"Oh, Princess." She cut me off, took my hand, and pressed it against her ample bosom. "Thank you. May the Princ.i.p.alities always guide you. I have placed requests for months, but Malax kept saying it was enough. I knew it wasn't, because my daughter tells me in excruciating detail what the minions need."

"She has no special powers?"

Ka.s.set chuckled. "She does, but she's what you call an activist. She and her friends work with the minions to better their lives."

I frowned. "By doing what?"

"I don't know. She refuses to discuss anything with me because, according to her, I am part of the problem." She sighed. "She doesn't understand that I answer to Malax, who answers to your father."

"I'll talk to my father."

"That's wonderful," she said in an upbeat voice. "We'll need to increase our budget to buy more. The fresh fruits we have right now might not be enough for a week-"

"Then let them last three days. Where do we get our fruit and vegetables?"

"We've grown our own since arriving here, but it's not enough, so we buy from Hawaii and other parts of the US."

According to my tutor, Mount Hermon Island was somewhere in the Pacific. "We have orchards here on the island?"

She nodded. "On the east side of the island."

I hadn't completely explored the other side of the island, just the beach. "Who does the planting, the tending, and the harvesting?"

Ka.s.set hesitated, then said slowly, "Minions."

Yet they weren't getting enough to eat. Oh, my father was going to hear an earful. "Give them what they need for now."

The ten volunteers were about to leave when Lady Nemea arrived. The gleam in her eyes said I wasn't going to like whatever she said next.

"Your father wants to see you, Princess Lilith," Lady Nemea said.

"Where is he?"

"In the throne room."

The last couple of weeks, I'd become very good at finding the energies of those closest to me. I searched for my father's. It amazed me how bright and red his energy was. Was mine like his? Some people had yellow, others orange energies. The minions' were bright and white. Father?

You pinged me earlier. What's going on?

I'm helping our people and I wanted you to know about it before you hear it from someone else.

A chuckle. Good.

Can you join us on Rocky Beach?

Silence.

Father?

I'll be there. He sounded wary.

"He's coming to the beach," I said. Lady Nemea didn't hide her surprise, and the minions' fear was equally easy to read. "It's okay," I rea.s.sured them. "Take the crates to the beach."

PART II.

LILITH THE LEADER.

-12-.

Lady Nemea and the guards followed us back to Rocky Beach. Lottius and Katia helped hand out fruit while I talked to the elders. They had a list of complaints, minor and major. Some minions took their share home, while others sat and munched.

Lottius, Katia, and I joined them. Lady Nemea and the guards didn't. She was such a buzzkill. I ignored her long-suffering expression as laughter and excited chatter filled the air. I soaked it all in.

No more thoughts about the Guardians and what they'd stolen from me. No more thoughts about making them pay. I glanced around, exchanging smiles. These were my people, my concern, not the Guardians. I found out that Seraph's mother was called Ziminair and that her father, Anzu, was a day laborer in the fields.

I searched for Green Eyes, but he hadn't returned. I couldn't feel him, either. It was hard to explain how the mere thought of him sent my pulse racing. I had a serious crush on the guy. Probably more than a crush, but the situation was hopeless. My father would find me a mate, and minions weren't qualified.

Silence spread across the beach like a giant wave. I turned and grinned. Father had arrived. Minions went down on their knees. Even Lottius and Katia joined them. I guessed I should be nervous about interfering in matters that didn't concern me again, but I wasn't. This was the right thing to do.

"May the Princ.i.p.alities guide you, Lord Valafar" followed him as he walked past the people. He paused to pat heads and shoulders, ask about family members. Some reached out to touch him as he pa.s.sed them. From their reaction and emotions, they revered him.

I waved. "Over here."

"May the Princ.i.p.alities guide you, sire," the elders said when he reached us.

"Thank you." Then he turned to me. "Daughter."

"I'm happy you came," I said, offering him an apple.

He smiled and took it. "I'll always come when you need me."

I grinned and patted the sand. "Want to sit?"

He looked around, face expressionless. I don't think so.

It shows that you are one of us, Father.

I am one of you, he said stressing "am". Someone appeared with a chair for him. The guards stayed standing.

No one offered me a chair, I griped.

That's because you're not our leader yet.

Yet? Did that mean he meant to step down? I didn't want to think about that now. "Sit, please," I told the guards. "Grab some fruit."

They acknowledged my words with a nod, but they didn't take me up on the offer. Instead, they studied everyone and the horizon as though they expected Guardians to pop up from the sea of harmless minions or from the water.

The minions pressed closer as though waiting for Father to say something. The children grew restless. A few tried to move from their mothers' sides but were stopped by firm grips. I closed my hand around the mango core and felt it shift and change texture. When I opened my hands, the core had turned into sand. I made eye contact with Seraph's mom.

