everything ok?
No. Everything sucks.
ru ok? Talk to me
Look, I can come to LM. My rents will holler when they find out, but I could be there tonite
No. Don't worry. I'm okay. But I can't talk about it now. David, go to Charmbridge, stay there, u and Alexandra Committee watch each others backs and BE SAFE.
As soon as she returned to her bedroom, Alexandra picked up Nigel, and then Charlie, and returned them to her skin. She was ready to go hunting for Mr. Brown now.
Except that she didn't know how to find the bastard.
Franklin Percival Brown had been sent to Larkin Mills the previous year by the Department of Magical Education, supposedly to "audit" the Pruett School. He'd bullied and abused the students, and Alexandra later learned that he was actually an Accountant. One of the wizards who worked for the Accounting Office, which carried out the Deathly Regiment by selecting and recording its daily sacrifices. Alexandra had found his little book where he wrote the names of intended victims, but of course she hadn't known what the list of names meant at the time.
There was an Accounting Office in Chicago, at the Central Territorial Headquarters Building, but going there would be suicidal.
She decided to start by calling Livia.
She rarely called her once-Wandless sister, but her desire for vengeance was so great that she wasn't willing to wait. She had to take a deep breath to make her hand stop shaking with anger before she dialed Liva's home number.
"Farr-Pruett residence," answered a male voice.
"Hi, Ashley. It's Alexandra. Is Livia home?"
Alexandra didn't think Livia had gone back to work yet, after having her son seven months ago. But she didn't know for sure—it was one of many things she didn't know about Livia's personal life.
She'd never met Livia's husband, Ashley Farr—another doctor. They'd had only two brief telephone exchanges before this one. Dr. Farr knew who Alexandra was, but she had no idea how much he knew about the troublesome sister-in-law who was now an occasional intrusion into Livia's life. She didn't even know if he knew that Livia was a witch.
"She's busy with Nicholas at the moment," Dr. Farr said. "Can I have her call you back?"
Alexandra rolled her wand between her fingers. "It's very important," she said slowly. "I'd really like to speak to her."
There was a pause. Dr. Farr sighed. "Hold on."
Alexandra heard muffled sounds, adult voices, an infant squalling.
The next voice on the phone was Livia's. "Alexandra, this is very inconvenient. Are you all right?"
"I'm fine. I need to find Mr. Brown."
Livia was silent for several seconds.
"Why are you looking for Mr. Brown?" she asked. "I told you he was banned from Larkin Mills after that incident with you and that other girl."
This seemed an awfully cavalier way to refer to the "incident" which had resulted in Alexandra being sent to Eerie Island. But she just repeated, "I need to find him."
"I asked why."
"It involves the Deathly Regiment."
Livia inhaled sharply. Then she said, "Watch what you say over the phone, Alexandra. The Confederation isn't the only government we have to worry about."
Alexandra had never really thought about that, but Ms. Shirtliffe had been planning to turn her over to federal agents or something. Was the FBI tapping her phone now? Like she didn't have enough to worry about. She didn't think a Muffliato spell would work over the phone.
"Well, then I can't tell you very much, can I? But…" Alexandra clenched her wand, and static suddenly grew thick on the line. With an effort, she relaxed her grip, and the static diminished. "Do you know where he went?"
"Why would I? I had no contact with him after…"
"'The incident.' Yeah. Maybe Madam Erdglass knows something?" Alexandra had little hope of getting useful information out of the ancient, useless teacher Livia had hired for the Pruett School, but it was a start.
"You'd have to ask her. But I really want to know why you're suddenly interested in finding Mr. Brown. I don't like the sound of this, Alexandra."
"Are you and Ashley and Nicholas safe?"
"Yes. You don't need to worry about us. I'm more worried about you. I understand you and Archie have both decided to stay in Larkin Mills. Why would you do that, when you can take sanctuary with Claudia?"
"Archie won't leave, and I can't." Having been warned about listeners, Alexandra didn't think she should mention the Thorn Circle. But if Livia was just sitting in Milwaukee with her husband and her son, she didn't see why she was being irresponsible by staying in Larkin Mills. The Confederation might want Alexandra more, but Livia was definitely at risk, as a daughter of the Enemy.
