Liminal: The Mitchester Arms, episode 12: The End of the World as We Know It

Topher drove us to Hotwells. Benjy stayed behind to guard things at the hospital, but Amelia wanted to join us. She fiddled with the radio, ultimately unleashing some truly obnoxious drum and bass. Which did at least keep us all awake.

The chapel was boarded up when we got there, and there were unsurprising signs of fire. Equally unsurprising was the smell of bitter ash, mixed with blood. Topher suggested I went in to scout in bird form, but I didn't have the energy left for a lot of transformation. Best to save it for emergencies. Amelia gave us a brief description of the place instead. She saw me twitch when she said that most of it was underground, and put an arm around my shoulder.

Topher went around the back of the chapel and found a way in. He ripped off a plank, and we climbed through. Inside it looked like a slaughterhouse. Seven or eight bodies lay around the bubbling font at first glance, and the blood was still fresh. The smell was worse inside, stagnant water and hot metal mixing with the blood and bitter ash. I checked each body to make sure they really were dead. Topher used his magic sword to get the front door open and let Fiona and Amelia in.

Celia had told us that the Lady Avona was beneath the chapel, so the first place to look was the basement. I could feel myself getting shaky at the thought of yet another enclosed space, but Fiona and Amelia stayed close and Topher asked me questions about what I could see with the Sight. Not much, and I think he was just asking to distract me from my fear, but it did help.

There were cells down there, which had clearly been occupied until very recently, given the modern furniture and personal items still lying around. What there wasn't was Lady Avona, or any stairs down. Topher started looking for a secret entrance, tapping at the walls and floors, but then something came to him and he lead us back up to the font.

The font had to be a spring head. The smell of stagnant water came from there, but the bubbling water was quite fresh. Magic then. The font itself was covered in carved symbols in a language I didn't recognise. Or at least, I didn't until I really looked at them and found the name on the tip of my tongue. It was the language of the river, and we were looking at a gate.

Amelia, who always made more attention in lectures than I did, grabbed Topher's hand and pressed it against the font. As he pulled it away, it left a red outline on the stone. Amelia said things come in threes and that me and Fiona should do the same. The stone burned my hand as I touched it, but moments later we found ourselves in a vault, much like the two I'd seen already.

In the middle was a woman covered in ice, just as Damian had been when we'd found him. Even through the ice it was obvious she had once been almost painfully beautiful, but now there were dark tendrils under her skin and her hair looked muddy and matted. She'd obviously been corrupted, and this imprisonment was to stop it from spreading. And given who she was, she almost certainly did this to herself.

What now? We didn't know how to remove the corruption, and while destroying the vault should get her out of there, that seemed like a terrible idea for a number of reasons. Fiona figured it out. The Lady Avona had put a piece of her power into the Sibyl. She was creating an uncorrupted vessel to transfer the mantle of the river goddess into. Which meant that the way to free her was to kill her. And after that, Celia wouldn't exactly be Celia any more.

Celia and Damian had joined us in the vault, and Damian looked like he'd do pretty much anything to stop us killing Lady Avona at that point. But ultimately Celia took Topher's sword and did the job herself.

There was a sudden burst of light and pressure, and then we were waking up outside. Celia was kneeling, facing away from us. She didn't answer when we called to her, whether as Celia or Avona. She wasn't even breathing. But her hair had come back. It was only when we got right in her face that her eyes snapped open, no longer milky white but bright green.

She told us that we needed an army to lead into Muspelheim, and I could feel everyone's eyes turn to me. I asked for a phone. The Steamwheel Court were constantly texting me, and that meant I could text them back. Celia/Avona gave me a number - well, more of a string of symbols - and I sent a message. If they still wanted to have a city to live in tomorrow, they'd better join me now.

We piled back into Vanessa. Paint It Black played on the stereo accompanied by the sound of war drums, as an army of gremlins, fetches, kelpies and redcaps assembled behind us. Back at the Mitchester the place looked burned out, and the tarmac in front of it was bubbling and burning. Celia called water out of the river to cool things enough for us to go in, and we passed into Muspelheim.

It stank of sulphur, and the light flickered through the clouds of smoke. Denis the troll and the three boggarts were suddenly by my side. I asked if they were ready and they confirmed they were. And the Steamwheel Court charged the Formori. It was brutal. I tried not to think about it, and just focused on watching Denis hitting one Formor with another Formor.

There was a volcano on the other side of the battlefield. That was where we needed to be. Easy enough for me as I switched to bird form, but not so much for the others. We would have to fight our way across. The others made a run for it. Several Formori tried to stop us, but Topher and his magic talwar started carving his way through them. I joined in in my usual style, while Fiona made use of a lance one of the gremlins gave her with a bomb on the end.

We climbed the volcano. The heat wasn't just heat. It was blocking my magical senses. But I didn't need them to know we were in the right place when we looked down into the crater and saw three people standing on a rock floating in the pool of lava. They were taking it in turns to scoop lava into their mouths while the others chanted. This was the ritual we had to stop. Trouble was, I recognised one of them. It was the girl the vampires gave us along with Celia. Topher's sister.

We attempted to get their attention via bird screams (me) and gunfire (Topher) but they weren't letting themselves get distracted. We were going to have to take more direct action. Topher picked up Fiona and jumped across the lava onto the floating rock. There was a brief delay when three more Formori showed up, but we quickly dealt with them, and Topher threw one of them at one of the djinn in the ritual. Even that wasn't enough to cause a distraction.

But getting stabbed up with Topher's magic sword was. And remembering how effective my last lightning strike had been, I called out to the sky. There was a lot of lightning up there, too much for me to hold, and I don't think the resulting shock hurt him very much, but it was enough to stop him chanting.

At which point Topher's sister attempted to go full villain monologue, but Topher wasn't having it, hugging her tightly instead while Fiona provided encouragement. There was a lot going on there. But while Topher was carrying his sister away, there were still two djinn to deal with. I shredded one's arm, and he went to use his fire breath on me. Can't breathe fire if you don't have a face. He shattered into sand. Fiona had beaten the other to death with the end of her lance.

Topher was still trying to talk down his sister while she tried to blame him for everything. And it was taking a while, but he was getting through to her. And that got us a surprise visit from Topher's dad. I've seen plenty of strange things before, but someone who looks different depending on whether I looked at him through my right or left eye was certainly new. And one form was an antlered man I'd seen before. On a coin. In a vault. He asked us all to take hands, and everything went white.

We were back in Bristol, looking at what was left of the Mitchester. Topher's dad offered us some answers. Topher asked about his mother, and Fiona asked about her daughter. But what I wanted to know was how I ended up as the Steamwheel Court seneschal when I wasn't a fae. And the answer is a tiny fragment of the river goddess. Just enough fae to be able to take the job. And he asked me if I wanted to keep the job.

What, abandon them now, and risk them ending up back in the hands of Firs, or maybe someone even worse?

He told me a fairy queen had to have a crown. I didn't much care for the idea, but I know there are rules and protocols to be followed. He placed the rusty ring of iron on my head and told me he thought the Steamwheel Court might change a bit now. I think he's right.

Then he was gone, and we were left standing outside the burnt out remains of the Mitchester Arms. It wasn't as bad as it looked. The outside was burned, but the stone was strong. It would need a lot of renovation but the bones were still there.

I had one thing left to do before I could sleep. A promise made to myself. I had to take those boggarts home.

I found them under Denis's bridge. How they'd managed to get a pub bench down there, I don't know, but they seemed to be having fun. They put down their pints when I arrived though, suddenly very deferential. It seemed I'd been upgraded from 'flower lady' to 'flower queen'. I told the boggarts they could go home now, and immediately I was wrapped up in spindly boggart arms. I scooped them up off the ground to hug them, then walked with them back to the rugby club.

The club house was burned out, but the grounds still looked OK. The boggarts made that teeth sucking noise that builders make and walked into the middle of the field. A ring of mushrooms sprouted and they invited me in. Of course I accepted, after confirming the usual rules. Safe passage in and out. They weren't sure if this all still applied now I was the queen. I didn't either, but I still wasn't going to eat anything in there.

We sat down and chatted. It was nice. It occurred to me that they couldn't steal my phone as I still didn't have one - or that matter anything else right now as all I had on me was the spare clothes from Vanessa and my crown. They showed me something else they'd stolen instead. A skull from a Formor, which it had apparently still been using when they'd stolen it. They talked about getting it silver plated to make it into a drinking cup, and stealing some silver from the man in the market to do it with. I knew which man they meant. I suggested they should do something about that dickhead bird of his while they were at it. Pull his tail. Maybe as the Flower Queen I shouldn't be giving royal commands to go and steal tail feathers off a talking bird, but right then I didn't care.

I left a happy group of boggarts and went back to the Mitchester to finally get some sleep. The next day I found Topher but there was no sign of Fiona. We eventually found her in her room, dead. Judging from the smile on her face though, she was finally happy.

Topher didn't stick around long after that. Him and his sister wanted to find their mother. I don't know if they ever did, but I'm not sure they're in this world any more.

As for me, well, I had a pub to run, didn't I? And there was no way I was bringing those useless agency staff back, so I called on the fae. The boggarts make enthusiastic bouncers in Topher's absence. We soon had things up and running, and it wasn't long before Amelia showed up again. Apparently one day with me had been more excitement than the Council of Merlin had been able to provide in some years, and she wondered if she could have a job as a barmaid. As I could ever say no to her.

As Topher's father suggested, the Steamwheel Court is changing. I've not chosen a new name yet, although there are people working on it, but with Balor's corruption gone, things are already better. And in time I will make this city bloom.

And that's the story of how I became the Flower Queen and the landlady of the Mitchester Arms. Ask Amelia if you'd like a drink, and check the board for today's specials, if the boggarts haven't been using it again. Oh, I see they have. Yes, today's special is wild rabbit. But that's not why you came here, so just tell me. How can I help?

