Estefania was lost. The magic threw her around worse than a ship on the ocean. The longer she tried to focus, the more the swirling pool tossed her around. Her mind screamed, and there was nothing to grasp as she sank deeper and deeper into her own despair.

The scepter.

She needed to focus on the scepter. Her sister was dying. Then again, maybe Mona wouldn't have it out for them if their father hadn't broken his engagement, but if he hadn't, she wouldn't have been born.

Her head ached. Her heart felt like it was beating out of her chest, but she couldn't even open her eyes in her own body. It was like the pool had taken her mind and moved it somewhere else, and here she was, drifting farther and farther away.

She remembered Solomon in her vision. He'd accepted his queen's decisions even though it broke his daughter's heart. Later, he'd followed her grandmother's orders and spent sixteen years raising Estefania at a monastery.

He taught her how to control her breathing when she would get upset about her family sending her away. Solomon would hold her hand and tell her to let the air come in and out in slow beats of six.

The scepter.

She let the air in and slowly exhaled. She needed to find the scepter. Someone had to have some memory of it. She wouldn't fail Avangelique.

A golden haze appeared before her, and a rush of wind brought her back to her body. She opened her eyes and stared at the pool's surface, which was now glowing blue. Rillian gaped at the power, and Nathaniel barked in alarm as a woman made of water rose from the pool and held out her hand.

"Peace," the woman spoke with a gentle power that made the very stones quake. "I have come to help you."

"Louraline," Rillian said. "It's an honor."

"Rillian," the former fairy empress lowered her hand. "Your mother wanted to make the journey, but her spirit is weak because it is trapped."

"Did you find the scepter?" Lorenzo asked.

Estefania shook her head. She'd tried her best, and once again, she'd failed. Her sister believed in her enough to save her, but she couldn't even repay the favor.

"Is that what this is about?" Louraline frowned. "This pool is sacred, Rillian. It is not a place to look for misplaced items. Your mother would be disappointed, Rillian."

"My mother is dead," Rillian said. "And Monique has destroyed the fairies. We need to undo her curses before she destroys Cyra and Sahar next. She's already put the princess of Sahar in a death sleep."

"If it is what you truly wish, I can gift you the scepter," Louraline said. "But you must release the empress. Only she can restore the magic to the world."

"Release the empress?" Lorenzo frowned. "All the fairies are gone. Rillian said his mother is dead."

"The next empress must be awakened," Louraline said. "Mona has made it so she could not ascend before, and how you must use the scepter to reverse her curse."

"What about my sister?" Estefania faced Louraline.

"Avangelique de Sahar was born the day Cressida passed, and the power of the empress passed to her," Louraline said. "If she dies, all is lost."

Estefania felt like the wind was knocked out of her. Avangelique couldn't be a fairy, much less a reincarnation of the empress. Sure, she'd been able to take Estefania's curse, but her sister had never shown any type of magic. Then again, how well did she know Ava?

"Then give us the scepter," Lorenzo said. "Let us save her."

"You should mind your temper, little prince," Louraline said. "But I will give you what you desire."

The scepter appeared in her hands, and she held it out to Estefania. The princess took the rod, and the gold was hot in her hands, but it didn't burn. The power was weak, but she could feel it. Somehow, she knew it was just enough for one use.

"Thank you," she said.

"A parting gift," Louraline said. "May your journey be light,"

She dissolved and flowed back into the pool. Then Estefania's stomach lurched as the room seemed to shift. One moment, she stood in the library of the fairies, and the next, she was in the center of the Cyran ballroom in front of a dozen startled servants setting out food.

Lorenzo retched on the floor. Nathaniel's wolf form was curled up in a ball, and he whimpered. The only person who seemed to have made the journey with any grace was Rillian. The fairy shook out his wings and glanced out the window.

He cursed as he took in the sun's position. "The isle still skews time. It's hours before the ball. We don't have much time."

Estefania looked at the scepter, which was still warm in her hands. "Can we even release Avangelique without the book? I thought you said we needed it?"

"Louraline must think you can do it without it," Rillian said. "But I'd imagine we only have one chance."

Lorenzo wiped his mouth. "We have to save Ava."

"I know," Estefania said. "Can you get Nathaniel away from here? Maybe if he's alone, he can find some kind of control over his emotions."

"What about your sister?" Lorenzo asked.

"I'll wake her," Estefania said. "I promise, Lorenzo."

The prince shook his head and gritted his teeth, wincing. Nathaniel padded up to his side and rubbed his brother's leg. Lorenzo softened and placed his fingers on the wolf's head.

"I know, Than," he rubbed his temple with his other hand. "We should find Fletcher. I have a feeling he's in as much pain as the rest of us."

Somehow, Estefania wondered if he wasn't just talking about the pain they suffered through their curse. The prince and the marquis disappeared upstairs, leaving Estefania to turn back to Rillian. The fairy was talking to a servant before he looked at the princess.

"They moved Avangelique up to her room," he said. "Follow me."

The servants pointed them to a staircase that was hidden for staff to use. Estefania could feel the scepter once again heating up in her hands the closer she got to her sister. Rillian pushed open an entrance at the top of the staircase and led her into a hallway lit with candelabras.

