Everyone in the Land of the Dead screamed in unison.

Dante lunged and bit down on De la Cruz's elbow, snapping the joint apart. Up in the catwalks, Meche threw herself on a lever that would lower Miguel to the floor. Imelda loosed a knot and dropped a sandbag. It landed on De la Cruz and burst just as the riser sunk and lights flooded the stage. Miguel staggered backwards, Héctor and Manny dove for him, Domino flinched, and the shot leveled at Manny's shoulders whizzed past him and into the back wall. Pieces of De la Cruz clattered on the floor. Miguel landed in a net of bony arms. Before Domino could cock another shot, before Héctor and Manny could straighten up, Joaquin and Manolo slammed shoulder-first into Domino's back. The stage rocked from the impact. Dante fluttered up into the catwalk with Imelda and Meche.

All of it happened in two seconds, maybe three, faster than any one person could track. In those seconds, every single eye turned to a TV screen, every ear to a radio, roared in protest so immense it made the gods' ears ring.

The little boy who caused it all missed most of it. He only had eyes for the golden thread flickering and snapping at the edges of his vision. The strand of the curse connecting him to Ernesto flicked away into nothing.

Miguel breathlessly cheered. "I did it! I broke a curse!"

Héctor was just as breathless, but out of terror, as he patted Miguel's head. "That's nice, Miguel."

Someone else shouted from farther away. "Breaker five clear! I'm out!"

Miguel's thoughts stalled out. "Was that Lupe?!"

Nobody answered him. Instead the floor groaned and splintered beneath Manny and Héctor's feet, and they each yelped and held Miguel tighter. Just upstage, the Living Legends wrestled against Domino. Joaquin and Manolo each had a wrist and an elbow, but Domino wouldn't budge. He was grinning, casually watching as the two angels failed to pin him to the floor.

Manny, tense and shaking, stepped back a few paces. "That's not right…"

Imelda hollered from above. "There are guards on the way! Get off the stage!"

"AY- okayOkayOKAY-!" Héctor threw Miguel onto his hip and gripped Manny by the collar. "This way!"

He pulled them to the collapsed sandbag, its slack rope surrounded by grit and bits of De la Cruz. They reached it just as Maria was sliding down from it, rushing past them to join Joaquin and Manolo in the fight against Domino. Héctor wrapped the three of them around the rope in layers, with Miguel at the core, Héctor's arm around Miguel, and Manny's arms around the both of them. Imelda and Meche set the top of the rope back into its pulley and started to haul them up.

"Domino shouldn't be able to do that..." Manny hissed to Héctor, his voice razor sharp. "As soon as we're out of sight, you need to run."

Above Miguel's head, Héctor was asking why, but Miguel wasn't listening. He had been watching the stage while Ernesto pulled himself together and the Living Legends faced off with Domino. Manolo, Joaquin, and the winged Maria piled on him, pulled at his joints, wrenched their legs between his, clawed at his eyes and mouth, any dirty trick Miguel knew and a few he didn't to get Domino onto the floor, and Domino never moved. The floor buckled before he did, and the more the trio struggled, the harder he laughed.

"Stop! Stop~" Domino chuckled. He batted their hands away like they were babies. "That tickles."

"What is going on with this guy?!" said Joaquin.

Manolo cried out, "Maria! We might need swords!"

Maria pulled a sword each off of Manolo and Joaquin's backs. "Oh it's definitely time for swords!"

Maybe Miguel blinked. Maybe he had missed it. But he knew that as Maria plunged both the swords towards Domino's torso, he should have ducked or flinched or stepped away. He didn't. He just stood there and smiled as the tips of the swords connected with his chest… and slipped off. Like a sickle meeting a rock, it knocked the swords right out of Maria's hands with a metallic, reverberating whine. Manolo and Joaquin froze. Maria gasped. Subtly, Manny's grip on Miguel and Héctor grew tighter.

"Great try, kids!" Domino clapped a few times. "Very fun. Now, my turn."

Joaquin got out a tiny "oh no" before Domino whipped him over his shoulder and into Maria. It looked so weightless, like tossing away a paper cup, but the two of them smashed through the floor like a falling truck. He flipped Manolo the same way, up and over and through the back wall without so much as a visible strain. Their voices rang out from under the floors before suddenly stifling and going completely silent. None of them came back up. All that was left of the Living Legends were angel-sized holes in the venue, and Domino just dusted off his jacket and smoothed his lapels.

