It was New Year's Eve. Larkin Mills was covered in snow.
Murdoch Road was one of several small country roads that led out of Larkin Mills, mostly used only by farmers now that the Interstate carried most traffic in and out of the town. It ran through one of the few uncleared woods in the county, and at night it was so dark that a person walking without a light couldn't see their hand in front of their face.
Not that anyone would be crazy enough to walk Murdoch Road, especially at night. Once it had been known as a lover's lane, but in recent years it had acquired the sort of reputation that lonely country roads usually do, with stories of ghostly hitchhikers, madmen with hooked hands, and monstrous prowlers.
In the last year, these stories had become more frequent, and multiple sightings of misshapen hooded figures, murderous dwarfs with axes, black dogs with fiery breath, and giant panthers with glowing yellow eyes had circulated through the town.
After a mutilated body was found on Murdoch Road, a farmer's son who'd been driving home late from a bar, the police added it to their irregular patrols.
Tonight, though, no cars had been by, so nobody came upon the pickup truck parked just far enough from the road that a passing police cruiser wouldn't see it unless the driver shined a searchlight into the woods.
When Billy Boggleston first parked his truck, Hela had gotten out and cast some charms around it, but then she'd gotten back inside and she and Billy hadn't left the vehicle since.
Their plan had been to keep watch, staying awake with coffee, but the woods were cold, and the silent night was boring, and Billy and Hela were now steaming up the inside of the cab.
They still had their clothes on, but their limbs were entangled when Billy lifted his head and said, "Did you hear that?"
Hela huffed impatiently. "No."
"You don't even know what I heard!"
"I heard nothing. There was nothing to hear."
Billy tilted his head. It was quiet. They were too far away to hear even distant engines on the Interstate.
"Stop acting like a child afraid of the dark, boy," Hela said. "My spells will tell me if anything approaches us."
"Okay, Hela." Billy wasn't entirely convinced, but he wasn't going to give Hela any more reasons to call him afraid.
They resumed their breathless fumbling around buckles, buttons, and leather laces, until a howl echoed through the trees, quite audibly.
Billy jerked upright, or as upright as he could with Hela still underneath him. "Did you hear that?"
"Yes," Hela said, panting a little. "It's just a wolf."
"Are you sure?" Billy asked. "It could be a dog, or a coyote…"
"It was a wolf," Hela said. "I have heard wolves since I was a child."
"Hela," said Billy, "there aren't any wolves around here."
Hela was trying to sit up now, and pulling her furs back in place. "Are you certain?"
"Not for, like, a hundred years."
The howling did not repeat, but Hela slid into her heavy parka. "Stay here." She unlocked the door.
"Hela!" Billy said.
"Remember what I told you," she said. "Don't be a foolish boy."
She stepped out and her feet settled into the hard snow on the ground with a crunch. With her wand in her hand, she walked cautiously in a circle around the truck, listening. It was a pitch black, moonless night—once she'd closed the door, the interior of the truck had gone dark, and she could barely see it right next to her. She tried to make out movement in the indistinct black and gray shadows surrounding her.
She breathed in and out slowly, and heard a faint crunching sound, some yards away.
"Homenum Revelio," she said, waving her wand back and forth.
She saw the figure then, just outside the circle of wards and detection spells she'd cast around the truck. She pointed her wand, and the other figure did likewise.
"Who are you?" she demanded. For a moment she thought perhaps Alexandra had decided to sneak up on her and Billy. But that would be unlike her—Alexandra would be lighting up the night with pyrotechnics and yelling.
"I remember you," said a female voice in the darkness. "You're the Thule witch. What in Hades are you doing here?"
Hela recognized the voice. "Harriet?"
"Lumos," said the other witch, and the tip of her wand crackled with brilliant white light, illuminating a round face framed by long blonde hair that had grown wild and unruly since Hela had seen her last at the Junior Wizarding Decathlon in New Amsterdam.
Harriet Isingrim grinned at Hela, showing teeth that seemed unnaturally large and pointed. "Don't tell me you're here to kill Alexandra too?"
"Kill Alexandra?" Hela repeated.
"I heard you were with the Dark Convention."
"Did you?" Hela watched Harriet's wand carefully. "And are you with the Dark Convention now?"
"Well I'm certainly not going to join the loser Regiments," Harriet said. "So, what are you up to out here, with that boy? I didn't think your people mixed with Muggles."
The driver's side door of the truck opened. Billy got out, and appeared as a hulking shadow at the edge of the light cast by Harriet's wand.
"I told you to stay in the vehicle, boy," Hela said.
"Like I'm gonna let my girlfriend fight while I hide in the truck?" Billy said.
"Are we fighting?" Harriet asked.
"I am not your… girlfriend," Hela said.
