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Kia smiled up at me. “I told you that you’d get there eventually.”

A gust of magic threw her and the soldiers clear across the cavern.

No…

“And so hasshe,” Kia laughed, pointing.

I looked down from the wall I was pinned to. Someone else was here.

Sierra.

She’d planted herself between me and Nero on one side, and the Guardians’ army on the other.

“Stop!” our daughter shouted at them, hands on her hips, fuming with fury. “Don’t you hurt my mommy and daddy!”

CHAPTER 28

LITTLE WARRIOR

Mordon and his allies must have realized Sierra had a powerful connection to me and Nero. They’d lured us out here. And when Sierra had felt our pain through our connection—through the magic mirrors that connected these two worlds—she’d teleported here to save us, falling right into their trap.

The big warriors stalked forward, closing in on tiny Sierra. She flicked them away with effortless ease, using her magic.

“Very good!” Mordon clapped his hands. His loud applause echoed off the library’s high ceiling.

One of the warriors tried to lasso Sierra. With a snap of her fingers, she turned the rope against him. It wrapped around his torso, pinning his arms to his sides.

“Very, very good!” Mordon grinned at Sierra. “You really are the ultimate magic vessel.”

She glowered at him in response.

The soldiers hadn’t managed to nail Nero to the wall again. He threw them off of him, then rushed over to Sierra, lifting her into his arms. “Are you all right?”

“No.Angry.” She shot the enemy soldiers a fiery glare. “You a bad man!” she shouted at Mordon.

So she knew he wasn’t really Vertigo. She could see past the outer shell to the person inside, the person pulling the strings.

“I’ll deal with him,” Nero promised Sierra. “You go help Mommy, ok?”

Sierra peered at me over Nero’s shoulder. Her face went very white, then flushed very red. She snapped her fingers and then all the spears in me disappeared.

I dropped to the stone ground with a hard bang.

Sierra jumped out of Nero’s arms, rushing to me. She looked down on me, wincing. “Sorry, Mommy.” Her eyes glistened with tears. “Forgot to catch you.”

“It’s ok, little warrior,” I said, stroking her face. “You did great.”

She’d teleported the spears right out of me. She was only three years old, and already she was as powerful as Nero. No wonder Mordon wanted her body. In a few years, given the rate at which Sierra’s power was growing, he would be able to level whole armies with the snap of his fingers. He would be unstoppable.

No. I wasn’t going to let him have my daughter.

I struggled to my feet, slipping in my own blood. Sierra steadied me. She was tiny, but very, very strong.

She was also very, very young.

“Ok, now I’m going to help Daddy,” I said, leaning over to meet her eyes. “You stay here, way behind me.”

“Sierra fight,” she growled, her hands balling into tight fists. “Bad people hurt Mommy and Daddy.” Her fists clenched tighter. “Sierra make bad people pay.”