“But why have you got the keys?” asked Effie, confused.

“Because my uncle was doing all that removal work for Leonard Levar. I took the keys when I left my uncle’s place. He was knocking me about and after I epiphanized I decided I couldn’t stand it anymore. I lived in the apartment for a while—I thought you wouldn’t mind, and I meant to tell you, but everything was always so intense with the Diberi and then you had the Yearning and . . . Anyway then I was living in the bookshop and—”

“When my mum discovered what was going on she insisted he come live with us,” said Maximilian.

“I’m going to be over the road with Dill to start with,” said Wolf. But I think he’s talking about moving in here and me and Max having our rooms across the road. It’ll be like a massive fort.”

“A fort of praying?” said Raven. “And early nights?”

“Haha,” said Wolf. “It’s not like that.”

“I know,” she said, smiling. “I’m only joking.”

“And you forget that I am a dangerous mage,” said Maximilian. “I’ll spice things up a bit.”

The friends sat down on Odile Underwood’s big soft sofas and carried on talking, teasing one another and planning the future. They were all Apprentices now, more or less—even though Raven and Wolf still needed official mentors. Professor Quinn had formally taken Maximilian on, and Odile was looking after Lexy. And Raven had discovered her art was hunter, just like Neptune.

Neptune jumped onto Raven’s lap and started purring. He understood that a whole new chapter was starting for him, too. Witches’ cats have to work quite hard at meditation, prayers and spell-making of their own. And he and Raven were now a hunting team, which meant, in their case, hunting for the truth, solving mysteries and searching out evil. Neptune’s days of hunting other animals were over. He and Raven were both going to need to spend a lot of time with the Cosmic Web.

Neptune now sensed the approach of a car. Yes, it was Raven’s mother, Laurel, coming to take them home. She had her new girlfriend, Dora Wright, with her, and a big bag of doughnuts. He told Raven, and she put down her smoothie and got up to find her coat. But wait. Neptune sensed something else as well. Another person in the car with Laurel and Dora. Someone he had not yet met but who was going to make things very interesting . . .

The doorbell rang.

Raven went to answer it. In seconds Laurel and Dora were swept into the party by the other adults and given drinks. Laurel quite forgot to explain about the hitchhiker they’d picked up and her incredible story, and if she could just find Wolf she’d tell him that . . .

Standing in the doorway was a girl of about ten.