The Shadow Keeper landed with a crunch on top of the birdcage, her enormous leathery wings outstretched, her mask of charcoaled wood tilting down to the children.

Moll and Siddy backed away, to the furthest point of the boulder, but they could hear footsteps scuttling closer. Ashtongue was crawling on all fours towards them, his snakeskin mask glinting in the light, but he wasn’t using the stepping stones to cross the lake: he was scampering over a length of glittering black scales. The eel had risen to the surface of the lake, bidden by the commands of the Shadowmasks.

Moll’s blood roared inside her. There was nowhere left to turn; they were boxed in on both sides. And then a noise shattered the tension: an inhuman, blood-curdling shriek.

Ashtongue leapt up on to the boulder just as the eel reared backwards, hurling itself against the lake. And only then did Moll and Siddy see the silver-birch arrow lodged deep inside its gills. The Oracle Spirit billowed out, spreading the length of its body, and dragged the great beast under the surface.

Moll looked towards the shore, and there was Alfie, his bow raised to his chin, a second arrow poised.

‘Alfie!’ she screamed. He’d come for them, just as he’d done in Ashtongue’s house. And Moll knew in that moment that she never should have doubted him.

Darkebite jumped down from the cage and landed in a crouch, her wings jutting out either side of her like claws.

Alfie drew back on his bow and fired again. The arrow whistled through the air, straight for Darkebite, but she drew the Soul Splinter from her cloak and the arrow clanged uselessly against the shard of black ice, before clattering to the ground. Ashtongue scurried round the cage behind Darkebite, and, hiding behind the safety and power of the Soul Splinter, he let his tongue flicker out from his mask.

Alfie raised another arrow to his bow, but there was someone else charging over the stepping stones now. Moll blinked once, twice, then again to be sure. It was Gryff! Not blind any more, but bounding towards her with every ounce of strength inside him, his teeth bared in a snarl, his claws splayed.

‘It can’t be . . .’ Siddy murmured.

‘Gryff!’ Moll gasped. ‘Gryff!’

Alfie released another arrow, but once again Darkebite raised the Soul Splinter to ward it off. Swift as light, Gryff leapt from the stepping stones up on to the boulder and flung himself against Moll. She wrapped her arms round him.

‘You’re OK! But how?’

Gryff looked back at Alfie and Moll’s eyes widened. Alfie had healed him? Just like he promised he would . . .

The wildcat wriggled free of Moll’s hug and sprang on to the cage, snarling at the Shadowmasks. Then he pounced.

‘PAAAAAH!’

Ashtongue hissed and swiped with his hands, but Gryff was fighting with a new-found strength. He was bigger somehow, wilder, as if regaining his sight had made him stronger. Moll watched in awe as Ashtongue staggered backwards and Gryff tore at Darkebite’s cloak with his teeth. Then Darkebite raised the Soul Splinter and Moll rushed forward to help Gryff, but the wildcat thrashed his claws at Darkebite’s wings and the witchdoctor shifted backwards, the Soul Splinter still held high.

Moll’s pulse quickened. Alfie and Gryff might be able to stall the Shadowmasks, but without the power of the amulet the dark magic would win. Grabbing Siddy by the arm, she rushed to the cage, her ma’s letter clasped in her hand.

‘Help us, Ma,’ she whispered between the bars.

Something strange began to happen inside the cage. The feathers heaped on the ground started to quiver, as if brushed by a mysterious breath, then they floated upwards, shifting and twisting into unrecognisable shapes. Siddy’s jaw dropped and he clung to the bars, and together they watched as an eagle larger than anything they’d ever seen, with shining golden-brown feathers, took shape.

This was the second amulet, her ma’s soul.

Behind the cage there was a tangle of wings and claws. Then the bird, five times the size of an ordinary golden eagle, spread its wings and struck out. The cage groaned and the bars crashed to the ground.

Moll rushed towards the bird, somehow knowing what to do. ‘Sid, get on! We won’t last if we stay here!’

