I said, gulping back my urge to cry. ‘He knows there’s something in there.’

‘But there isn’t,’ Mum sighed. ‘We’ve checked and checked. You know that.’

Dad rubbed Barney’s head. ‘He’s usually the most placid dog ever. I don’t know what would make him act like that.’ He beckoned me down the stairs. ‘Come on, looks like it’s you on the sofa tonight. With Barney. I’ll stay in your room. OK?’

The next day, Zoe texted to say she’d won an art competition in the local paper. The prize was vouchers for the expensive art supplies shop in town. She was really pleased with herself. Cm & help me spend, she messaged me. When I replied and told her that Kerry was going away for a while, she sent me back a row of exclamation marks.

‘You know why it happened,’ Zoe said, seriously, as we sat over two creamy lattes. ‘It happened because of the magic. Same as the other day. I asked for good luck. That’s why I won this and that’s why we’ve got rid of Kerry for a few days.’

‘No, you won that ’cause you’re really good at art,’ I said.

Zoe looked down at her mug and swirled the spoon around. ‘Not that good,’ she shrugged. ‘You should see what my mum can do. She should’ve been a proper artist.’

I hadn’t heard this before. ‘What happened?’

Zoe shrugged. ‘She had me.’

‘And?’

Zoe licked froth from her spoon, delicate as a kitten. ‘She had to give college up. She never really got the chance to go back. I think that’s why she –’

I waited. ‘Why she what?’

Zoe glanced away. ‘Why she’s so proud of me, of course.’ Her tone was sarcastic.

‘Right.’ Why she’s always angry with you, you mean. That thought came out of nowhere but now that I had it, it all seemed very clear. ‘You never told me that before, about your mum.’

‘Why would I?’

‘Because,’ I thought about it for a minute. ‘Because maybe that’s why your mum is always so horrible. You say she’s always having a go at you. But maybe she’s kind of jealous. Because she’s bored and frustrated.’

Zoe curled her lip. ‘I’m the one who’s bored and frustrated. She never tries to understand me. I don’t see why I should try for her.’

Zoe looked around. I could tell she was looking for a way to change the subject. She hated talking about her mum and I guessed she wished she hadn’t mentioned her. Suddenly her face brightened. ‘I’ve had a great idea,’ she said.

‘Why does that make me nervous?’

Zoe laughed. ‘No, listen. That empty flat.’

‘What about it?’

‘We can go there whenever we want. Let’s move all that ritual stuff there too, and then you can stop going on about it being in your bedroom.’

‘Now that part of it does sound like a great idea,’ I said. The thought of clearing my room of that sinister skull and everything else – and of holding our ceremonies somewhere where I didn’t have to sleep – sounded just what I needed.

‘One thing,’ Zoe said.

I raised my eyebrows at her in a question.

‘Kerry has absolutely not got to hear about this. If she gets involved it’ll spoil everything. This flat is just for us two. Promise me, Anna.’

I promised her, of course. This was Zoe. I’d still have promised her just about anything.

18

Three’s a crowd

Ever since the night Barney arrived I’d slept downstairs on the sofa, the dog heavy and comforting across my legs. Dad had taken my room, but he was convinced that Barney could smell something that we couldn’t.

‘There might be a dead rat under the floorboards or something,’ he said, making Mum shudder. ‘Something that’s decomposed and we can’t smell it, but a dog can. I don’t know. But we ought to get to the bottom of it, so Anna can have her room back. Maybe I should completely gut it and redecorate?’

That made Zoe and I pack up the ritual gear from my room and take it all to the flat as soon as we could, before someone found it. But nothing would make Barney go in there, all the same. In spite of what Dad said, I already loved that dog – the way he was so pleased to see me, his tail wagging like a windscreen wiper, the way he was always ready for a warm hug.

One morning – after I’d spent the previous day with my mum – I had a text. Meet at flat asap. Surprise 4 u.

She wasn’t kidding. I swallowed down my horror of being in the lift alone to go to the top storey and I tapped on the door of 1413. Zoe opened it. I was hit by the smell of paint. ‘Welcome,’ she said, with a huge grin. Beyond the door was a narrow corridor, with doors to each room. Zoe had covered the walls with posters of bands and pages from arty magazines and old concert flyers.

I walked in to the main living room and looked around, open-mouthed. Zoe had painted the walls in a kind of a purple colour. It was a dark shade, but it was a big room, with huge undressed windows, so it still felt light. She’d put an old rug and some cushions on the floor and more posters on the walls.

‘Where’d you get these from?’ I asked, flopping down on one of the cushions.

‘Box room at home.’ Zoe looked around, with a satisfied expression.

‘Wow. These cushions look new.’

‘We don’t use it very often. I only bought the paint. What do you think, then? I spent all day yesterday doing it – and half the night too.’

‘I bet you did. It’s really good,’ I said. ‘But why?’

‘I told you – this really is our place now,’ Zoe said. ‘The idiots who left didn’t get the water turned off and Jodie’s Dave did something with a bit of copper wire and got the power back on. There was a grungy old mattress in one room and some cups and plates, so

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