Ziminair, the children are bored. I want to play with them in the water. Can you see if it's okay with the other mothers?

She smiled. Of course, Princess.

I stood when she nodded, and took Seraph's hand and the hand of the friend she'd been playing with. The other children, nudged by their parents, joined us.

"Where are we going, Princess Lilith?" Seraph asked.

"We're going to play in the water."

She giggled. "You can't swim in a dress."

"Oh, but I can. This is a special dress. It can change into a swimsuit just before I get in the water, and as soon as I step out of the water, it changes back into a dress."

"You have earth powers," her friend whispered softly. "My mother said so."

I smiled. "Yes, I do."

"Can you make my swimsuit blue with snowflakes?" she asked.

"I want pink snowflakes," Seraph cut in.

"Ask your parents first," I said. "If they say it's okay..."

The children ran to their parents to ask permission. The water was blue and clear; I could see the sandy bottom. My sundress changed into a bikini as soon as I stepped in the water, but I was too busy adding polka dots, flowers, and hearts to swimsuits to feel self-conscious. Not that I had any reason to be. I wasn't pale and scrawny anymore. I'd filled out.

Most of the children, like their parents, were in their Neteru/humanlike form, so that made things easier. I didn't have to deal with tails and whatnot. I guess the ability to shift depended on the psi energy. I focused on creating more pink, blue, red, and yellow snowflakes, b.a.l.l.s, bugs, and bikes on shorts.

Help, I begged Katia.

Katia helped with the swimsuits, then with keeping an eye on the younger kids. She was good with them. She laughed and splashed with them, chased them under the water like an eel. Their level of playfulness was different with her. I guessed no matter how hard I tried, I'd always be their princess and they'd always treat me differently.

I knew the moment my father left. There was a ma.s.s exodus into the water, but it was more than that. My father had a presence and a powerful energy that was hard to ignore. I wondered if that was how people felt around me. According to my tutors, I had the strongest psi energy on the island.

Lady Nemea left with his guards, but mine stayed. Lottius walked to the edge of the water and waved.

A little help with my swimsuit, Prime Earthlings, she teased.

Katia laughed. "Do you want to do the honors?"

"You do it. You know what she likes. Besides, she called us earthlings. That is insulting and demean-"

Hands wrapped around my waist and pulled. Arms flailing, I went under. The kids were finally treating me the way they treated Katia. I glanced over my shoulder and my eyes widened.

What are you doing? I asked Green Eyes.

He smirked, letting me go. Trying to get your attention. What to see something cool?

I shook my head and surfaced.

Chicken, he said, still underwater.

Not.

Please. His gorgeous eyes twinkled and his ridiculously long hair floated in the sea like a mermaid's. I couldn't resist, so I nodded. He beckoned me to join him and I dove in. He took my hand and I expected us to teleport.

The water parted around us as we swam until we were inside some sort of bubble. Instead of floating to the top, the bubble moved farther from the others and the sh.o.r.e and into deeper waters. It was weird. Green Eyes held on to me as we sank until our feet landed on the bottom of the ocean.

The seabed was rocky and bubbles shot upward from cracks on the floor, probably from some nasty sea creatures wondering why we had invaded their s.p.a.ce. But I didn't care. I was alone with Green Eyes.

A school of colorful fish floated past us, skirting our dome as though they knew the inside had no water. Above us, light rays streaked through the water like splashes of white paint on a watery canvas. I poked at the wall and my finger sank into the cool wetness of the ocean, but when I pulled it out, the bubble didn't pop.

"Did you do this?" I asked, glancing at him. I caught his smile. He really had a beautiful smile, and from the look in his eyes, he was enjoying my reaction. Heat crawled onto my cheeks and I was suddenly aware that he was holding my hand, and that I was only partially dressed in a bikini while he wore a surfing suit.

"Did you?" I asked again.

He shook his head. "How could I? I'm only a minion. Maybe your water powers are appearing."

Could they? He laced our fingers. Holding his hand seemed natural.

"I don't buy it," I said. "Do you have wings?"

He laughed as though the idea was absurd, then let go of my hand, leaned against the bubble, and crossed his arms. "If I had wings, I'd be up there flying, not down here." He angled his head and studied me. "Why do you ask?"

I pushed my finger into the water. "I had a dream about you."

He wiggled his brow. "Only one? I've had plenty with you."

Heat flooded my cheeks. "Yeah. Well. In the dream you had ma.s.sive black wings."

"Nice. My dreams tend to be more..."

His smile changed and something shifted in my stomach. "More what?"

"Realistic."

"Oh." I'd expected him to say something more, I don't know, romantic.

He smirked as though he'd read my thoughts. "Meet me at the sublevel library at midnight tonight and I'll show you. I'll be in the east study room with the giant globe."

I c.o.c.ked my eyebrows. "You plan to show me your dreams?"