The mood in the Secret Room was a weird combo of upbeat – we smashed a murderous cult, yay! – and gloomy – maybe the ghost outbreak was a sign of something even worse to come, boo!

The Anton Maturity Factor helped me accept that life was like this, sometimes. Complicated, with a side order of messiness, and possibly the end of the world as we know it sitting in the condiments basket, along with the chilli sauce, vinegar and soy sauce.

Accept it? Okay. Like it? Nope.

Dad and Tanja were wrapped in blankets, mostly through habit because neither of them was injured. Tanja still wasn’t in tip-top shape, with dark circles under her eyes and a slight trembling most obvious when she was picking up her cup of cocoa, but she wasn’t dead, which was probably for the best.

I still had my doubts about her, but I wasn’t saying anything because Dad hadn’t, and her explanations were sounding plausible. ‘Liliana Pascal truly believes that she was doing the right thing. She fears this presence from Elsewhere, and she believes that it’s coming here.’ She grimaced. ‘I’ve done some checking, though, and it looks like she did get far enough in her ritual to wall off the gap this entity was threatening to use.’

Bec got there first. ‘How long’s it going to last?’

‘No idea. It probably won’t fail all at once, though. It’ll start leaking first.’

Great. ‘So killing a whole lot of people was the best way to save a whole lot of people? That’s shaky reasoning.’

I couldn’t help thinking of Michael testing Chidi with the Trolley Car problem. Let one person die to save five others? Mathematically, it makes good sense. But I had a sneaking suspicion – and this was one of the good suspicions, not the bad ones – that humans can’t, or shouldn’t, be reduced to numbers like that. And, by the way, isn’t it weird how suspicions end up being sneaky? Why can’t we have bold suspicions, or brazen suspicions, or suspicions that are totally confident in themselves and don’t need to keep to the shadows?

And that’s a bad time for a sidetrack.

‘She told you that she was planning to seal off the gap?’ Rani asked Tanja.

‘I had an inkling or two, and, after all, we had quite some time together here.’ Tanja’s eyes were cold and hard. ‘I was intelligent enough to talk to and she was grateful to have a good audience.’ She snorted. ‘I can play the suck when I have to.’

Fair point. Liliana Pascal’s underlings were more the musclebound and fanatical kind than the type to discuss ethics over a cup of tea. They’d probably enjoy a good chat about honing knives, but whether evil deeds are ever defensible? I doubt it.

Bec wasn’t convinced. She folded her arms on her chest. ‘You’re going for the old “ends justifies the means” argument, aren’t you?’

‘I’m telling you what she said,’ Tanja replied. ‘Not what I was thinking. She was appealing for understanding, at least.’

‘I hate when people drag out “the ends justify the means”,’ I chipped in. ‘It’s just an excuse for not thinking things through properly. Why do they need to use those means, the ones they need to justify? Why can’t they find other means to solve the problem, means that they can be proud of and won’t have to make excuses for? When someone says, “The ends justify the means,” I hear, “The ends will help me not feel so guilty about the means, I hope.”’

Tanja gave me a pitying look. ‘Sometimes things are more complicated than that.’

‘Arrgh! No, I’m the one who’s saying that things can be complicated. You’re the one who’s saying that everything’s simple. To get your ends you can do whatever you want to whoever you want. Simple.’

‘We’re living in a shitty world. You’d better get used to it.’

‘Oh, I’m used to it,’ I said. ‘You wouldn’t believe how used to it I am.’

Uncomfortable silence.

Dad shifted uneasily. ‘You might need to apologise to your aunt, Anton.’

‘Uh huh. You understand that you’re looking at a “Sorry, not sorry” moment if I do, Leon?’

Tanja let the awkwardness stretch a bit then signalled to Rani. ‘I forgot to tell you that Liliana mentioned your parents.’

Rani was at her side in two impossibly fast strides. ‘What did you say?’

I don’t know if Tanja suddenly realised how sensitive Rani was about this, or maybe she was genuinely fuzzy about things, but she grimaced, and coughed a little. ‘At least, I think she meant you. Something about a kid from one of the Company of the Righteous families, parents were killed in Singapore.’

Rani gripped her hands together in front of her, tightly. Bec came to her side and put a hand on Rani’s, but I don’t think Rani even knew. ‘So the Ragged Sisters were responsible for the death of my parents,’ Rani breathed.

Tanja shook her head. ‘She didn’t say that. She said she’d heard about it. A big operation by some other Trespasser gang. She thought they’d been sloppy.’

‘Where is she?’ Rani asked.

‘Probably halfway to Edinburgh by now,’ Dad said. ‘Kirsten and Jamie’s shipping agent is very efficient. Interesting people, those two.’

Tanja shifted uneasily. ‘Look, Rani, I didn’t mean to upset you.’

Rani sat, with Bec behind her, and reached for Bec’s hand. ‘It’s all right.’

‘No, really. When I see people like you I think that the Company of the Righteous, in all their shittiness, does some things well.’

Hm. Some sort of peacemaking there, or just a cover-up? Aargh, and aargh again.

Dad chased the uneasiness out of the room by shifting the conversation. ‘It’s been a while since I told you all how grateful I am for the rescue.’

‘About three minutes,’ I said.

‘Far too long. Thank you.’ He bowed his head to Rani. ‘And to you, too, Rani.’

‘And don’t forget Bec,’ I said.

‘Rebecca, without whom they never would have found us.’

‘It’s lucky Kirsten and Jamie and Fergus have gone,’ I said, ‘otherwise I’d get you thanking each of them in turn.’

‘I promised to send them a crate of very fine whisky from the secret Marin liquor vault.’

‘There’s a secret Marin liquor vault?’

‘You still have much to learn about our family, Anton.’