Drake knew that the clue his father found in the inn, left by Mary, had been tampered with. Everything in him told him that it had been tampered with. He needed to figure out how to see the truth. He wasn't sure. He tried glowing his eyes, but nothing happened. His gut never lied. He knew that something about the clue was wrong. He just needed to find out what it was.

He had to think for a moment about how they had seen the truth in the clearing of illusion. It was the only time he remembered using the lantern immediately. He knew his eyes had helped, but it was the lamp of truth that showed them that the water was only an illusion. It allowed them to cross the clearing without fear.

The moment he thought that, his eyes moved down at the barely glowing lantern on his belt. It was the lantern of truth he had received during his first ascension quest. He looked over at his father. He had his lantern on his belt as well. His eyes went back to his own, thinking intently. The small lantern was glowing softly, but didn't show anything different. He knew there must have been something he did to activate it back then, but didn't remember. He figured that it was probably his intention. The only way to know for sure was to try.

After taking the lamp off his belt, he held it up to Tod's parchment. Nothing happened. Moving to the note his father had found, he held it up. Again, nothing happened.

Everyone watched him as he moved his lantern to each clue. Trying again with Tod's clue, he mentally told the lantern to show him the truth. The lantern glowed brightly, casting a bright light on the parchment; the blood shimmered with a glittery light. There was no change to the parchment's short message.

Holding the small lantern up to the clue left by Mary, he mentally told the lantern to show him the truth. The lamp glowed brightly, casting its bright light on the words that Mary had written. The words shimmered, a secondary layer of words beneath the ones easily read. He still couldn't read the words underneath. He was right, it was tampered with. He looked up his father. He needed more of the lamp's power. According to the quest, they were a team that needed to do it together for the lanterns to show them anything. He looked up at his father.

"Dad, shine your light and have it show the truth," he told his father. The quest to save the people was a combined quest for him and his father. His instincts told him that they needed to both use the lantern's ability at the same time on the clue.

Drake Sr held his small lamp over Mary's clue, letting it glow brightly. As the twin lanterns shone brightly on the page, the words shimmered further, slowly revealing the words beneath. After a couple of seconds, the first layer of words vanished from the page completely. Underneath, the words had changed. Under the twin lantern's brilliant white light, the words read "We are at Goblin Island. The goblins took us."

As soon as they finished reading the real note, it suddenly flashed, bursting into a ball of flame and turned to ash. Whatever the enchantment on the page had been, it was destroyed after it was discovered.

Wanting confirmation of going to the Goblin Island, he held up Tod's note. "System, identify whose blood is on this parchment."

The system took several seconds as it scanned the drop of blood. The soft voice floated through his mind.

{Blood Identified: Blood owner is Tod, age 10}

"System, can you form a link to Tod using the blood on the parchment?" he asked the system, then tried to wait patiently for the system to do its job.

After several seconds, the system responded.

{Link formed}

{Link between the blood and its owner has been made}

Drake let his eyes glow brightly, still not seeing the thread that should lead him to Tod. He sighed deeply. "System, show the link between the blood and the owner so that I can follow the thread to the owner."

As his eyes glowed a bright green, a red thread appeared, for only those who were looking could see. The thread was heading toward the beach where the kidnappers had taken Nelly.

While this was going on in Drake's mind, their fathers and the two cohorts watched, waiting for Drake to say something. To all of them, he was only standing in one place, silently thinking.

After some time, Drake turned his attention to his friends. "Follow the link. It leads us to Tod."

As one, Mike and Chad allowed their eyes to glow. They looked around them, seeing the red link.

"I see it," Mike blurted.

"So do I," Chad echoed Mike. "It's going in the same direction as we went last time."

Drake nodded while their fathers watched their sons. Drake Sr let his eyes glow as well, but didn't see anything. He wasn't part of Drake's cohort; he was the dimension master, not an heir. He couldn't see what his son's system was showing him.

"I don't see anything," he told his son. He wondered why he didn't. As a dimension master, he should have been able to see what the other boys were seeing. It didn't make sense. The only explanation was that the system Drake had was different than his own. Either that, or the dimension was getting involved, wanting the town saved as well. He could think of no other reasons.

"It doesn't matter, because we can," Drake stated, then began following the thread that led from the parchment to wherever Tod was being kept.

After only taking a couple of steps, he stopped, then pulled out Tod's clue. He looked between his friends and their fathers. I want to see if there is anything hiding on Tod's page as well. You never know. I want to be sure.

His father nodded. As one, they shone the twin lanterns on the single word note. It glowed brightly on the page. The blood glittered more than before with the lantern's bright light. Within the blood spot, there was a number. It was the number 7.

"I think we need to figure out what this number means. We'll keep an eye on it. We can check it regularly." Drake stated, staring at the number. Drake turned to his father. "Can you teleport all of us to the Goblin Island. I can't. I've never been there?"

"Yeah, I can do that. Huddle together, and I can get us there," Drake Sr ordered, holding his staff firmly, preparing to teleport the combined cohort to the island. As they moved together, he thought about it. Goblin Island was located in the opposite direction from where they were walking. It was nearly north of Dragon Head Mountain, while the road to the beach was southeast. He trusted his son, so he didn't say anything. It made him wonder, though. Something didn't add up, but his own instincts were telling him that his son was right, which confused him.

They all moved into a tight group. To make it easier, Renn and Ruby transformed into their small forms and leaped onto Drake's shoulder. When Everyone was ready, his father slammed his staff on the ground. The light exploded around them. When it faded, they were on the beach, closest to the main continent.

The smell of saltwater permeated the air. A gentle breeze floated through the trees, making the leaves sway gently. Drake looked around him, trying to see where they had ended up. In the distance, he could see the mainland; he not only saw one large stretch of land, but a smaller one also, off to one side. He could tell that the largest land was where they had come from, and the smaller one was another island.

Chad shivered, turning pale as he looked at the large body of water. His fear of water was severe.

"This is Goblin Island. Do you still see whatever you were looking at?" His father asked, wondering if he would need to teleport them back to the mainland. His cohort looked between the three teenagers in question, wanting to know if they still saw the thread that led to Tod.

Drake looked at the ground. The thread led from the page he had found and headed toward the center of the island. Mike and Chad looked as well. The red thread was clearly seen. All three of the boys pointed into the trees. "It's leading us that way," they said in unison.

This made Drake Sr even more confused. There was only one explanation. Whatever they were following at Draco town was leading them to the closest pier to get them to the island.

Renn and Ruby jumped off Drake's shoulder and transformed into their beast form. Immediately, they started searching around. Their eyes glowed brightly; they were following the thread, even before Drake, his father, and their combined cohort even took a step. As part of Drake's cohort, they could see the thread also.

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