Ganymede crept out of the restaurant’s kitchen door into the shifting fog. He took a deep breath of the cool damp air before padding around the side of the castle until he had a view of the parking lot. No blazing Texas sun cut through the heavy fog, and nearby objects like shrubs and statues were nothing more than shadowy figures that could be anything—zombies, IRS agents, anything. He loved it. This was a cat’s world.

Maybe Nazari was right. He should get to know some other troublemakers. He’d like to hire the one doing this fog. Great atmosphere. If the Castle survives. Ganymede shoved the thought away.

Even with his enhanced cat vision, he didn’t see the buses until he was almost on top of them. Ganymede crouched beneath a bush to get a look. The people getting off had humanoid shapes, but that’s all he could see. They wore long black cowls with their hoods up. And maybe it was a trick of the fog, but it almost looked as though they glided above the ground instead of walking.

He wracked his brain, trying to remember if he’d ever seen them in his first life. But that time still remained elusive, floating out there just beyond his reach. Ganymede wondered what others Zendig had brought with him. He thought about creeping closer.

“This fog is a nuisance. It must belong to some troublemaker in the Castle. A boring power. I’ll get rid of some of it so we can see what we’re facing. Not all. We don’t want the human population reporting us.”

That voice. Ganymede remembered. It had been part of that time after his capture. Always in his head. Day after day, pounding away at his will, slowly stripping away who he was and replacing that person with someone new. A cold and emotionless voice. Zendig.

A sudden wind whipped the branch above him. It smacked him on top of his head. Ganymede almost leaped into the air. He caught himself just in time. It wouldn’t be a good idea for Zendig to catch him outside the Castle now. He backed further into the bushes.

As the fog cleared a little, he saw Zendig. Ganymede didn’t doubt for a minute that the body he saw belonged to the voice he remembered. Zendig had to be almost seven feet tall with massive shoulders. He wore a black T-shirt that showed off muscled arms and a chest that would’ve sent Mr. Universe back to the gym. Too much. Zendig didn’t understand the meaning of subtle. Then he turned in Ganymede’s direction.

The wind whipped the fog into eddies and swirls as Ganymede got a clear look at Zendig’s face for the first time. It was the face Ganymede would’ve expected from him—brutal, arrogant. All sharp angles with hard eyes that he could feel across the distance separating them.

The wind increased until Ganymede could see all of Zendig’s forces. The smallest group looked human. He spotted his father in their midst. So those were the spies Zendig had sent to search for Bourne. Not dangerous unless they had guns. A larger group weren’t even close to humanoid. The size of small ponies, they had big pale heads, thick necks, and torsos attached to bunches of tentacles. They scuttled along like crabs. And when one yawned, he could see teeth that would bring tears of envy to Jaws. That’s why Zendig had needed so many buses. It would be tough to cram many of those suckers into one. There were small groups of other fighters that Ganymede couldn’t ID. Mercenaries? Made sense. Zendig wouldn’t want to bring an army of his own people on the off chance some troublemaker would expose him as the kidnapper of their children. He estimated there were a little over a hundred of the enemy. So pretty evenly matched number-wise. Too bad the vampires still slept. They needed an edge.

He mentally relayed the info to Nazari and Sparkle. And then he padded back to the side door. Once inside, he huddled with the general and Sparkle in a shadowed alcove off the great hall. “Zendig will be the real powerhouse. The rest are merely sideshows.”

“What about your dad? Why hasn’t he told the others from Effix the truth about Zendig?” Sparkle’s gaze flicked to the courtyard door. She licked her lips and smoothed her skirt. She took a deep breath. “Geez, the waiting is the worst.”

“It would blow his cover if he told them. Someone could rat on him and then no more info and no more Dad.” Ganymede indulged in a moment of compulsive paw grooming. Then he caught himself. Nerves wouldn’t win this battle. “Time for me to change forms. I want to be human when I destroy this fucker.” He padded down the hallway to the chapel then slowly shifted. Damn. You’d think after all the centuries he would’ve found a way to speed this up. Before leaving the chapel, he said a few words to whatever god was listening. They’d need all the help they could get.

