“Are you ready?” a disguised Dedalus asked his cohort, keeping his eyes peeled for any threats. All of the pieces were nearly in place, and he was ready to make this diversion his best one yet.
“Ready,” echoed an equally disguised Caroline, similarly watchful and with a hand in her coat pocket clutching some runes, ready to fling them out if they ran into trouble. She just had one last tear to make in the wards - a crucial one that meant all systems go - and Dedalus would do what he did best.
Much better than Humberto, anyway.
“May our interruptions be minimal and our injuries few,” Dedalus said cheerily, glancing down at his watch as the seconds ticked ever closer. “Or as we say in showbiz: break a leg. Not literally, of course.”
“May our… I can't think of any clever repartee. At least that's not what I'm here for.” Her wand snapped out. The last thread keeping the wards in place was yanked away.
This was what she was here for.
Dedalus took his cue. He lifted his wand, and with an elegant series of flourishes, conjured a colourful flock of countless squawking, flapping, tropical birds, which began to fill the alleyway. It was as though a pet shop had exploded, and impossible to ignore.
“Let the wild rumpus start!” he chirped.
Tonks Lupin & Arthur Weasley
When Tonks considered how easy it had been to purchase a few smartphone-operated flying robots off Amazon, Tonks could almost see people’s point that Muggles were kind of dangerous. That was probably just all the more reason not to engage them in a war to maintain some fragile purists’ sense of superiority. Granted, these drones were usually used strictly to take ostentatious wedding photos and fool around in the park, and not magically enhanced to facilitate the escape of wandless refugees.
Under the safety of disguise, Tonks swiped her smart-phone control once the wards fell, unable to hold back a slightly giddy smile as she exchanged a look with Arthur.
“Ready?” she asked. “Ready,” Arthur said with a curt nod.
True to their instructional manuals, the drones flew to life, zooming around the heads of shoppers and DMLE officials alike as Tonks guided them with her finger. Multiple pedestrians stopped in their tracks, bumped into one another, and ducked as the strange, grossly Muggle beasts zoomed imperiously over their heads, diverting their gazes away, momentarily, from the real attraction--the Quidditch stars that were now swooping down on the wandless.
Tonks snorted as she circled her drone around the head of a woman who seemed ready to faint as she shakily pointed her wand at the flying object, “They probably think this is the Muggle invasion or something.”
“Probably,” Arthur said positively giddy. He was getting to play around with the muggle drones, an object he had heard so much about but had never had the pleasure of operating. It took some work to figure it out but he was enjoying himself one he figured out how the fly the stupid thing being operated from this smartphone he was barely capable of navigating at the best of times. It didn’t matter he was getting to do something Molly would have positively scolded him about any other time.
He looked over at Tonks with a smile on his face as if he was some kid in a candy shop. “They are rather fun,” he said as he swooped the drown down knocking off a wizard’s hat in the process. Arthur chuckled to himself as he focused in on getting himself back on course and making sure not to hit anyone of those swooping in to do the job.
“Well, what’s not to love about little flying machines?” Tonks grinned, beaming at Arthur as she made hers get very close to one startled DMLE official, hover around like an inquisitive alien species, then zoom upwards as soon as the baffled hitwizard seemed ready to get his wand out.
All the while, Tonks appeared to be simply absorbed in her phone, no one really paying the least bit of attention to her in the escalating chaos as other Order diversions launched around them.
“See any friends of ours that we could annoy?” Tonks asked Arthur, scanning the street as far as she could really see for any known Death Eaters or sympathizers.
As Tonks asked about seeing any friends around Arthur looked up from his phone trying to act as if he was scanning the events below in some confusion before returning to look at his phone. He felt like he blended in with the group of young people all sucked into their phones.
“I think there is that annoyance from the Ministry, Nigel. He keeps an eye on everyone and reports any anti-ministry hushed discussion around the water cooler.” Arthur sounded annoyed. “He would be good to pester, deserves it really.” Arthur did his job at the Ministry, knew it was valuable, but you didn’t need to play into hands of death eaters. Arthur set about in something similar to a dive bomb maneuver over Nigel.
