Ganymede stood staring at his father’s tears. He had none. Whatever Zendig had done to him—he still couldn’t remember all the details—Ganymede had emerged into his new world with a lesson learned. Cosmic troublemakers didn’t cry. For his entire existence, he had reserved any deep emotion besides rage for Sparkle. Now, here was his father, and he had an Uncle Kurn. The gods help him, he didn’t know what to do.

He glanced at Sparkle. She nodded towards his dad, urging Ganymede to go to him, the tears he couldn’t shed shining in her eyes. Guess she hadn’t gotten Zendig’s memo about crying. Now what? He wasn’t a hugger. He was a hitter, smasher, and overall badass. But this was his father.

Drawing in a deep steadying breath, Ganymede took that first step, the one that would bind him to a past he didn’t fully understand and wasn’t sure he could be a part of again.

His father didn’t wait for his son to take another one. He strode to Ganymede, clasped him tightly, and then stepped back. Ganymede just stood there. It had been easy to embrace the idea of having a father, but the reality was something else. He needed time to work up to hugging a stranger.

His father smiled. “Sit down. Let’s talk, get to know each other a little.” He glanced at Sparkle.

“She stays.” That was just in case his father expected her to leave. He needed her here now, just as he realized he’d always need her with him. Not so much to bolster his courage as to add her strength. And no, they weren’t the same thing.

His father nodded. “If that’s what you want.” He ignored Sparkle to focus on his son. “You must have lots of questions. I sure do.”

Ganymede figured the questions about Sparkle would come later. His father seemed calm enough, but a glance down showed his hand shaking as he dropped onto the couch. He probably hoped his son would sit beside him. Ganymede chose the chair facing him instead. He wanted to be able to look into his father’s eyes as he asked his questions. Sparkle didn’t sit. Instead, she stood behind his chair, her hands resting on his shoulders.

Ganymede leaned forward. He needed answers. “Is my…” He stopped to cough. Damn frog in his throat. It needed to hop on down the road. “Is my mother still alive?”

His father’s eyes lit up. “Oh, yes. She’ll—”

Someone knocked on the door. Ganymede didn’t hesitate. He came off the chair, grabbed Sparkle, and then dragged her into the bathroom. He closed the door almost shut, leaving only a crack so they could hear.

Sparkle put her ear to the opening and listened for a short time before turning to whisper to Ganymede. “It’s the other two spies. Your father agreed to go to dinner with them. He told them he’d be down in a few minutes. Doesn’t look as though you’ll have much of a question and answer session.”

Ganymede heard the sound of the door closing and then his father called for them to come out. He stood at the door.

“I have to go meet them. If I don’t, it’ll look suspicious.” He noticed Sparkle’s expression. “I won’t tell them anything. Where can we go to talk later?”

Ganymede thought. He only knew of one place in the Castle with guaranteed privacy—the battlement. No guests were allowed up there after dark. A fall to the courtyard below would guarantee mega lawsuits, so someone always locked the door at sunset. “Two hours. Meet me by the door to the wall-walk.” He pulled a business card from his pocket. “My cell number is here in case you can’t make it.”

His father pocketed the card. He shook his head. “This is all a lot to take in. I have my son back, but…” He paused. “Are you sure you’re not mistaken about Zendig? We’ve known him a long time. Yes, he’s arrogant and vicious, but he’s been a strong leader for a lot of years. He has enough to do crushing the opposition in our world without carrying out a centuries-old vendetta on another one. The only reason the public is behind sending us here now is because we believed what he said about our children.”

“After dinner.” Ganymede had to come up with enough evidence to bury Zendig. Otherwise his father would continue to have doubts.

Sparkle waited until they were back in the hallway before speaking. “A business card? Really? Why? Let me see.”

“Sure. I have skills. I’m a businessman.” He handed one to her.

She took it from him, read it, and then laughed. And laughed and laughed and laughed all the way down the stairs and into the great hall. “Chaos Bringer. Have power, will pulverize. Reasonable fees. Charge extra for national monuments. Excluded: schools, hospitals, and places of worship. Then your contact info.” She gasped, trying to catch her breath between each sentence. “I don’t believe you.”

He shrugged, but allowed himself a small smile. “I left out the parts about crushing mountains and rearranging continents. Didn’t want to sound too outrageous. It’s all about marketing, babe. I only hand those out to select people. I have high standards.” His smile faded. “Let’s grab something to eat. My father—I can’t believe I still don’t know his real name—and the other two will probably stay in the castle for dinner. I want to keep an eye on them. And I also want to talk to Ky and Jerry.”

Ganymede steered her from the great hall to the restaurant off the hotel lobby. By the time they were seated, she’d made calls to the two boys. They arrived a few minutes later.

