Darkness stuck out his hand toward me. “Are you ready?”

“Sure,” I said, taking his hand.

We took two steps toward the door before Darkness turned around. “Protect it with your life.”

“You do the same,” Nightmare replied, his eyes flashing at me for a brief moment.

“Always,” Darkness replied as he squeezed my hand.

As he was about to turn, a bone-rattling knock at the door silenced us. My heart thudded with such force that it felt as though it might burst from my chest.

I couldn’t turn away from the door. “Are you expecting someone?”

Chapter

Twenty-Seven

Nightmare tentatively drew the curtain aside, releasing a sharp breath of relief as he lowered his head. “It’s just Ruin.”

“Who is Ruin?” I asked.

“Our sister,” Darkness replied, his tone somber.

“She hardly ever leaves her home,” Storm added, her nose wrinkling as if she’d caught a whiff of a passing skunk.

Darkness clicked his tongue impatiently. “We can’t afford to waste any more time.”

“We can get her up to speed,” Nightmare declared, stepping in front of Darkness to fling open the door. “Welcome.”

“Um,” Ruin said, her high-pitched voice tinged with confusion. “A party, and no one bothered to invite me?”

“It is not a party,” Darkness snapped, rushing past her and pulling me along with him.

Ruin seized my hand and yanked me to the side. “Is this her?”

She scrutinized me, looking up and down several times while I observed her in return. Ruin’s figure was astonishingly slender, her physique a marvel of grace and enchantment. Her features were sharp but also extremely captivating. Her ears were subtly tapered to delicate points, and her cheekbones were sharp and high on her face, giving her an elven-like look.

Ruin was dressed in sequined pants and a silvery cropped shirt that daringly revealed her sunken abdomen. There were at least ten glitzy necklaces twisted around her fragile neck.

“Yes, this is Balance. Balance, meet my sister Ruin,” Darkness said, his eyes scanning the front yard.

“Huh,” she said, clasping her long fingers together as she rolled back and forth onto the balls of her feet.

“What?” Darkness groaned.

Ruin flicked her eyes to Nightmare and smiled. “I guess I was just expecting something different.”

“Well, if you’ll excuse us,” Darkness said, yanking me away from her as if they were playing a game of tug-of-war and I was the rope.

“I wasn’t expecting to find you here,” she said, pressing her thin lips into a smile. “Where might you be running off to in such a hurry?”

Darkness’s eyes narrowed. “If you paid any attention to what was going on, you’d know.”

“You know I don’t like to leave my safe home. Bad things always seem to happen when I leave,” Ruin said, giving Nightmare a quick hug before turning to Storm. “Don’t you look lovely? A vision. Honestly!”

“Thanks,” Storm said, rolling her eyes.

“So, where did you say you were rushing off to?” Ruin asked as she sat down on the couch, crossing her legs. Her eyes flicked to Honor, and she gave him a quick nod.

Darkness filled his chest with a deep inhale. “They will get you up to speed.”

“I haven’t seen you in ages, brother,” Ruin said, puffing out her bottom lip. “Stay and tell me yourself.”

“Sorry,” Darkness said, nervously running his finger through his hair.

“Just seems like something big happened out there,” Ruin said, her eyes narrowing slightly as she studied Darkness. “There is a smoldering pile of ick… and that dreadful smell. What is that?”

Storm let out an exasperated sigh. “Why are you here, Ruin?”

“What a lovely way to talk to your sister, who you haven’t seen in quite some time,” Ruin said, glaring at Storm.

“Well, seriously. Why?” Storm asked as Honor nervously shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “This shit has been going on for a long time, and only now do you have interest?”

“I thought I could help,” Ruin said, leaning back on the couch. “Seems as though maybe I’m too late.”

A laugh escaped Storm’s lips. “Yeah, that sounds like you. Helpful, Ruin. That’s how we refer to you when you’re not around.”

“Good to know you’re talking about me when I’m not around. How peachy.” Ruin pressed her lips together. “Seriously, though, what happened out there?” Her eyes moved around the living room and fixated on the broken lamp. “And in here, too.”

Honor stared at her for a long moment. “Gremlins came to our realm—”

“Gremlins?” Ruin said, pressing her fingertips to her chest. “Is that possible? They… they can’t enter our realm.”

“That’s what we thought too,” Nightmare said, crossing his arms as he met Darkness’s nervous gaze. “You should go, brother. I’ll get Ruin up to speed while you’re gone.”

“Thank you,” Darkness said, offering him a quick nod before leading me toward the shed.

My stomach twisted like a coiling snake, but I stiffened my jaw and bravely stepped inside. In a flash, I burst out of the shed with a little more grace than the other times, but not much more.

I brushed myself off as I steadied myself on my feet, halting when I heard the gut-wrenching sobs filling the air. Darkness raced to The Oracle, who was on her knees next to something lying on the ground.

“They killed him!” she bellowed, pressing the palms of her trembling hands together. “I… I didn’t see this coming. I didn’t see any of this happening at all.”

Darkness kneeled beside her, laying his hands on whatever was on the ground. I crossed my arms and cautiously approached.

Laying there was a man with long gray hair that flowed out around his head like a river of moonlight and a matching curly beard of silver. His skin was leathery, time etched deeply on his face.

“Who did this?” Darkness asked.