“Try to knock his wand,” Tonks said mischievously, as she continued to divert people's gazes and attention away from their flyers, making her drone swoop in and out of the crowds and circle around random people's heads.
Arthur nodded his head and went about trying to knock the wand out of Nigel’s hand. He was glad the diversion was working and pleased to be causing a bit of mayhem while he was at it.
Tonks snorted as Nigel’s wand ultimately fell and rolled down the cobblestone street, leaving the Ministry yesman scrambling in its wake.
Checking her clock, Tonks saw that the Weasleys' Wildfire Whiz-bangs they'd attached to the bottom of the drones were about ready to go off.
“Time for the grand finale?” Tonka grinned, then with a decisive swipe upwards on her phone screen, the drone followed its cue and flew upwards to a commanding height over Diagon. With a boom, they burst into a colorful fireworks display.
People ducked, frightened, though the fireworks were entirely harmless. Others applauded, bemused and thinking it a demonstration. Most importantly, Tonks and Arthur’s segment of diagon was thoroughly distracted by the display.
The chaos also presented a good exit strategy.
“Let's go,” Tonks said and disapparated.
Lee Jordan & Fred Weasley feat. Birdie Proudfoot
Normally, Lee would have been spewing out ideas nonstop. Distractions were his forte, and along with Fred, he knew they could come up with the best of the best, but he had been feeling off as of lately and… well, this was a mission that they certainly couldn't afford to mess up. He took a few paces, in front of the shop, back and forth, back and forth…
Come on, Lee, think. You can do this.
He got distracted by the sound of the mini-dragon flames that were used to roast nuts, when the idea came to him at once.
"Fred. This is it! Dragons!" he exclaimed with an excitement to his voice, his hand reaching for one of the dragon machines.
“Yes!” Fred agreed, grinning as he pulled out his wand, already on the same page as Lee. He enlarged one, then started to replicate it. It wasn’t fireworks, but unfortunately in the daylight distraction ideas had to be adjusted. An army of (fake) dragons would have to do, even if it was more a Charlie thing. “How many do you think we need?”
Lee shrugged, as he mimicked Fred's actions, making sure to take great care to not mess up the spells. "Dunno, maybe 10 or so?" he offered, meekly. "Or, hell, the more we can do, the better. As some wise men once said, give 'em hell."
Fred nodded, already deciding that at least 20 would be needed now, when one of his newly created dragons shot flames at him, catching his sleeve. “Fuck,” he swore, patting his sleeve to put out the fire. “Might need to make some adjustments. Don’t wanna burn the wandless while we’re trying to rescue them.” He stared at his dragon, reaching for a handful of the nuts as he thought, tossing one up to try catch it in his mouth, and then tossing one at Lee.
“That’s it!” He said, as the nut bounced off Lee’s face, and his friend made a face back, clearly displeased that the nut had caught him off guard. Fred laughed and turned his attention back to the dragon, narrowly avoiding another shot of flames. A few waves of his wand later and he’d fixed it, the dragon spitting nuts at him instead. “Duplicate from that one instead.”
"Aye, aye, cap'n," Lee replied, focusing his energy and attention on the newly-created Nut Dragon now, throwing around a few Geminios. As he watched his own creation duplicate itself from Fred's, he beamed with pride and high-fived Fred in the process. But he didn't want to deter from the main mission at hand, and he urged the dragon to fly away, gaping as he saw how magnificent the beast truly was. (He made a mental note to talk to Charlie about this later on.)
Fred followed suit, sending his dragons off into the street once he corrected the flames to nuts of the first group of enlarged dragons.
Birdie had just started her shift when she was ordered to head out to deal with a situation involving the wards in Diagon. She didn't really care, she just wanted to finish her coffee and ignore her headache. But when duty called she had no choice but to answer and so she found herself wandering down the alley when she came across a few nut spewing dragons.
