Candace and Tay trailed behind as Miss Ida dragged Winston from the park like he was a lightweight. He twisted his arm and cursed but couldn’t free himself from the cranky Johnston twin’s grip. I knew what that felt like all too well after the night she rescued me from the writhing shadows.
“You better let me go, old lady,” Winton demanded. “I’m not playing with you.”
“Oh, you’re not, eh?” Miss Ida said.
“I got all that on video.” Tay grinned as he slipped his phone in his pocket. “My boy is about to go viral.”
“That’s what he thinks,” Eli said, crossing his arm. “Winston finally does something worthy of the internet, and they have no proof of it.”
“Serves him right for shooting fire at my head,” I said, glaring at his back.
“He was wrong for that,” Frankie added.
I remembered how the darkbringer pretending to be him had tried to kill me at the start of summer. How at Comic-Con, the fake Dr. Z had attempted to finish the job. And the countless times in the Dark when my friends and I came close to getting the ax. Now the biggest bully of our class could control fire—well, not control it, but he could call it up. It was just a matter of time before he’d learn how to use it and wreak even more havoc at school. This was very bad.
“The Johnston twins should lock that one up in a dungeon somewhere,” Eli said, once they were out of earshot. “No way he’s joining the League of Godlings.”
Frankie sighed. “If he has powers, that can only mean one thing . . . and we might need his help.”
“He’s more likely to join the darkbringers than help us,” I said, only half kidding. It was easier to make a joke instead of thinking about what this meant. With no way to stop the veil from failing, more godlings would show powers. The orisha council had told us that many godlings had died in the last war against the Dark. I didn’t want to see that happen to anyone, not even Winston.
Within minutes, everything was back to normal in the park as if a kid hadn’t just caught on fire. I glanced down at my feet, biting my lip. “Papa’s sick,” I said, finally getting it off my chest. “We’re going to Azur to see if Obatala, the Sky Father, can figure out what’s wrong with him.”
“Is it even possible for a celestial to be sick?” Eli asked.
“Immortals aren’t invincible,” Frankie said, her voice low as she fiddled with her bracelet. The sunlight sparkled against the beads as she twisted them around her wrist. “Remember what Miss Lucille said about the Lord of Shadows absorbing the celestials . . . and my mom died.”
I stopped in my tracks. Tears prickled in my eyes. Frankie still didn’t know what happened to her first mom. Everyone said she went to the store to get milk and never came back, but there had to be more to it. Seeing my face, Frankie slapped her hand over her mouth, shaking her head.
“Maya, I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean to make it seem like . . .”
“It’s all right—Papa is going to be okay,” I said before she could finish her sentence. “Anyway, he’s going to ask your families if you can come with us tomorrow morning before school. We’re leaving extra early.”
Eli grimaced. “Like early early?”
“Yup,” I said, nodding.
“I’m in,” Frankie said, flashing Eli a smile. She knew how much he hated getting up early.
“I better get home,” I said, thinking about my math workbook. “See you in the morning!”
We executed a perfect three-way fist bump and parted ways. When I got home, Mama was next to Papa on the couch with her stethoscope pressed to his heart. She wore her usual scrubs: a pastel-colored flowered top and gray pants.
“You have an elevated heart rate.” Mama’s eyebrows knitted together in concentration. “I can’t say what that means since you don’t need your heart to live.”
“How could I love you so much if I didn’t have a heart?” Papa teased.
“I’m sure you’d find a way,” Mama said, blushing. She drew the stethoscope back from his chest. “How do you feel now?”
“Like a million dollars,” he answered with a winning smile.
“Why do you have to be so silly?” Mama grumbled, but she was smiling too. “This is serious.”
To any other kid, this would sound like an odd conversation. Papa and the other orishas had human and semidivine forms, but their true form was pure energy. That meant that he shouldn’t be able to have a racing heartbeat or any physical ailments.
“Maya,” Mama said, still looking at Papa, “make sure your father gets plenty of bed rest while I’m at work. No more patching up holes in the veil tonight.”
“I will, Mama,” I said, and I meant it. If we had another tear, I’d fix it myself, no matter how long it took.
“Dinner’s on the stove,” Mama said, coming to her feet.
I inhaled, taking in a whiff of tomato sauce and garlic and onion. Spaghetti. My stomach growled. Papa always made breakfast when he was home, and Mama made dinner. Things almost felt like they were normal again.
“How was your first day back at school, baby girl?” Papa asked.
I grimaced as I plopped down on the recliner. “Okay, I guess.” I sucked in a deep breath. “Oh, Winston Turner burst into flames at the park.”
“Another godling?” Mama said, her eyes meeting Papa’s. They both looked worried.
Papa glanced down at his hands. “It’s happening across the world in every sanctuary—more godlings showing powers.”
Mama rubbed her forehead. “I’ll call Destinee on my way to work. She isn’t going to take the news about her son well, especially coming from Ida or Lucille.”
“Are you coming with us to Azur tomorrow?” I asked Mama, then I realized I didn’t know how that would work. “Could she come, Papa, even if she’s not a godling?”
