“Don’t be ridiculous, darling,” said Laurel. “But there’s no point my saying anything until we’ve gathered you all together. And we should stay as quiet as we can in case any of them are still here. We have to keep what we’re doing top secret.”

Raven, Lexy, Dora and Laurel moved quickly and quietly through the library. Raven’s magic was weakened by the proximity of her mother, so Dora Wright cast the Shadows and kept them all more or less hidden. Maximilian visibly jumped when they all materialized next to him just as he was trying to work out how he could borrow all fifteen books he was clutching to his chest. As a result, he dropped them all, which made a massive crashing noise, which made Effie come from four stacks away to see what was happening. She was holding three books of her own: Otherworld Customs and Traditions: A Modern Traveler’s Guide was the biggest one.

“What’s going on?” asked Effie, when she saw Laurel Wilde and Dora Wright, and then registered the confused concern on her friends’ faces.

“You need to come with us now,” said Dora Wright. “Then we’ll explain.”

“Can we take these books out first?” asked Maximilian.

“All right, but we must hurry,” said Laurel Wilde. “We have to go back upstairs into the main university. To the chapel . . .”

“The chapel?” said Raven.

“The Diberi can’t go into chapels and religious places. We’ll be safe there.”

“So you’re definitely not the Diberi?” said Raven.

“Oh, for heaven’s sake, darling,” said Laurel. “Stop asking stupid questions and follow us.”

It turned out that taking books out of Special Collections was easy. The librarian even seemed quite glad to see the books go.

“Are you sure you only need fifteen?” he said to Maximilian, when he put his pile down on the wooden counter. “Take more! Take the whole blooming lot—see if I care. Less to clean. Less to read. No blooming space down here anyway. . . .”

Effie checked out her books as well—which also seemed simply to involve vaguely showing them to the librarian while he shrugged and rolled his eyes—and then followed Maximilian up the stairs. Maximilian didn’t move that fast at the best of times, and his pile of books slowed him down even more. By the time they reached the door back into the main University Library, Laurel, Raven and the others were fading into the distance.

“Hurry up,” said Effie.

“I’m trying!” said Maximilian.