A yellow portal slices through the air like a blade.

  Clean. Sharp. Impossible.

  The Bog Queen doesn’t even scream.

  She’s cut clean in half—toppling into the swamp, dissolving into rot and light.

  Silence.

  From the portal steps a girl in a hoodie, boots splattered with something that is definitely not mud.

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  She stretches. Yawns.

  “…Man,” she says. “You guys always end up in cursed places.”

  Danny stares.

  “…Lucky?”

  She grins. Same grin from elementary school. Same confidence. Same “I know something you don’t” energy.

  “In the flesh,” Lucky says. “Well. Mostly.”

  Shawny blinks. “You know her?”

  Danny nods slowly. “Yeah. She used to steal my lunch money.”

  Lucky snorts. “You deserved it.”

  Sir Dracks watches her carefully.

  “A portal slicer,” he murmurs. “Interesting.”

  Lucky winks. “Hi, dragon”