Leaving off her shoes, Alex went out into the hallway and padded silently to her parents' door, then put her ear against it and listened. She could hear her dad's snoring loud and clear, and under it, the somewhat softer tones of her mother's as well. I wonder how they manage to both sleep, with both of them snoring like that. It's a good thing Justin doesn't snore. I'd have to put a silence spell on him to sleep with him, if he did.

Knowing that neither of her parents was going to wake easily if they were both snoring, Alex quickly put her shoes on, leaning against the hallway wall as she tied the laces. I'm definitely going to want shoes where I'm going next. Once they were on, she stepped to Max's door, opened it slowly and silently. It opened into his room, and Alex pushed it open very slowly, knowing that before it got too far open - yep. She got it about six inches before it hit something. Probably dirty clothes. At least, I hope it's nothing worse than that. Leaning into the door, she pushed it open another few inches, then slipped through the opening.

She didn't have a wand or flashlight, but that didn't matter - like Justin and their father, Max slept like a rock. Alex flicked the light switch, blinked a couple of times while her eyes adjusted, then smiled as she spotted Max's wand, lying next to the lamp by his bed. Once she had the wand in hand, Alex flipped the light back off, closed the door with her still in the room, then pictured her destination, pointed the wand up, and circled the tip in the air.

Appearing in the kitchen, Alex smiled. Just like falling off a log. And I'm right where I wanted to be. She didn't even have to take a step to reach the jar where Mom kept a few extra dollars. Alex stuffed the money into her pocket, put the jar back, then circled her wand again, appearing this time on the street, where she raised her hand as if hailing a cab, even though none were in sight. She used her thumb and pinkie to hold her wand across her palm, and her left hand went to her mouth, helping her make a shrill whistle.

Moments later, there was the sound of an engine, and then Burt the cab came down the street, his door swinging open as he stopped in front of Alex. "Hey, kid," he said. "Good to see you and all, but isn't it a little late for you to be up?"

"Yeah. It's kind of an emergency. Can you get me to this address?" She held up the scrap of paper on which she'd written down Justin's address, not sure where to put it.

"What? Do I look like I have eyes in here? And no, don't go outside in front of my headlights. Just read it to me, kid."

Alex read it off, and Burt was in motion before she'd finished. "Harlem? What do you need to get to up in Harlem at a quarter 'til midnight? You're not in trouble, are you?"

"No, but - hey! What are you doing?" Alex asked as the seat belt moved itself around her, buckling her in.

"You were born in me, kid. I'm not having you die in me too. And don't you roll your eyes at me, little lady," Burt said as Alex did just that. "I"ve seen a lot of accidents in my years. Anyway, you were saying, about trouble?"

"Justin might be in trouble. That's his address - he's in an apartment now."

Burt was silent for a second as they rounded a corner, then said, "Shouldn't your parents be helping him?"

"They're kind of the problem right now. It's a family thing."

"Uh-huh. Those are always the worst. I've seen it all, kid. You get everything in this business. Couples in the middle of breaking up. Couples making up. Families visiting relatives. Kids running away from home. Families going to visit their kid in the hospital. If you wanna talk, I'll listen. If you don't wanna talk, then just enjoy the ride. I'll get you there as fast as a magic cab can."

"Thanks," Alex said, smiling a little. "It means a lot."

"No problem. Least I can do."

Fifteen minutes later, Burt pulled up in front of the building. "How much do I owe you?" Alex asked, pulling out the money she'd taken and starting to flip through it.

"Owe me? Alex, kid! You know I won't take your money! Keep it. Buy yourself something pretty."

"Thanks, Burt." The door opened on its own, and Alex stepped out, giving Burt a pat on the roof as she did. "You're the best. I owe you one."

"Fuhgeddaboutit, kid. You just get up there and find that brother of yours. He loves you, you know."

"I know," she said back to that, smiling. You have no idea how. But that's okay.

As Burt pulled away, Alex walked up to the door, looked around, then muttered "Go through mo through" under her breath and walked in. Alex barely noticed the lobby as she strode forward to the elevators. There were two of them, each with a mechanical pointer to show the current floor, although on one of them, the pointer part was missing.

Alex pressed the 'up' button, then pressed it again when it didn't light up. It still didn't light on the second press, but she heard the sound of machinery moving, so she stepped back and then took a good look around the entrance area. It was tiny and obviously old, the floor and walls dirty. To the right was a grid of mailboxes, to the left, a door was marked STAIRS, with the lower half of the 'R' missing.

Not exactly as nice a place as it looked from just seeing Justin's apartment. She took a deep breath and looked back to the elevators. The pointer hadn't moved on the one that still had one, and she sighed again and hoped the elevators were working. I'll give it another minute.

Ten seconds later, she smiled in relief as the elevator dinged and the doors opened. Hustling inside, she hit the four button, hit it again, hit DOOR CLOSE twice as well, then tapped her foot and rolled her eyes until the door began to close.

The elevator jerked as it started, and Alex counted the seconds. I could have walked up faster than this. I should have. Please, please, Justin, don't do anything stupid. I need you. Her knuckles went white as she raised her hand to her mouth, sucked on the first joint of her index finger as she thought about what she'd say to him.

Then there was another ding, and the door opened again. Alex turned sideways to get out, then had to move quickly to the side as she almost - as she did run into a white-haired woman who was trying to get in. Thankfully, she'd forgotten to cancel the go-through-mo-through spell, and she simply went through the woman's arm.

"Oh, my!" The woman took a step back, focused on Alex, then shook her head. "Girl, you need to watch out. You're gonna knock someone down like that, one of these days."

"You're right," Alex said, walking backward as she apologized to the woman. "I'm sorry. It won't happen again." She turned and broke into a jog, looking at the numbers on the doors as she went.

"You will if you don't watch where you're goin'!" the woman called after her, but Alex ignored her, turning right, toward where Justin's apartment should be. Thirty feet later, she skidded to a stop, looked at the number 421 on the door, blinked and straightened her skirt, then walked through.