They rose before dawn and had an early breakfast, wanting to be on their way before the sun was up. Mage-General Flint turned Alexandra into a ferret once more before they left the house. Julia displayed empty hands, with a sly smile, but Alexandra and Flint were startled by a flash in the entrance hall. Alexandra looked down from the general's shoulder to see Rolly holding a camera.

"Perfect!" said Julia. "Go, Rolly, before Alexandra chitters something rude at you!"

Rolly disappeared with a pop.

"Getting elves to do your dirty work, really?" Alexandra said, but of course Julia couldn't understand her.

Mage-General Flint didn't even smile.

He was grumpy and taciturn on their flight back across the water to the mainland. Alexandra was also feeling morose. For a few hours it had been like one of her visits of old, but now it was time to go back to the war.

"You should not have made me take you to Croatoa," the old man said at last, when they were almost back to his house. "And you certainly should not have made us stay the night."

"Excuse me, but I didn't make you do anything," Alexandra said. "You could have said no."

"Could I?"

"Yes. Then I'd have figured out a way to get there on my own, and it would have been even riskier and a lot less convenient. So, like, thank you, but don't act like I Imperiused you."

"Harumph," Flint said.

"So what's the deal with you trying to woo Ms. King?" Alexandra asked.

"Nothing of the sort."

"Really? She made that up?"

"Mind your business, girl."

"Why did she turn you down?"

"I said mind your business!"

"Isn't that kind of violating the bro code?"

"The what now?"

"Trying to date your best friend's ex."

Flint pinched the bridge of his nose. "Would you stop your vulgar prattle? Abraham knows."

"He does?" Alexandra said in surprise.

"Do you think I'd be so foolish as to court Thalia without his blessing?"

"Oh. Nice to know he still gets to approve who she can date."

"Hell's bells, you crass Bellatrix! Thalia's never 'dated' anyone else because she's still in love with Abraham!" Hastings Flint glared at her. "One more word, and you will stay a mustelid."

He sounded angry enough to make good on his threat. Alexandra had no desire to be carried back to her father as a ferret by Hela and Blake Blaxley, so she curled up on the seat next to the general and thought gloomy thoughts.

Hela and Blaxley were waiting for them when the Granians touched down once more on the gravelly weed-choked circle before Flint's mansion. Blaxley for once wasn't chipper and cheerful. He looked annoyed.

"We received your owl," he said, as Flint disembarked. Alexandra followed, rather than sitting on his shoulder, and jumped to the ground behind him. "We had no sure way to know it was authentic, or that you hadn't been arrested or coerced. We sent a message to the Thorn Circle just in case, and were prepared to come looking for you if you did not return today. Turning an afternoon reconnaissance mission into an overnight trip without prior discussion is not merely discourteous, but alarming and unsafe."

Mage-General Flint stared the younger man down, then turned to look down at Alexandra, who stood in his shadow. Hela watched all this expressionlessly.

"Her idea," Flint said gruffly.

"I am not surprised," Blaxley said. "Did she cast an Imperius Curse on you?"

"Of course not. I apologize for discommoding you, Mr. Blaxley—and Miss Punuk—but I will remind you that I am not in the Thorn Circle and I do not take orders from you or from Abraham Thorn." He walked past Blaxley, up the steps to his house. "I assume you'll be leaving soon."

Blaxley and Hela exchanged looks.

"Um, excuse me?" Alexandra said. She thought maybe Flint was going to make her scurry after him, or beg to be transformed back. She felt pathetic enough already.

Flint paused at the top of the steps, turned, and regarded Alexandra with a sour expression. Then he drew his wand and pointed it at her. With a word, she was restored to human form, this time less dizzyingly than the night before.

"Thank you," she said, but he was already inside.

Alexandra sat in the back seat of Blake Blaxley's car, letting Hela sit up front with him. She didn't feel like talking, other than to tell them what she and Hastings Flint had learned about BMI's defenses.

"Is there anywhere else you'd like to stop and visit?" Blaxley asked pleasantly. Alexandra didn't miss the sarcastic undertone. It reminded her of Archibald Mudd.

