As soon as Vera got a few feet away from Marianna’s house, it vanished. A step or two back and it was still there. No wonder people didn’t find Marianna if she didn’t want them to. She had stealth magic on her house.

Vera worked her way down the side of the bluff, opposite the army. She crossed back and forth as needed to avoid the hardest obstacles. The last stretch, she slid down on her butt after slipping on loose pebbles and sand. At the bottom, she looked up to see if anyone was coming after her, but it looked like an empty bluff. She straightened her spine and walked around toward the army, hoping to appear as if she belonged there. She’d been watching them all for the past hour. From what she could tell, nearly every realm was represented. Each group had staked out their own section and clustered together. Most of the magics were new to Vera, so she didn’t know what many of them were.

She loitered where the most human-looking creatures congregated until one of the Yamas was alone.

“You are in serious trouble, buddy,” she growled at him. “I don’t care if you are Satan’s second cousin.”

Yama grinned. “You’re finally here.”

She took a step back. “You say that like you were expecting me.”

“I was.” Yama looped an arm through hers. “Now let’s go collect on my bet.”

Vera dug in her heels.

“Problem?”

“Marianna told you I was coming?”

Yama winked. “Now I know that trick with Rufus was not nice, but I promise this will make up for it.”

“If you want to make it up to me, help me stop this madness. Who’s in charge?”

“No one here is in charge,” he informed her.

“But there’s going to be a war.”

Someone nearby overheard her and cheered at that declaration.

“They’re very excited about that,” Yama noted. “New people like you are coming in every day to join the cause.”

“No one around here is like me,” she retorted.

Yama leaned his head against hers. “You’ll want to play along when we meet up with my friend, or things are going to get entertaining very quickly.”

“By entertaining you mean…”

“People will die.”

Vera closed her mouth.

“Petr! There you are. This is my friend, Vera.”

“You know who this is?” The man named Petr asked Vera, pointing at Yama.

“Yeeahh,” she drawled, trying to figure out if it was a trick question.

“Prove it,” he challenged.

Yama nodded encouragingly.

“Yama, ruler of Diyu,” she said.

The man gaped at her.

Yama beamed and kissed her cheek like a happy little boy. “Pay up,” he told Petr.

Only Petr didn’t approach Yama, he walked right up to Vera and said unhappily, “I didn’t believe it.”

Vera flinched when he grabbed both of her hands in his.

“What are you doing?”

“Let the man work,” Yama murmured.

And then Vera felt it, a storm rising inside her void. The hair on her arms stood on end as static rushed down them. Petr silently showed her how to attract and repel the static with a thought, and then he pulled away.

“There,” Petr grumbled.

“Wonderful,” said Yama.

“What are you?” Vera asked Petr before he could retreat.

“I’m a tempestarii,” he answered, pulling his shoulders back proudly.

A wielder from Lemuria? That explained the storm inside her void, since tempestarii harvested their magic from the weather. “Kanaloa’s not here, is he?” Vera asked Yama.

“You’ve met him,” Yama concluded.

“He tried to keep me.”

“He’s not the only one, doll.” Yama reached across to push her hair behind her ear.

The tempestarii gawked, and Vera batted Yama’s hand away.

The Infernal did not seem the least bit put out. He turned to Petr and his men and asked, “What are you going to do now?”

“I don’t know, but I can’t fight against her.”

Is he talking about me? Petr had looked right at her when he’d said it, but it didn’t make sense.

“It was nice doing business with you, Petr. Good luck getting your men out.”

Petr nodded gravely and the tempestarii melted away.

“I have no idea what just happened,” Vera told Yama.

“You unlocked another magic bobble.”

“Yeah, that part I got.” The storm thundered, vibrating inside her well. “But why did he unlock it? And why are they leaving?”

“They’re abandoning the army because they believe you will save their people.”

“They think that because…”

“I told them you would. And then you proved I wasn’t lying when you said my name.”

Vera raised a brow at that and waited for him to continue.

“People don’t say my name out loud. Unless they enjoy choking on their tongues.”

“My tongue is right where it’s supposed to be.”

“Which makes you the most fun person I’ve met in centuries,” Yama told her.

“You're serious.”

“Shall we do a demonstration?” Before Vera could catch him, Yama called out to a young man walking by. “Genie-boy, come here.”

The man looked like he wanted to go the other direction, but lines of blue geometric tattoos surfaced across his face, and he lurched over. Like he had no choice but to obey. Weird.

“Say my—”

“Stop!” Vera threw a hand over Yama’s mouth. The genie’s eyes had widened in horror as soon as Yama had begun the command.

