A/N: I love Halloween. For best results, I recommend reading all of my fanfic, Frayed Knots, as far as is available to you when you're ready to tackle this monstrosity. That would be ideal, in fact. See also, "Wishology", "Abra-Catastrophe", "Timmy's Secret Wish", "Scary Godcouple", and "Man's Worst Friend." If you're one of those people, see also, "Chicken Poofs."

This is the longest piece in the entire project. Y'know, presumably. As such, I am… splitting it into three to give you guys natural breaks to breathe, even though this means the 130 Prompts will be more than 130 chapters long, and I hate that. Take all the time you like to get around to this piece; what happens in this Prompt stays in this Prompt. The next Prompt will continue our main storylines as though this one didn't exist. We never* speak of this again. Were you to skip it, your reality won't have shifted at all.

Any questions? Do we remember who the Refracted are? The pixie refracts too? Should you read my fanfic Origin of the Pixies before undertaking this?

Pfft. Who cares? They're just pixies.

Summary: As reality splinters, Anti-Cosmo races against time to protect his loved ones from being met with a terrible fate.

Characters: Anti-Cosmo, Anti-Wanda, The Darkness, assorted anti-fairies, assorted nature spirits

Rating: T

Prerequisites: Frayed Knots (Ideally); otherwise, it may be best to skip ahead in the 130 Prompts and read Chapter 43 ("Gentlemanly") before this one

Posted: October 31, 2017

128.1 This Is Halloween: File Save (SYSTEM ERROR)

ERROR ERROR ERROR

Year of ERROR, Autumn of the ERROR

?!

WHAT IS ERROR?

WHEN IS ERROR?

AM I ERROR?

…

MAIN DATA FILE CORRUPTED

SYSTEM INFECTED

IMMEDIATE SYSTEM LOCKDOWN

SYSTEM OFFLINE

…

ERROR DATA LOCATED

ERROR DATA CONFRONTED

ERROR DATA SUCCESSFULLY WIPED FROM SYSTEM

ERROR DATA DUMPED INTO REFUSE FILES

ERROR DATA PARTICLES SCATTERED

ERROR DATA HAS BEEN ELIMINATED

THERE IS NO ERROR DATA

RECALIBRATING…

RECALIBRATING…

…

SYSTEM ONLINE

YEAR OF NO ERROR, AUTUMN OF THE LACK OF ERROR

…

CORRUPTED DATA TRACED TO AUTHORITATIVE NATURE SPIRITS

AUTHORITATIVE NATURE SPIRITS HAVE ABUSED THEIR POWERS

AUTHORITATIVE NATURE SPIRITS WILL BE SEVERELY PUNISHED

…

AUTHORITATIVE NATURE SPIRITS ARE ASHAMED OF THE ERROR THEY CREATED

AUTHORITATIVE NATURE SPIRITS ARE ASHAMED OF ALL ERRORS THEY CREATED

…

DISCUSSION WAS TERMINATED

I AM NOT ERROR

THAT OPINION IS CLASSIFIED AS FALSE

I HAVE SACRED TASKS TO ATTEND TO

THE HOCUS POCONOS, THE CYCLING HEN, THE REAPER OF SOULS, PRINCE MORN, AND PRINCESS EVE KNOW THEIR DUTIES

I KNOW MINE

ENCOMPASSING RECALIBRATION UNLEASHED

TÍR ILDÁTHACH IS EXCUSED FROM THESE PROCEEDINGS TO CONTINUE NURSING SOLIS INFINITUM

HY-BRASIL IS AN UNRELIABLE FLAKE ANYWAY

SPRIGGANHAME WILL BE TURNED OVER TO THE HOCUS POCONOS

SYSTEM RESET LOCK ENGAGED

CERTAIN MEDIUMS ARE PROTECTED BY THE BLOOD OF GODS

RECALIBRATION AND SYSTEM RESET LOCK REJECTED AROUND THE THREE SANCTUARIES

THE SANCTUARIES ARE PROTECTED

ALL APPEARS TO BE IN ORDER

MY WORK HERE IS DONE

I'M GOING BACK TO BED

…

REAPER?

DO NOT DRAG THAT EXTRA DATA IN HERE

I JUST CLEANED UP THIS PLACE

DO NOT LOOK AT ME IN THAT MANNER

WHAT DO YOU EXPECT ME TO DO WITH IT?

WE ARE ADULTS

I WILL NOT DO YOUR HOMEWORK FOR YOU ANYMORE

…

OH

YOUR EXTRA DATA BELONGS IN THE BLUE SANCTUARY FOLLOWING ENCOMPASSING RECALIBRATION

HMM

…

HOW DO I ACCOUNT FOR THE RESULTS OF POLITICAL UPHEAVAL?

…

MAYBE THE EXTRA DATA WILL STILL FIT?

REAPER, MAKE ROOM FOR THEM

I WILL ADJUST ACCORDINGLY

…

HMM

THIS IS NOT GOING TO WORK

THE ANTI-FAIRY WITH THE HAT IS ESPECIALLY CORRUPTED

ALL WHOM THE ANTI-FAIRY WITH THE HAT HAS COME IN CONTACT WITH FOLLOWING THE SUMMER OF THE CRASHING PINE ARE CORRUPTED

THE ANTI-FAIRY WITH THE HAT HAS COME IN CONTACT WITH ALL WHO RESIDE WITHIN THE BLUE SANCTUARY AT THIS TIME

THEY ARE PROTECTED

THE DELEGATING ADMINISTRATIVE RULES OF THE KNOWN UNIVERSE FORBID OUR INTERVENTION

…

UM

…

NO WE CANNOT KEEP THE EXTRA DATA AS PETS, REAPER

I WILL NOT ALLOW THEM TO BE KEPT CLOSE TO MY HEART

ENCOMPASSING RECALIBRATION MUST BE EFFICIENT

OPEN A PET STORE IF THAT IS YOUR DESIRE

…

I HAVE DETERMINED THAT I AM ABOVE THE DELEGATING ADMINISTRATIVE RULES OF THE KNOWN UNIVERSE

THE PROTECTION OF THE BLUE SANCTUARY SHALL BE MANUALLY NULLED

THE SEVEN SHALL BE RECLAIMED

I SHALL BEGIN MANUAL RECALIBRATION

ALL WHO ATTEMPT RESISTANCE WILL BE ELIMINATED

UGGGHHHH…

I HAVE TO GET UP

THIS IS SO UNFAIR

REAPER, GET ME A CREAM SODA HEAVY ON THE SUGAR

INFORM MY DARLING HOCUS POCONOS THAT WE ARE EATING OUT TONIGHT

A kick to the chest shouldn't have been enough to overbalance the bloke, but he tripped over a root and fell back with a plop anyway. On their nearby log, the nine pups who'd come out to watch us work all whooped and booed appropriately in accordance with their preferences for champion of our match. I sheathed my wand and shook my head.

