“We were about to start planning,” Tino said. “Will you sit down?”
Suki nodded and sat in the seat Jack had vacated.
“Who’s doing what, then?” she asked.
“Here’s what I think,” said Tino. “The fewer people involved in this, the better. First, we have to be familiar with the family’s routine. Did the boy tell you what we need to know?”
Suki nodded.
“The family are new to the area,” she said. “They own The Spiral Staircase, a pub in Tickey End. Jack’s father is the landlord. His mother handles the bookkeeping and office work, and she cooks the lunch menu, though Jack’s father has been doing it all since she was ill.”
Tino laced his fingers together in an arch. “This could be problematic,” he said. “A public place means more people. Carry on.”
“They get a weekly delivery, which is tomorrow. Jack’s father gets up at seven o’clock to see it in. Jack often helps him, so we’re using this opportunity to get a message to him about the plan. While his father stows the barrels, Jack will be busy checking the crates against the order. As the van is being unloaded, I’ll stick a note into an empty bottle and sneak it into one of the crates. Jack will intercept that bottle, read the message, and destroy it.
“His father will be busy until the bar staff turn up at midday for the lunchtime shift. He’ll then break for something to eat and a nap, but after that he’s working flat out pretty much until closing time at eleven o’clock.”
“Good,” said Tino. “That means he’s unlikely to be a problem. But we need to be certain. Sparrow, you’re responsible for keeping an eye on him. We’ll put things into motion at about two thirty, once he’s had his nap. If at any time he looks likely to go upstairs to his family after that, you distract him.”
Sparrow looked unsure. “Could be tricky. I’m not old enough to go in a pub, so how am I supposed to—”
“Watch him from outside,” Tino cut in, exasperated. “Find a place to observe him and do it. It’ll be less obvious than a stranger sitting in his pub watching him all day, at any rate. That’ll only make him suspicious. If you do need to walk in, the fact that you’re underage is an immediate distraction in itself.” He frowned suddenly, his eyes sweeping over the boy. “Get yourself tidied up too. Otherwise he’ll think you’re a vagrant and chuck you out before you’ve even set foot in the place.”
“Fair point,” said Sparrow, not taking offense. “What about Jack? Is it safest to get him out of there altogether?”
“For Jack, it would be,” Tino answered. “But Jack’s sister is the one who’s most at risk. The more time that’s passing, the more obsessed this creature is becoming with her. I don’t want them left alone. That means Jack must stay close by as long as possible.”
“But that’s endangering him!” Rowan protested.
“I know,” Tino said. “But it’s the best way we can make sure his sister remains safe. Plus, we’ll need him when it comes to getting the impostor out of the way, which I’ll come to in a minute. If, at any time, he feels seriously threatened, we’re going to arrange that he signals us to get him out of there. The signal is this: he has a distinctive money box in the shape of one of the old red telephone booths. He’ll put it on his windowsill, where it’ll be clearly visible from the street.” He stopped and looked at Fabian. “That’s where you come in.”
“Me?” said Fabian.
“You’re going to be outside watching too. Upon Jack’s signal, you’ll go into the pub and ask to see him. Make up an excuse, a good one, which will ensure he’s called downstairs. When he comes out, you both get away from there and stay away.”
He turned to Suki next. “You and Sparrow will visit Fix tonight and ask her for a solution that will dispel glamour. Jack is going to have to get the changeling to take it somehow, and it’s crucial that he succeeds.”
“But Jack says she won’t eat anything,” said Rowan.
“I know,” said Tino. “Jack will have to try to get her to drink it, or, failing that, slip it into her bath water, or even throw it over her. Once it’s done, Jack needs to get out of there. The changeling may realize he’s on to her and he’ll be in more danger than ever. If he feels he can’t get away, he’ll use the signal for us to get him out.”
“How will we get the potion to him?” asked Fabian.
“It’ll have to go in the same way as our plan,” said Tino. “Via the crates at the time of delivery. Suki, you’ll have to get both bottles in.”