Liminal: The Mitchester Arms, episode 11: The Sibyl

It was the pain in my chest that woke me up properly. The repeated crushing pain, which turned out to be Amelia doing CPR. I let her know I was awake and she could stop. She was the one I was worried about. She had a massive burn. But she wanted to know how the hell I'd turned from charred meat into someone alive. I had some questions about that myself, but reassured her that I wasn't a vampire, despite any evidence to the contrary. That slippery bastard fae did something to me when he made me the Seneschal of the Steamwheel Court. That didn't seem to reassure her any further. I clarified that I wasn't actually in charge of anything, I just got constantly plagued with text messages, but she said that humans couldn't have that job. I don't know what the rules are, but that raised some questions that I was in no position to start thinking about just then.

Then she punched me for lying about Priti, which was fair. Turns out I don't make the best decisions while under several metres of rock. Priti herself was now a lump of rapidly decaying meat, but had apparently turned into an old man for a bit on the way there. I told Amelia she was a djinn, which I'm not sure she entirely believed, but I was really more concerned with doing something about her injuries.

Then I heard a phone beep. Not mine, which wasn't going to be much use after both a swim and being struck by lightning. Not Amelia's either. It was an old flip phone, lying on the bank, which was somehow working. The text message was from Damian, saying there was a vampire problem at the hospital. The hospital where Celia, possibly the new sibyl who we'd only just rescued from vampires, was currently being treated.

We climbed the steps out of the gorge to find Bristol in full riot mode. I joked to Amelia that the buses wouldn't be running, but that gave me an idea. After all, if nobody was using those buses...

We found a double decker. Not ideal, but better than a bendy bus. I found the keys hidden in the cab where the driver had abandoned it, and got the thing started. It quickly became obvious I had no idea how to drive a bus, and I almost tipped it over on a corner. Amelia's weight wasn't enough to right it, and I had to abandon the wheel to throw myself against the side to knock it back upright. That got me more weird looks from Amelia, and she had a point. I absolutely should not have been strong enough to do that.

Amelia took over driving after that. Turns out she'd picked up a few things from her uncle back when we were kids, and she soon had the thing moving at speeds I didn't know buses were capable of. She even managed to drift it round one corner. She pulled up at the hospital and straight away I could see Damian was right. Humans don't crawl up walls like that.

Before I could even start to think about that though, there was a knock on the door, and there on the other side of the window was the last person I wanted to see. Lucien Black. Lucien, in his smart clothes and his Edward Cullen pallor and just a hint of glitter makeup, looking just like he did the first time we met. Except one thing had changed, I saw as he pushed his way through the doors. He had fangs now.

He was in my way, and I didn't have time to deal with his bullshit. I threw a punch at his face, but of course he caught my fist and started telling me just how much better blood tasted now he was a full vampire. And there I was in his grip once more, being forced to bare my neck to him and let him feed on me again.

Except I'd changed too, and while I couldn't break his grip, I had another option now. Bird form. Free of his grip, I tried to get my claws into him. No luck. He was too fast. And two of his friends were right behind him. But with all his attention on me, he wasn't looking at what Amelia was doing. And she might not look like much after what I'd done to her, but she was an associate member of the Council of Merlin and knew how to throw a ward together.

As Lucien was forced out of the bus I heard the most beautiful sound I'd ever heard - the roar of Vanessa's V8. Topher slammed the landrover into the three vampires, then jumped out, pulled out an actual magic sword, given the aura I could see around the thing, and straight up decapitated Lucien.

All that fear and shame, lifted in an instant. I could have kissed him. I didn't, because nobody wants a falcon beak to the face. I did the next best thing, hurling myself at one of the surviving vampires and ripping through his throat. The third vampire was taken out by a second landrover, which turned out to be driven by one of Clan Kielsyn's enforcers, and I wasn't entirely surprised when Fiona got out of the back.

Fiona could see that neither me nor Amelia were in any condition to head into a building full of rioters and/or vampires. I don't know what she did to me exactly, but it seemed to put everything back in the right place, and Amelia certainly looked happier once she'd been cleaned up and had the burns wrapped in clingfilm. Topher had wandered off, but returned to tell us he'd found a way inside. Benjy shifted into wolf form and in we went. I perched on Topher's shoulder. I couldn't tell him how grateful I was, but at least I could lean my head against his and hope he got the message.

Fiona, Topher and Amelia got in the lift. I was not going to get in a lift, and Benjy wasn't going to fit, so we took the stairs. Benjy was obviously very new to shapeshifting and kept trying to talk, but of course nothing came out but wolf growls. So I talked back to him in bird squawks. I figured he'd work it out eventually. We caught up with the others at the entrance to A&E. Unfortunately Benjy's appearance gave the nurse behind the barrier a bit of a shock and he passed out. I found a gap small enough to wriggle through and pushed the button with my beak to open the door. Benjy held it open while Fiona rolled in.

Fiona spun an impressive line of bullshit to convince the nurse that he hadn't just seen a massive wolf man, and got us introduced to Doctor Williams. He had a patient who would only talk to three names. We raised our hands. Well, two hands and a wing. We left Benjy on guard at the entrance. Amelia came with us.

If there'd been any doubt that Celia was the new sibyl it was gone the moment we set eyes on her. It wasn't just her white misted eyes, or her bald head with the same laurel wreath tattoo that the old sibyl had had. It was the air of confidence in both her posture and her voice that had never been that strong before. Now I knew how Damian had known what number to send that text message to.

Celia needed to talk to us, and also wanted me to be able to talk back. I looked around for something resembling clothing. Being a shapeshifter means having to become very cool very fast about people seeing you naked, but it's still not on to flash people unnecessarily. Damian draped a dressing gown over me, and I wriggled my way into it. I took the opportunity of having a voice again to thank Topher for the earlier beheading.

We had to end things, while there was still a city left to save. Celia had three options. Somehow talk the djinn out of what they were doing. Find the Lady Avonia. Talk to the Tuatha. The three of us didn't even need to discuss it. Finding the Lady Avonia was the right thing to do. The river needs its goddess. Celia looked sad about that choice. I wonder what bringing her back will do to the sibyl?

Celia knew where to look for the Lady Avonia, but there was a problem. One of the djinn was in the emergency ward. Attempting to leave would result in trouble. We were going to have to figure out who they were and stop them before they made everything kick off. Fiona was pretty sure they'd have some kind of identifying feature - a tattoo, unusual height, exceptional good looks or something. Unfortunately Dr Williams felt that could apply to quite a lot of the people in the ward at the time.

It probably wasn't any of the staff, we decided, as Dr Williams had known them all for at least six months. The most likely candidates seemed to be two of the patients - Shanene, a grandmother who'd had a heart attack, and Joey, who'd been in a bike crash. After some shenanigans to get people spread out enough that we could handle things better if it all went down, Fiona went with the staff, Topher went to talk to Joey, and I paid Shanene a visit. Fiona said we could force them to tell the truth by asking the same question three times, but we'd have to do it in such a way as to not tip them off.

I decided to act as a fellow patient. Not hard since I was wearing a dressing gown and was still a bit frazzled from the lightning. Shanene was complaining about people overreacting to her heart attack. I commiserated. I was too tired to come up with a story, so I just talked about getting struck by lightning.

I didn't get as far as asking her her name three times because Topher started shouting. Joey was the djinn. There was instant chaos. Shanene grabbed my wrist in a way that an elderly heart attack victim shouldn't have been able to do, and I saw the talisman she was wearing. I ripped it away from her, and switched to bird form. I didn't know if Topher needed help, but I was going to be there for him if he did.

Honestly, Topher could probably have taken him out with another swing of that sword, but things were getting spicy outside and we needed the djinn taken down fast. I went for the eyes, driving my claws into his face. And then there was a sudden burst of heat, and I saw him suddenly age and start to decay right in front of me. So that was what Amelia had meant when talking about Priti.

So all that was left to do was to find the Lady Avonia and stop the ancient volcano spirit sleeping under the Mitchester Arms from awakening and destroying the city and possibly the world. And if that all succeeded, perhaps I'd be able to go and see my three favourite boggarts and tell them they could go home.

Liminal: The Mitchester Arms, episode 10: Catching Up With Amelia

I got myself cleaned up, which didn't take too long. One of the benefits of being shapeshifted was not getting blood on my clothes when fighting. My phone was full of messages, mostly from Amelia. I sent a reply, apologising for being incredibly late, then gave her a call. I wasn't really in the best condition to deal with her, and I think my explanation of having been on a rescue mission came out a bit garbled, but I got through that there was a reason for my absence and promised to get on the bus right away. I would have driven, but there was no sign of Topher and Vanessa.

The bus journey was worse than usual. It seemed like the whole of Bristol was out on the streets, and the first bus was so full it went straight past me. When I finally did get on a bus, some girl accused me of staring at her man. I wasn't in the mood for an argument, so I just pushed my sunglasses up my nose to make sure I wasn't accidentally showing my eyes and muttered something about not looking at anyone.

It was a relief to get off and out of the crowds, but then I had to deal with the Council of Merlin's doorman, in his sash, white gloves and ridiculous beard, who clearly didn't think much of my clothes or appearance. He refused to let me in, and in the end I had to resort to pulling out the signet ring to show him. I didn't put it on, and I hated having to show it at all, but it got me through the door. The doorman was practically falling over himself to apologise once he realised I was connected to Percy. Maybe at a different time I'd have reassured him, or had a word about judging by appearances, but this time all I could do was laugh.

I made my way through the Halls of Merlin. I didn't get as far inside last time, with Percy dragging me off to look at that vault. This time I got to see the council chamber, with a massive wooden table made of a single slab of oak. A nice place for them all to sit down and pretend they're all equal. I didn't stick around in there. I gave the floating crystal chandeliers a brief glance and moved on.

I found Amelia in a reading nook, still wearing those earrings I gave her. That was reassuring. She asked where I'd been, and I gave her a longer and slightly more coherent account of our fight through the vampire mansion. I tried to make light of things, and not leave her asking questions like why wasn't I in a hospital right now, but failed. All the same, she did accept that I was telling the truth and had a good reason for not joining her in the morning.

