‘But as you say,’ Iliana said, ‘there’s nothing left of the tomb or any bones now. Even if the key was buried with whoever’s body that really was, it doesn’t help us now, does it? Because it’s long gone sadly.’

  ‘But what if its whereabouts was told to someone?’ Celeste asked. ‘What if, somehow, the message was given to the St Clairs, and Titus passed that information on to Blaise in the form of a story? Because that’s the impression I got. That he was telling Blaise a story.’

  ‘It’s a possibility,’ Sirius said doubtfully. ‘But even if it’s true, it still doesn’t help us. Blaise isn’t here any more to tell us, remember? He’s gone back to 1673, and we can’t ask him what he remembers.’

  Celeste shook her head. ‘He doesn’t remember any more than I saw. The memory is long gone. A wisp. A fragment. But don’t you see? If the story was passed from Titus to Blaise, maybe it was passed to other members of the St Clair family.’

  ‘What I don’t get is why Titus told Blaise,’ Raiden said. ‘Blaise was Rafe’s son. Why didn’t he tell his own son?’

  ‘Maybe he did,’ Celeste said patiently. ‘But remember, Titus didn’t have a son until quite late in life. Maybe he’d given up hope of having one of his own and decided to pass the information on to Rafe’s son instead. Or maybe Titus only told it as a fairy tale, not believing there was any truth in it. Maybe he’d been told it in the same fashion. Who knows?’

  She looked round at us all. ‘It’s a possibility, isn’t it? And if it’s true, then it means that we have a chance of finding the Golden Chalice Key.’

  ‘How?’ Raiden shook his head. ‘I certainly don’t remember any such story being told to me. I would have passed it to Sirius if I had.’

  ‘No, but you’re Rafe’s descendant,’ Celeste said. ‘And when Titus had children, if there was any truth in the story, it would be Titus who passed the information on to his own line. Don’t you think?’

  There was a silence and we all turned as one to look at Castor.

  He spluttered with laughter. ‘Rubbish! Sorry, kiddo, but you’re barking up the wrong tree. I’d have remembered. ‘Course I’d have remembered if my dad had told me about some key.’

  ‘But would you?’ Celeste persisted. ‘It’s been hundreds of years since this story began. I expect your own father and even your grandfather believed it to be nothing but a charming fairy tale. If you attached no importance to it, and neither did they, would you really remember it all these years later?’

  ‘Well, even if they did tell me,’ Castor pointed out, ’I don’t remember, so that’s that. It’s gone, for good or bad.’

  ‘Not necessarily,’ Hector said quietly.

  ‘Celeste can memory-walk again,’ Jethro said excitedly. ‘She can go into your memories and see if that particular memory is lodged in there somewhere, Castor!’

  ‘She bloody well cannot!’ Castor spluttered indignantly. ‘Them memories are private. You keep out, thanks very much.’

  ‘Runa says Celeste might be onto something,’ Keely said excitedly. ‘She says I’ve got to make you agree, Castor.’

  ‘Does she indeed?’ Castor grunted.

  ‘Sid says the same!’ Harley’s eyes lit up. ‘He says if you don’t agree he’ll set Betty on you.’

  ‘Like I’m scared of a guinea pig!’ Castor snorted but I saw a distinct look of fear in his eyes which amused me.

  ‘Oh, Castor,’ Mrs Greenwood said, shaking her head. ‘Don’t be so silly. This could be important. Vital. If you let Celeste do this,’ she added, batting her eyelashes at him, ‘I’ll bake you a coffee and walnut cake. Your favourite.’

  Castor scowled. ‘You fight dirty, don’t you?’

  ‘I promise,’ Celeste said, ‘that I won’t linger in there. I’m getting better at this all the time, and I’ll try my best to head straight for your childhood. See if I can find the memory I need and nothing else.’

  ‘You’d better,’ he said.

  She beamed at him.

  ‘So you’ll let me do it?’

  ‘Like I’ve got any choice,’ he said grumpily. ‘You’ll never let me get a minute’s peace until you do. I know you lot. How do I get myself into these situations? Here I am, minding my own business and now I’m going to have someone walking round in my mind. I must want me head read.’

  ‘That,’ said Celeste with a smile, ‘is exactly what I’m about to do. Thank you, Castor. It might not work, and it might be a false lead, but it’s all we’ve got for now. Maybe your memories will change everything!’

