"Behind you!"

I minded the cry, leaning towards the group of people in front of me to move out of the way of the axe swing; before spinning with my staff in my both my hands, and bringing down onto the kneecap of the woman behind me with a large cracking sound. She fell, screaming, as I continued on through to turn myself back around, to face the rest of the group who had attacked, gripping their various improvised weapons tightly, while behind me the woman cried and two of the men lay on the ground moaning, clutching their stomachs from taking a low powered forzare to the chest. Keeping the three who were left in front of me, I backed away towards the side of the road, and the three who were standing there making a semicircle around the horse and wagon, holding their own assortment of handmade weapons with their bikes near their feet.

"Alright, this is how it will go." I began, focusing a bit of energy into my staff, causing the runes carved onto it to start to glow a faint blue-green. Looking at the people in front of me, I could see their bodies tense as they saw the glow, whether to fight or flee I didn't know, but I didn't want to give them the chance to collect themselves. Bringing my staff forward, I pointed it at the man in the lead of the group, "You will gather your friends and leave, You will drop any weapons you're carrying, and you will go back to where you came from. You will ask yourselves if this is really what you want to do with you life. If I ever see you or your friends again, you don't want to know what I'll do to you." To help push them the way I wanted, I brought my staff over my head, and slammed the end down into the ground, releasing a bit of force at the same time, shattering a section of ground the size of a dinner plate with a sound like thunder. "Now run."

The group of people dropped their weapons, and grabbed the wounded on the ground, as well as a few of their bikes that were within arm's reach, before taking off down the road back toward the way they came. Shushing the rest of my group when one started asking a question, I focused and LIstened for anything that would indicate that the group of would-be bandits decided to turn around, staying still for a few minutes to make sure they were gone. Turning back to the rest of my group, I was greeted by the sight of Alex Barstow staring at me with his mouth moving, as if trying to find the words, while beside him Jason Carson stared at me, his face gone white. The third member of the group, Dorothy Rose, decided to speak up turning to face the other two "Now you see why we call him the wizard."

"Dorothy, don't glot right now, do it later when you have the time, also thanks for the warning. As for you two I am sure you have questions, and I will try to answer them, but save 'em for later."

"You think they'll be back after that?" Dorothy asked, with a scared look in her eyes.

"Oh yeah, and like the Sand People, they will be back, and in greater numbers. So let's get out of here before that, so grab as of much of the stuff as they dropped as we can, put it in the back of the cart, and let's go finish our job. Alex, how far away is the barely now?"

"Few more hours walk." Alex replied, before shaking his head, and starting to help me grab the bikes and weapons the group had dropped, the others joining in after a few seconds. We were soon on our way again down the road towards our goal. While behind us the group of foragers sent out by the remnants of the government in Salem ran away.

I had been keeping track of Alex for Chuck, after the night he asked. I could tell he was getting closer over the next few days, and he finally arrived three days after I first looked for him, arriving with three others at the same time to the field we were working in that day, each with a wary, haunted looked in eyes from what they had seen on their way here, and heavy packs on their backs, along with a horse loaded down with brown paper bags that were full of barley. Turns out they had had to escape from a nest of Eaters near Lebanon after being captured by them, making their ways through the backroads towards Juniper's cabin, where Alex had guessed Chuck would be, finding a truck tipped on its side burying its load of barley undernight bags of manure. When they asked Juniper if they could join us, they almost broke into tears out of fear of rejection, breaking down into sobs when Juniper welcomed them with open arms.

People still had food, but there wasn't enough to go around, either going to waste before it was found, or people sticking around in areas that were already stripped bare, unfortunately there was still one type of prey left in these areas, prey that was slow and usually weak. So ordinary people decided to break one of the oldest human taboo's, hunting and killing each other, forming what amounted to packs. It was currently hoped that the groups would die out, as even humans became scarce, but I believed that they might be a longer term problem.

When we heard that they had bags of barley, Juniper and John Carson, owner of the field we were in fell into a discussion of how the barley would be planted, and the dividing of these new resources after they were grown. Juniper had the gift the gab it seems, making a series of deals with most of the remaining neighbouring farms in a complicated exchange of manpower, food, and resources such as tools. We were even keeping the Carsons herd of cattle up on our land to protect them, after over half the herd was "requisitioned" by foragers out of Salem. The farms that didn't accept the deals were closer to the town of Sutterdown, which had kept together through the Change mostly through the efforts of their community leaders, spearheaded by the reverend in charge of the presbyterian church there by the name of Dixon, a man I barely avoided breaking the jaw of the first time we met. He saw himself as the Hammer of God, and any that disagreed with him as nails, which unfortunately included Juniper, her Coven, the rest of our group, and me after I asked in range of his hearing how far up his ass the stick was. Juniper had been able to bring the discussion back under control, and I was reminded why I don't try diplomacy more often. According to Juniper this attitude was nothing new from the dear reverend, acting rude and spreading discontent to members of his parish long before the change, due to his view that Juniper and her coven were a group of devil worshippers; The Change had not helped matters, as he saw it as God's punishment for tolerating the wrong sort of people, which included Juniper. To his parish he was a good man, starting programs and raising donations to help those in need, but any that deviated were harshly judged and given the cold shoulder by the rest of the community.