They leapt up on to the bird and Gryff skirted the cage, his strides more agile than Moll had ever seen. He leapt on to the eagle’s back in front of Moll and the great bird dipped for a second, as if flexing its muscles after a long sleep. Then it launched itself off from the boulder, beating its wings towards the shore. Moll clung to the bird’s back, her legs tucked beneath her.

‘Come back!’ Darkebite screeched, still wielding the Soul Splinter.

Siddy tightened his grip round Moll’s waist as the eagle flew further and further across the lake. It swooped by Alfie, and Siddy stretched out a hand to yank him up on to the bird’s back. The eagle faltered for a second under the extra weight, but didn’t stop. It thrust its wings on, tearing through the creepers before flying on beneath the limestone stalactites.

Moll turned her head towards Alfie. ‘You – you healed Gryff?’

‘It was my tears,’ he panted. ‘I don’t understand how, but they made his whiskers grow back.’

Moll didn’t have time to reply because suddenly the roar of the falls filled their ears – and Devil’s Drop appeared, thundering down, a wall of furious water.

‘Hold on!’ Moll shouted.

‘Not through the middle of the falls again!’ Siddy moaned.

The eagle flung itself into the churn. Water hammered down, clamouring in their ears, and the bird dropped several metres. Moll’s stomach plunged and the water continued to beat down. Then the eagle burst free from Devil’s Drop and soared upwards, into the breaking dawn. An orange sun hung above the horizon, casting shards of light through scattered clouds, and the eagle thrust with its wings, up and up, until it was circling above the falls.

This, Moll thought, the fierce beating of wings and legs clamped hard round rippling feathers – this is what it means to fly. And, in all her wildest dreams, Moll had never experienced anything so full of freedom. She gazed at the eagle’s body, the tips of its wingspan flecked with white, the hooked beak releasing sharp, high cries. Two large brown eyes scanned the sea and its tail feathers rippled in the wind. This was her ma, somehow, and she had come to their rescue just when they’d needed her. Moll bent forward and stroked the golden feathers.

Down below, spray misted out from the falls. Siddy narrowed his eyes. ‘Is – is that . . . ?’

Beyond Devil’s Drop was a small red rowing boat – the one from Little Hollows that Alfie had been waiting to take out – and, inside the boat, a man who built wagons and found secret coves.

‘Oak!’ Moll shouted, her heart flooding with relief.

Tucking in its giant wings, the eagle dived, and the children clung on. The wind whistled in their ears and their stomachs rose into their throats, then the eagle’s wingspan burst out and it swooped, level with the boat. Moll clutched at Oak’s arms as they passed and he grappled for her hands, but the eagle had to circle to stay in the air.

‘You’re all right,’ Moll gasped. ‘You’re OK!’

Oak smiled. ‘I’m OK, Moll. It was Willow. After she left you, she came to Little Hollows and lifted the Shadowmasks’ curse. She told me where to find you!’ Moll’s face dropped slightly as she noticed Oak’s ankle was still bound in bandages. ‘It’ll heal in time,’ he said.

‘We’ve got the amulet!’ Siddy yelled, stroking the eagle’s feathers.

‘This is my ma’s soul!’ Moll cried, her cheeks flushed with pride.

‘I’m so proud of you all!’ Oak shouted against the roar of the falls. ‘You did it!’ He glanced at Devil’s Drop. ‘Now what do we need to do?’

The answer was clear in Moll’s mind already. ‘Somehow I need to get the Shadowmasks to destroy their Soul Splinter. I think it’ll help close the thresholds for a while and keep their dark magic back while we search for the last amulet.’

The bird circled again, but it was losing height, struggling under the weight of its load.

‘There are too many of you on there!’ Oak cried.

Siddy raised a shaky hand. ‘I’ll come off.’

As the eagle swooped once again, Oak grabbed Siddy and pulled him down into the boat. But, as he did so, a dark shape surged out of Devil’s Drop.

Oak seized a quiver from the rowing boat and tossed it up to Moll. ‘Alfie said you’d be needing this when I bumped into him before Devil’s Drop.’

She caught it and slung it on to her back, then the eagle beat its wings harder and harder out to sea.

And, behind them, the Shadowmasks followed: Ashtongue, bent forward like a giant insect, riding between Darkebite’s leathery wings.