At first Fairy thought it was a dream, because the space around her was a vacuum. No colors or sounds. Neither hot nor cold. Just a black abyss, sucking Fairy deeper and deeper into its depths.

Until suddenly, her bare feet touched sand. Or what seemed like sand, soft and cool between her toes. Everything remained black, but Fairy reached her arms around her. Her fingertips landed on smooth walls.

A moment later, beautiful emerald light appeared a short distance away, sparkling to reveal the tunnel she stood in.

“Where am I?”

A whisper beckoned from the end of the tunnel. Come, young apprentice. You did not get to be a warrior in life, but as a reward for your service to Luna, you can play with more powerful magic in death.

“Oh gods.” Panic fluttered in Fairy’s throat. This wasn’t a dream. “I’m dead.”

Except . . . wait.

The Dragon Prince had said he stole Sight from the afterlife without actually dying. So Fairy wasn’t dead yet, not until she stepped across to the light.

The green glitter was mesmerizing, sparkling like millions of shards of emeralds. Warmth blossomed from the end of the tunnel, and the magic smelled of all of Fairy’s favorite things—crushed lavender and rose water and rock sugar—like the most perfect bubble bath ever to be drawn.

Fairy walked slowly toward it, stopping on the threshold.

The promise of otherworldly joy sang to her, and she leaned hungrily toward it. Maybe this was why Prince Gin was so obsessed with bringing the Evermore to Kichona. He knew there were things much greater than ordinary life, and he wanted them. Just like Fairy wanted to luxuriate in that green light now.

Do not be afraid, the afterlife whispered. Those you loved in life will follow you in death when their time comes.

But another voice in the back of her head called to her. “Fairy, it’s not your time yet. . . .”

The sensation of a pair of arms latched on to her as if in an embrace. Was it Wolf from the other side, his demigodness somehow allowing his voice to follow her here? Fairy’s heart pounded so fiercely it echoed into the afterlife.

She remembered that she was still needed in the world of the living.

An idea flickered in Fairy’s head. She could steal the knowledge of Sight and return as a ryuu. Then both she and Spirit would have these powers, plus Wolf with his demigod ones. It would help the odds in their fight to save Kichona.

But Fairy quickly killed the notion, because she remembered that taking the ability to see the magic like that would doom her, just like it had Prince Gin. She closed her eyes and purged her memory of how the emerald particles looked. I leave that knowledge here, where it belongs.