~Astra~

Leaving Wren and James in that dungeon may have been the hardest thing I'd ever had to do. I think I did a good job of not letting them know, at least. Objectively, I knew this would be best for Wren. She needed to go somewhere safe, somewhere completely out of reach from her uncle. I didn't want to say goodbye, to let Wren and James go. I couldn't even lie to myself and say I was just worried they might not make it out. This was complete selfishness, and I knew it.

I just want to be there for her, I reasoned to myself, as I clambered through the window, back into the chilly December air. Was that really so bad? She had so much to process through, after all. And I knew James wanted to move on to doing something more active against Stillens after he'd rescued her. Not that he was just leaving her in DA protection, of course; I was sure he'd try to do all her could to spend time with her and Teddy and Toire. But even if he had the most noble intentions, I was worried she might need more support.

It occurred to me that maybe I could go stay with Teddy for a while after I got Ciara home. I couldn't imagine why the idea hadn't come to me before. I was their secretkeeper, after all. They wouldn't be hiding me. I'd be hiding myself. And maybe I could convince them not to tell anyone...

I made it to the truck with no trouble at all. It wasn't invisible anymore, though I wasn't sure whether it was because the spell had worn off, or because James and Ciara had undone it earlier. It didn't really matter; I couldn't drive it safely when it was invisible, anyway. Ciara was waiting inside, flipping through the spellbook that I'd used to learn the invisibility charm for our second cloak, which she now set down. I tossed it onto the back seat. "Ready?"

"No use wasting time," she said, glancing back in the direction of the manor. Though she smiled at me, there was a tenseness in her voice. Was she worried for us? For Wren and James? Feeling conflicted about leaving them, too? Or maybe this was all overwhelming her; the last few months sounded like they'd been an absolute nightmare, and I was sure it felt surreal to have it be ending.

Talking about it might have helped her. Or me. I don't know. But I didn't say anything, pretended I hadn't heard that tenseness. I started the truck and put it in reverse, then slowly backed onto the road.

Yesterday evening, when we'd been making our plan, James had pulled up his maps app to show us exactly how to get to Malfoy Manor (or close enough that Ciara could direct us there, at least; Malfoy Manor wasn't on the muggle maps). I could hardly remember any of it, but Ciara had made him get out a pen and paper so she could write down each step. Sure, I had to bite my tongue to keep from telling her to shut up every time she told me where to turn (listen, just because we got along now didn't mean I appreciated being told what to do), but at least we weren't going to get lost.

As we drove down backroads and through small villages, I found myself glancing at her every once in a while. She was always either staring out the windshield, searching for the next road sign, or glancing at her paper. She never seemed to notice my gaze. Or, well, she might have been ignoring it. I'm not sure. But she seemed all right, like her usual self. Focused on the task at hand, calm and collected and certainly ready to tell me off if I did say to shut up.

I had no idea what she was thinking about, and I was a little afraid to ask. Afraid she might get angry with me, or afraid she might break down.

Personally, I was overwhelmingly happy to have found her, to be bringing her safely home. Sure, I hadn't known she was gone in the first place (thanks, James), but now that I knew, and I'd seen a bit of how horrible the past few months had been... if I wasn't also feeling that weird confliction about James and Wren, I might have been giddy. I couldn't understand why she wasn't feeling the same way. Was something wrong? Was it leaving Wren behind, or something else?

After about forty-five minutes of driving in perfect silence, I cleared my throat. "So, um, I suppose you're exciting to be going home?"

Ciara started a little, then blinked at me. "Oh. Yes, of course."

I smiled. "Everything's all right?"

"Why wouldn't it be?"

"I don't know." I frowned, trying to see if my vague concerns would grow orderly enough to come out as something comprehensible. No such luck. "Um... I just, I don't know. I'm sure this is all overwhelming, I guess."

It was several moments before Ciara said anything. I resisted the urge to glance at her, kept my eyes trained firmly on the road ahead. Finally, I heard a small sigh. "I... I suppose it is, yeah."