“I was just trying to prove a point,” Yama told her.

“Would you have had to say it if he told you to?” Vera asked the genie.

“I am compelled to do whatever my master commands.”

“Yama’s your master?”

The man flinched at the name. “No. But my master commanded that I follow the Ruler of Diyu’s orders. Among others.”

“I didn’t realize genies had masters,” Vera said.

The man pressed his lips together.

“Oh, just tell the girl,” said Yama. “It’s not even a secret.”

“Anyone who knows our true name can command us,” answered the genie.

“Don’t you want to be here?” Vera asked.

“Not anymore,” said the Genie.

“But you did once,” Vera concluded.

The man gave her a dirty look. “And now you’ll report me for speaking out of turn, and my master will command me to kill myself.”

“That’s appalling. Who’s done that?”

The man slid a side-eye to Yama.

Vera swung on the Infernal. “Don’t you dare use them for your fun anymore, got it?”

“Or what?”

“Or I don’t save this flipping world and your underground torture playground goes bye-bye.”

Yama pouted. “You’re no fun.”

“I’m lots of fun as long as you don’t kill anyone.”

Yama’s eyes lit up.

“Or maim or mutilate them in any way,” she added.

He crossed his arms sullenly. “You have a ridiculous idea of fun.”

Vera shook her head and turned to the genie. “Why are you here?”

The man looked to Yama, who waved a hand for him to continue. “Our masters told us they would help us get our throne back. By the time we realized they intended to come into our realm and take over, it was too late to push them out.”

“You were that upset to have a morph on the throne?” It had been generations since a morph had ruled Heliopolis, but Mimi wasn’t the first. Vera didn’t understand why the genies opposed her so vehemently for taking after her mother instead of her father.

“We will never be mastered again.” The genie’s shoulders drooped. “That’s what we were trying to accomplish, anyway.”

“You thought your queen would try to master your people just because she’s a morph?”

“It is what morphs did. When they ruled, they were our masters. They compelled us to do their bidding until my people finally took the throne. After that, we hid our names where the morphs could never find them—so we would never be mastered again. And then that mongrel queen showed up.”

“If your names are hidden, what do you have to worry about?”

The genie snapped his mouth closed. The geometric lines flared on his cheeks, and he groaned as if he were in pain. That’s when Vera realized what was happening. Yama was the genie’s master and he’d told the genie to answer her questions. “Tell him he doesn’t have to answer me.”

“Why?” Yama asked with confusion.

“Just do it. I didn’t realize he was being compelled to talk to me in the first place.”

“Oh, all right,” Yama said. “You do not have to answer her questions.”

The genie relaxed and looked at her quizzically. “Why didn’t you let him compel me to answer?”

“Everyone has secrets. I have no right to make you tell me yours.”

“No one has ever offered to break a compulsion before. Not in all our histories.”

“I’m just crazy like that, I guess,” Vera replied.

“Who are you?” he asked.

Yama shook his head, but Vera felt the man should know. Not like it could do much harm. They were already marching on Earth. “I used to be a human of Earth. I’m still from Earth, but I have my magic now.”

“You weren’t a siphon?”

“I was, but I’m not anymore,” she rushed on when the genie began backing away. “Siphons aren’t what people think.”

He seemed to consider. “I want to think you are lying, but everything you’ve done makes me believe you aren’t.”

“How can I get you and your people free?” Vera asked.

“You would have to change our true names. And no one can do that but our ruler.”

“Genie,” called a man. Yama pulled Vera back, shielding her from sight. “I have a job for you.”

“See that tree up there,” Vera pointed at the tree not far from Marianna’s porch. “Meet me there tonight. I think I know how to free you.”

The man’s eyes glimmered, and Vera had to swallow a knot in her throat.

“Genie!” shouted the man.

The genie skittered away, but not before saying, “I will be there when the moon is directly overhead.”

When he was out of earshot, Yama asked, “Why are you helping him?”

“He’s a prisoner.”

“Freeing them won’t weaken the army enough to help your friends—genies are not the best fighters. Not like the warlocks and Amazonian tribes.”

“Haven’t you ever helped someone just because it was the right thing to do?”

Yama considered the question. “I dragged Kale from the caves after he thought you were dead. So Rufus wouldn’t eat him.”

“Marianna didn’t tell you to make sure he lived?”

“Oh yep, she did. So no. I’ve never done—whatever you’re talking about. It doesn’t sound like fun.”

“Maybe you should try it. It might surprise you.”

