‘Maybe not,’ said Shane. ‘Look.’

The song ended and through blurry eyes Cat watched as the King of the Fairies bowed to his dance partner and hopped gracefully back onto the stage.

Smiling and rosy cheeked, he plonked himself down on his throne and reached for the queen’s discarded goblet. With a tilt of his head, he drained the glass in one go.

The second the wine hit the king’s tongue he began to screech, a sound so high and unnatural Cat wanted to plug her ears. He flung the goblet away, loosing a long, iron nail that Nancy must have slipped into the wine. The assembled fairies cried out and began to push each other to get out of the way with cries of ‘Iron! Cold iron!’

The queen was still in the centre of the dance floor, fighting against the crowd to get to her husband. Cat felt something snap and realised this was their chance. The queen was too distracted to keep a hold on them. It was now or never.

‘Run!’ she screamed, scrambling to her feet and pulling Shane up after her.

They vaulted over the king who writhed on the ground, coughing and choking, and sprinted for the exit.

They were in the hallway before the cry went up.

‘Follow them!’ shrieked the queen.

‘So much for giving us a head start,’ gasped Shane.

They began running through the twisting, turning corridors and Cat hoped they were heading in the right direction. They heard the yells of fairies close at their heels and Cat knew it wouldn’t be long before they caught up to them.

At last, they reached the point where the corridors began to slope upward again and Cat felt a cool breeze on her face.

‘In there!’ Shane said, pointing to one of the doors up ahead.

‘You sure?’ Cat asked, afraid that if they opened the wrong door they might meet a horde of angry fairies.

‘Positive.’

He rushed over and pushed open the door to the broom closet. There, sitting on the floor crying and hugging one another were Mikey and Jenny.

Upon seeing her brother’s face, Jenny rushed into his arms. He squeezed her tight and whispered something into her hair. To Cat’s surprise, Mikey wasn’t far behind.

‘Ca! Ca!’ he said, tottering toward her on unsteady legs. He was trying to say her name, something he had never done before. Cat thought it was the best sound she had ever heard.

She scooped him up and kissed him on his sticky cheek.

‘No time to waste,’ said Shane, grabbing Jenny with one hand and pushing Cat back out into the corridor with the other.

On and on they ran toward the cool morning air, the sounds of pursuit growing ever closer. Cat’s arms began to tire from holding Mikey and she noted with dismay that Jenny was almost tripping over herself with tiredness.

‘We should have found the exit by now,’ said Shane.

He was right, she thought. They should have. But what if they’d already passed by it? Cat remembered the way the entrance had seemed to disappear behind them once they had entered the Rath and all at once she stopped running.