“Her prophecy. It’s exactly right. Oh, why didn’t we see it before? We’ve been so stupid. You know when we were in the library on Saturday, in Special Collections, and Lexy and I overheard them talking? Yes, I know we weren’t going to say anything about that bit but it doesn’t matter now, because . . . Anyway, they were getting out a book with a spell in it that included a hundred live cats. But I wasn’t listening to that bit because then they said they needed your consciousness, Effie, and I didn’t know what that meant. Oh! Why didn’t I spot that before? The spell includes cats, and that’s what Madame Valentin saw as well.”

“What was the prophecy again?” said Festus Grimm. “On the dot of Midwinter . . .”

“Twelve minutes past eight precisely . . . ,” said Raven.

“What’s happening then?” said Leander.

“The Midwinter Lecture,” said Mrs. Beathag Hide. “Jupiter Peacock talking about his translation of Galloglass.”

“I wonder what the poem has got to do with it,” mused Effie.

“Anyway, I know exactly where they’ll be getting the cats,” said Raven. “The cats’ home—which, in case you had forgotten, was funded by the money that Skylurian Midzhar left when she died. It’s basically being run by the Diberi! That’s what they meant when they said that that bit of the spell would be easy.”

“I can’t believe I didn’t spot all this when I went into your memory of that afternoon,” said Maximilian angrily. “If only you ordered your mind better. I’ll have to teach you. But I do vaguely remember something about them thinking it would be easy to get access to Effie as well. Oh yes, and then we overheard Terrence Deer-Hart and that Russian poet. Weren’t they planning to kidnap you, Effie?”

“Yes,” she said. “Terrence Deer-Hart’s coming to my house tonight to have dinner with my dad and my stepmum before they all go to the lecture. They’re sort of friends. I’ll let him kidnap me. It’ll give me a great opportunity to infiltrate them, see exactly what they’re trying to do and stop them.”

“Are you sure that’s safe?” asked Pelham Longfellow. “It sounds foolhardy to me.”

“It’s only Terrence Deer-Hart,” said Effie. “I’ll be fine.”

“Well, one other way of preventing whatever they’ve got worked out with this spell is by making sure they can’t get hold of a hundred cats,” said Raven. “I’m going to the cats’ home to talk to the cats and see if they know what’s going on.” She stood up. “I’ll go now. I’ll check on Lexy, too. I haven’t been able to get in touch with her for days. If there’s going to be a big battle tonight we’ll need her and her potions.”