Natalia drives like she's suicidal. I kind of like it. It's been a long time since I've been in a car and I've missed the thrill of the speed. Every highway is deserted, sometimes I see skeletons or decomposing corpses openly left on the side of the road. I can never get used to that.

"My coven is staying in California to prepare our deceased's burials," Natalia says. "I'll join them in a few days."

"Aren't you even a little upset by their deaths?" I ask.

She stares at me for a moment and then looks back to the road. "No. Why would I be?"

"It's just. . . I don't know. . . normal?"

"Yeah, for those that have feelings." She chuckles to herself. "I'm kidding. Yeah, I feel sad by their deaths, but it isn't my fault. Why should I feel bad if it isn't my fault?"

I consider that. She has a good point.

"That's an interesting way to look at death."

"I'm an interesting thinker," she says. "Those in my coven know that if they're not powerful enough to defend themselves against a Slayer then they have no place there. Those that die aren't worthy."

I narrow my eyes at her as she refuses to look at me. "Your coven aren't your family, are they?"

"No," she says. "They take my name, but they don't share my blood. They were exiled out of their covens for practising dark magic, and I gave them my name and a purpose to continue it."

"One of those purposes being murder."

"I'm not proud of my past," she sighs. "But we've all committed sins, right? Tell me Theresa Harmon, what's yours?"

I glance out of the window, watching the desert move at a hundred miles past me. I can't think of a sin worse than murder. And I just committed my first today. Even though I didn't take Amara's life, I contributed.

"Maybe sin is the wrong word," she says. "Perhaps just a universal wrongdoing will suffice. Think of anyone in particular you've done a wrongdoing with?"

I don't respond and in the corner of my eye I can see her grinning to herself.

"I'm a Latent, Theresa. I've been able to read people's auras for years. I can see it around you, it's like a safety blanket. Right now, it's purple, which means you're regretting something. When you were with the Malachi. . . it was black. Want to know what that means?"

"I don't care," I say. "You can analyse me or you want but you'll never know the truth."

"It means fear. Black is fear. What are you afraid of? It's not him hurting you because you saved his life. Are you scared of the future you'll never have?"

"Is one of your interesting thinking processes winding someone up to the point they want to hit you?" I hiss.

"Possibly," she says. "But you know, when the two of you held hands like the world was about to implode if you didn't, both of your auras were the same colour. And it certainly wasn't black."

I glance at the clock on her stereo and I clench my teeth. It's only been thirty minutes and I'm ready to open the door and jump. I tap my fingers against the window, and then I see the first mountain in the distance. There are no mountains in England, only land, woods and many cornfields. I'm really back. Arizona is at the end of this highway and I'm thousands of miles away from the castle. I may never see Curtis again. I feel bad that he's back there on his own, spending all his time going through my mother's spell book to find a way to kill Amara. At some point, I'll have to go and get that book back. Maybe it's the excuse I need to say my goodbyes, or maybe it's better if I leave it behind completely.

And David. He's a confused child that wants to practise magic living in a human refugee camp guarded by Slayers. How do I offer him a place in my world without setting him at odds with his father? I know that Sam will protect him no matter what happens, but I feel like I'm abandoning him to face it all alone. I hope those humans will be better off now, I hope they can finally leave their temporary home and rebuild their beautiful towns and cities. But unfortunately, Amara's death won't affect that much. Thousands of covens are still stationed around the world, still in full control of entire countries. Without a leader, there's going to be chaos, and we might have just made Amara a martyr.

A sudden buzzing shocks me out of my thoughts and I look in confusion at Natalia's glove compartment. She reaches over to my side and opens it, retrieving a cell phone.

"Yes?" she says. She listens for around a minute and then takes a deep breath. "Alright, I'll be there as soon as I can." She hangs up and throws the phone below her. "That was one of Amara's advisers, the council are calling an emergency Summit meeting."

"The council?" I say.

"Yeah, they were formed years ago. Five leaders of the strongest covens. They rarely show themselves unless something like this happens. You can present your case to them, show them your manifestation. They'll have no choice but to consider you."

I start shaking my head. "I told you, I can't perform magic again."

"To be the Elder, you will have to perform magic, Theresa."

"I don't want to be the Elder. Do you listen to me?"

