able to track them."
"Really?" Aunt Dragon asked, looking at me.
"I honestly don't know," I said. "It would be a test of my po--"
Although I had been lightly touching the minds of my mom and both my Aunts, I suddenly got a clear picture of the real Shalimar and Wynn. Focusing on that, I reached out across space to find where my cousins were at.
