"Well," Hollis said after dinner the next evening, "You certainly managed to destroy the dagger."

We were sitting in his study, wounds properly tended, hot tea in our hands, fed and at least marginally rested. Elsie, it turned out, was a passable medic in addition to a superb cook.

Athena, Artemis and I had spent most of the day filling out statements and answering questions for the police and rail company…well, Athena and I did anyway, with Artemis watching. It had been a positively exhausting process that I didn't want to ever repeat. Too bad it was in the fine print of the job description.

"In fact," he went on, "I'd say you got lucky. Your fire-based phoenix construct probably absorbed and dissipated most of the energy that was released, and what little is left is bound in the remains of the dagger. Otherwise, the explosion would've been larger. I believe I can safely disperse what's left."

I had a hard time imagining the explosion being larger and any of us surviving it unharmed. I shivered a little.

"I'm sorry," I said quietly. "I couldn't think of anything else to do."

Hollis shook his head. "Don't be sorry. Under the circumstances, I would have done something similar." He smiled gently. "I might have thrown a force sphere around them first, mind you, to contain the explosion. But you had no idea what was going to happen."

"Ignorance is no excuse," I said flatly.

"Ordinarily it isn't," he agreed. "But destroying artifacts is a subject you had little information on, and you were in a combat situation...which makes a difference. You had to make a snap decision, and I'm pleased with how well you did under the circumstances. Yes, you could have done better...if you'd had more experience, and if I'd briefed you on how to safely destroy the dagger, if if if." He smiled. "Don't play what if. You, Athena and Artemis survived without serious injuries. You worked together as a team and did it well against a dangerous opponent who appears to have been more experienced. Also, I believe the train's insurance will cover the damage."

I winced a little. "I hadn't even thought about that."

"Adrenaline will do that," Hollis said gently.

"What about that girl, Brenna?" I asked. "Do you think she could really be my cousin?"

Hollis shrugged. "You yourself said that you know nothing about your father," he said. "It seems an unlikely coincidence - if it's actually a coincidence - but it's at least possible. From your description of her, I'd guess that she's spent time studying Necromancy. That branch of magic tends to have a physical effect on its practitioners, making them look much the way you described her...pasty skin, hollowed-out eyes, somewhat manic behavior, and so on."

I sighed. "I don't have any way to trace her. I didn't get her whole name and she didn't leave anything behind I could use as a focus."

"It's not surprising," Hollis said gently. "She seemed well prepared for the attack. It's a testament to your skill and quick thinking that her snatch and grab was foiled at all."

“And her cocky attitude,” I grumbled.

Hollis smiled a little and nodded acknowledgment.

"We'll find out who she is sooner or later, Mistress," Athena added quietly. "You said it yourself: I have a feeling we'll see them again."

I nodded.

Stretched by the fire, Artemis yawned and sat up stiffly. >

I smiled and repeated what she'd said to Hollis, who nodded. "Not a bad philosophy, that. And she's right. You all learned valuable lessons on this trip."

"We need to work on team tactics," I said dryly. "We were jumbled and out of sorts until we got our rhythm at the end. And even then she nearly had us."

"That phoenix construct sounds like an exceptional piece of spellcrafting," Hollis said. "I'd like you to demonstrate it for me later, if you would."

I must have looked embarrassed, because he laughed. “Truly,” he said, clapping his hands together. “Both to see the spell in action…and to see you reproduce it! You've done your teachers proud, Alys Kinnear," he said with a smile and a nod. "Very proud indeed, to remember what little you were told about destroying such an artifact during a spur of the moment casting of such complexity. Now, come along...I want you to show me how you did it."

After that, things settled back into the routine I was becoming comfortable with. I helped Hollis with his research, and he began teaching me about safely destroying items imbued with large amounts of dark magic. As part of my ongoing wizard training, I began studying Albion's laws as they applied to the practical application of magic by a wizard. Hollis also had me attend a couple of lectures about diplomacy and negotiation at one of the local colleges and, of course, there was the usual endless study of advanced magical theory and practice.

It was a lot to take in and kept me busy. I had known going into it that becoming a full wizard wouldn't be an overnight thing. It would likely take a couple of years for me to learn enough to pass the necessary qualification exams to work as a wizard on my own. I was lucky to have someone like Hollis to take me under his wing as both an employee and a student. With him sponsoring me, I could get the practical experience I needed while continuing my studies.

I made a mental note to thank Jonathan for having arranged it. Even when I hadn't realized he was doing it, he had been looking out for me and helping pave the way for my future. I was grateful.

