"Just follow my lead," Daphne told Sabine, who stood with her borrowed wand ready. "I don't know how this is going to work for you, since you're not drawing magic from inside yourself, but I always picture magical energy like water. The pressure builds up inside me, and I push it out like a wave. But it's different for everyone."

Sabine nodded. "I'll try my best."

"You'll do great. You look just like a witch!"

"Thanks," she said, but her smile was tight. She was nervous.

"Sabine, you don't have to do this," Daphne reminded her.

"No, I want to help. This is how I can."

"Okay. Rhode, stand back. Let's do this."

Daphne closed her eyes. She knew it would be harder this time, since she was relying mainly on her own well of energy instead of an outside source. But she had been to the Coven before, and could visualize it in her mind. Coven, she thought as hard as she could, trying to keep concern for Sabine out of her head. Coven! The Grand Coven! She could feel the power building inside her. When it reached its peak, she let it go, screaming "Sabine, now!"

There was a grating shriek, like the sound of metal being torn. A flash of light filled the room as a portal bloomed on the wall. Wind whipped around Daphne, tugging at her hair and clothes, pulling her forward.

Then the world fell silent. Daphne felt her feet touch upon solid ground again and heard Sabine whisper, "I did it! I really did it!"

"No..." said Rhode. "We didn't."

Daphne opened her eyes and was greeted by darkness. She blinked, trying to get her vision to adjust, but before that, a familiar smell crept into her nose: books. They were back in the Library. "What?" she gasped. "How did we get here?" she asked, looking around in shock at the high shelves.

Sabine stood, all the joy from the moment before drained away. "Oh no... did I mess up?"

"I don't know," Daphne said anxiously.

"You know, it is much easier for a portal to be created in a place it has been created once before," said a voice from out of the darkness between the shelves. "Many inexperienced witches struggle with this."

All three girls gasped and instinctively clustered closer together. Daphne raised her wand, her nervousness expressed in the way the tip trembled. "Who's there?"

"A friend," the voice answered, and a man stepped smoothly out of the shadows. His small pince-nez glasses glinted in the light. It was the librarian from before, the one that had turned them over to the Coven.

Rhode leapt in front of her friends, glaring at the old man. "You're no friend of ours. Daphne, Sabine, run!" she shouted.

"Wait! I want to help." He held his hands out, showing that he was not holding a wand. "And if it's not too much to ask, young lady, could you please quiet down? This is a library, after all."

"Is this quiet enough for you?" Rhode spat, raising her middle finger at the man. She whispered to her friends, "This has gotta be a trap. I'll distract him, you two go! I'll find you later."

"It's not a trap, and don't bother running; you'll only get lost," the librarian said. "See? I can hear what you were whispering because I stay away from loud noises. You should do the same."

"Why aren't you trying to capture us again?" Daphne asked suspiciously.

He smiled. "Because I'm on your side, at least for now."

Sabine stepped forward, eyes gleaming. "I knew it! You must have heard what we said at our trial and realized how wrong the Coven is to treat mortal lives as if they were nothing!" She turned to her friends. "Guys, if we can change his mind, we might be able to change the minds of everyone, even the Coven! We can change the world!"

"Ah, optimism. Very refreshing," the old man yawned. "But don't be ridiculous, little girl. I don't think it would be possible for me to care less if the mortal souls of this world suffered for the sake of a higher cause."

Sabine noticeably deflated. "Then... why help us?"

"Sentimentality. You three are going to rescue the traitor, that Elder woman, right?"

"My mom is not a traitor," Daphne said, stepping forward with her wand raised threateningly.

"Oh, of course not, she only went against the Grand Coven's wishes and fought against them for personal reasons," he said sarcastically. "I'm going to become a traitor for personal reasons too. My brother was among those who were captured. He's all I have."

"I see," scoffed Rhode. "You want us to risk our necks so if we succeed, we rescue your brother, and if we fail, you escape the blame?"

"Yes," he admitted. "And in return I will make a portal for you into the heart of the Coven, and hold it for you too." He looked at them shrewdly. "Admit it, girls, you can't do it without me."

Daphne sighed. "He's right. As... distasteful as he is, there's no way I'd be able to conjure up another portal. We have no choice."

"No, you don't." He waved his wand; a portal appeared in the sides of one of the shelves. Several books were sucked into the white whirlpool. "Good luck girls. And remember, if you get caught, I'll deny this ever happened and watch as they strip your memories."

Daphne snorted. "You're a mean, bad, gross old man," she said. "But we'll do our best to bring you your brother."

"Good," he replied. "You should go now. There's another Coven hearing being held to pass new laws concerning what should be done with traitors." His lips twitched up and his glasses glinted. "Normally I'd be there supporting the harshest measures, but times have changed. Go now."

"Don't tell me what to do," Rhode mumbled, but she was the first to step into the glowing light. Sabine followed. Daphne hesitated at the entrance and turned back for one last look at the librarian. His eyes were stony and unreadable. He gave her a small nod. With a feeling that everything was about to go wrong, she stepped into the portal.

The portal delivered them into darkness. Daphne could feel the difference in the air; while the Library had been silent in a serene, almost holy way, wherever they were now felt like the stillness of a crypt.

"Where are we?" whispered Sabine.

Daphne lit her wand with a murmur and held it up to illuminate damp stone walls and floors. "I think we're in the Coven again, down in the dungeons where they kept us," she whispered back. "Come on. We don't know how much time we have."

The three started off down the hallway, looking for any sign of Daphne's mother or the people captured with her. "How are we going to find them?" Rhode hissed. "When we were locked up, they kept us in boxes in the walls. None of these walls are even marked! We could have passed them and we wouldn't know."

Daphne bit her lip. "I guess we'll just have to keep looking. Maybe we'll find... something." A soft, faint light that wasn't coming from Daphne's wand flickered out from behind a bend. She put out her wand light and motioned her friends forward. They tiptoed toward the glow. As they got closer, they could hear faint crying.

Daphne peeked around the corner and gasped. A common jail cell with bars reaching from floor to ceiling stood in front of her. A single glowing lantern hung from the bars, giving just enough light to illuminate the prisoners inside. At least a dozen people sat on the floor, wheezing and weeping. And there, in the far corner, sat a curled-up figure with long, regal braids that could only be her mother.

"Mama!" she cried, starting forward. She knew it was stupid not to check if there were guards hidden, but no one hexed her or rushed out from the shadows. Why aren't there any guards? Why are they in such an exposed cell? she wondered for a moment, but the sight of her mother erased any worry from her mind.

Her mother slowly raised her head. "Daphne," she whispered, and in that whisper, Daphne knew everything was wrong.

Her mother's eyes were sunken and unfocused, nothing like the clear, determined eyes she knew so well. Her lips were chapped; her breath came in gasps. Shiny tear tracks gleamed on her cheeks. Worst of all, her mother, once so elegant, was curled into a loose ball, clutching her legs to her chest like a frightened child. She looked... broken. They all did.

"Mama," she whispered again, running to the bars and clutching at them. "Mama, what's wrong? What did they do to you?"

"Daphne, honey, it's too late," Laurel said, looking at her daughter desperately. It was an expression Daphne had never seen on her mother's face before, and it chilled her to the core. "It's over. They took our magic."