"You should return now," Geming Chu said, through the magic mirror. Madam Minemata still held it, but Mr. Chu had come closer to speak to Alexandra. She could no longer see Anna or Tomo.

"There are Muggles putting out the fires started here at Matsuzaka," Alexandra said. "That means the Confederation Air Force attacked wizards with dragons, within sight of them. I can practically see Los Angeles from here."

"Yes, we know this," Mr. Chu said.

"Where is the Confederation Air Force now?" Alexandra asked.

"We don't know."

"What if they go to Mahomachi?"

"You can do nothing there. The Majokai are prepared to defend themselves…"

"Against a Confederation Regiment that is already there and preventing anyone else from getting in or out," said Madam Minemata. "If the Confederation unleashes their dragons on Mahomachi as well—"

"The Confederation has grown bold, but not yet so bold as to attack a town full of Muggles as well as wizards," Mr. Chu said. "That would be an open declaration of war against the No-Maj government."

It seemed to Alexandra that she was coming into the middle of an argument between Congressman Chu and Madam Minemata.

"So are you sending anyone to save Mahomachi?" she asked.

"We only have half a Regiment available at the moment," said a man Alexandra couldn't see.

Another voice, who she thought was the Mage-General, said, "The Alta California Regiment is reporting the Deathies have been routed!" This was met with cheers from the others in the room. Geming Chu and Madam Minemata did not look celebratory.

"Then we can send them to Mahomachi?" said Madam Minemata.

"We need to know where those infernal dragons are first," the Mage-General said.

"I'll go to Mahomachi," Alexandra said.

"Miss Quick," Mr. Chu said. Madam Minemata pursed her lips, but Alexandra saw something approving in her expression.

"You need intelligence, right? Just a scouting mission," Alexandra said.

Mr. Chu also pursed his lips. Finally, he said, "Be exceedingly cautious, Miss Quick. The Confederation would consider it a great victory to capture or kill you."

Alexandra nodded. "How's Tomo?" she asked, in a quieter voice.

"She is being very brave," Mr. Chu said.

"She has no choice," Madam Minemata said. "She has no friends here. She is suffering as you would expect, and endures what she must."

Alexandra wasn't sure if this rebuke was to her or to Geming Chu. She felt Matsuzaka was her fault, somehow, though she didn't know what she could have done if she'd arrived sooner. Maybe just been immolated along with the Matsuzaka clan.

"I'll talk to you again when I get to Mahomachi," she said.

She put the mirror away and called Charlie back to her. Once Charlie had returned to tattooed form once more, Alexandra took a final look around. The forest here, between the blasted remains of Matsuzaka above her and the blazes burning below, was filled with smoke and the sound of distant choppers.

She cast Homenum Revelio one more time, hoping she might yet find a survivor. But she was still the only person alive on the mountain.

She stepped seven leagues away from Matsuzaka.


Mahomachi was a town half the size of Larkin Mills. Sitting on the coast, it was surrounded on three sides by rock cliffs, which were lower to the south, where a road was supposed to run out to the nearest highway. According to Madam Minemata, only residents of the town could find the road, thanks to charms cast by the Majokai for generations.

Alexandra crouched on the cliffs overlooking the town from the north. Wind stirred the waves, and the sky was black, streaked with lightning. Trying to avoid notice, she didn't dare cast an Umbrella Charm, so she allowed the rain to pour down on her. She didn't see a road. The beach below her appeared to have been washed out, and a long stretch of cliff face to her south had collapsed in a landslide and buried what was probably the road, as she could also see broken telephone and power lines in the rubble.

On the cliffs closer to the town, she could just make out the ranks of Regimental Officers in their blue and gray uniforms, lit up by the glow of Umbrella Charms. Winged creatures circled overhead; at first they might have been mistaken for birds, but even at this distance and through the rain, they were too large, and the wrong shape. They had eagle's heads and lion-like bodies.

Just past the Regimental officers, Alexandra could see at least four dragons, chained to the ground and lashing their tails. Occasionally a dragon's neck would arch upwards and its head would look about.

Mahomachi looked almost like a ghost town in the downpour. Here and there Alexandra could see lights, but even the downtown area was mostly dark. There were boats sitting in the docks, and more pulled up onto the beach. A few cars moved about, their headlights casting reflections on the street.

When she looked with her Witch's Sight, she saw something else. A ribbon of light that went through the town, and east, through the very cliffs on which the Confederation's Regiment was encamped. Mahomachi might not have been built on one of the places the Indians once used to cross into the World Away, but it wasn't far from one, and there was a crack in the world touching it, like those Alexandra had found touching most places where wizards built.