Back in the great hall, he returned to where the general and Sparkle still crouched. Waiting.

The sudden roars of the gargoyles made him jump. But within seconds they cut off. He wasn’t surprised. Zendig’s power would be too much for them. A booming knock on the great hall door finally broke the uneasy silence.

“Open this door. I’ve come for the one you call Bourne, but that I call traitor.”

“Or I’ll huff and I’ll puff and all that crap,” Ganymede muttered.

Nazari frowned. “There wasn’t enough time for him to mobilize his forces into any kind of military formation. My God, is he just going to fling his fighters at the Castle like a mob of barbarians?” The general didn’t try to hide how offended he was by the enemy’s lack of tactical planning.

“My guess is he thinks he has such superior power he doesn’t have to mess with formal regimentation.” That kind of overconfidence was scary, but it could also be a plus for the troublemakers. Underestimating the enemy was a time-honored path to defeat. Ganymede hoped Zendig’s arrogance would be his downfall.

The general nodded at Edge. Sparkle clasped Ganymede’s hand in a tight grip. Edge strode to the great hall door and flung it open.

“We welcome you, Zendig. We have Bourne caged and waiting for you.”

Ganymede thought Edge did a great job of sounding servile but with a touch of defiance.

Zendig flung his arms wide. “Ah, one of my creations. Sorry if I don’t remember your name. There’ve been so many.” He shrugged. “Before I enter your castle, I’ll send in someone to make sure you haven’t lied to me.”

Nazari stepped out of the alcove to check that everyone was where they should be and that those who were invisible were still that way. He gave the go-ahead signal to Edge before stepping out of sight again. Edge stood aside to allow Ganymede’s father to pass him.

Ganymede leaned from concealment so his father could see him, and his dad nodded his acknowledgement as he walked toward the cage.

Edge closed the door and then caught up with him. “Stand in front of the cage. I’ll take your picture with Bourne in it. Then you can show it to Zendig.”

In seconds it was done, and Ganymede’s dad left with Edge’s phone in hand. They waited.

Then without warning, a large section of the great hall wall simply disappeared. Whoa! Ganymede tensed. This was it.

Zendig stood in the opening. No, posed in the opening—legs spread, hands on hips. Arrogant ass.

Ganymede touched Sparkle’s mind. “I bet he doesn’t have a clue how our powers have grown since he dumped us here. I’m mad enough to blow him into the next galaxy.” He shook with his need to destroy.

She squeezed his hand and mouthed, “No.”

Right. If he let loose, he’d probably sink half of the island. This was their home. You didn’t trash your home. But remembering Zendig’s temper when Ganymede hadn’t done what his maker wanted him to do, he figured Zendig wouldn’t worry about damage control if he thought he might lose. Worst case scenario: his creator could level everything between Galveston and Houston. Ganymede had to make sure he didn’t get to the mass destruction stage.

“I’m so sorry about the wall, but I wanted to shed a little light on the situation.” Zendig’s smile didn’t reach his eyes. He wasn’t sorry. “Not that it matters. Once I get what I want, I’ll destroy the place. Just for fun. I’ll be gone by the time the humans show up.”

I’ll rip him into small pieces and then stomp the pieces into mush. Ganymede breathed hard, trying to keep from launching himself from his hiding spot.

The octopus creatures scuttled into the room. They tipped back their heads and sniffed the air. Ganymede hoped they couldn’t smell pissed-off troublemakers. Right behind them shuffled the freaking-big, muscled monsters Holgarth had mentioned. Then came the wall-climbing assassins. Finally, Zendig strode into the great hall surrounded by the hooded figures. Silent, they skimmed the floor. Trailing Zendig was a mix-and-match mob of nonhumans of all sizes and shapes. Zendig’s human spies hovered in the doorway. Smart. They’d be able to escape fast if things went south for their side.

The octopus things didn’t seem to be picking up on the troublemakers scattered around the hall. Zane’s work. He supposed having a goddess for a mother and wizard for a father gave you some serious magical skills. If they all survived, he’d owe the sorcerer some favors.