Yama looked doubtful. “I’m supposed to make sure you sneak away in—oops, it’s right now. You only have a minute to get out of here or you’ll be captured.”

Vera looked at him with wide eyes.

“You should probably run.”

She did.

Kale, you need to get out here.

Kale hurried to answer Ferrox’s summons. He was ready to go.

Whoa there. It’s not the time for killing yet. Ferrox eyed the glaring little man in red. A scraggly hare sat beside him like a great dane. Around them were dozens of bloodthirsty leprechauns with darts. Or maybe it is.

“Seamus?” Kale glanced around. We’re in Brasil?

Seamus cocked his head, scanning Kale with narrowed eyes. “Boss?”

“Don’t call me that or I’ll knock your head off, Seamus.”

Seamus grinned, satisfied. “It is you,” he said in a thick cockney accent. “That beast of yers tried to pretend he was ye. Like I wouldn’t know the difference.”

“I’m sure he has a good reason.” Right?

I’m supposed to see if his band of little thugs will help us with mighty-bitch.

Kale scrubbed his face. That was going to make Seamus intolerable. “Seamus, I need your help. Someone took my friends, and I need help to get them back.”

Seamus’s face contorted into joy. “I am here to serve ye.”

“You should know, I’m not the Guardian anymore,” Kale informed him.

“Ye’ll always be my Guardian,” Seamus insisted.

“And I’m trying to save Earth with all its humans,” Kale added.

Seamus frowned, nodding seriously. “Can’t say I understand why ye’d do such a thing, but if ye say it’s what we must do, it’s what we’ll do.” Seamus bowed from the waist.

“Blast. Don’t do that.”

Seamus turned to the others. “Go tell yer women farewell and collect yer gear. We’re goin’ to help the Guardian and be his best servants.”

The band spread out in separate directions across the moors.

“Ye be leading us, yeah?” His lip pulled up. “Not that beast that calls itself a horse.”

I am in fact a horse, Ferrox pointed out.

A demon one.

Still a horse.

“I’ll lead us when we’re ready to face our enemy,” Kale assured. “But for now, I’m going to let Ferrox lead.”

“Why would you let him take charge?”

“I lost someone,” Kale said honestly.

“The girl with the funny magic?” asked Seamus.

“Yes.”

“This woman we’re goin’ ta battle against, she took yer lass from ye?”

“Yes. And I cannot go kill her yet.”

“I get yer need to rage,” said Seamus. “Let that anger simmer inside ye. Let it grow, but keep it controlled so ye can hurt her the best ye can.”

“That’s what I plan to do.”

“And once ye’ve made her pay for what she’s done?”

“My time in this world is done. I have nothing more I can give.”

“So ye’ll go into the Infernal pits until the torture erases your anger.” Seamus spat on the ground. “It’s a coward’s way out.”

Kale clenched his teeth.

Told you it might be time for some killing.

“Will you still help me?” Kale asked Seamus.

“Oye. But before it’s done, I’m going to convince ye that ye are needed.”

“The meadow is not what you’ll remember,” Kale said. “It has other people to run it now, and they don’t need me.”

“Ye think the meadow is all yer needed for? Yer the one who helped the small people when no one else would. We know about yer penchant for saving the mothers too. If ye aren’t here to help the ones no one cares about, who will?”

Kale wanted to say that Vera would, because that had been the plan. He was supposed to make things safe, and then she’d be the advocate for those the world looked down upon. But she was gone. “My friends will help.”

“The cat and goat?” Seamus shook his head. “They be good people, but the world won’t listen to them. Won’t respect them.”

“I do not have as much authority in this world as you seem to think.”

“Oye, ye do. Why else do people do what they’re supposed to? Cause they know ye’ll come for them if they don’t.”

“They won’t fear me once they know I’m powerless.”

“My people haven’t forgotten what ye once were—The Terror of the world. And ye were just a boy with no magic at all. People don’t care so much about ye being part of the meadow. They know to listen to ye and fear ye if they don’t hold up the rules. Before this is over, I’ll make ye see that.”

“If you say so, Seamus.” Kale was done trying to convince the leprechaun otherwise. “When your clan is ready, take them to the world-gate. I’ll leave it open for you. Just make sure you check in—no sneaking in and making problems. The meadow has a lot of people, and we need to keep everyone calm.”

“We’ll be proper.”

“If any of your men tries to go through another gate or leave the meadow, the wards will stop you. But if they don’t, there’s a dragon who’ll swallow you whole.”

“Things must be serious if ye got a dragon to come out of hiding to fight for ye.”