"Alexandra, please be sensible for once."
Rather than arguing, Alexandra asked, "I don't suppose you have a way of contacting Madam Erdglass?"
"Other than by owl? No. She'll be teaching at the Pruett School when classes resume next month."
"Seriously, you still couldn't find a real teacher?"
"Alexandra." Livia's voice was sharp.
"I'm sorry to bother you. Be careful, Livia. They may be out to get me, but that doesn't mean they've forgotten about you."
"Alexandra, I don't know why you're looking for Mr. Brown, but I think this is a very bad idea. Weren't the consequences bad enough last time?"
Alexandra kept her voice cool. "Livia, I appreciate your concern. And I really appreciate all the help you've given me. But you need to stop thinking of me as a runaway teenager. In case you haven't noticed, the war has begun, and I'm already part of it, whether I want to be or not. Also, I've survived things you can't even imagine. I've survived a lot of things." She took a breath. "I want you to know something. I have love for you, and Claudia, and all my sisters. I'm fighting for all of you. But I'm going to do what I have to do. If you can't help me, don't try to talk me out of it. Protect your family. I'm protecting mine."
She hung up.
She considered sending an owl to Madam Erdglass, but there was no Owl Post office in Larkin Mills. That left her only one recourse, without going to Chicago to begin her hunt.
She cast a Muffliato spell, then took out her magic mirror, a gift from Julia when she was twelve. It always showed a magically flattering reflection. The sixteen-year-old girl in the mirror this morning startled Alexandra with its glamor. Her reflection gave her a sexy smile.
"Stop it," Alexandra said. "Nobody sees me that way."
Her reflection mouthed the same words she did, but with soft, candy-pink lips and a wink.
Alexandra shoved the mirror against a wall and cast a Sticking Charm. Ignoring her reflection, which turned her annoyance into a sultry pout, Alexandra freed both Charlie and Nigel from their tattoos. Charlie hopped onto her desk and accepted a raven treat. Alexandra wrapped Nigel around her neck, unconcerned about the extremely venomous fangs an inch from her jugular vein. Ritual magic and doggerel verse seemed to work better with her familiars, though she had little magical theory to back it up, just intuition and experience.
In the mirror, Nigel's scales gleamed like tiny polished garnets, an impressive bit of flattery for an unassuming brown snake. The serpent wrapped around her neck made Alexandra look like some sort of succubus. She bared her teeth, which only enhanced the vampiric grin of her reflection, sighed, and spoke her verse:
"Mirror, mirror, on the wall,
Let my father hear my call.
Wherever you are, Abraham Thorn,
Heed the plea of your last-born."
She was pretty sure the success of her invocation would depend on her father's willingness to answer it. She waited, staring down her reflection, who winked at her and kissed Nigel's head in a suggestive manner, while Nigel's forked tongue caressed her lips.
Then her reflection dissolved, replaced by her father.
"Alexandra." He wore a loose-fitting, thin white shirt that looked thrown on. This was not his usual composed, black-robed self. He looked both more casual and more irritated. "I assume this is of some importance?" His tone suggested that it had better be.
No, just felt like chatting, Dad, she thought. She was glad he couldn't use Legilimency through a mirror. At least, she didn't think he could.
"I need to find Franklin Percival Brown," she said. "The official the Department of Magical Education sent to harass me and everyone else at Livia's school last year. The bastard I got sent to Eerie Island for assaulting."
Her father's face drew down in a scowl. "Did you call upon me to satisfy a petty desire for revenge? Is that why you joined the Thorn Circle?"
"No, I joined the Thorn Circle to stop the Deathly Regiment. And he's not just a petty bureaucrat. He's an Accountant."
Her father considered this. "We have been hunting down Accountants. Flies in the Confederation's abhorrent ointment. It won't stop the Deathly Regiment by itself, but every Accountant removed makes it that much harder for them to keep their dreadful schedule."
"Sounds like the job for me."
"I'm not sure you understand, my daughter." Her father's voice had a gentleness that had not been there before. "When I say 'removed'—"
"I know what you mean," Alexandra said flatly.
He studied her gravely. "Why Mr. Brown in particular?"
"Do you remember when we looked at the names in the Deathly Register, on Storm King Mountain?"
