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40.1: THE OTHER HALF (part 1)

In which consciences are examined, scores are settled, and wishes are granted.

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A lot of things happened in the next moment.

Rupert yelped as the bolt sped towards his heart.

Harriet screamed while Isabella held her fast.

Elizabeth and Pim both shrieked.

Fang roared.

Winkton flinched.

Edmund, not paying attention, giggled.

And Juggalug launched himself from Harriet's shoulder towards Rupert.

The result of these events was as follows: Rupert was left spreadeagled against the giant wheel, wondering if he was dead, while Tania Brightmann stared furiously at him, wondering why he wasn't. Harriet, meanwhile, was focussed on something else. Shaking off her mother's grip, she fell to her knees and scooped up the small purple creature who had fallen, unnoticed, to the floor.

"Juggalug?" Harriet choked. "Juggalug? Can you hear me?"

The half-banshee lay very still in her hands. His left wing was draped open, a hole the size of Harriet's fist ripped through its membrane. Harriet's eyes filled with tears. Then the little banshee gave a tremulous cough and his eyes fluttered open.

"Oh, thank Day!" Harriet gasped. "Juggalug! I thought we'd lost you."

Juggalug peered up at her, his eyes unfocussed.

"You brave little banshee," she told him. "If you—" But her words were cut off by the buzzing of the fairies. Looking up, she saw they had surrounded Tania Brightmann. The possessed vampire hunter stood alone in the centre of a swarming, thrumming circle. She spun on her brother's heel, glaring at the fairies.

"What is this?" she demanded.

One of the fairies flew forward. "We allowed you to enter here," the fairy said to Tania Brightmann, its voice shrill, "because we respected your mission to eradicate this vampire. But that respect ends when you attack one of our own."

"One of your own? What are you talking about?"

Harriet's eyes widened as the fairy pointed at her—or rather, at Juggalug huddled in her hands. "He may not be a pure-blood," said the fairy, "and his father may have had... ahem... unusual taste—"

"Oy," a voice mumbled at the back. "I told you, that banshee was pretty."

"—but he is one of us," the fairy continued, shooting a disapproving glance towards the speaker. "And no one comes to our territory and fires a weapon at one of our fairies."

"Day's rays." Harriet stared down at Juggalug, who looked as shocked as she was. "Charlotte was right all along. You are a fairy! Or half fairy, anyway."

Juggalug didn't seem best pleased by this—though perhaps it was more that he wasn't best pleased that he'd taken a crossbow bolt through the wing, it was hard to be sure. At any rate, the fairies didn't seem to care what Juggalug thought of his own heritage. As they closed in around the ghost, the sound of their wings was joined by a hum that started deep in their throats.

Tania looked around, eyes narrowed. "What are you doing?" she demanded. "What is this?"

The fairies opened their mouths, and the hum became a long, low note. Tania tried to wave them away, but they evaded her. The note grew louder, higher.