The Doomguards marched in double columns through Old Larkin, the run-down neighborhood Alexandra had walked through many times on her way to and from Old Larkin Pond. People came out of the shabby old houses and trailers that lined the main street and stared at the procession of children and suits of armor, over a hundred strong.
By the time they reached the center of town, most of the children were complaining about the long walk. They were frightened by all the Muggles, who honked at them as the Doomguards blocked streets and marched through intersections. People got out of their cars and took pictures.
"You're insane," Hela said. "You're letting the entire world see us!"
"Oh, now we should be worried about the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy?" Alexandra said. "Did you forget that we're on the other side?"
"What is that thing?" someone shouted, pointing at Rathnail.
"Fie and fee on you, fool!" screamed Haddie. She proceeded to curse the man out with words Alexandra thought were made up, but still sounded obscene. For a moment she thought Haddie would actually push between the Doomguards to get in a shouting match with the man, but Rathnail grabbed her and said, "Leave the Muggles alone, you madwoman!"
Surprisingly, Haddie calmed down. Rathnail looked extremely uncomfortable, both at the stares from humans and the sunlight.
Alexandra cast a Shade Charm, and the goblin looked at her in surprise.
"Better?" she asked.
"Yes," he muttered. And after a long pause: "Thank you."
Sirens heralded the arrival of the Larkin Mills Police Department. Alexandra experienced the unusual feeling of wishing Archie was here. Patrol cars screeched to a halt in front of the marching Doomguards, who continued to march, ignoring the officers' shouted commands to halt.
"Don't shoot!" Alexandra shouted, as the cops began pointing guns at the Doomguards. "Can't you see there are children here?"
The officers were nonplussed by the faceless suits of armor that ignored their commands and threats and just marched around their vehicles.
An officer she recognized saw her, and said, "Alexandra!"
Alexandra kept walking, with the Doomguards on either side of her, but she nodded to him. "Hi, Sergeant Ridenour. Don't worry, it's all under control."
"The hell it is!" he yelled. "What's going on here? What are you doing? Who are all these armored people carrying weapons and where the hell is Archie?"
"She's one of those wizard people," said a patrolman next to Sergeant Ridenour.
"Alexandra, get your skinny ass over here before I put you under arrest!" Ridenour said.
"For what exactly?" Alexandra asked in a loud voice.
"Blocking traffic!" Ridenour shouted.
"You guys keep walking," Alexandra said to her companions. "I'll catch up to you." She stepped out of the procession and walked over to Sergeant Ridenour and his partner, smiling affably. He was a friend of Archie's, but she didn't know him that well, though he'd been over to their house a few times.
"Dale, she's the girl!" said the other cop again. "The girl on the broom!"
"That's nonsense," Ridenour said. "Alexandra, this wizard world crap, it's all bullshit, right?"
"Of course it is, Sergeant Ridenour," Alexandra said. "We're just holding a parade. We've got kids in costumes and knights in armor and a goblin and Mad Haddie the Witch… it's all just for show."
He stared at her, and at the parade that was continuing on across Larkin Mills Park. A van screeched to a halt behind the police vehicles, and a man and a woman carrying expensive-looking digital cameras got out.
"What's going on, really?" Ridenour asked. "I know you're involved in some kind of weird cult, and then Archie practically disappeared. We've had feds and journalists coming by the station asking questions—"
As if on cue, Alexandra saw a black car sliding in among the police cruisers. The couple with the digital cameras had split up, one to chase the marching Doomguards and the other to take pictures of Alexandra.
"I wish I could explain it all to you, Sergeant Ridenour," Alexandra said. "But I don't have time."
"I think you need to come to the station with me," Ridenour said.
"No, I really don't. I just needed to distract you. Nice to see you again, though. Hi, Agent Trampier." Alexandra waved at the two feds who were trying to push their way through the police line. Then she Apparated away.
The Doomguards cut across Larkin Mills Park, directly to the Regal Royalty Sweets and Confections warehouse, as it was still known to most of the residents of Larkin Mills. They followed Alexandra's commands without deviation. None of the Muggle spectators tried to stop them. The police continued following them, while Sergeant Ridenour argued with the federal agents.
Alexandra used her wand to unlock the front door to the Pruett School. She walked inside, and was surprised to find it empty. Cauldrons were neatly lined up on the counters, desks were clean and empty, and Madam Erdglass and the day school students were nowhere to be seen.
"It's Saturday." She shook her head. She had just about lost track of the days of the week. Well, this would make it easier.