An enormous black shadow passed over her, and Alexandra ducked instinctively as a dragon swooped overhead. She hadn't even seen it coming. It glided past her, carrying a helmeted rider, and flew out over the ocean, making a wide circle past Mahomachi's docks, lazily flapping its wings as it slowly made its way around to the opposite cliff.

Even having been chased by a dragon before, it took several moments for Alexandra's heart to stop racing. If it or its rider had happened to see her, when she hadn't even noticed them approaching…

So much for being exceedingly cautious, she thought.

With hippogriffs and dragons flying around, she wasn't about to let Charlie loose in the storm. She crawled beneath a black shale outcropping where she was completely hidden, and took out her magic mirror.

"Imagos Imagos Minemata Maeko," she said.

Madam Minemata's face appeared again in the mirror.

"The Confederation Air Force is here," Alexandra said.

"I feared this," Madam Minemata said. "We cannot reach Mahomachi either, now."

Alexandra looked out at the dragon in the air, and at those on the ground. "It doesn't look like they're attacking… yet."

"Congressman Chu is talking to the No-Maj MACUSA liaison. We think that the Confederation still hesitates to openly attack Muggles. Likely they are talking to the No-Maj government just as we are."

"What for, to ask permission?" Alexandra asked.

"Perhaps. Things happen above my head and yours, Miss Quick. We can only play our assigned roles. Right now, yours is to observe. Perhaps to bear witness." There was something sad and fatalistic in Madam Minemata's voice. It took Alexandra a moment to grasp her meaning.

"You think they're going to attack. You think they're going to destroy the town. Why don't the Majokai just leave?"

"If they could, they would," Madam Minemata said. "Mahomachi was a trap. The anti-Apparition wards that the Confederation placed in San Francisco, they have also cast upon Mahomachi. And even Portkeys, the few we have to Mahomachi, are not working."

"What about the Alta California Regiment?" Alexandra asked.

"It is on its way. The Confederation surely knows this, which means they will act accordingly. My people will fight and they will do their best to protect the Muggles who have harbored them. They will die honorably and bravely."

"How about not?" Alexandra said. She tapped the mirror with her wand, dispelling Madam Minemata's image, and shoved it into her pack.

She crawled out of the shale outcrop and stood up. The dragon was soaring back towards her side of the cove. Alexandra didn't know how visible she was in the rain, but she'd be gone in a moment.

She tried to step directly into Mahomachi with her Seven-League Boots, and felt herself repulsed.

Mahomachi must have been protected by magic similar to that which made the Invisible Bridge the only way to reach Charmbridge. Or perhaps it was something the Confederation had done. Either way, Alexandra was now standing out in the open with a dragon swooping ever closer.

Instead of trying to find the way through whatever wards protected the town, Alexandra cast a Falling Charm, and leaped off the cliff.

By the time she floated to the ground, the dragon was directly overhead, and pulling about to make a tight circle in the air.

"Stop, you!" said a magically-amplified voice from high above, loud even above the thunder.

Alexandra ran. Even without carrying her seven leagues at a step, her boots allowed her to dash fast enough to be a blur. Something crackled and threw sand up in a geyser a few yards from her, but she was already halfway to the edge of town. As she ran across the beach, she saw the remains of a road and stepped onto it. Something buzzed past her and splashed asphalt as if a stone had been tossed into a pool of water. Alexandra leaned forward and sprinted harder, covering the remaining distance to the nearest street at the edge of town in seconds. She glanced up to her left, where an entire Regiment of Confederation troops were just out of sight over the lip of the cliff, but none had appeared on the edge. When she felt pavement beneath her feet, she dared to spin about, ready to cast a Shield Charm.

The dragon was flying over the town. It passed overhead and kept going. No more spells rained down on her, and it didn't turn about again.

Alexandra took a few deep breaths and looked around. The buildings on this street seemed to be garages, hardware stores, and warehouses, and all were dark.

As she walked towards the middle of town, she saw that many streets and storefronts had signs written in both English and Japanese. The small town seemed nearly empty. It wasn't until she got to a much larger main street that she saw a few shops, bars, and a small grocery store with lights on. A car pulled out of a parking lot and drove away from her.

She noticed a lack of the usual chain restaurants found even in Larkin Mills. It was as if Mahomachi were stuck in the previous century. One of the shops with lights on had a sign that said "Matsuri—Udon and Sushi." She walked towards it, and heard the loud rumble of diesel generators. That explained how some places were keeping power on.

