‘Wayfarers don’t use truth potion,’ I said, settling on the bed. ‘And how quickly do you read, anyway?’

  ‘Oh, the usual. About twenty books on a busy day, thirty if I’ve nothing else to do. Well, if you’re not going to go with my truth potion idea, then perhaps a good old set-up might do the job. I know you think that the book the thief stole might not be the real one, so perhaps you and Adeline could talk loudly about having found the true book. It’ll rustle the killer out of the woodwork. They did something like that in Something Sleuthy.’

  ‘Something Sleuthy? That’s the name of a book?’

  ‘Mm hm. It’s a Mrs Magely mystery. Great series. I’d let you borrow my copy in case you wanted some tips, but it was a paperback. I left a cracker with cream cheese in the book, and now the pages are stuck together.’

  ‘You know that that right there, that’s the reason why Adeline considers you and your friends an infestation in her library, right? Terrence … you know I’m going out with Will tonight, right? Will Berry?’

  The little Bookworm nodded his head. ‘And you’re about to ask me if I ever heard him arguing with Bess, the way that girl in your class did. Well, yes, I did. More than once. He was round our little flat and everything, telling her she needed to do a better job or he’d find someone who could.’

  I winced. Sure, it seemed like the sort of thing he might say, given that no one was happy with Bess’s work. And he had the alibi, too. Although … I hugged my arms around me … from the looks of it, this might have been committed using distance magic. If that was the case, did it really matter where Will was at the time? I’d seen with my own eyes how much his power had progressed recently, and he’d managed to break a spell when the sióga Queen thought it would be an impossible task for any witch.

  But murdering Bess … that was beyond him. It had to be. This was Will. He helped me find my father. He made secret donations to orphanages. He was a good person.

  I glanced down at Terrence again. ‘You’re sure it was a woman who kidnapped you?’

  He nodded decisively. ‘One hundred percent. And Wanda, Will was not the only person Bess argued with. I loved her. She was my witch but … she wasn’t exactly good at playing with others. And I saw how Will Berry looked at you today in the Longest Library. He loves you. Truly, madly, deeply. The way he looks at you is the way I used to wish Dee Dee would look at me.’

  ‘Dee Dee.’ I grinned at him. ‘Now she is a cutie pie. Why do you say you used to wish she’d look at you that way?’

  His huge eyes blinked rapidly, and he sniffed. ‘Because. When Bess’s murder is solved, I’ll be joining her. So it really won’t matter how Dee Dee feels about me, or I about her. Take my advice, Wanda – life is short, so make the most of it and get ready for your date.’

  ≈

  Dizzy returned when I was dressed, so I quickly dropped him off at Wayfarers’ Rest along with Terrence. When I magicked myself back to my room, I could hear Max, pulling open the front door.

  ‘Hey Max,’ I heard Will say. ‘I’m here to pick up Wanda.’

  Oh, crap! I hadn’t had the opportunity to talk to Max about Will. He knew nothing about the fact that Will had really been protecting me all this time. In Max’s eyes, Will was still the guy who made nasty comments and made me cry.

  But then again, maybe Max wouldn’t care either way. Right now, all he cared about was being under Emily’s thumb. I took slow steps down the stairs, feeling a little miserable, when I heard a sudden, low growl.

  ‘You’re taking Wanda out?’ said Max, growling for a second time. ‘You?’

  Will cleared his throat and said, ‘Yeah. Me. Listen, Max, I know I was a bit of a plonker in the past, but I’m sure Wanda’s explained it all by now.’

  I ran up behind Max, touching his shoulder. ‘I haven’t had the chance yet. I was going to, but …’

  Will gave me a strange look. ‘Wow. I figured Max would be the first person you’d tell. You and he always seem joined at the hip.’

  Max’s eyes met mine for a second, but he looked away quickly and glared back at Will. ‘Tell me what, exactly? And it had better be good. Because from what I can tell, you do not deserve someone like Wanda.’

