My eyes landed on another door that was almost identical to the one to the cupboard. Hoping that this time I’d found the correct route to the dungeons, I slipped over and turned the knob. When I saw a narrow stone staircase leading downwards, I expelled the air I’d been holding and quickly entered, making sure to close the door behind me.

‘Now we’re getting somewhere!’ Bob squeaked, freeing himself from his hiding spot and flying in front of my face. ‘But if it turns out these dungeons are empty and Sweetie isn’t here, you’re going to feel pretty foolish.’

‘His name is Candy, as I keep telling you. And keep your voice down. We’re not out of the woods yet.’

‘Yes, we are. We left the woods ages ago. Now we’re in the castle.’

I tutted. ‘Come on, let’s find out if I’m right and Candy is here.’ Part of me hoped he wasn’t then I could still pretend that Byron wasn’t culpable.

Apart from the dilapidated staff quarters, the parts of the Cruaich I’d seen had all been well maintained. Here, however, the air was stale and there was more than one cobweb looping across the cracked ceiling. I wound my way downwards. Apart from the occasional clunk of hot-water pipes, there was nothing to be heard. I felt as if I were descending into the very belly of the beast itself, as if the Cruaich were a living, breathing monster rather than an ancient castle made out of nothing more dangerous than stone.

By the time we reached the bottom, I’d counted almost two hundred steps. That placed us at least five floors underground. Despite the fusty odour and the depth, the basement level was well lit. I guessed there was nothing like fluorescent strip lights for highlighting every facet of fear on your captives’ faces.

A long corridor stretched out, with branches off in various directions. I started walking down it, resisting the temptation to whistle to fill the silence. The first few turns seemed to lead to dead-ends. I peered round each one, using my SAS-style navigational skills from my thieving days. My caution seemed to be unwarranted; this place was dead.

Just as I was wondering if I’d been mistaken about Candy’s whereabouts, Bob flapped his arms and gesticulated wildly to the right. I peered across. The light down there was dimmer – and there was a Sidhe woman leaning against the wall, gnawing at her fingernails.

I pulled back out of sight and considered. I had numerous options and I didn’t want to rush into doing the wrong thing. Neither did I want to hurt her, even if her job was some sort of black-ops guard duty. If I played my cards right, I could turn this into a fact-finding mission as well as a covert rescue. I grinned.

Because I’d been high on magic and not worried about the consequences, I’d stolen more of the last Gift than any of the others so there was a fair amount of Illusion swirling around inside me. Concentrating hard, I pulled on it, letting the Gift envelop me completely. When I saw Bob’s look of horror, I knew that it had worked.