It turned out that Odile was just two streets away.

“She’s in the Old Rectory,” said the receptionist. “She says she’s tied up now, but you can go there and meet her if you like. She says she can help you next. Can I tell her what the matter is?”

“No,” said Lexy. “I’ll tell her myself.”

When Lexy arrived at the Old Rectory it was Dora Wright who let her in. She looked sad, and was orbited by far less glitter than usual. Raven’s mother, Laurel Wilde, was hovering in the corridor, looking anxious.

“What’s going on?” said Lexy.

“I could ask you the same,” said Dora. “Do you realize that your hair is full of wet soot? Have you been in some kind of explosion?”

Lexy caught sight of herself in the hallway mirror. What a fright she looked. Not that it mattered. Nothing mattered except getting help for the poor creature she’d left in the Portacabin and then finding her friends and telling them everything she knew.

“You could say that,” said Lexy. “I need to see Nurse Underwood. Is she here?”

“Yes,” said Dora. “It’s Frankincense. She’s been bound. We just heard. And they’ve captured Beathag Hide and Festus Grimm as well.”

“What?” said Lexy. “Oh no!”

“They seem to have decided to step up their binding of the Gothmen, along with anyone who can stand in the way of whatever the Diberi have planned for tonight. None of the nurses at the hospital can unbind people, but they can help a bit. Frankincense is in a terrible state.”

“Who’s that?” said Odile, coming down the stairs from the apartment where Effie’s grandfather used to live. “Oh, Alexa Bottle. Good. Another healer. Make yourself useful. Can you bring me a bowl of iced water, a flannel, some homeopathic sulphur in the 1M potency, a drachm of feverfew, half a scruple of devil’s claw and a kettle of boiling water please.”

“Of course,” said Lexy.

“And you can tell me about your problem while we make Frankincense comfortable. I fear this is going to be a very busy day. I hope you haven’t got anything else planned. I could do with a little Apprentice to help me.”

Lexy smiled and nodded, and a wave of relief poured over her. She was a true healer who needed to be able to help people and to make them better. And she’d been desperate to find a more senior healer to take her on as Apprentice. Had Nurse Underwood just offered to be Lexy’s mentor? If she had . . . Lexy would work so hard and Nurse Underwood would never regret it and Lexy would soon be able to forget all about the stupid business with JP. And she’d be able to help defeat him by healing the people he—and others like him—hurt. She knew she could tell Nurse Underwood everything.