Chapter 20

TWENTY

ZITA

“Zita! Zita!”

I gasped and looked up from my chopping block to find two young boys racing into the hut, dragging something on a tarp behind them. “ Dimmi, Dimmi! ”

"We got more!” The older boy with bright blue hair smiled up at me. “They stole her food!”

My eyes widened. The tarp they dragged across the hut toward me was loaded up with frozen vegetables and meat—more food than I’d seen at once in a long, long time.

The little boy with dark-green hair grunted as they finally dropped the tarp of food by me. “Tephine was too busy with the war. They stole her food! We helped.”

I grinned and ruffled the little one’s hair. Then gave the older one a high-five. “ Molto bene, ragazzi .”

“Get back to Aphid. Maybe there’s more.” He gently pushed the little boy back out of the hut, then he turned to me. “We’ll bring back as much as we can.”

“See if someone can help me cook all this.” I motioned to their haul just as another explosion sounded in the distance. The crystal trees clinked together, sending chucks of ice tumbling to the ground around the tent. Everything was so much louder than it’d been the last ten years. I’d grown used to hiding and the silence that came along with that.

He grinned. “I will!”

“ Grazie, putzi, grazie! ”

My pulse fluttered with excitement. A whole tarp full of food. Faremo un banchetto. I could feed so many people with this. It was all frozen, but everything in this damned realm was frozen now. I grabbed a handful of the bricks of meat and sat them on the edge of the fire pit to start thawing out. I had no idea what kind of meat this even was or how old it was. The animals of Third Realm had all died out decades ago, if not longer. Everyone said once the snow started it never stopped. Ever. Apparently, the animals hadn’t been able to survive. Queen Tephine had pillaged the fallen creatures and sold pelts in the form of coats and blankets to the villagers for a steep price. The meat she’d frozen in the ice and sold off sparingly.

I hadn’t had a bite of meat in three years.

The last serving I’d found I’d fed to some children whose bodies were not as strong, so they needed it for this bitter cold. Just looking at the frozen bricks of meat, my mouth salivated. It almost didn’t matter what kind it was . . . it would taste like Heaven.

“ Madone, Zita, you’re fantasizing about meat.” I smacked my own forehead and turned back to my big cauldron pot hanging over the fire. “ Concentrati sulla cucina .”

The giant spoon I used to stir my soup was made of a sapphire-blue crystal, and I’d grown quite attached to it. I just felt more in control and comfortable with it in my hands. I looked down into the broth and inhaled. Che schifo. I grimaced. I stopped asking where they got the broth from. I didn’t want to know. All I knew was once we added other ingredients, it tasted decent. Some batches were worse than others. This one did not look great, but I prayed the arrival of meat would help.

My stomach growled. I sighed and slid my lucky spoon in the waistband of my pathetic excuse for a dress in this frozen hellhole. Even with my fur coat on, the air was so bitter cold it rattled my bones. I shivered and went back to my chopping block. Normally, the vegetables I cooked with were not frozen, but in the last few days there was no such thing. The snow was falling so thick outside the hut that I couldn’t see past a foot. I grabbed a stalk of celery and my lucky knife made out of solid diamond. It was sharper than any other knife or dagger I’d ever held. I’d found it ten years ago and had kept it close since, usually tucked in my boot.

My two prized possessions were a spoon and a knife. My family would be proud.

Thunder roared across the sky, shaking the walls of the hut. Gusts of wind swept flurries of snow inside. I just pulled my coat on tighter and focused on chopping. My fingers were starting to turn blue they were so cold. My knuckles were stiff and burned. Every few minutes I went and held them over the fire. I’d used all my money to upgrade from my flimsy fur coat to this big one, and I’d had to throw in my fur gloves to seal the deal. I blew hot air from my mouth onto my hands, but the relief was momentary. One of these days I was going to chop my own fingers off with the celery and not even notice.

