My earlier rudeness apparently forgotten, Bob leapt onto the palm of my hand, belly-flopping and linking his fingers underneath his chin. ‘So, why are we here?’

‘Something to do with the Foinse and the flow of magic. It’s running out or broken. I’m going to help open it so it can be…’ I hesitated. Actually, I was bit unclear about what was going to happen once it had been accessed. Rebooted, perhaps?

‘What?’ He sprang up, the very picture of alarm. ‘The Foinse is failing? Uh Integrity, that can’t happen! You can’t let it happen!’

I regarded him thoughtfully. It hadn’t occurred to me that the Foinse would regulate Bob’s magic too. I supposed it really did affect everyone after all. ‘I’m certainly going to do my best,’ I told him, meaning it. ‘The thing is, before I can help the other Sidhe to open it up, I need to receive my true name. I left the Clans and the Sidhe before I was thirteen so I never went through the ceremony and I have no idea what to expect.’

‘You don’t know?’ He rolled his eyes. ‘Everyone knows what happens during the naming ceremony. You get your true name. And usually a magical Gift too.’

‘Yes, that part I’m aware of. But how does the ceremony work?’

‘You’re the Sidhe,’ he blustered. ‘You should know.’

I sighed. ‘You don’t know anything about it either, do you?’

His shoulders drooped. ‘No,’ he admitted. ‘Not a scooby.’

Shite. ‘There was something about a fever,’ I said, worried at the thought that I might get sick. ‘I’m going to need you to stick close,’ I told him. ‘I might need to use one of those wishes after all.’

‘Don’t tease me, Uh Integrity,’ he moaned. ‘I know you’re one of those stubborn types.’

There was a sharp knock at the door. I looked meaningfully at Bob and he snapped off a salute, hopping back into the blade with another blinding flash. He gave me a little wave from inside then vanished.

Cautiously opening the door a fraction, I gazed out. Well, well, well. It was none other than Dimples himself.

‘Hey!’ I said cheerfully. ‘Good to see you again!’

He threw me a look that was dirtier than the magazine picture I had shoved into the envelope and pretended to post. Okay, he was going to hold a grudge. That was a shame.

‘I’m here to ask if everything is to your satisfaction.’

He wouldn’t even look me in the eyes. He was probably being made to do this as a punishment for losing the Lia Saifire. I should feel guilty but he shouldn’t have been so naïve as to carry it around with him in the seediest part of Aberdeen.