I drew my staff across the air, and sparks ignited in front of me, but Eleni was opening a gateway at the same time. Something weird happened. The two gateways snapped together like magnets, but instead of creating a super gateway, our bridges of god symbols intersected. At the point of impact, a burst of symbols—animals, planets, plants, geometrical shapes—arranged themselves in the form of a giant glowing egg.

“Oh.” Eleni startled.

“What’s that?” I asked.

She frowned. “I don’t know.”

“It looks like a kind of pocket in space,” Frankie commented.

I lost my concentration, and the egg disappeared along with my gateway. “Weird.”

Eleni’s gateway turned back to normal. She shrugged as she started down the bridge of god symbols. Eli’s ghosts marched behind her, carrying Captain Nulan. “Your gateways are always so nice,” he said, kissing up to her.

I rolled my eyes. I was convinced that Eli had a crush on Eleni, though it felt like I was the only one who noticed.

I brought up the rear as we walked into the arch of dancing god symbols. My gateways were mostly chaotic, with symbols spinning wildly, the sound of roaring wind, and um . . . sometimes they lacked floors. In my defense, I’d opened most of them in a hurry. Eli was right. Eleni’s gateways were works of art, ordered, calm, bright, warm, like sipping hot cocoa on a winter day.

This one was of an enchanted forest where the trees and grass were made of glowing god symbols. There were even chirping birds that reminded me of the winged star horses Papa had made to take Eli, Frankie, and me to Azur, the city in the clouds. Eleni had his touch. They were artists while I was still at the amateur level.

“Maya, I think you’re right about Nulan,” Zeran said, interrupting my thoughts. “We didn’t see her by accident. She’s too smart for that.”

“Why do you think she’s here?” I asked point-blank. Zeran was in the darkbringer army. He should have insight into their plans. I couldn’t help but wonder how he’d let Nulan get the best of him so quickly, especially after he’d kicked my butt in training not an hour before.

“No clue,” Zeran said hesitantly. He glanced away as if maybe he knew something but he didn’t want to tell me. “My guess would be to stir up trouble.”

“It’s more than that,” I argued, my nerves on edge. As much as I hated to admit it, if there was one thing we’d seen from the Lord of Shadows and his cronies, it was that they were smart and devious, not to mention calculating. “The Lord of Shadows has been planning his escape for too long to make rookie mistakes. We have to assume that there’s more happening than meets the eye.”