  Will chewed on his lower lip, hands in his pocket. ‘Yeah, about that … Max, everything I’ve said and done in the past few months has been an act. To keep Wanda safe from my dad. He had a serious hate on for her.’ Will smiled at me. ‘But all along I’ve been protecting her. Making sure my dad couldn’t do anything to harm her. And now … now we can finally be together.’

  Another low growl escaped from Max, but when he turned to me it wasn’t anger in his eyes, but hurt. ‘I thought we told each other everything.’

  I wiped a tear from my cheek. ‘Not this, Max. I’m sorry. I was going to tell you the second Will’s dad died. Once it was safe for you to know. But … well, you’ve been …’

  He nodded. ‘Right. I get it. I’ve been otherwise engaged. But I still don’t trust him.’ He glared at Will again. ‘If you hurt her, Berry, you’ll regret it.’

  Will held his hands up and said, ‘I swear to you Max, the last thing I want to do is hurt Wanda.’ He was halfway through that sentence, when Emily came out of the kitchen.

  I could tell by the look on her face that she’d heard every word. A strange silence descended over the hallway, and Max’s expression changed before my eyes. For a few, lovely moments, he’d been himself again. Sure, these weren’t the ideal circumstances in which I would have liked to see him return to his old self, but I’d take anything as long as it brought him back. Now, though … now he was looking at the floor again, his eyes losing their anger, their hurt and their light.

  ‘Come on,’ I said, taking Will’s hand. ‘We’d better leave these two to it.’

  As Emily pulled Max back into the house and slammed the door, I stood on the doorstep for a moment, processing what had just happened. When Max stood up to Will and made him promise not to hurt me, it had made me feel strangely … happy? And I wasn’t quite sure that it was simply because it meant he was himself again. I’d been happy that Max was acting so protective. Maybe I’d even been a little bit happy that he seemed jealous.

  Will had a broom propped up against the wall which separated our driveway from next door. ‘Want to fly to my house?’

  I forced all thoughts of Max from my mind and said, ‘Sure. That sounds like fun.’

  15. Safer than the Sword of Sylvia

  On my first date with Will, we had walked across the park together. I’d been relieved that we didn’t fly, because the thought of wrapping my arms around his waist had made me short of breath. I’d also been unsure if it was a proper date or not. For one thing, I’d gone so I could snoop around his house to see if he had any connection to a spate of murders. For another thing, I had a hard time believing he could possibly be interested in me.

  More than a year had passed since then, and so much had changed. My confidence had grown, and I believed that Will really did care for me. But my own feelings, well … there was something very surprising happening where those were concerned.

  I wrapped my arms around Will, holding on tight as he flew, hoping that the closeness would make things clearer. But instead of feeling a deep and delicious leap in my belly, I barely felt a flutter. As he landed on the long gravel driveway of his house in Easterly Crescent, I jumped off quickly and stared down at my palms. They weren’t even mildly clammy.

  I looked at Will, frowning. His dimples looked just as delicious as ever. His sea green eyes looked just the same, too. And if anything, his body was fitter than it had been when we first met. So … shouldn’t I be drooling in an unladylike manner round about now?

  I’d hoped so much that the lack of my reaction to our Hilltop Hotel kiss had been because I was shallow. Wait, that didn’t sound good, did it? But honestly, I had hoped that I hadn’t responded to that kiss because he’d looked like Edwardo, felt like Edwardo. I’d been so sure that once he was Will again, in all his dimpled glory and with nary a moustache in sight, that my old feelings would return.

  But the kiss in the library had thrown that theory out the window, and now – what with the lack of tummy flutters and clammy hands – I wasn’t sure what was going on with my emotions. Maybe it was just nerves. Being with Will Berry had been nothing but a fantasy for so long. It would only be natural that I was scared to bejaysus to have it finally become reality.

  Yeah, that was it – I was nervous, that was all. As long as I concentrated on staying in the moment, going with the flow and all that jazz, then all the old feelings were sure to come rushing back. Right?

  I forced my eyes to focus on Will, instead of on my own murky thoughts. The front door was creaking open, and he was smiling shyly at me, saying, ‘Well, do you want to come in, then?’

  I was just about to reply when his mother stepped out.