"Sure, if you know where The Castle is."

"The Castle? I've never heard of it."

"I figured. Can your car fly, or cross water?"

"You know it can't."

"Drive on, then."

Despite her sullen mood, Alexandra was alert. Ambushes by manticores and state troopers dispatched by wizarding authorities meant even the highways were dangerous now.

Alexandra wanted to finish their current trip before she returned to Larkin Mills to collect Brigitte Jumeau's blood contract and prepare for what might be her most reckless and terrible plan yet. She had asked the Mage-General, and her father, to let her know when the attack on BMI was planned. She thought they'd tell her. She hoped.

Alexandra, Hela, and Blaxley were supposed to survey a mountain range where Abraham Thorn thought the Confederation had long ago sealed places where cracks made the walls between worlds thin and which Indians, elves, and Dark creatures alike had once used to conjure magic that was now inaccessible. Alexandra had encountered elves in the Ozarks. Elves, like humans, had lived in the New World long before Colonials had arrived.

She checked her phone, while it was briefly working, and was nonplussed to see a message from David, who should still have been at Charmbridge and thus unable to send texts.

If u haven't got urself killed yet holler back. Heard ur ww 'pirate radio' — what happened to that?

She glanced up. Hela had her head down, doing whatever she did on her phone when they had reception. Blaxley had turned on the radio, which was belting out tunes from some decade before she was born.

She texted back:

Forget that why aren't u at Charmbridge where the hell r u?

There was no response until that evening, after Alexandra and Hela and Blaxley had spent several hours hiking in the mountains and avoiding very unfriendly-looking locals of the non-magical variety. Rough, bearded men with guns, and Alexandra suspected they were up to illicit activities in their remote but surprisingly new and well-maintained barns and warehouses. Fortunately, it was easy enough to avoid them with magic, but Alexandra had recommended against the direct approach of asking Muggles about any strange sightings or activities, and Blaxley had listened to her.

When they settled in for the night at a tiny roadside motel that smelled of mildew and beer soaked into the carpets, and Alexandra could once more get a faint signal, David texted her back:

I'm in Cali. Anna says hi. She's almost always with her pop and can't use her phone.

W.T.F. Call me!

He did call her, while she lay in bed unable to sleep. When she saw his number, she cast a Muffliato spell, which immediately shut her phone down. It took several minutes before she was able to restart it and call him back.

He answered immediately. "Hey, Alex."

She bit back a dozen things she wanted to say, and settled for something direct but calm. "Talk to me."

Far away, in California, David cleared his throat. "The whole West Coast has seceded now. You probably know that. We're helping Anna's father. Congressman Chu is sorta leading the movement to replace the Confederation Congress and the Governor-General with a new legit government that will negotiate with No-Majes."

"Now you're using that term?"

"Didn't you always think 'Muggle' sounds kinda patronizing?"

Rather than arguing, she said, "I have so many questions."

"Right," David said. "We left Charmbridge 'cause we couldn't sit in class pretending like there wasn't a war going on. So we got to North California, and—"

"Wait a minute, we? Anna was already in California."

"Uh, yeah. A few of us. Dylan, Torvald, Stuart, Shen, Arthur, Reina…"

Dylan Weitzner was David's fellow Muggle-born roommate at Charmbridge. Alexandra barely remembered Shen and Reina, who were in the class above hers, and she didn't know who Arthur was, but David went on. "We all made a plan, and, well, Charmbridge's wards are made to keep people out, not to keep us in."

"Why would you do this?" Alexandra almost shouted.

"Look, it was kind of your fault. That speech you gave, people listened. When you said we needed to step up…"

"I didn't mean run away from school and join the war!"

"Like you did?"

"I didn't really have a choice."

"I couldn't do it, Alex. I couldn't sit in class while you and Anna are fighting the Confederation."

"I'm not even doing any fighting, hardly." She hated to admit that her father was keeping her away from the very battles that Anna was involved in. "What about the Pritchards? And Sonja?"

David cleared his throat. "They're still at Charmbridge. Safer there."

