Alexandra and Hela arrived back at the seven-gabled house to find Drucilla and Lucilla in the kitchen. Drucilla had made soup, and was trying to spoon it into Lucilla's mouth. Lucilla neither resisted nor cooperated, and Drucilla used her wand to clean up the mess that dribbled around Lucilla's mouth and onto the table, struggling to hold back tears.
Alexandra's heart felt like a hot angry thing that had risen into her throat and threatened to block her breathing. She struggled to control herself, as Hela watched with a flat, unsympathetic expression.
"Were they just going to let her starve to death in The Castle?" Alexandra asked.
"Probably," Drucilla said. "They are supposed to turn Dementor victims over to facilities that care for them—it's not technically execution—but under the current circumstances, I doubt anyone cares." Her tone was bitter and angry, but she didn't see Alexandra's expression. Hela did, and edged away from her.
"What's required, as part of this Spiritus Loci ritual?" Alexandra asked. "And how long does it take?"
Drucilla finally looked up. "We need to cleanse the house first. What's left of Lucilla's soul is bound to this house. We can't begin to restore her until we've gotten rid of the malevolent spirits—especially the Dementors."
Alexandra brandished her wand. "I'm ready when you are."
Drucilla frowned. "It's not that easy. And… I'm not ready. I'm not." She trembled, and put a hand on Lucilla's shoulder. "I'm sorry, Alexandra. I must be a disappointment to you right now."
Alexandra took a few deep breaths, willing the constriction in her throat and the fist that wanted to punch its way out of her chest to relax. If she couldn't master her emotions right now, she wasn't ready to summon forth the positive feelings she needed to cast a Patronus Charm either. She unwound, slightly, and walked over to put a hand on Drucilla's shoulder.
"You're not," she said. "Don't think that. You went through more than I did. I was only exposed to those things for a few minutes. I wouldn't be as strong as you right now if I'd been there for weeks and if I'd… if I'd seen them take Lucy…" Her voice choked, as Drucilla put a hand over her face.
Alexandra closed her eyes, but she didn't try to wipe away the tears. Then she turned to Hela, who was just watching the three of them silently.
"You said you'd help," Alexandra said.
"Not fight Dementors," Hela said. "I told you—"
"You don't have to fight them. We're going to recruit help."
"We are?" Hela said.
"You're going to do what?" Drucilla said.
"You said Doomguards can kill Dementors," Alexandra said.
Drucilla sat up, glanced at Lucilla, who remained in her seat with the same vacant expression, and then looked back at Alexandra.
"Doomguards aren't something I can make, if that's what you're thinking, Alexandra. They're actually forged by goblins, although wizards provide the enchantments to animate them. But even if I knew the enchantments…"
Alexandra shook her head impatiently. "That's not what I had in mind." She didn't want to interrupt Drucilla, but as much as her sister might find comfort in talking about Artificing, she wanted to get to the point. "I know where to find an army of Doomguards."
Hela and Drucilla both stared at her. For a moment, Lucilla's eyes, which drifted about uncomprehendingly, seemed to focus on her. Alexandra stared back at her, willing her to say something, but then Lucilla's gaze drifted on.
"Even if you do," Drucilla said, "they can't simply be commanded by anyone. They're—"
"I know that, Drucilla," Alexandra said, interrupting again but trying not to sound impatient. "They've been sitting in our father's stronghold in the Lands Below because even he can't figure out how to command them."
Drucilla sat quietly a moment, while Hela's eyes grew wider.
"If he can't command them, how will you?" Drucilla asked. "Not to mention—"
"I know how to command them," Alexandra said. "We need a goblin. And I know where to find him."
"I'm a little lost, Alexandra. Father has Doomguards in… the Lands Below? And you can go get them? Assuming that's true, might he not have something to say about that?"
"He might. But if he stops me… then he's no father of ours."
Drucilla stared at her. Then she said, "There seem to be a few steps missing in your plan."
"No, there aren't. I have all the steps I need in my plan. I just need a little help." Alexandra turned to Hela, who suddenly looked as if she wanted to be elsewhere. "You said you're down."
"Down for what?" asked Hela.
"We're going back to Eerie Island," Alexandra said.
