Alexandra Quick and the Deathly Regiment

The Bone Flute

When Alexandra woke up, Anna was still sitting in the chair, asleep, with her head tilted forward. Charlie was perched on the edge of her desk, also asleep.

Charlie woke up first when Alexandra moved, and made a sound almost like a songbird's chirp.

"Pretty bird," Alexandra said, and Charlie repeated: "Pretty bird!"

Anna opened her eyes with a start.

"You should have gone back to your bed," Alexandra told her.

Sleeping like that couldn't have been comfortable, Alexandra thought, but Anna just shook her head. "I nodded off." She blinked and rubbed her eyes.

As Alexandra got out of bed, her eyes fell on her cloak, which she had carelessly discarded to the floor the night before. In a sudden panic, she grabbed it and thrust her hand into one of the pockets. She breathed a sigh of relief when she found the pidge. The relief was followed by a moment of disorientation and shock, as she realized that it hadn't all been a dream.

It really happened.

She looked at Anna, who was staring at her as she stood there in the middle of their room, half-naked and still smelling faintly like a Thestral.

"I -- I'll take a shower now," Alexandra said. She kept the coin clenched tightly in her fist as she went into the bathroom. She was afraid to let it out of her sight.

What if someone else touches it? she thought. And following on the heels of that thought: Can it really bring Max back?

She and Anna hardly spoke until they were both dressed. Alexandra put the coin into the pocket of her clean pants, and then held Charlie in her arms as Anna slipped on a casual non-school robe.

They looked at one another. They could hear Sonja and Carol also getting up, and other girls in the hallway outside heading for Sunday morning breakfast.

"I went to the Lands Beyond," Alexandra said.

All the color drained out of Anna's face. She looked as if she might faint.

"I'm not going back, Anna," Alexandra said. She sat down on the edge of her bed. "I'm done."

"Really?" Anna sounded hopeful and relieved.

Alexandra nodded and closed her eyes.

"You really went to the Lands Beyond?" Anna asked.

"Yes."

"And you came back." Anna sounded incredulous.

Alexandra didn't say anything. She was still thinking about everything -- Death, Darla, Mr. Journey, and the coin in her pocket.

"You don't have to tell me about it," Anna said softly.

Alexandra opened her eyes and started to speak, but just then Sonja knocked on their door and opened it without waiting for an answer.

"Hey, are you guys going to breakfast?" she asked.

Alexandra and Anna looked at each other.

"Yes," Alexandra said. "In a little bit." She gave Sonja an annoyed look. "Do we have to start locking that door?"

"Well, excuse me!" Sonja said. "See you downstairs, then, maybe." She shut the door with a bang.

"Jerk!" squawked Charlie.

Alexandra shook her head and rolled her eyes.

She and Anna were quiet for a few moments. Then Anna asked, "Is it really over?"

Alexandra was very conscious of the pidge in her pocket. She could feel it against her thigh.

"Almost," she said.

Anna's face twitched.

Alexandra turned to her. "There really are things it might be bad to tell you, Anna. I promised I wouldn't hide things from you anymore, but... some secrets are dangerous."

"I know," Anna said. "You don't need to tell me everything you know. Just... don't hide things from me because you don't want me to worry. Don't lie to me. As long as I know you trust me..."

"I do."

Anna nodded.

"There is something you need to know," Alexandra said. She set Charlie on her desk, and got out some owl treats to feed the bird. "Darla is crazy. She tried to kill me last night."

Anna's eyes widened.

"She tried to trick me. She gave me something that would help me go to the Lands Beyond -- but she didn't expect me to come back."

"Why would she do that?" Anna whispered.

"I don't know. I think she's insane. I mean, really insane."

"We have to tell someone."

"Maybe.

Anna frowned at Alexandra's reluctance. "There's no way to explain what she did without explaining what you were doing, is there?"

Alexandra shook her head. "I don't think so."

"I guess you'd probably get in a lot of trouble, too."

Alexandra gave Charlie another owl treat. The raven was greedily gobbling them down. "I broke into the stables, stole a Thestral --"

"You stole a Thestral?"

