Deep down, I had hoped that it would be Oya, the orisha from my comic books. According to Papa, some of her children had started writing stories about her after she set off for a mission in outer space. She’d been gone for fifty years, which for a celestial was barely any time at all. But Oya wasn’t the “mother of all things”; she was the warrior goddess, a protector with the fury of a storm when fighting for justice.

The fireflies in the ceiling nervously fluttered and their light pulsed brighter, then dimmer, then brighter again, until they suddenly went dark. The air grew colder around us.

I looked to the council, but they were frozen in place. Completely still. My heart sped up as I raised my staff. Something was wrong. The orishas’ skin turned from their glowing, semi-divine states to dull gray. Then I knew.

“No!” Eleni cried out. “This can’t be happening.”

My mouth was dry when I finally croaked out my next words. “He’s here . . . The Lord of Shadows, he’s . . .”

“Not yet, Maya” came Captain Nulan’s sickly sweet voice. She rose from where Nana had buried her within a nest of vines. “But he will be soon.”

We’d walked right into her trap. “You wanted us to bring you to the gods’ realm.”

Nulan smiled. “You’ve made things rather easy for me so far.”

Eli balled his hands into fists as he flickered in and out of sight. He was trying to draw his ghosts back to him, but his energy was already spent, and none came. “Undo whatever you just did to Nana and the others.”

Nulan shook her wings, and the vines still draped around her fell in a heap at her feet. A shadow shot out from her and caught Eli. He screamed, and as he did, the color faded from his face. “My lord has gifted me with a mere morsel of his powers. Enough so that I could trap the celestials. Do you think you, a mere godling, can challenge me, boy?”

“Let him go!” Frankie said through gritted teeth as she launched two balls of crackling electricity at Nulan.

This time, Nulan raised one hand, and the balls stopped in midair, halfway between her and us, then they dissipated. “Nice try.”

I pivoted around and struck the shadow holding Eli with my staff. It hissed and dropped him. The color seeped back into his face. Once I saw my friend was okay, I turned on Nulan, the staff glowing. The symbols peeled off and flew at her. She tried to stop them, but there were too many, and one after another, they hit her, burning into her skin.

“By the way, Auntie,” Eleni said with a twisted smile. “You’re not the only one with tricks up your sleeves.” Two separate gateways opened in the gods’ realm. “I called for backup again.”