‘But even without her there must be something we can do,’ Cullen pressed. ‘I mean, me, Ned and Katy are immune. And Cleo too – I guess because she’s Ned’s familiar. And you lot are unaffected as well, so between all of us, we should be able to beat them.’

  Elspeth sighed. ‘We will fight until the end, as always. But you must know that our chances are slim. We expected that Angelica and the others would take things slowly, as it’s been done before. It always happens on a day we can predict. Halloween, or a Solstice or an Equinox. But we think they’re ready to move right now. And we think they have something else at their disposal, something new. Because the longing for the Old Ones has already spread out of this enclave, when it usually takes far more time. The soil from the Old Ones’ grave spreads into the flowers and out into the air, slowly infiltrating the enclaves. The image of the Old Ones is in the centre of the fountains – an image that can’t be seen but is seen, deep in our subconscious, so that the demons are implanting thoughts of themselves, preparing us all along. And their songs … their songs make us want them. Make us believe that they can give us everything we need. A happy, ordered world, with everyone in their right place. And that is their biggest trick of all – making the many want something that will only benefit the few.’

  She paused to calm herself. ‘And the protector … the vampire always begins to remember his part in this when the Old Ones start to move. So what’s stopped him this time? Why have you taken his place, Mr Keats? And can you even do the things he has done to protect the hunter in the past? The protector is always Jay Jones because of his power, his immortality. While the witch works her magic, and the hunter fights the Old Ones, the protector keeps other dangers away so they can do their jobs.’

  My heart began to thrum. That’s why Angelica dosed Jay’s chocolates. She needed to make sure he wouldn’t remember that he was supposed to be one of the Three. He’d told me himself – he felt drawn to me, protective over me, from the moment we met.

  ‘I think I know what happened to Jay,’ I said quietly. I explained the potion in Angelica’s chocolates, and the explanation in Wanda’s email that said it was a memory suppressant designed to target vampires only. ‘But I think they’re doing more than just targeting Jay,’ I added. ‘I think you’re right – they’re moving so quickly all of a sudden. I’ve been in this enclave for months, and they’ve been happy to take it slowly with their fountains and their flower baskets and their songs. Now their music is everywhere. It’s on TV and the radio. There’s a fountain in the canteen of the Wayfarer station, for fluff’s sake.’

  The Cacklers looked nervously at one another. ‘We knew it was bad,’ said Elspeth. ‘But it seems it’s worse than we thought.’

  Ned wiped away a tear. ‘I just wish my mother would have told me all of this. I mean, so many ghosts come to talk to me every single day. But never her. I thought it was because she couldn’t forgive me for getting her killed. But now …’ She looked around at us all, her eyes red and fearful. ‘Now I think there’s another reason. What if Angelica banished her? She has the same kind of abilities with the dead as I do.’

  The Cacklers nodded eagerly. ‘That’s what we guessed,’ said Elspeth. ‘Which is why we go to great lengths to keep your sister out of this place. We think she’s banished Minnie, too. Minnie left a Decree of the Deceased as an emergency measure – so that if she was killed, then she could pass on her knowledge from the grave. But even with the decree and all of us trying, we couldn’t find her spirit.’

  Ned hung her head. ‘That’s not good. I was hoping that if I could find my mother’s decree, I could bring her back, just for a minute, just to tell us something that could help. It’s why we came here today. We were hoping you guys had the decree.’

  ‘We do,’ said Elspeth. ‘And we’ve tried to contact her, but she’s nowhere to be found.’

  Ned groaned, but Elspeth shook her head. ‘It’s not the end of the road, Nedina. I don’t think you realise how powerful you are. Yes, Angelica can work with the dead, but she doesn’t have quite the power you have, because she doesn’t care the way you do. She has no respect for the laws of nature, or for the balances that must be kept.’ Elspeth looked eagerly at Ned. ‘That’s why even though Angelica wanted to take over your mother’s business, your mother would never have let that happen. She left the shop to you because she saw darkness in Angelica, and compassion in you.’

  ‘My mother hated me,’ Ned insisted. ‘She hated that I wanted to be a healer. She left me the shop to punish me, because she knew that what I hated most was necromancy. Well, that and this whole horrible enclave.’