"I took you home to meet my parents!" Billy sounded wounded.
"Wow," Harriet said. "You really are playing in the mud, Thule."
"Did she call me mud?" Billy asked.
"Get back in the truck, boy," Hela said through gritted teeth.
"Hey, if you're not even my girlfriend, why should I listen to you?" Billy said.
"We'll discuss this later!" Hela snapped.
"You're not here to kill Alexandra, are you?" Harriet said.
"Kill Alexandra?" repeated Billy.
"Billy, get in the truck!" Hela said, and she cast a swirling cone of icy blue light at Harriet.
Harriet cast a Shield Spell and then said, "Nox," plunging them all into darkness once more. Hela threw fireballs in Harriet's direction. They lit up the little patch of icy ground between the truck and the trees, but Harriet had disappeared.
Billy was retreating to the truck, swearing. Hela turned slowly in a circle, and threw another blast of fire when she heard branches snap not far from where Harriet had been standing. The flames ignited a fallen log, but quickly flickered and dimmed, burning damp wood. She said "Protego Totalus!" just before a purple and yellow curse streaked out of the night at her and splattered against her Shield Spell, leaving behind a foul odor.
There was a clattering sound from the back of the truck.
"Idiot!" Hela said, and then another curse came flying out of the darkness. It rocked the truck and four loud bangs echoed in the night as its tires exploded. Billy screamed. Hela threw a hex back in the direction of the two curses, and it collided with yet another curse, exploding with a wet sizzle.
Hela stepped away from the truck, whispered a charm, and walked across the icy ground without a sound, becoming as invisible in the darkness as Harriet.
Then the door of the truck opened again, and she was briefly silhouetted by the vehicle's cabin lights. She had just enough time to repeat "Idiot!" and then a red beam of light knocked her off her feet and sent her sliding all the way back to the truck. She lay still and unconscious.
A shadow, still almost invisible against the black of night, came stalking out of the woods towards the fallen girl.
The shadow was suddenly illuminated with a powerful beam of light. Harriet's eyes reflected the light back as Billy racked a shotgun with a flashlight taped to its barrel. It made a loud "cha-chack!" sound that echoed through the trees.
Billy said, "Don't move, or—"
"Expelliarmus!" said Harriet, flicking her wand. A flash of light struck Billy and tore the shotgun from his hands, sending it tumbling end over end. The beam of light from the flashlight pinwheeled around and around before it hit the ground several yards away.
Billy tried to run, but Harriet cast another spell, and Billy's feet sank through the snow and into the ground underneath, which suddenly became viscous mud up to his knees. He struggled to extract himself, while Harriet approached.
"Do you know what a wand is for, Muggle?" Harriet asked.
Billy stopped struggling against the mud, and looked at Harriet fearfully. "You're a witch, like Hela, and Alexandra?"
"Yes," Harriet said. "But I can do things with my wand I'm sure they haven't shown you. So, Hela Punuk is here consorting with Muggles, and you're… friends, with Alexandra Quick?"
"Friends?" exclaimed Billy. "Hell no, I hate that bitch!"
Harriet paused. "Really?" Her nose and brow wrinkled. "So who in this miserable Muggle town does she care about?"
Brian had returned to Larkin Mills after Christmas. He was staying with his grandparents while his father sorted out a new residence in Chicago, but he didn't want to talk about those arrangements or his trip to Ann Arbor. Mostly he didn't want to talk much at all.
Usually Alexandra slept in her room upstairs, but that was a small twin bed she'd had since she was twelve. She'd taken to using the master bedroom when Brian came over. She was sure Claudia and Archie wouldn't approve of her using their bed like this, but it wasn't as if they were returning any time soon.
She felt like they should be talking. She knew he was unhappy and angry and feeling a lot of other things he should be able to share with her. The image of that Boggart Brian hanging from a noose still haunted her, and she had just laid a hand on his shoulder when his phone began playing an eerie electronic melody.
He grunted. "That's Billy." He reached for his phone, on the nightstand on the other side of the bed from where Alexandra had laid her hickory wand.
"I can't believe you two are friends now," Alexandra said.
"Not exactly friends." Brian had the phone in his hand now, as the eerie ringtone continued.
"Yeah, okay, can we actually, like, talk about…"
She fell silent as Brian answered his phone. "Yeah?"
Lying next to him, she could hear Billy's voice clearly. He sounded excited. "Brian! I found the other Redcaps!"
Alexandra had her wand in her hand immediately, and was climbing out of bed.
"Where?" Brian asked.
"In the woods along Murdoch Road," Billy said.
"Did you see them?"
"Totally, dude."
"We should call the others," Brian said.
"No," Alexandra said loudly, "you should get out of there and let me and Hela deal with them. Stop being an idiot, Billy. What are you doing out on Murdoch Road alone at night? Do you have a death wish?"
