Back at the ranch, Valencia and Issy meet up with Helena, who has been trying to do the best at first aid possible to keep Aldonza in one piece. They fill her in before Aldonza finally awakens and is extremely unimpressed by their less-than-palatial living conditions. The hurricane is coming and is projected to be incredibly dangerous and destructive - there are only a few hours left before it hits to get under cover, so the girls try to convince Aldonza to stay with them, but she wants to go home and confront Nin (not to mention stay in her much more structurally sound and comfortable house instead of their spartan apartment). The three girls of course can't stop her, but are afraid that she might be brainwashed by Nin again if she goes home to her alone, and Issy tries to impart joy and strong feelings into her while Valencia reminds her what's at stake and Helena tells her how worried they are, and Aldonza agrees that they can come along and stay nearby in case she needs help if the encounter turns abusive. As they leave to head toward Aldonza's home, running before the teeth of the oncoming storm, the moon rises and Helena sees three bits of it break off and fall toward the earth, shooting toward them like silver stars. Two fall into the distance, but one heads toward them, and she sees that it's a large moon creature, careening toward them and likely to land directly in their car. She calls on Issy for help, and with her moon powers and Helena's wizardry, they manage to freeze the creature in midair for long enough for Helena to banish it back up to its home, hopefully returning it to a better place... but not before it recognizes Issy somehow, naming her "the moon princess" and calling out that it wants to take her home to the kingdom with it. Much to their surprise, however, Aldonza is upset by this action; she explains that she and her followers believe that the moon creatures are prey sent to them by Artemis to be sacrificed to her, and that they should have caught and ritually killed it for religious purposes instead. Valencia tries to explain that this is probably just propaganda from Nin, but Aldonza has reached her limit on slander against Nin for the moment, and doesn't want to hear it before she has a chance to talk to her suspicious lover. The group can't agree on this point, but they can agree that they have to go find and stop the other two who fell to earth - if they're as large and as hell-bent on finding their princess, they might wreak significant havoc even if no one tries to hurt them. They drive into a suburban neighborhood as the rain gets heavier, eventually finding the second moon creature in an empty house (Valencia guesses that its owners probably left town to avoid the storm). It immediately charges toward them, and Helena figures out its strange language in time to recognize that it's also calling out about moon princesses, and seems to be trying to take both Issy and Valencia this time. Aldonza successfully knocks it out and Issy manages to tie it up before Valencia heals it so that they can wake it up and question it; it explains that it and its fellows were sent to earth specifically to find the lost moon princesses, which their ancient culture needs to revive itself, and that they can't go back to the moon voluntarily without finding them. It also explains that it and its kind die when the sun comes up if they haven't fulfilled their mission, and implores Issy and Valencia to go to the moon with it. The group descends into arguing about what to do - Issy feels sympathy for the creatures, Helena doesn't want to give up her friends, Aldonza still wants to sacrifice the creature, and eventually Valencia separates everyone to cool off and calm down. Issy and Aldonza break off to have a conversation about religion and begin passionately arguing about whether the moral line is and whether the moon creatures, who are sentient and sapient, count as people, with Aldonza maintaining that their very purpose is as religious sacrifices and Issy arguing that they have thoughts and feelings and that killing them is murder. Their argument is interrupted when Helena, deciding that group consensus is for suckers, sends the moon creature back to the moon without telling anyone; Aldonza is infuriated, Valencia defends her friend, and then everyone realizes that one living moon creature remains and takes off in a race to be the first to get to it.