She talked me through what she'd found so far. She'd been reading up on Celtic mythology, and had come to the conclusion that a lot of it seemed to have sprung up overnight, a couple of millennia ago. We went through some of the books together, and she was right. There were no proto-forms of deities. It was like older versions of these myths had been deleted. And more questions arose, given that this was all Welsh stuff and we were in Bristol. What was a vault covered in carvings of the Tuatha doing here? The conclusion we were coming to was that the Tuatha and the Djinn had been affected by the same thing.

It was getting late. I invited Amelia to the pub for dinner so we could talk somewhere more comfortable, but then Rose Spencer Howard showed up along with Priti, neither of whom looked any friendlier than when I last saw them. Rose insulted me at length, which might have hurt if I didn't care even less about her opinion of me than Percy's. I apologised for raising the tone of the establishment, but that didn't phase her. She added a few more insults regarding my parentage, which I let go because Amelia was obviously upset and I didn't want to make things any worse for her.

Rose went on her way but Priti stuck around to talk to me. Alone. And I figured out she was a djinn even before her eyes turned to black coals. She wanted to know how I did it. Did what, she didn't say, and I was far too tired to deal with people being vague. Still, there was a bruise on her face and she knew about what we did in the mansion and what happened to Carolina. I didn't feel the need to elaborate. Especially not to someone who was telling me they were going to meet me outside in fifteen minutes and kill me.

Leaving via a different exit seemed like a good option at this point. I found Amelia again, and told her that Priti was going to kill me in fifteen minutes, which she didn't believe as Priti isn't exactly a fighter. So I told her Priti had been possessed, which wasn't quite true but seemed like an explanation that would get through quicker than trying to explain that she was a shapeshifter who couldn't be detected even with the Sight. And she believed me, thank god. She knew another way out of the observatory, so I followed her. I'd have felt better about it if Priti hadn't spotted us passing by.

Of course the other way out had to involve narrow passages carved into the rock. I could feel panic setting in, but pushed it down, trying very hard not to think about the massive weight of rock around me. And Priti was following us, taunting me. Taunts weren't going to hurt me. So she moved on to what could hurt me.

Amelia told me she could feel Priti pressing on her mind. I knew what would come next, and told her to fight back. And I did my best to encourage her. She'd managed to handle this bunch of stuck up arseholes at the Council for way longer than I had. She was stronger than me. She could do this. And she did.

We'd made it out of the tunnels and into a natural cavern on the edge of the river when Priti caught up with us. She wanted me to fight her, and if I'd had Topher at my side I'd have done it, but here with nobody but Amelia and nothing left in me, it wasn't going to happen. She breathed a huge gout of flame at us, and I flung myself and Amelia into the water as the flames singed my back.

I ignored the pain and swam out into the gorge. Amelia was alongside me, and I dragged us both out onto the bank. Cold, wet and bedraggled, but at the same time I felt better. I was out in nature and I was in my element. But Priti was out too, walking across the water with it boiling under her feet. I concentrated on my surroundings, and called up a mere shred of power. But it was enough to reach up into the sky and feel the energy in the clouds. I called for lightning, and with my hair standing on end and my eyes full of electricity, I brought it down on Priti.

Except I'd made a mistake, I realised, as electricity crackled and forked around the three of us, and my vision turned white.

As I drifted in and out of consciousness, I was vaguely aware of a red sun rising over the city, and fires burning. Bristol was doing what it does best. Rioting.

Liminal: The Mitchester Arms, episode 9: The Vampire Mansion

Round the back of Carolina's mansion, Damian smoothly opened one lock and broke his picks on the second. Topher squeezed it until it opened. Beyond the door was an ornamental garden full of statues, which I didn't trust at all, not least because I could feel a magical energy coming from the garden. Damian threw a stick into the garden, one of the statues moved, and the stick exploded.

There had to be some way to either get across safely or turn it off. I used the Blackberry to ask Damian to throw a stick higher up. It did have a height range, so no barrier to me, and Topher seemed pretty sure he could run fast enough to dodge it, but that was no use to Fiona and Damian. I flew up higher to see if I could see a pattern in the garden's layout. I couldn't, but I did spot the marble control pillar on the roof. Of course, that's what the romantically entangled vampires were guarding.

Taking them both on by myself would likely have gone badly. Instead I caused a distraction, flying between them as they were about to kiss, so they were too busy worrying about almost getting a mouthful of feathers to notice Topher sprinting across the garden and climbing a drainpipe. He smashed their heads together, and while they were stunned, Topher stabbed one while I drove my silvered claws into the other's scalp. His flesh melted like butter under my claws, and then both of them turned to dust.

I stole their designer jeans, and rejoined the others. Topher smashed the pillar, and the hum faded. I gave the others the heads up, and once Damian had tested with another thrown stick, in we went.

Fiona disabled the alarm and soon we were in the kitchen. Everything here looked ancient, like nothing had been updated since the 80s, including the spice rack full of dusty jars of expired herbs. Appalling. The only exception was the jar of garlic powder, which was large, new, and had a fill line on it. Used for pranking other vampires, no doubt.

Fiona gave us a run down on vampire societal structure. Given the number of cars outside there could be as many as seven vampire lords here, and at least twelve fledgelings, probably a lot more. At least the mid level vamps would be asleep. There were also human guards to worry about, although Topher had hit up some horse owning acquaintance to get tranquilisers to deal with them.

We made our way quietly past a mostly empty larder and up the stairs into a ridiculously opulent dining room, fitted out like we were in the palace of Versailles. On the table were the remains of a meal. They'd actually turned blood into haute cuisine. I could see the remains of jellies and foams and actual flecks of gold leaf. Disgusting. I was almost impressed. Almost.

The next room was the kitchen full of the molecular gastronomy stuff needed to make a meal like that, where Damian thought we would find the secret entrance we were looking for. Topher went in first, disturbing a naked young woman who sounded an alarm, waking up two guards with machine guns, and grabbed a kitchen knife. So that could have gone better.

Topher knocked out one guard. I tried to disarm the other, but missed, and took a spray of bullets for my trouble which almost drove me into the path of the naked woman's knife. Fiona had her own problems with a fledgeling showing up to try to strangle her. She dealt with it, but at the cost of a cracked wheelchair axle.

Once Topher had finished throwing people out of the window, we got the alarm switched off, but a call came through a radio asking what was going on. Fiona dealt with it. I was still trying to deal with the amount of pain I was in after that fight. Or rather, deal with the fact that the pain was fading faster than it should have done. I had a cautious stretch, and I could feel things already starting to knit back together.

The pain was fading, but still present, so Fiona spent some time patching us both up. We still had to find the secret entrance. Fiona and Damian found the trapdoor under a kitchen island. I found the tile that opened it, and hopped up and down on it until I could get someone to come and step on it. The entrance opened, and a stench of gore rose up from the staircase. Everything was quiet.

The room at the bottom was a mess. Dead bodies everywhere. So much gore. It wasn't so much the innards that bothered me, especially in falcon shape. It was what was left of the outsides. What there wasn't, as Damian pointed out, was any vampires.

Topher opened one of the side doors. There was a man in there, old but fit looking, and asleep. Possibly the head of security. Definitely the kind of person who'd be trouble if he woke up. Topher went in to deliver a sedative but I guess horse tranquilisers are kind of bad for using on humans as he didn't react well, and then another fledgeling dropped from the ceiling. I dealt with the vampire with the increasingly familiar talons to the face approach, while Fiona made sure the man didn't die. I was worried for a moment. These people aren't monsters, just humans who made bad choices, and I know all about that.

While we were dealing with that, Damian had spotted that some of the bodies on the floor looked a bit more intact than most. I went in to investigate. Vampires aren't the easiest thing to identify through the Sight, especially when in their case it's more of a smell and I was already overwhelmed with the smell of death in there, but I did find eleven of them. Topher sprinted around the room applying silver zip ties. They started to scream, and we had to stop ignoring the pair of big double doors at the end of the room.

I didn't even bother counting the number of vampires in there. Too many. The one that mattered was Carolina, sitting on a white marble throne with two vampires sitting at her feet chained to the throne. The other thing that mattered was Celia, covered in lacerations and lying on a dais in the middle of the room. Grabbing her and running was out of the question. We wouldn't even make it to the dais. And we'd just walked into a nest of vampire lords. None of us were getting out of this alive.

Except Carolina hadn't actually called for our deaths. She was in full villain monologue mode, making a big show for the other lords about how they were going to take over the city now they controlled the Sibyl. And I realised that was what it was. A show. Because incredible as it seemed, she was actually scared of us. Killing us would have implications. I might not have wanted the job of Seneschal of the Steamwheel Court, but it wouldn't be good for vampire/fae relations to take me out. Killing Topher might well antagonise his father, and I have a feeling Fiona would make a very nasty ghost.

Anyway, I couldn't say any of that while in bird form, so I hopped over to the Blackberry and entered 🧛🐔👆 a couple of times and hoped the others got the message. Fiona did, and started taunting her, until we ended up with an agreement. We would fight, her against all of us.

It was a tough fight. She was fast and deadly, but we had the right gear. We took her down, and Topher threw her at the feet of one of the oldest looking vampire lords who looked like she'd been around since Viking times. That one demanded that we kill Carolina in exchange for our freedom. Topher looked hesitant. I would have done it, but Fiona had already fired her crossbow.

We got a bit more than anticipated. There was another young woman they'd picked up along with Celia, and both of them were handed over. I didn't recognise her, but Topher obviously did. He picked them both up and we got out of there.

It was a scary drive to A&E and I found myself wishing I'd not shifted back to human for the drive, but I was far too tired for another shift by then. We took both women in. Celia was in a bad way, and the other woman didn't look much better. I sat down with Topher in the waiting room. He looked even more stressed than I was, which wasn't easy. There was some reassurance to having him there though, and I hoped he felt the same. Fiona was no help, off calling wheelchair repair companies.

Finally the doctor came out. Both of them had lost a lot of blood. Celia was still unconscious. But Genevieve Blogg-Herald was awake and wanted to see her brother. That explained a few things, while raising a lot more questions, like what she'd been doing in the car with Celia in the first place. But there was nothing else I could do at the hospital and I was exhausted. Fiona had called for a wheelchair taxi, so together we went back to the pub.