"Well, borrowed. Then I snuck into the sub-basements, opened a portal to the Lands Beyond --"

"How did you get a Thestral into the sub-basements?" Anna shook her head. "Never mind." She looked down. "You're right. You'd probably be expelled."

"And charged under the WODAMND Act."

"But if Darla really is crazy --"

"I know." Alexandra sighed.

"Why would she want to kill you?"

"I don't know."

"So what do we do?"

Alexandra put away the owl treats. Charlie squawked. Alexandra ignored the protest, then opened the window. "Go on, Charlie. Fly." When Charlie hesitated, Alexandra stroked the bird's feathers with her fingertips. "Fly, fly!" she said.

"Fly, fly!" Charlie repeated, and took off out the window.

Alexandra turned back to Anna. "We watch her, very carefully."

"She's dangerous."

"Without a wand, not very."

Anna looked skeptical.

"I'll be careful," Alexandra said.

She worried a little when she didn't see either Darla or Angelique at breakfast, but it wasn't unusual for both girls to sleep late on Sundays. She and Anna debated knocking on their door as they returned to their own room, but they encountered both girls heading downstairs when they returned to Delta Delta Kappa Tau hall.

Darla looked tired and pale, and had dark circles under her eyes. She and Angelique both stopped in their tracks when they saw Alexandra and Anna.

Alexandra and Darla stared at each other. Darla's expression was wary and resentful, but Alexandra was struck by how defeated she looked. As if the events of the previous night had taken some great toll on her as well.

"Please," Angelique murmured. "Y'all aren't going to fight, are you?"

Alexandra looked at her. "Why should we?" How much did Angelique know, she wondered?

Angelique tugged on Darla's sleeve, and the two girls continued downstairs. Alexandra and Anna exchanged looks.

"Something's wrong with her," Anna said.

"You think?" Alexandra snorted.

"I mean it, Alex. She's not right."

"What can we do?" Alexandra shrugged uneasily. "I've already tried telling Ms. Grimm and Ms. Shirtliffe that there's something wrong with Darla."

But it wasn't really Darla that concerned Alexandra most. It was the pigeon in her pocket.

---

Over the next week, Alexandra spent a great deal of time thinking about the coin Death had returned to her. She would take it out when she was alone and stare at it, turning it over and over in her hands. It still looked like an ordinary pidge. It didn't feel different. It didn't glow, or cause any strange sensations when she held it. She knew that there were spells to detect enchanted objects, Dark and otherwise, but Maximilian hadn't gotten around to teaching her any of those, and all they'd learned in class so far were Revealing Charms. Nothing hidden was revealed when Alexandra cast one on the coin.

A life for a life. She thought about that constantly. Death would return Maximilian to her -- and all she had to do was choose someone else to take his place.

Sometimes she wondered why she hadn't given the coin to Darla. Darla tried to kill her -- wouldn't she only have been getting what she deserved?

And she found herself staring at other people with narrow, calculating looks, as if weighing the value of their lives. Theo Panos and Jordan Klein still blustered and taunted her in JROC. Benjamin and Mordecai Rash held their tongues, as Constance and Forbearance had promised they would -- Alexandra had not heard 'Mudblood' or 'sorceress' from them in months -- but their disapproving expressions whenever they saw her with the Pritchards made it clear what they thought.

And then there was Larry Albo. She hated him most of all. There was nothing good about him -- he was a hateful, arrogant, bigoted jerk who still gave her dirty looks whenever they crossed paths.

It would be easy, she thought. She could hand the coin to any of them. Even Larry would probably take it reflexively, before he stopped to think about why she was giving him a pidge. She played out scenarios in her head, with the same cold-blooded ruthlessness with which she'd planned out her theft of the Time-Turner and her trip to the Lands Beyond with Skuld, to get any one of her nemeses alone and give them the coin.

And each time the scenario played out in her head, she couldn't make herself not think about a body dropping lifelessly to the ground. She saw Larry's eyes staring upwards, empty and dead like Ms. Gale's.

Who cares? she thought. Doesn't Maximilian deserve to live more than any of them?

She'd trade her own life for Max's. Why not someone else's?

