Recap Written By: @ReadItLikeALady

If you've enjoyed my summaries you can show your appreciation and BuyMeACoffee.

Never necessary but always appreciated.  https://buymeacoffee.com/readitlikealady 

Chapter 1: Xavier

• The queens have ascended!!! The Heirs and their parents have bent the knee!
• Everyone sees Darius alive again. Xavier is so emotional, panicked it’s not real, afraid to believe it. “It’s real Xavier. And I’m staying,” – Darius
• The twins return and tell everyone to secure the academy and that they’re staying there. (Only it’s not the twins, because they’re stuck in the cave. Clydinius is impersonating them)
• Gabriel reunites with his family <3
• Geraldine is over the top ridiculous over her ‘Dragoon’ brother being back. Darius calls her his stepsister making her even more emotional.
• “The goons have finally accepted their goonishness.” – Gerry. She also now finds Maxy Boy ‘becoming’ since he finally bent the knee.
• They all go in hunt of the K.U.N.T.s. Orion calls dibs on Honey Highspell.
• Darius takes off riding Xavier (in his Pegasus form) to fight together. Orion is a little disappointed because he wanted to fight alongside Darius, like old times.

Chapter 2: Tory

• Tory and Darcy are stuck in the cave, sealed in. Tory knows Darius will not be fooled by Clydinius impersonating her and will come searching for her and Darcy soon. The Shadow Beast tries to help them get out by searching for a crack while in his smoke form.
• Tory apologizes for trying to force Darcy to leave Orion at the Palace of Souls. Darcy apologizes for leaving Tory to deal with Darius’ death all on her own.  
• They talk about how Tory pulled Darius back from death and all she went through, as well as the cost of doing so… ‘To deny death is to become death.’ – as written in the Book of Ether
• Darcy is wary of using Ether. Tory is all for it since it’s not governed/influenced by the stars. She believes they will need it to win against Lionel & Lavinia.

Chapter 3: Orion

• Orion tracks Highspell, who is hiding in his classroom. She cast spells and boobytraps around the door, but then nothing along the walls next to it. “First rule of Cardinal Magic. Do not be a fucking idiot”  he says while blasting through the walls to get in.
• Orion tears away her enchanted necklace revealing her true face.

                 “Ho-ly shitballs” -Seth

                 “No fucking way!” - Caleb

                 “By the stars,” - Orion

                 “Is that a…?” - Max

                 “Is it functional?” - Seth

• She has been cursed with a dick for a nose…balls and all! And yes, it is fully functional! In all the ways! Orion tosses her down to Milton and a crowd of students to let them deal with her.
• Caleb carries Seth, leaving Orion to carry Max (awkward!) to the lake to find Darius and the twins.
• Darius tells everyone his story starting from when he died. He tells them who all he was with on the other side of The Veil and all the way up to when Tory came for him. Speaking of Tory, where is she? and Darcy?
• Orion returns to his chalet on campus thinking about all he is supposed to do as guild master and to look through his dad’s diary again. Darius follows. He tells Orion that Clara is finally at peace and happy, and his father loves him and couldn't be prouder of him! He also mentions that Azriel managed to discover the location of 2 more of the guild stones and they decide to go get them.

Chapter 4: Geraldine

• Geraldine takes a tray of bagels to the imposter queens, who are up in the Earth Observatory looking over ‘The Ledger of Fallen Stars’ as well as other books and scrolls. They order her attack and take down the Court of Solaria, the building that housed all the offices held by Lionel and his other government officials.
• Geraldine, the Heirs, the ex-Councillors and the Starfall Legion (a select group of fifty elite fighters) stardust to the building and Geraldine calls out to the public that it is time for everyone to pick a side in the war! A bunch of Nymphs emerge from the building and the battle begins
• Geraldine is backed into an alley and surrounded. She kills several Nymphs but is not strong enough to defeat them all. The last one has its probes in her and is about to kill her when a ten-year-old boy takes the sun steel blade she had dropped and kills the Nymph. “Long live the True Queens,” he calls. A battle cry erupts and the people of Celestia race from their homes to finally join the rebellion. They’ve had enough!

Chapter 5: Max

• The other targets in their mission: Finding Gus Vulpecula (the A-Hole reporter that was constantly spreading lies for Lionel), Irvine McReedy (the general in charge of the Nebula Inquisition Centers) & Linda Rigel (his step-mom)
• Caleb sees General McReedy headed to the roof. He and Max head up there and find Linda and Ellis with him, about to fly away to safety, and seal them all in an air dome.
• Max asks Ellis if she’s sure that she wants to stand with her mother & Lionel. Ellis seems to hesitate but a hiss from Linda makes her nod her head. Linda grabs Ellis’ hand and they power share and battle (like unFae) Max while McReedy and Caleb fight.
• Max uses his bow and fires 2 arrows, one hits Linda taking her down. Just as Max is about to kill her, Ellis begs him to stop. Feeling sympathy for the little sister who never had a chance to get to know him, he instead strips Linda of all her memories on how to use magic, as well as her ability to relearn it, leaving her alive, but basically human. Then he says to Ellis, “It's time for you to decide who you want to be, little sister. This is war, and there is no place for anyone to sit on the fence. Choose which side of the battlefield you wish to stand on before I see you again, and know that if you stand across from me once more, I won't hesitate.”

Chapter 6: Xavier

• Xavier and Sofia are fighting from Tylers back as he flies in his Pegasus form. Xavier spotted Gus Vulpecula inside the building and told Tyler to turn around. He and Sofia jump from Tylers back to get inside and to Gus.
• Inside, they found Gus trying to steal from Lionel's office. Being in his father’s office makes Xavier remember feeling trapped by him, and then reminds him how grateful he is to be free. He sends earth and water magic through the room creating black mold and decaying everything. The spell takes hold and destroys the entire building.
• Gus shifts into his fox form and escapes. Sofia casts a fire dog to chase him. Xavier and Sofia catch up to Gus outside and capture him. Sofia keeps the bag Gus was carrying filled with documents and things he’d taken from Lionel’s office.

Chapter 7: Lyra (Who TF is Lyra?!!)

• In one of the Nebula Inquisition Centers a rat shifter named Lyra is trapped in a cell with other Tiberian Rat shifters. Suddenly there is fire and the imposter Queens come in killing everyone. They notice how Lyra isn’t trying to escape or scream or anything. She is different somehow. They decide to keep her.

“What we seek is clearly not here anyway. Death was…less than I expected” – Darcy

“Much less. No more tempting than before. I still fail to understand the call of it. Come empty girl. We have work to do. We must seek the other fallen.” – Tory

Chapter 8: Darius

• Darius and Orion are searching for the Sagittarius Guild Stone in Luxie Acrux’s lost treasure trove. They found the cave and needed to dive down into the endless pool of water to get to the trove. Darius goes first since he is also an Acrux and after swimming for more than 15 minutes he finds a letter A with a fire symbol. He needs to use his dragon fire to blast through. He swims for a while again and then has to do it again! Eventually he comes up in a cavern where all the treasure is. Lance soon follows.
• Daruis’s dragon is all possessive over the treasure “This is my ancestor’s treasure, that makes it mine!” Orion flits around the room taunting Daruis by picking up pieces and saying things like “Even this one? What about this necklace? I think this looks­­­ good on me!” driving Daruis crazy, chasing him down and taking it back. (LOL)
• Eventually they find the enchanted music box and go in. There is a giant silver centaur that gives them a riddle.

‘Five stones may sit upon a throne, but none of them hold water.

The greatest of them fails at flame, the weakest is its daughter.

In air, two of them will excel, but the other may be your freedom,

they'll linger too long on the earth and you may fail to see them.’ 

There are six stones in a bowl. Using the riddle they need to figure out which stone to place on the altar. All the while they’re being attacked by trees that are trying to eat them, there are some extremely venomous spiders, and they need to outrun a herd of centaurs that are firing arrows at them! Finally, they place the last stone in on the altar and retrieve the turquoise Sagittarius Guild Stone and exit the music box.

• They pack up Darius’s new treasure trove so he can take it home.

Chapter 9: Caleb

• Caleb was dragging an unconscious Irvine McReedy away from the sewers, where the General had tried to hide. His magic is fully tapped out and he is injured, but alive. Everyone else had already stardusted back to ZA after the battle, leaving him alone and covered in shit (literally!)  Caleb took a pick-up truck from a crazy old lady (who was a Lionel Fan so no guilt there) to drive back to ZA.
• When he reached the academy, guards called out that he arrived and Seth raced to the gates. After a quick over-excited lick Seth backed off because Caleb was so gross and still covered in shit and wounds. They talked about how their moms didn’t want them to be together, but both agreed they wanted to keep it up.

“Us. Whatever it is. I …like it. I like being with you, so…” – Caleb

“We can just keep being secret…this.” -Seth

• Geraldine called their inner circle to The Orb for an emergency meeting where she showed them a video of a Nebula Inquisition Center being attacked and burned. Caleb took the Atlas scrolling through videos while they discussed what they were going to do. He saw the twins there, fire ‘blooming from their hands’. Darius immediately looked at it and growled “That’s not my fucking wife.”

Chapter 10: Darcy (LONG Chapter)

• Still trapped in the cave Tory threw rocks at the wall igniting sparks.  Both girls quickly strip their clothes to use as fuel and create a fire; Enough to replenish their magic and escape back to ZA.
• When they arrive at the gates they are stopped by guards because “word has it you’re not you” Caleb, Orion, Darius and Geraldine all come to the gate where Orion and Darius confirm who they are immediately, but Caleb wants more proof. Orion speeds of to grab a guiding crystal to use their magical signatures to prove they are the “True Queens”
• Geraldine prostrates herself ridiculously over not recognizing that the twins had been impersonated. They tell the twins about the Nebula Inquisition Center and Tory and Darcy explain who Clydinius is as well as everything that had happened since they were crowned. They tell the story again to the rest of the inner circle & war council and share the news of Lavinia being weakened.
• Darcy introduces everyone to the now tamed Shadow Beast. They all freaked out at first, but she explains he was a prisoner too and says that he is not to be harmed.
• Orion tells everyone about the latest Guild Stone. Only 2 left to find! (Pices: aquamarine stone & Aquarius: amethyst) & thanks to Hail and Azriel they know that one of them is in FIB headquarters. Together they made a plan to break in the following day, once they’d all rested and restored all their magic.
• Seth asks everyone what they should do about the imposter twins (aka Clydinius) but nobody knows how to kill a star. They look through the books and scrolls Clyde was studying before he left for the massacre at the Nebula Inquisition Center, and they THINK he might be hunting for other fallen stars but aren’t even sure about that either.
• After the meeting Geraldine takes Darcy and Orion to the Aer Captain’s room where she has a surprise for them. She removed all of Seth’s things and redecorated the room for the two of them. Seth comes in. He’s pissed and demands Geraldine return all his stuff. Orion and Darcy tell Geraldine they appreciate her work, but they’d prefer to stay in Orion’s cabin anyway.
• Orion takes Darcy to get some food and, on their way back to finding everyone else, they run into Seth, who explains about his ‘cocktastrophe’ with Cal. How they went at it while Venus was in retrograde, but then their moms walked in on them and how Cal looked at him afterward. He tells them when Caleb returned from the battle, he kissed Seth and they agreed to keep seeing each other in secret. Darcy tells him  that nobody is going to care, they don’t have to keep it a secret, but Seth doesn’t think Cal would want them all to know.
• The Heirs, Orion and the twins met up at King’s Hollow. Cal gives Darcy, Tory and Orion new Atlas’s. Darcy checks her FaeBook account and finds 999+ new notifications, new followers and people tagging her all kinds of posts. She clicks on one of them and it’s a post showing Clydinius posing as them, killing people at the Nebula Inquisition Center. People call them demons and monstrous, etc. Caleb tells them that Tyler was working to get the truth out there.
• Darius asks, “who’s been fucking who while I’ve been gone?”  and says to Caleb “I know you. You’ve had at least one long haired brunette pinned beneath you moaning your name recently.” Alluding that he knows about Cal and Seth (Which if you read 8.5 you know Darius got stuck in a room with them while they were going at it, but he was dead and nobody alive knows about that!)
• Xavier messages to tell them he thinks he found a way into FB HQ
• Dante messages the twins to let them know Gabriel is ready for visitors. He’s been exhausted and needs time to recover. Lionel and Vard kept forcing him to use his sight, but the entire time he was trying to fight them off, keeping as much info from them as possible.

Chapter 11: Tory

• Tory, Darius, Darcy and Orion go visit Gabriel in the amplification chamber. On the way they run into Rosalie. Darius: “You saw me, didn’t you?”  Referring to when he was dead and she looked right at him and told him to ‘follow the fire’. (a scene that was in book 8 but was really explained in book 8.5) Rosalie doesn’t deny but doesn’t confirm that she can see the dead. “That would be an incredible talent to possess,” - Rosalie
• Gabriel is still being bombarded by all the visions he held back while being held captive. Only now they’re coming though at high speed and getting all mixed up. Leon and Carson (Ryder) are keeping notes on everything he says so they can try to unknot them and figure them out. They’re going to take Gabriel to a special amplification chamber that they had made for him when his visions get overwhelming like this.
• Just before Gabriel and his family leave, Darius calls out for him to wait. “You need to remember Marcus. It’s important. He needs you to think of him or he's going to fade beyond the veil.” After they’re gone, Darcy asks who Marcus is and Daries replies that he didn’t say Marcus; He said Manuel. (He means Gabriel’s bio-dad Marcel. Poor Marcel.)
• Geraldine comes along asking what the Queen's plans are for the prisoners. If they would like her to interrogate them, but Tory replies that they can do it and everyone heads down to the holding cells under Jupiter Hall.
• A bunch of the K.U.N.T.s are in a cell together with Principal Nova. The twins use their phoenix fire to break through the Dark Coercion Lionel had used on Nova, freeing her. She had never actually been against them.
• Milton tells everyone that Marguerite helped the rebels.  When asked ‘why?’ Marguerite states that she’d always aligned herself with Darius, never with Lionel. She finally accepts that Darius was meant for Tory and reluctantly bows. Tory is a smug bitch about it (lol)
• Tory and Darius interrogate General McReedy, but he doesn't talk and when he pulls a knife out of his boot and attacks them, Tory and Darius go into a kind of frenzy and beat him to death. Afterwards Darius grabs Tory and kisses her roughly, both of them drunk on the feeling of killing “I think we just figured out the cost of my life, the Ferryman wants paying back in death.” – Darius
• Darcy and Orion interrogate Gus Vulpecula who told them everything, caving the moment Darcy commanded him to.

Chapter 12: Lionel

• Lionel is sitting on his new throne ‘far bigger than Hail’s throne, grander in every aspect’ (tiny dick syndrome anyone?) recharging his magic when Lavinia comes in asking him to come see the progress she’s made. Before he follows, he asks her if she’d given more thought to becoming one of his bonded. Lavinia was jealous of the silver rings of the mate bond so Lionel was trying to manipulate her using that, saying it would deepen their love.
• Outside in a gap in the mountain another star had fallen. ‘Forced into the confines of Lavinia’s shadows so that it could not release its powers into the world and die.” Lavinia was working on forcing the star to succumb to her shadows so she could wield its power. Lavinia has made a little progress and could now force the star to talk. Lionel asks it why the Vega twins were seen burning his captives and the star told him of Clydinius. She (the star is female) said Clydinius seeks to create a Celestial Trinity by uniting with her and another fallen star. ‘A union forbidden by the origin herself, because it would be so terrible, it could splinter time and shatter the very forces of nature the universe is ruled by. It could pull all the stars from the sky.’ Lavinia suggests allying with Clydinius and Lionel agrees thinking he's cunning enough to find a way to secure the star's dominion for himself.

Chapter 13: Darius

• Tory is searching through the Book of Ether while Darius impatiently waits for her. She’s looking for a way to find the Ferryman. She wants to talk to him about what the price she and Darius are now paying for taking him from death.  They leave Kings Hollow to go see R.U.M.P. island approaching. ZA isn’t big enough for their army and all their allies, so Geraldine went to retrieve the island, so they’d have more space. Tory stood with Darcy and Darius went to the other Heirs. The Heirs were in the middle of an argument about who would survive the longest on the moon. Seth was saying he would, because ‘he's been there before and has seen all kinds of things’ but was interrupted by Darius who said he saw all kinds of things while he was dead too, and purposefully looked over at Seth and then at Caleb, who stilled under his scrutiny.  “Like what?” – Seth  “Oh, you'd be surprised at the depravity I witnessed. Not to mention the bare-faced lies some people tell their closest friends. Honestly, I thought I knew the people I love best in this world, but there are some secrets hiding among us which would shock the entire Kingdom if they came to light.” – Darius (he is obviously messing with them…and it's freaking hilarious!)
• Geraldine arrives with the island and Tory and Darius head inside the castle together. Tory takes him to her room where she starts to get a little frisky with him, but Darius notices the state of the room and confirms with her that she hasn't been back at all since she left to retrieve him from death. When she asks why, he tells her “that night, another couple came here and fucked in your bed.” and tells her about getting stuck in the room with Caleb and Seth. She looks around and finds the dragon dildo, and under the sheets she finds lube and the butt plug. “Was it hot?” “No, it wasn’t fucking hot Roxy. It was two of my best friends going at it in my wife’s bed. It was the furthest thing from hot.” (Hahahaha!) He explains how he ended up getting stuck there watching far more of it than he ever wanted to know, let alone see, and he plans on getting revenge. “So I'm going to let them keep their little secret. And you're gonna help me fuck with them.” With her room being temporarily off limits they walk through her closet into a room where both Darius’s treasure and a bunch of Lionels are being kept and things get spicy.
• Roxy is with Darius and Caleb, the latter two working to disable the wards on the FIB compound. As soon as they finished Roxy started working on disabling the electric fence surrounding the place.

Caleb to Tory while she was doing her part: “How long will this take?”

 “Not as long as getting fucked by a werewolf,” Roxy muttered.

