Chapter 21

TWENTY-ONE

ZITA

“ Aunt Peggy—”

“Oh my GOD! ” She leapt out the front door and wrapped me in a hug. “ Zita, Zita, Zita . . . ”

She just kept crying my name as we crumbled to the ground just clinging to each other. Peggy Bow wasn’t really my aunt, not by blood anyway, but my actual Aunt Barbie was Peggy’s best friend. That was why I called her my aunt. For nineteen years, Mom would bring us to Megelle Island to visit her older sister and we’d hang out with Peggy’s family. Most of the time we stayed in Peggy’s guesthouse because Aunt Barbie’s was full. I’d always been obsessed with the Bow family because of all their fun magic. When Collins sent me through to the Island, I figured I’d send her message and then take a moment to collect my emotions before I found my way to Aunt Barbie’s. Never in a million years did I expect to be dropped right at Peggy’s doorstep.

“Oh God, I do hear crying!” someone yelled from inside the house, but I couldn’t lift my head to look.

I gripped onto Peggy like my life depended on it. This was home. This was real. This was my wildest, most dangerous dream come true.

“Maren, come here!” that same woman called out.

“I’m here— what in the name ? — ”

“ Inside. ”

Something tingled against my back and then cold air swept under my legs like I was floating. I peeked down and saw I was flying. A moment later, my legs touched solid ground again, this time hardwood floor. I heard a door slam shut and warmth wrapped around me.

“Are we all right, ladies?”

Aunt Peggy pulled back but took my face in my hands. “I can’t believe you’re here. You’re here. Where have you been?”

"You don’t know?”

“She’s from Third Realm? — ”

“What? No. No, she’s from First.” Aunt Peggy held my sleeve like she was afraid I’d disappear. “I was there when she was born.”

The scary blonde gestured to my body. There was something familiar about her, something I recognized, but I couldn’t place it. “But her clothes are from Third? — ”

“ Her clothes? ”

“You’re the scary blonde with the red lightning,” I heard myself say as the memory finally clicked.

The woman grinned. “I’ve been referred to as worse. But please call me Savina.”

Aunt Peggy looked back and forth between us a couple times before her blue eyes settled on me. “You were in Third Realm? How? Why?”

“She was deported.”

Aunt Peggy’s face fell. “ No, ” she whispered.

I nodded. “I was.”

“No!” She pulled me to her chest and hugged me again. “No, no, no.”

I pulled back and wiped my eyes. “I wish I could say no.”

Savina sighed and sat on the couch behind her. “This is the girl you were looking for all those years ago, right?”

Aunt Peggy nodded.

“You asked me because you feared you knew the answer.” Savina gave me a sad smile. “I told you to ask the Vaunteros? — ”

“ I did! ” Aunt Peggy cried. “They swore they never deported her. They had no report of her being violent? — ”

“ What? ” The world spun around me. “What do you mean? No, I was told they ordered me to be deported? — ”

“They didn’t.” Aunt Peggy shook her head. “They’re good friends of mine. I asked. Many times. We’ve never stopped looking for you.”

I opened my mouth to speak but everything went dark.

Sharp, excruciating pain shot down my spine through my entire body.

“ZITA!”

I screamed and jumped—and landed on my stomach on a fuzzy carpet.

“ Zita!” Aunt Peggy cursed and helped me back up until I was seated with my back against a soft suede couch. She brushed my forehead. “Honey, are you all right? Can you hear me?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine — wait . . .” I glanced around. “This is not the room I was in before.”

“No, you fainted, so Maren, Savina, and I carried you out to the guesthouse while my healing potion started working.” Aunt Peggy looked up at the sound of heavy footsteps. “Sorry to wake you, but we need you.”

“No need to be sorry,” a deep male voice rumbled.

My heart skipped beats. It was Prince Bastien. Every fae in Third Realm knew the royal family. They were all feared for good reason, except for him. He’d never harmed us or been unkind. WAIT. The necklace! I looked down in a panic and found I was still gripping the onyx in my hand.

“Bash, this is Zita.”

I looked up and gave a wonky smile. I bowed my head. “Prince Bastien.”

“Call me Bash, please.” He frowned those pretty moonstone eyes and sat on the coffee table in front of me. He was shirtless so the moonstone crystal embedded in his chest was in perfect view. “Oh, I know you. You’re the chef.”

That made me smile. “Yes, I am. How do you know that?”

“I’ve been watching you? — ”

“ What? Why? ”

He grimaced. “You aren’t going to like the answer.”