He gestured to the two empty chairs. “Sit. I have a couple of things to discuss with you.”

Ky slumped into his seat. His hair glowed a bright yellow along with his eyes. His head was bandaged and he looked dejected. Ganymede decided not to bug him about wearing shades to hide his eyes.

Jerry moved right to the important stuff. “Do we get a meal out of this?”

Ganymede felt his personal thundercloud ramping up the lightning and thunder. Ungrateful little… Luckily for Jerry, Sparkle intervened. “Of course. We know your time is valuable.”

“Damn straight.” Jerry grinned at Sparkle.

Amazing what a smile did to the kid’s face. Brooding and dangerous might snag a girl’s attention, but that smile would keep her with him. Sparkle wasn’t the only one who understood women. Then how did you mess up with Sparkle so badly? Ganymede ignored the thought.

While everyone was ordering, Ganymede spotted his father along with the other two spies at a corner table. They were too far away to hear anything. He turned his attention to Ky. “Any idea why no one can open your portal?”

Ky didn’t meet his gaze. He opted for fiddling with his spoon instead. “I guess whoever Father found to open the portal for him is controlling it from the other side.” He shrugged.

“Wonderful.” Ganymede drew in a deep breath. “We have to find a way to rescue Bourne.”

“Amaya and Blue had the only successes.” Sparkle paused to give her order to the waiter. “I have to think of some way to bring Mistral and Amaya back here.”

Ganymede snorted. “Good luck with that.” After ordering his meal—a big juicy rib eye because, hey, cosmic troublemakers didn’t get clogged arteries—he noticed that Ky still seemed pretty down. “Lose the long face, kid.” Ky looked startled. Ganymede guessed that princes didn’t hear much straight talking.

Ky shook his head. “I can’t. I knew about my father’s power to teleport, and I forgot to mention it to anyone. I could have saved Bourne.”

“Look, it’s not all on you. Bourne chose to go after Tuna and Momo. I should’ve had a few people stationed in the great hall. Sparkle could’ve done her thing with your father instead of wasting her talents on his priests.”

Sparkle reached over to poke him in the chest. “Leave me out of this. I was taking care of business.”

Ganymede knew when to change the subject. He turned to Jerry. “I’ll be calling you later tonight. When I do, I want you to come up to the wall-walk.” He held up his hand as Jerry opened his mouth. “No questions. I’ll explain everything when I see you.”

Sparkle and Ky both looked upset. The kid probably thought Ganymede didn’t trust him anymore. And Sparkle would be ticked off that Jerry was invited to the party and she wasn’t. But the fewer people there when he talked to his father, the better.

The rest of the meal was a silent one. Ganymede was glad when it was over.

Sparkle crouched in the shadow of the parapet. Not a comfortable position. She had taken off her heels before sneaking up here, and her short dress was riding high enough to allow a draft in where no draft should venture. She’d made sure she arrived before Mede. The wait was getting to her, though. This better be worth the discomfort.

Finally, Mede arrived with his father. She settled in to listen. A long half hour later, she’d learned a lot about Mede’s parents. His dad’s name was Estan and his mom was Cinva. She knew everything of note that had happened to them in thousands of years. She also knew how much they’d mourned Mede. Sparkle felt guilty listening to all that wrenching emotion.

Mede kept his story pretty simple—he had survived and flourished by doing exactly what his maker had intended. About a month ago, he’d started to remember parts of his life before landing on Earth. Now Mede wanted to bring Zendig down.

At the end, Sparkle got the feeling Mede’s dad still wasn’t convinced of Zendig’s guilt. After all, Bourne was powerful. He could’ve planted false memories.

Mede called Jerry to join them. Sparkle wondered why until she remembered what Jerry had said on several occasions. He remembered everything. He’d just never said what everything was. When Jerry arrived, she leaned closer to catch every word.

Mede’s dad and Jerry eyed each other with varying degrees of suspicion. Mede broke the silence. “Jerry, this is Estan.”

“One of the spies.” Jerry’s contempt oozed from every word.

“My father. I saw him down in the great hall a while ago, and bam, my memory of him came back.”

Jerry couldn’t hide his surprise. Sparkle smiled. She’d never seen anyone break through the boy’s shell of super cool before.

Mede didn’t give Jerry time to speak. He turned to his father. “Jerry is one of our newest troublemakers. He’s different from the others, though, because he kept all his memories.”

“How?” Estan hadn’t lost his guarded expression.

Jerry didn’t answer his question. Instead he spoke to Mede. “I don’t trust him even if he is your dad.”

“You don’t have to trust him. Just tell him your story.”

Sparkle held her breath while Jerry decided what he’d do.