“What?”  - Caleb

“Longer than getting fucked by a vampire though I'd say. You know, because of the speed thing.” -Darius. (the two of them are keeping completely straight faced discussing this like it's a hypothetical)

“That's not a thing” – Caleb

“So, you think the werewolf would finish first? – Roxy

“He…what…I dunno. How would I know that? – Caleb

Chapter 14: Darcy

• Caleb, Seth & Geraldine create a distraction at the FIB compound so Darcy, Orion, Tory and Darius can sneak in and retrieve the next Guild Stone. The first security gate they get to needs all 4 of them to wield a different element, Darcy: Air, Tory: Earth, Orion: Water, & Darius: Fire. They all cast at the same time and get in. Xavier directs them where to go using earpieces.
• Next there is a security barrier but Tory & Darcy blast through it easily using their Phoenix Fire.
• Then they need to go up a winding staircase about 50 floors, Darius is too impatient so turns into his dragon and flies them up.
• Xavier directs them down a particular hallway, but something seems wrong about it. When Orion goes to shoot back and double check which tunnel they took he realizes he can't access his Order. There's Order Suppressant in the air. Glancing around they find cameras and realize they're being watched.  Some kind of strange gloop called “aqueous Faetrap” comes racing towards them, capturing them and carrying them away from each other. Any magic Darcy tries to use just gets absorbed into the gloop. She is sent plummeting off a ledge. At the bottom it explodes apart leaving her surrounded by FIB officers. A whole magical fight ensues where she kicks everybody's ass. The final man standing suddenly falls to his knees bowing and swearing his allegiance to her.
• Orion comes racing in. He, Darius and Tory had been taken in a different direction. They trapped their agents in a pit and covered it with fire. They asked the remaining agent (Bertie) where they could find the goldstones and he explains that Rathmaron, a creature long thought extinct, came from the Void under the mountain and took all the gemstones. He said Rathmaron started taking officers to feast on and they tried to rescue them, but then more were taken so they had to seal it off leaving the agents to their fate. He strongly advised against going down into the Void. Of course, the twins don't listen, and they all go down into a well to get the Guild Stone.
• At the bottom Bertie gives everyone an antidote for the Order suppressant. Then, Darcy leaves the Shadow Beast to watch over him while the rest of them go battle Rathmaron, a giant spider. After a short battle Darcy kills it with a spear while Tory uses her fire to burn it. But the spider managed to bite both Orion and Tory in the fight and there is a race back up to get the antivenom before they die. The antivenom leaves Tory and Orion a little goofy with its side effects.
• Darius, thankfully, managed to grab the Aquamarine Guild Stone during the battle meaning they don’t need to go back down there to find it. As the four of them leave the compound to return to ZA they find a huge crowd of FIB agents waiting for them outside. They all drop to their knees and cry out “All hail the True Queens”

Chapter 15: Lyra

• Completely numb to everything, Lyra watches as the imposter Tory & Darcy (Clydinius) hunt for something. She doesn’t know who they are but knows they’re not the real Queens, and she doesn’t have it in her to care, let alone fight back.
• Clydinius has been burning his way across the land still “dressed” as Darcy/Tory, until nothing but ash remains in the places he stopped. He eats until bursting, dives deep down into water and flings himself from high peaks, but none of it touches him or seems to matter as ‘they searched for whatever it was, they were hunting.’ But every time they failed. Whatever it was, eluding them, and making them more and more frustrated.
• Standing on the bank of a river surrounded by trees with trunks black as midnight and deep red veins carved through them, Lyra watches as the Ferryman comes closer. Clydinius wishes to make a bargain with the Ferryman but he refuses saying there is no place for the fallen star beyond The Veil and he will not allow him to cross the river.
• After the Ferryman leaves, the false twins wonder what they should do now.  Their search has turned up nothing. In comes Lionel saying perhaps he can help them.

Chapter 16: Seth (Seth & Cal minor breakthrough)

• The core group is hanging out in The Orb after celebrating their victory at the FIB compound. Max is trying to get Cal to spill the details on who he's been seeing. Caleb says it's nothing serious “Nothing worth announcing to the world,” and he doesn't want the press sniffing around for the story. This hurts Seth's feelings. He knows he agreed to keep it a secret, but it still hurt to hear Caleb say it’s nothing worth announcing. He gets up to leave and Darcy follows, trying to encourage him to talk to Cal.
• Cal also follows and after Darcy leaves, he and Seth have a little tussle in the woods, but before it goes anywhere Seth’s Atlas vibrates. He pulls it out and reads an article posted by Tyler and Portia. Realizing how lucky he's been to survive the war so far, Seth is suddenly afraid of losing that luck and asks Caleb to meet him in an hour at Aer Tower.
• Caleb shows up and Seth shoots them up into the clouds. He creates a solid platform of air as far as the eye can see in each direction. Since Caleb had given him the moon, (Cal won the lottery ticket that allowed Seth to visit the moon) Seth wanted to give Caleb the sky. Using his order gifts Caleb raced through the clouds laughing and whooping. He zooms back, grabs Seth and races off again just having fun. After a while they take a break and talk about what they’d do if the twins decided they didn't want a council. Seth says he would be a moonologist. Things get a little more intense when they play a Marco Polo type game where Seth is hunted by Cal.
• Seth FINALLY tells Caleb how he feels, and we get a nice spicy scene between the two of them.

Chapter 17: Caleb

• Caleb and Seth wake up together in Cal’s room in Terra House. Cal’s clock broke so they completely miss the war council. The only people left hanging around are the Twins, Orion, Darius, Max and Geraldine. When asked where they’ve been, Seth says they were gathering berries in the forest & Darius tells them he too wants to “learn from the big bad wolf. Can you give me a really thorough lesson, like you did for Cal?”  pretty much echoing what Seth said to Cal when they were alone in Tory’s room in book 8 when they had sex for the first time and making them both freak out a bit.
• Geraldine announces that she thinks she has discovered where the last Guild Stone is located. A cursed mythical city called Herithé. Coaxing the map of Espial with a little magic they discover its general location and head out with Xavier, Sofia, Tyler and Washer as well. But because of the scale of the map, even though they have its general location a few inches on the map spanned hundreds of miles in real life, so the group had to separate and search for it. Caleb was the first to find it and shot a text message to the group dropping his location. Orion got there first using his vamp speed. Hunting for the city triggered his hunting drive, and his bloodlust was high. His bond with his coven brother was activated and when Seth arrived, they both attacked him drinking deeply, but a whimper from Seth brought Cal back to himself who then pushed Orion off too. The rest of the group arrived, and they started searching for the city’s entrance.
• Geraldine and Max go through the entrance together, followed by Seth who was talking to Orion about how irresistible he is, and how Orion shouldn’t be so down about biting him. Darcy & Darius follow behind them, Darius messing with Seth “yeah Caleb finds it almost impossible to resist Seth too. I've seen him pouncing on him and pinning him down, doing anything he can think of to get his mouth all over-” (LOL) and then Xavier, Tyler Sofia and Washer follow them leaving Cal & Tory bringing up the rear. Tory is suspiciously acting all innocent, in Cal’s opinion. ‘Tory didn't do innocent.’ As soon as Cal and Tory stepped inside the city of Herithé the gates slammed closed behind them. When Cal looked around, he noticed that all of their friends had vanished without a trace. Only Tory was left standing next to him.

Chapter 18: Orion

• Orion and Seth are suddenly alone when they step through the gate of Herithé. They try walking around for a while calling out for anyone but nobody else is there. They use air magic to float up to get a better vantage point and hopefully find the others, but they’re slammed back down to the ground which then opens up and swallows them. They walk around in the dark tunnels for a while until they come to a room. As soon as they entered, they got locked in. Orion’s pissed at Seth who won’t stop talking. Orion airs his frustrations with him over how Seth had treated Darcy and himself back when they were hiding their relationship. They have a whole little verbal spat. The room starts to freeze over. Words etched into the ground saying they need to ‘endure the cold until dawn.’   Unable to do anything else Seth shifts into his wolf and Lance has to snuggle close to not freeze to death.

Chapter 19: Xavier

• Xavier, Tyler and Sophia are in a pit with giant flower heads closed tight around their hands and wrists locking down their magic. They all yell, calling for help and Washer appears but as soon as he tries to help, he too is attacked by the flowers. Washer’s hands are in flowers now too. He tells the others the flowers are called Starclamps and that they will dissolve the skin from your bones and ingest it, but if you tickle them in the right spot they will let go. He brings his foot to his mouth, tears off his socks and starts using his toes to tickle the flowers. It doesn’t work.
• A tunnel opens and Velox Snakes come pouring in and the ceiling starts to move, closing them into the pit.
• Washer suggests laying down and letting the snakes slither over the flower stems to try and find their tickle spots. Sophia informs everyone that the snakes will strike at any sudden movements and their venom is deadly, so they all need to move VERY SLOWLY! They give it a go…it doesn’t work either.
• Using his dexterous toes, Washer used a sharp rock to slowly cut through the stems of the flowers. Everyone is now mobile, with the flower heads still enveloping their hands and they all slowly crawl into the tunnel to try and find an exit.

Chapter 20: Darcy

• Darcy and Darius are fighting off some giant rats (R.O.U.S.?? No? just me? lol) Nothing too hard for them to handle. Darius mentions that there was a cave beyond The Veil that felt kind of similar to being there in Herithé. Darcy asks him about his time there and they have a very sweet conversation about her parents, and how they still love her and are cheering her on.
• The door of a nearby house opens for them. They get trapped in a room where some pink mist floats in. They can’t use magic against it. It’s some sort of hallucinogenic. Darcy is suddenly back at ZA, walking to The Orb. Kylie Major is her bestie and they’re giggling about something. Seth and Orion are boyfriends, Tory and Diego are in love. Geraldine is a mean ass bitch and is dating Caleb.  And we have no idea where Max is! Everything feels off but Darcy can’t figure out why and every time she starts to think that more pink mist appears and the feeling goes away. Tory perks up from Diego’s lap and tells her, “Your boyfriend’s here.”  And over walks Darius. Everyone is calling them mates and telling them to kiss. They almost do, but it feels weird! At the last moment they both shove each other away and the scene fades. They’re back in the room where they both freak out over the thought of kissing the other. “Ew ew ew!” – Darcy

Chapter 21: Geraldine

• Geraldine and Max are being chased by a Rather Bat. A creature of legend thought to be extinct. Geraldine notices that there is something off about certain noises, and the way sound was behaving around them. They listened for when and where things got unnaturally silent and then headed in that direction. The bat ambushes them and almost kills Geraldine, as she stabs it through the eye with her dagger, killing it. Max uses his magic to heal her. They follow the silence again and find a chest. Inside is the Amethyst Guild Stone laying on a piece of parchment that held the curse and beside it tools and other dark items most likely used in the curse as well. As soon as Geraldine separated the stone from the items, everything around them fell to ash.
• Geraldine sees Orion and Seth snuggling. Seeing the tears on Orion’s cheeks she says it’s ok she has saved them. He responds that the water is just from the ice melting, that they were in a freezing room just trying to stay warm. She doesn’t buy it but pretends to agree. (LOL)
• Slowly everyone else arrives from their trials… AND… They now have all twelve Guild Stones!!

Chapter 22: Orion

• Orion, Darcy, Tory, the Heirs and Geraldine are sitting around a table in Kings Hollow with all 12 Guild Stones. Orion sets them in a circle and just as the last one is put into place, power starts to charge the air, and then it all falls away. Nothing happens. Did they get something wrong? Do they have to initiate the guild members first? They ask Darius  if could tell them anything more from his time beyond the veil but he said never thought to ask and didn’t expect to come back so it wasn’t like he needed to get the info back then. That night was to be a full moon so they would be able to read Azriel’s diary again to see if they missed anything. Until then, they all dispersed.
• Darcy is leaning over the table looking at stones and teasing Orion. She picks up the sapphire and Orion realizes it was in the wrong place. He shifts the stones into the right order and the moment they all touch *BAM* an explosion of energy rocks them. Arcturus, another star, speaks to them. “Son of the hunter, master of the stones, The rising twelve will soon be united. Once lost like rocks in a roiling river, the tide turns and so the twelve return, laying a new fate upon the shore. But can the daughters of the flames seize what has been offered? Or will they let it pass them by? It is time you understood the makings of fate”
• Arcturus shows them an extinct race called the Faeries. They ended up separating into two factions and warring with each other over which parts of their nature were to be embraced and which should be discarded. One faction evolved into the Fae, the other into the Nymphs. It caused an unbreachable divide until the Nymphs were on the brink of eradication. The stars opened a door for the Nymphs to escape to the shadow realm and gifted them with the ability to wield shadows. Then, a dark Prince created the shadow curse. It captured the souls of every Nymph that died and turned them into monsters, bound to obey him but eventually he lost control of the shadows, and they became demons. For thousands of years the shadow realm was ravaged by these monovalent spirits. So, the Nymphs abandoned their homes and fled back to the Fae realm. But without shadows they could not survive so they called upon them from the shadow realm and were mostly able to live alongside the Fae in peace... until Lavinia. When she was trapped in the shadow realm her soul became tethered to the malevolent spirits, feeding them with her hatred, jealousy and her quest for vengeance. She became the ruler of the shadows, trapping every Nymph soul the moment they passed into death, and wielding them however she chose. That is what the shadows are. The souls of all the dead Nymphs, trapped and made to obey.
• Darcy immediately thinks about Diego! ;’(  and questions what can be done. How can they free the souls? “You would need a power greater than any Fae could ever possess. I cannot fathom it upon the earth.” - Arcturus 

Chapter 23: Darcy

• A tremor runs through the hall Darcy and Orion are standing in with Arcturus. “There are stars that oppose me in this action, but a prophecy was woven long ago that I am bound to fulfill. When the rising 12 unite, the past will be threaded to the future. The knowledge of the first circle must be bestowed.” Arcturus showed them a vision of a stone circle with the twelve Guild Stones, each stone was carved with a star sign and at the center of the circle was a flat disk, engraved with the sun and the moon. A red headed woman stood on the disk. Her head was tilted back and her eyes had rolled to the back of her head. She was mumbling to the stars. When her head snapped back up swords and armour started growing out of the earth. Arcturus tells them ‘a long time ago the stars were divided into two factions: Vetus and Novus. The Novus stars toyed with the lives of Fae, believing they had the right to act as God's and thwarting the laws of the Origin. They incited wars among the kingdoms and within them too. It was chaos. The Vetus stars honored the laws of old, never disrupting the balance of fate stars are meant to observe and protect the balance by remaining unbiased in their watchful state.’ The vision before them shifts and they watched the warrior from the stone circle lead a charge of Faye into battle, her army clad in the armor and carrying the weapons from the stone circle. They slaughtered the opposing army. When there was only one woman left from the opposing army, that woman fell to her knees and turned angry words to the sky. Rays of light poured down upon her engulfing her entirely, frightening the army and scaring them back. Suddenly light blasted from her hands and ripped through the ground and the army that had attacked hers, cleaving them apart as if they were made of glass and destroying every one of them. When she was the only one left on the battlefield, she turned that power on herself, ending her own life.  “We tried to restore balance. The Novus stars would not listen to reason. The scales of fate were tipped to an extreme. And so, I and the other Vetus stars made a plan to restore balance once and for all.”  The scene changed again, this time showing a family inside the stone circle surrounded by a horde of beasts with sharp claws and twisted faces that looked as though they could have once been Fae. Inside the circle Arcturus was speaking to one of the women. “A chance for the Fae race rises, a single hope balancing on a knife’s edge. We offer you the chance to weave your own fates once again, to right the wrongs of the unworthy stars. Your faith in us will be restored. The Vetus stars will prosper over the Novus, and balance shall be found. If you accept our offering, you will become fate-weavers here on earth. You will reclaim your destinies from the hands of the stars and guide your kingdoms toward peace.” One of the women (a seer) agreed to the offer after seeing something. The 12 Stones collapsed in on themselves, becoming smaller and smaller until they became The Guild Stones. The monsters around the circle became Fae once again. The woman looked at the stones as Arcturus’s voice came to her again. “You will gift each stone to the twelve Fae we have shown you. They are the peacemakers. The rising twelve. Seek them and balance shall be found. Seek them and your fates will be reclaimed.” The vision shifted again showing the seer travelling across the earth searching for the twelve Fae shown to her. Some Kings and Queens but also just regular people too. One was a girl with no family at all. But they all rose to the call, taking a Guild stone and coming together to form a council. Over time peace was restored, the Guild stones keeping the Novus Stars from interfering with fate and the Vetus stars becoming dominant again.
• Then the vision faded. Darcy begged Arcturus to wait! He did not show them how to wield the stones, or what they needed to do. But nothing else was offered. Darcy and Orion were both airing their frustrations when Darcy had a thought. “There's been unbalance again.” Clydinius cursed the Vega line. He basically did the same thing to them that the Novus stars did to the world. “The balance of the stars could be unraveling again. What if Clydinius is just the first of many stars to descend to earth and walk among us like wrathful gods. What if more are coming?”  Now that she and Tory have given Clydinius a Fae form, he can raise other stars. The Guild stones must be the key to stopping him. They needed to head to the Library of the Lost again, the only place that might offer the kind of knowledge they needed to figure out how to use them.

Chapter 24: Orion

• Darcy tells Lance that they need to go to the Library of the Lost to try and find anything that might help them figure out how to use the Guild Stones. Lance agrees and they quickly stardust to the lake atop the Library.  Darcy immediately crouches down and presses her hand to the sun symbol on the zodiac wheel door. Lance starts to say “That won’t work” but it does, and Darcy is all smug about it. Eugene Dipper sent a letter stating she and Tory have access now in case they need any information to win the war. Darcy steps closer smirking and taunting him “Jealous Lance?”  He grabs her and bites her and they makeout as they’re lowered into the library.
• Eugene and Arnold take them to where Eugene already had a bunch of books with information on the Guild Stones. Arnold is all pissy about how Tory treated the library the last time she was there, and how Darcy and Lance ‘defiled’ several books when they were there before (by having sex on top of them). He asks them to ‘control their lustings’ and respect the books a little more. Darcy agrees. Lance doesn’t. Eugene and Arnold leave, but as usual, Arnold says he will wait for them right outside.
• Darcy and Lance start looking through the books. Darcy finds a passage saying “stone circles are one of the most powerful formations that can be created in nature, and if each stone is placed in conjunction with the planetary movements, upon sacred ground, or in alignment with the constellations, many magics can be wielded within its ring. From binding a Fae’s tongue to the path of the truth, to trapping untold power within its confines, to enhancing the magic of certain gemstones.” She wants to create a stone circle like the one in the vision given to them by Arcturus. Orion is skeptical because it says enhance, not unlock.  He thinks it could be dangerous and says they are not going to try that. Darcy pouts at him and they have a little playful back and forth and she teases him sexually before going to the couch and laying down with her skirt barely covering her ass, teasing him more. He just watches her, she rolls over and continues her little show and things get rather spicy for a few pages.
• Afterwards Darcy says, “Arnold won't be pleased.”