"Brian, what's Alexandra doing at your grandparents' place?" Billy asked.
"We're not at my grandparents' place," Brian said.
"Oh," Billy said, after a pause. "Dude, are we both banging witches?"
"I'm going to kill you," Alexandra said. "Or Hela will."
There was another long pause. Alexandra said to Brian, "Tell him to get out of there, I'm going to be there in a few minutes." She used a spell to summon her clothes, stumbling as they constricted around her suddenly. Dressing magically was never quite comfortable.
Brian jumped out of bed. "I'm coming with you!"
"No, you're not." Alexandra pulled on her Seven-League Boots. "I'm going magically, and I can't carry you."
"Fine, I'll drive after you."
"No. Stay here."
"Don't boss me around like a… a retainer!" Brian yelled.
Alexandra stared at him, while Billy said, "Guys? Uh, is Alexandra coming? Are you driving?"
"No," Alexandra said. "I'm using magic, you dumb ox."
While Billy paused again—Alexandra thought she heard him mumbling to someone—she and Brian glared at each other.
"Alexandra, how are you getting here?" Billy asked.
"Does it matter?" she asked. "I'll be there in a few minutes. Drive away, Billy."
Billy paused again, then asked, "Are you Evaporating? OW! I mean…. App-arating?"
Alexandra frowned. "Who are you talking to?"
"Nobody!" Billy said quickly.
"Where's Hela?" Alexandra asked.
"I dunno," Billy said.
"Okay Billy," Alexandra said. "Yes, I'm Apparating. I'll appear right in the middle of the road, so don't run me over, okay?"
"Okay," Billy said. "Uh, hurry—" The signal dropped.
"He's in trouble," Alexandra said. She pointed her wand upwards and muttered a charm.
"No kidding," Brian said. "We aren't supposed to go hunting by ourselves. We have a call list." He paused as a window slammed open upstairs, and then Charlie cawed. Ignoring this, he went on. "You'd know that if you were actually interested in helping us. You've just been doing your own thing, because of course witches don't need Muggle help."
"Okay, Brian, whatever you want to blame me for, it will have to wait. Billy isn't alone out there. I don't know if Hela is involved, or if something else is going on, but when I said he's in trouble, I meant right now." Alexandra walked to the front door. "I'd really, really like you to stay here, and wait for me to come back so you can not talk to me some more. But I'm not going to use a spell on you and I'm not the boss of you, so, you know, do whatever." She turned to face him. Brian was half-dressed, apprehensive, and indignant. "Do me a favor and lock the door."
She opened the door, stepped outside, and closed it behind herself. Light snow had started to fall again. Across the street, Mrs. Wilborough looked through the curtains of her living room window. Alexandra didn't wave—she just stepped to the end of the street in her Seven-League Boots, and then to the edge of town.
She didn't remember where exactly Murdoch Road was. She had heard of it, when she was younger, and had probably been down it once or twice with Archie in his patrol car, but she wasted some time criss-crossing the fields and farms outside of town until she spotted some woods with a road running through them. Standing in a field with a house behind her, she crouched and cast a Warming Charm, because the jacket she'd Summoned was too light for this cold, and she waited for Charlie to catch up to her.
Charlie did not like flying at night, or through snow. Alexandra promised some extra treats and new shiny things to play with as the raven flapped through the cold night until at last she knew her familiar was near the woods, and could see if there was any light ahead. There wasn't.
Okay. Stay in the trees, Charlie, she thought. Owls made her and Charlie both nervous, though Alexandra was pretty confident that the protection she'd given that stopped a hex would also stop an owl.
She ran towards the road, and then into the woods. It was dark and the underbrush was thick here. She wished she knew Granny Pritchard's magic for passing through thickets. She didn't dare use spells that would create flashes of light, so she picked her way carefully between the trees, aware that she was making too much noise.
Charlie fluttered from tree to tree, not cawing or calling out complaints.
Alexandra almost walked into the truck. It was so dark that she didn't see it until she could reach out and touch it. She wasn't sure it was Billy's, but she immediately cast a Revealing Spell, which illuminated three people in the trees closer to the road. She froze, not sure if she had also been seen.
"Is that you, Alexandra?" called a voice that sent a chill through her. "Come out where I can see you."
One of the figures her spell had revealed was standing. The other two were sitting next to each other. Alexandra crouched behind the truck.
The voice said, "Crucio," and Billy Boggleston screamed.
Alexandra stood, wand at the ready, and walked out from behind the truck.
"What are you doing here, Harriet?" she asked.
Her spell revealed where the others were, but didn't give her night vision. She could only hope Harriet was similarly limited, but she made ready to deflect whatever the other witch might cast at her.
