Reena guided her electric scooter into an empty space outside Towne West Square mall and unstrapped her helmet. The messenger bag she’d fastened to the steering column on the scooter rustled and shifted, and the flap popped open as Bast stuck his pink fuzzy head out.  

“Where are we?” He sniffed the air suspiciously.  

“Towne West.” Reena locked her helmet on the steering bar and secured the scooter to the bike rack.  

Bast made a disgusted face at the entryway of the rundown mall. “Why are we here?”  

Reena giggled. “Because nobody comes here anymore except old people who need to get their steps in. And it’s halfway between Mica’s house and my house.” Reena held her arm out to Bast, who scurried up to her shoulders and lay down, his tail tickling her back. 

“It’s safe?” He still didn’t look convinced.  

“Bast, I promise, anyone here who could notice you isn’t going to care.” She laughed. “We won’t go into the stores, either. Mica and I meet here when we need to talk. There’s a boba tea shop inside that we always go, but there are lots of quiet spots where we won’t be bothered.” 

A backfiring muffler made Reena turn toward the parking lot as an antique rust-laden neon green truck sputtered its way toward the entry.  

Bast’s expression of disgust returned. “What is that creature?” 

Reena laughed. “That, my friend, is Ulilohi.” She pointed to the license plate on the front of the vehicle, bolted in place to a bumper secured primarily with duct tape. The vanity tag proclaimed ULILOHI proudly, and anyone who spoke Cherokee always got a good laugh about it. 

“Handsome,” Reena supplied. “It means handsome.” 

“It is repulsive.” 

“That’s the point.” 

Bast scoffed. “Humans.” 

“It’s my dad’s best friend, Ezekiel.” Reena faced the parking lot. “He’s dropping Mica off. And I think he probably wants to meet you.” 

The choking green truck parked in front of the mall entry, but Ezekiel didn’t turn the engine off. Most likely because he wouldn’t be able to get it started again. His old truck had caused several headaches in the years he’d owned it, but he would never sell it.  

The driver’s side door swung open, and Ezekiel stepped out, dark eyes smiling at Reena. His boots thwacked on the pavement, and he paused at the curb, still gazing down at both Reena and the pink furry creature on her shoulders.  

“Hello, Sareena.” His smile deepened. “This must be the infamous Lord Bast.” Ezekiel bowed his head. “An honor to finally meet you.” 

Bast regarded him with a curious sniff but said nothing.  

Ezekiel carried a sense of calm and peace with him wherever he went. Reena had always suspected it had something to do with the time he’d spent in the Marines with her dad. Ezekiel didn’t speak of that time in his life often, except for the years he was stationed in Japan. It was one of the reasons he’d opened Senjumin downtown. Japanese food was a unique option for a landlocked state like Kansas, but Ezekiel had loved the Japanese culture so much he’d wanted to share it with the city. 

Typical Ezekiel. Community first. 

The passenger side door of the sputtering truck slammed, and Mica bounded around the tailgate in a bright green shirt, khaki cargo pants, and a floral duster that nearly dragged the ground. Her red hair was trying desperately to escape its French braid.  

“Thanks for the ride, Uncle Fox.” Mica jumped up on the curb next to Reena and beamed at Bast. “Hi!”  

Bast rolled his eyes.  

Mica laughed and dug a jar of pickled ginger out of her bag. “I bet you’re happy to see me now.”  

Bast’s ears pricked up, and he snatched the jar out of her hands with a squeak. His bushy tail twitched with ill-concealed delight.  

“Is that where all my pickled ginger is going, Michaela?” Ezekiel raised an eyebrow at her.  

Mica grinned sheepishly. “I marked it down.” 

Ezekiel sighed. “I will order more.” He held out a hand to Reena, which she took. “Your father has filled me in since yesterday.” His dark eyes were deep. “Quite a heavy responsibility to fall on your shoulders, little one.”  

“I can do it.” Reena lifted her chin with a smile and glanced at Bast, who was lost in his adoration of the jar of pickled ginger. “Well, we can do it.” 

“Of this, I have no doubt.” 

“Dad may not think so.” Reena shrugged. “He keeps apologizing for not preparing me better.” 

Ezekiel stepped closer to her and bent to set a gentle kiss on the top of her head. “Your father fears for your safety, as a good father should, but he does not doubt you, Sareena. He never has.” 

Reena breathed out slowly. “Thanks, Uncle Fox.” 

Ezekiel pointed to her and then to Mica. “The two of you stay out of trouble, yes?” He pointed at Mica longer, raising an eyebrow higher.  

“What?” Mica held her palms up. “Why are you looking at me like that? I’m not the one who woke up an alien and knocked my best friend off a skyscraper.” 

