Sylvia sank down into her blackened couch, letting out a harsh laugh. ‘Ah. So you think that I stole the sword.’ She shrugged. ‘Well, I suppose I can’t blame you really. I mean, I did do some pretty horrendous things in the past few days. But not that. I wouldn’t have killed members of the Shannon coven, Erik. You ought to know that.’

  While she was talking, my eyes were still darting around. No Infernal Candles. No wand. No ritual.

  ‘I thought I knew everything about you,’ Erik said. ‘I mean, we grew up together. We trained in the same temple together. But Sylvia … you married Kilian Berry. So you have to understand why I’d think that, where you’re concerned, anything is possible.’

  Her nostrils flared. ‘Are you ever going to let me forget about that? I’ve already told you a thousand times that I made a mistake when I married that monster. Good goddess, Erik, you know I’ve regretted that ever since.’

  He gritted his teeth. ‘You might well have regretted it. But you didn’t have to kill him. Or Bess, or the College Board, or all of the people you’re killing as we speak.’ His eyes gazed around. ‘Where is it, Sylvia? The book. I need you to give it to me, and stop this whole thing before it’s too late.’ He moved closer to her, pointing his wand. ‘I love you to bits, Cousin. But you know what I’m going to have to do if you don’t give it up.’

  For a moment I stood frozen, while she stood up, squaring her shoulders. Everything made sense, now. If I were to be honest with myself, it always had. I stood between them. ‘You two can have a family squabble another time. She doesn’t have the book.’ I looked at Sylvia. ‘You never did, did you?’

  24. Saving Him is All I Ever Wanted to Do

  The library might be locked down tight, but the wards we’d broken on the entrance had clearly remained that way, because Finn and Christine were skidding to a halt at the sitting room door. I could hear the sound of Wayfarer boots marching through the rest of the house.

  ‘You killed Bess to get that book,’ I said to Sylvia. ‘But you killed her for nothing. It was a dud, wasn’t it?’

  She jutted out her chin, then held up her hands. ‘Yes. Yes, I killed Bess. And Kilian. I used distance magic to send a death spell Kilian’s way. With Bess, I had to go in to the vault to take the book. Passing through warded rooms and locked doors is a walk in the park for a Mage Monk. But I got cocky, and Bess caught me down there, so I killed her. Then I made myself invisible again, walked through the locked gate, and took off with the book. You know it all now. So just arrest me and take me to the Wayfarer station, and let’s get this over with.’

  ‘No.’ I shook my head. ‘I know you killed them, but we’re not leaving this house, Sylvia. Not until you tell us everything. Not until you tell us how we can get to Will.’

  Tears streamed down her face, and she hung her head. ‘I can’t do that. He’s still my son. If I tell you how to get in there, you’ll kill him – and then I’ll never get him back.’

  Finn and Erik were looking thoroughly confused, but I could see by Christine’s face that the truth had dawned for her, too.

  I sat next to Sylvia. ‘We don’t have time for this. I care about Will, too. If there’s any chance of saving him from becoming the Whisperer, then I have to get to him quickly.’

  ‘I’ve been trying to save him all along!’ she cried. ‘Saving him is all I ever wanted to do. I caught him talking to Bess one night. He’d hired her so she could steal the book. He must have found out about it from that not-so-secret grimoire in the Littlest Library. Anyway, he’d even copied Adeline’s keys for her so she could take it without notice. I didn’t know what he wanted it for, but I could guess.’ She looked me straight in the eye. ‘I thought he wanted the power to kill his father. So he could be with you, Wanda. It was only afterwards that I learned he didn’t want the power to kill his dad. He wanted it to break the spell binding Kilian to you, and to me.’ She grasped my hand. ‘I could have killed us both, Wanda, when I killed Kilian. I had no idea about that binding spell. I thought I was protecting my son, you see. If I killed Kilian, then Will wouldn’t have to have his death on his hands. Because Will … he has a good soul, Wanda. He couldn’t handle being a murderer. I know he couldn’t.’

  ‘And you bought up all those candles, and stole the book and killed Bess for the same reason,’ said Finn. ‘You didn’t want him opening that book. Getting tempted by the Whisperer. And if he did, you didn’t want him to be able to go through with the ritual.’

