down the wall. She spun around to glare up the stairs at Belle.
“BELLE! Fighting makes the spots worse! Can’t you see that?”
Silence. Willa looked around at them all, at the end of her rope. “I am sick and tired of everyone arguing all the time!” She jabbed a finger at the stain on the wall. “This ... is ... serious! Just listen, will you?”
Belle sat back, too surprised to sulk. Instead she eyed the dark stain and kept quiet. Willa took another breath and continued, outlining quickly what Horace had told her earlier. She let everyone take it in for a moment before going on.
“I’m pretty sure everything he saw is true. I mean, look at the blackness everywhere. And the birds out there. Where did they come from?”
“Butcher birds,” offered Horace. “Nasty, pestilential things. They’re not from the Other Side, but they tend to show up wherever dark forces are gathering.”
Willa began to pace, her mind racing. “So the dark spots are signs that … something … is coming. And the birds are another sign. We don’t know who is coming, or what, or why, but it’s definitely bad news. Right?”
Everyone nodded silently. From the darkness at the top of the stairs Belle spoke up, her voice softer, more fearful. “We’ve got to call Miss Trang.”
“She’s conferring with the Grand Council,” said Horace. “They’ll need to hear about this as well. I’m sure they have no idea … I’ll ... I’ll call her.” But as he started up the stairs there was a sudden sharp thud.
“The office,” mouthed Willa, pointing to the door. Everyone gathered behind her as she gingerly took hold of the doorknob. Steeling herself, she swung the door open.
The room was upside down, desk drawers scattered about, papers, files, and books all over the floor. In the middle of the mess three black cats were feverishly searching through it all. The creatures spun to face them. Willa was shocked to see they had human faces, with enormous black eyes growing larger and larger. They withdrew their weird long fingers from the papers and advanced, arching their backs and hissing.
Baz was the first to react. She pushed her way past Willa and pounced on the nearest cat with a shriek. The other two quickly fell back, scrambling toward the far wall, which was peppered with holes and torn wallpaper. As they escaped into the wall there was a sudden loud skittering noise and spiders began pouring out of the holes, large, gangly creatures with eight-inch legs. With a fearful clattering they quickly covered the walls, ceiling, and floor.
Willa pulled back in terror, but Robert let out a great roar and pushed through them to enter the room. He thundered around, trampling the insects with heavy hooves. Everything shook.
Tengu followed next, howling and stomping. Mab buzzed in swinging a straightpin sword, which she thrust into the nearest spider. Horace thwacked at them with the fireplace shovel.
Willa armed herself with an ornate doorstop from the hall and began slamming it down on one insect after another. They crumpled, their legs crimping like wires.
Belle held the last line of defence in the hallway, wheeling deftly over any insects that tried to escape the office.
The combined offensive held the spiders back, but only just. A loud clanging sounded in the living room and Willa ran in to find Fadiyah crashing wildly into the bars of her cage. Willa opened the cage door, and in a flash of gold and red the bird joined the others in the office, screaming and ripping the spiders apart with her claws and bill.
The scene was absolute chaos. Tengu climbed the upended furniture to dive into the fray. The golden bird razed through the insects on the ceiling, ripping them apart and tossing the pieces aside. The birds outside thumped into the windows, threatening to break the glass. Robert swung around, hip-checking Baz into the corner. Willa ran to help her. A cut over one eye was bleeding profusely but she just grinned and got back to work.
Finally it was over. Dead spiders littered the floor as the last few living ones fled, disappearing back into the holes.
Robert leaned against the desk, breathing heavily but beaming. He roared with laughter. “Those little beggars will think twice about coming back!”
Tengu sat on the floor, panting. Willa was out of breath too and shivering uncontrollably. The golden bird landed suddenly in front of her, startling her, and looked deeply into her eyes. Willa felt calmer, and found her voice.
“Is everyone all right?”
Baz crouched in a corner with a spider in her mouth, which she shook furiously.
“Oh, for goodness sake, Baz. Drop it. Drop it!” barked Belle from the hall. Baz reluctantly let the spider fall. Blood was still dripping from the cut on her head.
Willa looked around anxiously. “Where’s Mab?”
They found her weakly trying to free herself from a spider web over the doorway. Robert reached up and gently pulled her free, passing her down to Willa. Willa stared at the tiny form in her hand, uncertain about what to do. Mab gestured and Willa leaned her ear close.
“Keep my scarf safe,” Mab whispered. “Keep it safe!”
“I will, I promise,” answered Willa with a smile.
They returned her to the dollhouse. Willa tucked her into bed, uncertain of what else could be done. She gathered the knitting needles and silvery scarf from where they’d been dropped and tucked them under the fairy’s bed.
Mab let out a wheezy cough and fell into a deep sleep. Willa felt sick at heart.
“I will call Miss Trang,” Horace announced and started slowly up the stairs. Willa watched him go, her fingers crossed.
“You can do it, Horace. I know you can,” she said softly.
In the parlour the others were all talking at once. The action seemed to have aroused everyone’s fighting spirit. Robert crowed about their victory and Tengu hopped about grinning and cheering. Belle was flushed and bright-eyed but cautious.
“It isn’t over yet. Not by a long shot,” she ventured, and Willa felt inclined to agree.
Belle was struggling to tie a hastily made cardboard cone around Baz’s head while the old lady hissed and tried to pull away from her.
“It’s for your own good,” chuckled Belle. “If you keep scratching at it the cut will never heal.” The sight of Baz sulking in her cone cheered Belle up considerably.
Willa dropped wearily onto the couch. “Those cats, or whatever they were, were looking for something. What could they want?” No one had an answer.
“All right, we’ve got to get ready for whatever’s coming next. We need to marshal our forces.” Willa looked around the room. “Aren’t all of you magic in some way? What kind of spells can you do?”
“We’re retired, dearie,” explained Belle, as the others exchanged embarrassed looks. “Have been for a long … LONG time. It was a rule of this place not to go exercising magic willy-nilly all over the place. You can’t expect us to remember anything useful now.” To Willa’s dismay this seemed to be the general consensus.
“Oh,
