Alexandra Quick and the Deathly Regiment

The Lands Beyond

Alexandra's throat had gone dry, but after several moments, her voice returned -- along with her anger.

"Shouldn't you be in hell?" she asked.

The former custodian's smiling expression wavered, and his eyes lost a bit of their twinkle.

"Now, I understand you being angry," he said. "I don't blame you for being bitter."

She almost laughed, but the sound that came out was more of a choking gasp. "Bitter? Bitter? You tried to kill me!"

He nodded. "Yes," he said quietly. "And I feel terrible about that. I never wanted to hurt you, Starshine, I hope you understand that. I wish things could have been different --"

"Different how? You mean you not ending up dead?" Alexandra glared at the ghost, and realized that her eyes were filling with tears. She was angry -- furious -- and disappointed. She'd been hoping to see her brother again, and instead, she was confronted with the man who had tried to murder her.

Journey regarded her now with a sad, solemn expression. He was dressed in the same clothes he'd died in -- a headband around his forehead, a once-colorful shirt beneath a long, leather jacket, Muggle-style jeans, and heavy boots. His long hair was still tied back in a ponytail, and he looked every bit the gentle, aging Radicalist who had been so easy-going and friendly towards her... until he'd turned out to be a treacherous former member of the Thorn Circle.

Alexandra saw that besides being ghostly and translucent, there was one other change in the dead wizard's appearance: a large, dark bloodstain covered his chest. She could just barely see a small hole at its center, directly over his heart.

"I hope that hurts!" she hissed, gesturing at the wound and then wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. She sniffed, and felt angry that her wrath was being undermined by weaker emotions.

Journey looked sadder. "It doesn't do you any good to hold on to that kind of hatred, Starshine."

"Don't lecture me, and don't call me Starshine!" she yelled at him, startling the horses in the nearby stalls. Charlie flapped and cawed, and Skuld flapped her leathery wings, disturbed by the commotion.

Alexandra lowered her voice. "My name isn't Starshine. You don't get to call me cute nicknames. My name is Alexandra -- Alexandra Quick."

Journey nodded. "All right. Alexandra. What do you want from me?"

Alexandra took a deep breath. She was confused. What did she want from Ben Journey? "You're the ghost who's been lurking around in the basements."

"Yes." He nodded.

"Why didn't Ms. Fletcher or the ghost hunters find you?"

He chuckled. "I already knew Charmbridge and the grounds like the back of my hand before I died; there are places I could hide even if I wasn't a ghost. Your father always said the average WJD flunky isn't too bright, and he's right."

"You ghost-struck Benjamin Rash! And killed Ms. Gale!"

He shook his head. "I didn't do a thing to them, Starsh -- Alexandra, I swear to you. I heard the noise but got there too late to see what happened, both times. Then I vanished when you showed up." He looked uncomfortable. "I didn't want you to see me."

"I don't believe you. It's not like you haven't lied and tried to kill people before."

The ghost sighed, which made an odd sound, like a breeze moaning through the trees. "'Ghost sickness' is just another old witches' tale they use to scare people and justify regulating the posthumous. And even if I could harm the living, why would I want to hurt that boy, or poor Ms. Gale?"

Alexandra maintained a tight grip on her wand, ready to cast a Banishing Spell. "I don't know. But that doesn't mean I believe you."

He folded his arms. "All right. I don't know how to make you believe me, Alexandra. So what now?" His expression became kindly again. "Were you just hoping to see your brother? Is that what all this was about?"

Alexandra sucked in a breath. "Is he... is he here? Or -- wherever you went?"

Journey shook his head. "Not as far as I know. I'm sorry, but really, it's better that way. You wouldn't want your brother coming back as a ghost."

"Why not? You decided to."

"That depends on what you mean by 'decided,'" he said slowly. "But this isn't how I want to spend the rest of eternity."

"I'll bet it's better than where you really belong."

He sighed again. "Being a ghost is as much punishment as anything you're imagining."

"I doubt it. I've got a great imagination."

