“J, can you think of anything that we have that someone would go to this trouble to get?”

He sighed. “Nah. There’s nothing that I ken of. We dinna have onything locked away because it’s too valuable to be seen by others.”

I paused. Actually we did. In John’s office there was that magically sealed drawer that I’d been unable to open. It was just possible that there was something inside there that Iabartu was after. I couldn’t think of any reason for why John would have wanted to keep anything hidden away from the rest of the pack, so whatever was in there must be important.

I knocked the nail into place. I needed to get into that drawer. Unfortunately I’d not seen Alex since I returned and he would surely be my best bet for breaking through a ward. Remembering the melted pen, I figured that attacking it myself might not be best the idea. But silver could work. I needed to get some anyway for when I went through the portal so I reckoned that there was no time like the present. Quickly finishing up the door, I shouted down to Johannes to try closing it. The heavy oak slammed shut into place. Perfect. At least if Corrigan caught up with me again I could prove that I’d been busy.

“I need to take care of a few things, J,” I said to him as I climbed back down the ladder.

“Aye, lass,” he nodded, “you do tha’. ‘n’ make sure ye catch that fecker ‘n’ all.”

No prizes for guessing who that ‘fecker’ was. At least someone still had faith in me.

I had to make sure that none of the Brethren saw me returning to the keep. I was pretty sure that if I was caught shirking the orders that Corrigan had given me, then they’d throw my sorry ass down the disused well at the back of the keep and wipe their hands of me. Before I did anything, however, I had to find Julia.

As I was confident that she’d have been taken to her own room, where she could be made the most comfortable, I headed back inside the keep but avoided the main stairwell. Off the great hall was a small door that led to a staircase that had been used by servants in times gone past. I reckoned that the Brethren wouldn’t know about it yet – and even if they did, they’d have no cause to use it. Despite my gut feeling that I wouldn’t bump into any of them along the way, I moved cautiously up the steps, trying to be as silent as I possible could. When I reached the third floor, where Julia’s room was located, I carefully pushed open the door just a chink and peered through.

I could just make out her room at the other end of the corridor and voices coming from inside it. I watched for a few moments and then Corrigan and the doctor emerged. The looks on both their faces were grave. Swallowing hard, I waited till they had headed to the main stairwell and begun to descend before I made a move. There was one heart-stopping moment where Corrigan seemed to pause and sniff the air, and I pushed myself back against the wall and held my breath, praying that it wasn’t me he could smell, but then he continued onward murmuring something inaudible.

Tiptoeing forward, feeling like a thief in my own house, I made my way to her room and inside, gently closing the door behind me. Her pale broken body lay on the bed, unconscious. I didn’t have much time before someone returned to check on her, but I had to do this. I knelt down beside her prone form and placed my hand on her arm. Her skin felt clammy to the touch and a wave of despondency ran through me.

“It’s all my fault, Julia,” I whispered. “The wichtlein said so. I don’t know why or how, but it is. And if,” my voice broke slightly, “if I could have been here when you called then I could have saved you.” I gulped in air and tried to swallow down the tears. “I’ll make it right though. I promise I’ll make it right. Just stay strong until I return.” I smoothed a strand of hair away from her brow and slowly stood up. This was my battle now. I was going to do what I should have from the beginning. I turned and left, without looking back.

After leaving the third floor, I sneaked up to the south garret where the silver weapons were kept, managing to avoid any Brethren along the way. The door was kept locked, simply because of how dangerous silver was to shifters, but everyone knew where the key was. I reached up onto the dusty sill of the door frame and felt around. My fingers found it before too long and I managed to unlock it quickly.

Inside, the little room was spartan but clean. I pulled a bow off the wall and tested its string. It twanged with a pleasing tautness so I slung it round my shoulder, then opened up a battered chest and pulled out the silver tipped arrows. There would be a limit to how many I could realistically carry – and I still had to get out of the keep without any of the Brethren spotting me – so I only took eight and stuffed them into my backpack. The length of the arrows were such that it looked like it contained weapons. As long as no-one asked me to open the bag though, I’d probably be okay. Next I unhooked a small dirk from the other wall and hefted it in my palms, feeling its weight. It was perfectly balanced and would suit me well. It was light and easy to carry so even if I found myself wandering around the portal’s other plane for some length of time trying to find the bitch, then at least it wouldn’t weigh me down. I tested the blade gently against my skin and made a small nick. It would cut through even the toughest hide. Excellent.

