They stopped at a shabby roadside motel that night. They were in the boonies, miles from the nearest town, but they still had to maneuver around a row of cars to park at the far edge of the gravel lot, where it met the encroaching woods.

While Mudd went to the office to rent rooms, Alexandra and Hela cast wards and Muggle-Repelling Charms around the RV. When they met Mudd by the motel, he told them there were only two rooms available.

"I'll share a room with Mrs. Wilborough," Alexandra said. "Hela can sleep in the RV."

Hela shrugged sullenly, then slouched off to the RV.

Mudd and Wilborough exchanged a look.

"What?" Alexandra demanded.

"I don't know why she puts up with that," Mrs. Wilborough said. "You treat her pretty awfully."

"Like the way she treats Muggles?"

"I haven't seen her mistreat Muggles," said Mudd. "And I didn't hear you complaining about using Confundus Charms."

Alexandra did feel a little uncomfortable about that, but she'd done worse. She sighed. "I'll tell her she can share the room, if she wants."

She let Mr. Mudd and Mrs. Wilborough go inside, then walked to the edge of the parking lot, where the empty country road stretched off in either direction and no light fell on her, and freed Charlie from her shoulder.

"Hello, Charlie." She held up her hand. "I have some treats for you."

"Alexandra," said Charlie. The raven ate from her hand, while Alexandra wondered if her familiars dreamed while they were tattooed to her, and if she was protecting them or just using them.

She wanted to speak to her father, but this wasn't a good place to try using her magic mirror, and she doubted it would work anyway.

Tomorrow they were supposed to drive to the edge of Roanoke Territory, to speak to an old friend of Abraham Thorn's from his days in the Regimental Officer Corps. It disappointed Alexandra that visiting Croatoa wasn't possible. Julia still made weekly trips to the little Muggle village on the far side of their island to use the pay phone in a diner. Alexandra tried to be free at those times, but it didn't always work out, and often she had to settle for listening to Julia's recorded voice.

She didn't have a message from Julia tonight, but she did have one from Anna.

"Hello Alex," said her best friend.

Are we still best friends? I hope so. Things were so… complicated the last time we saw each other, and every conversation since then has felt awkward. But she missed Anna as much as she missed her sisters.

Wait, she thought. Why is she calling me? She should be at Charmbridge!

"We haven't been able to talk since the war started," Anna said. "It's really started. I guess you know that. I've heard what you and your father are doing. My father… well, he wouldn't let me join you, and he won't join your father, but I hope we're on the same side. This really isn't what either of us ever imagined, is it?" Anna laughed in a nervous, high-pitched way. "It's scary, Alex. But I have to be brave. For my father, and my mother. Like you. Anyway, be careful, the No-Maj government tries to listen to our phone calls too, even though my father has been talking to them."

No-Maj? Alexandra thought. There was another voice, as Anna spoke to someone else in Chinese. Then she said, "Okay. I have to go. Call me back. Miss you."

Alexandra was about to call back, when Charlie cawed and croaked, "Wicked!"

Alexandra drew her wand. The vehicles in the motel parking lot were all dark. Nothing moved.

"Wicked," Charlie repeated, flapping without leaving her shoulder. Something scared the raven. Alexandra looked with her Witch's Sight and cast Revealing Spells, and still saw nothing. But she heard a sound. A sort of crooning, like an inhuman lullaby, coming from the darkness across the lot, where the RV was parked.

"Expecto Patronum," she said, trying to concentrate on the happiness she'd felt when she heard Anna's voice. A silver stormcrow coalesced from the stream of mist that emerged from her wand, and Alexandra sent it into Archibald Mudd's room to alert him with her voice. "Back onto my skin, Charlie," she commanded. Then she was at the RV in three magical strides.

Something large and shadowy lurked next to the RV. Alexandra said, "Ter Lumos!" Her wand crackled with a brilliance that threatened to ignite the wood. The sudden glow startled the beast in front of her, which blinked as it crouched.

For a moment, Alexandra felt sheer terror, thinking Typhon had somehow returned from the World Away and tracked her down. But this creature, though large, was not as large as the giant sphinx. Like Typhon, it had the body of a lion and the face of a man. Instead of a lion's tail, it had a massive scorpion stinger.

Hela was lying on the ground at its feet.

"Oh, shit," Alexandra said. The manticore roared.

Alexandra shouted "Caedarus!" as the beast charged, then leaped seven steps away in an instant, which was all that kept the massive stinger from impaling her. The green ball of force struck the manticore but didn't even slow it down, and when Alexandra cast a fireball at it, it kept coming—the fireball exploding in its face only seemed to make it madder.