Aunt Peggy sat on the table beside him. “You remember my best friend Barbie who lives across the street? The fae?”

“Of course.”

“Well, this is her niece Zita.” Aunt Peggy tugged on her own fingers. “She’s a half-breed. Her father is human.”

Bash nodded. “I know.” We all just stared at him. “My mother kidnapped you? — ”

“No, I was deported? — ”

“No, you were kidnapped. Technically.” He held his hand up to stop me from speaking. “My sisters told me your whole story. They thought what Mother did was hilarious.”

“She didn’t do anything though. She said the Vaunteros ordered her to deport me back to Third.”

Bash snorted. “First, my mother takes orders from no one. Second, the Vauntero family does not have a way of contacting her.”

“But . . . but . . .” I whined. “I don’t understand.”

“You were assaulted by a man with dark-green hair in a nightclub, so in self-defense you punched him in the throat, right?”

My eyes widened. I nodded. “And then Queen Tephine found me in the alley and said I was being deported for violence? — ”

“That’s not violence,” the brunette who I’d seen in Peggy’s house said. “Savina, tell her that doesn’t count.”

“Maren is right.” Savina cursed. She shook her head. “Zita, they do not deport people for self-defense.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because I am Queen of Second Realm, and before that I was a princess. Collecting those deported to their home realms has always been a part of my life.” She stood behind Bash and Aunt Peggy. “Being deported is rare. It’s mostly a threat to keep everyone here behaving.”

My eyes watered. I shook my head. This was not making sense.

Bash sighed. “That man you punched . . . was my father, King Bregan.”

Aunt Peggy, Savina, Maren, and a woman with wild red hair whom I’d only just noticed all groaned.

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying that my father was a disgusting creep and my mother hated him, so when she saw you punch him, she pounced on you. She lied and said you were being deported for breaking the no-violence law so that she could dangle you in front of my father as a petty mind game.”

Tears slid down my cheeks. I shook my head. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. All these years no one knew what had happened to me. I hadn’t been deported. I hadn’t broken the law. Tephine had tricked me and then stole me. Aunt Peggy slid onto the couch beside me, then pulled me into her arms again.

“I am sorry, Zita. Until Collins came into the picture—like a week ago—I had to pretend I was on their side. I tried to get you out, to return you home, but I never had the clear shot. And I didn’t have a voice, literally, but I swear I knew you were there. I made sure Aphid looked out for you—he did, right?”

I nodded. I had no words.

The red-haired woman with big green eyes watched me sadly. “We ought to return her home right away. Her family must still be sick with worry. Where’s Collins? You should go now.”

Bash ran his hand through his light-blue hair. “I don’t know, I thought she was down here. She wasn’t in bed.”

The redhead sighed. “She’s probably with Sandra? — ”

“Wait a second.” Bash scowled and leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees. “Zita . . . how did you get back to First Realm? There are only six people still alive who can access the portal, and four of us are here .”

“Collins sent me.”

They all froze.

“Excuse me?” Bash’s voice was sharp and lethal. His eyes narrowed. “What do you mean? Collins is upstairs? — ”

“No, she’s not?” I sat up straight and shook my head. “She just sent me through the First Realm portal to here? — ”

“ What does that mean? ” Bash growled and jumped up. He hurried over to the bottom of the stairs. “COLLINS!”

I stood on shaking legs. “She’s not here? — ”

“ She was just in bed with me. What do you mean she’s not here? ”

I opened my mouth and shook my head. It made no sense. “I . . . I don’t know, but she’s the one who sent me here.”

“No, no. That can’t be right.” Bash’s face was white as snow. “COLLINS!”

Savina held her hands up as he shouted up the stairs for a person who was definitely not here. “Okay, hold on. Zita, we’re gonna need you to catch us up on what you know. Immediately.”

Footsteps thundered above us, then down the stairs. Everyone looked just as four adults came running down. There was a girl with black hair, a handsome guy with dirty-blond hair, a blonde woman, and a red-haired man. None of them were Collins, but I knew they wouldn’t be.

The blonde woman was wide-eyed and then she saw me and my fur coat and she turned pale. “What’s going on? Where’s Collins?”

“She’s in Third Realm? — ”

“ WHAT? ” everyone shouted and rushed to me.

“Yep, start talking, Zita.” Savina held her hands up and red lightning coiled around her fingers. “Shut up and let her talk.”

