BAZ
Shepard ran after them before I could stop him. Lamb didn’t care. I watched them all climb to the top of the dune—Snow flying beside Bunce like her pet dragon. When they got to the top, he turned back and waved at me.
I waved back.
A moment later, there were gunshots.
PENELOPE
It happens fast.
Simon reaches out for Agatha, and she shakes her head so hard, she falls over.
The vampires step out from behind the cars then. They weren’t even hiding, really. Just standing back there, holding automatic weapons.
I want to laugh. We wouldn’t have been ready for those guns, even if we still had our magic. Would I have got out a single spell?
Simon fights anyway.
The vampires—youngish men, mostly white, dressed like they’re on safari—fire their guns in the air, presumably at Simon.
I don’t see it happen—they already have me. They tape my mouth, tie my hands. Throw me into the back of a four-by-four with Agatha. She kicks me in the ear, trying to push them off of us.
That’s it. That’s all that happens. Then it’s over.
Then we’re done.
56
AGATHA
The guns keep firing. Like there were more than two people to shoot down.
I thought the guns might be for show—that the NowNext creeps would want to take us all alive. But maybe Penny and I are enough of a score.
She’s sitting next to me in the back of Braden’s Mercedes.
I look in her eyes, half expecting her to have a plan—is anyone else coming? I wonder if Penny even realizes how bad this situation is. I try to tell her with my glued-closed face:
It’s worse than you think, Penelope. It’s worse than we ever thought to fear.
She looks wildly back at me. There’s no plan. There’s no hope.
No one comes to throw Simon into the back of the car. But after a few minutes, one of the NowNext guys gets into the front seat, his face flushed with excitement. He grins back at us, like he expects us to celebrate with him. They must all be feeling so tough and clever.
Penny slumps forward, refusing to look at or be seen by him.
I turn to the window. We’re parked facing away from the fight, so I can’t see what they’re doing to Simon. I’m glad of that—does that make me a coward? Well, a leopard can’t change its spots.
I stare out at the blank horizon. I pretend I don’t notice the vampire in the front seat taking a selfie.
What a fool I’ve been.
I thought I was thepracticalone.
I honestly thought I could walk away from it all—like magic was aplace.Like magic was a person. Or a habit I could break.
When Simon first came to Watford, he couldn’t make his wand work. He could barely cast a spell. He thought they were going to kick him out, that he wasn’t magic enough.
