“No!” Julie screamed and plunged Excalibur into whatever was behind the writhing mass of tentacles. She felt tissue ripping as the blade drove deep, and the tentacles turned to ash.

  Bianca hit the ground with a thump and struggled to her feet despite the blood soaking her body armor. Julie clumsily landed beside her and grabbed her arm, then sent a surge of healing power into the succubus’ body.

  “Yeah, that’s the good stuff right there.” Bianca shook out her healed wings.

  A werewolf’s howl of rage turned into a stomach-wrenching yelp, and Julie whipped around. A thing with a crustacean body and sharp antlers tossed Teddy into the air. The wolf’s paws flailed at nothing, body twisting as he flew toward the ceiling. Julie went over, slashed off the monster’s head, and clumsily caught the wolf with one arm. His yelp ripped into her heart.

  “It’s okay! It’s okay,” she cried, soaking him with healing magic.

  “Julie, the civilians!” Bianca screamed.

  The ring of monsters inexorably tightened around the panicked group of paras pressed into a tight knot in the center of the room. A thing with spider legs jutting from its back, helplessly pedaling in the air, lunged at the gorgon tusks first. Julie sent a blast of lunar magic into its face.

  Bones popped into place under Teddy’s skin as he rested on her shoulder. “Why aren’t they targeting you?” he groaned.

  “What do you mean?” Julie swooped down and dropped him on his paws, then swung Excalibur into the wall of monsters, hacking off heads and limbs. Ash exploded into the air.

  “They’re not going after you this time.” Teddy transformed and seized his rifle. “They’re going after the others!”

  “Julie!”

  The scream came from a familiar voice, twisted in terror.

  “There!” Teddy cried.

  A serpentine monster with slime dripping from its skin and crocodile jaws on its horned head wound its powerful coils around three terrified paras at the edge of the group.

  “Julie, help!” the terrified Woodland Fae screamed, his doe eyes terrified. The other two, a werewolf and a dwarf, could only grunt as the snake’s body crushed them together. The werewolf’s teeth helplessly scrabbled on the monster’s impenetrable skin. The dwarf’s face was gray, and her eyes were closed.

  Screams resounded through the cafeteria, but Teddy was right. None of the monsters so much as looked at Julie.

  They were hurting her people.

  Rage swelled in her heart like a mushroom cloud born from the hottest part of the geas in her chest. It erupted as a shockwave of lunar magic that tore through her cells with white-hot power. Moonfire flashed over her body, then moonlight so bright that it burned her eyes.

  “Get away from my people!” Julie roared.

  Beams of moonlight shot from her mouth as she shouted, then erupted from her skin, searing her eyes. Squeals and cries echoed through the room. Blinded, Julie screwed her eyes shut as pulses of power surged from her. She spread her arms and let the magic flow since it would not harm Luna’s creatures, only the evil ones.

  The screams faded. The shockwaves slowed, then stopped, and Julie gently lowered herself to the floor. Her wings stilled, and she opened her eyes.

  The Wild Hunt was gone. Ash filled the air as if there had been a volcanic eruption. The benches and tables had washed up against the sides of the room. Wide-eyed paras stood everywhere, clinging to one another in shock but unhurt.

  Entangled with the furniture, sprawled on the floor at the feet of the other paras, lay the remnants of the Wild Hunt: dozens of newly transformed paranormals, some naked and incoherent, several unconscious. Each was in the fetal position, their bare skin gleaming with fading moonlight.

  Julie sighed. “That is way more bare asses than I signed up for today.”

  “Good thing many of them are attractive,” Bianca quipped.

  Julie snorted. “You’re disgusting.”

  She strode to the three paras who’d nearly been crushed. The werewolf sat with his head in his hands. The Woodland Fae cradled the dwarf in his lap as the color slowly returned to her face.

  “Gruda, Charles, Frank.” Julie crouched by them. “Are you guys okay?”

  “We’re good, Julie. I mean, Your Majesty.” Frank, the fae, cleared his throat.

  Julie touched Gruda’s feet, and the dwarf sat up with a gasp.

  “Thank you, Your Majesty,” she croaked.

