Chapter Twenty-One

 

What I wanted to do was to throw myself into Winter’s arms, burrow into his chest and cry. What I did was shake myself and head directly for the Ipsissimus’s desk.

Maidmont and Winter stared at me dumbly. I yanked open the top drawer and found the scrolled contract lying on the top of the papers inside. I picked it up between my finger and thumb, afraid that I might damage it, then held it out to Winter.

He looked at me as if I were holding a poisonous snake. ‘What is that?’

‘Your contract,’ I said simply. ‘You have to sign it. We have to take it to HR right now and get you reinstated.’

‘The Ipsissimus has just died, Ivy. Blackbeard is still on the loose. I hardly think my employment status is a high priority.’

‘Right now,’ I said fiercely, ‘it’s the highest possible priority.’

It was Maidmont who understood first. Dawning comprehension lit his face and he began to nod vigorously. Maybe Ipsissimus Collings had already given the quiet librarian some indication of what he’d been planning. ‘Yes,’ he breathed. ‘Yes. You have to sign it now. I’ll witness it.’ He reached into the pocket of his robes and drew out a fountain pen. ‘This is my lucky pen. Use this one.’

Only a librarian would have a lucky pen. I smiled sadly at him. ‘Thank you.’

Winter still didn’t get it. ‘We have to find the Ipsissimus. His body, at least. We have to find Blackbeard.’

I grimaced. ‘The fact that I could talk to the Ipsissimus means that Blackbeard probably isn’t anywhere near here. Not now. Maybe killing the Ipsissimus was his grand plan all along and now he’s achieved it, he’ll go to ground.’ That was about as likely as me taking learning to play the harp. There was no way Blackbeard was done yet but I needed Winter to focus on the scroll. I pressed it into his hands. ‘Listen to me,’ I said softly. ‘This is what the Ipsissimus wanted. He hung on especially for this when the other side was already dragging him away. He’s signed your contract. He’s promoted you to Third Level. And, Rafe,’ I licked my lips, ‘he’s named you as his successor.’

For a long moment Winter didn’t react. It was only because of the faint narrowing of his eyes that I knew he’d even heard me. ‘No,’ he said eventually.

‘This is it, Raphael Winter,’ I said sternly. ‘This is where you make your mark. You step up and take the responsibility that is being handed to you. You’re the best person for the job. You’re the only person for the job. You have to do this.’

‘No.’ He met my eyes. ‘If this were you, you’d run away screaming.’

‘But it’s not me. We’re different people.’

From the doorway there was a tiny miaow then Brutus sauntered in. He slunk round Winter’s legs before plonking himself directly in front of him. I frowned. How on earth had he managed to pass through the wards on his own?

‘It is only natural,’ Brutus said, while my heart skipped several beats and my jaw dropped, ‘to feel intimidated by complex situations where the course of one’s life is about to be decided. I had to undergo similar soul-searching when I met Ivy for the first time. I possessed deep-seated doubts. She has questionable hygiene. Her hair makes her look as if she’s a close relation to Albert Einstein but without any of the brain cells to match. She likes to pretend that her work ethic is weak and her morals are non-existent. The truth is, of course, that the Ivy she presents to the world is very different to the real Ivy. Only very special beings recognise her for who she is inside. I am one of those beings. You are another. You see the truth of her. And you see the truth of the Order.’

In the background, Philip Maidmont started to raise a hand as if to indicate that he too believed I wasn’t a complete waste of space. Brutus narrowed his eyes at him and he changed his mind abruptly and brought his hand down again.

I couldn’t move. Or speak. What exactly was going on with my damned cat? Had he been possessed by one of those blasted ghosts?

Brutus wasn’t finished. ‘You, Raphael Winter, have the ability to be Ipsissimus. You can be the leader these witches deserve. Under your guidance, they will enjoy heady heights. Magic will never be the same again and the whole country will benefit from what you can provide. I shall be by your side, offering the support you require to be successful. Ivy will also be there. I imagine that fluffy floof you call a familiar will want to stick around as well.’ He sniffed. ‘But I wouldn’t listen to her too often. She enjoys that tuna-flavoured gloop out of the blue packets. No cat in their right mind enjoys that filth.’

