Ruby turns towards me but her eyes scan the crowd. “Is it SIGMA?”“No, it’s Ash.” I show her the bracelet. “It’s a portal. I’ve got to go to him. Now. I can’t explain, I just need to go. Can you handle the last candidate?”“Of course!” she says. “Go on. We’ll be fine. We will meet you at the entrance to the forest, just tell us when.”“Ruby, when I activate this you’ve got to go. I’m not sure if it will attract SIGMA, but it’s dragon magic so it probably will. Go, find her. I’ve got a good feeling about her already.”I pull her into a brief hug and we set off in opposite directions. I walk farther down Market Street and start to activate the portal to Ash, but the hair stands up on the back of my neck. This will definitely trigger any magical alarms SIGMA has around and I should give Ruby more time.I move to the edge of marketplace, near a vendor hawking a rare type of metal that has a good chance of distorting the energetic signature of the portal so they won’t be able to follow.