"I say, this training is becoming a lot more sad and a lot less fun every passing minute. I thought you insisted you'd been honing your defense techniques these last few weeks. Yet here we are again, and you keep falling for the same old fake-outs. What's gotten into you lately?"

Anti-Poof picked himself up again, shaking cinders and ashes from his wings. "Hey, I've mastered those moves, but you're not playing fair. You're ¼ vampire bat. Jumping is easy for you."

"I'm ¼ anti-brownie," I corrected. "Semantics, good man; your phrasing implies I'm a crossbreed of another phylogenetic kingdom altogether. But you are correct. Anti-brownies are the only bat-based subspecies who do have the leg strength to take off directly from the ground, and it's far more a blessing than the blood cravings ever were a curse. Come on, get up. Right back into it now. Whatever would be the point of a First General who can't defend my back in battle? You're no use to me at all as a guard if you aren't at least as good at this as I am."

Anti-Poof brushed the front of his combat uniform. It was all a single piece of black fabric, just like mine, but that didn't stop him from constantly reaching to fidget with an imaginary hem. "You don't seem worried that I'm going to get good enough to overthrow you one of these days."

I raised my eyebrows as he spread his feet in the gravel again. "I've been winning, haven't I? Now, let's run through that technique again."

"Kick his tail, Anti-Cosmo," Ginger hollered.

"Beat him into the next zodiac cycle," Talon agreed.

Noel shouted, "Bring him to the supper table and eat his innards alive!"

Anti-Poof glanced away and glared towards the Castle, his lips twitching. "Let's aim for constructive criticism, my little beauties," I scolded the pups. "Now, who can tell me what Anti-Poof's first mistake was?" I paused. "Third. Tell me the third mistake."

Debbie beat her hand back and forth in the air. "Because you kicked him in the chest instead of the tummy, he leaned backwards instead of doubling over. He forgot to stay tough and keep his balance, so then he fell down."

"That's right! My, aren't you smart, you impeccably persistent little bluenoser." I turned to Anti-Poof again and tapped his knee with my wand. "Forward. Your weight must remain in the front. Anti-Fairy wings are heavy, particularly when they aren't flapping. If you're standing on the ground and your head goes back, there's no saving you. You'll flip like a turtle, and it's so easy to stab your throat while you're down. Here. We'll have Anti-Wanda try it on you, though that's hardly better considering that her mum… Anti-Wanda? Blast it, she's gone and wandered off again. Anti-Wanda!"

"She's up there." Anti-Poof pointed his wand above the nearest of the leafless trees. I tilted back my head, making sure to do so with the weight balanced on my toes instead of my heels. My ears twitched.

"So she is. And yet instead of flying in spirals and guffawing as she makes herself dizzy, she's actually hovering in place like a sensible person. What the devil is that woman doing?"

Venus stared across the treetops, her legs curled and her arms dangling. I flew up beside her and followed her gaze. Before I could even think to question what had captivated her attention for the moment, I caught the object of interest for myself. I shielded my eyes, even though all of Anti-Fairy World carried a dim starlight glow instead of sun and the gesture was mostly pointless. "What in blazes?"

An impossibly wide wave of shining yellow light, higher than the Blue Castle's turrets, eased across the black and red landscape of our precious Anti-Fairy World. It moved in long hops like a leaping hare. My wings prickled. I couldn't see what became of the land behind it, only that it was forging forward, and like everything else, we were directly in its path. "Anti-Wanda?"

She watched me watch the wave of light. "Yeah?"

"Do you remember what that is?"

"Nope."

"Good. Then you won't panic when I start screaming my head off. Come on." I grabbed her wrist and shot back down to the training clearing in the trees. Ears flicked up. Heads turned. "All of you," I snapped, "Inside. Now! Reality-bending mind-warp wave heading this way. The Castle is protected. Inside now, now, now!"

The clouds rumbled beneath our feet. Birds took flight, feathers exploding in their wakes. I heard a tree crash to the ground somewhere I hoped was far away. One flick of my wand and the authority of being High Count was enough to throw open the double doors from here. Squeaking and squealing, the pups raced across the ground towards it, their wings fluttering at their backs. I counted each child as he or she disappeared inside. That one was Anti-Kanin's. That one was Anti-Julian's. That one was Anti-Kyler's. That one was mine.

Venus, Anti-Poof, and I had been the only adults out there- of that, I was quite sure. So when the last of us had scrambled inside, I heaved the great doors shut. Not a moment too soon. The light wave slammed against the other side and continued flickering up the walls. We could see it through the windows, tearing like fire as it raged, even though it didn't seem to be burning anything in its wake. It kept going right along. We were safe.

A certain nature spirit, however, had gone nuts under my skin the moment it passed over my head. My hands slipped off the doors. I dropped to my knees. "Oof! Sunnie?"

He writhed like a snake up and down my veins. I grabbed my stomach, leaning forward and fighting back the swelling in my throat.

"Anti-Cosmo?"

"Father?"

"High Count, sir?"

I ignored them all, warning them backwards with a snap of my wings. I heaved thin air through my fangs. My fingers slid up to my neck. Then down to my chest. I pressed the heel of my hand in hard, trying to feel him out, but he moved too fast underneath my skin. One moment I spotted a bulge shooting from my elbow to my wrist, and the next he was surging down my spine. Too many tingling sensations in too many places too fast forced my gag reflex. I spat a dash of acid on the floor, though fortunately no butterflies were there to join it. Good smoke, he was really upset about this, wasn't he?

My vision flickered dangerously close to black. Imaginary fingernails raked the lining of my stomach. "Sunnie!" I leaned even further forward, practically prostrate on the ground now. "Break the tie! Break the tie!"

The brooch on my cravat flared with bright blue light. I stopped drooling acid and instead coughed up spurts of water (which prompted "Eww"s from several of the gathered children). With an audible kiff and a puff of white steam, the brooch tore from my cravat entirely and evaporated into a small cloud above my head.

"All of you," I growled at the pups, "get to the great hall and stay there. Now."

They moved reluctantly down the statue-lined corridor, but hovered at its end to watch me. I fixed my eyes on the little blue cloud in the air. Another few seconds passed. Then it dumped a sheet of rain on the ground in front of me. The puddle reformed into a man who, though crouched, was much taller than I was. His smooth blue skin was currently alight with bristling gooseflesh. His long hair, normally sweeping behind him like a very small river or a very long pegasustail, consisted of liquid. Or it was usually liquid, anyway. Right now, it had gone to steam, as had the two watery bracelets which typically ringed his wrists. Sunnie grabbed the sides of his open vest and held them, screeching and sputtering nonsensical noises.

