Alexandra Quick and the Thorn Circle

Homesickness

"Holy crap!" Anna exclaimed, when Alexandra told her what she'd discovered, and then covered her mouth, mortified. Alexandra almost laughed. The other girl was usually so soft-spoken, such profane Muggle-like words coming from her made even her owl flinch.

"Yeah," Alexandra said. "That's sort of what I thought."

She had her locket sitting on her lap now, but she was almost afraid to open it.

"I wish my father had told me more about the Thorn Circle," said Anna. "All I remember is that he said all the Territories were hunting for anyone they thought was Dark. Even having a raven familiar could get you arrested. He never mentioned names, though, or if he did, I didn't remember them."

Alexandra nodded, while she spun her bracelet around her wrist. Charlie had exited the cage and was sitting on Alexandra's shoulder.

"So you really think he's your father?" Anna asked in a whisper.

"I don't know. Why else would my mother have this locket? But why would the most powerful wizard in America... well, my mom's just a Muggle."

"My mother is a Muggle too," Anna pointed out, with a small frown.

"But at least she knows about the wizarding world. I'm pretty sure my mother doesn't."

"Are you sure? You said she's always refused to talk about your father..."

Alexandra sighed. "I still have nothing but questions. And he's not going to answer them." She grabbed her wand suddenly, and held her locket in her other hand and pointed. The locket opened, and Abraham Thorn looked at her and smiled.

"I know who you are now!" Alexandra said.

Charlie shrieked, and Anna suddenly looked nervous. "Alex, maybe you shouldn't -"

"Abraham Everard Thorn!" Alexandra said. "Are you my father?"

Charlie cawed and took off from Alexandra's shoulder, with a dark flutter of wings. Abraham Thorn had always seemed smug and distant when she'd opened the locket in the past, but now he was staring directly at her, and she felt a shiver as she got the feeling that he'd really heard her this time. And then, abruptly, he turned and walked out of the cameo.

Anna gulped. "What... where did he go?"

"I don't know! Have you ever seen pictures do that before?"

Anna shook her head. "Wizard photographs can move, but they're still just recordings."

"What about paintings, like Miss Marmsley?"

"They're like spirits. I don't know exactly how it works, but we have a shrine to our ancestors at home, and they talk to us sometimes. My mother hates it." Anna was still staring at the now-empty cameo, looking a little pale. "But if You-Know-Who is still alive..."

"Don't call him that!" Alexandra snapped. "He's not some Dark Lord like that guy in Britain. And if Abraham Thorn is my father, or even if he isn't, I'm not going to be afraid to use his name."

Anna shivered a little, and nodded. "Do you think Ms. Grimm knows?" she asked quietly.

That was a thought that hadn't occurred to Alexandra, and she frowned thoughtfully, as she closed the locket.

"That's a good question. Maybe I should ask her."

Anna gave her a panicked look.

"Oh, don't worry, Anna. I'm not going to just go into her office. I have to think about this." She sighed. "Don't tell anyone else, all right? Not even David."

Anna nodded. "You might be safer if no one else knows. I don't know what the Wizard Justice Department would do if they find out you're... his daughter."

That thought worried Alexandra a little too. She hadn't read anything about the Special Inquisitions Office arresting and interrogating eleven year-olds, but Abraham Thorn was still a wanted man, and if they couldn't find out anything from her, they certainly might try to get answers from her mother.

"When I go home for Christmas," she said softly, "my mother is going to give me some answers!"

---

They had less than a month until Christmas vacation started, but it was one of the longest months in Alexandra's life. Even the weeks she had spent cleaning hallways and raking leaves and putting away books had been less tedious. It was the end of the semester, so everyone had to study for final exams, and Alexandra was acutely aware that these were a preliminary for the SPAWN she would be taking when she returned after New Year's.

The rumors about her continued unabated, and knowing that there might really be truth to them, Alexandra began to play the part, giving people sinister looks and spending a lot of time outside with her raven perched on her shoulder. The possibility that she really was the daughter of the most infamous wizard in the country had been a shock at first, but now, deep down, she felt something akin to pride. She wasn't sure what to believe about Abraham Thorn. At best he was ruthless and ambitious, and at worst, evil, and neither made him the sort of father she had imagined. But just having a concrete image in her head of who her father might be was more than she'd had before, and she clung to it.

