Page 36

SLEEPOVER

C adence and Damiel borrowed a few stacks of books from Eva and Jiro. They planned to research the rings further. That’s it. Research.

“We must know what we’re up against before we make our move,” Cadence said when I complained. “We can’t just go rushing in. We need a plan. We need to be prepared.”

“And you need to be patient,” Damiel added.

I hated being patient.

“So do I,” Eira said as we settled into her room in the Palace.

Besides a bedroom, she also had her own living room with two huge sofas. Her cat Bonbon was asleep on one of them. My cat Snow had taken the other. That left just the beanbags for me and Eira.

“Why are your parents always so boring?” I asked her.

“I don’t know.” She tossed me a fluffy pink blanket. “I guess because they’re old?”

“Not as old as Damon’s parents,” Troy Fireswift declared as he and Damon stepped into the room.

Damon’s parents were Nyx and Ronan. Nyx was the oldest angel. And Ronan was a god. I had no idea how old he was, but he definitely counted his birthdays in millennia.

“What are you guys doing here?” I asked the boys.

Their giant cats strutted in after them.

Damon’s cat was a girl named Tiger Lily with black-and-white tiger stripes.

And Troy’s cat was a big boy, mostly white with black accents on his face, legs, paws, and tail.

He was named Blaze for the white blaze on his dark face.

Like Bonbon and Snow, Tiger Lily and Blaze were the offspring of my mom’s cat Angel and the interdimensional cat Shadow.

“Eira invited us over for a sleepover,” Troy told me as the new feline arrivals attempted to kick their siblings off the sofas.

“Oh, she did, did she?” I slid a look Eira’s way.

She glanced at Damon, blushing. She had a major crush on him. Luckily for her, both boys were busy setting up their sleeping bags, so they didn’t notice her blushing. Troy never would have let her hear the end of it.

“So, how are your parents boring?” Damon asked Eira.

“How are they not boring?” She sighed. “Sierra found out someone’s after sixteen magic rings, and we want to go after the treasure before the bad guys use them.”

“Use them to do what?” Damon asked.

“No idea,” said Eira. “But that doesn’t matter. We have to stop them. That’s what heroes do. That’s what my parents have done so many times.”

“Before they got all boring,” I chimed in.

Eira nodded. “Yes, before they got boring. So now instead of taking action, they’re researching .” She growled the word. “There’s no time for that. The bad guys could make their move at any moment!”

“And who are these bad guys?” Troy asked.

“We don’t know,” I said.

“If you don’t know who they are, how do you plan to stop them?” Damon asked.

“We might not know who they are, but we do know where the rings are,” I said.

Troy perked up. “Where?”

I jumped off the beanbag, went over to Eira’s desk, sat down, and retrieved a piece of paper from the drawer. Then I started drawing.

Troy came up behind my chair. “Vampire’s Kiss,” he read the caption under the first ring.

“Each ring represents one of the Immortals’ sixteen magic abilities,” I explained.

“Sangean?”

“The ring’s origin world. And where it is now.” I continued to draw.

“Witch’s Cauldron,” he read under the second ring. “Maldion.”

Eira joined us. “Siren’s Song. Lartak.”

“Dragon’s Storm.” Damon was here too. “Kalpia.”

I kept drawing, and they took turns reading the text.

“Shifter’s Shadow,” said Troy. “Dandriane.”

“Psychic’s Spell,” Eira said. “Palak.”

“Fairy’s Touch,” said Damon. “Elaynia.”

Ghost’s Whisper was on Fairnley. Djinn’s Gateway on Borrellean. Mermaid’s Revenge on Vardyne. Genie’s Desire on Quixin. Phantom’s Veil on Telldom. Unicorn’s Relic on Aurory. Phoenix’s Return on Corsea. Elf’s Rune on Tashyn. And Changeling’s Curse on Zol.

So many rings and so many worlds.

“You have everything you need,” Troy said. “You know where all the rings are. So let’s go. Let’s go get them.” He cracked a mischievous smile. He was so unlike his father.

I sighed. Now I was the boring one. “We can’t. Not without backup. It’s too dangerous.”

“Too dangerous?” He started strutting around the room, his hand on his chest in mock solemnity. “I thought you were the great Sierra Pandora Windstriker, the most powerful person who ever lived. And you’re scared?”

I rose to my feet—and to his challenge. “I am not scared. I’m smart.”

He snorted.

“Smarter than you, Fireswift.” I smirked at him. “And stronger. And as the strongest one here, it would be my responsibility to look out for all of you. It would be my responsibility to keep you safe.”

He rolled his eyes. “I didn’t ask for your protection.”

“But I would be duty-bound to give it,” I said. “No, we can’t go after the rings ourselves. We need backup. More soldiers. A full show of force.”

“You’re so boring.” Troy looked disappointed. “You’re scared of some unknown person and a few pretty rings.” He snatched my drawing and tossed it aside.

I caught it as it fell. And as my fingers touched the page, a deluge of images flashed through my head. A ballgown. Gems. A gloved hand. Lace.

“Sierra!” Eira called out. “What is it? Are you all right?”

“I’m having a vision.”

The woman in my vision slipped off her glove and tossed it aside.

“What do you see?” Eira asked me.

The woman lifted her hand to her face, and then I saw it.

“It’s her,” I gasped.

“Who?”

“Princess Lavinia.”

“Who?” Eira said again, even more confused.

“Someone from a long time ago. My parents stopped her from becoming Queen. And now…”

I watched Princess Lavinia put on the rings.

“And now she’s back. She’s the one who sent that djinn after the ring four years ago. She’s the one collecting all sixteen rings.”

“Why?” Eira asked. “What does she want with them?”

“She wants to be powerful. But her people are immune to normal magic, the magic of the Immortals, gods, and demons. So she’s going to use the rings…” I shook my head. “…somehow, I don’t know how…to gain ancient, raw, primordial magic.”

“And then?” asked Eira.

My vision faded out. I looked at Eira and declared, “And then she will take her revenge on all of us.”