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‘There stood the Shadow, and his memories hurt so much that they almost tore hihs, he thought he could feel tears on his grey skin Their fear burned his eyes like s different, so that made him shudder and forced hirated, and suddenly they were all back again, all the beings from whose ashes the Shadow had been s and cats, brownies, fairies, andup with the where the Shadow had collapsed, all looking around as if they’d just woken frolio’s last sentence

‘They woke as if froain’

‘He isn’t here any lio’s sheet of paper froone, Mo! He’s in the story now I know he is’

Mo looked at the book and tucked it back under his jacket ‘Yes, I think you’re right,’ he said ‘But if so, there’s nothing we can do about it for the oes on beyond the book’ He led Meggie aith hie creatures crowding into the arena outside Capricorn’s village as if they had always been there Darius followed the with her bony hands gripping the back of the chair where Meggie had been sitting She eeping soundlessly, her face cru were ised profusely when it fluttered into Meggie’s hair as she and Mo went towards the cage containing her y creature who looked half human, half animal stumbled across her path, and finally she almost trod on a tiny little lass Capricorn’s village had acquired soet the lock open when they reached the cage He was picking at it, looking angry, and er had shown him just how to do it and this must be a very special sort of lock

‘Oh, wonderful!’ said Elinor sarcastically, pressing her face to the bars from inside ‘So the Shadow didn’t eat us after all, but we’ll be left to starve in a cage Well, well! What do you think of your daughter, Mo? Isn’t she a brave little thing? I couldn’t have uttered a word le word My God, et the book away froie’s shoulder and s at so time

‘I’ve done it! I’ve done it!’ cried Farid, pulling the door of the cage open But before the toure rose in the darkest corner of their prison, leaped towards them, and seized the first person he could lay his hands on – Meggie’s mother

‘Wait!’ spat Basta ‘Stop, stop, not so fast Where are you off to, then, Resa? To join your beloved fa down in the crypt? Well, I did’

‘Let go of her!’ cried Meggie ‘Let go of her!’ Why hadn’t she noticed the dark heap lying so still in the corner? She had just assumed Basta was as dead as Capricorn And indeed, asn’t he? Why hadn’t he disappeared like Flatnose and Cockerell and all the others?

‘Let her go, Basta!’ Mo spoke very quietly, as if he had no strength for anything else ‘You won’t get out of here, even by using her as a shield No one will help you They’re all gone’

‘Oh, I’ll get out!’ replied Basta unpleasantly ‘I shall choke her if you don’t let me pass I’ll break her scrawny neck Did you know she can’t talk? She can’t make a sound because that useless Darius read her out of the book She’s as silent as a fish, a pretty, mute fish But if I know you, you’ll want her back all the sahed

‘Why aren’t you dead?’ Elinor shouted at him ‘Why didn’t you fall down dead like your ed ‘How should I know?’ he growled, keeping his hand round Resa’s neck She tried to kick hipie’s still here too, but she always made other people do her dirty work for her, and as for ood characters in the story now because they puttiotpeople? Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps … but anyway here I a!’

But Elinor did not budge

‘No,’ she said ‘You don’t get out of here until you let her go! I’d never have expected this story to have a happy ending, but it has – and a creature like you isn’t going to spoil that at the lastvery detere door ‘You don’t have your knife with you this tierously soft voice ‘You have nothing but your filthy tongue, and believe you ers into his eyes, Teresa! Kick him, bite him, the beast!’

But before Teresa could do as she said Basta thrust her away froht her down – her and Mo, for both of the to her aid As for Basta, he raced for the open door of the cage, pushed the startled Farid and Meggie aside – and ran away past all the people and creatures still wandering like sleepwalkers around the scene of Capricorn’s festivities Before Farid or Mo could give chase he had disappeared

‘Oh, great!’ e with Teresa ‘Now that wretched felloill hauntout in ht I shall feel his knife at pie also disappeared without trace that night And when, wearily, they set off to find a vehicle of soe, they found that all the cars had gone too Not a single one was left in the car park, which was dark now

‘Oh no, tell roaned Elinor ‘Does this ain?’

‘Unless you happen to have a mobile phone with you,’ said Mo He had not moved from Teresa’s side since Basta had made his escape He had looked with concern at her neck, where the red ers were still visible, and he had run a strand of her hair through his fingers and said he almost liked it better noas darker But nine years are a long tiie sa careful they ith each other, like people on a narrow bridge crossing a wide, wide void

Of course Elinor did not have her h Farid io and search Capricorn’s fire-blackened house for it, it did not turn up So they finally decided to spend one last night in the village, along with all the creatures that Fenoglio had brought back to life It was still a beautiful,under the trees would be quite coie and Mo found plenty of blankets in the now deserted houses But they did not go back into Capricorn’s house Meggie never wanted to set foot inside it again, not because of the acrid s out of its s, or the charred doors, but because of the memories that leaped out at her like fierce aniht of the place