"What do you think?" Harriet asked.
"You've come a long way to try to kill me again." Alexandra couldn't tell whether the third person was Hela or one of Billy's idiot friends. "Last time at least you made it just you and me. Let them go and we'll settle this, Code Duello."
Harriet laughed. "Code Duello is for matters of honor. This is war. Throw down your wand or I'll kill both your friends."
Alexandra said, "Vermillious," and sprayed red sparks into the night. The entire area glowed red, and Alexandra could see Harriet, cloaked, standing over Billy and Hela, who were both bound with ropes from an Incarcerous Spell. Harriet raised her hand to shield her eyes, and bared her teeth. They looked sharp.
"Do you think I'm bluffing?" Harriet snarled.
"No," Alexandra said. "I think if I throw my wand down, you'll kill me and my friends. You're a crazy bitch and you should have stayed in New Amsterdam. If you turn your wand on them, I'll cut you in half. I don't think you can kill them and stop me. So face me, or run."
Alexandra didn't wait for a reaction, but Apparated in the next moment. She had been focusing on the road directly behind Harriet, where her Vermillious spell had cast a red glow on the cracked blacktop.
As soon as she popped onto the road, she turned and flung a hex at Harriet. Only in the next moment did she register the green flash, and the words Harriet had spoken: Avada Kedavra. If Alexandra hadn't Apparated at that moment, she'd be dead. Harriet screamed as the hex hit her, and then Apparated away herself.
Alexandra Apparated back to where she'd come out of the trees and nearly walked into Billy's truck. She cast another Revealing Spell and caught Harriet just on the other side of a larger tree from Hela and Billy. The two of them simultaneously flung hexes at each other. Alexandra's blasted bark from the tree, while Harriet's went right through Billy's truck, burning a hole through the metal from one side to the other.
It was like one of their contests during the Junior Wizarding Decathlon. Apparate, defend, attack, Apparate. But they were both doing it blindly, in the dark.
Just hold still for one second where I can see you, Alexandra thought. She wanted to free Billy and Hela, but appearing next to them would certainly be falling into a trap.
Instead of Apparating, she took a step with her boots that carried her in a blur to the other side of the road, and almost into a dense wall of dead, brown brambles. Immediately a pink swarm of pinpoint lights flew after her, and Alexandra took another step down the road just before the pink lights burned through the brambles and the trees around them. She stood on the road for half a second, and then Apparated.
She didn't hear the curse, but she saw the green flash of light. She pointed her wand and said, "Barak!" and sent a lightning bolt crackling at the space between two trees where the Killing Curse had come from. Electricity arced between their trunks, setting them both on fire. Alexandra Apparated again without waiting to see if Harriet had been caught in the flash of lightning.
Just far enough away that she could see the flaming trees, Alexandra pressed herself against another tree, and took a quick look at where Hela and Billy were sitting. The bit of light cast by flames and glowing cinders wasn't enough to see them by, but the shapes of their shadows by the road hadn't changed. Alexandra's heart beat rapidly as she looked right and left, listened, and then said, "Homenum Revelio!"
Hela and Billy were where they had been. Harriet was nowhere to be seen. Which meant she was either out of range, or dead.
Or—
With a growl, a wolf lunged out of the darkness. It was on Alexandra before she could take a step away. Feeling more than seeing the jaws coming for her face, Alexandra dropped her wand and grabbed the wolf's throat, and held on as the two of them fell to the ground and rolled and thrashed. Alexandra just barely kept the snapping jaws from tearing her face off, but she wasn't strong enough to choke Harriet in her wolf form, and she was losing the struggle as Harriet's clawed feet scrabbled and tore at her body. Alexandra could smell hot wolf breath and feel wolf spittle spraying her face. She tried kicking, to no avail. Harriet pulled away, trying to slip free of her grasp, but Alexandra knew that if she did, she'd come back at her, and so she held on with all her remaining strength, with her hands buried deep in the fur around the wolf's neck. Harriet dragged her several feet across the cold ground, turning her head this way and that. Her teeth grazed Alexandra's arm, tearing through her jacket and shirt, and then she twisted around and lunged for Alexandra's throat again. Alexandra cried out, "Nigel!" in desperation as she turned her head away and held Harriet at bay with trembling arms.
As Nigel came alive and slithered out from beneath her sleeve, Alexandra heard Charlie screaming and cawing. Harriet ignored the raven pecking and clawing at her from above, and the brown snake that sank fangs into her left shoulder.
Alexandra's hands slipped and there was nothing keeping the wolf's jaws from her throat. For a moment, they were eye to eye, and Alexandra knew she was going to die.
And then Harriet was lifted into the air, with a startled yelp.
A shadow silhouetted against the night sky held the thrashing wolf over her head.
