“So stop trying to act like one!” Kayla roared at him. “When my real father died you told me I had to toughen up, remember? You said there was no place for booing and wooing and the only way to defeat the enemy was by being strong and hitting back.”

“Did I really say that?” Potter asked me.

“Yes,” I nodded, cringing at the thought of how he had broken the news of the death of her father.

“See, I’m not a jerk like so many people believe,” he said with a serious look on his face. “I gave you some good advice back there.”

“That wasn’t good advice,” Isidor said in disbelief. “That was cruel. And you said I looked like Shaggy-Doo. I looked him up on the internet and everything. I don’t look nothing like a Great Dane!”

“I wasn’t talking about the fucking dog!” Potter groaned. “Tell me something, Isidor, have you never watched T.V.?”

“I read,” Isidor told him proudly. “I don’t watch T.V. I like to use my imagination.”

“Don’t we know it,” Potter grumbled.

“Look, can we please stop talking about Scooby-Doo and God knows what else?” I gasped in disbelief. “It’s like living with a bunch of kids.”

“He started it,” Potter said, pointing at Isidor.

“No, I did not,” Isidor shot back. “You said I looked like a cartoon dog.”

“Yeah and you keep calling me Gabriela,” Potter barked, climbing from the table.

“Gabriel,” Isidor said, stepping closer to Potter. “Besides it wasn’t me who called you that, it was those Elders and…”

“Please!” I screamed, slamming my fists down onto the table. “Enough already! I can’t take any more.”

The room fell into silence. It was so quiet that if we’d had hearts we would’ve been able to hear them beating. I drew a deep breath. Then, turning to look at Kayla, I said, “If you really want to do this, I won’t hold you back.”

“You really mean that, Kiera?” Kayla asked, her eyes wide. “What changed your mind?”

“You’re right,” I told her. Then, looking at Potter, I added, “and however much it pains me to say this, Potter was right too. Sometimes it doesn’t do any good wallowing in self-pity. Sometimes you have to take the fight to the enemy.”

“It sounds like suicide to me,” Isidor said.

“Perhaps you should go then,” Potter mumbled and I shot an angry look at him.

Then, turning to look at Kayla, Potter said, “Are you sure about this? You’ve got nothing to prove to any of us. I know how tough you can be and I’d be happy to stand shoulder to shoulder with you in any fight.”

“Thanks,” she half-smiled. “I know I don’t have to go into Ravenwood School, but how else are we going to find out what’s happened to Emily Clarke? I mean, what’s the worst that can happen? I’m dead already.”

“You can still be destroyed,” Isidor said, stepping towards his sister and wrapping his arm about her shoulder. “If one of those wolves were to cut off your head, or…what if one of them tried to match with you?”

“Yeah, thanks for your input, Shakespeare,” Potter said. “Why don’t you go bury your head in a book?”

“No, Isidor is right,” I said. “What if one of those wolves tries to match with Kayla – what would happen then?”

“Let’s just hope that they don’t like the look of me,” Kayla half joked.

I didn’t want to dwell on the danger that Kayla was putting herself in – the danger we were all placing her in, so I said, “You’ve got a week in there - max. No more. And one whiff of danger and you fly straight out of there.”

“I promise,” Kayla said, and I could see the excitement burning in her eyes at the thought of the adventure and mystery that lay ahead of her.

“And if we sense for one moment that you are in danger, we are coming in after you,” Potter told her.

“How are we going to know if she’s in danger?” Isidor quizzed. “We won’t be in contact with her. It’s not like she can pop home one evening or give us a call.”

Potter reached into his back jeans pocket and pulled something from it. “Kayla can keep in contact with this,” he said, throwing whatever it was that he had fished from his pocket across the room at her.

Kayla snatched it from the air and her face lit up. “It’s an iPod!” she beamed.

“I got it for you when I went over the wall a few days ago,” Potter said. Then swallowing hard, as if what he was about to say was going to choke him somehow, he said, “I’m sorry for telling you to fuck off the other week when you asked me to lend you the money. I was just feeling a bit cranky that day. I didn’t mean anything by it.”

With a smile spread across her face, Kayla came around the table and threw her arms around Potter. “Thank you,” she said.

