“One move from anyone and I’ll kill her,” Suki hissed. “Lower that gun.”
Warwick had raised his rifle the instant Suki’s knife had appeared. “I mean it.”
Reluctantly, Warwick lowered the weapon.
Tino’s face drained of color. “Suki? What are you doing?”
“She lied about everything!” Fabian yelled. “She was working with Eldritch all this time—she planned to let him in through the tunnel to help her finish you all off!”
“The tunnel?” Tino’s face fell. “But Sparrow’s down there—”
“He’s in the library,” said Tanya. “Eldritch knocked him unconscious and left him for Suki to kill.”
Tino roared in rage and flung himself at Suki, but Warwick grabbed him.
“Back off!” Suki yelled. She lowered her lips to Rowan’s ear. “You should be dead by now. Why aren’t you?”
“Because Eldritch is.” Rowan squirmed in Suki’s grasp. “Your little plan backfired—he ended up at the bottom of one of the catacombs, where he planned to leave me!”
“I can’t say he wasn’t useful,” Suki sneered. “Although I’d have preferred it if he’d just finished Sparrow off. Desperate times, and all that.”
Tears of rage sprang to Rowan’s eyes once more. “You evil—”
“Shut up!” Suki shook her, and she felt the sharp sting of the blade as it pierced through her fur.
“Let her go, Suki,” Tino said, his mouth slack. “Just let her go—you don’t want this. Why would you do this? We’re your friends—we trusted you.”
“Don’t tell me what I want!” Suki screamed, waving the knife in the air. “I’m sick of you controlling me!” Her normally pale face flooded scarlet with rage.
“Controlling you?” Tino’s face screwed up in disbelief. “I gave you a chance! I gave you the choice! And this is how you repay me, you ungrateful little traitor!”
“You ruined my life.” Suki spoke through gritted teeth, every syllable dripping with hatred.
“I saved you!” Tino cried. “When the fairies took you, I brought you back—”
“Yes, you brought me back! But to what? Did you ever ask yourself that? Did you stop to consider my surroundings when you found me? No—you just did your little do-gooder act and stuck your nose in where it wasn’t wanted. I never wanted to go back to my parents! I hated them—HATED THEM!”
Tino took a step back in shock, but Suki’s tirade had only just begun.
“For the first time in my life I was happy, wanted. I’d never known that before. Every day I’d been told I was stupid and useless. My mother never wanted me and she made it clear.” She laughed bitterly. “She thought more of the dogs than she did of me. I used to sleep in the shoe cupboard with them… cuddling up to them was the only bit of affection I ever got. Until one of them had puppies. Then I was bitten. Rejected, even by them.”
“But they were so glad to have you back,” Tino stuttered. “We watched you, made sure the fairies never came back for you—”
“And why were they glad? Well, firstly, it got them off the hook with the authorities—no changeling was left in my place and by all accounts I’d just vanished. But secondly, they were glad of my return because of what I’d brought back with me.” Suki tapped her temple. “The sight. Oh, yes, Tino. You got that wrong as well. I wasn’t taken because I was gifted. I was taken because I was unwanted. Because I wouldn’t be missed. I was given the sight—I never had it before then. The second sight too—I couldn’t even see fairies before then! As soon as I returned it was evident that I was different.”
“That’s why you had no guardian,” Tino said, understanding at last. “You weren’t born with the second sight.”
Suki ignored him. “At first, it earned me a few more slaps and the odd night in the cellar. But then they noticed that what I was saying came true. They saw how it could be used—my mother set up a fortune-telling scam. While customers waited in the kitchen I sat by them, quietly getting flashes of their lives to feed back to her before she took them to the room for their readings. With a few true facts that I picked up, she was free to add on any old nonsense of her own and they swallowed it all. Suddenly, I was useful to her… her and my lazy, good-for-nothing stepfather. But still that couldn’t make her love me. And being useful wasn’t enough.” Her eyes narrowed. “Sometimes I refused to tell them things, or gave them the wrong information on purpose. They called me a freak. One evening we argued… and something snapped in my head. I knew I couldn’t take it anymore. I wondered… if they were gone, would the other mother—the mother from the fairy realm—come back for me?” She smiled. “So I said I was sorry, like a good girl. Made them a bedtime drink laced with a sleeping draught to knock them out.”