Movement in my peripheral vision made me jump. Not for the first time, I wished I could read auras like everyone else. Then I’d know if the male stomping inside my hut was a threat or not. He was tall with brown hair and dark-blue eyes that sparkled mischievously when they spotted me. I froze. He frowned and then turned back to the doorway and fired pale-blue misty magic from his palms. That was when I saw the angel wings hanging from his back. He turned back to me, then shook himself like a dog getting out of water. His gold-feathered wings were tipped purple at the bottoms.

I knew who this was. No idea his name, but we’d all seen the two Nephilim who came in with Jada and started the revolution against the palace.

“ Ciao—”

“What are you doing?” He pointed toward the door just as another explosion rocked the little hut we were in. “We don’t have time for that. We’ve got a bit of a war going on out there?—”

“ Excuse me, Mr. Nephilim, Sir! ” I slammed my celery on the table and shouted. “I am not cut out for war! I shall stay right in here, thank you very much. Sei fuori di testa. ”

I scooped a handful of the edible crystals, which were really just colored salt from the shore, and tossed them into the cauldron. Pink smoke billowed from the pot. I threw in another handful just for good measure. The broth rippled and vibrated as the ground rumbled beneath our feet.

He cocked his head to the side, confused. “How do you know I’m Nephilim?”

“You’re the only two fae in existence with angel wings?” I gestured to the wings in question. “Feathers and shit.”

He shook his head. “Right, love, well, we’ve got a fight raging. Don’t you think you should be out there fighting with your fellow fae?”

“ Non me ne frega niente !”

He blinked his blue eyes. “What did you just say to me?”

“She said I don’t care at all, ” the other Nephilim said as he ducked under the doorway that was a few inches too short for him, then shook snow out of his messy black hair. I didn’t know their names yet. He looked over at me and frowned. “It was Italian—Wait, you speak Italian? And . . . are you cooking ?”

I pointed my knife at him but it was made of solid diamond so it was a lot less threatening than it would’ve been back home. It was really pretty, especially catching the reflection of the fire. “Hey, as my Nonna always said to me and my sisters, you can’t fight on an empty stomach. So, I’m cooking!”

“Oi.” The first one backed away. He looked to his friend. “Shylock, help me out here?”

“She has a point, Weston.” Shylock watched me with pale-blue eyes like I was a science experiment under a microscope. “ Nonna ?”

“Yeah, my Nonna.” I started dicing the celery again. “What’s it to ya?”

“Are you from First Realm?”

My chest tightened. I felt my eyes go wide and burn like they wanted to cry. No one here had mentioned First Realm to me in years. The others who knew it existed treated the words like a curse never to be spoken out loud. But, I understood, because thinking about it felt like torture. “Yes.”

Shylock moved closer and put his hand on my shoulder. A warm green mist wrapped around my body and my pulse slowed to a steady beat. “We’re the Nephilim from Second Realm, the mages, but we’ve spent a good deal of our lives in First with our cousin Prince Stellan.”

My jaw dropped. “ Davvero? ”

“Yes, really.” Shylock gripped my hands and pulled me over to the fire, forcing me to thaw my frozen fingers out. Then he whispered, “Were you deported ? ”

Deported.

My stomach rolled. I nodded.

“There is no judgment here. Your circumstances are your own.” He backed away, heading toward the door. “We’ve seen our share of violence and have quite the talent for it. Perhaps even a bit indulgent in it.”

“Shylock, don’t advertise our taste for it. You’ll give us a bit of a reputation.” Weston laughed and opened his hand, letting blue sparks of electric current run over his skin. “But my brother is correct. Violence is unexpected most times. It happens.”

I gave them a small smile. “It happens , ” I whispered. Even though it didn’t. It hadn’t. Not really. Not that that mattered back then or now.

“Come, Weston. Her work is just as important here.” Shylock dragged his brother, then pushed him out the door. “Everyone will appreciate the food you cook. I’ll send some along to assist.”