Brutus licked his paw and began to wash his face before pausing to speak once again. ‘Of course, if you’d rather abandon the Hallowed Order of Magical Enlightenment to chaotic bureaucracy, and you would enjoy seeing them descend into obscurity for the rest of eternity, by all means don’t become Ipsissimus. I am sure you can develop a nice new career of your own by creating new grout cleaners.’

Nobody moved. Then, very slowly, Winter unfurled the scroll. He held out his palm towards Maidmont who dropped his lucky pen into it. Winter walked over to the Ipsissimus’s desk and sat down, poised to sign.

‘I can’t do this without you.’ His voice was so quiet that I had to strain to hear him. Both Maidmont and Brutus studiously looked away.

I met his eyes. ‘I’m not going anywhere,’ I told him. ‘I’ll be that dead weight holding you down. The ball and chain tied to your ankle. The bad smell that follows you everywhere you go.’

Winter suddenly flashed me a smile. It was so fleeting I almost missed it. ‘Thank goodness.’

‘But don’t expect me to make you packed lunches or fold your socks just because you’ll be a magical bigwig and I’ll be a lowly taxi driver,’ I grumbled.

‘The,’ Winter said. ‘I’ll be the magical bigwig.’ He paused. ‘Do you even know how to fold socks?’

Ha bloody ha. I gave him my very best glare and turned to Brutus. ‘You shit,’ I said.

‘Food.’

‘Have you been hiding that vocabulary all this time?’

Brutus blinked. ‘Food.’

‘You know I could give you up and find myself another familiar if I wanted to?’

‘Food.’

I sighed; I was clearly never going to win this conversation. ‘Stay here,’ I said eventually. ‘I’ll bring you food later. Keep an eye out in case Blackbeard shows up and come and tell me if he does. Do not do anything stupid like approach him.’

Winter nodded in agreement. ‘The Ipsissimus wasn’t the only powerful witch with a room up here. It’s possible that others might be targeted.’

‘I’m sure Blackbeard is lying low,’ I said. ‘But I’ll talk to Grenville and see what he’s noticed. You need to go and sort out your paperwork. Ipsissimus Collings might be discovered at any moment.’

‘Brutus is not the only one who shouldn’t do anything stupid like approach Blackbeard.’

‘Please,’ I scoffed. ‘I’ve already had one stint as a martyr. I have no desire for another.’ Then, before Winter could say anything else, I continued. ‘Let’s get a move on while we still can.’

***

On our way back down the stairs, Grenville’s face poked out of his portrait. He looked slightly nervous.

‘You should have told me,’ I said, gesturing to Winter and Maidmont to go on ahead. ‘It would have been nice to have some warning about what had happened.’

‘I will not apologise for that,’ Grenville said stiffly. ‘It was not my place to inform you. Besides, old Collings is a lucky man. He was able to pass to the next plane. There are not many people who have enjoyed his position who have also escaped eternal curses.’ It was impossible to miss the envy in his voice.

‘I will help you,’ I said. ‘I promise I will. I’ll do everything I said I would. But I have to deal with the living right now.’

I watched as Maidmont and Winter crossed the lobby, heading for HR. The pair of them would ensure that Winter’s return was notarised and time-stamped. In a couple of hours, assuming the Ipsissimus’s death remained concealed, Maidmont would walk into the small shed where the great man had breathed his last and ‘discover’ his body. That’s when all hell would break loose. At least with Winter formally named as successor, the hell would be containable.

Grenville cleared his throat, ensuring my attention returned to him and him alone. ‘You need something from me.’

I smiled humourlessly. Grenville had been Ipsissimus for a reason. He might be as irritable as he was irritating but he certainly wasn’t stupid. ‘The man who killed Ipsissimus Collings…’ I bunched up my fists. I’d managed to keep my emotions under wraps until now but it was becoming impossible and I could hear my own voice shaking with rage. ‘The bastard who did this … he’s a null. If you go near him, you’ll vanish. You won’t exist here and you won’t exist on another plane. You’ll just be … nothing. It’s not long term. As soon as he’s moved away, you’ll return.’