When she walked into the shop, she found nearly a dozen people seated in booths or at small tables, while a waitress carried trays full of steaming bowls and dishes of rice and fish. An older man stood behind a glass counter, chopping something. They were all Japanese. Everyone looked up at Alexandra's entrance.

"Um, hello," she said, conscious of dripping on the floor, with her clothes soaking wet and her hair plastered to her face.

They all looked at her blankly. She realized that she'd walked into the restaurant with her wand in her hand. She put her hands behind her back.

"Is there, like, a town hall around here?" she asked, realizing that she had no idea where the Majokai might gather. "Or a… temple, maybe?"

They all continued to stare at her. Alexandra cleared her throat. "Do any of you speak English?"

Several of them exchanged looks at that.

"Is she for real?" a young man asked.

"This is California, of course we speak English," said an older man seated next to him. "Do you think you've been transported to Japan or something?"

"Oh," Alexandra said. "Well, sorry. So—"

"You're that girl," said a middle-aged woman in a booth by the window. "The girl who fought a dragon in New York."

Several people began talking excitedly at that, some in Japanese.

"Can you get rid of the dragon up there?" asked the young man who had spoken first, pointing upwards.

Alexandra wasn't sure what to say to this. She had a feeling they didn't know that there was more than one dragon. She looked at them with her Witch's Sight, trying to see magical "marks" of some kind. Madam Minemata hadn't exactly explained what a "retainer" would look like, but there was nothing unusual about any of these people.

"If the Majokai haven't gotten rid of it, what makes you think some teenager can?" asked a deep voice from another booth. The speaker was a man in a heavy coat, and Alexandra could only see the back of his head. "This girl isn't a savior, she's the cause of all this trouble." He then spoke in Japanese, and a brief conversation in Japanese ensued, with more of the patrons of the shop looking at Alexandra with suspicion and wariness.

Alexandra said, "Well, since you know who I am, and who the Majokai are, could you point me to them? Sorry to disturb you, but I really need to talk to them, and quickly."

The man in the coat stood up and turned around. He was large and barrel-chested, with gunmetal gray hair and thick, heavy eyebrows. Beneath his black all-weather coat, he wore a policeman's uniform.

"I'll take you to them," he said. "Please put your wand away. It makes people nervous." He put a wide-brimmed black hat on his head.

Alexandra obeyed, sheathing her wand.

The uniformed cop walked past her without looking at her. A nameplate on his pocket identified him as Sergeant H.D. Ito. He went out the door, without bothering to hold it for her. Alexandra hurried after him.

Outside, they walked through pouring rain to an unmarked SUV in a gravel parking lot. Sergeant Ito got in and took his time about unlocking the passenger side so Alexandra could get in also. He started the engine and flipped on the lights, all without saying a word.

"You know, if you just tell me where to find them, I could probably get there faster on my own," Alexandra said.

"I don't think they'd like it if some outsider just Apparated into their midst," Sergeant Ito said.

"I wasn't going to just Apparate into their midst. I'm not stupid." It was strange to be talking about Apparating to a No-Maj cop who was not fazed by this.

"Are half the things they say about you true?" he asked.

"I don't know half the things they say about me, and it's probably way less than that."

Sergeant Ito took them up a long street past older buildings that became larger and more elegant. They started to resemble pictures Alexandra had seen of old-timey Japanese towns. Street lamps and power lines disappeared, and though most of these buildings were dark too, when Alexandra saw light in them, it wasn't cast by electricity.

"So do the Majokai run this town?" she asked. "Are you one of their retainers?" She couldn't see any magical marks on him either.

Sergeant Ito grunted. "No to your second question. As to your first, that's a matter of opinion. Usually we hardly see them." He rolled to a halt in front of a long gravel footpath leading to a castle-like three-story structure. There were men in dark raincoats standing outside, and one hurried over to the SUV, holding a lantern.

Sergeant Ito rolled his window down and spoke to the man in the raincoat in Japanese. Alexandra heard her name, and the other man stared at her with wide eyes.

In the darkness and the rain, Alexandra saw a glowing symbol on the man's shoulder. It was like a luminescent tattoo that she could see right through his clothes. She didn't recognize it, but it didn't exactly look like writing. At least not like either the Japanese writing on the signs in town, or the Chinese characters Anna had taught her when she was learning the Editing Ink Charm.

