Threats

Alexandra avoided Maximilian's gaze. Who is he to be criticizing me for being here? she thought. No one was talking, so she just continued looking around, as Stuart and Torvald came through the doorway behind her.

“Is this everyone?” one of the older girls in the room asked.

“I think so,” replied one of cowled boys who had been out in the corridor, as he came up behind Torvald and Stuart. He held up the scroll, which Alexandra could now see was full of names, where before she had only been able to see her own.

A tall, round-faced boy with a dark complexion and long black hair stepped forward. “Welcome to this year's first meeting of the Mors Mortis Society,” he announced. “About half of you are new, and not all of you will make it through initiation, which is why you don't see a lot of our senior members here. They don't want to show their faces to newbies, despite the contract you just signed.”

He and the girl who had just spoken joined the two robed figures, while everyone else looked at each other. Alexandra rubbed her wrist and frowned. Initiation? So far, she was not impressed by all this theatricalism.

“You may have seen us around school,” the older boy continued. “Some of you probably know each other as well.” He nodded at all the prospective new members. “Remember that outside of these meetings, we don't talk about the Mors Mortis Society. We learn magic that's forbidden at Charmbridge, because the Confederation is governed by outdated, puritanical laws. Your teachers will tell you that certain magic is 'Dark' or 'evil,' but they'll never tell you why some curses are forbidden, and others aren't. The truth is, most so-called 'Dark magic' just has a stigma on it, either because it's non-traditional, or because somewhere in history, some wizard used that magic to do bad things.”

He scanned the room, as did Alexandra. Most of the other kids looked eager or nervous, or both. Stuart and Torvald had excited, curious expressions, and Darla was sitting up straight now, eyes fixed on the boy who was speaking. Angelique still looked uncertain. Tomo remained stone-faced, and Maximilian – Alexandra blinked when she glanced at him and found that he was still staring at her. She scowled back at him, and he frowned and looked away.

The two boys in robes had now pushed their hoods and cowls away. Alexandra recognized one boy as someone she'd seen on the Quidditch team the day before. The other one was pulling something from beneath his robes. It looked like a very old, worn stone bowl, embedded with shiny flakes of some other mineral, like mica. He gestured at Darla and Angelique and the other kids standing next to the magical fire. “Move out of the way,” he commanded.

They did so, and only then did Alexandra see that the rock wall behind them was much flatter and smoother than the rest of the room's interior, and that it was decorated with paintings. Alexandra could barely see the brown, red, black, and yellow figures in the flickering light from the fire, but they had a jagged, primitive appearance that she associated with Indian art, at least from what she'd seen in books. There were several human-like figures, engaged in activities that might have been running, hunting, fighting, or perhaps just standing around talking. There was also a fearsome-looking bird, and some four-legged creatures that might have been bears or large cats, as well as a number of other, more abstract designs.

Alexandra didn't know what to make of this, but she was pretty sure neither the paintings nor the stone bowl had been created by Charmbridge students.

The boy holding the bowl knelt and set it on the ground in front of the wall with the paintings on it, and then drew a small knife. With a grimace, he made a long, shallow cut across his palm, then held his hand over the bowl, clenching it into a fist while blood dripped into the bowl. The girl who had spoken before was now untying a small leather pouch, and began pouring black sand in a semicircle in front of the wall.

Everyone watched. Some kids were murmuring to each other, especially when the boy with the bowl cut his hand. Maximilian folded his arms and looked on, with an expression bordering on contempt.

The two Mors Mortis members stepped back, careful not to disturb the line of black sand, and then the girl held out her wand – while the boy, Alexandra noticed, was casting a quick healing charm on his hand.

“Ata'iye chindu nayake ha tepwen ata'ehi,” intoned the girl. Alexandra guessed it was an Indian language, though the girl, with pale freckled skin and long blonde hair, looked about as non-Indian as could be.

