CHAPTER FOURTEEN

It was only eleven o’clock, but as far as Jamie was concerned, the day had already started badly. A professor at Durham University had mislaid two rare books; Altamira and Terracotta had had a colossal row over a mysteriously missing jigsaw puzzle, which had ended most ominously with Altamira threatening to hide dead fish around Terracotta’s bedroom; Ian had started hatching increasingly batshit schemes to deal with Edward; and, to top it off, Jamie, who was already worn out from far too little sleep, found that he was actually (stupidly, absurdly, senselessly) looking forward to staying awake because he could spend that time in the attic with a certain witch.

(Why? Why did he like going up there? She asked questions he didn’t want to answer, made fun of his scowl, blamed him for Terracotta’s mistrust of her, told him he was made up of stardust, made him laugh, was outrageously nice to look at—wait, wasn’t he supposed to be thinking of reasons not to go?)

Anyway, he had a skull-rattling headache, Ken and Lucie wouldn’t be back from the supermarket with the week’s shopping and more painkillers for another hour, and somewhere far too close, Ian was hammering screws into a beehive and none too subtly pretending he was hammering them into Edward’s head instead. Each ferocious thud of the hammer echoed just as ferociously in Jamie’s head, but he knew he probably deserved it.

Then the day got considerably worse.

It was the sound of Terracotta’s voice that first got his attention. He was on the upper level of the library, tracking down a book a scientist in Glasgow had requested, when he heard a high, clear voice from the garden outside.

“Look! I’m doing it!” There was joy in Terracotta’s voice, but also an edge of savage satisfaction. “You said I couldn’t do it, but I am!”

Curious, Jamie looked out of the nearest window. And just about had a heart attack.

Terracotta was a good twelve feet up in the air, sitting astride a fucking branch like it was her very own broomstick.

For half a second, he cherished the valiant hope that this was an activity that had been planned and executed perfectly sensibly, but he dismissed that thought at once because he had heard Mika rejecting Terracotta’s demands to learn levitation a dozen times. Even if this hadn’t occurred to him, the sight of Rosetta and Altamira gazing up at their sister in horror, and Mika’s furious, pale face, would have put paid to any foolish hopes.

“Terracotta, get back down here now!” Mika’s voice was stonily calm, but Jamie could see the panic she was trying very hard to hide. “It’s too windy for you to be up there!”