"Crazy!" said Charlie, with wings spread, balanced atop Alexandra's shoulder like a sailor standing precariously on a stormy deck.
Alexandra and Hela stood on the lakeshore and stared at the churning gray waves. Across the Great Lakes, the weather had been the worst on record according to the Muggle news, and the November winds blowing now were enough to keep all vessels off the water.
"I do not understand how you know there is still a goblin on Eerie Island," Hela said. "Or how you will get us to the Lands Below. Or how you will persuade your father to let us have the Doomguards. Or—"
"All that's for me to worry about," Alexandra said. "You only have one thing you need to do."
"I told you, the Thunderbird is not a spirit to be conjured. It is…"
"A Power. Or something like it. But you said it can be called."
"You can call it," Hela said. "That does not mean it will answer."
"It's here for a reason. You said underwater panthers are their natural enemies. That's why it's here, to fight the underwater panther. We'll just ask it to do what it wants to do anyway."
Hela shook her head. "And if it ignores us?"
"Then we'll probably get eaten by the underwater panther."
"Crazy!" Charlie repeated.
"Your wicked bird is right," Hela said. "So was your sister. There are some steps missing in your plan." The wind moaned off the lake. It whipped Hela's short braids and Alexandra's hair.
"My plan is not without its risks," Alexandra said.
Hela's expression was equal parts incredulous and fearful.
"I've dealt with Powers," Alexandra said. "I've faced underwater panthers. More than once."
"How many went with you?" asked Hela. "And how many came back?"
"You don't have to come," Alexandra said. "You and your sense of duty can stay here. I'll go by myself, and I'll come back. I can do this without you."
She walked closer to the water, until the waves lapping against the beach splashed against her boots. She spread her arms, with her hickory wand in one hand, and Charlie beat wings against the wind blowing against them.
"Troublesome!" Charlie said.
Alexandra extended her wand as if she meant to part the water before her. She wasn't sure Hela had even recognized this semi-developed stretch of coastline that they had driven along with Blake Blaxley. But Alexandra had chosen the highway deliberately. Now, as she spoke the same words her father had spoken, she called up the ship she'd last seen sinking beneath the waves just offshore.
With a fume of spray, a broken mast thrust its way to the surface, followed by the hull of a small sailboat. It was still white, where mud and algae hadn't stuck to it during its rest on the lake bottom. It rotated slowly in place, moving against the wind, without motor or sail, as if guided by an invisible hand. Greenish-gray water spilled out of its bilge vents. Alexandra could see a long crack along one side, its cabin was half crushed, and its mast was just a broken spar. It wasn't remotely seaworthy—or even buoyant. Without magic, it would be good for little more than salvage.
But she had magic.
"Crazy," Charlie repeated, as Alexandra cast a Water-Walking Charm and began walking across the waves towards the boat.
"Ravens are wicked, but wise," Hela said. Alexandra turned. Hela was less steady than Alexandra as she followed her from the beach, but her Water-Walking Charm had improved.
"Wicked!" said Charlie, riding the wind to swoop around Hela before looping back to Alexandra.
Hela glared at Charlie, then at Alexandra, and shook her head.
Alexandra climbed aboard the boat, despite its slipperiness, and stood on its deck, surveying the damage. Hela climbed up after her.
"This is a ghost ship," Hela said.
"Yeah," Alexandra said. "That's the point."
What had been the mens' names? Alexandra had never learned. She remembered one of them had called out to his wife, or girlfriend, or sister—
"Karen," Alexandra said. Her name was Karen.
"What?" asked Hela.
"Karen is one of the ones I couldn't save," Alexandra said. "She's here now."
Hela's eyes widened and she looked around as if expecting to see a ghost.
"One thing I've learned is that sometimes failure is as powerful as success," Alexandra said. "But failure still sucks."
Hela looked at Alexandra as if she were beginning to question her sanity.
Alexandra pointed her wand out at the open lake, and said, "Expecto Patronum!" Her Patronus shot out across the water, beating its wings as soon as it materialized. Charlie cawed. In seconds, the silver stormcrow was a tiny sliver disappearing into the darkness of the storm.
"Is it meant to fight the underwater panther?" Hela asked skeptically.
Alexandra shook her head. "No, it's meant to summon help."
