She cracks her eyes open, but doesn’t turn her head.

“There’s no reason you can’t do magic now,” I say, hoping that it’s true. Desperately hoping.

“I—” She lets go of her throat and looks down at her palms. “I don’t have a wand.”

I’ve never pulled my wand so fast. My holster kicks it into my palm as I’m reaching for her. “Take mine.”

Pippa accepts it, fingers trembling, then looks at me for the first time since she got her voice back. She looks frightened. And angry. She points my ivory wand at me, her whole arm shaking. She looks into my eyes …

I close them.

“Wait!” Simon shouts.

Just as Pippa says, “Test the waters!”

I open my eyes when the stream hits my chest. Pippa is staring down at my wand. Simon is holding her wrist.

“I—” he says, letting go of her. “Sorry, Philippa. Pippa. I just…”

“Good on you, Pippa,” Salisbury says. He seems sincerely happy for her, despite everything.

She clings to the wand, watching it spill water onto the floor of the van.

“Baz!” Penelope is twisted around and shouting at me. “I need your help!”

I crawl up between the two front seats.

“Help me make the van go faster,” she says.

I look out the window—the van might actually be flying. “It can’t go faster without the Normals noticing,” I say.

“We could cast spells so they don’t notice.”

We zip past a Volkswagen Golf. The driver nearly goes off the road, staring at us. “We really couldn’t, Bunce.”

Shepard is holding the steering wheel with both hands. “Penelope—are you steering, or am I steering?”

“You’re steering, Shepard!” she says. “Obviously!”

“Do the brakes still work?”

“Obviously not. Why would the brakes work on a flying car?”

“You really shouldn’t be allowed to use the word ‘obviously,’” he murmurs under his breath. “That should not be in your vocabulary.”

Penelope turns back to me. “Are you absolutely certain my father is caught up in all this?”

“Pippa says he is, and Simon saw him at a meeting.”

She shakes her head. “I don’t get it. My dad’s at peace with his magic—he’s a perfectly capable mage.”

“Not compared to your mother.”

“Baz!” She looks up at me, outraged. “What a thing to say!”

“I’m not insulting your father, Bunce. I just think it’s easy for us to say he should be happy. That Daphne should be happy. We have all the power we’ve ever wanted. We don’t know what it’s like—”

“Shepard, here!” She points out the window. “Get off!”

“Where?”

“This exit! The one that says Watford—get off now!”

“I can’t, there’s a car!”

Bunce holds out her fist. “Sent to Coventry!”