If by chance you have a homicidal and murderous mother with a crew of cult-like rebel followers, I do not recommend following my plan. At this point, I still harbored delusions that my mother might listen to reason. I probably should have done the smart thing—run.

Ellenora Nikone's plan was clever. Right at sunset, her followers poured out of three nearby tunnels. They didn't attack, though. Instead, they surrounded the compound and waited. My mother walked out last beside Finn. She wore golden armor and her lavender hair whipped around her like a flag. She glared at the compound and narrowed her blue and gold eyes.

Then she waited.

I looked out the window at her and bit my lip. There was a sinking feeling in my gut that knew exactly what she was doing. She still wanted me and she'd already given me her demands.

Moreno took my hand, and I tried to look like I meant business. Then, with a shaky breath, I walked out of the halfant compound with a guard on my heels and went to attempt to barter with the most powerful woman in Jontun.

"Theresa," my mother seemed to savor my birth name as the syllables rolled off her tongue. "Hello, sweetlove."

"Ellenora," her name was cold on my lips and I stepped forward.

This woman was no maternal figure in my life. The last time we'd met face to face, she'd almost killed me. Just being this close to her was dangerous. I could feel Moreno by my side reaching for his weapons, but he didn't draw for fear of the giants firing at us.

"No hug for Mommy?" Ellenora cocked her head. "I'm disappointed, Terri. I thought we were getting along so splendidly. After all, you're finally embracing doing what you're told. That's exactly what a daughter should do."

"If that's what you think a mother-daughter relationship is like, you're sorely mistaken," I said. "I'm here on behalf of a halfants. If you don't leave peacefully, they have the right to protect their border."

Ellenora laughed. "You're wearing their uniform when you should wear golden armor. You're above these silly patrols and guards, Theresa. Accept your destiny as a princess. You're my daughter. That makes you special."

It did, but as much as Moreno teased me about being a princessa, it didn't define me. I was Terri Oakeley. My legacy was to protect the human realm from giants as much as it was a right to the throne. I didn't want Ellenora's legacy. It was nothing but hurt and pain because she felt unwanted.

The halfants had taken me in without question. They were a family, and they'd welcomed me more than my own mother. The Nikones didn't want me and I didn't need them. I belonged right here with my body between a giant and a portal.

"You're wrong about so many things, Ellenora," I said. "Wrong to want to seize power. Wrong to use these giants to hurt halfants. You're angry with your father. There's no need to attack the portals. We aren't your enemy. You and I both know these giants are just a means to an end. You don't want to break out of Jontun. You just want Tytan's throne."

My declaration seemed to take Ellenora aback. She glared at me with ice and molten gold in her eyes. Then Finn set his hand on top of hers as if to soothe her. Her body stiffened, and she seemed to regain her resolve.

"You don't know what I want, you ungrateful little child," she said. "And you're going to tell me what Tytan did with your brother or I'll pull your spine from your body."

Moreno shoved me behind him and drew his weapon. "Just try it, you evil little witch."

"The boyfriend," Ellenora laughed. "I'll give it to you, Theresa. Lord Jordan Ethesis is a good match for a princess. I almost considered dating his daddy once or twice or trying to let him give me an heir."

I tried not to throw up at that thought. My mother really and truly only thought about her own gain. She saw Moreno purely as a lord with a title. That wasn't even something that I cared about.

"But he was always moaning and groaning about his Esperanza," my mother continued. "I mean honestly, a human. It was beneath him."

"Don't speak my mother's name," Moreno growled. "You're not worthy to clean her boots."

It was my turn to step in front of him again before he messed up our plan and did something stupid. He was so full of rage and anger, and I wouldn't let my mother take advantage of that. I reached out to squeeze Moreno's hand and then I turned back to my mother.

Lyssa and Alana had been very clear with the rules. Halfants couldn't attack giants unless they were attempting to escape Jontun—or we were defending ourselves. Words didn't count and we couldn't strike the first blow.

"Horus would have been a good choice for you since you both seem to skate rules," I said. "Aren't half of these friends you've brought loyal to him? You promised them the human world when that isn't even something you care about. Is that why you never attacked Snowdon? You just want your followers to have some semblance that you care about their cause? Is there anything you actually care about, Ellenora? You certainly have no regard for humans. You made that clear when you used and discarded my father."

"He was a means to an end, little girl," Ellenora said. "It's not like I loved him."

"You're not capable of that," I said. "You don't love me. I doubt you even love Joan."

