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It was an emotional and deeply disturbing reunion. I welcomed my parents’ embrace, my mother’s kisses and tears of joy. Phoenix held Astra and Viola close and cried like a little boy for the better part of ten minutes. Lethe and Elodie took Dafne in a tight hug, as Caia and Blaze did the same with Jericho, who scoffed and huffed and puffed. But in the end, he was just as happy as the rest of us.

We cried a bit when Serena and Draven bumped through the crowd that had gathered around the Great Dome and saw their sleeping Isabelle. My eyes stung. I couldn’t help it. She’d been missing for two months. This was certainly the better of the possible outcomes. “Oh, honey,” Serena sobbed as she held her daughter tight, planting kisses on her forehead.

“She’s okay,” Draven sighed, smiling as he ran his fingers through her hair.

Corrine took a moment to hug, kiss, then smack each of us on the back of the head. “That’ll teach you to go through shimmering portals without knowing where they’ll take you,” she barked, scowling at me before giving me one of her tonic potions. It felt amazing, pure energy spreading from my stomach and through my whole body, my limbs tingling with joy.

“I’ve missed you,” I said, chuckling softly.

Voss and Chantal were still sleeping, but their parents were just relieved to see they were okay. Field and Aida were calm, choosing to remember the many times Voss had fallen and broken something during the early years of his hawk wings. The man had seen much worse—I’d seen a lot of that myself. Yeah, he’d be okay. Vita was shaking as she hugged Chantal, but Bijarki was an absolute mess, tearing up and sniffing, the hard-edged fighter completely gone as he’d been reduced to a relieved, worried-sick dad. That was the trouble with love, I realized. It brought out the best in us, but losing someone you loved was truly a nightmare. I couldn’t imagine what it might be like for a father to fear for his daughter’s life.

Soph’s parents were still on Neraka, thus spared of this madness. It didn’t make her feel much better, but she found hope in knowing that they hadn’t been dragged into this insanity as well. Richard was smushed between Jovi and Anjani, both nearly drowning their son with love and affection—both just thankful that their troublemaker was alive and well.

It took us a while, but we did plenty of catching up and managed to bring everybody up to speed. Upon realizing that the entire population of the real Shade had been transferred into the fake one, Astra and I had agreed to ease our people into this madness. There was still a lot we didn’t know, but the few things that were glaringly obvious were easy to slap onto a list of “crazy.” The seniors, along with my parents, listened patiently as we told them about our journey and our strange encounters. The Reapers lit up like kids at a mega-mall when we mentioned Purgatory, Order, Berserkers, and Valkyries. Obviously, they had questions, but I had to drown them out with the rest of the intel we’d picked up before bringing our new friends out.

“Let me see if I’ve got this straight,” Phoenix said, arms wrapped around his wife and daughter. I doubted he’d ever let them out of his sight again. “There’s another realm beyond that of Reapers.”

“You kind of knew that already,” Nethissis replied, but he playfully shushed her. His mood was light despite having found himself here in this fake Shade; he had his family back, that was all that mattered.

“I did, but still. Let me go at it old school. So! There’s the realm of Reapers, who take our souls and send them beyond, but you fellas aren’t quite sure what the beyond really is,” Phoenix said, eyeing the Reapers, who nodded in agreement. “Okay. Now, we know Purgatory is what’s beyond, where Valkyries and Berserkers enforce the laws of Order, much like Reapers enforce the laws of Death. Correct?”

I smiled. “Correct.”

“And Valkyries are creatures of light and glory and justice, while the Berserkers are creatures of darkness and wrath and punishment. Am I on the right track here?” Phoenix replied.

“You are,” Myst said, appearing out of thin air. She’d apparently grown tired of waiting. The crowd offered a collective gasp at the sight of her. This was followed by a second gasp when Regine joined her, then a third when Brandon and Haldor materialized beside them.

The Shadians were mesmerized by the sight of them. Myst alone was stunning, a work of art with flowing gold hair and incandescent blue eyes. Her gold and steel armor captured every bit of light around. Regine was the smaller version, a petite creature but just as fierce. Her sword was almost as tall as she was, a splendid piece that drew infinitely more gasps when she took it out and had Astra touch the blade for a quick demonstration of how the sword worked.

I couldn’t take my eyes off Myst. The way our paths had crossed in the midst of chaos—it had to mean something. I knew it. I’d have to figure out what, eventually.

Brandon explained his role in the entire operation, along with Haldor’s. Naturally, that drew some frowns. A few of the Shadians weren’t at all in a forgiving mood, considering where they’d been brought by magical force. “You’re a danger to us,” one of the vampires said.

“We’re a danger to evildoers, and now, my friend, we are free,” Brandon replied serenely, motioning around us. “Hrista and the clones. They’re gone. Our fellow Berserkers, too. I can’t feel any of them anymore.”