  “He’ll never know” – Lance

   “He will know. Because you did not have the courtesy to cast a silencing bubble.” – Arnold from the other side of the door.

• Realizing how long they've been there they decide to head back. The moon should be up and they can read Azrael’s diary.  They don't find anything new in it but Darcy suggests looking at the chalice again so Lance pulls it from a moonbeam. They read the inscription but don't see anything new. Just as Lance starts to put it away Darcy notices another inscription on its base. Lance translates “drink while kneeling at the feet of the royals as they perch upon a blessed throne once their coronation has been acknowledged by the stars, and be marked as their subject with the sword of the guild.” Not that they'd been confident enough to try the potion anyway, but now there are even more steps they have to complete before they can try it! Darcy is worried about that potion hurting someone and says no one is going to be drinking it until they're certain it's safe. Lance says he'll talk to another professor who knows a lot about potions to help them make sure it’s safe.

Chapter 25: Gabriel

• Gabriel is in his family’s cabin recuperating. He has been having visions of their army failing, his sisters and everyone he loves being obliterated by a monstrous wave in the ocean. He knows it’s not really the sea they have to fear, it just signifies oncoming, unavoidable destruction, but he needs to get back to his sisters! Maybe he would be able to see a way to save them…but he couldn’t do it from the cabin! He couldn’t see any hope of them succeeding or even surviving while he stayed in the cabin.  Gabriel told Leon, who was the only other one there with him at the moment, that he was heading back to ZA and as soon as the others returned from their flight to come too.
• As soon as he reached ZA Gabe (Don’t call him Gabe!) went to The Orb where his sisters were holding a war council. A gift had just arrived from the Sphinx Fellowship, an entire crate of wine made just for them. They toasted, drank the wine and then all died! Terrible awful deaths...well everyone except Gerry because she’s a Cerberus. The end.
• Gabriel blinks and yup it was a vision. He quickly freezes everyone’s wine, saving them all from certain death. He tells them that Vard created an undetectable poison and sent it in the wine. Tory voices that more of their stores could be laced with the poison and asks what they should do. Gabriel suggests using Justin Masters and other Cerberus’s as taste testers because they won’t succumb to the poison.
• On to the next topic of the war council. Recruitment. They talk about Nebula Inquisition Centers. Cal and Seth say they will take the one in the Polar Capital. The Polar Bear shifters would make fierce allies! Geraldine suggests The Voldrakians (Where Marissa Vega was from) and Darcy and Lance tell everyone about the way the Voldrakians  rejected Lionel’s offer of an alliance. They speculate since the twins are Marissa’s children, would that be enough for their grandfather to come to their aide? Gabriel looks to the stars but nope. Grandpa isn’t going to send a deadly snake to kill them as a way of saying no, but he will refuse and only consider offering an allegiance if they prove their worth in the war and claim their throne.

Chapter 26: Max

• Max is lying in bed unable to sleep because he has to let his siren song out. It’s one of his Orders needs but he doesn’t want Geraldine to be upset that he has to kiss someone else. She basically kicks him out of bed, telling him to go do what his Order demands and that she gets it. She isn’t upset because she knows she is the only one he wants. On his way out, Max checks his phone and sees an article about  Questian Rabbits destroying a bunch of buildings, including schools, a museum full of priceless artifacts, a vault with a bunch of gold, and an elderly home. A new Inquisition Center is under construction for the mass of them thought to be involved in the destruction. Obviously, it’s fake. Lionel stole a bunch of gold and treasure and killed people so he could place the blame on another of the “lesser orders” to get rid of them.  In the comments under the article Carson Alvion: This is a fucking lie constructed by the False King to claim those gold bullions and the artifacts in that museum. He took out the other buildings and murdered innocents to make you hate the question rabbits. If you swallow this bullshit, you'll get what's coming to you in a world of pain that I will personally deliver to your door. I'm noting down every name of every fucker who supports this post. (Awwww. Ryder defending his Mama’s Order!)
• Max goes to his favorite rock and releases his song…and here comes Darius. Max gives up a memory/truth (a happy childhood memory of all the heirs together) they kiss, and they both hear some kind of screaming! It calls to them and they’re forced to follow it. They fly together for hours to a mountain range. There is a shield blocking their way, and it takes some work, but they crack through it and suddenly are faced with Lionel's new Jade Castle and his army which is five times the size of their most recent estimations. Before they could say/do anything an inky black dragon lunged at them from the clouds, colliding with Darius.

Chapter 27: Darius

• Tharix (the inky black dragon) and Darius fight. Max gets thrown off of Darius. Whatever it is that lured them there screams again forcing Darius back into his Fae form. He starts falling off a cliff but is then saved at the last minute…by Tharix. “Hello, brother. I was told that you were dead.”

Chapter 28: Gabriel

• Somehow Lionel’s army breaks through the wards and attacks Zodiac Academy. Gabriel sees Dragons breaking into the orb where his wife is; he rushes in to find her. They find each other but their way out is blocked by dragons. Gabriel’s wife (Elise) uses her air magic to shield them while Carson (Ryder) and Leon attack and they work together to kill the Dragons.
• Leon tells them that Lavinia is there; she's the one who cut through the wards with some crazy magic, nothing like he's ever seen before.
• A boom of thunder sounded above them, and they see Dante fighting in the sky. “If he is in the sky, who has he left my son with?” “Stars no. We need to go. Now! Seth motherfucking Capella has him.”

Chapter 29: Darius

• Standing on the edge of a cliff facing his brother, Tharix looks amused to see him. “Shouldn't you be unhappy to see me?” “Why would I be unhappy?” Tharix doesn't attack him again but instead just kind of watches as Darius heals himself. When Darius questions what Tharix is looking at/doing, Tharix replies “I don't know what it is to have a brother,”

D: “I am no brother of yours,”

T: “We share a father”

D: “Lionel Acrux gave up the right to call me his son”

T: “His blood is yours and mine too”

D: “Is that why you weren't attacking me? You think we might stand here and bond with one another”

• Max shows up but before he can do anything Tharix has him contained in shadows with ice & iron knives poised all around ready to kill him. Darius takes advantage of the distraction and slams an ice blade into Tharix’s heart, but it doesn't kill him. Darius tells Tharix to let Max go. Tharix tells him that Lionel’s army is coming. Darius could continue to hold the knife in Tharix and possibly kill him, but then the army would arrive, find them and possibly kill them all. OR Daruis could remove his knife, and Tharix would take him and Max to Lionel. It wasn’t really much of a choice. He removed the knife.
• Tharix released Max, who immediately stepped next to Darius and handed him his clothes to get dressed. Tharix watched with interest before clothing himself in just the same way, down to the way Darius wore his shirt collar open. “What are you?” Darius asked him. “Funny, I was hoping you might tell me.”

Chapter 30: Seth

• Seth has baby Luca. He had seen Dante running across campus with the child when two dragon shifters attacked him. Dante was forced to shift and fight back. Seth ran to grab the little boy and Dante gave him a desperate look before leading the Dragons away. Now Seth had to play babysitter and keep the little dude safe.
• Seth created a helmet for Luca and then created a harness with some armor to strap him to his chest and run to try and escape the chaos while keeping Luca safe.
• Seth saw Darcy and Tory in the air fighting Lavinia, while also trying to shield the rebels from her attacks. Every time one of them struck out at Lavinia, a huge whip of light and shadow tore through their fire extinguishing it. Somehow her power was fiercer than their phoenix flames.

Chapter 31: Tory

• Tory and Darcy are fighting against Lavinia, but nothing they do is working. Tory dodges some of that unnatural power Lavinia throws at her by diving into the lake. She sees Geraldine in Max’s room and quickly writes “War” on the window alerting her friend to the situation before heading back into the battle.

Chapter 32: Darius

• Darius and Max are following behind Tharix as he leads them to Lionel.  Tharix mutters “child of sin and mourning will break the mold ‘twas born in.” When Darius questions what he's saying Tharix continues “I was created between a junction in the stars, balanced on an uncertain fate.” Darius tells him that he was created using the souls of four murdered Fae and that all fates are uncertain. Max comments that he can feel the fae of the four souls trapped inside Tharix, and the agony they are constantly in.

Chapter 33: Dante

• Dante fought some dragons

(Seriously I don’t know what the purpose of this chapter is. Filler? To make it longer? It’s not even 3 full pages.)

Chapter 34: Seth

• Seth is taking care of Luca, protecting him while his family is fighting. They run into some Nymphs and Seth is forced to fight but he refuses to abandon Luca the way he was abandoned in those caves when he was little. He manages to kill the Nymphs and finds Orion, who then delivers Luca to Leon. “You did good mutt.” -Orion

Chapter 35: Lionel

• Lionel is watching the battle via a live video someone is recording from ZA. He talks a bunch of BS and is all full of himself as usual.
• Clydinius is no longer appearing as the Twins. Instead, he is seen as a man in a pale gold cloak with gray skin that sparkles a bit.
• The last 6 paragraphs of this chapter really should be read for full effect, but basically: Vard gasps “The lost son returns!”  moments before the throne room door opens and Darius strides in with Max and Tharix. Lionel can’t believe it, fear slicing through him at seeing the son he’d killed returned. “Well, if it isn't my dear, traitorous, murdering father. Did you miss me?” – Darius

Chapter 36: Max

• Lionel demands an explanation as to how Darius is alive again. “My wife, one of the True Queens, strode into death and stole me back from the hands of fate. She and her sister are more powerful than you can comprehend. And they are coming for you.” Lionel’s shock shatters into fury and he attacks. Darius blocks with an ice shield protecting them and Tharix. He turns to Max, who has the stardust so they can escape, but Max says he cannot leave yet, he needs to find and stop that agony that lured them there. Tharix is surprised they can hear it too and when Max asks him what it is he replies “Salvation, Perhaps” Darius tells Tharix if he wants salvation he should start by making a path for them to get out of there…so he does. Tharix shrouds the room with shadows blocking them from all the attacking dragons and leading them away.
• They run into an emotionless girl (Lyra). Max says they have to take her with them and tosses her into Darius’s arms.

Chapter 37: Darcy

• Lavinia’s light power is destroying everything thrown at her. It reminds Darcy of the woman on the battlefield from the vision Arcturus showed her and Orion. Every time she or Tory get close to Lavinia that power saves her. The twins agree not to give up and keep fighting, until the end. Together they throw everything they have at Lavinia, but it’s not enough. Lavinia shoots her power back at them. The twins try to flee but Lavinia’s power is racing towards them…gaining on them, about to obliterate them.

Chapter 38: Max

• Max, Darius and the un-named girl (Lyra – we know her name) flee into a room with a door at the back. It leads them to the fallen star that has been trapped by Lavinia’s shadows. It speaks to them, and Max realizes what he has to do. He tells Darius to block their ears. Darius forms a silencing bubble around himself and the girl. Max then sings his lullaby. A song that will put any Fae that hears it to sleep for a hundred years.  When the star is finally asleep, he takes out the stardust and throws it over their group, whisking them away into the night.

Chapter 39: Darcy

• A moment before Lavinia’s power hits Darcy & Tory it vanishes. Lavinia screams and raises her hands to get the light magic to work again, but it doesn’t. Darcy, taking advantage of the situation, races towards Lavinia, but she disappears into a glitter of stardust before Darcy can reach her.
• Tory uses her phoenix fire to destroy all the Nymphs around them and the rebels take control of the battle.

Chapter 40: Tory

• The battle is over. They won, but they came far too close to failure.
• Darius and Max returned, and a war council was convened in The Orb. When Tory asks where they’ve been Darius says “Visiting my father” He and Max explain about being called away during Max’s Siren Spell, finding Lionel’s army and Tharix and about the Fallen Star. They piece together the star gave Lavinia that power and now that it was asleep she wouldn’t be able to use it for a while. Gabriel tells them the star will remain asleep for about a week, maybe ten days.
• Gabriel hugs Seth and thanks him for protecting his son. “I owe you a debt. Luca’s life was in your hands, and you kept him safe. Without your help I saw… The fate you kept him from will never be forgotten.”
• Tory notices the girl Max and Darius brought back and asks who she is, but they just kind of skip to Lyra seeing the twins at the Nebula Inquisition Center, only it wasn’t really them, it was Clydinius and so now they have confirmation that Clydinius has allied with Lionel. Max uses his siren powers to help Lyra relax and feel comfortable enough to talk and tell them her story. “I don’t know why they kept me. They said I might be the answer, but I don’t know what to. It…he…they took me with them and let me watch while they killed and destroyed and searched for something. They took me to see The Ferryman too. They wanted to make a bargain with him.”  She told them The Ferryman refused to bargain with the star but then the Dragon King showed up offering his own deal.
• While the rest of them are thinking about how bad it is that Clydinius and Lionel are allied now, Gabriel sees (not sees) the potential of “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.”  They could ally with The Ferryman and the other Stars. Tory is skeptical since she defied them and broke their rules to get Darius back, but figures it’s worth a try. They would need to do something to make up for that. Darcy suggests “What if we freed the star that Lionel has trapped away in his palace of traitors?”
• Darcy has an idea for how to get around the Nymph’s rattles taking out their magic and Gabriel, seeing her plan says it might work, but they shouldn’t discuss it with anyone else yet because it is a tentative fate that can be changed by many hands.
• They discuss Miguel and the other Nymphs that were released from Lavinia’s shadows and consider trying to ally with them. It could help level the playing field if they had a Nymph army of their own.
• They discuss attacking all the remaining Nebula Inquisition Centers at the same time to free everyone and hopefully some of the prisoners will join them boosting their own ranks.
• They talk about Lionel’s bonded dragons being a problem and Tory and Darius get a little riled up over the idea of killing them. Orion points out their excitement and says “That is a problem” Xavier agrees that “It is kinda disturbing.” When Tory asks what they're talking about, Darcy says that everyone has noticed the way she and Darius get when it comes to killing. Tory explains that it's the price they’re paying for bringing Darius back from death. She explained that while she didn't know what the price was going to be she was fine accepting whatever it was because unlike the stars deals, ether only takes the price from the Fae that wields it. And the only way to circumvent a personal cost would be by giving a sacrifice so she happily took whatever the price was upon herself. She then considers the idea of going to speak to The Ferryman to demand the precise answer to this payment. Darius agrees that they should go ask him.

Chapter 41: Darcy

• Darcy and Geraldine are outside with the Shadow Beast. Darcy is trying to get Geraldine used to him, but Geraldine is terrified of him since he almost killed her while under Lavinia’s control. When Darcy calls him ‘Shadow’ Geraldine asks if Darcy has considered asking its true name. She says since they'd already formed the connection all Darcy should have to do is ask and the shadow beast would probably offer up its star name. She does and the Shadow Beast replies ‘Excaverinias- helios-dolianco.’  Darcy then asks if it's ok if she just calls him Shadow as a nickname and he grunts and nudges his nose against her face. Geraldine takes that a yes and apologizes to Shadow for thinking he was dangerous when it seems that he is “as docile as a dandelion - at least to those in your favor”
• Geraldine declares Shadow ‘Queen Darcy’s Steed’ and says she will have a saddle and armor forged for him as soon as possible. She asks about having a collar made for him, but Darcy quickly says no and that he's seen enough chains. He will always be free to come and go as he wishes.
• Geraldine moves on to talking about the latest drill she’d been practicing with their army. Should they be attacked again, they would be prepared to escape onto RUMP island. Then, Geraldine leaves to go get started on Shadows new saddle and armor
• Darcy checks her Atlas and reads a new article posted by Tyler. Something about an embarrassing video of Lionel during his graduation. When Darcy looks up, she sees Orion just standing there watching her. They have a cute little back and forth, but Darcy has to meet up with her sister, they're going to visit the secret Nymph village to try and recruit them, so Orion quickly shoots her up to their room (they’re no longer staying in Orion's chalet; they have a large room that Geraldine made for them in the castle on RUMP island) so she can change. There is a little more oh.la.la between them, (not much) and then he takes her to the gates to meet up with Tory.
• Orion gives Tory a friendship bracelet that he made for her since she gave him one. (AWWWWWWWW) before shooting off. He doesn’t want it to get awkward between them. “Tell him thanks, okay? I don't want to do it, because he'll be sarcastic and then I'll be sarcastic, then we'll fist bump or some shit, and I can't deal with how uncomfortable it'll all be.” – Tory
• The Twins Stardust to the secret village where they are not met with happy Nymphs. They're not necessarily angry or mean, but the new high Nymph (Cordette) does not trust them and is not willing to fight alongside them. Miguel is no longer a high Nymph either. Karim, one of the Nymphs Darcy helped free from Lavinia’s control tries to speak on her behalf, but Cordette shuts him down saying what Darcy did was for her own benefit. She didn’t do it to help the Nymphs, that they don't care about the Nymphs at all. Darcy disagrees and tells them how much she cared for Diego. She pulls his hat from her pocket as proof. Cordette says she never knew the boy and doesn’t seem inclined to discuss it further. Miguel asks Darcy if he can have the hat, even though he believes he doesn't deserve it.  Darcy gives it to him saying he did nothing wrong. He was a captive. She tells him that Diego died in her arms and she grieves him still. “He was meant to betray us, but he saw what we all should have. He saw that we didn't have to be enemies, that we could be equals. In the end he died protecting my sister, and we're here to repay that debt. It won't be simple, but it will work if we want it to.” – Tory. Cordette tells Miguel if there's anything of note in the memory hat, she will keep an open mind and observe it herself.  When she sees Darcy crying over Diego she comments “You are not like other Fae,”
• The twins leave to go visit the oracles hoping they might have seen something about the war no one else has or that they might have answers about the Guild Stones. Along the way an overly excitable young Nymph called Igrit follows them talking about how he wants to fight in the war. He has a secret he shouldn’t tell them. He's an undercover warrior in training and couldn't go breaking his vow of secrecy… but then he does. He tells them that Karim has started a rebel club. They host weekly meetings and he himself is one of the recruits, along with Miguel, his Mama and his siblings. Tory asks if they will fight even if Cordette refuses them, but he says it's more complicated than that. It's not easy for any of them to leave and even if they managed it, they would then be considered enemies. Tory asks Igret to get Karim and bring him to speak with them, and he agrees.
• The twins go in and visit the Oracles. They ask Tory if she found her lost husband and Tory confirms that she did and informs them of the price she paid to do so. Then the oracles turn their attention to Darcy. They like her ring and somehow know that it contains Shadow, sleeping inside of it. They ask for her ring as payment for the answers to their questions but Darcy absolutely refuses and they say that pain will then suffice as payment. Both girls suffer broken fingers in silence as well as a cut to use their blood in the spell. With the payment made the oracles tell them “a circle of power, 12 in total. Many powers do the Guild stones wield, even alone. But together they create a snare. But without bait…no, without bait there is no worth in it. A snare of all things great and all things small.” When Darcy asks how to make this snare, they reply she already knows the answer. It has already been spoken from her lips. Then they say “that is all we know. Our debt is paid.” and refuse to say anything else.
• The girls leave the cave and find Igret waiting with Karim, who immediately pledges his allegiance to them and says if he can gain passage when the time comes, he will fight for them. He says he will continue to try to persuade Cordette and rally more warriors as well. When they tell him the upcoming battle could be fought within a week, he says he'll do what he can, but there is still the trouble of the shadow taint. Even if they can break the village’s barriers, they could succumb to Lavinia’s power again. Darcy promises to try and find an answer to the problem and Karim gives them a wooden totem as a vow of their allegiance.

