~Wren~

In the hour in took James to get Ciara out of the manor and come back, Astra and I didn't talk about my family again. I cried more than I had in a while, of course, but it wasn't like there was much to say. She'd seen everything in her dreams, which was just fine; I wasn't ready to process anything that had happened in the past six months. After all, we weren't safe yet.

Instead, she told me stories about what she and James had been doing. Apparently, James had a whole image he was trying to keep up, carelessly partying in France and completely disassociating himself from the DA. Astra had spent more time in hotel rooms than anywhere else, and claimed to have far fewer exciting adventures than him. Of course, she'd run into Artemis Wu a few times, and wanted to know everything I knew about her. She was intensely interested in the children Stillens had kidnapped in America years ago, and the fact that Artemis might be one of them. Unfortunately, I really didn't know that much about it. I told her what I'd told Nico a few weeks ago, which only seemed to intrigue her more.

I didn't mention Nico, of course. I didn't know if Ciara had, but I wasn't really feeling up to that conversation yet. I hadn't slept at all last night, after all, with the dementors. And Astra was sure to be upset about the idea that Nico had switched sides, which was understandable. Justifiable. I didn't want to spend this short time together arguing about it.

Impossibly, James did eventually come back. Ciara was fine, waiting at their truck (and had made him apparate to Edinburgh and back six times, just to make sure he could picture very clearly where he was going to be apparating with two more people). Astra should have no problems getting out herself. We'd give them a few hours to get away before we did anything, just to be sure. Astra told me the address of Teddy's apartment (glossing completely over the fact that she was their secret keeper?) and wrote it down for us to show Cassie later. And then she was hugging me tightly, and she was leaving, too, almost before I knew what was happening. I barely got myself together enough to say goodbye.

James put his hand on my shoulder, and I realized just how tense I'd been all this time. It took a little effort to relax, but I did, before managing a questioning smile up at him. "So, now we wait?"

He nodded. He was regarding me seriously, eyes searching my face for something, I wasn't sure what. After a moment, a ghost of a smile appeared on his lips, and his hand moved up to cup my face. "I love you."

"I love you, too," I said, tilting my head questioningly as I spoke. That hadn't been exactly what I expected out of that intense stare.

"I just... I didn't tell you, before. And I want to make sure you know."

Well, that was one thing I definitely knew for sure. I smiled, reached up to place my own hand over his. "I know, Jamie. I do."

A real smile broke through. For a few moments, he didn't move. I tried to soak up every detail of his face, the feel of his hand on my cheek, the way his shoulders rose and fell with his breathing, the fluttering of my heart. It had been so long, and now I didn't want this to end.

But his hand dropped after a moment. "Perhaps we should go somewhere other than the dungeon to wait?" he suggested.

"Right." I glanced down; I was still wearing the same clothes as yesterday. After Zaria had let me out this morning, I'd come straight here. Honestly, I'd been a little surprised she'd just let me leave. I'd been expecting her to interrogate me again, when I'd been so weakened by the dementors influence.

I was grateful she hadn't, of course. Because if she'd thought that the dementors had broken me down, she'd have been right.

I would have broken.

I was still teetering on the edge of that, probably, with the lack of sleep and food and the overwhelming emotions of the past few hours. I took a deep breath, trying my hardest to get my thoughts in order. "We should go upstairs, probably. No one will bother us in my room. Besides, my mother will be expecting me at lunch, soon..."

"All right." James smiled warmly, pulling the cloak back over his shoulders. "Do you want me to just follow you?"

No. I wanted to be able to hold onto him, know he was there, see him and feel him and hear him. It had been so long, and I didn't want to be more than a few inches away from him ever again in my life. But I looked down. "That's probably best."

"Okay." He flipped the cloak over his head, disappearing entirely. "I'll be right behind you."

He was right behind me, the whole way. I felt the cloak brushing up against my arm often as we walked, as if maybe James didn't want to be more than a few inches away from me, either. It took a lot of self-control to act as if nothing was amiss and I was alone as we walked past people.

It was almost noon when we'd reached my room. I slipped into the bathroom to change clothes really quickly, dreading walking back downstairs alone, dreading sitting through one more meal with my family, dreading the anxiety I knew I was going to have the whole time at the thought of James being up here, that he might be discovered.

When I walked back out into my room, James was standing by the window, staring out with a thoughtful look on his face. At the sound of the door creaking open, though, he turned to me with a hopeful grin. "Just a few hours, Wren. Then we'll be out of here."

