Their parents did call a little later, though the conversation was brief and not particularly reassuring. Mom and Dad expressed sympathy over what had happened, but gone were the promises that they would arrive soon.

"Edgar says it may not be safe for a while," Dad said. "You know him well enough to know that he'll get his way. There was an explosion, wasn't there?"

"Sorta," Kara answered. "It wouldn't have happened if he didn't send someone to mess with the baby. It was just like with me all over again. They're lucky none of them got turned into horses."

Their parents watched the camera, oddly subdued. Mom rested one hand on the screen. "You two take care of each other. We'll be up there to see you as soon as we're allowed. But you were always tough.” That was it.

Fay didn't wake again for her evening meal as usual. That left Kyle feeling cramped and bloated, but she could cope with one missed meal. Any more than that, and she'd have to relieve the pressure some other way. But if I have to ask for one of those machines from Grandpa, I'll die of embarrassment first.

Kyle made her way over to the laptop late into the evening. She hadn't technically finished her new spell, though she now had some ideas for what to do. Maybe she should sleep, as Kara was already doing, but it felt like her world was rapidly decomposing around her.

Akiko is never going to do this for us. Every time she tries something it goes badly. At least if she kept up her present record; things got progressively worse in each successive attempt. A few weeks down the road, they would probably all die in a fiery explosion. Whatever we do, I'll have to figure it out myself.

Monday hadn't given her any of the pieces necessary to make a transformation spell. But given Grandpa had wizards working for him, maybe changing back would be a bad idea. Maybe the smartest thing to do was make herself as strong as possible as fast as possible.

After seeing what Akiko did, only one possible spell came to mind: a weapon. Maybe they could use it to break out of the Lodge, and flee into the forest.

She still wasn't convinced it would ever be necessary. Maybe Edgar really did have their best intentions at heart, but his people were just a little clueless. Or maybe they should've realized they'd been trapped in jail this entire time.

At least in some ways we're better off to be here. If Fay did that at home, the house would probably collapse. Or else be transformed enough on the outsides that the neighbors would see and the authorities would be there.

But the more Grandpa pushed, the more Kyle doubted that things were necessarily better than just letting the government get involved. Just because first contact went bad in all the movies didn't mean it would do that in real life, right?

Monday sounded like they wanted Kyle to memorize all the early runes, even the ones she hadn't used. She skipped that step now, focusing only on the ones that would help with her makeshift weapon.

There was a section here for application of force, like what she did to levitate things with her horn. Maybe she could take those symbols and apply some instantaneous acceleration?

Even if Monday doesn't come to help, we could use this.

Kyle scribbled out the spell on a single sheet of notebook paper, erasing and crossing things out and moving sections around. But she didn't want to cast it out in the open. Once Fay woke up, she'd try it in the converted space, where cameras couldn't reach. I still trust you, Edgar. But I don't want you to know what I can do.

If it worked, Kyle could memorize this spell just like the light one, adding one more tool she could call on. What else could her basic symbols teach?

Once she'd checked and rechecked the spell itself, Kyle typed up a quick email, explaining everything that had happened with Fay and the appearance of Akiko.

She finished with “You said we may have to defend ourselves. My homework assignment will be a spell I hope to use to protect myself if I must. I'll send a copy once I test it and make sure it works, I don't want to look like an idiot. But if you want to send me the pieces for transforming my sister and I back to normal, maybe you should. We might not have long before Akiko blows us up."

It might be a little dramatic—but she'd seen the need on Akiko's face. She had kept that scanning spell going until the last possible second, even while Fay's wild magic was already lashing through the Lodge, transforming everything it touched. That level of commitment to an experiment was insane.

She slept uncomfortably—as much because Fay hadn't eaten as because of her fears of what might come next. Was a magical pen-pal sending tips really going to be enough to teach them a way out?

At least the new bed was comfortable—finally she had something to sleep on that had the right level of firmness for her massive body, with blankets that always felt cool against her coat and never caught on her hooves. It was so big that she didn't even mind sharing it with Kara on the other end—though if they'd fallen asleep at the same time, it probably would've been awkward.

She woke to Fay's cries in the early morning—she was hungry, even more than usual. She took the baby out into the hallway, searching for an intact cushion to rest on while she fed her. Fay didn't look like she was still upset. But that didn't mean she couldn't hold a grudge.