Chapter 42: Lionel

• Lionel, Lavinia, Tharix, Clydinius and several of the Bonded Dragons are walking along an air bridge over the ocean toward Hydros Academy; a specialist school that had been offering sanctuary to all kinds of water-based Fae. One of Lionel’s advisors had made a prediction that the rebel army was about to gain new followers from a large group of sea-folk, and he was going to stop it before it could happen. As they walked, Lionel was talking with Clydinius, trying to figure out how he could claim the stars’ power for himself. Clydinius said if Lionel helped him reach his goal (the rising Trinity) he would reward Lionel. Lionel doesn’t say what he wants out loud, but he wants to become immortal. The Eternal King.
• They reached the spot where the Academy was located and Lionel raised his arms to break the wards, but they were too strong and threw him into the ocean.  Growling and pissed at being shown up in front of his people, he didn't take it well when Tharix sniggered at him. He yelled at Tharix and planned to teach him a lesson when they returned. Tharix doesn’t seem afraid of him or like he cared at all… or about anything that had been going on lately. His face was full of stony indifference. Before Lionel could try to break the wards again, Clydinius waved his and slashed through them with ease, revealing the Academy. Waving his hand again he tore Fay from within the academy, taking on hundreds of them single-handedly. The Bonded Dragons hurried to capture them, caging them in magical pods in the ocean.

Chapter 43: Darius

• Darius is waiting impatiently for Tory to return. Finally, around four in the morning she does. She’s exhausted and hungry. While she goes into the bathroom to clean up Daruis goes to The Orb to get her some food. While Darius is there, he sees Cal and Seth eating a pizza and talking. He shoots Seth a peace sign and winks, making Seth balk and Caleb elbow him. (LOL)
• Darius returns to his room and finds Tory asleep in the jacuzzi tub. He washes and conditions her hair and she pulls him into the water “I wanted you closer” He feeds her and then things get spicy.

Chapter 44: Caleb

• Caleb is secretly heading to meet up with Orion so they can learn more about the coven bond. It is extremely illegal, so nobody could know what either of them were up to. On the way Caleb runs into his brother, Hadley, and Athena Capella. The two of them and Grayson were working on creating a defuser to fry all of Lionel’s weapons. The only problem was they were struggling to find a power source strong enough to do it. So far, the diffuser only sent out a pulse that traveled about ten feet. Caleb suggests adding clear quartz or jade to help with amplification. “Yeah, but by Grayson’s calculations we'd have to have a mountain of the stuff to take down a whole army wearing those weapons.” (A whole mountain of jade huh, wherever would they find such a thing?)
• Caleb meets up with Orion, who brought a book and several old scrolls that were from the Blood Ages, back when vampire covens ruled and nearly destroyed everything. (hence why it was illegal for vampires to form covens now) before opening and reading the books they swore an oath that they would only use the information they learned to help win the war. Then, they would never use it or even speak of it ever again.

Chapter 45: Xavier

• Xavier, Tyler, and Sofia are training for battle along with everyone else (The Queens, Heirs, ex-councillors, spares, Orion, Geraldine…etc) Xavier is trying to fight through Tyler’s shield but no matter what he does he can't seem to do it. He is just so angry at Lionel for everything his father has done. Orion comes over and explains to Xavier that his rage is messing with his focus. He can break the shield, but his anger is messing up his punches.  Orion helps Xavier ‘breathe and think’ and as soon as Xavier gets his focus back he punches through the shield.
• After training some of the rebels were going on a mission. Sofia asks Xavier if he wants to save time and shower together and Tyler is all about it too. As they're walking away Xavier pulls Darius to the side to ask him a personal question. Darius puts up a silencing bubble and continues to ask Xavier if he's having problems with the gemstones on his dick chafing or if he has that ass infection again, or if he trapped his dick in the fridge drawer again, listing off the most mortifying moments of Xavier’s life, clearly messing with him. Xavier tells him he's having trouble ‘finishing’ when he's with Tyler and Sofia. He is suffering from survivor’s guilt. Darius reminds him that bad stuff happens, it's not fair but that's life. He tells Xavier that their mom died for them, and he knows she’d do it all over again because that's what we do for family. He himself would do it and he knows Xavier would do it too. Xavier keeps going, saying he used to think that things would have been better if he himself hadn't been around. If Lionel hadn't been able to use him against Darius, then maybe Darius wouldn't have had to go through everything he went through. Maybe he wouldn't have been star crossed. “Don't speak like that. I'd be nothing without you. My childhood only held any happiness because you were in it. Without you, I never would have had something to fight for. I would have become father's puppet long before I ever considered breaking away from him. You were the reason I resisted him. You, Xavier. Because I love you. You are my fucking brother, there isn't a universe I’d want to exist in without you.”
• They walked to the gate where they met up with the rest of the group going on the mission and Stardusted to the mountain side where Lionel’s army was located. They all cast thick concealment spells to hide their presence before weaving illusions. They created thousands of soldiers coming to attack; bannerman, foot soldiers, and Manticores, Harpies and Griffins in the sky as well. They were laying plans to increase their chances when the time came to really face Lionel’s army. ‘And by dusk, I hoped we'd be back at the Academy with many victories being sung by the rebels, because we weren't the only Fae in our group on a mission right now. The others would be arriving at the doors of their own destinies, and I wished them all the luck in the world. Because the fate of this war depended on them.’

Chapter 46: Orion

• Orion and Max are on a mission to release everyone captured at Helios Academy. He and Max swam out to the watchtowers and secured the guards.  Max sang his ocean song creating a giant tidal wave that smashed through all of the wards, then Orion used his air magic to create a violent storm snapping the wooden struts of the other watchtowers, making all the guards fall into the water. The aquatic Fae took care of them easily enough.  Max and Orion then went around freeing all the Fae being held in nets. When they all made it back to shore, they announce “The True Queen's reign has begun! Join the Vegas in their fight against the False King! Our army awaits new recruits at Zodiac Academy. All who come shall be protected, whether you wish to fight or not.”

Chapter 47: Tory

• Tory, Darcy, Darius, Xavier and the ex-councillors had conjured an illusion of a rebel army coming to attack and Lionel’s army was rushing around preparing themselves for battle. “We have maybe 30 minutes before they make it out to meet our army of ghosts and realize they aren't quite what they seem, '' Darius said. The original plan was for Drius to fly Tory and Darcy to Lionel’s castle, but that plan had changed, and Tory didn't tell Darius because she knew he’d try to stop her. The best route for them to take through the mountains wouldn't fit a giant scaly dragon. “Roxy, If you try to go down there alone, I'll throw you over my shoulder and tie your ass up to stop you. That's not just dangerous; it's fucking suicide and none of us can follow you into that crack of hell.”  Tory replies “Oh baby, don’t threaten me with a good time.” Before she quickly dives down into the chasm with Darcy right behind her, leaving a furious Darius behind.
• The chasm was barely wide enough for them to fly through, their wings scraping the sides as they flew as quickly as they could towards Lionel’s castle. They swept around a sharp corner and a waterfall was right before them. They tucked in their wings and flew through it into the pitch-black caves beyond. The girls wrapped concealment spells and silencing bubbles around themselves and continued on as quickly as they could, passing tunnel after tunnel. They heard a clacking sound along with an eerie feeling warning them of something nearby. Then came the rancid stench of death making them both nearly gag.  A metal plaque placed above the opening of one of the passageways leading off the main tunnel read ‘Smittony’. Another plaque over a different tunnel read ‘Roarkarlow’. The howl of a werewolf sounded ‘shrill and desperate, laced with undeniable hunger’ and they realize these are more of the monsters that had attacked Zodiac Academy. After the attack the professors that remained at the academy had examined the dead monsters and they said that they “weren't natural, they were made.” But right now the fallen star was the more pressing concern. They had to take care of the star first, but then they would come back to destroy the monsters.
• Just as they came upon the exit, they found Clydinius standing there. The twins were still wrapped in shadows and concealment spells so Clyde hadn't noticed them yet, but Tory had no doubt despite all the magic surrounding them he would be able to see right through it if he turned their way.

  Chapter 48: Seth

• Seth and Caleb are in the Polar Capital intending to release the Polar Bear shifters and other Fae being forced to mine the Glacia Diamonds. Diamonds that were the size of a fist and were said to be able to harness the mysterious powers of the Northern Lights. The mines had long been owned by a society called the Glacials. At least until Lionel’s ascension. Now, they were all owned by the king and all diamonds were to be sent directly to his court.
• Seth and Caleb were staying back, watching the miners. “There are more miners than K.U.N.T.s. Why don't they fight back?” “We must be missing something.”  As they watched, a man launched himself at one of the guards, but before his fist could even connect with the guards face, ‘a blast of power shot through the air and cleaved the upriser’s skull in two.’ Using his vampire hearing Caleb heard the other miners saying that each of them had been fitted with trackers that linked to the weapon. As soon as someone's adrenaline levels rose, it was activated. The man who was just killed had been telling people he could suppress his adrenaline. (Obviously, he could not.)
• Seth and Caleb knew they needed to take out that gun before anyone else knew they were there. As soon as the fight began the prisoner’s adrenaline levels would rise and people would die. “That gun will have protection spells, or the prisoners would have taken it out by now” Caleb said. “Remember that earth lesson where we learned to crush items with stone?” Seth asked. “Crush the fuck out of it, Seth.” They made their plan for Seth to crush the gun, and then Cal would break the chains holding all the Polar Bear Fae prisoner. As soon as they crushed the gun, Cal released the prisoners who then turned and attacked the K.U.N.T.s. “The true Queens have sent us. Join the Vega twins at Zodiac Academy if you wish to fight! Or seek refuge among our ranks!” One of the polar bear shifters stepped forward and whispered a word that brought forth a diamond. “My name is Imenia Brumalis, and I have waited a long time to place this diamond at the feet of my Queens. As a fellow of the Glacials, I pledge my allegiance to their cause. Take me to them so that I may assist them in the war.”

  Chapter 49: Leon

• Leon, Gabriel and Geraldine are in a boat in some kind of swampy open area to rescue a bunch of Fae being guarded by Nymphs and K.U.N.T.s. Since there are Nymphs around Gabriel can't see what's going to happen. Geraldine goes ahead to scout and when she comes back, she says there are about twelve Nymph guards. Leon wants to make a bet that he will kill more than the others. The winner gets to dare the other two to do anything they want.  Both Geraldine and Gabriel take on that bet. As soon as they get on land a Galad Frog lands on Leon's shoulder. He reaches and picks it up, holding it in his hands. Geraldine and Gabriel both tell him to put it down because it's one of the most poisonous creatures in the northern hemisphere. “The poison will make you hallucinate and then your brain will melt and drip right out of your nostrils like a melted candle.” But it was too late, and Geraldine turned into a magpie and Gabriel turned into a giant banana before a bunch of Nymphs that were Christmas trees came to dance with him. Leon shot a bunch of fire around while singing and dancing. One of the Christmas trees tried to stab him with its jabby fingers and Leon set himself on fire. Geraldine came over and bit him, her Cerberus saliva healing him.
• When he woke up Leon was told: he took down one Nymph and eight regular trees, Geraldine won the bet, and they recruited a bunch of members into the rebellion.

  Chapter 50: Darcy

• Somehow Clydinius didn’t look their way. He was too distracted, whispering something and then he took off heading in the same direction the twins needed to go. They kept the concealment spells around themselves, but every turn Clydinius made was in the same direction the girls needed to go. They followed him all the way to the fallen star.
• Clydinius stood at the top of the hole. “Wake now or you will burn in Starfire” he said to the star at the bottom. When the fallen star didn’t wake, he blasted magic down into the pit, making the star scream in agony. Clydinius was trying to get the start to join him. Together they would rule, they just needed to form a Trinity with one other star. But Esvellian, the fallen star, refused. She would not betray the Origin.
• Vard came to Clydinius saying Lionel required his assistance. A great army was marching their way. Clydinius tells Esvellian that when he returned, he would force a body upon her. She needed to prepare herself, for they were meant to rise. Then he sprouted wings and flew off.
• The twins rushed over to the edge of the chasm and immediately went down to the fallen star. Using their phoenix fire they break through the shadow chains keeping Esvellian from releasing her magic into the world and dying. She says to them, “My gratitude is boundless, I will release my power and fuel the magic of this world. But before I go, I will grant you a boon.” The girls spout all kinds of things they want, the first being Lionel’s Death, but the star says she cannot grant death or life. Then they say things like giving them star power or taking away all of Lionel’s magic and all of his army's magic, maybe the star can trap them all beneath the earth for all of time. While they're saying all this, Esvellian doesn't seem like she's even listening and suggests perhaps they wish to free the souls lost to shadow? Then she decides that's what she's going to do and suddenly all the shadow souls are free. Well, at least all of the Nymphs that want to fight will be able to do so now.
• Dragons’ roars carried from outside of the castle along with a terrible shriek, Lavinia's voice was rising above all others, her screams pitched above the bellowing army. Lavinia’s pissed. ‘I guess she'd felt what Esvellian had done’

  Chapter 51: Darius

• Darius is pissed at being left behind.
• He asks Xavier if he needs a break, and his brother replies he's not as useless as he had been before Darius had died. Darius apologizes for the way he reacted when Xavier emerged as Pegasus. He says he was never ashamed or thought Xavier was useless. He was just terrified because he knew what it would mean with their father. He admitted Roxy did a far better job of stepping in and telling him how perfect Xavier was then he did. Xavier agrees and says “She really is out of your league. I dunno how you managed to bag her.”  They start to talk about their mom too, but when Darius mentions how he'd like to gut his father for what Lionel did to her and how he plans to make Lionel suffer, and Xavier agrees saying he’d ‘like to see that’, a voice behind them questions “But then who would be our guiding star?” Tharix was there. Both Darius and Xavier go on alert, but nobody attacks. Tharix says that he supposes he should tell Lionel that they're there, but for some reason he doesn't. When Darius questions it, Tharix replies it’s because they're brothers and “brothers hold a special bond with one another. One which cannot be usurped or replaced. It is not always gilded in love, but it is always there. We were born of the same seed and that means-” Xavier interrupts him and says it means nothing because while they all come from the same father, he and Darius come from their mother and take after her and her goodness, while Tharix “came from Lavinia's womb, meaning you are as like us as the dirt beneath my boots.”  Tharix considers Xaviers words before replying “I was born of a rotten tree, so I must be rotten fruit? Is bad and good all there are? And can you really claim to be either?” Darius steps in stopping Xavier from replying. Something about the way Tharix is talking and acting makes him wonder if Tharix might be considering changing sides in the war. Darius tells him that “the choices make the man.”  “If choices make the man, then perhaps I will see what I become by making no choices at all.” -Tharix

  Chapter 52: Tory

• Tory and Darcy are fleeing from the castle after releasing the star. They run into a small group of soldiers and are forced to fight. Afterwards they realize they’ve lost their way, each hallway looks like the others. Tory uses her magic to feel which way to go and they race down some stairs into the throne room. Tharix is there grinning at them. Tory says “Darius said you helped him escape. How did Lionel punish you?” A flicker of darkness in Tharix’s eyes made Darcy say “That’s fucked up. No one should treat their kids the way he does.”  Tharix considers that and asks if he lets them go, what will they owe him. The twins agree to owing him a debt and Tharix accepts before showing them the way out.
• The girls escape into the creepy caves where they find Vard’s lab with someone strapped to a table. Vard’s assistant comes in and the girls swiftly capture him in vines. They force him to tell them what he's doing and they look through a bunch of Vard’s notes. They ask how the monsters are controlled, and the man reluctantly tells them “the manacles, a location is set on their individual navigation device and the manacles burn them if they head in any direction but the correct one. They don't need any encouragement to attack, and the manacles simply return them to their holding pens once they are no longer required in action.”  Tory finds the Atlas that controls them, and Darcy sets the location for the monsters to go to the middle of Lionel’s war camp before releasing them.