  She nodded. ‘Exactly. But I later discovered he’d had the real book, and everything else he needed, for days. It wasn’t until I heard about the Board Members being killed that I realised I had the wrong book. I hadn’t tried to open it, you see. I’d never open myself to that kind of temptation.’

  ‘And you didn’t notice it was a copy when you were strangling Bess?’ said Christine, her lip curled. ‘I mean, there was a plain white page in her hands.’

  Sylvia shrugged. ‘I saw it fall open, and I thought maybe Bess had whispered the name. So I slammed it shut before it could try to tempt me, and then I killed her. I had to. She’d seen me.’

  ‘Will obviously stole the sword and the seat,’ said Christine, clearly having trouble keeping her temper in check. ‘Do you at least have any idea of where he’s hidden them? It could give Wanda the power to get to the library, to stop this while Will is still Will.’

  She shut her eyes. ‘There is no stopping this. I’ve been trying to get through to him ever since I realised what he was doing. And I’m not stupid – I know there’s next to nothing of Will left in there. But even so … even so, I won’t tell you where the sword and the seat are. And I won’t tell you how to reach that library, either. I’m his mother. I’ve let him down enough over the years. I won’t let him down now.’

  ‘You know what? I don’t have time to convince you to do the right thing,’ I said, rushing to the door. ‘I found my way into your husband’s creepy graveyard, Sylvia. So I’ll find my way into–’

  25. The Crazed Love of Evil Incarnate

  ‘–the library?’

  I did a copious amount of blinking and turning on my heels, and then I took a moment or two to gasp. I was in the library. The Littlest Library, no less.

  I could see Will, smiling at me from his seat on the floor. The long table had been moved aside to make room, and he was sitting with the book open in front of him, in the middle of a circle of nine Infernal Candles. All but one were burning black. A wand hovered over that last candle, held in the air by magic. It was the wand, no doubt. The wand that was draining the power and the lives from the last two prisoners. The final flame was a flickering blue, sending an eerie hue around the room.

  It was quiet. The quiet of a graveyard. The quiet of a room in which hope has just died.

  ‘At the risk of stating the obvious, Wanda – yes, I took you here,’ he said, still smiling my way. ‘I could hear you figuring it all out, egging Will’s mother on to tell you everything. Oh, yes … I call her Will’s Mother because, right now, I’m only about fifteen percent Will, and eighty-five percent myself. Although to be honest, there’s been very little of Will for quite some time. But you knew that, didn’t you?’

  A tear streaked down my cheek. Yeah, I knew that. In the very back of my mind where it was too scary to journey, I knew it. In the pit of my stomach, where acknowledging the truth would make me want to vomit, I knew it. There was never any great mystery here. No twists and turns for me to follow. This was just the tale of a girl too in love to face reality.

  ‘Yeah, I knew,’ I said. ‘After all, Will is a much better kisser than you.’

  He let out a laboured sigh. ‘Well, gosh darn it anyway. There was me, thinking we’d made a real connection. My heart certainly missed a beat every time we kissed. But if it’s any consolation, Will was trying to fight his way through more than ever when you were close. He loves you. He opened my book for you. Unfortunately for him, love isn’t just blind. It’s bloody-minded and dumb, too. He genuinely thought he could use me to get just enough power to break the spell binding your life to his dad’s. He believed he could use me once, and then set me aside and never think of me again.’

  He paused to have a good old giggle, making himself sound less like Will than ever. ‘Although, to be fair, I did lie to him quite a bit to make him believe that would be possible. I told him where my wand was, and that once he’d found it, he could close my book and bid me adieu. Poor, deluded Will. If he’d found his way to my wand any way other than by opening my book, he might actually have managed it. He was certainly gutsy enough to increase his power a hundredfold long before he ever met me.’ Another laboured sigh escaped. ‘So sad to see such a strong-willed man fade away. Strong Willed. You’re not laughing. Why aren’t you laughing? Don’t you get it?’

  ‘I get it,’ I said. ‘It’s just not funny. I’m well aware that in a few minutes time you’ll be one hundred percent Whisperer, and I’ll be nothing but a dead Wayfarer. You made sure of that when you stole the sword and the seat. I don’t care about that anymore. I don’t care about saving Will, either, because I know it’s not possible. All I care about right now is Max. Where is he?’