"You idiot."

"Don't start, Alex. Pot, kettle, remember?"

"As reckless, stupid stunts go, this is pretty impressive even compared to anything I've ever done."

"Says you. Look, I know your old man has a totally different idea of how to fight the Confederation, but maybe he and Geming Chu should talk. We could use your help, and it seems like you could use allies besides all those wizard terrorists."

"I'll mention it to him, but just so you know, he doesn't exactly take a lot of advice from me. David, what about your parents? What do they think of this brilliant adventure of yours?"

David was silent for so long, Alexandra thought maybe she'd lost the signal. Then he said, "I made them forget about me."

Alexandra took several moments to process this. "You… what?"

"You know why Obliviation spells are so scary?" David said, in a deceptively calm voice. "They're on the restricted spells list at Charmbridge, and only seniors in the Advanced Charms class learn them, but it's not 'cause they're difficult. It's 'cause they're so easy."

"You… Obliviated… your parents."

"If I could've made 'em leave the country, I would've, but Imperius is hard to learn, and—"

"David, are you listening to yourself?"

"What would you do, Alex? What would you have done about Claudia and Archie if they hadn't left? I don't know my parents will be safe—" David's voice sounded choked for a moment. "So far, the Confederation ain't going after families, but Anna's pop thinks it might come to that. He sent his wife to freaking China. All I could do was make my parents forget about me and hope them not knowing anything or asking about me will protect them. If they start rounding up our families, well, the war'll bust into the open for real and I'll make 'em remember all the names."

"Oh my God," Alexandra murmured, clutching her phone.

"Yeah, so." David paused. "Um, speaking of your father… and the Imperius charm. Do you think you could…?"

"No," Alexandra said. She wanted to shout at him, but was afraid it would just open a gulf between them that might not close again. "And it's the Imperius Curse, David! It's a curse for a reason."

"Okay. I get it. 'Cause you're always so moral and never do things you don't want to."

"Let's not argue, David. I am doing things I never wanted to. I didn't want you joining me. I didn't think Anna would be fighting the war too. Please don't get killed. Especially now that you told me it would be my fault."

"I didn't tell you—"

"Tell Anna… I love you and miss you both. She should call me when she can. I hope I see you soon. And tell Torvald and Stuart they're idiots and they should also try not to get killed. And, uh, Dylan too, I guess. And the others."

David's voice broke up, and then the signal dropped, and Alexandra considered calling him back, but when he didn't call her back, she decided they both knew there wasn't much more they could tell one another.

She lay back in her bed, thinking about the months she'd spent driving around with Mr. Mudd and then with Mr. Blaxley. How she'd failed to save Lucilla and Drucilla, failed to save those Muggles on Lake Erie, and constantly worried about the rest of her friends and family.

Would the Confederation go after the families of those who had joined the Thorn Circle or Geming Chu? Was Brian in danger?

Alexandra tossed and turned on the thin, hard, motel mattress and slept very little, and when she rose the next morning, she had decided she'd spent enough time driving around on her father's errands.

Alexandra returned to Larkin Mills in broad daylight. She walked down Sweetmaple Avenue, wary of watchers or ambushers. There was no one in front of her house, and when she walked up the path to the door, all of the wards and alarm spells and other enchantments were still intact.

She stepped inside, locked the door behind her, and then magically sealed it.

The house phone rang. Cautiously, she walked to the counter and picked it up. "Hello?"

"I see we're not bothering to be stealthy anymore. Are you planning to call a press conference?"

Alexandra sighed. She was more relieved than exasperated. "Hello, Mrs. Wilborough. No, I'm done talking to the press."

"Done doing your father's bidding as well?"

"What makes you think that?" She hadn't told Mr. Blaxley or Hela where she was going or what she was doing, only that she wouldn't be traveling with them any more. She assumed they, and her father, would know where she was soon enough. She wasn't sure what her father's reaction would be, or what she was going to do about it. She wasn't sure about a lot of things right now.

"He was trying to keep you out of harm's way," Mrs. Wilborough said. "I assume he did not tell you to come back to Larkin Mills."

