‘I’m not here to win,’ I said without thinking.

‘Then why are you here?’

Arse. ‘Er … I want to test my limits. And…’ think, Ivy, think. ‘…prove to the Order that they were wrong to boot me out.’

‘You want to rejoin them?’

Not even if Winter himself stripped naked, prostrated himself on the ground for my delectation and begged. ‘No,’ I said slowly, seizing any reason I could think of for being stuck in the past and motivated by revenge. ‘I just don’t want any other witches to go through what I did when I was kicked out. If I can show the Order they were wrong to expel me, they might think twice before doing it to someone else.’

Mike’s heel caught on a stone so I tugged at him. There was an ominous sound of ripping fabric as his trousers caught on something. Oops.

‘Aren’t you afraid?’ She hesitated. ‘I spoke to Benny a few times. He was a nice guy and to be killed like that…’ She shivered.

‘Benjamin Alberts? Yeah,’ I agreed. ‘That was pretty nasty.’ And if I had anything to do with it, the person who was responsible would spend the rest of their life behind bars.

‘At least we know they caught the bastard who did it.’

‘Mmm.’ I craned my neck round the last of the trees. ‘Do you know why Benjamin went up that mountain in the first place?’

She shrugged unhappily. ‘He just wanted some fresh air. That’s what he said anyway.’ She looked as if she were about to cry. That was the last thing I needed.

I pointed. ‘Look. There’s the river.’

We walked to the bank and lay down Mike and Harriet’s bodies. I gave the river a critical glance. This was summer so it wasn’t quite as deep or fast flowing as I’d hoped.

Lou looked around dubiously. ‘Is this going to work?’

Spotting a hole in the sandy shore opposite, I felt around inside myself. I probably had enough energy left. Just. I grinned. ‘Watch this.’

I sketched out a complex rune, binding together what I knew of Myomancy with my knowledge from experimenting with Brutus. For a moment nothing happened then some of the sand shifted and a small questing nose appeared.

Lou stiffened. ‘What is that?’

‘Shhh,’ I said. ‘Don’t scare it off.’

The otter emerged fully, whiskers quivering. It wasn’t entirely trusting and took several moments to scan the area. For good measure, I added another rune into the mix. Unwilling to deny the call any longer, it swam across.

‘Hey buddy,’ I said, crouching down beside it.

It squeaked in response. It was kind of cute. Now that Brutus had apparently abandoned me, maybe I’d take on an otter instead of a cat as my new familiar. I wondered whether it could be trained to make tea.

‘We need to get down river,’ I told it. ‘About five miles, give or take. Could you help us out?’

Lou stared at me as if I were crazy. ‘Are you having a conversation with a wild animal? Does it even understand what a mile is?’