  The werewolf raised his head and smoothed his hair. “Uh, yeah. Thanks...Your Majesty.”

  Julie raised her eyebrows. “You’re still an asshole, Charles.”

  Charles cracked an embarrassed grin. “Would you believe me if I told you I saw glimmers of your greatness when you were the head of the recruiting department?”

  “Not even a little,” Julie told him.

  Charles chuckled. “Well, you wouldn’t be wrong, but I see it now.”

  “I should hope so.” Julie scoffed.

  The double doors banged open, and a Bengal tiger plunged into the room, jaws wide, amber eyes ablaze. His striped orange-and-black coat bristled, and his roar spoke of death as he skidded to a halt a few yards from Julie, claws gouging the hardwood floor.

  Julie slow-clapped. “Great entrance, Cap. Little late, though.”

  A mass of armed paras in navy uniforms followed, bristling with swords and rifles.

  “It’s all good, everybody.” Julie waved her hands. “We’re good.”

  “Julie!” Qtana burst into the room, followed by Dr. Olena, a Sylthana Elf, in purple scrubs.

  Julie smirked. “What’s up, ladies?”

  Captain Kaplan transformed into a towering man with his bushy eyebrows drawn together in intense exasperation, as usual.

  Olena relaxed. “Oh, there you are.”

  “Right in the middle of the shitstorm,” Kaplan growled. “Is Meadows ever anywhere else?”

  Julie gave him her best smug grin.

  Qtana gaped at the naked paras and pressed her hands into her blonde hair. “You made more of them?”

  “Not the usual way.” Julie raised her eyebrows. “What do you mean, more of them?”

  Qtana sighed. “You’ll have to see it to believe it. Come on.”

  “I’ll clean this mess up,” Kaplan grumbled. “As always.”

  Julie patted his shoulder. “Thanks, Jack.”

  “Piss off, Meadows,” Kaplan gruffly ordered.

  Julie beamed. “Love you too.”

  She had to jog to catch up with Qtana and Olena. They headed down the hall and into the elevator. The wolves followed Julie, panting by her knees.

  Olena hit the button for the eleventh floor. Julie realized they had added several new buttons. In addition to the letters, numbers, characters from the Greek alphabet, and hieroglyphs, there was now an array of mysterious colors that throbbed with magical light.

  “What are those?” she asked, pointing.

  Qtana frowned at her tablet. “Mm?”

  “The colorful buttons. They look cool,” Julie observed.

  “Oh, nothing much. New dimensions.” Qtana waved a dismissive hand. “I’m much more worried about what’s going on in the containment unit.”

  “More worried than the Wild Hunt barging into the NYHQ and nearly killing a room full of paras?” Julie inquired. “Don’t know about you, but that’s got me pretty worried.” Her belly tightened. “They were targeting the others, but I know they’re still after me.”

  “They’re looking for your weaknesses,” Olena quietly agreed.

  “Joke’s on them.” Julie clenched her fists, which were smoking. “Protecting my subjects is no weakness.”

  “Luckily for us, that’s true.” Qtana lowered her tablet. “The Wild Hunt is exactly what I’m worried about.”

  Julie tilted her head to one side. “Is this about the monsters that turn into paras after I stab them with Excalibur?”

  “Hunters,” Olena muttered.

  “What?” Julie asked.

  “We call them hunters. It’s more politically correct,” Qtana explained.

  Julie scoffed. “You haven’t fought the Wild Hunt. They’re monsters, all right.”

  The elevator doors opened. A guard was waiting at the barred door of the containment unit. Qtana and Olena went into the large, cool space, which was crammed with cells. The iron bars on the units glowed with blue runes, forming wards so secure that the air was blue between the bars.

  “You might be right about the monsters,” Qtana growled.

  Julie’s breath caught. “Oh, crap.”

  Roars and shrieks filled the containment unit, bloodthirsty and violent. In the cell nearest Julie, a humanoid wearing white scrubs pounded the ward with his fists, causing flashes of purple light to emerge. His white eyes were huge, and a greasy shock of gray hair erupted around his face.

  His fists rhythmically slammed into the ward, and with every punch, he hissed a breathy word. In the cacophony of the unit, it took Julie a moment to hear what it was. When she did, chills crept down her spine.

