The man in the cloak—Frank Greyday seemed to be his horribly appropriate name—walked toward Effie and took her firmly by the arm—right by the shimmering letter M that meant Effie could travel through portals to the Otherworld—and yanked her to her feet.

“But I’m a Truelove,” said Effie. “I’m going to be a Keeper at Dragon’s Green. You can’t—”

“Lock her up,” said Dr. Wiseacre. “We’ll let the town council work out what to do with her. She’ll need to be sent back to the island, of course, but she must have that mark removed first. And any boons that help her to get here will need to be confiscated. We might have to surgically remove all her memories about being here, too.”

“But . . .”

“Come on, islander,” said Frank Greyday.

“Where are you taking me?”

“To the dungeon where we put all the monsters.”

“But my cousin—”

“She won’t ever want to see you again when she knows you’re a galloglass,” said Dr. Wiseacre. “You can forget about her, and anyone you ever met here. It’s all over.”

5

LEXY WAS PRETTY SURE that everyone was asleep when she crept down the stairs, holding a small hessian bag full of healing gemstones that she was going to steep in the light of the full moon. This was how you recharged them. She had several pieces of greeny-blue aventurine, which she used for Effie’s remedies, and some bloodstone for Wolf. She was almost running out of Maximilian’s black onyx, though, and . . .

“Hello, little lady.”

Lexy jumped at least a foot in the air while her heart felt like it had dropped to the bottom of her stomach.

“Oh my God, it’s you, JP!” she said. “You gave me a fright.”

He was sitting at the kitchen table, wearing a pair of red silk pajamas and reading a book of what looked like poetry. His hair was still swept back in its extravagant pompadour style. It didn’t look as if he’d been to bed at all. Buttons, the kitten, was on JP’s lap, but didn’t look that happy about it. Indeed, he would certainly have jumped down by now, had JP not been holding him by the neck.

“Sleeping’s overrated,” he said. “Wouldn’t you agree?”

“Um . . . ,” said Lexy.

Buttons now managed to jump off JP’s lap and up onto the table where Lexy could stroke him. Lexy put down her bag of gemstones and picked him up. He climbed onto her shoulder as usual, and nibbled her ear.

“Do your parents know you go sneaking around in the middle of the night?”

Lexy shook her head. “No. You won’t say anything?” she said. “My mum worries enough as it is.”

“Of course not. Your secret’s safe with me.”

“Thank you.”

“On one condition.”

“What condition?”