She shoved Granny’s talisman into the front pocket of her jeans and placed the open bottle of sherry, along with the Clurichaun’s red felt cap, in the centre of the room. Then, carefully as she could, she poured salt out on the floor until it formed an almost complete circle around the bottle and the cap and stood back to admire her work. Protection, lure, trap. She was as ready as she’d ever be.

Cat crouched down next to the sofa with the salt cellar in hand and waited.

Nothing happened.

Then, she waited some more.

After several minutes had passed, she realised she couldn’t wait forever. The Clurichaun probably wasn’t going to just show up of his own accord so she would need to summon him somehow. In movies there was usually some kind of spell or magic words that, when said with the appropriate level of authority and mysticism, would make the creature appear. But Cat didn’t know any spells and the only ‘magic words’ she had ever been taught were ‘please’ and ‘thank you’. Instead, she did the only thing she could think of – she closed her eyes and began to speak.

‘Um, hello. Clurichaun?’ she said, her voice sounding pathetically thin. ‘My name is Caitriona Donnelly. You know my Granny, Mary Donnelly. I saw you in the hospital today and I know you were watching out for her. Well, today’s Halloween and Granny told me on Halloween the walls between the worlds are thinner. I know you can hear me so I – I summon you.’

Cat peeked out of one eye, but the circle was still empty. How would Granny do it? Louder probably. She tried again.

‘Clurichaun!’ she yelled. ‘I am Cat Donnelly, granddaughter of Mary Donnelly and I really don’t have time for this. I know you can hear me, so you better come here right now!’

Cat felt a breeze rustle her hair. She opened her eyes to find a creature standing in the centre of the circle. It was the short, bald man she had seen in Granny’s room earlier. He didn’t even glance her way before reaching for the sherry and taking a long swallow. Cat moved, she held out the shaker and poured out enough salt to close the circle.

Sensing he was trapped, the creature dropped the bottle and began to wail. He rushed for the barrier before but as soon as he came into contact with the salt he recoiled.

‘Arrragggghhhhh!’ the Clurichaun cried. ‘What did you go and do that for? Why would you be wanting to hurt an innocent creature such as myself, who never did anyone any harm?’

Cat watched in horror as the fairy continued to wail and began to thrash around on the floor like a child throwing a tantrum. She crossed her arms. She was well used to children throwing tantrums – she had a younger brother after all.

‘I’m not harming you!’ Cat said. ‘Don’t exaggerate. I’m just making sure you can’t leave until you listen to me. I need you to tell me how I can save my brother.’