"Of course."
"When I wept, you thought it was because I was upset at learning how terrible the Deathly Regiment was. Well, it wasn't just that. One of the names I read was Bonnie Elizabeth Seabury. She was a friend of mine. A girl I grew up with, my best friend's sister. She lived right here on Sweetmaple Avenue." Alexandra stared back at her father. "Mr. Brown took her. Mr. Brown wrote her name down in his little black book, and she was taken. There's no way that was a coincidence. They did that to me, as well as to Bonnie. They did it to Bonnie because of me."
"Eliminating Mr. Brown will not bring that poor girl back."
"I know that!" Alexandra said angrily.
Her father's eyes narrowed. He was not used to being spoken to like this; in the past, he'd rebuked her for less. But this time, he kept silent.
"It's not just vengeance," Alexandra said. "I mean, I definitely want vengeance. But I also want to hear him tell me why. And how. And every other thing. Everything." Against her neck, Nigel's movements stopped. The snake raised his head, until it almost touched her cheek.
"I see." Her father was thoughtful. "Your anger is understandable, as is your desire for vengeance. But Alexandra… think about this. What you are actually proposing to do." His gaze was very solemn now. "I know you've used deadly magic before. But this is different. You have never done this. Your hands will never be clean again."
"If my hands were ever clean," Alexandra said, "they aren't now."
His expression softened slightly. "Consider what you must tell Claudia, and Livia, and Julia."
Alexandra wavered. She looked away for a moment. "Why would I have to tell them?"
"Do you think they will not know, eventually?"
She met his gaze again. "For Bonnie," she said. "I will do this."
Abraham Thorn nodded. "Very well. Be at the warehouse, Friday at dusk." His reflection disappeared, leaving behind a reflection of Alexandra that seemed unnaturally lit from below, with a snake wrapped around her neck, a sinister expression, and murder in her eyes. Suddenly it wasn't a flattering image at all.
She called Brian to check on him. She was worried about his failure to answer, then remembered that her wand had destroyed his phone.
She showered and dressed, leaving Charlie and Nigel in their cages. Then she walked down the street to knock on the Seaburys' front door. She doubted showing up with tattoos would do anything to improve Mrs. Seabury's opinion of her.
Brian's mother answered. Coolly, she said, "Hello, Alexandra. I suppose you're here to see Brian."
"Yes, ma'am." Alexandra reminded herself that Mrs. Seabury was still grieving for Bonnie. She didn't deserve more grief.
"I understand your mother is out of town."
"Yes, ma'am." Alexandra certainly wasn't going correct her about Claudia. "Visiting some relatives she hasn't seen in a while. I might be joining her soon."
She didn't fail to notice how Mrs. Seabury's eyes lit up at that possibility. "Well. I hope it's a pleasant visit. Please come in."
Alexandra waited in the living room, which was spotless and even more austere than usual, being kept ready for display to potential buyers. Brian came out of his room a few minutes later, dressed and wearing a guarded expression. "Hi Alexandra," he said, as if they hadn't just spent the night together.
"Hi." Alexandra looked over his shoulder. Mrs. Seabury was in the kitchen, pretending not to be listening to them. She stepped closer and whispered, "I wanted to check on you. Make sure you're all right."
"I'm okay. You want to go to the mall?" In a lower voice: "I kind of need a new phone."
"Right. Sure."
Walking to the mall, Brian said, "My mother told me I shouldn't be seeing so much of you."
"A little late. I guess I'm literally the girl your mother warned you about."
Brian laughed. Then his face grew more serious. "Are you really going to join your mother wherever she went?"
"Eventually. Maybe." And eventually she would explain to Brian about Claudia.
"I want to know why you left so suddenly, and what you meant about avenging Bonnie."
Alexandra wasn't sure what to tell him. Hadn't she promised she'd tell him anything he wanted to know? But now he'd expressed an absurd desire to join her and her father. It was bad enough that Archie refused to leave Larkin Mills, and at least Archie had a gun. Now Brian wanted to fight wizards, with what? A baseball bat?
"Will you give me a raincheck on that?" she said. "You've just dealt with… a lot of stuff. And I'm not a hundred percent sure you're okay, mentally or physically." He looked annoyed, but she touched his hand lightly. "You know it's true. Please, let me think about how to make things right, while you adjust."