  Chapter 53: Xavier

• Lionel's army was getting closer and closer to their illusion. They wouldn't be able to maintain the ruse for much longer. As the first squadron clashed with the fake soldiers, swinging their weapons and blasting magic, they collided with nothing, falling over and piling on top of each other. They started yelling “it's an illusion” and “It's a trick” to the rest of their people who all started looking around in confusion. Lionel roared in fury at the ruse.
• A flare of glittering magic shot from the ex-counselors where they were hidden as a signal for Darius and Xavier to run, then they disappeared into a cloud of Stardust. The concealment spells around the two brothers faded and Lionel’s eyes locked on them. With a look of rage, he flew towards his sons, but just as he got into range and shot his dragon fire at them, Tory and Darcy flew out of the crevice and blocked his fire with their phoenix flames. Together they stardusted back to the Academy leaving a very pissed off Lionel behind them.
• They were the last ones to return back from their mission. Everyone was safe. Xavier flew to find Sofia and Tyler and celebrate their success. A little spicy scene happens between Xavier and his herd, but unfortunately, he live streamed it all on Faebook! Whoops! And somehow managed to tag his dead mother in the post.

Chapter 54: Lionel

• Lionel’s shadow hand was racked with spasms of pain. In agony and unable to hold on to his shifted form he started falling from a turret of his castle. He managed to burst through a window of the throne room, hitting the ground hard, rolling across broken glass until he came to a halt, naked, prone and shaking on the floor. In the background somewhere, Lavinia is screaming in agony as well. Lionel's bonded Dragons group around him. None of them have any idea what is going on.
• Linda Rigel comes in and tells Lionel that all of the Nebula Inquisition Centers have been destroyed and the Fae prisoners we're now joining the ranks of the rebel forces.  In a rage, Lonel loses control and nearly shifts. His shadow hand had completely disappeared. He screams for Lavinia (he wants her to fix his hand). But she’s not there so he goes to find her. Lavinia is in her tower screaming in agony. The shadows have broken free of her leash so she can't hear them whispering anymore and the loss is like fingernails scoring lines through her skull. The shadows are no longer her loyal soldiers anymore.
• Lionel asks Lavinia if she can fix his hand (which is now just a stump), she tries but fails. ‘Her power wasn't what it had been and, in that moment, with my gaze pinned upon hers, we both felt it, the shift, the truth. She was no longer more powerful than me.’ Lavinia fails to hide her grief and fury over losing her power and then opts for seduction over force with Lionel. She says she will need time to research a bond powerful enough to link her magic to his but Lionel replies that he can think of ‘no greater bond than the one he had already asked her to make with him.’ (The Guardian Bond) Lavinia tries to put it off saying she had hoped to create that bond in celebration when they win that war but Lionel knows she has no more cards to play and pushes for it. She agrees (begrudgingly) and Lionel places the bond on her. Her Capricorn sign appears in black (instead of red like the other marks) on his arm with shadow coiling through. Once again, Lionel demands Lavinia fix his hand and she tries but it doesn't stick. She's not strong enough anymore. He bellows that she will keep trying to fix it until she succeeds.
• Something suddenly occurs to Lionel as he considers that the Vegas had been there in his castle. “The army was an illusion set to distract us. Their forces struck the Nebula Inquisition Centers while we had our forces on the impending fight we thought had come for us. But what if there was more to their ruse…”  Slowly, he began putting the pieces together. He ran up the staircase and out onto the hidden precipice, above the fallen star, but when he looked down, there was nothing but a lifeless dull boulder in an empty canyon. In disbelief, Lionel says “they stole it” but Tharix simply disagrees saying it had been freed before he turns to his mother and says “it took your whispers with it. I don't hear your breath in my ear anymore. But when he says “I am Nymph and I am Faye but I think I am something else beyond that. Something else beyond you” she gets pissed and slaps him. She says that Tharix is her creation and not to ever speak to her like that again. Using some of her power she throws Tharix against the wall and uses her shadows to punish him but he doesn't cry out or beg for her to stop. Eventually Lionel does stop her, but Lionel sees the defiance in Tharix’s eyes. The same he saw in Darius. He would ‘carve of the insolence out of Tharix before it got a chance to take root any further and be certain to keep him in line.’
• Vard finally appears and Lionel yells at him because the Vegas had entered through his caverns, but before much can be said or done Clydinius walks in, and he’s not happy.  “I need a Trinity, I made that clear.” Lionel, trying not to show how scared he is, tells Clydinius that he has Madam Monita working to predict when and where the next star will fall. He promises to deliver on his part of the bargain. After some deliberating, Clydinius says “you will show me where the next star shall fall and this time, I will be waiting to ensure it joins with me.”

Chapter 55: Darius

• The rebel army was celebrating their win after the destruction of the Nebula Inquisition Centers, the successful trick of the illusion, freeing the star and the bonus of releasing Vard’s hoard of monsters upon their own army.
• Tyler releases an article about Darius being back from the dead, with mostly all good reactions from the comment section.
• Orion and Darius talk, nothing all that important as far as plot is concerned other than the idea that Tory is planning a visit to the Ferryman soon.
• Quick spicy scene between Darius and Roxy

Chapter 56: Orion

• Darcy is drunkenly trying to show Orion what a Donus Magicae is like (when a fallen star releases its power into the world), much to Lance’s amusement. Unfortunately, Washer comes along and bumps into her, messing it up and spilling his beer all over her. Geraldine, Gabriel and Leon all suddenly appear too. Geraldine has decided what she wants to make Gabriel and Leon do since she won the bet in Chap 49. She wants them all to play a game of drunken pitball. Gabriel and Leon are team captains, and they trade off picking players for their teams. No Elysian Mates, or any couples, are allowed together on the same team, and Washer makes himself the ref. But the scene cuts after they all head to the pitball field and we don’t get to actually read about how it goes.
• It picks up the next morning with Orion saying the night had been ‘completely wild’. He was meeting Darius, Caleb and Gabriel in the treehouse. Darius brings the sapphire ring they found in Luxie Acrux’s cave. He was going to propose to Darcy. Cal brings Seth “He should be part of this”, Gabriel brings Geraldine (he accidently woke her up when he flew into her while distracted by a vision, and she decided to follow him), Seth text’s Xavier who then brings Sofia and Tyler. Geraldine sends a whistling bird to wake and bring Tory (although Tory hadn’t arrived yet) Not exactly sure how Max knew to come but he’s there too… Apparently, the stars weren’t going to let Orion keep this a secret. He decided that he wanted everyone to add a bit of magic to the ring, to make it special for Blue. With his magic, Seth added a moon cycle around the rim of the sapphire. Caleb added two leaves clasping the moon cycle, Max added a song so that it’s unbreakable and will never tarnish, then Xavier and his herd added a small glow to the middle of the sapphire, so it shines more.
• Gabriel asks if Orion plans to ask his permission to marry his sister, but Orion says no. It’s Darcy’s decision and nobody else’s. Gabriel smiles and says it was a test and that he could pick no better Fae for his sister than Orio. Darius chimes in that Hail might have preferred it if Lance knelt on his grave and begged permission, but then admits  that Hail does actually like him and even called him a “good choice for his daughter. And Marissa was just as keen.” Darius says that they are probably all there with them right now, watching. ‘A breeze spills through the room and a warmth brushes against Orion’s cheek almost as if someone had placed a hand there.’ Darius snorts in amusement and says “See, asshole? I told you we'd remember you.” That reminds him, he turns to Gabriel and asks if Garbriel had been thinking of Malrod like he told him to. Gabriel has no idea what he's talking about. (Remember, Gabriel was out of it when Darius half-heartedly did try to tell him about his birth father, but Darius also used the wrong name, so nobody knew what/who he was talking about. He also never explained to anyone why it was so important.)

D: “Your dead dad. Your biological one. I told you about him before you went off to the cabin.”

G: “You have never once mentioned my birth father to me or indicated that you had any interaction with him beyond the veil.”

D: “Marcel, that was it. Yeah, I told you he was fading out of memory and in danger of being sucked away into the beyond if no one ever thought of him or grieved for him. Honestly, I'm surprised you didn't take that more seriously because it could already be too late if you haven't even-”

Gabriel gets pissed and grabs Darius, growling at him because Darius has never once told him to think of his father. Geraldine steps in and makes them knock it off. Gabriel steps forward and adds some diamonds to the leaves Caleb had added on the ring.

• Orion left the ring in Gabriel’s care until the right time when he would propose and went back to Darcy who was still asleep. It was midday when they woke up. They went to the library on campus where Eugene had sent a new shipment of books with information about Celestial Trinities. In one of the books she finds, ‘if three stars seized the hand of fate, they could wield it in a plague of destruction that could span across the realms forever more.’  Darcy gasps and remembers a passage she had read out loud when they were in the library of the lost. She searched for the book and read it again “stone circles are one of the most powerful formations that can be created in nature, and if each stone is placed in conjunction with the planetary movements, upon sacred ground, or in alignment with the constellations, many magics can be wielded within its ring. From binding a Fae’s tongue to the path of the truth, to trapping untold power within its confines, to enhancing the magic of certain gemstones.” She then wonders to Lance, if a stone circle could somehow be connected to the Guild Stones, maybe that's how they can make the snare. Lance seems unsure, it's too vague of a description, not to mention how would they even devise such magic without more instructions. Darcy just says they’ll figure it out and so they get started gathering more information on stone circles.

Chapter 57: Caleb (Seth and Caleb! FINALLY!)

• Caleb woke up early the next morning. Now felt like the right time. He was ready. He texted his mom a location on the beach on the far side of the island, then went to meet her. They have a sweet heart to heart ‘It hurt, this moment. Even though we both knew it had come, it still hurt. And in some ways, it wouldn't change anything between us. Our love was far more than position or power. Our bond was one which could only ever be shared between mother and son, and whatever else we might be, we were that first. “Don't go thinking I'll go easy on you just because I'm emotional,” mom laughed against my chest, squeezing me tightly and letting the moment drag on just a little. “I wouldn't forgive you if you did,” I replied.’ And then they battled each other. For several hours Caleb fought to take over his mom's position as celestial counselor, after a very long grueling fight, he won.
• After the fight they hugged each other, said there I love yous, and then his mom told him to go tell the world to get fucked. She knew where his heart truly lied. (lay? IDK) So, Caleb did. He raced off to The Orb where he was supposed to have been with the others for an on-air rally, trying to urge more Fae to rise up and join the rebel army. The Queens and the other Heirs were there speaking into the camera. Caleb marched right up to Seth and professes his love. In front of everyone on live TV. The two go to Kings Hollow where things obviously get SPICY!!!  (FINALLY!!! WOOHOO!) Oh and then the moon makes them Moon Mates. Awwwwwwwwwwwww.

Chapter 58: Darcy

• Tory and Darcy go back to the Nymph village and tell Cordette that the fallen star had released the shadow souls, they were no longer at risk of succumbing to Lavinia again. She made no promises about joining them in their war, but they did discuss the possibility of Nymph warriors possibly joining the fight.
• The girls returned to ZA and went to get breakfast. Seth and Caleb came in and Seth was an excited little puppy bouncing around wanting to tell them all the news about him and Caleb being Moon Mated. Max admits he knew about Caleb's feelings already and Darius tells them about what he saw while he was dead. Tory, over acting, during the whole thing pretended to be in shock of the news.
• They finally all settled down for breakfast and a beautiful woman with long white hair and dark skin walked up to them. Imenia Brumalis, one of the women they rescued from the polar capital, reaches into her pocket and gives Tory and Darcy a Glacia diamond. “One of the few that can wield the power of the Northern Lights.” She tells them it's not a weapon, but she believes it may assist them in the battle and will teach them how to use it.
• The scene shifts to Darcy having a nightmare. She's unable to save Orion from shadows. She wakes to find Orion, coated in ice, shaking her awake.  Phoenix flames were blazing over her skin. She admits to still having trouble dealing with her feelings about when they were both held by Lavinia and her shadows. They talk about maybe going to Max, he helped Tory so maybe he can help her too.
• Gabriel knocks at the window. He said vision and the three of them needed to go somewhere. They Stardust to the palace of flames where the Nox Flower is in bloom. Now is their chance to collect the pollen. (Just a quick refresher the pollen of the Nox Flower holds ‘untold power and when mixed with treckwit powder and elixir of dunebark it created a potion that can temporarily make a Fae resistant to the Nymphs ability to shut off a Fae’s magic’) This was Darcy’s plan from earlier. The one for dealing with the Nymphs rattles that Gabriel said they should keep between themselves to avoid anyone altering it. Gabriel says they have a 5% chance of succeeding, but he can’t see why. As they go to try and collect the polling they’re attacked by skeletons. Queen Avalon had set a trap there fearing the Nymphs would find out about the flower. She was the only one who could get close…but she’s dead so... now they have to figure out how to get it. They manage to kill all the skeletons, but at the last moment a Phoenix fireball shoots right for Orion. He wasn’t going to be able to dodge in time, so Shadow took the hit for him. Getting very hurt but thankfully not fatally wounded, Shadow finally earns Orion’s trust and respect. Gabriel collects the pollen, and they head home!
• Gabriel and Darcy head to the roof to talk about Darcy’s nightmares. He reminds her that she has Harpy blood and their mother was fiercely protective by nature, just like he is, and hydras weren't exactly laid back in that department either. He says Darcy needs to embrace that part of herself. “Your mind is trying to warn you about what you desperately fear might come to pass. Of Lance being captured and tortured again, of your loved ones being killed. It's telling you, at its core, that you must protect them. And if you decide that that is your duty and step into that role as fully as you possibly can, I believe the nightmares will fade.” Then, he offers to teach her his ways, how a harpy’s duty is to protect the nest. He says that he is the last to go to sleep and the first to rise each day, and every night he flies up into the air to scour the perimeter a few times, scouting until he's sure there are no enemies on the horizon, nothing out of place, and no cause for concern. It's all part of being a Harpy. She joins him to scout the perimeter and feels the knot in her chest loosen. “You can scout with me anytime. Take control of your fear, Darcy and it will never control you again.” 

Chapter 59: Tory

• Tory has been up all-night reading from the Book of Ether and making notes in a journal she stole from Orion. Darius wakes up, they talk and flirt a little, and he goes to get them some coffee while she takes a bath to get ready for the day. The next thing Tory knows, Caleb’s voice is waking her up. She had fallen asleep in the tub, but she's completely covered by bubbles so no big deal. (And it's not like Caleb is interested anyway.) He asks her if she's found anything useful in the books, picking them up and moving away from the bathroom door but leaving it open so they can still talk. Tory replies that Ether is long game. It's hard to see many ways they could use it to fight because the spells require set up, and sacrifice time, not to mention they're not really even aggressive spells. There are curses but there’s the cost involved in using those, and usually they require hair or toenails from the intended victim. The elemental books have more aggressive magic in them but that takes time to learn, and that’s just something they don't have; and it's pretty dangerous if you get it wrong.  Caleb asks what's with all the research then and she replies that she is trying to think outside the box by trying to piece together spells and using her understanding of runes. She's not sure what exactly she's thinking of or if anything she tries would even work, but she feels like the threads of a plan are coming together.
• The door to their room opens and Darius comes in and immediately gets pissed when he sees Caleb in the room while she is still in the bathtub.  Darius starts to throw a fit and Tory ends up making a joke about how they might possibly want to have another three-way to spice up their marriage in a few years. As she's making her joke Seth comes in and gets all upset because he didn't know about the three-way and he thinks they need to even it out somehow now. Caleb put a stop to that by reminding him of all the orgies he's had in the past and by kissing him to make him shut up. Orion and Darcy come in as well and even though nobody is interested in seeing Tory naked, and she's fully hidden under the bubbles, Darius continues to throw the biggest hissy fit over the idea of somebody potentially seeing her naked. Everyone leaves to go get breakfast and give them a moment. Darius pulls Tory from the tub immediately domming her in a fast, messy, brutal way.
• When everyone returns for the meeting, Caleb points out a complex rune in the Book of Ether. It’s one that was meant for banishment though what it banished was unclear, but Tory still makes note of it in her journal
• Geraldine tells everyone they’ve heard back from Voldrakia and as Gabriel saw they ‘refuse to take part in a foreign war, but Emperor Adhara sends his well wishes to his granddaughters, saying he will pray to the stars for your victory and hopes you will visit with him once the war is won to discuss a peaceful alliance with his nation.’  He also sent a chest containing a gift. Remembering the “gift” he sent Lionel, (the venomous snake that attacked the moment the box was opened) they put up a shield before opening it. Inside were four little sayer dragons. They immediately imprinted upon the two queens, ‘forever faithful to your will and forever loyal to your wishes’. Sayer dragons were thought to be extinct because once they imprinted to a Fae, their loyalty could not be changed and the jealousy over the power and protection they offered up to their owners resulted in them being hunted to extinction… Or so they all thought. The powers of sayer dragons are considered ‘vast and unknown, unpredictable and immense, each of them growing into magic unique to its own personality, the power of which is sustained by the connection it holds with its masters.’ And now they have four of them.
• “So, we have four baby lizards, clean shadows and the friendlier Nymphs considering their options, an army of rightly pissed off and motivated Fae, the two most powerful Fae in the Kingdom plus seven of the second most powerful and you, Geraldine, who is arguably an army all on your own. We have a Shadow Beast, the Nox plant, the greatest seer of our time, and a powerful Glacia diamond. So why do I still have this awful feeling that we don't have enough to win this war?”  Tory adds that she also has the beginnings of a plan but she wants to visit the Ferryman first. Darius suggests maybe seeing if Tharix would consider switching sides. He let Darius go twice and even let Tory and Darcy go when he found them in Lionel’s throne room. Seth freaks out remembering when Lavinia gave birth to him, and Max accidentally sent some of Seth’s feelings around making everyone want to drop that subject. Orion commented they were working on figuring out the Guild Stones, they had the beginnings of a plan and would keep working on it.
• Tory asks Seth if he was planning to challenge his mom for her spot and he replies that it wasn’t the right time to introduce a new Alpha to the pack on the brink of war. When asked the same question, Max agreed it wasn’t the right time for them either. His dad already lost so much (his wife’s betrayal and Ellis leaving with her) Max hadn't heard back from Ellis, but it didn't look like she was going to switch sides, and with the battle looming on the horizon it meant Tiberius was going to lose at least one of his children soon. Tory says she'll order for Ellis to be captured and not killed if possible. The only problem was that Ellis had been made an Heir and was now seen as a figurehead who had joined Lionel. She was showing her support for him. After the war a lot of people would be out for blood, hers included.

