In one moment, Sorrel and Coppelius had been dancing outside in the night air, a simple box-step with her barefoot, and him nearly stumbling over her the entire time. Everything just perfect in its imperfection, the epitome of a lovely night. 

The next, there was a bright light, and a rumble that shook the stone beneath her feet emanated from the ballroom. Before Sorrel could figure out what was happening, she was knocked to the ground. 

In a few heartbeats, she realized Coppelius was crouched over her, holding her tight to his body. Shouts and screams filled the air, and glass surrounded them. Coppelius leapt to his feet, pulling Sorrel up with him.

She whirled around to see the ballroom, now looking like a bird's cage without the glass in it. People were running in all directions, the chaos taking on an entirely new, more frantic shape. 

In the center of it all were two figures. One of which was her sister and none other than—

"Versailles!" Coppelius cried, before cursing under his breath. "I never thought they'd be so bold as to come here."

"What's he doing with Gwynn?" Sorrel's chest went tight, she felt as if she wasn't breathing at all. "GWYNN!"

In spite of everything, she screamed her name as she charged back in. Nothing mattered now besides getting to her, making sure she was safe. She leapt over people and darted between fleeing party-goers. She stumbled on the hem of her grown, leading to a large shredding noise. Segments of the black tulle underskirt came flying off in her frenzy to get to the center.

But Coppelius somehow was faster, having outpaced her and ran in-between a shaken-looking Gwynn and the figure proclaiming to be Versailles, wearing a sinister-looking wolf-mask. 

Sorrel rushed to Gwynn's side, grabbing her shoulders to shield her from the champion of the Spider-Queen. 

"Are you alright?" She asked.

"I'm fine." Gwynn wasn't looking at her, but was glaring straight at Versailles with an intensity Sorrel had never seen before in her little sister. 

"I knew you were still around." Versailles pulled the hilt of his polearm from a hidden pocket in his tunic. With a flick of his wrist, it extended into the polearm that Sorrel remembered from the forest. "And I knew she had to be with you. And that she would come to her aid."

With that, he pointed at Gwynn with his polearm. 

"Leave her out of this," Coppelius snarled, as he began to weave his spells. "It's me you're after."

"Oh, so you're finally willing to fight instead of running?" Versailles spun his polearm, winding it up. "Well then, amuse me."

At once, Sorrel realized that she had been a fool. The crystal sword, the artifact that was supposed to be used by Coppelius's father, was left back in their hotel room. 

She had no way to defend him, to help. There was no backup in sight. He was ultimately alone.

All she could do was scream as a ray of green light hit Coppelius in the chest. She could only watch as he crumpled to the ground. 

Everything came back in a screaming blur when his eyes closed. Sorrel wasn't sure how, but she managed to dive to the floor, to take him into her arms and cradle him. She fumbled for a pulse—he was still alive, it was still beating steadily in his wrist. 

But she had bigger problems coming. 

Versailles was approaching. Slowly, like a wolf stalking his prey. 

Get up, get up—it's not over yet!

Gritting her teeth, she slung Coppelius's arm around her shoulder and attempted to rise. But she couldn't get him off the ground. He was too heavy, too tall for her to carry on her own. 

"Come on, we've got to go!"

She felt Coppelius's weight shift. She turned to see Gwynn sling Coppelius's other arm over her shoulder. With one look, they were in sync, they knew what to do. 

As they started to move, Versailles lifted his hand in a casual gesture, weaving an eerie spell that shone a sterile white. Sorrel braced herself, there was nowhere to run.

But the spell never landed. 

Instead, standing in front of them was none other than Delphine, shining long blonde hair and all. 

The spell dissolved against an translucent shield like a folding fan in front of her. This new combatant stopped Versailles in his tracks. 

"I never knew that there was another survivor," he marveled aloud. "Hiding under our noses this entire time. You don't have to suffer his fate."