“What will happen then?” Rowan asked. She had never been involved in a case like this before, and suddenly she felt inadequate.
“Once the glamour is destroyed the changeling will have no option but to leave,” said Tino. “And it’s at that point that everything will hang on a thread.”
Rowan felt dread in the pit of her stomach. She glanced at Fabian and saw that he was scared but trying his best to hide it. Suki and Sparrow were solemn, but did not look afraid.
“One of two things will happen,” Tino continued. “With its cover blown, the changeling will attempt to leave, either alone or with the child. What we’re hoping is for her to leave alone, because this means she’s going to her source of glamour to re-create it and carry on the deception.”
“The source of glamour?” asked Fabian, hoarsely.
“Jack’s real mother,” said Rowan.
Tino nodded. “If the changeling was cautious, or merely wanted to observe or get information from the human it’s impersonating, it’s likely Jack’s mother is being held somewhere. The moment she leaves Lucy alone, then Red, you get in there and bring her safely out. Meanwhile, Suki will follow the changeling in the hope that it’ll lead us to the real mother.”
Fabian nodded, taking it in. “And if the changeling leaves and takes Lucy with it?”
There was an uneasy silence around the table.
“Then it means that the changeling has no other source of glamour,” Tino said grimly. “And that Jack’s real mother is already dead.”
With the exception of the fortune-telling, Tanya had visited every attraction the circus had to offer by the time Rowan and Fabian found her. Since the sun had gone down, there was a definite nip in the air, and the three of them were among the last few stragglers making their way back to their cars or walking the road to the bus stop.
They hurried along the lane to catch the last bus of the evening, Rowan and Fabian filling Tanya in on the events of the meeting as they went and for the duration of the bus journey. She listened without interruption. From their stop at Holly Bush Hill they walked the final ten minutes to the manor. The countryside was pitch-black, lit only by the stars and a thin scythe of a moon.
Not one of them gave a thought to the time until they reached the gates of Elvesden Manor. Warwick’s Land Rover rumbled toward them, the headlights snapping on, startling them. Warwick cut the engine and jumped out, slamming the door.
“It’s late,” he growled. “I was coming to look for you all.”
“Why?” asked Fabian. “We told you where we were going.”
“And you said you’d be home before dark,” Warwick retorted. “The sun went down an hour ago. Everyone’s still up, waiting and wondering where you’ve got to.”
“I don’t get what the problem is,” said Rowan. “Why do you need to know the exact time I’ll be in? Is there something we should be worried about?”
Warwick clambered back into the Land Rover and lowered the window.
“You’re the one with the bedroom crammed full of fairy deterrents,” he answered.
Rowan averted her eyes. “That’s just because… because I like to make sure,” she said.
Warwick’s stony expression softened a little. “I can understand that. But the thing is, I like to make sure as well. So in future, if you tell us something, then stick to it. Now, go on. Inside with you.”
Rowan nodded, her head bowed. Warwick wound up the window and took the Land Rover around the side of the house to
park.
They slunk inside. Tanya led the way to the kitchen, where Oberon bounded toward her. He jumped up and knocked the air from her lungs, causing her to emit an undignified oof!
Her grandmother, Nell, and Rose were seated at the table drinking mugs of warm, milky coffee.
“What are you still doing here?” Rowan asked Rose in surprise. “I thought you’d have gone by now.”
Rose got up. “Warwick offered to take me, but I wanted to stay until I knew you were all safely home,” she said. “He’s going to drive me back to Knook first thing in the morning.”
“We lost track of time,” said Rowan guiltily, but Tanya detected a hint of annoyance in her voice too.
“Young whippersnapper,” the General squawked. “Off with their heads!”
Nell sniffed haughtily in agreement. She got up and put her mug in the sink, then trotted over to the birdcage and threw a sheet over it for the night.