“ Grazie .” I forced a half-smile I didn’t feel.

“ Ciao !” he yelled, then disappeared into the heavy fall of snow.

My heart sank. “ Ciao .”

I wanted to drag him back in here and talk about First Realm until my voice gave out. But that would only torture me in the long run. Sii gentile con il tuo cuore, Zita . Besides, there were many, many mouths to feed, and ever since the Stone Keeper’s first arrival last week, Queen Tephine had refused to sell us any food at all. That meant a hearty soup would feed the most, so I went back to chopping the vegetables, throwing in combinations of things I never would have back home. Desperate times called for desperate measures.

I pushed my emotions aside and focused on the thing I knew how to do: cook. I might not have been swinging a sword on the front lines, but I would make sure the hands that held those swords remained strong enough to do so. In my family, a full stomach meant a strong body and sharp mind. Other people may have undervalued the worth of the kitchen, but I never would.

Thunder roared over my head, shaking the roof of my hut and sending little leaks of snow inside. The ground rumbled under my feet. I closed my eyes and pretended it was the New York City subway passing by. As I grabbed the tomatoes and started to cut them up, I pretended Nonna and I were prepping the sauce for Christmas Eve’s dinner. Tears filled my eyes. I cursed and wiped my face with my fur sleeve. Ten years and it still ripped my heart out. In the first few years here, I had this horribly soul-crushing hope someone would find me and say my deportation was a mistake and send me home. Then I spent a year trying to escape. Part of me wondered if I should just join the revolution and let fate finish me off. But there was apparently just enough of that false hope lingering in my soul that I couldn’t let myself be taken out. The hope that I might somehow see my family again someday kept me fighting for just one more day to live.

Basta, Zita, basta. Guastafesta.

I took a deep breath and let the chill in the air seep into my heart, freezing those emotions back up. Then I opened my eyes and went back to work the way Nonna had always taught me. I’d just finished slicing up the last of the four bricks of meat I’d been thawing when a lone figure cut through the blizzard outside my door. I assumed it was going to be Shylock or Weston, or maybe the help they said they’d send, but then the person stepped inside the hut and I saw they were tiny. Like four or five inches smaller than me and super petite. But then I remembered most fae were tiny, unlike me. This girl was probably barely over a hundred pounds—and most of that had to be her hair. It fell in lavender and pink waves down to her thighs. Instant hair jealousy.

“ Ciao bella! ” I smiled and waved, then lifted four more bricks of meat to start thawing. “You must be freezing. Stand near the fire.”

“Oh, right.” The girl chuckled. “Thanks.”

Oh, right? I frowned and looked down at the girl again. She was barely dressed. A pretty little thing but barely dressed. Her outfit was made of a silky type of material that probably conducted a chill on its own. In the light of the fire, it was a pearly white color but the parts in shadow looked more like a pale turquoise. Her skin was almost as white as the snow but shimmered like a pearl or something—without a single physical indication that she was near frostbite, which she should have been with all that skin out. It was just a tight-fitted bodysuit with a plunging neckline and cut outs that revealed skin from her ribcage all the way down. In fact, the material over her stomach was only about three inches wide. A loose skirt of the same material hung low on her hips but with a slit on each side from the waistband. It was about as effective as a cape in a hurricane.

“ Bafangool, ” I whispered to myself. “You’re not cold? I’m freezing to death even next to the fire.”

An explosion rocked the ground and the whole hut trembled. Snow fell on top of it and I looked up wondering if it would tear through this time.

“ Merda. ” I gripped the charms hanging from my gold necklace, all given to me for good luck. I had the Italian horn charm from my Nonna, the figa charm from Grandpa Carlo because he liked that it also looked like a fist for punching jerkwads in their throats—his words, not mine—and then also the horned hand charm from my father who wanted me to remember that a hand gesture was also good for plucking eyeballs out. It was no wonder I got deported. None of these had yet to actually bring me good luck but I prayed it started now. “It’s getting intense out there.”