Which, yeah, dragons in Diagon was weird enough but the fact that they spewed nuts instead of fire was almost enough to distract her. Before she could begin to investigate she found herself being pelted with nuts.
“That should keep them distracted,” Fred turned to Lee with a grin, sending one last dragon into the Alley. “They’ll have the Wandless out of here in no time.”
Katie Bell & Keaton Flitney v. Layla Fairbourne
Keaton was relatively sure he’d never done anything this bold in his life. Helping people sneak out of the country undetected was easy, when all you were doing was paying for it. This was him taking that step into the action, getting his hands dirty.
He didn’t like it.
The distractions had worked as expected, chaos exploding through Diagon Alley. This was their shot at goal, and their only one.
He banked sharply and jumped the last few feet to the ground, crouching down near one of the Wandless. He glanced over to make sure he hadn’t lost Katie, trying to remain calm despite the fear churning in his gut.
Katie, broom in one hand and wand in the other, followed him at a close distance. She'd been passing by the Wandless almost every day, familiarising herself with them even when she wasn't bringing food and supplies, and the idea of saving some of them was one she'd thought about for ages. She nodded to Keaton, waiting for him to say the safe word and use the time they had to get someone safely.
“Let’s fly already,” she reminded him sharply.
With a crack Layla appeared in Diagon Alley following the burning summons on her forearm. It only took a split second to see what the issue was — vigilantes trying to abduct the Wandless. Regardless of her feelings about that (it was a good thing, she knew), the arrival of other Death Eaters spurred her into action. A lazy blasting curse sailed between the two closest vigilantes as she walked in their direction. Hopefully, they’d take the hint.
Keaton focused back onto the closest person, a young man he vaguely recognised the face of. Maybe they’d been at Hogwarts together? He wasn’t sure.
“Hey,” he said with a reassuring smile. “Gideon sent me. Let’s get out of here, yeah?”
Whether it was the code word or a familiar face, Keaton wasn’t sure, but soon they were both on his broom, and he nodded to Katie before kicking off. They didn’t have much time before another blast came from the Death Eater.
Behind her mask, Layla’s brows knit a sense of recognition dawned. Still, this was no time to dwell on that.
Katie took to the skies too, positioning herself between Keaton’s broom and the Death Eater. Answering the blasting curse with an engorgement charm aimed at the Death Eater’s limbs, she directed the broom to follow Keaton as best as possible. It’d been a while since she’d flown, and she couldn’t deny the thrill that it gave her.
It’d been awhile since Keaton had flown with a passenger, and it took him a few moments to adjust. He wasn’t as manoeuvrable as he liked, and he could feel the slight delay as they gained height, as he guided them to the heights of Diagon Alley.
He desperately wanted to turn, to check to ensure that Katie was okay. She might have been his guard, but she was so young. And she wasn’t one of the beaters he was used to having at his back. His thoughts skipped to Grace for a moment, hoping she was having better luck with her own rescue.
But he didn’t look back, not for Katie, not at the Death Eater that had attacked them, not at the chaos in the alley. He had to stick to his job in this rescue, and trust the rest of the team would do the same. He kicked the broom into high gear, pushing it as hard and fast as he could.
Having summoned a broom from Quality Quidditch Supplies (a top of the line one) past the tropical birds and dinosaurs and who knew what else going on, Layla wasn’t wholly prepared for the vigilante’s charm. Instantly upon contact her left leg swelled, enlarging to a gross size. Swearing as she caught the broom in her free hand, she prodded her leg with her wand, counter-cursing on her lips, but it only shrunk down to about 1.5 times its original size.
The Death Eater swore, but then swung her hefty leg over the side of the broom and took off after the pair anyway, if only partly to put some distance between her and the chaotic alley below. Another flick of her wand sent a bone-twisting curse towards the vigilante that’d saddled her with the enlarged leg, but that was all even as she nudged the handle of her broom on a course to tail them.