"The Thunderbird is not going to notice your little Patronus."
Alexandra waved her wand, and the ship lurched forward as if its nonexistent sails were full of wind.
She cast another charm to deflect the wind and water away from them, and the boat began scooting over the waves at a greater speed than it was capable of when it had been intact. She pointed it at the black storm clouds that covered the lake miles ahead of them.
"Call the Thunderbird!" she said to Hela.
"I told you," Hela said, "we cannot summon it, we can only hope to get its attention."
"Well, the more of us who try to get its attention, the better."
"I think your plan is terrible."
"It's not too late to walk back."
Hela glowered at her, then began chanting.
The wind became stronger as they proceeded, until they were flying directly into the face of a hurricane west wind. The shore was long gone behind them, and the waves that rolled around them were bigger than the boat. Alexandra's spells kept the boat afloat, and deflected most of the weather, but she made Charlie stay on her shoulder for fear that a gust of wind would blow the raven out across the lake.
Hela continued chanting, though her voice was all but drowned out by the wind. They plowed onward, despite the waves and the howling winds.
Alexandra looked into the storm ahead, a dark swirl of wind and water merging into a black wall that seemed to rise up and wait for them. Lightning, like the flashing teeth of the monster they were approaching, was the only illumination, despite the fact that it had been broad daylight when they'd set out.
Then a pair of fiery, burning lamps appeared in the storm. They were beacons casting beams as brilliant as those of a lighthouse, but they were signals of doom, not safe harbor.
"N'zaliya`ati!" Hela exclaimed.
The underwater panther came walking across the water, less affected by the storm than the sailboat the two witches stood on. Its golden hide reflected the lightning flashes around it, and as it approached, it roared, and flames gushed from its mouth.
"Charlie," Alexandra said. She was having trouble summoning bravado now. "We really need your big brother. We need all the help we can get."
Charlie's caw was like a shriek, as loud as any sound Alexandra had ever heard the raven make, but it was almost completely drowned out by the storm.
Hela was chanting louder, with a tremor in her voice.
Brighter than the lightning, a streak of silver flashed past the underwater panther. Alexandra's Patronus, larger than ever before, flew across the waves towards their boat.
The panther's mouth opened and flames erupted all around it. Steam boiled off the waves. It seemed enraged by the sight of the silver stormcrow, which at Alexandra's direction suddenly flew up into the air, higher and higher, until it was barely visible to them, just a tiny spark in the darkness.
The underwater panther roared and roared, and still the boat kept plowing forward, towards the monster and their doom. Hela's chanting changed in tone—Alexandra couldn't understand the words, but from the other witch's ashen face and her look of panic, Alexandra suspected it was either a prayer, or a dirge.
The underwater panther's head swiveled back towards them. Much closer now, they could make out its foot-long teeth and its golden whiskers, extending like piano wires that could cut a person in half. It roared again, and this time the flames came belching in their direction.
At Alexandra's direction, the boat veered to the right, in a futile effort to go around the monster. Almost casually, the underwater panther splashed through the waves to intercept them.
Hela fell to her knees on the deck. "You have doomed us! This plan was stupid! Madness! I don't know why I came with you!"
"A sense of duty," Alexandra said. "For what it's worth, I appreciate it."
Thunder rolled across the waves. A burst of lightning brighter than all the previous flashes lit the sky, and bathed the giant panther in a brilliant reflective glow. This was followed by a boom that deafened Alexandra for several seconds, and rocked the boat from side to side.
The underwater panther turned away from them and roared up at the sky.
There, much brighter than Alexandra's Patronus, and much, much larger, hovered a giant bird with feathers that rippled with lightning. Its eyes glowed to match the baleful fire of the underwater panther's eyes, and when it opened its beak, instead of a caw or a shriek, there was another roar of thunder.
The winds picked up, and they were already hurricane force. Despite Alexandra's charms, they were now being tossed violently on the waves. Hela grabbed a stanchion and looked ill.
The underwater panther and the Thunderbird clashed with a crack and a boom that would be heard in every town and city around the great lake. Alexandra closed her eyes and was still almost blinded by the flash. Without stopping to watch the battle, as spectacular as it must surely be, she took a second to make sure she still had Charlie safely tethered to her and protected from the wind, and then propelled their tiny boat forward, on the path they had been charting before the underwater panther intercepted them.