Liminal: The Mitchester Arms, episode 8: On Celia's Trail

I did my best to reassure Damian, who was probably supposed to still be in the hospital, and told him to come to the pub. There was a knock on the door almost immediately. Topher let him in and got him a beer. I made him a sandwich. I've got a lot of butter to use up.

Damian told us when he last saw Celia, which was pretty obviously right before she came to see us. Her phone seemed to be off, which hopefully meant she'd followed the advice we gave her. With her presence at the warehouse being the last lead we had on her, Topher volunteered to go with Damian to help search. Fiona was staying home with her giant pile of books. I felt like I should be helping her with them. Then I thought about how I already had an appointment to read a load of old books with Amelia in the morning. Fiona, bless her, told me that the books were in old Slavic or something so I wouldn't be able to read them anyway, and suggested what I really needed was to get out on the wing for bit.

Vanessa is easy enough to spot from the air. I followed the car, but I was also noticing things I'd never noticed before. Signs of the Steamwheel court's presence across the city. Doubtless something to do with my new job. Bloody Firs.

Vanessa came to a stop at the side of a dual carriageway, and Damian immediately legged it across to the other side where there was a crashed car, lying on its side with all the windows smashed. I circled lower for a better look. Damian was having an argument with the police officer guarding the scene. Not getting very far since he's a hotheaded young idiot, but he was providing a distraction. I took the opportunity to get a closer look at the car.

The entire side was buckled. My first thought was that it had been hit by another car, but looking closer, that didn't feel right. Whatever hit it had been smaller and sharper than the side of a car. I stooped, going in through one of the side windows that now faced the sky, and had a poke around while Topher attempted to defuse the argument. The car smelt of loamy soil and decomposition. I'd smelt that before, on a vampire. I spotted an iron nail caught in one of the seat wells. The kind of thing you might carry as a protection charm, and this one smelt of Celia's perfume. As I retrieved it, I spotted something else. Red nail varnish. No, red lacquer. There was only one way that would get left behind. Someone had been in here wearing Louboutins.

Topher had calmed things down and had a friendly chat with the officer. Time to get out of there. I launched myself back into the air, iron nail in my claws, inadvertantly terrifying the officer on the way out, but at least the mundane police don't get funny about unusual looking birds in their crime scenes.

Back at the pub, Fiona seemed to be having some kind of ghost party. I tried to ignore it and went upstairs to get dressed. By the time I got back down, things seemed to be relatively normal so I shared what I'd discovered. The nail, the smell, and the lacquer. It all added up to one thing. Celia being abducted by Caroline Fortunato, mayor's aide and very powerful vampire. I thought we might have to restrain Damian from going after her straight away, but even he was smart enough to realise what a stupid idea that would be. Fortunately he didn't seem to realise the implications.

Fiona shared some of what she'd got out of her book pile. It all seemed to come down to one thing. A primordial fae, imprisoned somehow underneath Bristol. Straight away that reminded me of what the boggarts had said about the sandman.

Damian's phone beeped. Someone called Anton, telling him to lose his number. It sounded like Damian had managed to annoy quite a lot of people in his search for Celia.

We had to get her back. Not just because she's a friend and it's the right thing to do, but also because we all suspected by then that she was going to end up being the new Avonian Sibyl. The old Sibyl had maintained a fragile peace, which was already breaking down without them, and if their replacement ended up getting turned into a vampire, the consequences could be dire.

We needed weapons. None of us were exactly equipped for fighting vampires, and we were going to need silver. Fiona knew a shop in the market that sold silver and esoteric knick-knacks, which seemed like a good place to start. He couldn't help us, but he did know a weapon maker, and told us how to find him and how to respond to his tests, in exchange for Gus's phone number. At least I think that's what happened. I was distracted by his pet raven who was a complete arsehole and said a lot of uncalled-for things. I told him I hoped he got hit by a truck.

We found the weapon maker at the given address. An absolutely huge man, in a place that didn't seem to entirely confirm to the rules of geometry. He asked us to say his name. Fiona and me said it in unison. Wayland.

There were some shenanigans involving a hammer and anvil, which we recognised as the test the silversmith had mentioned, and once we'd convinced him that we could handle weapons responsibily, he gave us a shotgun, a crossbow, and a magic ring which he assured me would give my falcon talons a bit of an upgrade.

Damian had done his part while we were out, getting hold of floor plans for Carolina's house. We thought about heading out straight away, but realised that Celia still had time, and our chances of success were a lot better if we were well rested. I made us some dinner. Chicken kievs and garlic mash. Not all vampires have the garlic aversion, but I made damn sure that any who did would not be coming anywhere near us.

We drove to the house shortly before dawn. I went for a scout around in bird form, then reported back by typing into a phone. After I broke a couple of regular smartphones this way, we got a Blackberry with hard keys, and I told them that the top floor was basically deserted, and that there was hardly anything to see on the lower floors, meaning that most of them were going to be in the basement. Five flash looking cars parked around the back meant that Carolina had friends visiting, so we could expect some resistance. Oh, and there was one sentry on the roof, although he was a bit busy. I switched to emojis for that part. 🧛🪑🍆 I hope I made things clear.

Liminal: The Mitchester Arms, episode 7: Going Underground

 I decided to keep concentrating on the one thing I could fix: the state of my kitchen. Not only was everything in the wrong place, but there were also several pounds of butter in the freezer that I definitely didn't order because it wasn't the usual brand. I may not be a diviner but I can see a lot of roux in my future.

Things were pretty much back to normal when I heard a knock at the door. It was Klaus, wearing the standard famous person hat and sunglasses disguise. He had a favour to ask Fiona. Apparently the Order of St Bede have a secret Templar archive hidden under St Mary Redcliffe, possible inside a ghost realm, and he wanted us to recover it. He also wanted to know if there was anywhere in Bristol he could get an authentic goulash. Fiona had a few suggestions. I said I'd give it a shot if he had a recipe.

The fact Klaus was asking us for help rather than just sending in his own people suggested something was up, but Fiona was already practically salivating at the prospect of a Templar archive. She was going to need help. It was going to have to be Topher's help though. I really needed to see Amelia, and after showing Fiona the note, she understood why I had to go. That and she was talking about catacombs, and I'm sure she realised that the mere idea of heading into the caves behind the pub was making me start to freak out.

I sent an entirely innocuous text to Amelia, saying that it was nice to see her the other night and it would be good to meet up again. As soon as I got a positive response I shoved that stupid Merlin signet ring in my pocket and took the bus to the observatory.

I wasn't sure where to go when I got there, but that's when fucking Percy showed up. The last person I wanted to see, but it was inevitable really. He invited me to take a short walk, and while I struggled with some conflicting emotions, he told me that I didn't need the sunglasses. He knew everything, and was genuinely impressed that I taught myself shapeshifting. And it was just gratifying enought to hear one of those smug Council bastards acknowledge that I don't need their lessons that I decided I could put up with him for a little while. For Amelia's sake.

He suggested I put on the signet ring at that point. I asked him why, and I think the disgust was obvious on my face. He didn't answer. He'd got me to let my guard down for a moment, but no, same old fucking Percy as ever.

We walked down to the Coronation Tap. There was some Council minion loitering outside, who might almost have got away with it if he hadn't teamed up his hoodie with a pair of Armani shoes. Even Percy called him out on that, while I just laughed at him. Inside the pub, the barman was practically tugging his forelock at the sight of Percy. I don't think you could pay Fiona enough to make her behave like that.

I wasn't particularly surprised to find myself faced with a hole in the floor much like the one under the Cornubia. Trouble was, this time the hole was a lot tighter, and I didn't have the reassuring presence of Topher and Fiona with me. Just Percy, asking if I was the one who had trouble with this sort of thing. I managed some kind of retort but my heart wasn't in it. I just had to steel myself for it, and stay calm. For Amelia.

Percy went down first. I followed. About halfway down the smell of the place hit me. Bitter ash, worse than I'd ever smelt it before, with undertones of sulphur and vomit. I clung white knuckled to the rope, shut my eyes, and held my breath. I had to do this. For Amelia.

It was crowded down there, but I could see Amelia amongst them, plus some extremely aristocratic woman that I didn't recognise, but who seemed to be important. The vault was full of detailed carvings, but not like the ones under the Cornubia. These ones seemed warped and unsettling. Percy asked if I'd ever seen anything as beautiful, and I automatically responded that I'd seen better. He asked me what I saw. Just like being back in class.

Four figures stood at the cardinal points. A king with antlers and a spear. Facing him, a large shadowy figure of a cyclops. A woman, also wearing antlers, holding a lyre. And a woman in black feathers, covered in gore, with black eyes. I could name them. An-daghai. Balor. Boann. Morrigan. He wanted me to identify the battle depicted in the carvings. I didn't know, so he told me. The battle of the hill. Or possibly the battle in heaven.

Something weird happened then. The posh woman started yelling at some guy, and two others approached him, and for a moment I thought he was going to get a beating. And then they backed off.

I asked Percy why I was there, as clearly it wasn't just for a mythology test. He said he wanted Amelia and me to do some research into the Formori and Tuatha. He also showed me a black sphere in the middle and asked me what I thought. Having seen something quite similar pulled out of the Cornubia vault by Fiona, I had no intention of telling him what I thought, and asked him what he thought it was. A ward. A big one, that was going to make him famous, and he wanted me to investigate it for him.

Yeah, I know that one. Student does the work, professor gets the credit. Except I'm not his student any more. I kept that thought to myself, and he asked Amelia to show me out.

There was an Indian girl outside, who I'd seen before at the pub. She still had the slightly wonky eyes people sometimes get after a run-in with Firs, but now there was something different. She looked cruel. Amelia grabbed me and pulled me into the toilets. She'd seen that look before. It was something that happened to everyone after being down in the vault for a while. I remembered the other vault, and all the people slowing freezing in there. Rather the opposite here. And they stopped being able to smell that awful stench after a while as well.

