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‘Take it easy.’ It was a command, matched by gentle hands rested on her shoulders, grounding her and pushing her back down as the room swirled around her. The same voice that had made her let go.

‘You’re safe.’ She knew that voice better: Jamie.

She blinked a few times, trying to get the room to focus. Dimly lit. A vaguely familiar fragrance… sandalwood, but with something else. Her head pounded and her stomach heaved, and her hands shook as she covered her eyes.

‘I know it feels terrible, but you will be fine.’ Rayenne’s tone was reassuring.

‘What…?’ Amrita didn’t recognise her own harsh croak and had to cough a few times before something resembling her voice came out. She forced her trembling arms to try and move, and gratefully accepted the help offered. She looked into Jamie’s worried face.

‘Drink this. It will help.’ Rayenne pressed a warm cup into her hands.

‘What happened? Where am I?’

‘Drink. It’s just one of Aiden’s teas. You’re in my room at Glimmers.’

The tea was heavy with honey and spices she didn’t recognise. It left her nose and tongue tingling but chased away her headache and the weakness in her limbs.

‘What happened?’ she asked again, blinking against the dizzying swirling lights around her. But the others weren’t reacting to them, so they must have been in her head.

‘You did something amazing,’ Jamie told her, admiration and worry mixing in his eyes.

‘Something wonderous.’

‘The girl?’

‘Susan. Stable in hospital and going to be fine. Thanks to you.’

‘To me? But I didn’t…’ Her voice trailed off as memory returned. ‘No… that was a dream… a hallucination. That couldn’t have been real… I don’t understand what’s happening.’

‘You woke up.’

You asked for help. It was happy to oblige. And I am glad you heard my answer. Amrita was surprised to see the white magpie sitting on Rayenne’s shoulder, watching her intently.

‘It what?’

Magic.

‘What…? You cannot be talking to me. You’re a bird!’

And yet she is. As am I.

Amrita opened her mouth to argue with the cat – the cat! – before her pragmatic side kicked in, annoyingly calm and logical. It wasn’t impossible because it was happening, which either meant animals could talk, the swirling lights around her was magic and the tiny winged figures watching her from a nearby shelf and having their own conversation were real… or… ‘I must have hit my head. Or eaten something. Or it’s something in this tea. Did you try to drug me?’

‘I swear by the currents of the air and water there is nothing harmful in anything we’ve given you. Only helpful. And you’re not ill or injured, Amrita,’ Rayenne promised. ‘Just waking up.’

‘Waking up from what? What does that even mean?’

‘You’re waking up from the grey world you’ve been living in, to one where you can see, hear and feel clearly.’

It is less what you are waking from, and more what you are waking to. You are waking up to magic, Lunar explained.

‘But that’s not possible…’ she started to argue again, but the words turned to dust as she realised the magpie was speaking to her. And, more than that, it wasn’t for the first time.

Just stay steady, Amrita.

The words ignited every memory and the knowledge settled over her. Indisputable. Undeniable. Indefensible – just like the secrets they’d been keeping. Magic was real.

As insane as it was to think, it was even more insane to try to deny it when she knew it was true as clearly as she knew her own name. The knowledge was just… there, deep in her bones and unquestionable.