Jaxon muttered under his breath. Agony swelled at the front of my skull and exploded into black and red light. I wasn’t strong enough. A copper taste ran over my tongue and licked down the back of my throat. Blood oozed from my nose and dripped down to my chin, soaking into the collar of my blouse.

‘Jax,’ Eliza shouted. She, too, was trembling under the strain.

‘Keep her there’ was his only reply.

She clenched her teeth. ‘No rush. Really, I’m loving this—’

‘Keep. Her. There.’

He went back to his murmuring. Wisps of hair were plastered to my temples. More and more strength was leaving me, pouring away by the moment. Sensing weakness, Metyard pushed closer, making my muscles tremble. Anne shoved at her, to no avail. If Metyard touched my skin, I would be scarred for life, like I had been as a child. Eliza and Nick brought their spools to bear against her, but it was me she was after, me she had to remove if she wanted to incapacitate Jaxon.

‘More, Paige,’ Jaxon said, low enough that only I could hear. ‘Come, now, Pale Dreamer. Let your spirit fly at last.’

A soft, unbroken ring filled my ears. I wanted to answer, but I couldn’t breathe.

‘Do it. You’re a dreamwalker, darling. I know you can do more than this …’

I tried. Closing my eyes, I pictured all the moments in my life that had made me afraid. The school corridors, lined with mocking smiles and dagger eyes. The streets of Dublin, where I had seen my cousin for the last time. My father in his armchair, hiding behind his newspaper, avoiding my gaze whenever we spoke, never telling me why.

It wasn’t enough. Metyard’s rage had festered and boiled for three centuries – it eclipsed mine. The poltergeist shoved closer, buckling my knees. I didn’t know what he wanted me to do, or how to do it. Jaxon let out a low curse.

‘Someone has made an error,’ he said to us. ‘The binding has had no effect. The name must be incorrect.’

I was too aware of my heartbeat.

‘Try it with another “e”,’ Eliza called, panting. ‘M-E-T-E-Y-A-R-D. Some of the documents spelled it that way—’ Her words slid into a groan. ‘Hurry.’

Nick reeled another spirit into his spool and pushed back against the poltergeist, releasing the pressure on me for just long enough for me to get back to my feet. I thought of how Anne Naylor had been beaten and terrorised, treated like dirt, and how no one had helped her. How that happened all too often. How it still happened now, three centuries later. I would fight this battle with her, even if it killed me. I would help give her the justice she had been denied in life.