Natalia starts breaking heavily and I am thrown forwards as we come to a sharp and unexpected stop in the middle of the highway. I put a hand to my chest as I pant, but she's not even phased.

"Then what the hell are we doing?" she demands. "Why are we going back there? I thought you wanted this, I thought that was the whole point!"

"I'm going back there to make sure what happened doesn't continue to happen," I say. "I'm doing this for the humans."

"Do you think the wiccans or the council are just going to release thousands of humans across the country because you want them to? You're a nobody to them unless you show them what you can do. You're a manifestor. You have a right to leadership."

"You just want me to be Elder so I can pardon you," I mutter. "I take it this council aren't fond of you?"

Her mouth twitches for a moment. "You want world peace? Take the damn throne. Trust me, it's the only way." Her eyes move to the middle mirror. "Crap, we've got company."

Her foot shoots down onto the accelerator and the car almost squeals as she speeds towards the highest number on the dial. In the mirror, I see a black SUV catching quickly up to us.

"Really?" I say. "The council have put a hit on you?"

"I'm a murderer with nothing to lose," she says. "Of course they want rid of me. They probably think I was the one that killed her. I'm a little busy here making sure we don't crash and die; do you think you can tap into that deadly manifestation and help a woman out?"

"I can't do that."

Her foot goes further down, the pedal is almost on the ground. We're doing one-hundred miles an hour and the car behind is having no trouble matching it.

"For god sake," Natalia hisses. She rolls the window down and removes her seatbelt. "Take the wheel."

I stare at her, but she's serious. The top of her body hangs out of the window and my hand reaches out to the steering wheel as the car swings right. She screams as her head hits the side of the car, her eyes are watering and her lips are moving bizarrely with the air. She starts breaking and the car jolts.

"Keep it still!" she orders.

"Keep your foot off the break!"

She sits herself on the edge of the window, her head is fully out of the car and I have no idea how to prepare for the bend that's oncoming. I try screaming it to her but she can't hear me.

"We're going to die," I say to myself.

She attempts a spell towards the car, but it just bounces off of its shield. The bend to the right is ten seconds from us and with no other choice, I dive the wheel left, throwing us into the rocky desert. Natalia's fingers grip around the window frame, and I think I hear her swear at me.

The SUV follows us onto the desert and I have to kick her foot away so I can take over the pedals. I slow the car down to sixty, which allows me to hear her incoherent ramblings. I can just make out gun. I open the compartment on my passenger side and I scramble inside for anything gun-like. I feel something, it's small, a hand gun, I grab it and I toss it into her stomach.

"We've got more company!" I scream as I notice the second SUV turn off the highway.

Natalia holds the gun and starts firing. It does nothing, even to the tires. That car is protected by strong magic. Natalia gives up and slides aggressively back into the car, I jump back over to the passenger side as she scowls at the mirror.

"We're going to have to get them to leave their cars," she says.

"How exactly do we do that?"

She takes a deep breath and spins the car left while breaking, I hold on to the top of it as a scream emerges from the inside of my throat. The car stops, releasing strong gusts of dust and sand into our windshield.

The SUV stops too.

"You still in touch with your Slayer side?"

"Yes," I say.

"Then you better make us invincible."

"I can do better than that," I whisper. "Let's see how their shield likes lightning."

She grins and opens her car door. I take a breath before I open mine too. I step out into the strong heat of the sun, and I close my door. The second SUV stops next to the first, and all of the doors fly open.

We ready ourselves, walking to stand at the front of the car, and I conjure the sparking electricity in the palm of my hands. At least seven wiccans crawl out of the first SUV, three female and four males. They all wear suits with a large symbol sewn into their jackets.

"On three," Natalia says. "One, two."

"Theresa?"

I hear someone call my name, and I look over to the second SUV. A familiar man starts running forwards with his hands up.

"Wait!" he shouts to the others. "Don't attack!"

"Joey?" I say. I can't believe it. I start running towards him as Natalia remains behind, confused and still on guard. "I don't believe this!"

"I don't believe this either," he says. I embrace him excitedly, breathing in his clean smell of apple and cologne. "I thought you were dead. Everyone thought you were dead."

"I thought you were too," I say, pulling away. "I was so afraid of what Amara might do to you."