He was sullen and not very talkative as they visited the Larkin Mills Mall. He picked a replacement phone with what he said was most of the money he'd saved up. "I'm going to have to figure out how to explain to my parents what happened to my PC."
Alexandra smiled sympathetically, but he was the one who'd grabbed her wand.
As they walked home, he said, "I haven't forgotten, and I meant what I said before. Don't try to put me off or distract me like you've always done, Alex."
In front of his house, she said, "I'll come to you again, tonight. If you want. We can talk about it then."
Brian was quiet a moment. Then he said, "I kind of do need you to undo that spell you cast on my room."
Oops. "Right. But maybe not until the morning, unless you were serious about wanting to be caught."
He gave her a look that was painfully unlike the simple, boyish wariness with which he'd once reacted to her more inadvisable notions. He'd grown up so much since last summer. Literally—he was taller than her, now—and in some ways, he seemed to have been aged more than her by what he'd gone through. While he had lost his sister, Alexandra had been through an awful lot herself. Not that she wanted to compare their suffering. Everything that had happened to him was because of her. She had to remember that.
"Tonight," he said. He kissed her. Alexandra saw Mrs. Seabury once again looking through the curtains as Brian went inside. She resisted the urge to wave at her.
Claudia called that night. Archie answered the phone, and walked into the master bedroom, where he spoke to Claudia for a while in private. Alexandra sat in her room, studying while she allowed Charlie to fly around over Larkin Mills. It was tempting to keep the raven as a tattoo on her shoulder whenever she didn't need her familiar for something, but that felt like turning Charlie into just another magic item to be used as needed and then put away. Nigel likewise she tried to let out frequently, though the snake seemed to have fewer feelings on the matter.
Her phone rang, showing a number from Connecticut. She answered, and Claudia said, "Alexandra, it's me."
"How is everything?" Alexandra asked. "Are Lucilla and Drucilla treating you all right?"
"Of course they are. But I can't stay here forever. There's very little for me to do."
"You might have to stay there until the war's over."
"Lucilla and Drucilla say there's no telling how long that will be. And of course depending on how it ends… Alexandra, they've proposed something else."
"What's that?"
"We could leave the country."
Alexandra frowned. "We?"
"All of us. You, me, Archie. Lucilla and Drucilla have been considering it. Valeria is already in Europe. She'll help us."
Alexandra's frown deepened. It surprised her that Lucilla and Drucilla would consider fleeing, abandoning their father's cause. Not that she could blame them, but they'd been among the original members of the Thorn Circle.
As if sensing by her silence what she was thinking, Claudia said, "It was his idea."
Alexandra reached a hand into the glass terrarium and lifted Nigel out to let him slither across her bed, which was still unmade and unslept in. "Really. Because I just spoke to him, and he hasn't said anything about me leaving the country with you."
Now Claudia was silent for a few moments. Then she said, "I won't leave without you."
"You should go," Alexandra said. "I can't."
"Why not?" Claudia demanded.
Rather than answer that, Alexandra asked, "What did Archie say to this?"
"He's… not enthused."
Alexandra almost laughed. "He wants to be chief of police. What's he going to do in Europe?"
"We'll figure something out. If it would get you both out of harm's way… I… I'd accept Father's gold."
Alexandra closed her eyes and sighed. It was a great idea. But she wasn't done here—she wouldn't be done here until all her friends were safe, until Bonnie was avenged, until the Deathly Regiment had ended. And maybe not even then, because she was pretty sure that running to Europe wasn't far enough to escape the geas that would end her life in less than six years.
"I can try to talk Archie into it, but I don't think he's going to listen to a 'damned teenager.'"
"He can't leave while you're there. Don't you understand that? When we married… I never made him promise to love you. You can't force that on someone. But I made him promise to protect you, to take care of you as if you were his daughter. He's not going to abandon you, Alex."
"I don't need him to protect me anymore."
"Even if that's true, as long as you're in Larkin Mills, he's going to stay there."
Frustrated, Alexandra asked, "What do you want me to do? I'm not going to cast an Imperius Curse on him. And I hope you're not thinking of asking our father to do that."