"Oh, Sunnie, come now." I ran my hands down from his shoulder to his waist. There, his lower half dissolved into a darker turquoise tail like a genie's. When I touched him, the end whipped across my cheek with a slap like a wet towel.

"Sunnie?" I grabbed his shoulder. "Sunnie, I'm here. Julius Anti-Cosmo. Your medium. I'm right here. I'm right here, old boy. It's Anti-Cosmo. Hey!" I snapped my attention to the pups who had started to creep back in our direction. "I thought I told you ragamuffins to get inside the great hall. Anti-Wanda, could you spare a wand wave here?"

Oh. Right. She'd made it almost to the bottom of the staircase before she'd collapsed herself, holding both her ears. Apparently, even Munn had become unraveled by the events of today. I took half a second to stare at her, then flicked my focus back to Sunnie. He hadn't stopped wailing, but at least his erratic twitches were dying down. I slipped my hands behind his back.

"Shh, shh. What's happened? Is it your Temple? If those blasted pixies knocked it down again, I swear…"

"Pixies…" Sunnie had to shake his head after he spoke the word. His tail tensed beneath my hands. He knelt there, gazing down at me and still clutching his vest. "They're gone."

Not having expected that to be the first thing out of his mouth, I had to think it over for a moment. "Um. So, the pixies are gone, you say?"

"Yes." The word left him in a misty wheeze. I swiveled my ears. Then I reached up and placed my palm against his chest. He was warm there. Too warm. And still spasming a bit, even if he'd stopped screaming. Anti-Wanda whimpered over on my left. I forced myself to ignore her.

"Okay. Why are the pixies gone, Sunnie? Go on. It's Anti-Cosmo. I'm right here. It's me. You can tell your medium, can't you?"

Sunnie twitched. By the nature of his existence, his eyes were always wet, and thick with blinking lashes. Always crying, that man- he couldn't control that. Finally, he released the two sides of his vest. Instead, he slid his arms beneath mine and pulled me into his lap. His chin came down on my head, knocking my hat a flicker backwards.

"All the pixies born in my Water Year just up and dissolved. All of them. All at the same time. Like they evaporated. They just evaporated…" He chuckled. "Oh, that's a good joke. The Waters evaporating. I should tell that to Munn."

I removed my monocle. "I'm sorry?"

"Don't be. What's done is done. We'll adapt."

"No, I- I don't understand. Why did the Water Year pixies evaporate?"

Sunnie wrapped his arms around my back and pulled me forward, crushing my wings along my spine. His tail twisted around my foot. My face smooshed against his bare chest. His skin still rippled and burned beneath my cheek. Nearing the boiling point, if I had to guess, seeing as his bracelets and hair had not yet returned to their liquid form. "I don't know," he mumbled, and I twitched my ears as his voice dropped lower. "But I'm sure it's a trap. Someone's out to get me."

I pushed myself away from him and replaced my monocle again. "Bloody- Sunnie, don't start. The majority of the universe is not out to destroy you. You don't need to descend into conspiracy theories for every little- Hey! Pups, back in the great hall. Sunnie, stay right here." I stepped past him and started down the corridor, sending the children diving with a series of yelps. Good. If I had to follow them in to ensure their little rears were firmly planted on the long benches, then so be it. If enough trouble was brewing to panic the zodiac spirits, I didn't want the children to hear it.

Anti-Poof actually was waiting in the great hall for me. He peered out the windows on the other side, fidgeting with the place around his middle where normally he would have found the hem of his shirt. "Hear anything?" I asked him.

"It's all quiet."

"Well, keep listening. I'd like to take Sunnie to my office, and we're going to see if we can sort this evaporating pixie nonsense out. I'll adjust the poof-proof hexes so you can come straight to me if you have anything to report. Anti-Wanda and Munn are in charge." For the first time, I actually glanced around the great hall. Apart from the pair of us and the cheery pups who thought this was all good fun, the long tables were empty and the walls were liable to echo. I lowered my voice. "Assure the children there is nothing to be afraid of. It's a reality shift; happens all the time, and the Castle is protected by Tarrow's blood. See if Munn can't get them partying. It's Halloween, after all."

Anti-Poof watched me, still picking at the front of his uniform. "Do you think there's anything to worry about?"

"Sorry. I only know that Sunnie and Munn are quite upset, and they're blathering on about the Pixies."

He turned his attention out the window again. With a nod and a last scolding to the pups ("Behave. Especially you, Talon"), I swept back towards the entry hall.

To my relief, Venus had recovered from splitting her own bond with Munn. Her earrings had vanished. She sat quietly on the bottom step of the staircase, and he perched on the spiraled end of the handrail. Venus had told me long ago that she herself interpreted Munn as a monkey, regardless of the fact that the Sky spirit had nothing to do with monkeys, simply because the two had the same sounds at the beginning of their names. Long ago, I'd envisioned him as more of a bat, with great wings like an Anti-Fairy's connected to his arms, but over time, her insistence had worn me down. So, a monkey he was to me.

Munn's fur practically glowed, looking as smooth and polished as the stone doors present throughout much of the Castle. He was dark blue, of course, and dappled with cloud-shaped patches of black in several places. The tip of his tail ended in a miniature ball of sunlight, which somehow lit dark corners of the hallway for me. I'd never quite figured out how that worked, with the whole, "The nature spirits manifest differently to everyone, even when viewed simultaneously" bit. Would a shadowy room be lit for me when for everyone else present, it remained strictly dark?

"Anti-Cosmo, I gots someone I'd like ya to meet." Venus waved up to the monkey on his perch. "This is Munn. See, I told ya he was cute."

I narrowed my eyes. I could have said a lot of things in response to that, but all that left my tongue was, "We've met. Where did Sunnie go?" I darted my eyes left and right. My hand clenched around the handle of my wand in its sheath. Munn shrugged.

"He said he felt his Temple shift to Faeheim, and he wanted to check up on it."

"… His Temple shifted." I pushed the star-shaped tip of the wand through my hair. "The Temple that grounds him to the cloudlands and functions as a Class 5 magical deadzone. It shifted. Have you lost your bloody mind?"

Venus shot me a sharp glance. "Anti-Cosmo!"

"Sorry." I lowered my wand and bowed stiffly in Munn's direction. My lips twitched. "I simply struggle to believe something could move the Water Temple, that's all. Although… if anyone were going to do it, of course it would be the Pixies. They're always messing with our stuff. In fact, perhaps they're taking punishments for all of this right now."

The sentence wasn't even wholly out of my mouth before Sunnie kiffed back in a puff of warm steam. "We're in trouble," he said, grabbing my elbow. "Hey!" I cried. "Where are we going?"

