Alexandra Quick and the World Away

Alexandra Quick and the World Away is the fifth story in the Alexandra Quick series. A teaser-title – AQATWA – was announced on 11 May 2012"AQ5", Inverarity's LiveJournal, with the official title being announced on 5 May 2014"AQATWA: A title and not much else, plus copyright infringement!", Inverarity's LiveJournal. Written by Inverarity, the book was published at Fanfiction.net and Archive of Our Own from 2 August 2019 to 21 February 2020.
World Away is a sequel to Alexandra Quick and the Stars Above and is set between the Summer of 2011 and June of 2012, during Alex's tenth-grade year. The book will be followed by the sixth volume, Alexandra Quick and the Wizard War.
The manuscript was beta-read by Cogito, SwissMarg, and shinygobonkers.
See also: All posts tagged with "AQATWA" on Inverarity's LJ.
==Plot Summary==
Expelled from Charmbridge Academy, wandless, and fated to die, Alexandra Quick is still bringing trouble wherever she goes. Before she's done, her Solemn Quest will shake the Ozarks, her feud with old rivals and new enemies will shake New Amsterdam, and discovering the World Away will shake the Confederation.
=== Chapter 1: Prologue ===
The story starts with a flashback thirty years back - to Livia, Claudia and their Muggle-loathing friend Jezebel... Hucksteen. Whose house-elf is Quimley.
=== Chapter 2: I'm a Witch ===
While Alexandra and Brian are making out on their couch, Claudia arrives and interrupts them. After she sends Brian away, she tells Alexandra that she got a letter informing her that they have granted her request for an appeal of Alexandra's expulsion from Charmbridge Academy.
=== Chapter 3: The Appeal ===
It's the fourth of July, but they (including Livia) make it to Chicago. When they arrive to the courtroom, they find that Lilith and Diana Grimm have also come to the hearing. Larry Albo and Cleopatra Dupree are also there, accompanied by their parents. They help Alexandra's case by declaring that they are not afraid of her. Raspire enters the courtroom, shocking Claudia. Her reaction leads Alexandra to realize that Raspire was present when she was afflicted with the Barrenness Curse. She admits to the jury that she isn't Alexandra's mother. Alexandra eventually realizes that they're not going to let her go back to Charmbridge Academy, and are using the hearing to get at her and Claudia. She decides to drop her case.
=== Chapter 4: Persona Non Grata ===
Raspire confronts them after the hearing, recommending that Alexandra should become wandless and live among Muggles like Livia. Alex considers going to school in Croatoa. After a conversation with Lilith and Diana, she and Livia go to Goblin Market to buy a new wand. However, the wandmaker, Mr. Finsterholz, refuses to sell them anything, and she has been barred from Grundy's. Livia considers going into the department store to buy a wand for Alexandra herself, but Raspire reappears and warns her that doing so would be illegal. After they return home, Julia calls her, telling her that the Salem Witches' Institute refused to admit Alexandra, and only let Julia stay because it was her final year, and about her mother's wrath.
=== Chapter 5: You and I Are Not Going to Be Friends ===
Alexandra meets with Brian and takes him into the warehouse, showing him some wandless magic by conjuring fire. However, she gets the feeling that someone else is there with them, so she takes Brian out of there, and returns later. Goody Pruett claims that no one else had been there. But when Alexandra returns to the third floor, Medea appears. She advises Alexandra to go to school in another country, and gives her a yew wand. However, Alexandra finds the wand to be obstinate, backfiring when she tries to cast spells with it.
=== Chapter 6: My Family's Enterprise ===
At the end of July, Alexandra still doesn't know where to go to school - every single one declined her, even the Radicalists. While she's at Old Larkin Pond with Brian, Livia Apparates in and takes Alexandra to the warehouse, which is being renovated by Clockworks. While there, she reveals her plans to open a day school for problem students like Alexandra, having inherited the Pruett fortune. She gives Alexandra a wand she purchased for her at Grundy's, and a Silencing Cage for Charlie. Alexandra finds the Grundy's wand to be unresponsive and weak at magic.
=== Chapter 7: I Am Not a Fool ===
Julia comes to Sweetmaple Avenue for a visit. Livia, still visiting, reveals that she will have her baby in December. Alexandra and Livia plan their trip to the Ozarks for the Jubilee. Archie offers to take Julia - and Alexandra, whom he considers mature enough now - to learn shooting. Livia leaves to go back home to Milwaukee after dropping Julia and Alexandra off at the mall to meet with Brian, with Julia convincing Alexandra to wear a sun dress for the occasion. They see a movie and then go to the food court to get something to eat. While Brian is getting the food, Billy trips him. Alexandra reaches for her wand, which she didn't take with her because of the lack of pockets on her dress. Julia gives a stunned Billy a lecture on his behavior. On their way home, they find out that Bonnie has disappeared again. Brian leaves to go look for her. Julia reveals that she has been exchanging letters with Anna, and now knows about Alexandra's Geas with the Generous Ones. She is hurt that Alexandra kept it from her. However, she doesn't know about the Deathly Regiment. Alexandra promises to explain later.
