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Incredibly, impossibly, Dervish doesn’t believe uy in a costu demons everywhere you look I know-"

"Don’t!" I snap I’ve got him by himself, out of earshot of everybody "That piece of scuhtered Gret Don’t tellDon’t you dare"

"Grubbs, I know this is hard, but you’ve got to believe-"

"That was Lord Loss!" I cry

"It looked like hily, "but that’s because Davida did a lot of research She knohat real demons look like Actually, I helped her out on this one She had so She didn’t know about the cracks in his skin, the colour of his eyes or that he didn’t have real feet"

"Really?" I sneer "And you filled her in on the facts?"

"Yes," Dervish says, trying to sound modest

"And her technicians were able to ers-"like that? They were able to take elaborate,on for months and alter them within the space of a few days?"

"Yes," Dervish says evenly

I stare into my uncle’s eyes but I don’t find hilibly like this and dismiss my fears so carelessly Chuda Sool has brainwashed him, I’m sure of it I’ll have to look elsewhere for allies

"Where are you going?" Dervish asks as I turn my back on him and march off

"To find someone who’ll believe"

I ask Juni to visit Bill-E and me in our roo problems with her and would like Juni’s advice Naturally Juni’s only too happy to help Promises to drop by within the next half hour

Bill-E knows so is up He doesn’t knohat it is, but he’s delighted to be involved, proud that I’ him He wasn’t happy when I skulked around the set without hi hiiven

I say nothing until Juni arrives, getting things clear inhow much to tell them, what to say and what to keep toon a chair, hands clasped on her knees, I begin by confessing that I lied "I didn’t really bring you here to talk about Bo"

"I guessed," she s-don’t think I’et down to the crazy stuff, have either of you noticed anything strange about Dervish?" I ask

"What do you mean?" Bill-E frowns

"I’ll take that as a no Juni?"

She pauses "I don’t know your uncle very well, but he’s seemed a little unfocused recently"

"You sahen he was talking with Chuda about the search for Kik, didn’t you?"

"I saw soh a lot these last two years The responsibility of having to look after you, the te to readjust to norhtmares?" Bill-E asks We never told him about Dervish’s bad drea recently," Juni explains

"That’s the first I’ve heard of it," Bill-E grumbles

"He finds it easy to share his secrets and fears with s he finds hard to discuss with others I’ve been trying to help hiress but now he see with his hts"

"You can’t be serious," Juni laughs But her laughter dies ahen she sees that I a that will sound insane," I begin "Bill-E knows some of it but not all I need you to hear me out and at least try to believeforward, intrigued

I take a deep breath Glance at Bill-E, knohat I say is going to hurt hiht in "Demons killed my parents and sister"

I fill them in on most of the details My early encounter with Lord Loss Escape Madness Recovery Moving to Carcery Vale The curse of the Gradys Then the big one-Bill-E turning into a olf

"So that’s it!" Bill-E cries He’s treht your story that Dervish lockedyou weren’t telling" He glares at ly "You lied to h

"I can take hurt Not lies You should have told me"

"Maybe," I mutter miserably

"So, am I cured?" Bill-E snarls

"Yes"

"For real? Forever?"

I nod glumly, then outline the deal which certainwith Lord Loss, the chess matches, the battles with his faed Lord Loss on Bill-E’s behalf The only part I leave out is the truth about Bill-E’s father I don’t tell him we had the same dad This isn’t the tie dwindles as he hears what Dervish and I risked to save hi down his cheeks I find thatat me as if I’m some kind of hero But I’m not I only did it because he’s my brother, but I can’t tell him that, not now He thinks Dervish is his dad If I told hi him with the news that his real father’s dead

I finish quickly with the last fewLord Loss in his de here to try and sort hi Tu, the appearance of Lord Loss

"It was definitely him," I tell them "I wasn’t a hundred per cent sure before, but now I am There are real de with soht be one of their allies too Lord Loss swore revenge on me, Dervish and Bill-E So the three of us are for the chop, no doubt about it Probably the rest of you as well"

Silence Bill-E is staring at me, torn between hero-worship, terror and doubt Juni doesn’t knohat to think or say She’s probably heard all sorts in her tientle way of denying what I’ me

"It’s OK," I smile "You can say I’m crazy I won’t mind"

"People roll out that word too swiftly," Juni objects "It’s an easy fall-back I try never to eneralisations But"

"in this case you’ll rins shakily "I wasn’t going to say that"

"But you were thinking it, right?"

She tilts her head uncertainly "We have a lot to discuss This goes back a long way You have deep-rooted issues which we’ll have to work through, one at a tiic?" I interrupt

"No," Juni says plainly

"What if I could convince you?"

"How?"

I’ve been thinking a lot about this I kneords alone wouldn’t be enough I haven’t done anything ic is still in the air, surroundingto be channelled It had better be or else I really will look like a loon!

"Is that worth a lot?" I ask, pointing at the watch on her wrist

"No," she frowns

"Does it matter to you? Would you miss it if you lost it?"

"Not really Where is this going, Grubbs?"

"You’ll see" I fixa struggle, but almost as soon as I focus, the watch liquidises and drips off Juni’s hand

"Ow!" Juni yelps, leaping to her feet and rubbing her wrist "It’s hot!"

"Sorry!" I juet some ice or-"

"I’, stares at the red mark left behind by the melted metal, then at the puddle on the floor, then at me "Grubbs what the hell?" she croaks

"That was just for openers," I bea up "Have you ever wanted to fly?"