Sometimes her imagination ran wild: she was Dark Queen Alexandra, daughter of the Dark Lord Abraham Thorn, dread sorceress who commanded the Dark Convention and made the wizarding world (and especially Larry Albo and Dean Grimm) tremble at her name.

Whatever glee she felt while indulging in these fantasies was tempered by her conviction that she really was in danger. If Ms. Grimm wasn't behind the repeated attempts on her life, she was at least trying to cover them up. And Alexandra was more worried than she wanted to admit that threats to her life might follow her home. She didn't want her mother endangered - or Archie, even, though she would barely admit that even to herself.

Alexandra was trying to keep her promise to Anna. Other than her "Dark" posturing, she was behaving herself. She had held onto the biography of Abraham Thorn for a while, especially now that it contained the only picture she had available of him. His image had not returned to her locket; when she opened it now, the cameo was empty.

She asked Anna whether the wizarding world had anything like photocopiers, which took some explaining at first. Anna was somewhat familiar with the Muggle world but she didn't really live in it.

"Oh, like a Copying Charm," she said. "But those are difficult, and even if you could learn it, the things it copies are only temporary."

Eventually, Anna simply told Bran and Poe to send all three books back to the libraries they came from. The elves were relieved, as they'd been afraid Mrs. Minder might receive an owl from the Interlibrary Loan service if someone else requested one of the books.

It was becoming bitterly cold outside, though without any signs of snow as of yet. Charlie spent less time outdoors, preferring the warmth of Alexandra's room, but she and her friends continued to walk the grounds after school, wishing for snow. Led by Alexandra, it had become a sort of quest for them, the sort of absurd and unrealistic project children take on when looking for things to do. Alexandra had even read a little about weather magic, enough to know that conjuring snow was difficult even for experienced meteorologimancers. This didn't stop them from trying.

The cold also meant more crows roosting in the woods surrounding the academy. Alexandra knew from her reading that this was natural behavior for crows in the winter. But it seemed to keep many kids inside in the evening, when the crows swarmed across the sky to settle in the branches of the trees.

One evening, there was a sudden cacophony of shrieking and cawing, and a cloud of birds erupted out of the nearest trees and flapped around before landing in other trees nearby. Constance and Forbearance both started, and looked at the woods apprehensively.

"It's probably just an owl," said Alexandra, and when Anna stared at her, she pointed out, "Well, owls do eat crows."

"Not my owl!"

"We oughter go inside," said Constance and Forbearance together.

"They're just birds," said Alexandra. "They aren't really spying for the Dark Convention, you know."

"Of course we know that!" Forbearance snapped.

"We hain't simple!" Constance huffed. Both girls whirled and hitched up their long dresses as they stalked back towards the academy.

Alexandra, Anna, and David exchanged baffled looks. None of them had ever seen the Pritchard twins lose their temper before. Then Alexandra set off at a run to catch up to them.

"Hey!" she gasped, puffing clouds of mist in the freezing air. "I don't think you're simple!"

The Ozarkers stopped, and looked at each other.

"Was that an apology?" Constance demanded.

Alexandra shuffled her feet. "Okay," she said. "I'm sorry."

"Ozarkers ain't stupid," Constance said.

"We hain't superstitious -"

"- foolish -"

"- unlettered -"

"- ignorant -"

"Hey!" Alexandra interrupted. "I never said any of that stuff! What are you guys talking about? Half the school thinks I'm Dark just because of my raven!"

"And half the school thinks we're silly as geese!" said Constance.

"With heads like straw!"

"We know nothing of the world!"

"And will believe all what we're told!"

Anna and David caught up to Alexandra, while she stood there blinking at the Pritchards.

"People have been saying that about you?" she asked.

"I s'pose you ain't noticed," said Constance.

"Since you got your own name to fret about," added Forbearance, a little sharply.

"I'm sorry," Alexandra said again, letting out another steamy breath of air, and this time she meant it.

"We're near 'bout the only Ozarkers in school," said Constance. "Exceptin' Benjamin and Mordecai."

"And we're from the furthest holler."

"C'mon, Alex wasn't making fun of you," said David, and she felt a flash of gratitude towards him.

Anna nodded. "Everyone does believe that stuff about ravens and crows, and you... well, you did look scared."

