‘Yeah.’ Milly grinned. ‘That was fun. Oh, and I encouraged them too. Whispered that I’d seen you spill the shampoo to make Babs slip. Good times, Wanda. Good times.’

  ‘Such fun,’ I replied. ‘Anyway, I knew Martin couldn’t be working alone. I also knew he wasn’t Three C’s type. Were you having an affair with a prisoner, Milly? Because that is all kinds of wrong and icky.’

  She finished tying up her boots. ‘It was all kinds of yum and yummy, actually. I mean, have you seen Three C? I wasn’t keen to let him go. He told me he was going to go straight once he got out. Without his contacts in all of the supply companies, we’d never get anything in to sell. Oh, and there was also the fact that he tried it on with Babs.’

  ‘I told him where to go,’ Babs snarled. ‘Potions I’ll brew, no bother. But mess about with my best friend’s boyfriend? Not on your nelly.’

  ‘Ah.’ I nodded. ‘Makes sense. He tried it on with me too, Milly, when I was interviewing him about Sal’s supposed murder. It’s a real kick in the teeth when someone you like is two-faced, isn’t it? By the way, that keyring you have, the one you said was a family heirloom, the one that matches the tattoos and miraculously reincarnates people. How exactly is it a family heirloom, Milly? Your keyring perfectly matches this Infinity Loop thingy. Here, in the Berry mansion. But you grew up in the Wayfair coven.’

  Milly smirked. ‘I didn’t say whose family, did I? And in case you think you’ve got the upper hand here, you don’t. I’m not surprised to see you either. The others believed all that guff Will said on the TV – how you and him were in hiding together. Me, not so much. I know a lure when I see one. But needs must. It’s time, as the humans say, for us to get out of Dodge. I …’ She trailed off, staring at Camille. ‘She’s frozen. How the heck is she frozen?’

  I shook my head in amazement. ‘Seriously? You just noticed that now? Wow, some people really get caught up in their own glory.’ I pointed at Camille, willing her to speak through the freezing spell.

  Camille’s eyes screamed along with her voice as she said, once more, ‘What have you done with Sal?’

  ‘It’s nice you care so much about him,’ I remarked. ‘Milly doesn’t seem concerned about where he is. She’s not concerned about you either, is she? She didn’t even notice you were frozen, or that you didn’t say a thing from the moment she arrived. But then, maybe you don’t usually get much of a word in while she’s laying down the law. Seems you have a crap friend as well as a crap dad. You were trying to goad him into threatening to kill Sal when you visited him in prison, right?’

  She flinched, just slightly. ‘My dad’s a waste of space. He deserved all the extra time I sent his way. It’s just a pity he didn’t say he would kill Sal. But we got him the extra time he deserved, anyway. Milly made sure I got my revenge on my dad. Because Milly is a good friend. She always has my back.’

  ‘Doubtful,’ I said, looking at Milly. ‘You weren’t a good friend to Baldrick, that’s for sure. You convinced him that he’d be frozen at the press conference if he killed Will. That you’d give him one of those tragic deaths in Witchfield, before a trip to this little resurrection room of yours, right? Oh, serious question – should you maybe change the name of this place? Because you’re not resurrecting your dead bodies, are you? You’re getting all new ones and leaving the old ones to rot in the Wayfarer morgue.’

  While Milly looked ready to throttle me, and Babs looked confused, I carried on talking. ‘But let’s put the semantics aside and get back to Baldrick, because that’s the thing I can’t figure out. Baldrick has a lot of money and power already. There had to be more in it for him. More than just some jumped-up prison guard telling him what to do.’

  I held my gaze steady on Milly and said, ‘There’s someone else you answer to, isn’t there? Someone who could really reward Baldrick for killing Will.’

  Her facial muscles twitched again, and she hardened her jaw. ‘I know you like to think you’re the great detective, Wanda, but you’re really not. I may have convinced Baldrick that we had a huge gang involved in this, and a lot of new opportunities were going to come his way if he went along with killing Will, but we’re not some big operation. What you see is what you get – me and Martin, running the prison market with the help of Three C and Babs. Sal and Camille had their own reasons for coming on board – namely revenge against Three C for being a jerk – but that’s really all there is to it.’

  I turned to Martin. ‘Is it? Is that all there is to it?’