“Good night,” she said pointedly, wheeling the cage out of the kitchen and into the sitting room. The slap of her flip-flops against the quarry stone floor magnified the awkward silence in the kitchen. Rowan and Fabian each mumbled their good nights and skulked upstairs to bed.
Tanya lingered at the back door while Oberon sniffed around the back garden. She hoped to question her grandmother about Gredin’s strange admission but, annoyingly, Rose was still hanging around. When Warwick came into the kitchen from outside, prompting another pan of milk to be set on the stove, Tanya gave up. She called Oberon indoors, then muttered good night and headed off up the stairs.
She lay in bed, the light off, but too much was going through her mind for her to be able to sleep. In addition to Gredin’s threats and comments about guardians, Jack’s mother and Suki’s tragic past both fought for space in her head. To top it all off, she’d discovered a chain of gnat bites dotted all the way up one of her shins as she undressed for bed, and they now itched horribly.
Tanya got out of bed and snapped the light on, scratching. Already her leg was swollen with ugly red lumps. Throwing on her bathrobe, she padded barefoot downstairs. The lamp on the telephone table lit the hallway. Someone was still up, and she hoped it was her grandmother so that they might discuss Gredin.
Voices carried from the kitchen: Warwick and Rose. As she went to push the door open, something about the manner in which they were speaking made Tanya hesitate.
Warwick’s voice was low. “I don’t know. She’s lived by her instincts for so long… maybe we should let her trust them.”
“But is it really instinct?” said Rose. “Or is she just so used to trouble that she’s paranoid? I hate to see her like this.”
“She didn’t seem too concerned about staying out late tonight,” said Warwick, thoughtfully. “If she lost track of time, it’s a good sign. Maybe she’s starting to relax, finally. She’s had more upheaval in her life in the past couple of years than most people have in a lifetime. She needs time to adjust, time to start enjoying being young. I think Fabian and Tanya are good for her.”
“But was she always this scared?” Rose whispered. Tanya strained to hear her. “You got to know her in the fairy realm. You said she was tough.”
“She was,” said Warwick, pausing. “But something happened while we were captured by that woman—the Hedgewitch. Rowan asked me never to tell you or Florence about this, but I think you need to hear it in order to understand. When we escaped, there was another prisoner in the dungeon, a fey man called Eldritch. We had the chance to free him, but we found out that he was involved in taking James away. Rowan flew into a rage. She had the key to his manacles, but told him she was leaving him there as punishment for what he did. Before we left, Eldritch threatened her. He said he was going to hunt her down and make her pay.”
“My god,” said Rose. “Do you think… I mean, is there any chance…?”
Tanya held her breath. Her bare feet curled with cramp from the cold floor, but she did not dare to move.
“I don’t think there’s any way he could have made it out,” Warwick said grimly. “Not without help, and no one in their right mind would go to that cottage willingly. But just the memory of it is clearly haunting her. It’s haunted me too.”
“Why?”
“I’m as much to blame as she is. Probably more to blame, in fact. I could have got the key from her if I’d tried. If I’d really wanted to. But I knew if I challenged her she’d refuse to let me help her. And I needed to do that. So I let her decide whether to free him or not. She chose not to. Deep down, I think some part of me was glad, because I wanted him to suffer for what he’d done. Looking back, I see that he’d already suffered by being in that cellar for so long.”
“We all make mistakes,” said Rose softly. “If it weren’t for my mistake, she would never have believed she had a brother to lose.”
A long silence followed. Tanya waited for any sign that the conversation was set to continue, but there was none. She looked down at her leg, wondering if she should go back to bed and manage without anything to soothe it, but the bites wept and throbbed where she had scratched them so much.
She pushed the door open before the discussion resumed—and froze.
The silence in the kitchen was not merely due to a lull in conversation.
Warwick and Rose stood in front of the fireplace. His dark, work-roughened hands cupped her face. Hers were in his hair. They were kissing, and from what Tanya could tell, it wasn’t for the first time.
“Oh!”
The noise escaped Tanya’s lips in a hiccup of surprise. She wasn’t able to hold it in—hadn’t even known it was coming.