=== Chapter 8: Holler People ===
Alex and Julia leave for the Ozarks. While at the Chicago Wizardrail Station, they meet Junk, a suffering freed house-elf. Alexandra gives him her spending money. Their Portkeys drop them off behind an A&W. While they wait, a group of teenagers in a car approaches them, offering them a ride. They drive away in fear when Constance and Forbearance appear. The twins take them to their house by riding on flying mules.
=== Chapter 9: Furthest ===
Alex and Julia meet the Pritchard family. After introductions are made, the Rash twins come to court Constance and Forbearance, and everyone goes inside for dinner. After dinner, Alexandra and Julia talk to Noah and Burton, the older brothers of Constance and Forbearance, on the back porch.
=== Chapter 10: The Foreigners' Village ===
The next day, Alexandra and Julia go with Constance, Forbearance, Noah and Burton to visit the Foreigners' Village. The twins convince Alexandra to wear an Ozarker dress and bonnet. While at the village, they meet Anna, David and Sonja. The Pritchards explain what the "Unworking", that'll be done during the Jubilee, actually is.
=== Chapter 11: The Five Families ===
Julia, Alexandra and the Pritchards go skinny-dipping in a swimming hole located in the woods behind the Pritchards' home. Afterwards, they discuss the Deathly Regiment. They're interrupted by Granny Pritchard, who tells Alexandra that the Grannies want to talk with Troublesome. Afterwards, they go to Clearwater Holler to listen to the speech. While there, they meet with their friends once again. David enchanted the hat he bought to store his wand in it. The "furriners" learn about the Five Families - the Sawyers, the Donaldsons, the Stuarts, the Bevins, and of course the Pritchards. Balthazar Donaldson demands a true Jubilee, and talks about the World Away "awaiting us".
=== Chapter 12: Exodans ===
They learn that his group from Scotch Ridge is called "Exodans". Anna, David and Sonja have been invited to visit the Pritchards' home, and fly back with them on flying mules. On the way, a group of dragons appears. It's the Confederation Air Force, and the riders are from the PROC, accompanied by members of the JROC, William among them. They meet at the swimming hole, where they discuss the Deathly Regiment. Julia once again expresses her hurt and disappointment at Alexandra keeping her Geas a secret from her. They are once again interrupted by Granny Pritchard, who catches Innocence eavesdropping on them. She takes Alexandra to meet the Grannies.
=== Chapter 13: The Grannies ===
Alexandra finally meets the Grannies, and asks them what they really want from her. Turns out, they want her to open the World Away - which isn't a kind of paradise, but a place for living people to go to, so they can be left alone by Muggles and the Confederation. She learns about the history of the Ozarkers. Many purebloods in America may have lied about their ancestry. The split between Steadfasters and Exodans is hurting the Ozarker community. They tell her a tale about Troublesome and a hill dwarf, which is the reason only Troublesome can open the World Away - and she'll have to pay back her debt to the hill dwarves before she can do so. The Grannies offer her to make her a new wand. However, she will have to go on a Solemn Quest to get the materials for the wand.
=== Chapter 14: A Solemn Quest ===
Alexandra tells the others about her Solemn Quest. Anna and Julia insist on going with her, but Granny Pritchard explains that she has to go alone. On the morning of her departure, she is presented with a Questing Dress and bonnet, made for her overnight by Mrs. Pritchard and her older daughters. She needs to wear it to her meeting with the Grannies. Constance and Forbearance present her with supplies they have prepared for her - food, including pemmican, and wizard tobacco as a gift to the hill dwarves. Alexandra says her goodbyes to everyone before leaving. She makes up with Innocence and is kissed goodbye by Burton.
=== Chapter 15: With Wit and Charm ===
Alexandra starts her Solemn Quest - but the Grannies take her yew wand and broom first, observing the rules of a Quest. Instead, she's supposed to use her wit and charm. (Unbeknownst to the Grannies, she kept the basswood wand.) While walking through woods, she gets the feeling of being watched, although nobody seems to be there when she turns around. She runs a great distance with her Seven-League Boots to try and escape her invisible pursuer. She meets the hill dwarves, who accuse her of trespassing on their lands. They hit her over the head, take her wand and hogtie her, tying her to a pole to carry her to their tunnels with a sack over her head. Charlie, who tries to defend her, is caught and trapped in a net, carried away with her.
=== Chapter 16: You're Going to Pay ===
Alexandra is taken deep into the dwarves' tunnels. They tell her that they plan to eat her and Charlie, and she has to watch as the dwarves plunder her backpack, eating her food and taking the tobacco. While they're busy, she breaks her bonds. Her fury at the hill dwarves causes the tobacco they're smoking to ignite. She follows a will-o-wisp through the dwarves' tunnels, hoping to find a way out. This almost leads her to her doom, as she ends up hanging high over an underground lake. She descends with the help of the Skyhook, but an axe thrown by a dwarf causes her to lose her grip. When she falls into the water, she is pulled under and into a different cavern, losing the Skyhook. 