She found the canister of green Floo powder the students from Chicago used to return home through the school's enormous boiler, and walked back outside to watch the Doomguards approach. Behind them, sirens flashed from the police cruisers that continued to roll behind them, uncertain what to do about the procession of armored figures and children walking through town. Alexandra frowned at the man and woman with cameras. Almost reflexively, she raised her wand, prepared to cast a spell that would destroy their electronics. Then she lowered it.
She'd spoken flippantly to Hela, but the world was changing. Larkin Mills was changing. The wizard war was no longer secret. They could try to keep Muggles out of the way, but they couldn't keep them from finding out about it.
Keeping Muggles out of the way made her think about Brian. Was he back in Larkin Mills? Alexandra really wanted to see him, but she had no time to do that right now. When he found out she'd been here, would he be upset at her for not even bothering to call him? She'd have to text him the next time she could take her phone out without her wand.
The Doomguards marched through the fence, unaffected by glamours or Muggle-Repelling Charms. Haddie and Rathnail both looked weary and bedraggled, and the kids were stumbling along, footsore and exhausted. Hela had put one of the younger boys on her shoulders. Lorelei was still carrying the youngest girl, but the ease with which she did it suggested that Hela must have cast a Featherweight Charm on her.
"Assemble inside, in front of the boiler," Alexandra commanded the Doomguards, and they continued inside without missing a step. Alexandra gestured at the children, who groaned but continued to shuffle and stumble along, through the front door.
There were quite a few Muggles gathered outside the fence now, not just the two photographers. The man with the camera called out to her. Police cars parked on the street, just on the other side of the fence. The Muggle-Repelling Charms confused them and kept them from trying to walk through the fence, but Alexandra wasn't actually sure what would happen if they just… closed their eyes and walked through.
She walked inside, closed the door, and cast a Locking Charm to seal it. She turned to face the assembly she'd led here. They were packed into the large open room; the main floor seemed much smaller with a small army of Doomguards, thirteen children, three witches, and a goblin crowded into it.
The children were crying, complaining, and demanding to go home, or to eat, or to use the bathroom.
Alexandra shouted, "Quiet!" Everyone fell silent.
She walked over to the boiler. She gestured at Lorelei, who walked forward apprehensively, still carrying the little girl in her arms.
"Does your house have a Floo in it?" Alexandra asked.
"Yes," Lorelei said.
Alexandra scooped a handful of green Floo powder out of the canister and held it out. Lorelei held out her own hand, and Alexandra poured the powder into it.
"Take her with you," Alexandra said, pointing at the little girl whose name she'd never learned. "Make sure your parents get her returned safely. You'll do that, right?"
"Yes," Lorelei said, in a quavering voice.
"And then," Alexandra said, "ask them why they thought it was okay for this to happen to all the kids who never returned."
Lorelei turned pale. The little girl started crying.
"Go," Alexandra said.
Lorelei swallowed, said, "222 Amity Townhouse!" and threw the powder into the boiler. It flashed, and she stepped inside. With a tumbling, whooshing sound, the two girls were gone.
"Next!" Alexandra said.
The children stepped forward, one by one, and Alexandra gave them Floo powder and let them return home.
Pendragon Carew was the only one who met her gaze as he held the Floo powder in his hand. "Is your father gonna be mad at you?" he asked.
"Do you care?" Alexandra asked.
"Well, I hope he doesn't kill you," Pendragon said.
"Probably not," Alexandra said.
"I heard what you said to Lorelei. My parents don't support the Deathly Regiment. They were really upset when they found out about it."
"What are they doing about it?" Alexandra asked.
Pendragon shrugged. "I don't know. What are they supposed to do about it?"
"Good question. Why don't you ask them?" She turned the boy around and pushed him into the boiler. Pendragon threw the powder and shouted his address, disappearing with a flash of green flames.
Four of the freed captives remained, including Clark Griffin and the boy on Hela's shoulders. They didn't have floo connections in their home and didn't know a neighbor who did.
Alexandra said, "That's fine. Rathnail, Haddie, c'mere."
Haddie's arms were wrapped around herself. She was no longer raving, but muttering to herself. She obeyed Alexandra's command, following Rathnail, who had been watching as each child disappeared into the boiler.
"All of you are going to go to the Chicago Wizardrail Station," Alexandra said.
"The Wizardrail station?" Rathnail protested. "You said you'd take us to the Goblin Market!"