Chapter 60: Orion

• Darcy and Orion are on top of the cliffs of Aer Cove. They arrange the Guild Stones in a circle and Darcy calls for Arcturus, requesting his council. Angry at being summoned, he says that he cannot assist the beings of the realms, ‘for to do so is to thwart all the laws set in place by the origin’. Defying those laws is what the Novus stars did. Darcy replies that all she's asking is for them to assist her in righting the scales that the Novus stars had thrown off balance. Arcturus brings them to a small island where ‘untruths could not be spoken’ and says if Darcy even tries to lie, he will let the ocean ‘reap its bounty from the soul of her Elysian Mate’. He throws Orion's soul into the ocean all the way down to the sea bed where he's thrashing around unable to breathe while Darcy and Arcturus talk. When he is finally brought back to the island, Orion asks Darcy if she got what she needed and when Darcy says she did Orion asks what Arcturus wanted in return.  Before she can answer, Arcturus interrupts, “Perhaps it is time I returned you to your earthly world, so that you might lie again.” leading Orion to believe Darcy might lie to him in order to protect him from knowing the cost that she would bear for the stars’ help. Darcy tells him she wouldn't lie to him, and they argue over it because that's exactly what he would do (and has done) to protect her. He would do anything, sacrifice himself, if necessary, to protect the people he loves. The scene ends with them getting spicy together.

Chapter 61: Darius

• Darius and Tory go visit the Ferryman. They ask specifically about the cost for taking Darius from death. How many deaths do they need to provide, how long will they revel in bloodlust and violence? He replies that some souls weigh heavier than others. Darius asks if Tharix’s life would count as extra considering he has 4 Fae souls bound to him, but the Ferryman says that Tharix will not suffice. Roxy asks if Lionel's soul is weighted in enough sin. The Ferryman replies that he and the might of his army will suffice. If they can kill Lionel and survive the war, then their debt will be paid in full.
• The Ferryman goes to leave, but Roxy jumps onto his raft to offer up a trade. She had a draining dagger stained with the blood of the cursed that she had retrieved from Herithé. She kept it hidden from Darius because its hilt was covered in gemstones and she didn't want to show such a treasure to the greedy Dragon. She tried to trade the dagger for the Ferryman’s protection (for their army). The Ferryman did not accept the trade, but Tory gave the dagger to him anyway, hoping that maybe at least he won't be against them now, and that he'll forgive her for stealing Darius back from his grasp.

Chapter 62: Tharix

• Tharix is wandering through the castle. He wanders into the throne room and finds his mother. She seems suspicious of him but doesn't say anything about it. She tells Tharix that one day the throne will be his and the crown which goes alongside it. He takes a seat on the throne but then immediately gets out of it saying he doesn't think it fits. Lavinia replies that it's because he's still growing into it and it'll fit perfectly when his time comes, but Tharix thinks on that and wonders if that's really what he's looking for. He remembers seeing his brothers laughing together and something in his chest twists sharply.
• Lionel's shadow hand still had not been returned to him and his rage over it was released upon Tharix regularly so when Tharix hears Lionel headed their way, he leaves not wishing to deal with that again. Tharix takes the stairs down deeper and deeper under the castle and as he steps through a puddle a skeletal hand reaches out and pulls him inside it. “You are in possession of items which belong to me, Shadowborn. I have come to claim them.”

Chapter 63: Mildred

• Mildred had been captured during the fight at ZA and was slowly going crazy from not being near Lionel, as the Guardian Bond demanded, as well as not being allowed to use her magic. One of the guards noticed her on the floor of her cell and thought she might be sick, so they took her to Uranus Infirmary. Along the way Mildred reached out and scratched one of her guards, stealing the gold bracelet from the woman's wrist. Mildred slipped it down her pants to keep it hidden but still against her skin absorbing some magic from it. Once Mildred was strapped to the bed in the infirmary, the guard healed that had been scratched, healed her wounds and noticed that her bracelet was missing. Mildred knew her time was up and used the little bit of magic she had gained to kill the guards. She grabbed one of their cell phones and quickly called her dad telling him she was escaping and needed him to come help. She broke the chains holding her and grabbed a vile of order suppressant antidote. Just as she was about to give herself the shot Geraldine came in. Mildred used the very last of her magic to bind Geraldine’s hands in vines and took the antidote. She shifted into her dragon form and grabbed Geraldine in her talons intending to take her back as a gift to Lionel.

Chapter 64: Darcy

• Justin Masters came racing in shouting that Mildred had escaped and taken Geraldine with him. Darcy and Orion send a voice message to the group chat telling everyone what had happened and to meet at the parking garage and bring their keys. The only way they were all going to be able to follow fast enough would be in cars/motorcycles. (The vampires would run) Darcy got in Max's car. As they sped along catching up, they spotted a horde of Dragons flying towards them. Geraldine and Max continued to follow Mildred while the others fought the Dragons.  Oh, and at some point Darcy and Max switched seats in a quick 1,2,3 move so Darcy was driving now and Max was trying to lure Mildred back with his siren song.

Chapter 65: Tory

• Tory fights and kills a dragon. That’s it.

Chapter 66: Geraldine

• Geraldine is being carried by Mildred. She is upset that she let herself get caught. She has a hidden razor blade in her forearm and says she will cut her own throat before allowing Lionel to have any of her memories. Mildred is slowly succumbing to Max’s Siren song.

Chapter 67: Orion

• Orion and Caleb are fighting together, letting their coven bond connect so they can speak to each other through their minds and see through each other’s eyes. They take down a dragon but as soon as they go to attack another, they hear the sound of wrenching metal. A dragon plucked Seth’s car off the road and had thrown it off a cliff. Seth wasn't getting out of the car. Orion uses his air magic to get to him and pull him out of the car at the last moment. Seth was unconscious with a head wound and had other internal wounds. Orion pours all his magic into healing him but does not think it's going to be enough. He starts yelling at Seth to wake up, admits to being ‘moon friends’ and that he likes Seth, he can't die yadda yadda yadda. Slowly Seth’s heart starts picking up speed again. He heard everything Orion said, of course Orion denies it. Caleb shows up obviously extremely relieved that Seth is not dead. They kiss and then Seth gives both vampires his wrists to bite to restore their magic so they can all continue fighting.

Chapter 68: Max

• The road was about to head in the opposite direction of where Mildred was taking Geraldine. Darcy was forced to swerve, Car…Big Bada Boom! Darcy shields and saves herself and Max. She uses her air magic to fly them toward Mildred & Geraldine while also keeping them hidden from sight. Both she and Max shoot ice spears at Mildred forcing her to drop Gerry. Max catches her in a net of air magic and brings her back to them. Mildred escapes.

Chapter 69: Tharix

• Tharix has been pulled down into the puddle by the Ferryman, who says Tharix has stolen from him. Tharix denies it saying “I didn't ask for this. I had no choice in my creation.” The Ferryman snarls back at him saying he forbids Tharix from death. “I refuse you entry to the realm beyond this one. May you linger forever in the clutches of life while all others pass on without you.”  He then rips out the four souls (and the four different elements they held) that had been contained within Tharix, releasing them all into death. The Ferryman continues, “Death will surround you but never claim you.” Tharix was then spat back out into the tunnels beneath his father’s castle. A flicker of fire and a tendril of earth magic still remained with him: not stolen magic, but magic the stars had gifted him. Tharix started to laugh. ‘I was nothing and no one, alive beyond death, forgotten and promised and now… something new.’

Chapter 70: Tory

• They all return to Academy, Max takes Geraldine back to his room to recover, Darius and Orion take the only surviving dragon shifter to interrogate him. He says that they only have two days left before they will all perish. Darius kills him.
• They were out of time. They would have to face the battle only with what they’d already managed to gather, and just hope it would be enough. Tory and Darcy agree that they should march on Lionel first instead of waiting to be attacked. They tell everyone to spread the word, they march at dawn.
• Tory and Darius head toward the caves to spend some time together. Along the way they run into Cindy-Poo (From RB, and yes, she pees herself several times. ROFL)
• Tory gives Darius a gift she’d been working on tirelessly. A suit of armor made from gold, to help replenish his magic during battle. She had helped forge it using her phoenix fire. It is lightweight but strong enough to take the force of a battering ram and has clasps to release automatically if he needs to shift. Darius is in awe of the gift. It’s priceless. They kiss and…fade to black.

Chapter 71: Orion

• Orion is getting ready. He's going to propose to Darcy. Darius and Gabriel are with him. Tory, Geraldine and Sophia are helping Darcy get ready, but she doesn't know what's going on. The other girls are all pretending that they’re just going to have a party. Orion is nervous. He had covered the howling Meadow in snow and created a Willow tree made from ice at its center, a nod to their first date when he took her to this family home and showed her one of his most favorite places in the world. Darcy arrived and Orion immediately got down on his knees in front of her. “It could be our last night on earth, Blue, so I want to make it count. I know our tomorrows aren't promised, but if they were, I wish to belong to you in every way a person can belong to someone. The stars mated us, they wove our fates together long ago before our souls were cast inside our bodies. They may have marked you as mine and me as yours, but I want us to choose each other regardless of what the sky may think of it. Because if we hadn't been mated, I would still love you like this, like the world begins and ends with you. I would have walked just as willingly into the depths of Darkmoore, I would have destroyed myself to have a single taste of you. And if this is it, if our final sunrise crests on tomorrow's horizon, then I need to know that you would have chosen me too. In a time when you weren't a queen and I was nothing but a broken man, and together we denied the impossibility of us. I want a chance to do so again in the face of our downfall. So Darcy Vega, sovereign of my heart, will you defy all fates that deal our deaths and promise to marry me?” She says yes. He gives her the ring everyone helped enhance. “Once Upon a time, I was a girl afraid to be burned by the world, now I'm a queen who rules the fire. I will win this war for you, Lance, and I swear to the stars I will meet you at the altar.”

Chapter 72: Seth

• There's a whole text message conversation between Seth and the rest of the crew. Seth is trying to find out what happened and if Darcy said yes to Orion’s proposal. After some fun teasing Darcy finally joins in telling them she said yes, and Seth gets super excited.
• Seth gives Caleb a pocket watch that he created with his earth magic. The back was etched with the same image as his tattoo, a Crescent moon with a bat hanging from it and a wolf gazing up from below. But the pocket watch doesn't have any hands, also like the tattoo. Seth says “It tells our time. Our clock doesn't tick. There's no seconds, minutes or hours, it has no day or night. It just is. Forever. Whatever happens tomorrow, our time is always.” They kiss. Again fade to black. (Come on! I like the spicy scenes!!)
• The next morning Caleb helps fix Seth's armor onto his wolf form. Then he places a kiss on Seth’s brow and steps back. Caleb is in his own armor that he'd made with earth magic. Thin and lightweight yet powerful. He’d also made a twin of it for Orion. Seth looked around and saw everyone hugging their loved ones, saying their goodbyes just in case. Not all of them would return.
• Tory and Darcy are standing on a stage in their Phoenix armor with Darius and Orion next to them. Tory gives an impassioned speech and Geraldine sings to help bolster everyone's spirits. Just before they Stardust to battle Milton Hubert yells “Wait!” The twins fly over to see what's going on. An army of about three thousand Nymphs, led by Diego's father Miguel, have come to join them at the very last second.

Chapter 73: Geraldine (Final Battle Begins)

• Geraldine gives her rousing speech to their army as they stand looking at Lionel’s ‘immense forces’. The army starts chanting “Vega, Vega, Vega.” 

Chapter 74: Seth

• Seth, leading the right flank, charged into battle with his entire pack surrounding him.
• Lionel’s front lines were made of Nymphs, but thanks to the Nox flower potion, their rattles had no effect on the rebel Fae’s magic.

Chapter 75: Caleb

• Caleb, Orion and Dairus are watching the start of the war from on top of a cliff. They had a mission, so they were not part of the battle yet.

Orion: “This is torture”

Cal: “Just a little longer”

Darius: “They’re out there fighting this war but we're the ones who have the task of ending it.”

• From their position, they could see Geraldine’s tactics working. The plan was for their front line to drive forward in three locations, three points, breaking through the enemy’s frontlines in a trident shape. Then all at once the warriors in those three sections would turn their focus from advancing to cutting into the enemies caught between them, ripping a whole section of Lionel’s army out of existence and creating space for more of their warriors to push forward and reform the front line.
• Lavinia did not like how the trident had worked, and a plume of dark shadow lashed the air at the rear of Lionel’s army, revealing her location. Caleb and Orion surrendered to the coven bond and began their hunt for her. Their vision overlapping with each other’s, and they worked together taking down many Fae with their vamp speed and teamwork. Suddenly they’re surrounded by eight vamps.

Chapter 76: Darcy

• Darcy and Tory are not at the battle yet either. They have their own mission before they join the fight. They used their magic to create a circle of 12 giant stones. Each marked with a sign of the Zodiac and a Guild Stone placed within it. They etch a sun and a moon into the ground at the center of the circle before calling on Arcturus. He promised Darcy to help right the balance.  The star falls from the sky landing in the center of the circle.
  
  

Chapter 77: Gabriel

• Gabriel and Leon are also not at the battle because they have a mission too. They are creating an army of clay statues. Gabriel uses his earth magic to form them, and Leon uses his fire magic to harden the clay. This was Tory’s plan. One they weren't sure would work. Gabriel couldn't see it for some reason, but they had to try.

Chapter 78: Darius

• Darius wanted to stay in his Fae form for as long as possible knowing his golden Dragon would be a target for his father’s Bonded Dragons. Darius’s goal was to head straight for Lionel, but he still had to fight along the outskirts of the battle to make it to the Jade Castle where Lionel was hiding, not taking part in the fight.
• Darius wore his gold armor which replenished his magic almost faster than he could use it and used his Phoenix fire ax killing Dragons and Nymphs and other Fae. A nearby Nymph used its rattle thinking to get the upper hand but was unpleasantly surprised when it only disrupted the magic of the Fae in Lionel’s army. Darius and the rebel army surrounding him took advantage of their lack of magic and killed them.
•  Darius watches as many of Lionel’s Bonded Dragons race out of the castle to join the fight, but he knows his father was just trying to lure him into shifting and revealing his own location and keeps fighting in his Fae form.
• A loud boom reveals several wooden towers, each equipped with a catapult and a cannon all primed with raw magic. ‘A boom made my heart jolt, the closest war machine rocking wildly as a blast of potent power exploded from the gun, arching across the sky then slamming down into our army. They shielded, but it wasn't enough, and horror spilled through me at the mass of smoking, ruined ground, which was left in the wake of the strike, no bodies remaining where it had hit at all. Father was going to have to wait. I had a new target to destroy.’

Chapter 79: Lionel

• Lionel stood in front of magically reinforced glass watching the battle from his throne room. Satisfaction rippled through him and he smiled triumphantly as he watched the war machines do their work. Ellis Rigel asks him if he had thought on ‘the terms’ to which he replies he won't be offering any. All those that fight against him have signed their death warrants.  When she starts to question him, he rounds on her saying “It would seem the second born heirs of the greatest families our Kingdom has to offer are all runts. The kingdom will thank me for blasting each of your names from the records once this is over. When only Acrux remains, it will be clear who deserves the spot of true supremacy.”  When he slaps her and she fails to even shield, he calls her pathetic. “If all the second-borns in our family are runts, then wouldn't that include you, lame Lionel? Radcliff was the one born to power in your generation, after all. Meaning he was the one desired for greatness and you are nothing but the shame left in his wake.”  Flame bursts from Lionel, but when the smoke clears there's nothing remaining where Ellis had been. Instead, he finds Tharix standing there. Lionel orders him to go fight in the battle.
• Lionel asks his advisors where Clydinius is, saying he should be part of this battle as well, but nobody knows the answer. Lionel also notes that there has been no sign of the Vega’s or Darius yet.

Chapter 80: Darcy

• Darcy and Tory are hiding, waiting for Clydinius to appear. Clydinius still wants to form a Celestial Trinity so he would come to the fallen star, and they could trap him in the stone circle. Their plan works. The twins then use the power words that had been bound to Clydinius’s heart and begin to separate him from his body. He tries to unbind the words from himself, but he isn’t quick enough and they effectively kill the star, releasing his power into the world. Arcturus then bids them luck in the war and releases his power into the world as well.
• Now that the star is gone, it’s time for the girls to go to war.

Chapter 81: Xavier

• Xavier is battling a Manticore. He kills it. Then together he and Tyler kill a Harpy. A dragon attacks him and knocks Xavier unconscious. He comes to just before he hits the ground. He quickly beats his wings to stop falling, but many of the Fae below grab him and pull him down. There are too many. He is about to be killed, but Darius saves him at the last min. They fight together and Darius hops on Xavier’s back. Together they head to destroy the war machines. Xavier flies them close enough to the first one and Darius burns it to the ground.

Chapter 82: Orion

• Using the coven bond, Orion and Caleb drink from each other and it turns them into super vamps. They have sharper vision and are faster than the other vampires. ‘We delivered so many deaths, I knew instantly why this coven bond was forbidden, why this practice we'd learned from the ancient book of the Blood Ages had ensured the Vampires had ruled for so many generations.’ The only problem was once the magic had run through them, they hit the ground exhausted. Lionel's new war general had seen what they'd done and wanted to know how they'd learned the ways of the coven. Speaking to each other in their minds, Orion and Cal divvied up who would fight whom. Caleb took on the 10 ‘other vampires’ leaving Orion to fight the war general. They quickly drink from each other again, fight and kill the other vamps.
• There is a brief cameo of Shadow the Shadow Beast assisting with another fight and then the two vampires continue towards Lavinia.

Chapter 83: Tory

• Tory and Darcy arrive at the battle, say their “I love you’s” and head off in separate directions to fight. Tory spots Milton and his herd fighting on the front line and heads for them. Bolstered by the arrival of their Queens, the rebel army surged forward, cutting deeper into Lionel’s ranks.

Chapter 84: Max

• Max had watched as Gerry led the Starfall Legion into battle, but he stayed where he was needed, using his siren skills to bolster their army while also creating feelings of terror in their opposition. But now it was time for him to join the fight. He launched himself over the masses to land within the midst of Gerry’s Legion. A tremendous boom sounded, and they all turned to watch a glowing ball of magic shoot overhead to the far right of the battle. So far, three of the war machines have been destroyed, leaving four blasting their lines with their ferocious power. One fortuitous thing about being on the front lines was that those blasts of power were always aimed farther back, too many of Lionel’s army would be hit if they aimed closer. Something had changed though, the rebels managed to shield against the strike and launched the powerball back toward the war machine. Max yelled for them to shield, and Geraldine told them to use “Share Formation”. Everyone reaches out to touch the others, linking up magically and power sharing. Max used all that power to create a shield around them. The shield held and they all got back into the fight!

