The breakfast table was already set when Naomi and Makani stepped into the dining hall of her family’s home on Fairy Island. Flower pots of all shapes and sizes filled the room, and inside each of them was a living plant. Lemons, limes, clementines, strawberries. Their tart sweetness flooded the hall.

Dad loved anything and everything citrus. Each time Naomi had visited the island over the past two months, there had been more of it. Naomi’s family had brought the plants inside to coax Dad out of his magic coma.

It seemed to have worked. Dad sat at the table, alive and well. His long blond hair was pulled away from his face. A light stubble covered his cheeks and chin. Mom sat beside him, holding his hand as though he would disappear if she let go even for a second. She was an elemental mage with the power to wield all the elements. According to Aunt Cora, back in her days as a mercenary, fire had been her favorite. Ever since starting Fairy Island, she’d favored earth more. Now that Dad was back, some of that fire was back in her.

Aunt Cora sat at the table too, dressed in a lovely pale pink dress. She wore her sleek dark hair down today. Naomi’s teenage sisters Ivy and Ruby were also decked out in white dresses with pretty flower patterns and cute little ballet flats. A daisy crown topped Ivy’s raven-haired head. Strands of tiny little flowers were woven into Ruby’s red curls.

Seeing them like this, all dolled up, Naomi felt horribly underdressed. She’d put on these wrinkled clothes two days ago, and since then, she’d fought monsters, convicts, and demons in them. She’d slept in them too.

“I apologize for my appearance,” she said, leaning down to hug Dad. “We’ve been dealing with a bit of a crisis.”

“You look lovely.” His hand touched her cheek affectionately. His eyes shone as they panned across his family. He looked at them like they were all princesses in his book.

The door to the hall opened. Naomi’s brother Ash and his wife Nerida entered. Today, Ash wore a formal suit—and gold eyes rather than his usual green. Nerida was dressed in runway heels and a pastel blue dress with a gold sash tied into a big bow at the back.

They set down Arion and Ariel, their twins, on a soft baby play area that Ash had made for them at the side of the hall. The play area included all sorts of activities and obstacles. There were blocks to crawl on—or, in Arion’s case, to chew on. There were rolling mats and little balls enchanted with magic to glow different colors when the twins touched them.

Ariel and Arion crawled up to the mirror on the wall, giggling at their shifting reflections as they changed their features. In the course of a few seconds, Ariel’s hair went from brown to black to white to blue to red. Arion’s green eyes turned purple, and horns grew out of his head. Ariel’s cute little nose elongated. Arion grew a feathered tail.

Dad watched the twins, his smile never fading. “I’ve missed so much.” He took Naomi’s hand in his, squeezing it. “I’m so grateful you got me out of hell.”

“We all are,” Mom said. The look in her eyes was priceless—and totally worth all the horrors Naomi had faced to find Dad again.

“How are you feeling?” Naomi asked Dad as she took her seat.

“I feel like I had a bundle of demons inside of me, then I slept for two months.”

“We’ve sent a few dozen demons back to hell,” Naomi told him.

Dad nodded. “Good work.”

“That’s not all of them.”

A dark shadow fell across Dad’s face. “What can I do to help?”

“You can hardly stand,” Mom told him, her voice harsh. “So don’t get any ideas of going off on some wild goose chase with your wild daughter.”

“My daughter?”

“She takes after you, Dash. Obviously.”

Dash had been Dad’s nickname back when he’d been a mercenary.

“I don’t know.” Dad rubbed the stubble on his chin, a contemplative look on his face. “I seem to remember a young, volatile mercenary mage getting me into loads of trouble back in the day.”

“Oh, do you?” Mom said, leaning toward him. “Because I seem to remember a young, volatile mercenary fairy getting me into loads of trouble back in the day.”

Mom’s eyes shone; she was positively lovestruck. And Dad looked at her like he’d been holding his breath all these years, waiting to exhale only when he was in her company again. Dad’s hand locked around her waist, and he drew her in for a long kiss.

Ivy’s face crinkled. “Ew.”

“Seriously,” Ruby said. “Get a room.”