  Chapter 43

  Trinity

  We all waited anxiously in the living room while Celeste took an extremely reluctant Castor upstairs. Hector went with them just in case Celeste got stuck again and needed guidance to get out of Castor’s mind.

  ‘Well,’ Aurora said, munching happily on leftover Bakewell tart, ‘this has turned out to be jolly exciting, hasn’t it?’

  I was delighted to see she’d regained her appetite. For a while there, I’d feared we’d lost the old Aurora. Grief and anger had overwhelmed her, understandably, but she was getting more like her old self every day. I’d missed her. I was determined that, somehow, we’d find out who’d betrayed her father and me, and we’d make them pay.

  Keely was still obsessing over the tarot cards.

  ‘If Castor knows the whereabouts of the witch’s key,’ she said, ‘we could find it before Wulfram gets back. And if we can just work out what Lyrica means by these tarot clues we could also find the fae key. Imagine how relieved and happy he’d be when he got home.’

  I knew she was obsessing because she was worried about Wulfram and missing him. I understood that. I was worried about him and missing him, too. I couldn’t even let myself think about Romy, because the grief at losing her for good was all too real. I’d had her in my life for such a short time. It must be heartbreaking for Keely and Harley. No wonder Keely needed to focus on something else.

  Thoughts, naturally, turned to what the three of them might be doing in 1673.

  ‘Do you think the island’s returned yet?’ Sky pondered. ‘They’re going to be jolly stuck until it does.’

  ‘It better have,’ Star said. ‘We want them home before Yule.’

  ‘But we don’t know for sure when the island returned,’ Killian said glumly. ‘And I’ve asked the folks back home if they can remember when the Seelie Court meeting took place, but they can’t. They know the year, and they know it was winter, but that’s it. We don’t follow your calendar. Days are meaningless to us, as are all these festivals you celebrate—Yule and Christmas and the like. So, given that it was winter and in 1673, we only can say for sure that it’s some time in December. It might be the very last day of the month for all we know.’

  ‘Don’t say that!’ Keely gasped. ‘I need Wulfram home before Christmas. It would be awful without him.’

  ‘He’ll be home,’ Harley said comfortingly. ‘I’m sure of it. And I’m sure he’s happily ensconced on the island right now, having supper with the Tremaynes in whatever version of this house existed back then.’

  We all looked around, as if we’d see the shadows of the past among us somehow. It was beyond weird to think that, somewhere in time, the Tremaynes might be sitting with Wulfram, Romy and Blaise in this very spot.

  ‘Do you think Castor does know anything?’ Mrs Greenwood asked wistfully. ‘I feel a bit mean, bullying him into letting Celeste walk through his mind. I’m not sure I’d fancy it, if I’m being honest. Some things should remain private, after all.’

  ‘Celeste’s a good person, Nan,’ Benedict reassured her. ‘She’ll be discreet and as careful as she can be. Don’t worry.’

  ‘And if Castor hasn’t got that memory,’ Star said, ‘what do we do then? We’re running out of options.’

  ‘Someone must know where the keys are,’ Keely said desperately. ‘They can’t just have vanished off the face of the earth. I mean, Arthur entrusted one each to the fae and the witches. How could they have been so careless as to lose them? If we do find them, I’ll never let them out of my sight, and I’ll make sure their whereabouts are passed to someone responsible.’

  ‘Easy to say,’ Emrick said with a wry smile. ‘Those keys were given in the sixth century, Keely. That’s a long time to keep something safe.’

  ‘Evidently,’ she said coldly. ‘Useless idiots. Fancy letting them be lost! Now look at all the work we’re going to have to do to find them.’

  ‘Let’s just hope no one else has beaten us to it,’ Jethro said glumly.

  ‘Jethro!’ Sky cried. ‘Don’t even think that, let alone say it!’

  We all fell silent as we heard footsteps on the stairs. A shaky looking Celeste entered the living room, helped by Hector who had his arms around her, supporting her.

  ‘Any of that Bakewell tart left, Mrs Greenwood?’ he asked. ‘She needs something to eat, fast.’

  Unfortunately, Aurora had just stuffed the last piece into her mouth, but Ewella had baked that afternoon and hurriedly brought in a chocolate cake, which not only satisfied Celeste but made Aurora’s eyes light up like Christmas trees.

