The peace lasts for one more day.

In the morning, I wake to three fairies scribbling on my face. I bolt up from bed to drive them out and bar the door. I find that Keine has left me one of her dresses. Unfortunately, it's entirely too short; the end hardly reaches to my knobby knees. At breakfast, the fairies laugh at me. I forgot to wash off the drawings.

It's going to be a long day.

The school session starts after breakfast. As the children file inside, Keine recruits me to take attendance. During the day, I pass out papers, supervise recess, and rub a bumped elbow until the kid quits crying. The teacher seems to enjoy the help. So, when Keine's not watching, I teach the children how to fold paper airplanes—and, better yet, how to throw with a quick flick of the wrist so the airplanes fly all the way across the room. The children learn fast. After that, Keine has some trouble keeping class in order. After that, starts to ask less of me.

The school day ends. When given some prompting from their teacher, the children chorus, "Thank you, Miss Sakuya." They line up to give me a parting hug and then they lollop off home.

What precious little devils, I think to myself.

However, the fairies stay behind for remedial lessons. Cirno flaunts the circled "9" on her test—the best grade she's ever gotten. Keine slaps the dunce cap on her head, only to earn Cirno seething glares of hat-envy from Sunny and Luna.

My cheeks tingle. I wonder what this feeling is. I realize it's a smile. Not a deferential grin, a professional sneer, or even a bloodthirsty leer. I haven't felt like this since I left my mistress. Lady Remilia…I do hope she's well.

My trouble begins when Keine sends me to bring in water from the outside well. Since the fairies were acting "especially obstreperous," Keine deems that traditional punishment was in order. Holding buckets. The girls quiver, already apprehensive. I wonder if their skinny arms can even hold up the buckets without snapping off.

But I go anyway.

The sun is setting, setting the sky ablaze with pink and orange and bloody red. The full moon glows low on the eastern horizon.

I fetch the water.

When I return to the classroom, I find I'm not alone. I drop the buckets, flooding the floor.

A stranger sits in the teacher's stool. A longbow lies across her folded legs. Her long silver braid graces the ground. She smirks at me in undisguised contempt.

"Welcome back," she says. "We've been waiting for you."

In the back corner, Cirno, Luna, and Sunny hide behind Keine, who shields the fairies with her body.

The stranger inclines her head. "Reisen. Tewi." I recognize my two assassins—they emerge from the shadows and bow to the stranger. "Watch the hostages as I talk to the little princess."

Gradually, grudgingly, Reisen trains her handgun on the quavering innocents. Tewi, barely any taller than Sunny, slings her mallet over her shoulder. The assassins exchange an uneasy glance.

"What do you all want?" I demand, clenching my fists. "Why can't you all leave me alone?"

The girl with the bow turns to me. Eirin—though I'm not sure how, I remember her name is Eirin. Disgust wells inside me. Some memories even magic cannot erase.

"We have your death warrant," says Eirin, "signed by your sister."

I blink. "My what?"

"Must I explain everything?" Eirin sighs. "Very well, I'll humor you. I've been practicing my lectures, you know. A brief history of the moon—

"One millennium ago, Lunarian society had advanced far beyond the lower world. We ruled in prosperity and peace. But some feared our strength. The youkai warned us of war. We laughed. Our scientists developed a device that could effectively eradicate life from your planet. We called it…the Weapon."

"Smart name," mutters Luna. That comment earns her a whack on the head. Tewi twirls her mallet, smugly satisfied.

"But that's why Yukari invaded the Moon," Keine retorts, "to stop you from ever using that Weapon!"

"Who's telling this story? Besides, you attacked first," Eirin sniffs. "Revisionists."

She continues. "The Moon has secrets you earthlings cannot ever even fathom. For thousands and thousands of years, humans have watched the moon, making months and calendars from its cycles. In time, the Moon gained power over time itself. And our best scientists harnessed that power. The pinnacle of our achievement, encapsulating all the power and prowess of the royal family, is a simple-seeming pocketwatch. A watch manipulating time and space."

She holds me in her cold stare. "The Luna Dial."

I stand still as a stone, utterly petrified.