“Actually, Dad,” Naomi said when her parents came up for air. “I was hoping you could help me with something.”

Mom shot her a hard look.

“With information,” Naomi added quickly, before her mother launched a fireball at her face.

“Ask away,” Dad said.

“What did the demons who held you do to you in hell?”

“They tortured me, Naomi. It’s not something you need to hear about.”

“Indeed we do not,” Mom agreed, frowning at Naomi.

“What I meant was, what did they do to your magic? You are a Spirit Warrior. In all those years, why didn’t you escape?”

“The two demons your mother and I fought before I was sucked into hell weren’t just any demons, Naomi. They’re the princes of hell, the sons of the current king of hell.”

“Current king?”

“The demons have been locked in a civil war for millennia. The current king of hell has reigned for the last two centuries, which is only the blink of an eye to an immortal. His sons are just as powerful. And just as ruthless. Several years ago, they came to earth to pave the way for their father’s armies. I managed to push them back into the spirit realm, but my spell backfired. It went out of control, sucking me into hell as well. Unfortunately, I popped up in the second circle at just the wrong time, right in the middle of a battle between two warlords. The demon Bael’s warlord, named Valin, captured me. He recognized my magic and took steps to negate it. I was bound in chains that blocked my spirit magic.”

“That’s when I met your father,” Makani told her. “We escaped the camp together, but when Valin’s warriors took chase, we were separated. Your father led the warriors away from me.”

“You were injured,” Dad said.

Makani frowned like they’d had this conversation before, probably right before Dad had run off after Valin’s army, distracting them.

“I can take care of myself,” Makani told him.

“You were in chains when I met you,” Dad pointed out.

“So were you.”

Their eyes remained locked in a hard stare for a few moments, then they burst into laughter. Mom watched them, caught somewhere between rolling her eyes at Dad for his recklessness and batting her eyelashes at him for his heroism.

“Valin’s warriors didn’t catch me,” Dad said. “I’d regained just enough magic to open the veil and escape the second circle. Unfortunately, I didn’t have enough magic to get back to earth. I thought that I’d be safe in the first circle, but a lesser demon had followed me there from the second circle. He was a scout from another demon, one intrigued by my magic. She wanted to use it for her own purposes. In my weakened state, I was no match for the lesser demon. That lesser demon brought me to the seventh circle, to his demon mistress, who kept me chained up for years. She eventually learned to harvest my spirit magic and bottle it. She was about ready to start using it when her fortress was attacked by a rival demon. In the attack, the rival demon captured me. Back in his fortress, he continued the other demon’s work. Keeping me locked up and powerless, he harvested my magic and gave it to his warlords and warriors.”

“Which demons did this to you?” Naomi asked him.

Dad shook his head. “It doesn’t matter.”

“It matters to me. These demons hurt you. They used you. And they kept you away from your family.”

“Going after them won’t change what has already happened, Naomi.”

He was right. It wouldn’t change what had happened to Dad, but maybe she could prevent the demons from hurting others. The problem was, after two months of nonstop battles, her magic was being held together by a few frayed strands right now. She had neither the time nor the strength to dive into the spirit realm and track down every demon who had ever hurt Dad.

She could barely fight a demon when she was at full strength, let alone when her magic was a weak trickle. Even so, she felt compelled to fix something right now, to right some wrong—whether on earth or in the spirit realm didn’t matter much. Fixing something would calm her. It would make her feel like there was sense to the world, that she could make a difference. It would remind her that not all was lost.

“You’re getting that look again,” Makani told her.

“Which one?” She smiled demurely. “My sweet and innocent look?”

“Sweet and innocent with a compound bow that shoots 350fps.”

“You forgot lightweight. And adorable.”

“You? Or the bow?”

“Both.”

“Naomi, you’ve spent the past two months fighting almost nonstop, hunting down demons, expelling them from their hosts’ bodies, and sending them back to hell. You’re not in any condition to go fight a random demon, rescue hostages, or create everlasting world peace right now. You need to rest before you succumb to delusions of grandeur.”