“If she wants,” Papa said with a twinkle in his eyes. “But humans can only enter Azur with a celestial or godling to guide them.”
Mama shook her head as the grandfather clock struck five. It was time for her to leave for her shift at the hospital. “Oh, no, I can’t get past the idea that the city is built on clouds . . . That doesn’t help my fear of heights.” She grabbed her purse from the table and kissed me on the forehead. “See that she doesn’t eat too much ice cream, Eddy.”
“Cross my heart,” Papa said with a sly grin.
The next morning, Frankie and Eli showed up on our doorstep at seven o’clock sharp. Eli pulled off his wave cap and stuffed it into his backpack. He had indents across his forehead from wearing it. Frankie wore her retro green high-top sneakers to match her T-shirt, which read THINK LIKE A PROTON AND STAY POSITIVE.
Eli nodded at her shirt in appreciation. “That’s actually pretty clever.”
Both he and Frankie left their backpacks at my house as we headed out with Papa. I worried about what could happen while we were away in Azur. Even though the darkbringers hadn’t been coming through the tears lately, they could. With so many new tears cropping up every day, it was sheer luck that most weren’t stable. They could be waiting for us to leave to invade our neighborhood again.
“We’re going to fly to Azur,” Papa said, as sparks of his magic spiraled around us. “It’s the best way to see the city.”
“There’s a plane that goes to Azur?” Frankie asked, frowning.
“Not exactly,” Papa said. His magic started to take shape. First a cluster of sparks here and another there. Then lines of light connected the sparks like a constellation of stars. Eli gasped as the magic settled into four winged horses. They stood side by side, their heads buried in the cranky twins’ tulips, which they ate in big gulps.
“I don’t think Miss Ida and Miss Lucille are going to be happy about that.” I imagined the look on their faces when they discovered their tulips had become horse food.
“I’ll make it up to them,” Papa said as he grabbed the reins of the star horse closest to him. “You first, Maya,” he said. “Show your friends how it’s done.”
I bit my lip. My only experience with horseback riding was the time we went to the Wisconsin State Fair. I got to ride one with a trainer standing on the side, guiding the horse in a slow circle.
“Um, Mr. Abeola,” Eli said, his voice squeaky. “You do realize that we can see through these horses. There are gaps between the magic.”
Papa grinned. “Nevertheless, Eli, the beasts are stable for flight. Trust me.”
It was Frankie who took the reins of another starlight horse and climbed up first. She swung her legs across the back of the horse in one quick move like a pro. “I can confirm that it feels solid,” she said as her horse lifted its head from the flowers and neighed.
“Feels solid isn’t the same as is solid.” Eli climbed onto his star horse. It bucked, lifting his front legs from the ground, and Eli yelped as he hugged himself against its neck. “Whoa now! This is not the time to be bouncing around.”
As Papa helped me mount my horse, I saw LJ getting out of his car across the street in front of Lakesha’s house. The two of them acted more like they were siblings than cousins. He waved at us, saying, “Nice bikes!”
“Is that what everyone else sees: bikes?” Frankie asked, her eyes wide.
“Of course!” I said, giddy with excitement. “The horses would look like something completely normal to human eyes.”
“Mine is the dopest,” Eli called to LJ, a grin on his face.
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. Our horses looked exactly the same. LJ squinted, confused for a moment as he stared at Eli’s horse. “Better keep it on lockdown—you know how it goes around here.” He meant how, earlier this summer, a kid got his bike stolen by some teens from another neighborhood.
When LJ headed up to his cousin’s house, Papa said, “Follow my lead.”
He nudged his horse first, and it charged down the sidewalk. The horse leaped as its wings spread wide and took flight, soaring up and up. My heart was beating fast as I nudged my horse, too, harder than I intended. The horse bucked forward and took to the sky. My head spun a little, but I could feel magic all around me, holding me in place like a seat belt.
Papa left a trail of dust that spiraled upward as our neighborhood grew smaller. I glanced down at the tops of the buildings and cars that looked like ants. Soon we were in the clouds. The temperature started to change, but the magic adjusted to keep us warm.
“This isn’t so bad,” Eli yelled over the roar of the wind. “I think I’m getting the hang of this!”
It wasn’t bad at all; in fact, it was really fun. The wind whipped through my locs like it was eager to carry us to Azur—like it was Oya’s spirit. I never thought in a million years that I could be anywhere near as brave as she was in her comic books. She’d fought for justice against villains like Dr. Z until she set off on a quest fifty years ago. Papa said that it wasn’t unusual for celestials to go on quests for centuries at a time.
I wondered what it would be like to travel across the universe fighting crime with the warrior goddess. Not that I would ever say that to Eli and Frankie. Hands down, they always had my back, and I wouldn’t trade our friendship for anything.
Soon we were so high that we couldn’t see the ground anymore. The star horses pumped their wings hard as Azur finally came into view. The city sat on a cloud that spanned for miles among the stars.
“Whoa,” I whispered, stunned by the beauty of the city.
Papa slowed down his horse until we all four lined up to look at Azur from afar. Sunlight danced off the buildings made of silver and gold and glass. The whole city glowed. It was something out of a dream.