Sylvie and I are sitting at a table in the store tent, which is where she sleeps now. She’s changed since she gave up her power. She’s not nearly as bossy and I’m not afraid of her stealing my energy anymore. She and Mum are still a bit prickly with each other, but I often come across them sharing a pot of tea outside our van.

I’m writing in my Book of Spells, which Sylvie gave me a week ago. It’s red leather with thick handmade paper. I’ve already written in it all the spells Sylvie taught me and the ones Efa wrote out.

Sylvie’s flicking through the Other Sylvie’s Book – which of course starts off exactly the same as hers, until their lives split. ‘Oh, look,’ she says. ‘Here’s one to slow down someone’s speech! I wonder when she used that?’

She shouldn’t really be looking at the Book, even though it’s sort of hers, but I’m not going to tell her that. She was pretty dismayed when she found out that Mum and I stripped Other Sylvie of her magic. I think it brought back bad memories and I don’t want to upset her again.

‘Sylvie,’ I say. ‘In the other universe, I heard Carys wondering if I was it. What’s it?’ I’ve been holding on to this question in the days since Mum and I returned.

She puts the Book aside. ‘Yes, your mum told me you could hear thoughts. That’s … unusual. As for it …’ She sighs and claps her hands once, as if starting a lecture, but pauses. I try to hear what she’s thinking, in case she’s hiding something. But I hear only a great, sad sigh. That’s all I ever hear of Sylvie’s thoughts – sadness at losing her magic. Not once has she said anything about it out loud, though.

Finally, she says, ‘In every generation there’s one magician who is particularly powerful. Sometimes, she has to fight dark forces. We call her The One. Maybe, maybe, Carys was wondering if you are that magician. That’s all.’

That’s all?! That I might be the most powerful magician of my generation? My head feels light and floaty and the air in the tent seems to wobble. ‘Me? I don’t think so. I mean, Efa’s much more …’ I swallow, dry-mouthed.

‘Well, you’ve only just started, haven’t you?’

‘I’m not even in the same universe as Carys and Efa!’

‘That doesn’t matter. Magic crosses all boundaries – including those between universes.’

‘How will I know for sure if I am The One?’