  “Pendragon Pendragon Pendragon Pendragon,” the humanoid chanted. “Pendragon Pendragon Pendragon Pendragon.”

  Julie swallowed. The creature’s expression spoke of his madness, but his eyes were focused on her. Involuntarily, she took a step back.

  “It’s her!” There was a high-pitched shriek behind her. “Consume her! Consume her!”

  Julie whipped around. The old female Aether Elf had gnarled fingers and long yellow claws that made her hands look like chicken feet. Her screams splattered green saliva on the wards, which then dripped on the floor.

  Julie shivered. The evil emanating from the cells crept across her skin like spiders. She wrapped a hand around Excalibur’s hilt for comfort as she shuffled after Olena and Qtana. The next cell contained the biggest werewolf she had ever seen, a slavering beast with blazing yellow eyes who snapped at the ward until he battered his gums bloody. His claws also raked the iron bars despite them burning his paws. Opposite him, a massive serpent slithered coil over coil, staring at Julie with baleful black eyes. It hissed at her, exposing long fangs.

  “What are those?” Julie whispered as they passed two more cells. “They almost look human.”

  “They’re human-passing,” Olena muttered. “That was why they were able to rule and destroy so many humans.”

  “The one with the mustache.” Julie gulped. “Is that⁠—”

  “Yes,” Qtana whispered. “It’s him.”

  Julie curled her hands into fists. The dark-haired man stood in the back of the room, arms at his sides. His pale blue eyes were intense and unwavering as he watched Julie walk past. His stare held more hatred and destruction than the loudest roars and snarls in the unit.

  “You will die, Pendragon,” he whispered.

  “They’re not my biggest fans, huh?” Julie managed shakily.

  The werewolves pressed against her, snarling.

  “I don’t like this,” Isaiah growled. “This is giving me the creeps.”

  “She’s safe. They can’t escape the wards,” Qtana reassured them.

  “Pendragon!” a hollow-eyed humanoid yowled, clawing at the wards. Her ribs stood out like hoops, and her waist was almost nonexistent above the brutal wings of an emaciated pelvis. “You will die, Pendragon!”

  Isaiah snapped at the bars.

  “Here.” Qtana pushed open an ordinary door. “It’s quieter in the observation room.”

  They stepped into the small, bare room, which contained a table and chairs that faced a large one-way window that overlooked the cells. The cacophony was more distant, but paras unlike any she’d ever seen clawed and writhed in their cells. Teeth flashed, fists pounded, and horns and tentacles slammed against the wards.

  “What in Avalon is going on here, Qtana?” Julie demanded.

  “We’re not sure,” Qtana admitted, “but we can start by telling you who these paras are.”

  “I’ve never seen anything like them.” Julie shivered. “Are we feeding our prisoners right, Qtana?”

  “You’re thinking of wendigos. That’s what they look like. I don’t think anyone has seen a live one for...” Qtana glanced at Olena.

  Olena shrugged. “Not in the centuries I’ve been alive. We were told that Sir Lancelot slew them all in battle when they were trying to consume a village full of innocent humans in precolonial America.”

  “What about the others?” Julie asked. “Who’s the chicken hands lady?”

  “Baba Yaga. The humanoid male is Cronus,” Qtana explained. “Fenrir and Apophis are here too.”

  Julie frowned. “The villains of their respective mythologies, but so are many of us in the human world, even fae. These paras feel different. Truly evil.”

  “That’s because they are.” Olena hugged her tablet to her chest. “These are murderers and cannibals, Julie. The most depraved paranormals across all mythologies. Creatures as evil as Mordred.”

  Julie bit her lip. “That’s not good. I thought they had turned into ordinary paranormals.”

  “Their normal characteristics only shone through for several days or weeks after you transformed them. The shock of moonlight suppressed their evil for a while, but then it returned.” Qtana ran a hand through her hair. “Julie, most of these paras are supposed to be dead.”

  Julie raised her eyebrows. “Like the wendigos.”