Chapter 85: Darcy

• Darcy used her phoenix fire to kill one of Lionel’s Bonded Dragons. She turns and sees Sophia and Tyler fighting some Griffins and notices a dark purple dragon headed towards them. She rushes in and kills the purple dragon too. She is then attacked by a Harpy, who realizes she bit off more than she can chew and tries to flee only to end up in the open jaws of a storm dragon (Hi Dante!)
• Darcy watched a group of allied Nymphs being led by Miguel using their rattles to immobilize the enemy Fae, before a group of rebels then rushed in to finish them. It was an effective strategy.
• Darcy watched Dante send another Bonded tumbling out of the sky. Lavinia on the western flank was causing untold destruction but Darcy knew she was needed there, taking on Lionel’s Bonded Dragons, for now. Once they had killed all the dragons, she would ‘chase the shadow bitch into the battle and secure her end in a reign of blood and hellfire.’

Chapter 86: Lionel

• Lionel watches the Vegas finally join the fight and wonders where they had been. Not knowing what they've been up to was unsettling. And where was Clydinius? Lionel had once felt so sure of success, but now his machines were falling, and his Dragons were dropping from the sky in plumes of blazing Phoenix fire. He could feel each loss of his guardians, their bonds shattering along with their bones. Straightening his spine, he reassures himself that he still has many tricks up his sleeve. Besides, that was simply the first wave, his second wave would secure his win. He calls over to Vard and instructs him to release his creations.

Chapter 87: Seth

• Seth is leading his pack, all in wolf form, on the front lines of the right flank. He had obtained small wounds but nothing deep enough to kill so he kept fighting. His friends, Frank and Alice, were fighting on one side of him while his parents were fighting together on his other side.
• A sound of chaos went up a little further away and he saw an entire legion of Fae marching for the front line in their shifted forms with huge metal guns mounted on their backs. His twin siblings Athena and Grayson noticed the new additions and immediately took off. Now, they had a job to do.
• A battle cry sounded, and Lionel's army all turned and ran away. The wolves were stunned. Was it over? Had they won? But then guttural roars came and Vard’s monsters began stepping out of a dark crevice in the mountain, all headed right for them. The monsters tore through them decimating the right flank. The monsters were too big. Even working together, they weren’t enough. Seth's cousin was torn apart, then Frank was snatched into the monster's jaws. Alice and Seth worked together but Alice was too slow and was grabbed by one of the monster’s heads and crushed in its jaws. Seth watched as both of his parents were killed as well. That monster destroyed his entire pack. And soon jaws latched around him, teeth buried into his back bursting through his armor and piercing skin. As his bones were crushed, his mind turned to Caleb. Seth felt himself falling and said his last goodbye.

Chapter 88: Tory

• Tory, flying in the sky hears the agonized screams of wolves being torn apart. She sees Seth’s pack being destroyed by the monsters. She thought the monsters her and Darcy had set loose on Lionel’s army had been it. But either they'd been wrong or Vard had created more, and these were far bigger and more horrifying than any they'd seen before. Tory amplified her voice and called to “Fall back from the right flank. Retreat and regroup. We need shifters and as much power as we can muster. Turn all focus to the right flank!” Then she raced forward to help.
• Tory saw a flash of Seth’s white fur coated in blood, but before she could go to him, she was attacked by one of the monsters. During their fight the creature’s blood began seeping into her skin poisoning her. Her body began to fail. Tory ran her thumb over a thorn of the rose ring she had been gifted by the Oscura Clan which contained basilisk anti-venom. (Thank you, Ryder!) but the time she had been down had cost them dearly. Milton’s entire herd was lost.
• A whimper from below made Tory turn to Seth. He was still alive. Tory immediately began to heal him. She looked up as Milton released a mournful moo and lowered his horns to charge the monster. Tory cried for him to wait and raised her hands to cast magic, but her power was locked to Seth’s, trying to heal him and his heartbeat still wavering. She quickly flung a dagger as Milton rushed the creature. The dagger struck the monster in the eye, making it lift its head at the last moment and Milton’s horns drove deep, tearing its throat out. ‘I screamed Milton’s name as the monster fell, its enormous weight crashing to the ground and crushing my friend beneath it as a deafening boom sounded the finality of its demise. The fur beneath my fingers turned to flesh and Seth cursed as he woke. I was already on my feet, running, magic ripping from me as I hurled the creature off of Milton with a wrench of air magic, revealing his broken body.’  Tory broke down crying, apologizing to Milton and Seth pulled her into his arms. They stood there for a moment together, taking in all the devastation around them.

Chapter 89: Darius

• Darius and Xavier were still attacking the war machines together.  After they burned the first war machine the Fae inside them had thrown all of their efforts into shielding the machines, meaning they had to change tactics and go in on foot. The two of them were battling their way up one of the machines. As they burst into the room holding the cannon, dragon fire ripped from Darius’s body, and the ball of power they had been in the process of loading into the cannon fell from their grasp. ‘“Xavier!” I bellowed in panic, whirling for my brother, magic rushing to my fingertips to form a shield which I knew wouldn't be enough. But as I spun to face him, that ball of energy falling towards the floor at my back and wild terror lighting in my heart, I didn't find my sweet brother standing stricken with panic at the knowledge of our impending deaths. I found a war stallion charging me down, head low and nostrils flaring as he galloped straight for me and beyond where the open hole sat for the cannon to fire through.’  They escaped just in time as the war machine exploded behind them, the explosion sent them tumbling through the air.
• Before either of them could reorient themselves, a creature of shadow and darkness collided with them. It was Tharix.

Chapter 90: Orion

• Lavinia was protected by rows of Nymphs making it impossible to get near her, her shadows flooding into the western ranks consuming everything in their path. Caleb and Orion were fighting as fast as they could but not fast enough. Orion told Caleb to hold the line he'd be back with a weapon and raced off to collect the arms of their fallen enemies. He placed the severed limbs in a circle and used his draining dagger to slice open his own arm calling on dark magic. All four elements combined in an explosion knocking the Nymphs back into a pit that stretched fifty feet taking enemy fae down with them. ‘The tumultuous power burning them, freezing them, and pummeling them until only death lay within the chasm.’ The severed arms turned to ash as their power was spent. Both Caleb and Orion fell to their knees, the magic of their coven bond fading again. Before they could reach out and drink from each other, a Caucasian Eagle swept from the sky and dragged Caleb away. Orion was left on the ground exhausted as Lionel’s army was closing in, a line of centaurs headed his way. One of them fired an arrow into him, but they didn't stop to finish the kill. Instead, the entire group trampled over him, crushing bones and snapping his ribs. He tried curling into a ball and moving out of harm's way, but they didn't stop coming, pounding hooves continuously striking until suddenly all feeling left his legs. The trampling finally stopped as they ran off deeper into battle. Orion began dragging himself forward, his legs useless, scraping through the mud as he set his mind on what he needed most. Blood.

Chapter 91: Darius

• Tharix shifts and stands before Darius. He says it looks as though Darius has been feasting on death.  Darius, not liking the assessment, says that he’s been fighting for the honor and liberty of his people. He’s fighting against tyranny and oppression and most of all to put the right monarchs on the throne of the kingdom. Then he asks, “What is it you fight for, brother?” Sneering on the last word and letting Tharix feel the contempt in that title and hear the acid in his tone. Tharix replies that he can't say what he's fighting for when he's little more than an observer to everything. He has been ordered to join the battle but has yet to decide which side to fight on. As Darius looks and Tharix and realizes the darkness that had once lurked within him was missing, and his shadows now shimmered with flecks of silver. Darius speculates that he wants a place in their army, but that kind of deal would have to be made by the true Queens. Tharix says that they owe him and seems to accept his place alongside his brothers. Darius tells Tharix that he's headed to the jade castle where he plans on decapitating their father and Tharix offers to help him.

Chapter 92: Caleb

• Caleb fought wildly against the eagle as it dragged him higher and higher into the sky. He uses his fire magic to burn the each and it releases him, but his triumph is short lived as he realizes that he is now falling to the ground.  Summoning earth magic, Caleb wonders if there's any way he could cushion the ground enough to save himself from death, but then he suddenly collides with a Dragon's wing. Yay Dante! He's flipped up onto Dante’s back where he immediately uses his magic to heal the Storm Dragon’s wounds. He tells Dante he needs to get to Orion and points the way, but instead they are attacked and are forced to fight back.

Chapter 93: Geraldine

• Geraldine and her Legion are fighting when the group of Fae with weapons on their backs arrives. She calls out “Shield Formation '' and they all powershare so Max can create a shield around them. Geraldine adds her own ice dome shield, but it still wasn’t enough, and the cannons began to crack their shields. Soon their Legion was revealed and more of the guns were fired as the line of beasts collided with them. Many were dying. “There’s too many of them, Gerry, '' Max said in horror. “There are never too many enemies in this world for good to overcome,” She replied. ‘Max raced past me, arrow nocked and a roar of defiance in his eyes as a gun sent a shot our way, his arrow loosing that very same moment. I saw it then: the moment of my making. For it was he or I, not both of us could walk a merry walk from this field of death. And if it could only be one of us, then let it be him. Let it be my salmon.’ Geraldine used her magic to knock Max aside so he wouldn't be hit by the sizzling power fired at them from one of the cannons. But at the last moment Justin threw himself in front of her. Geraldine tried to shield them both, but the ball of power crashed right through Justin's chest slamming into her own. It shattered her breastplate, finding her flesh. In a flash Max was there, tears streaming down his face, struggling to heal her. His magic wasn't working fast enough. He uses another of his siren songs to heal her and bring her back from the brink of death.

Chapter 94: Washer

• Washer and Elaine are fighting together. They were surrounded and didn’t have enough power left to escape, but “I think… we might have a teeny-weeny chance of making it there. Just an itty bitty sliver of a chance. But I always did like it teeny weeny…” Washer said, pointing to one of the war machines. Elaine shifted into her Manticore form and with Washer on her back, they flew toward it. But Washer’s weight was too much for her and they couldn’t fly very high. A Nymph shifted and pierced her belly with its probes knocking her from the sky and throwing Washer through the wall of the last war machine. Elaine was killed and Washer forced himself to keep going. He climbed the ladder as quickly as he could to where the cannon was located. Using his siren powers took hold of the minds all around him, finding their violent intentions he turned them towards the next most base emotion instead; Lust. One by one, their weapons fell from their hands, and he kept pumping lust at them to distract them while he tried to put out the burning fuse of the cannon that had already been loaded and was primed to fire. But even with the full force of his water magic it refused to go out. He was out of time so he did the only thing he could ‘I thrust myself against the cannon, ice pouring from me and filling that hole, filling it deep and hard all the way to the brim. I filled that hole like no other could and slapped my leopard print speedo covered hiney over the top of it for good measure, half a second before the whole world went boom around me. Death came so quick and sudden that I barely felt the hand that snatched me into its grasp, but I smiled as I sensed those waters sucking me down. I smiled because I might have been dead, but the river I looked out upon was full of the bastards I'd taken with me in that explosion and that meant my sacrifice had counted. At least a teeny weeny bit.’

Chapter 95:  Tory

• Tory: “We have to go.”

Seth: “Go where?”

Tory: “There's still hope. I have one last, insane scrap of it left. I need to meet Gabriel. Are you coming with me, or do you want to return to the flight.”

Seth: “I'll fight.”  

Tory: “Fight hard, and if it comes to it, die well.”

Seth: “Same to you, my Queen.”  

• At his request, Tory flung Seth toward one of Vard’s monsters. He wanted to bring them down for his pack.
• Tory then flew to where Gabriel and Leon had been working hard at creating the clay army. When Tory asks how many clay soldiers they managed to create, Gabriel announces that there are five thousand. “You brilliant, beautiful, overachiever.” She had been hoping for half that amount, but with these numbers, it might really make a difference…If her plan worked.
• Before she started working her spell, Tory opened the chest containing the four little sayer Dragons. They all peered up at her peeping in excitement. She asked Gabriel if he figured out what would happen if she sent them into battle and he replied that they would create chaos. The kind that might just help them. So, Tory told them to go.
• Tory turned back to the statues and drew out her sword. Using the blood of her enemies she drew runs on the closest statue. Power was being ripped from her the longer she continued the spell. Gabriel reached for her, telling her he saw her death, the magic was going to demand too much, she needed to stop, but she refused. “I need fire.” Leon set a fire blazing behind her, the warmth of it restoring her magic so she could continue. Tory pleaded for the dead to return and fight with them, but it didn't work. Then she got pissed and commanded them to return. “We are dying, we need you now more than ever. All of you were wronged in life by the False King Lionel Acrux. All of you suffered and died at his hand or the hands of his followers and he will not stop unless we find the strength to end him. Unless you find the strength to end him with us. I am Tory Vega, daughter of the Savage King, sister of Darcy Vega and rightful queen of this fucking land. I command you to come to me. Return to fight with us and pick up your swords. Your Kingdom needs you and your Queens have commanded you, so answer my fucking call!” A roar ripped through her as Ether exploded from her hand and burned its way into the first statue, then the one beside that and on and on. Tory refused to fall back until each one of them had tasted the power and her body could no longer hold on. She had given everything she had, and still it did not work. Her heartbeat was becoming slower and slower. Gabriel was yelling for her to hold on, but she couldn't even feel his hand holding hers anymore and darkness was coming to claim her.

Chapter 96:  Darius

• Darius felt The Veil pressing in close, revealing a crowd of faces. His heart stilled in his chest, the fading rhythm wavering as he tried to cling onto his life and the soul that was bound to his. “Don't you dare let go” he heard Hal Vega command. “You can end this.” Catalina said. With a snarl Darius pushed away from them channeling all his power into his heart, offering up everything he had to that connection between them.

Chapter 97:  Tory

• The gateway between realms parted at last and something had given Tory the power she needed to yank it wide open when she'd been so close to tumbling through it instead (thank you Darius). Hail Vega reached down and took Tory’s hand, heaving her to her feet with a wry smile on his face and both pride and wonder in his gaze. Her spell had worked. Then her mother was there too, and Azriel Orion. “You have until the battle is won, one way or another.” The Ferryman spoke from behind her, and then suddenly more and more of the dead claimed a body of one of the clay soldiers. Washer, Principal Nova, Catalina, Hamish, Seth’s parents and their pack, Justin Masters, Diego ("Let's kill those pendejos, mi reina”) and so many more were coming back to fight!
• “There is someone else that you should meet, son,” Hail said as Gabriel’s biological father, Marcel, claimed one of the clay statues and came forward. “I've been thinking of you. Darius said you'd been fading, and I was worried you might have passed on-” Gabriel said. “I couldn't have left without finding you first. I knew we would get our moment to fight alongside one another. I saw it a very, very long time ago.” Marcel replied, pulling Gabriel into a hug.
• The Ferryman then told them that the clay bodies will hold the souls for the duration of the fight unless they were shattered. Gabriel turned to the Savage King and his Queen, giving them their old swords. “By the stars, I have dreamed of a time when I might wield this blade again” Hail said. “This sword will run thick with the blood of those who have harmed our family soon enough,” Marissa growled. Hail then whispered in Tory’s ear “Tell the poor choice, He did…okay.” (lol Darius is the poor choice) Hail then told Tory that it was Darius who offered up his power while her life was balancing on the edge and together, they opened the way for everyone to return. But he expects the two of them to stay on this side of the veil for a very long time. Tory replies that she'll do her best. And with that they all charged into the battle.

Chapter 98:  Diego

• Diego was back fighting for the justice he never got to reap in his lifetime. But now he could make a difference. He would be a warrior for his Queens, his dearest friends, and would fight until he returned to dust. ‘We hit the bottom of the mountain, and I raced out towards the battle at the backs of the Savage King and his Queen. True to their nature, they charged defiantly into battle at the side of their daughter, ready to change in the hand of fate. Those of the allied army closest looked back to see what the storm of noise was behind them, their eyes widening and all touching their faces as they found the dead king returned from beyond. “Paras las verdaderas reinas!”’

Chapter 99:  Caleb

• Dante and Caleb had beaten the Dragons they were fighting in the air. Now, onward to Orion. Caleb notices that the right flank of their army had been destroyed and panic fills his heart as he looks for Seth. Then his gaze fell on a new force charging into the fight precisely where they needed it most and realized Tory's plan had worked. She's called the dead back to fight for them.
• As he continues searching for Seth, he notices the tiny sky blue sayer Dragon flutter by him at a casual pace. As he’s watching, it slips into the center of a herd of Lionel’ Griffins who were all chasing Sofia. Before they could do anything the little dragon released a pulse of light and the entire herd all tumbled from the sky as if they'd been paralyzed.
• Caleb finally makes it to Orion who was still crawling. He mentions that their entire right flank was destroyed but also that Tory’s plan worked. She and an army of several thousand of the dead were racing into the fight. They know they have to keep going and drink from each other again, igniting the magic of the coven bond and continue fighting their way towards Lavinia. During one of the lulls in magic, red and blue flames blazed overhead, and they saw Darcy colliding with a dragon in the sky. It hurls her out of the air, sending her flying towards the western flank, closer to Lavinia. At the same time a howl brought Caleb's attention to Seth, who was racing towards one of Vard’s monsters, ‘with a spear clutched in his fist and unsurmountable hatred etched into every piece of his expression.’  “You go after your guy, I'm going after my girl.” Orion said. Knowing they might never see each other again; they hug and then take off to help their partners.