"That watch is a royal heirloom," says Eirin. She slides off the stool and starts pacing around the room, tapping the longbow on the floor. "Passed to the princess on the day she becomes queen. Most embarrassing when it disappeared from the treasury, most embarrassing."

She stops walking and tapping.

"That was the day Yukari invaded. The day the king and queen were killed. The day the elder daughter vanished, and with her the Luna Dial. Only the younger daughter remained, sole survivor of the royal family. But she knew no one would respect her, the lesser child, while the elder might survive." A gruesome grin curls up Eirin's face. "So she took her sister's name. For one thousand years, she has ruled in your place."

"Kaguya?" I whisper.

"No. Your younger sister—Sakuya."

Nameless feelings strangle my words. My throat dries up.

Eirin chuckles. "My, my. Surprised? After almost one thousand years on this pathetic planet, she's back on the lunar throne, and has no intention of giving it up. Amazing how much you want something you didn't want before, once you think it might be taken from you.

Drumming her fingers on her bow, Eirin murmurs, "However, your survival presents a problem. Were you to reappear to the court, the current princess must submit to her elder for the duration of your lifespan. However, thanks to my special elixir, she happens to be immortal. She can wait an eternity, but I'm sure she'd rather not. Lunarians tend to lead such dreadfully long lives. Better to dispatch you now and be done with it."

I edge toward the door. As my mind measures the distance, I wonder if I can…

"You cannot escape." Eirin leans on her longbow. "Now then, the Luna Dial. Where is it? I know you have it. If you tell me, Kaguya never needs to know."

Eirin advances, dragging her bow on the floorboards. Her smirk sours into a scowl. "You…don't have it?"

I'm frozen under her imposing presence. My eyes flits around the room, anywhere but at her furious face.

I notice something stirring in the far corner. Keine hangs limp, loose, her whole body shuddering. She pants, cringes, quivers. The fairies shrink back. Their captors watch with worried looks at one other. They attempt to attract Eirin's attention, but she's too focused on me.

Night has fully fallen. The full moon shines through the window.

Eirin follows my gaze. She notices Keine. "Oh dear. I've talked too long again."

With a shrill shriek, Keine wrenches backward. Her body undulates, arching her spine, ripping the back of her dress. Her nails elongate into claws, her teeth to fangs. Her warm blue hair now gleams acid green. Two long, curved horns sprout from her head. Eyes burning red, she glares at Eirin.

Eirin barks, "Reisen, what are you waiting for? Shoot her!"

Immediately, Reisen snaps into action—and Keine snaps the girl's trigger finger with one hard bite. Reisen wails. Keine tosses her body aside on top of Tewi. She lowers her horned head and charges Eirin.

But Eirin brings up her bow. Her deft hands snatch an arrow from her quiver—the shot flashes across the room—and Keine catches the shaft in her teeth, breaking it with a crunch. She flies at Eirin.

I dig in my pockets for something sharp to throw. But there's nothing. I watch, paralyzed and powerless.

Eirin repeatedly evades Keine, sidestepping her advances. Growling, howling, Keine plows through rows of desks, swiping them aside with clattering clangor. Eirin skirts the sides of the room, braid flapping, nimble fingers notching arrows. Whistling swiftly, the arrows bury into desks, books, and Keine's surging body. Arrow after arrow plunges into her. Ends protrude from her shoulder, forearm, thigh, stomach. The beast called Keine yowls at every stab of pain.

Keine's attacks arrive slower and slower. Blood leaks from over a dozen wounds. Swaying dizzily, Keine stumbles into walls and cabinets and piles of overturned desks. Eirin observes in mild amusement.

Finally, Keine collapses in a heaving, helpless heap.

The victor strolls up to inspect the victim. "Hmm. Amazin she lasted this long," says Eirin. She kicks Keine's belly, and the heap twitches and twists with pain. "One dose of poison should take down even the strongest human." Eirin marvels at the fallen body. She strokes the long, pale horns. "Half-hakutaku? Unbelievable."

In the corner, the fairies cling to one another, softly sobbing. "Sensei…?"