Darla continued to look sleepless and tormented in class. Alexandra wondered if she was having nightmares about her sister.

It took Anna to remind Alexandra about their year-end SPAWNs. They only had one more month of class. Reluctantly, Alexandra started trying to catch up on Magical Theory and American Wizarding History, and stayed in the Alchemy classroom during lunch to do Potions make-up work.

While Mr. Grue watched her balefully, muttering something under his breath, she thought about leaving the pidge on his desk. She could see it in her mind very clearly -- the perpetually disgruntled teacher's bushy black brows would draw down in a scowl as he saw the coin, and he'd reach for it, meaning to hold it up and demand which of the students in his class were so careless that they were dropping pocket change on his desk -- and then his face would take on a startled expression, just before he toppled backwards, dead before he hit the ground.

Alexandra could see it all in her head.

Who'd miss him? she thought. Probably everyone in class would cheer.

"If you're going to daydream, Miss Quick, then get out of my classroom!" Mr. Grue snapped. Alexandra started. The teacher was glaring at her. In front of her, her cauldron had almost stopped simmering. At the next table, Janet was the only other student still working on her Fireblood Potion. Hastily, Alexandra added more ghost peppers and touched her wand to the bottom of her cauldron, bringing it to a pungent boil again.

Death's token preoccupied her, morning, noon, and night.

If I give it to someone here, it will be traced back to me, she thought. That was a good reason not to give it to Mr. Grue or Larry. But in the Muggle world -- who would know?

She could give it to Billy Boggleston, she thought. He'd be even easier to trick than Larry. And who would care? Who would miss him?

That night, she dreamed about Billy floating face-up in Old Larkin Pond. When she leaned over the water to inspect his body, his eyes opened and he grabbed at her, trying to drag her into the pond. The murky water turned to blood, and as Alexandra tried to pull his hands from around her neck, Billy's face became Maximilian's, mouth twisted in disgust and anger.

She shouted and woke up with her own hands at her throat. Anna was already out of bed, looking panicked.

"I'm okay," Alexandra said. "It was a nightmare."

"Maximilian," croaked Charlie, startling her.

The door to the bathroom opened abruptly. "Who shouted?" asked Sonja, standing there in a thin nightgown.

"Charlie!" Alexandra shouted at her. "Go back to bed!"

Sonja stepped back, alarmed, and then retreated, closing the door behind her.

"Charlie!" squawked the raven, sounding disgruntled.

Alexandra tried to go back to sleep, angry and embarrassed.

She'd done very little reading since returning from the Lands Beyond, outside of what she needed to do for classwork. As everyone else began fretting over final exams, term projects, and SPAWNs, Alexandra returned to the library to read about Death.

She re-read Beedle the Bard's The Tale of Three Brothers and Brother Randolph's How Goodman Raced Death, and even tried to delve into The Master of Death again. It was hard to gain much insight from wizarding fairy tales; the Deathly Power she had met resembled the figure of wizarding lore, true, but he also resembled the Grim Reaper of Muggle legends.

The only thing she noticed in common among all the tales was that Death didn't like to be tricked, cheated, or denied -- and he always won in the end.

Angelique came to her in the library one evening, while Anna was doing Arithmancy drills with another girl. Alexandra didn't notice her at first -- she was absorbed in a book about ancient Greek wizards and what they believed about Powers.

"Sonja says you woke her up screaming the other night," Angelique said.

Alexandra looked up from her book. Angelique was glancing around as if afraid to be seen talking to her.

"Sonja has a big mouth," Alexandra said. "And I wasn't screaming. What business is it of yours?"

Angelique looked down. "Darla has nightmares, too."

Alexandra frowned. "So what? Everyone has nightmares."

"I know you two were up to something," Angelique said quietly. "Something you shouldn't be messing around with."

Alexandra slapped her book shut with a snap that made Angelique jump. "I'm not up to anything, especially not with Darla. What do you want, Angelique?"

She was startled when Angelique swallowed and a tear ran down her cheek. "I'm scared," she murmured.

"You're scared of Darla?"

"No." Angelique shook her head. "I'm scared for Darla."

