“What sort of security system do you use?” I ask. “Lasers? Heat sensors?”

“Magic.”

I start to smirk, thinking this is another of his jokes, but his grim expression unnerves me.

“I’ve cast some of my strongest spells on this room,” he says. “Anybody who enters without my permission will run into serious obstacles. And I don’t use that phrase lightly.”

Dervish sits in the large leather chair behind one of the desks and rocks lightly to the left and right as he addresses me. “I know there’s nothing as tempting as forbidden fruit, Grubitsch, but I’ve got to ask you not to come into this room when I’m not here. There are spells I can cast to protect you—and spells I can teach you when you’re ready to learn—but it’s safest not to tempt fate.”

“Are you…” I have to wet my lips to continue. “Are you a magician?”

“No,” he chuckles. “But I know many of the ways of magic. Bartholomew Garadex was a magician—among other things—but there hasn’t been one in the family since. Real magicians are rare. You can’t become one—you have to be born to it. Ordinary people like you and me can study magic and make it work to an extent, but true magicians have the natural power to change the shape of the world with a click of their fingers. It wouldn’t do to have too many people with that kind of power walking around. Nature limits us to one or two per century.”

“Is…” I hate to say his name out loud, but I must. “Is Lord Loss a magician?”

Dervish’s eyes are dark. “No. He’s a demon master. He’s as far advanced of magicians as magicians are of the rest of us.”

“When I… was escaping… I used magic.”

“To fit through the dog flap.” He nods. “Many of us have magical potential. It usually lies dormant, but the presence of the demons enabled you to tap into yours. The magic within you reacted to theirs. Without it, you would have died, along with the others.”

I stare wordlessly at Uncle Dervish. He speaks so honestly, so matter of factly, that he could be explaining a math problem. There’s so much I want to ask, so many questions. But this isn’t the time. I’m not ready.

I scratch my head and pluck a long ginger hair from behind my left ear. I rub it between my fingers until it falls, then face Dervish and grin shakily. “I’ll agree to stay out of your study if you’ll do something for me in return.”

“What?” he asks, and I can tell he’s expecting an overbearing request.

“Will you call me ‘Grubbs’? I can’t stand ‘Grubitsch’.”

The cellar’s full of wine racks and dusty bottles.

“My other great love, apart from books,” Dervish purrs, wiping clean the label of a large green bottle. He advances, lights flicking on ahead of him as he walks. I wonder if it’s magic, until I spot motion-detection sensors overhead.

“Do you drink wine?” he asks, leading me down one of the many rack-lined aisles of the cellar.

“Mum and Dad let us have a glass with dinner sometimes, but I don’t really like it,” I answer.

“Shocking!” he tuts. “I’ll have to educate your palate. Wine is as varied and unpredictable as people. There are some vintages you just won’t get on with, no matter how famous or popular they are, but you’ll always find something you like—if you search hard enough.”

He stops, picks out another bottle, appraises and replaces it. “I roam around for hours down here some days,” he sighs. “Half the pleasure of having such a fine collection is forgetting what’s here and rediscovering it by accident years later. The choosing of a bottle can be almost as much fun as the drinking of it.” He snorts. “Almost!”

We return to the steps leading up to the kitchen and he pauses. “I have to ask you not to come down here either,” he says. “But this has nothing to do with spells or magic. The temperature and humidity have to be maintained just so.” He pinches his left thumb and index finger together. “I’m fairly easy-going when it comes to material possessions, but where my wine’s concerned I’m unbelievably cranky. If you caused an accident…” He shook his head glumly. “I wouldn’t say much, but I’d silently despise you forever.”

“I’ll steer clear,” I laugh. “The off-licence will do for me if I want to go boozing.”

Dervish smiles and leads the way up. The lights switch off automatically behind us, plunging the cellar into cool, precision gloom.

“And that’s it.”

Back where we started, the main hall, beneath the giant chandelier. Dervish checks his watch. “I usually have dinner anywhere between five and seven. You can eat with me—I’m a nifty little chef, if I do say so myself—or do your own cooking and feed whenever you like. The freezer’s stocked with pizzas and microwave dinners.”

“I’ll eat with you,” I tell him.

“Then I’ll shout when it’s ready. In the meantime, feel free to explore, either inside or out. And remember—you can’t come to any harm here.”

He heads for the wide set of marble stairs leading to the first and second floors.

“Wait!” I stop him. “You never showed me my room.”

Dervish slaps his forehead playfully. “You’ll get used to that,” he chuckles. “I’m forever overlooking the obvious. Well, there are fourteen bedrooms to choose from—any except mine is yours for the taking.”

“You don’t have a room set aside for me?” I ask, surprised.

“I thought about it,” he replies, “but I decided to let you choose for yourself. You can test out as many as you like. If you want to stay on the upper floor, close to me, you can—though the rooms there are quite modest compared to those on the first floor.”

He tips an imaginary hat to me, then trots up the stairs to his study.

Standing alone in the vast hall. The house creaks around me. I shiver, then recall Uncle Dervish’s promise—I can’t come to any harm here. I shake off the creeps before they have a chance to take hold.

Picking up my bag, which I dropped by the front doors when we came in, I climb the ornate stairs and go searching among the beautifully kept, expansive array of rooms for one that I can dump my gear in and call my own.

PORTRAITS

I don’t expect to get much sleep the first night—new surroundings, new bed, new life—but surprisingly I drop off within minutes of climbing underneath the covers of the small first-floor bed I chose, and don’t wake until close to ten in the morning.

I feel good as I use the en suite bathroom. Refreshed. The sun’s broken through the clouds and is shining directly on to my bed when I come out of the bathroom. I lie on the covers and bask in the rays, smiling softly. For a moment I think of Gret’s en suite… the rat guts… the start of the nightmares. But I’m in too good a mood to dwell on all that. Shaking my thoughts free, I head downstairs for a late breakfast.

I’m finishing off my cornflakes and munching my third slice of toast when Dervish enters through the back door. He’s been jogging. Red-faced, sweaty, panting.

“I looked in… on you… earlier,” he gasps, rolling his neck around, jiggling his arms and legs. “Didn’t have the heart… to wake you.”

“I don’t normally sleep this late,” I grin guiltily.

“I should hope not.” He stretches, holds his hands over his head while he counts to ten, then relaxes, pulls up a chair and sits. “Any plans for today?”

“I’m not sure,” I admit nervously. “I’m used to having nurses plan my days for me.”

“I’ve been thinking about school,” Dervish says. “Ideally I’d like to get you started quickly, but they’re midway through term. You’d be playing catch-up from the second you sat down. I think it’d be easier if we waited until after the summer, when you can go in fresh with the rest of the class.”

“OK.” I’m relieved—I was dreading the return to school.

“If you want, I can give you some lessons, or we can enroll you for private tuition,” Dervish continues. “You’ve missed a lot, and I suspect you’ll have to repeat a year, but if you work hard over the summer…”