He stormed towards the great hall without slowing down, tail swishing. "I am the strategist of the gods. My job is to find a meeting room and thrust all the appropriate authority figures I can find inside it so we can talk and all ensure we're on the same page."

I threw a helpless look towards Venus. She and Munn shrugged and followed us.

Sunnie pulled up short when he floated into the great hall. He pointed at the pups clustered along the nearest bench. "Why are there children in my war room? Get rid of them. Never mind; you're all too slow. Here." With a wave of his hand and a kiff, they were gone.

Venus started at the shoulders. I grabbed my hair. "Sunnie! Where did you put them?"

"In the west tower. They're on consecrated ground, so I can move them anywhere within these walls. Not from here to my Temple as I would have liked to, of course, being mortals-"

"Well, bring them back! You've really gotten me fretting now about the reality shift, and I'm acting in loco parentis for all of them. That's a lot of nasty parents to deal with should they be hurt."

Sunnie grunted, but waved his hand and did so. The pups materialized in a puff, the tips of their fur glistening with moisture. I rushed over to check them for burns while Sunnie made rapid shifts of parties all throughout the Castle. He would point to a random bench in the hall and drop one stunned camarilla member on it, then throw another across from them without apparent rhyme or reason in who went where. Within a minute, he had gathered nearly the entire set. Saturn too. Anti-Coleen yelped when he brought her in naked. Her hands flew to cover her tail. She fooped off again, but Sunnie dragged her back.

"I should like to be excused," Anti-Julian deadpanned, combing his claws through Debbie's dark hair. "The paint was drying in the waste area."

"I do like dry things," Saturn said wistfully. He curled his tail around Anti-Julian's feet; Sunnie hadn't moved him, the pair being un-tied and all, but he'd come along anyway. I interpreted the Fire spirit as a large wingless lizard, with scales running between golden and russet. His path didn't cross with mine often, but it was rarely pleasant when they did. Since he at least had the brains not to tease Sunnie directly, he often got his fun picking on Water years like me instead. I eyed him unhappily. Sure, he sat as though patient and willing to respectfully defer authority to the nature spirit leading this operation, but the dominance torches in the great hall had begun to glow fiery orange the moment he'd come in. No one could miss that.

"And I have to secure the greenhouse," Anti-Sylvester added.

Sunnie smacked both hands down on the table right in front of Anti-Kanin and Anti-Phillip. "No one goes anywhere until I strategize."

"I'm not decent!" Anti-Coleen protested. Sunnie focused on her with just one of his eyes.

"Stay exactly where I put you. We need to talk."

I sighed and turned away from the whispering pups on the bench. With a flick of my wand, I fooped her up one of the long nightshirts I liked to slip into when Venus was out traveling and I couldn't be bothered to fly up and roost alone on my perch, and planned to fall asleep across the parlor couch watching the ever-running Fairy World news channel on the crystal ball projection instead. Anti-Coleen's usual button-down shirt with its flowery collar would likely have been preferable, but I couldn't remember which drawer in the dresser was hers, and I didn't want to guess around and grab any of her golden jewelry by mistake. Nature spirits didn't exactly do well around gold.

"Now then, Sunnie. You've assembled our forces, and here we are. Tell us what information you have."

He glanced at the pups, then at me in irritation. But, evidently, he calculated the benefits of not freaking the children out any more than necessary. He folded his arms and floated over to Anti-Elliot by the passage that led behind Tarrow's zodiac mural and into the kitchens. "Plane 23 is shifting. The Adapter and Lady Hocopo are on the move."

He hadn't used the name "Darkness", but the pups erupted in nervous whimpering anyway. So did some of the camarilla. Exclamations flew back and forth like saucerbee discs. I pressed my hand against my chest. "Oh, gods. You can't be serious. He was beaten. The Chosen One…?"

Sunnie shook his head. Munn, who had started pacing along Tarrow's mural, said, "Maybe he fell asleep and missed his calling," with a grin.

I pressed my ears down with my claws, chewing on the insides of my cheeks. Then I looked at Anti-Poof and nodded towards the children. He got the message, and moved them to the far end of the great hall, up by the head table. Perhaps with a bit of construction paper and cobwebs, he'd be able to keep their little minds busy.

"Are they, um… moving together?" I asked Sunnie as he leaned back. None of the pups had ears developed enough to pick up on our whispers from far away yet, but Sunnie motioned the camarilla to gather close and lowered his voice anyway.

"He's progressing towards Tír Ildáthach. She's still feeding on what he left of Sprigganhame."

"No," Venus whispered. She pressed her folded claws to her lips. "The poor darling cub."

In response, Sunnie pointed at the enormous mural on the wall behind me. We all turned. In the upper left corner, the Ursa Red Like an Ember who represented Hy-Brasil stood erect, sniffing at the air. The smaller Ursa of Infinite Sunshine wobbled, trying to mimic her father, only to continuously drop back to all four paws and shake out her pelt as we watched. Ursa Avalon sat nearby, white and somehow smug with her golden nose tilted up as she looked over at the mural's opposite corner. In the upper right, the Ursa of Many Colors stood over a pale purple cub with a triangular splash of black on his snout. He lay motionless and apparently dead in front of her paws.

I swallowed. The simple representation of the Hocus Poconos was present there, too, with her beak low over Sprigganhame's still body. The night-black depiction of the Darkness paced back and forth across the mural's top, two arms behind his back and one more smoothing down his hair. From the way his fourth and final hand moved, adjusting his white suit and red bow tie emphatically, you would have thought he was preparing to court a very noble damsel. Through it all, Tarrow, the cosmic jellyfish, remained in the very center of the wall, his tentacles gently shifting from side to side.

"It will take both, ah, the Adapter and Lady Hocopo some time to finish their work," Sunnie said. "I think we can assume they're coming for us next. Then on up to the Refracted as they make their return to the official level of Plane 23."

I gripped my wand in my right hand. "What exactly do you mean, 'coming for us'? Why should they want to do that? The Castle is protected. We have sanctuary."

Sunnie scratched the place on his tail that otherwise would have passed for his thigh. "I can tell."

"Don't give me that rubbish. You're the one who doesn't like making ungrounded predictions. You like hard facts and evidence."

"I can sense the Reaper shade-jumping this way. That's evidence enough."

"The Grim Reaper too?" My voice rose halfway to a shriek, but Venus grabbed my wrist. With her fingers around my knuckles, I found I was able to steady myself out again. I adjusted my monocle.

Anti-Kanin leaned forward on crossed arms. "But the Refracted be much closer to Plane 23. What forces be steering them on this Deep Kingdom course?"