A half hour later she'd finished. Instead of exploring the new space, Fay took Kyle over to her crib, lifting her toy ferret out from inside.

It looked the same as the one that had been in the nursery. Though many of the other parts of the master bedroom were luxury beyond common description, Fay's toys hadn't changed.

Fay levitated the little doll down into her hooves herself, squeezing it tightly up against her chest. She glanced only nervously up at Kyle, and instead of her usual energetic self, just watched her.

"I won't let them do that again," she promised. "It wasn't supposed to be so hard. They were just trying to learn more about you, that's all."

Fay didn't react. At least she didn't run away, or otherwise act sour with her. She followed Kyle, keeping her toy with her. She doesn't hate me. She doesn't feel safe anymore. It's exactly the opposite.

She wasn't sure how to read alien horses, but animals made plenty of sense—Fay no longer felt safe in the Lodge. Kyle couldn't blame her.

At least her grandfather hadn't disabled their power, or their internet access. But I don't know for sure that he isn't somehow listening to all of this.

Kyle took a little longer than usual to go over the laptop before she checked her email. It had been a long time since she ran her old security tools, but they were still installed. Nothing was out of the ordinary. But did that mean she was safe, or just that her grandfather's people had better software than a few free utilities?

There was nothing to do short of asking—if she trusted Grandpa enough to answer truthfully, she could trust him not to spy on them.

When she finally called up the courage to check, she was somewhat unsurprised to see there was a message waiting for her.

Its content, however, was anything but reassuring.

Kyle, Apprentice, whatever. Listen to me.

I'm completely out of my fucking depth here. I had no idea the scope of this thing—but now I do, and we're in trouble. I know you're hoping for me to tell you not to panic, but I can't. Panicking might be the right reaction.

I intended to talk to a contact of mine with the Consensus yesterday. We've been covertly hunting for you, or something I think was you, since this whole thing started. I wasn't sure yet if I were going to tell them I'd been in touch with you the whole time, or maybe lead them off your trail if it looked like they weren't going to be on your side.

It's irrelevant. The giants are in the playground now, and all we can do is look up and stare.

I'm not sure how much I'm allowed to tell you. Let's just say that there's regular wizard types like me, and then there's people so far above us that we're like gnats. They're the invisible masters—so big and important that anything they want is probably impossible for the rest of us to understand.

I wouldn't tell you about them if they weren't involved. The Consensus says orders just came down for everyone to stop. No interference. We let it happen. If we try to stop it, they'll nuke the whole thing and everyone involved.

What do we let happen? That's the scariest part. It's been all over the news. Sightings of these weird... creatures. Horses with extra parts and strange colors, which walked right up to ordinary motorists and apparently talked to them?

Forces it would take too long to explain are already trying to make the whole thing go away. They're trying to explain it as viral marketing for a new kids’ movie—reviving some dead eighties property, details don't matter. What does matter is where these creatures were seen.

What followed was a few Google Maps photos, zoomed out far enough to show ten square miles or so. But Kyle didn't need nearly that much space to see the important part. It was right down the street from his house—less than a mile, depending on where in the circle she was trying to connect.

I think you know where this is. None of the witness accounts are consistent, and I'm pretty sure powers above mortal are trying to discredit this as fast as they can. But there was at least one account of them asking for a baby.

You were worried that maybe your little alien was here to bring the end of the world. I can't say she is, I haven't even seen her. But I think her kind have finally missed her, and they're coming. Unicorns, from a realm where they never went extinct. Maybe even where they're the dominant form of life. Not sure. They didn't attack anyone, and that's a little weird for unicorns. No way everyone on that motorway was pure of heart.

I'm not.

But you might need help. I think I'm going to do something fucking insane. As an interesting fact, did you know that our bond forms a powerful sympathetic connection that always allows me to feel the path to you? It works in both directions, but you won't know how to use it.

There's no time to send you any more spells. Once I'm done typing this, I'm getting on a plane.

My final lesson as your master is this: any magic, no matter how powerful, can be ground out with a counter-spell. Study the runes marked with death as hard and fast as you can. I didn't give you anything to kill people, but you should be able to figure out how to kill magic. In your next few weeks, that will probably be far more important.

Monday

PS: I've never heard Akiko's pseudonym before. But working with regular people is sketch as hell. If your grandfather is near her unprotected, she could blast him into paste. He must have something big over her to get her to work for him. If you figure out what it is, you could get rid of her if you must.