Back in the classroom, Rachel felt very differently about how useless the summit had been. Only Josh and Lily remained with her—the same three she'd always made decisions with, since long before Rallsburg fell apart. Only now… none of them were really in positions to make any decisions. Everything was up to other people with more power, more influence, more authority.

  They were just… the leftovers.

  "Don't beat yourself up, love," said Lily, seemingly reading her mind. She opened her eyes again. "It wasn't your fault."

  "Really wasn't," added Josh, pulling a chair up to join the two of them at the front. He didn't sit next to Rachel like he used to, but it was still much closer than he'd been all morning. It was something. "You couldn't know the powder kegs waiting to blow there."

  "I should have," said Rachel bitterly. "I mean, Nate was always going to be risky. And Viper?"

  "Hell, I didn't know Viper was actually the one who kidnapped Ryan," said Josh with a shrug. "I figured it was Malton's guys and he wasn't involved. Nobody ever mentioned him."

  "He never seemed so underhanded in Rallsburg," added Lily.

  "So I'm dying to know," said Josh, turning to her. "How often was it you in our meetings like this?"

  "Very rarely," said Lily. "Kenni and I split our lives by tasks. She would handle the Council business, as there was less risk I might be discovered by probing spells, while I tended to handle the teaching and university affairs. We only switched under special circumstances."

  "Ah." He nodded. "Makes sense."

  "I adored your cooking," added Lily with a small smile. "Kenni brought home so many excellent leftover meals."

  Josh chuckled. "I was wondering why the hell she took such huge portions and never ate half of it."

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  "It outdid our personal chef in Westminster."

  "Okay, now you're just messing with me." Josh turned to Rachel, missing Lily's shake of the head. "So what now?"

  Rachel shrugged. "You tell me. You're the one who stayed in power."

  "Ironic," added Lily. Rachel smiled.

  "What, 'cause I hated this job and kept getting elected anyway without even trying?" Josh rolled his eyes. "Still hate it, you know."

  "I gave up my power," said Rachel. "Guess it stayed there."

  "Don't underestimate yourself," said Josh. "You think anybody else in the whole goddamn world could have gotten this group together? Especially on a morning like this. Hell, even Natalie showed up. She walked away from protecting her dad for you."

  "They still listen to you," agreed Lily. "There is less unity than ever before, and perhaps you have lost some influence, but you have power. Wield it well."

  Rachel nodded. "Thank you. I don't know what I can do with this, but I'll try."

  "Well… we all gotta try a bit more," said Josh with a shrug. "We're going downhill and we have been ever since magic went public."

  "It could have been handled better," said Rachel.

  Josh shook his head. "Can't help Nate being an idiot of gargantuan proportions. You got the ear of the governor in no time. We're in the White House now, aren't we?"

  "More or less."

  "So start saving the world. Get out those plans you used to lecture me about," said Josh. "You had one for this, didn't you?"

  "I didn't think you were listening," said Rachel, taken aback.

  "I'm always listening," said Josh with a shrug. "I just don't care most of the time."

  Rachel glanced around the empty room—one she'd been in so many times, and now one of the very few surviving places of their past lives. "Was this meeting worth it?"

  Josh nodded. "It feels like we got nothing done, but trust me, this did a lot. Everybody saw everybody else."

  "They understand what is at stake now," added Lily. "Their consequences were laid bare."

  "So now we… what, we wait?" asked Rachel uncomfortably.

  "Hell no," said Josh. "We triage. Pick the most urgent problem, address that first, and start working down the list. Just like the old days."

  "...So that's Natalie, then," said Rachel.

  None of them spoke for a full minute, each considering the plight of the girl from Rallsburg—someone each of them felt they had failed.

  "What do we do, Rachel?" asked Josh, and Lily matched his questioning expression.

  Rachel opened her mouth to answer… but nothing came out. Every plan she'd made, every contingency and new law and new world order she'd tried to account for… none of them considered the possibility of fighting Natalie in order to stop her father from killing them all.

  Rachel couldn't come up with an answer. She didn't have one.