There was no way I wanted either of us spending any more time down there. We needed an excuse to be elsewhere, and the research we'd been asked to do seemed like a good one. There were no books down there. Amelia suggested using the Merlinian archives. She was surprised I'd actually shown up though. I was confused. She'd sent a note. Of course I showed up. She hugged me then, and as I hugged her back, I realised she might not understand that it was Dee College and the Council I left. Not her. But it wasn't the time for that conversation. We arranged to meet up again in the morning.

Next on the list was dealing with the deluge of texts and missed calls on my phone. It would be nice to see the boggarts again. I took the bus to Troopers Hill, stopping off for more bread and honey. There was a large sign up in the shop about shoplifters and a very angry looking guy behind the counter. So they were definitely still in the area.

I found their fairy ring under a gorse bush, made my standard speech offering bread and honey in exchange for safe passage both in and out, and was treated to a brief fight between the three of them over who was going to invite me in. Inside the place looked like a goddam palace. They were all sitting on fancy chairs drinking from china teacups. They offered me tea, which I of course declined.

They told me how happy they were that I'd volunteered to be the new seneschal. I had to tell them that I didn't volunteer, which made them so unhappy that one started crying, so I gave him a hug while I asked about the job I'd been dumped into. It seemed it was like being a fae noble, in that you were responsible for helping and protecting members of the court, but the Steamwheel court didn't have any nobles, so you didn't get any of the benefits of fae nobility. The previous seneschal was a bit of a bastard, they told me. I asked who it was, and they didn't want to say, although honestly at this point I didn't need to ask. I suggested they draw him instead, and they drew me a picture of Firs. I agreed that he was a bastard. How did he manage to stick me with this job without me agreeing to it? Apparently giving him my phone number, and him carving it into his arm, was enough.

I took a few moments to think about all the things I would like to do to Firs.

One of the boggarts was acting a bit strange, being more aggressive than usual in wanting to be the one to show me around their home, so I nudged another and asked what was up. He insisted his brother was fine, but then escorted me back out of their realm and explained that he'd been affected by the Sandman who sleeps under the city. He was the one who'd been making their old burrow hot, and now the other two boggarts were afraid he was doing something to their brother. I made some non-committal expressions as you don't go promising things to the fae lightly, but I really did want to help. One of them actually gave back the purse he'd stolen without me having to ask for it. Something was really wrong.

I checked my phone again, and I now had multiple voicemails from Denis the troll, and given how much he seemed to want to eat people, I had to check that one out. I got the bus back into town, running through everything I knew about trolls on the way there, and paid him a visit under his bridge. He didn't seem to be engaging in the traditional troll role of maintaining the bridge in exchange for tribute, since the city council were handling that, but it seemed best not to mention that.

Denis was understandably upset that people were throwing things into the river, and showed me some assorted rubbish. He also mentioned liquids, and I'm very grateful that he couldn't fish them out of the river again. His proposed solution was to eat someone so that people would be scared and not do it again. I know humans well enough to know that as well as being an unacceptable solution, this wouldn't actually stop people throwing things in the river. We came up with a solution though. When people threw things in, he should return them to them. This was only right and proper. I shook his enormous hand and went back to the pub.

The trip into the caves had clearly been a success, as Fiona had a huge stack of books with her, but both of them smelt of grave dirt. They'd obviously had a bit of an adventure. But before they could properly fill me in on all of that, there came another phone call. This time it was Damien. Celia was missing.

Liminal: The Mitchester Arms, episode 6: A Little Light Kidnapping

Topher drove us out of the city, dodging police cars and ANPR cameras as he went, until we reached an abandoned warehouse in an old industrial estate. For all her good qualities, Vanessa is a very distinctive vehicle, and while they hadn't brought the helicopters out yet, we needed to get her out of sight. Topher tried to force the door open, overdid it a bit and broke the door. But we were in, and could get Vanessa under cover.

We weren't alone. Celia was there, not looking at all pleased to see us. Understandable, under the circumstances. She had worked for the Sibyl, after all. And now her visions were getting worse - full on prophet type stuff - and seemed to involve us. There was a house we needed to visit after dark, along with Roberts. She was clearly holding something back though, and after some prodding, she described how there was a black bird sitting on Fiona's shoulder, wearing the death mask of a child.

Naturally we were concerned for Celia's safety. None of us said it out loud, but it was obvious we were all thinking the same thing. With the Sibyl dead, someone might have to take their place, and it was looking a lot like that someone was going to be Celia. She told us not to worry about her, but even if we were all wrong about her becoming the Sibyl, it still seemed like a dangerous time to be a diviner, particularly one who'd just unexpectedly got a lot better at it. As she was leaving I told her that I was still going to worry about her. That wasn't negotiable. She gave me a hug.

Left alone, we sat the unconscious Roberts on an old chair, and Topher went out to check on the perimeter. Shortly afterwards we heard the sound of him running. Then I heard a voice talking about how fast Topher was, and complaining about him not being able to understand. I'd heard voices like that before. Animal communication doesn't quite work the same way as talking, but my brain still interprets it the same way. It seemed only polite to go out and have a chat with the fox that had just apparently been racing Topher.

He seemed a friendly sort, obviously impressed with Topher's physical prowess. He was also hungry, unsurprisingly, so I asked Topher if he could find us anything to eat. With Topher out of the way, the fox lowered his voice - hardly necessary given that Topher couldn't understand him anyway - and told me that Topher was one of Them, and that he was basically a ticking time bomb who could turn on me at any moment. Which was pretty damn unsettling, but I wasn't entirely convinced. Topher seemed as distressed by the knowledge of who his father was as any of us. Anyway, Topher came back then with a stale pasty he'd found in Vanessa, which we shared between the three of us, although I couldn't help noticing the fox didn't touch his share until he'd seen me eating mine.

The fox went on his way, and I went back into the warehouse. Topher wanted to know about the conversation, but I just told him the fox was being a drama queen, which was probably the truth. It was quiet in there. Too quiet. Somewhere like this I'd expect to hear the sounds of animals and birds, particularly the kind of thing that triggers all my predator instincts, but there was nothing. I lit a fire, but found myself shivering in spite of it.

Eventually the dickhead woke up. With several hours before we needed to follow Celia's guidance, we figured we might as well talk to him, and took the tape off his mouth. Topher tried to wind him up, but that just resulted in a long string of insults that could have come straight from a 1970s cop show. Eventually Topher gave up, got out a book of philosophy, and started reading it to him, which didn't seem to improve his mood.

With Topher having taken a rather unorthodox approach to playing bad cop, I thought I'd have a shot at being good cop. Unfortunately I couldn't think of much to talk to him about other than his car. I really tried. I didn't actually mention that we'd set fire to his Tesla, only that I'd heard they caught fire a lot, but he leapt to conclusions. I pointed out that a lot of things had been on fire when we left, and things like that happened when you had a djinn in your house. That got a response, even if it was mostly him laughing at us for having missed something, and a bit more prodding from Topher got him to tell us that the djinn aren't fairies, but angels, or gods.

He did have a point in that the thing in his house had been shapeshifted but neither Topher nor me had noticed that, which is definitely out of the ordinary. We were all pretty sick of him by this point though, and Topher asked if anyone had a feather he could use to tickle Roberts' feet with.

I always have a feather.

Between the three of us, we were definitely getting to him. I suggested that the more he talked, the less annoying we would be, and that got a little more out of him - that he wanted his talisman back, and that he could heal himself with it. And that the goal had been to get both the Sibyl and us out of the way, so they could move into the endgame.

At last, darkness was approaching. We taped up Roberts' mouth again, and rolled him in a carpet, pointing out that he'd brought all of this on himself. Topher drove us to the address Celia gave us. A random middle class suburban house? It matched the picture. There had been an attempt to plant roses in the front garden. I felt a strong urge to redo it properly, but all the same, I appreciated the attempt.

Stealth was kind of pointless at this point. Either we had to drive our large, conspicuous car up to the house, or walk down the street carrying a man wrapped in a carpet, and the former seemed less likely to get people immediately calling the police. The front door was answered by DCI Myers. Obviously she wanted to call her colleagues immediately, when faced with three accused murderers, but I told her if she wanted to know what her boss had been up to, she needed to hear us out.

She understandably didn't want the smelly old carpet we'd brought with us in the house, so Topher put it, and Roberts, in the garage while Fiona and me went into the house. It was about as thoroughly middle of the road as Myers herself. I noticed the photos on the wall were all of her. Which made sense for the graduation photo, but otherwise seemed odd. I couldn't place what was bothering me though.

I thought a direct approach was our best shot at getting Myers to listen, so I came straight out with it. Her boss was in league with an evil god and was framing us for murder. And she did listen. I guess you don't make it to the head of P Division without an understanding of crime, and she noted that while there had been an abundance of DNA evidence, we didn't actually have any motive. It did look like a stitch-up, but maybe it looked a bit too much like a stitch-up? Why should she trust us? I pointed out how unlikely it was for us to have committed a crime like this. After all, we're just three people who run a pub.

Not just three people who run a pub, she countered, given Topher's strength, Fiona's magic, and my abilities which she described as 'miraculous'. But I reminded her that while what I can do might be impressive, it's not exactly murder skills. Not unless there's a rabbit you particularly don't like.

That got a smile, and then things got much weirder when her accent suddenly changed and she spoke a few words into a glass paperweight, and a few moments later, Klaus came down the stairs. Why was it, everywhere he went, he ran into us? Probably the geomantic node, Fiona suggested. Myers was wiping off her makeup. Underneath it her skin was darker, and she bore a resemblance to Klaus. "Call me Jules," she told us. So she was the third leader of Clan Kielsyn that Damian had told us about.

Turns out wolves are as bad as foxes when it comes to being drama queens, because once again it was 'oh no, Topher is half djinn, he's totally going to turn on us at any moment.' Fiona reminding them that changelings don't have to take after their parents didn't seem to carry any weight. I'd had enough of it. I told them that I trusted Topher, despite having thought that he was a dhampir until yesterday, and it's not like I exactly had a good track record with dhampirs. How much of my shameful past Klaus actually knew I don't know, but that made him laugh.