The other three Mors Mortis Society members all began chanting now: “Su-su na! Su-su na! Su-su na! Su-su na!” Alexandra almost found it comical – until she saw the painted figures on the stone wall begin moving. They squirmed and scattered out of the way, and the rock on which they were painted turned dark, as if a shadow had passed over it, and then darker still, until it was a black void, like a starless sky. As this happened, everyone heard another sound, replacing the chanting of the students as they fell silent. It was low, deep, almost subliminal, something halfway between a whisper and a moan. It issued forth from the dark space where the rock wall had been, and was joined by other voices, all of them whispering and chanting and murmuring tonelessly. Alexandra blinked and looked around, because if she didn't concentrate on it, she could almost imagine she wasn't really hearing anything. The expressions of everyone else in the room showed the same confusion and unease that she felt.

Then something came out of the darkness.

Darla and Angelique weren't the only ones to jump and squeal. Alexandra even saw Tomo gasp. She felt her own heart beat faster a moment, as a dark shade drifted into the room, and hovered there over the bowl, without seeming to notice it.

Alexandra got the impression of a face and form that was human, though she couldn't precisely see it. It was like looking at black smoke in the darkness. More than the human-like figure, though, she sensed something else, as its eyes – what she supposed must be eyes, in what she supposed must be a face – scanned the room.

Ill will. That was the feeling Alexandra got, like a cold breeze blowing across all of them. She saw others shuddering as well and averting their gazes. Whatever entity the Mors Mortis Society had summoned, it was not friendly.

It drifted to and fro, while the students muttered and shivered, but it seemed bounded by the line of black sand. Then the blonde girl pointed her wand.

“Anathema jibay!” she declaimed, and the smoky black figure was sucked back into the void. She waved her wand again, and the blackness faded to stone gray, the wall became solid again, and the painted figures returned to their previous places.

Everyone was quiet for a moment. Then the girl turned and smiled at them – looking triumphant and, Alexandra thought, a little relieved.

“They won't tell you, in Magical Theory classes or even in Advanced Thaumaturgy, that you can do things like that,” she said softly. “What you just saw was a portal to the Lands Beyond. We just conjured a spirit. And I sent it back.”

The tall, long-haired boy who'd spoken before nodded. “We can't give you textbooks or scrolls to study. Too dangerous that they might be found. There's some stuff in the library that Mrs. Minder only allows students from the Advanced Wizardry classes to check out, with permission from a dean, but even those books are censored. So here, you have to learn by watching and repeating, and by experimenting on your own. Carefully! You all know that if you get caught, practicing Dark Arts is grounds for expulsion from Charmbridge. We lose a student or two every year who gets careless.” He looked around at the group, almost accusingly.

“That's all you get to see tonight. Keep an eye on your coins. The next meeting will be within two weeks, and next time, you'll all do a real divination. Some of you will, anyway. And you'll see things that might make you think twice about staying in the Mors Mortis Society.”

The leaders of the group smiled knowingly, except for the boy who had cut himself with the knife. He was now retrieving the bowl and cleaning his blood out of it with a jet of water from his wand. The girl looked at everyone else. “Take off, in groups of twos and threes. Go in different directions, and remember, don't be coming up to me in the hallway and asking stupid questions like when's the next meeting!”

People nodded, and then began trickling out of the room. Stuart and Torvald left together, whispering excitedly to one another. Tomo followed a couple of older students out, not looking at Alexandra. Alexandra waited until Darla and Angelique were leaving, and then fell in alongside them. Neither of them looked thrilled, but they didn't say anything until Alexandra asked, “What was that they summoned?”

“A spirit,” Angelique replied. “Like he said.”

“Well, duh. But, I mean, was it a ghost?”

“No.” Angelique shook her head. “I've met ghosts. Some of my family still haunts our estate.”

Darla nodded. “Ghosts are just people who are dead and haven't moved on. That was... something else.”

Alexandra frowned, wanting to question Angelique more about ghosts, and not sure whether she believed her, when a voice behind them barked, “Quick!”

All three girls turned around, to see Maximilian King striding down the dark corridor after them, alone. Darla let out a little gasp, and Alexandra wondered if her silly friend had a crush on Maximilian too now.