Alexandra regarded the other witch with a frown. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Please, Alexandra," Angelique whispered. "Whatever y'all are doing, stop it. Didn't y'all learn your lesson last year?"

Alexandra clenched her teeth. "Darla and I aren't doing anything together. And I'm not doing anything Dark. Have you tried talking to Darla about this?"

"She denies everything, too." Angelique wiped at her eye. "I know she's been writing to John."

"John Manuelito?" Alexandra asked incredulously.

Angelique nodded. "I think she saw him over the summer."

Disgusted, Alexandra said, "She really has gone crazy. Look -- Darla and I aren't friends and we're not conspiring and she's not my problem."

Angelique gave Alexandra a reproachful look.

Alexandra sighed. "What do you want me to do? I'm telling you the truth, Angelique. I couldn't help Darla even if I wanted to. I'm sorry about her sister, but I think she's lost her mind."

Angelique blinked. "You're sorry about her sister?"

"She told me about Hilary." When Angelique kept looking at her with an odd expression, Alexandra leaned forward and whispered, "I know about how she died --"

Angelique looked aghast. "Died? Darla told you Hilary died?"

Alexandra stared at her, feeling an icy mix of anger and dread. "She didn't? But -- you said something happened..."

"Hilary eloped with a Muggle-born... some day-school graduate. It was a big scandal, but -- I don't understand. I'm sure you misunderstood." Angelique looked even more upset.

"Angelique," Alexandra said slowly, "maybe you need to turn her in."

"Turn her in for what?" Angelique asked.

If Darla gets expelled, she'll tell about everything I did, too, Alexandra thought. But she said, "You should tell Ms. Grimm or Dean Cervantes that you think Darla is in trouble."

Angelique winced. "And get her expelled? Or arrested?"

Alexandra closed her eyes. When has Ms. Grimm ever believed me? Who will be the one who goes to prison -- the Congressman's niece who's one of the Elect, or the Enemy's daughter? "I can't help Darla, Angelique."

Angelique sniffed. Alexandra felt sorry for her, as she rose and left, but she refused to feel sorry for Darla. She had no reason to feel sorry for Darla anymore. She was a twisted little liar. Everything she'd said had been a lie, part of whatever Dark Arts conspiracy she and John were involved in.

Alexandra watched Darla even more closely after that, but all she saw was someone who seemed to be falling apart under the stress of upcoming SPAWNs. She dressed as elegantly as always, but her face was no longer glamorous and her eyes no longer sparkled -- indeed, even the other girls seemed to be put off by her sunken, pallid expression and her depressed demeanor. In class, she sometimes seemed on the verge of tears, and Mr. Grue and Mr. Newton snapped at her frequently for not paying attention.

Alexandra wasn't overly concerned about SPAWNs. She studied for them out of duty more than anything else. Much more important was her upcoming trip to Roanoke. April was almost over, and after SPAWNs and finals, Alexandra would visit the Kings again. Her mother had agreed to let her spend the end of May and most of June at Croatoa.

I can return with Max, she thought, sitting on the edge of her bed one night, holding the coin in her hand. Death had given her the means to do so -- why was it so hard?

She wouldn't be going directly from Charmbridge to Roanoke -- she had to return home first. Both Claudia and Ms. King had insisted on that. Alexandra didn't know why. She'd been away from home for four months already -- what difference would another month and a half make? But she had to take the bus back to Larkin Mills, and apparently there was going to be a telephone conversation between her mother and Julia's mother, and then a week later, Claudia would drive her to Chicago herself.

A week in Larkin Mills, Alexandra thought.

She could visit Archie at the police station where he worked. He'd taken her there before. He'd even let her see the jail, and the prisoners.

Most of the people her stepfather arrested were petty criminals: drunk drivers, shoplifters, the occasional drug bust. But Larkin Mills had its share of serious crime.

Alexandra stared at the coin in her hand. There were criminals who deserved to die, weren't there? Criminals who deserved to live less than Max.

Someone really bad, like a murderer or a rapist, she thought. It wouldn't be bad to give someone like that the coin, would it?

