“As for the veil, we can all agree that it must come down eventually,” Eshu said. “But the human world is not ready to know of magic. It might take a few more centuries before it fails on its own, now that the Lord of Shadows isn’t wounding it. For the time being, we will leave it intact.”

Some of the darkbringers in the crowd shouted their protests, but Papa spoke up next. “Even with the veil still standing, we will permanently leave gateways open between the human world and the Dark, so each of you can come and go as you please. Darkbringers will be welcome to stay in any of our sanctuaries or on Azur if they so choose.”

I glanced at Zeran, who was beaming. He winked at me, and I ducked my head. This was much better news than I could have hoped for. Zeran would be permanently staying in our neighborhood. Eventually, I would have to deal with this whole liking him thing, but not today or tomorrow, or even next week. Nope. Not happening. I could face off against the Lord of Shadows, but by far, figuring out that you liked one of your friends was way harder.

After the assembly, people slowly started to leave the gods’ realm, but some of us hung back. Charlie, the kishi peacekeeper, apologized to Frankie for not answering her calls.

“Have you ever heard of black bean burgers?” Eli was asking a group of elokos. “Hands down better than human flesh, I promise.”

Eleni chatted excitedly with her friends about the upcoming school dance.

Zeran sat on the bleachers with Billu, the two catching up.

“Hey, nice sash,” someone said, and I inhaled a sharp breath. “Your father tracked me down halfway across the universe and told me that you were my biggest fan.”

Oya was wearing a purple-and-silver jumpsuit, and her braids were pulled back into a ponytail. I tried to say something, anything.

“I’m your biggest fan!” I blurted out before I realized we’d already covered that part. Nice one, Abeola.

Oya grinned. “I must admit, it’s strange to come back after all this time and learn that my children have written comic books about my adventures.”

“But they’re amazing adventures,” I said a little too excitedly.

“You’ve had some amazing adventures of your own,” she mused.

I smiled at that and glanced at my shoes. “I guess so.”

“Come by to see me sometime,” Oya said. “I have a few stories that didn’t make it into the comic books.”

I swallowed down a squeal. “I’d like that.”