“Father Christmas isn’t real,” I say, “but the Tooth Fairy is. There’s no rhyme or reason to this stuff.”
“Well, the Veil is totally real,” Penny says. “It’s what keeps souls from walking.”
“But it’s lifting now?” I feel like getting my sword out again.
“The autumnal equinox is coming,” she says, “when day and night are the same length. The Veil thins, then lifts—sort of like fog. And people come back to tell us things.”
“All of us?”
“I wish. People only come back if they have something important to say. Something true. It’s like they come back to testify.”
“That sounds… dramatic.”
“My mother says her aunt came back twenty years ago to tell them about a hidden treasure. Mum’s kind of hoping she’ll come back again this time to tell us more.”
“What kind of treasure?”
“Books.”
“Of course.” I decide to finish my sandwich. And Penny’s boiled egg.
“But sometimes,” she says, “it’s scandalous. People come back to reveal affairs. Murders. The theory is, you have a better shot of crossing over if your message serves justice.”
“How can anyone know that?”
“It’s just a theory,” Penny says. “But if Aunt Beryl comes to me, I’m going to ask her as much as I can before she fades out again.”
I look back across the hall. “I wonder what that girl’s granny told her.”
Penny laughs and stacks her dishes. “Probably her secret toffee recipe.”
“So these Visitors… they’re not zombies?” It doesn’t hurt to be sure about these things.
“No, Simon. They’re harmless. Unless you’re afraid of the truth.”
10
THE MAGE
I should make him go. I could.
He’s not a child anymore, but he would still take an order.
I promised to take care of him.
How do you keep a promise like that? To take care of a child, when the child is the greatest power you know…
And what does itmeanto take care of power? Do you use it? Conserve it? Keep it out of the wrong hands?
I’d thought I could be of more help to Simon, especially by now. Help him come into his power. Help him takeholdof it.
There must be a spell for him… Magic words that would fortify him. A ritual that would make the power itself manageable. I haven’t found it yet, but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t out there. That it doesn’t exist!
And if I do find it…
Is it enough to stabilize his power, if I can’t stabilize the boy?
This isn’t in the prophecies; there’s nothing about headstrong children.
