“Leander’s seventeen,” said Laurel Wilde. “He’s virtually an adult. Raven’s only twelve, and most of her friends are still eleven. We really should not be putting them in danger. And if you’re that keen on eleven-year-olds taking part in this, then where’s Tabitha?”

Professor Quinn looked down at the table, and sighed quietly. Everyone knew that Tabitha had helped the Diberi with their last scheme. She said she’d been under a spell at the time, but most people knew that this was a lie.

“These children have epiphanized. They have begun magical training,” said Mrs. Beathag Hide. “They have been fighting the Diberi themselves—vanquishing two of the biggest threats ever to have visited the Old Town. But it isn’t fair for us to just let them carry on with their campaigns by themselves, with no support, and no idea of the wider context.”

“Agreed,” said Festus. “I’m always getting this one out of scrapes in the Edgelands.” He nodded toward Effie. “And it’s because she doesn’t know enough about what’s actually happening in the worlds.”

Effie blushed. It was true. But why did he have to tell everyone?

“What do you actually want us to do?” asked Maximilian.

“You may or may not have noticed that the Creative Writing Department in the university has suddenly grown rather a lot,” said Claude Twelvetrees. “And changed. I’m a PhD student here. My supervisor suddenly got ‘replaced’ with Professor Gotthard Forestfloor just a few weeks ago. Forestfloor is one of the more senior European Diberi. He’s gathering together a group of them here at the university, but we don’t know why.”

“I think we do,” said Effie. “It’s because of the library. And—”

Before she could say anything else, she felt Maximilian enter her mind with his own. The feeling was like that little jolt you get when you suddenly remember something you thought you’d forgotten.

Shhh, he said quietly, inside Effie’s mind. Don’t say anything else just yet. If they know the Diberi are planning to kidnap you, they’ll definitely ban us from helping and we’ll be out of the loop again.

That’s true, said Effie back. Good thinking. You’d better tell the others, too.

“And what?” said Festus Grimm to Effie.

“Nothing,” said Effie. “I just think they’re here because of the library. We saw them in there before.”

“Did you hear them planning anything?”

Effie wondered what she should say and quickly decided on nothing. She could always try talking to Pelham Longfellow afterward if she changed her mind.

“No,” she said.

“We heard that—” began Raven. But then she abruptly stopped as well as Maximilian’s voice entered her mind and gently suggested that she keep what she knew to herself.