When he caught up to them, he glared down at them with the same commanding scowl he used during JROC drills. Darla and Angelique took a step back. Alexandra stood her ground and glowered at him.

“None of you should be here,” he growled.

Angelique looked down, cowed. “We just want to learn advanced magic.”

“Do they teach these things at BMI?” Darla asked breathlessly.

Maximilian turned to her, and his scowl deepened. “No.” He looked back at Alexandra. “You don't belong here. None of you do. That magic they're playing with is dangerous.”

“So you're going to quit?” Alexandra retorted. “Good.”

“Don't give me any of your lip, Quick!” he snapped.

“I may have to do what you say when we're in uniform, Max, but we're not now.” Alexandra glared at him. “Who are you to be telling us what we should and shouldn't do? You're not supposed to be here either!”

He raised a hand and pointed a finger at Alexandra. “I don't want to see you at any Mors Mortis Society meetings again.”

“Or what?” Alexandra sneered. “You'll tell Colonel Shirtliffe?”

The older boy shook his head. “Listen to me. These idiots have no idea what they're messing with. That was Indian magic, mixed with Dark Arts nonsense they probably got out of some book written by a crackpot. They have about as much of a clue what they're doing as a Muggle waving a wand!”

“So you're an expert on the Dark Arts?” Alexandra snorted. Behind her, Angelique and Darla's eyes were wide.

“No,” Maximilian replied, shaking his head slowly. “But I know the difference between wizards who are dangerous because they actually know what they're doing, and stupid kids who are dangerous because they don't.”

“I guess being sixteen makes you a grown-up, then?” Alexandra asked sarcastically. “Thanks for your concern.” She turned away, and looked at her friends expectantly, urging them to resume walking, when Maximilian grabbed her arm. She struggled to pull away from him, and reached for her wand when his grip tightened.

“I mean it, Quick!” he warned. “Don't come back, or else!”

“Let go of me!” she shouted, and he did, looking annoyed. She had her wand out, and then saw that his was in his other hand. She hadn't even seen him draw it. He was holding it loosely at his side, though, as he frowned at her.

She tucked her wand back into her belt, and shook her head.

“C'mon,” she muttered to Darla and Angelique, and they followed her to the stairs. Darla looked back over her shoulder twice.

Alexandra was very quiet when she snuck back into her room. Her roommate appeared to still be fast asleep even as she undressed and went to bed, but the next morning, Anna asked her, “What were you doing last night?”

It was Monday morning, and the sun hadn't risen yet. Charlie squawked in protest at being woken up, then tucked a head back under a dark wing, while the girls got dressed. The two of them were putting on the long gray pants, shapeless gray shirts, and blue jackets they had to wear for morning JROC exercise.

“Nothing,” Alexandra replied. “I was just up late studying.”

Anna gave her a narrow look. Alexandra was about as likely to stay up late studying as she was to take the Good Witch's Pledge, and they both knew it. “Fine,” Anna said, a little curtly. “But I hope whatever you're doing isn't going to get you into trouble.” She walked stiffly out of their room, and Alexandra followed with a sigh.

The late September morning was cold, and their lungs burned as they ran two laps around Charmbridge's seven-sided exterior. Ms. Shirtliffe, wearing exercise clothes as well, was easily running ahead of all of them and calling cadence. Alexandra no longer had to fall behind everyone else, but she usually did to run alongside Anna.

“Pick it up, Quick and Chu!” yelled Maximilian from behind. This morning, he and Martin were the ones delegated to bring up the rear and keep stragglers moving. “If the other girls can keep up, so can you!”

Alexandra gritted her teeth, and whispered, “Just a little faster,” to Anna. But Max was right on their heels, yelling relentlessly and calling them slow and lazy. When they finished running and began calisthenics, Maximilian was still behind them, and every time Anna flagged, he yelled at her some more.

Anna was tired and out of sorts all day, but their wand drills that afternoon were just as bad, as Maximilian made her and Alexandra repeat the same 'flick and extend' pattern over and over again. Then he made them both hold their wands straight out in front of them until their arms were shaking.

