“How did you get here?” I asked, happy to see my friends. It was almost like old times, except we now had Eleni and Zeran in our squad.

“You sent the gateway for us, didn’t you?” Eli raced down the pile of trash, half slipping as a mini-avalanche slid under his feet.

“Imagine our surprise when the gateway suddenly opened as we were leaving training,” Frankie said. “We were wondering what happened to you three.”

“That was me,” Eleni said with a shrug. “I thought we could use your help.”

I turned to Eleni, awestruck. So she was opening a gateway, and she’d done it covertly. I had no idea that was even possible. Here I was still struggling with opening my gateways faster, and she’d already leveled up. I swallowed my jealousy as Frankie climbed down the mound of trash.

“Nulan said that she had business in the human world,” I said. “We need to find out what.”

“You’re missing the bigger problem,” Eleni said. “Auntie Tyana wouldn’t come to the human world alone. Some of the darkbringers must’ve come with her and set off before we arrived.”

Eli snickered with his hand over his mouth. “She’s going to be so mad that the OGs outsmarted her again.”

Zeran tilted his head to the side. “OGs?”

“Original godlings,” Eli said. Then as if he’d forgotten that Zeran was a darkbringer, he added, “OGDs, in this case, but it doesn’t sound as good.”

“Did we outsmart Nulan?” Frankie said, adjusting her glasses. “Maya’s right. We need to know what she was really up to. If people with as much magic as Captain Nulan can cross the veil now, that means . . .”

My throat felt papery. “It won’t be long before the Lord of Shadows can cross himself.”

“After I close the tear in the veil, we better get Auntie Tyana back to the orisha council,” Eleni said. She lifted off and flew over a mound of garbage, where we could see the edge of the tear. It was like a cut across the sky.

Eli smacked his forehead. “Never a moment to celebrate before the next bad news hits.”

“We got Captain Nulan,” Frankie said. “I count that as a win.”

“I better open a gateway in the community center,” I said. “I don’t think the celestials will be happy if I open one in the gods’ realm.”

“Wait—you can’t just open a gateway in the community center,” Eli protested. “There are humans there. You’re going to get us grounded for, like, eternity.”

“Where do you suggest, Eli?” Eleni said, already done fixing the tear.

Even though she was covered in garbage juice and wet newspaper, Eli blushed. “In the basement. No one goes down there.”

“Got it!” I said.