Miguel gut clenched. Even up in the catwalk with Dante and all the adults, Domino felt too close to him. He was unnatural, big and weird and impossibly strong and shiny. He only got bigger when De a Cruz, finally whole again, got up in his face and started screaming.

"Look what you have done to my theater, you oaf!" De la Cruz practically foamed at the mouth, so livid he was vibrating. Miguel couldn't take his eyes off him even as the adults were hoisting him off the rope and onto the catwalk. "After all the money I've made for you! THIS is how you repay me, letting some no-name upstart break into my dressing room, steal my guitar, and show me up onstage?!"

Miguel could hear every word. De la Cruz was broadcasting clear as a bell. As gently as he could manage, Miguel took off his body mic and threw it behind him.

"LeMans had better pay the damages! I want a good venue for next year! And I want good workers this time! No secret angels, no married women-"

Domino laid a hand on his ear. "Hey, do we need this guy anymore?"

Somewhere, close to Miguel's discarded microphone, a woman spoke low and assured. "Absolutely not."

"Welp." Domino whipped out his pistol. "No point arguing with Olivia."

Miguel flinched, and there was no more Ernesto de la Cruz. There was just a pop, a shout of horror from Héctor, and a sparkling white body lying limp on the stage. Miguel could hear El Marrow wailing from every direction. How had they seen that? Had they heard it? Miguel choked on his breath, heart hammering in his chest, unable to take his eyes off De la Cruz's head melting into a puddle of green shining leaves.

Domino's eyes lifted and settled on him.

Miguel's blood ran cold. Every adult pushed him behind them and stepped back, rocking the catwalk underneath them. Dante curled around his legs and cowered.

"Hey! Why's everybody being so shy today, huh?!" No microphone, and yet Domino's voice carried effortlessly up into the loft. He held his arms out. "C'mon! We all know each other here! Tradesies- one Miguel for the rest of you!"

"Miguel, take Dante and run," Imelda ordered. "Don't look back."

He couldn't move. The only thing that kept Miguel alive in that moment was holding tight to Imelda's arm.

"Don't leave Uncle Dom hangin' now!" Domino clenched his fists. "Actually, you know what? That sounds like a good idea!"

One swing of his arms, one little flex of his shoulders, the tiniest of movements from Domino, and the stage erupted into a flock of human-headed crows the size of condors. They rose from the loose sand on the stage and burst from the sandbags above, along with glowing curling octopus tentacles that wrapped around the catwalk and snapped it in half. Miguel and his family dropped; only Manny and Imelda's fast reflexes kept the five of them from sliding right into Domino's lap. The adults all wrapped their arms around Miguel's head to keep the birds at bay, but they couldn't shield his legs, and steadily the birds gained a grip on his ankles and started to pull.

Domino laughed. "Now THIS is the best Day of the Dead show in years! They should put me in charge, now that Cruz is a shrub-"

The next thing Miguel heard was a sharp metallic whack and a very specific kind of crunch. It couldn't be mistaken for anything else; it was the sound of glasses breaking. At those two simultaneous noises, every bird let go and hissed in pain.

Domino wailed, "Son of a BITCH, OW!"

Imelda shouted back, "Hit him with the other one!"

Miguel dared to look just in time. Manny swung out his longer leg and launched his other stilt (and his long-leg pants along with it) right into Domino's bare face. It sent Domino into a storm of swears, but it also staggered the birds and the tentacles. Manny laughed and swiped the Diego wig off his head.

"And this is for the Edge!"

"Manny what the fu-" The wig landed right in Domino's open jaw, and he spluttered around the fake hairs. "GUGH-"

Meche marveled. "How did you know to do that?!"

"Didn't!" answered Manny. "I just thought he deserved it."

Miguel felt a tickle of relief in his chest. He was ready to laugh. But Domino reared back his hand and swiped, and the whole catwalk crashed down into the stage. Whipped from the platform, Miguel landed hard and slid out of Imelda's reach, and before he could stand, a tentacle wrapped his body tight and bound him to the floor. He could see everyone else in the same state, scattered around the stage and held there by thick tentacle coils. Imelda, Meche, even Dante immediately made noise, calling for help or berating Domino, but he only twisted his wrist and gagged their mouths shut. Héctor froze in place, and Domino ignored him. He just turned and pointed right at Miguel.