Manticores were supposed to be as tough as dragons, and much smarter. They also weren't supposed to exist in North America. Alexandra cast a Stinging Jinx that had once enraged a dragon, and the manticore roared. She once more sidestepped the beast with the magical speed of her Seven-League Boots.

The door to one of the motel rooms opened, making a tiny square of light that seemed miles away. From her position momentarily behind the manticore, Alexandra pointed her wand and said, "Barak!"

Lightning crackled against the monster's hide, bathing it in an electric glow. The thing reared up, opened its mouth in another fearsome roar, and though its eyes were alight and its tongue smoked, it came down into a crouch and pounced so quickly, Alexandra would have been caught by its paws if she dashed left or its tail if she dashed right. Instead, she Apparated, this time to Hela's side.

Silhouetted figures emerged from the motel, but Alexandra didn't expect any help from Mudd, and certainly not from Mrs. Wilborough.

She'd hit the manticore with her best shot and only made it angrier. She wasn't sure what other spells she could cast against it.

She turned her left arm over, exposing her snake tattoo. "Nigel," she said.

The brown snake slid free of her skin, and she let Nigel fall to the ground. The snake immediately coiled and raised his head in a menacing pose, startled and provoked, even as he began swelling with a touch from Alexandra's wand.

The manticore came leaping at her again. She raised pillars of stone out of the ground. The manticore smashed into them and they crumbled like brittle plaster, which slowed the beast just long enough for Nigel to strike.

Nigel was now a giant monster as well, large enough to wrap his coils around the manticore. He sank his fangs into the beast, and the manticore bellowed in rage and turned on Nigel, trying to tear into the snake with its claws and teeth. The two creatures shook the earth as they went tumbling across the gravel lot.

Alexandra had fed Nigel vitality potions and cast protective charms on him too. She hoped it would be enough, as the manticore's stinger stabbed at the giant snake. She knelt next to Hela, who had a bloody wound in her side and pink froth on her lips. She was feebly reaching for something in the little cloth purse she'd taken to carrying on the outside of her robes. Her face was so discolored Alexandra could see the blue tinge of her skin even in the fading glow of her wand.

"B—bez—bezer—" Hela gasped. She had retrieved something from her purse—a small, yellowish stone. It tumbled out of her fingers, which twitched uncontrollably.

"Stars Above!" Mrs. Wilborough gasped from across the parking lot. There was a crashing sound as the battling beasts slammed into one of the vehicles.

Hela's mouth gaped open, like a fish gasping out of water. "P… please," she whispered.

Alexandra picked up the item she'd dropped, and realized what it was. "A bezoar?" Not stopping to wonder how it was that Hela had a bezoar, she thrust it between Hela's lips and pushed it down her throat. Hela gagged and started to choke on the calcified secretion, and then it began to dissolve, while Alexandra tried to stop her bleeding with a first aid spell.

The manticore broke free of Nigel's coils and sprang away. Bleeding from several puncture wounds, the monstrous lion-thing made a sound like a hurt kitten and ran, disappearing into the night.

"Mr. Mudd, Mrs. Wilborough, get over here!" Alexandra shouted. Other doors had opened as well—the motel's other guests had probably seen at least part of the battle.

With a pop, Mudd Apparated to her side, with Mrs. Wilborough clutching his arm. "What in the hell, Troublesome?"

"We have to get out of here," Alexandra said. "Help Hela into the RV. I'll catch up."

"You'll what now?" Mrs. Wilborough said in disbelief. She was still staring at the giant snake.

"Seven-League Boots, remember? Go." Alexandra strode forward, facing a snake large enough to swallow her whole. Remarkably, Mudd didn't argue with her, but urged Mrs. Wilborough to get into the RV while lifting Hela off the ground.

"Hi Nigel," Alexandra said softly. She could see her familiar's scales had been raked and scored by the manticore's claws. "Sorry about that. I'm gonna find something fat and juicy for you, okay? A bunny rabbit, a puppy, another snake—anything you want. Except a raven. Or an owl. But I promise, a special treat." She thought Nigel understood her tone, if not her words, though she couldn't really see through the snake's eyes and couldn't be sure that he wasn't still regarding her as a fat, juicy treat.

"Finite incantatem." She snapped her wand downward in an arc, and Nigel returned to normal size. He remained coiled to strike.

