Leo whistled. Colin threw his arms around Canut’s neck.

The hum in Isaac’s brain grew again, and this time he concentrated on breathing, in, out. In, out, and the hum subsided.

“And how did you come by this?” Kat asked.

Isaac told them the story, then, from his departure from Prague to his landing in Orkney, to seeing his parents and receiving the watch. He read them his father’s letter. And he told them what happened when he mistakenly set the watch in motion at the inn and saw the destruction of an ancient civilization.

“Or that is what it seemed to be,” he said. “When those monsters carried off the people who lived there.”

“And those monsters,” Leo began, “they’re . . . what?”

“They’re Unseelie fae,” said Amelie. She fetched the book and opened it to the page with the illustration.

The room was silent for a minute.

“You think they’re hunting you,” said Leo to Isaac. “Those monsters.” He pointed, his finger trembling a little. “The same monsters I saw in my vision of your nightmare.”

Isaac nodded.

“You think,” Leo said, then cleared his throat, “they’re going to try and find you, so they might have followed you here to Rookskill.”

Isaac blinked. “I had not thought about it that way.”

“He didn’t mean to bring them here,” Amelie said, sounding defensive.

Leo said, “I know.” He rubbed his hand over his head. “I thought we were here to learn how to win the war by using magic. I guess we’re also going to have to learn how to fight these . . . Well, the Nazis are monsters. And so are these.” Leo pointed at the picture.

Isaac looked up at Leo in surprise. “You are not angry at me?”

Leo gave a fleeting smile. “Why should I be angry? I am a little scared, I’ll admit. But we’re all in this together, right? I mean, I’m not keen on waging war with them,” and he again pointed at the picture. “But we can’t just sit here and let them do . . . whatever they’re going to do. That wouldn’t be right, would it? You’re part of the team now, Isaac.”

“I am?” Isaac paused. “Thank you, Leo,” he said. He smiled back, grateful.

“So,” said Kat. “Is that everything?”

Isaac had to suppress a grin then at Kat’s businesslike question. “Not quite.” He recounted his time travel to what he thought was ancient Greece, and he pulled out the scroll.

Once again that hum began to sing in his brain. Once again he was able to tune it out, and this brought a bit of a surprise realization. He thought he might be getting better at controlling his reaction to magic.

Isaac unrolled the scroll on the floor and the others crowded around. “It seems to be some kind of map, but I have not yet figured it out.”