The twins looked at each other.

"Perhaps the crows did a'ween us," said Constance.

"A little," admitted Forbearance.

They looked down. "It's not been easy here," Constance mumbled.

"Sometimes we wish we'd stayed in our holler," agreed Forbearance.

"We miss our kin."

"We're all homesick," said David. This admission surprised Alexandra a little, as David didn't look homesick and generally seemed quite happy to be at Charmbridge, when he wasn't protesting elf slavery. Anna nodded vigorously, and they looked at Alexandra expectantly, but she couldn't force herself to do more than shrug. "I guess."

Everyone rolled their eyes at her. "What?" she demanded, as she followed them inside.

They all sat in front of the fire that had been lit in the sixth graders' lounge that night. Constance and Forbearance didn't usually socialize with them in the evenings. Alexandra realized, a little guiltily, that she really hadn't gotten to know the Pritchards well, despite Ms. Grimm having included them among her friends who would be punished for her misbehavior.

"It's not my fault everyone's making up stuff about me!" Alexandra insisted. A popping sound was coming from the fire, as kids were thrusting magic skillets into the flames and shaking them to generate endless piles of popcorn.

"Well, you do kind of... encourage it," Anna said hesitantly. Alexandra looked at her.

"Come on, you know it's true, Alex," said David.

Even the Pritchards agreed.

"Sometimes," said Constance, "you and your raven..."

"You both preen," finished Forbearance.

Alexandra stared. "I do not!"

"Do so," said Anna.

"You totally do," said David.

Alexandra sat back, folding her arms and sulking a bit.

"Have some popcorn," said David, shoving a skillet at her. It floated in the air in front of her. She took a handful and munched on it, while the rest of them talked about their plans for Christmas vacation.

"The Automagicka don't come within a hundred miles of our holler," said Constance.

"The Charmbridge bus will drop us off at the edge of the Ozarks."

"Our eldest brother will pick us up, we reckon."

"Then we'll have to fly by night."

"You have an older brother?" Again Alexandra realized, after asking this, that it was a silly question and revealed how little she'd learned about them.

"We have three older brothers," said Constance.

"And two older sisters," said Forbearance.

"And two younger sisters."

"And a baby brother."

Anna's eyes widened. "Ten kids?" Like Alexandra, she was an only child, and could not imagine having such a large family.

"It's not irreg'lar among Ozarkers," said Constance.

"So you two both planning on having that many kids someday?" David asked.

"David!" Anna gasped, as the Ozarker girls blushed.

"Whatever will be," murmured Forbearance.

"Will be," murmured Constance.

Alexandra frowned. "None of your brothers or sisters go to Charmbridge?"

The girls shook their heads. "We're the first."

"Most Ozarkers are schooled at home."

"So why did your parents send you?" Alexandra asked.

"Our parents conceived that formal schooling could improve us."

"Times do change, after all."

"So we took the entrance exams."

"Ma and Pa were so proud when the owl from Charmbridge came!"

Anna nodded. "My parents made me apply to all four of the major schools, but I was really happy that I was accepted at Charmbridge."

"I never even got tested," Alexandra said. "Ms. Grimm said my name just appeared on some scroll in the Registrar's office."

"Me too," yawned David.

And that was when Alexandra suddenly had a thought, such an unexpected, startling, and exciting thought that she jumped up and sent popcorn flying around the room.

"Hey!" David grumbled, brushing kernels out of his hair and sitting up.

"The Registrar's Scroll!" Alexandra said. Then she crouched back down and lowered her voice, as other kids were staring at her.

"What about it?" Anna asked.

"How does it work? I mean, how does it know who you are?"

The others all looked at one another, and shrugged.

"I don't know," said Anna. "It's magic."

"The information probably comes from the Wizard Census Office," said David.

Alexandra was thinking hard. She remembered Darla mentioning something about a census.

"Does that mean it would list the name you were born with?"

Now they were looking at her very strangely - except for Anna, whose eyes were wide.

"Well, duh," said David. "What other name would it list?"

She couldn't explain to the others, but when they went back to their room that night, Anna immediately asked her: "You think it might have you recorded under your father's name?"

"Aren't children usually given their father's last name?" Alexandra asked. "Especially in the wizarding world, they seem kind of..."