My stomach twisted, but I managed a weak smile. "Hopefully."

His brow creased, but he didn't argue. Instead, he walked over to me. "Are you worried about being around your parents?"

"That's one of many things, yes." I hesitated. James was watching me with concern. He hovered a few feet away from me, like he wanted to close the distant but wasn't sure how I would react. Like I might fall apart, if he did. I swallowed and looked down. "Are you sure this is a good idea? You could still leave now."

"I'm not leaving you," he said, emphatically enough that I glanced back up. He wasn't smiling anymore. In fact, he looked incredibly serious. "I would rather be caught here than leave you behind."

"James, no." My voice was almost a whisper. I blinked, frustrated to find that my eyes were wet again. "That would be so much worse."

For a moment, I thought he was going to hug me. But he didn't, and I got the feeling again that he was unsure of exactly what to do, as if I might shatter if he moved too quickly. "I'm sorry. I'm not trying to make you upset. But I'm not leaving, Wren. This will work."

I didn't want him to leave, but I did. I was convinced that something would go wrong, this wouldn't work, but also desperately hoping it would. I didn't know what I was thinking, how I was feeling, what the right thing to do was.

"I should go," I said softly, looking down. "My mother might be suspicious if I'm late."

"Right." There was a moment of hesitation before James reached out to take my hand and squeeze it. His hand was so much warmer than mine, and the electrifying warmth flooded up my arm, made my heart beat a little faster. But he pulled away. "I'll be right here."

I nodded, took a deep breath, tried to think of some other reason to stay here, not go downstairs, not have to pretend like everything was normal. The dementors would have been difficult enough to play off on their own. But now James was here, and he had this insane plan that might actually work, and I was so flustered and excited and I could still feel the tingle of his hand in mine, even after he'd pulled away, and I wanted nothing more than to curl up in his arms and never go anywhere else—how on earth was I supposed to convince my parents that I was in as unshakable a state of mind as I normally was?

"I'll be back soon," my voice said, steadier than I'd been expecting. I smiled at him, hoping that maybe that look could get across all the things that were flying through my head that I didn't know how to say. Before I could stop myself, I slipped out the door.

The walk to the dining room was not anywhere near long enough to collect myself. Not well, at least. It was easier to push everything down and lose all emotion than to pretend that everything was normal, honestly. I ended up pausing outside the door to take a deep breath and shove everything down under the curtain of occlumency, as if my parents might be able to read my thoughts.

That ended up being a very good idea, because when I walked into the room, my mother and Cassie were not the only ones there.

Stillens was at the head of the table, residing over what seemed like an incredibly tense silence. I wasn't able to keep the surprise off my face, and stopped in the doorway for a moment, unnerved and unsure what to do. He wasn't the only one who wasn't normally there, actually; Artemis Wu was sitting in the seat next to mine, and turned to look at me with a curious smile, the only one who seemed at ease in the room. Cassie was trembling in her chair, staring at her plate and looking as if she was trying very hard not to cry, even though Stillens hardly seemed to notice she was there. My mother reached out to rub Cassie's arm, to her credit, though she seemed uncomfortable, too. My father was gone, which wasn't entirely unusual; he'd been off on missions more frequently lately. If I'd known Stillens was going to be here, I would've come up with an excuse to be anywhere else, too.

Why was Stillens here? Things were never unusual for no reason. Did they know James was here? Had they caught Astra and Ciara? Were they just toying with me, now, making me uncomfortable before revealing that it was all for nothing, and my friends were trapped?

"Ah, Wren," Stillens said, nodding at me as if nothing abnormal was happening at all. "Come, sit down. It's impolite to loiter about the doorway, especially when you have a guest."

I took a breath, forcing everything down even deeper than it had been before, then slowly crossed the room. Whatever was going on, I couldn't do anything about it now. Best to act unaffected, as if I had no idea that anything might be going on. So, as much as I wanted to sit down at the far end of the table, as far from Stillens as I could get, I didn't. Mainly because my mother caught my eye and gave me a very stern look, as if she could tell what I wanted, but also because I didn't want to seem frightened. Slowly, I sank into my seat, right next to my uncle.

"Wren, I'm sure you remember Artemis," my mother said, giving me a significant look that told me she thought I was being incredibly rude, not having addressed her yet. I forced a smile and a nod in her direction, which Artemis returned in a much friendlier manner. My mother continued, "She's visiting again, so I invited her to eat with us. I hope—"

"Enough small talk," Stillens said in a commanding tone that made my mother close her mouth instantly. He turned his gaze on me again. "How are you doing this morning, Wren?"