"You can go with Watanabe-san," Sergeant Ito said. "The Majokai clan heads are inside, supposedly deciding what to do about those flying monsters and the Confederation wizards outside of town." He put his hand on the button to unlock the door, and paused. He finally looked at Alexandra. "They don't tell us much," he said. "We're cut off from the highway and no one dares go out on the water, we've lost our power and phone lines, and the Confederation even did something that prevents us from getting satellite service. The Majokai only tell us not to worry and that they're going to resolve the situation soon and they'll undo all the damage. So, should we be worried?"

What was the right thing to tell him? Alexandra didn't know. It was obvious what the Majokai thought was the right thing to tell the Muggles who lived in Mahomachi. And there was nothing she could say that would actually help them. What could they do against wizards?

"I don't think worrying will do you any good," she said. "But if you're asking me if you're in danger—yes, you are. The Majokai are probably telling you not to worry because there's not much you can do about it. But I swear to you, we're going to do what we can to protect everyone."

"That's not very reassuring," Sergeant Ito said. "But thank you."

Well, so much for not pissing off the Majokai, Alexandra thought, and got out of the car.

The man Sergeant Ito called Watanabe-san bowed to her and said, "Please follow me, Quick-san." He led her up the gravel path to a set of wooden stairs leading up into the big building. Lanterns were hung all around it, and light blazed from inside, through opaque windows that looked like they were made of paper.

At the steps, Watanabe bowed and stepped back. "Please wait," he said. "One of the Majokai will take you inside."

Alexandra was left waiting in the rain. She looked around. There were shadowy figures everywhere. The men with lanterns were only the most visible of the Majokai's retainers. Each of them, if she squinted, had one of those faint luminescent symbols.

She cast an Umbrella Charm, followed by a Drying Charm. By the time a robed figure came down the steps—also shielded from the rain by an Umbrella Charm—Alexandra had mostly dried herself off.

"Alexandra Quick," said a voice she recognized. "I hardly believed it when I heard you were here. But I should have known. You're called Troublesome, aren't you? How could you miss an opportunity to show up and make things worse?"

It was Seimei Kamo, who had been the Majokai champion at the Junior Wizarding Decathlon in New Amsterdam. He was tall and slim, with handsome, arrogant features and hair cut shorter than Alexandra remembered from the previous summer. His robes were red and black, and he had a lacquered wand sheath hanging by an ornate cord around his waist.

"Hello, Seimei," Alexandra said. "Nice to see you too. Also, bite me. I'm getting really sick of being blamed for stuff that isn't my fault."

Seimei's eyes flared with anger. His hand moved towards his wand. "You are a rude, vulgar girl, and I still owe you for leaving me tied up in the sewers beneath New Amsterdam."

Alexandra took her hand away from her own wand and spread her arms wide. "I do not have time for petty boys holding petty grudges. I came here on behalf of Congressman Chu and the Magical Congress of the USA. In case you haven't noticed, you've got bigger problems right now, but go ahead, Seimei. Show everyone what a sore loser you are." She stood there facing him, while the retainers watched silently.

Seimei pressed his lips together. "Don't call me Seimei, like we're friends." His hand fell away from his wand. "Girls. Always so dramatic."

"Whatever." Alexandra bowed in exaggerated fashion. "Would you please be so kind as to take me to your honorable leaders, Kamo-san?"

He muttered something that Alexandra didn't need to know Japanese to get the gist of. He whirled and walked haughtily back up the steps.

She followed him, imagining Anna or Julia there to reprimand her: How very diplomatic, Alexandra. Instead of smoothing his ruffled feathers, you decided to poke his wounded ego instead.

Yeah, well, he'd tried to ambush her in New Amsterdam, and he was immediately a jerk to her here in Mahomachi. He and his wounded ego can bite me.

Seimei led her through hallways whose wooden floors were polished to mirror brightness. She saw sculptures of elaborately-dressed witches and wizards, gem-encrusted daggers, wand sheaths, gongs, and kettles, fans covered in gold leaf, lacquered masks of demonic faces, and other artworks in wooden shelves along the walls. As she and Seimei walked along, she saw movement behind her and looked over her shoulder to see a pair of empty gray-green tunics floating in the air, wielding brooms with invisible hands, with which they swept along after the two.

Beneath her feet, she could feel as much as see the crack in the world that ran straight through this building, probably straight down that street that Sergeant Ito had driven up. She felt it extending away from Mahomachi, past the cliffs and the Confederation Regiment.