“No,” Tino murmured. “No, you didn’t… you can’t have…”
“My mother was the hardest,” Suki said dreamily. “Even after everything, I still loved her. He was much easier.”
“There was no fairy…” Tino whispered, horrified. “You did it. You killed your parents.”
“And then you came along, offering your sympathy and a position with the Coven,” Suki said sarcastically. “Like a fairy godfather, weren’t you, Tino? How could I refuse? How could I possibly turn down the chance to ruin more lives? Only I saw the chance I was being given. Unlike any of you, I knew I’d be able to make the right choices, despite the ‘no exceptions’ rule. If a child was better off where it was, then I could leave it.
“I was happy enough with that for a while, until one day when I’d just completed a switch in the fairy realm. I’d done it as a favor to Merchant—he’d hit some trouble and needed to lie low for a while. Anyway, I came across a little cottage. It looked familiar, and in my mind’s eye, I saw why. I knocked. When the door opened, I recognized the woman instantly—she looked exactly the same as she had when she’d taken me all those years ago. She invited me in to sit among the animal pelts and the bones…. I didn’t remember those….”
“The Hedgewitch’s cottage,” Rowan gasped, but was silenced by another jab of the knife.
“She’d been an outcast too, she told me. That’s why she was there, alone. That’s why she’d stolen me, for a child of her own. But even that was taken from her.”
“You’d have ended up more crazy than you are now if you’d stayed with her!” Rowan braced herself for another shaking, but it didn’t come.
“That’s where you’re wrong.” Suki sounded sad. “Perhaps, if I’d stayed with her, we’d both have been saved. That’s when I first knew I wanted revenge. I had the chance to stop you all, for good. She promised to make the fox-skin coat for me and to have it ready for the next time I went back. It would make my work a lot easier and it was better than any glamour Tino was capable of.” Her voice hardened. “Only the next time I went back, she was dead, wasn’t she, Red? And not only had you killed her, but you’d taken my coat!”
“I didn’t mean to kill her.” Rowan fumbled with the catch on the coat. If she could undo it while Suki was talking, maybe there was a chance she could escape. “I didn’t even know what I’d done until I found out the truth about my name!”
Suki sighed, tightening her hold on Rowan’s neck. “I’m only sorry I didn’t get to display more of my handiwork before the game was up. I had so much more planned.” She glanced at Tino, a cruel smile curving her lips. “A special mask for you.”
Tino’s mouth dropped open. “What kind of mask?”
“An iron one that would ensure you spent the rest of your life disfigured. You have so many masks that I thought you might want to put them to good use. And for Merchant, a cauldron large enough to boil his bones in—I was especially looking forward to that.” She stared toward Samson scornfully. He had not moved from his brother’s body. “He was the dullest. I knew he’d be beaten as soon as Victor was dead.” She smiled. “I could’ve killed him, I’m sure. But I knew that for Samson, death wasn’t the worst thing. And I must say, there’s something… satisfyi
ng about breaking a strong man’s will. Still, I can get creative with Red, although really she was promised to Eldritch. And when all’s said and done, nine out of twelve isn’t a bad effort.”
“You’re delusional if you think you’re leaving here with Rowan,” Warwick told her.
Suki tilted her head. “And how do you propose to stop me? If any of you take a single step in my direction, I’ll gut her like a fish.”
“I’d rather die than let you escape after what you’ve done!” Rowan yelled. She wriggled, catching her claw on the clasp a second time, but failing to free it. Suki did not notice. “Just do it, Tino! Someone go for her, now!”
But no one would take the risk, for Suki was both protected and armed. She began edging toward the front door.
“Wait!” a voice called out, quiet and desperate. Suki paused.
Rose stood on the stairs, her frizzy red hair billowing past her shoulders.
“I’ll be your mother.” She took another step toward them.
“Stay back.” Suki moved the knife to Rowan’s throat again. “I’m warning you… I’ll cut her.”
