Archie lay awake that night. His mind kept running over the same questions. Where had Grey been all these years? And where was he now? Most importantly, whose side was he on?
When he eventually fell asleep, Archie had the strangest dream so far. It was also the most vivid. He was in the Scriptorium and he heard a gentle voice calling him. Archie knew that it was The Book of Prophecy.
‘No one may cheat their fate, book whisperer,’ it said.
‘You said that before,’ Archie said. ‘What does it mean? Who can’t cheat their fate?’
Another thought struck him. ‘How can you be talking to me when you were destroyed?’
‘Magic is not destroyed so easily,’ said the voice. ‘It fades but it lives on in our memories. I am the echo of all those whose lives were touched by the prophecy.’
Then Archie realised – the book had shown Grey what he had to do to defeat the Dark Flame, which meant it could show him!
‘What did you show Fabian Grey that nearly drove him mad?’ he asked.
There was a long silence before the book spoke again. ‘To know the future is a weight too heavy for most to carry. It has driven many to the edge of madness, Fabian Grey among them.’
‘I understand,’ said Archie, his heart beating faster. ‘But I need to know. What did you show him about the future of magic? How do I defeat the Dark Flame?’
The Book of Prophecy towered over him; its cover had become a door with a large brass door knocker. Archie hesitated. He knew now that his retrospectre could not protect him. Everyone who had consulted The Book of Prophecy was affected by the experience. But he had to know what it had shown Grey.
He took a breath. Then he gripped the brass door knocker and gave three loud raps. The door swung open, and he stepped over the threshold into a large dimly lit room that he had been in once before, when he’d been desperate to lift the Alchemist’s Curse. Bookcases formed a labyrinth.
‘Welcome back to the Library of Lives,’ said the voice. ‘This way.’
Candles in sconces on the bookcases lit themselves to form a pathway through the maze. Each book had a name written on its spine.
Archie followed the trail of flickering flames. Every time he took another step another candle sparked into life to illuminate the shadows, urging him onwards. When he glanced back he could see that the candles behind him had extinguished so that he could not see the way out.
The trail led him further and further into the labyrinth until he came to a dead end. A bookcase blocked his path. The name on the spine was FABIAN GREY. Archie hesitated.
‘You can still turn back, book whisperer,’ said the voice. ‘It is your choice.’
Making up his mind, Archie took the book from the shelf and opened it. At first the page was blank but as he watched, moving images appeared. He recognised the Scriptorium. He could see that both The Book of Reckoning and The Book of Prophecy were still intact inside the glass dome.
‘This is not the future,’ said Archie. ‘It’s the past!’
‘These are the moments that shaped your destiny, the choices that led you here. Watch closely and you will see how your future was made by others.’
The Library of Lives faded away and Archie found himself in a street that had been ravaged by fire. A thick cloud of smoke still hung in the air, making it hard to see. When he breathed in, it left a bitter taste in his mouth. The houses had been reduced to blackened stumps like rotten teeth. Only one building survived.
Archie read the brass plaque on the door.
FOLLY & CATCHPOLE
PRACTITIONERS OF MAGICAL LORE
A man approached. He looked familiar. With a shock Archie recognised his father.
Alex Greene checked his pocket watch. Archie wanted to call out to him but at that moment the door to the building opened and a second man emerged from inside. He drew his scarlet cloak up to cover his face but not before Archie saw the white streak in his hair.
The two men shook hands.
‘It is done then?’ asked Alex Greene.
Fabian Grey nodded. ‘It is a strange tale but I have written it down as you asked and lodged it with the law firm. I have left instructions that I will collect it myself, although I have no idea when that will be. It is all here on this receipt,’ he said.
He held up a piece of parchment for Archie’s father to see and then tucked it inside his cloak.
‘And your ring?’ said Alex Greene.
Grey held out his hand to show that he no longer wore it on his finger. ‘I have left it with a separate instruction as you asked. I informed them that it is to be collected by a raven when the Golden Circle firemarks start to appear.’
Alex Greene nodded. ‘Thank you.’
Grey looked up and down the street and shivered. ‘This part of the city is reduced to ashes.’ He shook his head sadly. ‘It’s our fault that London burned. This building only survived because it has a magic charm on it and its contents, otherwise it would have been destroyed along with the rest.’
‘What will you do now?’ asked Alex.
‘I will collect the Grimoire and take it to the Darchive at the museum,’ Grey said. ‘It will be safe there for a while at least. I owe you a great debt for saving my life. I know the price you have paid for it.’