My next stop was the dorm. I’d have to bandage up my arm to stop it from bleeding any further. Some otherworld creatures, shifters included, could smell blood at fifty paces. There was no point in giving myself away too easily. And I was pretty sure that I still had some of Julia’s yarrow ointment to slather on too.

I headed back down the narrow stairs and almost banged straight into Staines as I rounded the corridor. Shit. He scowled at me and then wrinkled his nose. Damnit, when was the last time I’d put on the scented lotion? I couldn’t remember, but it had definitely been more than eight hours ago. His eyes narrowed suspiciously at me, so I headed him off at the cross.

“I stink of human after being in that town. And blood too. Makes me feel unclean. The trouble is that we only have a limited supply of hot water and I have a horrible feeling that the girls will have already used it all up.” I was vaguely aware that I was babbling. “I don’t suppose you have that problem in London though, do you?”

He looked at me like I was slightly demented in the head. Which was fine. Then he strode off without saying a word and I made a face at his back. Manners cost nothing. Another one of Julia’s favourite sayings. I winced at the thought of her and quickly picked up my pace.

Fortunately no-one was in the dorm. I was hoping to avoid any of the pack, because I didn’t want to blurt out my plan to them, in case they tried to stop me or, worse, tried to join me. This was a one way mission and I was going solo. I changed my clothes, slapped on some lotion and then carefully cleaned and bound the bite marks on my arm. Tom’s reaction times must be improving to have latched on so quickly, I thought idly. He’d make a strong pack warrior one day, assuming of course that the Brethren didn’t vanish him away first. I supposed I’d never know now which way he’d decide to jump.

Once I was safely dehumanized, I went out in search of Alex. I didn’t know which room Julia would have put him into, especially with the Brethren already occupying all the guest rooms on the floor above. However there were a few spare rooms on my dorm’s floor, such as the one that Tom and I ‘shared’, so I wandered along in the dim corridor light, swinging open a few doors as I went. All the rooms were bare and unslept in apart from one on the far side, facing north. As the door squeaked open and I peered around, I noticed there were a few bags dumped on the floor by the window and some odd chalk marks on the floor. Probably some kind of paranoid mage runes, the equivalent of a teenager’s Stay The Hell Out sign. I reached into my bag and pulled out a scrap of paper and a pencil and scribbled him a note, sticking it to the inside of the door, and telling him to come and find me, either in the office or outside the keep, as a matter of urgency. Hopefully he’d come back soon and read it. In the meantime, I’d have to keep my fingers crossed that the silver dirk would be able to break through John’s magic.

Vaguely remembering an old war film I’d watched years ago, where the British spy in enemy territory had commented that you had to look as if you belonged and knew where you were going and what you were doing to evade capture, I strode out of the dorm and down into the office, trying to make it appear as if I definitely wasn’t skulking and was still working on Corrigan’s ‘repair the keep’ orders. I needn’t have worried. I passed a few pack members, and a few Brethren too, but they were all lost in their own thoughts and own grief and paid me little attention. Ally gave me a ghost of a smile as I tripped again on the hole in the carpet going down the stairs, but didn’t say anything. It had seemed that everyone had forced themselves to bounce back quickly after John, but with the threat of more imminent attacks, and the shocking events of just a couple of hours ago, it felt as if the will and the spirit of the keep had been stripped away. The feeling was almost as depressing as thinking of Julia upstairs fighting for her life. And it also gave me reason enough to keep going with my plan.

I had a couple of ready made excuses prepared in my head, in case anyone, especially Corrigan, was inside the office, but I was in luck and it was empty. Someone had already started to tidy up some of the devastation that the invaders had caused, but whoever it was had left a few tidy piles of papers and then disappeared. It suited me perfectly. I carefully twisted the knob on the door to John’s study and stepped inside, flicking on the light switch.

It was exactly the same as it had been when I’d last been in, breaking into his computer. I ignored the machine this time around, however and bent down to the bottom drawer of the old desk. There was a tiny brass keyhole fashioned into the wood, where I guessed the source of the magic ward would be. I could feel it pulsating even from where I was, broadcasting to keep out and stay away. Sorry, not this time. I pushed my index finger towards it, experimentally, and felt the cold burn of the barrier. I drew back quickly and tried the sides, knocking the lower edges of the wood that encased all the drawers. The buzz of the ward was there too, although a bit fainter. I tried reaching underneath, to the bottom of the drawer, but jolted back with a hiss as again I met painful resistance. Then I pulled out the drawer above, completely taking it out of its place and peering down. It was a pitch black well of nothingness.