Nulan sprang to her feet. “Of course, my lord.”

“Un-freaking-believable,” Frankie groaned. “She’s the absolute worst!”

How could Nulan be so willing to give Eleni up without a second thought? A memory edged into the back of my mind. In it, Tyana Nulan stood over me with a look of triumph. She’d said something I couldn’t remember. Why can’t I remember it?

With Nulan leading the way, the magical creatures surrounded the Lord of Shadows. He glided forward with the celestials trapped in his ribbons. “Behold your mighty gods,” the Lord of Shadows spat. “Not so mighty now.”

I gritted my teeth, wanting nothing more than to take the fight to him, but I couldn’t bring myself to move a muscle. “We have to do something,” I said, swallowing down my tears.

“What can we do?” Frankie mumbled. “Even the celestials couldn’t stop him.”

Zeran frowned. “Why does he want Eleni?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” I snapped, frustrated. “She has the power to open gateways across the universe. He would have the ability to travel anywhere instantly. Soon the whole universe will be under his control. I have to stop him.”

Eli coughed. “You mean, we have to stop him.”

“We’re your ride or die,” Zeran reminded me.

“Though I prefer not dying today,” added Frankie.

I squeezed my friends’ hands and pushed down my nerves. We had to do something, but Frankie was right. What real chance did we have if the celestials had already failed? They weren’t dead yet, but they were dying.

Still invisible, we followed at a distance as the Lord of Shadows paraded around our neighborhood with the celestials in his ribbons. That was why he wanted to stretch his nonexistent legs. He wanted to gloat.

When we arrived on my block, the magical creatures had gathered on the street in front of my house. They perched in trees and on fences and rooftops—hundreds of them. The moon shined so brightly that it looked like daytime. Shadows wound together to form something akin to a stage in the center of the crowd, and the Lord of Shadows’ black and purple ribbons propelled him on top of it.

I itched to fight. I needed to do something, anything, but I forced myself to stay put. Captain Nulan and a handful of darkbringers climbed onto the stage and stood on either side of the Lord of Shadows. I wouldn’t get two steps before one of them or someone from the crowd stopped me.

Eli was ghastly pale again as his ghosts gathered around the edges of the crowd and peered from behind the curtains in the houses.

“Bring the girl,” the Lord of Shadows commanded, and my heart dropped.

Everything had gone wrong.