On Wednesday, they did broom drills. Alexandra was actually becoming fond of these, as they got to fly, and while flying in formation and turning, banking, or changing altitude on command wasn't very exciting, it did improve her control over the broom. Anna, however, was as awkward and unenthusiastic in the air as she was on the ground, which earned her even more reprimands from Maximilian. Even Ms. Shirtliffe was beginning to notice Maximilian's zealousness, as she frowned at him a few times.

Alexandra no longer had any doubts that he was singling her out – and Anna too, because Anna was her friend. He kept both of them after class every day, criticizing every smudged button and loose thread on their uniforms, and made them do wand and broom drills over and over. If Anna had hated JROC before, she now loathed it with every fiber of her being, and approached every morning exercise and afternoon drill as if she were going to a public flogging. It was clear that Maximilian King was going out of his way to make the two of them miserable, and the other JROC students and Ms. Shirtliffe weren't going to do anything to stop him.

“It's like he hates us especially,” Anna whined, returning to their room one afternoon, after being told she had yet another Saturday inspection. This time, so did Alexandra. She was sure that Maximilian was trying to intimidate her, and would probably become even more unbearable as the next Mors Mortis Society meeting approached. Her coin had begun tingling that afternoon.

This time, the coin said in small letters, 'Venus Rising,' and the bird's wings once again indicated twelve o'clock. Alexandra was determined to figure out what day 'Venus Rising' meant without asking Darla and Angelique again, which meant another trip to the library. Consequently, she was hardly paying attention to Anna's complaints. Anna sensed this, which made her sulky for the rest of the night. They didn't speak much the next morning, as they stood outside at attention while Maximilian King and Tybalt Franklin inspected their uniforms.

“Smudge on your lapel button,” said Maximilian, leaning close to scrutinize Alexandra. Then, when Alexandra glared at him, he barked, “Eyes straight ahead! You've been doing this for weeks now, Quick! You shouldn't be such a slow learner!”

Alexandra bit her tongue. Next to Maximilian, Tybalt was giving Anna a somewhat less stringent inspection. He looked bemused and a little annoyed at being here on a Saturday himself.

“The knot on your cloak is sloppy,” he said, tugging on a loose cord. Anna trembled as her cloak slipped off her shoulders and fall to the ground. “The creases on your pants aren't straight. Learn to iron properly. And tie your hair.”

Maximilian shook his head. “I knew Charmbridge's JROC flight was hexed, but these kids are the most lazy and undisciplined little brats I've ever seen.”

Alexandra's eyes smoldered. All Maximilian could find wrong with her uniform was a smudged button. She was doing her drills just fine, and they both knew it.

As if to challenge that self-assessment, Maximilian commanded, “Wands out.”

Tybalt looked at him. “Max, do you really want to spend all Saturday drilling these two?”

Alexandra was very conscious of all the other kids spreading out across the lawn and the exercise fields. Lots of students were taking advantage of one of the few weekends they had left before the weather would turn too cold for outdoor sports. This meant that the hazing she and Anna were enduring was now a public spectacle, and sure enough, she saw Larry Albo watching from the Dueling Range, with a smirk.

“I'm tired of being embarrassed in front of Colonel Shirtliffe,” Maximilian replied. “You can take off if you like, Sergeant Major. I'll take responsibility for them.”

Tybalt frowned, then shrugged. “All right. Pierce and I were thinking of flying down into the valley, with a couple of girls.” He winked. “If you can find one to bring along, you could join us.”

“Thanks. We'll see.” Maximilian kept his eyes fixed on Anna and Alexandra. Tybalt shook his head again, then pivoted and marched away, back to his room to change out of his uniform.

“Now I'm missing a chance to spend time with my friends on a Saturday, because you two are so pathetic,” snapped the older boy.

“I guess you'd rather spend your time with us,” Alexandra sneered. She was supposed to stand at attention, and speaking out of turn was strictly forbidden, but her patience had finally snapped.

Maximilian stared at her, then snorted. “Yes, I like nothing better than wasting time with twelve-year-old girls.”