She followed Rillian through a red door and into a bedroom. Several doctors and healers worked around a bed where her sister lay. Avangelique was still breathing, but her skin was drained of color, and her veins bulged under her skin.

"How is she?" Estefania asked the nearest doctor.

"She cannot be woken," he said. "We've done all we can, but she's dying in that sleep."

"I'm going to help her," Estefania said.

The doctor held up his hand. "Princess, there's nothing you can do."

She held out the scepter. The stick was dangerously hot now, but it didn't burn her skin. The gold glowed, and the doctor averted his eyes. Estefania moved closer to her sister's bed, guided entirely by instinct.

She knelt and took her sister's hand. Estefania took a deep breath, and she could sense whatever was in her sister's body. The toxic poison weaved its way through her veins like a viper on the prowl. Avangelique was fighting, but her magic could barely push the vile concoction away from her heart.

"Come on, Ava," Estefania whispered. "Show them what you're made of. Come back to me, little sister."

She set the scepter across her sister's chest and wrapped her fingers around the glowing gold. Avangelique's grip was cold and limp, but it could hold the scepter. Estefania could feel the magic washing over her sister, but it wasn't enough.

She looked to Rillian, but the fairy stood back. He couldn't help her because he wasn't his mother. The fairy empress was sitting before her in her new form, dying.

Estefania set a hand over her sister's heart and remembered the mirror. She allowed power to run through her veins like the pool spilling out of her body and into her sister. Air rushed through the room and into Avangelique's lungs.

"Ava," her sister's name was like a prayer on her lips in the dark, more devout than any she'd given under the care of the Brothers. The wish flowed from her heart and into her sister, who was begging for anyone to hear her plea. "Please, hear me."

Her wish wasn't for herself. She wasn't her mother or her father. She didn't want the fairy empress or magic. Estefania couldn't want anything more than her sister, and it was the most selfish thing in the world.

The very stones beneath her feet seemed to tremble. Her body burned, but she let her magic flow. Even if she faded, it would be worth it. Avangelique was worth it.

Her sister's body levitated in the air, and her hair flew around her head. Estefania was blasted back, and the scepter fell to the ground with a clatter. Avangelique glowed with every color like a rainbow ran through her body, and her eyes flew open.

The rainbow faded into her skin and then burst out of her back into magnificent stained glass butterfly wings that stretched above her head and stopped at mid-thigh. Avangelique fell forward and landed on the stones with her limp hands, breaking her fall.

Estefania ran towards her sister with concern, but Rillian held up a hand. Avangelique found her feet unsteadily and picked up the scepter from the ground. It glowed for a moment before fading. Avangelique shivered and looked Estefania directly in the eye.

Something was wrong. The gleam in her sister's eyes had hardened. All that was left was raw and dangerous power. Avangelique de Sahar was gone, and the empress was reborn.

Then, the sixteen-year-old princess did something unexpected. She giggled. Avangelique's entire body quivered as she let out a mighty belly laugh. Tears formed in the corners of her eyes as she brought herself under control.

"I'm sorry," she said. "It's like, for the first time ever, I actually belong here in my own body. I just never expected... I mean the wings..."

Avangelique's wings twitched and flapped behind her. She smiled from ear to ear and then touched her dress. The material changed into something petal-like and colorless. It lengthened until her sister wore a beautiful gown that accommodated her wings and resembled a white rose.

"It's better than Trix's work on Elowen's dresses," Anvangelique laughed again and twirled. "Just look at me, Steffie."

"You look beautiful," Estefania said.

She meant it. Her sister felt different now, but not exactly how she'd first appeared. Avangelique was still there, but at the same time, she radiated power. She was herself and also the empress reborn.

"Let's fix you up," Avangelique waved her scepter at Estefania.

Her robes changed again, becoming beautiful and ornate fairy silk in an apple-red color accented with embroidered golden bugs. Her back ached, and when she reached back to touch the spot, she found pearlescent wings like a dragonfly.

"What did you do to me?" Estefania gaped at her sister.

"You've always had the potential to grant wishes, Steffie," Avangelique said. "I just made it easier for you to fulfill the heart's inner desires."

Estefania didn't know it was possible. Her sister had risen to the position of fairy empress, and she'd given her a gift.

"Your majesty," Rillian bowed. "My life is yours."

"Rillian," Avangelique's voice suddenly sounded much older. "Take Trix and live your life. You've suffered long enough, and you deserve to be happy."

"We can discuss this later, Mother," Rillian said.

Estefania remembered what Louraline had said about the empress. She wondered if the empress was just a mixture of all of the magical women before her or if Avangelique would still be her own person. Either way, it was weird to hear Rillian call her little sister his mother.

"We should be on our way to the ball," Avangelique said. "Elowen is ready to put up a good fight, but she cannot win without us."

The fairy empress threw her hair back with a hand. Her braids formed a spiral on their own that seemed to defy gravity. Then Avangelique walked from the room barefooted and ready to charge into battle, leaving Estefania to follow.