Warwick and Rose broke apart, their faces etched with shock and guilt.
Tanya felt her own face flushing. She felt awkward and confused.
“I… I’ve got gnat bites,” she said lamely. “I came down to get something. For the itching.”
She could not decide who looked more horrified, Warwick or Rose.
“Vinegar,” Rose whispered, her face suddenly even paler than usual. Tanya could see every freckle on her skin. “Vinegar will stop them from itching.” She hurried to the cupboards and rummaged through them until she found the bottle. She moved toward Tanya, her hand outstretched. “You just need to dab it on. Here, do you want me to—”
“I can manage,” Tanya said, the heat in her cheeks flustering her. She couldn’t seem to gather her thoughts properly. The shock of what she had seen had caught her completely off guard.
“Of course.” Rose gave her the bottle and stepped back, her hands clasped together.
Warwick hadn’t moved. Tanya backed away, nearing the door. As she turned to go through it, he spoke.
“Tanya.”
She met his eyes, barely. “Don’t you think things are already complicated enough?” she asked him.
“You won’t… say anything, will you?” His voice was pleading.
“Don’t worry,” she said hollowly, shaking her head. “I wouldn’t know where to start.”
She left them, shamefaced, in the kitchen and went back upstairs. In the bathroom she dabbed vinegar onto the bites and then stared at her reflection in the mirror for a long time.
“Another secret,” she whispered. She was fed up with them. Secrets everywhere. And now this was a huge one that she had to keep from her two best friends.
When had everything become such a mess?
A belch from the drain-dweller in the plughole made her jump.
“And you can be quiet as well,” she said crossly. She stuck the plug in the hole and left the bathroom, turning out the light behind her.
In the room next to Tanya’s, Rowan was also having problems sleeping. It took her a long time to fall into a doze, but then a chit of sound disturbed her. Her eyes opened.
Chit.
She sat up in bed, rubbing her eyes. The third time it happened she recognized the noise. She threw back the bedclothes and went to the window. Pulling the curtains back, she made sure her line of salt was still i
n place on the sill before unlatching the window and leaning out. The scent of the roses in the courtyard below hit her nose, heavy and oversweet. A second later a small piece of gravel bounced off her forehead.
“Ouch!”
“Red?”
“Sparrow?” she said hesitantly. “Is that you?”
One of the rose bushes rustled and numerous winces and muttered curses drifted up to her.
“What are you doing down there?” she whispered.
“Trying to wake you up,” said Sparrow, finally disentangling himself from the bush. His figure was a silhouette in the dark gardens.
“You’ll wake the whole house up if you don’t keep it down,” Rowan hissed. “What are you doing here?”
“I just wanted to make sure you’d got home safe, like.”
She was immediately alert. “Why?”
“No reason. Anyway, I’ll be off now—”
“Oh, no you don’t!” she whispered fiercely. “Go around the back. I’ll meet you at the kitchen door.”
She pulled the window closed, crept to the door, and opened it. The hallway was in darkness and the house was silent. She slipped down the stairs and through the house to the kitchen, easily quieting Oberon—who scrambled to his feet and began thumping his tail—with a scratch behind the ears and a biscuit.
She unhooked the key from the nail behind the door and turned it in the lock. Sparrow stood awkwardly on the back step, his face half hidden in the shadow of the house. She pulled him inside and locked the door, pointing him to the table.
“What’s going on?”
“Told you,” said Sparrow. “Just wanted to check you got home.”
Rowan narrowed her eyes. “Since when do you check up on me? Since when does anyone check up on me? Something’s happened, hasn’t it?”
There was something different about him. Not only was he acting oddly, but he also looked different from the Sparrow she knew. His hair was shorter, neater. It showed his eyes more. Though it was dark—she hadn’t turned on the light for fear of waking anyone—his skin looked brighter. Cleaner, in fact. A scent of lemony soap or shampoo wafted toward her.