"She made me head of security as it happens." He smiles proudly. "Apparently someone that breaks out of her jail is qualified enough to put people in there. Your hair. . . it's blonde. It's nice."

"It was white this morning so it's finally going back to normal," I laugh. "You ditched the beard."

He runs a hand across his thin-haired chin. He looks so different without the beard, his eyes are greener than I remember, livelier. His skin is darker from contact with the outside world, and his muscles have almost tripled in size. "Yeah, I scrub up nice, huh? I have so many questions. We were alerted to your car when it went over our speed limit."

"The council didn't send you?"

"Why would the council send me?"

I suddenly glance towards his team that are staring at us from twelve feet away. "You don't know, do you?"

"Know what?" he says.

"Amara's dead, Joey. The council are calling an emergency meeting at the Summit. That's why I'm here. . . it's why I'm back."

"What?"

"It's true," a man says as he joins us after putting away his cell phone. "We need to head back to base, now."

"The Elder is dead?" a witch says.

"Oh, she's dead alright," Natalia chuckles as she approaches us with a smirk on her face. "Practically had her face torn off."

Joey stares at me and I look at the ground.

"You were there?" he demands at me. "Did you...?"

"Theresa is a manifestor," Natalia says.

I glare at her furiously.

"And the council needs to hear what she has to say."

Joey looks at me and grins. Apart from Natalia, he's the only wiccan that understands why Amara's death is a good thing. He waves his hand and conjures a sizzling red portal.

"I think it's time you went home," he says.

"What about my car?" Natalia moans.

"You don't have to come," I say.

"Yes, I do. His aura is bright yellow by the way."

She pushes in front of me and walks right into the portal. I watch in hesitation as she vanishes.

"There's nothing to be afraid of," Joey whispers.

I nod, taking a deep breath of courage as I enter the portal. I've entered many portals of my own, but this is different, I knew what to expect on the other side of my own portals. The desert heat lessens and a cooler, airier heat greets me on the other side.

I stand in the middle of the city, and I don't know why I expected everything to be back to normal but I'm saddened to realise it's exactly how I remember it. Empty. Silent. No humans or wiccans in sight. It's a ghost city. Windows are smashed, rubbish and plastic covers the ground, the buildings are lonely and grey, and there's a stench of death and terror all around.

"I think I preferred the desert," Natalia says.

"This way." Joey appears and starts walking towards a street in the distance. I jog to catch up to him. "I told the others to go straight to base. You killed her, didn't you?"

"It was a team effort," I say. "But, yes."

"You can't tell the council that," he says. "It'll go against your credit. Amara's death is going to cause a power struggle. Right now, any witch that thinks they're stronger than another will be presenting a case to them to become the next Elder. If you're stronger than them, which I'm presuming you are if you're a manifestor, then you've got a real chance."

"But I don't want to be the Elder!" I stop in the middle of the street, holding my head in my hands as I breathe. "I can't be the Elder. I can't manifest."

"I'm confused," Joey says, turning back. "You said you were a manifestor."

"No, she did." I glance at Natalia. "I didn't come here for leadership; I came here to convince the council to release the humans from the Red Camps."

"She's in denial," Natalia mutters. "She's refusing it because she thinks that she can just run off and be a mortal when all of this is over."

"What?" Joey says. "Theresa, I've seen what your power can do. You broke through chains that were spelled for the most experienced. And despite that, you're a Harmon. Even without manifestation, you're the only real candidate. The covens will respect you; they'll listen to you. I had lost all hope until I just saw you again. You've given me my life back in just a few minutes. You can do that for thousands more."

"How do I lead them if I don't believe in them?" I whisper.

"We'll help you," he says. "You're not alone."

I look at Natalia and she shrugs. This isn't what I want, but I have no choice. I promised Sam that I'd do whatever it takes to set the humans free, and I wasn't just referring to those at the Red Camp. How do I explain that I'm terrified of being a witch? How do I explain that the moment I tap into my manifestation I could become a delusional psycho? Since I made my Slayer side dominant, I feel better. Physically and mentally. I feel in control. But all of that could change. And for the sake of a title?

"Remember what I said to you in the dungeon?" he says. "Since when has dusty shackles ever stopped a Harmon?"

I sigh. "Yeah."

"And you remember what you said back?"

My chest staggers as I breathe difficulty. "Okay. I'll do it."