=== Chapter 17: Sees-From-Laurel ===
While Alexandra is resting in the cavern, she is grabbed and pulled by long, tentacle-like mossy white tendrils and pulled through a lake. She ends up in another cavern, and comes face to face with a strange being covered with white hair. She scares it off by conjuring bright light with the help of doggerel verse. She meets a small elf-like being named Sees-From-Laurel, who tells her that the being is a bugbear named Geegowl. She asks him to show her the way out of the caverns. He agrees, but tells her that in return, she will have to do something for him - killing the jimplicute.
=== Chapter 18: The Jimplicute ===
Sees-From-Laurel tells Alexandra that his people have been trapped in the mountain - by the hill dwarves who were paid by the Confederation to do so. She asks him to tell her more about the jimplicute that she's supposed to kill. She is told that the jimplicute is very large, so fast you can't see it, with many teeth. The next day, Sees-From-Laurel leads Alexandra to its lair. She faces the serpentine-like jimplicute, coming close to being killed by it, when it's distracted by Charlie, who found her again. She runs away in her Seven-League Boots. When she's on the verge of leaving, Sees-From-Laurel reveals he knows about the World Away.
=== Chapter 19: The Thren ===
Sees-From-Laurel tells her that the way to the World Away is guarded by an adult underwater panther. He reveals they can be killed by the song of a Thren - in fact, their song is so beautiful it kills anyone who hears it. He even shows her where one Thren lives - at the top of a cliff. Alexandra climbs for hours, stuffing wax into her ears when she's close to the top. There, she crouches in a laurel bush, turning her invisible as long as she doesn't move, as instructed by Sees-From-Laurel. When the Thren finally arrives to its nest, she successfully catches it and puts it into Charlie's Silenced cage. She jumps back down with the help of a Falling Charm.
=== Chapter 20: The Unworking ===
Alexandra faces the massive underwater panther after being led to the cavern by Sees-From-Laurel. It almost leads to her death, as the Thren is too afraid to sing, but Charlie comes to the rescue, being able to survive the Thren's song as a bird. He imitates the Thren's song, inducing it to sing, killing the underwater panther. Afterwards Sees-From-Laurel notices her how the Ozarkers' magic being undone right now flows through the cavern. Alexandra is caught in the Unworking, overwhelmed by the magic. She chases the hill dwarves out of the mountain and collapses it. She gains the ability see the cracks in the world - behind which the World Away is hidden - and open them. However, to open a crack big enough for all Ozarkers to pass through, they'd need more magic - maybe that of seven years times seven times seven. After regrowing her tooth, and putting on the Questing Dress and bonnet again, she teleports to where the Jubilee dance is being held.
=== Chapter 21: The Jubilee ===
Alexandra appears in the tent where the Jubilee is being celebrated and reveals that she now knows how to open the World Away. When the Grannies chide her, she reminds them they she also has a problem to solve. Still in a mania, she speaks to the Grannies rudely before going to speak with her friends, and leaving. Later in the evening, she returns to the swimming hole, where she briefly pries open a crack in the world, testing her newfound ability. Several glowing blue fireflies emerge from it before she closes it. Afterwards, she takes a bath in the swimming hole. Burton comes to join her, and flirts with her. They kiss, and eventually sleep together.
=== Chapter 22: A Contested Wand ===
The next morning, a prickly conversation ensues. After breakfast, Alexandra goes on a long walk with Granny Pritchard (who knows everything about that night) to the latter's wizard-spaced cabin. She learns that her yew wand is contested - meaning that its owner is still alive, which is the reason why she has problems controlling it. Alexandra gifts the phoenix feather to the twins, when they'll craft wands in the future. Granny Pritchard promises to make her a new wand from black hickory wood and the underwater panther's whiskers.
=== Chapter 23: Goodbye Summer ===
Alexandra has to leave the Hollers, even if she'd have preferred to stay. Before leaving, she tells her friends and Julia about everything that happened. Everyone returns to the Foreigners' Village, where they say their goodbyes. Anna kisses Alexandra on the lips before leaving. When she and Julia return to the Chicago Wizardrail Station by Portkey, Julia reminds Alexandra that Brian is still around and she should have thought of him. When she returns home, she learns that Bonnie's still missing. She meets Brian in the park, and they talk about Bonnie. However, when she goes to kiss him, he pushes her away. He doesn't seem to remember anything about them dating, or Alexandra being a witch.
=== Chapter 24: The Pruett School ===
Brian has been Obliviated. Alexandra feels as if she lost her whole childhood, but lets Archie and Claudia think it was just a break-up. Walking through Larkin Mills, she discovers with her witch's sight that it's split by a crack that runs through her house, and Old Larkin Pond. There, she sees Granny Pritchard's face in the water, holding her finished new wand, which she hands to Alexandra through a ley line. It works perfectly. At the end of August, Livia comes for a visit. When the three sisters go to the warehouse, Madam Erdglass, Richard Raspire, and Franklin Percival Brown appear. Madam Erdglass will be the teacher here. Raspire and Brown inspect the premises. Livia has the old boiler connected to the Floo network for students arriving from Chicago. They also bring Goody Pruett's portrait down to attend the school's opening. She, with her pureblood supremacist views, is of course upset at the idea of the school. When they leave, Claudia has an outburst in the car.
