Alexandra Quick and the Deathly Regiment

The Most Deathly Power

It was cold. Alexandra had never felt such cold in her life, not even when she'd gone wandering into a blizzard without a coat. It wasn't the kind of blistering cold that came from wind and snow, chilling the skin and then seeping into the bones. It seemed to drain all the warmth out of her from the inside out, leaving her without even the memory of what it was like to be warm. But she didn't shiver. Her teeth didn't chatter. The cold was an endless, bitter torment, and she knew that she could feel this way forever and never die.

Is this what ghosts feel? she wondered. And then came the more horrible thought: Is this what Max feels?

The whispering was louder.

There was no sky. There was nothing that she could see above or below. She held up her wand. There was only a pinpoint of light at its tip.

Skuld was still beneath her, and she could hear the Thestral's wings flapping. She thought they were descending, but she couldn't feel motion, just the Thestral's bony back flexing slightly beneath her.

"Where are you taking me, Skuld?" she asked. "Where are we going?" The words fell flat in her own ears, as if the darkness was swallowing sound as well as light.

The Thestral snorted. Alexandra held on.

"Starshine?" came a voice from nearby, and suddenly she saw Ben Journey's ghost floating next to her.

"Am I dead?" she asked. She looked at her hand. The tear in her skin where she'd cut her palm with the rock was still there, but it had stopped bleeding. It was just a black gash now.

"I don't think so," Journey said. "But nothing is alive here."

"Where are we going?"

"Don't ask me, girl. I've never been here before."

Gradually, something took shape in the darkness around them. Alexandra thought it was a landscape, if something seen only as shadows among shadows could be a landscape. Distant, massive shapes that were felt rather than seen; closer, a solidness that rushed up at her until the Thestral's hooves made contact with something. Alexandra let out a breath she didn't realize she'd been holding, but it didn't sound like a normal breath -- it sounded like a ghostly whisper. She wasn't sure she was really even breathing. She put a hand over her heart, and was reassured to feel it beating.

So I am still alive, she thought.

The whispers around them were much louder. They had become voices.

What she'd heard back in the cave -- what she had heard at the Gift Place of the Generous Ones -- were just soft whispering echoes of these voices. They wailed and howled and moaned. Some sounded despairing, some sounded frightened, some sounded angry. Alexandra shivered, not from the cold.

"Who are they?" she asked.

"Spirits of the dead," Journey said.

"Like you?"

"No. I don't think so." Journey shook his head.

"What is this place? I mean, is there... a road? Are there buildings? I can't see anything." Alexandra squinted into the darkness, and raised her wand. "Ter Lumos!" she said, but the pinpoint of light did not become brighter.

"Yes," Journey said. "We're on a road. I can see stone houses along it."

Alexandra looked around. She still saw nothing but shadows just barely distinct enough to mark out anything other than darkness. Even the ground at Skuld's feet looked like an endless pool of darkness all around her. "How can you see all that? Are the houses where the spirits live?"

"No. I can't see them." Journey looked uncomfortable, though Alexandra didn't know why.

"Is this hell?" she asked.

"No. It's just another place."

"Is Maximilian here?"

"That I don't know."

She was silent, then asked, "Where does the road go?"

"I have no idea."

"Can we ask the spirits for directions?"

"I don't think you can ask them anything."

"This isn't very helpful."

Journey frowned. "You're the one who said you needed a ghost to guide you, Starshine. I never claimed I could actually find Death for you."

Skuld shifted beneath her, unhappy about standing still so long.

Alexandra said, "Let's follow the road, then. And stop calling me Starshine." She urged the Thestral forward, and they began to move. Journey continued to drift alongside her.

"She can see the road, I think," he said. "Funny, I never believed any of those tales about Thestrals when I was alive."

Alexandra listened to the moaning and the wailing. As unnerving as it was, it was also frighteningly easy to tune out, even after a little while.

"Why do the spirits in this place sound so miserable, if this isn't hell?" she asked.

"When most wizards come back, they come back as ghosts." Journey looked thoughtful. "But I think these spirits... they aren't even ghosts. They're just some bit of a poor soul, the angry, bitter part that didn't want to die, maybe."

"Can they hurt you?"

"No, they can't hurt me."

"Can they hurt me?"

Journey paused at that. "I don't think so."

"That's reassuring."

Journey's voice carried a trace of irritation. "Who was it who wanted to enter the Lands Beyond?"

She couldn't argue that point. She wondered how long they would be walking for, and if Skuld could get there faster by flying. It would help if we knew where we were going.