“Maybe you do,” Alexandra shot back. “Maybe you're a pervert like Martin!” Beside her, Anna gasped.

His face colored with anger. “You and your little friend are the ones with perverted imaginations. But since you can't even stand at attention properly, let's do something a little more demanding. Go get brooms from the locker.”

Anna groaned, while Alexandra just glowered and did as she was told. Maximilian wasn't supposed to make them do broom drills; either Colonel Shirtliffe or a senior JROC officer was supposed to be present. But she figured flying would be less dull than wand drills.

Maximilian had them do all the standard flight patterns: four-square, eight-point, five-by-five, and seven-up, three-down. They did each one at least ten times, and then Maximilian said, “Maneuvers!” He ascended on his own broom, and led them high above the school. Anna began to look nervous.

“We're not supposed to go this high,” she whispered.

“Just follow me,” Alexandra said.

Maximilian began leading them in a series of tight turns and rapid descents, and then made them repeat the circuit while holding their wands at the ready, thus holding onto their brooms with only one hand. Then he led them into the woods, and made them perform maneuvers while avoiding trees.

“We haven't even practiced this!” Alexandra shouted at him. She wasn't having any trouble keeping up with him, but she had slowed down to fly alongside Anna, who looked pale.

The Stormcrow braked to a halt. “What happens to your bravado when you don't have an audience, Quick?” he sneered.

She felt anger rising. “You don't know anything about me!”

He snorted, then gave her a calculating smile. “Tell you what. If you can keep up with me on one flight across the forest to the valley and back, I'll release you and Chu until Monday. Otherwise, we'll be spending the rest of today and tomorrow, doing more drills.”

“You really have nothing better to do on a weekend?”

He folded his arms. “Well?”

Alexandra looked at Anna, who was chewing her lip.

“Fine,” she agreed, turning back to Maximilian. “What if I beat you?”

“That will be a cold day in hell!” he laughed, and took off.

“I don't like this, Alex,” Anna objected, but Alexandra waved to her, and followed Maximilian.

As she leaned forward to push her broom to catch up to the older boy, her irritation was quickly banished by adrenalin. She and Maximilian raced through the forest, staying above ground level but below the tree tops, so the changing fall leaves went rushing past above and below them in a red-orange blur. They weren't deep into the woods, and the trees weren't as dense near the edge of the forest, but they still had to do a lot of darting and swerving to avoid collisions.

She had pushed to the back of her mind questions about Maximilian King's motives, until he suddenly dropped back, giving up his head start, to fly alongside her.

“I don't want you going to any more Mors Mortis Society meetings!” he shouted at her.

“What?” she exclaimed. They weren't yet flying at top speed, but the wind was rushing past them fast enough to make conversation difficult, and she had to keep her eyes ahead of her to avoid running into a tree. “Is that why you're giving me such a hard time?”

“You're too young to be meddling in the Dark Arts!”

“Oh, and you're not?” A large oak loomed ahead, and there was a break in the conversation as Alexandra veered around it one way, and Maximilian veered the other, and the two of them met again at the end of two long parallel arcs on the other side of the tree, then both rolled together to avoid hitting yet another one.

“You can't tell me what to do!” she yelled at him. “Not unless you plan to tell on yourself as well!”

He glowered at her. “Do as I say, or you'll be sorry.”

“What is your obsession with me, anyway? Why aren't you warning Darla and Angelique away, or Tomo?” She dipped suddenly, and glared at Maximilian, as he had almost nudged her into a tree with his proximity.

He shook his head. “Those girls will quit soon enough. They're not what the Mors Mortis Society is looking for.”

“And I am? You know what? Maybe you're afraid I'll be better at it than you are – just like I'm better at flying than you are!” She suddenly leaned forward and gripped her broom tightly, zipping ahead of Maximilian. The great river valley that separated Charmbridge Academy and the surrounding forest from the Muggle world loomed ahead, and she shot out of the trees, paused for a second to admire the stunning view from high above, even more remarkable than when seen from the Invisible Bridge, and then pivoted in place and dived back into the forest.