Seimei approached a sliding wood-framed door, slid out of his sandals, and knelt next to it. He gestured at Alexandra's boots, obviously indicating that she should remove them. Alexandra frowned, and then reluctantly did so, kneeling opposite Seimei and putting her Seven-League Boots in her backpack.

Seimei slid open the door, and placed his hands on the floor and bowed until his forehead almost touched them. He spoke in Japanese, addressing the people inside. On a raised platform at the front of the room, six men and two women, wearing very fancy robes and tall shiny hats, sat facing a larger group of men and women kneeling on the floor opposite them. She recognized four of the figures on the platform as members of the Majokai delegation that had come to San Francisco only a day before.

The eyes of the Majokai on the raised platform turned in Alexandra's direction. She suspected she was supposed to bow like Seimei. She sighed and attempted to copy his gesture. All this formality while the Confederation Air Force might be about to burn the town as they spoke!

One of the Majokai elders spoke. Seimei straightened, and whispered, "You may enter."

Alexandra rose to her feet. Seimei sucked in a breath and said, "On your knees, stupid girl!"

Alexandra's fingers curled with anger. She glared down at Seimei, bit her tongue, and stepped into the audience room.

If she was committing a gross faux pas, the Majokai did not react. They just watched her as she carefully stepped across rice paper and found a spot that had been cleared for her, between the eight elders on the raised platform and the two dozen or so Majokai wizards and witches behind her. She took a kneeling position in that spot, and placed one hand on her thigh, trying to imitate the Majokai's postures, while keeping her other hand on the backpack that she set down next to her.

"Miss Alexandra Quick, daughter of Abraham Thorn," said one of the wizards on the elevated platform above her. He wasn't as old as the others, but he had white hair and wrinkles around his eyes. His kimono was gray and gold. "I am Hideki Minemata. I believe you met my wife, Maeko. Please allow me to introduce the seven other clan heads of the Majokai present…"

Alexandra patiently bowed to each clan head as they were introduced, stifling her impatience. She did her best to remember each name.

"We are missing one of our number," said Hideki Minemata. "Seijin Matsuzaka is with his own clan. We were hoping he would join us, but…"

They don't know, Alexandra thought. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Mr. Minemata," she said. "I regret to inform you that Seijin Matsuzaka will not be joining you. None of the Matsuzakas will." She opened her eyes and met the gazes of all the Majokai clan heads. "I just came from Matsuzaka. It's… gone. The Confederation Air Force incinerated everything and everyone there. I'm sorry. I'm very sorry."

Her words shocked the room. There were gasps and mutters, an anguished groan, and even the Majokai clan leaders reeled at this news. They bowed their heads and conferred quietly with one another, while Alexandra once more curled her fingers tightly, forcing herself to wait.

"So Geming Chu sent you, Miss Quick?" said Shō Yamato at last. He was the oldest of the clan heads, a wizard with a long, curled mustache and a beak-like nose. "We were hoping he'd send a Regiment."

"They are sending a Regiment," Alexandra said. "The Alta California Regiment just defeated a Confederation Regiment and they're on their way here."

"They will not arrive in time," said Wani Kamo, Seimei's clan head. "Do you see the message the Chinese are sending? Chu didn't even bother sending one of his own, he sent the least of Abraham Thorn's spawn."

It was clear to Alexandra where Seimei got his attitude from. She forced down her anger, and said, "With respect, Mr. Kamo, first of all, the MACUSA isn't just the Chinese. And Congressman Chu didn't send me. I mean, he did, but only to find out if the Confederation Air Force was here. I was only supposed to scout and report back. I'm not exactly here as an envoy."

"I see," said the Kamo clan head. He leaned forward. "Then what are you doing here? Do you bring a message from your father?"

Alexandra shook her head. "No. Can I ask you something? If you all left Mahomachi, the Confederation would leave the town alone, right?"

Everyone on the dais remained stone-faced, except for Wani Kamo, who was visibly annoyed. Shō Yamato spoke again. "The Confederation still claims that attacking Muggle towns is what the Dark Convention does. And we have many retainers here. If they attack Mahomachi, they will try to cover it up. But they will attack. Whatever message destroying Mahomachi will send, it will send a much stronger message to destroy a Culture that turned against them."

"But if you could leave," Alexandra persisted, "they'd have no reason to burn Mahomachi like they burned Matsuzaka, right?"

"We can't leave, Miss Quick," Hideki Minemata said wearily. "Once we all gathered here, the Confederation cast a great ward over the entire town. That is what the Regiment up there is doing, mostly. Frankly, I am not sure how you got in."