She patted the Thestral's leathery neck, and another thought occurred to her. "You said I wouldn't be able to come back on my own."

"There's no way that I know of for you to do it." Journey looked off into the blackness.

"Not even on Skuld? But doesn't that mean she can't get back either? What about you?"

"I... can leave," Journey said quietly. "I can go back through the Veil any time."

"How? Is the portal nearby?"

"There is no portal, Alexandra. Not from this side."

"Then how can you go back?"

"Because I'm already dead."

"That doesn't make much sense."

"I can't explain better than that." Journey's ghostly sigh was even more eerie and mournful here. "There are things you just can't understand, unless you're a ghost. Trying to tell you what a ghost feels would be like trying to explain how to do magic to a Muggle."

"What about Skuld? Is she trapped here, too?"

"Folks used to believe that Thestrals can cross back and forth across the Veil. Of course, nowadays everyone says that's just superstition. Old witches' tales." Journey shrugged.

"If Skuld can return, maybe she can bring me."

"I don't know... I wouldn't count on it."

"What happens if I don't return? Am I trapped here forever even though I'm not dead?"

That was a horrible thought -- although there was much about this place that was creepy and unsettling, only now did fear start to creep its way into her heart.

"I don't know," Journey replied.

The talking had distracted her from the darkness and the unearthly cold, but as she and Journey fell silent, the only sound became the wailing, weeping voices, and the soft clod of Skuld's hooves on whatever the road Journey said they were walking on was made of. Alexandra wondered what would happen if she jumped off of the Thestral's back and tried to walk on her own. She decided not to try that just yet. She thought about what she'd come here to do. The thought that Maximilian could be trapped here filled her with even more despair, and she could feel her hope and confidence draining away from her, just like the warmth in her body.

Perhaps she would die here. Or worse, never die at all. She leaned forward slowly, and embraced Skuld's neck, feeling the Thestral still ambling along unconcerned. The Thestral was alive, though she did not feel any warmth from the beast's body either. Yet she couldn't imagine that Skuld would be walking along so calmly if she felt the same things Alexandra did in this place. Somehow, the Thestral was immune to the heat-sucking cold and the darkness that devoured hope, and the constant whispering and moaning and crying of undead spirits. That alone gave Alexandra a little bit of courage to hang onto.

"Maximilian isn't one of them, is he?" she asked. "They sound... so unhappy." The cold had almost become a part of her now, but she shivered again at the thought of Maximilian being one of those souls trapped here, lost and bodiless, crying out into an endless night.

Journey didn't answer. Alexandra closed her eyes and bowed her head, wishing and hoping.

We can't walk forever, she thought.

She didn't know how long they walked. The Lands Beyond were worse than the Lands Below -- with no light, no landmarks, only endless howling in the void, it was very easy to lose track of time altogether.

It would be easy to go mad here. Was that what had happened to the lost souls she heard? Maybe Journey was wrong. Maybe those tormented souls were actually the voices of wizards and witches before her who'd come here to treat with Death, and instead found nothing, and been trapped here for all eternity... she shuddered. Real fear was beginning to set in.

Skuld stopped. Alexandra's head jerked up with a start. She hadn't been sleeping -- she wasn't sure it was possible to sleep here -- but she had no sense of how much time had passed.

Rising out of the darkness before her was an enormous structure, with gray-white stone steps leading up to gray-white stone pillars surrounding a vast, cavernous entrance. It looked to Alexandra exactly like the sort of place where she'd expect Death to reside. But how could it be here? She looked around, and behind her, and everywhere else was the same featureless darkness.

Journey said, "We can't go on."

She looked at the ghost. "Is this where Death lives?"

He blinked at her. "What do you mean?"

"In there." She gestured at the stone building. "Is Death in there?"

He looked confused. "In where?"

She frowned, becoming annoyed. Anger made her feel braver, so she didn't try to suppress her irritation as she pointed. "That big stone building!"

Journey turned his head and looked directly at it, and then back at her. "I don't see a stone building, Alexandra. I just see an end to the road."

She stared at him for several seconds, wondering if the dead wizard were playing some sort of trick on her. "The road ends because there's a great big building in front of us!"

He shook his head. "There's nothing there."

"What do you mean there's nothing there?" she shouted. "This is the only place I've seen where there's anything but nothing!"

Beneath her, Skuld became skittish. The endless darkness of the Lands Beyond and the voices of dead spirits didn't spook her, but Alexandra's shouting was upsetting her.