“The replacement is complete,” Haldor announced sadly, lowering his gaze.

The more I looked at him, the less intimidated I felt. He was nothing like the nightmarish creature we’d repeatedly fought in the woods. He was surprisingly gentle and noble in nature, yet he’d played his part well as the antagonist. His shadow hounds were close by, but he kept them at bay and out of sight, knowing the psychological effect they would have on our people. We’d dealt with them before, but the Shadians needed a little bit of calm after this peculiar storm.

“How do we undo it?” Phoenix asked. Like father, like daughter, I thought to myself.

Mom and Dad flanked me on both sides. It felt nice to have my family back despite our situation. Rose and Caleb. Ben and River. My many nephews and nieces, cousins and friends. We were in this together, and that gave me the kind of strength I’d thought lost not too long ago.

“I think the better question to ask is where did Hrista and the clones go?” the Time Master said, his service ghoul huddled by his right leg.

Haldor sighed. “Isn’t that obvious? To your island. They took over.”

“That’s insane!” Dad exclaimed. “It’ll never fly. It’s not just The Shade anymore. It’s the entire GASP federation they’ll have to deal with. Hrista will never get away with this.”

“You don’t know what she’s capable of,” Myst interjected politely. “I say this respectfully, sir. You’re of the living. You have limits that would never even cross our minds. Meanwhile, my sister has proved that she, as an entity of Purgatory, has mastered not only both light and darkness, but we now know she has also excelled at death magic.”

“Death magic?” the Soul Crusher replied, genuinely alarmed. “How?”

“The Spirit Bender,” I said. “Remember the mention he made about peeking behind the curtain? About ‘her,’ from that realm? I think he was talking about Hrista.”

As the new reality settled, we understood the complexity of our problem. We did not yet have a solution, since the shimmering portals had vanished long before we’d opened our eyes again. The enemy had spilled into the real Shade, and while Dad expressed valid doubts regarding Hrista’s odds of success, I had also seen how insanely resourceful and determined she was.

“Logic dictates that she will move to replace as many of GASP’s originals as possible,” Brandon concluded after a lengthy discussion on the topic of Hrista. “It will be a lengthy and careful process. She has learned from this place. From this experience.”

“Then we need to find a way out of here and back home,” Dad replied. “We have to stop her.”

The entire Shade was in agreement there. There was no way around it. Hrista had done something insane and incredible, and we were stuck in this fake Shade while she traipsed around in the real one, further pushing her agenda. We hadn’t figured out the ultimate endgame yet, but she’d already beaten us to the next spot on the game map. It was our duty, our solemn duty, to catch up.

“Technically speaking, I’m your way out of here,” Astra said. That was true. We were only stuck in this fake Shade until she could harness her ability to open shimmering portals, and the half-Daughter explained this to everybody. “It’s why Hrista wanted me dead.”

“You’ll figure it out,” I told her. “I’ve got faith in you.”

Phoenix smiled, hugging his daughter again. “We all have faith in you, honey.”

Myst gave me a long look while the others talked and shared their thoughts on the matter. Calmly and casually, I stepped away from my mom and dad, wishing to get closer to the Valkyrie again. It felt like a good moment, since Regine was busy butting heads with Haldor, Phoenix, and the Soul Crusher over ways of getting out of here.

“How are you holding up?” Myst asked, keeping her voice low.

I noticed my mom briefly watching us before shifting her attention back to Regine and the others’ discussion. “I’m just glad we’re all here, believe it or not. While I’d prefer to be back in The Shade, we’re stronger together. It doesn’t really matter where you put us.”

“I can see that,” Myst replied. “You look happier.”

“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry it turned out this way for you and Regine. I can’t imagine.”

“It’s fine. I’ll move on. I’m an agent of Purgatory,” she said, visibly struggling to keep a straight face as she spoke. This whole incident had impacted her on a deep level, and Myst had trouble acknowledging that. Hrista had hurt her beyond repair, and I didn’t like how it felt to see her suffering.

Sure, she was a Valkyrie, a beacon of light and glory… but it turned out she had vulnerabilities, too. I took her hand in mine and squeezed gently. I didn’t say a word, letting her look at me in silence as she tried to understand the significance of my gesture. It took her mind off Hrista for a moment. It was the best I could do, and it was better than nothing.

Hrista’s machinations had thrown us into the same simmering pot. It didn’t mean we couldn’t make the most of it and emerge victorious. I had no intention of letting Hrista win this fight. Neither did Myst. She responded to my hand squeeze with a soft smile. “You’re right,” she muttered. “We are stronger together.”

It felt like an important truth in the face of this insanity. We were on the same page. It mattered.