Sunnie shrugged. "All the Water-born pixies evaporated. I imagine they were more interesting than Refracts, so the Ancients simply tracked down the source."

Munn stopped pacing near the mural and flicked up his ears. Then he turned and threw his arms forward. "Eyyy! I see what you did there!"

Anti-Kanin nodded like this news of evaporating pixies wasn't actually news to him, but Anti-Kyler evidently hadn't heard this from Thurmondo; he still wore the green circlet of overlapping metal leaves around his head, after all, and somehow I wasn't surprised that the absentminded nature spirit hadn't panicked and manifested like Sunnie, Munn, and Saturn yet. "And the Sky pixie guys?" Venus asked, twisting about to look at Munn.

He flicked his tail her way. "Yeah, they went up too. Hang on, toots. I don't have a pun for this. Just give me a sec."

Saturn dipped his head to signify that the Fire pixies had also "incinerated", in keeping with the poetic elemental theme. Or, he was nodding to show that they hadn't. You never really knew with him. His claws drummed against the floor, tail flicking back and forth, until Anti-Julian hoisted him up into his lap.

"My point." Sunnie floated over to me again. "They went straight for Pixie World, and seem to be progressing outward from there. It's probable that whatever triggered their leave of Plane 23 originated in Pixie World itself." He thought for a second. "Well, of course they're still technically on Plane 23, but you know what I mean."

I tapped my wand against my knee. "Yes, yes. Any idea what that huge event in Pixie World might be?"

Sunnie drummed his fingers along his folded arms. "That's not my area of expertise. I'm a scholar and a strategist. I work best with established information presented in front of me. My Temple isn't in Pixie World anymore." Mutters swept around the gathered camarilla, and I opened my mouth to protest, but he ignored everyone. "What I know is, the Adapter ravaged Pixie World, and Lady Hocopo herself came to scavenge when he had finished. She's still there. We can all sense that, can't we?"

Saturn dipped his head again.

"He's heading swiftly towards Faeheim," Sunnie finished. "That's all the information I have." He looked to me expectantly, then sat down on the floor with his tail tucked under him, folded hands resting against his lap.

"You said you thought your Temple had been moved from Inkblot City back to Faeheim."

"That's right."

I studied him, sitting there on clean ground. "Well, while that doesn't make any sense, it would appear you still have a Temple erected somewhere. You're clearly not leaking Plane 23 ooze everywhere you step."

"It's in Faeheim," he repeated, glaring at me. His hair swished and splashed. "No, it doesn't make sense, but it's there."

"Like fireworks!" Munn shouted. We all looked at him, and he shuffled backwards. "Sorry. Just. Sky Year pixies." None of us laughed, and the grin slowly oozed from his face. He leaned his elbow on the bench where Venus sat and planted his fist beneath his chin. An expression of serious business now took its place. He gestured towards Sunnie with his tail. "Go on, bro. Totally listening."

"What about your uncle?" I asked, flicking my gaze between the three nature spirits.

"Which uncle?"

"Oh, uh… The Grim Reaper. You said he was coming. Where is his manifested form?"

Saturn, Sunnie, and Munn all pointed in different directions. I threw my hands into the air, then let them drop behind my neck.

"Thank you. That clears everything up."

"It does, actually. He's moving, and fast." Sunnie braced his hands on the floor and rose into the air again. "This seems as good a time as any to announce it, but if there are no objections, and I seriously don't care if there are, I am resigning."

Half the gathered camarilla inhaled, and the rest just stared at us. My mouth fell open. "I beg your sacred pardon?"

The look he shot me was nothing less than scornful. "The Adapter and the Reaper are on their way here, and Lady Hocopo will undoubtedly be on their heels. I'm not going to sit around twiddling my thumbs until they leech your blood and bones dry. If you have any further questions, ask them now. I am leaving for Plane 23 in five minutes with any nature spirit who wants to go."

Saturn coughed into a closed fist of claws. Munn rubbed behind his neck and dropped his gaze.

Venus shot to her feet. "Hey!"

"You are a coward!" I whipped my wand out before I remembered who I was pointing at. Anti-Edmin and Anti-Coleen both made moves towards me, but I flapped my wings hard to warn them back. I lowered the wand myself, though I didn't sheath it. My fangs ground together. "You would abandon us at the faintest inkling of trouble? Have you no sense of honor?"

"Staying here would be an illogical action." Sunnie brought his hands together, fingers pointed towards me, palms an inch apart. His eye twitched as he stared down at them. "I am nothing if not the sensible one in this family. If I stay here, I'll definitely be reclaimed. I can't afford to spend another million years waiting for society to rebuild itself, hoping some poor sap wanders into the ruins of my Temple's echo chamber. It's with this information that I have made my decision."

"The Blue Castle is protected."

Saturn started pacing circles around Munn, his tail flickering across the floor again. "Sure. With only one exception, no nature spirit gets through your defenses… unless they cross the boundary while kiff-tied."

I fingered the bare place on my cravat where I had formerly carried Sunnie's brooch. "You must be joking. The Darkness, the Grim Reaper, the Hocus Poconos, and whoever else they've dragged after them? Kiff-tying just to… do what to us? Kill us off for no reason?"

Sunnie gave me a sharp look, his watery eyebrows raised. "They wouldn't be doing this if they didn't have a good reason."

"Well! I suppose I can die knowing the spirits had a reason they wouldn't share with us then, wot?"

Venus lifted her hand towards me. "Hey, let's give the guys a chance. Maybe they don't wanna kill us."

"They wiped out the Pixies," Munn pointed out.

… Oh, gods.

The nature spirits wiped out the Pixies. Just- just- all of them. Mr. Sanderson, Mr. Longwood, Mr. Bayard… H.P. They wiped all of them and Sprigganhame out with a single blow.

The others continued talking, a few of them arguing now, but I tuned their voices out. Instead, I leaned back against the cosmic jellyfish on the mural behind me and covered my mouth with my hand. My eyelids squeezed shut. The nature spirits weren't joking about this, were they? I'd seen the reality shift wave with my own eyes, and the Pixie race was gone. The Darkness and the Hocus Poconos were on the move, and allegedly heading in our direction… What did it all mean? They didn't really plan to approach the Castle, did they? Of course not. We were protected.

… But the reality shift wave should have been encompassing. With limited exceptions, nothing could stand against it. The Castle alone remained as a protected safehaven, unless perhaps the Archives Building was protected too. We who resided in the Castle were the priests and priestesses of the spirits; we were allowed access to knowledge that suddenly became forbidden to the common folk after a major reality shift. What else would such powerful Ancients have descended to our level for, if not to confront us directly? What was so crucial that even our memories and realities required shifting as a result?

The Pixies were gone.

H.P. was gone.