Beside them, Reisen whimpers over her broken finger, while Tewi pats her head to reassure her.

Eirin blazes with rage. "You stupid sissies!" she shouts at her subordinates. "I'll fix you up when we get home." She gestures violently at me. "You. Outside. Now."

I stumble out, Eirin jabbing an arrowhead in my back.

Out under the stars, Eirin points her bow at the sky. "It's time you met her. I'm sure she'll be most pleased to find you intact."

Eirin shoots up at the moon. The arrow explodes in midair, sending a golden beam streaking across the sky.

For a moment, nothing happens. The moon only seems to shine slightly brighter. Then I see the moonbeams bending, knitting, weaving together. A bridge of silver light spans the sky. A figure glides over the bridge through the black heavens. Proud. Cold. Dark. Elegant. Behind her flutters a pink kimono and a train of midnight hair.

Over a bridge made of moonlight, the princess of the moon descends upon the bamboo forest.

Eirin drops to one knee, bowing until her forehead touches the ground. "Welcome to the planet, my lady."

"It's been so long, hasn't it? Rise, Eirin. You've done well."

Eirin stands, staring at the shining stranger. "O princess, may you live forever."

The princess giggles. "Don't worry. I will."

And then a raging ball of fire engulfs her.

Fujiwara no Mokou dashes through the bamboo, screaming and spewing curses. With one wave of her hand, she sends fire sweeping through the surrounding forest.

The fire spreads to the cabin—hungry flames devour the house of logs and bark.

All around, the walls of bamboo blaze like torches to light up the night.

Her situation compromised, Eirin readies an arrow to shoot through my head, but a column of fire erupts between us, separating her and me.

I turn around. Mokou stalks toward me, hands stuffed in her pockets, cigarette lolling and rolling between her lips.

Just as I'm about to thank her, she grabs me by the lapel and hoists me up. "You IDIOT!" she roars in my face. "Can't I leave you alone for one day?" She chews her cigarette. "I should've left you to die yesterday."

Anger abating, Mokou puts me down. "Here." Sighing, she holds out my pocketwatch on its silver chain. "It works. So don't gripe."

I accept it with a stunned nod. Suddenly, desperation strikes me again. "They're still inside!" I cry. "The children—the cabin—"

Horror fills her face. At what might be, and at what be happening again. "Keine!"

Mokou sprints into the burning building, calling Keine's name. She disappears in the haze of smoke and blinding light.

I stand alone in the fiery field.

Harsh, ragged laughter drifts from the lake of fire. A human shape rises from her pyre, globs of molten flesh dripping from her scorched black bones. The body, wracked with agony amid the hellish heat, staggers forward through the inferno.

"I've missed the way your flames tickle, Mokou!" she screeches, cackling. Her feet, flaps of blackened skin clinging to her skeleton, walk unhindered over the searing cinders. Her one lone eye glimpses me before it liquefies again, bursting and bubbling from the empty socket like searing tears.

She points a ragged finger at me. "You," she hisses, vocal cords stretching and shrinking. She can heal barely faster than the flames consume her. "I've…waited for you. Searched...for you. And you…thank me…by…"

The princess passes through the wall of fire. As her body fully regenerates, her dark gaze penetrates the depths of my soul. "Leaving me alone for one thousand years?"

Bald, naked, the princess steps closer to me. She emanates the sickening stench of charred meat. "I'll never forgive you."

I tremble, rooted to the ground. "K…Kaguya, I—"

"My name's NOT Kaguya!" she screams. But she drops to a tense, terse whisper. "Even though everybody calls me that. But you know the truth. Don't you, sister?"

I'm too scared to speak. I gibber nonsense.

"Is that all the apology you can muster after a millennium of silence?" She laughs hollowly. "What a disappointment." She holds out her hand. "Now…give me the Luna Dial. Don't deny you have it. I can sense its presence."

She saunters toward me, bony hips swaying, every strand of hair singed away.

I back away. The watch stays clenched in my fist.

Gnashing her teeth, she shrieks, "I want my birthright!"

She lunges to grab it from my grasp. She holds the watch aloft, admiring the way it glitters and glimmers in the firelight.