Then Anna came in, and Alexandra hastily clenched her fist to hide the coin. Anna raised an eyebrow at Alexandra's flushed, guilty look.

"Have you finished your Magical Theory essay?" Anna asked.

"Yeah." Alexandra nodded. It probably wasn't a very good essay, but she'd finished it.

"Good." Anna bit her lip. "Umm, can we practice metal-to-wood transformations again? I just can't seem to get it right."

"Sure." Alexandra smiled. At least there was something she could do to help her friend.

---

The first JROC drill day of May was cold and miserable, with a deluge of rain and temperatures almost cold enough to turn it into slush. They had few drills left before the end of the year; Alexandra knew Ms. Shirtliffe would be asking her soon if she was going to continue in the JROC next year.

But Ms. Shirtliffe didn't appear that afternoon. The company stood at attention out in the exercise yard, mostly shielded by Mage-Sergeant Major Strangeland's Umbrella Charm but still feeling cold rain whipped into their faces by the wind, while the student commander waited uneasily. Colonel Shirtliffe was never late.

Finally, after nearly fifteen minutes, Miss Gambola came jogging out to meet them, holding her hooded cloak fast against the wind. The younger teacher approached Eric, and after a few moments of whispered conversation, the Mage-Sergeant Major turned and addressed the other students.

"JROC drill is canceled today," he announced. "Everyone is to return to their dorms. Dismissed!"

Everyone was talking as they proceeded indoors. JROC drill had never been canceled before. Alexandra heard some of the older students questioning Eric; he shook his head and said that he'd only been told by Miss Gambola that Colonel Shirtliffe had been called away on urgent business and that all extracurricular activities had been canceled that day.

Alexandra noticed that William looked glummer than she'd have expected at being given a day off. Things had gotten a little easier for the Muggle-born boy, even as they'd become more difficult for her -- he wasn't teased as much, and he was keeping up better with the other new wands. She hadn't seen him hanging around with Innocence much lately, though.

Alexandra forgot about William as she returned to her room. Along the way, she saw a lot of worried, anxious students, and more teachers and Assistant Deans than usual patrolling the halls. Something was going on.

She found Anna already sitting in their room, tuning the Wizard Wireless to the Confederation News Network.

"What's going on?" Alexandra asked.

Anna looked at her with a worried expression. "Your father," she said quietly. "The Thorn Circle has attacked two cities."

"What?" Alexandra's mouth dropped open, and she moved across the room to stand next to Anna and hear the news. There was a knock on the door to the bathroom. Sonja opened it before Alexandra could turn around, but she stood in the doorway without entering when she saw the look on Alexandra's face. Alexandra turned back to the Wizard Wireless without saying anything to the other girl.

"-- simultaneous attacks on the Gringotts branches in both Atlanta and New Amsterdam's Goblin Market have all Regiments on stand-by, while the Department of Muggle Affairs contains the damage and risk of exposure to the Muggle world," the news announcer was saying. "But perhaps more heinous than these brazen bank heists was the third underground attack, launched against the New Amsterdam Academy for Witches and Wizards, forcing an evacuation of the school."

They listened for another hour, although they heard all the essential details (those that were being released publicly) within the first ten minutes. Somehow, the Gringotts branches in Atlanta and New Amsterdam had both been infiltrated from below. Their vaults had been emptied, and the buildings' foundations had been assaulted with magic powerful enough to cause the stone edifices to collapse. Many goblins had been killed, along with a few wizards.

In contrast to the attacks on Gringotts, the assault on the New Amsterdam Academy for Witches and Wizards seemed pointless. Nothing had been taken, no one had been killed; the students and staff had all escaped before the school collapsed into the ground. The only effect was a school full of terrified children and teachers fleeing into the adjacent Muggle neighborhoods as panicked parents arrived -- in some cases, Apparating and riding brooms in plain sight.

Anna was looking at Alexandra very seriously, as they listened to Governor-General Hucksteen repeat for the third time that hour that "wizarding secrecy would be preserved" and "the vile perpetrators of this evil act will face swift justice!"

"I had no idea he was going to do this," Alexandra said.

"I know that." Anna's eyes darted in Sonja's direction. "But not everyone will believe that."