"Shut up!" Delphine snarled. She twisted her hands, re-forming the magic of her shield into a ball of seafoam green light. "I've spent enough time running from you and your kind."

With that, she flung the ball of light at Versailles. It sailed harmlessly over his shoulder, igniting the chocolate fountain on fire. 

Delphine started to weave another spell, but was forced to dodge as Versailles took a swing with his polearm. All the while, Sorrel and Gwynn had continued to try and drag Coppelius back. 

Why was this harder than it had been at the junkyard?

And still Versailles came closer. 

"Niniane, I believe now would be a good time to act." Kiana Albion's cool voice cut through the chaos. 

The woman beside her, Niniane, flexed her fingers, quickly weaving a spell of a pale lavender, sending it straight to Versailles. He dodged it and stopped, turning to observe the newcomers to the battle.

Kiana and her entourage of young women, all Lemurian like herself, strode between the combatants as if they were walking underwater. Every movement flowed with ethereal grace and a solemnity that would cause anyone to take pause. 

They formed a barrier between the Marchand sisters and the Ondrinas. 

"I didn't know the Governor of Lemuria was a sorceress." Versailles did not sound so amused as he had when Delphine had joined the fight. "You don't have to do this."

Kiana to her credit, ignored him. 

"Follow us, we'll explain later—but we have to leave now!" Kiana shouted over her shoulder. 

With a large, swirling gesture, a shield of indigo light surrounded them, knocking Versailles back and splitting the marble floor in two. Kiana created a ball of light in her hands, like a moon or a pearl, before tossing it up. It hit the crystal chandelier that had somehow avoided being shattered before.

Kiana then touched Sorrel's arm, pushing her away, and they all started to run. 

Just as they passed through the threshold between the grand ballroom and the main mansion, a rumble passed through the floor. Sorrel stumbled, nearly falling from the force of it. But somehow, she'd managed to stay upright, and more importantly, keep moving. 

In her peripheral vision, it was like the sun had erupted in the ballroom behind them. 

But she had to keep going, they weren't out of the woods yet. Never had she been more grateful for Gwynn's assistance than right now, as she took each heavy, shuddering step into the gardens and then the streets outside of the manor. Other party-goers weaved around them, but they blended in all the same in the panic. 

It was all she could do to keep putting one foot in front of the other and to keep Kiana Albion and her blue-green hair in her sights. Other Avalon girls had fallen into a formation around Sorrel, Gwynn, Delphine, and the fallen prince Coppelius, a wordless act of solidarity that Sorrel could not entirely understand. At least, not yet. 

They crossed the bridge connecting the Governor's mansion to the rest of the archipelago. Fireworks waltzed with explosions in the night sky, the chaos palpable. They hurried past the marketplace vendors, and followed Kiana's flowing aquamarine silhouette down the stairs to the stone docks. 

None of the boats were tied down—they were all bobbing and celebrating out in the sea. Only they were safe from the fear and merriment mixed on land. 

"Where are we going?" Sorrel risked a glance over her shoulder. She wasn't certain, but she thought she could see the rigid silhouettes of Annwynese soldiers forcing their way through the crowds. She looked back to Kiana, who kept striding ahead. She'd slowed, but she looked no less imperious. 

"Are we going to take a boat?" There wasn't much dock left to go, and they were sitting ducks if they ended up at the end with no means of escape. Sorrel wouldn't be able to swim long enough to make it to a distant island, especially not if she was trying to support Coppelius too. 

"No, we've got something better," Niniane informed her from behind. "Trust in Kiana—she's more of an ally than her father ever would have been."

As Niniane spoke, Kiana stopped at one of the carved panels in the stone wall that separated the raised street from the docks. On the panel were several symbols carved into it, ones that Sorrel recognized from underneath the bridge between the spaceport and the marketplace. 

Kiana touched the symbol and it lit up the same aquamarine as her hair and her dress. The panel in the stone-stacked wall pulled away, folding into a blue light. She looked over her shoulder at Sorrel. 