The girl glanced around at the tarp overflowing with vegetables and meat, all frozen. She pursed her lips, then looked up at me with eyes such a vibrant turquoise color I almost didn’t believe they were real. “Did they steal all this from the palace?”

I chuckled. “I’m just the chef. I know nothing of where it came from.”

She laughed with me as she walked over to stand across from me at my wooden table. “Pleading the Fifth, I like your style.”

“Yeah—wait. Pleading the Fifth? ” My eyes widened and my heart stopped for a moment. “That’s . . . are you from First?”

She grinned. “Was I too obvious?”

“Were you deported?” I whispered, then leaned forward. “We’re not supposed to talk about First Realm. Aphid said the villagers from here can’t know?— ”

“I know, but it’s just us here right now. Everyone is off fighting. Well, except for you.”

I shrugged. “I’ll tell you the same thing I told those Nephilim brothers, you can’t fight on an empty stomach. Besides, despite being deported, I’m honestly not a fighter. What about you?”

“Oh, I am.” She gave me a sly smirk. “But I’m actually on a different task right now?—”

“Ah, a side quest.” I pointed to my cauldron. “Well, I don’t have any extra coats or anything, but that soup can be eaten at any time?—”

“Thanks, but I’m not hungry.”

I narrowed my eyes. “Most of us haven’t eaten in days. How are you not hungry?”

She held her hand up and wiggled her fingers—and then a potato appeared in her palm .

My own gasp shocked me.

She took a bite of her potato, then sat it down, only to magically create about six more potatoes in the blink of an eye. “Go ahead, add them to the soup. It’ll give it a little more substance.”

I dove for the potatoes. My diamond dagger had them sliced up real nice in seconds. With a childlike grin and giddiness in my step, I ran to the cauldron and dumped them in. Except for one piece, I saved that for me. I popped it in my mouth and moaned. There was no butter or salt or sour cream, but my God it was the best thing I’d tasted in ten years. Lode a Gesù, è un bene. Grazie, Signore.

The girl chuckled. “I take it you haven’t had a potato since arriving in Third Realm?”

I almost cried it tasted so good. “No. I have not. How did you do that? No one has magic like that here?—”

“No, they don’t. But I do.” She rolled her shoulders and sparkling turquoise wings sprouted from her back. “I’m not like other fae.”

My jaw dropped. I’d never seen wings quite like hers. They were pale in color and translucent and sparkled like a crystal. “Those wings . . .”

“They’re something, aren’t they?” She smiled, then held her hand out to me to shake. “My name is Collins Elliott. I’m the Stone Keeper for Third Realm.”

My eyes widened. “You’re the . . . the . . . Stone Keeper. Oh, Cielo. ”

“And I’m not in your hut by chance or accident, I came here to see you, Zita Moretti.”

As if on cue, the sound of cracking ice filled the air and was followed by a giant explosion. Snow fell through the holes in my hut and the soup nearly splashed over the edge of my pot. I held my breath hoping this war wouldn’t ruin the first good meal I’d created in a decade. Meat and potatoes would make this a delicacy.

I froze. “Y-you d-d-id?”

The Stone Keeper of Third Realm was here, seeking me. My brain was trying to process this idea and was failing. I’d known about the Stone Keepers a little while now. The Nephilim Jada had told me about them. But then we’d all seen the Stone Keeper for the mages a couple weeks ago have that battle with the entire royal family and win. After that, Jada filled the villagers in on what that all meant and why. She warned us to be on the lookout for our Stone Keeper named Collins and that we were to help her in whatever she needed.

“I did. I was told you would be in here.”

I wiped my hands on my makeshift apron that I’d made from a scrap piece of white silk. “What can I do for ya?”

She pursed her lips and tapped her fingers on the table. “The question is, what would you do to return to First Realm?”

