Opal glanced back at the witch; for a moment, it seemed as if she might offer sincerity and then she simply shrugged.
‘It was simply time to drop the charade,’ said Opal.
‘And you call me a liar,’ said Theodora.
Opal laughed. ‘I heard you. I must have come in right at the end of your tale. You told Dottie everything about us, our time in the forest, but you left out some crucial details, didn’t you? How I later found you and the tea shop. How you built this room for me and promised to help me and then ignored me. How you becameobsessed with all your little occupations, just to get away from me. More than me, you loved that stupid spirit, and the red-haired boy, and now this doomed little wretch.’
She nodded at Dot.
‘I heard your plans to let Lio into the basement workshop,’ said Opal, smug, gathering a handful of shirts and jumpers and perfumes from her bureau. ‘It was time to act. Salamander wants Dottie’s magic. He wants this tea shop. He doesn’t trust that you won’t find a way to weasel out of all of it, so I’ve been using Lio to weaken the wards. But my job is done. I’m leaving you,Theodora.’
Opal turned to Lio and looked on him with pity.
‘And you? You were a means to an end,’ said Opal.
‘But – why?’ stammered Lio.
‘Why send you that letter?’ asked Opal. ‘I had orders to have all the wards in this house weakened before the final contract ran out, and I have always been barred from the rooms beneath this attic. As the months drew closer and all my other attempts failed, I decided to try a creative angle. Who else could I have convinced so easily to help me?’
‘You were up here,’ said Lio. He looked like he might collapse. ‘The whole time.’
‘Watching you mope about and read my letter and swat away the gushing and blushing of this one.’ She nodded at Dot. ‘It wasn’t quite as fun as I thought it would be, I will admit. Got a bit sad by the second, third, fourth month.’
Then a tapping came at the windowsill, and a raven appeared.
Dot watched Lio as he spotted the bird.
‘Eliot,’ said Opal. ‘My destitute dove. My littleLio.’
Lio slid down the wall of the hidden attic bedroom and covered his face in his hands. Rupert kneeled beside him, still clutching Belchamber. The boy was crying, muttering something low. Lio gently pushed him away.
Even Cate looked with pity on the young man.
And Dot, who could not bear to watch them, turned back to Opal, who now snatched the letter from the bird’s leg.
‘Seems my benefactor is ready at last for me to leave this place. The wards are weak. I no longer have a reason to haunt this attic. It is time for me to bring in Dorothy.’
‘Salamander is using you up,’ said Theodora, stepping forward. She tried to take Opal’s hand, but Opal snatched hers away. ‘The conduence will kill you. You must stop what you’re doing. Perhaps I have misunderstood something. Opal—’
‘Enough,’ said Opal. She clicked one finger and the final artefacts of her room – the folded clothing, the packed bags, the suitcase – all vanished. ‘I will perform the task that you could not bear to.’
Opal placed both hands on her chest and her magic surged. Her black, intricate tattoos illuminated across her shoulders and down her arms. The scent of Opal’s magic – woodsmoke, gunpowder, incense and blackberry – was swamped by the stench of Salamander’s.
Opal flew forward with uncanny speed as if she were a marionette vaulted across a stage. She crashed into Dot, who struck the wall behind her and yelped. Opal seized her bread knife and yanked Dot’s arms above her head. It was the dungeon all over again; it was, truly, Salamander who pinned her.
Theodora lunged at Opal but the daemon’s borrowed magic coursed through the addled woman, strengthening her. Then came Rupert’s hands and the barest whispers of the boy’s magic. Theodora yelled, ‘Move, Rupe!’A burst of fire plumed, and although Dot felt the heat of it, although she smelled the scent of burning hair and skin, Opal seemed to barely notice the flame.
Opal cast out an arm and a burst of magic hit Theodora and sent Rupert flying. Lio toppled against the wardrobe door. Cate, somewhere beyond, yelled her daughter’s name. There came a thud.At last, Opal raised the bread knife which had once pierced her own body and sliced it down Dot’s afflicted arm.
Dot screamed.
‘Stop it!’ shouted Rupert from somewhere faraway.
There came a flash of heat. The cold of a glass phial was pressed at Dot’s wrist. Dot choked on the reek of Salamander’s magic.
‘Get off her,’ cried Theodora, seizing Opal at last. She lunged for the phial of blood, but Opal deftly wiggled out of her grip, stepped into a portal and was gone.
Cate and Moira leaped into another portal.