"What matters is how I can get out," Alexandra said. "You all can cast ritual magic, right?"

"Whatever scheme you have in mind," the Minemata clan head said, "it's not something we have not already considered. We are the finest ritual magicians in the New World, but breaking a ward—"

Alexandra knew she wasn't supposed to interrupt, but she didn't understand why they were wasting time talking to her if they thought nothing she said was of value. She closed her eyes while listening to Mr. Minemata go on, and concentrated on the crack in the world that they were all sitting on.

It was big enough and it ran far enough. On her own, she was certain she could open it wide enough for herself, probably a few others. How long she could hold it open was uncertain. Whether she could make it open to where she wanted to go and bring them back again was even more uncertain. But one thing was certain: if she tried to explain to the Majokai what she could do and what she had in mind, fire would be raining from the sky before they'd take her seriously.

She opened the crack in the world, and the entire audience chamber was bathed in brilliant sunlight. All they could see of the World Away was a forested hillside beneath a cloudless sky, but a flock of birds scattered away from them, startled by the sudden tear in the world. They were very large birds, and Alexandra realized before they disappeared from sight that they had hands and wore long skirted pants over their taloned legs.

Her eyes took a few moments to readjust. There was shock on the faces of all the Majokai clan heads, and two had drawn their wands. Wani Kamo looked dazed. Multiple voices were speaking behind her.

"I can open cracks in the world," Alexandra said. "I can bypass wards. It's how I escaped a Blood-Sealed room in New Amsterdam, and Storm King Mountain, and Eerie Island, and The Castle. And if I have enough help, I think I can hold open that crack long enough for all of you to walk through it, right through the World Away, and escape Mahomachi."

Shō Yamato asked, "How?" in a tone of wonder.

"It's a long story, which we kind of really don't have time for, do we?" Alexandra said.

"There are hundreds and hundreds of us," said Kazuko Sanzan, a white-haired witch with long, loose hair who was one of the two female clan heads.

"Then let's get started!" Alexandra shouted. Several of the elders scowled at her, but she didn't care. "You're all preparing to make a last stand and die, and let all the people of this town die with you! I'm giving you a chance to save everyone, but you have to help me, because I can't open a crack that big for that long by myself. I can show you what I'm doing, but I need help. So help me!"

The Majokai clan heads looked at each other. Heads bowed together as they conferred. Conversations continued behind Alexandra as well, all in Japanese.

Finally, Hideki Minemata said, "If there is a chance it will work, it is worth the attempt. Show us, Quick-san."


They wanted to see a demonstration before they'd summon all the Majokai in town to abandon their positions and the protective spells they were casting. It made sense, but it felt to Alexandra like another waste of time.

She didn't know what selection process they used, but all but seven of the Majokai cleared out of the room. None of the clan heads were to join her in this demonstration, which she supposed also made sense. They might be afraid she'd screw up, or was secretly planning to betray them.

The seven volunteers remained in their kneeling positions, watching her expectantly. They were all older than her, though younger than the clan heads.

She rose to her feet, and tried to stretch her legs without being too obvious about it. She didn't know how the Majokai could just sit in that position for so long. "We have to actually walk through the World Away," she said. "I can't just fly you there."

The seven Majokai looked at each other, then rose to their feet.

"How exactly will we know where we're going?" asked one of them, a balding man with robes that had the Minemata crest.

"By following me," Alexandra said, hoping she projected confidence. Okay, I led an army of Doomguards and everyone in Eerie Island to the Lands Below. I can do this. "The World Away will look… strange. Just remember, we're only passing through."

She focused her Witch's Sight on the crack in the world again. It was easier to open this time. The castle seemed to rip in half. All the Majokai lost their stoic composures as the world whirled in green streaks around them and pine-scented air blew into what had been an enclosed room.

Alexandra stepped out onto the same forested hillside they'd seen before.

"Follow me!" she said.

The Majokai overcame their shock quickly enough, and filed after her, gazing around in wonder at mountains that rolled away from them in all directions.

Alexandra had mentally mapped out the end of the crack in the world. She could still see it and she walked after it, while the seven Majokai followed her, all with their wands out.

They walked downhill for some time, and reached a stream with an ugly little creature squatting just beneath the surface of the water at its narrowest point. Alexandra saw it before they began to walk across with Water-Walking Charms, and said, "Levicorpus!"

The scaly, dwarfish creature howled and cursed as it flew out of the water and hung upside down in the air.

"A kappa!" exclaimed one of the Majokai.