He shook his head. "You don't forgive easily, do you?"

"You tried to kill me!" She lowered her voice again when the horses began whinnying and circling about in their stalls. "Why should I forgive you? What does it matter to you, anyway? You're dead."

Journey's expression was pained, regretful and conflicted, as he stared past her, looking at the Thestral, before he turned his attention to back to her.

"Death isn't the end," he said quietly. "Not for everyone. I'm trapped on Earth now, but I know why, which makes me lucky compared to some ghosts. It means there's the possibility that I can move on someday. If I can find the courage, and... maybe if I can earn redemption."

"Redemption?" Alexandra frowned. "How do you do that?" She studied him, and her expression became incredulous. "What, you need me to forgive you or something?"

"It's not that simple, Starshine." Journey gave her a small, wistful smile. "I'm afraid you don't have the power to control my fate -- no human being does. That's beyond the power of any magic. But... I think your forgiveness would help."

Alexandra's expression hardened. The anger returned to her voice. "When I first came to Charmbridge Academy, I didn't know anything about my father or the Thorn Circle. I didn't know anything! You were one of the only adults who was nice to me. I liked you. I trusted you. I thought you were my friend!" She glared at the ghost. "And all that time, you were trying to kill me!" She pointed at his chest. "You would have killed me, if you hadn't died first because of my father's enchantment."

Journey's ghostly form grew grayer and more insubstantial, as the glow emanating from him waned.

"What I tried to do was terrible," he said. "I was trying to save my own skin. That's why I'm here now, I suppose. I feared death too much."

He fell silent. Charlie fluttered and made nervous clicking sounds. Skuld shuffled over and bumped Alexandra with her nose, as if hoping for more bloody treats. Alexandra patted the Thestral, and glanced at Charlie, who was watching everything alertly.

"What do you know about Death?" she asked.

Journey seemed confused by the question. "Is that why you're summoning ghosts? To get answers about the afterlife? Those of us who stay here don't know what's on the other side, Alexandra. That's why we stayed here."

"What about Death-Death? With a capital 'D'? The Most Deathly Power."

Now it was Journey who looked incredulous. "What are you up to, Starshine?"

Alexandra leaned against the broad head of the Thestral, still patting its leathery snout. "I want to go to the Lands Beyond. I want to meet Death." She turned to face him. "And if you want my forgiveness, you'll help me. And stop calling me Starshine!"

Ben Journey stared at her. "No one living can go to the Lands Beyond and return."

Alexandra gritted her teeth. She should have known he'd say that. What was she going to do if even a ghost couldn't help her?

"Unless --" he said, and stopped.

"Unless what?" she said quickly.

He scratched his ghostly beard. "There are... stories. Fairy tales, legends that a few crazy warlocks believe --"

"About going to the Lands Beyond to treat with Death, or challenge him to a duel?"

Journey's eyebrows rose. "You've been studying things like that?"

"I've been reading a lot. Is it true? Can you do that?"

"I don't know, Alexandra!" For the first time, Journey sounded irked, but he immediately adjusted his tone. "I know that if a living soul passes through a doorway to the Lands Beyond -- going through the Veil, some call it -- it's the same as death. Except --" His voice trailed off again.

"Except what?" Alexandra was aware that she sounded too eager, but she couldn't help herself.

"Except that if the Deathly Power, or Death, exists -- which I'm not saying it does, because I haven't actually met any such being -- it would have the power to allow you to return, assuming you haven't actually died."

"Actually died... so if you go through the Veil..." She gulped. "Someone can go through the Veil and not actually die?" Now her heart was racing again, and she was hanging on the ghost's every word, as the mad, desperate hope that had waxed and waned in her all these months, nurtured by snippets of occult lore and legends and rumors of mad Dark Arts rituals, and crushed by sense and reason, flared anew.

He sighed, making an even more mournful sound than before. "Are you thinking of that cave under the school where the Mors Mortis Society used to perform their little rituals?"

"You know about it?"

"Of course I know about it. That's a portal through the Veil, Alexandra, and if you go through it, you'll surely die."

