After their unexpected ally, the moon hunter, returns to the sky in pursuit of Nin, Helena, Issy, and Valencia are worried that Nin might kill him, since he'll almost certainly try to stop her from imposing her will on whatever is going on up there on the moon. Realizing that they just don't know enough about the celestial political situation to know how dangerous this all is, and afraid that their allies and friends might die and that the moon might be even worse affected than it already is, Helena and Issy decide that there's only one solution: they need to go to the moon themselves. Knowing that Valencia will be reluctant to leave terra firma , they combine forces, with Helena's magical expertise and logic and Issy's passionate determination, and manage to convince their friend that it's the only way. But the lunar gateway has closed behind the hunter, so they have no way to get there - and the hurricane is still raging. Helena wracks her brains, but the only ways she can think of (short of flying an actual rocket up there) are to find a group of magic-users to perform a ritual, or to use the now-defunct moon machine underneath the construction site. Valencia calls Tiberius to ask him about the status of the moon machine, but while he is currently inside it waiting out the hurricane, he says that he's already dismantled most of it to prevent Nin from using it, and that it would take a lot of time and effort to put it back in working order. The girls don't want to wait that long and risk what Nin might be doing up above, and take a few minutes, crouched inside their car in the pouring rain, to heal each others' wounds and take a comforting breather, Valencia and Issy helping Helena deal with the fact that as the storm ramps up she can hear the increasing distress of all the animals in the city - trapped in homes, under vehicles, or in research institutes and zoos, and they aren't able to help them all. The much-abused car is struggling along, so Valencia reaches out and, calling upon her connection to her mighty thunder-god patron, actually reaches out and catches some of the lightning from the storm, funneling it into the car's engine. The car responds, running better and surviving longer, but the electrified frame is less than great for the passengers, who suffer repeated painful shocks as they hurtle onward. With the moon machine out, the only other option is to find a way to do a ritual, and Issy remembers that the Temple to Hekate where they performed the ritual with the priestess Hermione had a lunar gate in it once, into which she almost floated herself. Helena is reluctant, even going so far as to tell the girls how much she dislikes and distrusts Hermione, but with no other options, they decide to head that way. When they arrive at the temple, the girls turn to their allies and bid them fond farewells, not wanting to take any of them to a foreign planet with no idea of how they'll get back. Issy and Djimy hug and cry, and he promises to go take care of their parents (in a none too sound old house) during the hurricane and make sure that they're safe until Issy can come home again. Valencia comforts a hysterical Rafael, giving him focus and clarity by drawing up a list of tasks he can do for her, some of them so complicated and difficult that she knows concentrating on them will help him stay grounded. Helena and her Uncle Cisqo, never good at communicating their feelings at the best of times, solemnly shake hands and exchange a bottle of beer and a cigar before taking their leave. Now alone, the three girls head into the temple. Before they can even start trying, however, the moon peering through the open temple roof above fractures again, and a new moon creature falls to earth right in front of them. This one doesn't look like the others; it's tall, thin, and incredibly creepy, looking like a giant silver insect with a nasty grin, and tries to hungrily stalk them. The girls stand their ground, and the slightly disconcerted creature informs them that it feeds on terror, but that the combined force of their bravery is so much that it's turning its stomach, making it impossible for it to think about eating them. When Valencia tries to intimidate it by claiming they're the missing moon princesses, it explains that there are multiple factions fighting for control of the moon - its people, the lunar royalty faction that is seeking its moon princesses, and the gentle moon people that they first ran into - and makes threats until Helena manages to banish it away. Doing so takes almost all her resources, though, and now they're alone in the temple again, looking for a way up and out. Exhausted and miserable, Helena tells the other two that the only way she can think of to perform a ritual with only the three of them is to use a blood sacrifice; no one likes the idea, but they don't want to waste any more time, and they decide to use their own blood to make sure no one else gets hurt. Issy brings all her connection to the moon to bear, branding the temple floor once again with the great sigil of Hathor's eye, and as Helena's ritual chanting begins to take effect, the girls gain the notice of none other than Hekate herself, whose temple they are standing in in the midst of the hurricane. Helena realizes that they have Hekate's blessing, each of them representing one of the goddess' three faces, and as the sound of a spectral chorus of baying hounds surrounds them, they vanish into the silver light... ...and when they open their eyes, find themselves on the silvery surface of the moon, in a wondrous landscape of strange features and unheard-of plants and creatures. Elated, they immediately meet one of their old allies: Sweetie, the first moon creature that Issy helped, who greets them, fills them in on politics a little, and tells them that Nin and the hunter have gone to the capitol city, and he fears the worst. They learn that all three of them, as well as Nin, will likely be returned to earth when morning comes - so they don't have much time to succeed! They head out, but not before learning the name of the ringleader of the mysterious terrorists who have been causing all the trouble and who has personally caused so many of the disruptions to the moon: Adrian. They've never heard of him, but they file it away for the future.