"We should bring back its head as a trophy," said another.

Alexandra looked askance at this wizard, and back at the kappa, who had rapidly gone limp. She and Brian and Bonnie had once almost been drowned by a kappa. The pathetic thing in front of them now hardly seemed like a threat. With a wave of her wand, she hurled it downstream, where it landed in the water with a splash. It did not reappear as they crossed the stream.

They continued hiking through the woods. Several times they saw creatures with animal faces slinking between the trees with an upright gait, watching them and ducking out of sight if anyone called or gestured at them.

Eventually, Alexandra sensed the crack thinning… it didn't end, exactly, but the thin line where it weakened the barrier between this world and the one they'd come from was becoming a hairline fracture, one she wasn't sure she could open if it became any smaller. She concentrated and invoked the ritual she'd learned with her father's help, and felt it resist before fissuring open to spill hot desert air into this forested world.

Alexandra and the Majokai emerged blinking onto baking hot sands, surrounded by rocks, cacti, and thin, dry, brown weeds. A startled lizard went scurrying away from them. The crack in the world glowed green, and Alexandra was feeling a little light-headed with the effort of keeping it open.

One of the Majokai wizards spun his wand balanced on one finger and incanted something that sounded like a mix of Latin and Japanese, then spoke to his companions.

"We're almost thirty miles inland," said a middle-aged woman with long braids wearing a black and white kimono. "There's no way we could have Apparated through the wards around Mahomachi."

"We didn't," Alexandra said. "We went through the World Away, like I told you. Now I'm going to take you back, and you're going to convince your clan heads that I wasn't making this up. I can take you all away from Mahomachi, if they help me hold the crack open long enough."

The seven adults stared at her with wonder, awe, and a little fear.

"Maybe some of you should stay here," Alexandra said. She held up her wand. "Touch my wand and let me cast a Locating Charm. It might help."

They muttered to each other, and the woman who had spoken before touched Alexandra's wand with hers. Alexandra cast the spell, trying to magically plot the other witch's location in her head if not on a map.

"Okay, those of you coming back with me… let's go." Alexandra didn't wait, but reopened the crack in the world. She thought it was a good sign that she was taking them through the same world each time.

Four of the Majokai followed her back to Mahomachi. Alexandra was tired when they once more stumbled into the room in the big building. She stood quietly collecting herself as the Majokai who'd come with her exited the room to excitedly report their experience to their waiting audience.

Even with help, this was going to be her greatest feat since… well, what she'd done back in the Ozarks during the Unworking, and that had been when filled with all the magic of the Ozarkers. She'd promised she could do something she'd never attempted before. And she wasn't nearly done.

When Alexandra raised her head again, and prepared to follow the Majokai out into the hallway, she caught Seimei lurking near the door, watching her with deep suspicion and mistrust.

She walked out, brushing past Seimei, to speak to the waiting Majokai clan heads.


It seemed to take hours. Alexandra waited and watched the stormy skies. There were two dragons flying around now. She thought that was probably a bad sign.

She stood beneath the eaves of the big building where the Majokai leaders had been holding their meeting, with water dripping all around her. A young woman in crimson and black robes walked through the rain, with only a wide, circular pointed hat keeping it off her, and offered Alexandra food. Alexandra accepted the snacks, which were some sort of bean paste wrapped in rice balls.

"If they attack," the Majokai witch said, following the direction of Alexandra's gaze up towards the sky, "we will make it costly for them. They know this. We are not soft like the Shinajin or the Ozarakujin."

Alexandra paused while biting into one of the rice balls. "Who are you talking about? Why do you have to be like this? The Confederation is coming for all of us. We're on the same side now."

"Are we?" The other witch shrugged and, with a perfunctory bow, walked away, joining the growing throng of Majokai that was flowing out of the surrounding buildings and walking up the streets from the Muggle part of town.

Some were arranged in what Alexandra recognized as arcane formations. One group of witches and wizards bore smoking censers and small braziers dangling from chains. Another group, all men, looked like some kind of band, dressed in colorful kilts and blouses and carrying large hide drums and gongs. There was a small knot of women dressed in shapeless black robes, each carrying a long staff with a curved blade at the end. They had very old, crude brooms strapped to their backs. But most of the Majokai just carried wands.

The crowd was very visible from the cliffs now, and Alexandra could see ROC wizards lining up at the edge to watch what was happening, glowing with the magic they were using to keep the rain off them.