The engorgement charm might have bought her more time, but Katie was too busy trying to speed away in that time to pay full attention to what the Death Eater might do next. She screamed wildly as she felt an agonisingly sharp pain in her left shoulder, gripping onto the broom with her knees as she used her other arm to send a fireball back at the Death Eater.
“GO AHEAD!” Katie yelled out to Keaton, trying to urge him out of harm’s way as she turned to face the Death Eater.
Keaton risked a glance back, before his passenger started yelling as well. He banked sharply to avoid a sign, returning his eyes back to the sky and their way out.
Layla rolled her broom to the side as the fireball whizzed past where she’d just been and smacked into the cobblestones of the alley below. Then she pulled up, halting her ascent after the two vigilantes (and Wandless passenger). Memories of her last broomstick adventure with Alicia were vivid in her mind despite the rush from being in the air once more.
But more important was the fact that she didn’t need nor want to do anything; she’d done more than enough here today, she knew, given some of the conversations she’d been having. So she waited, hovering in place and staring down the vigilante from behind her mask and waiting for her to either make another move, or leave.
Shoulder still painful, Katie considered sending another spell at the Death Eater. But they seemed to be waiting, behaviour she didn’t understand and perhaps didn’t want to really think about at this point in time. So she turned and sped out of there, tailing Keaton as best she could.
Seeing the second vigilante leave rather than try to fight, Layla turned her attention back to the chaos in Diagon with a sigh.
Hestia Jones & Grace Jordan v. Ignatius Travers
Grace has spent the majority of her life thinking in terms of odds and strategy, reframing life situations into plays. It was an inappropriate thought in the given moment, but it’s what her brain immediately reverted to as the inevitable attack happened, cutting the Order off from any further attempt to save any more Wandless.
Good players anticipated problems. The Beater reacted accordingly; she was no duelist, but she could certainly fly.
Hestia’s sudden warning cry confirmed that there was a Death Eater nearby and Grace tightened her grip on the broom, winding she and the terrified Wandless woman pressed against her around a building and up towards the shield of another.
Grace felt the reverberations of whatever spell Hestia had cast towards their assailant, but kept focused. When Hestia cried out again, this time a pained grunt, Grace turned sharply in time to watch her friend tumble from her broom, hitting the apartment rooftop with an audible crack.
“H— shit,”Grace bit down on her tongue hard, swallowing the rookie mistake of calling Hestia's name just as the Death Eater came into sight.
It had been a few too many years since Ignatius had spent quality time on a broom. It had never been his preferred mode of travel and his quidditch skills (once quite good) had long decayed in Azkaban. He wanted to pretend it didn’t matter, and for a moment it didn’t as he sped through the air aiming curses at the vigilantes who were trying to fly away. The next moment it did though, as the fallen vigilante’s curse broke his leg and sent him nearly crashing into a nearby building.
But his leg was not his arm and he managed to regain control, picking up speed as he dove towards the one flyer left, multiple slicing curses sent in her direction.
The first slice caught Grace across her forearm, nearly forcing her to drop her wand with a startled cry, the second cut just shy of her throat, blood slick and heavy as it poured down her collarbone. “Oh God,” the Wandless woman wailed as Grace rolled both of them expertly, narrowly avoiding the last few slices.
Hestia lay prone and unconscious on the rooftop below them, and Grace would not be leaving her there.
With grim determination she fired off a blasting hex, followed by a wave of flame that Grace hoped would distract from the sudden sharp dive she took towards Hestia.
The blast hit the chimney of one of the buildings, sending bits of stone raining everywhere. But it was the fire that was most problematic, flames licking up the fabric of his robes as Ignatius tried to put them out with aerial loops that would have looked much nicer had he been thirty years younger. By the time he finally managed to extinguish them (ultimately with the help of a few water spells), he’d almost lost sight of the vigilante trying to get away.