Alexandra glanced off into the woods where the manticore had disappeared. She didn't know what to do about it. She remembered her father telling her that Muggles were just going to have to get used to a world with magic and monsters. There were spectators gawking at her from the motel. Some were pointing their camera phones. She cast a strobe-light hex that startled and blinded them, and would hopefully prevent them from capturing her face, but nothing short of Obliviation would make them forget seeing a giant snake fighting a manticore, and someone might well have taken a video of that.

She knelt in front of her familiar, and held out her arm. The deadly brown snake hissed angrily.

"I don't blame you for being angry, Nigel," Alexandra said. "Please don't bite me. I mean, I know I deserve it… but I don't know if Hela has any more bezoars."

Nigel wasn't like Charlie. She had always felt like there was some sort of rapport between them, though sometimes she thought she was just imagining it. She was afraid that Nigel would bite her, and then she'd probably die, but he stretched towards her and slithered across her hand and up her arm.

Alexandra rose to her feet, holding the snake.

The RV was pulling away. People were shouting now.

Nigel sank into her skin. He left a thin trail of blood behind. Alexandra cast another dazzling burst of light to blind anyone looking her way, then set off running after the RV. The night wasn't even half over yet.


They argued about whether to continue on to Roanoke. Alexandra wanted to speak to her father first, and pointed out that Hela was in no condition for another encounter that might end badly.

From the front passenger seat, Mrs. Wilborough said, "My, your sudden concern for Hela is convenient."

Alexandra glared at the old woman. Hela, lying on the cushions of the rear couch, said nothing. Her complexion had improved and with help from some of their potions, her wound had closed, but Alexandra thought getting stabbed by a manticore's stinger was more serious than their magic could quickly fix.

Mudd drank a Wakefulness Tonic to make up for his lack of sleep. He offered some to Alexandra and Mrs. Wilborough.

Mrs. Wilborough declined. "Magic always has a price," she said.

"Sometimes it's worth it," Alexandra said.

"I imagine the creators of the Deathly Regiment thought so, too."

Alexandra tossed back the concoction, and felt like her nose was about to melt off her face. For a moment she couldn't feel her tongue. Then her fatigue vanished and she felt fine, except for an orange tint at the edges of her vision.

"It's perfectly safe," Mudd said, "as long as you don't drink it too many nights in a row…"

"Because eventually you become permanently unable to sleep," Alexandra said. "I know my potions. With all due respect, Mrs. Wilborough, if you want to abolish magic, I think you've misunderstood our agenda."

"I don't want to abolish magic," Mrs. Wilborough said. "I want wizards to stop treating it like a license to ignore natural laws."

"I mean, that is pretty much what magic is for. Also, for fighting wizards and magical creatures. Who use magic. Speaking of which, how did that manticore find us? And what's a manticore doing in West Virginia or wherever we are? The Confederation Air Force has manticores, doesn't it?"

"Not like that one," said Mudd. "Did you see any wings? That was a purebred manticore, straight from the Old World. The Confederation's manticores are an abominable hybrid."

"So someone sicced a manticore on us," Alexandra said. "And it's on the loose. Shouldn't we…"

"Tell someone?" Mrs. Wilborough laughed sourly.

"Yes, we'll just call up the Department of Magical Wildlife," Mudd said.

"This is serious," Alexandra said.

"Say, I wonder whatever happened to that dragon you let loose," Mrs. Wilborough said.

"I didn't let it loose! Hela did!" Alexandra said angrily.

"Not… by myself," Hela said weakly from where she lay.

"My old man told me about how Ben Journey tried to kill you before you got your wand," said Mudd. "Kappas, Redcaps… ever wonder where they ran off to, and whether they're still ambushing unwary Muggles around your home town?"

Alexandra sat down heavily on the couch adjacent to Hela's.

"It's like you don't even care," she said. "What's wrong with you?"

"You care when it's convenient or when you think you can actually do something," Mrs. Wilborough said. "And the rest of the time, you put it out of your mind. Your father is right, girl. You're a force to be reckoned with when you're determined, but you're reckless and you don't see the bigger picture."

"And what's the bigger picture?" Alexandra asked.

"This is a war," Mudd said. "We can't save everyone."

"May I have some of that tonic, please?" Hela asked quietly.

Alexandra poured a little into a cup for her. "It would be better if you slept."

"Thank you for your concern."

"Do you have any more bezoars?" Alexandra asked.

"No." Hela tossed back the tonic, and after coughing for a moment, sat up, still clutching her side.

"Not that you get a vote, but do you think we should hole up and rest, or are you up for meeting more Colonials?" Alexandra asked.

"Why shouldn't she have a vote?" asked Mrs. Wilborough.