Finally, the boy nodded. “Zendig’s people grabbed me off the street. He held me prisoner with a bunch of others. It took him about seven years to make me into what he wanted—a tool to cause chaos on Earth wherever I could. He used his power to take away my free will, but he couldn’t take away my memories. Zendig didn’t know that, though.”

Estan leaned closer. “How did you keep your memories?”

Jerry shrugged. “My father is a believer in the Divine Mind.”

“Never heard of it.” Mede scanned the area, his gaze lingering on the doorway leading down from the wall.

Sparkle pressed herself closer to the parapet, hoping the shadows hid her. Mede never took his privacy for granted.

Mede’s father explained, “It’s a religion focused on the mind as the true godhead.”

“My father taught me that true divinity comes to those who can harness the full power of their brains. I learned to create mental walls to protect myself from attack. Once I had my walls in place, Zendig couldn’t make me forget even though he was too powerful for me to resist his…training.”

“Bastard.” Estan took a deep breath. “He has our people convinced that Bourne is responsible for the loss of our children.” He met Jerry’s gaze. “What kind of sick hate could anyone harbor for thousands of years?”

“That’s easy. He’s crazy.” Jerry warmed to his subject. “I had to listen to him rant against Bourne every freaking day for all of those years I was with him. It was like: Bourne was just lucky all the times he beat me, Bourne will come back to challenge me, Bourne will try to rule Effix, Bourne isn’t the greatest, I am, and blah, blah, blah. He’s so obsessed he still believes that one of us will find and kill Bourne, or better yet, that if he crams enough troublemakers onto this planet we’ll eventually destroy it.”

Estan nodded. “Got it. Even though Zendig controls the portal, he’s convinced Bourne will someday find a way to return and challenge his rule. And because he’s become a tyrant people hate, he knows they’d support Bourne in a war. So he made up a story about Bourne’s minions stealing our children and somehow getting them through the portal to Earth. Zendig knew after that story broke no one would help Bourne.”

Mede was about to speak, but Sparkle never knew what he would’ve said because something caught her attention. A shadowy figure pulled itself over the top of the wall—silent and swift. The others had their backs to it.

The vaguely human shape raised its arms. Definitely not hands lifted for an I-bless-you moment. A threat. She came out of her crouch in a leap that reached the shadow even as power crackled from its spread fingertips. It never had the chance to fling that power at Mede and the others.

Sparkle slammed it back against the parapet. Its power sputtered and died. Then Mede was there. With a low growl, he picked it up and heaved it over the wall. It screamed all the way down.

Mede stood there breathing hard as he came off his adrenaline rush. She was doing the same.

Estan ran over to look over the wall. “We needed him alive to question, son.”

The word “son” did what a legion of angry demons couldn’t do. Mede froze. For a moment he looked stunned, unable to do more than stare at his father.

Finally, Mede moved away from the wall. “The bastard was trying to hurt Sparkle.”

No, it was trying to hurt you, Mede. Not long ago, Sparkle would’ve poked him in his arrogant chest and made sure he understood how well she could take care of herself. That was when it was all about her. But now she took the time to really look at Mede. Even in the darkness she could see the fear for her in his gaze. If he’d had longer to prepare for the danger, he would’ve reminded himself that she didn’t need saving. But this was too sudden, not enough time to do more than react. And his first impulse was to protect her. She sighed. The older and much wiser Sparkle Stardust thought that was sweet.

Jerry joined Estan as he stared over the wall. “He’s not moving.”

Mede was already on his phone. Sparkle listened as he told Holgarth to make sure none of the customers wandered out to the courtyard and to check that the outside gate was closed so no one could enter through there. They were lucky everyone was so noisy inside the Castle that no one had heard the scream. Before Mede even put his phone away, she saw Orion, Blue, and Jill burst from the Castle. Orion leaned over the body.

After a brief examination, Orion looked up and mouthed, “Alive.”

“Let’s go.” Mede led them down the stairs, through the great hall, and out into the courtyard.

Sparkle noticed that Holgarth had called in Brynn and Conall to keep everyone away from the door leading outside. Good. She didn’t need rumors of bodies littering the Castle of Dark Dreams to reach their friendly police department.

Everyone moved back to make way for Mede. Sparkle was used to that reaction by now. Other than Bourne, she’d never met anyone who carried so much power with them, power you could feel when he was near. Mede crouched then turned the body over.

Sparkle moved a little closer. Spotlights cast an eerie glow on the…man? Yes, that had been a male scream. What the…? She’d seen a lot of strange beings over the centuries, but this was a new one. He was humanoid but not quite human. The face had almost no chin and huge round faceted eyes. The hands and bare feet had weirdly long fingers and toes. She leaned in for a better look. It almost looked as though there were suction-like patches on them.

A sharp intake of breath distracted Sparkle. She turned to see Mede’s father. He stared at the being with wide-eyed disbelief.