  ‘I thought you were out for the night, Mam,’ he said, sounding surprised.

  Sylvia looked at me, and then back at Will. I got the impression she was trying very hard to withhold a gleeful grin. ‘I was. I mean, I am. I forgot something. Can I em … can I just have a word with Wanda before she goes in?’

  Will inclined his eyes to the sky. ‘Why? So you can tell her to treat me gently?’ He picked up my hand and kissed the palm. ‘Wanda, there’s someone upstairs who you should go have a word with before we eat. Do you remember where my bedroom is?’

  I looked sidelong at Sylvia, blushing. Sure, the only thing we’d done in his bedroom was hold hands, but that didn’t make this conversation any less embarrassing. ‘Yes, I remember where it is,’ I reluctantly admitted.

  ‘Great, I’ll go work on dinner, and I’ll see you soon,’ he said as he rushed inside, leaving the door ajar behind him.

  ‘So,’ said Sylvia, taking a seat on a garden bench and patting the space next to her. ‘It’s finally happening, then. I mean, I know I should be sorry that it took Mandy dying for this to happen. But honestly? I was so worried that I’d have grandchildren who took after her.’

  I sat down next to her, not really sure what to say.

  ‘I’ve been worried about him,’ she went on. ‘He was doing all of this sneaking around, and I really didn’t understand it. But when his father died, he told me. About the spell binding Kilian’s life force to yours and mine.’ She let out a long exhalation. ‘I’m relieved that Will managed to break it in time, but I really wish I had known about it beforehand.’

  ‘I’m relieved to be alive, too,’ I said. ‘I mean, it’s not exactly a relaxing life I’m leading right now, but I’ll take it over being dead.’

  She laughed dryly. ‘You and me both. Wanda … there’s something important I need to tell you.’

  Her face had turned serious, and I watched as she pulled out her mobile phone.

  ‘Adeline Albright called me today,’ she said. ‘She asked me about getting admission to the vault where the Sword of Sylvia is kept. She insisted it was so she could take some photos to add to her latest chronicle of magical artefacts but … I think we both know why she wanted in.’

  ‘We do?’ I said, making my eyes as big and innocent as I could manage. I had known Adeline would be calling. Once I found the Elemental Seat destroyed, I had confided in Finn, who then came up with the idea of having Adeline call Will’s mother.

  ‘Come on, Wanda. I know all about the book that was taken from the library. I know what it is, and what’s going to happen if it gets into the wrong hands. Adeline wants that sword for you, because you and she think it might add to your power if the Whisperer manages to return.’

  I gawped at her. ‘How do you know what he’s called?’

  She sighed. ‘I grew up as a Shannon, Wanda. My childhood coven may have only had one Wayfarer in their history, but we made it our business to gain knowledge about anything that could harm the magical world – the whole world, in fact. But you don’t need to worry about it. About the sword or The Whisperer’s Return. I believe that whoever stole that book was doing so in the best interests of … well, of everyone. I don’t think they have any intention of using it. Just of keeping it from whoever wants to use it.’

  ‘Sylvia, if you know something about who stole the book, you need to tell me.’

  She shook her head and passed her phone my way. ‘I don’t know who stole the book. And as for who broke into the vault and stole the sword … the Shannon coven is working on that.’

  I gazed down at the photograph on her phone. There were two guards lying on a marble floor, looking like there was no amount of caffeine that was ever going to revive them. Behind them, there was a wall with two empty hooks – hooks upon which a sword might hang.

  I’d heard one or two witches use the expression Sealed safer than the sword of Sylvia, when they were talking about keeping things a secret or keeping things safe. They were going to have to come up with a new expression, it seemed, because that sword was no longer sealed or safe.

  ‘I don’t know exactly when it happened,’ she said. ‘But it was in the last few hours, anyway. When two fresh guards were due to come and relieve those poor unlucky witches, they found them dead, and the sword stolen.’

  ‘And have you reported this to Finn? To anyone? The Wayfarers should investigate.’