"If you see something," Journey said slowly, "then maybe you're meant to go on."

Alexandra tried to calm Skuld, while thinking. Nothing in Deathly Conjures nor any of the other books she'd read had told her what she might find in the Lands Beyond. There was no mention of Death's residence.

"Go on, Skuld. Keep moving," she said to the Thestral, but Skuld made a sort of hissing sound and refused to budge another inch. Alexandra looked haplessly at Journey.

"Riding Skuld is the only reason I didn't die when I went through the portal, isn't it? What happens if I get off her?" When Journey frowned and opened his mouth, Alexandra sighed and cut him off: "Let me guess -- you don't know."

He closed his mouth.

She closed her eyes, trying to recall every scrap of information she'd read about the Lands Beyond. Nothing came to mind that would help her. She was already supposed to be dead, and for all she knew, she was. Maybe this was all happening in her head. She pressed her hands to her face, thinking that she could easily go crazy just sitting here thinking. She wished that she could feel some body warmth from her hands or her cheeks, but she didn't.

"Okay," she said. She hooked her foot into a stirrup, and swung her leg over Skuld's back, preparing to dismount. To her relief, she didn't feel tired or sore -- at least the Lands Beyond had robbed her of those sensations as well. She hesitated, and then, before Journey could say anything, she dropped.

Her boots hit the ground with a muffled sound. Skuld was still standing on one side of her, Journey floating on the other.

She pressed her hand to her heart again. Still beating.

"I'm going inside, I guess," she said to Journey. She patted Skuld. "Can you make sure Skuld is still waiting for me when I come out?"

"I'll do my best," Journey said. "I can't stop her if she decides to take off, you know." He peered ahead, looking at the stone structure but obviously still not seeing it. "I don't know if I'll even know when you leave..." His voice trailed off. She knew what he was thinking: If you do.

"All right. Good-bye, then." She looked at the ghost. "For what it's worth, I forgive you."

Journey nodded, and for the first time since they'd entered the Lands Beyond, he smiled. "Thank you, Starsh --"

"Is it so hard to stop calling me that?" She shook her head and turned to proceed up the steps to the great building.

The stone columns were smooth and polished, seated on plinths with what looked like Greek inscriptions on them. The doorway rose high overhead, forcing her to crane her neck up to see the overhanging stonework, which had figures carved into it, looking vaguely like what she imagined gods might look like, though the faces and figures were too high above her to make out details. The overall impression she had was of some cross between a Greek temple and a mausoleum. It seemed appropriate for how she had been imagining the Lands Beyond might appear; something resembling Hades, from the books of Greek mythology she had read before she ever learned about the wizarding world.

There was no door, so Alexandra walked through the entranceway and found herself in pitch darkness. Even the whispering ceased as soon as she crossed the threshold.

She held out her wand, and said, "Lumos." To her surprise, it lit up, casting enough light that she could see herself, and gray-white stone at her feet, and an immense hallway ahead of her.

"Hello?" she called out.

No one answered her.

She began to walk forward. The hallway was grand, but austere. There were stone images carved on the walls, high above her head, and dark doorways leading off in all directions, but no furniture or any other decorations, and where her feet touched the floor, she didn't see so much as a speck of dust. She walked on for a while, holding her wand up and looking at the stonework overhead. There was a great, coiled dragon swallowing a sphere that might have been the Earth... or an egg. She couldn't be sure. Then there were more animals... wolves, serpents, a raven, a turtle...

"What is this all supposed to mean?" she asked aloud. Perhaps it was symbolic? Or perhaps Death just liked animals.

She paused when she noticed that one of the darkened doorways she was passing by was not so dark -- there was light coming from within. She moved to the doorway and looked inside.

The light came from a single candle, set in a tall, silver stand. Beneath it sat a man wearing chain armor and a tabard, with a sword hanging from his belt. He looked just like a medieval knight. His chin rested on his hand, his elbows rested on his knees, and he was studying a chessboard.

"Hello?" Alexandra said.

The man didn't respond. Alexandra cautiously stepped into the room.

The knight still didn't say anything as she slowly walked over to look at him and the chessboard. It looked very old; the pieces were carved blocks of wood.

"Do you play chess?"

The sudden question almost made Alexandra jump. She took her eyes off the chess pieces and looked at the knight. He had finally looked up from the board. He was a beardless man with whitish-blond hair; once, he might have been handsome, but now his face was lined and weathered and pallid.

