"Why didn't we think of this before?" said Chase.

"Don't get cocky," said Nico. "This house is plastered with 'Do Not Enter' signs. The bank is auctioning it off next week."

"Pfft, they'll never sell it in this market."

"They're not selling it; they're auctioning off the land to investors. You know, like E-bay."

"Yeah yeah, this painting is artsy, right? I bet some dupe on E-bay will pay at least thirty bucks."

"Hey, my mom loved that," protested Molly, running down the stairs with a piggy bank in hand. "You're not taking it."

"No offense to your mom, Mol," began Karolina, "but she's, well, dead."

"But this was my home." Molly jumped down the rest of the stairs and accosted Chase. "We're not supposed to be burglars."

"Actually, yeah," said Victor, "We kind of are." Karolina quickly nudged him in shoulder. Chase let go of the painting and everyone went back to searching. "We haven't found much."

"I guess evil mutants don't keep the kind of stuff that wizards and mad scientists do," said Nico. As the team kept rummaging she was distracted by a shadow outside the sliding glass door. She saw the moonlight reflected in the swimming pool… was that a person standing at its edge?

"It's so sad," said Klara, rubbing the leaves of a wilted Peace Lily. "No one's been tending these plants." She caused its leaves to soften and turn a vivid green. As one leaf grew and stretched to all sides, a small, leatherly creature hopped onto it. Croooak. "Eeeeay," cried Klara.

Karolina lit up like a light bulb. Victor sprayed static and Molly's eyes lit red. Chase drew his switch blade.

"No, it's alright," said Klara. "It's just a frog. It startled me." Crooak.

"It's a toad actually," said Karolina, "I've been seeing a lot of them lately. Just a few days ago in Nico's purse… hey, where is Nico?"


This pool. This was where she fished out, and then knocked out, Karolina's mom after Molly pushed the woman in. Nico walked a little more and looked towards the end of the driveway. That was where she and Alex first…

Sheesh, why was she so nostalgic all of a sudden? It had been months since this had happened, and during that time she had fought giant monsters, traveled back in time, lost Gertrude, started and ended a relationship with Victor. She wondered what her old teachers and high school friends thought when they found out her parents were part of a superpowered mafia.

"…all I ever think about is death. When my mom jammed that staff-thing into my chest, all I could think was… I'm surprised I even lived this long."

Both Gert and Alex were dead. Heroes like Spider-man had fought and survived so many battles that they never took threats to their lives seriously. But we don't have that advantage, Nico thought. Maybe we should quit this whole heroing business, before someone else…

"Gets hurt?"

Nico spun and saw a man at least six feet tall in a dark robe standing uncomfortably close.

"Forgive me," he said. "I'm a bit of an eavesdropper; why pay a penny for a young woman's thoughts?"

Her staff wasn't even out. She instinctively searched her pockets for a small blade or sharp edge to…

"You don't need it."

"Back off. When my friends get here they'll…"

"I mean to call your friends. You're a powerful witch, Nico Minoru. It's in your blood; you don't need a staff to cast a simple cry for help." She stared at him cautiously. "Go on, try it."

She looked around. No one else was nearby, and the man wasn't armed in any way. What was his game? A voice in her head said "help" and she thought "Cry for help. Cast a spell for help." Her mouth opened and she said, "Si… Siren!" WOOOH-WOOOH-WOOOH-WOOOOH. A flashing, red police siren manifested over Nico's head. The rest of the runaways burst outside. The man had disappeared.

"Nico," cried Karolina, "Nico, are you alright?"

"No," Nico screamed, drowned out by the noise. "I have a siren over my head and I'm seeing people who aren't there."

"We've got more problems than that," said Victor. The noise had alerted a police car, which was pulling up the driveway.


"Helicopters?" said Chase, "Why are there helicopters?" He pushed forward on the wheel for the leapfrog. They sped away through the LA skies with three police helicopters giving chase.

"Nico, turn off the alarm thingy," said Molly, who was covering her ears along with half the team. The siren was still loud as ever, now making pronounced BLUUUU-OOP BLUUUU-OOPs.

"I can't," said Nico. She tried grabbing the siren to demonstrate; her hand went right through.

"Just magic it away," said Victor.

"Usually my spells run out when the staff runs out of energy, but I cast this one without the staff. I don't know how to stop it."

"So shouldn't you be able to uncast it without the staff."

"Magic isn't so logical, robot-boy."

"Why would anyone invent such a device?" cried Klara.

"Well it's hard to shake these guys with that thing blasting," yelled Chase. "Leapfrog, go cloak."

"Affirmative, master." The leapfrog turned invisible, and chase turned a sharp right. The helicopters followed suit, however.

"What the hell! Why haven't we lost them?"

"Master, I am detecting the use of radar imaging. While I am able to cloak, I was not equipped with stealth technology."