Maximilian was right behind her, and then he was ahead of her, and Alexandra gritted her teeth as she tried to catch up. But her boasting notwithstanding, she wasn't better than him. She thought she was a pretty good flier, but he had obviously spent many more years than her riding a broom, and he seemed to have a fearless streak of his own. Alexandra pushed her broom to its limits – which unfortunately, were not that impressive, for a student loaner broom – but while the trees whipped past her on either side, Maximilian stayed firmly ahead.

She could see light through the trees, where the edge of the forest met Charmbridge's fields, and Anna was waiting, when her broom suddenly veered to the right. She pulled up and leaned over, trying to steer back on course, and for one instant thought she saw Maximilian holding his wand, before the trunk of a tree rushed at her and knocked her out of the air.

Alexandra didn't remember being carried to the infirmary. She woke up there, with a splitting headache, and worse pain running from her shoulder down to her wrist. Her arm was splinted, and she felt bruised all over.

The school nurse, Mrs. Murphy, a large, middle-aged woman with red hair, was stirring something, and smiled when Alexandra opened her eyes.

“Don't try to move your arm, Miss Quick. It's broken in two places, along with your wrist and collarbone. You also have a great big lump on your head. You'd probably have fractured your skull if it wasn't so thick.”

“Oh,” Alexandra groaned, not amused.

Mrs. Murphy poured the concoction she was stirring into a large mug. “I want you to drink all of this,” she instructed. “It tastes awful and you won't want to get it down, but it will mend your bones. So make faces all you want, but you are going to drink it.”

“Okay,” Alexandra sighed. She took the mug in one hand, with the nurse standing over her, in case she lost her grip, and sniffed the contents suspiciously. She couldn't smell anything, so she took a swallow, and almost choked.

Mrs. Murphy patted her back, as Alexandra gagged and struggled not to spit the potion back up. “I warned you. Just swallow it all down as quickly as possible.”

Alexandra thought that if you liquefied earwax, laundry detergent, and a pound of beetles, it would taste something like this. She decided not to ask what was really in it – she was afraid the actual ingredients might be even worse. She couldn't help but make a horrible face as she brought the mug back to her lips and swallowed as much as she could between large, shuddering gasps of breath. Mrs. Murphy nodded with approval and took the mug from her after she drained the last of it.

“Will my arm heal overnight?” Alexandra croaked, still trying not to gag, as the potion coated the inside of her mouth and throat. Her stomach was heaving.

“Not entirely. It's the collarbone that's going to take a while. I expect you won't be doing drills for a few days. But if you rest properly, you might be able to leave the infirmary tomorrow.” With that, Mrs. Murphy went over to check on a tenth grader with a nasty outbreak of tentacular growths on his face.

The only visitor Mrs. Murphy allowed that evening was Ms. Shirtliffe, who briefly inquired how Alexandra was feeling, and then asked, “Would you like to tell me what happened, Miss Quick?”

Alexandra started to shrug, which was a mistake. “Mage-Sergeant King was having me and Anna do broom drills,” she gasped, trying not to let the pain show on her face. “And I flew into a tree.”

“There's no reason for you to have been doing broom drills in the woods.” Taking in Alexandra's pale face, Shirtliffe shook her head and told Alexandra she would be excused from exercises and drills for the following week, though she still had to wear her uniform during school hours. The teacher wore a grim expression as she left the infirmary.

After dinner had been taken away that night, Alexandra began nodding off, since she had nothing else to do. A pair of popping sounds woke her up, and then she sat up when she saw a pair of elves at the foot of her bed.

“Bran, Poe!” she whispered, looking in the direction of Mrs. Murphy's office. “Hi!”

“We heard Alexandra Quick was hurt again,” said Bran.

“We hopes Alexandra Quick isn't going to be getting herself in danger again,” said Poe. Both of the library elves were wringing their hands.

Alexandra felt a surge of affection for the two elves, who had been such good friends to her, even bringing her dinner when she'd been in the infirmary last year.