"She doesn't get a vote, and neither do you," said Mudd. "Unless you want to drive."

Alexandra opened her mouth, and Mudd and Mrs. Wilborough both said, "Forget about it!" in unison.

Alexandra closed her mouth. She caught Hela smirking a little before her face went blank again. Alexandra leaned back to stare out the window.

They continued driving, and with the Wakefulness Tonic preventing her from sleeping, Alexandra began reading a paperback copy of MacBeth she'd picked up at one of their stops.

Some hours later, with the sky turning pale in the east, they heard a siren. Mudd began slowing the RV. Mrs. Wilborough jerked awake.

"We're being pulled over?" Alexandra asked. "I thought you both agreed to stay under the speed limit."

"I was driving under the speed limit," Mudd said. "I don't know why Officer Friendly is pulling us over, but Muggle cops are like Aurors; they can always find something." And a moment later, he said, "Huh." Alexandra heard more sirens.

"This is a lot of cops for a traffic stop," Mrs. Wilborough said, looking in the passenger side mirror. The RV came to a stop.

Alexandra asked, "Hela, can you Apparate?"

"Yes, Alexandra." Hela drew her wand. "But—" she hesitated. "You told me we are not to harm Muggles."

"We're not going to harm them."

A voice bellowed over a loudspeaker: "PLEASE STEP OUT OF THE VEHICLE. EVERYONE IN THE VEHICLE, PLEASE STEP OUT WITH YOUR HANDS RAISED."

"Well, this is a kettle of fish," Mrs. Wilborough said. "You three can Apparate away."

"You don't want to be Butch to my Sundance, Melody?" Mudd asked.

"Hela and I will Apparate into the woods and see what they want with you," Alexandra said. "Archibald, if we start throwing spells, you cast Confundus on the cops and get—" she almost said "Melody"—"Mrs. Wilborough into the RV and floor it."

"You might be able to take out a bunch of cops," Mrs. Wilborough said. "But please don't forget about their guns. I'm not bulletproof."

"Even wizards aren't bulletproof," said Mudd.

"Trust me, I know," said Alexandra.

She and Hela Apparated out of the RV and into the woods by the side of the two-lane highway. In the darkness of the pre-dawn, they could see four cars full of state troopers behind their RV, and two more coming from the opposite direction to block the road in front of them. As Mr. Mudd and Mrs. Wilborough emerged from the RV, hands raised and looking extremely unthreatening, big uniformed men wearing body armor and helmets threw them violently to the ground and began cuffing them, while others moved for the back door of the RV with rifles held ready as if they were expecting to find an armed terrorist cell within.

"Dunno who ratted us out, but we've been ratted out," Alexandra said. "Free Mr. Mudd and Mrs. Wilborough. Use Stunners if you absolutely have to. Nothing more violent."

"Yes, Alexandra," said Hela.

They pointed their wands together. Black clouds engulfed the police behind the RV. Alexandra hurled the cops on top of Mr. Mudd and Mrs. Wilborough away with Levitation Charms, then shouted "Protego Totalus!" twice, putting Shield Charms between them and the police. Mudd's hands were already free—they hadn't had a chance to remove his wand, and he immediately sent the nearest guns spinning away, then grabbed Mrs. Wilborough, hauling her to her feet to drag her to the RV.

Hela Petrified the officers who stumbled out of the choking cloud blanketing the road behind the RV, while Alexandra cast Disarming Spells followed by Confundus Charms at the ones who'd taken up positions in front of it. A few guns went off, but the Shield Charms deflected the bullets. Troopers stumbled around in a confused daze, and Alexandra began casting Deadweight Charms on every officer who moved, then conjured sleeping gas, which settled quickly on the ground.

It all happened in less than sixty seconds. Mr. Mudd and Mrs. Wilborough were back in the RV. Alexandra told Hela, "Get back in the RV. Tell Archibald to floor it. I'll catch up."

Hela hesitated, then said, "Yes, Alexandra," and Apparated.

The RV rumbled back to life, while Alexandra set Charlie free and then cautiously walked up onto the road. The two state police cars in front of the RV were still blocking the highway, with lights flashing to hold back traffic from the other direction. Alexandra asked Charlie to watch her back while she raised her wand.

Her Levitation Spell flipped one of the SUVs into the ditch by the side of the road. She shoved the other one aside to clear more space for the RV. The troopers who had been driving the vehicles sat down by the side of the road and watched, like puzzled children waiting for a parent to come collect them.