"A little," she said.

"Perhaps..." The knight spoke hesitantly, as if he had not used words in quite a while and was trying to remember them. He made an awkward gesture with his hand over the pieces. "Perhaps you can see some move I cannot?"

She looked down at the board again.

"It looks like you're going to be checkmated on the next move," she said.

The knight nodded unhappily. "I'm sure there is an escape... if I only study the board long enough."

"Are you playing Death?" she asked.

He nodded again. "Yes. He said I could have all the time I like to make my move. He won't return until then."

Alexandra looked at the chessboard again. She was not the greatest chess player -- David beat her most of the time -- but she didn't think there was any way for the knight to escape checkmate. She stood there a moment longer, and the knight resumed resting his chin on his hand and staring at the board, motionless.

"I have to go find Death," she said.

He didn't answer, so she left.

Back out in the grand hallway, the stone carvings had changed. Now the figures were human. There was a large, naked, muscular man with a beard wrestling with a skeletal figure. The skeleton was pinning him to the ground; the man, though his arms were huge and his legs were like tree trunks, had a desperate look on his buffoonish face.

Alexandra frowned. She thought the picture looked familiar, like a story she had read. Except it seemed wrong.

She continued walking, beginning to get frustrated. There was no end to the hallway, and the dark doorways she passed by seemed endless as well.

A ghostly child skipped out of one, crossed the hallway, and darted through another doorway. Alexandra halted immediately.

Another child -- a little girl wearing an old-fashioned dress and bonnet -- ran from the doorway she'd just seen the first child disappear into.

"Hey!" she called. The little girl kept running, and Alexandra ran after her. "Wait!"

The girl was definitely a ghost -- Alexandra could see through her. The girl ran into another doorway, and Alexandra thought she heard a giggle. She paused at the threshold of the doorway, and then followed.

It was pitch black inside. She held up her wand, and saw nothing but darkness all around her, but from somewhere, she heard children chanting a nursery rhyme:

"Ring-a-ring-a-rosie,
A pocket full of posies..."

"HELLO?" Alexandra shouted. "Please... will you talk to me?"

The distant sing-song chorus continued. Alexandra backed away, slowly, and stepped back into the hallway. She caught movement in the corner of her eye, and spun around. In the darkness of another room, across the hall, she saw what looked like many small glowing figures dancing in a circle.

"Ashes, ashes,
We all fall down!"

Alexandra dashed across the hall and through the opposite doorway, but the ghostly children scattered and were gone. She definitely heard laughter.

When she backed away this time, she didn't emerge from the darkness. She turned, and saw no doorway, no light. She desperately groped her way ahead through the darkness, but the grand hallway did not reappear.

She put a hand over her heart again -- it was pounding faster. She wasn't really afraid of the dark, but dread and uncertainty were taking its toll, and she was also beginning to recall the Boggart she'd faced the previous year, stepping out of the darkness, looking like --

"Hello."

Someone stepped out of the darkness in front of her. She gasped and almost dropped her wand.

"You were expecting me, weren't you?" Death looked down at her.

She knew it was Death, because he looked exactly as she had imagined him. She didn't know why she'd assumed Death would be a 'he,' but his voice was masculine; deep and almost pleasant in tone.

"You're staring," said Death.

"Sorry." She kept staring.

"So, what do I look like?"

"Don't you know what you look like?" Alexandra was having trouble not stammering.

"Of course I know what I look like," Death replied. "But I don't know what I look like to you." Beneath a black cowl, a gleaming white skull tilted slightly. "If I had to guess, though, I would guess a skeleton in a robe. You seem the type." In his long, black robe, he appeared to be standing before her with his hands behind his back.

Alexandra nodded. "Yes, that's right."

"I thought so." Death regarded her with a frozen grin. "Do you find me frightening?"

"A little... I guess." Alexandra swallowed. "Who were those children?"

"Spirits of the dead, of course."

"Ghosts? Who can't leave?"

"Anyone can leave," Death said. "But sometimes they would rather stay here." Death tilted his head, and Alexandra could hear singing again, faintly.

"Ashes, ashes,
We all fall down!"

"I'm rather fond of that tune," Death said.

"It's about the Black Death, right?" Alexandra said. "When you killed all those people in Europe."

"I didn't kill anyone. Yersinia pestis was responsible for that. And wherever did you hear that that song is about the Black Death? Nonsense. It's just a nursery rhyme. It changes over time. Every child that comes here seems to know a different version. Why are you here?"