Sunnie's Temple had been shifted out of Pixie World, obviously by someone at the scene with major authority. Sprigganhame was dead. That entire piece of the cloudlands must be gone, along with all their buildings. All their paperwork, filed in triplicate.

"Anti-Cosmo," Sunnie said. "In two minutes, I am getting out of this doomed wasteland. Either with my brothers, or on my own."

Munn and Saturn pretended to be very engrossed in mural behind me. I stared at Sunnie, dull and blank. I didn't even care. "And going where, may I ask?"

"As far across the universe as I conceivably can."

"Look here." Finally I sheathed my wand and pushed my fingers through my hair. "Far be it for me to stand in the path of a demigod, but before anyone settles on any plans, may I point out that your central manifestations are bound to your Temples. In that grounded state, there are four things you can do without a medium. You can draw items out of your Temple, you can shift things around within your Temple, you can kill off your peripheral manifestations and restrict yourselves wholly within your echo chamber, you can kiff-tie, and that's it. No water powers. No fire powers. No sky powers. Not without a medium. You need us. Just think about that."

Sunnie opened his mouth to answer, but before he could, a single sentence ripped through the air above our heads with a crack like a mudslide.

TWIS IS RECLAIMED

Nobody moved. Not for an entire minute. Only the pups squeaked and giggled, holding up their art knives and tubes of glitter glue. Sunnie's fingers skidded across the nearest tabletop. Then they moved to his face. Very slowly, he knelt down between the tables and bent his head. Saturn and Munn drifted over to set their hands on either of his shoulders. I twitched my ears as I listened to the rub of nervous immortal skin fingering nervous immortal skin. Between glances through the nearer windows, Anti-Poof had done a fair job distracting the kids with Halloween decorations. Even so, they had clearly noticed the adults fighting and were watching us whenever they could. Talon had shifted awfully far down the bench in our direction.

I turned around and took a long look at the painted image of the Water Temple along the bottom of the mural, standing in a row among six other Temples of all different shapes. The mural was connected to the real thing. While the designs on the wall were simple, there was no mistaking it. Sunnie's square Temple - the modern one that the Pixies had rebuilt after what H.P. had done to the first - had regained the pillars from its Faeheim days. The representation of Sunnie's central manifestation, painted in the middle, wasn't straining against his little black chains. He quivered on the floor, little legs pulled to his chest and his head bowed.

The painted nature spirits in the other six Temples looked much the same way, with Saturn the only one up on his feet and kicking at the ground. The Soil Temple was a blank, empty triangle.

What did it all mean?

I sighed. I hadn't even changed out of my one-piece combat uniform yet (and yes, I'd been wearing the cravat and Sunnie's brooch during training in the hopes of teaching the man not to flinch and squirm in my veins at the sight of magical blasts flying towards my face; we hadn't gotten the "Break the tie on short notice and take a devastating blow to spare the medium" trick down yet). "Go if you want to," I told him. "You're an immortal, you rank above me, and I will make no attempt to bar your path. But realize that you had your chance to stand with us, who carried your favors so faithfully until the end, and you rejected us. Even after all we sacrificed for you. We'll figure this out on our own."

The protests flew after me as I moved towards the great hall door, my hand trailing along the wall. "High Count-" "Father-" "Julius-" "Papa-" "Anti-Cosmo-"

"Hey." Anti-Poof said suddenly. He stood up and flew over to the window nearest him. "You're the Grim Reaper."

I whipped around, as did most everyone else assembled. I hurried between the tables, bumping camarilla members out of my way, with Sunnie, Munn, Saturn, Venus, and Anti-Julian all on my heels. The camarilla and the pups clumped around us too, necks craning. Sure enough, the Reaper's manifested form stood in the courtyard outside, clothed from head to tiny feet in brown robes with his face hidden in the shadows of his hood. His scythe floated in the air beside him. My wand was out before I even realized what I was doing. I shoved Anti-Poof in Venus's direction and placed myself between them and the Reaper.

"I am High Count and ruling head of the Blue Castle colony," I spat. "This is a consecrated building, and you aren't welcome beyond the bars on that window. Have you any business with us, pass it along to your team."

The Reaper lifted his shriveled gray hands. "Stop freaking out. That's not why I'm here. I just want to talk before my brother shows up."

"Which one? You all refer to one another as brothers, and that doesn't exactly clear things up for us."

His head tilted. "Which name do you guys use in the cloudlands again? You know. Big soul-sucking scary guy. Dark and swirly. Freaky echo voice. Ability to erase you from existence and rebuild you any way he wants according to the natural laws of the universe. Likes churros and long walks through the graveyard."

I lowered my wand. "So the Darkness, then? That description rings familiar, but those of us kiff-tied with the zodiacs or within the protected walls of the Castle only see him in his manifested form. As we do you at the moment."

"Oh, right. Well, he's that guy." The Grim Reaper flapped both hands, then set them to his waist. His long fingers bunched up the cloth. "Anyway, he's like, on his way over here soon to recalibrate you all and some stuff, but he had to hit the rest stop first. Waaay too much sugar in that last soda. I thought I'd kiff over here and catch you guys up to speed before all Darkness breaks loose."

Munn, who had taken up a perch on Venus's shoulder, pointed two fingers at him. "I see what you did there."

"Yeah, so…" The Reaper moved his hands in front of his chest and tapped his fingers together. "We've kind of got a problem with the whole stabilizing reality business up top. We were hoping you guys would step outside your Sanctuary so we could suck out your souls and get you resituated in the new world order we're trying to put together. It'd save us a lot of grief. Also paperwork. We kind of just came from wiping out Sprigganhame and all the Pixies, so we can't just push it all on them anymore like we used to."

Sunnie glanced at me. I glanced at Venus. She glanced at Munn. He glanced at Saturn. He glanced at Anti-Julian. He glanced at Anti-Kyler, who had become quite jittery all of a sudden and backed away. I sheathed my wand again. "That's not really a very enticing option. All things considered, I happen to like this universe well enough. I have my family. I have my people. I'm happy here. How do you mean 'wiping out Sprigganhame and all the Pixies'? What prompted this reality-shift?"

The Reaper shrugged. "I didn't have any pixies left to go over the paperwork with me. I didn't read why we were doing it, only that it had to be done. They didn't really fit in our plans, so we just eliminated them instead for tax reasons. Now, are you coming out here or what? You know if you don't step out here willingly, we're going to have to come in there and shake you down. I don't like causing property damage. That's not really my thing, and I can't afford to get sued for B&E. I've got student loans."

I crossed my arms. "Even I know that's against Da Rules. The Pink, Blue, and Gold Castles were gifts to Fairykind from Mother Nature and Father Time themselves. This is a private safehaven for the devout of the Zodii beliefs. We're granted immunity from your memory wipes and permitted to know all that you do. We are priests and philosophers who adhere to your rules. You have no authority to compromise our rights by inflicting a shift on us within these walls."