  ‘Ah.’ He stood up, his eyes shining with excitement. ‘I was wondering when you’d get to that.’

  He waved his hand, and one of the shelves flew across the floor. As it moved aside, I saw that Max had been standing behind it all along, with Emily beside him. Both of them were motionless.

  ‘Now, the final candle takes longer than the others to turn black,’ he said. ‘So we have some time for chit-chat. With that in mind, let me explain this happy little scene.’ He giggled again. It was funny – in all the times I imagined what the Whisperer would be like, the thought of a giggling, annoying prat never sprang to mind.

  I stared at Max, my brain running at an even faster pace than usual. There was a way out of this. I’d already thought of it. I just needed to remember what I’d thought of.

  ‘You see, I had to carry out those horrible little sacrifices,’ he continued. ‘Killing the College Board to drain their power. Killing some more unfortunate witches from the prison. I’d much rather have drained some little do-gooders like your own sweet coven, but I tend to operate better on power that has a … shall we say … darkness to it? It’s my one flaw, really. I have to kill the people I admire in order to get the juice I so dearly need.’ He skipped towards Max and Emily. ‘But once I have that power, that’s when I get to have some fun.’

  ‘Well you’re not going to have that fun with Max,’ I growled. I took a step forward, and instantly flew back against the wall.

  ‘Wanda, Wanda, Wanda … you’ve made some excellent progress, it’s true. But even the queen of the faeries had a hard time besting me. And when she did it, she didn’t even manage to fully kill me, now did she? So save your energy, my love. Now, where was I? Ah, yes.’ He was now standing in front of Max, waving a hand in front of his face. ‘I feel somewhat of a bond with you, Wanda. I can’t explain it. Maybe it’s just Will’s feelings for you lingering on, but I hope not. When the last few vestiges of Will are gone from this body, I really think you and I could have some fun. You’re just so plucky. And delightfully plump, I might add.’

  He stopped waving at Max and turned to me again. ‘What I’m trying to say is I like you. I like you so much that I wish it didn’t have to be this way. I hate that you’re going to leave here today feeling like you’ve failed. Because really, it’s not your fault. You were always going to fail. I mean, no one actually expects the prophesied hero to save the day, do they? They just need someone to pin their hopes upon. And when that hero inevitably fails … well then, they’ll have someone to pin the blame upon, too.’

  I glanced at the candle. It was still blue. ‘You’re babbling,’ I said. ‘And as one babbler to another, I can tell you that nothing annoys people more. Just tell me what you want with Max.’

  ‘Patience, my lovely. I’m getting to that. You see, the moment I saw you through Will’s eyes, I thought to myself: I would just love to get that girl a gift, to woo her good and proper but … what sort of gift would a plucky little Wayfarer want? And then it came to me. Wayfarers like nothing more than to see the heads of the bad guys roll. But I couldn’t exactly give you your worst enemies, like the Dark Team, or Alice Berry. I have my own plans for those people.’ He kicked a book away. ‘Of course, I had my plans for Kilian Berry, too, until that wife of his decided to go and kill him. Still.’ He put his hands in his pockets and smiled. ‘We make do with what we have. And, returning to the point, I made do with what I had at my disposal when it came to choosing your gift.’ He held an outstretched arm towards Emily. ‘The young Miss Caulfield has been a proper bee in your bonnet, has she not?’

  From nowhere, a bow and arrow appeared in his hands, and he pointed it at Emily. ‘And so I thought, why not kill her for Wanda? Do something to impress the woman I’m ever so attracted to. It was just a lucky little accident that, when I transported her here, this handsome weredog was in her arms. So in answer to your question regarding what I want with Max … well, nothing. But he’s here, so I might as well play with him. Once I’ve killed Emily, of course.’

  I tried to run, shouting ‘No!’ but once again, I went and got myself flung against the wall. As I sank down to the floor, I said, ‘Please, don’t kill her. You have everything you need. And … she makes really good chocolate.’