With her familiar flying overhead, and the RV driving away, Alexandra surveyed the roadblock. There were almost twenty state troopers here. The ones who weren't asleep or paralyzed cried for help as they struggled against the Deadweight Charms holding them to the ground. Alexandra made sure all their guns were hurled far back into the woods. As the smoke she and Hela had conjured dissipated, she realized that all of their vehicles had cameras pointing in her direction.

Cursing, she shattered every camera, and melted the windshields of the cars for good measure. Cops yelled at her and at their radios, which they couldn't reach. Alexandra could hear the voices of the operators becoming increasingly frantic as none of the troopers responded.

Charlie landed on her shoulder. She pulled her shirt open and let Charlie sink into her skin. Then she caught up to the RV with one step.

She immediately realized why Apparating into a moving vehicle was a bad idea—she appeared in the back of the RV, tumbled off-balance, and went flying into the rear wall.

She was knocked breathless. Hela leaned over her, and said, "I think she is all right."

"Nice move, Troublesome," Mudd shouted from the driver's seat. "That's what you get for trying to ignore the laws of nature."

Alexandra sat up, blinking away stars. "Why were cops all over us?"

"We're wanted now," Mudd said. "There are only so many guns we can run away from without having to lay down some fire of our own."

"No hurting Muggles. Especially cops," Alexandra said, rising to her feet.

"I'm sure they won't appreciate that even a little bit," Mudd said, "but duly noted. In the meantime—Merlin's bloody handkerchief!"

Mrs. Wilborough let out a shriek and the RV swerved hard, throwing Alexandra and Hela both against the side. They groaned as they rolled away from each other.

When Alexandra rose again and looked at the road ahead, she saw wings. Black wings, fierce fanged faces, and lashing tails with long, wicked spines dangling at their ends.

She said, "Protego Totalus!" just before the windshield erupted inward. Her Shield Charm deflected the glass and a volley of spikes away from Mr. Mudd and Mrs. Wilborough, but Mudd was fighting to keep the RV under control. Hela wasn't quite as fast, but she cast a stream of black ice from her wand that struck a bestial creature full in the face. It roared and flapped away.

Alexandra Apparated.

Her Seven-League Boots allowed her to keep her footing even when she ran at impossible speed. She hoped that notwithstanding Mr. Mudd's warning, they would work when she reversed her earlier stunt. She set her feet on the road behind the RV and fell into a crouch. She had no time to breathe a sigh of relief because the RV, rapidly zooming away from her, swerving from side to side on the road, was being assaulted on all sides by winged leonine creatures with deadly sharp tails.

So these were the abominable hybrid manticores the Confederation bred. She'd read they were savage and untrainable, yet someone had directed them here.

She pointed her wand and said, "Barak!" and a bolt of lightning knocked one of them out of the sky.

She stepped to a spot on the road ahead. Suddenly the RV was coming at her instead of receding from her. She blasted another manticore with a lightning bolt. With a screech, it plowed into the road in a cloud of smoke, fur, and black feathers.

From within the RV, a flash of blue-green light blew through a side window, and a manticore clawing at the side of the vehicle roared with a sound that shook the hills and leaped to the roadside, clawing at its face with its massive paws. Alexandra didn't stop to see what exactly Hela had done to it—there were still three more of the beasts. She wasn't even thinking, just reacting, but she became aware of something overhead, something big. She zig-zagged back and forth across the road, shot past the RV, and then suddenly wheeled around to face it while also looking at the sky above.

The shape overhead was a dragon with a rider.

She looked down, and saw there was a car on the road coming from the opposite direction. It was still before dawn, and this highway wasn't heavily traveled, but it wasn't a remote rural road either. The Confederation Air Force was sending dragons and manticores to attack them in plain sight.

A manticore came winging at her, roaring and lashing its tail. She screamed a curse back at it and threw an exploding fireball in its face. With a shriek of pain, the gust from its massive wings nearly knocked Alexandra off her feet as it veered away, trailing smoke and the smell of burning hair.

Two manticores were still assaulting the RV. The car coming from the other direction had run off the road. Alexandra stepped to the side of the road next to the vehicle, causing the elderly man behind the wheel and a woman she assumed was his wife to scream. The old woman had a cell phone to her ear. Neither looked hurt, so Alexandra ran after the RV.

The dragon continued to keep pace overhead, but didn't descend, nor was the wizard on its back doing anything that Alexandra could tell. She considered trying to cast a spell at the distant rider, and decided against it.

