I felt bad about doubting him earlier. Zeran was my friend, but if I was being honest, he sometimes made my heart skip a beat when I looked at him too long. There, I admitted it. I liked him. I wasn’t sure how much I liked him, but I was annoyed that Gail Galanis and half the students at JMS also liked him. I wasn’t ready to face what that meant.

Eli pulled us into ghost mode. We could see ourselves, but we also could see through each other. “Whoa,” Zeran said, staring at his hand. “This is different.”

Cheers rang out in the night, then flames burned across the sky. The third perimeter was on fire, but it was still holding—barely.

We almost ran smack into three darkbringers walking tazars that made Ogun’s bloodhound, General, look like a poodle. Instead of fur, they were covered in green scales with sharp spikes across their backs. One of the beasts jerked his head toward us and growled. We stopped, holding our breath. None of us were in a position to fight, but we would if we had to. A second later, a rat scurried between Frankie’s feet and disappeared into the shadows. The tazar pulled against its leash, his gaze following the rodent’s path. We were no better than it: rats trapped in a maze.

“Look everywhere,” one of the darkbringers barked. “Find the little aziza before she causes trouble.”

“Eleni,” I said. They were looking for her, which meant she had to be okay for now.

I heard a voice that stopped me in my tracks. I couldn’t move, couldn’t talk, couldn’t breathe. Chills shot down my spine. “I am almost free, friends,” said the Lord of Shadows. His words vibrated inside my head. “This is a joyous occasion, one that will be marked by the death of my brethren.”

“Maya, what’s wrong?” Frankie whispered, snapping me out of the daze.

My heart thundered against my chest. The Lord of Shadows was almost free, and he was planning to kill the other celestials. He was planning to kill Papa. But for some strange reason, I couldn’t bring myself to tell my friends. I bit my tongue, confused. “Nothing—let’s keep going.”

By the time we reached JMS, I was convinced that I had imagined the voice. That was the only thing that made sense. I was tired, hungry, and more than a little scared. When I saw the perimeter still intact around our school, I let out a shaky breath. It was a swirling mist that had sporadic spots of brilliant light that weaved together into countless lines to form a net. The whole thing was pulsing like a heartbeat.

Eli stared up at the light over the main building. “Nana?”