In the middle of January, I had a long talk with Billy Fisher and his parents about what it took to become a Wizard. He was still almost painfully eager to become one - I guess I'd made quite an impression on the boy - and wasn't intimidated by the idea of ten years of dedicated training. It would certainly be a good experience for him, even if he decided not to follow it all the way to being a full wizard, and it wouldn't harm his conventional education in any way.

His parents were both terribly proud of him for wanting to do it, so there was no barrier there. Magical training was, after all, a highly prestigious path to follow.

So, with Hollis's help, we found a Wizard who lived not too far outside of London and was willing to train Billy, and just like that he became an apprentice. I promised to keep in touch with him, and fully intended to. It would be a lot of fun watching him learn and grow, especially if I could have a hand in it now and again.

On a more practical note, it would keep me in touch with the Fishers. I felt, and Hollis agreed, that their supernatural troubles were likely not yet over. Someone had to have summoned or created the creature that had killed their daughter and tried to kill Billy.

That mystery wasn't over yet...and we had nothing to go on until something else happened.

In early February, I happened to bump into Mrs. Muldrew at Harrods. We ended up having a light lunch together there while she filled me in on everything that had happened since my last visit to her home. She and her husband had decided that they liked the building too much to leave it altogether, so they were working on subdividing it into three connected townhouses.

"We're making sure the connecting walls are soundproofed," she said between bites of her salad, "And we're talking about turning the old morgue into storage rooms for rental by tenants."

She smiled across the table at Athena and me. "The whole house feels different since what you did for us. There's an atmosphere of contentment and peace there now. We simply can't thank you enough."

I returned her smile. "I'm glad we could help."

Somewhere around the beginning of March, it came to my attention that Athena had picked up my Irish accent. I was so used to hearing it from my own lips that I hadn't noticed it from her until one client - an older woman who had needed a particularly stubborn Boggart removed from her home - had commented on what a charming accent Athena and I both had. Having become aware of it, I noticed that Artemis had picked up my accent as well. I was charmed, amused, and curious if it was normal.

When I asked Hollis about it, he just smiled and shrugged. "They're a part of you, Alys," he said with some amusement. "Did you expect otherwise?"

His question made me take a half-step back (metaphorically speaking) and really examine my relationship with my familiars again. I realized that, after my revelation during my trip home to see my mother, both Artemis and Athena had become so much closer to me that they were often able to anticipate my needs and actions. It wasn't uncommon for Athena to be passing me a book or ritual component before I had a chance to ask her for it, and both of them had become extremely good at knowing when I needed affection or when I needed a bit of space.

And it felt so natural to me that I hadn't noticed. It was simply how it was supposed to be. They were a delight, and I loved them both dearly. Athena was very nearly the sister I'd never had, and Artemis was by far the best pet I could have ever imagined having.

"They're familiars," Hollis said with a laugh when I told him about my revelations while trying not to blush at effectively baring a part of my soul to him. "That's precisely how they're supposed to be."

Had I expected otherwise? I hadn't really given it any thought, and decided that it really didn't merit any.

One evening in the last week of March, I received a Sending from my mother. Athena and I had just been getting ready for bed when mom's spectral snowy owl swept into our room through the wall and changed to her image.

"Hello, my darling girls," her translucent image said. "Jonathan is coming to visit the first weekend in April. We both thought you, Athena and Artemis might enjoy spending a couple of days with us. We can throw you a late birthday party, and we might have some other news to tell you. Send me and let me know if you can come or not."

"Good gods," I said to Athena as mom's image vanished, "I think he actually proposed." I thought about how I felt about that, and decided it could only be a good thing.

Athena giggled. "It could be something other than that, you know."

Artemis stretched and rose from her place before the fire. >

I laughed and said, "That's very true, pet." How could I not agree? She was right, as usual.

Hollis was willing to let me take the weekend to go and visit them, so everything got packed into my bottomless bag, and off we went.

It was a beautiful spring morning as the three of us set off from the train station in Killarney and headed for my mother's home. Before we'd gone two miles, we knew something wasn't right.

There was smoke on the horizon.

By the time we reached town line, the three of us were jogging instead of walking. When we crested the last hill before heading down into town and saw the state of things, we froze in shock.

The town had the appearance of a war zone. I saw buildings that looked like they'd been blown apart from the inside, and others that appeared to have collapsed because of structural damage. Homes lay in shattered piles and still burned fitfully, or smoldered blackly as weary-looking figures with fire-fighting gear moved on to the next task. The smoke was thick, the devastation horrifying.

By the time I approached my mom's house at the edge of town, I had broken into a full-on sprint, my coat flapping around my heels. Athena was close beside me, Artemis out ahead of us, and all three of us came to another shocked halt at the opening in the low stone wall around her property.

