“They’re not the only ones,” Frankie said. “We’re all nervous.”

“You should be,” Zeran chimed in. He sat with his back straight as a board. “I’m afraid of what the Lord of Shadows will do to your world.”

He’ll destroy it. I didn’t say my thought out loud. I wasn’t superstitious, but why test fate? “Frankie,” I said, changing the subject. Enough of this doom and gloom. We needed answers. “Do you think that Shangó was right, that dark energy could be used to create a vacuum in space?”

“I don’t see how it’s implausible.” Frankie shrugged. “But then again, I thought magic was implausible until last summer.” She rubbed her chin. “If like Eleni said, the Lord of Shadows draws his power from the universe itself, in theory, if he was cut off from that source, then . . . I don’t know, maybe.”

“A vacuum in space might be the perfect prison,” I said, my mind spinning.

Eleni looked doubtful. “If Shangó had found a way to trap the Lord of Shadows, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

I shifted on my heels, uneasy about the whole thing. Maybe I was reading too much into Shangó’s theories on dark energy, and they had nothing to do with the Lord of Shadows. “There’s only one way to find out.”

After a while, the orishas disappeared—all except Oshun. She transformed her outfit into a velvety pink tracksuit with rose-gold stripes down the sides of the legs and arms. She wore a matching headscarf to tie back her braids. “Training starts in five minutes, godlings!”

“Why do we have to practice if Yemoja is sending us to Azur?” Winston groaned as he, Candace, and Tay jumped down from the bleachers. Several kids had flocked to him since this morning, after his big speech about squaring up against the Lord of Shadows. Part of me wanted to tell everyone the truth, how he almost got himself killed, but we had bigger problems.

“I think you missed the part about the celestials’ plan not being foolproof,” I said. “They’ve fought the Lord of Shadows twice before and barely defeated him.”

“Their plan won’t work,” Zeran said matter-of-factly. “He’s too strong.”

Winston glanced to Tisha Thomas, who stood in his growing group of friends. “I suppose you should know.”

“From my understanding, the darkbringers almost got the best of you this morning.” Oshun snapped her fingers, and four lights of different colors divided the gym. A number flashed in the air above each section—blue for the fifth graders, yellow for the sixth graders, green for the seventh graders, and orange for the eighth graders. “You will be safe on Azur, but it’s my intention to make sure you are prepared to defend yourself if it comes to that.”

“In case you didn’t notice, we kicked darkbringer butt today,” Winston said, and several kids cheered and clapped.