“I’ll be your mother,” Rose repeated. “That’s all you want really, isn’t it? To be loved? So do I.” She held out her arms and took another step.
“Rose, what are you saying?” Rowan whispered.
“Rowan doesn’t want me,” Rose continued. “It doesn’t matter what I do. Things will never be right between us. See, I wanted a daughter too, but it’s too late.”
“No, it’s not!” Rowan cried. “It’s not too late! I do love you….”
“Let her go,” Rose begged, her arms outstretched. “Let her live, and I’ll be your mother… we can go somewhere new, where no one knows us….”
And for a moment, it almost seemed that it would work. Suki’s grasp on Rowan loosened very slightly, and she lowered the knife. Then Rose’s gaze flitted to Rowan, and in that one look it was clear for all to see that there was only one daughter she could ever love.
“Nice try. You almost had me.” Suki raised the knife, her eyes glittering with unshed tears—but in that moment’s distraction, Rowan finally freed the clasp on the fox-skin coat. The transformation was instant. Suki gasped and toppled forward, caught unaware as Rowan’s weight pulled her off balance.
Rowan hit the floor, rolling out of the way a split second before Suki’s knife came flashing down, screeching across the quarry stone floor. With a growl she advanced at Rowan for a second time. Warwick raised the gun and took aim but Suki was now almost upon Rowan.
“I can’t get a clean shot!” he shouted.
Rowan glanced about, desperate for something to defend herself with but seeing nothing.
“Here!” Tanya yelled, throwing the scissors at her.
Rowan caught them and drew them out of the small silver sheath, tossing it to the floor. She brandished the scissors, trying to ignore the stabbing sensation in her injured foot.
Suki backed away, then she fled to a nearby window, sweeping the salt away with her arms in one smooth motion. She smashed the glass with her elbow and vaulted on to the ledge. She was almost through it when her leg caught on a shard of broken glass. She screamed and fell back. Seeing his chance, Warwick threw the rifle to Merchant and dived on her, wrestling her to the ground and slamming her hand repeatedly against the tiles. Suki swore and scratched like a wildcat, flailing and tearing at his face with her other hand until Rowan grabbed it and held it to the floor with her knees. Still Suki thrashed until with one final blow from Warwick, she let out an almighty yell and the knife clattered to the floor.
“Oh….” Warwick flinched. “I think I broke her wrist….”
“It’s over, Suki,” Tino told her grimly. “You’re beaten.” He looked to Merchant. “Bring the spidertwine—we’ll have to bind her.”
Suki’s rigid body suddenly went limp as the fight left her. Instead she turned her head to the side, the thin slash of blond hair falling over her face as she wept bitter tears.
“What are you going to do with her?” Rowan whispered, relinquishing the arm she held down as Merchant returned with the skein of spidertwine.
“Take her to the courts,” said Tino, turning away in disgust. “They can deal with her. Just get her out of my sight.”
Suki continued to sob softly as her wrists and ankles were laced with spidertwine.
“Where’s Crooks?” someone said suddenly. “She said ‘nine out of twelve’—search the house!”
Rowan stood up, dazed. Rose was nearby, watching her. Her fingers twitched at her sides, and then she turned away—but Rowan reached out and touched her shoulder and threw herself into her mother’s arms.
“I meant it,” she whispered into Rose’s hair, so no one else could hear. Her eyes were damp. “I do love you… it’s just…”
“I know,” Rose whispered back, stroking her head. “You don’t have to say anything. I know.”
A screech from the broken window drove them apart. Two garvern clambered through it, their way clear now that Suki had swept away the salt. Their splintered talons clattered over the wooden sill, then they were in the air, hissing and swooping.
“Everyone take cover!” Warwick bellowed, but before he had even finished the sentence one of them was upon him. He lashed out with his knife, and the creature flew across the hall in a spray of blood. Then the second one attacked.
“Dad!” Fabian shouted, rushing to his defense, but Merchant seized him and pulled him back. Instead Tino hastened to Warwick’s aid, grabbing the bloodied sword that had slaughtered Victor and charging in with a battle cry. The injured garvern hit the ground, unmoving, but the second one had now wrapped itself around Warwick’s face and was raking great gashes in his coat. He stabbed at it blindly and swayed about, preventing Tino from taking aim.