"You stay there until I'm done with Manny." Domino cracked his neck and made his way to Manny's body on the floor. "For good this time."

Manny was stuck hard to the floor by tentacles and circling birds, but his mouth had been left free. He snarled as Domino's shadow overtook him. "Starting to think you're into this, Domino."

"What I'm into is getting what I'm owed, Cally." Domino had given up the posing, the one-liners, the grinning and showboating. Now he just towered over Manny, a scowl set into his jaw like stone, and prepared his pistol. "And being one of the new gods of the Underworld? That'll do me just fine."

He could do nothing but watch from where he was, but Miguel could see everything. Héctor tested the tentacle restraints, then quietly fell to pieces and collapsed out of them. The tentacles clutched at the Frida Kahlo dress while Héctor pulled himself together, fully clothed and completely ignored by Domino. His eyes snapped between Meche and Imelda, but they both gave him matching signals: their pointer fingers and thumbs out. A pistol: shoot Domino. He reached into his hip and pulled out a gun, and from where Miguel was? It looked ridiculous. Héctor seemed so young, so helpless as he shivered and ducked behind the broad, confident back of Domino. He couldn't keep the gun straight in his hands, much less raise it from where it was pointed at the floor.

Manny might have been able to see Héctor. Miguel couldn't tell, but he had to think Manny knew he was there, because he just kept going. "What the hell are you talking about?! Nuttier than De la Cruz-"

Domino exploded. "Did you not just SEE ME summon the goddamn spirits out of the land?! I only jobbed La Muerte's personal boytoys- you are underneath one of my squids, Calavera!"

"Like I'm supposed to believe you can summon up alebrijes-"

"Well I CAN! And it's not all I can do either!" Domino spun his pistol on his finger… and to Miguel's horror, turned it on himself and shot, three times, into his chest. The darts landed to the terrified gasps of Manny and Meche… and then nothing happened. Domino didn't burst into flowers, or even look all that bothered. He laughed and plucked the darts back out, tossing them on the floor by his feet. "Look at THAT, huh?! Immortal even in death! And you think you can just blow that off with jokes?!" Domino's hands raked over his skull as his frustration boiled over. "But that's always been your problem! You can't be bothered to acknowledge when I'm better than you!"

Héctor's demeanor changed. Miguel knew what Héctor was feeling, because he felt it when De la Cruz talked about the nearly-forgotten like they were old trash. His hands stopped shaking. His eyes went wide, just… watching Domino let loose what must have been years worth of feelings while Manny was tied up at his feet.

"No matter what I do, you don't stay in your station! It's all about using every dirty little trick in your book to make me look bad! Look at you, Manny- you've got no education, no family ties, no goddamn legs, and you think you can stand shoulder to shoulder with me? I am the one meant for bigger things here! If you had just stayed in your lane, everything would have been fine! But you can't, because you're under some- friggin'- delusion that you can ever match up to me!"

Héctor stood up straight. "What is wrong with you?!"

Domino whirled around with a powerful, horrified "CHRIST" and fired.

The tentacles thrashed and whipped at the stage, bashing the floor boards into splinters. But in doing so, they let go, and Miguel bolted off the floor and dove wildly for Dante's green feathers. Birds burst from the sky in showers of flowers, but Domino never hit Héctor, and Miguel knew because he could hear him talking through all of it.

"How did you convince yourself-" Héctor would yelp, and a shot would fire, and he could keep talking with a practiced breathless patter that kept Domino constantly distracted. "That you're any better than any of us?! It was just-" The gunshot echoed. "Your circumstances that allowed you to get ahead where others had to struggle! You're not entitled to that good luck, you were blessed with it!"

"Why are you talking to me?!" Domino swept his hand out, directing the tentacles to sweep the stage in a violent swipe at Héctor. Nothing could connect- Héctor could bend or break or crumble around the tentacles, but never stayed solid enough to grab.

"Because I'm trying to get you to think about what you're doing!" Héctor pleaded.

"I am not the boss of half of the Underworld because I think about plant food like you!" Domino roared. "I am Domino Hurley, I am the most important man on Earth, living or dead, and you are just some olvidado that nobody will miss!"

Domino straightened his arm and fired one more shot, pointed directly at Héctor's forehead, point blank range. Miguel saw the dart fire, hanging in the air, almost like slow motion… really like slow motion. It stopped mid-air, just before Héctor's eyes, held in front of his face by a tendril of black slime creeping out of his mouth.