Alexandra wanted the Confederation wizards to see them leaving, but she worried they might decide to attack first. The thunderstorm had not abated and rain beat down on them, and none of the Majokai were casting Umbrella Charms. They milled about in a multitude that seemed disorderly until Alexandra watched long enough to see that they were actually moving into rows and columns and other formations in a very efficient manner. Order out of chaos. And out in the open space between the three-story Majokai castle and the large grass lawn that was bordered by a circular gravel garden, the Majokai clan heads and a number of other wizards were gathering for the ritual they said would empower Alexandra in a similar fashion to the Unworking. The Majokai didn't accumulate magic the way the Ozarkers did, and had had trouble understanding Alexandra's description of the event at first, but once they did, they told her they could do something similar, if not as impressive.

"Just help me the way my father did," Alexandra said. "But, you know, more."

It was unnerving how quiet the Majokai were. There were hundreds and hundreds of them, far too many to have fit in the buildings on this side of town. Adults, teenagers, children, and even the children were mostly quiet, and as far as Alexandra could tell, the Majokai weren't using any Silencing Charms. Here and there were a few pets—cats, dogs, some birds in a cage. Those made her think of Charlie, whom she wished she had let out to sit on her shoulder right now, but it was probably better if Charlie weren't here if things went badly.

A very old man walked over to her, carrying a staff. He was dressed in dungarees and rainboots, like a Muggle. Alexandra recognized him as the old man who'd been at the meeting in San Francisco. He wasn't one of the clan heads, yet by the way other Majokai bowed deeply as he passed by, he must have been someone important.

"Miss Quick," he said. "You know, we didn't come to the New World by boat, nor did we Apparate or walk across the ocean. And we certainly didn't ride dragons, though that's the tale some of our youngsters tell."

Alexandra glanced up at the sky. Rain still poured down, and the dragons were still circling, slowly and lazily, as if they were just there to remind the people on the ground below of their impending doom. What did the Deathies think of this assembly?

"They think we're preparing to make a last, glorious stand," the old man said, as if reading her mind.

She frowned at him, wondering if he was.

"So, how did you come to the New World?" she asked. She wasn't sure what the point of this was, but the old man seemed to want to talk.

"According to legend, we stepped through a crack in the world, all the way from the original Matsuzaka." The old man smiled at Alexandra's reaction. His smile was brief. It faded as he said, "If any of the Matsuzaka had survived, they might have some things to tell us, and you. That was a terrible loss."

"Yeah." Alexandra didn't know what else to say.

He nodded. "We are ready."

She walked to the assembled gathering of Majokai clan heads and other elders. They parted for her, and then, to her surprise, bowed to her.

"We do not entirely understand the spells you showed us which your father showed you," said Hideki Minemata. "But we are not unskilled at improvising unfamiliar magic and we have the collective wisdom of centuries here."

"I won't let you down," Alexandra said.

"I hope our faith and your confidence is not misplaced," said Wani Kamo.

Alexandra walked past them all, stood on the grass, and felt the crack in the world that ran through this entire gathering. Above, she felt the eyes of Confederation wizards on her. They had surely recognized her by now. Behind her, she heard a chant go up, starting with the Majokai elders, and then taken up by the front ranks of Majokai in the crowd.

She spread her arms, as if daring one of the dragons to come diving down at her, and opened the crack in the world.

This time sunlight spilled out across the town, and the wind from their side of the crack sucked leaves and pine needles out over the crowd. Alexandra felt the chanting of the Majokai going through her, and then Majokai were flowing around her, filing past in an orderly fashion that belied the speed with which they walked into the World Away, without hesitation or question. Here and there adults carried small children, but there was very little sound aside from the chanting. Their feet squished across the grass and crunched on gravel, and no one brushed against her or said anything to her as they walked past. Alexandra was fatigued in a way that went beyond physical exertion, but the Majokai ritual was definitely doing something. The crack stayed open, wide as a highway, and it occurred to her that any of the Deathies could descend off the cliff and follow the Majokai through. A dragon could follow them through—the crack was big enough. But whatever the Deathies thought of this spectacle, none of them were taking any action that Alexandra could see.

If it had taken hours for all the Majokai to gather here, it seemed as if in mere minutes, they had all passed through into the World Away. Hundreds and hundreds of them.

Alexandra looked up through the rain. She could just make out a helmeted figure seated atop a dragon that had descended a little lower, maybe for a closer look. She could see even more wizards crowding along the edge of the cliff beneath glowing Umbrella Charms.

She held up a middle finger, stood there with her finger raised for several moments, and then stepped through the crack in the world after the Majokai.