“What happens if I don’t?” asked Terrence.

“Then we will probably kill you.”

“All right, well in that case, yes, I suppose so,” said Terrence.

It was going to be more complicated than he’d thought, being a Diberi.

6

EFFIE PACED HER SMALL, dark cell, thinking. She wasn’t a galloglass; she was sure of that. Although . . . What if Dr. Wiseacre had been right? Effie had been going over everything in her mind, and she could sort of see why someone might think she was selfish enough to be called a galloglass, if they looked at things a certain way. What does she make? What do you do? Bo’s words kept coming back to her. And also what that girl had said about islanders: They never do anything for anyone else. They just take. Everyone else in the Otherworld did things for others, and Effie, so far, had contributed nothing. She realized that now.

Well, that could easily change.

Whatever she’d done—or neglected to do—wasn’t bad enough for this, though, surely? She didn’t deserve to be imprisoned. And while admittedly she hadn’t knitted many socks, Effie was the one who’d saved the Otherworld from Diberi invasion—twice now. She’d killed the man who had attacked her grandfather and stolen his library of powerful last editions. Effie and her friends were now protecting those last editions from the Diberi. Most recently, Effie had buried alive the woman who wanted to use the last edition of The Chosen Ones by Laurel Wilde to get to the Great Library in Truelove House and, presumably, steal its most powerful books.

Well, to be more factual about it, Effie had actually tricked this woman into burying herself alive. And the man she’d killed had been 350 years old and only keeping himself going with stolen magical energy that she’d taken away. Effie would never hurt anyone—and certainly not bury someone alive—if she could help it.

Effie was always fighting to keep the Otherworld safe from the Diberi—and she wasn’t even a real Otherworlder herself. Every time she came here she started running out of M-currency and had to go home to build it up again. And all because she wanted to help!

Effie felt angry, suddenly. No one, ever, had been remotely grateful for her help. Well, apart from the other Trueloves of course. Although Rollo was so moody, and Cosmo so distant. Clothilde was grateful. But no one else here cared that she’d saved their stupid world. They just kept going on and on about how much they hated Effie’s world.