  ‘Where’s Castor?’ Mrs Greenwood asked anxiously.

  ‘He’s asleep,’ Hector said. ‘Don’t worry, he’s fine. He’s just resting. Evidently, having your memories walked around in takes it out of you.’

  ‘How are you feeling, darling?’ Iliana asked, leaning towards Celeste.

  Celeste was busy eating chocolate cake, but she nodded and put her thumb up to indicate she was okay. We all let her eat in peace, even though we were bursting with impatience, and Ewella made us all cups of hot chocolate while we waited, which we were very grateful for.

  At last, Celeste was ready to talk.

  ‘Okay,’ she said, leaning back in her chair. ‘So I was right. Titus evidently did pass the story on to his son, and that was handed down through the generations. It’s quite a tale. The witch’s key—the Golden Chalice Key—ended up in the possession of the abbots of Glastonbury Monastery. I don’t know how that happened, or who had it before they did unfortunately. It was discovered when the two bodies of “Arthur” and “Guinevere” were recovered. The key was removed, and the bodies reburied. The secret stayed with the abbots through the years, but rumours circulated that it was in their keeping. The dissolution of the monasteries was the perfect excuse for the authorities to try to extract the information from Abbot Richard Whiting, but he was exceptionally brave. He refused to disclose its whereabouts and that’s why his execution was so brutal and so public. It was like a warning to whoever else knew where the key was hidden. Before he was arrested, knowing what would happen to him, he entrusted the key to his childhood friend, Sir John St Clair, great great grandfather of Blaise and Bevil. Their grandfather, Sir Edward, passed it to his youngest son, Titus.’

  She took a sip of hot chocolate. ‘In his old age, Titus found a safe place for it. Titus’s son helped him put it there, and from then on the story was passed down to the next generation. Sadly, as the years came and went, it became a sort of family myth. No one really believed it to be true and no one attached any real importance to it. Hence, Castor having no memory of even being told it. Luckily for us, he was told it, and that memory stayed there, buried deep.’

  ‘Then you know where the key is?’ Keely asked hopefully.

  ‘I do,’ Celeste said. ‘That is, providing no one’s found it and removed it, of course. It’s buried with Titus’s wife. If we want to get it back we’re going to have to open her tomb. Not a pleasant job.’

  ‘Ugh!’ Sky wrinkled her nose. ‘Seriously?’

  ‘Where is this tomb?’ Keely asked.

  ‘It’s in a little village just outside Beverley in East Yorkshire. Remember, Titus lived near Beverley? Well, his wife is entombed in a small churchyard a few miles from the town.’

  ‘Right,’ Keely said. ‘Tonight I’m heading there to find it. Who’s coming with me?’

  ‘Tonight?’ Sky cried. ‘But it will be dark!’

  ‘Do you think we’d be better off doing it in broad daylight?’ Harley said. ‘I’m sure no one will object to us opening up a tomb, will they?’

  ‘But—but it’s going to be so creepy,’ Aurora said with a shudder.

  ‘We don’t have a choice.’ Keely shrugged. ‘I’ll go alone if necessary.’

  ‘You will not,’ Harley said immediately. ‘If that’s the case then I’m coming with you.’

  ‘Me too,’ I said.

  ‘Forget it!’ Sirius glared at me. ‘Have you learned nothing from this afternoon?’

  ‘I can go with them,’ Killian said. ‘I’ll be there to protect them if there’s any Pendragon activity.’

  ‘No,’ Emrick said firmly. As I opened my mouth to protest he said, ‘I’m sorry, Trinity. I know this must be frustrating for you, but you’ve already endangered lives once today. If you remain here on this island there’s no reason the Pendragons will even know there’s anything going on tonight. If you go they’ll sense it, and that will only draw attention to the hiding place of the key.’

  ‘But—’

  ‘No!’

  He clearly wasn’t going to be talked out of his decision.

  ‘Listen to me. Your presence will attract Havok and his men to the tomb where, just possibly, the Golden Chalice Key is hidden. Can you imagine how you’d feel if, because of your actions, the Pendragons got hold of that? And yes, Killian could be there to protect you, but why should we risk him? Even Killian is only one person. Who knows how many Pendragons might turn up looking for you? Be sensible, please.’