  “Exactly. Many were defeated during the Golden Age when King Arthur and the knights made it their mission to bring peace to Avalon. These were the Mordreds of their peoples and their times.” Olena pressed her lips together.

  “Oh, crap.” Cold drenched Julie’s blood, and she had to concentrate to keep from shaking the earth. “You’re telling me instead of one Mordred, we now have dozens?”

  Qtana grimaced. “They’re all secure. That’s the only reason Avalon isn’t burning already.”

  Julie ran a shaking hand through her hair. “What about the paras I transformed a few minutes ago? Who are they going to turn out to be?”

  “We won’t know until we’ve had them for a while.” Olena shrugged helplessly.

  “If they’re all supposed to be dead, could Mordred be among them?” Julie asked.

  Qtana and Olena exchanged glances.

  “He could, couldn’t he?” Julie growled.

  “If he is, he’s the least of our worries.” Wrinkles creased Olena’s brow. “The world could barely handle one of these villains at a time. All of them?”

  “Crap. I see your point.” Julie wrapped her arms around her torso and exhaled. “Well, now I know what Morgan was talking about when she had felt the ambient evil increase. Do we know how they got into the Wild Hunt?”

  “No, but we’re researching it,” Olena assured her.

  Julie laid a hand on her arm. “I know you are. If anyone can figure it out, it’s you two. I’ll pull strings and see what I can do to get access to more information, too.”

  “Merlin might know,” Qtana suggested. “If anyone does.”

  “If he does, he won’t tell,” Julie snapped. “For now, the priority is to keep these monsters secure. We’ll need to banish them to the prison realm, but the peace summit is using every resource right now.”

  “They’re secure here for the moment. We’re making sure of that,” Qtana reassured her. “This containment unit is far better than it was when Qbiit’s followers broke out of it.”

  “Of course it is.” Julie grinned. “You’re in charge of thaumatech now.”

  Qtana’s lips twitched. “Thanks, Julie.”

  “Keep me updated. I’ll let you know what I find.” Julie grimaced. “This whole queening thing isn’t as easy as it looks.”

  Olena touched her arm. “You’re still kicking ass.”

  “You mean apart from pissing off everybody by messing with tradition and bringing all of history’s worst villains into the world?” Julie raised her eyebrows.

  “That’s part of the ass-kicking.” Olena squeezed her arm. “You’ve got this, Julie.”

  Julie took the elevator with the werewolves. Olena’s words played on a loop in her head. You’ve got this.

  Hat didn’t think so.

  CHAPTER NINE

  The three werewolves sat in the Mustang, buckled in, hands in their laps like chastised schoolboys, not making any noise.

  Julie was silent, too. Hat was doing all the talking. Verbal diarrhea had poured out in an uninterrupted stream since she’d gotten into Genevieve five minutes ago, and he wasn’t slowing down.

  Look, you don’t understand, all right? Hat trembled on the dashboard. You weren’t there. You don’t know what it was like for Lunar Fae. You don’t have all the information.

  I don’t have all the information? Julie yelled as she accelerated through Staten Island. I wonder whose fault that is!

  What did you want me to do, Julie? Hat barked. Come right out and tell you that your real family was royalty in a world you didn’t even know existed?

  Don’t use that term! Julie slammed a hand on the wheel, and the smell of burning leather filled the car. Crap! Sorry, Gennie.

  Genevieve honked in solidarity.

  Rosa is my real family too, and so was Dad, Julie raged.

  You’re dodging the question. Don’t you see that I couldn’t have told you everything then? Hat snapped. You would never have believed me.

  You don’t know that. You could have given me a choice, but you didn’t. You robbed me of my identity, my family, and my future for years! Julie angrily dashed off the tears on her cheeks.

  Can’t you trust me? Hat barked.

  Julie snorted. Trust you? The person who withheld my family from me? I don’t think so.

  Hat squirmed. I did it to prot⁠—

  If you say you did it to protect me, I’ll throw you out for the rats to eat, Julie snarled.

  It’s the truth! Hat roared.

  Well, it’s a crappy excuse! Julie shot back.

  Look how much danger you’ve been in since you turned out to be the crown princess, Julie. You could not have handled that before your powers materialized! Hat’s tip jerked furiously.