“Epic Center is hardly a skyscraper.” Reena made a face.  

Mica stuck out her lower lip. “Or tried to get me sucked out into space.” 

“I stopped it.” 

Ezekiel folded his arms, black eyes sparkling with laughter. “You two have made my point for me.” He nodded toward the mall. “Be good.” 

Reena waved at him as he climbed back into the idling green truck and gunned the engine, belching a cloud of exhaust out its tailpipe. 

Mica tucked her arm into Reena’s, and they walked together into the mall. Years earlier the mall had been a popular spot for people to congregate, but as the culture of the city changed with the times, the popularity of the malls faded.  

And, well, Towne West was practically in the Orchard, and nobody came to the Orchard anymore unless they were looking for a fight. 

“So?” Mica nudged Reena with her elbow. “What did you find out? Was Bast right? Are you actually a for-really-real princess?” 

Reena nodded. “I am. And Auntie Kay really is too. She’s the daughter of the Queen Under the Moon, the one the Dragons of the Diamond Throne are sworn to protect.” 

Mica beamed. “So you’re like her bodyguard now?” 

“Something like that.” Reena led them to the food court at the center of the mall, and they settled in at their favorite table in the corner between two fake jungle-looking plants. Bast sprawled on the table with his jar of pickled ginger and happily ignored them. 

As expected, nobody noticed them. The food court workers were all focused on their jobs. The half dozen elderly couples were focused on walking the mall circuit. And other than that? Well, there was no one else there.  

Mica bounced over to the ICTea Boba Shop and ordered two large boba drinks, one taro milk and the other strawberry. Maybe one day one of them would get something different, but they were both creatures of habit.  

Reena looked at Bast, still snuggling the jar of ginger.  

“Do you want me to open that for you?” Reena smiled.  

Bast held it tighter and made a trilling sound.  

“Or not.” Reena shook her head.  

She accepted the pink-colored drink from Mica and shook it with anticipation, watching the little pearls of brown-sugar soaked tapioca at the bottom shine in the harsh overhead lights.  

Mica scooted her chair closer to Reena and propped her elbows up on the table. “So?” 

“So.” 

“You and Kay and your dad went back to the Ikroza,” Mica said, sipping on her creamy purple milk tea.  

“Yeah.” Reena sipped her drink and sat forward. “From what I can tell, Auntie Kay and my dad were some of the only survivors of a war on the Moon. My Eedo Hani survived, but she was hurt very badly. She and Auntie Kay’s governess came here, to Earth, to hide because people would be hunting Auntie Kay.” 

“Since she’s like the crown princess, right?” 

“Right.” Reena glanced at Bast. “Bast is one of eight dragon guardians that are bonded to the princess warriors of the solar system. He was wounded in that last battle badly enough that he had to regenerate.” 

“That’s why he was in the egg!” Mica snapped her fingers.  

“And he woke up and hatched when I got close enough.” Reena shrugged. “Eedo Hani died when my dad and Auntie Kay were young, and they found a way to survive together and eventually made it here.” 

“To Kansas?” Mica scrunched up her face. 

“Yeah, they didn’t explain that very well.” Reena chuckled. “There are so many questions to ask. I don’t even know where to start with them. But what I know for sure is that the dark power that attacked the Moon was locked away somewhere. That’s what caused the giant dragon statue in the Ikroza—Khanyiso. She used all her power to trap that dark force in another dimension, but her power is wearing down. And when she wakes up?” 

“The dark power will get loose,” Mica whispered. 

Reena nodded. “Yes. So that means we need to find the other princesses before Khanyiso’s seal is broken.” 

Mica scratched her chin. “Wow. How are we going to do that?” 

Reena scooted her chair forward further. “Auntie Kay has been developing contacts over the last few decades, and she has leads on where all the princesses are located.” 

Mica brightened further. “That’s amazing! Where are they? And how can we tell them apart from normal people?” 

Reena laughed. “Normal people?” 

“You know what I mean.” 

“Yeah.” Reena shook her head. “I did ask Auntie Kay that. She said that all the royal family descendants left on the planets aren’t the ones who have the genetic lineage we’re looking for, so it has to be the ones who came to Earth.” 

Mica blinked. “All the planets have people who came to Earth?” 

“During the war that brought the Moon Kingdom collapse, yes.” Reena looked down at Bast again. “It was a dark time, Auntie Kay said. But that means there are several generations between the royal families who came to Earth and the princesses we’re looking for.” 

“So they could look like anyone?” 

Reena winced. “They could be anyone.” And then she smiled. “Maybe even you.” 