How was that not small talk? I made myself sit up a little straighter, muster the most neutral expression I could. "Perfectly well, thank you."

Stillens sighed, as if I'd disappointed him. I hadn't known it was possible for me to disappoint him more. "It's so unfortunate that you're the reason I'm here, then."

I think I managed to pull off looking innocently surprised. "I am?"

"It seems that Zaria Hempsey is an idiot," he said, narrowing his eyes at me, "and allowed you to recover from the effect of the dementors before thinking to tell me that she'd taken you to them." So it wasn't James. Or Astra, or Ciara. Just Zaria being uncharacteristically dense. I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from letting any of the relief that flooded through me show on my face as he continued speaking. "I do still have hopes that perhaps the experience has loosened your tongue, though. Or at least loosened your mind."

Oh. It had. It definitely had. But I couldn't let him suspect that. I struggled to keep a straight face, to keep from fidgeting, as his stare grew intense and it became a struggle to hide anything at all, let alone all of it. I felt like I was holding up a mountain by a single thread, liable to snap at any second. But it couldn't snap. I couldn't let it. After a moment, I managed just enough energy to shrug. "I'm afraid it didn't."

Several moments passed before Stillens seemed to come to the same conclusion, somehow. "Unfortunate."

I nearly let out a sigh of relief as he finally turned his gaze down to his empty plate. It took everything in me to stay still, not show just how close to the brink I was, to keep up the picture of being unbreakable.

Stillens studied his plate for a moment, then abruptly stood up. "Well, I believe I have some things to discuss with Hempsey. I shall leave you to your lunch." Before I'd even processed what he was saying, he was gone, the door swinging closed behind him.

Dead silence filled the room for long enough to become wildly uncomfortable. A glance at my mother's face told me she hadn't been expecting him to leave, and poor Artemis just looked incredibly confused. After a minute or two, my mother finally shook her head. "Wren, can't you be polite to our guest?"

I wasn't sure I had it in me to do that, but it seemed more manageable than arguing with my mother. Trying to stifle a sigh, I glanced at Artemis. "So... I guess you haven't found Astra yet?" Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Cassie's eyes widen just a bit.

She shook her head with a sigh, not seeming to pick up the slight. "No. In fact, I lost track of her and the boy she was with a few weeks ago. I think they might have left the villages behind, actually. I think they could be camping out around the manor." She shrugged, a light smile on her face, as if she wasn't talking about catching my friend in order to turn her over to a genocidal maniac. "I thought it was at least worth looking into."

"I suppose Stillens is just fine with the fact that it's taking this long?" I asked.

My voice lacked enough friendliness that Artemis seemed to pick up on it, and a hint of concern flashed across her face. It seemed like was more concern about me than Stillens, though. "Yes, he is," she said, tilting her head. "Your uncle is very forgiving."

I couldn't help laughing. "Are we talking about the same person?"

"Wren," my mother snapped. I turned to look at her immediately, laughing dying on my lips. She was glaring at me. "Don't be disrespectful."

I tilted my head, trying to tread carefully. "How was I being disrespectful?"

She narrowed her eyes, then picked up her wand. Before I had time to flinch, she'd flicked it in my direction, and suddenly it felt like my arm had been encased in a block of ice.

I didn't cry out, partly because I didn't want to give her the satisfaction, and partly because I didn't want to scare Cassie. But I couldn't help gasping from the pain, wincing as it spread up my arm, creeping towards my shoulder. I met mother's eyes, cold and uncaring. "Try that again."

"I'm sorry," I managed, though the pain was bringing tears to my eyes and making it difficult to speak. After a moment, she stopped casting the spell, seeming satisfied, but my arm still felt stiff, in pain as it thawed.

Artemis was staring at me with a look of thinly veiled horror. When I met her eyes, she immediately looked down at her plate, as if I might infect her with my treachery just by a glance. Cassie had slouched down in her seat, looking like she wanted to slide under the table and disappear. My mother tapped her arm. "Sit up straight, dear." Instantly, Cassie sat up, wincing away from my mother's touch as if she might curse her, too.

I stared down at the plate of food in front of me as Artemis, my mother, and Cassie began eating. It was some sort of pasta dish. Even though I hadn't eaten since lunch the day before, my appetite was completely gone. In fact, the thought of food was making me nauseous. I sighed, then glanced back up. "May I be excused? I'm not hungry."

