Liam shifted slightly, and a candle flickered, sending shadows dancing high on the walls.

“We draw our strength from the great oaks of the forest,” he said quietly. “As they take their nourishment from the soil, and from the rains that feed the soil, so we find our courage in the pattern of living things around us. They stand through storm and tempest, they grow and renew themselves. Like a grove of young oaks, we remain strong.”

Conor, who was seated on his left, took over.

“The light of these candles is but the reflection of a greater light. It shines from the islands beyond the western sea. It gleams in the dew and on the lake, in the stars of the night sky, in every reflection of the spirit world. This light is always in our hearts, guiding our way. And should any of us lose the light, there will be brother or sister to guide him, for the seven of us are as one.”

It was Cormack’s turn next, but he was silent for so long I thought he had decided not to speak. At last he blurted out, “I did a bad thing today. So bad I should not be here. Tell them, Sorcha. Tell them, Padriac. It has already begun, the shame, the spoiling. I don’t think I can do this anymore; I’m not fit for it.”

Liam and Conor and Finbar looked at him. Padriac opened his mouth, but I got in first. “He hurt his dog,” I said. “Hurt her quite badly, and for nothing. She’ll recover, thanks to Padriac’s skill. He blames himself; wrongly, I think.”

“How wrongly?” blazed Padriac. “He did it, he said as much himself.”

“What he said was, it was almost as if someone else was doing it,” I said. “What if someone else was doing it?”

“You mean—”

“I’ve felt it myself,” I went on miserably. “Looking into her mirror. She did it somehow, by brushing my hair, with her mind, with her voice. She tried to take away my will, to make me say and do things I didn’t want to. And she was very strong. I could not quite keep her out.”

“She was there,” said Cormack slowly, incredulously. “On the steps, at the practice yard. She was with Father, watching me. She was there. Could she have—but no, surely not.”

“But why?” asked Padriac angrily. “Why should she wish to do such a thing? There’s no reason to it, it’s just a piece of petty trickery. She’s marrying him, hasn’t she got what she wants already? And Linn is innocent. Would she cause her suffering for nothing?”

Conor’s mind was on a different track. “What did she try to glean from you, Sorcha? What did she want to know?”

“Just—things. About me, and all of you—she asked about each of you. Little things. But it felt bad, not as if she just wanted to get to know us, but—” I shivered. “I don’t know. As if she would store the information and use it somehow. Use it against us.”