He seemed to be leaving something unsaid, and Alexandra waited, until she couldn't stand it anymore. "Unless?"

Journey looked at her, and she was infuriated by the way he was obviously deciding whether or not to withhold from her the very information she was seeking. She wasn't sure whether he thought it was leverage he could use against her, or if he was just another adult determined to keep her from attempting the impossible because it was dangerous, but she was ready to explode at him, or point her wand and threaten to Banish him.

But he spoke before she did. "I learned a lot while I was in your father's circle, and a little more afterwards. But being a ghost doesn't automatically give us all the knowledge there is to know about Death and the Lands Beyond." He looked around, as if fearing to be overheard, but it was still just the horses and Charlie and the two of them. "Through the Veil is death. If you just walk through, you'll die. But there are said to be ways to keep your body and soul intact on the other side. It requires some awfully difficult spells, or magical items of great power.

"Now this is important, Alexandra -- some folks believe in such things because it's been proven possible in theory. If you know enough advanced transcendental magic theory you can write out the equations and do the Arithmancy and prove it works. But all that means is that you can go to the Lands Beyond as a living soul. You still can't come back. No wizard who's ever tried it, even the most powerful, has ever returned. Unless you believe fairy tales."

Alexandra struggled to contain her excitement. "Because you'd need Death to send you back."

"I guess that would be one way." Journey shrugged. "I've heard of warlocks going to the Lands Beyond, planning to challenge Death, or offer some kind of payment, or Merlin knows what, and none have ever returned. I'm not sure there really is a 'Death,' but if there is, I'm guessing you can't just drop by for a visit and expect him to send you back to the land of the living." He sighed. "It's madness to go through the Veil. I've only ever heard of people committing suicide that way."

"A deathly conveyance and a deathly spirit," Alexandra said.

"What?"

Alexandra patted Skuld. "You said usually it requires spells or magic items to go to the Lands Beyond and not die. What about on a Thestral?"

Journey looked thoughtful, and a little worried. "They say Thestrals can pass through the Veil. But that's just an old superstition, too. I've never heard of it working, Alexandra."

"Because they didn't have a deathly spirit guide?"

Journey's look became even more dismayed. "You can't really be thinking...?"

"You want my forgiveness?" Alexandra stepped towards the ghost. "Help me."

"Help you die?"

"Why not? You'd just be getting what you wanted in the first place."

The Radicalist looked so appalled that she almost believed he was sincere.

"What are you afraid of?" she asked. "You're beyond my father's power now, aren't you?"

He paused. "Actually... a ghost can't be killed, but there are ways to make our existence even less pleasant."

She gave him a hard look. "Like by telling Dean Grimm you're here so she can summon ghost hunters from the Bureau of Hauntings again? And have you relocated somewhere like the middle of a swamp, or some deep cave..."

"Now, let's not be hasty, Sta -- Alexandra."

She kept staring at him.

"What do you want from Death?" he asked. "Do you think he can return your brother to you? Even a Deathly Power, if it exists, can't bring the dead back to life. There are some things beyond the power of magic."

"Maximilian has joined the Deathly Regiment," Alexandra said quietly. "He didn't just die -- he went through the Veil. That means he's in Death's domain."

Journey blanched, which for a ghost was a striking effect, as he almost faded to invisibility. "You've heard of the Deathly Regiment?"

"So you know about it?"

"How much do you know?" Journey asked.

Alexandra frowned. Hadn't Absalom Thorn told her he'd died fighting the Deathly Regiment? "They're the ghosts of people who have gone through the Veil, right? But I don't understand why anyone would want to fight ghosts."

Journey studied her, with an expression on his face that was hard to read. He seemed to be thinking very hard.

"What?" Alexandra asked. "What else do you know about them?"

He sighed, long and mournfully. "Only that they're beyond anyone's power to bring back to life."

"So everyone says. Unless you believe legends. Or you believe you can do things everyone says are impossible... like my father."