“Nah,” she assured them. “It was just an accident.” She was trying to hold still – her collarbone might be mending, thanks to Mrs. Murphy's potion, but any movement sent a fiery wave of pain through her shoulder. Bran and Poe's eyes went wide when they saw her grimace.

“We was wrong to wake Alexandra Quick up,” Bran moaned guiltily.

“No, I'm glad to see you,” she insisted. “And I told you before, you can call me Alex.” She smiled at the elves, and they smiled back.

She leaned forward, cautiously, so as not bump her arm or jostle her shoulder again, and whispered, “Actually, if you could do me a big favor... I'm really bored here. I don't even have any books to read.”

Their eyes lit up. The library elves had a profound love for books, and for humans who loved books. Alexandra's bibliophile tendencies had won their affection and their loyalty, and had even led them to violate library rules on her behalf. It wasn't something she liked to take advantage of, but she knew they wouldn't mind bringing her some perfectly harmless books about astronomy. They didn't need to know why she was so interested in Venus.

The bone-healing potion was very effective, but not without side effects. Alexandra found she was unable to do much reading that night, as it felt like her bones were being mended with the help of hot irons. Mrs. Murphy brought her another potion which dulled the pain and helped her sleep, so it wasn't until after breakfast on Sunday that she was finally able to turn to the books Bran and Poe had brought her.

The astronomy books Alexandra had seen before were dry and not very helpful, but the elves had brought her some of the more expensive volumes kept on reserve in the Charmbridge library. These had animated charts and graphs, showing the movements of the stars and planets, and were able to tell you anything you wanted to know about the positions of heavenly bodies at any given moment, with as much accuracy as a Muggle computer. The problem was that the books only recognized very specific commands, which meant that like a Muggle computer, they required a certain amount of expertise to extract any useful information.

By lunchtime, though, Alexandra had Venus and Earth floating in front of her, hovering over the open pages of Esther Sextans' Star Almanac.

Venus, apparently, would be a 'rising sign' at midnight on Tuesday, and no other midnights for the next three weeks. So the next Mors Mortis Society meeting must be Tuesday night, Alexandra concluded triumphantly.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Anna's voice: “If you're so interested in astronomy, why didn't you take it as an elective?”

Alexandra looked up, and smiled to see Anna, David, Constance, and Forbearance, all of them bringing food and snacks from the cafeteria.

“It wouldn't have mattered anyway, would it?” she pointed out, as she hastily closed the book. Anna grimaced.

“Oh, Alexandra, your face looks a fright!” Constance exclaimed.

“It does?” Alexandra hadn't seen herself in a mirror since the accident.

Anna nodded. “The side of your head is one big swollen bruise.”

“I thought you were a good flier!” David snorted.

Alexandra glared at him, while Constance and Forbearance tsked and shook their heads.

“It was all Max's fault!” Anna declared. Then she grinned at Alexandra. “You missed seeing him get chewed out by Ms. Shirtliffe!”

“Really?” Alexandra sat up, taking some pretzels from the bowl David offered to her.

“She was pissed!” Anna chortled gleefully. Constance and Forbearance winced, but Anna continued. “She had him standing at attention outside in front of everyone while she yelled at him for ten minutes! He's got detention for a week, and he lost a stripe, too!”

“How did Ms. Shirtliffe know what happened?” Alexandra asked. “You didn't tell her, did you?”

Anna looked offended. “Of course not!” She shrugged. “When she asked, he admitted it. He didn't even argue or defend himself.”

“Good,” Alexandra muttered. She wondered if he'd admitted using his wand on her. The way she'd lost control of her broom was awfully suspicious. Had he sent her flying into a tree on purpose? Maybe to teach her a lesson? Perhaps he hadn't meant for her to be injured so seriously. She didn't think Maximilian actually wanted to kill her – but then, she had never suspected Ben Journey of wanting to kill her. At least she knew Maximilian was too young to be a member of the Thorn Circle.

Maximilian's punishment wasn't really much comfort, though, and she didn't share in Anna's glee. He was still going to be in charge of them, and she'd still have to see his accusing face when she went to the Mors Mortis Society meeting.