My pulse skipped beats. “Please don’t tease me. My heart is not strong enough?—”

“I’m not teasing. But I am in a predicament, and I need a favor. That’s where you come in.”

My hands were trembling. “Me? Why me? I’m not a fighter. I’m not meant to be on the front lines?—”

“And that’s not where I need you.” She leaned forward like we were conspiring. “Thing is, every time I return to Megelle Island, I cause damage because Queen Tephine attacks. So I can’t go there, but you can?—”

“Whoa, whoa. Hold on . . .” I stumbled backward until I hit the bench, then let myself sink down to it. “I desperately want to go home but the Vaunteros had me deported. They’re not gonna want me back at all, let alone on the Island?—”

“ Zita. ” she said my name softly, followed me over to the bench, then sat beside me, “it’s the middle of the night. Megelle Island is sound asleep. The Vauntero family is asleep, and even if they’re awake, they’d be within their castle walls. They have no reason to see you.”

Tears pooled in my eyes and a hot lump of emotion in my throat threatened to choke me. “Collins, what are you saying to me? They kicked me out. I broke the law?—”

“Please, Zita, you punched a sleazy, horny man in the throat after he touched you inappropriately. That’s self-defense.”

My jaw dropped. I gripped the edge of the bench. “How do you know that?”

She frowned. “I’m the Stone Keeper?”

“But they said . . . they said I broke the law?—”

“Zita, I’m the Stone Keeper. If you do this favor for me, then I promise I will get your name cleared so you can stay in First Realm forever." She shrugged. “I’m close with the Vauntero family."

My breath left me in a rush. The room spun. You can stay in First Realm forever. Tears spilled over my eyelashes and ran down my cheeks. I sniffled and wiped my face. My heart pounded from its cage. My hands trembled like an earthquake. All that hope my soul had clung to for years was screaming with joy.

“I’m going to throw up.” I bent over and put my hands on my knees. “What’s the catch?”

“Why must there be a catch?”

“Because why me ? I’m no one special. Why not your Nephilim friends from Second Realm? Why not Jada? Or one of the villagers? Or that scary blonde with the red lightning?—”

“Savina and Jada left with Bastien. The other Nephilim are busy with a war right now. My usual team is out of reach for me, which is why I am seeking help elsewhere.” She reached out and squeezed my hand. Her skin was smooth and cold like my diamond knife. “And I chose you because you were only deported ten years ago, which means you know your way around Megelle Island, so you’ll be able to get to Bastien faster than anyone else.”

“To do what?” I stared at the cracks in the wood floor in front of me, terrified to believe this was happening.

“I just need you to deliver a message to Bastien, my soulmate. That’s all.”

“And then what?”

“You go home to your family and forget this realm ever existed.” She stood and stretched her arms out, her wings fluttering behind her. Then she held her hand out to me. “There’s nothing for you here. All you have to do is drop something off to Bastien and you go back to your old life. Forever. Just take my hand and run away from here.”

There were a lot of thoughts running through my head, a lot of what if scenarios of ways I could get in trouble and be shipped right back here, but the second she held her hand out, I dove for it. Because the sad truth was, even seeing my family one more time would be worth it. I never got to say goodbye. I didn’t even know if they knew what happened to me or not. I’d never known someone who got deported. My father was human, as were Grandpa Carlo and Nonna. I wasn’t sure they would ever fully understand this side of the world.

Collins dragged me out the door just as one of the elder villagers walked in.

I gasped. “Delia, I have to go help Collins. Just keep stirring the soup! You’re in charge of the food!”

“Okay, good luck! Stay safe!” Delia shouted as Collins pulled me out into the snow.

The blizzard was so heavy I couldn’t see more than a foot in front of me in any direction. The sky was pink but mostly all I saw was white. Collins wrapped her arms around me and shot straight into the sky. I had wings, but I wasn’t about to attempt to fly in this. I wasn’t sure how Collins was doing it. Stone Keeper magic, I guess.

