In the Fairy Realm

Golau flew through the Fairy Queen's open window and rushed over to her as soon as her feet touched the ground. Five astrid guards stood behind her. "Mother, what's the emergency?"

"Leave us." The Fairy Queen said. The astrids immediately left and closed the window behind them. "Sit."

Golau sat down on the bed.

"Amora has been imprisoned." The Queen said.

"By who?" Golau asked.

"By Demrus. He's up to his old tricks."

"That's awful. What are we going to do."

"I've been given an ultimatum. Leave her to die or save her by taking her place."

"You can't be serious, mother, that's insa-"

"I am." Her tone was final. "If she dies all love will disappear from the world and, in time, she will die no matter how much of a fight she puts up. I can stand any amount of demons, I can keep her safe."

"You can't do this to us." Golau said with forced calm. "You'll be leaving us without a leader, without a queen. We'll be defenseless."

"I won't be leaving you without a queen." The Fairy Queen said, looking deep into Golau's eyes, which widened like saucers.

"No. Nononononono, I'm not ready. I can't lead. I wouldn't even know-"

The Fairy Queen put her hands on Golau's shoulders as she shook like a leaf in the wind. "Yes, you can. You've been learning for centuries."

"I'm not strong enough." Golau's eyes glistened and she grit her jaw, forcing the tears to stay down with pure will. "I was possessed by Senkrad's minions, I killed the very people I'm supposed to protect. How can you think I can do this?"

"It proves to me that you can. Do you know why?"

Golau shook her head.

"You know now what's at stake. I would never have protected my realm so well without knowing what are enemies are capable of...what we are defending ourselves from."

"Mother..."

"I am going to take the offer. When Amora returns I want you to reinforce the barriers protecting the realm, close all non-major shrines. I will be fine, so put the realm first...I don't want you trying to pull of some rescue-"

"Mother..." The tears burst forth like a dam had shattered.

The Fairy Queen held her daughter to her chest. "Let it out now, but the tears end here. You must be strong and if you aren't-fake it." The Queen's tone was cold and hard. "I'll try something but if I fail you must to find a way to stop Demrus before he can pull off whatever evil plot he's attempting, but put the safety of the realm first."

Golau shook harder still.

"You will be crowned Queen Regent tonight, after which you'll be in complete control of the realm. Use your power wisely and remember how complicated dealing with the minor queens can be, especially Soguk."

"I will."

"And one last thing for me."

"Yes?"

"Keep your family safe." The Queen, unlike Golau, had no trouble keeping her emotion from showing outwardly.

"I will, Mother."

The Fairy Queen hugged Golau tight as a vice. "I have complete and utter faith in you. Know that I wouldn't entrust you with this if I didn't fully believe you can handle it."

Golau pulled back, wiping away the tears. She put on as stoic a look as she could manage and projected strength into her voice. "I'm ready."


At Fablehaven

The fight was still going on an hour ago and Seth was really starting to lose steam. He'd run out of arrows and one of his daggers was currently in between the ribs of a river troll. The whole being transparent thing was super handy since he could move around nearly unseen. The heat from Reylen and Sora's abilities had run out after he'd made the maybe-not-so-wise choice of freezing an entire giant; and since he could only absorb heat by touch and everything around him was capable of ripping his arm off if he tried he conserved his newfound powers by only using them to create new arrows, but even that was becoming difficult now. He felt his temperature dropping. If it weren't for the mandrake trying to claw him he might have been worried about getting hypothermia.

The others were boding just as badly. Reylen was out of energy so he was using a sythe from a fallen reaver-a race of humanoid vultures-to fight without his usual divine intervention. Sora was severely limited during the sunset as few stars were visible this early for him to call on. Annabel had woken up but by the time she cast a spell to turn one angry group of Strix to tiny, harmless chicks, seven goblins had their sights set on her. Alisa was faring the best. Her dryad side must give her extreme strength and stamina because she still swung her sword in dance-like movements with the vigor she'd had when the battle first started. She circled around, helping others whenever possible. Vanessa had been the smartest. She bit a fox spirit before returning to the house, taking possession of its sleeping form to use illusions and fire for her side. When a troll saw what looked to be an injured Dale, it would really be Vanessa waiting to pounce on him while she was coated in blue flames. When a selkie saw Seth drawing his bow and struck, it would really be hitting one of its allies. Warren and Dale stood back-to-back, Warren showcasing the skills that earned him his position as a Knight of the Dawn and Dale swinging a hammer and gardening hoe in unison like the handiest warrior the world had ever seen. From the house everyone still threw out potions, but the supply was now down to smokebombs, stinkbombs, goo that stuck anyone that walked on it to the ground and fogs that made everyone inside it itchy. Despite being more mature, Seth couldn't help but wonder what kinds of amazing pranks he could've pulled off with those. Then he thought back to how cold he was getting, his lips were coated in frost and it was getting hard to walk now.