Harriet resumed human form, and spoke an incantation that sent blue sparks spinning around her and the person holding her aloft. Hela screamed and slammed Harriet to the ground hard enough to send a shower of snow flying into the air.
For a moment, all of them were motionless. Alexandra's arms felt like wet rags, and her body hurt all over. Hela, staggered, was fumbling for something at her waist. Harriet took several deep breaths while raising herself onto her hands and knees.
Hela was the first to act. She fell upon Harriet, holding something in her hand. Harriet disappeared with a pop, and Hela cursed.
Charlie was still flapping around, crying, "Alexandra! Alexandra!"
Alexandra began scrambling on her hands and knees back towards the tree she'd been hiding behind, feeling around in the snow and cold, dead leaves for her wand. She had to find it before Harriet returned. Her fingers were numb and her nails were torn and she was covered with frozen muck now, but the hickory wand was suddenly in her hand, as if it had found its way there of its own volition. Alexandra almost fancied it was purring. She immediately said, "Protego Totalus!" and cast a Shield Spell around herself and Hela.
No curses came flashing out of the night, but Alexandra saw headlights approaching at high speed. Of all the times for someone to drive Murdoch Road.
Hela grabbed her arm and lifted her to her feet.
"Where's your wand?" Alexandra gasped. She saw in the glow of the Shield Spell that Hela was holding a sharp stone knife.
"She has it," Hela said. "I was waiting to break my ropes, but she had a wand and I did not."
"Nigel," Alexandra said. There was a weak, answering hiss by her feet. Alexandra levitated the snake into the air and gently took hold of him, just behind his head. The cold was torture for Nigel. Alexandra willed Nigel to curl around her wrist so he could once more become a tattoo, but either out of shock, lethargy, or orneriness, he wasn't cooperating.
"Homenum Revelio," she said.
Billy still sat tied up on the ground. Beyond him, almost at the limit of the spell's range, someone crouched in the trees. And two people were in the vehicle speeding towards them on Murdoch Road.
Alexandra spun her wand in a circle, and conjured a swarm of golden hornets that shot through the air like guided missiles, buzzing across the road and weaving between the trees as they homed in on Harriet. Harriet disappeared before they reached her.
"You must kill her," Hela said.
Alexandra was about to cast another Revealing Charm, when a circle of flames roared to life around Billy.
Billy screamed and began kicking at the flames. Hela began running towards him.
"It's a trap!" Alexandra said.
"I know," Hela called back. "Do what you must."
"Go back to the trees, Charlie!" Alexandra said. Charlie obeyed, reluctantly. Nigel had finally crawled back under her sleeve, without biting her, and sank back into her flesh. She stalked after Hela, walking parallel to the road and keeping it between them, ready to deflect any hexes or curses that Harriet might throw at either of them.
Nothing happened as Hela lifted Billy off the ground, slung him over her shoulders, and marched back through the ring of fire.
It wasn't until they were clear of the flames that Alexandra saw the black shape flying through the air.
"Hela!" she screamed, and then a bolt of magical destruction ripped through the air at her, requiring all her attention to counter it. Billy's truck tumbled through the air, seemingly in slow motion, though it was really flying like a stone launched from a catapult, high into the air and then back down with lethal accuracy, and Harriet was bombarding Alexandra furiously, as she had done back in the Blood-Sealed bathroom in New Amsterdam, and Alexandra couldn't try to levitate the truck away without being blasted off her feet.
Everything happened in a second.
Hela tossed Billy off her shoulders. He screamed again as he flew through the air and landed in the snow by the side of the road, and the truck landed on Hela with a crunching metal sound that Alexandra heard even above the crackle of curses and counter-curses. She and Harriet were locked in a wizard-duel that allowed for no pause or hesitation as hexes and curses streamed past and around and at each other, vaporizing snow and shattering asphalt and tearing through the trees.
The approaching car screeched to a halt. Alexandra couldn't spare them a glance, just hoped the stupid Muggles would somehow have enough sense to drive away rather than gawk at a wizard battle. That hope was dashed by the sound of car doors opening.
When Brian ran out the door of Alexandra's house—barely remembering to lock it—he was confronted in the driveway by a Chinese girl in red and black robes holding a broom.
"Do you know where Alexandra went?" the girl asked, without preamble. "It's important. She's in deadly peril."
"I know." Brian glanced across the street, where he could see Mrs. Wilborough walking towards them. "I'm going there now."
"Where?" repeated the girl.
"Murdoch Road. Do you know where that is?"
"No. I'm not from around here."
"No kidding. Get in the car. You can come with me."
She held out a phone. "Put it on the map thing. I'll memorize the way and then I can get there faster than your car."
Brian shook his head. "No. I'll drive you there."
