She crossed the dark, silent house she’d come to love, past the girls sleeping soundly in their bedrooms, and went up to the attic that had, for so short a time, been the most wonderful home she’d ever had. There, she packed up a random assortment of clothes, the smaller of her two cauldrons, and her potion-making supplies. It was only when something dripped into the cauldron that she noticed she was crying.

She packed one more thing: a silver key, taped to the inside of a copy of Sense and Sensibility, Primrose’s favourite book.

Then she dried her tears, woke Circe, and they left the house together.

Outside, the night sky was a pale, wintry white, still promising a snowfall that probably wouldn’t come. There was a silent figure out by the barn where the cars were parked, and Circe ran to him, whining piteously. It was a sound Mika wanted to echo, a forlorn, distressed cry of confusion and betrayal and anger, but she just quietly put her things into the boot of the Broomstick.

“Tell the girls I’ll be back to say a proper goodbye to them on the twenty-sixth.” Mika’s voice wobbled, but she forced herself to speak. “Circe, it’s time to go.”

With another heartbreaking whine, Circe left Jamie’s side and clambered into the back seat of the car. As soon as Mika shut the door, she pressed her wet nose to the window glass.

Jamie put a hand on the glass, but his eyes were on Mika. He swallowed, his voice cracking. “I’m so sorry. I lied for a lot of reasons, but I never, ever wanted to hurt you.”

In the pale half-light of the Solstice night, Mika had the fleeting impression that his eyes were shining like diamonds, unshed tears refracting the light.

She got in the Broomstick, and left.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Mika drove for over three hours. She could have used her speed spell, of course, but she didn’t want to go any faster. In fact, if it were possible to simply drive the Broomstick forever, she would have done that.

There was only one place she could go. She couldn’t go back to Nowhere House. She couldn’t go to Primrose, who would ask questions Mika could not and would not answer. She had no one else.

But there was a tall townhouse on a quiet street in the city of York, and she had a key.