Raven transformed in a flurry of feathers. By now, Tanya, Rowan, and Fabian were on the stairs, urged forward by Gredin, Rose, and Merchant, and as Raven glided past them Tanya felt the soft touch of a wing skim her cheek.
Then Raven was upon the garvern, cawing, pecking, gouging. The creature screamed, and Rowan looked on in horror as blood flowed from one of its eyes. It batted its hands about, plucking Raven from the air as it launched itself away from Warwick. As the garvern flew past her, Rowan heard something crackle.
“Raven!” Florence cried.
“Stay back!” Tino fired Victor’s sword through the air. It arced in a clean sweep, burying itself in the garvern’s belly. With a screech the creature fell to the floor, writhing in a widening pool of red, with Raven still clenched in its hands. By the time Warwick had reached it, his knife raised, its life had drained away.
“Raven,” he moaned, easing the clenched hand open and taking her gently into his own.
“No….” Florence ran down the stairs to his side, her hair loose and trailing down her back. Her face was wet with tears as she cradled Warwick’s hands in her own. “No, not Raven….”
The smallest trickle of blood escaped Raven’s beak with her last feeble caw. Her crushed body twitched. One wing lifted, then fell. Then she grew still.
Epilogue
From the diary of Tanya Fairchild
We buried Raven the morning after, under the horse chestnut tree in the back garden. My grandmother stood at the front, holding the Mizhog in her arms. Even after everything that had happened, she was pristine, perfect, except for that one little strand of hair that escaped the knot at the back of her neck. She managed to hold herself together until Gredin stopped speaking, but then her face crumpled and she rushed inside. No one saw her again until the evening.
We kept to our rooms that day, Rowan, Fabian, and me, while they moved the dead out of the house. Warwick disposed of the dead garvern in the woods, while the captive living one and Victor’s body would be returned to the fairy realm—along with Suki, for the courts to deal with. For although she was human, her crimes against the fairies and their people were altogether easier to explain to them than to the po
lice. Tino saw to it that any risk of her exposing the Coven vanished with her memories. The last anyone heard, she was due to be sentenced on Halloween—the day the courts change over.
We found Crooks after searching the house, expecting the body count to rise by one more, but it seems that Suki had something more drawn-out lined up for him. He was cramped in the priest hole with a bump on his head and a look in his eyes that none of the Coven had seen before. Finally, the boy who thought he could escape from anywhere had been proved wrong. He left with the remaining members of the Coven—apart from Sparrow—the same day.
Sparrow stayed in Tickey End. With some help from Warwick, he found a job and a place to live. Though it’s never been said, everyone knows he stayed for Rowan.
None of the Coven members have contacted her since. Not yet, anyway. But despite everything, she says Tino will never stop. The roots, and the need to honor those who died, go too deep for that.
It’ll take some time, but he’ll rebuild the Coven. And it’ll be stronger for its past mistakes. This I know myself—Tino put it in a letter that arrived for me a few weeks later, along with the offer that if I want it, there’s a place for me with them. I almost destroyed it on the spot, but something—I don’t know what—stopped me. Instead I hid it and never spoke of it to anyone. I still haven’t.
I haven’t seen Gredin since that day, either. Next to my grandmother, he was hit hardest by Raven’s death. Before he left, we spoke about what my grandmother told me about how he came to be my guardian, and we came to an agreement. The agreement is this: He will only come when I call upon him for help. Because in spite of everything I said to him, and all the threats and punishments, I was never so glad to see anyone as I was when he turned up in Hangman’s Wood that day.
You would think the manor would feel different after what occurred there. And it does. Of course it does. It’s part of the history of it now; along with Elizabeth, and Amos, and my grandmother and Morwenna, not to mention Rowan and Fabian, and me. A place can’t see that much and not be changed by it. But it’s different from how you might expect. The air is clearer somehow, like there’s been a big storm and it’s chased the last of the cobwebs away.