"Brian," said Mrs. Wilborough. "This is Anna Chu. She's a witch…"
"I figured that out," Brian said. "And I'm not letting you go without me. So unless you want to waste time arguing, or use a spell to make me, get in the car."
Anna glanced at Mrs. Wilborough, and back at Brian. "You're being stupid," she said. "But fine." She got in the car, and Brian got behind the wheel.
"Be careful," Mrs. Wilborough said, as they peeled out of the driveway.
As Brian sped through Larkin Mills, he quickly explained what had happened, and Anna nodded, looking a bit nervous as he continued to accelerate.
"Aren't you supposed to stop for those?" she asked, as they rocketed through a red light.
"Yeah," Brian said. "But we're in a hurry."
"Does Alexandra use spells to make you do things?"
"No," Brian said, after a pause.
"You're her boyfriend, right?"
"Ask her."
Both of them were silent then. Brian had questions, but didn't know what to ask. Beside him, Anna bit her lip as if she were thinking the same thing.
"You should stay in the car when we get there. It will be dangerous," she said at last.
"Sure," Brian said. Anna looked at him, then looked ahead, at the dark country road stretching before them.
The tires skidded on the icy road more than once, at speeds that would have been unsafe in any weather. Anna gripped her knees tightly. The lights of Larkin Mills had disappeared behind them, and only the car's headlights kept them on the road at all.
"You're sure we're going in the right direction?" Anna asked.
Brian almost said, "No," and then they saw pink and golden lights and flickering flames ahead.
Anna drew a long, dark wand from her sleeve. "Slow down. Muggle machines don't work very well around magic."
"Yeah, I know," Brian said. He didn't slow down until they had almost reached the source of the light show, and then he braked, hard, fishtailing the car and screeching to a halt only yards from the two combatants lighting up the night with spells.
It took Brian a moment to identify which of the figures was Alexandra.
Anna immediately jumped out of the car, holding her wand in one hand and that silly-looking broom in the other. Brian thought she would use it to join the battle and help Alexandra. She raised the wand, pointed it at the other figure—and hesitated.
Brian watched Alexandra and her opponent continue to exchange spells, incandescent bolts of light spinning and exploding between them, as if they were both rooted in place. He couldn't tell exactly what was happening, but they both seemed to be deflecting and attacking at the same time. Stray spells went spinning through the trees or blasted holes in the ground. A green glob of glowing goo struck the road in front of Brian's car, and some of it sizzled on the hood, melting the paint away.
Anna continued to watch, as if paralyzed.
Brian clenched his jaw, reached into the back seat, and grabbed the baseball bat lying on the floor. He got out of the car.
Alexandra and Harriet exchanged hexes and curses in a pure contest of magical might and skill. Apparating away would have resumed the running battle of deadly hide and seek in the woods. Neither of them chose to do that, so here they stood.
Harriet was better than last time. But so was Alexandra.
She tried to put Hela and Billy out of her mind. The car that had stopped on the road was a distraction—she glanced in that direction just long enough to see a silhouette in front of the car's headlights, then looked quickly away before she was blinded.
Was it her imagination, or was Harriet slackening, throwing her curses with less ferocity and speed? She tried to blast the other witch with lightning and fire and metal shards and insects that died quickly in the cold, but she was tiring too, winded by running and Apparating and being dragged through the mud and snow, by wrestling with a wolf and being scratched and bitten and bruised in a dozen places.
The first one of them to lose concentration, to miss a hex, to slip up a blocking jinx, would almost certainly go down. Or Alexandra could step away, in her Seven-League Boots. Maybe she could catch her breath and return before Harriet killed Hela and Billy. Or maybe Harriet would flee too. Maybe, maybe, maybe…
She stood and fought, to face down the bitch who'd chased her here, to finish this. If Harriet ran, where would she go next? She might come back to Larkin Mills, or she might carry out her earlier threat, to seek out Livia, or Julia—
She heard Brian's voice.
"What are you doing?" Brian shouted at Anna.
Anna turned to look at him, her expression anguished. "If this is a formal wizard duel, I can't interfere."
Brian stared at her. "Even if that other witch kills Alexandra?"
Anna's eyes were wide and a sheen of tears glistened in the car's headlights.
"I… I… don't know…" she stammered.
Brian looked back at Alexandra and her opponent.
"Brian?" a voice groaned out of the darkness.
Brian ran in that direction, holding the baseball bat. He found Billy lying tied up on the ground.
"Oh God," he said, kneeling next to the other boy.
"I'm… I think I'm okay," Billy said. "But Hela—you gotta check on Hela."
"I don't have a knife," Brian said, tugging at the ropes around Billy. They were wrapped tightly around him and didn't give at all.