It took Alexandra a moment to catch up to the abrupt shift in the conversation with Death's question.

"My name is Alexandra Quick," she said. "And I've come for my brother."

"Ah," Death said, in a long, drawn-out way. "I've been expecting you."

"You have?" She blinked.

Death nodded. "You've come to bargain for your brother's life."

"Yes!" She felt elation and astonishment. "Can you return him to life? Can you bring him back?"

Death didn't answer immediately. Alexandra tried to suppress a shiver. Her eyes darted right and left, but there was still nothing around them but the circle of light shed by her wand, and pitch black darkness beyond.

"It's been quite a while since someone came riding to my abode on a Thestral," Death said. "It used to be that I could scarcely go half a century without someone dropping by, but I don't get many visitors nowadays." She felt the Power's eyes on her, even though there were no eyes in those blank sockets. "I don't think I've ever been visited by one so young. You're either a very foolish and reckless child, or very determined."

"Maybe both," Alexandra said quietly.

"Indeed. I almost never let visitors return to the land of the living, you know."

"You said anyone can leave."

"Not alive."

Alexandra swallowed again. "Can you send my brother back to the land of the living?"

Death withdrew his arms from behind his back to fold them in front of his chest, letting the sleeves of his black robe hang down almost to the floor. Alexandra saw a flash of white bone before the hands disappeared back into them.

"Perhaps I can," Death said. "But why should I?"

Alexandra took a breath -- or at least, tried to. She wasn't sure she was actually breathing. "I've brought an offering."

"An offering?" Death's tone of voice suggested that if he had eyebrows, he would be raising one now.

"I have an obol." Alexandra reached into her pocket and took out her obol. She handed it to the skeletal figure. One of Death's bony hands emerged from his robe and received it.

"An obol," Death repeated slowly, turning the coin over in his hand. "An obol is the price of your passage. But you see, someone must die to create an obol -- I gain nothing by returning a life already forfeit in exchange for a life already paid." She felt Death's stare upon her, despite his lack of eyes. "I am not some ferryman to be bribed."

Someone must die to create an obol. Alexandra stared at the coin. "What do you want for my brother's life?"

"What do you offer me?"

She frowned. "I'll serve you."

"Serve me?" Death made a wide, sweeping gesture with his other hand. "Doing what, sweeping my hall?" And suddenly they were back in the grand, stone hallway, with fearsome, six-armed demons carved in stone on either side of them. "What do I need servants for?"

"I'll do anything you want -- I'll bring you anything --"

"Only a very foolish and reckless child uses words like 'anything.'" Death held up a hand, before she could answer. "No matter. What do you imagine that you can do for me or bring me, Alexandra Quick?"

"I don't know." Alexandra felt frustration and anger. "You must want something. You wouldn't even be talking to me if there wasn't something I could offer you. Unless you're just toying with me." She wasn't sure if she could cry, here, but she was beginning to feel like she was going to. "Do you want me to beg? I'll beg."

"I am not a prideful Power; groveling does not amuse me."

Alexandra held up her wand. "Will you let Maximilian return to life if I beat you in a duel?"

Death's laughter was cold. "Are they still telling tales about challenging me to a duel? You're a mortal in the Lands Beyond, and I am the Most Deathly Power. If I want you to die --" Death wiggled a finger, and Alexandra felt a chill that seemed to stop her heart for an instant. "I only accept 'challenges' from visitors who offend me. Do not delude yourself, child."

She was becoming desperate. "How about chess?"

"I only play one game at a time."

She heard the amusement in his voice, and became angry. Death was toying with her, now -- she was sure of it. After everything she'd done to get here, it was all just a joke to the deathly Power.

She wanted to scream -- instead, she took a deep breath. "What if I stay and you let Maximilian go?"

Death stood quietly for a moment, studying her. "A life for a life. You are willing to sacrifice yourself, in exchange for your brother?"

She'd known it might come down to this. She'd been prepared for it, but staring it in the face was still daunting enough to make her hesitate.

Oh, Anna, I'm sorry. Mom... Julia...

"Yes," she whispered. "Take me."

Death's empty eye sockets stared at her. "I do believe you mean it. You are willing to die for your brother."

"He died for me," she said softly.

"A headstrong, determined child indeed." Then Death made a negating gesture with the hand holding the obol. "But no. I can already have you, if I choose to take you. You tried to cheat me, Alexandra Quick."

"What?" She opened her mouth in protest. "Cheat you? How?"