"Take a left when you get out of the Floo, head straight for the big doors past the Portkey booths, go outside, cross the street, find the alley just to your right, and the Goblin Market is on the other end of it. I'm going to give you a headstart before I send these four through and have them holler for the Aurors."
Rathnail stared at her. Haddie cackled. "Such a lamb. That's us, Rathy-poo, on the lam."
Rathnail made a face. "You're mad and I hate your pet names for me."
Haddie patted the goblin on his bare head. "Don't be grumpy-kins, Rathy my love. We've been through so much together! I am going to take you to Goody Pruett's."
"Good luck," Alexandra said.
Mad Haddie took the Floo powder, fairly screeched "Chicago Wizardrail Station!" and took Rathnail by the hand into the boiler, where they tumbled off through the Floo network.
The four children went through next. The little boy clung to Hela's neck and bawled. Hela looked uncomfortable as she set him on his feet. "Go, boy," she said. "You will see your parents again. You are lucky."
The four children vanished into the boiler, led by Clark.
Hela looked at Alexandra. "What now?"
"Now, we go back to my sisters' house." Alexandra poured the entire remaining canister of Floo powder into the boiler, and said, "House of Seven Gables! Doomguards, follow us!"
She walked with Hela into the boiler, and the two of them tumbled through space, surrounded by green smoke. Behind them, reverberating with a sound loud enough to fill their temporarily cramped, dark universe, came the echoing sound of iron on iron as the Doomguards marched into the boiler and came tumbling and clanking after them.
Drucilla almost hexed Alexandra and Hela as they emerged from the fireplace in the Whites' sitting room. She had little time to adjust before the first Doomguard marched out of the fireplace, trailing green smoke and powder everywhere.
"I borrowed these from our father," Alexandra said, as the Doomguards kept coming, and coming, and coming. She directed them outside, while Drucilla watched in shock.
Sitting in a chair across the room, Lucilla sat quietly, her blank gaze never changing. The Doomguards marched on and on past her and she reacted not at all.
Alexandra held the last few Doomguards back. Drucilla looked at the constructs, and hesitantly laid a hand on one. "Goblin work. I knew that, but I've never had a chance to inspect one before." In spite of herself, she was curious.
"You really want to bring one downstairs and take it apart, don't you?" Alexandra said, grinning.
Drucilla stepped back from the Doomguard and regarded Alexandra silently.
Alexandra's grin faded. "Time to clean up the basement, don't you think?" She snapped her fingers at the Doomguards. "Follow me."
"Can you… can you watch Lucilla?" Drucilla asked Hela.
Hela folded her arms.
Alexandra turned to her. Hela had a wary, resigned look. Her nostrils flared and she exhaled heavily.
"Please," Alexandra said.
Hela's eyes widened slightly.
Alexandra put a hand on Drucilla's shoulder. "Getting rid of the Dementors is something Drucilla needs to do with me."
For a moment, Hela made no answer. Then she mumbled, "Very well."
Drucilla and Alexandra went down the steps to the stone basement, with four Doomguards tromping after them.
"What are you going to do with the others?" Drucilla asked. "Does Father know you've borrowed them?"
"He will soon enough."
"You didn't really borrow them, did you? What in Merlin's name did you do, Alexandra?"
"I did the same thing I did to Valeria," Alexandra said. "I took the shiny toys to use for my own purpose, and probably made our father angry at me forever. But this time, I think I did the right thing."
Drucilla flicked a spray of blue sparks from her wand at the stone gargoyle over the dungeon door that grimaced and stuck its tongue out at them. It froze, petrified once more with a horrible expression, its tongue curled and extended out over the entrance. She turned back to Alexandra and smiled thinly. "Don't you always think you're doing the right thing?"
Alexandra didn't smile this time. "Will this help Lucilla?"
Drucilla, still wan and pale and thin, and looking sicklier than ever in the small light shed from wall lamps, took a deep breath and nodded. "I think so," she whispered.
"Then let's do this." Alexandra opened the door, and immediately the gloom and feeling of sickness that had already begun to seep through the walls down here became overpowering.
"Doomguards, advance," she said. She clenched her teeth together. "Kill. Everything. On the other side of this door."
The Doomguards marched through the door single file, drawing their swords as they went.
Alexandra squeezed Drucilla's hand, thought about the weeks the Whites had spent teaching her Artificing and enchantment, and Lucilla's smile, the pretty dress she'd worn when going out for the night. "Expecto Patronum!" she said, and sent her Patronus into the corridor after the Doomguards.