  He was right and I knew it, but it didn’t make it any easier to deal with.

  I folded my arms. ‘Okay,’ I said gloomily. ‘You win. But I want it on record that I’m sick and tired of being a prisoner.’

  ‘Of course you are,’ he said. ‘And that’s why we’ve got to focus all our energy on finding the keys while Wulfram’s doing his bit to find the sword, because the sooner we have all three the sooner we can stop this warmongering by the Pendragons in its tracks and life can go back to normal. Just be patient a little longer, Trinity. Please.’

  As infuriating as that was, I knew it made sense.

  ‘Right,’ Sirius said, rubbing salt in the wound. ‘I’m happy to go with Keely and Harley.’

  ‘And I’ll go, too,’ Star said. ‘I’m good at fireballs, and if we get any unwelcome visitors I’ll shoot a few in their direction.’

  ‘I don’t think that’s such a good idea,’ Benedict said immediately.

  ‘Well of course you don’t, Benedict,’ she said. ‘Nevertheless, I’m going.’

  ‘But you’re a mother, darling,’ Iliana pointed out.

  ‘What’s that got to do with it?’

  ‘Star, I really don’t want to say this,’ Iliana said, ‘but if something were to happen to you… Think about Astra and Seren. You must put them first.’

  Star opened her mouth to protest, but nothing came out. Her mother had a point and I guess she knew it.

  ‘I should go too,’ Celeste said, but Hector shook his head. ‘You’ve been through enough and it takes it out of you. You know you’ll need to rest. You don’t want to be a burden to anyone, do you?’ He gave us an apologetic look. ‘I would volunteer, but to be honest, raiding someone’s tomb—it wouldn’t be looked on kindly. It’s not the sort of thing a Guardian should really be involved with.’

  ‘Point taken. I suggest Harley, Keely, Sirius, and I go,’ Killian said. ‘And I’ll ask Aidan to come with us, too, just in case. Two Shining Ones and three witches should be a match for the Pendragons, even if they bring lots of back up.’

  We finally agreed that was the best plan.

  ‘Midnight tonight,’ Killian said. ‘I’ll go and tell Aidan now.’

  ‘You’ll be just like Lara Croft,’ Sky said, trying to smile. ‘What an adventure.’

  I guess that was one word for it.

  Chapter 44

  Trinity

  ‘I think the house looks lovely,’ Emrick said, beaming round at us all. ‘The island always provides us with a splendid tree, and this one’s something special, don’t you think? Wonderful job, everyone.’

  I knew he was trying to cheer us all up and I appreciated his efforts, but honestly, I wasn’t convinced it was going to work. As the days had dragged on we’d become increasingly anxious and frustrated, and I thought Keely was close to breaking point, no matter how many times we reassured her that Wulfram would be all right, and that he’d be home any day now.

  As each day passed with no sign of him it became harder and harder to stay optimistic.

  It was just nine days to Christmas day. The house was decorated with evergreen branches: cedar, pine, and spruce, as well as sprigs of holly and a multitude of pine cones. There were candles burning everywhere, and fairy lights adorned the house. The main attraction was the Christmas tree which Emrick had brought inside, and which we’d all helped decorate, even though our hearts weren’t really in it.

  It had, after all, been over a week since Wulfram, Romy and Blaise had left. We had no idea what had happened to them, and Keely was growing increasingly anxious that Wulfram had somehow got stuck in 1673 and was unable to get back, even though Hector promised her that wouldn’t happen.

  She’d begged Hector to go back there to look for him, but he’d told her he couldn’t do that. Time travel was strictly for emergencies, and they had no proof—no reason at all—to believe that anything had happened to Wulfram.

  ‘We knew it might take time,’ he reminded her. ‘We don’t know the exact date the island returned to this world. They could still be in Gerrenporth waiting for it to show up. Please don’t worry, Keely. Everything will be okay.’

  It was a sentiment that Emrick echoed. He’d been kindness itself to Keely and Ewella, promising them that Wulfram would be perfectly all right, and that he’d be back before they knew it. He was determined that life should go on as if everything was well.

  ‘We have so much to celebrate,’ he pointed out. ‘Haven’t we achieved something amazing? Think how happy Wulfram’s going to be when he gets home and finds we’ve recovered one of the keys.’

 

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