Maidmont licked his lips. ‘Yes, yes. Good idea. Let’s do that.’ He didn’t move a muscle.

Winter tapped his foot. ‘Let’s go then.’ His mouth flattened. ‘The more trustworthy witnesses we have while we check, the better.’

He had a point. Given my reputation within the Order, I wouldn’t be surprised if the coincidence of my return and the Manuscripts’ disappearance would end up being linked. I’d go down in history as the most infamous, evil witch that ever dared to walk the earth. Not to mention that I’d be locked up for the rest of my natural life.

The three of us headed up to the third floor. Part of me hoped that Winter and I had got it wrong and someone merely wanted to send us to cold, desolate graves. Right now, that was more comforting than the thought that someone had stolen the Cypher Manuscripts and all the power they contained within their ancient scrolls. If they had, the amount of work Winter and I would have to do would be never-ending.

Winter had permission to enter the warded room where the Cyphers were kept but I had to wait outside until Maidmont released the ward. Rather than make him go to all that trouble, I stepped out of the way; I could watch from the doorway. At least then there would be no chance that my fingerprints would compromise the scene.

Winter opened the door and he and Maidmont strode inside. My eyes searched beyond them. There were a lot of oak shelves; even from here, I could see that several of them still contained Cypher documents. I let out a sigh of relief.

‘It’s alright! They’re still here.’ I wiped my brow. It was difficult to tell whether the dampness was sweat or drips from the water spell. Either way, the world wasn’t about to end.

Winter slowly examined the shelves. Although he was still frowning, I sensed he felt the same relief. We’d been jumping at shadows. As soon as I thought that, however, Maidmont let out a small cry. ‘Volume 9,’ he gasped. ‘It’s not here.’

Winter leapt towards him. ‘Show me.’

The librarian pointed shakily. With both their bodies blocking the view, I couldn’t see anything but it didn’t matter; there was no doubt that the librarian would know whether it really had gone missing or not.

‘Could it have been checked out?’ Winter demanded.

Maidmont stuttered, ‘N–no. No one apart from the Ipsissimus himself is allowed to remove the Manuscripts and he’s not been in here for several months.’

‘Double-check the room,’ Winter growled. ‘Maybe it’s just been returned to the wrong shelf. Ivy, get in here and look around too.’

‘I can’t,’ I said unhelpfully. ‘The ward won’t let me.’

Winter flicked his fingers at me with another lightning-quick rune. The slight pressure that had been holding me back immediately vanished. I wrinkled my nose and inched forward. The less involved I was with all this, the better. I really didn’t want to go inside.