Drucilla blinked back tears. "Lucilla and I never learned that spell."
"That's okay," Alexandra said, still holding her sister's hand. "Come with me. My Patronus will protect us both."
She led Drucilla into the stone corridor beneath the marshy ground of the seven-gabled house, where the brilliant silver glow of her stormcrow outshone the lamps that had been lit by their arrival. Though the Dementors made no sound, Alexandra imagined they were screaming as her Patronus flew ahead of the Doomguards, whose swords slashed mercilessly through the cowled wraiths.
When they returned to the upstairs sitting room, Hela wasn't there. Drucilla had to go sit down next to her twin. She was shaking. A dread cloud still hung in the basement, like the stench of dying evil. Alexandra left one Doomguard in the basement and sent the others outside to join the rest, then went looking for Hela.
Hela emerged from one of the libraries, and stopped short when she saw Alexandra's angry expression.
"I had to banish a ghost," Hela said.
"You were supposed to watch Lucilla."
"She was in no danger, but the ghost was very rude and he taunted us both."
"He might have been trying to lure you away from her!"
Hela swallowed. "I… but she is fine. Yes?"
Alexandra controlled herself, while Hela waited nervously.
"I guess you've gotten better at Banishing," Alexandra said at last.
Hela frowned at the reminder of their Necromancy contest during the Junior Wizarding Decathlon. It wasn't the first or last time Hela had turned on her.
"Remember when you said you were down for some vengeance against the Confederation?" Alexandra asked.
Hela nodded.
"I want you to walk us back to the place you walked us from before," Alexandra said. "When I escaped The Castle."
Hela's frown deepened. "You want to return to the place where you and your sisters were imprisoned?"
"Yes," Alexandra said. "But this time we're bringing an army with us."
The Doomguards marched mechanically through the woods, which were even more bitterly cold than before. Alexandra didn't understand the magic Hela used, and she didn't question it. If she knew the way, she could be at the tower that had sent her to The Castle in moments in her Seven-League Boots. But she didn't remember the way, and she couldn't take the Doomguards with her.
She had her wands now, and a winter coat. Hela was dressed in her furs and hooded parka, though the winter hadn't truly arrived yet and they weren't far enough north to see snow.
Charlie flew overhead, and sometimes ahead of them. The raven had no trouble keeping up, though Alexandra knew that Hela was taking them on "shortcuts" through the woods, cutting across entire Territories.
Mist trailed around them as they breathed. The Doomguards marched as tirelessly as always. Their feet thumped through marshy ground, crunched on layers of fallen leaves, and splashed in mud and puddles. It was getting dark, but Alexandra could see houses in the distance, and once as they marched onward past the crumbled concrete foundations of some building that had once stood at the end of a cracked asphalt road overgrown with weeds, she saw people sitting in a truck parked just under the trees. The people must have seen them, but they didn't get out of the truck, and Hela, Alexandra, and the Doomguards marched on.
"Are you sure you can find your way back?" Alexandra asked, as the sun set and they seemed no closer. She couldn't remember much of their trek away from the place they were going now; she had been so tired and drained and all her thoughts had been of Lucilla. Now her thoughts were of vengeance and doing damage.
Hela gave her a sidelong look. "I am very good at pathfinding."
"Okay," Alexandra said.
Charlie cawed and landed on Alexandra's shoulder. Alexandra stroked the bird's feathers. After nightfall, she didn't want to risk Charlie getting lost or separated from them. She always worried a little about owls, but right now, the woods seemed particularly ominous.
No, really, it's the whole Confederation, she thought. Maybe the whole world.
There were so many things wrong with the world.
They reached a hill Alexandra didn't recognize, until she saw the shape of a small circular brick fortification rising from the top of it. No lights were visible—did they not man the place when they weren't sending prisoners to The Castle?
"What exactly is your plan?" Hela asked, as Alexandra cast Revealing and Enemy Detection charms. "Will you have the Doomguards tear the building down?"
"No," Alexandra said. "We're going to rid the place of Dementors and free the rest of the prisoners."
In the moonlight, Alexandra could see Hela's eyebrows going up, but the other girl said nothing as they proceeded up the worn stone steps to the building.
There was no one inside. The door was made of stone and magically barred. Alexandra used her yew wand to break it open, shattering the door and lighting the interior with a fiery glow. She sent half a dozen Doomguards in ahead, then followed, casting a Light Spell with her other wand, while the rest of the Doomguards filed after her until they had to stop because no more could fit in the room.