Claudia hesitated. Then she said, "No."
You were thinking about it, Alexandra thought.
"I can't stay here, Alex," Claudia said. "I can't be a useless guest in our sisters' house, and I can't stay in hiding forever."
"Maybe you should go to Europe without Archie, then."
"Lucilla and Drucilla have suggested as much."
"I'll see what I can do," Alexandra said. "But Archie's stubborn."
"Says the pot about the kettle," Claudia said sadly.
Alexandra went to Brian that night. He didn't immediately ask her about Bonnie, or vengeance. Alexandra carefully set her wand on a bookshelf opposite his bed. Brian shook his head. "I'm not going to touch it, Alex. I learned my lesson."
"Just being careful," she said.
"Speaking of being careful," he said, "you're using magic to keep from getting pregnant, right? I think I remember… from before… you told me you could do that?"
She gave him an annoyed look, remembering Burton's similar after-the-fact question. "What is it about boys? You only think about that afterwards?"
He got an odd look on his face. "Boys?"
"Girls usually think about it before they do it," Alexandra said dryly. Then she realized what Brian was asking. "Brian, did you think that was my first time?"
From his expression, she realized he did. "Oh." Well, this was awkward. "I'm sorry."
Brian looked away. "I mean, it's not like we were together."
Technically… Alexandra knew she should keep her mouth shut, but something must have been written on her face. Brian looked at her, and his brow furrowed. "What?"
"It's kind of a long story."
"Who you slept with is a long story?"
Alexandra was becoming annoyed. "No, that part's pretty short. I mean, it was last summer. It wasn't really a big deal at the time…" She realized immediately that that wasn't the right thing to say, though she wasn't sure what was the right thing to say in this situation.
"Last summer… weren't we… dating last summer?"
Alexandra took a breath. "Yeah, but… I mean, it was while I was in the Ozarks, and…" This was not going well. Brian just kept his eyes fixed on her.
"Has there been anyone else since then?"
"Yes, lots. I'm the biggest slut in the wizarding world."
Brian didn't react to her sarcasm. He just looked sad, which Alexandra found even more bruising.
"Maybe I should go," she said, reaching for her wand.
"Maybe," he said.
Alexandra knew she could stay, talk it out, probably convince him it was all okay, or try to explain about the mania that had seized her, caught in the flood of magic from the Ozarkers' great Unworking. She'd been half-crazy. This wasn't an excuse, she knew, but she could make Brian accept it.
She took her wand and Apparated away.
She received a text the next day from Brian:
kind of need u to undo the spell on my room, parents gonna notice no sound comes out of it eventually
She considered going over immediately, and then considered going over that night.
She just texted back:
ok
While she was thinking about how to deal with Brian, she returned Charlie and Nigel to their tattooed forms and began examining the spells on her house more deeply. Her father had woven a number of subtle enchantments, and while she could recognize the purpose of some of them, there were others she could barely sense. She had to cast another spell to find the Floo connection in their fireplace, and wondered how she could go about acquiring some Floo Powder. Maybe Madam Erdglass had left some in the Pruett School?
An hour later, Mrs. Wilborough called.
"Archie is in mortal peril," the old woman said. "The police scanner says he's answering a call out by the Tri-Best Dairy."
"You have a police scanner—? Okay, thanks." Alexandra hung up and ran upstairs to put on her Seven-League Boots.
She knew the Tri-Best Dairy was north of town, where it was mostly farmland. A great place for an ambush if someone wanted to use magic without being seen by a lot of people. She Apparated to the gravel lot outside the Pruett School, which was about as far as she knew how to Apparate without preparing beforehand, and from there, took a step to the edge of town, where she startled a truck driver who honked at her when she suddenly appeared at the edge of the road. She took another step. She only vaguely remembered where anything was out here, but she was able to find the Tri-Best Dairy after a few more steps, and when her foot settled on a dirt road leading to a field full of cows, she saw a familiar police vehicle coming up the road toward her.
She stood in the middle of the road, and Archie slowed to a halt. He got out of his police SUV, wearing his uniform. "Alex? What the hell are you doing out here?"
"Saving you from mortal peril," she said.
"Mortal peril? Someone called in a complaint about dead dairy cows. You know anything about that?"