"In all my days, no one has ever tried to bribe me with a fake obol before."

"What?" Alexandra was wide-eyed and confused now.

"Did you really think the Most Deathly Power would be fooled by a Glamour Charm?" He opened his hand, and Alexandra saw that the coin lying in his skeletal palm had changed. It was no longer the ancient, faded coin that Darla had given her. It was now the familiar gold of Confederation coinage. The Seal of the Confederation was stamped on one side, and as Death turned it over, she saw an engraved pigeon on the other.

She was so stunned, she was unable to speak for a moment. Death flipped the coin into the air, caught it, and chuckled, making a hollow, eerie sound. "You're lucky that I have a sense of humor. I will make a bargain with you."

"A bargain?" Alexandra's mind was still reeling in shock and confusion.

"A life for a life." Death closed his fist around the coin again. "Give this coin to someone else, and your brother will return to you." He extended his arm and opened his hand, holding the coin out to her.

She took it, trying not to let her fingertips touch Death's hand. "I don't understand."

"Your erstwhile obol is now a Deathly token. A rare gift from me to a child whose audacity amuses me."

She stared at the coin in her hand. It still looked like an ordinary pidge. "What happens to the person I give the coin to?"

"A life for a life," Death said. "That is the bargain."

"Wait -- you mean whoever I give this to will die?" She looked up at Death. "I can't do that!"

"Really? A moment ago you said you would do anything."

And a voice in her head said: You did say anything! You told your father that, too. You said you'd perform Dark Arts, sacrifice yourself, do anything he asked to bring Maximilian back!

She swallowed. "I don't want to sacrifice someone else." Her voice became pleading. "Why can't you take me?"

"Because," Death said, and his voice lost some of its harshness; "that is not the way it works."

She shook her head. "What is this, some kind of test? I won't kill someone!"

"That is up to you." Death shrugged.

"You're cruel!" she said angrily.

"Often." Death nodded.

She sniffed. Perhaps she could cry in this place. "Can... can I talk to him?"

Death shook his head. His hands were clasped together beneath the sleeves of his robe again, and his head was inclined forward so that she could only see a glimpse of his skull, in the darkness beneath his cowl.

"Please?" she begged.

"No." Death's tone was so final, Alexandra closed her mouth and stood there, trembling a little.

"Good-bye, Alexandra Quick," Death said. "I will not see you again before your time."

And she was standing alone in the darkness.

She stood there for minutes, or possibly much longer, before she shakily dropped the coin into her pocket, and turned around and walked out the way she'd come. Her wand was still glowing, but it diminished to a pinpoint of light again when she stepped out of Death's stone residence.

Skuld and Ben Journey were still waiting outside, in almost the exact position where she'd left them.

"Starshine!" Journey exclaimed. "I mean, Alexandra!"

Skuld raised her head and snorted. The Thestral seemed pleased to see her.

Alexandra stumbled down the steps.

"Did you change your mind?" Journey asked.

"Change my mind?" She looked at him blankly.

"I thought you were going into -- whatever it is you see there." Journey gestured, but when Alexandra looked back over her shoulder, there was nothing there to see. "You just decided to turn around and come back?"

Alexandra shook her head. "I must have been gone longer than you noticed." She patted Skuld, and then grabbed hold of the saddle and hauled herself back up onto the Thestral's back.

"You weren't gone at all, Alexandra!"

"Well... it's time for us to go back."

"Back?" Journey looked at her, agape.

Alexandra leaned forward, and tugged on Skuld's reins. "Up," she whispered. "Take me home, Skuld."

Death hadn't given her directions. She had no idea how she was supposed to get back, but if the Deathly Power wanted her to go wandering around in his realm, lost, it would be a pretty poor joke. She hoped Skuld would be able to find her way back. The Thestral took off, flapping her bat-wings and leaving the ground behind. In moments, they were surrounded by darkness and whispers and endless cold again. Alexandra didn't even notice whether Journey was still following.

---

It didn't seem as if they flew for as long as they had when they'd descended. Alexandra never saw a gateway or anything of the sort -- one moment they were in the Lands Beyond, and then Skuld was stepping through the portal in the cave from which they'd left. In fact, she was half-flying, and let out a startled screech as she had to fold her wings abruptly and nearly sit back on her haunches to skid to a halt, narrowly avoiding slamming into the far wall. Alexandra was almost dumped to the ground, and then nearly thrown into a wall when Skuld righted herself and made a frantic circle within the cave, trying to get her balance.

