W'Kabi and his brothers, what few of them he has, as chief of the Border Tribe, are out hunting. Hence, things are about heat up in his harem's seraglio.

Nico keeps a phone in her chambers. Too often, she checks it for the latest update from Alex Wilder, an old friend. She's aware that not too long ago, Alex went into the Jabari Mountains. He hasn't come back.

Back in the NAU, his wife has expected him back. She's called Nico, asking about him. Her last call was a few hours ago.

Nico knows that Liz won't stop harassing her about Alex. And having known Alex, and loved him, Nico doesn't blame her. So, Nico sits down, takes up the Staff of One, and uses it to scan space and time, via blood magic.

She sees...a strange creature. It looks like a unicorn...only with two horns, instead of one.

She sees a ranch in the Hebrides. Across it, the two-horned unicorns roam like sheep in New Zealand. Some are white, and some are light blue. Some are a combination of both...like a war-painted Scottish steed.

She sees a family inside. She sees mothers, sisters, and daughters...but no men.

No men, Nico asks herself. Who are these people, and how do I know them? And what aren't they doing in New England? Not that I wouldn't expect Scotland to be more liberal these days, but don't the British usually judge people like this?

There's an old mailbox nearby. It looks like it never gets used. Owls fly past it, carrying parcels. The old mailbox has one word printed across its side: CROUCH.

"Nico?"

Nico wakes, broken from her trance. The electrical arcs that flicker within the Staff of One die.

It's Elisa. She just can't stop admiring Nico, for knowing how to use that magic.

"That thing is so sheikh," Elisa admits. "You ought to teach it to me sometime."

Nico scoffs, and stands. "There's nothing to learn. Either the Staff chooses you, or you're up the Dark Dimension without a Sling Ring."

She narrows her brows. "I'm not sure I follow."

She shakes her head. "Forget it. You wanna order some coffee?"

"I already have. It's on its way."

Still confused as to what the visions mean, Nico follows Elisa downstairs, to wait for the coffee. She asked for Alex; and yet, somehow, she's gotten two-horned unicorns in the Hebrides, of all things...and a Mormon family with no patriarch, whose name is Crouch...

If her mother Tina were here, she'd probably know about that. Then again, if Nico knows her mother, she's a darker witch than she is...with or without the Staff of One.

This seraglio also has an amphitheater in its cellars. Blanche's been spending a lot of time down here, lately...and spookily, most of it has had nothing to do with movies, plays, or operas...

They've had to do with Dormammu. He stands on the amphitheater's stage, in a terrifying orange-glowing form. At his feet, Blanche lies.

"I have done what you've ordered," Dormammu tells her. "Your new pet should be within your reach now."

Blanche sighs. "I don't know. I just can't help but feel like this didn't work."

"What we seek," Dormammu reminds her, "is often right under our noses. We always see it...but seldom heed it. And when we do, we dissociate it from what we seek."

"As king of the Dark Dimension, I suppose you know more about that than anyone."

"You'd be surprised. I didn't get here by being content. But then, none of you humans ever open a portal to my world out of contentment, either."

Blanche sighs again. "It broke my heart, to let Connie go. But I know you. I know you wouldn't send her away, unless where she was going was good for her."

"Can't swear that it is. But I can promise that where I sent here, she is in VERY high demand."

"Lord Dormammu?!"

In a flash, Blanche stands, and dresses. It seems that Tanya has caught both Blanche and Dormammu with their pants down...or rather, Dormammu's pants, and Blanche's skirt.

"I," Dormammu fidgets, "presume that you two have matters to discuss." With that, he opens a portal for himself, and returns to the Dark Dimension. The portal seals itself behind him.

On the stage floor, a snake-shaped ring lies. Tanya bends over, takes it, and shows it to Blanche.

"I warned you about this," Tanya reminds her. "The Dark Dimension isn't a playground. Dormammu is a faltine. He's one of the most powerful beings in the Marvel multiverse. Right now, Dr. Strange is lucky to be on good terms with him!"

"I know." Blanche sighs. "I just miss men. And I'm sure we can both agree that W'Kabi's hardly the perfect husband."

Tanya grins, and puts the ring in Blanche's hand. "You two seem to be on good terms. I'm trusting you two to not destroy the multiverse."

"I don't know what that is."

"You don't know what an armoire is, either. That doesn't mean you can't destroy one."

Silence follows. Moments later, the two serpent-obsessed harem chicks share a laugh.

Blanche's chambers are empty, of course. More than once, she's considered upgrading her bed, and putting anaconda-themed bedding on it. In the old days, alas, her excuse was that Connie might mistake her bedding for a rival anaconda, and rip it to pieces. Alas, in Connie's absence, Blanche just might give anaconda-themed bedding a second thought...

In her walk-in closet, there's a dungeon that's been adapted into an anaconda's artificial habitat. Once, this was Connie's chambers. Now, it's a shrine. Blanche was hoping it'd be a receiving basin for the new pet that she ordered from Dormammu. Alas, it's been days since Connie's departure. No new pet has fallen into that bin.

In the aquarium, a sea cow's skull lies. In the wild, anacondas sometimes eat sea cows, whenever they decide to swim out into deeper waters. There are never many such sea cows to speak of. For a long time now, the West Indian manatee's been a vulnerable species.

At tribal councils, Malice has recommended opening a captive breeding center for West African manatees in Wakanda. Wakanda's already done the same thing for the walia ibex, and now the Jabari mountains are full of walia ibexes. Alas, the better part of the council always says the same thing in response: "one endangered species at a time."

There are also sea cow vertebrae in this aquarium. On a smaller note, there are also brocket deer vertebrae; smaller, but just as bony. Some of them lie with the tube-shaped part up-and-down.

Over such a vertebra, a tiny portal opens. Through it, Michael Corner falls through it. He's still in briefs. He falls right into the brocket's vertebra, and hits rock bottom.

Scared, and still a thousandth his normal size, he looks up and around, at the tall white walls that surround him. He's pretty sure this isn't a Quidditch pitch. First of all, the walls are too tall. Second of all, where are the goal hoops? And third of all, since when to Quidditch pitches lack turf?

Michael's pretty sure he doesn't want to stay here in the long-term. There's nowhere to go. But as long as he sees a way out far above him, he might as well exploit it.

He points his wand at himself, and casts a hover charm. For this, he stands near the pitch's bony walls, before casting the charm.

As he ascends, he starts climbing the wall, as if he were a monkey. When he gets to the top, he casts the counter-charm, and regains his weight...what little weight he's got left, now that it's a thousand times less than what he's used to.

Now that he's atop the vertebra...he can tell that it is, in fact, a vertebra. And he would vomit...if he didn't notice all of the scarier surroundings of his would've-been prison.

All around, there are bones...of herbivorous creatures from the muggle world. To wee Michael, they're like mountains. There are anaconda wallows. There's shed kin...that's big enough to have been a green anaconda's. And there's a pool, in the corner. Connie probably used this as a portal to get to the lake...which is probably where she was when she teleported to that lake in Malfoy Manor's neighborhood.

Michael's got a feeling that this was once Connie's abode. Alas, in moments especially such as these, Michael sure wishes he could be sure...

Downstairs, in the amphitheater, Tanya freezes, like a gazelle in the headlights. She stays still for so long, that Blanche gets concerned.

"What is it? What's wrong?"

Tanya studies her. "The Dark Dimension. There's been another stirring. It's like the one there was when Connie went away...only slightly weaker."

Blanche still looks perplexed.

"Your new pet," Tanya reminds her. "The one that you ordered from Dormammu." She subtly nods her head. "I think he's here."