I could see that Potter didn’t know whether or not to hug her back, as his arms hung uncomfortably at his sides. “Yeah, yeah, that’s okay. Just remember, I’m not your dad. That thing cost me nearly three hundred pounds, so you can pay me the money back if and when you ever get a job,” he said, then winked at me over her shoulder.

Kayla let go of Potter and looked down at the iPod.

“How is Kayla going to keep in contact with that?” Isidor asked.

Before Potter had a chance of saying anything back to Isidor, I said, “Kayla will be able to send emails to my iPod and we can Skype. That way we can talk and see each other.” Seeing the look of concern on Isidor’s face for his sister, I added, “You’ll be able to see and chat to Kayla too.”

“Good,” he smiled; although I could see that he was still scared for her.

“So what’s the plan?” Kayla asked. “How do I get inside the school? Shall I fly over the wall?”

“No,” Potter said shaking his head. “They might wonder where you suddenly appeared from. They must keep a register – something like that. We need a good cover story.”

“My parents are both dead, right?” Kayla cut in. “So how about, I’ve been sent here to live with my Uncle Potter. But my uncle can’t be bothered with having some spoilt teenager hanging around the place, so he packs me off to the local boarding school?”

“It sounds okay, I guess,” I said thoughtfully. “Do you think this McCain will buy it?”

“Why not?” Potter said. “It doesn’t sound like this McCain is the sort of guy to turn a kid away. He needs as many as he can get, remember?”

“When shall I go in?” Kayla asked, refusing to let go of the iPod that Potter had bought for her.

“I’ll call McCain tomorrow,” Potter said thoughtfully. Then, looking at Kayla, he added, “Don’t just stand there, go and pack a bag.”

Without saying another word, Kayla left the kitchen. Isidor followed her, but on reaching the door, he looked back at the both of us and said, “You better be right about this.”

Before I’d had the chance to say anything, he had gone. I turned to Potter to see him light another cigarette. “That was a really nice thing that you did,” I said to him.

“Oh yeah, and what was that?” he asked me.

“Buying that iPod for Kayla,” I said, moving across the kitchen towards him, needing a hug.

“It was nothing,” he shrugged, taking me in his arms.

“It wasn’t nothing to her,” I told him. “I saw that look of delight on her face. You made her really happy.”

Smiling down at me he said, “Fancy making me really happy?”

“And how might I do that?” I smiled back.

“By letting me share your bed tonight, sweetcheeks,” he said. “It gets lonely in the gatehouse.”

As I led him to my bedroom, I looked at him and said, “So where did you get the cash to be able to afford that iPod?”

“You know that little tin that you have hidden on the shelf in the kitchen back in your flat?” he said.

“Yeah, the tin with my savings in...” Realising where he had got the money, I pushed him hard in the chest. “You are so naughty...”

But before I’d the chance to finish what I was going to say, Potter was leaning into me. “You love it when I’m naughty,” he whispered in my ear. Then, throwing open my bedroom door, he pushed me down onto the bed.

The next morning, as planned, Potter found the number of Ravenwood School on the Web and called McCain. Potter explained that Kayla’s parents had recently been killed in a boating accident and she had been left in his charge. He said that his niece was fairly wayward and he was too busy and lacked the patience to deal with her. As Potter had suspected, McCain was all too willing to take Kayla into his care. He even waived the school fees. McCain informed Potter that he would send a car to collect Kayla within the hour.

I couldn’t help but feel a lump in my throat as Kayla appeared at the foot of the stairs that led into the great hall. In her hand she clutched a small case.

“Are you sure about this?” I asked, giving her a hug.

“I’m sure,” she said.

“Remember what we‘ve all agreed. You make contact every morning and every night. If we don’t hear from you, then we’re coming in to find you,” I told her.

“I’ll keep in contact,” she assured me with a smile.

“We’ll be close,” I said. “We’re going to stay at a nearby farmhouse that Isidor has found on the internet. We’ll be renting it for a week, so find out what you can and fast.”

“I know what to do,” Kayla said.

“Got the iPod?” Potter asked her.

“You bet.”

I let go of Kayla and she went to Isidor who stood by the door. “I’ll miss you,” she told him.