My mother frowned at me. "Are you sick?"

"No. I'm just not hungry."

The silence drew out, tense and long. I suddenly couldn't even get up enough energy to be scared that she might hex me again, honestly. I just met her gaze dully, as she seemed to try to puzzle out whether I had some ulterior motive.

Finally, she shook her head. "You don't have to eat, but you're not excused. We take our meals as a family."

I bit back a snarky comment about this being some way to run a family, and spent the rest of my meal staring down at my plate, listening to the deafening sound of forks clinking against plates and the occasional attempts at small talk between my mother and Artemis. When my mother finally sighed and said we were dismissed, I hurried out as quickly as I could.

Cassie grabbed my hand as soon as the door had closed behind us, before I could turn away. Before she could say anything, though, Artemis appeared through the door. 

"Wren, do you have a moment?" 

It was a struggle to turn around slowly and give her a a tight-lipped smile, instead of yelling at her to leave me alone. I just wanted to go upstairs, make sure James was all right. But for all I knew, she might go tell Stillens or my mother if I was rude, and I had a feeling either of them were far more inclined to believe her over me, and come punish me at a moment's notice for being so impolite. That wouldn't be productive at all. 

She gave that kind, confused smile she'd been throwing my way since I'd met her. "I just... I don't know, really, what your situation here is, but..." Her glance hovered over Cassie for a moment (and Cassie moved over to hide behind my legs), as if she hadn't quite figured out who she was, but it snapped back to me after a moment. "I was hoping that you might listen to me? If your parents—"

"Did my mother put you up to this?" I asked, cutting her off.

She blinked, seeming surprised. "What? No, she didn't. I was only thinking that, if you've been hurt by your parents, it's understandable why you wouldn't trust them now. But what she's telling you, about being respectful, it's good advice."

"You know she meant surrendering, too, not just saying disrespectful things."

"Yes." Artemis's face grew a little harder. "You're only hurting yourself, Wren. And you're wrong, about your uncle. He's not evil, or whatever it is you think."

"I'm not sure you know enough about my family to be telling me how to feel about them," I said stiffly. "I'm not sure you'd remember."

For a moment, she seemed confused, then her eyes narrowed. "I wasn't kidnapped. That's ridiculous."

"He basically told me himself."

"You're crazy."

"Then leave me alone!" I rolled my eyes. "Why are you wasting your time on me?" 

She hesitated, as if trying to figure that out for herself. Then she shook her head. "Honestly? No idea." An intense look, as if she was trying to see what was going through my head. "I just hope you see the truth before it's too late. I'm going to catch Astra Lestrange soon, and your uncle might be less forgiving after that."

"Good. I hope he kills me. Now go away." Before she had a chance to, I turned and stalked off, pulled Cassie with me. 

As soon as we were out of sight, Cassie tugged on my arm. When I looked down, her eyes were wide with fear. "Who were you talking about? Is he... is he going to kill you?" 

A stab of regret hit me, and I bit my lip. "No, he's not. It doesn't matter. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have been saying all those things. I was just frustrated. Don't worry about any of it." 

Cassie seemed unsure, but nodded anyway. She looked down, and her eyes landed on my arm. "Does it still hurt?"

"Of course not," I said, forcing a smile. I mean, yeah, my arm was still a little stiff, but nothing to worry her about.

The little girl still gave me an intensely sad look, then hugged me tightly. "Maybe you'll feel better if you come play with me?" she asked, her voice muffled in my cardigan. She glanced up a moment later, still clinging to me, hopeful expectation in her eyes.

I hesitated. Normally, I would have said yes; as long as we stayed out of the way, no one seemed to notice or care that I wasn't avoiding her like I was supposed to. In fact, my mother had happened upon me reading to her once, and had actually seemed pleased, somehow. That wasn't anything to worry about. But I'd started to get this horrible feeling that I'd imagined everything, that maybe James wasn't waiting up in my room for me and they'd never been here at all. Or maybe he'd been caught, and Stillens and my mother were simply toying with me, making this as painful and drawn out as possible. I needed to know that wasn't true.

"I'm sorry, Cassie," I said, flashing her an apologetic smile. "I can't right now."

"Oh." Cassie sighed and stepped back. "Okay."

"Maybe in a little bit?" I glanced at the clock across the hall, trying to figure out when James might be wanting to leave. "It's twelve forty-five right now. How about I come play at one thirty?"

