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and thought he was going to pass out. Pandora quickly redressed the wound and buttoned Adam’s shirt.
    ‘He made me swear not to tell you, but after tonight I thought you ought to know. The darkness of those creatures— the evil of their song—will have weakened Adam at a time when he hardly has enough strength left to fight Crowden’s hex.’
    She fixed Jake with a sympathetic stare.
    ‘I’m sorry to tell you this, Jake, but your daddy has only a few weeks left to live.’

Chapter 4

Lair of the Skinwalker

    ‘Brag, will you take my dad back to the car?’
    ‘Course I will, Jake. I’ll carry him real gentle. You want me to stay with him?’
    Pandora shook her head. ‘I’ve given him a sedative. He’ll sleep now until late morning, and I’m sure he’ll be safe enough outside the forest. If we’re going to continue with tonight’s insanity … ’
    Jake and Rachel nodded grimly.
    ‘ … then we may still have need of that club of yours, Brag Badderson.’
    Brag picked Adam lightly from the ground and carried him out of the clearing. Jake thought how small and frail his father looked, cradled in the troll’s big arms. Images flitted through his head: his dad waiting for him at the gate after his first day at school; scooping him up and comforting him after a fall; looking for imaginary monsters under his bed before kissing him goodnight. Where was that strong, fear less man now?
    In a small voice, he asked, ‘Is there really no cure?’
    ‘None that I can find, honey,’ Pandora said. ‘I’ve spent weeks looking through occult libraries. I’ve asked every healer, witch doctor, shaman, and wise woman I could find. All they could tell me was that it’s a miracle Adam isn’t dead already. He’s tougher than a one-eared alley cat, your daddy, but the truth is, he’s ailing fast.’
    ‘Why didn’t you tell me before?’ Jake asked.
    ‘As I said, your dad swore me to secrecy. Told me that he didn’t want you distracted from your magical training.’
    ‘That’s bull,’ Jake snapped. ‘I could’ve helped you talk to those healers, research the hex, anything. Instead you let me think that it wasn’t getting any worse; that there was a cure out there.’
    ‘I never made any claims.’
    ‘But you let me think he was OK, Pandora. You know you did.’
    Pandora lowered her eyes.
    ‘We’ve got a few weeks,’ Rachel said, taking Jake’s hand. ‘We’ll find something. There’s always hope, right?’
    Pandora managed to hitch a smile to her lips.
    ‘Sure, sweetness. There’s always hope.’
    Jake turned away. ‘We better get moving.’
    They hurried across the glade and plunged back into the forest. Jake released Rachel’s hand and ran on ahead. The brittle, yellow grass lashed against his legs and a trace of the banshees’ howl throbbed in his ears. He concentrated on these little twists of pain, not wanting to think about what Pandora had told him.
    At last, he broke through the undergrowth and stood panting in the moonlight. The grass rustled behind him. A second later, Rachel and Pandora were at his side. Their eyes swept across the long stretch of lawn and up to the old manor house. Hunched at the top of a small slope, Havlock Grange glared back at them, the broken windows that were its eyes seeming to challenge the trespassers.
    There was no sign of movement in the house or grounds. Keeping close to the cover of the forest, Jake and his friends made their way towards the Grange. The sky darkened and shadows rolled across the lawn. For a moment, Jake thought that the banshees had returned, but it was only a blanket of heavy-bellied clouds moving in from the north and veiling the moon. The sky grumbled. Splodges of rain smacked against the trees.
    The lawn ended at the foot of a wide stone staircase flanked by a pair of weatherworn griffins, their wings draped with moss. The steps led straight to the door of the Grange.
    ‘OK.’ Jake licked the rain from his lips. ‘We shoot up those