Instead of bringing the All-Stars to the Subtle Realms, Anna Fortune has accidentally brought the Subtle Realms to them, including the King of Tears. Meanwhile, Johnny Sorrow reveals to Stargirl that because he needed a kiss of true love from an innocent to reverse his condition, he took Atom-Smasher's place and made Courtney fall in love with him. But when King Chimera turns Sorrow's own power against him, Sorrow gives Stargirl the means to kill the King of Tears and send Sorrow and the Subtle Realms back where they belong.; Now in search of the staff itself, the foursome head to a shrine on the island of Santa Isabel to find the first of three "keys" to secure the tachophixyl. There, they find an inscription that sends them on to Paris. Meanwhile their rival for the staff shadows their every move.