"I just..." I hesitated, wondering whether she would really appreciate me saying anything. I'd already start talking, though, so might as well forge on. "I just remember, fourth year, when Wren came back... I know she was glad to be free of it all, but it was still a really difficult adjustment for her. And... like, obviously that's not exactly the same thing, since no one's accusing you of being an international terrorist, and Wren wasn't being held hostage to keep some psychopath in line, and you're both different people and all that, but... I don't know. I guess I just want you to know that I'm here for you? I don't know how to help or do anything well, but I care about you and I'm here."

I had to keep myself from cringing as I finally stopped talking. That had been one of the dumbest speeches that had ever come out of my mouth, and I was bracing myself for Ciara to tell me to screw off. She didn't always take well to people (me in particular) prying into her emotional wellbeing, after all.

But when I glanced over at her, she was just staring out the windshield, perhaps blinking a little more than normal. She managed a smile at me when she seemed to feel my eyes on her. "Thanks," she said softly. She swallowed, then shook her head and looked down at her directions. "I think you need to turn left at the next junction."

"Cool," I said, nodding, resisting the urge to say anything else. "Sounds good."

Before we reached the next junction, though, before it had even come into sight, everything suddenly went black.

I couldn't feel the car anymore, or see anything, and I found myself to shocked to even say anything. Before I could recover my wits, a small hand had slipped into mine. "It worked!"

I whirled around to see Cassie smiling up at me. I blinked at her for a moment, trying to figure out what was going on. "Did... did you call me here?" I asked.

"Yeah! I didn't think it would work, because you're not asleep, but it did!"

I stared at her for a moment. "You... okay, but... why...?" My eyes widened as it hit me that oh Merlin, I'm driving a car, and I shook my head. "Cassie, I can't be here. Oh Merlin, I'm driving! This is really bad! I need to go right now."

Cassie tilted her head, giving me an incredulous look. "Just open your eyes."

"They are open!"

"No, I mean really," she said patiently, as if she were explaining something very obvious and simple. "Open them so you can still see to drive."

"How do I do that?" I asked, barely keeping myself from snapping at her.

"I don't know!" Cassie shrugged. "I just do it."

I pursed my lips, sure this wouldn't work, but I supposed it was better than nothing. I squeezed my eyes closed, willing myself to be able to see. I mean, I suppose Cassie had figured it out on her own. And she was six, so if she could do it, surely I could to.

Suddenly, I could hear Ciara screaming. My eyes popping open to see the truck nearly careening off the road and into a tree. I yelled, too, and whipped the wheel over, pulling us back onto the road. I slammed the breaks, since there weren't any other cars around, and we came to a rough stop.

"Bloody hell, Astra!" Ciara snapped, but I held my hand up.

"I'm talking to someone!"

"Excuse me?"

I ignored her. I could still feel Cassie's hand on my arm if I focused on it, which was really weird. Now, I could hear her voice too, as if she was really right next to me. "Okay, can you see now?"

"Yeah."

"Did you crash?"

"Nearly," I said, chuckling. "Don't worry, we're all right."

"Okay! What does that paper say?"

"Paper...?" My eyes widened. "Oh! You got out! You're with James and Wren?"

"Yes!" I could tell she was smiling, and it sounded like she might have been bouncing around. "Is he really a friend?"

"Of course he is," I said, smiling. "He's one of my best friends."

"Okay." Her hand was back on my arm. "What does the paper say? Wren said only you could tell me."

"It's an address," I said. "87 Morningside Road, Edinburgh. It's where my cousin lives."

"87 Morningside Road," Cassie repeated, sounding very serious. I then felt small arms around my waist, which was a little weird. "Thank you!" And just like that, the connection was gone.

I blinked, taking a deep breath. That had been one of the weirdest experiences of my life. When I finally glanced over at Ciara, she was staring at me as if I'd gone mad. "Are... are you done?" she finally asked.

"Sorry," I said, pursing my lips. "It was Cassie. I suppose she couldn't read the paper..."

She nodded slowly, understanding dawning on her face. "Oh. That little girl. Does she often make you pass out?"

"No," I said, frowning. I put my foot on the gas and started driving again. "Normally, I'm already asleep."

"Oh, right, of course." Ciara shook her head, still seeming shaken. "Um... you said she was with Wren and James?"