"Old-fashioned?" suggested Anna.

"Yeah."

"But how can you find out? I don't think you can just go ask if you can see the Registrar's Scroll."

Alexandra was struck then by another realization. "If it does list me by my father's name," she said, "then Ms. Grimm has seen it."

She and Anna stared at each other.

"But," Anna said slowly, "that still doesn't tell us why Ms. Grimm would want to kill you. And we don't know anything. You might not be Abraham Thorn's daughter. And even if you are, the Registrar's Scroll might not say so."

"No," agreed Alexandra. "But somehow, I'm going to find out."

---

There was not much opportunity for Alexandra to visit the Registrar's office before the Christmas break. That week they had final exams. Anna was studying constantly, and while Alexandra was not quite as dedicated, she was busy enough that by the time the term ended, she had not had any better ideas than simply marching into the Dean's office and demanding answers. She didn't think that would go very well, so she decided she'd at least try it with her mother first. Claudia Green could get angry, but she couldn't turn her daughter into a rat.

Alexandra did well on her tests, and felt confident she'd prove that she no longer needed remedial classes after Christmas. Anna scored almost perfectly on her tests, but almost wasn't good enough. Alexandra spent an evening trying to reassure her roommate that her father wasn't going to make her stay in San Francisco and go to a traditional Chinese day-school because her grade point average was only 97.3%.

"At least you can tell your parents what your grades mean," she said. This didn't have the desired effect; Anna just clutched her disappointing test results and moaned. Her owl hooted sympathetically along with her.

Perfectionist fears aside, Anna was looking forward to going home for the holidays. So was Alexandra, although not for the same reasons. She was determined to corner her mother and have an unavoidable conversation about her father.

The morning of their departure from school, Anna gave Alexandra a neatly wrapped package. "Don't open it until Christmas," she said, then added, "I would have sent it to you from home, but Jingwei isn't big enough to fly that far yet." Her great horned owl was getting big, almost too big for its cage, but it was still an adolescent.

Alexandra took the gift, with a slow blush spreading across her face, while Anna began arranging a pile of other packages on her desk. "Come on, let's find the others and exchange presents." Then she noticed Alexandra's red face.

"You didn't get anything for them, did you?" she said with a sigh.

"Well, it's not as if I've had any chance to go shopping," Alexandra said defensively.

Anna looked a trifle disappointed, but tried to reassure her. "It's all right. Not everyone orders things by owl post, or has something sent from home."

Of course Anna had thought ahead and done just that, making Alexandra feel all the worse.

"I'll send you something, really!" she promised.

Anna smiled. "Ravens aren't very good at delivering things," she said. "They're too proud." Charlie cawed in agreement, and then made a hooting noise that was an almost perfect imitation of Anna's owl, except that the tone was slightly mocking.

"I can send it by regular mail if you give me your address."

Anna looked doubtful. "Muggle post? Well, okay. But don't worry about it, really."

As it turned out, only Darla and Angelique also had presents ready to distribute. David too wanted their postal addresses so he could mail something, but Darla and Angelique weren't sure of theirs, and the Pritchards were sure the Muggle post office wouldn't know where they lived.

"It's the thought that counts," said Forbearance, untroubled.

"This wizarding stuff still gets me, sometimes," David admitted to Alexandra, as they all joined the large group of children streaming out of the academy. Alexandra nodded her head in agreement.

Students had been leaving the academy in stages all morning and would continue to do so throughout the day; even with its magically enlarged interior capacity, the short bus could not carry the entire student body all at once. So the departing kids were grouped by final destinations, and Anna, David, and Alexandra had to say good-bye to Constance and Forbearance before they left the school grounds, as the Ozarker girls would not be carried to their far drop-off point until that evening.

Unlike when they arrived, they didn't have to carry all of their belongings back to the bus stop across the valley. Mr. Journey and some other faculty were transporting the larger trunks, boxes, and bags on a very large flying carpet. "It'll all be waiting for you on the other side!" Journey assured them.

"Wish we could ride the carpet," said David.

Alexandra could tell he was more nervous than he wanted to admit about walking back across the Invisible Bridge. She was carrying Charlie's cage with her, and leaving the door unlatched, just to be safe.

