Palms

The Tunnel

My consciousness slams into me full force as a hand covers my mouth. It's almost too dark for me to see that the hand belongs to my brother. I sit up and angrily remove his hand from my mouth. Before I can berate him for scaring me to death, he whispers a phrase that although I have heard quite often, still sends shivers down my spine.

"They found us."

I scramble to get off the pavement and start shoving my things back into my bag that I then sling over my shoulder.

"Danny?" I whisper not able to find him in the dark. "Where are we going?"

He grabs my arm to guide me to the edge of the pavement.

"I'm not sure, but we have to go now." He mounts his broom and I get on behind wrapping my arms around his stomach.

For the past year and a half Danny and I have been on the run. We've been all up and down the east coast hiding in various nooks and crannies. This last month we've been down in the subway tunnels. Not the homiest of places but it beats park benches.

I can hear the voices of our foe growing closer. Danny kicks off and into the tunnel we go. These people that are tracking us are from the United States government. Not the Nomaj government but rather the Magical Congress of the United States.

My father was a respectable wizard as far as I'm concerned but he broke many rules for my mother. My sweet mother, who didn't have an ounce of magic in her body, that is if you don't count her kindness and curiosity. Father worked for MACUSA, and he was in on all of the wizarding worlds darkest deepest secrets.

Danny and I don't even know exactly why these men are after us, but they certainly don't just want to chat. We make it out of the tunnels and crisscross through buildings. Narrowly missing clotheslines and wires and poles. Danny is an excellent flyer. I check to see if the men are still behind us. They aren't but Danny keeps on flying.

"Did we lose them yet?" I ask after an hour or so. The land below us had slowly changed to wilderness. A few small towns dot the ground with light.

"Not forever but for now...and now- I'm hungry," Danny dives near one of these dots of light and gently touches down around the back of a long building. "Where do you want to eat?" He asks.

"Um..." I glance at my wrist where the face of Mickey Mouse smiles back at me. His arms read six o'clock. "Waffles would be nice."

Danny takes out his wand aiming it at his broom. "Reducio!" he commands and the broom shrinks down far enough for him to tuck it into my bag. "Waffles it is then." and he turns around the corner of the building in search of a restaurant.

We're almost out of money again. We've been getting by with offering to do odd jobs in shops we come across, but lately, it's been harder and harder to be in public for too long.

"How about that one?" I point to a flashing sign that reads 'Di er'.

"Yep, that's about what we can afford." Danny chuckles.

When we open the door a bell gently rings.

"Hello there! Let me get you guys into a booth!" The waitress is overly cheery for just after six a.m.

"What can I get started for you folks?" She pulls out a small pad of paper and a pen, still smiling.

"Waffles for the both of us," Danny says as I unfold the napkin wrapped around my silverware.

"Oh and coffee!" I say hoping Danny will allow it. Alas, he does not.

"Make that tea instead." Danny turns to me, " You're too young to be drinking coffee Sarah, you're only eleven. If you keep drinking it you're going to stay short forever."

"Maybe I want to stay short," I smirk at him and turn to the waitress but she is gone with an order for tea instead of coffee. "I hope you know I'm putting all the sugar in that I can." Danny laughs.

"Where are we by the way?" I ask taking a look outside. The sun is just beginning to illuminate the world outside.

"Just over the border." Danny gives me a sad smile.

Mom's family is from Michigan, which is where Danny grew up until father found work with MACUSA. We moved to New York when I was two and so I don't really remember much of Michigan. Father loved Canada, he wanted to move us there as soon as possible, but the money was outrageous. I wanted so badly to go with father on one of his trips to Canada.

"Does that mean they can't touch us?" I ask, hopeful.

"No, if they find us we're toast," Danny says eyes grim. "I just hope we went far enough that it will take some time before they catch up.

"Me too," I say yawning.

Just as I'm about to rest my head on the table our waitress comes back with our food.

"Here you go, sweetie!" She gives me a toothy grin. "Can I get anything else for you?" She sets our plates in front of us and the hot water and tea between us with two mugs.

"No thank you," Danny says politely taking a bite of his waffle. I fix myself a mug of tea and dig into my waffles. Danny reaches for the syrup leaving a sticky ring on the table. I look out the window day dreaming until I notice 4 figures appear out of the treeline.

"Danny!" I turn back to my brother. He looks out the window.

"What?" He asks looking back at me. I look and the men are gone. Then I see one figure emerging from the treeline. A woman this time, with a large dark gown and a pointy hat. She is walking towards the restaurant. As she gets closer I cannot take my eyes off of her. She enters the restaurant not once looking at us and orders tea at the counter.

I peer over the booth at her. She must be a witch but she's not after us.

"Sit down Sarah. Please," he begs quietly. I sit down and face him. " We need to not draw attention to ourselves." and so we eat the rest of our food in silence. Danny pays the waitress, apologizing that we don't have money for a tip and we stand to leave. Just as we pass the woman she clears her throat and turns to us.

"Danny and Sarah Green." Not a question but a statement. "I am here on behalf of Albus Dumbledore, a friend of your fathers. He wishes to invite you to come back with me to England where you can be safe." Her voice is small but powerful. "My name is Minerva McGonagall. I will keep you safe until we can figure out the problem."

"Why should we trust you?" Danny asks pushing me behind him. She pulls out a piece of paper from her cloak and hands it to him.

"A letter- from your father." he gently opens it and reads it. A strange look flashes across his face. He tucks the letter in his pocket without letting me see.

"Danny, I want to-" he cuts me off.

"Okay. We will go with you." his tone is serious and a little melancholy.

"Danny I want to know-"

"No. Sarah. Not now, just trust me to trust her." I look at him with disbelief but nod in agreement.

"Alright," she looks us both up and down. "Let's go then." She pushes her scarf up over her shoulder and makes a gesture for us to follow her. She leads us away from the building and out of sight of the street.

"Hold on to my arm, and for no reason are you to let go." She winks at me before everything swirls and blends together, my stomach surges and so I just close my eyes.