Zeran changed back into his human disguise. “Can you handle Captain Nulan without me?”

I was about to protest him running off again, but Eli’s disembodied voice spoke first. “Don’t worry, bro, we’ve got this!”

Zeran jogged up the basement stairs. “Sweet—I have to run. See you all tomorrow.”

I rolled my eyes. It was unlikely that he was that eager to get back to the Johnstons’ house for strawberry cheesecake. We had Captain Nulan—the Captain Nulan, head crony to the Lord of Shadows. This was big, really big. The kind of big that earned a kid bragging rights for life, so excuse me if I thought strawberry cheesecake could wait.

“What were you doing down there?” someone demanded at the top of the stairs. It was Carla, the godling receptionist. She stood blocking Zeran’s path. She was a little taller than him, with red glasses and a curly ’fro. “You better not be getting into trouble.”

“Oh, the usual,” Zeran answered. “Saving the world.”

“In the basement?” Carla grumbled.

“It’s a long story.” Zeran ducked past her.

Carla shook her head when she saw Eleni, Frankie, and me come up the stairs. “I’m assuming the ghost boy is with you.”

“We need to see the orisha council,” I said.

Carla grimaced. “They’re busy.”

“I’m sure they can make time for this,” Eli said as his ghosts flickered into physical form on the stairs, just long enough for Carla to see them and our prisoner.

Carla startled and stumbled back, her eyes glowing. She pointed one shaking finger. “That’s Ty—Tyana Nulan. How did you . . .” She sighed. “You know what, never mind. I don’t want to know.”

Carla stepped aside as we climbed the steps. Eli and his ghosts went into stealth mode again. Eleni’s wings fluttered against her back. Oshun, the orisha of beauty, had glimmered her so that only other godlings and celestials could see her true form, so we weren’t worried about the humans who might be at the community center.

Most people in our neighborhood didn’t know about godlings and the orishas. They didn’t know about the Lord of Shadows, the darkbringers, or the veil between worlds. They didn’t even know that there were other worlds, like many of them. I still hadn’t decided if they were lucky or not. They got to live their lives without worrying about a scary man made of shadows with a bone to pick—a man who had no problem with wiping humans off the face of the planet. The celestials had forbidden us from revealing the truth. Only our human families knew—people like Mama, Frankie’s moms, and parents of other godlings.

Carla opened a closet and turned on a light. “You can visit the gods’ realm through here.”