I nodded. "That's about all she said, but I'm assuming they got out, if they were taking the time to have her come talk to me. So that's good."

"Very," Ciara agreed. She shot me a smile, then glanced out the front. "Oh, you need to turn left right there."

I had to take a hard left, because we'd gotten too close for me to slow down enough. Ciara winced but didn't comment, either on my bad driving or James's lack of teaching.

We kept driving for a few minutes in silence, though it felt incredibly awkward to me. I couldn't tell if Ciara noticed, or if I was just making things up; she'd gone back to staring out the window and hardly seeming to notice me. Maybe she seemed a little less all right than she had earlier, though I couldn't quite put my finger on what the issue was. It was almost as if she was going into shock. But she also might have just been tired, or focused. I didn't want to ask.

Suddenly, Ciara gasped. "Did you see that?"

"See what?" I asked, because I hadn't noticed anything.

Ciara was peering out the passenger window, up at the sky it looked like. "I... it looked like someone flew past on a broom?"

"A broom?" I frowned, leaning forward so I could see above us better. "I didn't see anything..."

"I could've sworn..." She bit her lip, then shook her head. "I suppose I might have imagined it. I don't know where they would've gone."

"Yeah, maybe," I said, forcing a lighter tone. In reality, I was suddenly worried that Artemis Wu had caught up to us. I still didn't really know how she'd been tracking James and I, and if we'd happened to pass her, or maybe some charm she'd cast, maybe she would've been able to follow us. That wasn't good.

Before I had time to ponder any further, though, we rounded a bend and nearly collided with someone standing directly in the middle of the road.

Ciara and I both screamed, and without thinking I swerved to avoid hitting the figure. Unfortunately, that sent us directly into a stone wall. The airbags went off, and for a moment all I could hear was a sickeningly loud crunch and both of us still screaming.

I cursed loudly as I pushed the airbag out of my face. I hadn't known they would hurt, honestly, but I felt a little as if someone had hit my head against the wall. That wasn't the important thing, though, nor was the fact that the windshield had shattered and there was broken glass all over the front seat. Ignoring Ciara's insistence that I stay in the truck, that we needed to figure out what was going on, I reached over to wrench open the door. It took much more effort than normal, but I finally got it, then nearly fell out of the truck. Had I hit that person?

I wobbled a bit as I stumbled around the car, scanning the road to see if anyone was struck, bleeding out. Where had they been? There was no one on the road, lying down. In fact, this stretch seemed entirely abandoned. I didn't see anyone at all, on the road or in the pasture beyond.

I cursed again, though more quietly this time, as I turned back to the truck. Ciara had managed to get her door open, and was climbing out. She was brushing glass off of herself with one hand, but holding her other as if it were hurt. She didn't seem to notice the cuts all over her face and arms. The whole front of the truck was completely smashed. I winced; that didn't seem like it would be easy to fix, magic or no.

"What just happened?" Ciara asked faintly. "Where did they go?"

A mysterious figure in our way, vanishing just as we crash the car? This was bad. Very, very bad.

I glanced back at Ciara just as her eyes widened, locked onto something behind me. My stomach sank. Oh no.

When I turned, my fears were confirmed.

Artemis Wu.

I cursed again, then whipped my wand out. Thank goodness it seemed to be intact. "What do you want?"

Unfortunately, Artemis didn't seem intimidated by me at all. She was holding a broom in one hand, though she set it down against the wall behind her before turning to smile at me. "Hello, Astra Lestrange. I was hoping we could talk."

I was expecting her to be American, but a warm southern accent was a bit of a surprise. She sounded less harsh than I was expecting from the assassin who'd been hunting us down for months. "Shove off," I snapped, backing up until I was standing a pace or two in front of Ciara, arm held out protectively in front of her. "I suppose you think it's funny to put people in danger?"

"Not at all." She pursed her lips, looking genuinely concerned. "You're not hurt too bad, are you?"

"Not badly enough that we can't duel you," Ciara said. She'd moved up next to me, and now she pushed my arm down. As much as I wanted to push her behind me (I was not about to let her get hurt because of me), I didn't.

