"Wait, Helena?" Myka asked in shock. "Why are you here?"

Helena opened her mouth to speak, but the wing of what looked like the dragon knocked the helicopter off course.

"ALEXANDER!" Helena cried. The helicopter went into a tailspin. Down and down it went, faster until the door of the craft was unhinged. All the alarms were going off, and the air was whipping and screaming past them as they plummeted further down to the icy ground that was the base of the Himalayas. After what seemed like an eternity, the helicopter met the ice, a fireball in a wasteland of snow.

Everyone was alive, but badly bleeding. Artie crawled over to his bag, and pulled out a tourniquet. "This was used... in the War of 1812... to aid the American forces -"

"Arthur, I think the explanation can wait. Besides, hearing Americans talk about the War of 1812 makes me rather uncomfortable," muttered Helena.

"Good point," Artie agreed. He wrapped it around everyone's arm in turn, and they all were healed. "You may not want to board any ships in the next seven hours, though," he added.

"So, how did you get on board?" Pete asked.

"I used the thimble to impersonate a Regent, and told security that it was urgent that I got on the helicopter," admitted Helena. "I know I am most likely going to be in trouble, but I had to do this. I'm sorry, Mrs. Frederic."

"If we make this, you will be forgiven. This is far worse than anything we have ever faced, and I feel I may not get through this," Mrs. Frederic said. "We need all the help we can manage. But I do need to ask... why did you need to come along?"

"Dragons are clever creatures. Every 500 years, each one walks the earth as a mortal man. At one time, Alexander was my husband. He was Christina's father. I suspect Christina was killed because she was a child of a dragon. Some certain people found out, and... well, you know what happened then." Helena looked away as she said this.

There was a pause. "Oh, and I went with you in particular because I knew Valda would try and stall you. That's why I brought these." She reached into her purse and pulled out a gigantic pair of wings.

"The Wings of Daedalus, nice!" Pete exclaimed. "But it probably won't levitate all of us."

"The Tesla is the spatula of artifacts, I've found it can do a lot," Claudia bragged. "Stand back."

She shot it with the Tesla, and then said, "There, I expanded the range of influence. Nothing like electric energy to increase artifact properties, huh? Now, all of us should probably touch it at once."

They did, and flew up into the sky towards the summit.