Grenville frowned. ‘That’s a shame. I quite like the idea of not existing. Existence can get remarkably tiresome, you know.’ He sighed. ‘But yes, I have heard of nulls before. I understand the concept.’

Good. ‘Get in touch with as many spirits as you can. Send them out across the campus. Blackbeard is here somewhere. I have no idea what kind of range his null nature provides but when ghosts start disappearing, you know you’re getting close. Find out which area he is in and tell me. He’s killed the Ipsissimus but I don’t believe for a second that he’s finished. While Winter is ensuring the safety of the Hallowed Order of Magical Enlightenment, I’m going to be ensuring Winter’s safety.’

‘How exactly?’

‘By sending that bastard to the fires of hell,’ I said. I didn’t know how yet but I would do all that I could to achieve it.

‘Good plan,’ Grenville said.

Yep. Planning to that kind of depth and detail had always been my forte.

***

As I walked through the Order, I kept catching snippets of conversation. They all followed the same pattern.

‘You’ll never guess what?’

‘Tell me!’

‘Adeptus Exemptus Winter has returned. He’s back for good!’

‘Thank goodness. We were lost without him.’ I’m paraphrasing slightly but that was definitely the gist. I kept my head down as I walked. I was either going to be blamed for his departure or congratulated for his return – I didn’t really care which. What I did care about was not being interrupted. Whatever Blackbeard was planning, it was bound to be bloody. It was imperative I found him and stopped him before anyone else got hurt.

‘Ivy!’

Arse. I turned and spotted Eve jogging towards me. She caught up and gave me a quick hug. ‘Is it true? Is Winter really back? It’s all over campus. Tell me it’s not just a rumour. Tell me he’s not just here for a visit.’

‘Yeah, he’s back. For good. Listen, Eve, I really have to go.’

She beamed. She wasn’t hearing me properly. ‘That’s wonderful news!’ Then her smile vanished. ‘Are you okay that he’s back?’

‘I’m in love with him, Eve. Whatever makes him happy makes me happy. As long as his happy doesn’t involve throwing water over me to wake me up or making me go jogging. You get what I mean.’ She nodded vigorously. ‘Now,’ I continued, ‘I really have to go.’

She finally seemed to realise that I was serious. Her smile dropped and her gaze grew anxious. ‘What’s going on?’

I looked at her assessingly. Eve was in Arcane Branch; she knew how to maintain a level head. ‘There’s a serial-killing null on campus. He’s already killed the Ipsissimus and there’s no doubt that he’s here to kill others. The more witches the better, as far as he’s concerned. We have to find him and stop him but we can’t use magic against him. I have a bunch of ghosts on the look out for him but it’s difficult because they tend to vanish whenever he is in the vicinity.’

She blinked. ‘Uh…but…’

‘Everyone thinks he’s in Uffington. He’s not.’

‘You’re talking about Hal Prescott. The Bearded Butcher.’

Bloody Tarquin Villeneuve. ‘Blackbeard. Yeah. Whatever. He’s here and we need to find him before he kills anyone else.’

‘They wouldn’t let me go,’ she said, the colour draining out of her face. ‘They only wanted the experienced witches to go to Uffington. The only ones left are people like me who don’t know what they’re doing.’

‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ I snapped, marching off again, my gaze swinging around desperately for any glimpse of Blackbeard. Eve had no trouble keeping up with me with her long-legged stride. ‘You know exactly what you’re doing. Find the bad guy. Stop the bad guy. Don’t use magic. It’s pretty simple.’

‘Ivy,’ she whispered, ‘if we can’t use magic, how can we stop him?’

I opened my mouth to answer her, just as the familiar figure of Lily came flying round the corner, her arms flapping wildly. As she ran, three other figures popped into existence beside her, fleeing even faster than she was. She zipped past both Eve and I without a second glance. Of course – she was looking for Winter, not me. He was the one she trusted; I didn’t even register in her field of vision.

Fortunately the dead had more respect. All three ghosts came careening to a halt. ‘You’re her,’ one gasped. ‘He must be over there!’

‘It was the strangest thing,’ said another. ‘I was walking along minding my own business and keeping an eye out, then everything went black.’

‘You reappeared in the same spot?’ I demanded.