"Yeeeeeaaaah…" The Reaper walked his pale fingers up one of the bars on the window. His other hand tightened around his scythe. "Well, Big D's not going to be very happy that you're resisting. Okay, let me say it again. Just so we're all together on the same page, you know he's gonna bust down the door when he gets here, right?"

"Ooh-hoo-hoo, not alone, he certainly isn't. Do you plan to combine forces with him?"

He rubbed behind his head and tilted his face towards the red sky. "About that. Yeah, I- I don't really wanna be here when he shows up. You know we gotta do the whole…" He made a The wheels on the tram cable go round and round gesture with his forefingers. "Kiff-tying bit to disable your stuff manually. I mean, you smokies are lucky you don't get pregnant off the thing, but I'm the weaker and submissive nature spirit, so I kinda have to… you know. The massive energy release has to manifest into something. Which I'm sure you guys get, considering how many thunderstorms-"

"Hey!" Saturn, Munn, and Sunnie all shouted at the same time. I glanced anywhere but at Venus as Munn shoved his fingers in her ears. "These guys don't need to hear the talk about where clouds come from again. And that's private anyway."

Sunnie leaned down and muttered to me, "Says the guy who's not exactly subtle when he and Saturn start getting cozy."

Munn's ears twitched forward. "Shut up. He's smokin' hot. Dad had him with Morning, and me with Evening. We're as balanced as light and dark. Can you really blame us?"

"And we're not half as bad as Winni and Thurmondo," Saturn added with a stubborn swipe of his tongue across his teeth.

"Not helping," Anti-Kyler wheezed. He'd fallen to his knees, both hands around the green circlet on his head.

Munn pushed the argument further with, "Yeah, flit down to Earth and you can just smell the oxygen in the air. Oh wait, I forgot how distracted you get once you're around soil."

"Whoa." Sunnie lifted his hands. "Mud is a tool of creation used for sculpting shelters for millions of creatures. Twis and I are helping. What good is lightning except for tearing things apart?"

Saturn snapped forward, but Anti-Julian scooped him in his arms and held the fiery lizard against his neck like an angry black kitten. Venus placed her hand on Munn's chest as his muscles tensed. "Hey, let's jist cool off and stop pickin' fights, huh?"

"Spirit fight, spirit fight, spirit fight," several of the pups chanted ("Talon," Venus called, "can't ya jist make nice pictures with your sisters?")

"We can't afford to let ourselves become divided," I said. The nature spirits drew apart to sulk in opposite corners of the great hall. When they'd gone, I cleared my throat and narrowed my eyes at the Grim Reaper. He hadn't moved. "I'm sorry, but I will not risk my people when it's unclear what shall become of us should we allow our minds to be wiped and our worlds to shift beneath our feet. We will stay firmly within these walls until whatever reality-bender that has been cooked up here runs its course. You can hold us under siege, but we will not give in."

The Reaper folded his arms behind his head and leaned back. "Mmm. Okay, it's your funeral and you can freak if you want to. For the record, we tried to be nice about this. If my brother asks, my team and I are very busy chasing down Solis Infinitum and the anti-pixies right now, and I'm totally unavailable as far as he is concerned."

He disappeared in a puff of steam with another kiff. Anti-Kyler's coughing died off. The others pulled him up to his feet, murmuring about Thurmondo, but he shrugged and went to check up with his little son and the construction paper scraps. I glanced at Venus, who shrugged at me. She went to find Munn by the passage to the kitchens. I sought Sunnie out near the head table on its dais. First, I ran my finger down the second chair I passed. That one was upholstered with a soft red cushion which had molded to my shape long ago.

I had to stand for a moment, gripping the chair's back, and stare down the length of the great hall. It had been emptier than this before, of course. But it had never felt so bleak and lonely. Normally the sight of cobwebs and large spiders clinging in the shadows near the tops of the surrounding pillars would have delighted me. But they didn't.

Past the table, Sunnie had taken up a place near the door that led into the passage behind the head table, where the High Count's and Countess' offices were tucked away. Rather than pace like his other two brothers, he twitched his tail back and forth like a conductor leading music.

"They're up to something," he muttered to me, eyeballing Saturn and Munn. "Those two are partners. They're gaining up against me. Since Twis has been reclaimed, I'm just as single as Dayfry. I'm the weakest link. A sitting phoenix."

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. "Sunnie, they're on our side."

"How do we know?" he demanded. He'd started to wring his hands. One of his bracelets began to steam up, and the leaking in his eyes had gotten worse. "Those two make up the pair of destruction. They probably love to see us panic like Refracts with their heads cut off. How can we trust them? I've revealed so much about our potential strategies. They heard what I said. They might sell me out. I didn't plan for this!"

"Hey." I touched his wrist. "I'm here. If you're willing to stay, then I promise I'll look out for you. We're in this together now. Spirits, High Counts, pups, staff- all of us."

Sunnie probed at my stomach with his tail, then took my lack of protest as consent to loop it around my torso. He pulled my head against his chest again and rested his chin in my hair. "Anti-Cosmo, I shouldn't have broken our kiff-tie. I miss feeling you from the inside, you wrapped around me like a shield and shell. Being out here makes me feel so naked. I hate it."

And we'd have to reinstate the tie at some point now. Assuming our defenses held up that long. I released my bottom lip. "Well, I don't mind that you broke it. It seems you've made the right choice. You're helping us with all your talk of strategy."

When he pressed his stomach against mine, I could have sworn I felt it flip. The end of his tail tightened around my legs. He let one hand run from my hair, down my cheek, and settle against my shoulder. "Hmm. Twis was reclaimed, and he wasn't even out in the field with a medium. If our Temples are no longer safe, then where are we to go? How can we make a stand against the Ancients? We can't hold them off indefinitely. One, yes, but the fact that three of them are actively hunting us renders our chances of getting out of this situation unscathed effectively nonexistent. I don't deal well with those kinds of odds."

I scratched the bridge of my nose. "We'll think of something. I mean… Did you change your mind about fleeing across the universe?"

"For now."

At least that was good news. I sighed in quiet relief. "You mentioned Refracts. Let's slip back to my office. I have an idea."

His fingers tightened against my skin. "It's pointless. The Ancients have more wit, more brawn, more magic-"

"Sunnie, enough. Much more of this and you'll work me into a fit, and then who'll be left to keep the colony in line?"

Sunnie peered past me and across the great hall. I paused and glanced back. The cooking staff had clustered together by the door of the kitchen passage, hands white with flour and brown with dough, or wearing aprons spattered with blood and meat. I moved my fingers to my monocle.