  A tear spilled from Elspeth’s right eye, fat and fast. ‘She hated this enclave too. Believe me. We all do. How can we not? A place that’s always drab, and dark. A place that draws the worst of people to it like a magnet. She endured the darkness in order to fight it, and she knew you were one of the very few people capable of doing the same without being swallowed by the darkness all around.’

  Ned stood up and paced the room. ‘What does it matter anyway? You have the decree for Minnie and you can’t even contact her. Obviously Angelica’s banishment is strong.’

  I gawked at my friend. ‘Strong? Ned, you fought it already. Derek didn’t even have a decree, and you still managed to bring him back.’

  ‘For seconds,’ Ned scoffed. ‘It was hardly a big deal.’

  Elspeth stood up and clasped Ned’s hands in hers. ‘Oh, but it was, Nedina. If you contacted Derek Carey when Angelica and all the bad forces in the world are doing their best to keep him schtum … maybe, with the decree in hand, you can contact your mother.’

  16. Canny as an Alley Cat

  The Cacklers brought a wooden box to the room, and handed it to Ned. Cullen and I gathered close, and Cleo sat up on Ned’s lap, all of us staring as Ned opened the box.

  Inside was a rolled up piece of paper. I knew without a doubt that it was the Decree of the Deceased. I could feel power radiating from it: a dark, dangerous power that I sometimes sensed around the items in Ned’s shop. It would be dangerous, of course – the world that came after ours wasn’t ours to know. Its seal was broken, no doubt by the Cacklers when they attempted to speak to Nedina senior.

  Below the decree there was a photograph.

  The photo was old, cracked and faded. Even so, it was the most vivid thing I’d seen in a while. It was what it depicted – that was what was vivid. The picture was of the steps of the Society of Cacklers. On those steps was seated a woman who looked just like Ned.

  ‘Mam,’ she said softly, stroking the picture.

  On Nedina senior’s right were some cloaked women who looked very much like Cacklers. On her left was a man who could only be Jay, and behind her … behind her was my great aunt. She looked exactly like the photos in Felim’s house, except quite a few years younger.

  They were all muddy and exhausted. Their clothes were torn, and they looked like they needed a bath and bed. But despite the fact that they appeared to have just come off a battlefield, their eyes were shining with happiness. There was an open bottle of wine, and some drank from mugs, others from glasses, holding their drinks up and grinning at the camera.

  ‘This was in nineteen eighty,’ said Elspeth. ‘The last time the Old Ones attempted to return. Jay was your great aunt’s protector, Katy – as he’s been the protector of every hunter, century, after century. And your mother, Ned …’ A tear streaked down Elspeth’s face. ‘She was mighty. She took the place of the witch – as part of the Three – and she worked as the One Who Sings. That sort of double-jobbing hadn’t happened since the very first battle, centuries ago. But she managed it.’ Elspeth smiled softly. ‘As you might have to, if your mother passes the knowledge on to you.’

  ‘If,’ replied Ned in a quiet, hoarse voice, still stroking the image of her mother. ‘All those years I thought she was so cruel, insisting I had to stay here when she knew I dreamt of other things. Now I know why.’ She sniffed back a tear. ‘But how can I be the witch and the One Who Sings? Won’t I have to perform spells to keep Katy safe and try to get the vapour of the canal working again?’

  ‘It’ll be a balancing act. But desperate times call for desperate measures. There em … there is something else that we’ve always had to help us.’ Elspeth looked worried. ‘We have a weapon that kills them – or at least sends their essence out of this dimension, leaving only their dead warlock bodies behind. It’s a weapon in two parts.’

  She summoned another box and opened it in front of us. Inside was what looked like only part of a sword – the hilt, made of a metal that looked just like the knife Aunt Jude had given to my father (the one I’d used to stop a werewolf from killing us a while ago, and the one that thanks to Felim Moon, I now knew could do even more).

  ‘Hold it, Katy,’ said Elspeth. ‘If the sword reveals its full abilities in your hands, we’ll know you’re ready to kill the Old Ones.’