  He shrugged. ‘If there’s more, I’m not in the know.’

  ‘No. No, you’re probably not. So why are you here?’ I pointed to Milly. ‘She has something on you, doesn’t she?’

  She glared at Martin. ‘Say one more word to her and you’ll be sorry. I think this has gone on long enough, don’t you?’

  He hung his head and said no more.

  Milly swivelled her head to Babs. ‘Well, go on. What are you waiting for? Kill her. Use those big fists of yours for something useful.’

  Babs began to step towards me, but then she paused, thinking through Milly’s command. ‘But I have to step outside the Infinity Loop to do that, Milly. And you’ve said it out loud now. So she knows you want me to kill her. And I can’t use magic can I? But she still has magic. So by the time I thump her or whatever you want me to do, she’ll have frozen me. Or worse.’

  I smiled at Babs. ‘But she doesn’t want you to kill me, or me to kill you. She just wants you to distract me so she can make her escape. She’ll leave you behind, the same way she’s going to abandon Camille.’

  Babs stared at Milly. ‘You wouldn’t do that.’

  ‘Of course I wouldn’t.’ Milly patted Babs on the shoulder. ‘You’re my bestie. I just forgot that Wanda still has her magic in here, while the rest of us don’t. That’s all. I mean, you’d for sure beat her if it was a fist fight.’

  ‘Oh.’ Babs nodded, happy with the terrible explanation.

  I wasn’t happy with the explanation. I was convinced Milly really did want a distraction, and that she was planning her escape. They couldn’t click their fingers from anywhere inside this cavern. Not in the Infinity Loop, or outside of it. It had been difficult to get down here. The wards made it that way – no in, no out, without the incantations, and the tattoos, and the endless, endless walk …

  They wouldn’t want to make that walk again – not when it meant getting past me, the only one in the cavern who could still use her own magic.

  Milly had arrived through the Infinity Loop, though, so maybe she could leave that way, too. And the second stone Martin mentioned was probably involved.

  I needed to stop them using that second stone. But how? I couldn’t go in there and fight the three of them. I was still covered in aches and pains from the shower room. And Milly was right – Babs would definitely beat me in a fist fight.

  ‘Guys,’ I said quietly. ‘Any chance of an ETA?’

  There was a dry laugh in my earpiece, and Erik said, ‘Right now, Wanda. Right now.’

  As soon as he spoke, the doorway opened, and they all came streaming in.

  ‘The orange stone!’ Milly screamed. ‘Stick it in now, Martin!’

  ‘I’m looking for it,’ Martin said with a sigh. ‘I’ve just got a lot of pockets in this Berry Materialization disguise.’ He patted his pockets, but there was a half-hearted air about his movements. My heart jumped. Milly really did have something on Martin. Maybe he was secretly on our side. He certainly didn’t seem to be in any rush to get her out of here.

  While Martin continued to pat his pockets, my mother lifted a brow. ‘You’re really going to leave Camille behind, Milly? Wanda was right about you. You’re not a very good friend.’ She looked at Babs and Martin. ‘She’ll dump the two of you, too, if it’s convenient. Oh, she’s got a friendly smile. But it’s all for show.’

  ‘Yeah, it is,’ said Finn. ‘And it’s a really boring show, too. I think it’s time to change the channel. Let’s just drag them out and then Wanda can freeze them.’ He walked towards the circle, and bounced back, hard, against the wall. I tried, and Erik tried, but we both fell back, too.

  I got up, ignoring the pain, shouting incantation after incantation, and rushing at the Infinity Loop again. But nothing worked. The tattoo was probably necessary in order to walk into the loop.

  If Erik and I worked together, and had enough time, we could probably break through, the same way we’d broken into this cavern. But we didn’t have enough time.

  Milly glared at Martin and stalked towards him. ‘I’ll find the portal stone for myself then, shall I?’

  Martin swallowed. ‘It’s okay,’ he said, sidestepping her and running towards the phoenix’s second eye. ‘I have it. I’m doing it.’ His hand hovered over the eye for a moment, and I was afraid I’d got it all wrong. He was going to help Milly, after all.

  I walked and walked at the Infinity Loop, but kept getting bounced back. It was on my third attempt that Martin jumped out, and almost knocked into me as he rolled along the ground.