Kale didn’t mention that the dragon was mainly there for a girl. “Things are very serious. The world is changing again.”

“Be about time, boss. About time.” And with that, Seamus turned to make preparations of his own. He whistled for his rabbit to follow.

Want me to take the lead? asked Ferrox

Do you want to?

Up to you. I’m happy to sit back and watch if you’d rather.

Never known you to prefer that, Kale prodded, and Ferrox promptly backed away. What’s up, Ferrox?

Don’t be a fool. Do you want to be present for this or not?

I’ll stay.

Fine. Ferrox slipped into the background.

Kale didn’t try to follow the demon because he obviously didn’t want to talk, but something was bothering him. Was it Mimi? Kale hadn’t considered how losing a friend might be difficult for Ferrox to process. So Kale left him be. He would hold it together long enough to destroy Marianna.

Addamas looked up from the sofa when Vera burst through the front door.

“Satyr, get your filthy hooves off my coffee table,” called Marianna from her seat at the loom. She wasn’t weaving anything, just sitting there, running her finger over the framing. “How’s that tempestarii magic feel?” Marianna asked Vera. “Are you hungry? Made your favorite—gingerbread.”

Vera heard the smile in Marianna’s words but couldn’t force one of her own. The weaver had known everything all this time and had been killing left and right. She wasn’t the woman Vera had known.

“Vera?” Marianna prompted.

“I’m not hungry,” she said. “Where’s Mimi?”

“Upstairs,” Addamas answered. “Wearing grooves in the floor while watching an army gather in her realm.”

Vera turned and headed for the stairs. They might not be able to stop an army from gathering, but they could do something. She paused with a foot on the steps. “Marianna, what do you know about what I’m planning?”

“I only know that you’re doing what you’re supposed to.”

“Care to tell me more?” Vera asked.

“You’ll figure it out.”

Vera clenched her fists and headed up. She tapped at the door, and Mimi opened it, looking like she needed a good rest.

“I need your help,” Vera told her. “We’re going to free your people from that army.”

“My people? You mean the genies? Marianna said they’re the ones who started the army.”

“Now it’s out of hand, and they need to be saved from their stupidity.”

Mimi chewed her lower lip.

“Hard to forgive your father’s side?”

“Hard to believe they deserve saving,” Mimi replied.

“They don’t want any part of what’s going on out there. And I don’t think they’re terrible. They’re just scared, like everyone else in this world, that someone’s trying to take away their freedom. Will you at least come to meet one?”

“A genie wants to meet with me?”

Vera squinted one eye. “Technically, he doesn’t know you’ll be there.”

“Because he wouldn’t have agreed to meet if he had,” Mimi said.

“I don’t know. At this point, he might have, but I didn’t have a chance to tell him.” Vera gave Mimi a reassuring smile. “I think it’s a good thing.”

“I’ll come, but I don’t trust them.”

“What about Addamas?” Vera asked.

“Oh, heck no. He’d probably start a brawl in the first ten seconds. He’s more bitter about what that side of my family has done to me than I am.”

“Love makes people crazy.”

Mimi’s face brightened. “Are you speaking from personal experience? Did you go back to Lemuria?”

“Didn’t have to. It turns out, Alalana pulled a fast one on Kanaloa.” Vera tapped her chest. “My heart is right here.”

“I wondered. If you still cared that much about everyone without it, I couldn’t imagine your capacity to love with it. Does Kale know?”

“I told him right before he watched me die.”

“We need to get him a message.”

Why didn’t I think of that? “You know where Marianna keeps her messengers?”

“On top of the fridge.”

“They’re all gone,” Marianna called from the bottom of the steps. “Got rid of them this morning.”

Vera’s nose flared. For freak’s sake, why can’t anything go my way? And why can’t demon links work between realms? That would be great right about now… Okay, not really. If demons could do that, they would wreak havoc.

“He’s going to be a mess,” Mimi said.

“As long as he doesn’t lose himself completely.”

“When are we meeting with the genie?”

“Middle of the night. Will you be able to get away without Addamas knowing?” Vera whispered. Hopefully, Marianna wouldn’t say anything.

“He’s sleeping on the couch at the moment.”

“Umm,” Vera was thinking about the creaking front door so close to the couch.

“I’ll let him back in our room,” Mimi conceded, obviously thinking the same thing. “And make sure he’s sound asleep.”

“I don’t want to know what you two do behind closed doors.” Vera backed away.

Mimi grinned. “He’s pretty good—”

“No! Lalalala.” Vera dashed into her room with Mimi laughing behind her.