  ‘The coven will report it in due course. It’s going to be quite an uncomfortable investigation for them. Everyone who guards that vault, and everyone who knows about that vault, are all Shannons. No one outside of the coven is ever told where the vault is.’ She looked intently at me, emphasis in her voice and some clearly deep meaning in her words as she said, ‘It’s absolutely certain as far as I’m concerned, Wanda. Only a member of the Shannon coven could have stolen that sword.’ She put on a more relaxed smile, and patted my hand. ‘But don’t worry, Wanda. You won’t need the sword in the end. This’ll all be over before it gets to that. Trust me.’

  Just as I was about to ask her why I should trust her – and what the heckity heck she knew about who had stolen the Whisperer’s Return – she pulled her hand from mine, clicked her fingers, and disappeared.

  ≈

  I was in a bit of a daze as I entered Will’s bedroom. Sylvia knew more than she was telling me, I was sure of that much. I was in the middle of texting Finn a quick message about the exchange when I saw them: two cats, lounging about on Will’s bed. One was Will’s familiar, a huge marmalade cat called Fred. Another was a cat called Dave – the former familiar of Kilian Berry. I’d last seen him in the Wizard’s Graveyard, when Will’s father was trying to drain me of my power. When Will said there was someone I ought to have a word with, there was little doubt that he meant Dave.

  ‘I told Will not to tell you I was still alive,’ he said irritably. ‘So why don’t you go back downstairs to him so you can both start stuffing your faces.’

  While Dave turned away and buried his face in his paws, Fred hopped off the bed and wrapped his way around my legs, purring loudly. At least one of them was happy to see me, I supposed. I wasn’t sure whether to try and convince Dave to talk to me, or to just leave him be. I decided that the wisest (and most satisfying) thing I could do was pick Fred up and cuddle him close.

  He was just giving me a delightful little head-bump, when Dave raised his head again and looked at me through narrow green eyes.

  ‘I was never Kilian’s familiar, you know. Not really. I was forcibly bonded to him, just like Dizzy was forcibly bonded to Harry Berry.’

  ‘I know,’ I said sadly, walking to the bed and taking a seat beside him, keeping Fred on my lap. ‘But seeing as you know that, then you probably also know that Dizzy lives with me now.’

  ‘Well hoo-rah for Dizzy. I don’t really see the same thing happening to me, do you?’ He glanced down at himself, and I followed his eyes. He was in a sorry state. His once-glossy fur was coming out in clumps, and he had lost a lot of weight.

  ‘Are you feeling okay, Dave?’

  ‘No!’ he spat. ‘Of course I’m not. I feel like I’m going to die soon, which I’m highly annoyed about. How is it that Dizzy is still alive? The bonding spell should have meant he died when Harry did – well, once that busybody bat had helped you solve Harry’s murder, anyway. And as if that wasn’t enough, Kilian told me he hit that interfering bat with a death spell. He shouldn’t be hanging out at your house eating mangoes. He should be suffering a miserable afterlife by Harry’s side.’

  I reached out, stroking the cat. He was acting like a testy little so-and-so, without a doubt. But he’d already suffered through life with Kilian Berry, and now it looked as though he might have to suffer through death with him, too. It was enough to make anyone ornery.

  The truth was, I had no idea why Dizzy was still with me. My little bat really had been hit with a double dose of the shoulda-been-deads. Not only had Harry been killed, meaning Dizzy should have passed on after Harry’s murder was solved, but Kilian had tried to murder him, too, just as Dave said.

  Dizzy was convinced that either it hadn’t been a death spell Kilian sent his way, or else my coven had succeeded far better than they thought in disempowering him by the time he tried to kill the bat. And as for passing on when Harry’s murder was solved, well … Dizzy figured that because he never considered Harry his witch, the bond wasn’t strong enough for him to die.

  ‘I … I honestly don’t know why Dizzy is still alive,’ I admitted. ‘I just know that I’m glad he is. We’re happy together. And Dave …’ I cupped my hands around his little head and looked into his eyes, feeling a tear spill out of my own. ‘… you might be a grumpy sod, but I wish you didn’t have to die, either. If I could wish for anything right now, it would be for you to go on to have a happy life, a life of your own choosing, just like Dizzy.