=== Chapter 25: Young Wands ===
Alexandra has her first day in the new school, meeting the other students, who are a mixed bag regarding age and ability. She is disappointed because all that Madam Erdglass does is having them read the standard book "Young Wands", with no practical exercises.
=== Chapter 26: We're Not Supposed to Learn Magic ===
After a week, Alexandra complains to Livia about the school. This angers Livia, who calls her entitled. The other students ask her whether she's Voldemort's daughter and call her father "Wizard Hitler". The other students are frustrated just as she is, and ask Alexandra to teach them magic. She agrees. She starts off with Unlocking and Locking Charms, later moving onto Incarcerous. Freddy turns out to be better at magic than she thought, tying her to a chair with Incarcerous and taking her wand, leaving her to free herself. The others object, calling him a bully. Alexandra eventually manages to free herself with the help of her yew wand, burning the ropes. She gets her wand back from Freddy and warns him to never take her wand again.
=== Chapter 27: You Can't Join the Resistance Without Breaking Rules ===
Madam Erdglass announces that next month, they'll go on a field trip to the Central Territory HQ. Alexandra finds out that any school can send a student to the Central Territory Dueling Championship, in which Larry will be competing for Charmbridge Academy. However, she doesn't let Alexandra enter, since dueling is "not part of their curriculum". Franklin Percival Brown comes to inspect the school and is not happy about Alexandra teaching the other students. While he's busy complaining to Madam Erdglass, he leaves his notebook behind in their office, which Alexandra reads. Why does it have the names of Roger and other children written in there?
=== Chapter 28: The Accounting Office ===
Roger has disappeared. Alexandra has a plan, but needs fellow student Helen to get Polyjuice and Hasten Potions from her father's magic shop. "Welcome to the Resistance!" They make the trip - and to their surprise, the hag Anya accompanies them. Doesn't stop Alexandra from sneaking away and turning into Franklin Percival Brown with Polyjuice Potion. She goes to the Accounting Office, but learns that the files of Roger and the two other children from the notebook have been relocated - to Storm King Mountain. Also, she took a Field Training Grimoire for Aurors with her.
=== Chapter 29: The Central Territory Dueling Champion ===
They go to Wrigley Stadium, which has a Quodpot stadium hidden underneath it. Alex can feel the cracks in the world there. They watch the dueling competition, which Larry Albo wins, enabling him to represent Central Territory in the Junior Wizarding Decathlon. Alex learns that any Culture can send their own champions to the Decathlon, which gives her an idea.
=== Chapter 30: Assault ===
Alexandra goes on to study the Aurors' Grimoire. One week after their trip, Franklin Percival Brown appears in the Pruett School to question every single student, starting with Alexandra. She confronts him and points out that people are disappearing. He hits her and threatens to imprison her. Fellow student Penny wants to teach Brown a lesson - by putting diluted Hydra blood on his coat. When Alexandra tries to stop her, she touches the cloak, burning her hand. When Brown catches them, she burns the coat. Brown states that someone stole a list of Dark artifacts from the Central Territory HQ. He accuses Alexandra, demanding that she returns the list. When Alexandra comes to school the next day, she finds Penny missing. The other students tell her that Brown has taken her to his office earlier, and she has not showed up since. Alexandra goes to confront him, and not finding Penny in his office, goes to look for her. She finds her locked in a room with a Boggart, which appears to Alexandra as John Manuelito. She is terrified, but eventually manages to banish it. She finds that Penny had been in there with the Boggart the whole morning. Enraged, she attacks Brown, battering him with spells relentlessly.
=== Chapter 31: The Accused ===
Alexandra comes home and confesses to Archie and Claudia that she's in trouble. She sends Charlie with the yew wand and a letter to Croatoa, and hides all of her magical possessions, including her hickory wand, in her magic backpack. She throws in into Old Larkin Pond, fixing it to the bottom with a Deadweight Charm. Diana Grimm arrives, chiding Alexandra and telling her she has no choice. She apparates with her to the Office of Juvenile Inquisitions in the Territorial Headquarters Building in Chicago. Chief Inquisitor Carlos Black sentences her to stay at Eerie Island until she's twenty-one years of age, when she'll be able to get a formal trial.
=== Chapter 32: Eerie Island ===
Diana Grimm leads Alexandra to an underground passage by elevator, where a troll puts her in chains and takes her to an underground river. There, a boat operated by two goblins is waiting to take her to Eerie Island. Charlie flies in to try to help her, despite her warning him to stay away. One of the goblins lashes out at him with an oar, and Alexandra trips him to help her familiar. For this, the goblins throw her into the ice-cold water of the lake as punishment. Alexandra pleads with them to pull her back in, or she'll freeze to death. The goblins retort that she's hard to kill as a witch, but eventually relent and pull her back into the boat. Alexandra feels colder than she ever has in her life, shuddering so violently that the goblins throw a blanket over her. Finally, they arrive to the island. The prison is dark, castle-like, and guarded by a sphinx with a love for riddles. He states that he is allowed to eat prisoners who try to escape, but humans don't taste very good to him. His wife, a lamia named Edna informs Alexandra that every prisoner is assigned a Doomguard, who kills you if you try to escape, perform magic, attack anyone, or break any of the rules. However, she also tells Alexandra that a prisoner's stay here can be made more pleasant if they have friends on the outside to send gifts for her. Alexandra is assigned a Doomguard and is taken to her cell, being teased by the other prisoner as she is taken through the cell block. She chooses a more solitary cell.
