“Galloglasses need to be punished,” said the man.

“But I’m not a galloglass!” said Effie. “I promise. She got me all wrong. I just need to take the test again and—”

“Anyone can tell you’re a galloglass just from looking at you,” said Frank Greyday. “You’re an islander. You should have stayed there and not come here and brought contamination to our world. You lot are filth.”

“But—”

“You can’t even speak our language properly. ‘But . . . ,’” Frank Greyday imitated Effie’s way of saying the word in Rosian. It was true; Effie was much better at reading and writing Rosian than she was at speaking it. After all, she barely got a chance to practice.

Frank Greyday knocked at the door and another cloaked man opened it.

“A galloglass for you,” Greyday said to him. He roughly shoved Effie through the door. “Not sure if we’re sending her back alive or just killing her here. Same difference, more or less. We also have to remove the mark. We don’t want her trying to sneak back after we’ve ejected her. Anyway, you prepare her for questioning. I’ll open up one of the consultation rooms. Dr. Wiseacre is returning to do the questioning herself.”

“Has she got any weapons?”

“Nope,” said Frank Greyday. “Not that I can see. But I think I’ll take this necklace away for testing.”

For a moment Effie thought he meant her Sword of Light. But it was her vial of deepwater that he was interested in. The Sword of Light was so small, and so bright, that people usually didn’t notice it at all, or simply thought it was a reflection, or trick of the light. The second man untied her hands and then Effie took off the bigger necklace and quickly gave it to Frank Greyday before he had a chance to notice the tiny gold sword on the other chain.

Effie couldn’t understand what was happening to her. Surely Clothilde would find her soon? But if not, Effie had to make a plan, and quickly. If only her friends were here. Of course, they couldn’t come to the Otherworld. But they were such a good team. Effie thought of Wolf working out an escape plan, Lexy concocting some remedy or other and Raven saying a useful spell. Effie imagined Maximilian doing mind control on the guards and then throwing her a little vial of deepwater. She could really do with it now. Effie’s headache had got worse, and she could feel her lifeforce dwindling. And the guard had taken the last of her own stash of deepwater away.