I pushed my hair back with both hands and felt the onyx slice into my skin. “I was in Third Realm cooking a stew for everyone. I saw Weston and Shylock, for like a second, and then Collins came in? — ”

“No, no, she wouldn’t have gone back in without me? — ”

“She sent me here to find you. ”

Bash gripped the wall for support. “Are you sure it was Collins ? It could have been my mother or Venus? — ”

“I have lived in Third for a decade. I know the difference between the Stone Keeper and those monsters.” My stomach rolled. “Collins is like five feet tall with hair nearly as long that’s pink and purple, right? Pretty turquoise eyes? She told me her name and that she was the Stone Keeper. She said she needed my help because she couldn’t come here, and I was familiar with the Island since it’s only been a decade? — ”

“It doesn’t make any sense, Zita,” Bash said with a groan. “She was just here. We all saw her.”

“I don’t know. She just showed up in my hut. I was desperate to return to First, so I didn’t ask a ton of questions.” I held up the necklace she’d given me. “She gave me this necklace and detailed instructions for you, Bastien—I mean, Bash.”

“Something’s not right,” the blonde woman said under her breath. “Philip, call her. Now.”

The red-headed guy held a cellphone up. “I have been, Sandra. It’s going straight to voicemail. Mom, you were down, here did you see? — ”

“I gave Vic a sleeping potion earlier,” Peggy said softly. “I just woke her with a reversal potion, so I doubt she saw anything.”

“Peggy’s right, I saw nothing until they woke me,” Vic said numbly.

Bash walked back over to me and snatched the necklace out of my hand. “What’s this for?”

I frowned. “I don’t know. She didn’t explain that.”

“What did she say?”

“She said for you to put on the necklace and never take it off, to hide it beneath your clothing so your family cannot snatch it off of you.” I licked my lips and watched the onyx swinging from the chain. “She said, t ell him I went back to Third Realm because he was right about those blue flames ? —”

“NO.” Bash swayed on his feet like he was going to be sick.

“ — Then she said, tell him to come find me, that I need his help and I’ll be waiting where he last saw the flames. ”

Bash closed his eyes and balled his hands into fists.

“GUYS!” the black-haired girl yelled from the kitchen. She ripped a dry-erase board off the fridge, then spun around to face us with wide purple eyes. “GUYS!”

The pretty blond guy rushed to her side and looked over her shoulder. His face scrunched into a deep scowl as he read it. “This makes no sense.”

“Ellie?” Bash said through clenched teeth.

“It’s a note from Collins that says she and Jada went to St. Augustine to see Gaston.”

“WHAT?” Bash shouted. He bent over and put his hands on his knees. “What is happening right now?”

Ellie scowled and held the note out for everyone to read. “How does she get from Florida to Third Realm and back with Zita in such a short time?”

“And where’s Jada?” the blond guy next to her asked with a frown. “I mean, if Jada was with her, then why the need for Zita at all?”

“Stellan’s right. This isn’t adding up.”

“What blue flames is she talking about?” Sandra asked sharply.

Bash growled. “It makes no sense. We were just fighting about those flames when we got back here. She didn’t want to hear about them again. I’m the one who has been obsessed with them, so there’s no way she would’ve just on a whim to go back to Third herself? — ”

“You have been fighting. Maybe she? — ”

“She’s been yelling at me for being reckless with my life and, subsequently, hers. There’s no way she’d just flip the script like that.” He scrubbed his face with his hands and began to pace the length of the room. “I have to go in after her.”

A loud ringing erupted in the room.

Sandra dove for her phone on the kitchen counter. When she picked it up, she scowled but answered it. “ Hello?”

“Sandra, it’s Lexington Prescott. Sorry, I’m not calling from my normal phone? — ”

“Lexington?” Sandra shook her head. “It’s fine. What can I do for you?”

“Collins is injured,” his voice echoed through the speakerphone.

Everyone gasped.

“ What? ” Bash whispered like he had no strength to speak louder.

“She’s in The Emerald — ” He cursed. “Listen, she’s injured and bleeding pretty bad. She’s rather delirious, so you better get over here quick? — ”

“We’re coming!” Bash shouted and ran for the door still shirtless.

Ellie and Stellan were hot on his heels.

“Maren, stay with Peggy to finish that potion!” Savina shouted as she sprinted out the door.

“Yes, my love. BE CAREFUL!” Maren yelled back.

“Sandra, go. Leave us here.” Phil practically pushed her. “Go!”

Sandra dove across the room at the same time as turquoise-tipped white angel wings popped from her back. She gripped my wrist and dragged me out the front door with her. “I’ll bring her back, Pegs!”