"No. You think I'd go around killing cows?"
Archie pointed at his vehicle. "Get in." He made it sound like an order, but Alexandra stood her ground.
"Something's funny here," she said, looking around. She pulled her shirt down from her shoulder and released Charlie, who without needing to be told, cawed and flapped up into the sky.
"What's funny is me finding you here," Archie said.
A blue bolt from behind one of the barns flashed into the sky and struck Charlie. Alexandra screamed Charlie's name and had her wand aimed at the barn when five wizards in black and red robes Apparated onto the road, surrounding her and Archie. She turned her wand on one just in time to deflect his hex, but another spell struck her in the back and she went down face-first in the dirt. Archie drew his revolver, but one of the wizards said, "Expelliarmus!" and it flew from his hand. Another wizard threw a curse that probably would have stopped his heart, and let out a surprised exclamation when Alexandra blocked it with a Shield Charm.
Still lying on the ground, bruised but not stunned, Alexandra cast a Tentacle Curse that whipped around the legs of three of the wizards. One of the other two Apparated away, while the fifth tried to smite her with a giant flaming fist. It smashed into the dirt where Alexandra had just been lying, but she had already Apparated behind him. The wizard who'd conjured the fist was good, and rather than turning to try to deflect the spell she was already casting at his back, he also Apparated. Alexandra didn't look to see where he went—the spell that had missed her first target struck one of the other wizards who'd just freed himself from the grasping black tentacles.
Archie was stumbling toward his truck, either to call for help or to retrieve another weapon. Two more curses went flying at him. They weren't Stunning Charms—these wizards were trying to kill him. Alexandra deflected both the curses, but not the one that slid past her Shield Charm and sent uncontrollable spasms through all her limbs. She fell to the ground a second time, and one of the wizards used a Summoning Charm to collect her wand.
Archie was in his truck when another spell took the door off. Alexandra drew her second wand from underneath the back of her shirt. The yew wand was powerful and unreliable, temperamental, violent, and most effective when she used it in anger. She pointed it at the nearest wizard and blasted him off his feet. The wizard holding the wand he'd taken from her looked confused for a moment, and Alexandra took the opportunity to hit him in the face with a green sphere of light that sent his blood and teeth flying. She reached for the black hickory wand that tumbled out of his fingers, and then a black spike went through her wrist, pinning it to the ground. She screamed in pain, and then there was a storm of dirt flying around her. She squeezed her eyes shut and rolled to protect her impaled wrist. She heard incantations and spells all around her, a familiar woman's voice loudest of all, and then the storm died down, and she heard only the sound of dirt and pebbles raining down on the road, followed by Archie saying, "What the hell?"
Alexandra looked up. The first thing she saw was a pair of boots. She raised her eyes higher, and saw Diana Grimm looking down at her.
Her aunt, one of the Governor-General's Special Inquisitors, was wearing red pants and a matching jacket over a long-sleeved black shirt. Her hair was tied in a braid, and her face seemed paler and gaunter than Alexandra remembered. She was still a handsome, if not beautiful, woman, but the lines in her face were deeper, and her eyes were angrier.
Alexandra, with blood seeping into the ground from the spike in her wrist, and both of her wands lying out of reach, knew she had no hope of stopping whatever spell the Special Inquisitor was about to cast on her. Rather than lowering her head or closing her eyes, she just met her aunt's gaze, and said quietly, "Tell me you didn't know."
Diana Alecto Grimm stared at her with an expression that matched her name. She had the face of a Fury. Then her terrible scowl slipped away, and there was only a weary, haunted look left behind.
"I did not," she said.
She knelt and held her wand over Alexandra's wrist. With a deft gesture, she slid the spike out of her wrist, causing a moment of excruciating pain that brought tears to Alexandra's eyes, but before the pain began in earnest, Diana cast a Healing Charm that stopped the bleeding, and another Charm that dulled the pain. "I have a potion that will let your flesh mend without scarring, if you take a full night's rest after drinking it."
She helped Alexandra to her feet. Alexandra reached for her hickory wand and called it to her, though stretching her fingers made her impaled wrist light anew with pain. Once she held her hickory wand, she Summoned the yew one.