"You believe it because you want to believe it, Alexandra," Journey said. And before Alexandra could reply, he asked, "Suppose it's true that Death could return your brother to life. Do you think he'll do it just because you ask? What could you possibly offer Death for a boon like that?"

"Anything he wants," Alexandra whispered.

Journey hovered there silently, and Alexandra looked at Skuld, who had given up on getting another handout and returned to the trough to lap quietly at the liquid, which gleamed darkly in the faint ghostly light from Ben Journey's form.

"Will you help me?" she asked.

"You'll try to force me if I don't agree willingly, won't you? I could have resisted your summons, you know. You're an impressive little girl, but you're no necromancer."

"I don't want to force you. I want you to help me."

"I'd be helping you go to your death. It's madness, Alexandra. Your brother died. He didn't come back, and he's not going to. You need to accept that. It's how life and death works."

"I don't need you telling me how life and death works." She scowled at the ghostly warlock, her expression turning dark. Having reached this point, she was more determined than ever before. "I will go through the Veil, whether you're there to guide me or not. Maybe I'll die with or without your help -- but if you refuse to help me, then I promise, I'll go to my death cursing you, and you'd better hope I don't come back as a ghost."

Journey stared at her, with an expression that was almost fearful.

"You really are like your father," he said.

She smiled, without a trace of mirth.

"And you won't tell Lilith about me?" he asked. "Or anyone else? Including your father?"

"Do you really think you can haunt Charmbridge forever without being discovered?"

"Not forever, no." Journey drifted a little in the space of the stall. "But eventually, maybe I'll work something out." He didn't exactly sound sure what it was he wanted to 'work out,' but Alexandra didn't care. He turned around in mid-air, to look down at her again. "I don't know how you're going to open the gate to the Lands Beyond."

"I do." She shrugged. "I'm pretty sure I've figured out how to do that, anyway." She looked down at the blood that had been poured into the trough for the Thestral. "The hard part will be getting down there, especially with a Thestral. Even if I could get past the wards and the alarms, I don't think Skuld will fit in any of those stairwells."

"Oh, that's easy," Journey said. "I'm sure Lilith knows as well as the WJD does that a few wards and Colloportus charms can't really seal off those caverns completely. There are just too many tunnels from outside."

Alexandra smiled slowly.

Journey shook his head at her. "I still can't imagine what you think you can offer Death as payment for a life."

"Well," Alexandra said, "I'll start with an obol."

---

Alexandra tossed and turned all that night. She was having more of those nightmares, where Maximilian fell through the gate into the Lands Beyond and she couldn't save him, but she woke up and pounded her fists on her pillow. I will save you! she thought. She was pushing away all the doubts and arguments she'd heard from Anna, from Mr. Journey, even from that common sense voice in her own head, forcing herself to focus on the goal that seemed within her grasp, and not on the fact that she almost certainly was planning to go to her death. She'd sworn she would never give up and that she'd do anything it took to bring back Maximilian. It had become harder to hold onto that conviction, the past few months. It was increasingly tempting to let go and accept his death, as everyone kept telling her to do.

Now that she felt a glimmer of hope, she knew that she'd been right to be stubborn.

Anna returned the next day, looking as happy as Alexandra had seen her in months.

"Putting my father in prison turned out to be really stupid if they wanted to discredit him," Anna said, as she unpacked her things. "It's only made people listen to him more. He says the Confederation needs reform, that we've been letting Old Colonial traditions and pureblood prejudices maintain the status quo too long. That's why so many Cultures don't want to join as full members, and it's why we've been so fractured for all these years."

She went on and on about Confederation politics and the Congressional race in North California, with an enthusiasm and fervor Alexandra had never seen before.

"It was hard," Anna said, "having to stand next to my father with all those people listening to him and staring at us. Especially when the Governor sent Aurors to 'keep the peace,' but of course they were really there to intimidate us." Anna gulped. "My mother could barely stand it. She's really, really shy. I wish my father didn't make her come along. I promised to go with him to all his rallies and meetings and dinners if he'd let Mom stay home more, and after a while..." She laughed. "I think I could almost recite his speeches." She stopped, when she realized Alexandra was staring at her. "What?"