One of the injured manticores had rejoined the pair still chasing the RV. They were flinging black spikes from their tails that went flying through the thin walls of the vehicle. It swerved from side to side. Alexandra cast a spray of black needles from her wand, much tinier than the sharp, bony projectiles of the manticores, and the hiss they made as they filled the air was immediately answered with more roars of pain from the beasts. Alexandra cast a Deadweight Charm at the nearest one. It didn't drop out of the air, but the flapping of its wings became more laborious as it struggled against the weight pulling at it. Alexandra glanced up at the dragon. Another two vehicles were visible on the road ahead; both pulled over and one driver was getting out to gawk at the spectacle.

Alexandra ran past the manticores in a blur as spikes came flying at her. Skidding to a halt before the monsters realized which direction she'd run, she pointed her wand again, almost within reach of the nearest creature's paws, and set its mane on fire. As it roared, she said, "Caedarus!" and the monster tumbled head over tail with the impact of the green sphere slamming into its face.

The last manticore dove at her so fast she couldn't step out of its path, so she Apparated instead. She felt a pain in her knees when she reappeared on the other side of the road, and realized she'd probably just splinched herself. This was confirmed when her next steps almost made her take a seven-league face-plant in the road as her knee gave way beneath her.

Standing in the middle of the road, legs wobbly, she saw the driver of the stopped car taking a picture with his cell phone, even as manticores came flying after her.

"What. The hell. Is wrong. With you?" she yelled, and sent his cell phone flying in a high arc over the tree tops behind him with a flick of her wand. He gaped at her, then finally noticed the manticores, which had been shadowy figures from down the road. He turned pale and jumped back into his car, while Alexandra conjured a cloud of glowing yellow hornets that buzzed and swarmed around the onrushing monsters. This didn't distract them much, but her lightning bolt did—the one she struck hit the asphalt and rolled. The other one avoided the flash and the thunderclap and flew higher, over Alexandra's head and past the two stopped cars, pursuing the RV.

Alexandra focused on the RV, still weaving up the road and barely outpacing the manticore. She couldn't run, so there was only one thing left to do.

Destination, determination, deliberation.

She Apparated into the RV again, and again hit the back wall, though she was better prepared this time. The RV was perforated, missing a large portion of one side, and the windshield was gone. And Mrs. Wilborough was behind the wheel, while Hela was kneeling over Mr. Mudd, who lay on his back with a spike protruding from his chest.

"Two more are chasing us," Mrs. Wilborough said, in a high, manic voice. Alexandra might have almost believed the old woman was enjoying herself, but in the mirror, she saw Mrs. Wilborough's eyes were wide and terrified.

"Those things are hard to finish off," Alexandra said. "Also, there's a dragon overhead."

"Maybe you should have all just Apparated away when I told you to," Mrs. Wilborough said.

"Is he alive?" Alexandra asked Hela. Mudd was covered in blood and not moving.

"Yes," Hela said. "But I am not a Healer, Alexandra."

"Me neither." Alexandra could use a Healer herself, after that splinching, but Mudd's condition was much more dire. She looked up the road, and saw something with her Witch's Sight that Mrs. Wilborough couldn't.

"Let me drive," she said.

"What?" Mrs. Wilborough exclaimed.

Alexandra limped to the front of the RV. "Stop and switch seats. Hela, get those manticores!"

Hela stared at her, then rose to her feet and looked out the back window. She raised her arms and began some sort of conjuration that made her shawl flutter off her head and her black hair fly in a sudden icy breeze.

Mrs. Wilborough was bringing the RV to a halt at the side of the road. "Those things are going to catch up to us," she said. Alexandra glanced back and saw gray and white sleet obscuring the road behind them.

Mrs. Wilborough grunted as she eased herself out of the seat. "Next time, if it's all the same to you, I'd rather just be arrested."

Alexandra helped her up, then got behind the wheel and put the RV into motion again, pressing her foot on the gas and trying not to wince at the pain shooting through her knee. Behind her, black shapes moved through the ice storm Hela had conjured, slowed but not stopped. At least the dragon overhead wasn't attacking, something that worried Alexandra, but she didn't have time to puzzle it out.

Hela grabbed the little mini-table in the rear as the RV lurched onto the road and swayed side to side. Alexandra had never driven such a large vehicle before, and the RV was shredded from stem to stern, though its tires were still miraculously intact. She aimed for the sign she'd spotted from a hundred yards away, flooring the accelerator. With one hand on the wheel, she held up her wand with the other.

"You're going off the road!" Mrs. Wilborough cried.

"No," Alexandra said. "I'm taking an off-ramp."