=== Chapter 33: Cracks Beneath Your Feet ===
Alexandra goes to breakfast, and meets the other prisoners like Pasquale Mercurio, Oren, Mad Haddie. In the courtyard, she witnesses a wizard trying to break out - and getting killed by his Doomguard killed for it. She notes that two magic cracks in the world intersect below the island. And gets a mysterious self-destructing note informing her that "The wardens are prisoners too". She challenges the sphinx Typhon to a riddle contest for library privileges, winning it despite his protests - and lets him know about the cracks to the World Away, meaning he might get the chance to escape as well.
=== Chapter 34: The Plan is Not Without Its Risks ===
Alexandra checks out the library, which also contains the works of Jerwig Findlewell. She talks to Pasquale Mercurio, Elisabet Todd, and Cygnus Nero. They claim they have figured out a way to break out of prison and escape, but still lack a way of dealing with Edna and Typhon. They can escape via the goblin boat, but they'd need someone to fake their death for it so the boat comes to pick them up. Alexandra agrees to join, telling them she has a way of dealing with Typhon and Edna.
=== Chapter 35: What Have You Set Free? ===
The day of executing the plan has come. Alexandra goes to the top of the lighthouse, carrying Cygnus Nero transformed into a porcupine. Charlie comes to drop her the yew wand. She jumps off the lighthouse with a Falling Charm, but her Doomguard follows her. She manages to get rid of it by pushing it into the water. At the boat, she meets Pasquale disguised as Cygnus Nero. When Typhon arrives to stop them from escaping, Alexandra opens a crack to the World Away, so Typhon and Edna can escape. Then, they take the boat and row to shore.
=== Chapter 36: The Gallows Path ===
Before they arrive to shore, Alexandra escapes the boat with a water-walking spell. After getting some money by vandalizing a phone booth, which she is not proud of, she returns to Larkin Mills to retrieve her backpack. Then, she leaves for the Ozarks, not knowing where else to go. Granny Pritchard finds her, and explains why they want to go to the World Away. Alexandra explains she has to go to Storm King Mountain. She stays at Granny Mahnkey's cabin, where she helps with the chores, learning to do things "the proper Ozark way". David, she learns from Anna's letter, is digging into wizard law.
=== Chapter 37: The Unfinished Quest ===
Alexandra meets Asshole, one of the hill dwarves who ambushed her during her Quest. Since the dwarves lost their old home, they had to flee to the Hollers, and the Ozarkers are helping them build cabins, even if they aren't pleased about it. Alexandra decides to hunt the jimplicute, which is hunting and killing the dwarves, even if she has to take Hastening Potion which will take another year off her life. Then, she contacts Sees-From-Laurel.
=== Chapter 38: Doleful Calamity ===
Alexandra introduces Burton to Sees-From-Laurel, asking him to use his proficiency with the Severing Charm to kill the jimplicute, with the help of the Hasten potion she brewed. She also prepares some Slow Lines to slow the monster down, and intentionally gets tied up by the hill dwarves to serve as convincing bait. The jimplicute, resembling a cross between a weasel and a snake, indeed comes to swallow her, but Burton chops off its head with the Severing Charm just in time. Afterwards, he gets angry at Alexandra about her crazy plan, and doesn't want to deal with her again. Neither does Sees-From-Laurel.
=== Chapter 39: Champion ===
Alexandra gets a letter informing her that her older sisters, Lucilla and Drucilla White, have offered to let her live with them and learn Artificing as their apprentice. Granny Pritchard assures her that the Governor of New England won't extradite her. Before leaving, Alexandra reveals her plan of going to the Junior Wizarding Decathlon as an Ozarker champion.
=== Chapter 40: Apprentice ===
Alexandra arrives in Connecticut, where Lucilla picks her up, Apparating them to their house. At the house, they offer her cakes and tea, and meet with Drucilla. Then, they show her their impressive library, but also warn her not to try anything like with Valeria's Time-Turner, even if they understand why she did it. She'll have to read many books before being truly able to start Artificing. In fact, she ends up having to ask her sisters for help, which they have been waiting for. She starts with repairing brooms.
=== Chapter 41: Sojourns ===
David and Anna send letters with useful informations about the Decathlon. While Lucilla goes out for a date, Alexandra and Drucilla go to town. They walk across the river with a water-walking spell, hidden by a magical fog. While Drucilla goes to take care of some business, Alexandra goes to a cafe, where she listens to voice messages from Claudia and Archie. Afterwards, she goes to see a movie. Then, after having found the magic tattoo shop Sojourns, she runs into Diana Grimm. She claims Mr. Black has made an error, and she would have been released. As it turns out, Diana Grimm is there because of Alexandra's sisters, not her. Alexandra tells her that if she wants to get any information out of her about her sisters, she will have to Crucio her, struggling not to shiver at the thought. Diana reacts with horror, exclaiming that she doesn't Crucio people. She tells Alexandra to stay away from New Amsterdam and leaves. After the conversation, Alexandra meets up with Drucilla, who saw them talking. They immediately go to return home, as Diana will certainly be back.