  He gazed at me, then took the arrow out and propped the bow against the closest bookshelf, clapping his hands when he was done. ‘Will was right! You really are good to the bone.’ He pointed at Emily. ‘That little witch has made your life a misery. She killed that mechanical man you liked so much. She drugged your best friend. But …’ He picked up the bow again, and nocked the arrow. ‘If you don’t want to kill Emily, then I’ll kill Max instead. I’ve tipped the arrow with both Ire and Jinx, along with a mighty powerful accelerant, so it will kill either of them. Quite quickly, but also rather painfully. As to who it does kill, the choice is yours. But let’s make it interesting.’ He nodded his head almost imperceptibly and, as he did, Max and Emily blinked, then looked around in horror.

  ‘Don’t bother trying to run,’ he said. ‘You’re still mostly frozen. Now, I know you’ve heard all that’s been going on, so you’ll be well aware that Wanda has a difficult decision to make. So let’s make it easier on her, shall we? I do hate to see my future Mrs Whisperer in agony. So, each of you shall have but a few seconds to tell her why you should be the one to live. Miss Caulfield, ladies first.’

  Emily’s jaw began to saw, and she glared at me. ‘You’re an idiot, Wanda. If you hadn’t been so busy sticking your tongue down Will Berry’s throat, then you might have been able to stop this from happening. It’s bad enough that you have to have every man on the planet making goo-goo eyes at you, but maybe you could just stop stringing them all along for a minute and actually do your job!’

  He pulled his fingers across his lips in a zipping motion, and Emily’s mouth snapped shut. Her eyes were still wide, bulging, and glaring my way.

  ‘Well, well, well,’ he said. ‘I think you might have just cut a rod for your own back, Miss Caulfield.’ He nodded to Max. ‘You may make your appeal.’

  Max blinked through wet eyes, and shook his head. ‘I’m not playing your game, Will. Or whoever you are now. And if you think Wanda is going to, then you don’t know her very well.’

  Max smiled at me. Somehow, even though he was frozen by a super evil ancient villain, and had an arrow pointing his way, he managed to make his smile wide, and true. ‘Wanda is a do-gooder, and that’s one of the many reasons why I’m in love with her.’ He took a deep breath. ‘And I am, Wanda. I mean, I think it’s kind of obvious but … in case you don’t know … yeah, I’m in love with you.’

  As much as his frozen state would allow, he turned his head to Emily. ‘And I’m sorry for that. I know it must have sucked for you. I tried my best to love you, Emily.’ He turned back to me. ‘That’s why, even though I know you don’t want to make the choice, I’m going to make it for you. Let him kill me, Wanda. I’ve put Emily through enough. Let me do this one thing for her, and save her life.’

  My tears were running fast and free now, and my stomach was leaping, and aching. Once again, he made a zipper motion, and Max’s appeal came to an end. He looked at the final candle. The flame had turned to black. From the book on the floor, the timepiece rose up, spinning in the air, going tick-tick-tick.

  ‘Oh, would you look at that?’ he said. ‘The countdown is beginning. In three minutes, I shall be all Whisperer.’ He lowered the bow again and rubbed his hands together, letting out a giggle of glee. ‘I wonder if I’ll still like you when the clock stops ticking? How exciting! Hmm.’ He placed his hands behind his back and looked at Max. ‘You know, if I do still like you, Wanda, then I’m not sure that I fancy the competition.’

  He walked away, and lowered the bow, but the arrow flew up into the air, and pointed itself at Max. It hung in the air, aimed directly at Max’s heart.

  I tried to run again, digging down for every ounce of power I could find. It wasn’t enough. I remained exactly where I was, staring helplessly at Max. ‘You can’t!’ I screamed. ‘You said it was a gift for me. How is that a gift for me?’

  He shrugged. ‘What? You’ve never experienced the crazed love of evil incarnate before? Well, you’re experiencing it now. And love like mine … it changes the rules whenever it pleases. I’ve decided, Wanda. When this is over, you’re going to stick around and be my girl. Even if I don’t fancy you by then, I still don’t like the thought of having another man – a stinking weredog, no less – trying to steal you out from under my nose. And so … when the clock stops ticking, that arrow will fly, and Max will be no more.’

  26. More Than Me