On the floor, she saw the black and white tiles that had sent her to The Castle and brought Drucilla back. She didn't need to look at them with her Witch's Sight to see they were enchanted, but she wasn't sure how the jailers had operated them.
She tapped one of the Doomguards with her wand. "Stand on that black square."
It did. Nothing happened.
Alexandra examined the interior of the small chamber. Hela did the same, but neither of their spells revealed anything useful. They stood in the still night, surrounded by silent, immobile Doomguards.
"You did not have a plan," Hela said. "You just thought you could march the Doomguards here and walk into The Castle?"
"I'll figure this out," Alexandra said.
"Aren't most of your plans like this?" Hela asked.
"I have enough friends who want to be my nagging conscience, thanks."
"We are not friends," Hela said.
"No," Alexandra said, "and—"
Charlie cawed. Hela tensed. Alexandra just looked at the raven. "What's up, Charlie?"
Charlie didn't say anything, but someone appeared on the white square, while the Doomguard standing on the black square disappeared.
"A little early for the next rotation, isn't it?" asked the wizard in guard's robes, before he saw the chamber full of Doomguards and the two witches staring at him. His jaw fell, he reached for his wand, and Alexandra cast an Incarcerous Spell while Hela cast a Stunning Charm. He went flying, bound and unconscious, and bounced against the wall and tumbled to the floor.
"Doomguard number two," Alexandra said, pointing her wand at the next Doomguard. "Onto the black square."
It obeyed, and it was only seconds before the next man appeared on the white square and the Doomguard disappeared. Alexandra and Hela both bound him in magical ropes this time before he even had a chance to get his bearings.
Alexandra recognized this guard with the stringy hair and pock-marked face. She knelt in front of him, and as recognition washed across his face, she held out her left arm and pulled her sleeve back. Nigel fell onto his shoulder and coiled around his neck immediately, hissing.
"Hello," she said, pulling his wand free and tossing it under the Doomguards' feet. "Remember me? The girl who was never going to escape? The girl whose sisters you gave to Dementors?"
Stringy-Hair screamed. Nigel struck, sinking his fangs into the man's cheek and rearing back, hissing, to strike again.
"I guess you never got that reassignment, huh?" Alexandra said, as the man's screams reached a higher pitch. Nigel had bitten him at least twice more by the time Alexandra coaxed the snake back onto her arm. Nigel was agitated enough that she feared she might get bitten herself.
Very slowly and deliberately, while Stringy-Hair continued to scream, Alexandra let Nigel sink back into her skin and become a tattoo once more. Unlike Charlie, Nigel didn't seem to particularly prefer being flesh and blood, especially when it was cold.
Finally, she turned her attention back to her bound captive. Behind her, Hela watched apprehensively.
"You're a wizard," Alexandra said, "even if you're probably a lousy one, so maybe your magic will save you." The man's screams faded, though he still made panicked gasping noises. "But it hurts, I'll bet. Postsynoptic neurotoxin." She'd read a little bit about Nigel's venom on Wikipedia. "It pretty much attacks all of your insides. Causes pain, bleeding, sweating, nausea, vomiting, and that's just to start with." She gazed at the man with unblinking green eyes.
"Please," he said, "you can't just…"
"What can't I do?" Alexandra asked. "Go on, tell me."
His mouth opened and shut. Alexandra figured it was terror. Nigel's venom wasn't that fast.
"How do people get in and out of The Castle?" she asked. "Is it one for one, like they told me? If someone stands on the black square here, how do you know to send someone from the other side?"
Stringy-Hair gulped. "Usually we use the messenger tablets." He nodded at the stone podium that was the only other shape inside this chamber. "But if someone is standing on the black stone at one end, the white stone on the other end glows. We thought they were finally relieving us, so we lined up…" He made a choking noise. "Please, you have to do something about the… the venom… ugh, it hurts…"
"So there are more guards waiting on the other side?" Alexandra asked.
"Yes," Stringy-Hair gasped. "The whole rotation has been screwed up ever since… since you…."
"You're short three bodies." Alexandra's voice was very quiet.
Stringy-Hair gulped air again. "Listen… what happened to your sister… it wasn't my doing. We were just following orders."
"You stripped me when I arrived."
"Standard procedure," he stammered. "All prisoners have to be—"
"You touched me. You threatened me and you liked it."
"No, no," he said, shaking his head and sweating profusely.
