30 
Perhaps Old Moss had scared Gurt off, because he did not return to his hollow that night. Even in her sleep, Freddie’s breaths were short and shallow. It was as if she never exhaled, just sucked little gasps of air into a void.
Ottilie didn’t know what to expect when Freddie woke. Sometimes, first thing in the morning, Freddie was her old self. But it was rare and, as Ottilie lay beside her, she realised she couldn’t risk the heartache. Not now, not after learning about the keeper. Not with Whistler on the verge of attack, and Scoot nearing the end. So, knowing that she might well regret it, Ottilie slunk from Gurt’s hollow and back to her own.
Every one of them was asleep. Ottilie didn’t want to wake them. She needed air.
She was just about to pull the door shut when a shadow bobbed and feathers whooshed. She nearly jumped out of her skin as a black owl swept across the hollow to land on her shoulder. The weight was like a reassuring hand and, surprising herself, she smiled.
Stepping carefully over Mr Parch’s legs, she wandered through the winding tunnels and out into the damp air. Dawn was approaching. Through gaps in the trees a faint silver sheen brightened the sky, and the shallow swamp pools seemed to push towards it.
Maeve swept off Ottilie’s shoulder and turned back into herself just before her feet sank into the mud.
‘You’re getting so good at that.’
Maeve didn’t smile. Her eyes were hooded. ‘They told me about the sleepless witch,’ she said. ‘It wasn’t there? Just a pipe?’
Ottilie nodded and remembered what Leo had said about Maeve blaming herself. ‘Thank you for what you did. You saved all of them. It wasn’t your fault – it was mine.’
It was always easy confessing things to Maeve – so much easier than telling anyone else. Ottilie held out the bone necklace. ‘Whistler knew I was there because of this. She was probably watching for you. You got caught because of me – we all did.’
Maeve fixed her eyes on the necklace and simply said, ‘It doesn’t matter.’
But Ottilie knew it did. She’d been a careless fool and she could have got them all killed. ‘If you hadn’t got them out I don’t know what she would have done to them.’ Her throat pressed in and her words were little more than a string of gasps.
Maeve offered her no comfort. Instead, her eyes swept from tree to tree as if she suspected Whistler was hiding behind one. ‘She didn’t come looking for us.’
‘She has more important things to do.’ Ottilie didn’t dare imagine what those things could be. She dragged her focus to the present. Action – planning – it was the only thing that calmed her. ‘Would you go back ahead of us? Go and talk to Alba – see if she can find out what that pipe might be for, and tell her to keep looking into Seika Devil-Slayer. Whistler said her coven put the coffin in that tomb – she might have something to do with the pipe.’
Maeve blinked. She too seemed calmed by the idea of doing something useful. ‘I will – I’ll go now.’
Ottilie jumped from thought to thought, trying to find anything else they could do. ‘If you can figure out a way, try to warn Captain Lyre that Whistler’s got what she’s been waiting for, and that it’s all about to start again … without telling him,’ she sighed, ‘anything that will get you into trouble.’
Maeve merely turned, shifted, and soared into the dawn.
With some reluctance, Ottilie returned to the hollow. She wanted to say her goodbyes before everyone rose, but she needed something first. She crept over to Ned. His jacket had fallen open as he slept, and his inner pocket was glowing slightly. Careful not to wake him, she plucked out the lumi and tucked it quickly away so the light wouldn’t wake anyone.
For just a second, she hesitated. Lumi was worth a fortune. Was she robbing him? She was considering slipping it back when Ned’s hand brushed hers. She nearly jumped. The light from the torch outside was dim, but she could see that his eyes were open. Well, he didn’t seem to be stopping her. She lifted her finger to her lips and left the hollow.
Shutting the door behind her, Ottilie roused Old Moss and Mr Parch. Last time she’d left Swamp Hollows, she didn’t get a goodbye. No matter how painful, she would have one this time.
Moss forbade her from going back to the Narroway, but Mr Parch just hugged her firmly and said, ‘Good luck.’
When she held out the lumi, she thought Old Moss’s eyes were going to pop out of her head.
‘Ottilie,’ said Mr Parch. ‘Do you know what you have there?’
‘Yes.’ She pressed it into his twiggy hands. ‘It’s yours.’
He tried to give it back. ‘Oh no no no, we couldn’t. We can’t!’
‘I want you to have it,’ said Ottilie. The lumi would earn enough to keep them fed for a long time to come. And best of all, she told them where to find more. With the amount in that tunnel, they could buy themselves a home and leave the Swamp Hollows for good.
‘You just need someone trustworthy to get it for you.’ She wished she had time to collect it for them herself. ‘And make sure he doesn’t find out.’ She gritted her teeth, loath to even speak the keeper’s name.
‘We’ll share it,’ said Mr Parch. ‘We’ll find a way to get it and we’ll share it with everyone here.’
‘Do whatever you want with it,’ she said. ‘But … just … if you do leave, will you take her with you?’
Mr Parch’s eyes crinkled. ‘Of course, Ottilie. Of course we will. But … we can only ask. She has to decide to leave.’
Ottilie knew it was true – and she did not know if Freddie would leave.
‘And this.’ She held out the bone necklace. ‘If you ever see a dredretch, one of you put this on and stay close to the other. It’ll keep you safe while you get as far away as you can. But only ever wear it if dredretches are near. And you have to remember to breathe.’
She had thought it through. It was safe for them to keep it. Whistler would have no interest in them, and it could mean life or death if the dredretches breached the Narroway. She only wished she could give them her ring, too, but she was still no use without it.
Behind her, the door creaked open and someone leapt at her, strangling her with a hug.
‘I wanted to go back for you!’ Gully said. ‘They wouldn’t let me!’
‘I know,’ she said. ‘It’s all right. I’m here.’