=== Chapter 42: Keeper of Secrets ===
Her sisters warn her about Jonah Jones of Sojourns. Alexandra fixes a pair of Muggle skates that she finds in the basement, and learns that wizards never cobble - that's elves' work. Lucilla and Drucilla are firmly against elf labor. They inspect Alexandra's boots, and it turns out that they're true Seven-League Boots, while she used them only as Seven-Step Boots. They also reveal that they were there when Abraham Thorn made her the Secret Keeper for the Thorn Circle.
=== Chapter 43: Seven-League Boots ===
Lucilla and Drucilla admit being part of the Thorn Circle. They were thirteen when Alexandra was made Secret Keeper. This also means that she revealed them to the WJD. Afterwards, Alexandra tests out the full power of her Seven-League Boots.
=== Chapter 44: This Sad, Futile Ritual ===
On her sixteenth birthday, Alexandra uses her Seven-League Boots to finally visit Archie and Claudia in Larkin Mills, Unfortunately, she has to leave soon after. Then, she goes to Charmbridge Academy, following the Automagicka. She doesn't meet her friends, so she goes directly to Dean Grimm, to see her mother. Lilith asks her how many times she intends to repeat this cycle. Alexandra calls her a bitch, and Lilith promptly tells her to get out.
=== Chapter 45: A Share of Ego ===
Her sisters call her foolish for having gone back to Central Territory. They recommend her to apologize to Dean Grimm, which she does, and it's accepted. Also, the Ozarkers have now officially accepted her as their champion for the Junior Wizarding Decathlon.
=== Chapter 46: New Amsterdam ===
Alexandra goes to New Amsterdam for the Decathlon. She stops at the bank to get 100 Lions from her bank account. When she refuses to get a card, the manager angrily sends an owl as she leaves. When she arrives at New Amsterdam Academy to get accommodation, she pays the fee and shows Claudia's signature, which she forged. She is assigned a room in Walloon Tower, which is located in the middle of the river. She receives a bell to part the water so she can get to the tower. She goes to Crown Hall to get something to eat in the cafeteria, but is told that she must change into robes, since she is still wearing her Muggle clothing. She also meets Larry Albo there. When she goes to take a shower there, she is attacked by Harriet Isingrim, the New Amsterdam champion, whose father and uncle were killed in the Roanoke Underhill crash. Angelique and Honey show up at the bathroom and save Alexandra.
=== Chapter 47: The Junior Wizarding Decathlon ===
At the cafeteria, Larry teases Alexandra and Angelique, asking them if they're a couple. The wizarding broadcasting network will use a News Snitch and an Eye-Spy to broadcast the events to the public. It also turns out that Governor-General Hucksteen will be one of the judges. Then, the Arithmancy contest starts: Solve equations correctly, to move your golem. If you make a mistake, the golem will move back instead. If you fail too many times, the golem will fall from the roof and you will lose all points. Alexandra fares well thanks to Lucilla and Drucilla tutoring her in Arithmancy. But when she gets an equation she is unfamiliar with, and fails it, her golem attacks her, trying to strangle her. She manages to free herself before it strangles her to death. The panel doesn't find any evidence of tampering. The Alchemy contest is next: Brew potions. You're allowed to drink them. Alex goes the risky way: Brew the Heartsploder version of the Hasten potion to speed up her work, then take the antidote! However, her antidote doesn't work, and she has to ask Larry for his, barely making it.
=== Chapter 48: They Really Are Out to Get Me ===
Alexandra finds that someone has given her the wrong beans for the antidote. Larry tells her that he still doesn't believe someone's out to get her. Currently, she's at place 10 of 18, while he's #1. The Radicalist Magnificent Blaze joins Alexandra and Angelique in the cafeteria, telling them about his conspiracy theory that it was the Confederation who attacked Baleswood, and telling stories about Atlantis and wizard-kings. The third contest is Divination, named Necromancy. For this, Alexandra brings Charlie along. Many of the other champions have done so as well. The contest involves getting information out of certain ghosts. However, one of Alexandra's questions is "What was the Most Terrible Gift?" She allies with Hela Punuk to perform a ritual, which'll help them get the information they need. Hela uses it to communicate with a spirit of an ancestor, but then she attacks Charlie and hypnotizes Alexandra, leaving them behind. She states that it is not personal, but that it is important for her people that she does well in the contest. When Alexandra recovers, she manages to summon a ghost who can answer her question - a Jezebel Keren Hucksteen, who says she was the Most Terrible Gift. The Governor-General is not pleased about the answer, but she gets full points. Hucksteen apparates back with her, telling her that he will see her burn.