"Sounds like you've gone into politics," Alexandra said, smiling.

Anna laughed. "Don't be silly." She stood up, after tucking books and scrolls into one of her lower drawers, and gave Alexandra a hug. "How was detention?"

"I shoveled horse manure."

Anna wrinkled her nose. "And the rest of your week?"

Alexandra bit her lip, while Anna couldn't see her face. "Boring." She stepped back, and looked at her friend, whose visit home seemed to have erased months worth of anxiety and dread. "So... you're back."

Anna nodded. "My father threatened to make me stay home until the election and afterwards, but... I talked him out of it."

Alexandra raised an eyebrow.

Anna looked down. "I told him if it hadn't been for you, he wouldn't have been freed. And that I probably would have had a breakdown without you."

"I don't think that's true."

"It is." Anna was still looking down. "Anyway... he let me come back and he didn't forbid me to talk to you."

"That's good, since we're roommates."

"I think what he decides next year may depend on whether or not he wins the election."

Alexandra sighed.

"Don't worry," Anna said. "I won't let him separate us." She looked up. "We're best friends forever, right?"

Alexandra was touched and impressed by Anna's resolution. She'd never heard her talk about standing up to her father before without trembling.

"Yes," Alexandra said. "Forever." Anna smiled, with a look of such affection and loyalty that it brought a lump to Alexandra's throat.

She struggled with her conscience yet again that night, as Anna excitedly gave all the eighth graders in the rec room a recap of her father's political campaign. They were listening to the Wizard Wireless, which briefly covered news from other Territories. Geming Chu and his two main rivals -- one an Old Colonial traditionalist, the other a New Colonial who was favored by the Governor, and who claimed to be a reformer like Mr. Chu -- were reported to be in a closely matched three-way race now.

But as Anna spoke, Alexandra was feeling guilt that twisted her stomach worse than the anxiety she felt at her plan. She had said she'd trust Anna, but she had to keep this a secret from her. She went over and over in her mind how she might persuade Anna to help her, or at least not try to stop her, but she couldn't see it -- there was no way Anna would understand. Any rational person (other than Alexandra) would think that what she was planning was suicide. She was sure even her best friend wouldn't allow her to do something she believed was certain death. Anna might feel terrible about it, but she would go to Ms. Grimm.

It's what I should have done, to stop Max, Alexandra thought.

Darla had also gone home over the break. Alexandra watched her in class the next day. Darla looked different -- she was subdued, there was no trace of her usual haughtiness, and she hadn't taken as much care with her hair and makeup as she usually did; sitting next to Angelique, she looked drab. In Charms class, she barely made a token effort at casting a Revealing Charm, and seemed indifferent when Mr. Newton warned her that the final was only weeks away.

When she glanced in Alexandra's direction and found Alexandra looking at her, her expression changed for a moment. Alexandra found it startling -- she saw mingled hope and fury and desperation, and then Darla clenched her jaw and looked away, her eyes cold.

What is her problem? Alexandra wondered. And then the thought occurred to her: Maybe she misses her sister the way I miss Max.

It was disturbing. She'd never really thought about how Darla might be feeling.

Alexandra paid more attention to the older students who were riding winged horses during P.M.E. Younger students were occasionally allowed to ride them, but the Granians were mostly reserved for the Equestrian Club and JROC officers, and in the JROC, only juniors and seniors with a serious interest in joining the ROC after they graduated. It wasn't often that they mixed broom drills with winged mounts, but Daniel Keedle and Eric Strangeland stayed after the class was over to take a couple of the Granians out of the stable.

Alexandra had never seen anyone riding Skuld. She almost asked Ms. Shirtliffe why they kept a Thestral at all, and then decided that there was no point in arousing the teacher's suspicion.

Fourth period, during Miss Hart's Magical Theory class, she sat down next to Darla, instead of in her usual seat. Darla glanced at her with a frown. Angelique, on Darla's other side, didn't notice. She and David were making eyes at each other.