Mica laughed. “Me? I’m not a princess, Reena.” 

“I didn’t think I was either.” 

Mica slurped her drink. “Yeah, but you knew you were from another planet.” She spoke around a mouthful of boba. “I’m just from a lame, hard-to-pronounce orphanage in St. Petersburg.” 

Reena sat up straight in her chair and saluted stiffly. “Oktyabrsky.” 

“Oktyabrsky, comrade.” Mica saluted back. 

They both giggled.  

Years earlier, they’d started making fun of the name of Mica’s orphanage, mostly because it was difficult to say. It had turned into an inside joke between them when they had first been friends. 

“But wouldn’t it be great if you were a princess too?” Reena spun her drink glass in her hands.  

“I’m happy for you to be the princess.” Mica held up her drink. “I’ll be the princess’s best friend.” 

Reena patted Bast on the head. “I told Auntie Kay that you needed to help us.” She smiled. “Well, that you needed to help me.” 

“Good.” Mica sat up. “I was going to help you regardless.” 

Bast shifted on the table and sat up, his ears twitching. Reena followed his gaze to where a tall black woman approached them.  

“Auntie Kay?” Reena turned in her chair.  

Auntie Kay nodded as she came to stand at the table. “May I join you?” 

Mica stood and grabbed another chair from a different table and brought it for her.  

“Thank you, Michaela.” Auntie Kay sat down, carefully arranging the folds of her patterned yellow and red dress around her legs. “Ezekiel said this is where I could find you girls.” She set a large pouch on the table and patted it absently. “I hope you both are recovered from your ordeal.” 

She eyed Bast, who had gone back to curling around the jar of pickled ginger.  

“We must talk.” 

Mica glanced at Reena and then back at Auntie Kay. “Do you want me to go?” 

“No, Michaela.” Auntie Kay set her hand on Mica’s shoulder. “I would like for you to stay. Sareena has assured me that your help will be invaluable as we seek to connect with the Daughters of the Stars.” She sighed. “And we have less time than I believed before.” 

“What do you mean?” Reena asked. 

Auntie Kay opened the large bag she’d set on the table and withdrew from it a large stone egg, shimmering violet in color. “This is the Khonzi of Haleine. Venus.” She turned it and pointed to the obvious cracks beginning to form on the skin of the stone egg. “The dragon within is awakening.” 

“Yay!” Mica jumped up with her arms in the air. “Another friend!” 

Reena grinned at her. “That’s great, Auntie Kay. We’re ready to help however we can. Just tell us where we need to go, and we’ll find the next princess.” 

Auntie Kay shifted in her chair, suddenly looking a bit uncomfortable. “There is no need to travel, Sareena. The Dragon of Venus is here.” 

Reena blinked. “Here?” 

Mica spun in a wild circle. “In the mall?”  

Auntie Kay smiled. “No, not in the mall. But she is in the city.” 

Reena sat up. “Well, that’s even better. Do you know her name?” 

Auntie Kay held Reena’s gaze. “Yes, Sareena. I know her name. And so do you.”  

Reena frowned.  

Why did Auntie Kay look worried? Reena settled back in her chair, her stomach tightening in anxiety. She already knew the princess? And Reena did too?  

“We know her already?” Mica sat down again and scooted forward. “Well, that’s handy.”  

“I assure you, Sareena and Michaela.” Auntie Kay looked to each of them. “I am certain of this. The genetic scans are accurate, and the results are definitive.” 

Mica deflated slowly. “So—you’re sure. That’s—good. Right?” 

Reena sat forward. “Who is it, Auntie Kay?” 

Auntie Kay put the egg back into the bag and closed the flap. “The daughter of the royal family of Venus,” Auntie Kay said, “is Amanda Beaumont.” 

Mica’s jaw dropped open.  

Reena’s stomach turned over. “Mandie?” Anxiety and disbelief warred in her voice. “Mandie Beaumont?” 

“Yes, Sareena.” Auntie Kay nodded.  

“Mandie Beaumont?” Mica squeaked. “Miss Perfect-Without-A-Soul? Miss Model-Without-A-Heart? Miss Mean-Faced-Meanie-Without-Morals?” Her voice increased in pitch with every syllable.  

Auntie Kay sat back in her chair and tilted her head. “Without doubt.” 

Mica sagged and flopped on the table face-first. Reena sank back in her chair and rested her face in her hands.  

Out of everyone it could have been, of course it would be Mandie.  

“She’s not hero material,” Mica groaned into the table. 

Reena sighed. “Well, she’s great at throwing rotten tomatoes.” She smiled to herself and lifted her eyes to Auntie Kay’s face. “Where do we start?”