Almost.
He dove towards them as he shot blinding spells.
It may have only been a minute, but Grace knew how to take advantage of milliseconds as she swooped down beside Hestia, the terror and adrenaline keeping her from thinking about anything but putting her friend on the broom.
“Give me her other arm,” the Wandless woman said, voice and hands shaking as she moved from her position behind Grace to help tug Hestia up and over the broom. With one arm an iron band across Grace’s middle, the other woman kept a firm grip on Hestia’s back, keeping the three of them pinned together. “Go,” she urged desperately, “go.”
The ground erupted in a blinding white light just as Grace kicked back up off the rooftop, ignoring momentary blindness as she trusted her flying instincts, climbing high towards the clouds before flipping abruptly and veering sharply to the left where she knew hoped a set of identical apartment buildings might provide cover for an escape.
Had his leg not been broken or had he not spent nearly 20 years in azkaban, Ignatius might not have been thrown by her sudden shift in direction. It wasn’t that he lost sight of her — no, he lost control of his broom as he tried to make the sudden left and found himself slamming ungracefully into one of the buildings.
By the time he righted himself, they were gone.
Roger Davies & Oliver Wood feat. Joe Bell
This was what he’d been waiting for.
Oliver’s heart was hammering away loudly in his chest, threatening to burst and fly away on the wind.
This was enormous. Bigger than when they’d saved Will’s ex’s family, though not in importance, because Oliver wasn’t going to put lives in any sort of hierarchy like that. No, this was bigger because of the scale, and because of the immediate threat. He thought about Percy, waiting in the Ministry and probably going out of his head. He thought about his father, his mothers, his sisters. He hope that, whatever happened, he made them proud.
When it was time, he nodded towards Roger and they flew towards Diagon Alley.
Roger's nerves were humming with the usual pre-game tension. It helped to think of it that way, where the worst case scenario was losing and maybe getting an injury that the mediwitch or wizard could patch up later and not—well. He nodded back and flew silently down.
The scene below them was eventful, to say the least. Another glance at Oliver and then he descended. Fortunately dodging bludgers applied to dodging other things too, and attention pulled from him by the melee, he landed.
“Hello,” he said greeting a wide eyed female Wandless (this would have gone better if he hadn't been glamoured as someone less handsome, some stray part of his mind whispered.) “Um, Gideon. I'm new at this but I'm a great flyer, I promise.” He patted the broom behind him.
Oliver landed nearby - likewise wishing his glamour was more familiar and a face they instantly knew they could trust, even though he understood why. (The last thing he needed was Death Eaters knowing exactly who was involved, considering what happened last time he faced off with one.)
“I was going to say Gideon says hello, but that works too,” he told Roger, all while reaching out for the other Wandless in that corner of the Alley. “You can trust us, even if my pal doesn’t sound too confident.” Oliver glanced at Roger with a grin. “Now who wants a lift?”
“Always with the sass,” Roger quipped back. They didn't really have time for banter but perhaps it would convince people that they had nothing to fear, and the familiarity of it was easing some of his own tension.
The woman looked wary. “Clock’s ticking,” Oliver warned. The Death Eaters or the DMLE would be there soon enough, and then - then they’d be stuck.
“This glamour doesn't flatter me. I'm actually mind blowingly hot,” Roger told another, somewhat younger looking witch, nearby. “My friend… well, he's not bad. I guess. And unlike the Knight Bus, we don't charge.”
The younger witch weighed up his words, then glanced at her companion and shrugged. “I'll take my chances over here, I suppose,” she added, and Roger released the breath he hadn't been aware of holding when she put her hand on his shoulder and swung her leg over the other side of his Nimbus.