He looked at everyone fighting alongside him and then to the host of creatures of darkness, still eighty strong. As he began to consider ways for them to possibly retreat a blinding light shone from above. A circular gateway had opened. Out of it flew Bracken, holding his horns in both hands. He landed quickly, turning one horn to a sword and the other to a dagger, plunging into the fight without question. Second to appear was an ethereal glowing woman. Like a cartoon ghost, she looked like she was made of fog that had taken shape. The shape was that of a pale older woman with extremely long white hair and a longer dress. She had an angelic set of wings that were set with white stones that shone brighter than the rest of her like the moon compared to the stars. She descended slowly and scanned the group of attackers. She began to glow brighter, holding out her hands and a blinding aura of light encircled her, burning all of the enemies to ash. Each and every one was nothing more than smoldering bits in the span of a second. The woman began to dim, the ethereal fog that served as her body dissipating as she solidified. A much smaller form fell from her place in the air. Bracken raced forward and caught the falling girl, gently placing her down. When Seth got closer he saw that it was Kendra. Bracken turned his horns back to their original form and placed the second of the two to Kendra's head, the horn glowing until her eyes fluttered open. She looked around and sat up, rubbing her temples.

"What's going on?" Kendra asked.

"YOU'RE ASKING US THAT?!" Seth exclaimed. "YOU-YOU-YOU CAME HERE AND BURNED DOZENS OF THOSE GUYS TO DUST WHEN WE'VE BEEN LOSING FOR HOURS! YOU BUSTED IN LIKE SOME SORT OF GUARDIAN ANGEL! I think we should know what's going on."

"Seth give her a little time." Bracken said.

"No, I'm alright." Kendra said. "Celene said it'd take a while to get the hang of staying conscious after the transformation."

Everyone had surrounded them by now.

"Celene?" Warren asked.

"I-I'm hosting a goddess." Kendra said. "Since a few hours ago. The moon goddess Celene. She showed me that you were in danger in the future so I started hosting her so I could save you all."

Seth's jaw dropped. He whispered: "I get ice powers that almost turn me into a popsicle when I use them and she turns into a god."

"A goddess. One that can see the future." Kendra added on just to be evil.

Seth whined audibly.

Scott and Marla ran out of the front doors, rushing to Kendra and Seth.

"Are you okay?" Scott asked. Before they could answer he said. "Of course your're not, you just-"

"Hold on." Kendra said. "I have a lot to tell you guys, but I don't think I can do the goddess thing again for a while so we have to go somewhere safe."

"Where's that?" Warren asked.

"Well, since I'm technically half-creator of the place now, I was thinking we could stay in the Fairy Realm. I just have to ask the Fairy Queen if it's-" Kendra's vision got fuzzy and she saw a scene. It wasn't a scene-more like a fragment of it viewed through a thick haze. Burning fire-or was it blood?-bleeding down a pair of stilettos. Black blood sprayed on a black glass floor. Feathers. And golden hair spilling over the shoulders of a fallen queen, a crown rolling off across the floor. When Kendra blinked it all disappeared and she had to grasp for it like flies buzzing around in her mind. The feeling was definitely surreal and confusing, but she thought she could piece together some of it.

"We have to hurry." Kendra said. "The Fairy Queen is in danger."


In Demrus's World

The Fairy Queen arrived to the island at the designated time, stepping through the gate when it opened. She looked around and saw the castle Demrus had built.

"Do you like it, Mother?"

The Fairy Queen quickly turned to see Raqqosa standing behind her, her golden hair and skin drained to a deathly pale white.

"I've never felt more at home." Raqqosa added with a smile.

"Well, it's nice to see you're happy." The Fairy Queen said.

"That's it?!" Raqqosa snapped. "That's all? You're not even bothered that I'm here?!"

The Fairy Queen said, "I'm here to see Demrus."

Raqqosa began to breathe heavily. "Follow me."

The Fairy Queen followed and was led to a small room. Demrus and Tywyll stood, waiting for her.

Demrus bowed deeply. "Girls, we're in the presence of royalty. Show respect."

Tywyll and Raqqosa grimaced before complying.

"It's nice of you to come." Demrus said.

"Let's get this over with." The Fairy Queen said.

"But I have snacks and refreshments." Demrus said, gesturing to a table.

The Fairy Queen pointed to the door behind her and a golden gateway appeared, opening to a realm of darkness. "Before I go in..." her hands began to glow with golden light as she said it. She aimed them to Demrus, Tywyll and Raqqosa.

"You might not want to do that." Demrus said.

"Why?" The Fairy Queen asked.

"I have a few of your faithful servants captured in my dungeons." Demrus said. "I would hate for them to have to be punished because of your actions. Especially knowing how valuable they are to you."

The glow in the Queen's hands faded.

"Did you think I would really enter a room with you without a way to keep you tame?" Demrus asked.

As soon as he said tame Raqqosa screamed in pain. Gold light left her body and entered the Fairy Queen's hands. Raqqosa's hair turned from white to ashy gray, her face becoming wrinkled like raisins and her form bending like a straw. She fell to the ground as an old crone. When she tried to stand she could barely move.

"What did you do to me?!" Raqqosa rasped.

"I took away the gifts I gave you." The Fairy Queen said. "You will no longer dance and you will no longer live forever."

"WHAT?" Raqqosa screamed. "YOU CAN'T!"

The Fairy Queen turned and stepped through the gateway, the golden portal fading behind her as Raqqosa continued to scream.