  Gingerly, I pulled it from its box. Even though there was nothing but a hilt to hold, I could feel a weight that suggested there was more, unseen. It was so heavy that I needed to grasp it with both hands before I could fully bear the weight.

  As soon as my second hand joined the first, there was a noise I’d heard before – the same melodic hum the Super Sparkly Blue Birch had emitted just before it dropped my new wand to the ground. This time, the hum buzzed louder, as the rest of the sword appeared. When it did, I almost threw it to the ground in shock. This was no ordinary blade. This was a blade made of fire – a fire so hot and blazing that sweat beaded on my arms.

  The Cacklers gasped. Even Cleo gave a slight nod to say she was impressed. Of course she ruined it by saying, ‘Who woulda thunk it? A sugar-addicted messy-haired idiot is going to save the world.’

  ‘Well …’ Elspeth looked at me. ‘Only if you have the second part of the weapon. Jude keeps that part. She was supposed to take it to us last spring. When Angelica built her café on Strange Lane, we knew it was only a matter of time before the Old Ones made their try. After all, Angelica’s back garden is precisely where their bones are buried. Jude was eager to come to us for many other reasons, too. It was close to the anniversary of your mother’s death, so we’d be having a special dinner to mark it, and as well as that she said she had a strong urge to speak to you, Nedina. She knew you stayed away from us, and she thought it was time to finally tell you everything. She also had a strong sense that something was amiss with your mother’s spirit, but I’m not sure how she got that knowledge.’ Elspeth laughed. ‘Some of us believe Jude Kramer has sióga friends, and that even the Queen of the Fae feeds her prophecies from time to time.’

  I cleared my throat. From what Eva had said, the Moon family were indeed close to the faeries.

  ‘But as I say,’ Elspeth continued, ‘she never arrived. We know you’re using her Toolkit, Katy. So we’re hoping you might have it, even though Jude is missing, presumed dead.’

  I pulled at a curl, feeling a sense of dread. Here it was, everything finally making sense. Aunt Jude was coming here to nip this in the bud. She was going to visit my Ned, to get her and the Cacklers working together to stop the Old Ones before they got a foothold. But somewhere along the way she’d disappeared, and so had some items from her Toolkit.

  ‘I have a sinking feeling that the second part of the weapon is something called the Ice Crystal,’ I said. ‘And if it is, you’re out of luck. It’s missing from the kit. So is her wand. I know mine is a Silver Spindle just like hers, but it only fell for me this weekend.’

  The Cacklers let out another collective gasp. ‘Well then,’ said Elspeth. ‘I was about to say we’re doomed without the Ice Crystal, but if a Silver Spindle dropped for you just as it did for your aunt, then maybe we have a chance.’

  ‘We do.’ Ned lifted Cleo from her lap and stood up. ‘Because this is not over until my mother teaches me how to sing. Come on. We’re going to have the summoning of our lives.’

  ≈

  We stayed in the Cacklers’ house for the summoning spell. It felt safer there, now that the world outside was so far gone. Ned worked extra hard on the circle, and I could tell she was grateful for Cullen’s help. As I painted my own clumsy symbols and admired the power they radiated, I caught him glancing my way.

  He looked just as confused as I felt. Here we were, Ned, Cullen and me. Other than the Cacklers and my aunt’s family, we were the only ones who were fully immune to the power of the Old Ones. Sure, Dolly and some others in Hopeless Hollow seemed to be fighting it, but for how long?

  And could Cullen really take Jay’s place as the protector?

  I sniggered to myself – maybe the powers that be recognised that he was stubborn enough and cocky enough to join the fight. Or maybe – a less snigger-inducing thought – maybe the hunter who tried to hurt him actually did him a favour. Maybe it was the hunter magic that was laced into his scar that was helping him now.

  ‘Okay,’ said Ned, standing up and shaking out her hands. ‘This is dangerous, whatever way we look at it. Sure, we can assume that Angelica banished Derek and my mother, and Minnie too. But to keep my mam and Minnie from talking to all you Cacklers when you’re a pretty powerful bunch and you have decrees … that takes something more.’ Ned swallowed. ‘Which means we need something more.’ She walked to a shelf, from which she took down a bag, opening it and taking out a black candle. ‘I’m going to have to use these Infernal Candles at the ritual itself. And you all know what that can mean.’