Just having Myers - Jules - won over wasn't going to be enough to get the police off our backs though. We needed some actual solid evidence of Roberts framing us, and given that we still had him tied up in the garage, it was worth trying to get a confession on record. Jules gave me her glass paperweight and assured us they'd be able to hear everything.

Roberts was a gloater, we knew that, so letting him think he was winning would probably get him to talk. Fiona, being the most convincing liar, went in with a story about someone having got to our contact. I tried to add a little extra plausibility by hanging back, looking distressed, and talking about how I couldn't go to prison. Not exactly a difficult act, given that I'd spent the last twenty-four hours or so with that thought hanging over my head.

It took a while, but he talked. And then in came Myers/Jules, and she arrested him for so many different things I lost track. She assured us that in a few hours they'd have everything sorted and we'd be free. That's when my tears stopped being an act and started flowing for real.

The others gave me some space and after a couple of hours of sleep on the floor of some unfurnished rooms in the house, Jules woke us up to let us know it was over, and we could go home. Topher drove us back to the Mitchester Arms. The police had ransacked the place, and the smell of bitter ash was everywhere, but I was home.

There was a parcel in my room, which as I hoped, contained my clothes and shoes that I'd worn to the restaurant. My only good pair of shoes, so I was glad to get them back. It also contained my phone, and a ring box. I already knew what I was going to find in the ring box but opened it up anyway to glare at the cursed thing. Except there was something else in there too.  A slip of paper.

OBSRVTRY COMPRMSD//P.-PRT=/=SOURCE//SOS DAISY!!

The observatory - and presumably the vault they'd found under it - was compromised. Percy was involved, if not responsible. And worst of all, Amelia was in trouble. I reached for my phone. Over twenty missed calls, as many text messages, and one voicemail. Well, whatever Lucien wanted it was going to have to wait. I needed a shower and to sleep in my own bed.

The next morning there was a sign on Topher's door making it clear he had no intention of waking up any time soon. That meant I'd be making my own breakfast, so I headed for the kitchen. Everything was in the wrong place after the police had been through it, but that didn't bother me too much. Putting everything back where it belonged was a nice normal mundane problem to fix. I started putting things away and was about to play the voicemail on my phone when I realised that I probably shouldn't be holding anything breakable while it was playing.

It wasn't Lucien. It was some kind of river fae asking for help with something. I picked the phone up and started looking through the texts. Nothing from Lucien. Just a lot more fae all wanting help. One of them was actually from the boggarts, saying that they didn't know that I was so nice, and they'd like me to come and visit them now I was the new fae nanny.

Fuck Firs. Fuck that slimy dickhead bastard fae.

Liminal: The Mitchester Arms, episode 5: On The Run

So there I was in the restaurant, already freaking the hell out over the thought of getting dragged back into the Council, when things actually got worse.

I could hear Sophie Booth over the police sirens outside, talking to the restaurant staff. I was about to be arrested. I was considered dangerous, and they were calling for backup. Which meant I had maybe two minutes to figure out what to do. Two minutes that could be spent negotiating a deal with fucking Percy, because let's face it, the Council are loaded and a lot of problems go away when you throw money at them, and he'd probably jump at this chance to get me exactly where he wanted me.

Except the thought of handcuffs and a police cell meant any sensible thoughts like that were being drowned out by one thing. Out. I had to get out. Right now. The room we were in had a window. Not big enough for a person, but big enough for a bird. So I smashed it open with whatever high end tableware I could get my hands on, shifted, and fled.

From above I could see more police outside the Mitchester. DS Gunne was in Fiona's face, while she was trying to grab something off him. I could see Topher slamming two police officers' heads together. I should help, I knew that, but my head was still full of handcuffs and my heart was beating so fast I felt like it was going to burst.

Then Gunne screamed, and Topher made a run for Vanessa, carrying Fiona in one arm and her chair in the other. He's a big guy but it's easy forget just how strong he actually is. They were going to escape. Except from up there I could see more police arriving. The backup Sophie had called for me. I was going to have to do something. Wind, lightning, anything. Except the sky was perfectly clear and the air almost unnaturally still.

Then it came to me, the predator instinct breaking through the blind panic. I stooped, snatched a pigeon out of the air, and slammed it into the window of one of the police cars. Vanessa took a bump as Topher turned her around, and I doubt him and Fiona fared much better inside, but then he was flooring it out of there.

I'd stopped one car, now dealing with a mass of feathers and pigeon guts, but there were others after them, and after seeing Topher narrowly evade a road block I realised there was something else I could do to help. I scanned the road for tailing vehicles, and spotted a route that would get Vanessa out of there without running into any more trouble. I figured he'd have the sense to realise a low flying falcon with peacock blue chest stripes was me, and follow my lead.

I hung back once we were clear. Topher seemed to know where he was going, and it wasn't long before Vanessa was pulling into a garage next to a pub in Hartcliffe. I flew in after them, got in the back, and put on the emergency spare clothes. Which unfortunately are some of Topher's old gym clothes, so they're several sizes too big, but it's not like I had a choice.

I didn't know this pub, but I did know the local community garden well enough for the landlord Pavel to know who I am, and Fiona knew him well enough to know he's be OK with us using his place as a bolt hole. We got a warm welcome, bratwurst, and some drink I can't pronounce that tasted like plums and burning.

Pavel offered us his living room for the night. Fiona patched herself up with more Deep Heat than I thought was possible, then finally broke the silence to tell me the one thing I didn't know: why we were on the run from P Division. It was the Sibyl. They'd been found dead, murdered, in the ruins of St Peter's in Castle Park and we were the prime suspects. Shit. And Fiona had ripped another of those talisman chains of Gunne, who was stinking of bitter ash.

Time to backtrack a little. I told them about my evening, and what the Council had hinted at finding. The vault under the Cornubia is the first thing they thought of as well. They'd spent the evening with Gus, and that had been going pretty well, right up until the point where they'd been about to swear a blood oath and Gus had acted like there was something very wrong with the smell of Topher's blood.

Fiona and me looked at Topher, who was looking almost as shifty as he did right after Celia had that vision about him. I'd always figured, super strength, healing impossibly fast, kind of shifty about running water - he was a dhampir, right? Wolves hate those. But no. He hadn't told us about his father. Changeling, Fiona concluded. Topher described how his father had appeared to him, with his head wreathed in flames.

Then I felt it. It was like icy fingers pushing into my brain, trying to push Topher's words right back out again. I'd felt it before. It was the same thing that happened with Celia's phone, when Damian's photo was being hidden from me. It was much harder to stop it this time. I could feel I was fighting against something incredibly powerful, and just holding onto that memory left me drained.

But that's when things started to come together. Everyone knows pyromancers don't exist and there are no fire-aspect fae. Except..maybe the reason we think they don't exist is because any time someone actually learns something about them, the memory gets pushed out of their brain?

We had two leads. Whatever it was the Council had found near the observatory, and the Sibyl themself. If Fiona could get them to talk, we could probably learn a lot about what was going on. Trouble was, Fiona relies a lot on her magical tools for summoning the dead, all of which were at the Mitchester. Which meant for to her have a reasonable chance of contacting the Sibyl's ghost, given that we don't know their full name either, we'd need to be at the site of the murder, or with the body.

There was absolutely no way I was going to be able to go anywhere near the police station in my current state, which as far as I was concerned ruled out the morgue. So it was going to have to be Castle Park and an active crime scene. Shift change at 8am would be our best shot, but even so it was going to be a challenge. At least we had time for some sleep before that. Fiona set an alarm for 6am and we all drifted off to sleep.

Except we all woke up again at 5.30am when Fiona was jolted awake by her alarm wards going off. She'd taken something out of that vault at the Cornubia and someone - probably someone from P Division - had just found it. And from Fiona's expression, that someone was likely in extreme danger.

We got back in Vanessa and drove to Castle Park. There wasn't a big police presence, but it was enough that we certainly weren't going to be walking in without attracting far too much attention. The three of us were rather physically distinctive, after all. We were going to need a distraction. Topher suggested getting their attention and getting them to chase him, but I had another idea.

By then I didn't have it in me to mess with the weather, or even take wing, but one thing about being a shapeshifter is you have to get very cool very quickly about the fact some of your close friends are going to see you naked. So it was only moderately embarrassing to leave my borrowed gym clothes with the others and streak past the police officers. I swear I could almost hear the Benny Hill music as I sprinted through the park. By the time I got back, disguised in a borrowed coat, there were several more naked people running around the park. Enough to keep the police occupied for a while. I could feel the run had done me good as we raced into the church.

The place had been desecrated. Hairline cracks in the altar, charred streaks on the walls, and every trace of plant life scoured from the cracks in the floor. It stank of burning. Fiona called on the Sibyl, and asked who killed them. They said it was us - or rather something that wore our faces. A prince of the seven, the lord of a thousand faces, Maymun. A djinn.

How could we prove our innocence? The djinn was backed by an oathbreaker. Malcolm Roberts. We all knew that name. One of the people on the pub licensing committee. DSI Roberts.

Fiona had one more question. Djinns aren't British fae. What was this one doing so far from its native lands? They come where they are bound, to serve their sovereign.

That was a whole other question in itself, but right then we had to get out of there before the police got back. I got back into my clothes, and dropped the borrowed coat on the edge of the park where its owner could find it. Then it was back into Vanessa. Fiona called a contact at the hospital to check on Gunne, but it seemed he was still unconscious. That talisman had burned him badly.

We needed to find DSI Roberts, and P Division weren't going to be any use at this point. Clan Kielsyn had gone off us a bit after getting a sniff of Topher, it seemed. We were running out of places to turn. Except that nasty little shithead of a fae, Firs, still owed me one. The coin he'd given me...well I knew damn well I'd left it in a drawer at the Mitchester, not in Topher's old sweatpants, but here it was. I didn't know how I was supposed to use it, so I just let loose with every insult for the slimy bastard I could think of, until we rounded a corner and there he was at the side of the road.