But the presence of her friends cheered her enormously, as had the visit from Bran and Poe. They talked David into joining them for a game of Witches' Whist, and then David insisted on teaching them poker. Constance and Forbearance were reluctant, but he pointed out that it was very popular among Muggles. They gambled with pretzels, peanuts, and cookies, until Mrs. Murphy finally shooed the other four kids out so she could check how well Alexandra had healed.

“Well, I'd really like to keep you for another night or two,” she tutted, probing Alexandra's collarbone with her fingers, and then squeezing her elbow lightly. Each touch elicited a wince of pain, but the prospect of staying longer in the infirmary was enough to keep Alexandra from admitting to any other discomfort. “I feel fine, honest!” she protested.

The nurse shook her head and bent her patient's wrist slightly. Alexandra forced herself not to flinch. “You can hardly move your arm. It will need to stay in a sling.”

“I'll manage.”

“Very well, Miss Quick. I want to see you every morning until I take the sling off.”

Going to see Mrs. Murphy was less onerous than going to do morning exercises, as Anna was quick to point out. Alexandra still had to get into her uniform though, which she couldn't do without her roommate's help, so she refrained from asking Anna whether she'd rather be the one in a sling.

By Tuesday, her arm wasn't out of the sling yet, but the purplish bruise covering the side of her face had mostly faded. (Larry Albo had commented aloud in the halls that her head looked like a big, bruised witch-berry.) Alexandra did her homework early that night, and once again pretended to go to sleep, waiting until Anna's breathing had become soft and regular, before she got out of bed, slowly and carefully, and slipped into sweat pants, a t-shirt, and slippers – the only clothes she could easily get on without help. She tucked her wand into the large pocket in her sweat pants, and took the MMS coin with her as she crept out of her room.

Once again, she had to sneak around the portraits monitoring dormitory hallways, though fortunately, the old wizard hanging over Delta Delta Kappa Tau hall had a habit of falling asleep after curfew. When she looked at the pinpoint of light on the back of her coin, the little arrows took her in a different direction than last time. Instead of heading downstairs into the basements, she was going up – past the fourth floor, and then into the vast, labyrinthine attic that reached all the way around Charmbridge Academy.

She had been here, too, last year. She'd been lost in the attics, once, just as she'd been lost in the basements, and in both cases, Ben Journey had made an attempt on her life. Alexandra wasn't easily spooked, but she did feel a heightened sense of wariness as she moved through one dusty room after another, and while she held the coin in her injured hand, the hand not in a sling stayed close to her wand.

Going up one short set of stairs, she heard footsteps, and her fingers wrapped around her wand. Emerging into a narrow hallway, she almost bumped into Tomo Matsuzaka, who gasped in surprise, and then took a step backwards, her face turning even more pale when she recognized Alexandra.

Alexandra looked down at the Japanese girl. Her eyes narrowed in suspicion, as she wondered why this sixth grader was in the Mors Mortis Society. She let go of her wand, dropping it back into her pocket, and then abruptly grabbed Tomo with her good hand, pushing the smaller girl against the wooden wall behind her.

“Just so you know,” she said, in a low voice, “Anna has friends. Lots of friends. And if you do anything else to her – if you cast one hex at her – you're going to be hurt a lot worse than this.” She held up her other arm, in its sling.

Tomo stared up at her, her dark eyes angry and indignant.

“Don't you dare use any curses we learn from the Mors Mortis Society on Anna,” Alexandra whispered. “If anything happens to her – anything –” She shook Tomo, making the other girl squeal a little – “I'll assume you did it, and I'll turn you inside out! Understand?”

Tomo swallowed, but didn't answer. Her face was expressionless now, but it had gone white.

Alexandra suddenly felt uncomfortable, looming over a girl so much smaller than her. But Tomo had started the feud with Anna, she told herself, and she suspected the sixth grader might have joined the Mors Mortis Society for exactly that reason. Nobody was going to use any Dark magic on Alexandra's friends.

She let go of the other girl, and continued towards the light she saw at the end of this hallway. Tomo followed, several cautious paces behind her.