"Meet me in the library tonight," Alexandra whispered.

Darla raised her eyebrows, and then she nodded. They didn't say anything to one another for the rest of the class period.

One of the benefits of Anna's preoccupation with her father's campaign was that she was always in the rec room listening to the Wizard Wireless after dinner. That made it easier for Alexandra to slip off to the library without worrying that Anna would come, too.

She waited at the same back table where she had met Darla last time. Darla arrived carrying an armful of books, wearing one of her expensive, fashionable robes, but no makeup or other ornamentation. She sat down across the table from Alexandra, and put the books on the floor at her feet.

Alexandra looked at Darla, trying to figure out what was wrong with her.

Darla frowned. "Well?" she said impatiently.

Alexandra raised her wand, and said, "Muffliato." Darla's expression became puzzled and wary.

"I need that obol," Alexandra said.

Darla's eyes widened.

Alexandra didn't say anything, just stared at the other girl. Finally, Darla asked, "What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to go to the Lands Beyond," Alexandra said. "I don't know if Death will accept an obol for Maximilian's life, but the books I've read say that it's the only coin you can take there."

Darla blinked rapidly. "You're actually going to go to the Lands Beyond." She was looking at Alexandra as if she were crazy -- but there was also something else in her eyes. Cunning, fear, hope.

"That's why you gave me Deathly Conjures, right? Because you thought I might actually figure out how to do it."

"And you think you can meet Death?" Darla sounded skeptical, but there was also a desperate, hopeful tone in her voice that Alexandra was too familiar with, the sound of someone who knew that they were hearing something crazy and impossible, but wanted to believe it anyway.

"Yes," Alexandra said flatly.

"You're really serious."

"Do I sound like I'm joking?"

"You do know that you might die, don't you?"

"No, Darla," Alexandra said in a withering tone, "that never occurred to me."

Darla swallowed. "When are you going to do it?"

"Soon. After the North California election."

"How are you going to get down to the sub-basement?"

"Don't worry about that. I have a way."

Darla bit her lip. "I want to come."

"What?"

"Not to the Lands Beyond!" Darla said quickly. "But if you're going through the portal, I want to see how you do it." When Alexandra looked at her suspiciously, Darla said, "You just admitted you might not come back. You could at least let me learn as much as I can."

Alexandra laughed sourly. "If I die, you might as well learn what not to do, you mean?"

Darla's expression was utterly serious. "Yes, that's exactly what I mean."

Alexandra's laughter died, and her smile faded.

"If you change your mind," Darla said, "I'll understand."

"I'm not going to change my mind."

"So you'll tell me when we're going to do it?"

Alexandra studied her, thinking, then nodded. "And you'll bring your obol?"

"Yes."

"Fine. I'll let you know."

Darla stared at her with wonder and something like admiration, and then picked up her books and rose from the table. Like Anna did when Alexandra had told her she was going to help her father, Darla seemed to have been infused with a shot of confidence and hope.

"Thank you," Darla said, in a strained voice, and then turned away and hurried out of the library.

I'm not doing it for you. Alexandra closed her eyes and leaned against her chair, throwing her head back and pushing her bangs out of her eyes. She sat like that for a long time, feeling butterflies and worse in her stomach. But she was resolute. She was going to do this.

---

There were only a few Charmbridge students from either North California or South California -- elections in either Territory were apparently of interest to those in the other -- but Anna had most of her classmates sitting in the eighth grade rec room the evening of the election, waiting to hear the results. Alexandra suggested a game of Heart of Three Kingdoms, but Anna was too agitated, pacing back and forth and trying to change the Wizard Wireless to a new station every time the current one started reporting on something other than the North California election.

"Won't it be exciting, to have the daughter of a Congressman in our class?" said Constance.

"Come set, Anna," Forbearance said. "You're pacin' like a cat. Gonna wear yourself out 'fore you hear the results."