"I don't see—"

"The Automagicka," said Hela, rising from Mudd's side to grab the back of the driver's seat.

"Don't let that troll see us!" Alexandra said. While she cast a Blasting Curse to blow away the barrier that was lowered in front of them, Hela blanketed the troll and its tollbooth in a blinding maelstrom of ice. The RV rumbled onto the Automagicka.

"So this is what it looks like," Mrs. Wilborough said.

Alexandra couldn't tell what Mrs. Wilborough saw, and she was too busy steering the RV to ask. The Automagicka was more empty than the highway they'd just left. Alexandra guessed there wasn't a lot of inter-Territory travel during a wizard war.

She looked out the window and overhead. The sky was empty—no dragons, no manticores.

"Car!" Mrs. Wilborough screeched.

Alexandra brought her eyes back to the road, and yanked on the wheel to swerve away from a big blue bus with what looked like calliope pipes fanning out along its rear half. The bus honked angrily at her with a deep, orchestral sound that must have been heard in the next Territory over, and Alexandra caught a glimpse of a witch in red and blue robes, looking very dolled up and elegant with a lacy hat over platinum hair. The other witch made a vicious face and an obscene gesture at her.

"Unrested souls!" Hela said.

"You are a terrible driver!" Mrs. Wilborough said.

"Shut up," Alexandra said to both of them. She took deep breaths and pointed the RV north. "Keep your eyes out for Aurors, or manticores, or dragons. And try to keep Mr. Mudd alive until we get to Wisconsin."

"Wisconsin? Why are we going to Wisconsin?" asked Mrs. Wilborough.

"Because we need a Healer," Alexandra said. "And I only know one we can trust." Sorry, Livia. She didn't think her sister was going to be happy to see her.


They passed only a few other wizarding vehicles as they rattled along the Automagicka. The other drivers stared at the battle-damaged RV. Alexandra had to use a charm to deflect wind away, in the absence of a windshield. Her knee was throbbing, Mrs. Wilborough wouldn't stop criticizing her driving, and Hela became increasingly grim when Alexandra asked about Mudd's condition.

"Aren't manticores venomous?" asked Mrs. Wilborough.

"Are you worried that the situation doesn't seem terrible enough yet?" Alexandra snapped at her. She was in pain, she was tired, and keeping an RV under control on the Automagicka was really difficult.

Mrs. Wilborough's mouth puckered up. She folded her arms and slouched in her seat.

Alexandra would have happily let the old woman drive, except she was pretty sure the RV wouldn't work for her here. Driving to Wisconsin on Muggle highways would take them many hours.

"Are there wizard highway patrols?" Mrs. Wilborough asked.

Alexandra wondered that herself. She'd never seen any police cars on the Automagicka. She knew it spanned Territories and no one Territory had jurisdiction. The Department of Magical Transportation regulated what sort of vehicles were allowed on it, and a Muggle RV on the verge of falling apart certainly didn't belong here, even if they hadn't just blown through a trollbooth.

Yet nobody pursued them, and the trollbooth at their exit was abandoned. Alexandra was thankful for their good fortune, but it seemed like an ominous sign that Central Territory wasn't even trying to enforce laws anymore.

It was still early in the morning, and now Alexandra worried that a Muggle policeman would see the condition of their vehicle and pull them over. Nearly as soon as they left the Automagicka, she found a big box store with a very large parking lot and drove to the back, where the RV could face a fence and a line of trees, and its smashed windshield would hopefully be less visible. There wasn't much they could do about all the holes in its sides. She slammed her foot on the brake and cursed when the RV didn't stop the way smaller vehicles did. Everyone was thrown forward, and the RV almost hit the fence in front of them before it rumbled to a halt.

"Whoever thought it was a good idea to let teenagers drive?" Mrs. Wilborough said, slowly unclenching her hands from her seat.

Alexandra stood up, with difficulty. Her heart was still racing, and her knee throbbed. She looked down at Hela, who was still tending Mudd. Hela's smirk at Mrs. Wilborough's words faded when Alexandra stared at her.

"Would you like to add your two cents?" Alexandra asked.

Hela looked down. "No, Alexandra," she muttered.

Mudd's face was white and he was hardly breathing. The spike was still embedded in his chest, and blood soaked the carpet around him.

"I'll be back as quickly as I can, hopefully with help," Alexandra said.

She opened the driver's door and carefully slid down to the ground. Her legs almost folded beneath her. Looking around to make sure she was hidden by the RV, she opened her shirt collar and called Charlie forth. The raven cawed, hopped up onto the edge of the door, and looked down at her with black eyes that seemed to reflect concern as Alexandra took deep breaths.