Then she scowls. "What have you done to it?"

With a piercing scream, she throws down the pocketwatch and stomps on it. "What have you done?" she yells, face contorted with rage. "What have you done?"

Speechless, I steal a glance at the Luna Dial. She's right—it's all wrong. The numbers are jumbled, the case missing, the button cap broken off. The solid-gold second hand has disappeared entirely, while the minute and hour hands turn backward.

"It's ruined!" she wails. "You've ruined it!"

An instant later, while I'm still frozen in shock, she regains her royal composure. She smiles serenely. "Sister. My lovely, lovely sister. You've done a bad thing. Oh yes, very bad. I'm afraid I can't let you live."

She places a hand of command on my shoulder. Against my will, I collapse to my knees. My sister raises her other hand, which glows with a deadly bright light. I prepare for the inevitable.

"When you see Mother and Father, tell them—"

"GET YOUR DAMN HAND OFF HER!"

A fireball strikes my sister in the chest, sending her staggering.

Mokou strides from the burning cabin, hauling Keine by the hand. A familiar red river runs from Mokou's wrist. At her side, Keine survives, meek and docile and wholly human again.

The princess hisses. "Away with you!" She lets loose her blast of charged qi.

Mokou's torso explodes. Her shirt shreds, the rest of it splattered red. She falls back with her eyes and mouth gaping open. Crying out, Keine catches Mokou. Still alive, Mokou struggles in Keine's arms. Though Mokou clamors to get back in the fight, Keine restrains her to tend to her wound.

The princess glares at them, but softness surfaces. She looks long and longingly. At last, she turns her back and waves her hand.

I feel the air thicken around me. The flames freeze flickering and Mokou ceases her struggling.

Time slows and stops.

Though I cannot move my body, my senses remain awake.

My sister looks around her. "Get up, everyone. We're leaving."

"So soon?"

Eirin swaggers from behind the fire wall, somewhat singed but otherwise healthy. Reisen staggers from the other side of the cabin; she carries an unconscious Tewi.

The princess casts a castigating glare at her. "Reisen, why did you bother to save those fairy brats? You're too soft."

"My apologies, my lady." Reisen dips her head. "You won't see it happen again."

"A pointless gesture, anyway."

The princess sniffs the air. "I'm sick of this filthy planet. Everything reeks of my sister, and Mokou, and Yukari." She huffs. "Enough of this. Let the earthlings die in the dirt."

The moonbeam bridge forms again, to carry the Lunarians home. The four rise into the sky. I watch them leave and emit a silent cry.

My sister pauses. "I wonder if you can hear me, sister. You're of royal lineage—I don't see why not. Yes, this is the end for you and your world."

She turns to Mokou. "As for you, my enemy, my love…I won't be returning to Gensokyo ever again. All I leave behind is dust and ashes." She pauses, regarding Mokou and Keine together. "I'm so sorry to leave you alone on this dead world. I understand your pain, more than you know. Maybe, after you've had a few million years to yourself, I'll invite you to my palace. For a chat."

She gazes upward, whispering, "You may fire when ready."

Time unfreezes. They vanish.

"Wait!" Mokou gasps, flailing. She reaches for the moon, but in vain.

The princess and her escorts are already gone.

I gasp. "Look!"

Colored lines of light emanate from the Moon's pockmarked face, a sickly green glow and a blood-red gleam. Like spokes on a wheel, the lights converge on a single point. Out blasts a brilliant beam, formed from mingled emerald and ruby light. It shoots instantly across space. It impacts the earth with a soundless strike.

Plumes of red-hot earth erupt up from the crater.

While we watch in awe, a rush of hot wind blasts through the forest and knocks us down. A second wave of cold extinguishes the fire around us. Only darkness remains. Keine and Mokou hold each other. On the horizon, flaming death sweeps toward us.

Instinctively, my thumb brushes the button of the discarded Luna Dial. I grit my teeth to fight off despair.

What better time to despair than the end of the world?

As the onrushing wall erases us all, I press the button on the Luna Dial.

And an invisible force yanks me far away, away, away…