When he went to his room, Isaac opened his pack to retrieve the casket that had held the watch and was surprised when not two, but three, books tumbled to the floor.

There was Shelley’s Frankenstein, and Grimms’ Tales, of course, but a third slim volume in a red leather binding was unexpected. He opened it to the title page.

A Personal Account of the Craven Street Monster, London, 1873

by Sergeant Winslow Fifer

as Witnessed by the Sergeant and His Fellow Officer Peter Ramsey in 1870

Isaac turned the pages to several hand-drawn images. One was of the street on which he’d landed with the wraith—complete with the photographer’s storefront. Another was a very good likeness of the wraith itself.

Isaac turned to the final pages to read.

We do not know what became of the monster once it disappeared after the near-fatal bite Officer Ramsey suffered, but we fear it to be still at large. Yes, there are monsters in this world, and it behooves the casual person to shutter his windows and lock his doors at dusk, lest he should encounter such a vile beast in the darkness.

Isaac leaned back against his bed. He had possession of a book he’d never seen before, with a story that grew out of his time travel to Victorian London. How had he engaged the law of unintended consequences when he’d left the wraith in nineteenth-century London?

Would the wraith return to Rookskill still seeking Kat’s chatelaine?

Mistress Vivienne had said the Death’s Head watch carried a promise and a curse. Isaac didn’t want to have created an evil out of what seemed like the right thing to do.

On that score, Isaac thought with a bit of irony, maybe only time would tell, but he resolved to ask Kat, who knew about science.

CHAPTER 58

Isaac

1942

In the days that followed there was much to do. Gumble and MacLarren resumed their lessons in magic with renewed fervor. Baines went back to MI-6, where the children later learned he’d been given a new post tending to the gardens around the buildings, “since he appears to be under the misapprehension that he is a tree.” Gumble added, “His superiors are not surprised.”

MI-6 was pleased with the progress with Rookskill’s Special Alternative Intelligence Unit. Leo forewarned them of a planned German invasion in the northernmost Shetlands. Amelie and Colin mustered various ghostly and animal spies to discover the movements of men and munitions on the eastern front. Kat created spells of protection around Allied troops on the western front. And Isaac enhanced all of their magical abilities, making them each stronger, day by day.