‘Keep going,’ said Dot, and he did for several long minutes until at last he cried out.
‘Here’s one! I – oh—’
‘What?’ asked Dot. Theodora’s eyes were squeezed tightly shut as she drove the spell; Lio held fiercely to Rupert, momentarily startled by the boy’s outcry.
‘It’s a body,’ said Rupert, turning pale. ‘Oh, Saints, I think she’s been dead a long time. Preserved, but I know this woman. Geraldine Thomas. She used to ask a lot of questions in the tea shop. She wore green.’
‘Oh, Rupe,’ said Dot.
‘I’m alright,’ said the boy. He cleared his throat. ‘This is what Acanthi do. We’ll sort them.’
‘Rupe,’ hissed Theodora. ‘Hurry up.’
‘Right,’ said Rupert. ‘Sorry. I’m on a rooftop. There are trees?’
‘What kind?’ asked Dot.
‘I don’t know, leafy ones? It’s dark. I think that’s a ticket booth down there.’
Dot thought hard. She had spent weeks searching Alliaster for the tea shop and, prior to that, years poring over books andnewspapers and journals on Alliaster’s history, architecture, politics, street design.
‘What can you see in the distance, Rupe?’ asked Dot. ‘Oh, can you see the moon?’
‘No. It’s cloudy.’
‘How about landmarks? Big buildings?’
‘There is a building, faraway. It’s got a dome, I think, but it’s not Saint Penelope’s.’
‘What colour is the stone?’
‘White,’ said Rupert. ‘Hang on. Is it the library?’
‘Oh, of course it is!’ shouted Dot, jumping from the couch. ‘Can you see the statue of the owl?’
‘Owl?’ asked Rupert, panicked.
‘Yes,’ said Dot. ‘Big wings. It’s a round kind of bird—’
‘I’ve seen a bloody owl before, Dot.’
‘Well, is itthere?’
‘Yes!’ shouted Rupert. ‘It’s facing me, dead-on.’
‘You’re west of the library!’ cried Dot, holding up her map against the wind. ‘Probably the King’s District, or the Park District.’ Dot traced her fingers along the map. ‘Wait, Rupert, did you say a ticket booth? Are you at the Alliaster Zoological Gardens?’
‘Oh!’ shouted Rupert, clutching the opera glasses. ‘Saints, how did I not realise that? Yes, actually – I am. I can see the sign now. It’s far away, but – yes, I’m on the roof of the admission building!’
‘Success!’ shouted Dot.
Lio, still chanting, smiled grimly at them.
‘Alright,’ said Rupert, ‘Theodora, let’s wipe the rune.’
A pulse of magic shot out of the witch.
And that was the moment that Lio’s head tipped back.