=== Chapter 49: I Will See You Burn ===
Next, the Apparition contest. They have to cross a kind of mirror labyrinth by Apparition alone, while transporting delicate items from place to place. Oh, and hexing your opponents isn't forbidden, as Alexandra soon finds out. She does well and collects the wands of her defeated opponents, but loses her fingernails in a Splinching accident. Next is the Charms contest. It consists of being tied to a wooden stake while standing on a pile of wood that is set on fire, and having to liberate yourself. Alexandra is bound by none other than Richard Raspire, who tightens her bonds, gags her and breaks her Grundy's wand, which she had in a wand sheath. Before leaving, he threatens her. She is able to liberate herself by burning her gag in the flames, since she took the fire resistance potion from the Potions contest, and getting her hickory wand from under her shirt. However, her contesting wands create a fireball that burns her robe - and the stake. Magnificent conjures a new robe for her. For using a second wand, she gets fined 20 Lions. Back in the cafeteria, they learn that they all have special visitors - and Alexandra's is Anna. They also meet Awesome, Magnificent's younger sibling. Adela Iturbide has come for Larry, but they argue incessantly.
=== Chapter 50: Wizard Verse ===
Time for the sixth contest, Transfigurations. This one involves dueling purely by using transfiguration and wizard verse, and her first opponent is Larry Albo. Next, she has to fight Harriet, and their contest devolves into insults. After Harriet calls Alexandra's mother a "common whore", Alexandra mocks Harriet's father, though she immediately feels guilty for it. Enraged, Harriet transforms into a wolf, turning out to be an Animorphmagus. She jumps onto Alexandra and bites her wrist. Alexandra stuffs her ears and conjures a carrot, which she briefly transfigures into a mandrake to stun Harriet.
=== Chapter 51: Closer Than Sisters ===
Alexandra goes to attend the Decathlon ball in Hucksteen's mansion, along with the rest of the champions and their visitors. Granny Pritchard contacts her via her magic mirror, telling her to put on proper Ozarker attire, as their champion. Arriving at the mansion, she meets up with Anna and Angelique. They are greeted by Hucksteen, who has giants as doormen. After the opening speech to the champions, Alexandra goes to stand aside and drink punch with Anna. However, Anna asks her to dance, confessing her love for Alexandra and kissing her. However, Alexandra cannot return her feelings. Anna runs away. When Alexandra goes back to finish her punch, something comes over her, and she goes to dance with Larry, and kisses him. When he realizes something is not right with her, he goes to lead her out of the ballroom. She Apparates both of them to her room in Walloon Tower, telling him she wants him... only for him to brush her off. Alexandra doesn't even understand her own behavior, still feeling a desire for Larry. Did someone give her a drink spiked with Amortentia? Then, Awesome confesses (s)he did exactly that. Alexandra walks out in a fury.
=== Chapter 52: The Golden Thread ===
Alexandra calls out Archibald Mudd for his headlines calling her a "Dark Wizard's Daughter" all the time, and slandering her, without success. The Mystery contest is next: They all have to solve a puzzle involving something personal, so only they can solve it. Turns out they have to follow a golden thread through the Lands Beyond, connecting them with their loved one. To do so, they need to step through doorways that transport them to a different place. When Alexandra steps through her doorway, she finds herself in a cemetery - with Richard Raspire. He orders her to throw her wands to the ground, threatening to cut the thread with a pair of magical shears. He tells Alexandra that nobody really cared about her, not even as a threat. He proceeds to cut the thread anyhow, hoping this will not just break Alexandra, but Geming Chu as well. Alexandra swears she'll come for Anna. Fortunately, they both have bracelets with enchanted charms, so Alexandra uses them to create a silver thread. She asks Magnificent and Awesome to help her, holding onto the thread.
=== Chapter 53: Silver Will Save Her ===
Once again, Alexandra finds herself in the Lands Beyond. Chindi surround her. She encounters what seems like Darla's ghost, who blames her for being trapped here, and tells her that she'll never save anyone. She finally gets to Anna, who holds onto her as they return. However, when they emerge, they find out that Adela is gone, her thread also severed. She advises Larry to get her back by establishing a connection with the help of their engagement ring. She also tethers Larry to herself by a thread the color of his silver fingers. The other champions help her hold onto the thread. Larry succeeds in saving Adela. After the challenge, Mr. Mudd tries to question them about it, since he was not allowed in the chamber. They simply walk away, leaving him to press Raspire. Alexandra also threatens Awesome to never put Amortentia in her drink again. Back in the cafeteria, she reveals the Deathly Regiment to those sitting with her.
=== Chapter 54: Only One Can Leave ===
The next contest will take place soon. It will involve fighting Beasts. Alexandra is cornered in the bathroom by Harriet Isingrim, who has Blood-Sealed the bathroom, so that only one of them will be able to leave. They engage in a brutal duel, destroying the bathroom in the process. To Alexandra's surprise, Mudd's Eye-Spy is also there. This helps her though, when Harriet disarms her - by using the Eye-Spy as a weapon. Since they're trapped by the Blood-Seal, Alexandra uses a crack in the world to escape and emerge on the other side of the door, traveling through the World Away for the first time.
