I feel the bottle shudder in my hand. Raffi throws up his arm and I see the emerald stopper tumbling through the air. I thrust out my other hand to catch it.

Fast behind the silver mist comes the black cloud, rushing into the bottle. As soon as its tail is inside, I stop up the bottle with the emerald top. Then I see the silver mist emerging from the tiny hole in the bottom.

‘Ziggy, you must seal the bottom!’ Raffi cries. ‘As soon as Kalila is out . . .’

Mystic, my half-wolf, presses against me and I pluck a hair from his back. As the last of the silver mist comes out, I slip the hair into the hole.

The bottle jerks and trembles in my hand and I have to use all my remaining strength to hold it.

The white jade bottle turns as black as the ocean deep. Then it is still.

The jinn is trapped!

I collapse on the ground as Raffi kneels down beside me. ‘We did it,’ I say weakly.

Raffi smiles and Mystic licks my face.

‘Ziggy!’ a frantic voice calls.

Petal and Big Bobby Little stumble out of the trees and into the clearing. I am astounded that they have dared to come into the woods. They have been running and Petal looks like she has been crying.

‘We found you! It’s your birthday. We thought you might . . .’

Petal’s voice dies away as, astonished, she sees the silver fox standing next to Raffi.

It is the face that changes first. The silver and grey fur is replaced by skin, and a mane of long dark hair appears. A little girl’s face with large green eyes framed by brown eyelashes peers shyly up at us, but her body is still that of a silver fox.

Petal comes and takes my hand and Mystic sits by my side, his head cocked. We watch the rest of the transformation in amazed silence.

At last, there before us is a little girl.

Raffi slips his wet shirt over Kalila’s head. He smooths her hair and his sister snuggles into him.

I cannot speak. Too much has happened. It’s as if I’ve been holding my breath for months and now I can finally let it go.

Raffi looks at me.

‘You know, Ziggy Truegood, the curse of the jinn could only be broken by a great sacrifice. That was what you did. You risked your life to save Kalila. You thought you would die, but you tried to save her anyway. You are truly a child of light.’

I feel myself blush and I don’t know what to say.

Kalila reaches up to touch Raffi’s face. She whispers in his ear and points at me, shyly.

Raffi throws back his head and lets out another rich, melodic laugh.

‘What?’ I say.

‘Kalila asks if you would be her big sister.’

I smile and beckon Kalila over. She sits on my lap and wraps her thin arms around my neck. We are both wet and cold, but I don’t notice.

‘My little sister, Kalila,’ I say, and Mystic licks us both.

When Big Bobby nudges her, Petal finally finds her voice.

‘Ziggy Truegood, I think the time has come when you need to tell us just what is going on!?’

Momma is shouting into the telephone when we all walk through the back door. She drops the receiver on the counter without hanging up. Her face is filled with emotion – anger, relief, worry, hurt.

‘I know you’re angry,’ I say before she speaks. ‘But please, before anything, we have to get dry and warm.’ My words come out in a long shivery breath as I stand in the living room, trembling from the cold and the wet and the adrenaline that’s still rushing through me.

Momma steps back in horror. She looks down at my leg, at the long gash that’s seeping watery pink blood all over the floor, at the claw marks on my shoulder.

I gesture behind me. ‘Do you still have any of my old clothes? Raffi’s little sister needs to have a bath and get warm. And can Raffi use your shower?’

Momma doesn’t say a word. I think she’s in shock. She looks from me, to Raffi and Kalila, then to Petal and Big Bobby as if asking them to explain.

Raffi shuffles his feet on the spot, embarrassed. ‘Very sorry to disturb you, Mrs Truegood,’ he says. His hand, which had been stung by the wasp, is red and swollen and he holds it out from his body.

Momma nods weakly. ‘I’ll get some vinegar for those stings, then I’ll find your sister some clothes,’ she says.

‘Thanks, Momma.’ I take Raffi to Jake and Pete’s bedroom and look through their cupboard until I find a pair of trousers, a shirt and a sweater of Jake’s. Raffi is taller than my brothers but the clothes will have to do for now. Then I show him to Momma’s bathroom and find him a clean towel.

‘Give me the bottle,’ he says. ‘I will need to take it to Jaddi. He will know a way to destroy it, and the jinn within.’

I carefully remove the bottle from my pocket and hand it to him. I’m glad to be rid of it. Black smoke swirls and spirals inside it.

‘And Grandpa Truegood will know too.’ The words pop out of my mouth and they feel right and true.

Raffi nods. ‘I would like to meet your grandfather,’ he says.

Steam fills the room as Kalila and I climb into the tub. Soon her teeth stop chattering and she relaxes. As the water touches my wound, searing pain rips up my leg and I draw in my breath, screwing my face up at the same time. When I open my eyes, Kalila’s looking at me, worried.

‘It hurts?’ she says.

‘You can speak English, Kalila!’ I say, surprised.

‘Jaddi taught me.’

‘Of course he did,’ I say. ‘You will have to teach me your language.’

She nods and smiles.

Momma comes in with clean clothes. She sits on the small three-legged stool that Pete made in woodworking class.

‘Now, can you tell me what’s going on?’ Momma says gently.

I know she won’t believe me if I try and explain, so I tell her there had been a dangerous animal in the woods and Raffi killed it.

She glances at me suspiciously and I give her a look that says, Please don’t ask any more.

‘Come, Kalila, let me wash your hair. There’s a good girl,’ she says, kneeling down at the bathtub. I smile at her, imagining that she really is bathing my little sister.

‘Momma, do you know what I’d like for my birthday?’ I say.

She looks at me.

‘That Grandpa Truegood can come home and spend the day with us.’

‘I was thinking exactly the same thought,’ she says.

Later, as we’re sitting at the coffee table drinking mugs of hot cocoa, Momma hands me an envelope.

‘Happy birthday, Ziggy,’ she says.

I lift the flap and pull out two rectangular slips of paper. My eyes start filling with tears.

‘What is it? Show us, Zigs,’ says Petal.

I can’t speak. I hold up both my hands, an airline ticket in each.

‘Ziggy and I are going on a holiday to see her dad and brothers,’ Momma says.

I hug Momma and it’s as if I’ve saved up all my hugs for this one beautiful longed-for moment. This is big for her. It means she is no longer scared to leave Dell Hollow. ‘I love you so much, Momma,’ I say.