Hela lay prostrate on the deck, groaning and holding onto whatever she could.
They plunged on, through the rolling waves and the wind. Alexandra's Patronus had long since faded, but as the battle raged in their wake, the journey became easier, though they were still bobbing along through a storm that would sink ships much larger than theirs.
The winds abated only a little, but without the proximity of the Thunderbird and the underwater panther, they no longer threatened to overwhelm the charms on the boat.
Hela eventually pulled herself to a sitting position, and then stood up on shaky legs.
"Guess it answered your call," Alexandra said.
Hela took deep breaths. Her voice was doubtful. "You could not have known it would come, or that it would follow your Patronus."
"I don't think it followed my Patronus," Alexandra said. "That's not why I cast it."
Hela looked quizzical at this, but her questions were curtailed by another sight rising up in front of them: the black rocks and the darkened lighthouse of Eerie Island.
Alexandra guided the sailboat to the dock where she had first set foot on the island. She jumped onto the dock, and waited for Hela to follow. Hela looked back at the boat which had carried them across the lake. It was already spinning away from the pier and sinking.
"We won't be needing it," Alexandra said.
Hela gave her an uncertain look, but said nothing.
The two of them walked along the narrow stone path up to the gate, while wind and rain battered hard at their Umbrella Charms. When they reached the familiar portcullis, they found it lowered.
Alexandra stared through the metal bars into the darkness, half-expecting to see a huge shadowy creature waiting there, eyes glowing balefully beneath its mane.
Hela held up her wand and said something. Alexandra waved her wand and tried to raise the portcullis with a Levitation Charm. It didn't move. She considered attempting a Blasting Charm, but before she could examine it with her Witch's Sight, it began moving upwards, with a scraping, clanking sound.
Hela and Alexandra looked at each other, then stared into the darkness. They said "Lumos!" simultaneously.
The gatehouse was empty, but when they continued on, into the empty stone building that had once been Edna's den, they found two figures waiting for them. Sitting in the chair where Alexandra had found the hapless guard during their last visit was a goblin, and standing atop the long oak table that had once been Edna's, like an actress on a stage, was Mad Haddie.
"The Witch of November has arrived!" declared Mad Haddie. "Join the Gathering of Powers! Do you hear the Thunderbird and Underwater Panther calling their brethren?" She put a hand to her ear as a rumble of thunder loud enough to shake the keep rolled over them, then looked up at the ceiling and waved her arms theatrically, as if addressing a celestial audience. "You call upon me calling upon thee, don't pretend you don't hear me!"
She looked even more deranged than when Alexandra had last seen her. Her robes were the same ones she'd worn as a prisoner, and were now much worse for wear. Her long, gray, frizzy hair surrounded her head like a halo.
Her companion, the goblin Alexandra had last seen in the back room of the dungeon below, had apparently disassembled the Wizard Wireless. It was spread out in pieces on the table in front of him. He glanced at Mad Haddie, then turned his dark gaze back on Alexandra and Hela. Alexandra saw that he was holding a short, nasty-looking iron sword with a broad, doubled-edged leaf-shaped blade across his lap.
"I'm not a Power," Alexandra said.
"Troublesome and Calamity!" said Haddie. "Your names aren't your powers, Powers! Pay attention, Stars Above!"
"Am I Calamity?" asked Hela.
Alexandra said, "I don't know if you really can talk to Powers, uh, Ms. Haddie, but the Thunderbird saved us from the underwater panther, so thanks for whatever you did do."
"You asked so nicely!" Haddie drew her fingers across her face, spreading them to reveal her wide eyes in some sort of pantomime Alexandra couldn't decipher. "Your silver bird, it was as pretty as the Moon in the water. I tried to capture it but it spoke its plea to me so I shook my fist at the n'zaliya`ati to call thunder to aid thee."
Hela blinked at Haddie's speech, while the goblin listened expressionlessly.
Haddie lowered her arms and jumped off the table. She stayed in a crouch for several moments before rising again. She grimaced slightly, reaching behind herself to rub the small of her back.
"So, did you bring any food?" she asked. "I am very, very sick of fish and fungus."