Her house had not been spared. If anything, it looked as though serious attention had been paid to destroying it utterly. The house itself was mostly smoldering splinters of wood and scattered stone. One of the chimneys - the main one - was still standing, but it leaned to one side drunkenly and threatened to topple over at any moment. The flower beds - the plants had probably just been pushing up through the topsoil - were gouged out and turned over.

I took a few steps through the gate, my mouth dry and my heart hammering in my chest. "Mom?" I called, then tried to run towards the remains of the house.

Athena caught my arm and pulled me back. "Mistress, don't! It's not safe!"

> Artemis said from behind us, >

I tore my eyes from the wreckage of my childhood home and took the few steps back to the twisted and wrecked iron gate. There was a piece of paper tied one of the bars, fluttering in the faint breeze. I grabbed it, tearing it free of the piece of string that held it to the gate.

There were four words on it. Just four, but they told me everything I needed to know about what had happened here.

Fire for fire. Gotcha!

Almost everything, anyway. I was intuitively certain that it had been Brenna...she was the only one I could think of who'd leave a note like that for me. I had, after all, used fire magic against her and had probably burned her - maybe even badly. But was she seriously suggesting that this was somehow payback for what had happened on the train? It was kind of disproportionate, if it was.

The message was written in a flowing, elegant script. She'd had time to prepare it. Either that or her handwriting was amazing. I spread it a bit further and prepared to cast a few detection spells on it to see if I could get anything else from it, holding it in both hands...and the instant I did, it suddenly burst into flame. I let go of it at once before it could scorch me, and the paper quickly burned away without a trace.

"That's her!" An unpleasantly familiar voice called from behind me. "That's the girl who did it!"

I turned to see Druid Fianna Somerled approaching at an angry stride, though she was limping and half of her hair appeared to have been burned away. She was flanked by three police detectives, one of whom had the badge of a Mage hanging around his neck, a normal police badge with a staff crossing the center of it diagonally.

"She's the one who did this to the town and killed most of the Council!" Fianna spat. "Arrest her!"

"Alys Kinnear?" One of the detectives asked warily.

I nodded. "That's me. But I just got here. This is - was - my mom's house," I added, gesturing to the ruins behind me. "Do you know what happened to her?"

He didn't address my question. Instead, he very quietly said, "I'm afraid I'm going to have to take you and your familiars into custody, Miss Kinnear. We have some questions to ask you about what happened here early this morning."

"Early this morning?" I asked in confusion. "I just got here from Dublin, I've been on the train from there since a little before 06:00."

"We'll check on that," he said with a nod. "For now, please relinquish your staff and gear to us and come quietly."

That was when I realized that the Mage with them was tensed for a fight. I could sense the Anima drawn up around him, ready to fling up defenses and retaliate at a moment's notice. His right hand was hanging with deceptive looseness by his leg, ready to begin casting spells - or maybe reach for a Magearm - if I tried anything.

They thought, or at least suspected, that I had done this. And I suddenly realized that it probably looked like I did. From his perspective, I was still holding a bit of the Anima I had started drawing up to cast spells on the note, and I would have a residue of fire magic lingering about me - not to mention a few wisps of smoke - from the note combusting in my hands. Except they wouldn't have seen the note or have seen it burst into flames.

The town had pretty much been burned to the ground and there I was, left holding the literally smoking metaphorical gun. Figuratively speaking.

Cute.

"Wanted for questioning?" Fianna asked incredulously. "I want her arrested and taken for execution!"

I blinked in surprise. Execution? Well, at least I knew who gave them the impression I'd done it.

"Druid Somerled," the Mage detective said politely, "We need to know all of the facts before we do anything like that." He returned his attention to me. "Coming quietly will only help you, Miss Kinnear."

I didn't have a lot of options. I could probably flatten the lot of them, maybe even without killing any of them, but that certainly wouldn't help me. I could try to talk them down, but that would probably just make them more anxious and might result in a fight I really didn't want. Or I could surrender to them like I had nothing to hide or fear. Which was the truth.

No choice at all, really.

"All right," I said. I knelt and carefully laid my staff on the ground, then placed my bag beside it. My heart was cold and my stomach roiled with fear as I asked again, "Can anyone tell me what happened to my mother?"

Athena slowly unbuckled and lay her sword and gunbelt beside my staff and bag.

"We'll discuss that at the station," one of the detectives said as the Mage gathered up our things. He moved forward and gestured to a car that was pulling up. "After you, Miss Kinnear."

And the day had started out so nicely.