"Hela," Billy repeated. "I think… I think maybe she's hurt."
Brian stood up. He was on the same side of the road as Alexandra's adversary now. Both witches were slowing down, unable to keep up the blazing intensity of the first few moments of their duel, but between short pauses they continued to shout incantations followed by destructive bursts of magic. And still Anna stood by the side of the road, watching.
"Now you've got no friends, you bitch," Alexandra said. "Now it's you and me."
Harriet snarled, "Vervelvar victis!" and a whirlwind of blazing red and purple tore through the road. Alexandra did have to Apparate then, though she didn't go far. She didn't dare push herself right now—splinching would be easy. She was impressed that Harriet had held that spell in reserve. The road, and the ground where Alexandra had been standing, was now a ragged ditch six feet wide.
"Kill you," Harriet said. Her voice sounded strained.
Alexandra could see her, with the car's headlights now illuminating them both. Harriet's face was wet. Was she sweating?
Alexandra said, "Barak!" and lightning exploded from her wand and reached out for Harriet—and the person behind her.
"Brian!" she gasped.
Harriet howled another incantation Alexandra didn't recognize and held up her wand. Like a magical lightning rod it drew Alexandra's lightning bolt, all of it, gathering it into a crackling white-hot ball at the tip. Alexandra was impressed by this feat, too—impressed and alarmed, because Harriet had clearly prepared it against her. She flung the ball of lighting back at her. It exploded against her Shield Spell and Alexandra was knocked off her feet, singed and stunned.
Harriet grinned toothily. She was flushed and shaking. Then, alerted by the stir of air behind her, she whirled.
Brian swung his baseball bat in an arc at her head. Harriet raised her arm, and the bat crunched into it with a sickening sound. Harriet screamed as her wand fell out of her hand.
Brian looked down at the wand, and brought his bat down on it. It exploded with a flash of light, and Brian staggered, holding the charred, splintered remainder of the bat.
Harriet made an agonized, guttural sound, deep in her throat, and suddenly she was a wolf, staring at Brian with red, bloodshot eyes and drool dripping from her jaws.
Brian held the puny, ruined bat before him, and Harriet leaped.
"Revulsio!" It was Anna's voice. The wolf was thrown away from Brian. She landed on three feet, holding one injured leg off the ground. Anna faced her on one side, and Alexandra rose to her feet on the other. With a snarl, she darted into the woods away from Brian.
Anna tracked the wolf with her wand, but looked doubtfully at Alexandra, who was limping over to a truck that lay upside down with shattered windows and crushed tires.
Anna and Brian both ran to her side. Alexandra cast a Levitation Spell that made the truck shudder and rise off the ground with creaking, hissing sounds. Directed by Alexandra's wand, the truck floated several feet away and then sank back into the snow. Only then did they see the body that had been lying under the truck.
Hela was covered in blood, and her body was twisted in ways a body shouldn't be. Her face was a ruined mess. Anna brought her hand to her mouth, while Brian dropped his bat at the sight of her.
Behind them, Billy called out, "Hela? Guys? Help!"
"Why didn't you do anything?" Brian yelled at Anna.
"I… thought it was Code Duello…" Anna said, in a small voice.
Alexandra glanced up. "This wasn't a duel," she said. "This was just a murder attempt." She looked down at Hela and began casting first aid charms.
Charlie came gliding down from the trees and settled on one of the truck's ruined tires jutting into the air. The raven looked at the scene, and for once, was silent.
"You let her go," Anna said, looking into the woods.
Alexandra didn't say anything as she tried to revive Hela. Hela's lips moved, and blood bubbled out of her mouth.
Anna took a few steps away. She took something out of her robes and handed it to Brian.
"Take this," she said. "Walk far enough away so Alexandra's wand won't affect it. Call her sister. I saved her as 'Livia.'"
Alexandra looked up again at this, but continued trying to stop Hela's bleeding. Hela gurgled as she breathed.
"What are you going to do?" Brian asked, taking Anna's phone.
Anna Apparated away.
"Alexandra," Hela said.
"Don't talk," Alexandra said. "Help is coming. You'll be fine." Brian ran back to Billy, with Anna's phone glowing against his cheek.
"Billy," said Hela.
"He's fine. Really. Can't you hear him yelling?"
Hela tried to swallow, and almost choked. "I have… something to tell you."
"Save it. Tell me later." Alexandra could see that every word was an effort, costing her breath she couldn't spare.
"There is no later. We both know this."
Alexandra opened her mouth to argue, though she felt as if she were seeing truth in Hela's words that she didn't want to, with some intuition that went deeper than her Witch's Sight.
"It was always… you or me," Hela said.