The five Special Inquisitors who'd ambushed her and Archie were lying scattered on the ground, unconscious and bleeding. Alexandra hadn't even seen exactly what Diana had done to them. Archie was trying to call for backup, but after a moment he threw his radio down in disgust. He stared at Diana Grimm and Alexandra, while he pulled his shotgun out of the police vehicle.
"Archie, please," Alexandra said. "This is my aunt, Diana Grimm. I think she's on our side." Without even looking at her aunt for confirmation, she stumbled across the road to where Charlie lay on the ground.
She picked up the raven and cradled it in her arms. Charlie's tiny heart was still beating.
"I owe you big-time, Angelique," she murmured. It was her former friend from Charmbridge who'd given her the idea. For the last couple of months, Charlie had been eating raven treats soaked with vitality potions, while Alexandra had powdered the raven's feathers with a protective dust of her own concoction.
She slowly walked back over to Diana and Archie. Archie was holding his shotgun pointed at the ground. Diana had not yet pointed her wand at him.
"Is that true, Aunt Diana?" Alexandra asked. "Are you on our side?"
"What side is that?" Diana asked. "Your father's side? The Dark Convention's?"
Alexandra carefully lifted Charlie to her shoulder. The dazed bird was just recovered enough to return to her skin. "Does that mean you're still working for the Confederation?"
"Does it look like I'm working for the Confederation? I just struck down five of my former colleagues."
"What the hell is the Dark Convention?" Archie asked. "And what did you do to my radio?"
"They lured you out here for an ambush, you know," Diana said.
"Why me?" Archie asked.
"Not you. Alexandra. They knew she would come. No one cares about you, you stupid man."
Archie said, "Well, why don't I just—"
"Somnalitu," Diana said, and Archie's eyes closed. He slid to the ground, feet splayed out in front of him, the shotgun still cradled in his arms.
Alexandra looked at Archie, who appeared to be sleeping peacefully. She turned her gaze back on her aunt. They stared at each other.
"You were one of the Governor-General's Special Inquisitors," Alexandra said. "And you had no idea about the Deathly Regiment?"
"I knew about the Elect giving up one of their own, every seven years. Not about the daily murders."
"So just out of curiosity, how many children a year would be okay with you?"
Diana's gaze was unflinching. "The older you get, the more like your arrogant, thistle-tongued mother you become."
"Okay, you just saved me, so I guess you're entitled to insult me and my mother. Just let me know when you're done so I can go."
"Where exactly do you plan to go? Back to Larkin Mills, to wait for the next attempt on your life?"
"Why do you care?"
"Because you're Hecate's troublesome child, and Lilith and I swore that we would look after you. No matter how reckless and difficult you became, no matter how much chaos and calamity you bring, we have always been watching out for you and trying to save you from yourself. You only ever saw the consequences we imposed on you and not the ones we spared you from. How blind are you, child, not to have realized that Lilith and I were on your side, all along?"
There was real pain in Diana's expression, along with anger. Alexandra felt her own anger ebbing, as it always did when she was confronted with uncertainty.
She summoned it back. "Did you ever consider telling me you were on my side? That you wanted to help me? That you didn't hate me because of who my mother was, or who my father was, or who I am? Did you or Aunt Lilith ever discuss telling me the truth right from the beginning, when I first entered the wizarding world? No, you both lied to me and kept secrets from me, and then acted shocked and outraged that I went looking for the truth on my own." Alexandra forced words out, through a sudden knot of emotion in her chest. "It would have been So. Much. Easier. If I'd known who I was from the beginning! If I'd had adults who were actually on my side. It's a little late to expect gratitude for all the strings you pulled behind my back to keep me out of trouble, when I might never have gotten into trouble in the first place if someone had been straight with me! I was eleven when someone first tried to kill me, and everyone pretended I was crazy thinking someone was out to get me, and that's pretty much been my life ever since. I don't even know all the people trying to kill me now. I mean, thanks, really, for saving me. Why did you, anyway?"
Diana Grimm listened to Alexandra's tirade, and her shoulders slumped a little. For the first time, it was she who looked chastened.