"Am I in harm's way here? Have you been bothered?"

"They still don't know who I am, dear. You're different. Everyone knows who you are, now. Even the neighbors."

"As long as they can't do anything about it, that's fine. Listen, Mrs. Wilborough. That clock of yours, does it say Claudia and Archie and my father are still safe?"

"At the moment."

"Good. Let me know if it changes."

"What about you? You didn't ask if it says you're safe."

"I'm standing here in my house across the street from you. Why wouldn't I be safe?"

"And yet, it keeps swinging towards 'Reckless and stupid.'"

"I've seen your clock. It doesn't have a 'reckless and stupid' o'clock. I'm hanging up now."

The old woman coughed. "It's true, it doesn't tell me what you're going to do. But my intuition does. You came back to Larkin Mills by yourself. You're rebelling again, this time against your father."

"I'm not rebelling against him."

"So you say. I doubt you returned because you were homesick, or missed your boyfriend."

Alexandra said nothing.

"I will have to tell your father you're here."

"Like he doesn't already know? Tell him he can call me himself if he wants to talk." Alexandra did hang up then.

She let Charlie loose, to fly out over Larkin Mills. Charlie cawed joyfully, happy to be back home. Alexandra let herself see the town through the raven's eyes for a bit, before directing her familiar to the Pruett School.

When Charlie was sitting on the roof of the former warehouse and saw no threats, Alexandra Apparated there.

The gravel lot was still empty of vehicles, and the chain link fence around the property still shielded it from Muggle intrusion. To passersby, this was still an old, abandoned building that everyone knew about yet no one ever wondered why it remained empty.

Alexandra walked to the iron front door, cast spells checking for alarums or curses, and then pointed her wand at the wrought metal chimaera heads twined into the shape of a handle.

"Alohomora," she said.

The heads lifted on their serpentine metal necks, stared at her, and separated. The door opened with a clack, and Alexandra stepped inside, holding her wand.

The large front room was empty except for the huge cast iron furnace that dominated it. The next room was where she found the day school students, and their teacher.

The classroom had been improved since Alexandra's time at the Pruett School the previous year. The desks were larger and had proper ink bottles and quill holders, spindles to hold scrolls, and drawers for books and other supplies. Along one counter was a row of small kettles. Sitting on the opposite counter were two cages and a terrarium. The terrarium appeared to hold a salamander or a newt; one of the cages was dome-shaped and held a sleepy owl, the other was a basket-like metal box, but Alexandra couldn't see what sort of creature was inside.

Fifteen pairs of eyes looked up at her, and an excited gasp went through the room.

"Alexandra!" said half a dozen voices at once.

Freddy DiStefano was still here, and Pete Venker, and Rachel Ing. Chris Naylor, a talkative blond twelve-year-old, and the Dennings, red-headed twins from Kansas City, all grinned at her.

Missing were Helen Xanthopoulos, Jamal Burns, Penelope Oscar, Rachel Cohen, and Silvia McCarthy. And, of course, Roger Darby. But there were a bunch of new faces as well, most of them young, but one a very fat girl about Alexandra and Freddy's age, dressed in something tight and satiny, and a lean young man, as tall as Pete but half his size, with a fringe of beard and long sideburns beneath his baseball cap. Most of the new faces didn't seem to recognize her, until the fat girl pointed and said, "That's her!"

"What do you mean, that's her? Her who?" demanded a black girl with glasses and long bleached braids sitting next to her.

"The dragon girl," said the first girl. "I'd show you if my stupid phone worked in here."

Freddy and Pete and Rachel were already out of their seats, but faster than them, Chris Naylor bounded over to Alexandra. Behind them, the students Alexandra didn't know were arguing.

"Alexandra!" Chris said excitedly. "What are you doing here? I heard you joined the Rebel Alliance, is that true? Is your father really a Dark Wizard after all? Is he as powerful as Gandalf or Dumbledore? Aren't you kind of wanted?"

"Alexandra," Freddy said. "You must be crazy to come here."