It wasn’t until the village and the castle were completely blocked out by the snow that I realized once again I was leaving without saying goodbye. I hadn’t grabbed any of my things either. Granted, the things I loved the most I always kept on me—my necklace, my diamond knife, and my sapphire spoon. Everything else was nothing. And I doubted anyone would miss me. I’d never excelled at making friends here. I didn’t know how to connect with Third Realmers and the other deported fae couldn’t stand to look at me. They’d said I looked too much like home and it hurt.

Part of me felt guilty that I was getting to leave instead of them.

Most of me was afraid to believe I was leaving until I saw home with my own eyes.

I wrapped my arms around Collins and buried my face in her chest. Sure, I was four inches taller and probably forty pounds heavier, definitely thicker, but those pretty wings of hers sliced through the snow like it was nothing. Or at least, better than anyone else could. All of a sudden, we dropped like we were on a roller coaster, and my stomach shot into my throat. Before I could even scream, the world stopped moving. I pulled back to look at where we were but all I saw was a strange door floating in the middle of nowhere. Wind whipped around us, sending my hair across my face like a blindfold. Which was fitting, since Tephine had blindfolded me when I was deported.

Memories of that awful night flashed through my mind. That horrible man with the dark-green hair and matching eyes that lingered on my body like I was a glass of water in a desert. I’d never forget the sneer and lust on his face or the way his hand felt on my body. My whole life, my father, the Staten Island boy that he was, drilled into my mind that I should throat-punch any prick who touched me without my consent. Mother always warned me not to do it, and I’d always told her I wouldn’t . . . until I did. It was muscle memory. All that training with Dad and Grandpa with the punching bags kicked in when my life flashed before his hungry eyes, and I’d snapped.

I’d tried to flee the scene, to run home and never leave again in hopes no one would find out what I’d done. But Queen Tephine showed up in the alley as I’d tried to escape. I shuddered at the memory of her. The white hair, the cold diamonds where her eyes should have been, the aura even my half-breed self could feel. That aura was all around us now, but Tephine was all around us. The sooner I got out of here the better.

The wind stopped. The air turned warm. I flinched and yanked my hair off my face and then gasped. We were inside of a building, like a modern building with electricity. I didn’t recognize it, but we were standing in the middle of a bank of elevators. Each one had a different symbol on an emblem above them: an eagle, a diamond, two keys, a snake, and a sun. Those had to mean something, but my mind was too overwhelmed to think. I was in First Realm. I knew I was. It was so warm in here, sweat was already sliding down my spine.

“Welcome back to First Realm, Zita,” Collins said softly.

A violent sob ripped up my throat. I covered my mouth with my hand and cried. My knees buckled and I stumbled back until I crashed into a wall. I untied my fur coat and flapped it to air out the heat now trapped beneath it.

Collins stood there looking absolutely perfect while watching me like I was a cockroach stuck upside-down kicking its legs around. “I see you’re struggling, but I’m afraid I really do need you to get moving.”

It was a cold thing to say to a person falling apart but it was just what I needed to pull my shit together. I wiped my eyes and pushed my hair back out of my face as I stood up straight and faced her. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t expecting that either.”

She smirked. “Will you be able to carry out my favor?—”

“Yes. Yes of course.” I sniffled, then took deep breaths to steady my pulse. “Tell me what to do. What message do I give Bastien?”

She reached up and pulled a silver chain off her head, then held it up between us, letting an onyx crystal dangle in the air. “You’re going to give this to him. Tell him I said to put it on and never take it off, to hide it beneath his clothing so his family cannot snatch it off of him. Do you understand?”

I nodded and took the crystal, squeezing it tight in my palm. “Understood. Anything else?”

“Tell him I went back to Third Realm because he was right about those blue flames.”

I licked my lips and nodded. “Blue flames. He was right. Got it. Anything else?”