The group to get the rest of the barley was soon decided between Juniper and Carson after much debating, and the asking for volunteers. It was narrowed down to Dorothy Rose, Jason Carson, and me, with Alex to guide us to where it was hidden a day away. There would be a fifth person going as well though, one that the others would know nothing about. Bonnie would be going with us, I needed her help with some experiments I would be attempting away from any prying eyes, even if they had no hostile intentions, and I wanted to spend a bit more time with one of my daughters, doing something we were both interested in. Maggie had wanted to go as well, after finding out Bonnie was going, but I was able to talk her out of it after I reminded her that she would be able to work on her sign language with Eilir, and meditation with Juniper, with no distractions from her little sister. Maggie eventually agreed, burying her face into Mouse's ruff, who had a look of doggy displeasure on his face, as we left in the morning making me feel a bit like a heel. It wasn't until we had already left that I realized that this would be Maggie's first night in this new world without her sister or me near by. After that I really did feel like a heel, but there wasn't anything I could do about at that point, so I just continued on, promising that I would make it up to her.

All of this led to me standing in the basement of the house we were in for the night, to avoid anyone that was in the area that we might have pissed off, with the horse and wagon hidden in the garage. A little ways off the road, it was determined it was empty and abandoned after a quick search through, netting us some spices, and a pots and pans. I ended up explaining magic to Alex and Jason, giving a few demonstrations to prove that I wasn't lying, or a trick in some way. That was one nice thing about the change I had noticed, people were for more readily to accept magic is real, after what had happened, and I expected that the number of people able to believe would increase, as the people that refused to accept the new world died away.

"Ready to give it a try?" I asked Bonnie, who's sanctum was hanging around my neck, as I stepped back and scanned the circle I had made on the floor with the chalk I kept in my pocket for emergencies. The basement was empty, and everyone else was stairs either keeping watch or soaking in what happened today.

"Aye aye, Captain." Bonnie's voice sounded out, with the eye's of her sanctum glowing green. "Can't wait to see what it looks like, but are you sure these is safe.?"

"Course I am, what do you take me for? This will just be a quick look around, and then back out, easy peasy."

"You don't want me answering that."

"At least we know you got my sense of humour."

"And mother's intelligence."

"Thats enough out of you young lady, no one like likes a smart alec."

"Then why do you never stop talking?"

"Back to business then," I said, to get the conversation back on track as Bonnie giggled. 'Am I forgetting anything?"

"No, you're good to go."

"Alrighty then, let's give it a go." Focusing on the space in front of me, I held out my staff and said "Aparturum", opening a hole between the normal world and the nevernever. It didn't seem like a smart idea to weaken the walls of really close to where I slept, so this was one the big reasons I had volunteered for this job. I tried to make the portal as clear as I could, so I could try and make sure that I wasn't walking into an ambush. The way ahead seemed clear from what I could make out, the portal making the view blurry, so I focused power through my shield bracelet to bring one up, before stepping through the portal. Nothing really seemed dangerous from what I could tell, I was in what appeared to be a copy of the basement I had just stepped out off,so using my pentacle necklace I brought some light into the nevernever. Nothing jumped out at me as I did so, so I allowed my shields to fall as I looked around, at what little I could see. "Ready to get to work?"

"Always." Bonnie replied, as tendrils of light appeared from the necklace, as my daughter stepped out into the nevernever. Here she was able to take physical form, as she used the matter of the Nevernever to build herself a body that looked almost the same as the first time I had seen her, yet a few years older."You'll remember where the portal was, right dad?"

"Course I will, not that old." Focusing behind me, I allowed the portal to close, so that nothing would escape into the real world. Focusing back on Bonnie, I allowed a smile to spread across my face. "Bonnie, before we get started, come here."

"Sure dad, but why? And why are you smiling?"

"Because I'm happy to see you." I said, before bending down and scooping Bonnie up into a massive hug, and kissed the top of her forehead, ruffling her hair.

"Dad, get off of me." Bonnie cried out, squirming to get out of my hug. "This is embarrassing."

"Just give me a minute." Finishing up, I set her back down, and as she tried to straighten her hair. "Come on, let's go."

Walking up the stairs from the basement, I looked around the house and noticed how empty it was. The house must have been old, for it to have a presence in the Nevernever, but I could tell it had been empty for awhile, probably even before the change. Walking through the open front door frame, Bonnie and I got our first real look of this worlds Nevernever, and right off the bat I could tell it was different. There were trees, grounds, the stars, and the moon, so physically it was the same, but it felt different and I couldn't quite put my finger on why. It wasn't until I stood still and listened that I figured out what it was. "It's quiet, too quiet."

