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“You think some of my kind are chasing Princess Salia’s heart friend?” Laxmi asked.

“Unfortunately it seems so,” Matthias said. “Will you help?”

“Of course I will,” Laxmi said. “But do you know where she is?”

“Not yet, but we’re going to find out.” He nodded to where Darya was standing with Salia. He had the Seeker’s pendant around his neck and was holding Salia’s hand while he concentrated. “Darya should be able to locate her by scrying with the pendant.”

“It’ll almost certainly be near the exit point of one of the breeches,” she said. “And the breeches are wider but we haven’t detected any new ones. I think you would have recognised the Devon one. Are the Aylmers likely to be in Scotland?”

“Scotland? No, not really.”

“Which means it’s most likely the Caredale one,” she said. “That’s what I thought.”

“Caredale?” he asked.

“It’s where I’m from,” she said. “Give me a moment.” She pulled a mobile phone from her pocket and started thumbing through the numbers. Matthias grabbed her wrist.

“Who are you calling?”

“Who do you think? Darlyryan is actually in Caredale right now. But it’s out of my range and I can’t create imps so I have to use the phone. If they’re there he can move faster than us and time is of the essence.”

“Ah, so Caredale is the town he was talking about?” Matthias narrowed his eyes.

“Yes, but we can talk about it later. We don’t have time now.” She pulled her wrist free and dialled the number before he could intevene.

“Hi, it’s me!” she said. “Listen…” She paused and listened. “Yes, I do know what time it is. It’s an emergency. Check the breech; I think you’ll find they’re chasing someone.” She fell silent and tapped her foot in a way that suggested she was waiting. Finally she let out a breath. “I’m right? Listen the little girl is Princess Salia’s heart friend. We’re coming to get her.” She turned the phone off just as Darya gave a startled cry.

“I see the place, I haven’t got a lock yet but it’s the town from Karilya’s dream!”

“Ah!” Lyrrekka’s eyes narrowed. “That actually makes sense. We know he and Alsia have come to blows so they’d actually have to be in the same area.”

“Is it the Caredale that’s been on the news?” Julie asked.

“It is,” Laxmi said.

“Lots of places have been in the news,” Matthias said. “What happened there?”

“You missed that?” Julie asked. “Possibly the most important thing of all. It’s the only place no one died.”

“Wha–” Matthias stared at her. “No one died? That is important. How did we miss that?”

“We weren’t looking for it, I guess,” Sarah said. “Ian’s been concentrating on news of psychic explosions and similar, not lack of them. But it explains why the Aylmers were there. Claire wouldn’t have missed it. She must have been investigating.” She shook her head. “But we’re all here. Let’s go and save them.”

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