Harriet Isingrim ran through the woods, half-mad with pain. She could remember her human thoughts but it wasn't always easy to hold them in her head, and right now she was exhausted and scared. One leg was broken, and something else was very wrong with her as well. Her tongue was swollen and she couldn't stop drooling. Her heart was racing and her blood felt like it was on fire. Her shoulder hurt more with every passing moment, as if it were a suppurating sore waiting to burst. The only thing in her mind was fleeing.
When vines rose out of the ground and snared her, she barely struggled, simply transforming back to her soft, weak human form that could make sense of what was happening.
Harriet pulled against the vines wrapped around her legs and arms, trying not to cry out at the pain from her shattered forearm. She glared with hatred at the shadow watching her, almost invisible a few yards away. In her wolf form, she'd smelled the other girl; now she only knew where she was because of that brief scent.
"Alexandra's girlfriend," she sneered. "Aren't you Congressman Chu's daughter? Does he let his little girl get her hands dirty now?"
"No," Anna said quietly. "At least, he tries not to. But this is a war. I think Alexandra forgot that. She let you go because she was worried about her friends. She should have finished you. Actually, I'm not sure she forgot. I think even though Alexandra is stronger than me, she balked at committing murder. She knew she'd have to kill you, and she didn't want to."
Harriet went still. Then she said, "She certainly wasn't holding back during our duel."
"That's different. We both know that."
"I don't have a wand," Harriet said. "Very brave of you to threaten me when I'm defenseless."
Anna laughed softly. "Defenseless as long as I don't come close enough for you to try to tear my throat out. You took hostages, including a Muggle. You were going to ambush Alexandra. Just like you ambushed her back in New Amsterdam."
"I challenged her to a duel in New Amsterdam. She escaped with some magical trick."
"She beat you. She should have killed you then. But she spared you. You got another chance to live, and you came for her again. And you lost again. I guess this didn't go the way you thought it would."
"Fine, you win," Harriet said. "I surrender."
"You joined the Dark Convention, didn't you? Why do they want Alexandra dead?"
"Don't know, don't care."
"Well then." Anna raised her wand.
Panting and sweating, Harriet said, "I'm still a witch! I demand a proper duel, you coward! Code Duello!"
"Code Duello is for matters of honor," Anna said. "This is war."
"I don't know what you mean," Alexandra said to Hela. She found the other girl's hand and held it, though it was slick with blood. "Listen… whatever's happened between us, it doesn't matter. My sister's going to come and heal you, and then, we'll make things right. Okay?"
Hela moved her head from side to side.
"I never belonged with my people," she said. "My father never really accepted me."
"I'm sorry," Alexandra said, because this seemed appropriate, though she didn't see how it was relevant.
"Abraham Thorn… and my mother… knew each other… before."
Alexandra was aware of Brian and Billy's footsteps approaching, and Billy making a keening sound, but suddenly she was focused only on Hela's lips, forcing words out with what were almost certainly her dying breaths.
"Always suspected…" Hela said. "But he never acknowledged… the prophecy, you see."
She was becoming less coherent. Alexandra held her hand tighter. "Save your breath." She looked at Brian. "Did you call Livia?"
He nodded. "She's coming, but she didn't sound happy, and she said she didn't know how long it would be. I did say it's kind of an emergency…"
Kind of an emergency! "Where's Anna?"
Brian looked around and shook his head. Billy fell to his knees next to Hela. "Can't you cast a healing spell?" he pleaded.
"I did my best," Alexandra said. "But even skilled Healers can't just make injuries like this go away, and I'm not a skilled Healer."
"Alexandra," Hela said. "Only one of us can live."
"What?" Alexandra shook her head.
"The prophecy. Final girl… the eighth… marked by murder."
"Stop with this prophecy bullshit!"
"The eighth child… or eighth daughter? No one knows. Perhaps not even your… our… father. I thought when you killed Mr. Brown…" Hela groaned in pain. "But you didn't kill him, did you? And you didn't kill that goblin. You had me fooled. You're not a murderer."
"Murder! Murder!" said Charlie, in a croaking, ominous voice.
A green light flashed from the woods in the direction Harriet had fled. Alexandra stared into the darkness, and back at Hela.
"I am sorry…" Hela said. "If you are the final girl… know that it wasn't personal."
"What?" Alexandra gasped.
She almost choked with a sudden wave of nausea and intense stabbing pain, accompanied by an instant feeling of light-headedness. Brian screamed and Billy moaned, "Nooo!" Alexandra looked down, and saw that Hela had plunged her stone knife between her ribs. All the breath went out of her. Her vision went black. The last thing she was aware of was the sound of someone Apparating, as she slumped forward and collapsed onto Hela's mangled body. Her blood spilled over Hela and commingled with the other girl's. Charlie cried, "Alexandra! Alexandra! Alexandra!" over and over.