I remembered my half-sister in the tunnels. One day, I'd figure out how to get her out of my mother's toxic influence. My mother didn't love anyone. Not even Finn.

"Shut up," Finn said. "You can't speak to the future queen of Jontun like this."

I hated how Finn fed her delusions. Somehow he'd fallen in love with her despite the fact that she would never love him back. She just used that love to jerk him around and get him to do her dirty work. It was sick and twisted, but Ellenora seemed to love it. She thrived on the chaos that she created.

"I think I get why the king doesn't want any women in our family to inherit the throne," I said. "After all, we're nothing but trouble. We mess up his plans. After all, he understands what's best for Jontun, or do you think you still know better?"

It was a dangerous game. Every giant had their attention trained on me. I was back talking to their leader. It was almost fun except for one wrong word and I'd end up dead. I was surprised that her soldiers had this much restraint. Maybe they just really wanted to see the tongue lashing the young halfant princess was giving her mother.

"Tytan deserves death," Ellenora said. "He killed to get where he was. His father and sister died by his hand. He's tried to kill me before. I beat him at his own game. Then he tried to marry me off, and I outsmarted him with that too. No one deserves the crown more than I do, Theresa."

"Why would you even want it?" I asked. "It's nice to be free of that kind of responsibility. Being a ruler seems like a big headache."

"I wouldn't expect a little bastard raised in the human world to understand," Ellenora said. "You should do what you're useful for, Theresa. Give me your brother. Help me ascend the throne and perhaps I'll leave your puny halfants in peace."

Here we were again. The root of her madness. Maybe she'd been telling the lie for so long that she'd convinced herself that she had two babies. Still, I couldn't help her find someone who didn't exist.

I looked at my mother and our mismatched eyes matched across the plain. She seemed so resolute and steady. I knew liars. I'd gotten good at spotting the signs of mistruths the summer Uncle Chris stayed with us when I was twelve to detox and decompress. Ellenora didn't look like she was lying. Somehow, she believed exactly what she was staying. Either that or she should win an Academy Award for best actress in a drama.

"Why can't you find him?" I asked.

Her eyebrow twitched slightly, as if she was trying to hold in her anger. "You're his twin. Your special bond is different. Tytan has used some kind of magic to keep us apart. Whatever you have with your twin supersedes whatever my blasted father has done to keep me far from my baby."

I felt like I would know if I had a twin, and I was extra sure that I didn't. I wasn't like Spart and Khan. There was no one I shared special skills with except the other Nikones and that certainly wasn't a twin sense. It was a family curse more than anything.

"You're wrong," I said.

"And you are stubborn," Ellenora said.

The sun was slowly slipping below the horizon, as if being swallowed by the earth. In the bleeding sunset, my mother looked like a deranged war goddess. She raised a finger as if to smite me and then beamed.

"Bring her to me," Ellenora ordered.

A chill ran down my spine. A dozen giants charged me like an honor guard. Moreno drew his blue gun, but he didn't fire until the first giant swung his ax at my head. The bullet sank into the giant's calf and he sank paralyzed.

Moreno fired again and again. There was something hard in his metal colored eyes. I knew he would never let any harm come to me. It was more than love. We had something that Ellenora would never understand.

I drew my own weapon. The gun once again brought nausea to my stomach, but I raised the piece of plastic and metal up and fired it like I had a thousand times. Standing back-to-back with Moreno, I fired again and again until we brought down all twelve giants with pure and clean marksmanship.

"Is this what you really want?" I called out to my mother. "You can still walk away."

"Bring Pacifica to its knees," Ellenora shouted. "And drag that insubordinate girl to me in chains!"

"You heard your princess," Finn grinned. "Charge!"

With that, the earth rumbled and a hundred giants all moved forward to attack Pacifica. It was like all my nightmares had come to life and I couldn't stop it. The halfants rose to defend their home from their hiding places, and the battle began.

I locked eyes with my mother and she smirked. Then she waved and mouthed something I couldn't make out. Her body fell forward limp and Finn caught her. I realized what she'd done a second too late. My body seized, and the vision pulled me like an undertow.

I barely had time to call out, "Moreno," before my knees gave out. The battle was no more, and I was back in the realm of the treacherous Nikones.

Hey everyone!! This whole section was really fun to write. Terri's got some problems with her mother's family she needs to sort out. It's going to be exciting to see how it all turns out. Let me know what you think so far. Until next time!!