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had no idea whose side they would be on.
    â€˜We knew this was going to happen,’ said Roisin. Maddy looked at her, but Roisin shrugged. ‘Well, we did. You said it yourself, Maddy – they were never going to give up, never going to stop coming after you. Liadan has wanted you dead for ages and Meabh is just fascinatedwith you being the Hound. She thinks it’s going to tip a war in her favour, having you tied to the court. God only knows why.’
    Last Halloween Maddy had found out that she was the new Hound of Ireland, destined to follow in the footsteps of Cú Chulainn, an ancient Irish hero, the only mortal Maddy knew of who had taken on the faeries and won. It was up to Maddy now to be as strong as him, and to keep the mortal world safe. She had no idea how she was supposed to do that, and Meabh had laughed at her for even thinking she could try, but the Autumn Queen had been very keen to put a collar around Maddy’s neck and bring her into her court.
    â€˜Anyone sort of relieved this has happened?’ asked Danny.
    â€˜Are you mad?’ said Maddy.
    â€˜Sometimes I think I am,’ said Danny. ‘I don’t sleep too well at night, I have screaming nightmares when I do, I jump at every shadow and I can’t tell anyone else about any of this, and even if I could, who would believe me?’
    â€˜Cassandra syndrome,’ said Roisin.
    â€˜What?’ said Danny.
    â€˜It’s what everyone has got in that home, including Aunt Kitty,’ said Roisin. ‘They know what’s going on, but when they tell people, no one believes them and eitherthey get locked up for being mentally ill or the fear of what’s coming sends them mad anyway.’
    â€˜Who’s Cassandra?’ asked Maddy.
    â€˜She was the daughter of King Priam of Troy,’ said Roisin. ‘She was cursed to have the gift of prophecy but never to be believed. She knew Troy was going to burn, she saw all those people dying in her dreams long before it happened, but no one listened.’
    â€˜Yeah, that sounds about right,’ Danny muttered.
    They sat in silence for a while, lost in their own thoughts, when Roisin said, ‘I want this to be over.’
    She carried on talking while Maddy and Danny stared at her.
    â€˜I’m getting the screaming nightmares too, and so are you, Maddy. We share a room; it’s pointless trying to hide it. But the nightmares don’t go away, even when I’m awake. I keep seeing them, beneath the mound, under my feet, staring up with those pale faces, just waiting to break through and kill everyone around them while they set themselves up as kings and queens again.’
    â€˜I’m not sure that they are technically under our feet …’ said Maddy.
    â€˜I don’t care about the physics of it!’ said Roisin. ‘They’re there and they want to kill us all, or at least enough of us so we don’t ever think about fighting back again, ever, and I can’t just forget that. I can’t go toschool and live my life and put it to one side that they are constantly probing the barrier, trying to find a way through, that a war in Ireland, if not another world war, is possible. And the Sighted are the only ones that know about it and the only ones that can see it coming.’
    She sighed and rubbed her forehead with her fingertips. ‘I just want to be able to sleep again, you know? Have a proper sleep. You keep saying you just want life to go back to normal, Maddy, but it won’t. I’m tired of waiting for them to come and get us. We have to finish this.’
    â€˜How are we supposed to do that?’ asked Maddy.
    â€˜I don’t know,’ said Roisin. ‘But it starts with you, so it has to finish with you.’
    â€˜You’re the one who draws them, Maddy,’ said Danny. ‘Even Granda said he had never seen so many faeries about the place until you came.’
    Maddy looked at her