I felt rather than saw Eve staring at me. ‘Are you talking to one of them? Are you talking to a ghost?’

We all ignored her. The ghost nodded. ‘Yes. I was beside the fountain. When I returned I was still there.’

‘Blackbeard is on the move.’ I grimaced. It was a long time since I’d been here and my knowledge of the Order campus layout wasn’t as up to date as it should have been. ‘What’s beyond the fountain, Eve?’

Eve’s hand went up to her mouth and she stared at me in horror.

‘What? What is it?’ I tamped down the temptation to shake her as hard as I could.

‘The crèche,’ she said. ‘Witches who have kids can leave them there during the day. It’s the only building past that point.’

I felt ill. It made a sick kind of sense – if you were Blackbeard. Lop off the head then move on to the future. Destroy the next generation of witches and you’d destroy the Order for good. I swallowed. And then I began to run.

***

Even with the sound of the cascading water from the fountain and the distance between Eve and me and the crèche, it was obvious that something was terribly wrong. The screams and shouts said it all. You’d have had to be truly evil not to have felt terrified by the sounds that were renting the air.

I sprinted as fast as I could but Eve quickly overtook me. She pelted straight ahead while I was left gasping. Maybe I ought to join the gym once all this was over and done with. Then I shook myself. The fear and trepidation were clearly getting to me. Every time I was in a life-or-death situation, I started to think I should lead a healthier lifestyle. The trick was to start avoiding life-or-death situations. With that in the forefront of my mind, I put on an extra spurt and rounded the corner just as Eve flung herself towards Blackbeard and leapt onto his back. Four witches, all of whom must have been crèche workers, flung repeated streams of magic attacks in his direction.

He laughed and tried to shake off Eve. ‘Do your worst, witches,’ he bellowed. ‘You can’t hurt me!’ He spun round and I spotted the long, shining blade in his hands. That was probably the same one he’d used to kill Clare and the rest of her coven. It was probably the same one he’d used to kill the Ipsissimus.

Eve shrieked like an Amazon warrior and curved her head down, biting his ear. Blood spurted everywhere. Unfortunately, it only enraged Blackbeard and didn’t slow him down in the slightest. He thrust the blade upwards, narrowly avoiding sliding it straight through Eve’s neck. She swung to one side. Terrified that he’d succeed if he tried the manoeuvre a second time, I ran towards them.

I gestured frantically to the four crèche witches. They got the message and used the momentary distraction to vanish back indoors and look after their charges. They’d probably already realised that magic wasn’t going to work here. While I charged at Blackbeard to try and help Eve, a window opened and various objects were thrown out. Somehow I didn’t think a plastic toy elephant was going to be much of a weapon; neither was the breast pump much use. The milk bottle, however…

I switched direction and darted over to snatch it up just as Blackbeard finally threw off Eve. Her body smacked into the wall of the crèche and she slumped down like a broken doll. Shit. He turned towards her, blade raised, obviously ready to finish her off.

I yelled and twisted off the bottle top. ‘Have some boiling water,’ I shrieked, throwing the milk at him.

Blackbeard raised his hand to shield his eyes; he didn’t know the liquid was barely lukewarm. When he realised he’d been fooled, he snarled and abandoned his bid to kill Eve in favour of facing this new threat. Me.

He swiped the blade forward. Surprise, surprise, I wasn’t fast enough to dodge it and it sliced through my arm. I cried out involuntarily. Blackbeard’s eyes widened as he recognised me. A small, dull voice nibbled at the back of my mind: use this, Ivy. You can use this.

I threw myself to the ground, collapsing onto my knees in front of him. ‘I’m not a witch!’ I wailed. ‘Don’t kill me! I can’t use magic at all!’

Blackbeard paused, the knife held aloft. He frowned at me as if trying to decide what to do. Then he lowered his arms and glanced around. Eve was out cold and the crèche witches had vanished. To all intents and purposes, it was just him and me.

‘You might not be a witch,’ he spat, ‘but you sleep with witches. You are here with witches. As a collaborator, you are as bad as they are. Worse even.’