"You took me to see my sister, and you told me about making them play a game, and you laughed," Alexandra said. "I don't care whose idea it was. You enjoyed it."
"No, that's not true," Stringy-Haired said desperately. "Please, you have to understand—"
"What about the others? Are they still there?"
"Yes, yes," he said quickly. "When you threw off the count in The Castle, some of us couldn't leave."
"You don't say."
"There are more guards coming. You can't just—"
"But they can't come until I send more Doomguards through," Alexandra said.
Stringy-Hair's eyes were wide. His face was turning sickly white and coated with a sheen of moisture. He was trembling.
Alexandra rose to her feet and said, "Mobilicorpus." She levitated Stringy-Hair to the wall by the door, and let him fall there next to the other man.
She turned to Hela.
"Get ready to blast everyone who comes through from the other side," she said.
Hela looked at the pleading, groaning man by the door. "What about him?"
Alexandra gave Hela the same unblinking stare she'd given the jailer. "What about him?"
Hela swallowed and looked away.
Alexandra and Hela sent four more Doomguards through, and four more unsuspecting guards appeared on the white square and were Stunned into unconsciousness before they realized what was happening. Alexandra piled them up next to the others. She hadn't spotted Gloomy or the other man, the big, broad-shouldered one who'd thrown her into a cell with Lucilla, yet. Stringy-Hair was shrieking and his pleas became more desperate.
Alexandra said to Hela, "Wait for me."
"What?" Hela said.
Alexandra moved to the black square. "I'm going into The Castle. I don't know how many more of these guards will be waiting to leave, and I need to make sure I get everyone out." She addressed the Doomguards. "Doomguards—step onto this black square, one by one, as soon as it's empty."
Hela was watching her in disbelief. Alexandra said, "Don't worry, if something should happen that prevents the Doomguards from replacing me so I can get out… I'll escape the same way I did last time."
She wasn't nearly so certain that stepping through the World Away would work again the same way, but Hela didn't need to know that. She stepped onto the black square. Someone faded into sight on the white square next to her, as she began to disappear. There was a red flash—Hela lost no time in Stupefying the next guard. And then Alexandra was once more in The Castle.
Two more men in guards' robes were waiting in line behind the one who had just changed places with Alexandra. The six Doomguards she'd sent ahead of her were all standing in single file, unmoving. The guards had been waving hands in front of the Doomguards and apparently trying to order them out of the hallway as Alexandra appeared. She cast a cloud of choking gas over the startled guards, and blasted them unconscious one by one as they staggered around coughing. She didn't even have to order the Doomguards to help her.
She dragged the first man to the black square and left him lying there. He disappeared, to be replaced by another Doomguard.
Satisfied that they didn't have to be conscious, she dragged the next two guards into place, and finally had nine Doomguards in The Castle with her. She still hadn't seen Gloomy or the big blond man who'd been the third member of the group who had tormented her and her sisters.
"Doomguards, march ahead of me," she said, and walked to the nearest corridor of cells. The first locked door she encountered, she managed to open after several attempts. Inside, an emaciated man in a gray, threadbare robe cringed in a corner of the cell. He had a beard that reached past his waist.
"How long have you been here?" Alexandra asked.
The man stared at her, as if she might be an illusion.
"Seriously, how long have they kept you here?" she asked.
"Tw… twenty-two years," he mumbled.
"What did you do?" she asked.
He blinked, raising a hand to shield his eyes.
"Never mind," she said. "Do you want to leave?"
He walked out of his cell like a man in a dream. He looked around, at her and the Doomguards, and his expression remained one of dazed incomprehension.
"Walk down that corridor," she said. "Step on the black square."
He shuffled away. It occurred to Alexandra, belatedly, that Hela was probably going to Stun him as soon as he arrived.
Oh well.
She and the Doomguards marched through The Castle, opening one cell after another. Some of the prisoners were young, some were old. There were men and women and one goblin, who looked at her as if he wanted to gut her, but he followed her pointed finger like all the others when she told him it was time to leave.
She found the first guards who hadn't lined up to leave in a small canteen, playing enchanted euchre. They blinked in confusion when Alexandra opened the door.
She Disarmed the first one and exchanged hexes with the second as the Doomguards filed in, swords drawn. The second guard's hex ricocheted off a Doomguard and burned a hole in the table.
"Drop your wand or I'll have them decapitate you," she said. The man backed away until he was cornered against the far wall, saw four Doomguards advancing on him, and more still behind Alexandra, and dropped his wand.