Chapter 100:  Darcy

• Darcy's fighting a dragon and a bunch of Fae around her. Orion comes in and helps using his super vamp speed. The enemy Fae are all dead before they even know it. They hear a roar of pain and see Shadow surrounded by Nymphs, swarming him and stabbing at him with their probes. Darcy screams and races in to help. She kills all the Nymphs. Shadow is wounded but his shadows help him begin to heal. Darcy puts an air shield around them to give him more time to heal.
• As that's happening, Darcy sees the little pale green Sayer Dragon fly past and land ‘on the head of the largest of Lavinia's Nymphs. It had been cutting through their forces with savage brutality, but it went suddenly rigid as the sayer dragon settled down on its head before turning to face its comrades and launched an attack on its own allies.’
• When Shadow was fully healed, Darcy hopped on his saddle and the three of them raced back into battle. “I'm yours to aim, Blue,” Orion said, and Darcy pointed him towards Lavinia’s army, telling him to destroy them. Lavinia's gaze turned their way and Darcy swore she caught a look of fear in her eyes.
• A roar behind her made Darcy turn. ‘My eyes locked on an impossible reality, making me certain my brother and sister had pulled off what they'd planned, and my heart beat harder with frantic joy. My breath caught at the impossible knowledge that my mother and father were out there in this battle, fighting to secure our future, and it took all of my strength not to turn and run for them now. To fight at their sides and see them in the flesh. But I couldn't turn from Lavinia. Not when I had her so close, hiding within her shadows and praying I wouldn't find her.’

Chapter 101:  Xavier

• Xavier also now notices the army of the dead and watches in shock and awe and the dead begin to fight! Suddenly the group of Fae with weapons on their backs appear. Xavier sends an effigy of a Pegasus through the sky towards the mountainside with his fire magic, a signal for the other spares. They all quickly met up and flew under concealment spells to the jade castle. Just after they land, Ellis Rigel comes out. She begs them not to kill her. She was afraid and just wanted to do what was right for her mom, but the king was ‘just so awful’. She holds up a pouch of something to Xavier and says it's the last of Lionel Stardust. “He can't escape the castle without it unless he leaves on foot or wing.”  The group decides not to kill Ellis and instead offers her a chance to help. They don't tell her what they want her to do, just that she has to powershare with them. They use the jade of the castle to magnify the power of their diffuser and with the Glacia crystal’s amplification qualities, the whole contraption lit up in a bright blue glow. It sent a blast of energy shooting straight up the jade wall before power swept out the top of it. A pulsing spiral tore through the air before turning into raindrops. When the raindrops landed on the guns, they exploded killing the Fae they were attached to.
• A yell nearby drew their attention to a squadron of Lionel’s personal guards heading their way. The little coral-colored sayer dragon floated down from the sky into the center of the group of guards and released a blast of magic which melted the flesh clean off the guards’ bones, killing them all in a matter of seconds. ‘I was left staring at the creature that was no bigger than a kitten as it casually took off into the sky and disappeared towards the battle again.’

Chapter 102: Geraldine (Mildred’s death)

• Geraldine was still battling on the front lines with her Starfall Legion. A bellow came from one of her warriors “Share Formation” and they all reached out to power share & shield before a blast of dragon fire assaulted them. Mildred Canopus wheeled through the air in her mud-brown Dragon form and turned to strike again. Geraldine created steps of stone and launched herself onto Mildred’s back. They fought for a bit until Geraldine created a bubble of water around Mildred's head drowning her. “I made a vow to end you for the death of my beloved friend, Angelica, and I am yet to ever break my word.” Then with a twist of her wrist she turned the water to ice and dug it into Mildred's skull killing her. Her and Max kiss.

Chapter 103:  Seth

• Seth was fighting the giant monster that had killed his parents and so many others. He cast an air shield around the creature’s head and pulled it off, finally killing the beast. (After everything he went through, it honestly seems pretty anticlimactic, but maybe that’s just me) Caleb reaches him and Seth is feeling the loss of his back. He wonders, maybe if they shifted and used magic they wouldn't have all died. “Seth, your pain is your greatest weapon. Wield it like a blade and cast your enemies from this world.”  Together they went to kill the last of the monsters.

Chapter 104:  Darius

• Tharix was helping Darius sneak into the castle. They passed some servants who were trying to run away abandoning Lionel. The space opened up above them as they reached the center of the castle, and an echoing roar stalled them. Five of his father's bonded Dragons in shifted form were waiting in the shadows.  Darius briefly taunts one of them, his “Uncle” before he and Tharix shift and fight together.

Chapter 105:  Lionel

• Still looking out the window Lionel watches his army lose. Trembling with rage he yells at Vard because his monsters and weapons have failed. Lionel enhances his eyesight and frowns at what he sees. ‘“No. It cannot be. What concoction or trick is this?” The savage king charged among those soldiers, fighting alongside his loathsome daughter, his black sword coated in purple Hydra flames scoring through my warriors, while his bitch wife was there, her own sword sending pulses of energy out into the Fae and knocking them flying.’ His breath shakes as his gaze moves on to his brother and all the other dead come back to fight against him. ‘“No!” I boomed, defying the possibility. It was not true. It could not be. There was no way, no path from death to the living. And yet… hadn't my own flesh and blood walked that path already? Hadn't I seen Darius in this very room with my own eyes? What foul magic had that Vega bitch concocted now? Oh how I cursed the fact that I had not ended the life of Roxanya while she was a mere puppet in my grasp. Before she had lured my Heir away from me and become this creature of endless vexation.’ He glanced over, seeking out Lavinia in the battle. Seeing that Darcy was closing in on her Lionel knew there was only one path left to him.
• A guard races into the room and informs Lionel that Darius and Tharix are fighting together. The two, an unstoppable force heading right for them. Betrayed once again! Lionel had never even considered that Tharix could be tempted away. He ordered the doors sealed and the passages barred. He would flee and come back another day to win the war. Lionel opened a chest to retrieve his pouch of stardust only to find it gone. Panic settling in as he found his means of escape now lost. Vard suggests the secret passage escape route and Lionel shoves him into it. If it had been compromised, let Vard meet them first. Lionel calls for his advisors to follow and they all flee.

Chapter 106:  Darcy (Lavinia’s death)

• Darcy, Orion and Shadow tore through the last of Lavinia’s Nymphs. Once they had been defeated, Darcy leapt off Shadow and sent him back into the fight, so she could handle Lavina who was now hiding in her shadows. They exchanged taunts and began to fight. Lavina kept hidden in her shadows making it harder for Darcy to find her but of course eventually Darcy does. Somehow she connects her flames to Lavinia’s shadows and Lavinia screams as they are dragged from her. Then the Ferryman was there saying Lavinia will not pass beyond The Veil. When she dies, she and the wretched things inside her will vanish from existence for all eternity. It was ‘a fate she deserved. A fate which saw her removed from existence. One she could never return from or even continue beyond, one that invoked a fear in her that filled me with a wicked kind of rapture. They would have no afterlife, no moments of freedom, no joy ever again.’  And then Darcy kills her. Orion looks over Darcy’s shoulder at something.
• Her mother and father stood behind Darcy with Tory and Gabriel on either side of them. The war was over. They’d won. Hail reaches down and helps Orion to his feet “You have my blessing, good choice.”  he says to Orion. (LOL and Darius was the ‘poor choice’) While Tory, Darcy and Gabriel hug their parents, Orion gets to talk to his father and sister, and Xavier sees his mom and Uncle Radcliff. The Ferryman comes and tells them they must say goodbye. The dead cannot stay. They all express their love and hug, holding tight to each other for as long as they can.
• Geraldine, Max, Seth and Caleb all join them. They had all survived.

Tory: “Where's Darius?”

Xavier “He had plans to get to the castle.”

Gabriel: “He's in there. And Lionel still lives.” And so they all head to the castle.

Chapter 107:  Vard

• Vard leads the way down the secret passage. Lionel bellowed at him to head to the treasury. Along the way Vard has a vision ‘piled bodies heaped before a throne of hydro skulls, two glorious Queens glaring down at me from the throne they had reclaimed. “Death,” their combined voices boomed my faith and I cowered away.’ He had to find a way to change this fate. As they kept running Lionel suddenly gasped. “My Bonded. All of them are dead.” A deafening boom of two Dragons roaring as one made the walls tremble. If every one of Lionel’s bonded were dead, then that meant those weren't his Dragons following them. They continued to the treasury where Lionel made each of them carry some of his treasure.
• Vard was standing there getting more and more upset thinking about everything he had done for Lionel and how Lionel had never appreciated him, thanked him or given him any kind of recognition. He knew his fate if he stayed with Lionel, so when Lionel’s back was turned, Vard created an illusion of himself staying in the room and then slipped out the door and ran. Down in the tunnels he made it to a gate that was still guarded by two Nymphs. He yelled for them to open the gate and they did.  He had a plan. He needed to die, or at least make everyone think he was dead. Using his Cyclops power, he took over the mind of one of the Nymphs using him to kill the other, and then hastily shoved all of his memories, ambitions, wants and even his name into the mind of the Nymph. He then took one of the Nymphs' eyes for himself, burned matching scars into the creature’s face and used his magic to make the Nymph look like him. He created his own doppelganger to take the fall for him. Then he told the Nymph to run.
• Vard threw himself through the gate, closing it behind himself just as Lionel and his supporters rounded the corner. Unfortunately for Lionel this was a magical gate that would not open without the key, which just so happened to be in Vard’s hands. No magic or anything could get past it. Lionel yelled at him but Vard just stood there smiling. He reminded Lionel of the prophecy warning of that very moment. “Beware of the man with a painted smile. The moment I heard those words, I saw this moment in my future and knew they had been intended for you. I had a vision about you and what they will call you after this day has passed. The dragon who burned.”

Chapter 108:  Darius

• Darius and Tharix were standing in the throne room. Despite the castle being made by Dragons and for Dragons, apparently it had not been built to withstand Dragons…at least not fighting ones. The castle was now crumbling down around them. A boulder-sized lump came crashing down and Darius shoved Tharix out of the way, protecting him. Tharix was stunned. Then the entire castle began to collapse, the room they were in and everything beneath it peeling away from its perch on the side of the cliff face. Darius threw up an ice shield while Tharix grabbed him by the arm and threw him up in the air before shifting. When Darius landed, he was on Tharix’s back and they were flying to safety as the castle fell around them. They landed among their friends ”Is it done? Did you kill Lionel? And is Tharix…fighting with you now?” Darcy asked. Gabriel replied that Lionel was currently trying to worm his way out through the tunnels and Darius explained that yes, Tharix was one of them now. He informed them that the dead souls that had been bound to Tharix had been banished into death and that Tharix had proved his loyalty in battle.
• Tory, I guess not completely sure on whether or not to trust Tharix yet, told him to stay there while the rest of the group went to hunt out Lionel.

Chapter 109:  Tory

• “He's too frantic. He's bolting, picking directions at random-I can't get a good read on where he'll end up.” Gabriel said of Lionel. The group decides to split up, try to close in on him from every side. They left Melinda and Tiberius with Tharix guarding the entrance to the tunnels, and the Oscuras were out patrolling the mountain, so they just had to find Lionel and force him out.
• Tory, Darius and Gabriel find fake Vard, but obviously don’t know he’s an unwilling doppelganger. “What was it I promised I'd do to you? Oh yes, I think I said I'd rip you open and tear your insides out while you watched.” - Darius

Chapter 110:  Lionel (Lionel’s death)

• Lionel hears Vard screaming but doesn’t care. He catches sight of blue hair and tosses a burst of air magic at his advisors, flinging them at Darcy so he can run. Now he was all alone.
• “How do I get out of this confounding hell?” “You could try going through me.” – Xavier replies. They fight a little, but a cave-in forces them apart.
• Lionel came upon Caleb next.

C: “What's the matter, Lionel? Out of places to run to?”

L: “I am a king, I run from nothing”

C: “The True Queens are looking for you. Won't you face them like a true Fae?”

L: “I'll destroy them in my own time.”  Lionel threw fire at him forcing Caleb back, but then Seth charged at him from his other side, making a very embarrassing noise come from Lionel. Lionel brought his fire all around and turned to escape down another tunnel.

“We have to stop meeting like this, Father.” Darius said, blocking Lionel’s exit to the caves.

L: “How dare you. How dare you stand there before me like you think yourself equal to my might. Like you haven't coward beneath me time after time, sniveling and shaking while tasting the bite of my fury over your inadequacies. How dare you put yourself on the opposite side of this war and call yourself a king above me.”

D: “That’s the thing, Father. You have always been so short-sighted. So desperately hungry for power and so pathetically jealous of those who hold more of it than you, that you blinded yourself to the truth.”

L: “And what truth is that?”

D: “I'm not the one you should be frightened of.”

L: “I'm not frightened of you.”

D: “You are. You have been for a very, very long time. But the problem with waiting for the beast at your front to strike is that it's so easy to miss the one aiming for your back.”

• Lionel turns while letting the full force of his Dragon fire explode out from him, only to find Tory there, welcoming his fire as if it were nothing at all. Then she slammed her sword right through his heart!
• “No!” Lionel is in shock as The Veil slams shut behind him. He's hurled into the river and fighting to swim while dozens of hands try to drag him down. The water was burning as he was forced to inhale it, but he couldn't drown, he was already dead. Suffocating beneath the weight of the hate and the accusations of the swarming mass of dead surrounding him, suddenly a hand was pulling him from the river. On the bank, he looked up into the faces of five bloodthirsty demons. Radcliff, Hail and Marissa Vega, Azriel Orion, and Catalina. “You will face all those you wronged, and only when they have seized their vengeance and grown weary of your suffering, will we deliver you to the Harrowed Gate where you will be tortured for all eternity by the monsters that wait for you there.

Chapter 111:  Tory

• They did it. Lionel was finally gone! Tory and Darius kiss.
• The Ferryman shows up to tell them their debt is paid. That it was a good day for death, but he does not wish to see either of them again until it is their time.
• Darcy shows up, slowly followed by the rest of their group and they all cheer and celebrate.

Chapter 112:  Darcy

• There’s a little discussion between Orion, Xavier & Darius about how they feel about Lionel finally being dead.
• “It's time to claim your glory. The sun is waiting to smile down upon the new Queens.” -Gabriel to his sisters.
• I looked to my twin, anticipation building in my chest at what was to come. We'd done it. It wasn't a dream or a hope anymore. We'd won the war.

Chapter 113: Tory

• Six months later: the True Queens are finally crowned at their coronation.

Chapter 114:  Orion

• Orion as the guild master, has been guided by the stars to who should be the other Guild members. Geraldine, Darius, Caleb, Seth, Max, Xavier, Melinda, Tiberius, Immenia Brumalia, Eugene Dipper and the High Nymph Cordette, all accept the position offered to them. They drink the potion, accept their stone and take their vows.
• Each of them becomes a Fate Weaver, unable to be manipulated by the stars in their decisions or have a curse laid upon their souls ever again. It was a position of honor that would place them in a position which would advise the reigning sovereigns and also have the power to vote on any laws the twins decreed. Also as guild master Orion had a connection to the stars which would allow him to check the loyalty of all the other members over the course of their service, to ensure no traitors emerged among them.

Chapter 115:  Darcy

• One year after that: Darcy and Orion's wedding
• We also find out that Rosalie has been sent to Darkmore Penitentiary. The twins say they will pardon her, but Dante explains that if she's there that's where she wants to be. He also tells them about Roary Night being her long lost love and how he is under a death curse. He cannot leave the prison until his sentence has been served… or some other way that they cannot assist in.

Chapter 116:  Darius

• Seven years after that: Darius and Tory have a set of twin boys (Rygar and Tarin). Tory is now pregnant with twins again and is blaming Darius, who says that twins don't run on his side of the family. Gabriel of course saw this happening and didn't say anything until he was able to be there in person to watch it all go down.
• Max and Geraldine show up with their daughter Augustaline. Max said she's started influencing like a siren but Geraldine says it's just her rambunctious cuteness and that their girl will emerge as a Cerberus pup any day now.
• Seth and Caleb arrive next. They all go outside where Tharix and the Sayer Dragons are waiting around the bonfire. They're there for a death day party. Every year on the anniversary of Lionel's death they host a party to remember him, ensuring that Lionel will never pass beyond the veil. ‘We wish for his soul to be tethered by the thoughts of the living, so that his suffering can go on and on eternally at the hands of those who fell prey to his evil machinations. So here is to Lionel Acrux - the Fae who shall forever be trapped within the hell of death! The Dragon who burned!”

Chapter 117:  Seth

• Two years after that: Seth is trying to get spicy with Caleb. He is trying to show Cal he is ok with Cal’s Horney for the Horn kink. It’s hilarious. “Let me be your wild stallion. Break me in like a defiant cult of the hills.”
• The next morning they’re called to the hospital. They had two surrogates inseminated at the same time and their children were just born. A boy they name Kale (who very much looks like Seth) and a girl they name Elara (who clearly looks like Caleb). “Don't tell us which one is mine and which is Caleb's” Seth said to the healer. She shared a confused look with Caleb who just snorted a laugh. ‘People always said this moment changed you, and I was wholly transformed. We were fathers, me and Cal. The two of us together. And we were going to give these kids the whole wide world.’

Chapter 118:  Orion

• Three more years later: Orion is playing with his five-year-old son Archer and his three-year old daughter Azura, while they're waiting for all of their friends to arrive.
• Elara calls Orion Moon Uncle
• After their second set of twins (Ender and Kylo) Tory and Darius then have triplets, Axel, Nero and Bowie.
• Rygar calls Orion ‘Uncle Lancelot’
• Gabriel has a daughter, RJ.
• As the kids are all playing, RJ screams and there's fire. They look up and see Azura in the treetops, two fiery wings blazing at her back. She’s emerged as a Phoenix. Gabriel comes flying in warning that her emergence will trigger the others. Suddenly Darius & Tory’s 7-year-olds emerge as a bronze dragon and a silver dragon.  Bring on the chaos!
• ‘It was too perfect, all of this. The life we'd forged together and made our own. This was where living really happened. Between the layers of havoc and sweetness of all the love we shared. And I couldn't have imagined up any better dream for myself, than this. Simply, purely, this.’

Chapter 119:  Tory

• Many years after that: (just before a new evil appears and it all goes to hell again)
• Tory and Darcy are flying in the air. “I feel them” -Darcy  ‘I closed my eyes, reaching out my hand and concentrating until I felt it too; the gentlest brush of warm skin and scales against my fingertips. Our parents were flying with us out here in the sky again this morning.’ They were completing their long-established routine of recounting the various parts of their lives and the lives of their family to their parents. Things they may not have witnessed from beyond the veil.