Zendig glanced at the troublemakers guarding the cage. “Names?”

Edge again spoke for them. “I’m Edge.” He pointed to the others. “Orion, Blue, Jill, and Jerry.”

“Death bringer, earth mover, creature caller, nightmare giver, and…” Zendig frowned as he gazed at Jerry. “You seem to be a bit more than I intended you to be.”

Ganymede figured Jerry should be worried. Zendig wouldn’t want any of his creations to be “more” than he intended.

Zendig finally looked away to focus his attention on the cage. “Well, well, if it isn’t my old friend. What do you call yourself now? Bourne?”

“Looks as though you’re still a useless piece of shit, Zendig. Someone else has to catch your prey for you.”

Ganymede winced. Ouch. Amaya needed to keep her mouth shut. Nothing good would come from driving Zendig into a rage.

Zendig narrowed his eyes. Ganymede saw bloodlust in them. He glanced at Nazari. The general nodded.

Tension crackled and sparked. Sparkle felt as though she’d stuck her finger into a light socket. Her heart pounded so hard she almost clapped her hand to her chest to keep it inside. Here it was, the moment she’d dreaded, the battle that could take Mede from her. His loss would break her. Not even all the king’s men could glue her pieces together again. Don’t you dare die. You owe me a picket fence.

Mede glanced at her and grinned. She stored the memory of that smile to give her strength for what would come.

“I’m going to rip your head from your body. Then I’ll take it home to show our people. I’ll tell them at the end you were weak. Only the weak allow themselves to be locked in a cage.” Zendig strode toward Amaya.

The general stepped from hiding and boomed, “Attack!”

Wow, what a voice. Somewhere miles away, a guy lazing on the beach would be looking around for someone to attack. But she didn’t get a chance to think too hard about Nazari’s voice as the troublemakers scattered around the great hall popped into view, and those who had hidden themselves charged into the open. She allowed herself to get caught up in the fervor as she followed Mede into battle.

Over screams and curses, the general shouted his rallying cry of “Vengeance!”

Sparkle gasped and staggered under the sudden relentless force of a need to kill, to pulverize, to exact revenge on Zendig for what he’d done to all of them. She fought her way toward him, her only goal to get to him first, to kick him in the balls and twist his cock into a pretzel. Stop. Breathe. Think. A blind rush wasn’t going to bring Zendig down.

She looked around, frantic to locate Mede, to make sure he was okay. Yes, there he was, flinging a bolt of power at their maker. Her mouth gaped open as the bolt hit an invisible something right before it reached its target and then blinked out. The same was happening with everything aimed at Zendig. They had a problem.

Zendig sneered as he continued his relentless march toward the cage. “Fools. Did you think I’d face you without a shield? Oh, and just so you don’t feel too safe, I’ve gifted my followers with a bit of me. If they kill you, you’ll stay dead.”

The octopus creatures cleared a path for him, ripping and tearing their way through the Castle’s defenders. And what they didn’t destroy with their teeth they dismembered with their tentacles. Sparkle took a deep breath. Don’t throw up. She wasn’t in battle shape. It had been centuries since she’d gone to war. Time to morph into Warrior Woman. Sparkle straightened, smoothed her skirt, and looked around to see what damage she could cause.

She chose a pocket of humanoid beings who were busy wrapping two troublemakers in cocoons. The fibers seemed to be coming from their fingertips. No modern weapons. Good. But what was wrong with these people? They needed to get beyond swords, knives, and spider webs. Sparkle took out her gun and shot all of them. Perhaps not fair, but who gave a shit.

A roar of triumph from Zendig swung her focus back to him. Just in time to watch him take that final step to the cage. He reached for it…and was flung backwards in a flash of white as Holgarth and Zane’s ward zapped him.

Zendig recovered, his expression fixed in a rictus of hate and rage. He raised his hands. The ward sizzled and then disappeared.

She saw the intent in his eyes. He was about to destroy the cage. Mistral. Her heart dropped into her stomach. No. In one horrifying moment, Sparkle forgot every ugly thought she’d ever had about her brother. She had to save him. Too far away. She’d never get there in time. Still, she had to try. She slipped in a puddle of blood, regained her balance, and fought her way toward the cage.

