I just don't want to separately deal with whatever random inexplicable occurrence I expect if you are out of my sight for an hour.

That's honestly very sensible. I don't either. Let's go.

The magic shop does, in fact, have all of the required components on hand, though a few are sort of exorbitantly expensive.

He apparently either doesn't notice or doesn't care. They get their ingredients.

Then they can return to Michael's and Wishbone can tell them how to arrange things for the ritual.

You're sure you both want to do this? I've seen this one work correctly before, but I've also seen spells of this caliber leave the caster comatose afterwards. Much safer with two than with one, but still - 

Is it safer with ten? Because I could get more.

Yeah, as long as they're all at least as on board with this as I expect the two of you are. It's still not actually very safe, but I like your odds better.

Alright. Then we're going to Vegas, and doing this tomorrow morning.

All right.

"I guess I'll call Azalea and let her know I'm taking another day off school?"

"Sounds good."

She calls. She stands by for operation Get Alex Back From Wherever The Heck He Is Now.

They drive to Vegas. They get a penthouse suite in a fancy hotel that has a casino in the lobby. 

The room is full of Quendi. "So this is Karen," one says when Michael walks in. 

"Karen, these are, uh, Telufinwë," gesturing at a half-transparent man who is sitting on a king-bed playing with a thread that keeps slipping through his hands, "Pityafinwë -" a twin, apparently, but more visible, "Fëanáro," taller man who is reading a book, "Robert Andersen, Raja Anand, and Matt you know already of course."

She's not sure she's going to remember all of that, but she's going to try her darnedest. "Hi."

"All right, let's do this."

Then Wishbone will again explain which objects need to go in which places and which words need to be said at which times and remind everyone that this will probably work but it could also backfire horribly and they can't say he didn't warn them.

We're not going to retaliate if it fails. If we were the sort of people who'd do that we wouldn't have any help, would we?

I just don't want you to be shocked if one of you spontaneously bursts into flame.

All right. Let's begin.

The spell is complicated and requires incantations in three different languages. They do everything right, he's sure of it, as right as it can be done, or at least if they make any mistakes they are not mistakes that he could have been reasonably expected to catch based on the information he has. He double-checked it all in the car.

At the critical moment, a rip in the air opens. It should give them Alex.

It doesn't. A bolt of energy surges through it and engulfs Karen, then leaps to Wishbone.

The rip closes.

The room contains seven Quendi and no one else.

"Eru."

"That would be my bet, yeah."

"Well."

Karen lands on her butt somewhere that is probably neither Vegas nor Kansas. Wishbone gets spit out beside her a moment later. He whines when he hits the ground.

....Michael?