Catching the tail end of our conversation, Eli said, “Oh look, they’re fighting again—a surprise to absolutely no one.”

I grimaced, annoyed. “No we’re not.”

“Definitely not,” Zeran added. “Maya was just being nosy as usual.”

I rolled my eyes. That’s what I got for caring.

Eli laughed. “Keep this up and people will think you’re more than friends.”

“What?” Zeran said.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” I snapped.

Eli and Eleni exchanged a secret glance. What was that all about? Gross. Maybe some of the other kids at school swooned over Zeran because he had wings and he was blue and all, but not me. I had better things to do.

The rest of the way to Frankie’s house was awkward until Eli started talking about his favorite internet show, Ghost Sightings. “Get this. Al and Carl Davis, the head ghosthunters, have gotten tons of messages these last few weeks. They’ve estimated a thousand percent increase in ghost activity across the globe. That can’t be a coincidence with what’s happening with the veil. The ghosts are all revved up.”

Eleni wrapped her arms around her shoulders. “It was like this last time, too—a flurry of unusual occurrences. I remember the Bigfoot clans fleeing the mountains and the merfolk leaving their seas in droves. They were looking for safe havens.”

“There are no safe havens from the Lord of Shadows,” I said. I didn’t want to be the bearer of bad news, but we all knew it. None of us would be able to hide from his wrath against the human world if we didn’t stop him.

As Frankie dashed out the door and we continued to school, I didn’t want to think about the Lord of Shadows invading our world or the possibility that Zeran could be a spy. I didn’t want to worry about people getting hurt or more fighting. I wanted to walk to school with my friends, teasing each other instead of talking about the end of the world.

“Frankie, I found something interesting,” Eleni said as she pulled a slip of paper from her pocket. “On the morning your mother disappeared, she stopped at a farmers’ market in South Loop, right on the edge of downtown. One of the news stations was reporting on the market at the same time and snapped this photo.”

We all gathered around as Eleni unfolded the paper and handed it to Frankie. The picture was of a crowd of people walking through tables of vegetables, fruits, homemade cakes, and jars of honey. It wasn’t hard to spot Frankie’s orisha mom. Even in her human form, she radiated this natural light around her. Now I understood why the kishi Charlie had mistaken Frankie for her mom. They both were tall with dark brown skin, dark eyes, and high cheekbones.

Frankie’s hands shook as she stared down at the image. “She was so beautiful.”