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back in that orphanage, she’d better not get out again,” Truda told herself, but remembering the expression on Buckleup Brandersby’s face, she relaxed. It was unlikely that Loobly would ever see the light of day again once she was caught. “So what next?” She folded her arms and surveyed the kingdom stretched out below. “Maybe it’s time to see what those little witchy ladies are up to. I’ll shrink myself and spy on my spies . . . and see the palace for myself.” The idea of sneaking up on the witches of Wadingburn tickled Truda, and she cackled again. In the distance, Buckleup Brandersby felt the hairs on the back of his neck tingle uncomfortably, and Snarler lifted up his head and howled.

As the morning sun lit the top of the looms, the Ancient One came stomping into room seventeen, her one bright blue eye glaring fiercely. She waved a piece of paper scrawled on in violet ink under the Oldest’s nose. “Elsie! Gracie’s gone! I’ve just found a ridiculous note written by that dratted pen on the kitchen door. It says she’s gone to save the Five Kingdoms. When did you last see her?”
    Elsie quailed. “She brought me some tea around midnight,” she said. “She mentioned something about the quill pen writing on her walls, and then she disappeared. I thought she’d gone back to bed. I wasn’t really listening to her; I was so worried about the stain on the web. It’s Deep Magic, Edna — there’s no doubt about it!”
    “Exactly,” the Ancient One said drily. “It is indeed Deep Magic, and it seems to me that you’ve allowed Gracie to walk out into the thick of it.”
    Elsie burst into a noisy fit of crying. “Oh, I’m sorry, Edna — I really am! But the House was rumbling this way and that all night, and what with that and the web, I never thought for a minute she’d do anything so amazingly brave.”
    The Ancient One looked marginally less angry. “Brave, or just plain silly,” she remarked. “But I didn’t know the House was up to its tricks as well.” She sighed. “That’s the trouble with a Trueheart House. It doesn’t believe in being cautious when it comes to defeating evil.”
    “Has anyone seen Gubble?” Val, the Youngest, was standing in the doorway yawning. She lived outside the House with her brother, Professor Scallio, but arrived early each morning to take up her duties, which included making breakfast. “His cupboard was empty when I got here, and even when I called him for his boiled egg, he didn’t appear. And Gracie seems to have vanished as well —”
    “Oh, Val!” Elsie pointed at the purple stain on the silver web. “Look! There’s Deep Magic somewhere about, and Gracie’s gone off to find it, and she might be getting herself into dreadful trouble!”

    “That’s a worry.” Val seated herself at the loom as Elsie got up. “But do you know what? I’d say Gubble’s gone with her. He’s devoted to Gracie — and I’ve never known him to miss a boiled egg before.”
    Edna’s blue eye brightened. “If she’s got Gubble with her, I won’t worry quite so much. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens.”
    “I could go after them,” Elsie suggested, but the Ancient One shook her head.
    “Certainly not,” she said firmly. “With luck, the two of them’ll be back before long, safe and sound. And we’ve got the Newest and all her tantrums to cope with, and that length of blue velvet needs to be finished. Princess Nina-Rose won’t have a dress for Queen Bluebell’s birthday party if it’s not finished today.” She paused to snort derisively. “Declaration Ball, indeed! Whom do you think she’s chosen to be queen after her? None of those Five Kingdoms’ princesses can hold a candle to our Gracie, but presumably the queen’s chosen one of them, seeing as her own daughter’s not around. Clever way to announce it, mind you.”
    The two other crones nodded, and while Elsie went to get her breakfast, Val continued the weaving of the