"Why?" Alexandra asked. "Have they sent someone to replace Mr. Brown?"

Everyone's face darkened at that.

A squealing sound drew everyone's attention back toward the front of the room. The students still in their seats turned around, as did those who'd gotten up to greet Alexandra.

The cadaverous figure sitting behind the desk had not moved or spoken since Alexandra arrived, but now Madam Erdglass opened her eyes as if from a nap.

"Well," the wizened old woman said. "It seems we have a visitor."

From beneath her desk came another high-pitched squealing sound. A fat, pink pig peeked its head out and looked around.

"Quiet, Franklin," Madam Erdglass said. "It's just a former student." She looked at Alexandra with a rheumy gaze, as if having trouble placing her face. Alexandra wasn't fooled.

"Mr. Brown's gone," Pete said.

"But Madam Erdglass named her pet pig after him," Taylor Denning whispered. "Isn't that funny?"

"Bet you never thought Madam Erdglass had a sense of humor, huh?" Freddy said, still looking Alexandra over. They had exchanged a few letters since last year, and Alexandra suspected he had a better idea of what was going on in the Confederation than most of these kids.

Taylor's sister Leah giggled. "Franklin's cute."

"Uh huh," Alexandra said. She winked at Freddy, shook Pete's hand, and patted Chris and Taylor's shoulders in passing as she walked slowly up to the front of the class, with everyone's eyes following her.

"Whoa, she has a tattoo," Chris said. "Is that a real tattoo?"

"Sorry to disrupt class," Alexandra said. "I just came to pick up my transcript. My father's really concerned about my education."

Madam Erdglass's face showed no trace of humor or comprehension. "Class, let's take a brief recess. Please stay inside."

Everyone scrambled out of their seats. A few students went off to use the bathroom or take a snack out of the lunch bags stored in the front room, but most lingered to keep watching Alexandra. The fat girl seemed to be trying to take a picture with her cell phone, even though there was clearly too much magic here for it to work.

Madam Erdglass slowly rose to her feet. Franklin came trotting out from around her desk and looked at Alexandra, then the other kids.

"Here, piggy, piggy," said one of the younger students, crouching and holding out something in her hand.

"I've told you before, Cynthia, no snacks for Franklin," Madam Erdglass said. She looked at Alexandra. "He's really quite terrible. Eats anything offered to him. They won't stop feeding him. But he gets on well with the children."

"Uh huh," Alexandra said.

"Come along, Miss Quick. I'll see about your transcript."

"How come I've never seen a transcript?" Chris asked behind her, as Alexandra walked with Madam Erdglass to her office.

In the office, Madam Erdglass picked up a leather cylinder sealed with wax. "I presume you are looking for this? It was delivered by a… well, I want to say an owl, but it wasn't an owl, and it wasn't a bat, but it flew and it had wings."

Alexandra took the cylinder. "Yes, ma'am."

"You shouldn't just drop by like this. They haven't sent anyone to replace Franklin, but auditors do occasionally visit, and the children will undoubtedly tell tales."

"I'll try not to do it again."

"That's a sealed scroll. Quite sealed."

"Did you try to open it?"

"Certainly not," Madam Erdglass said. Alexandra wasn't sure whether she believed her. "Who sent it to you and why here?"

"Because I didn't want anyone else to know about it. I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell my father."

"Would you, now?" Erdglass's tone was flat and noncommittal.

"Are they safe?" Alexandra asked, indicating with a nod of her head the space outside the office.

"As safe as they can be. Monitoring day school students has become a very low priority for Central Territory. But some parents are refusing to send their children to magical school now."

"I wonder why. If another Franklin Percival Brown shows up, do better than you did last time."

Madam Erdglass's dull, ancient eyes focused on her with a clarity that would have seemed impossible to anyone who'd seen her out in the classroom. For a moment, Alexandra felt a shiver of reproach. When Erdglass said nothing, however, Alexandra stared the older witch down.

The old woman blinked first.

