“That is where you would be wrong.” Anna stood and waited for the others to follow her example. “The main purpose of inviting you here this time was to simply talk and to get your measure as a person. Anything beyond that was secondary.”

She led them through the depths of the mansion and to a garden at the back.

“What about your husband?” Zack asked, stepping outside and into the verdant, lush grove of flowers and fruit-bearing trees.

“I admit that was a mistake on my part. I didn’t expect either of you to respond so… aggressively to the other’s presence.” She led them along a lit path, lined by flowers and apple trees that were just out of reach.

“It was his eyes,” Zara informed them, speaking up for the first time since dinner. “The researchers back then would always look at us with those same eyes. As though we weren’t people, but subjects to be dissected.”

Tessa inhaled sharply; her gaze focused on her feet.

“I’m afraid that is a common trait among people in that line of work,” Anna told them as they walked into an open space with an open-walled stone-made gazebo in the middle.

There was a small tea table inside the structure, with several chairs scattered around the area. A steaming pot was on the table alongside four small cups, waiting for them.

Tessa sat first, throwing a few berries into her cups before pouring in the aromatic liquid. Her eyes were still fixed on anything but them. The mention of her seemed to have really unnerved her.

Zara was more interested in eating the berries than drinking the tea.

Anna waited for them to be seated before continuing. “At some point in the future I would like to talk to you about the research facility, that can wait until you are ready.” She took a sip of her own and tossed the last couple of berries into her cup.

A maid appeared out of the darkness with a fresh bowl of the sweet and tart treat. The conversation paused until she had faded back into the shadows and was gone.

Zara blushed and played with her hands. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to eat them all.” She apologized in a soft voice.

Anna gave the young girl a rare smile, “It’s fine, that’s what they are there for. Whether they are used as food or as a flavor enhancer for the drink doesn’t matter. Feel free to eat as many as you want.”

Zack had taken the brief moment of respite to gather his thoughts on the woman’s request. “It may be sometime before that is the case. I do have a question though that has been bugging me for a while now.”

He waited for Anna to lower her cup and meet his eyes before continuing. “Was the institute a sanctioned organization at some point?”

“What would make you think of something like that?” She asked, taking a brief sip of the scalding tea.

“It’s something that I have always wondered. They had access to their own personal portal, after all, that shouldn’t have been possible without the government’s influence. Right?”

“I can see why you might think that.” She placed her cup back onto the table and popped a berry into her mouth. “Except, you are missing a couple of key pieces of information. First, whoever said that all the portals had been reported to the government? Two, even if they had been reported, control would not be possible for all of them. The reach of the government and that of the king are not as great as many believe. Influence wanes over time, no matter what, or who, it belongs to.”

The three teens in front of her were shocked by the sudden change in her tone. Not to mention the sensitive information that had been revealed. That was a lot for them to suddenly digest, and for Zack, at least it went against everything he had been taught.

“Is it true at least that there have been no new portals created since they all appeared years ago?” Zack decided to let her non-answer pass for the moment.

There was a moment of hesitation as the mother carefully chewed and swallowed the berry. “That is a harder question than you might realize to answer.” Her expression changed to a mask of cold indifference. “It should go without saying that anything I say to the three of you, stays between the three of you. I won’t say anything ultra-top-secret, but this is still top-secret information.”

She waited for each of them to nod and verbally agree before letting the mask drop.

“Why tell us any of this then, mother?” Tessa wondered, setting her teacup down with a slight tremble.

Anna sighed and rubbed her eyes. “Things are beginning to change, and within a couple of years, or perhaps sooner, nothing I say here will matter. Consider it my way of ensuring that my daughter has the best chance possible of staying alive during what is to come.” Her words were as confusing to the trio as they were ominous.

She held up a hand, forestalling their questions. “You’ll learn the truth in time, parts of even tonight I imagine.”

“The researchers portal?” Zara prompted, trying to get them back on track.

“To my knowledge, which, as you can imagine, encompasses a fair bit of secret information, no new portals have appeared since that day. That said, we are consistently finding ‘new ones’ in remote locations where people rarely visit. To a one, each of those have possessed extremely strong monsters inside.”

“How were the power lines?” Zack asked, referring to the black power rings that Jean had told him about.

Anna raised a brow in surprise. “Completely solid.”

Zara frowned, thinking over everything she remembered seeing about the institute’s portal. “The rings or lines, increase over time regardless of whether people enter them. It seems that they might increase faster when no one enters them.” She held Zelda close and stared at the king’s advisor. “Have you discovered why? Is it merely the act of people crossing over, or is it the mining, maybe even the monster hunting?”

Zack held back a smile and stroked his sister’s hair, enjoying the silky, non-straw-like texture that it now had. She may have been emotionally stunted by what had been done to them, but her mind was capable of making connections that his never could.

It was a fact that Anna was beginning to realize, and both brows this time rose in surprise. “All three seem to have differing effects on the rate it increases. What we can say for sure is that all of them are beginning to grow at a faster rate than when they first appeared.”

“Which is why you said we’ll learn the truth in time.” Tessa frowned and folded her arms. “Something like that can’t remain hidden for long.”

“No, it can’t.” Zack agreed. “The corporations renting the school’s portal have already noticed. Though I suspect they had something else in mind when they mentioned it to the authorities.”

“Would you care to guess, as to when they all started increasing at a more noticeable pace?” Anna had gone back to eyeing Zack with a removed, yet inquisitive stare.

It was Zara who answered, once more showing off the odd way her mind worked. “It wouldn’t happen to be the same day as the institute’s portal locked itself?”

“It would indeed,” Anna should her head. “Incredible. I had only drawn that connection myself after speaking extensively with the Major the last few days. The records for the operation that rescued you, and shut down that place, never crossed my desk. Possibly related to the matter of you two being lost in the system, as it were.”

“Do any of the people that are working on the matter understand why they are acting that way?” Tessa asked, slowly relaxing the grip she had on her arms. “What will happen when the monsters inside all the portals become too strong for the other travelers to handle?”

“We aren’t going to let that happen, are we, Zack?” Anna held her teacup to her lips, a hard look in her eyes.

Zack felt his back grow cold as he remembered what Jean had told him. How the Major had believed him to be some kind of key. How the woman sitting across the small table from him had spoken with the man. It all came together, and suddenly he knew why they had been invited to the mansion.

He wasn’t going to get that time to level up, as Jean believed he would before they called him. They were going to send him through the institute’s portal, right away, if he had to guess.