Instead, I leveled my wand at Artemis. "Stay back, Artemis, if you know what's good for you."

Artemis didn't even flinch when I said her name. She couldn't know Wren had told me, just this morning, could she? Wren and James had escaped. Maybe she thought I'd learned it somewhere else. What she did do was sigh and draw her own wand before slowly starting to approach us. "I really don't want to hurt either of you."

"You don't need to worry about that."

"But," she continued, as if I hadn't said anything, "if you won't cooperate, Stillens did say he only wanted you relativelyunharmed."

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Ciara shooting me a nervous glance. I hardly had time to notice it before Artemis had flicked her wand up in a sharp, quick motion, and the road behind us erupted upwards.

Ciara screamed, but I managed not to. The road had basically become a wall behind us, towering half a meter over my head. I whirled back around as the road to the side of us erupted upwards, too. Artemis was hemming us in.

I shouted something obscene at her, then cast the strongest augamenti I could. The jet of water was enough to slam her back against the stone wall across the road, and I took the opportunity to grab Ciara's hand and dash behind the broken segments of the road.

"Okay, if we can just knock her out, I'm sure I can fix the truck," I said as I scrambled up into the back of it to get a better position to shoot spells at Artemis from.

Ciara glanced from me to the truck. "Are you out of your mind?"

"Just help me knock her out!"

Before Ciara could respond, all the remaining windows in the truck exploded outward. I barely managed to cover my face, wincing as broken glass pelted my arms, body, and legs. I could feel it slicing through my skin. When I looked up again, Artemis had rounded the upturned road, water dripping from her hair and clothes. Funnily enough, she wasn't glaring at me, like I'd expected her to be; instead, though she did look completely pissed, the look she was giving me was simply intense. That scared me a little more than the window breaking, to be honest.

Ciara shot a spell at her that she blocked easily, without sparing her a glance. She flicked her wand, and the road pulled up into a wall right in front of my cousin, cutting her off between that and the truck. I narrowed my eyes and shot confringoat the wall of road next to her, hoping to knock her off balance with an explosion. Unfortunately, she just put up some form of a shield charm that protected her from the blast. She was still approaching.

"Astra, we need to get out of here." Ciara was staring at me, still cradling her arm.

I glanced from her to Artemis, then shook my head. What on earth were we supposed to do? I couldn't fix the truck if Artemis was fighting us. "I'm working on it." I ducked as Artemis shot a spell at me, then shot stupefy back, though she blocked it. She was nearly to the truck, and I had a feeling I wouldn't be able to keep her off it. I bit my lip, then jumped down next to Ciara and took off around the walls of road.

Ciara grabbed my arm as we paused behind the walls, listening to see which direction Artemis would come from. "I don't think we can beat her, Astra."

"Well, if you start talking like that, maybe not!"

"My arm is broken!" Ciara winced as she tried to hold it up. "I can hardly cast a spell with it. And she seems more trained than you are, if not more powerful. I really don't think we can do this."

"What would you have us do instead?"

She bit her lip. "I'm sorry, you're going to hate me, but we don't really have another choice..."

"What?"

"Hold on tight."

My eyes widened as she grabbed my arm with her uninjured one. "Ciara, wait, no—"

Before I could pull away, she spun around, and we were sucked into darkness. 

~~~~

Question of the Day: Who's your favorite Stillensy person? Not who's the best, but who's the most entertaining to watch, the most fun to hate? For example, my favorite death eater is Bellatrix because she's so insane, even though she's objectively a bad person and I hate the things she does.

Answer: Oh, this is hard. I really like Artemis, because I think she's opening us up to a different kind of person who works for Stillens, and I think it's interesting to explore a character who might have genuinely been a good person if she hadn't been indoctrinated from a young age. I think I have the most fun writing Zaria and Magnus interacting with each other, or even Zaria, Nico, and Wren back in the last book. But probably my favorite is Nico, partly because I enjoy characters who feel a little freer to just say somewhat insulting or offensive things (shout out to Colette on that one, too), and partly because I'm enjoying his arc a lot so far. 

Vote and comment!

~Elli

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