"Whoa, Skuld! Whoa!" Alexandra cried. Pulling on her mount's reins brought her up short, and gradually, the Thestral stopped dancing about, and calmed down enough to allow Alexandra to slide off the saddle.

Ben Journey was there. He floated before them, with an expression of amazement. Alexandra turned around, to see Darla, pressed against the wall, where she had been curled up with her knees against her chest and her face buried in her arms. Now she was trying to make herself into a tiny little ball with her hands protecting her head, but when she looked up, her red-rimmed eyes widened.

Alexandra continued turning about, looking around the cave. Skuld was now standing at the entrance looking eager to be out of there, and only Ben Journey standing in her path making soothing noises prevented her from bolting out of the cave. The portal to the Lands Beyond had vanished -- the rock wall was solid and covered with motionless painted figures again.

Alexandra turned back to Darla, and walked over to her.

Darla slowly rose to her feet, pressing her hands against the rock wall behind her for support.

"You came back," she whispered in disbelief.

Alexandra narrowed her eyes. "You seem surprised."

As Darla stared at her, Alexandra dug into her cloak pocket, and found Death's token -- the coin that Darla had given her. She held it up. Darla turned white.

"A pigeon," Alexandra said. "A pigeon with a Glamour Charm."

Alexandra couldn't see Journey's face -- the ghost was still keeping Skuld from leaving. The Thestral tossed her head and made an impatient noise. But Darla just stood there, frozen in place.

Alexandra closed her hand around the coin in a fist, and lashed out and struck Darla in the face. Darla's head snapped back and struck the rock wall behind her. With a whimper of pain, she slid to the ground. Dazed, she raised a hand to her nose. Blood was trickling out of it.

"You gave me a fake obol!" Alexandra said, breathing heavily. She was shaking all over now.

Darla looked up at her, still clutching her nose. She looked scared, but there was something else in her eyes, something hard and ugly.

She moved her hand away for a moment. Her nose was bleeding profusely.

"What are you going to do?" she said. "Tell Ms. Grimm?"

Alexandra stared down at the other girl. Confusion and disbelief were swept away by fury, and she drew her wand.

"ARE YOU COMPLETELY INSANE?" she shouted.

Skuld made a noise like a cross between a neigh and a hiss, and charged right through Journey and out of the cave.

"Now, Alexandra, let's all calm down here," said Journey. "I'm sure this was a misunderstanding --"

"SHE GAVE ME A FAKE OBOL!" Alexandra lowered her voice, barely. "You wanted me to die!"

Darla's expression faltered. "I didn't think you were really going to go to the Lands Beyond. You're the one who's completely insane! What good would an obol have done you? Nobody --" She paused. "Nobody comes back from the Lands Beyond..." Her voice trailed off, and she pressed her hand back over her nose again, trying to stop the bleeding.

"You mean, you never actually expected me to come back." Alexandra bared her teeth. "What was the point of telling me about Death, and the Deathly Regiment?"

"You actually believed those fairy tales?" Darla sneered. "Merlin, you're stupid!"

Alexandra's face turned redder, but her rage was already burning itself out, leaving her drained and confused.

"What was the point?" she asked. "Why would you do that?" She held up the coin again. Darla's eyes darted towards it with an expression that was at once covetous and despairing.

"A token," Alexandra whispered. Darla's eyes darted back to her face. Alexandra stared down at her. "You wanted me to die so this could become some kind of magic item?"

Like the token Maximilian had worn around his neck -- their father's locket -- when he had gone to the Lands Beyond.

Darla's expression was hard to read, with her hand covering the lower half of her face. She didn't say anything.

"To save your sister," Alexandra said, seizing the thought. Darla's eyes widened. Alexandra's expression turned angry and vengeful. "You wanted to kill me to save your sister? How was that supposed to work?"

Darla shivered, but remained silent. Alexandra gritted her teeth and pointed her wand again. "Why?" she shouted. "Why did you do it? What were you trying to do?"

Darla eyed the tip of Alexandra's wand, and then said, very softly, "What will you do now? Crucio me?" She lifted her hand again, revealing a nose, mouth, and chin covered with blood. "Let's see you do it." There was fear in her expression, but her voice taunted Alexandra, daring her.

Alexandra's hand shook, and then, slowly, she lowered her wand.

"I didn't think so." Darla pressed her sleeve over her bloody nose.

Alexandra stared at her, filled with cold fury and emptiness.

"Here," she said, in a very soft voice. She held out the coin between her thumb and forefinger. Her eyes bored into Darla's. "You can have this back."

