Adilene followed Max into the hallway. The Moholi Mixture had worked perfectly. She had poured the vial into the crack of the doorjamb, and the pinkish potion melted away the latch in seconds, though there wasn’t enough to unlock Sasha’s metal mittens. She slipped out of the room behind Adilene, hands dropping heavily at her sides.

There were three other cells along the hallway—all empty. A wooden chair rested next to a doorway at the far end, where Adilene suspected Gabriel sat to monitor his prisoners. But the boy was nowhere to be found.

“Maybe Gabriel is taking a lunch break,” Max muttered, squeezing between Adilene and Sasha. “I could go for some lunch.”

“We’re not going to wait for him to show up,” Adilene said. At any moment, Gabriel could return and their escape would be over.

The prison’s main door opened easily onto a covered walkway. Baskets of flowers buzzing with honeybees hung every few feet, and off the eastern side of the path, Adilene could see an emerald-green pond surrounded by birds. Enormous papayas dangled from trees. Max reached for one, but Sasha kicked his shin.

“Keep control of your stomach, Max!” she ordered.

The walkway sloped upward toward a domed marble structure that loomed above the treetops with arched entryways and towering white columns. It looked like a castle but without the battlements or a drawbridge.

“Not to sound like a chicken, but there’s no way we can just walk right through the front door,” Max said, stopping and facing the girls.

“Can we sneak in through the back door?” Adilene asked.

“How do we know there is one?” Max fired back. Then he stumbled backward, his mouth clamped shut, chin tucked down into his chest.

“Max?” Startled, Adilene ran to him. She tried grabbing his arms to calm him down, but he swung out, knocking her away. He appeared to be struggling against an unseen force, keeping him from calling out.

Suddenly Sasha lunged forward, swinging one of her clubbed fists toward the invisible adversary. Metal clanged against something solid, followed by a groan of pain. Max broke free and fell backward onto the walkway.

Gabriel blinked into existence. His eyes were closed, a reddening welt on his forehead from where Sasha had struck him. Then, just as Cadence had done back at Gordy’s house after they had captured her, Gabriel transformed into a withering old man covered in wrinkles. His transformation would have shocked Adilene, but after all she had seen, this seemed par for the course.

“Who are you?” Gabriel whimpered, fingers trembling as he gingerly touched the welt on his head, which had grown to the size of a golf ball. “Why did you hit me?”

“Why do you think, creep?” Sasha hovered over Gabriel, one metal fist cocked and ready to strike again.

“I couldn’t breathe!” Max exclaimed. “You were choking me!”

“I don’t understand.” Gabriel sat up, eyes widening with alarm. “That man who came on the boat and his two companions. Did you come with them? What do you want from us?”

“We came on our own, bucko,” Max said. “On a big robot bird named Roseanne!”

“Are you talking about Mezzarix?” Adilene asked.

“I cannot recall their names.” Gabriel’s forehead wrinkled in confusion. “But the woman was quite short. She had green hair.”

“Zelda!” Sasha said.

“That name sounds familiar.” Gabriel nodded.

“Where’s Mezzarix now?” Adilene demanded. “Does he have Gordy with him?”

Gabriel peered over his shoulder back up the pathway. “He has withdrawn into the portico. The stranger has, by impossible means, gained control over my people. We have had no choice but to obey.”

“What’s a portico?” Max asked.

Adilene followed Gabriel’s gaze toward the domed structure as a blue light suddenly appeared, pouring out from the entryway.