“That’s right,” said Frankincense. “People who are bound can no longer use magic. It often weakens the constitution as well, and people have to go to bed for months and are never quite the same afterward. There are some very powerful binding spells out there at the moment. We don’t know quite where they’ve come from. We can reverse some, but not all of them.”

“The Guild can’t use magic on anyone under eighteen,” said Claude, looking at Leander intently, and then at Effie and her friends. “So if you’re young you can’t be bound. We need as many of you as possible trained and ready in case we are prevented from fighting the Diberi. We don’t know how the Guild are getting all their power, but with Midwinter approaching, and so many of us out of action—”

Suddenly, the fire alarm started ringing. It was metallic and hollow and extremely loud.

“This isn’t a coincidence either,” shouted Festus over the clanging noise. “You can be sure they know we’re here. They’re trying to flush us out. Get us together in a group in the open so they can . . .”

“Everybody,” said Frankincense. “You know what to do.”

Calico Quinn, Claude Twelvetrees, Leander and Frankincense quickly joined hands.

“Have you got something, Mum?” Leander asked Professor Quinn.

“I think so,” she said, breaking the loop for a moment and digging into her handbag. “Yes. Here’s one we haven’t used before.” She laid a piece of white paper on the table. It had a column of text written in blue fountain pen.

“Come with us,” said Frankincense to Maximilian.

Maximilian understood that they were all mages, like him. He took Frankincense’s hand and felt Professor Quinn link with him on the other side. She started reading from the piece of paper in her slow deep voice—it was a poem. Maximilian knew what he had to do. He closed his eyes, listened carefully, let himself sort of recline onto the words as if they were a large couch and then . . .

“Where did they go?” said Raven.

“The Underworld,” said Pelham. “It’s easy for them to disappear whenever they want. Well, sort of. We can fly away out the window if you have a broomstick with you? Or else you can probably share Beathag’s. The rest of you had better disperse as best you can.”

“Come on,” said Festus to Effie, Dora, Lexy and Laurel Wilde. “I know a few of the old underground passages. We’ll leave that way. Everyone, grab a candle.”

13