She gave the guards' wands to a Doomguard and told it to break them. It did, with a flash of fire and smoke that smudged its black metal gauntlets. She turned on the guards, bound in ropes she'd conjured, and asked, "Where's the gloomy old black guy and the tall stupid Viking-looking one?"
They stared at her, then stammered as she pointed her wand at them. "You mean Fergus? And Morton?"
"Yeah, them."
"Fergus is probably on the second floor. Morton's off duty this week."
Angry that Stringy-Hair had either lied to her or, more likely, was just babbling whatever he thought she wanted to hear, she nodded and turned on her heel.
"Wait, what are you going to do with us?" asked the first guard.
"Nothing—if you're lucky," she said, and continued on.
The Castle wasn't as big as Eerie Island, but it was maze-like and had multiple wings and stairs, and as she got further from the place where people entered and exited, more of the cells were empty. She encountered two more guards, neither of them Fergus or Morton. The first she Stunned before he could even turn around. The second actually struck a dueling stance. Alexandra cast a Shield Spell and said, "I've got twenty Doomguards behind me." She turned to the Doomguards. "If I fall, kill him." She turned back to the man. "So, you want to duel?"
He dropped his wand.
She'd counted seventeen freed prisoners when she came to stairs going down. She sent ten Doomguards ahead of her and walked downstairs with ten Doomguards behind her.
There were more prisoners here. The first was a big bear of a man who wore only a loincloth and roared and charged Alexandra when she opened his cell door. She stepped aside and let Doomguards wrestle him to the ground, but no matter what, she couldn't get him to talk to her. She had the Doomguards throw him back into the cell, and she locked the door.
A hag emerged from the next cell. Alexandra backed away quickly. The hag, ancient and white-haired, just blinked at her with eyes that were glazed white.
"What did you do, eat someone?" Alexandra asked.
"It was a long time ago," the hag said.
Alexandra's mouth opened. She looked at the mostly-naked bearded man's cell. Was this the crazy wing? The place where all the really bad criminals were kept? What sort of people was she setting free? What sort of people had she set free already?
She felt the hopelessness and futility of her task. She knew this was all pointless, that none of it would bring back Lucilla. She was angry and reckless and worse than even her friends knew, and she was making the world worse.
She shook her head, raised her wand, and said, "Expecto Patronum!"
The silver stormcrow extended its wings across the corridor. Alexandra, bathed in its silver glow, felt better immediately. She clenched her teeth together. The hag slowly backed away from her.
The prisoners her father had freed from Eerie Island included people like Pasquale Mercurio and Elisabet Todd and the Gaunt Man, and the prisoners here in The Castle were probably just as bad. She had no way of judging them or knowing who had been imprisoned unfairly, as she had, and who deserved to be here.
"Go," she said to the hag. "The exit's that way. Just walk past the Doomguards, find the black tile, and step on it. And be really nice to the witch on the other side. She turns hags into trees."
The hag shambled off, looking frightened.
When the Dementors appeared, Alexandra turned to face them, scowling fiercely, her Patronus glowing in front of her.
"Doomguards," she said. "Kill all Dementors."
The Doomguards advanced with metallic precision. The Dementors drifted about in confusion, afraid to come closer to Alexandra, and then they fled back down the corridors they'd emerged from, with the Doomguards marching after them.
Alexandra sagged against the nearest wall, feeling drained. That was when Gloomy came around a corner, pushing a cart. He came to a halt when he saw Alexandra. His dark skin turned ashen, and he fumbled for his wand. He was quicker than Alexandra expected, and deflecting his curses forced her back in the direction the Dementors had fled.
She had her Patronus fly at him, and he cringed away from it. The distraction was enough for Alexandra to Disarm him and knock him flat on his back. Her Patronus faded, and though she could still feel the Dementors' not-too-distant presence, her anger and the heat rising in her from the brief duel was enough to keep her focused. She walked over to the older man and kicked his wand away.
"I came back for you," she said.
He stared up at her. "I don't understand."
"You don't? After what you did to my sisters? After what you tried to do to me? I came back to tear this place down and have my revenge. So, Fergus, any last words?"
"What about the prisoners?" he asked.
"What about them?"
"You freeing them?"
"Yeah, I guess so."
"Some of them are crazy," he said. "Some are evil and some are just out of their minds."
"And some are like my sisters, snatched because the Confederation is evil and out of their minds. What does that make you, making people play games with Dementors? You belong here with them."