"We'd better get going—looks like we have company."

Sorrel glanced behind her once more. There were indeed Annwynese soldiers on Lemuria, in their turquoise and gold uniforms and golden masks, and they were descending the steps to the docks. 

The other girls started to run through, only Niniane and Kiana remaining behind. 

Sorrel exchanged a look with Gwynn. They both knew that there was no other choice but a leap of faith.

She tilted his head ever-so-slightly, doubt crossing her face like a shadow and she somehow knew what her sister was asking. 

She nodded. She believed in the young Governor. 

With that, they carried Coppelius into the light. 

Sorrel blinked her surprise—for she had entered a space unlike any she had seen before. She stumbled through a corridor of stone with glowing runes on the side, that opened into the most beautiful pavilion she had ever seen.

It was a garden that she had only seen in dreams, with golden pillars and trees of jeweled fruit. Above was a dome that looked like water all around them, with fish and the faint light of the moon making its way through the depths. In one of the grassy pavilions was an elevated bed of gold. Had it been waiting for her? Had Kiana Albion and her entourage somehow. . . known?

Her mind was whirling at the implications, just like the dancers on the floor of the Governor's ballroom had just a few moments before. Her head pounded in the aftermath of what had come before. Between the exhilaration of the Seaborn Festival and the devastation of the battle that had come after, everything had changed so quickly.

"You can set him down here." One of the other members of Kiana's entourage beckoned the twins and Delphine down to where the bed was. 

Sorrel and Gwynn did so. Coppelius only faintly stirred, wincing as they set him down. Sorrel reached for his hand. There was still warmth there, still the rise and fall of his chest. He was still alive, his hair still glowed with the power of the stars. 

As did Delphine's, she realized, finally seeing her in an environment that wasn't daylight, or so brightly lit that it could be confused with such. A further evidence of her celestial heritage. 

She turned to Gwynn, and thought of what she had seen in the ballroom, when Versailles had shattered the glass dome. Her sister had been shaken, standing alone with him. He'd gone for Gwynn to draw her and Coppelius out. 

It was her fault that her sweet, gentle sister's night had been ruined.

"Gwynn, I'm so sorry—"

"You didn't do this." Gwynn's hands clutched fistfuls of her red skirt as she stared straight at Coppelius. "Neither did he." 

There it was again, that intensity that was so uncharacteristic of her sister. When she looked back to Sorrel, her dark gaze softened. 

"Versailles did this. And he won't leave us alone until either he's dead or the Spider-Queen's defeated." Gwynn bit her lip, clearly hesitating. "I don't think we have any other choice but to stop them both."

Sorrel parted her lips to speak—but she had no idea what to say. There was relief, that her sister was back by her side, delight that they would be able to embark on the adventures she'd always dreamed of. But with it, there was also a sorrow that her sister felt forced to be by her side, anger at whatever it was that Versailles had done to her, to trick her. 

Instead, Sorrel reached her hand to Gwynn's. And Gwynn accepted it, as she always did, and met her eyes. A faint smile tugged at her face. No words needed. 

Sorrel looked away, to Coppelius again, and her own smile vanished.

The Lemurian girl that was a part of Kiana's entourage, the one who lured them over here, was hovering her hands over Coppelius's unconscious body, a twinkle of light between her hands and her eyebrows furrowed together in deep concentration.

"Is he going to be okay?"

"That depends all on both of you." 

The twins turned to see Kiana Albion and Niniane approaching, exactly as they had in the ballroom. Kiana stopped, her blue-green eyes flicking up and down the girls. "Perhaps we should change into something more comfortable and have a private conversation, yes? Then we can talk." 

She then looked to another member of her entourage. "Coralia, if you would?"

The girls nodded, linking arms with Sorrel and Gwynn. 

"Come on," said Coralia, smiling brightly. "Let's get you out of those ruined clothes." 

With that, the sisters were led away across the endless pavilions.