The DMLE had been dispatched to Diagon Alley at once, and Hitwizard Bell came rushing through, half-wondering how many bodies he'd have to face. Despite the general chaos and madness that was ever-so-present, Joe managed to escape unscathed through to down the Alley. He'd just about reached the general area where some Wandless had been near two people on a broom when —
"Oi!" Joe called out, though he wasn't entirely sure who he was calling for. He threw a cautionary look over his shoulder before rushing to the group in front of him. "What do you think you're doing?" he shouted, his wand at the ready, though he didn't mean to attack anyone.
“Here's trouble,” Roger muttered under his breath, discreetly (or so he hoped) palming his wand to the witch seated behind him. If they had to fight—well, it was better that he concentrate on flying.
Although the man hadn't hexed them yet, so maybe that was something.
“Evening, Sir,” he responded politely. “I'm just taking my girlfriend out for a spin.” Which was about as convincing as Wee Willy Locke and a bar of soap, but mostly he was playing for time; time hopefully for someone from the Order to rush in and occupy the man for them.
The other Wandless had swung her leg over Oliver’s broom and had her arms around his waist when Joe spoke up, and immediately, Oliver’s heart dropped. They didn’t have time to argue with anyone. His right hand twitched, ready to dart for his wand if needed. Merlin, he hoped it wasn’t needed. He hated the thought of fighting someone off. Better him than Roger, if necessary, though. Oliver had done it before.
“We’re just leaving,” Oliver said simply, because he’d run out of good excuses in the face of actual law enforcement - or was it a Death Eater? “A bloke can’t go for a joy-ride anymore without getting bothered? Who’s asking?”
As Joe stepped out of the shadow, he managed to flash his DMLE badge. "Hitwizard Bell of the DMLE," he spoke, in a clear tone. His eyes darted to the Wandless people on the back of their respective brooms and Joe raised one brow.
Before he spoke another word though, he cast another look behind him, to make sure they were truly alone. "Quietus," he whispered, as the spell lowered his voice, just loud enough for the people near him to hear.
"You need to throw some hexes on me before you leave. Take as many Wandless folks as you need to, and I won't stop you," he said and went on to even lower his wand. "Enough hexes to make it look like I put up a fight."
“Oh,” said Roger, because this was clearly not the reaction he was expecting, although he had felt a flush of relief when Katie's brother had named himself. “Um, thank you? Maybe something nonviolent, like the… we could cover you with slime?”
“Good idea,” said the witch seated behind him, and raised Roger's wand to shoot what looked like a large clump of green snot at Joe, which hit the target as intended. Joe stepped back a few times, from the impact of the green snot and he looked half-disgusted at it. But there was no time for disgust right now.
Oliver hesitated for a moment before raising his own wand to cast a stinging hex at Joe, feeling bad about it the entire time. Sorry, sorry, I’m sorry, thank you for this, thank you ran through his mind, a whirlwind of guilt and gratitude. Katie’s brother had no idea who he was helping, but he still did it, barely without a second thought. Oliver’s heart felt like it might burst from his chest for an entirely new reason than before.
The stinging hex came next and Joe yelped loudly as the hex made contact with his skin, throwing him back further. His flesh was suddenly puffy and swollen and his clear vision was fading away at a rapid pace. "GO NOW!" Joe tried to shout, though he was still under the effect of his previous spell. He waved his wand around in frustration, sending a few red sparks accidentally and then threw it at the group some feet away from him.
Roger didn't need telling twice. “Hold tight,” he cautioned the witch behind him, then soared up into the air, finally clearing the mayhem in the street below.
The guilt that Oliver felt for hurting Joe was shoved aside the minute Joe shouted at them, replaced instead by a surge of adrenaline and fear. The wandless woman on his broom tucked herself in and held on tighter, like she sensed what was about to happen. “We’re getting out of here,” he told her, and then he followed Roger out above the rooftops. He cast one more glance towards Joe and the Alley below them. They’ll come back for the rest, he thought. This wasn’t going to be the end.