=== Chapter 55: I Spy ===
Anna and Angelique take Alexandra to a Healer, and then go to a Goody Pruett's. Anna thinks she should have killed Harriet. After Angelique Apparates away, Anna walks with Alexandra to the river. They talk about their relationship, and Anna admits Alexandra would be a terrible girlfriend. Later, Alexandra sends a note to her father, saying that he won, and that she'll do whatever he wants if he does her a favor. Then, she uses the Eye-Spy (which she also put a charm on) she caught to find Mudd's location and goes there to talk to him. He claims Harriet had told him to send the Eye-Spy into the girls' bathroom. Alexandra promises him an exclusive interview with Abraham Thorn.
=== Chapter 56: Mazes and Monsters ===
The Beast-fighting contest starts at the site of destroyed Gringotts, in the tunnels below New Amsterdam. Each champion takes a stone that will transport them back to the starting point with a keyword. Thanks to the charm she used, Alexandra can see what the Eye-Spy is filming in her magic mirror. She also has a map that can track the others' stones, showing her their location. After fighting an alligator, Alexandra has to overcome the Majokai Seimei Kamo, who tries to ambush her. She leaves him there tied up, and throws his stone into the water. After that, she meets up with Magnificent, who put his stone away. In a room full of large rats with weapons, they find an unconscious and bleeding Rebecca Good, next to a pile of coins serving as bait. Magnificent Apparates back with her to take her to safety.
=== Chapter 57: This is Bad ===
After nearly being crushed by in a trap, Alexandra meets Larry in the dungeon, who tells her he put a Trace on her. They team up, and rescue Hela from the trap as well. Alexandra marks it to prevent others from being fooled by it. Deep in the dungeon, they find a true hoard - and the dragon who guards it. They have the idea that Alexandra should steal from his hoard while the other two will distract him. Turns out it was a trap by Hela - her people are cooperating with the Dark Convention, and they're attacking New Amsterdam right now. Hela curses Alexandra with a wave of nausea, and binds her with ropes. She tells Alexandra that she released the dragon by melting the bars. Alex manages to liberate herself, puts a Porcupine Quills curse on Hela, and cuts her braids off. Hela Apparates away, but the dragon's already on the loose. Alexandra and Larry fly after it on their brooms, only to see that he already wreaked havoc in a subway station in front of many Muggles. It bursts through a wall and emerges onto Times Square.
=== Chapter 58: Storm King Mountain ===
Larry tries to keep Alexandra from going off again. Alexandra kisses him and admits her feelings. She gives him her stone and sends him away to safety. Then she distracts the dragon to lead it away from New York - by going to Storm King Mountain, as she intended to. Alexandra and the dragon attack it, and she finds the Accounting Office after taking a shortcut through the World Away. Then she forces an old warlock to show her where the "relocated" files by Franklin Percival Brown are. She takes the book with the data she needs and leaves via the World Away again. Abraham Thorn awaits her, and is impressed. She calls him out for attacking New Amsterdam. She tells him that she wants to hear the full truth about the Deathly Regiment. He gives her the book to read. With growing horror, Alexandra realizes the truth. The Confederation has sacrificed one child per day since its beginning.
=== Chapter 59: The War Has Begun ===
Abraham Thorn reveals he couldn't tell her the truth because he swore an Unbreakable Vow - and he started his attacks to make the wizard world aware of what is happening. He also reveals that most children sacrificed are Muggles. Alexandra gets a terrible intuition, and is devastated to find Bonnie's name among the names of the sacrificed children. She confronts Abraham about the Roanoke Underhill, and reveals that she had their conversation broadcast. Abraham acts furious at this, but it turns out that he knew about it all along. He asks her whether she'll join his war now. She tests whether he'll be able to protect all of his loved ones - but that's too much for him. She also asks him if he recognizes the yew wand. Angrily, he calls on Medea, furious about her going behind his back. It's revealed that it was Hecate's wand. Finally, she asks him for his signature so that she can get a tattoo. Meanwhile, a Mr. Johnson - a representative of the Muggle Government - is telling Hucksteen they can't "Obliviate the Internets". Frustrated by Hucksteen's obstinacy and lack of seriousness, he asserts confidently that Hucksteen is not elected for life, and, on paper, can be dismissed by the British Ministry of Magic. When he threatens to depose him, based on the authority of the Ministry, Hucksteen turns him into a rat and has his Crup kill this rat. Finally, Alexandra goes to Dinétah to speak to Henry Tsotsie and warn him that her father declared war on the Confederation, They discuss the war and the Deathly Regiment. She shows him the magical tattoo she got on her shoulder, to keep Charlie in. She asks him to teach her the Patronus Charm, and to give her Nigel. When he questions her about where she'll keep him, she shows him her other tattoo - the perfect likeness of a brown snake on her wrist.
== Author's Notes ==
The writer's notes"AQATWA: Author's Notes", Inverarity's LJon a variety of topics, including:
* The writing process and the cutting room floor
* All feedback is good feedback
* "Peak Asshole"
* In which "an old(ish) white dude" writes about a teenage girl's sex life
* Shipping
* Why Did You Do That????
* Alexandra Quick - the Character
* Alexandra Quick and the Wizard War
* /r/AlexandraQuick AMA
* Alexandra Quick print and ebooks
== References ==
World Away