to the next, then onto the ground. “This way,” Nicodemus says, switching on a big flashlight.
I follow him up the mud pathway and out into the daylight. As soon as we’re above ground, I push him away from me.
“Watch it,” he says. “I just saved your life!”
“You just ruined my plan—they were about to tell me who kidnapped me!”
“They already told you,” he snarls. “It was the Mage!”
The Mage. The green man. The headstone. The Mage?
Nicodemus curls his lip, so I can see his missing eyeteeth. “It was the Mage who had you kidnapped,” he says. He keeps moving forward, and I keep stepping back. “And the Mage who let the vampires into Watford.”
“What?” I stumble in the snow, and catch myself.
“He made a deal with them,” Nicodemus says, inches from my face. “If they attacked Watford and gave everyone a good scare, he’d let them live in London, unbothered. He wanted me to make the deal, but I wouldn’t, so he found someone else.”
“The Mage sent vampires to kill my mother?”
“I tried to warn her, but she wouldn’t believe Merlin’s oath coming from me.” Nicodemus shrugs. “For what it’s worth, I don’t think the Mage meant for your mum to die—but I don’t think he minded much. Made everything else easier, didn’t it?”
I take another step back. “Why are you telling me this now? Why not before? And why are you even here—did you follow me?” I whip my head around, looking for more vampires. Is this a trap?
“I couldn’t tell you,” Nicodemus says. “He would have killed me! But now it doesn’t matter what he does. He went and arrested my sister, didn’t he? Your Mage. He’s got Ebeneza now. And I need your help getting her back.”
It was the Mage. It was the Mage all along.
I mean, I always thought it was him, but I never really thought it was him. How could he? He’s the Mage. How could he just—?
I make a noise like Snow, a growl that starts in my stomach and triggers my fangs. Then I turn and run for my car.
Nicodemus runs after me. He grabs my arm. “Wait! I’m coming with you!”
“You’re not coming with me.”
“I told you—he has my sister!”
“What do I care?”
“I’m going to help you fight.”
“I don’t want your help, you monster.”
“Too bad,” he says, yanking me. “You’ll have it!”
We’re interrupted by desperate yelping: A Normal is out walking his dog, a cross-eyed Cavalier spaniel, and it’s taken an interest in Nicodemus and me, barking madly.
“Come along, Della.” The Normal pulls on her chain, and the dog nearly chokes herself jumping at us. Bark, bark, bark.
I could swear it’s saying, “Baz! Baz! Baz!”
I turn away from Nicodemus and look more closely at the spaniel. “Are you saying my name?”
“Baz!” the dog barks. “Thank magic! It’s me, Penelope!”
“Bunce?” It does sound like her. In a yelpy, canine way. “Who turned you into a dog?”
“Am I a dog?” she yaps. “The spell’s never worked that way before. Baz, you have to come get me!” The Normal is leaning over to pick up his dog, as if I’m a threat to her.
I am. I grab the dog and hold it up to my face.
“Hey, now,” the Normal says. Nicodemus hisses at him, and the man lets go of the dog’s chain.
“Bunce, what are you talking about?”
“Baz, we can’t let Simon face the Mage alone—I have a really bad feeling about it. I need you to come get me!”
Simon. Alone with the Mage. With my mother’s murderer.
“I’m coming.” I shove the animal under my arm and look up at the Normal. “I need to borrow your dog.”
“You can’t just—”
I hold up my wand. “There’s nothing to see here!” The Normal looks at us, then down at his hands, then gets a cigarette out of his pocket.
I start running towards my car.
Nicodemus is right behind me. “I’m coming with you!”
I keep running. He grabs at my arm again, and I whirl around, starting a fire in that palm. He jumps back.
The Bunce spaniel yelps at him.
“I have to save my sister,” he says. “And you could use my help. You know I can’t get in on my own.”
I tilt up my chin. “I could use your help. And if what you’re saying is true, Ebb certainly could. But I’ll be damned to hell twice over before I let a vampire into Watford. Even a gelded one.”
77
AGATHA
“Oh, thank magic,” Mum says. She’s standing in my doorway in her dressing gown.