“I can’t believe Zendig is sending them.” Estan backed away.

Mede looked up. “Sending who?”

“That’s one of his elite force of personal assassins. Zendig has accessed a few other worlds where the inhabitants breathe oxygen through his portal. When he wants vicious and conscienceless killers for a job, he hires them.” Estan’s voice filled with loathing.

Orion spoke up. “You mean there’s a whole planet filled with these?”

Estan nodded. “Most of us want the portal closed to them.” He shrugged. “But Zendig listens to no one.”

Sparkle noticed a change in the body, a sudden tension that suggested the assassin was awake. “Hey, I think our guest has—”

She got no further. Their captive leaped away on all fours, heading for the wall. Considering how easily he had climbed it the first time, Sparkle figured the wall wouldn’t pose much of a barrier.

Mede rose. He glanced at Orion. “Do your thing, kid.”

Orion didn’t hesitate. Suddenly, a crack in the earth opened beneath the assassin. He couldn’t jump fast enough and fell in. The crack closed around his legs. Caught.

Mede didn’t move. “Hey, dumbass. I bet you think you can fling some power around and escape. Not going to happen. Take a look at all of us. We have you out-gunned. So you may as well settle down and get ready to answer some questions.”

The assassin stared at them. No emotion. No soul. Sparkle shivered.

Her thoughts shattered, though, as all at once he was enveloped in light so bright she had to close her eyes. When she opened them, their captive was gone.

Mede snapped, “What happened?”

His father shrugged. “Did I mention they have no survival instincts? If Zendig told them not to be captured, they’d take it seriously. Our friend just self-destructed.”

“Oh, crap.” Orion said it for them all.

“This changes everything.” Estan dropped onto the grass and absently swatted at a mosquito. “If Zendig is angry enough to send in his killers, then that means it might not take too much of a nudge to make him commit to coming here to do the job himself.”

Sparkle was still staring at the spot where the…whatever had ended his existence. How did you do something like that? Just, poof, and your life was over. Was there anyone who would remember him? She never used to think about stuff like this. People died. No biggie. But now death was becoming more personal, especially with Zendig looming on their horizon.

Life was precious, even after thousands of years. Sparkle swore then and there to make sure she and Mede came out the other side of what was headed their way. They would both walk into their futures alive and together. Mede interrupted her thoughts of an awesome tomorrow with a reminder of their uncertain present.

“Since Zendig doesn’t know exactly where Bourne is, but he does know I’m here, I assume the assassin was targeting me. I’m the one snatching his newbies and carting them off to recycle in my image. I guess he’s given up on me leading him to Bourne.”

Estan nodded. “You’re second on his list to be eliminated. I assume you have a plan to deal with him.”

“He’s going to annoy Zendig to death.” Sparkle widened her eyes and clapped her hand over her mouth in mock horror. “Oops. I probably should’ve worded that in more warlike terms.”

“What?” Estan looked up at Mede.

Mede glared at her. “You still don’t think I can pull it off.”

She shrugged. “Well, it does seem a little simplistic.” A tsunami of an understatement.

For the first time, Estan raised his voice. “Someone explain the damn plan.”

Mede shot her another glare before focusing on his father. “Look, Zendig has a massive ego. So we’re going to keep punching him in his overstuffed self-importance until he can’t stand it anymore. Once that happens, he’ll finally come here to wipe us out. And we’ll be waiting. We’ve sent for as many troublemakers as we can round up to come here to fight him. We’re calling in all kinds of favors. We’ll be ready.”

You’ll be ready. Sparkle was still afraid Mede intended to fight Zendig alone. She couldn’t allow that to happen.

Estan nodded. “It could work. I’ll help from my end. The two working with me drove to Houston after dinner. The assassin was the only one who saw us together, and he’s dead. As far as they know, I’m still one of them.”

Mede shifted his gaze to somewhere above Estan’s head. “Just be careful…,”

Long, long, long, pause. Long enough for Sparkle to knit an afghan if she rolled that way.

“Dad.” Mede’s voice was almost a whisper.

Sparkle was proud of him. And Estan practically glowed. At least some good had come from this awful day.

The kids had remained silent through all of this. Sparkle didn’t think it was so much a case of giving the adults respect as it was not wanting to miss any of the drama.

Finally, Blue spoke. “So now what?”

Sparkle answered. “Now, you check the rooms facing the courtyard to make sure no one saw this. We might’ve lucked out. Lots of guests aren’t in their rooms this time of night. And even if they were there, they might’ve missed seeing the assassin fall. If you find any witnesses, change their memories.” Jill had a very useful gift. The girl would make a valuable employee if she chose to stay.

Mede helped his father up, and then they all trooped toward the great hall. He smiled at the gargoyles guarding the door. “Get ready to kick some major ass.”