The door flies open and Aislin comes bustling in. “Problem!” She screams so loud my ears ring. She stutters at the sight of her bother, fully alive. “Oh my God! You’re alive.”
“Yeah, I—” Alex’s voice is silenced by the stampede of sprites charging through the door, ruining their hallmark moment. He curses and leaps out of bed. “I thought I told you to shut that portal down!” He dropkicks a nubby sprite and it flies out the door, crashing into a chandelier.
Aislin dashes beside me. Her pink pajama bottoms are torn at the knee and one of the sleeves is ripped from her thermal shirt. “I did shut it down!”
We scramble, kicking sprites as they take nips and swings at us. Some have wings, some florescent skin. Short, round, pointed teeth; not a single one of them match.
“Then what the heck happened?!” I shout, dropping flat on the ground as a sprite zooms for my head. I jump up and kick one galloping toward me. It hits the ceiling light and falls to the bed, unconscious.
“I screwed up.” Her hands light up, ready to cast a spell. Alex shoots her a sharp look. “I think I accidently freed Luna.”
I freeze, gaping at her. “What?”
Alex has a sprite by the hair, ready to throw it out the door. “You did what?”
A sprite slams into my legs and knocks me to the ground. My chin and elbows bang against the stone floor and my jaw cracks. “Why you little—” I smash my shoe into its small body and it hits the wall, its big eyes crossing as it sinks to the floor. I push up and pop my jaw into place, wincing.
“It wasn’t my fault!” she cries. “The spell was supposed to protect me, but it backfired!”
“If I had a penny for every time you said that, I’d be filthy rich,” Alex says ruthlessly.
“Stop it,” I intervene. “We’ve all messed up a thousand times. And right now we just need to get the hell out of here!”
Our eyes dart to the doorway where sprites pile inside and line the wall. Luna promenades in, grinning from ear to ear. She’s as tall as my hip and her hair is a dark purple that matches her floral dress. Her skin glitters like the red teardrop pendant on her necklace.
“Wait a minute.” I squint at the necklace. “I’ve seen that before.” Before I can sift through my memories to figure it out, Alex picks me up, throws me over his shoulder, and kicks open the window. I’m stunned, until I see Luna rising, taller, and taller, her head finally reaching the ceiling. I guess Nicholas wasn’t lying. Fey do have multiple identities.
Alex doesn’t miss a beat as he leaps out the window and crashes to the ground, his Keeper strength softening the fall. Aislin follows after us, diving out backwards, and shooting balls of light from her hands.
I climb off Alex’s shoulders and we race for the car. Luna bursts though the slope of the roof and shrieks at the top of her lungs. Birds flurry from the trees and sprites heap out of the house, charging across the lawn. We hop in Alex’s car, me on the console, and Aislin in the passenger seat.
Aislin unnecessarily locks the door. “Go! Go!”
Alex revs the engine and Chevelle’s “I Get It” blasts out the speakers. We skid down the driveway. Over my shoulder, I spot a giant Luna hurtling after us.
“What does she want?!” I holler over the music. I turn around as Alex shifts gears. The force throws me backwards into the rear seat. I whirl around, my eyes glued to Luna. She thwacks trees out of her way and tramples over her sprites. Suddenly, she skids to a halt, her feet whipping up dirt and rocks. Her dark eyes watch us, her skin gleaming like a disk in the sunlight. I watch her until Alex rounds the corner and she disappears out of view. I turn around and slump against the seat, my heart knocking against my chest.
Alex turns the volume down to a low hum. “Does anyone know what just happened?”
“She wanted something from one of us,” I state, and then pause. “Wait. Where’s Laylen?”
Alex starts to push on the breaks, but Aislin stops him. “Don’t worry. He went to town this morning.” She slides her cell phone out of her pocket. “I’ll text him and let him know what’s going on.”
Alex accelerates, flying onto the main highway that laps around the mountains. He checks on me through the rearview mirror. “Are you okay?”
I nod, twirling my locket. “There was something about the pendant Luna had on… I’ve seen it before.”
Aislin rotates in her seat. “What did it look like?”
“It was teardrop shaped,” I say. “And red. It kind of reminded me of blood.”
Aislin’s eyebrows dip together. She scrolls through the screen on her phone, punching buttons. “Did it look like this?”
I take the phone and stare at the picture of a necklace wrapped around a woman’s neck. The pendant hanging on the gold chain looks exactly like Luna’s. “Yeah, that’s it.” I give her the phone back. “What is it?”
Aislin frowns and reads her screen. “It’s called a Cornu Lepore.”
“And what does this Cornu Lepore do?” I sigh. “Because I know it does something.”
“It’s the charm of the Royalty Fey.” She grips the door handle as Alex floors the Camaro over a massive pothole in the road. “Like Luna, who’s an Empress.”
I buckle my seatbelt. “Is there any other Royalty Fey out there? I mean, I thought Helena, Lucinda, and Annabella were all fey?”
“Death Fey,” she says. “There’s a huge difference.”
Frustration bubbles up in me. I know I’ve seen the pendant before.
“It gives them power.” Aislin continues to read her screen. “That’s probably why Luna can grow to ten times her normal size.”
“It’s always gotta be about power,” Alex mutters, slowing down for a sharp turn.