‘It’s not my fault,’ I babbled. ‘I’m not smart. I don’t have any special skills. I’m just a taxi driver. I thought hanging around witches would make my life better. Instead it’s much, much worse. Now I’m stuck with them and I don’t know how to escape.’ I grabbed hold of his trouser legs. ‘You can help me.’

He kicked me away. ‘You’re lying.’

‘I’m not!’ I held up my hands. ‘My ID is in my pocket.’ I pulled it out and tossed it over to him. ‘See?’ I said. ‘I’m a taxi driver. I’m like you. I’m not a witch, I don’t want to be a witch. I think they bewitched me because they wanted a chauffeur. I’m no other use to them. But…’ my voice dropped ‘…I think they want to use me in some of their spells. Black magic stuff. They want my blood. They want to do evil things.’

When it came to killing and planning for killing, Blackbeard was a clever man but even clever men have blind spots. Prejudice can blind even the smartest fool and Blackbeard’s prejudice was against witches. All I needed was to cast some doubt; all I needed was to gain some time.

He shook his large head. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘But I can’t trust that you’re telling the truth.’

‘You know I’m not a witch,’ I pleaded. ‘You know from my ID that I’m just a taxi driver. I don’t know what else I can do to prove that I’m not like them.’

‘Tough. I’ve already let you escape once. I was kind then but I can’t afford to be kind now. You had your chance.’

I sagged. ‘Fine,’ I whispered. ‘In truth, anything will be better than remaining here with these bastards. But … are we the same? Do we hate them in the same way? Is that why you’re killing them?’ I kept my head low and subdued my body language. I was already defeated; I was already prepared to die.

‘All witches are evil. All witches are unnatural.’ Blackbeard said the words as if by rote. He’d been taught to believe this. More fool him.

‘Why did you kill the coven?’ I asked. ‘Why not come straight here first? Raphael, the witch I was with on Dartmoor? He learned about you because you destroyed that coven. Without their deaths, no one would have known you existed. Why them?’

He gave me a blank look. ‘They were there and I needed the practice. I had to know if I was capable of murder. Not everyone is.’ He rubbed his ear where Eve had bitten it, then pulled his hands away and gazed at the blood as if seeing it for the first time. ‘It’s a lot easier than I thought it would be. I knew that having ended them, I could end anyone.’ He raised his massive shoulders in a shrug, as if surprised by himself and his ability to kill, in the same way that I would be surprised if I discovered some money wedged underneath a sofa cushion. ‘How did the witch find out about them anyway?’

Ah ha. Maybe I’d piqued his curiosity. A glimmer of hope rippled through me. I had to manage this properly; I had to give a good enough answer to keep him talking. The closer I stayed to the truth, the more believable I’d be. ‘I told you. Some kind of black magic. I think…’ I hesitated. ‘I think he’s been talking to corpses and they talk back.’

‘Unnatural,’ Blackbeard muttered.

Tell me about it. ‘Why didn’t you just burn all their bodies at once? Why not get rid of them in one go?’

He checked his watch. ‘How many questions are you planning on asking?’ His voice wasn’t irritated, just curious as if he wanted to be sure he could adjust his schedule if necessary. At that point I realised that he wanted to talk; he was desperate to share his exploits with someone who would listen. He’d spent so long hiding his actions that all he wanted to do now was to spill his secrets to the world. And the more I could delay him, the better chance I had.

‘Only a few more,’ I said. ‘I just want to understand.’

He nodded. ‘Well,’ he said, ‘it’s kind of hard to burn seven bodies in one go. They don’t burn quickly and I had limited time each night to do it. I had to keep them in my flat until I could transport them to the crematorium without anyone noticing. And the longer I had to wait, the more I realised I enjoyed it.’ He bared his teeth. ‘Anticipation is a wonderful thing. It’s usually a greater pleasure than the end result. So I drew out disposing of the ashes in the same way.’ He smiled. Chillingly, it was a genuine smile, filled with joy. ‘It was a lot of fun. And each time I got rid of the ash, the feeling built up here.’ He thumped his chest. ‘The need. The desire.’

‘The desire to kill?’

His eyes glowed. He thought I understood, that I ‘got’ him. I’d get him alright, just not in the way he thought. ‘That’s it exactly.’

‘You planned everything so well,’ I said. ‘The secret room in your flat was a stroke of genius.’