  He waved the stone in the air and gave Milly a look of hatred. ‘No,’ he said. ‘No, I’m not doing this anymore.’

  Milly balled her fists and let out a long, angry screech, before saying, ‘I’ll tell them. I’ll tell them right now!’

  Martin sighed. ‘No, you won’t. Because I’m going to tell them myself.’

  ≈

  While Milly and Babs sat slumped and despondent in the Infinity Loop and Camille stood immobile (the poor dearies), Martin began his tale.

  ‘I was a janitor in the prison a long time before I became a guard. The way the Plimpton coven ran the place …’ He shuddered. ‘I just dreaded the thought that I’d ever end up there myself. Then, the Wayfair coven started to run things. And the difference between the two was like night and day. I … I wanted to be a part of it. It’s not the kind of thing the Macey coven does, but … you gave that speech.’

  He looked at my mother. ‘About how covens shouldn’t matter anymore. About how you could be whatever you wanted. Do whatever you wanted. Be a Wayfarer, no matter where you came from. You said, “We don’t want one coven, the Wayfairs, to have a say over the law of the land. We want an inclusive, new police force, one that is there to serve the people, and one which anyone can join. Coven will not matter. What manner of supernatural you are will not matter. This is a new force. A force that serves the people. And because we have drawn inspiration from the original Wayfarer, we’ve decided – after much deliberation – to name the new force after her. Today is the beginning. Today, anyone can be a Wayfarer. Any one of you can be a part of what the original Wayfarer set out to achieve.”’

  My mother’s face grew flushed, and she stared at Martin in shock. ‘That’s my speech. Word for word. You know it by heart.’

  He was rather flushed himself. ‘Yeah, well … it meant a lot to me. So I applied to become a Wayfarer prison guard. I still didn’t think I’d be successful, but I was. I was given training, and a probationary period, and it went so well that I got a full time job. I loved it. I mean, it was hard. There are a lot of people in Witchfield who hate you guys, who want the Wayfarers to fail, who want a Plimpton or a Berry to be Minister for Magical Law. And none of those people were very nice to me. They told me to get back to being a janitor. I mean, there’s nothing wrong with being a janitor. It’s a good job. But I just wanted to be a guard. Despite how hard it was, I loved what I was doing. And anyway, I had Milly to stick up for me, and to help me through the day.’

  He glared over to the Infinity Loop, and Milly met his glare with a smirk.

  ‘She was a great friend,’ Martin went on. ‘It took me a while to learn that she’s like that with everyone, right up until she’s found out all she needs to know. I … my mother … my mother had me late in life, but she’s … she was, and still is, the greatest mammy in the world. She worked as a cleaner, like a lot of people do in our coven. She found it a good way to work around my school hours. Then, when I grew up and had a job of my own, she was able to take on more hours. She even got a cleaning contract at Plimpton’s Brooms. They paid by barter instead of money, like a lot of places still do. They’d give her the brooms that had, say, a flaw in the wood, or a slightly wonky-looking bristle. Then Mam would sell them on. It was actually a good deal. She did all right out of it. Well, as long as they paid on time. By the time Plimpton’s Brooms went out of business, they were three months behind. Mam tried every legal way to get what she was owed. She tried for months, but nothing worked.’

  He looked down at his hands. ‘So, we … we helped ourselves. I don’t know what I was thinking. I wasn’t long finished my probationary period. I should have been more careful. But … the old factory in Industry Row was all locked up, and Mam had the alarm codes. We went in and took what she would have been due. Nothing more, nothing less. I wouldn’t have even done it, except she …’ He swallowed back a tear. ‘She’s sick. It … it’s something fatal. But there’s an experimental treatment that I wanted her to try. It’s expensive.’

  He glared at Milly. ‘Milly saw I was tired after the night we spent stealing the brooms. She was so nice, and understanding. I told her everything. About Mam’s illness, about how much we needed to do it. I asked Milly if I should own up. I … I did it in this manic panic, you know. But now that it was over and done with, I was feeling really crappy about it. I said to Milly, I said, “Maybe I should talk to Walt about it, see what he thinks. Maybe me and Mam will get off with a fine or something.” But Milly, she … she just changed, before my eyes. She told me straight out that it wouldn’t go that way. That Mam would wind up in jail and me along with her. That the Wayfarers were black and white about these things. Crime is crime. No grey areas. And then she said … she said she was going to shop me. And that when me and Mam did arrive in prison, she’d make sure we had the worst stay in Witchfield that any inmates ever had.’