"Then leave me here," Fergus said. "You free Lionel or Barnabus Ragthane or Catchum' Thomas, you'll see worse than any of us ever done. Or let the Dementors have 'em all. That's what the Confederation should've done a long time ago."
"Maybe I should let the Dementors have you," Alexandra said.
Fergus glared at her. His expression was equal parts fear and malice. "Do what you're gonna do then, girl. You want me to beg? You and your father can both go to Hades. Hope your sister liked her Kiss."
Enraged, Alexandra Stunned him until his fingers stopped twitching. Then she looked down at the battered, motionless form. His clothes were torn open, exposing dark, bruised skin that was swelling all over. Blood trickled from his nose and lips.
She turned and walked back upstairs, with no Doomguards accompanying her. They were all chasing down Dementors. On the walk back to the exit, her feelings of guilt and doubt increased tenfold. She'd become so mad, even Hela thought she was losing it. This trip had done nothing but free more monsters into the world. She'd taken what could have been a useful army against the Confederation and used it for her own petty vengeance…
She almost stumbled into the Dementor, so dark were her thoughts that she hadn't immediately recognized the source. It was so close that she could feel its sickly breath, like being sneezed on. She backpedaled quickly as a scabrous hand reached for her and caught her jacket, before she pulled free.
She knew it wanted her life. Her soul, her memories, everything she had left worth living for. She mustered the one happy thought she could in that moment: that Lucilla was back at home, and Drucilla said she could bring her back kind of not ever like she was don't think about that….
"Expecto Patronum!" she said.
Her Patronus wasn't quite as big and bright as before, but it still forced the Dementor back.
"Kill it," she said.
Her words were more an expression of her mood than a command. A Patronus wasn't like a Doomguard; it wasn't an automaton that followed her orders. It was a manifestation of herself that did what she willed, and if it was a reflection of her best self, then that reflection was dimmer now. And yet, it did what she commanded. The Dementor couldn't flee fast enough, and it burned where Alexandra's Patronus touched it, until it was just a curl of acrid black smoke hanging in the air.
The silver stormcrow faded. Alexandra cast a Shield Spell, and stepped onto the black tile.
She faded out of The Castle and back into the chamber on the other side. Hela was standing in front of a reduced rank of Doomguards, with her wand at the ready. There was a larger pile of unconscious bodies by the exit, but Alexandra didn't see the old man or the elderly hag or most of the other prisoners she'd sent through.
"You didn't send any messages with those you sent back," Hela said. "I had to make decisions."
"I'm sure you did fine," Alexandra said.
"You freed a hag. A hag so bad she was imprisoned here."
"Did you turn her into a tree?"
Hela scowled. "No. I let her go."
Alexandra noticed someone missing by the exit. "Where'd Stringy-Hair go?"
"Stringy—do you mean the one you had your snake bite?"
"Yeah."
Hela pursed her lips. She looked defiant and nervous at the same time. "I gave him a bezoar."
"What for?"
Hela stared at her for a long moment. "He would have died."
"He's a wizard."
"He would have died," Hela repeated firmly. "Where did you get the idea that venom won't kill us? Are you mad? Have you forgotten Archibald Mudd? Did you forget when I was poisoned by a manticore?"
"Yeah, but those were magical beasts—"
"And that snake is your familiar and you had murder in your heart. You have become a mad thing."
"And you suddenly care about killing?"
Hela looked away. "Killing wicked creatures is one thing. But murder…"
"You turned a dragon loose on a city!"
"At your father's orders."
"Oh, so it's not murder if you're just following orders?"
Hela's lips tightened.
"My father has murdered plenty," Alexandra said.
"Yes, I know," Hela said quietly.
"I don't understand you."
"I don't want you to understand me. What are we to do now, Alexandra?"
Alexandra's shoulders slumped. "Let's go. We're done here."
"What about the rest? What are we doing with the Doomguards?"
There were still dozens of Doomguards left standing in a line that went out the door. Alexandra looked at them, and back at Hela.
"Doomguards!" she said in a loud voice. None of them moved. She hadn't given a command. But Hela tensed.
Alexandra pointed at Hela. "From now on, obey her!"
"What?" Hela exclaimed.
"Go back to your people. Pathfind your way north. Take the Doomguards with you. Do whatever. Just don't harm any Muggles."
Hela shook her head. "Alexandra, I—"
"Good luck." Alexandra stepped outside, and took a seven-league step away from the entrance to The Castle.