She brightened, as if I'd just told her that Christmas was tomorrow and she would be getting all the presents she'd ever asked for. "All right!" She smiled widely, then bounded off down the hall before I'd realized the conversation was over.

Was it a struggle to walk slowly, as if there was nothing particularly exciting waiting for me in my room? Yes, it was. Did my mind stop running through all the possible worst case scenarios that might greet me when I opened my door? No, it did not. So even though I knew the room would look empty, my breath still caught for a moment, until I'd closed the door and James suddenly appeared right in front of me.

I started, and felt bad about it instantly as James's expression fell. "Sorry," he said. "I didn't mean to scare you."

"No, it's okay," I said, shaking my head. He still seemed unsure, so I stepped a little closer. "Is everything all right?"

"What? Of course." James's face lit up in a genuine smile. "We're together, and soon I'll have you far enough away from here that they can't ever possibly get to you."

My stomach twisted with doubt, but looking up at his face—so excited, so sure—I couldn't help wanting to believe him. I took a shaky breath, nodded, managed to smile. His grin grew a little wider, and then he'd put his arms around me and the tension filling my body could finally release and suddenly it was if nothing else in the world really mattered beyond this moment. I clung to him, only half letting go when James suggested that maybe we could sit down somewhere, figure out exactly what we were going to do.

We ended up side by side on the floor, leaning against the wall by the door. It wasn't that unusual for me to be sitting there, after all, since it was right under my dresser with the mirror on it, and it was hidden from sight enough that James would have time to throw the cloak over himself, if someone somehow burst in without the warning of their footsteps in the hall.

James had decided that it would be best to apparate away in front of someone, if possible. That would give Ciara and Astra an even larger buffer before anyone thought to check around the manor, because if someone saw us leave, there would be no reason to. If the alarm went off without them realizing we'd apparated, though, they might actually start checking around the grounds. Hopefully, in the chaos, Ciara's absence might not even be noticed until they were both safely home.

The problem was, we couldn't figure out who we should apparate away in front of. Stillens and my parents (the first people James suggested) were all out, because I was pretty sure that they could stop apparition from the manor very quickly. Not only that, but any one of them would probably be able to overpower us easily.

Artemis was an option, but one that James immediately ruled out. He said he got bad vibes from her, and would be happy if he never had to be around her again. One interaction had been enough. I wasn't sure exactly what he meant, because she'd never seemed dangerous to me, but I supposed there had to be some reason my uncle had chosen her. Besides, we didn't know where she would be; it sounded like she was about to head out to search for him and Astra around the manor. Hopefully, Astra and Ciara were already long gone.

The no-majs were the other obvious choice, but I didn't want to get them in trouble. Even though they couldn't reasonably do anything to stop us, I had a feeling my uncle would punish them, anyway.

That ruled out everyone who was normally in the manor, which meant we might have to go down to the basement. But I didn't want to do that; for one thing, we didn't want it to seem like we'd meant to apparate in front of someone, because that would be even more suspicious than if we just apparated away without anyone there to see. Besides, I couldn't think of a single reason why I might be taking Cassie downstairs, if someone questioned me, and it was far more likely that we would be caught, rather than get away.

James finally sighed. "Well, perhaps we need a different sort of distraction."

Something about that made me tense up a little. "What do you mean?"

"Well, we've got to make sure they think I'm alone, right? That's the goal. No one really suspects I know where Astra is, and clearly they haven't realized Ciara is gone. I'd like to keep it that way, of course, but we can't make it look like we're trying to hide something. And I'm afraid that's what will happen if we seek someone out to apparate in front of, no matter who it is. Probably, we want it to look like apparating was out last resort, right? So... maybe they should catch me."

My throat constricted, and for a moment I struggled to find my breath. "Catch you?"

"Catch me trying to break in? They wouldn't question why, I'm sure. It would be to save you. And I don't mean like... get caught, caught. Just let them get a glimpse of me, then run. Lead them on some kind of chase, let them think they cornered us, then apparate away. I'm sure they won't be expecting we to try side-along apparition with both of you, after all."

Alarm bells were going off in my head, but I could hardly get my thoughts in order enough to argue against this incrediblystupid idea. "But... What if that doesn't work? What if you do get caught, and Stillens interrogates you? You can't do occlumency."

He shrugged. "I can do it passably."

"Passably?" I stared at him. "Passably isn't good enough! Where did you even learn it?"

Another shrug. "French wizards are much happier to help you practice that than British ones, I've found."