He got in the back, insulted my clothes and suggested I needed some lipstick, but he did know where to find Roberts. Except he wanted something else in return, and while normally I'd take time to argue a better deal rather than give him anything, time wasn't on our side. What he wanted was my phone number. I didn't like the idea of him phoning me, but at least for the moment my phone wasn't on me. I gave him the number and he scratched it onto his arm. It wasn't for him, he said. And I had a horrible feeling I knew exactly was making deals with Firs to get hold of my number. Lucien.

We had bigger things to deal with right then though. Firs gave us the address and left the car. We drove to a much swankier part of the city and a house that looked far too expensive even for a DSI's salary, with a Tesla parked outside. While Fiona and me wondered about the best way to get inside, Topher went straight up to the front door and knocked.

A small Filipina woman in a cleaning overall opened the door, and once Topher made it clear he was going in whether she liked it or not, let us all in. The house was unsettling. It was too dark, with too much shadow in between the vases of withered flowers.

We found Roberts at his desk, lounging with a glass of whisky in one hand and the other down his trousers. He turned to face us as we approached, asking if we were going to threaten to break his knees. Fiona asked him about being an oathbreaker. He didn't have much to say. Topher brought up the subject of that nice car he had outside, and I pointed out how those things catch fire really easily. But it was Fiona who finally managed to get a rise out of him, even if it did mostly just seem to wind him up. He pulled out yet another talisman, but all the same, he winced when Fiona mentioned Maymun. He got the point about her being a necromancer, but pointed out that ghosts don't count as witness. He told us they'd infiltrated every possible level, and there was no magic that could stop him testifying that he'd seen us leaving the scene of the crime. Because it was the truth.

The cleaner knocked on the door. Roberts told her to come back tomorrow. Then the door opened, and in the doorway was no cleaner but a creature with its head wreathed in flames. It opened its mouth and a jet of flame shot across the room.

Even as I could feel my skin burning, I was reflexively shifting. If my opponent had been human, I would have blinded it, the way my talons raked through its face. Topher picked up Roberts and threw him at the djinn. He missed, but at least Roberts was out of action for a bit. Fiona was sure that despite its supernatural powers, it wasn't going to be much tougher than a human, but I couldn't pay too much attention to that as I was dropping out of its grasp as it reached up to grab me, and going for its chest. All I got was a beak full of ash, but Topher's punch landed, and the creature somehow dissolved into ash.

We needed some serious words with the now seriously injured Roberts, but we certainly weren't going to be staying at his house any longer. We all bundled into Vanessa. A plume of smoke was already coming from the house as we left.

Oh, and we set fire to the Tesla on the way out. Just, you know, on principle.

Liminal: The Mitchester Arms, episode 4: Who is Nigel?

I woke up at 9am when the alarm I'd been unkind enough to set for myself went off. I dragged myself out of bed, threw some clothes on, and remembered Celia.

Celia was fine. Awake and dressed. She'd had a text from Gus to tell her Damian was at Southmead Hospital. I assured her I hadn't given him her number. Then she had a momentary vision. She saw me with stag horns on my head. I don't know what it means but I've got a bad feeling it's tied to that coin Firs gave me somehow.

I walked Celia to the door, talking music on the way, then went to make breakfast for the others. Which I wouldn't normally do, but Fiona was in no condition to be doing it and Topher was too busy helping her out. Over scrambled eggs and tea we made our plan. Of the names the Sibyl had given us, only one was familiar. What's more, we knew exactly where he was, and he was probably feeling positive about us right now given that we'd just saved his life.

We got in Vanessa the Land Rover and Topher drove us to Southmead accompanied by Portishead. For such an interesting guy he sure has a boring CD collection. I could barely keep my eyes open. Damian was in ICU but he was awake and had Celia sitting with him. He was still putting on that fake Jamaican accent that's not fooling any of us, even in his current state, and was pretty happy to see us. Happy enough to answer our questions about Nigel, anyway. Nigel is a massive bellend, and also his dad. And he's a big man in the Mercury Collegium. He operates out of a pub called the Chelsea and has a Glaswegian attack dog called Colin.

He had less to say on the name Klaus, but at least he could tell us that he was Damian's sponsor in the Clan. It was obvious he needed some rest, so we went on our way. Our next move was going to have to be talking to either Klaus or Nigel, and right now the werewolves we'd just helped out seemed like a better bet than the Mercury Collegium. Topher gave Gus a called and arranged a meeting for Sunday Lunch at the Mitchester.

It rapidly became apparent that the Bristol traffic was not going to allow us to get back in time to get the lunch service going. And Vanessa's pretty roomy but I could feel myself getting increasingly antsy, stuck in the car in what felt like an endless traffic jam. In the end I couldn't take it any longer. I opened up the sunroof, shifted, and launched myself into the air, leaving a pile of clothes and a brief burst of ozone and daisies. With hindsight I should probably have warned the others first.

I had some pretty standard beef and turkey laid on for lunch service but we were about to have special guests so I decided to pick something up on the way back. There are pheasants in the city if you know where to look, and I soon had an alternate menu option to take home. I tapped on the window to alert Cassie when I got back - I swear that girl still thinks I have an unusually smart pet falcon - and she let me in.

The others arrived half an hour after we started serving, moments before Gus and Klaus, by which time I'd eaten the parts of the pheasant not considered fit for table and reverted to human form. Cassie called in the request for the chef's special, telling me one of the customers was really good looking. After getting a look at Klaus, whose gait was the only thing about him that didn't scream accountant, I really hoped she was talking about Gus.

The werewolves were pretty cagey about everything. According to them, Damian had been taken into the clan on his own merits and had proved himself. I asked about Nigel, but they denied any knowledge of that name. As they went on their way, Fiona assured us they were lying, but we weren't going to be able to get any more out of them without something to offer.

Then my phone went. Amelia. She'd set up a meeting for 7pm in a nearby tapas restaurant. Hardly ideal since we were still on a time limit for solving this problem for the Sibyl, but high end restaurant reservations aren't the kind of thing that can easily be changed and we needed this information.

With no further leads it was obvious we were going to have to talk to Nigel. Topher was concerned his showing up while Colin was around was likely to start a fight, but the alternative was me and Fiona going in on our own, and while I can look after myself, I can't look after Fiona too. We wanted him with us, and we wanted him armed.

It was obvious from the outside what kind of pub the Chelsea was. People sitting around with poorly concealed weapons, the stench of weed, the kind of cracked windows you get from people being thrown at them, and nitrous oxide canisters littering the ground. We parked nearby, not wanting to put Vanessa in the car park, and headed for the door. We were intercepted by what I assume was the landlady. She obviously didn't like the look of us, and told us to get in our Chelsea tractor and go home.

We asked about Nigel, but once again we were stonewalled. Topher brought up Colin without much effect. She told us to leave again and we could see weapons were being drawn. So it was going to have to be a show of power, and my power is the weather. I called the wind into a swirling vortex around us, picking up litter, nitrous canisters and bullet casings. How dare she talk about Vanessa like that? Fiona reached into it and picked out a bullet casing, getting stares from some of those around. Stares, and weapons sheathed. It seemed we'd made our point.

The pub was nasty. A grimy little place with one of those squishy carpets that have had far too much beer spilt and never cleaned up. Nigel was seated at the back, behind a bead curtain. He bore enough resemblance to Damian that we knew we had the right person. On with the show of strength. He demanded Topher and me sit down. We looked to Fiona for instructions, making it clear she was in charge. She stood her ground and we stayed standing. Again we'd made our point.

Then he did something none of us expected. He pulled out a cigarette and lit it with a snap of his fingers. And the air was suddenly full of the smell of bitter ash.

I would have liked to ask him how exactly he learned how to do that, but I was on a time limit, so went straight for the obvious. What was going on involving Klaus and his boy? Nigel's response confirmed Damian's description of him as a bellend. Seems he's one of those parents who don't believe in kindness. No wonder Damian wanted nothing to do with his dad, or his business.

I was starting to hope we might get somewhere when Colin walked in, threw a folder on the table, and immediately abandoned what he was saying to get in Topher's face. Fiona took the opportunity to ask Nigel why the bitter ash smell had shown up somewhere associated with his son, which I think actually surprised him. For a moment I thought I was about to have to do a runner with Fiona, but holy shit, Topher actually challenged Colin to a game of darts, and in the resulting confusion I managed to get a look at that folder.

There were photos inside. One was that vault underneath the Cornubia, and from the state of it, it was definitely after we'd made our visit. The other was the Mitchester Arms, with an arrow drawn on pointing at Fiona's window.

We didn't stick around much longer. Back in Vanessa, Topher told us Colin was wearing a silver chain that didn't look like the kind of jewellery a man like that would want to be seen wearing. I knew what it was. A talisman. Similar to one Fiona had seen DS Gunne with, it turned out. With Gunne apparently too sick to take a call, she called one of his people, who said it was from some stuff belonging to DCI Choudhury, Myers' predecessor.

Then Topher spotted we were being followed. Some old Ford. Vanessa can shift when we want her to, and Topher shook them off. But why would anyone follow us? Everyone knows where we live. Especially people with photos showing Fiona's bedroom.

I was going to have to hustle if I was going to make my dinner date, and the others were going to have to get back to Clan Kielsyn for a trade of information if we were going to get the Sibyl's job done in time. So I got dropped off near the Mitchester and went to get ready. I don't have much in the way of clothes suitable for anything fancier than my own kitchen, but I've got one decent pair of shoes and a nice dress from Primark. Along with some makeup and tidying up my hair I felt I looked quite respectable.

Or at least, I did until I got to the door of the restaurant and remembered that places with Michelin stars are on a whole different level. I guess the fact I had sunglasses on probably didn't help, but it's either that or go flashing my freak eyes to the normies and I felt out of place enough already. Fortunately the staff were expecting me.

I saw Amelia first. Straight away I took in the designer dress and the red soled shoes. It took a moment longer to spot her earrings. Silver studs, mostly hidden by her hair. The ones I gave her when we were still sixth-formers. God I miss her.

