She blinks at me. “Right,” she whispers.
She starts pulling Agatha toward the car—“Come on, Agatha.…”—and looks up at Simon and Baz. “Simon! We’re leaving, Simon!”
Simon keeps flapping.
I open the car door and help Agatha in. “I’m Shepard,” I say, taking her hand.
Penelope has run back for Simon, getting under him and catching his ankle. “Simon! Come on! Come down. It’s over.…Simon!” The boys fall more than land. “Merlin,” Penelope says. “Watch out for the fire, Simon—he’s still flammable. Can you walk, Baz?”
The three of them are holding each other up.
“Yeah,” Baz says. “Not to worry.”
One of Simon’s wings is hanging and mottled a darker red. I weave my way through the fires to them. Up close, it’s clear that both of the guys are bleeding badly. Baz looks like he was wearing squibs under his shirt. “Come on,” I say, getting my arm around Simon. He leans hard on me.
Penelope pulls Baz’s arm over her shoulder, but Simon won’t let go of him. He’s got his hand fisted in Baz’s bloody shirt.
“It’s all right,” I say, “we’re all going to the same place.” Simon still won’t let go. Penelope and I half drag the two of them to the car. We get Baz in first, in the middle seat, and he hauls Simon in by the waist. Simon loses consciousness as soon as he’s off his feet. “We can go straight to the hospital,” I say.
Baz sneers at me. “Are you kidding? We’ll fix him with magic. We’ll fix it all with magic. Just get us out of here if you can.”
I can. The key fob is sitting in the console. And the car’sequipped with satellite navigation. I run around and get in the front seat. “How were you guys casting spells at all? In a Quiet Zone?”
“There were Normals in the desert,” Penelope says. “Not close—but close enough.”
Their magic comes back full force almost immediately. That Quiet Zone was small. The vampires knew exactly what they were doing when they brought us there.
Penelope heals Simon first, leaning over the seat and clutching his wing.
“Where’s your gem?” Baz asks.
“I’ve got it.” She closes her eyes.“Good as new!”
Simon groans, stretching the wing, inadvertently knocking Penelope back into her seat.
She casts the spell three more times—on his head, his heart, his stomach.
I watch them in the rearview mirror. I know I should focus on the road, but this isspectacular.
Penelope reaches for Baz next, but he shrugs her off. “I’m full of lead,” he says. “I don’t know what will happen. I just need a drink.”
“We’ll be in cattle country soon,” I call back.
Baz nods. “I’ll wait.” He snags her hand. “Come here, Bunce.”
“I’m right as rain, Baz.”
“Don’t make me climb over Simon.”
Penelope sighs, leaning over the seat, and Baz holds his wand to her mouth.“Kiss it better!”
“Basil, that’s a family spell!”
“Hush,” he says, kissing her cheek. He wipes the blood from her mouth with his sleeve. His arm is shaking. “You okay?”
She’s tearful. She nods.
“Do you have anything left for Agatha?”