"See you around, Madam Erdglass." Alexandra walked out of the office, and found Freddy, Pete, Rachel, Chris, and the Dennings clustered in the hall, with Chris looking abashed and a little jumpy. Alexandra suspected he'd been trying to listen at the door. Down the hallway, the two older girls who'd been talking and trying to take pictures of Alexandra lingered by the entrance to the classroom.

"You're just gonna show up and leave like that?" Freddy asked, as Alexandra walked away from Madam Erdglass's office.

"Afraid so. I am an Enemy of the Confederation, after all." Alexandra stared down the big girl in the shiny satin dress and leggings and her friend with the dark skin and braids. The two of them gulped and backed away from her into the classroom behind them.

"Alexandra, seriously, you gotta tell us what's going on," Pete said. "We can't believe half of what we hear on the news, and all we get is BS from the Department of Magical Education."

"Local protests," Freddy said, "and covens feuding in other Territories. That's what they call it."

Alexandra turned to look at these kids, whom she counted as her friends, aware that the other students were listening too.

"If you haven't seen any fighting yet," Alexandra said, "then maybe it will pass you by. But there is a war on. What you've heard about the Deathly Regiment is true. If you can keep your heads down and stay out of it, you should, but you need to know that all the protections we've had until now might go away. Take your lessons seriously, 'cause this isn't like Muggle high school."

"Excuse me, it's No-Maj," said the fat girl. "My parents don't like being called Muggles."

"Muggle is a Colonial word for magically disenfranchised persons," said Rachel. Alexandra caught an eye-roll from Freddy, but Pete, with an arm around Rachel's shoulders, just raised his eyebrows and shrugged.

"You all stay safe," Alexandra said.

Franklin came trotting over, and made a snuffling sound at the floor before looking up at her. She saw no sign of recognition in his piggy eyes.

"He's very smart," Leah said.

"He even understands words," Taylor said.

Alexandra stared hard at him, and said, "Bacon."

The pig's eyes showed white, and it turned and ran away, squealing.

Freddy shook his head. "What the hell, Ace?"

"That was mean," Leah said indignantly.

"She's still kind of a beeyatch," Rachel whispered to Pete, not very quietly. "A scary beeyatch."

Alexandra went out into the front room, still trailing the other students behind her. She opened the door and looked around outside before walking out into the empty lot in front of the Pruett School. She told Charlie to fly home, and then closed her eyes and Apparated to her house.

She woke up the next morning and sprang to her feet, aware that she was not alone in the house.

"Troublesome," Charlie said. She'd left the raven sitting in the cage on her desk with the door open, and Nigel in his terrarium. Charlie seemed anxious, but not alarmed. Alexandra turned and saw a much larger raven sitting on her windowsill, visible even through the white curtains she'd drawn over her bedroom window.

"Hagar," she said.

She quickly pulled on a pair of pants and a shirt, and walked downstairs with her wand in her hand. Abraham Thorn was standing in the living room. The bowls and glasses and box of granola bars she'd left out last night were gone, and the mess on the counters had been Vanished.

"Your housekeeping is appalling," her father said. He wore his usual dark ensemble with a black cloak, black boots, and black gloves. "And surely you have something to eat other than cereal?"

"I haven't had time to go shopping," Alexandra said, suppressing a yawn.

"What are you doing, Alexandra? Why did you abandon Blake and Hela? I gave you important, meaningful tasks. You swore to follow my instructions and not argue about your assignments. But you cajoled Hastings into taking you to Croatoa, and then decided when you were done you'd rather come back here to Larkin Mills. You irresponsible, spoiled child, the most troublesome of all my daughters. I've given you more liberty and more forbearance than any of my children, and yet I still cannot rely on you."

This speech did more to deflate Alexandra than anger or threats could have done. Though she'd expected his disapproval, and felt justified in her decision, it still hurt. She looked down.

"Why?" he asked. "Why have you done this?"

"You have me drawing maps," Alexandra said. "Driving around, hiding in the backwoods, avoiding the real battles or anything that's actually helping to bring down the Confederation."