Alexandra turned to look at Sonja, who flushed and said, "Of course I don't think you're responsible for what your father did."

Anna was right, though; when they went down to dinner, hostile looks and fearful muttering greeted Alexandra as she entered the cafeteria. Some students even hissed aloud at her.

Alexandra was tense for the rest of the evening, and remained that way the next day -- she knew the hexes and harassment, which had tapered off as everyone became more preoccupied with tests and term papers, were likely to return with a vengeance. She found herself constantly on guard once again. But her friends continued to sit with her at meals and in class -- even Constance and Forbearance, whom she saw arguing with both the Rashes and with their younger sister, who continued to dress inappropriately and sit apart from her fellow Ozarkers. Alexandra hadn't seen much of Innocence lately, but from what Constance and Forbearance said, Innocence had become less boisterous, but more sullen and uncooperative than ever.

Mage-Sergeant Major Strangeland led morning exercises that day, and informed the JROC that he'd been told by the Dean that Colonel Shirtliffe had been temporarily recalled to active duty.

No one knew why Abraham Thorn had attacked the New Amsterdam School for Witches and Wizards, but if he could destroy one of the oldest and most prestigious schools in the Confederation, then surely Charmbridge was not immune. There were all sorts of rumors -- that Aurors were going to be sent to guard the school; that they had received information about a possible attack on Charmbridge and all the other Big Four schools; that Charmbridge Academy would be evacuated.

Alexandra almost felt sorry for her frightened classmates, except that they seemed evenly divided between those who believed that the only reason her father hadn't attacked Charmbridge was because his daughter was here, and those who believed that her presence somehow put them in more danger. She wondered how long it would be before Diana Grimm showed up again.

There was no announcement delaying SPAWNs and final exams, however, and in Charms class, Mr. Newton gave Alexandra only a brief glance before launching into one of his dry, pedantic lectures, reviewing material for their final and the Charms portion of their SPAWN.

Anna suggested a group study session that evening in the eighth graders' lounge. Alexandra agreed, as did Constance and Forbearance, and to Alexandra's surprise, so did David, after sharing an uneasy look with Angelique. Darla, next to Angelique, hardly reacted at all -- she was so pale and wan, Alexandra wondered if she were ill.

Not much studying happened when Alexandra and her friends gathered that night in the lounge. They were all talking about the events in New Amsterdam and Atlanta. Other students in the lounge watched them, and some seemed to be trying to eavesdrop on their conversation, even after Alexandra loudly declared that she didn't know any more than anyone else did. Finally she took out her wand and cast Muffliato, which ended the eavesdropping, but not the staring.

It was almost curfew when Alexandra suddenly felt a sharp, cold twinge running up and down her spine, followed by a sensation of numbness spreading throughout her body. She almost doubled over, and put her hands on the table in front of her to steady herself.

Everyone looked at her in alarm.

"Charlie!" Alexandra gasped.

She didn't know why -- she had never felt any sort of physical or mental connection to her familiar before -- but all of her instincts screamed that something had happened to Charlie. She bolted out of her chair, and though her arms and legs were still tingling with a horrible pins-and-needles sensation, making her movements unsteady, she staggered out of the lounge and towards her room, with her friends following behind her.

She ignored the Delta Delta Kappa Tau monitor as he admonished her not to run in the hall. Behind her, she heard him ordering David to stop right there. She skidded to a halt when she saw that the door to her and Anna's room was ajar. Behind her, Anna, Constance, and Forbearance nearly collided with her. Then she dashed into her room.

The closet was open and cloaks, bags, her broom, Jingwei's traveling cage, and other assorted items had been haphazardly flung out of it. Her backpack had been pulled out from beneath her bed and emptied onto the floor -- all of her books and pens and quills and ink bottles, personal items, and coins had been dumped on the floor, along with the items she still had that had been Maximilian's: the wooden wands, the potion bottles, the Skyhook, the Flaming Dungbombs...

She took all this in in an instant, but then her attention focused on the two bodies lying on the floor. Her heart leapt into her throat, and she stumbled inside. Behind her, Anna let out a little scream, and Constance and Forbearance both gasped in horror.