“Maybe you’re right,” she sighed.

“Repeat those words a thousand times, and you might actually believe them.”

Naomi flashed him a smirk. “Nice try, Your Majesty.”

“Your Majesty?” Dad asked.

“Makani is a prince,” Naomi told him.

Well, he had been a prince. His kingdom no longer existed in this century. Still, once a prince, always a prince.

“Didn’t he tell you he was a prince?” Naomi asked Dad.

“No. We were too busy escaping and running for our lives to engage in smalltalk,” he replied, filling his bowl with strawberries. “Tell me about your current demon problem and how I can help.”

“How much do you remember about the time after you returned to earth?” Naomi asked him.

“I remember my body being used as a demon-loaded suitcase, if that’s what you mean.”

“We tracked down and expelled most of the demons. Only two remain.”

“My old friends, Paladin and Paragon. The princes of hell,” Dad said quietly. “I felt them inside of me with the others, directing them.”

“Paladin and Paragon are the demons who plotted with Darksire and Firestorm to use the demon Septimus. To use us,” Naomi realized. “They engineered this entire situation. And we have no idea where they are or what their endgame is.”

“To take over the world,” Dad suggested.

The old gold standard demon formula.

“Yeah, there is that,” she agreed. “But how will they achieve their aim? How do Firestorm and Darksire play into this plan? And where are the demons now? It’s been two months with no sign of either Paladin or Paragon. They are apparently behind this all, but there’s not been even a single hint of their presence. No possessions. No demon marks appearing on their victims. Nothing.”

“Powerful supernaturals could hold the demons indefinitely. And cause a hell of a lot of destruction,” her father said. “Do not underestimate the princes of hell, Naomi. They are not like most demons. They are far more powerful and, worse yet, patient.” His hands curled into fists. He looked ready to go out and fight.

“This is not your fight, Dad,” Naomi told him. “It’s mine. You were stuck in hell for years. Demons drained your magic. They used you as a carrier. You need to concentrate on getting better. You need to rest.”

“I slept for two months.”

“You might be awake now, but you are still recovering.”

“I still have some fight left in me, Naomi.”

“Then fight here,” she said. “Protect Fairy Island from the demons. Protect our family.”

“The island’s magic will keep out the demons.”

“Evil is cunning,” she countered. “It has a way of finding its way inside uninvited. Most of the people here on Fairy Island do not know how to fight. They will need you to protect them.”

“You are very stubborn,” Dad grumbled.

“As Mom said, I take after you.”

He chuckled.

“Is there any way to make the demons show themselves?” Naomi asked him.

“Bombard the host with spirit magic.”

“That’s what I’ve been doing. It sucks.”

He offered her a sympathetic smile. “I know, but unless Paladin and Paragon want to flaunt their evil intentions for the world to see, that spell is the only way.”

“Great.”

“The demons would have taken hosts close to them when they all streamed out of me. There are few supernaturals who could hold them in indefinitely without their body decaying.”

“I already checked everyone who was close to you and powerful enough to be suitable hosts when the demons escaped,” she told him. “Unless a demon can possess a ghost?”

“No, the most a demon can do is control a ghost’s movements. It cannot use its body as a host because a ghost has no body to possess, at least not in the earthly sense.”

Well, there went that theory. This demon hunt had more dead ends than a labyrinth.

“You can bet the demons didn’t leave anything to chance,” Dad said.

“Meaning?”

“They would have planned for their hosts to be right there for them when they burst out of me. And which two extremely powerful supernaturals were indeed right there when the demons got loose?”

“Only the most powerful Dragon Born mage ever born and the most powerful fairy ever to walk the earth,” Makani said.

“Firestorm and Darksire,” Naomi gasped.

Makani shook his head. “But neither would agree to play host to a demon.”

“Maybe it wasn’t part of the deal,” said Naomi. “After all, since when has a demon ever kept its word?”

“They are the most likely picks to be the demons’ hosts,” Makani agreed.

“Find Firestorm and Darksire, and you find the demons,” Dad said. “Find them, and you are one step closer to ending this.”