Mum and Merry are hugging. In their hug I see all the ways they are different. Meredith gives a quick, arms-only hug, her face blank, while my mum tries for a big, squishy hug, and wipes away a tear. It’s amazing that someone can end up being so different, simply because of one choice. My mum chose to stand up to her mother and what she knew to be right, and Meredith ran away and gave up magic.

Big Ben’s first bong rings out.

Mum and I step into the middle of the road. She holds her hand up to stop the traffic and uses her finger to draw a circle in the air around us. Bong.

Mum takes my hand and I push some energy into her. ‘Swyn. Boed i’r pŵer fy meddiannu, fy nghynnal, a’m cadw’n ddiogel. Dychwel fi i’m byd fy hun,’ she says. May the power enter me, hold me, keep me safe. Return me to my own realm.

A waft of breeze picks up my hair, and I look over at Meredith in her shop doorway and Claudie and Haz standing arm in arm. Claudie waves, then she’s hidden by mist. I am in the roaring, freezing darkest dark again, my hair and clothes whipping around me.

It seems to go on for much, much longer this time. But when I find myself wondering if it will ever end, I concentrate on Mum’s warm hand holding tight to mine. We’re going home.

CHAPTER 28

My feet hit solid ground with a jolt. Mum and I are on the grass under the fig tree. The Millimba night is warm and humid and smells of river and trees and the damp earth.

We made it! We’re home.

I see Dad climbing out of the Land Rover and running to us. As I move towards him, Mum crumples to the ground beside me.

The next thing I know, Dad’s carrying me and I am bundled into the front seat of the Land Rover and we’re driving fast. Dad and Sylvie are talking urgently but I can’t catch the words. I’m slipping in and out of wakefulness. I’m so, so tired. Where is Mum? I must charge up somehow, find a tree, but I am buckled into the seat and Dad is speeding along the road, leaning forward over the steering wheel.

I wake to flashing lights. We’re parked by the side of the road, an ambulance in front of us. I open my door but before I can climb down, Dad appears. He strokes my face. ‘You did good, sweetheart. You did a wonderful job bringing Mum back, but she’s not well. She needs to go to hospital. Stay in the car.’