I didn’t get the chance to argue, Sandra was obviously a Nephilim and had more strength than I did. She didn’t ask if I had wings, so I just hung on for the ride. Part of me thought about breaking away from her and fleeing home to New Jersey to find my family. I’d done my part. I’d done what Collins asked me to do. All I wanted was to see my mom and dad, Grandpa Carlo, and my Nonna. I wanted to see my sisters Liona and Sienna to see how they’d grown up, since they’d been in high school when I left. Jersey wasn’t far from New York, If I got away from Sandra I could practically coast down to home. But I was too terrified to make an enemy of these powerful people. If I just did what they asked, my chances of getting home were stronger.

When we landed, I realized with a start we were in Columbus Circle in Manhattan. The others raced inside of a hotel called The Emerald, dragging me along with them. Prescott! Prescott Tech! That’s where that’s from! Così stupido! è passato troppo tempo.

“She’s in the infirmary! Bash already went!”

“Thanks, Lex!” Sandra shouted and bolted for the elevators without letting go of my hand.

I tried to look back and catch a glimpse of the infamous Lexington Prescott, but there was no one there. No doubt the vampire had already left. Ellie, Stellan, and Savina were right behind us. As Sandra pushed me inside an elevator, I was caught between mixed emotions. On one hand, I was overwhelmingly excited to be in an elevator again because it meant electricity. On the other, my stomach filled with dread over where it was taking us. If they tried to bring me back to Third Realm, I would act like a dog headed for a bath and drag my nails.

But when the elevator doors opened, we weren’t in the bank of portals. This one opened outside of a hospital —ohhh, infirmary! Presta attenzione, Zita! The infirmary was pristine white from floor to ceiling, so the only color came from the long purple and pink hair on Collins’ head.

We raced through the open doors, then slid to a stop. Sandra let out a strangled gasp and dropped my hand just as Bash crouched down beside Collins who was lying in a puddle of her own blood.

“ Collins! ” Bash scooped her up immediately and carried her over to one of the beds to lay her down. Her turquoise eyes rolled and then closed. He cupped her face in his hands. “Love, wake up for me? — ”

“ Go . . . ” she said with a gasp. Her eyes went wide with panic. She lifted a bloodied hand and pointed to the door. “Tephine . . . Nickel . . . ”

“NO!” Ellie cried and spun for the door.

Stellan and Savina cursed in a panic and raced after her. But Sandra lingered in the doorway.

“Go help Nickel!” Bash yelled, holding Collins’ bleeding stomach wound closed with his bare hands, blood seeping through his fingers. “I’ve got her. Go!”

With a snarl, Sandra bolted.

I just stood there frozen.

“Zita, grab the gold bottle from the cabinet with the gold handle,” Bash said and pointed with his free hand. “Second shelf? — ”

“On it!” I pushed my wings out and flew across the infirmary to the white cabinet with the gold handle, the only one in the room apparently. The second I opened it, I spotted the gold bottle on the second shelf and snatched it, then sped over to them. “Here? — ”

“Thanks.”

As he uncapped the bottle, I saw that onyx necklace I’d given him dangling from his fingers. Then again, Collins was right here, so there probably wasn’t a need for him to race into Third Realm after her. But she’d been worried his family would try to snatch it off of him, which meant she was worried they were around. I bit my bottom lip and raced back to the door and glanced around the hall. There was no one in sight.

“Oh, Collins,” Bash said with a heavy sigh. “I’m sorry. If I hadn’t said that about your mother, we wouldn’t have been fighting and this never would have happened.”

I frowned and spun back toward them. Bash was scooping gold gel into his hands, then pressing it to Collins’ skin. I moved closer to get a better look. Everywhere the gold gel touched, her skin was sealing back closed like magical glue.

Collins grimaced and squeezed her eyes shut. “It’s okay. You’re allowed to be angry. And you don’t have to like my mother.”

“Thank you.” With the hand not holding gel, he lifted the onyx necklace up to her wound. “I have Mom trauma to work through still. It’ll be easier when she’s dead.”

She gave him a tight smile.

He shoved the onyx and the chain inside of her wound, then slammed a heap of gold gel over the opening. She screamed as her body closed with the necklace inside of her.

I gasped and froze in place. Ma che diavolo? Cosa ha fatto?

Collins screamed and dove for the wound, but it was completely healed closed. Bash backed away but she was faster. She shrieked and flicked her wrists, shooting thick green-horned vines out of her palms like Spiderman’s webs. They wrapped around Bash and hog-tied him in the blink of an eye. She grabbed the vines in one hand, then charged right for me with the other.

No, no, no! Why didn’t I just run before?