Sonja was lying in a half-sitting position propped up against the doorway to the bathroom, while Charlie had fallen to the floor amidst the discarded contents of Alexandra's pack. She fell to her knees and scooped up the raven, moaning, "No, no, no, no!"

Her eyes went to Sonja, and she knew she should be more concerned about the girl, but it was Charlie's inert form making her feel as if she'd been punched, as if she couldn't breath.

Sonja opened her eyes and groaned. Anna had overcome her shock and rushed inside, followed by the Pritchards. Anna and Forbearance knelt next to Sonja, who was trying to lift her arm.

Alexandra looked down at Charlie. Tears ran down her face. She put her fingertips on the raven's breast -- and felt a tiny, fluttering heartbeat.

"Charlie!" she gasped. "Charlie... please don't die! Please!" Her hand stroked the raven's feathers gently.

"Darla," whispered Sonja.

Alexandra's head snapped up. She heard Forbearance talking to Constance, and then Constance stepped out of the room and hollered down the hall for David to go get help -- but her eyes focused on Sonja's lips. They were trembling and tinged bluish, but Sonja was forcing herself to speak.

"I heard Charlie... squawking... noisy," she said. "So I went in... Darla..." She shuddered. "I saw... she had... tried to get away, but she touched me with it..."

"Touched you with what?" Alexandra cried. Sonja's eyes were closing, while Forbearance held her hands and Anna went rummaging through a box of bottles and vials in her desk.

"Mistletoe wand," Sonja said. She groaned. "Hurts."

"A mistletoe wand?" Forbearance gasped.

Alexandra looked down at Charlie. She could still feel a numb, deadening sensation in her fingers and her toes.

"They're illegal, aren't they?" Alexandra swallowed. "Because they're used in Dark Arts."

"They're skinty counterfeits for a real wand," Constance said, standing by the doorway. "Can't bless or work magic proper with 'em -- all they's good for is cursin'."

She cursed Charlie, Alexandra thought. Darla had come into their room to rifle through her belongings, and Charlie would have protested --

Still cradling the bird in one arm, she looked around, and rummaged through the items dumped on the floor. It only took her a few moments to confirm that of all the things she had kept hidden in her magical backpack -- Maximilian's pack -- there was only one item missing.

The bone flute.

She looked at Sonja, then back down at Charlie.

Darla had to know there was no getting away with this. Which meant she was desperate. Maybe beyond desperate.

Anna was trying to get Sonja to drink something, while Forbearance soothed and tried to comfort her. Alexandra rose to her feet and turned to Constance.

"Constance," she said. She rubbed her eyes with the hand that wasn't holding Charlie. "I need you to do something for me."

"Of course, Alexandra," Constance said, eyes wide.

Alexandra held out her familiar. "I need you to promise you'll get Mrs. Murphy, or Mr. Fledgefield, or someone, to take care of Charlie. Whatever they do for Sonja, they have to do for Charlie, too."

Constance took the raven gently in her arms, but she was staring at Alexandra. "But, what are you doin', Alex? You -- you hain't goin' nowhere, are you?"

Anna and Forbearance were staring at her, too, but Alexandra fixed her gaze on Constance. "Promise," she said. She swallowed. "Please don't let Charlie die."

"I promise," Constance said. "But --"

Alexandra turned and picked up her broom.

"Alexandra!" Anna said. "What are you doing?"

Alexandra opened the window. "I don't know what Darla thinks she's doing," she said, "but I know where she went."

"Alexandra, if you know where she went, you have to wait for the grown-ups," Forbearance said. "They oughter deal with Darla."

"They won't get there in time." Alexandra didn't know why she was so certain of this, but she knew that every second they waited, and every second they spent trying to explain things to the adults, would be a second Darla was getting closer to the portal to the Lands Beyond.

She had no idea what Darla was planning, but Alexandra was sure she needed to be stopped.

"Alexandra," Anna moaned.

"I'll be all right, Anna." Alexandra smiled at her friend. "I can handle Darla. But I have to do this."

She straddled her broom, leaned forward to duck her head low, and launched herself out the window.