  I felt a leap of worry. I did know what that meant. It was said that the use of Infernal Candles could bring someone fully, physically back from the dead, but it had never actually happened. What had happened was that rituals using the candles had brought back the spirits of long-deceased people, by having those spirits possess someone else.

  ‘We’re obviously not aiming for possession or full return from the dead,’ Ned went on. ‘That would go against everything I believe in. It’s just that the candles are the most powerful way to work with the afterlife. So I’ll have precautions in place. We’ll all drink some of this.’ She held up a large, corked bottle filled with a bright yellow liquid. ‘Anything does try to possess any of us, and it’ll be booted straight out. I’ll drink a little less of it than any of you, because honestly, if temporary possession is the only way my mother can communicate with me, then it’s a chance I have to take.’

  Cleo shook her head. ‘But what if it’s not your mother? Something was there with Derek. Something that pulled him back into the afterlife. We might not have been able to see it, but we all know it was there. What if it tries to take you over?’

  Ned’s face was pale, but she answered confidently. ‘My potion won’t let that happen for long. Plus, you can all feed me some Demon Detector afterwards to make double sure.’

  I shuddered. Ned and her friends had once given me her Demon Detector potion because it also worked as a lie detector. It had burned my throat and made me feel drunk.

  ‘And before you ask,’ Ned said, ‘if something iffy comes through in a physical form instead of trying to possess me, it’s not getting any further than our circle.’ She nodded to the ground. ‘We’ve got nine lines of the black salt in case any dodgy ghosts go on the defensive. Plus …’ She looked around at us all. ‘We’re going to use a broom boundary. Sometimes the old ways are the best.’

  ‘I have no broom,’ said Cullen. ‘Just my bike.’

  ‘And I only have Hamish’s,’ I added. ‘Which kind of comes with a sidecar.’

  ‘That won’t be a problem,’ Elspeth told us. ‘Because Ned has no intention of taking you two anywhere near this circle.’

  Ned gave us a guilty smile as she began to lay out and light nine Infernal Candles. ‘It’s true. I need to do this, but you don’t. What we do need is for the two of you to stay safe. Because if all else fails, you’ll have to go it alone against the Old Ones.’

  I started to argue, but Cullen put a hand to my shoulder. ‘She’s right, Katy. You’re the hunter. You’re the one we need to actually kill the Old Ones, with or without the Ice Crystal. And it’s my job to keep you safe so you can beat those demons down.’ He gave me a lopsided grin. ‘Because if anyone can tell a load of demons to get lost, it’s you.’

  I hoped he was right, but I still felt surplus to requirements as he and I stood aside and watched from the edge of the room. One by one the Cacklers summoned their brooms, locking them together as they stood at the outside of Ned’s circle, a last line of defence.

  Cleo joined Cullen and me, hopping up into my arms. The three of us watched on in pensive silence as Ned stood close to the edge of the circle, right at the apex of its central star, while one of the nine Infernal Candles flickered before her. With a shaking hand, she unfurled the decree. ‘Here I stand,’ she bellowed. ‘I, the invoker, I who hold the decree. A contract has been struck, and now we must deliver. Nedina Marvin, I beseech you: come!’

  I knew that the magic of the circle was strong, and I could feel the power in every word that Ned spoke, yet nothing happened.

  Ned spoke once more. ‘I am the invoker. I hold the decree. A contract has been struck, and we must deliver. Nedina Marvin, I command you: come!’

  ‘Well, well, well,’ mumbled Cullen beside me. ‘Them is fighting words.’

  ‘I shall brook no argument,’ Ned continued. ‘I shall tolerate no nonsense. Nedina Marvin, whatever is keeping you away, fight it. Because Mammy, I need you now more than ever …’

  In Ned’s hands, the paper suddenly burned, as all around the circle the symbols shimmered and the candle flames grew black. The clanking of the chains arrived, and a wavering woman stood in the circle, bound. She looked almost as she had in the photo, just older. Her mouth opened and closed, but no words came out, and after less than a second of being there, she disappeared.