It was the day after the showdown at Ripley Mansion. The torrential rainfall of the night before had been replaced by warm sunshine. The storm had passed and the air smelled clean and fresh.
There were celebrations going on all over the magical realm. At number 32 Houndstooth Road, Archie, Bramble and Thistle were getting ready to leave for a big party at Quill’s.
Gardenia was standing in the kitchen in her best frock with Woodbine, who was in a crumpled suit that Archie recognised from the old newspaper cutting.
It had already been decided the night before that Archie and Bramble were to carry on living with the Foxes. Houndstooth Road was their home.
‘I’ll miss you all of course,’ Gardenia said. ‘But it won’t be for long. As soon as I can sell my cottage I’m moving back to Oxford. There’s no reason to stay away any more!’
‘That’s brilliant, news, Gran,’ said Archie, giving her a big hug.
Gardenia glanced at the clock.
‘What’s taking Loretta so long?’ she asked.
Thistle called up the stairs. ‘The party’s starting soon, Mum. Hurry up!’
At that moment there was a knock at the door. Woodbine went to answer it and Archie heard voices in the hall. Feodora Graves and Wolfus Bone walked through to the kitchen.
‘We just dropped by to let you know that the Word Smithy has been relit,’ said Graves. ‘The Flame of Pharos burns brightly once more!’
‘That’s the best news ever,’ said Archie.
‘And the plotters have been rounded up,’ said Bone. ‘Rumold was arrested at the asylum and will be charged with crimes against magic, as will Morgred. Amos Roach will stand trial for killing Katerina’s adopted parents and aunt.’
‘And this is for you,’ said Graves, handing Thistle an envelope. He tore it open.
‘Wow! It’s a letter from the museum,’ he said excitedly. ‘I’m to start in the mythical menagerie on Monday!’ He beamed with pleasure.
‘Congratulations,’ said Gardenia. ‘Rupert will be thrilled for you.’
‘What will happen to Quiggley?’ asked Bramble.
‘He’s too young to stand trial for putting out the Flame, so for now he’ll go to the Home for Young Magical Offenders where he can’t cause any more trouble. Katerina Krone will remain at the asylum. Orpheus Gloom is replacing Rumold in charge.’
Bone looked at Woodbine. ‘We have Roach to thank for the drubbing we received. It was Motley Brown who tipped him and the other Greaders off that The Book of Night was being moved.’
‘So Gloom wasn’t part of the plot?’ asked Bramble.
‘No, he was telling the truth. He only found out about The Book of Night when he discovered the secret library. He reported it to the museum as soon as he realised what it was.’
‘The Book of Night is now safely chained up with the other Terrible Tomes in the crypt,’ added Bone. ‘You’ll be pleased to know, too, that the other books from the dark library have been locked away in the Darchive. Orpheus saw to that.’
‘So all’s well that ends well,’ said Thistle.
Archie’s expression changed as he felt a sudden sadness. ‘I was just thinking about Fabian Grey,’ he said. ‘It’s not surprising the vision almost drove him mad. Imagine finding out you had to turn into a raven to fulfil your destiny?’
‘It’s Gideon I feel for,’ said Bone. ‘He was my friend. He spent his life looking for clues about Fabian Grey without knowing that he was searching for himself. It’s no wonder the pressure got to him in the end.’
‘I’m not sure it did,’ said Graves. ‘The Greaders wanted him to think he was going mad. The medication Brown was mixing for him contained March hare’s blood to dull his mind. Rumold admitted it under questioning. They wanted Hawke locked up in the asylum where they could keep him out of the way – they didn’t want him somehow discovering how to extinguish the Dark Flame.
‘The raven left the receipt from Folly & Catchpole in his room at the asylum for him to find. But Rumold saw it and thought it was for The Opus Magus, so they released Hawke and followed him to Folly & Catchpole’s offices. When he came out with the package they grabbed him and took him to Ripley Mansion. By then they had guessed he was Fabian Grey and thought they’d got the primary spell.’
‘But it was just Grey’s account of what had happened to him!’ said Archie.
‘Yes,’ said Graves. ‘That was the clever plan that Alex and Amelia Greene came up with. Alex persuaded Grey to write it all down so that he would remember who he was.’
‘And The Opus Magus was in the raven’s memory,’ said Bramble.
‘That’s right,’ said Graves. ‘The Grimoire’s curse only affected Grey when he was a man. When he changed into the raven he still had his bibliographical memory so he could remember everything from before.’
Thistle looked thoughtful. ‘Something I don’t understand is why Hawke didn’t have the streak of white in his hair?’
‘Hawke had no memory of what he’d seen in The Book of Prophecy, so his mind was unburdened and his hair was untouched,’ said Graves. ‘The raven had the white streak because it remembered. As Hawke’s memory started to come back, his hair started to turn white, too.’
‘And I thought it was the stress he was under!’ said Archie.
‘I suppose it was really,’ said Graves. ‘It was the stress of being Fabian Grey.’
‘That’d turn anyone’s hair white!’ agreed Archie.
‘Grey gave his life to save magic. And we must never forget the sacrifice your parents made,’ said Graves. ‘But now is not the time for sadness. It is a time to honour them and celebrate their lives. There will be statues of Gideon Hawke and your parents in the museum, and Rusp, too.’
‘Fabian Grey will be remembered for what he was,’ said Bone, ‘the greatest alchemist of all.’
Archie looked thoughtful. ‘I don’t think any of that mattered to him,’ he said. ‘I think all he cared about was saving magic.’
Just then Loretta tottered into the room. She was wearing violet high heels and a large fuchsia-coloured hat.
‘How do I look?’ she asked.
‘Very purple,’ said Thistle.
‘You look lovely … Mum,’ said Bramble, giving Thistle a sharp dig in the ribs.
Loretta beamed at them. She took a mirror from her lavender-coloured handbag and puckered her lips.
‘I’ve made a cake to take to the party. It’s in the larder,’ she said, applying some purple lipstick. ‘Where are you going?’
‘We’ll see you there,’ called Bramble over her shoulder. ‘We’re meeting Arabella and Rupert.’
‘But what about the …’
The front door closed behind them.
‘… cake?’
With the sun shining on their faces and the wind in their hair, Archie, Bramble and Thistle ran down the garden path and along Houndstooth Road. They ran all the way to the Bodleian Library where Rupert and Arabella were waiting for them. Together the five of them walked to Quill’s.
High up on the roof of the Bodleian, a raven with a white streak on its head sat watching. Its flinty eyes observed the five teenagers as they passed beneath it arm in arm. It listened to the magic of their laughter, and remembered what it was to be young. Then, with a cry of pure joy, it flew up into the air and arrowed across the rooftops of Oxford.