"I bet you don't know how to turn off that siren, either?" It was now making a BLEEP BLEEP BLEEP noise.

"Negative. The spell is likely being unconsciously maintained. A large distraction should force Nico to end it."

"Why didn't you tell us this before?" said Victor.

"You did not ask."

"So we need a distraction? I can blast her with my energy beam," suggested Karolina.

"I can punch her," said Molly.

"Could you guys choose something that doesn't hurt me?"

"Nico, go stand near the exit hatch," said Chase.

"Why?"

"Just do it." She smirked but obeyed. "Lean forward on the door, okay." She did so.

"If you're going to look up my skirt or something sick like that…"

"Say 'Geronimo'." Chase slammed a button and the hatch opened; Nico fell into the open sky.


Headwizard Kenyon stroked his toad. He never understood the Guild's overreliance on toads. Sure, ravens gave away top secret information to anyone who asked but they at least were fun to talk to on long trips. And while all cats had a superiority complex they were good at getting close to the enemy. Toads just told you what you needed to know and then went to sleep. Boring, warty little things.

His thoughts turned to the girl. She has potential, he thought, too much potential for the Guild to kill her as some of the more bloodthirsty members wanted. The question was how to make her useful, to both the Guild and to himself. It would not be difficult: she did not display the slightest resistance when he read her mind.

He smiled to himself. The minds of teenagers were filled with all sorts of strange ideas, ideas about right and wrong, boys and girls, gain and loss. They were very fun to read, very easy to manipulate. This particular girl has lost much of her life in a very short period of time, and her emotional state was constantly on the edge of chaos as a result. As anyone with mentalist powers knew, the easiest way to control someone was not by suggestion or thought, but through emotion.

The last Minoru… he wondered how much the girl knew about her heritage, how much suffering her family had caused over the centuries, the way they turned the Dark Arts into a frighteningly efficient science for getting what they wanted, all without revealing themselves to the larger world. If they had chosen to work with the Guild Arcana, rather than against it, who knows what sort of damage could have been committed? Of course, not all Minorus followed their family's footsteps. Judging from the girl's recent escapades, the more she found out about her family the less she would want anything to do with them. That is why he would have to appeal to another factor when confronting her, and he had just the idea what…


"AAAEEEEEEEY! I'll kill you Chase!" Nico yelled as she plunged through the air. Her heart was pounding and it suddenly became hard to breathe. The blocks of buildings below were getting closer and closer.

Concentrate, Nico, she told herself. The Witchbreaker gave you the power to fly. Concentrate. She began slowing down. The rushing winds abated and the city stopped speeding upward so dangerously fast. In less than a minute she was floating on air, albeit hyperventilating and clutching her chest.

"Nico," cried Karolina, who was flying towards her fast. "Nico, are you alright?"

"Do I…" Breathe. Breathe. "…Look alright?"

"Well," Karolina stopped a few feet short of Nico, "At least the siren is gone."

"Oh, the siren is gone! Tidings of joy. The heavens open and angels sing. People look up in hope and see a girl falling to her death!"

"Look, what Chase did was spur of the moment. I came right away to get you, but we all remembered that when you got the Witchbreaker's staff you learned how to fly. So when we get back, try going easy on—"

"Go easy on him? I'm going to rip his heart out and sacrifice his spleen! I've had it with him. And I've had it with Molly, and Victor, and even you."

"Whoa, slow down Nic," Karolina gave her friend some time to breathe and calm down. Nico was in a terrible temper, raging and crying. The two girls had grown up together and Karolina knew that Nico did not break down like this unless a lot of sh!t had happened. Whenever Nico got sad she would usually go do make clothes or one of her other hobbies. Karolina was always the one more prone to crying. The alien remembered a time in middle school when she hid in a bathroom for hours because a boy she liked had teased her in public. Those types of problems seemed so far away now. "Chase is a jerk, alright, but the rest of us know you've been under a lot of stress, trying to hold the team together."

"Sometimes I wonder if there is a team to hold together." Nico wiped her eyes, crying. "Why are we together anyway? Because of our parents? Because Alex said we had to atone for what they did? Some days I wake up and I think, I dream I'm back in my old room. Sometimes I wish… I just wish."

"I know, I know." Karolina hugged Nico. Her rainbow-lit body radiated a warmth which relaxed and comforted her crying friend. "It's hard for all of us. You know I love ya, right?"

Sniff. "I know." Sniff. "I'm sorry. I know you're going through a lot too, with Xavin gone and all. You're not the one I was planning to blow up in front of."

"It's okay." They continued hugging, drifting like snowflakes over the city of angels. A breeze whipped by and dried away Nico's tears. They continued hugging and circling in midair for several minutes. They heard the distant thap thap thap of a helicopter pass by.

"Still chasing us, huh?" Karolina gave a wicked grin. "What do you say we show those cops who they're messing with?"

"My dear," smiled Nico, "I never thought you'd ask."