‘I had to be in control, to make sure that when those bastards came after me they did it on my terms. Not on theirs.’ His face twisted. ‘This was Plan B, though. Plan A was even better but I had to change it because of you. You knew I’d killed that coven so I had to alter everything.’

I tried to keep my expression blank. All those media embargoes and all that tiptoeing around – and I’d already given the game away when I met Blackbeard in the pub car park. Eve was unconscious. Perhaps I’d manage to keep that little titbit to myself.

‘Uh, sorry,’ I stammered.

He shrugged. ‘It’s good to be tested. And I always had my Plan B ready. That’s why I had that fake glass wall made. I wasn’t sure anyone would be smart enough to spot it was a fake but I hoped they would. Then they’d follow my fake trail and I’d be safe to do what I wanted.’ He gestured round. ‘As you see.’

‘Fake glass?’ I asked. ‘Not mirror?’

‘Real mirrored glass is costly and difficult to break.’ He stroked his beard. ‘The stuff I had was the same as they use in films for actors so they don’t get hurt when they jump through windows.’ He sounded very proud.

If it wasn’t a real mirror that I’d broken in Blackbeard’s flat, I didn’t have seven years’ bad luck coming my way. This day was looking better and better. ‘Thanks,’ I said, meaning it. ‘I appreciate knowing that.’

‘You’re welcome.’

A mass murderer with manners. I swallowed. ‘There is one thing I should mention,’ I said. ‘One thing that leaves you a little bit screwed.’

He raised his black, bushy eyebrows. ‘What’s that?’

‘I lied. I’m a witch.’ I smiled. ‘I’m a witchy witch with witch blood running through my veins and magic in my soul.’

Apparently I was a better liar than I thought. ‘No, you’re not,’ Blackbeard said. ‘If you were a witch, you’d have tried to bespell me the first time we met.’

It was my turn to shrug. ‘I had my reasons for avoiding magic back then. And I have to avoid it now, of course, because it won’t affect you. This will though.’ And I reached up with both hands and yanked on his beard as hard as I could.

He screamed: apparently trying to rip off someone’s chin really hurts. I held on with left hand, avoiding the swinging knife, and let go with my right hand so I could reach upwards. I jabbed two fingers into his eyes, jamming them into his eye sockets. I didn’t blind him permanently – he jerked away too quickly for that – but he wouldn’t be able to see much for the next few minutes. There was still hope.

He flailed around, still clinging on to that damned blade. Until I got him to drop it, we were all in danger. I danced round, lunging for his hands and trying to grab the knife handle so I could wrestle it from him. Blinded as he was, he still worked out what I was doing and slashed the weapon at me again, this time managing to cut my cheek. I yelped. Then Blackbeard’s free hand snaked out, grabbed a hank of my hair and dragged me over.

‘You little bitch,’ he hissed. ‘You thought you could fool me? You thought you could best me? I might well die this day but I’m going to take you with me. And as many of your little witch friends as I can manage.’

There was a loud thud. For a moment, Blackbeard stood stock still then he keeled over, knocking me to the ground in the process. Behind him stood Tarquin, holding a bloodied rock in both hands.

‘I did it,’ he breathed. ‘I’m a hero.’ He looked at me with what was supposed to be a disarming smile. ‘I saved your life and saved the day.’

Arsing hell. I scrambled away from both Blackbeard and Tarquin and rolled over. Maybe that damned glass had been a real mirror after all.

‘I saved everyone!’ Tarquin shouted. ‘I killed the serial killer!’

I lay on my back, panting like a dog. From the wall of the crèche, I heard Eve groan. ‘What the hell?’ she said. ‘What happened?’

‘I won!’ Tarquin shouted. ‘I’m the best!’

Warm, sticky blood coated my skin where Blackbeard had cut me but I could already feel it congealing. I was going to live. More importantly, so would everyone else. Although maybe I could still grab hold of Blackbeard’s knife and slide it into Tarquin’s ribs when no one was looking.

A shadow fell across my face and I squinted upwards. When I saw Winter’s familiar sapphire eyes frowning down at me, I gave him as wide a grin as I could manage. ‘Ipsissimus Winter,’ I said. ‘How lovely to see you. I would get up but I’m not sure my legs can hold my weight.’