  He took in a breath. ‘And if you’d seen her eyes, how she changed from sweet to nasty in a heartbeat, you would have been just like me. You would have believed she meant it. She did mean it. If it was just me, I wouldn’t have cared. But my mam … I couldn’t put her through that. And Milly said that the only way she’d let us off was if I helped her run the prison market and the Anything Room.’

  He shrugged his shoulders. ‘I didn’t even know about any of it before then. I had no clue she was having a thing with Three C. I had no clue she had potions and whatnot coming in and out of Witchfield. She’s just … she’s so good at playing Miss Nice Gal. But … I helped her. Because I didn’t think I had a choice.’

  He looked at Milly again. ‘But I can’t do it anymore. And I don’t care what that means for me. I … I found out this morning that the treatment didn’t work. My mother has three months to live, tops. So even if she does get arrested along with me, by the time she gets convicted, she’ll … she’ll already be dead.’

  In the Infinity Loop, Milly muttered, ‘Boo, bloody hoo.’

  ‘Yeah, Milly. I am crying. So what?’ His face was purple with anger and sorrow, and tears spilled quickly down. ‘So what if I’m not cold and evil, like you? There’s more to all of this, and I know it. You wanted specific people involved in this little resurrection trick of yours. Camille and Sal, who were good at sneaking into places. A potions’ expert like Babs who’s so thick she’ll do anything you ask of her, and she’ll do it with a smile. Baldrick, who had all of the money and none of the scruples. And you would have gathered more minions, if Wanda hadn’t come along and ruined your plans. Minions who could get away with anything, because officially they were dead. Well, good. I’m glad she came along. Because whatever you had planned, whoever you’re really working for … it’s dark stuff. I know it in my gut. So now, at least, you won’t get to do any of it.’

  He turned to look at me, and my friends and family. ‘So arrest me. Do what you’ve got to do. My mam’s about to die, and nothing else matters to me.’

  There was a long silence, as we all looked to my mother. Finally, she shook her head, gazing at Martin in amazement, and said, ‘Arrest you? Are you out of your mind? No, you shouldn’t have resorted to self-help, Martin. But you weren’t getting it anywhere else, were you? You won’t be getting jail time, and neither will your mother.’ She glanced at Christine. ‘Will they?’

  ‘No.’ Christine gave Martin a soft smile. ‘I think that if you’re willing to work with us, we can definitely make a deal to keep you and your mother out of Witchfield. Like you said, you only took what you were owed.’

  Martin’s whole face screwed up in confusion. ‘But … you let Wanda go to prison. She’s one of your own coven.’

  There was another silence, during which my mother looked hurt and guilty. She had nothing to feel guilty about, as far as I was concerned. If she’d had her way, I would have been under house arrest instead of in Witchfield, stuffing my face with all the apple tart and ice cream she could send my way.

  ‘Martin,’ I said, breaking the silence, ‘I thought I killed someone in the line of duty. That’s hardly the same as taking some brooms that should have been yours in the first place. Being a Wayfarer … it doesn’t mean I get to throw my weight around. Not even if I’m trying to protect someone I love. I mean, I wasn’t in control of my actions, but I thought I killed a man. I really believed I did it. So I had to take my punishment, whatever it would have been. You can’t make the rules and then expect not to follow them yourself.’

  Milly was muttering again – something along the lines of, ‘Good goddess, does she ever shut up with the crap?’ Her head was jerking from side to side, and she began to do an impression of me. ‘“Ooh, I’m Wanda, I’m soooo good and soooo powerful. I like to obey the rules all the time, and I just looooove to lecture people about it.’

  I shook my head and focused on Martin. ‘I guess I am kind of annoying, but what can I say? It’s working for me. Just so you know, though, this lot …’ I jabbed a thumb towards my family and friends. ‘They are what they seem to be. They do mean what they say. They understand that sometimes, there are grey areas. And when they say there’s a deal to be made for what you did, they’ll honour it.’