"I have been hunting Abraham Thorn all these years, because he is a threat to the entire wizarding world, because he won't hesitate to destroy our society, and because of what he did to Hecate." She looked down. "I cannot, will not, forgive him for that. Ever. But now I don't know what is worth preserving. I'm no longer a Special Inquisitor, and I'm certainly not going to join the Dark Convention."
Diana Grimm had been driven for years by her hatred for Abraham Thorn. The Confederation was everything that stood against the Thorn Circle. As a Special Inquisitor, she represented law and order against the forces of darkness. Now that the Confederation was consumed by darkness itself, she had no side and her cause was pointless. Alexandra almost felt sorry for her aunt.
She looked at Archie, still lying somnolent against his truck. Her poor brother-in-law, too stubborn to realize how out of his depth he was. He was here because, like Diana Grimm, he felt an obligation to protect a child he regarded as more trouble than she was worth, and to uphold law and order no matter what.
"Does he know?" asked Diana.
"Yeah," Alexandra said. "He refuses to believe half of what he's told, but he knows." She looked at her aunt again. "Did you Obliviate Brian?"
Diana shook her head. "I don't know who ordered that. In my reports, I always insisted he was no threat to wizarding secrecy."
"Did you have anything to do with Bonnie? Do you know who did?"
"Bonnie?" Diana looked genuinely puzzled, and when Alexandra explained, Diana's face turned a shade paler. "Stars Above, no! I told you, I did not know about the Accounting Office."
"What about the night Bonnie almost died? When a flight of owls made a driver hit her?"
Diana looked more aghast. "Is that what you've been thinking all this time? That I tried to murder your friend?"
"Like I said, you and Lilith told me so little, and lied so much, how was I supposed to know?"
Diana shook her head. "So what will you do about your brother-in-law?"
"I dunno. Claudia's gone into hiding, and wants Archie to join her, but he won't 'cause he thinks he has to stay here with me, and also 'cause he likes his job. I wish I could talk him into running, but no one ever listens to me."
"Why don't you go into hiding?"
Alexandra lifted her eyes to meet her aunt's gaze again. "I'm part of the wizard war, now. I've joined the Thorn Circle."
"I see." Diana was silent for several long moments, as they stared each other down. Then she said, "I am going to do you a favor."
"Oh, really?"
"Yes," Diana replied. "Petrificus Totalus."
Alexandra's body turned rigid, and she fell onto her side in the dirt, unable to move or speak. She watched as Diana walked over to where Archie lay, pointed her wand at him, and said, "Obliviate!"
Still holding her wand, she leaned forward and whispered into his ear.
After a minute, she stood, and walked back over to crouch down next to Alexandra.
"I did what you couldn't bring yourself to do," Diana said. "I made him listen to reason. When he wakes up, he won't remember this incident, but he will feel an overwhelming desire to join his wife, and when he does, he will be amenable to whatever she suggests."
Diana waved her wand, and Alexandra was freed from the Body-Bind Spell. She sat up in a fury. "You just… Obliviated him and used an Imperius Curse on him?"
"Yes."
"You bitch."
Diana was unfazed. "Ask me to undo it, then."
"What?" Alexandra's mouth opened in confusion.
"I can't undo the Oblivation. But I can remove the Imperius Curse. Let him continue to stubbornly try to 'protect' you instead of doing what you clearly want him to do. Or, you can let him go, and blame it on me. You didn't Imperius him."
Diana smiled at the look of dismay on her niece's face. "You see? It's not so easy to do the right thing, is it? Are you sure you know what the right thing is? It's easier to let someone else do the dirty work, and think your hands are clean."
"Kind of like you watching from the sidelines," Alexandra said, "while my father ends the Deathly Regiment."
Diana Grimm's smile faded. She rose to her feet and pulled a black rose out of her jacket pocket. Walking to each of the unconscious Special Inquisitors, she pulled a rose petal off and dropped it on each one, and each man disappeared when the petal fell upon him. She tucked the rose back into her pocket.
"They won't return right away," she said, "but I wouldn't linger here." She pulled something else from her pouch—a small vial of liquid that looked like blueish oatmeal. "Drink this before you to go bed, and get a full night's sleep, or that wound will scar." She handed it to Alexandra, who took it wordlessly. "Good-bye, Alexandra."
Diana Grimm Apparated away, leaving Alexandra alone on the road with Archie.