Angelina Johnson & Alicia Spinnet
The waiting was the worst part and Angelina was sure that when this was all over, she’d probably still feel the same way. Waiting always made her skin crawl. Waiting on her broom though? When she could’ve been flying it? She didn’t need to feel the cruciatus curse to know what torture felt like.
But then all hell seemed to break loose and there wasn’t really time to think about anything but getting the Wandless to safety. She threw a glance over her shoulder at Alicia to make sure she was behind her and then swooped in, leaning in low over her broom, making as small a target of herself as she could while she could.
Angelina landed near a confused pair of Muggleborns, her feet planted and her broom still hovering over the ground between her thighs. “Hi,” she said, holding a hand out to one of them. “I know Gideon. Do you wanna get out of here?”
A beat later, Alicia pulled up beside them, her wand gripped tightly in her hand as she sat up on her broom. With a wary glance at the rest of the alley, she cast a shield charm around them, lest any stray curses come flying their way. She could see hesitation on the Muggleborns’ faces. And fear.
She couldn’t blame them for either.
“My name’s Alicia,” she said. “This is Angelina. We’re here to help, but we don’t have much time.”
Recognition dawned across both of their faces. “I remember you,” one of them said faintly. She looked over at the guy standing next to her. “From school. And…around.” She gestured vaguely at their surroundings and then at herself. “Nicole. And he’s Nathan.”
Angelina realized with a start that these two people were barely that much older than she and Alicia because she suddenly remembered them, too. They were a few years older, but their faces were familiar under everything that had happened to them. She’d been leaving things for the Wandless this entire time and hadn’t realized.
Feeling guilty and uncomfortable, she reinforced Alicia’s shield with one of her own. “So you know you can trust us.”
“What about everyone else?” Nathan asked.
Alicia opened her mouth to explain her way through the sinking feeling in her stomach — they couldn’t take everyone at once, they’d have to leave some behind — but a spell smashing against the shield cut the thought short.
“We’re not going to stop at this. We’ll keep helping,” she said, casting a nervous glance at Angelina. “But we have to get you to safety now, before we lose our chance.”
Both Nicole and Nathan flinched away from the spell, edging closer to the two women on their brooms. Their own internal conflict played out across their faces as they looked over at the other Muggleborns. It was plain that neither wanted to spend another night out in the cold and neither wanted to have to scrounge for their next meal.
“We promise,” Angelina said. “We’ll keep trying.” Another spell caught their shields and she swung her broom around so one of them could climb aboard. “Please let us help.”
Nathan nudged Nicole forward and she cast him a nervous glance before climbing onto the broom, wrapping her thin arms around Angelina’s waist.
“You next,” Alicia said to Nathan, swinging her broom around and giving their shield another boost as he climbed on. Once his arms were linked around her waist, she took a deep breath and gave a nod to Angelina and Nicole on the broom next to hers. “Hold on tight. This could be a wild ride.”
A stray macaw flew by and echoed, “Wild ride, wild ride!”
Breathing a laugh through her nose, Angelina took off, immediately dodging a flash of green headed straight for the two of them. Nicole’s sharp intake of breath was hard to miss, especially as it was right in her ear. Suddenly the waiting didn’t seem so bad.
Alicia kicked off the ground after them and Nathan’s arms tightened around her once they were airborne. They only wrapped tighter the higher and faster they went, all the while Alicia trying her best to breathe and steer. The sight of green coming toward the flying couple in front of them sent a chill down her spine and had her picking up the pace.
Up ahead, Angelina spied a long, tall building and a break in the action, the green already pushed far from her mind. She gestured at Alicia with her hand low by her broom just in case anyone was watching and changed course.
Ducking as low as she could over the end of the broom, Alicia sped after Angelina and Nicole until they were beyond the reach of the spells from below. Still, she didn’t let herself breathe easy just yet (not that could have with Nathan’s vice grip, even if she’d wanted to). But safety wasn’t far, now — they sped toward it.
Once she was sure Nathan and Nicole would never have to deal with any of this ever again, then they could relax.