There were so many questions I had about that (such as why James had been trying to learn occlumency at all, or what sort of shady French wizards he'd been spending time with) but now wasn't the time to focus on that. "James, regardless, you can't get caught at all, and this seems like a perfect way to make sure you do."

"It'll be fine. We'll get out pretty easily, if they don't shut down apparating for the entire manor. Which they shouldn't, because they'll think it's just me being an idiot. They're going to underestimate me. I'm not going to even give them time to think about that."

That seemed like an incredibly slim chance. If anything, James was the one who seemed to be underestimating my family. "What if Stillens hurts you?"

"I'll be fine." He smiled. "Come on. It'll all work out."

"Jamie..." I closed my eyes, trying very hard to hear my own thoughts over the voice in my head screaming about what a horrible idea this was. "I really don't like this."

James took my hand. "All this is going to be is letting them see me breaking in, then have them chase me up to where you and Cassie are. We'll apparate from there, before they can even do anything. I promise, it's going to work out."

I was still very unsure. This sounded like a death trap, honestly. But I couldn't think of anything better. Maybe because I hadn't slept in over twenty-four hours, and I was starting to get a headache, and I had never quite stopped feeling sick after it had started at lunch? I didn't know. But I looked up into James's eyes, so sincere and hopeful, and very much wanted to believe that he was right. I sighed. "Fine."

"It'll all be fine," he said again. A glance at his watch, then, "I should probably head out, then. I'll break in through one of the front windows downstairs, probably somewhere where they'll be bound to see me. If you just happen to be by the stairs, we can run up together. Cassie's just in her room, right?" I nodded, and James smiled. "Perfect. Give it twenty minutes, and we'll be gone."

He stood up, then offered me a hand to pull me to my feet. For a moment, I tried to think of something to say, some other reason to stop him, but I couldn't; my mind was too full of a confusing tangle of anxiety and fear and excitement and a deep desire for James to never let go of my hand.

But he did. He leaned down to kiss my forehead, then gave me a very serious look. "Don't worry, Wren. It's going to be fine."

He threw the cloak over his head. I felt him swish past me as I opened the door, and he was gone.

I waited a few minutes, trying to calm down. I didn't see how this was any different than letting my mother see us apparate away, really. The more I thought about this, the more nervous I was getting, but it was too late; James had already gone, and I wouldn't be able to find him. The best I could do was try to make this easier, somehow. Maybe if we didn't have to go anywhere, if Cassie and I just happened to be, oh, I don't know, walking down to the library when James broke in? That would be much easier.

Cassie was in her room, and more than happy to drop her dolls and head off to the library with me. She held my hand, chattering about the story her dolls had been acting out (something that sounded a little bit too dark for a six-year-old to be making up, but I guess living here for a year and a half might explain that). I have to admit, I was hardly listening. My thoughts were running in a million different directions. I could barely manage an occasional, "Oh," or, "Hmm." Luckily, Cassie didn't seem to notice.

The clock in the hall was just ringing out a single toll for the hour as Cassie and I reached the stairs. The main stairs faced the front door. In all the years I'd lived here, I'd never seen that door open. If anyone ever needed to go outside, they went through the kitchen (or, if they were my father, they flew out a window). I wasn't entirely sure the door could be opened, honestly; it looked like the hinges were rusted shut.

That's why it was such a surprise for the doors to burst open just as Cassie and I were descending the stairs. Very violently, too, actually. It was almost as if some sort of explosion had blown them open. And, surprise, surprise, who should run in but James?

He glanced around, trying to get his bearings, and I found myself rooted in place, gripping Cassie's hand tightly. He was running towards us, but I could see someone coming after him through the door.

Artemis.

She was shouting something, and before I could even process what was happening, I heard running footsteps from downstairs. My mother appeared, and I suddenly realized we needed to leave now. I tried to tug Cassie towards the bottom of the staircase, but curses were flying now, and she looked like she was about to cry.

James was shooting curses at my mother and Artemis, and they were firing back at him, hot in pursuit. It was like I was watching it all in slow motion. Like I was moving in slow motion as I tried to turn and fumble for my own wand with my free hand, get it out of my pocket, tried to help. Before I could do anything, though, a door above us had banged open and my uncle's voice made everyone freeze. 

~~~~

Question of the Day: How do you feel about cliffhangers?

Answer: Clearly, they're one of my favorite things.

Vote and comment!

~Elli

Word count: 5807 (I think? Something around there? I cut this chapter in half and can't remember exactly how long this half was).