The goblin spoke. "Never mind food. Did you bring a boat?"
"Yes," Alexandra said. "But I left it behind. It's sunk by now."
The goblin made a grimace with small, pointy teeth. "You—your silver bird—said you were coming to rescue us!"
"Yes." Alexandra nodded at the sword. "Not a very friendly way to greet rescuers, if you ask me. Were you planning to stab me and take the boat or something?"
Haddie threw her head back and laughed. "Paranoid as a plimpy in a sea of serpents! My darling Rathnail wouldn't stab you, missy stabby stab."
"Really?" Alexandra said, eyeing the goblin's sword. "It looks pretty stabby to me."
"I am not an it," the goblin said.
"I meant your sword."
"It's actually more of a decapitating, disemboweling, dismembering blade," said Haddie. "But really, he only ever uses it with fish. Honestly, did you bring anything to eat? I would sell my second soul twice for a pie."
"No pies," Alexandra said. "Sorry. Rathnail—is that your name?—I presume you remember me?"
"No," Rathnail said. "All witches look alike to me."
Alexandra hesitated. "I was here earlier this year, with my father—"
"I remember who you are!" Rathnail snapped. "I was being sarcastic." He glanced at Hela. "Is she your sister?"
"No," Alexandra and Hela answered together. Alexandra said, "So look, I did come to rescue you, assuming you want off this island. Since Mad—I mean, Haddie, declined to come with us last time."
"Of course we want off this island," Rathnail said. "After you and your father left us alone here, nothing has set foot on Eerie Island since the coming of the storms and the underwater panthers. Even had we a boat, we wouldn't dare attempt crossing the lake."
"Panthers?" Alexandra said. "There's more than one?"
"These two darlings dared." Haddie folded her arms. "I declined to come with your murderous father because he's mad and monstrous."
"I'm sure you were sent to Eerie Island for being a well-behaved witch," Alexandra said.
"Like you?" Haddie retorted. "Or are you the only troubled teen ever mistreated by the man?"
"Okay, point taken," Alexandra said. "I can take you both off this island, the same way I took everyone else when we left last time. But I need something from you, Rathnail."
"I didn't presume you came back out of kindness," said the goblin.
"We took the Doomguards with us," Alexandra said. "But my father can't command them anymore. He doesn't have the key or the password or whatever it is that reactivates them."
Rathnail laughed. "Failsafes." His expression turned somber. "Loderackt—you remember him? Your father killed him and you cut his head off—was waiting for the Confederation to fulfill the third part of the contract for those Doomguards. Only a goblin can unlock them permanently."
"Can you?"
"So that your father can use them to murder more goblins?"
"No. I'm going to use them. First to help my sisters, and then to free some more prisoners and do some damage." Alexandra looked at Mad Haddie, whose eyebrows went up as she ran her hands through her hair. "In case you didn't know, there's a war on. The Confederation versus the Dark Convention and the Thorn Circle, with other Cultures and Territories picking sides. I'm not just here to do my father's bidding. I need those Doomguards."
"What is this wizard war to me?" asked Rathnail. "The Confederation is no different than any other wizard regime, and your father slaughtered all of my friends."
"Yeah." Alexandra walked over to Rathnail, tucking her wand back into its sheath as she did. She looked down at the goblin, who was a head shorter than her, and stood close enough to him that she was very conscious of being within stabbing range.
"I am sorry for what my father did," she said. "I really didn't know he was just going to kill everyone. I don't know if I could have stopped him, but I would have tried. I spared your life, so I hope you won't stab me now, though you can if you want to." Behind her, she heard Hela moving.
"Your sister witch would kill me," Rathnail said. His eyes were glassy and didn't have whites, and with his sharp teeth, gave him a perpetually sinister appearance that Alexandra realized was probably unfair. Goblins always looked like they were snarling or sneering, but up close, Rathnail was just nervous.
"I will take you out of here, whether or not you agree to help me," Alexandra said. "But I really need those Doomguards."
Rathnail stared back at her, unblinking. "Your father will kill me."
"No he won't. He'll have to go through me first."
"That's less than reassuring."
"What do you want?" Alexandra asked.
"I want my friends back!" Rathnail snarled.
