The warmth guttered out. I wanted badly to impress Jaxon. I wanted to bring a glint into his eyes, the same glint I had seen on that first day – that sparkle of ambition. To know that I had kindled it again would be a victory, and I’d be damned if I didn’t do it today. Murder most foul, a spirit on the warpath, and the prospect of a windfall at the end – yes, this was the perfect opportunity to step triumphantly on to the stage of London; to become the Pale Dreamer.

We walked to the nearest Underground station and swiped our travel cards.

‘Excited?’ Nick asked. He laughed when he saw my face. ‘Okay, you’re excited.’

‘Eliza won’t mind me doing this, will she?’

‘No. She went through the same thing as you when she first arrived – Jaxon always gave her the paperwork. It’s a test of character.’ He hurried down the steps. ‘Come on. Didion likes punctuality.’

I lowered my voice. ‘Seems a strange concern for a criminal.’

‘Etiquette is his obsession. Don’t tell Jaxon,’ he said, ‘but I can’t blame him.’ His gaze darted about, clocking the Underguards around the station. ‘The syndicate has been getting more and more corrupt since Haymarket Hector became Underlord. We could use a little etiquette.’

We fell silent when we passed one of the Underguards, who gave us a perfunctory look.

‘I don’t want to sound as if I’m ordering you around,’ Nick murmured as we walked, ‘but this is your first time in the field, so it’s important that you do everything as I say. First thing to remember: call me Vision, not Nick. And I’ll call you Dreamer. No one in the syndicate can know about my day job.’

‘You think they’d report you?’

‘Possibly,’ he said, with a nonchalance that had to be feigned. He hitched up a smile. ‘I’ll guide you today – you won’t have to deal with anything alone. In theory, this is a simple assignment. We find the spirit, let Jaxon know where it is, and he comes to bind it.’

‘Couldn’t he just … come with us now?’

‘He’s a mime-lord. He doesn’t do search work.’ Nick stopped when we reached the right platform. ‘I haven’t seen a poltergeist in a long time. Only a handful since the day I met you, actually.’ His hands sank into his pockets. ‘Which feels like a very long time ago.’

Not to me. I remembered that day all too well.

I had only just come to England from Ireland, where I had grown up on my grandparents’ dairy farm in Tipperary. At the tender age of nine, I had some notion that I was different – but my gift was still buried deep within me, yet to be unlocked.