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bathroom, she could hear voices coming from the kitchen. She washed and dressed, and when she went back to the bedroom to make the bed and dump the other clothes, Addie was starting to stir.
    “Breakfast,” Spirit said. Addie groaned and rolled over. Spirit glanced at the clock. It said it was six, but whether it was six in the morning or six at night, she didn’t know. “Come on,” she said, with a cheer she didn’t feel. “You don’t want to miss the Apocalypse.”
    Addie groaned again, and felt around on the floor for something to throw. She didn’t find anything, and rolled over on her back. “This is your brain. This is your brain on magic. Any questions?” she muttered.
    “Bacon,” Spirit said.
    “I hate you,” Addie answered, but she started moving. Spirit went off in search of the kitchen.
    *   *   *
    “—computer programmer. It’s the kind of thing I can do remotely, and I only have to go into the city once or twice a month to pick up my mail and cash my checks,” Vivian said.
    The kitchen was tiny, with a two-burner electric stove and a table crammed into one corner. Loch was perched on the table, and Burke was crammed into one corner, watching Vivian cook. They were both wearing hand-me-downs—Burke in sweatpants and a T-shirt, Loch in jeans. Loch was wearing the shirt from his prom outfit, with the collar unbuttoned and the sleeves rolled up. There was already a pile of crispy bacon draining on a plate, and Spirit’s stomach rumbled. The sandwiches in the van seemed like at least a week ago.
    “Hi,” she said a little uncertainly.
    “Morning,” Vivian said. “Breakfast will be ready in a couple of minutes, so you better go wake up Addie.”
    “She was moving when I left,” Spirit said.
    Burke smiled at her and handed her a piece of toast; Spirit nibbled it to give herself something to do. A moment later Addie joined them. She was wearing jeans and a red sweater with a pattern of green Christmas trees knitted into it. Spirit winced sympathetically.
    “Cozy,” Addie said, looking around.
    “These places were designed for two sets of two-man crews,” Vivian said, “so it’s going to be a little crowded in the kitchen with five.”
    “So what’s on the menu for today?” Loch asked. “Besides breakfast.”
    “I tell you the rest of what Merlin needs you to know, and then I’m headed into town. I didn’t want to lay in a bunch of stuff until I was sure you’d get here alive.”
    Spirit repressed a shudder of unease at Vivian’s matter-of-factness. “What.… What would you have done if we hadn’t?”
    “Yeah, considering we’re apparently all there is in the way of opposition to Mordred’s evil plot,” Loch said.
    “Get used to it,” Vivian said. She put the last of the bacon on the plate and tucked it into the tiny oven. “If the plan to get you out of there had failed, I would’ve done whatever I could to bring the Feds down on Breakthrough. There probably wouldn’t’ve been much of Montana left when the dust settled, but it would be better than the end of the world. Assuming, of course, that they listened to me, and the Feds won.”
    “It still sounds like a better option than us against Breakthrough,” Burke said. “So why not do it anyway? As a backup?”
    “Because it would lead Breakthrough straight here,” Vivian said. “Mordred’s stuck in the Dark Ages, but his Shadow Knights aren’t. If Mark doesn’t have a snitch in one of the Alphabet Agencies, I’d be really surprised.”
    “But—” Loch said.
    “And there’s even odds Breakthrough could put out enough black information on me to make the Feds ignore anything I had to say,” Vivian said, taking out the carton of eggs and beginning to crack them into the skillet. “And Mordred knows about it.” She sighed irritably. “Just before Eternal September, when everybody found out about the Internet.…” She paused, clearly choosing her words carefully. “My dad was a phone phreak. I