Darla slowly reached for the coin, confused and frightened.

In the last instant before Darla took it, Alexandra closed her eyes and yelled in fury and frustration, and jerked her hand back. Darla flinched and cringed away from her. Alexandra stomped around in a circle, holding her head in her hands.

You deserve to die. I want Max back -- I want him back so much -- why should you live and not him? She was trembling, and tears threatened to spill out of her eyes.

She heard Skuld walking down the tunnel outside the cave they were in, and took a deep breath. She turned to Mr. Journey, who was still watching both girls.

"I'm going to get Skuld," she said. She looked at Darla. "You think you know so much? You don't know anything."

She turned her back on Darla, and walked out of the cave.

Skuld was a few yards down the tunnel, and snorted when Alexandra appeared. She had to speak softly and coax the Thestral a bit before she was able to grab her reins again, but once she had them, she was able to lead her back the way they'd come.

Journey looked troubled, but he didn't say anything about the confrontation, all the way back to the stable.

"I'd better make sure Darla gets back safely," the ghost said, once Alexandra had put Skuld back in her stall. "If she gets caught, she might turn you in as well, out of spite. Something's wrong with that girl..."

"You think?" In fact, Alexandra was no longer worrying about Darla at all. She glanced at the deceased wizard. "You're still here. I thought you'd be able to move on if you were forgiven."

"I told you, Alexandra, it isn't that simple." Journey sighed.

"You know, Mr. Journey," she said, "you've never actually said you're sorry for trying to kill me."

A surprised, guilty look flashed across his face. "I told you, Alexandra -- I know it was a terrible thing I tried to do. That's why I'm here now --"

"I thought you're here because you didn't want to die," she said.

He regarded her silently.

"So, are you more sorry that you tried to kill me, or that you're dead instead of me?" she asked.

Journey didn't say anything, but when he looked away, she could see the answer on his face.

"Maybe you should work on that." She crossed her arms, shivering a little in the morning chill. "I guess Darla won't tell on you if you don't tell on her."

She left the ghost by the stable, and made her way around the academy, back to where she had left her broom on the ground. Two stories above, the window to her room was dark. She mounted her broom and rose quickly into the air. On the horizon, the sky was turning light gray.

When she cautiously pulled the window open, Charlie immediately cried, "Alexandra! Alexandra!"

"Ssh!" Alexandra said, though she almost knocked a chair over and made even more noise clattering her broom against the window sill and desk as she climbed through the window and closed it.

Anna had by now sat up in her bed. She looked as if she'd been curled up in a ball, but her face showed astonishment and disbelief, even in the predawn light.

"You came back," she whispered.

Alexandra nodded. She dropped her broom and stood there.

"Alexandra!" Charlie squawked.

"You came back!" Anna staggered to her feet, looking shocked and awed.

Alexandra began shaking.

"Are you all right?" Anna asked.

Alexandra didn't answer.

Anna wrapped her arms around her and began crying.

"Please don't cry, Anna." Alexandra held Anna with one arm, while wiping her own eyes with the back of her hand.

"I thought I was never going to see you again!" Anna sobbed. "I thought -- I don't know what I thought! I just knew you were going to do something terrible, and something awful would happen to you..."

"Didn't you believe me?" Alexandra said. "I told you I'd be back."

"Miss you terrible," said Charlie.

Anna shuddered. "And... what happened?"

Alexandra squeezed her eyes shut. "Max is still dead."

They stood there like that for what seemed like a long time.

"I'm sorry," Anna said.

Alexandra opened her eyes. Anna was staring at her -- her expression was confused, frightened, and compassionate.

"I'll tell you about it," Alexandra said. "But I think I need to sleep first."

Anna nodded. "You don't have to tell me, if you don't want to."

"I'm so tired."

Anna nodded again, and helped her peel off her cloak and jacket, and watched as Alexandra stripped off her boots and socks and her pants and shirt.

"Sorry," Alexandra said. She supposed she probably smelled like blood and Thestrals. She was too tired to take a shower. In fact, the exhaustion that was coming over her now was an almost irresistible force -- she could barely keep her eyes open.

Anna shook her head. "It's all right."

Alexandra crawled into bed. Charlie hopped to the edge of her desk, next to her bed, and Alexandra reached up to stroke the raven's feathers.

"Pretty bird," she mumbled, and then closed her eyes. The last thing she remembered was Anna sitting by her bed, watching her as if afraid she might disappear again.