I scrambled up just as a flash of lightning lit the sky. To my horror, I thought I saw the silhouette of an old woman crouched on the rails of the balcony outside, leering at me. The next second, she was gone, as if she’d never been there at all.

I took a deep breath. “I am not going to—Hey!”

I broke off as Will lunged for the door. I grabbed hold of his arm but he twisted out of my grasp and slipped through before slamming the door behind him and leaning against it to stop me following. Conall appeared beside him, brushed his hand over the door, and a lock thudded into place so that I still couldn’t open it, even once Will stepped back. 319

I’m sorry, he mouthed, before turning away.

Everything was moving too fast, and my head spun, trying to work out what to do. I couldn’t let this happen – I couldn’t. The part of the window that was broken was too high for me to reach, so I gazed around the room, looking for something I could use as a weapon to smash the lower part of the glass. Then my eye fell on the mirror. I saw the hands again, only this time they were different. One of them was holding something. I saw a flash of pink and realized it was a piece of crystal – of rose quartz – in the shape of an angel. Rosie’s angel.

I raced to the mirror. The hand with the angel had been swallowed up by the others that were now reaching through, but finally I found it again. I didn’t hesitate. I wrapped my fingers tightly around the hand. The skin was smooth and icy cold to the touch – like taking the hand of a statue. A jolt ran through me, and my whole body shuddered. But then the hand became firmer and warmer beneath my grasp, began to feel like skin and muscle rather than stone. I heaved with all my might and slowly, surely, an arm followed the hand, then a shoulder, and then Rosie’s head was there, and she was crying with relief as she 320came out of the mirror and fell into my arms. She smelled of birds and fog and was shivering from head to foot, but she was here and she was alive.

“Are you OK?” I asked.

She nodded. “I am now.”

I allowed myself one blissful moment of holding her close, but that was all we had time for.

When I looked back at the balcony, I saw that Will was standing right at the edge, Conall by his side. I couldn’t hear what was being said, if anything, but I guessed it was nothing good. Will’s shoulders suddenly straightened and he reached out to grip the edge of the rails.

“The others!” I gasped. “If we get them out too, will they help us stop Conall?”