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Colin. ‘Short journeys are fine.’
    ‘That’s my sensible ones,’ said Mongan. ‘There’s dangers enough along the way without asking for more.’
    ‘Dangers!’ said Colin, his face lighting up. ‘You mean, real Faerie dangers, like Finn’s monster at Tara, or heroes screaming their battle cries, cutting their way through battles in those chariots with enemy heads hanging on the sides? Streams running with blood? Enchanted music? Ravens in dead trees? Don’t worry – we know all about those kinds of dangers!’
    ‘It’s other kinds I was thinking of,’ said Mongan, glancing at Cathbad, who was somehow the right size again. ‘No stories about them, to be sure, but none the less fearsome for that. With battles, enchantments and such, the Rules are still the Rules. But—’
    ‘—That’s OK,’ said Colin, though anybody could tell he’d prefer battles and enchantments. ‘Grandpa’s taught us to use our heads as well as our fists. No matter what kind of danger there is, we’ll pitch in, won’t we Sarah?’
    ‘Sure,’ I said firmly. ‘And once you’ve taken us to Grandpa, you won’t have to worry about us any more; he’ll help us find our way home.’
    ‘The way home’s the problem, surely,’ said Mongan, shaking his head. ‘Worse and worse, the further you travel. Suppose when you find your grandfather, he can’t help you?’
    ‘Oh, but he will!’ I said. ‘He’s not afraid of
anything
!’
    ‘He surely wasn’t,’ said Mongan, ‘but – well, on your heads be it. Shall we begin?’
    Cathbad’s white eyebrows rose. ‘I’m surprised you want to accompany them, my lord. I had planned to summon a minion for these early stages, there being so little danger.’
    Colin stared at Mongan. ‘You’re a lord?’
    ‘Surely – one of the great Sidhe, son of Manannan mac Lir 1 himself,’ said Mongan. ‘But I try not to let that little accident of birth get in my way. The other Sidhe miss a lot of fun being too proud to leave the Otherworld. So if you’ll have me, I’ll guide you, Children of Lugh.’
    ‘Why are we Children of Lugh?’ said Colin. ‘Our father’s name was Peter.’
    Mongan grinned. ‘Lugh is the faery of light, and you two – thanks to your grandfather – have been enlightened. Come.’
    He stepped forward and held out a hand to each of us. I hung back, not feeling enlightened at all, and listening to something in me – the part that Grandpa said you should
always
listen to – that said there was more to be afraid of than some monster they might throw in to scare us. There was something we didn’t understand.
    ‘Come
on
!’ hissed Colin. ‘If we chicken out now, we’ll never find Grandpa!’
    Maybe we didn’t
have
to understand. Many a time, Grandpa had always said, people thought so much they never did what needed to be done. I looked at Mongan and Colin, took a deep breath – then reached for their hands. ‘OK,’ I said. ‘Let’s go.’
    The minute our hands touched, there was a whoosh of something that sounded like music; when it ended, we weren’t in the Outskirts any more. We were standing in the living room of our house on Maple Street, only it was the Burkes’ now, of course, so it had their furniture in it. Totally ordinary. What a come-down.
    ‘What on earth are we doing
here
?’ said Colin, sounding disappointed.
    ‘Beginning your mission,’ said Mongan. ‘What else would we be doing?’
    ‘Shh!’ I whispered. ‘Mr Burke is snoozing on the sofa. We’ll wake him up.’
    ‘No, we won’t,’ said Mongan. ‘Not being heard is part of being invisible.’
    ‘But we’re not invisible,’ I objected. ‘I can see you.’
    ‘That’s a little effect I throw in for beginners, because they find it hard to work with people they can’t see.’ He turned to Colin. ‘Now, down to business. See those keys?’ He pointed to the table next to the kitchen door. ‘Pick them up.’
    Colin gave me a ‘what’s-going-on?’ look and scooped the