He put his hands on his hips. ‘You bloody idiot. What the hell did you think you were doing taking on Blackbeard single-handed?’

‘Eve helped. I wasn’t on my own.’ From the side, Tarquin continued to crow. ‘Besides, the real hero is over there.’

Winter rolled his eyes and snorted. ‘Dragging Eve into your foolish schemes is not likely to help your cause. At the rate you keep flinging yourself into danger’s path, I’m going to have tie you up to keep you out of harm’s way.’

‘I’m sure we’ve had this conversation before,’ I said. ‘I quite like being tied up. You must have spotted my furry handcuffs by now, Rafe.’ I wasn’t lying; it was a lot of fun abandoning yourself to someone else. Especially if they were Raphael Winter and they were going to do all the hard work. So to speak.

Winter sighed but there was a glint in his eyes at my words. Then he looked around soberly. ‘You shouldn’t have done this. It’s not your job to save me, Ivy.’

‘It wasn’t Ivy who saved you. It was me!’

Before Tarquin received a sharp slap, someone had the sense to pull him away. I breathed out and raised myself onto my elbows. ‘Someone’s got to try and rescue you, Rafe. Especially with all these young witch women throwing themselves at you like you’re some kind of rock hero. I need to stamp my mark. Unfortunately, Tarquin beat me to it.’

A look of exasperation crossed Winter’s face. ‘Can you stand up?’

I pretended to make the effort. ‘Oh,’ I groaned. ‘I don’t think so. You’ll have to carry me.’

‘Fireman’s lift it is, then.’

Whoa. ‘I’m getting up! Bloody hell.’ I used his hand to bring myself upright. Then I looked around; there was a great deal of blood. And mess. ‘The Order aren’t going to bill me for this, are they?’

‘Don’t worry,’ he said drily. ‘We have insurance.’

Just as well. I stumbled slightly, falling against him. Maybe I did need some help. ‘Ipsissimus Collings,’ I began.

‘We’ve found him.’ Winter’s voice was grim. ‘He put up a hell of a fight.’

I bit the inside of my cheek to keep the tears at bay. It almost worked. ‘He was a good man.’

Winter nodded. He didn’t say anything but I knew it was only because he couldn’t trust himself to speak. I put a hand on his arm and squeezed.

The air in front of me shimmered and Clare’s face appeared, although it was remarkably transparent. Just like Ipsissimus Collings before her, she was already being called away. Her time here was up. Funnily enough, she didn’t look in the least bit sorry about it.

‘Thank you, Ivy.’ She turned her face and glanced away as if someone was shouting her name. A smile spread across her face. ‘I have to go but I had to say thank you. All of us thank you.’

‘You’re very welcome,’ I whispered. ‘I’ll make sure no one forgets you or the rest of your coven.’

She blew me a kiss then there was the now familiar flash of bright light. The witches around us gasped. Even Tarquin fell momentarily silent.

‘And just like that,’ I said quietly, ‘she was gone.’

There was a loud snort. ‘How many times do I have to tell you, woman? There’s a queue! We need to be orderly about this!’

I smiled at Ipsissimus Grenville. ‘Would you like me to help you now? You can pass over next. You’ve been here for long enough.’

His eyes widened fractionally then he wrung his hands and looked away. ‘I would like that.’ He sighed. ‘But I will stay until all the others are taken care of.’

I raised an eyebrow. ‘All of them? That could take years.’

‘Yes.’ He nodded to himself. ‘But you’ll do it. We both know you will. I have full trust in you.’ I blinked. ‘Besides,’ he continued, ‘you’ll probably need my help.’

‘You’re not going to let me get any peace, are you?’

Grenville roared. ‘My dear! Peace is for wimps!’

‘I’m a wimp,’ I pointed out.

Winter pressed his lips against my temple. ‘No, you’re not.’

‘I’m not like you,’ I protested. ‘I’m not even like Tarquin.’

‘Thank goodness,’ he murmured. ‘Besides, we all know you’re much better.’

Arse. At this rate everyone would know all of my secrets. I’d have to work harder at being lazier. Much, much harder.