And then there he was. Percival Fitz-Percy. Fucking Percy. That place pretty much trained the swearing out of us, but that one stuck. He wanted me to take the sunglasses off but I refused. He had to know why I hide my eyes but still. No reason he needed the specifics.

He got straight down to business, calling me his biggest failure. Yes, I'd heard it all before. So much promise. So much potential. Amelia pushed a ring box across the table to me. I tried to make a joke about how this didn't seem like the right time for a proposal, but my heart wasn't in it. It was a ring, of course. A Council of Merlin signet ring, just like the ones they were both wearing. He didn't have to say a word but he said it anyway. He wanted me to take it, become an associate member of the Council, and started digging up my so-called arcane lineage. So he could stitch me up with some kind of noble heritage and have me inherit land and money and shit.

How dare he? The absolute bastard, trying to lure me in with money, like I'd have given up my college scholarship to go and work in a pub if it had been about money. Because if they'd actually given a shit about my so-called lost noble heritage they'd have done something for my parents instead of doing nothing until my talent manifested.

But I needed info. So I was going to have to at least take the ring box and think about it for a while. And he'd listened to Amelia over the bitter ash smell. He agreed it sounded fae, and took the opportunity to remind me of a few things I already knew from classes, like boggarts being associated with earth and larceny. Honestly, being reminded of those cute little dickheads was probably the best part of the evening. But fire had never come up, and of course there are no real pyromancers despite what some people would like to claim.

I was starting to wonder if he was just going to tell me things I already knew, but then he started talking about something else. Something they'd found near the observatory. Amelia said that it was beautiful, and I needed to see if for myself. I thought of the vault under the Cornubia. Could there be more than one? And it sounded like I could get all the answers there, but of course I couldn't be allowed to visit, or even be told any more about it. Because I wasn't a member of the Council.

I said I needed time to think about it. I needed to know more but the thought of getting back in their gilded cage was making me feel sick. I was glad of my sunglasses because I could feel tears welling up in my eyes, and all I was actually thinking about was how I hoped Fiona and Topher were back at the Mitchester because if I was going to cry in front of someone I wanted it to be them and not Amelia and especially not fucking Percy.

Then his phone went. He looked at it, showed it to Amelia, and both of them went white. Then I heard the police sirens outside.

Liminal: The Mitchester Arms, episode 3: Visions

Back at the bus stop I took the time to check my phone. I'd delivered the best bread and honey the Co-op could provide into the fairy ring, and now there was a message with a thumbs-up and an extreme close up of a boggart's face. How they did that without a phone of their own I don't know. Probably best not to think about it.

There were a few messages on the Whatsapp group, most importantly Topher confirming that he hadn't been eaten by werewolves, although in slightly more guarded language. I've told them they don't need to worry what they say in the Mitchester Arms RPG Club group chat, but I guess we're all still getting used to that. Fiona had a lead on what was going on with the licensing situation, so I let them know I'd dealt with the fairy ring problem and would join them there.

There turned out to be Holly Court, one of those hideous brutalist flatblocks that seem to have grown on this city like a rash. I was the last to arrive, and explained that I'd made a deal with three boggarts. They were sceptical, but appreciated that it was a better option than unleashing a rawhead on the city.

Inside, Fiona headed for the lift. I looked at how cramped it was, especially with Topher and Fiona already inside, and decided to take the stairs. I arrived out of breath, just in time for Fiona to fail to get the lock open. I took over, and next thing I knew the pick had snapped. Of course Topher managed to punch it open with damn near surgical precision. Not that I was complaining.

I don't know what Fiona was expecting to find in this flat, but none of us were expecting nothing. The place was completely cleaned out. Except it wasn't completely empty. There was a lingering scent of bitter ash. The same thing I could smell when visiting the boggarts. Shit.

I was reluctant to believe there was absolutely nothing left here so went for a more thorough look around. Behind a curtain there was a far more mundane ash smell. Picking through the burned fragments in an ashtray I found a photo. East Asian woman, maybe Chinese. A note on the back called her a target and an easy mark. Fiona recognised the picture. Lin Xia, a city council clerk. Seems someone used her to cause our licensing problems. Fiona took the photo to give to DS Gunne as evidence. Strange it was still here though. Careless. That didn't fit with everything else we'd seen here.

We were just about to leave when we heard the door swing open and some kid walked in. I say kid. Didn't take long to clock a fledgling vamp, especially when he clearly wanted us to know. He called himself Steve and said we were on his turf. Thank god for Fiona's ability to bullshit her way out of damn near anything. There was some talk of him doing a better job with his sigils in future and we made another attempt to leave.

Except as I was following the others out, Steve said he recognised me, and that's not a good thing coming from a vampire. I hung back a bit and suggested maybe he'd seen me in the pub, but no. It was as bad as I feared. Lucien. I stopped entirely. Not smart, but at that moment being alone with a fledgling vampire sounded better than having to explain to the others about Lucien. Apparently he still talked about me as 'the one that got away'. And Steve was reminding me that while he was only a fledgling he was still a predator, and it was all I could do to remind myself that so am I. I might have left a little faster than was entirely dignified.

Fortunately there was plenty to distract me back at the pub. Cassie was looking frazzled and the agency staff we'd got for the day weren't inspiring much confidence. Plus there was the impending meeting with Clan Kielsyn that Topher had set up. What really worried me though was that bitter ash smell. It felt like fairy magic, but no kind of fae that either Fiona or I had ever heard of. I needed help, and who better than an actual associate member of the Council of Merlin?

Amelia answered the phone pretty quick, and it did feel good to hear her voice again. Asking for help didn't feel so good. She agreed, but of course it came with a price. And the price was having dinner with possibly the only person on Earth I like even less than Firs or Lucien. My old Dee College tutor, Percival Fitz-Percy.

I was thinking of checking what kind of mess the tweaker that the agency had apparently mistaken for a chef was making of my kitchen when I heard screams from downstairs. Seems Celia had been attempting some divination and it had gone...not well. Topher said she'd had frost coming out of her mouth, which certainly explained why he'd thought it was a good idea to throw a kettle of boiling water over her. Fiona was applying first aid, so all I really saw was the triskele she'd drawn on the floor. Apart from where the water had washed it away, it was identical to the one on the coin Firs gave me.

There was nothing else we could do for her at this point, and we couldn't miss our appointment with Clan Kielsyn. So I packed my trowel, and a surprisingly charming guy called Gus picked us up in some fancy car and took us to the Cornubia. A hole underneath a pub wasn't exactly what I'd been expecting - but then, what had I been expecting? It was a challenge getting Fiona and her chair down there and I suspect it hurt more than she was letting on. But it was worth it.

The room was beautiful. It had everything. Vaulted ceilings, carved walls, designs picked out in gold and gems showing a mix of native wildlife and pretty much any occult symbol I could think of. But the important thing was the three people covered in frost, floating above an empty pool in the middle of the room. Even under the frost I could see one of them was Damian.

After some careful examination we had a fair idea what we were looking at. A ward, and a big one too. If we were going to get those people out, we were going to have to destroy it, and that probably meant destroying this room with it. Which I'd do in a heartbeat, but I wasn't so sure about Gus. I guess I shouldn't have underestimated pack mentality.

It took all three of us plus Gus to do it once we'd got everyone else clear. At least if this all went wrong there'd be none of us left to blame. As we hit the four corners, the carvings melted and flowed onto the floor. I kept my eyes on Damian, and saw him and the others sink slowly to the ground as the frost retreated. They were obviously in need of urgent medical attention and Gus and Topher carried two of them to the ladder. I'm not that quite that strong but found it in me to drag the third all the same.

Gus was pretty hard to read when we got out ourselves, but he gave Fiona and me business cards which seemed to be some kind of token of respect and took us back to the Mitchester. Poor Cassie. We're definitely not going to use that agency again. And if that wasn't bad enough, we all spotted a familiar pair of six inch Louboutin heels. Fiona knows how to handle Carolina Fortunato though, whether she's acting on behalf of the Mayor or the Sodality.

My kitchen was a wreck, but before I could get started on fixing that I had to check on Celia. Seems Topher felt the same. We'd put her to bed in a spare room, but she was awake now and looking much better. And we had good news for her. We'd found Damian and he was going to be OK. She started tearing up at that, so I hugged her, and then the floodgates opened.

She'd just about managed to calm down and start asking why we were looking so gloomy when we'd just saved someone's life when suddenly she dropped the mug of cocoa she'd been holding, threw back her head, and started speaking in a voice I didn't recognise.

"A figure made from fire, ash and smoke laid in repose on a black stone table with a broken crown at its head. Flowers of pink, blue and yellow sprouted from its body and were burnt away only for new blossoms to erupt from under its skin."

Then she was back with us, and in her own voice asked Topher why she'd just seen him burning.

She was clearly exhausted, and we left her to sleep, but Topher was acting shifty. I knew what the flowers meant. Discipline, self-control, honour and bravery. Was that how Topher saw himself? He didn't seem sure about the brave part. And he was definitely hiding something. Celia's vision had clearly shaken him up, and it seemed to be something personal. But he obviously didn't want to talk, and I had a kitchen to clean. We could discuss it in the morning.

I was thinking it might be nice to get up a bit early and take wing for a while, but at something like half three in the morning I was woken up by someone hammering on the door. I legged it downstairs and found the most nondescript man I've ever seen demanding Topher tell him how many of us were here. Then he called over someone I never expected to see at the Mitchester. The Avonian Sibyl.

We did all the right stuff, inviting them in, offering hospitality. Turns out the Sibyl likes draught beer and pork scratchings. Mr Average turned out to be not quite so average in the teeth department. At least he turned down the offer. That could have been nasty.

The Sibyl had a request for us. "The clan found Damian’s odour too strong for their delicate noses, yet took him in anyway. It was only when Nigel’s name came up that paranoid Klaus relented and called him brother. Why?" We had twenty-four hours to get them an answer. We could hardly refuse. I watched the Sibyl go. I'd never seen anyone quite so powerful before. So why did they look melancholy and defeated?