Sylvie says, ‘You or I could completely and forever relinquish our magic powers and hand them to her. That’s the only way to get energy into her – a complete handing over of magic power. Whoever does it would never be a magician again.’

‘I’ll do it,’ I say immediately.

She shakes her head. ‘No. You’re only starting out.’ Her eyes are clear. ‘I’ll do it. I’ve had my years of magic. I made a mess of them, but I’ve had my chance.’

The doctor puts a hand on my back. ‘Please, we need you both to step out now.’

Sylvie rests her hands on Mum’s arm, her rings bright against Mum’s skin. She speaks. ‘Swyn. Trosglwyddaf bob pŵer sydd gennyf, a hynny’n oesoesoedd. Nid dewines wyf bellach. I relinquish all my powers, in perpetuity. I am a magician no more.’

For a moment nothing happens except more people hurry into the room, and the doctor steers me away from the bed.

Then the orange stone in one of Sylvie’s rings cracks and falls to the floor. Mum coughs and takes a huge, noisy breath. From one moment to the next, her skin turns pink and her cheeks plump out. Her eyes open and she looks straight at me where I stand at the foot of the bed. ‘We made it!’ she says loudly, and sits up.

‘You’re back!’ I launch myself at her and we’re a tangle of arms and hospital wires and bedsheets.

‘Hang on! Hang on!’ says the doctor as Dad rushes in and wraps me and Mum in a hug. ‘Please, lie back down. We need to … What on Earth…?’

Sylvie’s watching, blank-faced, as Dad cries into Mum’s shoulder.

‘Have you really lost all your magic powers?’ I ask Sylvie.

She nods. ‘I have.’ She holds up her hands and turns them over and over, as if to see whether there’s a shred of magic clinging to them. ‘I’m just an ordinary woman now. But my daughter is alive.’

I slide off Mum’s bed. ‘Thank you,’ I say, and put my arms around Sylvie. She hugs me tightly.

As we drive the winding road to Canmore, Mum and Dad’s voices float through the car, and it’s the best sound in the world. Beside me, Sylvie is silent, staring out the window into the night.

I shuffle close to her. ‘Is there any way you can get your powers back?’ I whisper.

She shakes her head. ‘No. I could claim them back but …’ She points to Mum. ‘She would die. So, no.’

‘What if someone strips another magician of their power? Indefinitely.’

‘Well, even if it’s supposedly indefinite, it can be reversed – but only by one of the people who cast the spell to strip her.’