She grinned and it sent a chill down my spine. “Just tell him to come find me, that I need his help, and I’ll be waiting where he last saw the flames.”

I nodded over and over. “Absolutely.”

“That’s it.”

I sighed, a rush of excitement sweeping through me. “What do I do after I tell him and deliver the crystal?”

“Go home to your family.” She put her hand in mine and then a potato sat in my palm. “When this war is over, I’ll find you again and get this whole deported thing cleared up. No one is going to be looking for you. It’s been long enough.”

“Thank you, Collins.” A new wave of tears filled my eyes. “So, do I still go to Penn Station to take the Neverland Express?”

She pursed her lips. “Technically, yes. But it’s like two in the morning so there are definitely no trains tonight. Since I need that delivered to Bastien immediately, I’m going to let you in on a little secret of the realm royals . . . Do you see these elevators?”

I nodded.

“They are portals, one to each of the other realms.” She took my elbow and walked me to the portal with the eagle emblem above it. “But if you walk through this portal, it takes you anywhere you want to go within First Realm.”

“Wait, what?”

“You have the necklace?”

I flinched and looked down at my hand. “Yep.”

“Repeat your orders to me.”

I repeated them to her, word for word. I used to be a waitress, memorizing orders was literally my job. When I finished, I smiled down at her. “Tell me where I’m going, and I’ll have it done.”

“Close your eyes.” When I did, she moved to stand behind me and gripped each of my biceps. Then she whispered in my ear, “I’m counting on you, Zita.”

Then she pushed me.

I screamed and fell face-first into nothingness— and landed in snow. My heart stopped. It was snow. Snow. My chest tightened and I knew I wasn’t breathing. I curled my hands, fisting the snow into my palms. Oh no, no, no. Per favore. I can’t be back in Third. I can’t. My mind was reeling. I was afraid to look up and find this was a cruel trick, or worse, a dream. But I could not remember what month it was. Third Realm was not like First. Time moved the same, but the dates were irrelevant.

Breathe. Don’t panic. Just lift your head and check, THEN we’ll fall apart.

So I took a deep breath, then pushed myself up off the snow and looked up. I gasped. For a moment, I couldn’t breathe all over again. I collapsed on the snow on my knees, sinking into my feels. Tears burned hot trails down my cheeks. I exhaled and my breath left me in a white cloud, but that was okay because the sight before me was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen.

It was a house.

A home.

With golden lights pouring from the windows and cars parked in the driveway. Smoke billowed from a chimney. A quick glance left and right revealed more houses. Collins had said it was two in the morning, but I saw a few televisions on through windows. I cried and let myself fall apart for a second. I had a task she was expecting me to complete immediately, but I was not okay. I never thought happiness could hurt so much.

Once I finally caught my breath and slowed the tears, I staggered to my feet and began my walk up to the front door. The snow here was only a few inches thick so it was a walk in the park compared to the few feet back in Third. Even the air wasn’t as sharp and biting. I hurried up the wooden front porch to the white house and knocked before I could lose my nerve or fall apart again.

When no one answered the door right away, I turned around to look at the street full of houses. There was still a huge part of me that did not believe I was back, that I was on Megelle Island again. I never thought I’d see this place again. It’d been ten years. So that might’ve been why it took me so long to recognize the house directly in front of me—the one across the street from where Collins had dropped me off.

Yet even as I recognized it, it took my mind a moment to process it.

Then it hit me like a ton of bricks.

That was Aunt Barbie’s house.

Which meant the house I was knocking on belonged to?—

“Hello? Can I help you?”

I spun around and a violent sob ripped through my body. A noise I’d never made before came out of me. The woman standing in front of me had strawberry blonde hair, big sparkly blue eyes, and what looked like flour all over her. I covered my mouth with my hands and cried. Words just weren’t coming. I wasn’t expecting it to be her.

Her eyes widened the moment she saw my face. She gasped and gripped the doorframe, her face paling. “ ZITA?! ”