"That's not within my power."
Rathnail's nose and brow wrinkled.
"Rathnail, I hear wrath and raging," Haddie said in a singsong voice, making a little dance across the room as more thunder boomed outside. "The girl who came back came back for us and the Powers will not send a carpet or a broom or a boat. Give her the clockworks, spite the spies who spy upon us, fie on her father and spit in the Governor's eye!"
"What spies?" Alexandra asked, looking around.
"Everywhere," Haddie said. "I spy eye spies and my spies. Powers and perils. Don't get stabbed."
Alexandra and Hela exchanged a look. Mad Haddie was a convincing madwoman, but Alexandra couldn't help feeling like she was just messing with them.
"I can bind the Doomguards over to you," Rathnail said. "But you may have them only for a goblin year."
"What's a goblin year?" Alexandra asked.
"A day less than one of your years, except on gibbous years when it's one week shorter, or gabbous years which are seven years in a row that—"
"Fine," Alexandra said. "A goblin year. Good enough."
"If you want them longer you must negotiate the terms with our union representatives. I assure you they will want compensation for the goblins killed here, among other things."
"Fine, whatever," Alexandra said.
"I also require that you take Haddie and I to the Goblin Market in Chicago."
"All right."
"And ten pounds of gold."
"What? Seriously?" Alexandra exclaimed.
"Yes, seriously. A lease requires payment, and nothing binds an agreement like gold. Did you expect me to lend you an army for the price of your pretty smile?"
Alexandra stared at Rathnail. "Where am I supposed to come up with ten pounds of gold?"
"Your problem." The goblin's beady eyes didn't blink.
Alexandra opened her mouth, to protest and argue, as she looked around, seeing no help from Hela or Haddie. Then she remembered something else her father had told her.
"Okay," she said.
"Seriously?" said Hela.
"Do not think to cheat me, Alexandra Quick," Rathnail said. "I know that wizard gold made by transfiguration does not last."
"Not wizard gold," Alexandra said. "Goblin gold."
"Ah. That will do." Rathnail grinned.
"I'm sure." Alexandra turned to the others. "Let's go."
"Go, go, go, Mithlegalis Evacuum!" said Haddie.
Alexandra and Hela both blinked at her.
"That's not a real spell, is it?" Hela asked.
"I don't think so," Alexandra said. "Come on."
She led the other three up the stairs to the gatehouse, where Rathnail grimaced at the wind and rain that lashed against them when they came near the entrance. "We aren't sailing through the storm, are we?"
"No," Alexandra said.
"How exactly are we getting off the island?" the goblin asked. "Apparition? Did you bring a Portkey?"
"Nope." Alexandra cast an Umbrella Charm to cover herself and Rathnail, while Hela did the same for herself and Haddie. They walked out into the storm, and down the slippery stone path to the dock. There was no trace of the boat.
She stared into the gray-black water, lit by flashes of lightning. Far away across the water, they could still see columns of lightning crackling up and down from the lake to the sky, followed by continuous booms of thunder rolling across the waves. Alexandra fancied that now and then she could see a flash of orange flames or a coppery reflection, even miles away.
"Powers aclash, gnashing their teeth, but you're taking us to a world away from here, aren't you, Enemy's Enemy daughter?" Haddie said. "Merlin and Mordred the weather is frightful. You will have to speak sweetly to it. Trick or treat!"
"Has she been like this the entire time?" Alexandra asked Rathnail.
"Like what?" Rathnail asked. "Witches be crazy."
Alexandra narrowed her eyes at him, then focused on the crack beneath the island, the crack in the world that only she could see. If anything, it was brighter than before.
She remembered what she'd told her father. Ripping open a crack in the world would mess with it. She didn't know that it had anything to do with the storms that had swept across the Great Lakes continuously since then, but her father had told her that costs must be paid. At the time, he seemed dismissive. Now Alexandra was doing the same thing.
"Costs must be paid," she muttered, and opened the crack in the world, and holding her hand out, opened it to reveal an obol. The greenish light that bathed them all turned orange and yellow.
"Where… where are we going?" stammered Rathnail.
"Below," said Haddie, sounding genuinely terrified. "Oh, below!"
Alexandra led them through the crack and into the Lands Below.