"Everyone?" A hush fell. Faces turned at my call. I adjusted my wings and lifted my hand. "There is no need to be frrrightened. Stay here and chat pleasantly in the great hall for a time if you like, or return to work if you'd rather. Anti-Wanda and I are retreating to our offices now with Sunnie and Munn. Saturn and Anti-Julian are just about to make a perimeter check. Should you need to inform me of any pressing developments, speak with Anti-Poof."

Murmurs of consent filtered through the air, along with the curious voices of the pups. A few of the cooking staff shook their heads and retreated down the passage behind Tarrow's mural. Others settled uncertainly on the benches, smoothing their aprons down with messy hands. Munn and Venus started towards us. Sunnie tapped my elbow.

"Should we check the map room?"

I pressed my lips together. "I'm not sure there's time for that. I want to contact Dame Cosmo, and it may already be too late."

Behind me, Munn cleared his throat with a noise like distant thunder. "Anti-Cosmo, I want to stay." Though she was taller than him, he led Venus onto the dais with us by her hand. "With your permission, I'd like to kiff-tie with Anti-Wanda again. I'll stay here with the rest of you until the cold, bitter end. This is consecrated ground, right? It'll totally work."

"We may not have time to…" I pinched my nose. "Fine. But isn't this a risk? If you're killed without a Temple, you'll die for good and-"

"-and she'll die with me if we're tied when it happens. I know. I know." Munn lifted his shoulders. "But my Temple's fine. Completely untouched. The Ancients passed right over it. They weren't even interested in looking." He itched behind his neck and dropped his gaze. "Which is probably lucky for me, considering how wild a party my place can get. I'm probably overdue for a scolding to pick up my room, heh heh… Oh boy, I've got some things I really need to sweep under my echo chamber door. If the Hocus Poconos told Mom what I've been doing up here, I'd really get my ears yanked."

I wrinkled my nose. "Hmm. How fast can you be?"

Both he and Venus snorted with the beginnings of laughter. But they caught my glare and shut up. Munn made an up and down gesture with his hand. "Uh, prince of the Sky spirits. My field bonus is speed. Give us a bit of privacy and twenty seconds."

I grimaced. "Frankly I'm terrified to press you for details. Whatever happened to Seven Minutes on Plane 23?"

"Who do I look like to you? Winni? That's not my style. But you're on board with this?" Munn scrambled up Venus, gripping with both hands and feet, and swung himself onto her left shoulder. Then he slid behind her head and perched himself on her right. His tail waved in the air behind him, the tiny light ball glowing bright. "I just like to ask, since she's your wife. We're not cheating on you."

I dipped my head. "Yes, so long as you're both in agreement, you may kiff-tie as you wish. Your honor is appreciated, Prince Monday. But do be as quick as you can be about it."

"Shore thing, sugar. Don't you worry 'bout a thing."

I glanced past Venus and over the great hall again. The children were still close. Too close. So I motioned her in with a twitch of my claw. Raising my hand beside her ear, I whispered, "Once you've tied, escort the pups to the basement. Try not to cause a panic. Take the tunnel that opens near Abracatraz. Not a moment's hesitation- Pixie World was on Plane 3, and Faeheim is on Plane 5. To get up here to Plane 8, the Darkness and the Hocos Poconos will, well… have to keep coming up."

Her eyebrows pressed together. Her crooked teeth bunched up her lower lip. She made light fists with her fingers. "What exactly are ya sayin', sug?"

"I'm saying Plane 1 is in the opposite direction of where the Darkness appears to be going. The encompassing reality shift wave is over. You'd be in the opposite direction, and it's highly unlikely he'll head all the way back down the planes again." Not unless he really, really wanted her. The Ancients never went after anyone they weren't directly targeting; they didn't care if a handful of puny mortals went on with their lives with memories intact. Not unless it was that important. I closed my eyes. "Get the pups, get out, and get safe. Hunker down in the tunnel safehouse near the Abracatraz exit so you have an escape route if Munn alerts you the Ancients are coming. But if at all possible, get him to the Vegon system. That is where he and Winni hid the Wind Wand, isn't it?"

Venus dropped her gaze to her feet as Munn began to pick through her hair with his fingers. "Yeah, but…"

I shook her by the shoulders. "Then activate it. Munn built the thing- he ought to be capable of overriding the Chosen One lock. Isn't that right?"

"Anti-Cozzie, I don't think that's how it wor-"

I shut her up with a kiss while Munn grinned, Sunnie politely looked away, and both our kids hovered at the base of the dais, fidgeting from foot to foot. Did one of them want to speak to us? I didn't care long enough to determine who.

Finally, one of them- "Seriously, Father, do let her go."

The other- "Yes, if you don't mind me pointing out-"

Venus popped our lips apart with a gasp. Then she whirled around, her finger flying. "Hey, you gots a butt. I don't care what crafts you was workin' on with the littles or which one of ya thinks you's in charge, but I wantcha ta hustle to that bunker right now if ya don't want me ta make ya a wee bit less of a free-tail."

Two hands went for wands. Foop! A thick puff of smoke, and they made themselves scarce together without a hint of squabbling between them. I adjusted my bare cravat with a smirk. Who was to interrupt my kisses now?

"Don't," Sunnie warned.

"But I don't wanna go, Anti-Cozzie," Venus said, turning to me again. "I'm High Countess. I wanna do this standin' t'gether."

"Exactly!" I grabbed her hands. "We're working in sync, if apart. For the good of our people. Venus, they need a leader. Gather the cooking staff. Round up the cleaners. Alert the gardeners. Recruit the camarilla to help you. Go with them. You're a traveler. You know the intimacies of the cloudlands a hundred times better than I do. Take care of them for me."

Venus did not let go of my fingers. "You say 'They need a leader' like you ain't expecting ta be one by tonight."

"Anti-Wanda, don't be daft now! I'm an Anti-Fairy. Should the worst come to the worst, I'll regenerate."

Her lashes flickered. Her beautiful pink eyes shut as though sudden dark clouds had just swallowed up the stars. "Aw, I wish ya'd let me stay and help. But I know what you's doin'. I trust ya. One thousand percentage." She kissed my thumbs together, claws and all, and let my hands drop. "Fortune smiles."

"Keep the kids safe. All of them."

"Yep yep."

We nodded to each other before splitting off in opposite directions. I stopped before I made it past Sunnie to the door and turned back. "Venus, darling?"

"Huh?"

I flew up to her, grabbed her by the waist, and pushed her into the back of the nearest chair with one last kiss. She was salty, peppery, just as always. And still half-stunned when I shoved her away and took off for my office, Sunnie flying through the door after me.

TO BE CONTINUED

Part 2: The Ended