She needn’t have worried. Just as Zendig started to wind up for his big pitch, Mistral changed. Instead of a cage, a giant snake wrapped around the chair with Amaya still seated in it. With a hiss like escaping steam, the snake struck at Zendig.

Caught by surprise, Zendig—shield and all—tumbled to the floor. One of his minions picked him up and dragged him a safe distance from the snake. But the snake was gone, and in its place was a towering pillar of fire. Sparkle sighed her relief. Tough to destroy fire without a hose or fire extinguisher.

Sparkle took a moment to glance around the hall. At first all she saw was chaos, battles everywhere. But then she realized the general actually did have a plan. Sort of. The most powerful troublemakers were ranged around Zendig, closer to him than the others. Those with lesser powers worked the edges of the room, harrying and engaging Zendig’s forces.

She tried to push aside incipient despair. Nothing the most powerful threw at Zendig had managed to shatter his blasted shield. They couldn’t destroy what they couldn’t reach. Sparkle stopped wondering about the shield as she heard a guttural snarl behind her. Spinning, she slipped under the reaching hands of what looked like a blob of fat with arms, and then drove her spiked toe into what she hoped was his groin. All male creatures seemed to have that one thing in common. With a squeal of pain, the creature doubled over, clutching itself.

Sparkle shifted her attention away from her victim in time to see the strange creatures in cowls slowly ascend toward the ceiling. Around her, others looked up.

High above the floor of the great hall, the figures formed a circle. Then they danced on air. As they danced, they chanted. Sparkle shook her head to clear it. The sounds had a mesmerizing quality, like a demonic Gregorian chant—deep, rising and falling in tones she felt touch her. And the touching hurt. She glanced at the tip of her finger where she was sure a needle had jabbed her. She blinked. Not possible. The tip of her finger had hardened into what looked like stone. Fear clutched her. She shook her hand, but nothing changed.

Screams broke the momentary silence. Sparkle looked around her. In different parts of the room, troublemakers had turned to stone, their faces frozen in expressions of horror. She frantically searched for Mede. Sparkle found him, but he was engaged with Zendig. Their creator had decided to switch his attention from Bourne for the moment in favor of getting rid of a more immediate danger. Mede couldn’t save them.

Help came from an unexpected source. As the general shouted for everyone to retreat, Jerry rushed to the now empty floor beneath the creepy dancers. Sparkle shouted a silent, “No! Run!” at him.

Jerry raised his gaze to the circle and simply stared at them. For a moment, it looked as though nothing was happening. Then the dancing stopped, the chanting stopped. Finally, one at a time, they fell and lay still. Sparkle didn’t know what he’d done, but she’d raise a statue to him when this was over. The room seemed to release a collective breath.

Sparkle looked at her finger. The stone quickly receded, and her fingertip was pink and healthy again. Those who had completely turned to stone weren’t so lucky. She watched them shatter and become dust before she glanced away. Tendra, the troublemaker in charge of beautiful clothes was one of those. She blinked away tears. Sparkle would mourn later. Meanwhile, she intended to honor those who had died today by making sure Zendig followed them into death.

She fought her way to Mede, leaving a bunch of losers with toe-sized holes in them in her wake. Sparkle reached him in time to watch as a wave of power that crackled and hummed flowed from him. It hit Zendig. A boom echoed around the room, and Zendig’s shield disintegrated in smoke and flame. Yes!

Suddenly, the fighting stopped. Everyone seemed to realize the moment had arrived. No one who looked at Mede could doubt they were watching the most powerful troublemaker in the hall. He shone, almost blinding with a white light that had heat and texture. His hair lifted in a nonexistent wind, the ends tipped in flame. His eyes glowed amber. Sparkle saw death in those eyes. At this moment, he wasn’t her Mede anymore. He was the chaos bringer.

Zendig stared at him, and then recognition darkened his gaze. “My first. My most powerful. You were a mistake. I gave too much of myself.” His smile was slow with a slide of anticipation behind it. “Today I take that part back.”