Miguel, cowering with Dante, thought he was seeing things. Only Domino's disgusted reaction- once he fired an empty pistol three more times and finally looked- confirmed he was seeing reality. "Ew- ew! What is that?!"

Héctor's mouth moved, but it wasn't Héctor who spoke. It was a voice low, rumbling, angry… and familiar. "That no one will miss? Really."

Héctor's body language changed all over again, his shoulders puffing out and his hands tenting forward, smooth and inky. The little tentacle spun the sproutella dart casually as he spoke. "See, I find this mortal to be very memorable. Wouldn't you agree, mi amor?"

"Yes. I would."

Light bloomed from behind Domino, splitting the stage down the middle with the bright burning fire of La Muerte and the shadowy cold of Xibalba, who emerged from Héctor's shadow with a wide green grin. The fake alebrijes dissolved in their auras and rained back to the floor like the sand they were made of, and as they did, Miguel heard gasps from under the floor. The stage stayed quiet. The other adults were watching in awe, and Héctor stood limp between them as the two gods grew, overtaking the speechless Domino.

"In fact." La Muerte's voice, clipped and cold, rattled the floors with every word. "I don't think I like how this Domino speaks to my souls."

"This one is my soul," Xibalba corrected, in a gentle teasing kind of way. All of his true ire was directed right down at the little golden boy below him. It showed in his jagged teeth and the blood red glow of his pupils.

Domino dropped his gun. "I'm out." He turned and ran. "I'M OUT-"

The floor beneath him turned to wax, and he tripped and fell into it headfirst. La Muerte and Xibalba each took an arm and held him above the floor, before the Candlemaker. Miguel was shocked to see him there- it was like he had appeared out of nowhere!

"They're all MY souls first! And he's abused them for his own power!" The Candlemaker rubbed his hands together. "This calls for the big court: A Full Judgement."

One by one, the sky started to fill up with every other god, all speaking at once about the injustice that their souls had suffered at Domino's hands. It was cacophony, in sound and in color, as every clashing color glowed bright and competed for attention against the already blinding trio in the center. Miguel could barely see, but he could hear, and the Candlemaker was easy to understand.

"Domino Hurley, you have been judged! And been found wanting."

He could just barely hear Domino pleading as he was lifted into the air, a little pinprick of reflected colors like a mirror ball in the center of the madness. Massive hands reached down on Domino from every side. They grabbed a tiny hold each, and with one last shriek of horror-

They pulled.

Domino crackled like a piñata. There was a ruffling sound, like so many butterflies being released… and then total silence. The gods wicked away in little pops of color, leaving only the human-sized La Muerte and Xibalba on the stage with Héctor. Xibalba casually rolled the sproutella dart around the tip of his tongue before swallowing it.

"So much fo-" He burped up a flurry of flower petals. "Gegh! Tastes like sacrilege."

This was all too much. Miguel went limp on the floor, letting Dante hold him up while the adults all rushed to Héctor. Xibalba patted his shoulder blades, and like a sleeping student, Héctor jolted back into awareness.

"Whu- wait- wait that was real?!" Imelda dove into Héctor's arms and held him tight. "I thought he shot me and I'd dreamed it…"

A long, battered arm clawed up from under the floors, and Manolo hoisted himself back onto the stage. All the Living Legends rose from below, looking like the tentacles got them good. Manolo in particular staggered on his feet, barely able to stand. "I think… I need to start working out again…"

"No, my dear little mortal, it was no dream and you're not dead." Xibalba swept his hand, and Miguel just barely saw the last little tatters of De la Cruz's suit slip between the floorboards and out of sight. "I was just doing what I was asked."

Xibalba stepped back, reaching into Héctor's hips and pulling out a little black lump. Miguel knew it well: the last remaining bit of his sugar skull. He had slipped it into Héctor's pockets hours ago, and with a knowing little grin, Xibalba tipped his hand to him. Miguel giggled and waved back.

"Love you, Papá Héctor."

None of the adults could find the words- Imelda giggled and Manny rubbed at his temples and Manolo just gave him the thumbs up. Everyone was just resting… everyone but Joaquin. He looked dizzy, scanning the horizon and looking over his shoulder.

"Guys…" He held up a hand. "… remember how I can't see Hector LeMans? … I don't know where he is anymore."

There was a sharp hiss under Miguel- directly under Miguel, beneath the floor- before he was grabbed around the neck and pulled straight down.