A squirrel scurried through the tree branches as we passed, and a dusting of snow fell on our heads. Eli laughed, but I got a chill down my back. Eleni squeaked as if she’d been sprayed by a skunk. Frankie didn’t seem to notice. She stared ahead with her eyebrows pinched, and I could tell that she had something on her mind.

The squirrel leaped from one tree to the next. It was almost like it was following us. All this business with the Lord of Shadows had me paranoid.

“Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to spend time on Azur,” said Eleni. “The weather is always perfect there.”

“Speaking of Azur.” Frankie snapped out of her daze. “I’m wondering who I can ask about the Azurians in the photo with my mother.”

Eleni frowned for a moment, then her eyes got big. “Perhaps you can start at the Great Library. If I recall correctly, it contains the history of the universe. If the three people in the photo were fugitives, then there may be some mention in the archives.”

Frankie bit her lip. “I hope so.”

I was worried about her. If it were me, I’d want closure too. She deserved to know what happened to her first mom, but it wouldn’t make her feel better. Mama always said that sometimes we had to face the things that scared us, but that didn’t always mean monsters. Sometimes the truth was scary, but we still had to be brave and not run away from it.

Later that night, Mama and Eleni bustled around the kitchen making dinner while I nervously waited for Papa to get home. It almost felt like before, when I didn’t know he was the guardian of the veil and he’d be gone all the time. I had been nervous then too.

When Papa finally arrived and we all sat down for dinner, he and Mama started talking about the evacuation. Eleni pushed chunks of roasted potatoes around her plate. I poked at my green beans and waited for an opening in their conversation to talk about Shangó’s dark energy equations.

“We’ll have most of the humans in the neighborhood moved out by tomorrow afternoon,” Papa was saying. “They’ve been told that there’s a toxic leak and that the relocation will be temporary.”

Mama glanced up from her plate, surprised. “And they believed that?”

“Everyone but Mr. Mason.” Papa leaned back against his chair and shrugged. “He swears it’s a government conspiracy to replace him with a robot.”

“Hmm,” Mama said absently, then she added, “I’ll be helping Nana evacuate all the godlings and their families to Azur.”

“We can help too,” I volunteered.

Eleni sat up straighter. “Yes, we’d be glad to.”