‘It was not for you that we made the sacrifice,’ Alex replied.
Grey nodded. ‘I understand,’ he said. ‘I will repay you in kind. Farewell, Alex Greene! We will not meet again.’ He turned and disappeared into the pall of smoke that still hung over the street. Archie’s father gazed after him for a moment and then turned and walked in the opposite direction.
Archie hesitated, unsure which of the two to follow, then he broke into a run.
‘Wait!’ he cried.
Alex Greene turned at the sound of his voice and Archie looked into his father’s face. And then he heard a woman’s voice.
‘Archie! Is that really you? I can’t believe it …’
He turned to see his mother. Amelia Greene was walking towards him with her arms outstretched. Archie ran towards her and would have run into her open arms, but he passed straight through her. He reached out for his father but he, too, was as insubstantial as the ribbons of smoke drifting around them.
Archie felt the sting of tears on his cheeks.
‘I don’t understand,’ he said.
Amelia Greene looked into his eyes. ‘My darling Archie, we are memories, an echo of the magic that brought you into the world.
‘Your father and I set out to protect you. We consulted The Book of Yore and it told us that your destiny was linked to Fabian Grey’s – your forked fates were intertwined. They always were. You both had three forks in your fate.
‘Grey’s first was when he looked in The Book of Prophecy, and his second was what happened in the cellar in Pudding Lane when The Grim Grimoire cursed him.
‘For you, the first was your meeting with Barzak, and the second was when you defeated The Grim Grimoire. The third for both of you is yet to come.
‘We wanted to get a message to Grey to let him know this. But when your father tried to warn him, he was confronted by the fire in the cellar.’
She gave her husband a loving look. Archie’s father smiled sadly.
‘I could not stand by and watch a man die,’ he said. ‘So even though The Book of Yore had expressly forbidden us to change the future, I carried Grey from the burning cellar and your mother and I helped him to safety.
‘Arthur Ripley shut The Book of Yore, thinking he had trapped us in the past. But the truth is that we could not have returned anyway because we broke the natural lores of magic. We interfered with the past and that is not permitted. The cost of saving Grey’s life was our lives. But we have no regrets.’
‘But I can save you,’ cried Archie. ‘I can bring you back with me.’
‘No,’ said Amelia Greene, and her gentle eyes smiled at her son. ‘We cannot return after what we’ve done. We knew that at the time and we were happy to pay that price – though it will take another act of selflessness to defeat the Dark Flame.’
Archie felt the tears rolling down his cheeks.
‘I won’t leave,’ he cried. ‘I won’t let you go again!’
‘But you must, my darling,’ his mother said. ‘You have a destiny to fulfil, otherwise our sacrifice will have been for nothing.’
Alex Greene put his arm around his wife. ‘We have missed you growing up,’ he said. ‘We have missed so many birthdays and good times with you. We couldn’t have done it without the certain knowledge that we were leaving you with the most loving and caring family in your grandmother and your aunt Loretta and uncle Woodbine.’
Amelia Greene smiled. ‘We set out to try to keep you safe, and we have never had a moment’s regret. Not one. Not ever. We would do it all again in a heartbeat. So no matter how dark or desperate things seem, never doubt our love.’
Archie wiped his eyes and nodded. He felt his heart was breaking.
‘Do not be sad for us,’ his mother said, and she reached out her hand to touch his face but could not. ‘We have been happy here. We have walked these streets together, and always we have thought of you and your sister, and knew that we might meet you once again in your dreams.’
Archie had a sudden thought. ‘Rosie,’ he gasped. ‘Where is she? Isn’t she here with you?’
‘She is closer than you think, Archie,’ said his father. ‘She always was. You will find her. Now we must say goodbye.’
‘Don’t leave me!’ cried Archie.
Amelia and Alex Greene smiled at their only son. ‘Don’t worry, Archie. As long as you remember us, we will never leave you. You are the love and the magic that we brought into the world, and we will meet again in your dreams.
‘Now you must play your part. The future of magic depends on you. Your father asked Grey to leave something at Folly & Catchpole. It holds the key to everything. You must find the receipt and look for the raven’s coming.’
As Archie watched, the scene began to fade like a mist evaporating in the sunshine and Alex and Amelia Greene with it. Archie found himself back in the Library of Lives.
As he turned away from the bookshelf, a candle ignited behind him and then another, guiding him back through the labyrinth. He followed the trail of lights retracing his steps until he could see the large door with the brass knocker standing open.