"Everything you're doing is helping to bring down the Confederation. I have explained this to you. The intelligence you've gathered, the cracks in the world you've located and mapped, to say nothing of your diplomatic efforts…"

"Diplomatic efforts? Who the hell listens to me? I'm just a teenager. Has anything I've said made anyone switch sides? Did I get anyone to secede? Have I recruited anyone?"

"You underestimate yourself. You are impatient and headstrong and want to see the results of the seeds you've planted immediately. Have you not grasped yet that the entire Thorn Circle is working towards the same ends, and what you do supports what others are doing and vice versa? Stop demanding to know everything and start following instructions, and trust that I am using you in the most appropriate manner."

Alexandra took a breath, wanting to argue, to protest. But that wasn't the point of this confrontation. She shifted tack. "Geming Chu has led the Californias into revolt. They want to create a new government, which is more than you've proposed."

"Ah." Her father smiled grimly. "This is about your friend, Anna Chu."

"No, it's not about Anna!" Alexandra snapped. "It's about Lucy and Dru still trapped in a prison somewhere, Mr. Mudd dead, children kidnapped and held hostage, and you letting the Dark Convention terrorize Muggles and wizards alike. I get it—you warned me war would be terrible and we'd have to do bad things. So far, I'm not even sure we've done any good things! Why don't you join forces with Congressman Chu?"

"Geming Chu would not join forces with me even if I proposed it. And he only wants to reconstruct a new Confederation without the Governor-General."

"And without the Deathly Regiment!" Alexandra said. "I thought that's our goal!"

"Our goal is to tear down the institutions and break the seals that made the Deathly Regiment possible. I have told you I no longer seek power for myself. If Geming Chu is able to gather enough support to form a new government, I will not oppose him, but mark my words, Alexandra: however well-intentioned he may be, the Elect will do what comes naturally to them, and Geming Chu is one of the Elect."

"So are you."

"Indeed. And so would you have been."

"So what? This isn't a war against the Elect. You're not, like, a Marxist." Alexandra had only a vague idea of what a Marxist was, and from her father's wrinkled brow, the term wasn't familiar to him either. "This is what you were trying to do all along, get people who oppose the Deathly Regiment to rise up against the Confederation. Now they're doing that, and you won't help them."

"To end the Deathly Regiment, the Confederation cannot simply be split and reconstituted under new leadership. The Confederation and all responsible for the Deathly Regiment must be crushed, all their instruments destroyed, so that Geming Chu or whoever might replace the Governor-General cannot ever pick them up again."

"Anna's father wouldn't do that."

"Ah, my youngest child. Even if your faith is not misplaced, Geming Chu's is." Her father made a dismissive gesture, indicating not just his feelings about Geming Chu, but the conversation. "Enough is enough. Rejoin Blake and Hela and do as you promised, Alexandra."

Alexandra took a deep breath. "And if I won't? If I'd rather join Anna and her father in California?"

She expected one of her father's dread gazes that would test her will, or perhaps worse, a disappointed look, as if she had let him down, which indeed, she was doing. Instead, his expression turned flat and cold.

"Alexandra, I have been patient beyond measure. I have protected you, taught you, and tolerated you at your most insolent. But I will not argue or plead with you, nor will I force you to do anything against your will. If we must part now like this, I cannot say when we will see each other again. Perhaps not until this war is over, one way or the other. If that is your resolve, do not call upon me again for favors or information or help. I will be busy. You will be on your own." He spoke these last few words slowly, emphasizing each one.

Alexandra's mouth was dry. Part of her wanted to recant, to tell him she had just been feeling frustrated and homesick, that she was still with him. The thought that he might truly abandon her, even in the midst of a war, hurt, even if it was what she was demanding. But she knew he'd never let her do what she had planned.

And most importantly, she had been keeping her mind as clear as she could, and not once had she felt the pressure of his mind trying to intrude upon hers.

She nodded.

Slowly, he nodded back. "Farewell, then, my dear daughter. Until we meet again." His tone was neither sad nor angry, as if he were also forcing himself not to show emotion. He vanished, and Alexandra sagged against the counter.

For better or for worse, she was once more on her own.