Reluctantly, Anna joined them at the table. At that moment, Darla and Angelique walked in, with Innocence trailing behind them. Alexandra had seen little of Innocence this semester -- the youngest Pritchard continued to sit with her fellow sixth graders in the cafeteria, and had stopped following either Alexandra or David around, but she also still seemed to be avoiding her sisters as much as possible. Constance and Forbearance both looked pleased to see her.

"Oh, Innocence, please come join us, dear," Forbearance said, waving her sister over.

Innocence trudged over to them. She looked sullen and seemed to have lost some of her exuberance, but she allowed Forbearance to pull her to a chair next to her and put an arm around her. "Is everything all right, Innocence?"

Innocence nodded.

"Would you like to join us for a game?" Constance asked.

"No, thanks." Innocence shook her head. "I just thought I oughter spend some time with you'uns, since I hain't been lately."

"Well," Forbearance said. She smiled, and her eyes glistened. "We're mighty happy 'bout that, hain't we, Constance?"

"Yes." Constance seemed to be speaking in a deliberately soft tone. "We hardly see you t'all nowadays, 'cept in the cafeteria and in the hallways."

Innocence nodded. "Sixth grade is a lot of work."

Everyone laughed at that, and even Innocence smiled.

Across the room, Darla was chatting with Angelique and Sonja and Lydia, and she only briefly glanced in Alexandra's direction. Their eyes met for a moment, and then they both looked away.

Late that evening, a tense crowd of teens and preteens crouched around the Wizard Wireless, waiting for the final results of the North California election. It finally came, between Central Territory's latest Quodpot scores and a commercial for the new, improved, cross-Territory Automagicka bus routes.

"Only months before," said the announcer, "Geming Chu was imprisoned beneath Mount Diablo on suspicion of being a Dark Wizard. Now, the last son of a respected pureblood Chinese family from San Francisco, who nonetheless incited fierce opposition from traditionalists because of his Muggle wife and anti-Confederation platform, is the new Congressman for North California."

The rec room erupted in cheers.

"Anti-Confederation?" Anna said indignantly. "He is not anti-Confederation!"

Then all of her friends were embracing her, and Anna smiled, with tears streaming down her face.

They were still congratulating her and making jokes about asking her father to write a law extending summer vacation when Miss Gambola, on hall monitor duty that night, walked in and told them they were making too much noise. With good humor, the teacher evicted them from the rec room and sent them back to their dorms.

As they all filed out, Alexandra caught Darla's arm.

"Saturday night," she whispered.

Darla turned and stared at her. She went pale, but nodded.

Everyone was still congratulating Anna in the hallway. Alexandra walked over to join her friend, and Darla walked away.

"I can't believe it," Anna said in their room that night. "My father is a Congressman." She was still beaming with pride, and Alexandra felt proud and happy for her friend, and terribly guilty for the secret she was keeping from her, as she said good night and crawled into bed.

Alexandra spent the rest of the week barely paying attention in class. She felt fairly confident that she could open the doorway to the Lands Beyond -- that was a relatively simple ritual, once she had deciphered the obfuscating language concerning it in Deathly Conjures. It was another one of those things you couldn't do just by waving a wand and saying the right words, but she knew that if the Mors Mortis Society had been able to do it, she could.

Getting Skuld from the stables to the sub-basement concerned her a little more. Stealing the Thestral wouldn't be so hard -- she had visited her a few more times since the night in her stall, and Skuld was accustomed to her now. All she had to do was slip out with her undetected. But she didn't think she could lead a Thestral through Charmbridge's halls, even if she was invisible to most students. She was relying entirely on Ben Journey fulfilling his promise.

The really hard part -- the part that she couldn't really plan for, could only hope would turn out the way she wanted -- she avoided thinking about. With single-minded determination, she refused to let doubts sway her now. If she thought about it too hard, she feared she might lose her resolve. What she was planning was tantamount to suicide. Every time she thought about her friends and her family (even Archie) and leaving them behind, she had to force herself to stop and fix her mind on her goal: Maximilian. Maximilian, lost in some deathly afterlife, waiting for her in Death's domain.

He had died to save her. How could she do less for him?