"Yes, it is. It's empty." Bonnie said, looking around. "Be right back, I'm going go get a better look."

"Bonnie, wait-" Was all I got out before Bonnie shot into the air, and I soon lost sight of her in the night sky. I shouldn't really be worried for her, but I couldn't help but be worry as I waited for my daughter to come back. While she was gone I thought about what my daughter had said, and I realised she was right. Almost always when I was in the Nevernever back home, no matter how empty the landscape looked, I always felt as if something was nearby, aware of my existence. Here, I felt and heard nothing as the wind blew through the branches of the trees, while the moon shone overhead. "Hey dad, I need you to look at something."

"Ahhh," I cried out as I jumped into the air, spinning around to face Bonnie, who had a distracted look upon her face. "Don't do that, I'm too young to have have a heart attack." When that never even got a fact correction, let alone a giggle, out of Bonnie, I knew something was up. "What's wrong, honey?"

"I need you to see something. Can you follow me?" Bonnie face had a look that I would almost call fearful, when she turned and started to float into the air again.

I sighed to myself as I wondered what she wanted to show me from the air. If magic hadn't been easier in the Nevernever I wouldn't even consider it, but focusing and speaking out "Surge sursus," I rose smoothly into the air. It wasn't flying, more akin to levitation, but I eventually got to where Bonnie was glowing a sickly green colour, floating almost a hundred feet up. "What did you want to show me?"

"Look, out there." Bonnie said, pointing out into the darkness. I followed her finger, towards the horizon. Now that I was higher in the air, I could see that the horizon glowed with light tinged yellow, all around.

"What is it?"

"It's the light of civilization."

"Wait, what?"

"Shush, keep watching." Listening to my daughters fearful words, I stared out at the lights. As I watched it didn't take long to notice what Bonnie had, and when I realised what it meant, I felt a flash of fear, followed by anger. Anger at whoever had brought my family here and exposed them to this, anger at whoever had done this to the world, and even anger at humanity for not coming together as it should have in this time of need. In the distance, I watched as the lights of civilization dimmed, and some areas of the horizon went dark.

Our field trip to the Nevernever finished up after that, and it was a tired wizard that flopped down into my sleeping bag, and soon fell asleep, with dreams of massive flames that died down until only embers were left. Bonnie spent the night thinking about what we had learned, her undoubtedly learning more then me in that short time we were there. When the others saw the state I was in the next morning, I just waved them off and told them it was just bad dreams. We were soon on our way back towards Juniper's and the Carson's in silence, thinking about what we needed to do. Jason split off from the rest of us once we started getting closer to his brothers home, while we continued on our way back up the into the foothills, reaching the cabin in the late afternoon. Waiting outside for us was everyone, to help us get the barely put away, as well too tend to the horse. Walking towards Juniper, I bent down to pick up Maggie as she and Mouse ran towards me, while besides her Dorothy's kids did the same. "You been good, while I was gone?"

"Uh-huh," Maggie said, burying her face into my shoulder while Mouse danced around my feet. Looking up at Juniper, she was smiling but she had a sad look in her eyes, and I was going to ask her what had happened till I noticed the man besides her. The first thing I noticed was that he had a arm up in a sling, but besides that he was in very good shape, and he held himself like he knew how to fight, being of average height but broad shouldered with thick arms. He was brown haired with a square face, and he looked fairly fair skinned, but tanned like old leather and a few years older than me. Carrying Maggie I walked over to where the were, asking Juniper "So who's this then?"

"Harry, this is Sam; Sam, this is Harry." Juniper said, while stepping out of the way of the two us. He was giving me look similar to the one I had just given him, a quick look to see if I would be a threat. Stretching both our hands at the same time, we gave each other a firm handshake with a little bit of more strength than was needed. I seemed to pass what every test he was looking for, because we released each other's hand and he gave me a nod.

"Samual Alyward." He spoke with a english twang, but nothing like Steed's or the Merlins had been, more of a yokel burr that sounded like it should be asking for a pint of beer. "'Heard you was a wizard Harry, that right?"

"Harry Dresden, and that's right. Also private detective" I said after letting out a bit of a sigh.

"And you?"

"Former SAS, was in the area for a bit of hunting."

"Guessing you're english then?"

"What gave it away, the accent?"

"My fine tuned hearing was able to tell, yes."

"Hah." Sam let out a short bark of laughter, before falling silent again. I could already tell that he was a man of few words, as we stood there awkwardly for a few more secs, while everyone went their separate ways to do what needed doing, the silence being broken by him given a faint cough, and a small smirk in my direction. "So a fan of Potter then?"

A/N: It's me, figured I should try to get out the latest chapter…

Got any questions, ask, and if they don't spoil anything I will try to answer them.

Review if you feel like it.