"I'm fine, Charlie," Alexandra said. "Just keep an eye from above, okay?"

"Troublesome," Charlie said, and took off reluctantly into the early morning sky.

Limping a few yards away from the RV, Alexandra took her cell phone out of her pocket. She found Livia's name and dialed her number.

After two rings, Livia said, "Alexandra?"

Well, at least now she has me in her contacts list. "Hello, Livia. Umm. I was just wondering if you happen to know how to counteract manticore venom?"

There was a long silence. Then Livia said, "You've been on TV."

Fantastic, Alexandra thought. "Totally wasn't my fault. And we didn't hurt anyone." She hoped whoever was listening to their phone call heard that.

"Please tell me you don't need my help."

"I need your help."

"You really have no idea what's going on, do you?"

"That's a funny question. A lot's been going on, so do you think you could be more specific? Also I really need your help. I know I'm kind of breaking that promise I made in Larkin Mills two years ago, but things have changed."

"Yes," Livia said flatly. "They have."

Alexandra finally registered the edge in Livia's voice. "Livia? What's going on? Are you in trouble?" She gulped. "Dr. Farr and Nicholas…?"

"We're all fine. We've just been forced to go into witness protection."

Alexandra paused a moment to process this. She leaned against the chain link fence behind her, surveying the parking lot for signs of surveillance or strange people or vehicles. Right now, it was just a few Muggles who could only see her and the RV when they turned off the main road to go into the parking lot in front of the store they had parked behind.

"Witness protection… like when you're testifying against the mob?"

"Yes, or like when you're the daughter of Abraham Thorn, and Central Territory has been placed under martial law."

"So wait, you're being protected by Muggles? How does that work?"

"Well enough as long as the Aurors don't know where we are."

Alexandra had many questions, and a whole new set of concerns. If martial law meant the Auror Authority could finally arrest the daughters of Abraham Thorn just for being his daughters, what about Julia? Or her friends at Charmbridge? She tried to stand up straight, wondering if she could possibly make it all the way back to Croatoa, and what she'd do if she arrived there. Her legs shook and she began to breathe rapidly as the impossibility of the situation weighed down on her. She was in no shape to take on the entire Confederation by herself.

Overhead, Charlie circled lazily, which Alexandra found only a little reassuring. At least they weren't sending manticores and dragons into the heart of a Muggle city. Yet.

"Will the G-men let you see me?" she asked.

"G-men?" Livia laughed. "Where did you hear that phrase? You sound like a fifties movie."

"Listen," Alexandra said, "I have a friend who's literally dying. If you can't help me, say so, and I'll take him to a Muggle hospital and take our chances."

Livia sighed. "Was he actually wounded by a manticore?"

"Yes. Um, am I wanted now? I mean by the G-men. I mean feds."

"Not exactly. Where are you?"

Alexandra hesitated. If she couldn't trust Livia, she couldn't trust anyone. She told her the location of the store and the parking lot.

"Someone will be there in a minute," Livia said. "A wizard. Please don't hex him. He'll address you by your middle name, and you'll answer with my middle name."

"Okay," Alexandra said, nonplussed.

Livia hung up. Alexandra put her phone away and drew her wand, limping back to the RV.

She had just reached the front cab when someone appeared with a pop directly in front of the RV, beneath the trees on the other side of the fence but still in view of any motorists who might have been glancing in his direction as they entered the parking lot. He was a tall, handsome fellow with a perfectly waxed mustache and dark pomaded hair, and a black and red caped outfit that looked suitable for attending an opera in the 1890s.

"Octavia," he said. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Thanks," she said. "But I go by Alexandra. Justina sent you?"

"Quite so." He nodded. "This vehicle has seen better days."

"So have the people inside it. We have a friend who's badly hurt. Can you take him to Livia? Also, who are you?"

"Blake Blaxley, at your service." He walked around to the side of the RV, with Alexandra following.

He opened the door, and Alexandra said, "Don't hex him. He's a friend. I think."

Mrs. Wilborough and Hela both watched the newcomer warily as he stepped into the RV. He looked down at Archibald Mudd, and his expression turned grave.

"Oh, Archibald, look at you. Even in death, you're still trying to upstage your father."

Alexandra stared at the inert figure on the floor of the RV, and then fell to her knees next to him, ignoring the spasm of pain this caused, trying to find a pulse or other sign of life. But Archibald Mudd's eyes were closed. His face was cold, and his lips were still.