The woods were dense and undisturbed, and the crackle and rustle of leaves underfoot was almost deafening as students tromped along the trail that had been little-traveled since the start of the school year. It was cold and everyone was wrapped in heavy coats, fur-lined robes, scarves, and mittens. Their condensed breath spread out like a small fog bank. But as the line of students snaked its way out of the woods and to the edge of the great valley that separated Charmbridge Academy from the Muggle world, Alexandra noticed most everyone pulling away from her. Only David and Anna remained near her. Even Darla and Angelique separated themselves, engaging in rather forced conversation, as if to pretend that they hadn't noticed how they were now grouped with the other students who were reluctant to cross the bridge with the 'jinxed' girl who'd nearly fallen to her death last time.

"You can go on ahead too," Alexandra said to the other two. "Really. I don't mind and I won't blame you."

"Don't be silly." Anna actually looked offended. "Dean Grimm wouldn't let another accident happen." And she actually took Alexandra's hand and said, "Come on."

David swallowed, and seemed to be praying for a brief second before he stepped onto the Invisible Bridge.

Alexandra's heart was beating a little faster as she looked down at the valley far beneath her feet. Last time it had been a lush green. Now it was all brown and yellow, and the river was icy and more than half-frozen. It would be a very, very cold, hard landing, she thought, and then tried to put that thought out of her mind. Of course they weren't going to fall. She could feel Anna squeezing her hand tightly, and wasn't sure if the other girl was trying to reassure her, or feeling scared herself.

"Don't worry," she joked. "Charlie will save us if anything happens."

Charlie made a sound that was almost like a laugh, and David echoed it with a barking laugh of his own. Anna just smiled tightly.

"Darn," said Larry loudly, from a throng of older students, as Alexandra set foot on the far side. This was greeted by laughter from his friends, but Alexandra just rolled her eyes. David and Anna both let out their breaths in long relieved exhalations that clouded the air.

Aboard the short bus, Darla and Angelique sat with them as if nothing had happened, and Alexandra pretended not to have noticed. Angelique had Honey in her cage, but the jarvey was dozing peacefully. Mrs. Speaks had told her that any profane outbursts would result in her familiar being stuffed into the luggage compartment beneath the bus, so Angelique had poured a sleeping draught into Honey's water. Anna's owl Jingwei kept looking into the jarvey's cage in a way that made Angelique profoundly uneasy.

Darla, Angelique, and Anna were going only as far as Chicago. Darla lived in the Chicago area, and Anna and Angelique would be taking the Wizardrail home, to San Francisco and Louisiana, respectively. Darla did most of the talking, as usual, bragging about how her family was going to go to the North Pole for Christmas, and the gifts she expected to receive. David was trying to keep Malcolm settled, and Alexandra and Anna passed notes back and forth, exchanging addresses and ideas for finding out more about her father.

When they arrived in Chicago, in front of the Wizardrail station, Darla and Angelique disembarked together, along with most of the other kids on the bus. Alexandra said good-bye to them politely, but was rather relieved she wouldn't have to hear Darla's chatter for the rest of the trip. But she was more solemn as she turned to Anna.

"I'll miss you," Anna said.

"I'll miss you too. I will send you something, honest."

"You don't have to."

"I will! I mean it."

Anna laughed, and gave her a hug. "Merry Christmas, Alex."

"Merry Christmas, Anna."

Anna turned to David, and after hesitating a moment, gave him a hug too. He looked uncomfortable and embarrassed, and hugged her back awkwardly. "Why do girls have to get all huggy? It's not like we won't see each other again in a few weeks!"

"Merry Christmas, David." Anna grinned at him, and then joined the others exiting the bus. Alexandra watched the small girl hauling her huge owl cage up the steps to an old-fashioned wooden train platform with hand-painted signs indicating departures to Alta California, Arcadia, New Amsterdam, and New Orleans. Anna turned to wave good-bye, and then the bus began moving, and the Wizardrail station disappeared behind them.

Alexandra and David played magic checkers and Go Fish until they reached Detroit, and it was David's turn to disembark.

"I ain't hugging you," he said.

She smirked. "In a few years, you'll wish girls would hug you."

He rolled his eyes. "Merry Christmas, Alex. Stay out of trouble."

"You too."

And then David got off, and Alexandra was alone for the rest of the ride to Larkin Mills.